Kenneth Thomas, in a tunnel. If you care about heavy music and still believe that art should trump commerce every time, you owe it to yourself to check out Blood, Sweat & Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century. I've written about Kenneth Thomas's music documentary in these e-pages before. After watching the film a second [...]
A headline like "Tori Amos Issues Challenge to Metal Bands" is hard to ignore. So I went over to Spinner.com to read this interview with Ms Amos, and this is what she had to say: "Well, look, sometimes you don't know how music affects people. I embrace that because I don't think that just because I [...]
Depressive black metal is a definite hit-or-miss of a subgenre. When it's good, it's bone-chillingly great. When it's bad (and a LOT of it is bad), it's just embarrassing. Remember when Xasthur used to be cool, before Malefic started collaborating with Pitchfork-approved songstresses and ultimately threw in the towel? Yeah, me neither (what happened after [...]
Kvelertak Kvelertak // An album with John Dyer Baizley cover art this great really had better be equally inspired. Thankfully, Kvelertak's self-titled debut, which finally sees a North American release next month, constructs a powerful blast furnace of metal that's hot enough to meld hardcore punk with AC/DC-inspired hard rock into metal object threaded with black metal veins. The result of this industrial chemistry is an album that is a real bruiser: it's loud and melodic and catchy and punishing and surprising and just generally fun to hang out with. The album opens with [...]
I don't think anybody ever really reads these little intros Vince or myself write every week, so I'm gonna dispense with one today, and if that makes you sad, uh, you're weird. Here's how we got our pull this week: We debuted new music by Abysmal Dawn, Full Blown Chaos, and Årabrot. We spoke to [...]
Critical success was a no-win situation with Xasthur: "basement black metal" is a hard thing for the uninitiated to get into, much less keep up with. It's harsh, challenging, unlistenable, and is often created by immensely prolific misanthropes with no use for quality control. It's hard to find a way in, and even if you [...]
This weekly column from our brethren at Decibel - the only metal magazine still worth caring about - was supposed to run earlier today. But Axl fucked up and forgot to run it! A million apologies. Now here's managing editor Andrew Bonazelli to school your ass. You're probably already on your way to spend six [...]
This weekly column from our brethren at Decibel - the only metal magazine still worth caring about - was supposed to run earlier today. But Axl fucked up and forgot to run it! A million apologies. Now here's managing editor Andrew Bonazelli to school your ass. You're probably already on your way to spend six [...]
Woe Quietly, Undramatically Candlelight Records 01 November 2010 by Tom Dare Americans are supposed to be rubbish at three things - football, brewing beer, and black metal. In reality, the US drew with England at the World Cup, has one of the best ranges of microbreweries anywhere in the world, and as long as they're [...]
It's no secret that the music industry is in a shambles, with both profits and revenues at an all time low. With Napster, eDonkey and Audiogalaxy more popular than ever, anybody with a DSL connection can download an album in a matter of hours, often at CD-quality 96 khz. While the unprecedented access that we [...]
What a weekend. Friday night I got to see Emeralds and drink some good beers, last night I saw Enter The Void , and tonight I am watching Best Worst Movie as I pen this entry. It's kind of amazing to think that I saw Troll 2 for the first time on HBO almost twenty years ago, and now there's a documentary about its "cult classic" status. What's next, an Cinefamily-approved Airborne screening at the Silent Movie Theater? Hmm...that gives me an idea... Nah, not now. I've got a mix tape [...]
Widely accepted as America's most influential black metal artist, Xasthur is set to revisit the most challenging and divisive work in his catalogue, "Defective Epitaph," by way of a first-ever 2LP vinyl pressing (limited to 600 copies) released last week on Enemies List - just in time for those particularly brutal fall days ahead.
Enemies List is a CT-based label that doesn't get enough credit. There aren't dozens of albums in their discography, because they're more about quality than quantity. What few albums they have released include underground essentials from NAHVALR and Have A Nice Life, and they'll be adding another great release to their store on Sept. 30th, too. The album is Xasthur's Defective Epitaph . It'll be the first time the album has ever been on vinyl, and the LP is only seeing a print of 600 copies. That's it. [...]
Dick. I haven't done one of these in a while, and I was looking at my stats/analytics (June is over! It was a pretty good month) today so I noticed some search terms worth sharing. So here's the newest "Top Ten Google Search Referrals Of The Day": 10) science of butt sex - I wasn't aware there was a science to butt sex. Unless you're really into comparing the ingredients of different water-soluble lubricants. 09) geek girl want to fuck 08) old man costume ideas 07) rotten [...]
Stream tracks: 1 / 2 / 3 [ xasthur.net ]
Unexpected collaborations are always noteworthy around here, which is partially why we made sure to mention the team-up of singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler and Scott Conner, aka Malefic, led black metal outfit Xasthur earlier this year. The unlikely pair worked together on Portal of Sorrow , Conner's final album under the Xasthur moniker, which is available right now via Hydra Head Records . In a recent lengthy blog post, dubbed "out now and ending now," Malefic described his reasons for ending the band's decade-plus run: [...]
Happy Easter, Easter People. I'm a Jew but that did not stop me from partaking in some celebratory grillin' and chillin' tonight. I had a hot dog, a cheeseburger, and s'mores made with Peeps. I found the "golden egg" during our Easter egg hunt (curated by Ken and Kt), which contained a condom and some lube! I watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees, and I was temporarily joyous, until I realized that the Mets open their season tomorrow. Upon realizing this I suddenly felt very, very sad. Is it pathetic that I'm hoping the team loses their first ten [...]
Mondays: we all know they're a bit shit. And today's even shitter, as we found out that Scott 'Malefic' Connor, the basement black metaller whom most people know from his work as Xasthur, has confirmed he's ending the "band". Bah. In a statement over on xasthurnews.blogspot.com, the moody American had the following to say: "This album, "Portal of [...]
Vince brought the shits back with him from Egypt and in the past twenty-four hours I've been hit with a cold so bad that I'm probably gonna go to sleep right around the time I hit "publish" for this post. So before I pass out, here's a run-down of what we did while Vince was [...]
A look at the very Wolves In The Throne Room-like art for "Stratospheric Passenger." Servile Sect - Stratospheric Passenger download [...]
MetalSucks
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St. Vincent - 'Cheerleader'
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Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
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