Metal playlists from the underground
Featuring a very-different sounding Jonah Jenkins (Only Living Witness, Millgram) at the microphone, the abrasive quintet Raw Radar War must have traveled through their record collections and stopped at the early ’90s for inspiration when comprising the crushingly heavy underground sounds audible on their curiously titled 15-track = = [Double Equals]. Piecing remnants of Bolt […]
Made in a basement bedroom by the male-female tandem One Small Step, Another Shelter combines indie rock twilight guitar loops with rave-esque keyboard fills and programmed drums for a synthetically-induced listen. Power-pop with electronic beats aplenty adorn this nine-track affair that would sound best at breakfast time after a neon-filled night. www.myspace.com/onesmallstep -Mike SOS 30 […]
Shame Club is a gritty rock ‘n roll band whose 12-track release Come On bursts with a wide array of ’70s hard rock flavor from Southern fried to guitar-hero. Humungous hooks, monstrous sounds, solid musicanship, and a true sense of danger all assist this disc in taking you outside and promptly giving you the ass-kicking […]
The 14-track Retronomicon can best be described as a scattershot composite of death metal band After Death. Led by early Morbid Angel member Mike Browning, After Death’s metallic style varies across this disc due to the material being taken from different eras with different band lineups, most notably with a Deep Purple-esque organ found on […]
Spastic dance-rock with an underlying anger issue applies to the sounds which come from the 12-track Energy Czar by UK act Hunting Lodge. This tripped-out trio take bits of Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and The Birthday Party to make sublime music whose sound echoes like the brilliance of a four-year old covered in […]
Kassin+2 play the kind of music suited best on a resort while sipping from a drink dressed up with little pink umbrellas…if the resort were on another planet, that is on their 17-track endeavor Futurismo. Laid back with traditional sounds at the forefront at times (“Futurismo,” “Pra Lembrar”), this Brazilian three-musician collective find solace in […]
A low-key, lo-fi vibe is cast from the 10-track release by Californian and former Thrasher photographer Nik Freitas entitled Sundown. Perfect for the day lounging around the house with not much to do, tracks like the title track and “See Me There” transcend from the coffee house to your stereo with the subtle charm and […]
Let there be doom was the decree, and My Shameful readily beckoned the call on the seven-track 50 minute sojourn Descend. Utilizing a crawling tempo throughout and adorned with a multitude of ghastly vocal styles to creep the masses out, this troupe take the classic blueprints drawn by Celtic Frost and Candlemass and death metal […]
Today, Metallica released the music video for the first single off of Death Magnetic. Go to myspace.com/metallica to watch the new video for “The Day That Never Comes.” The video features the band playing in the desert while cutting to several tense moments of modern warfare. Another …And Justice For All reference? Try Blockbuster Free […]
“That Lucky Old Sun” is the opener and title track of That Lucky Old Sun. This tune contains a short and pretty Beach Boys’ style vocal harmony which serves as an introduction to the following song. 6/10 “Morning Beat” continues the vocal harmony of the opening track, then kicks in with a funky drum beat. […]