Katatonia @ Wooly’s, Des Moines, IA 05/15/13

Posted on 05/17/2013 by THKD

Jonas Renkse is a difficult man to photograph. For the entirety of Katatonia’s set Wednesday night at Wooly’s, the singer kept his face deliberately obscured behind a mass of hair; as if not wanting to face the crowd. But his jovial between-song demeanor and powerful performance spoke otherwise; his exquisite vocals the undeniable focal point of the Swedish quartet’s excellent hour long set opening for prog metal grand poobahs Opeth. In some ways, Herr Renkse’s locks could be a metaphor for Katatonia’s music; their underlying metal-ness often obscured by heaps of beautifully dark, multi-textured melancholia.

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Ghost @ Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN 5/4/13

Posted on 05/08/2013 by THKD

To say that I was highly anticipating seeing Ghost in the flesh would probably be the understatement of the year. Their 2010 debut full length Opus Eponymous has been in near constant rotation since its release, and this year’s Infestissumam already has a place in my year-end top five all but locked up. There is something about their combination of Luciferian lyrics, infectious yet hard-rocking pop hooks and outlandish visuals that’s incredibly appealing to this old fan of KISS, Alice Cooper and King Diamond, artists with which Ghost clearly shares a lineage.
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RIP Jeff Hanneman (1964 – 2013)

Posted on 05/02/2013 by THKD

The first time I heard/saw Slayer was on Headbanger’s Ball. It was either the video for the atmospheric yet pummeling “Seasons in the Abyss” or the flat-out face-fucking bulldozer that is “War Ensemble.” I was just starting to get into heavy metal in those days, and Slayer blew me away with their intensity and darkness; they seemed way more evil than Megadeth or Metallica, which I was already quite familiar with, and in those days, especially being confined to Catholic school for seven hours a day, the more evil, the better. It was love at first sight. From there, I slowly started buying up Slayer’s back catalog with my meager allowance money, reveling in the Satanic-sounding, speed-demonomania that was their early career.
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DeathCult – The Test of Time (Caligari Records, 2013)

Posted on 05/02/2013 by THKD

Being a one-man project released on cassette, you’d probably be expecting DeathCult’s The Test of Time to be some kind of depressive/suicidal/ambient black metal clusterfuck. Fortunately you couldn’t be more wrong, because this Chicago-based maniac’s stock-in-trade is ripping, heavily blackened thrash that as expected pays its grim respects to the unholy trinity (Venom/Bathory/Celtic Frost), while at the same time putting its own nasty-ass stamp on one of metal’s gnarliest subgenres.
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Vhöl – s/t (Profound Lore, 2013)

Posted on 04/18/2013 by THKD

Given the players involved and the label putting it out, it’s quite surprising that there hasn’t been more hype surrounding the release of Vhöl’s self-titled debut album. I mean, we’re talking about a band that includes current/former members of the likes of Hammers of Misfortune, Ludicra, YOB and Agalloch on the goddamn mighty Profound Lore for chrissakes; if ever there was a modern band that should be having the term supergroup lobbed at its feet, it’s surely Vhöl. And while I (fortunately) haven’t seen too many folks chucking the dreaded “s word” about in reference to this quartet of West Coast killas, their opening salvo is nonetheless pretty gosh darn super.
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Darkness Manifest: Hells Headbangers 2013 review roundup

Posted on 04/03/2013 by THKD

Hells Headbangers is one of those labels that cranks out the hits faster than I can write about them. And while I’m usually opposed to these types of roundup style reviews, my recent Oodles of Brutals series (HERE and HERE) has taught me that it can actually be pretty fun to write them and other people seem to dig it, which is always a nice perk. Not only that, but let’s be honest, not every metal album, no matter how great it is, warrants a full-on 400 to 700 word review. So without further ado, I present my thoughts on a ton of recent releases from the goddamn mighty HHR. If you’re not familiar with this ridiculously awesome and quality consistent label, consider this a way to get your feet wet. If you’re a longtime fan, you’ve probably snapped all of these up already, so just consider this “bonus material.” Onward and downward…

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Charnel House – Contagion (Sygil Records)

Posted on 03/27/2013 by THKD

As I continue to sift through the stack of releases the good folks at Sygil Records sent me a while back, I continue to be thoroughly impressed. After tackling the excellent Avakr cassette, I decided to turn my attention to the lone CD format release the label sent my way, Charnel House’s Contagion. I’m not sure when this album was originally released, and information about the Indiana(?) duo is pretty scarce, but given that they seem to have successfully tapped into a sound that takes elements of the familiar and twists them into something stunningly unique, I can’t imagine them staying a secret for much longer.

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Six Feet Under – Unborn (Metal Blade, 2013)

Posted on 03/20/2013 by THKD

Last year, Six Feet Under proved that their was still life left in their patented brand of sludgy, simplistic death metal with Undead, easily their best album since 1999′s classic Maximum Violence. With a re-tooled lineup centered around founding vocalist Chris Barnes and longtime guitarist Steve Swanson, SFU shook off the stagnancy that had set in over the course of their last several releases and proved that they were still a force to be reckoned with. I’m happy to report that this was no fluke, as the band’s tenth full length (not counting the Graveyard Classics covers collections) Unborn is even better than Undead, cementing Six Feet Under’s status as a death metal stalwart reborn.
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Manilla Road – Mysterium (Shadow Kingdom, 2013)

Posted on 03/18/2013 by THKD

At this point I think all of us here in the good ol’ U-S-of-A can agree that Manilla Road mastermind Mark “The Shark” Shelton is a national treasure. The man has been fighting the good fight since forming the band in 1977 (aside from a brief break from 1992 – 1994) and Mysterium, Manilla Road’s sixteenth album (counting The Circus Maximus, which was originally intended as a separate project) finds the Kansan quartet sounding as mighty as ever. This should come as no surprise, considering that Manilla Road is not only one of the longest-running US heavy metal bands, but also one of the most quality consistent in this or any other country, seemingly incapable of releasing anything less than instantly classic material.

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Avakr – A Word From Within (Sygil Records, 2013)

Posted on 03/06/2013 by THKD

Of all the labels that have contacted me within the past year or so requesting coverage, Sygil Records is surely among the most interesting. These guys have an ear for excellence from across the spectrum of extreme music, from drone to doom to black metal, and I’m pretty enamored with all of the various releases they graciously sent me for review. First and foremost among them is A Word From Within, the debut full length from Bloomington, Indiana black metal duo Avakr.
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Tag Archives: USA

Katatonia @ Wooly’s, Des Moines, IA 05/15/13

Ghost @ Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN 5/4/13

RIP Jeff Hanneman (1964 – 2013)

DeathCult – The Test of Time (Caligari Records, 2013)

Vhöl – s/t (Profound Lore, 2013)

Darkness Manifest: Hells Headbangers 2013 review roundup

Charnel House – Contagion (Sygil Records)

Six Feet Under – Unborn (Metal Blade, 2013)

Manilla Road – Mysterium (Shadow Kingdom, 2013)

Avakr – A Word From Within (Sygil Records, 2013)