If I had to pick the most unappreciated band of 2005, it would be Primordial. The Gathering Wilderness, an album that any good soldier of metal should have, well-worn, in their archives, was the epic black metal sleeper hit that never did. This review is dedicated to the memory of…

If you had to pick a black metal band to party with, you’d be foolish to choose anyone but Darkthrone. Just going through F.O.A.D., with cuts like the “Canadian Metal,” (awesome) “Raised On Rock” (awesome) and “The Church Of Real Metal” (awesome), just screams charm. And the songs are gritty,…

Let’s begin by establishing the fact that the music on this three CD set is essential. There can be no argument on that point. What can be discussed is whether this particular collection is required. After all, there have been a number of Bob Dylan retrospectives over the years, including…

There’s something awfully sophisticated in the reserve that Witchcraft manage to maintain over the course of a song. The simplicity helps, but there’s something so gripping about the poise Magnus Pellander and crew exude on The Alchemist, where other bands would get completely overwhelmed by the insanely cool shit they’re…

You could call the limited edition Nil Recurring EP a fan-only release, but when you’re talking about Porcupine Tree, that’s not really a valid argument. The populace is split between those who love P Tree and those who don’t, excepting the uninitiated.

But the tag rings true a bit. With…

Now 68, Mavis Staples still has that lowball growly soulful swoon of a voice that can move mountains. For her first album in three years, she’s taken songs associated with the civil rights movement of the 1960s and infused them with the funky strut of syncopated surprise.

Produced by Ry…

Watching Thurston Moore caterwaul around on stage, climbing on amps to get just the right angle for a certain feedback out of his pickups, even this far into his career, it seems like a different person than the man who wrote this album. Maybe it was.

It was certainly another…

While seemingly out of nowhere, it’s strangely fitting that Ministry’s Paul Barker and The Jesus Lizard’s Duane Denison would cross paths enough times to start up an act of their own. Barker, since leaving longtime collaborator Al Jourgensen, has only seemed to pop up now and again to DJ. Denison’s…

The intimate link in a chain of man influencing machine influencing man, The Austerity Program have positioned themselves as the adage’s ghost. From the beginning of Black Madonna, the guitar and bass duo of Justin Foley and Thad Calabrese, respectively, are directly at the will of their drum machine. But…

A simple enough concept, a red album, but splashing a coat of paint on the cover of Baroness’ latest would be too easy for frontman John Baizley, well-known for his artistic contribution to the album covers of Pig Destroyer, Kylesa, The Red Chord, et al. No, this Red Album isn’t…