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MetalMatters: May 2020 - Adapting to Reality

The masterful progressive work of Caligula's Horse, the reinvigorated spirit of Winter through Goden and Old Man Gloom's return alongside a healthy dose of black metal, hardcore-infused outbreaks, and noise rock highlight the month of May in heavy metal.
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Music

Otoboke Beaver Is Loud, Fast, and Fun on 'Itekoma Hits'

Otoboke Beaver's songs run the punk gamut from raging hardcore to bouncy pop-punk and hit most of the points in between on Itekoma Hits.

Music

Absolutely Not Takes a Trip Through Dark Times With 'Problematic' (album stream) (premiere)

Inclusive Chicago band, Absolutely Not use cinematic scope for songs that touch on racism, homophobia, and the classic struggle of the individual in society on their new album, Problematic.

Music

Florida Alt-Rockers A Brilliant Lie Threaten to Come Apart at the Seams in "Unwoven" (premiere)

Taken from A Brilliant Lie's forthcoming EP Threads: Weaver, the video for new single "Unwoven" captures the barely contained potency of a band firing on all cylinders.

Music

The Messthetics Impress with Their Free-flowing Improvisation and Endless Experimentation

Two ex-Fugazi members are joined by guitarist Anthony Pirog as the Messthetics, and they produce a hellish improvisational etude at their Manchester show.

Music

Extreme Music Fiends ENDON Return with Another Chaotic Offering in 'Boy Meets Girl'

On Boy Meets Girl, Japan's ENDON carry down the same path of aggression tilting towards their hardcore-esque origins.

Music

Brits in Hot Weather #10: Swindle, Team Picture, Sasha, I Cried Wolf + Dirty Nice

In this edition, we have the talents of London-based producer Swindle, the slow-burning new song from Team Picture, minimalist electropop from Sasha, bruising post-hardcore from I Cried Wolf, and a little Christmas ditty from Dirty Nice.

Music

Are Vein Hardcore's Next Big Thing?

Vein's feverish spirit on record is, without question, their unique selling point.

Theatre

The Dusk in Angelica Liddell: The Transgressive Post-Hardcore Theater of 'Esta Breve Tragedia de la Carne'

Spanish avant-garde theater-maker Liddell and veteran metalcore band Converge try to make sense of the brief tragedy of the flesh.

Music

Mob Terror Contemplates All of Us "People" (premiere)

Powerful Philly metal trio Mob Terror gives listeners a taste of new EP, Superstimulus, with "People".

Jedd Beaudoin
Music

Svalbard on the Plight of the "Unpaid Intern" (premiere)

Svalbard turns pen into sword via single from English band's upcoming, It's Hard to Have Hope.

Music

Darkest Hour: Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora

No matter your take on Darkest Hour, the D.C. outfit reminds us that passion is nine-tenths of metal law on its newest effort.

Music

Planes Mistaken For Stars: Prey

Post-hardcore outsiders reconvene to unleash a harsh and harrowing assessment of modern society.

Music

Super Unison: Auto

Poetic justice at once ferocious and dreamy, Auto sees Super Unison as a voice that takes you and grabs your attention.

Music

Balance and Composure: Light We Made

The Pennsylvania post-hardcore band Balance and Composure have changed a bit. Is it a slick and successful movement toward a fresh sound, or is it an awkward stumble?

Music

At Folsom Prison: Every Dream and Every Crisis Means the Rise

Nervousness and talent make the band’s third album a brilliant departure point from which to venture into unknown territories.

Music

Title Fight: Hyperview

Hyperview, the third studio album by the punk outfit Title Fight, finds the band wandering in a more melodious direction, for better or worse.

Music

Ratos de Porão : Século Sinistro

Brazilian thrash veterans Ratos de Porão's first offering in eight years is certainly nothing worth dancing over.

Music

Famous Last Words: Council of the Dead

Famous Last Words is an enjoyable group, but they aren’t going to light the metal world on fire with originality.

Music

Mask the Wretch: Age of Deception

It’s telling that there’s a song here titled "Integrity", and this is something that the band seems to possess in spades.

Music

Boris: Noise

This is probably Boris’ most accessible record to date and the overall feeling is that it has, once again, managed to mould its inspiration while remaining quintessentially "Boris".

Music

The Fascination with Fundamentalism in Hardcore Punk

Some bands echoed the Dead Kennedys' anti-Moral Majority messages; others embodied right-wing religion.

Music

Priests: Bodies and Control and Money and Power EP

The newest EP from these DC punks is heavy on rage and passion, but the notes they hit are all too familiar.

Music

A Minor Forest: Flemish Altruism / Inindependence

A Minor Forest didn’t live long enough to see their craft surpass their inspiration, and for this reason their legacy is safer now than it was 20 years ago.

Music

Memphis May Fire: Unconditional

Despite a tighter focus and compelling theme of faith, Memphis May Fire still wallows in the mediocrity of the faux-hardcore.

Music

Special Request: Hardcore EP

Special Request's (aka Paul Woolford) Hardcore EP, featuring remixes from newcomer Anthony Naples alongside jungle re-constructualist Lee Gamble, varies in tempos and styles, mashing influences together to create a work that will work just as well in the club as it does at home.

Music

Funeral for a Friend: Conduit

Somewhere tonight this record is the soundtrack for a boy sitting alone in his room staring at a photo he snapped of someone looking the other way. A candle drips upon his desk and he drips of angst. Together they smolder in the orange glow of melancholy -- despite fully functional track-lighting.

Music

Wartorn: Iconic Nightmare / Kromosom: Live Forever

Southern Lord kicks of 2013 with two crust-punk LPs that differ very significantly in both methodology and success.

Music

Parkway Drive: Atlas

The Aussies have returned to form after a brief experimental style shift on their previous album, and they've gotten even better as a result.

Music

Nails: Obscene Humanity

Befitting the band's moniker, Nail's new 7-inch is seven minutes of ugly noise hammered home in ear-splitting fashion.

Music

Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind

All We Love We Leave Behind is proof positive that the incandescent flame of Converge's fury is fully under their direct control.

Music

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Lost Songs

It's not difficult to admire ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's tenacity ten years after Source Tags & Codes, but it's still evident that they haven't found their footing since.

Music

Dissident Dissonance: The Rites of Springs Demos

The scrappy demos of Rites of Spring reveal the passion, fury, and profundity of an entire genre recasted and re-imagined.

Music

J. Mascis and Me

But of all the ways J. has ever been there when I needed him, nothing comes close to the song he wrote for me: “Over It” from 2009’s Farm.

Music

Split Cranium: Split Cranium

On the surface, Split Cranium is just one in a tired tradition of crust punk bands, but before tossing this record in the trash, give it another listen. Far from parroting of subgenre clichés, Split Cranium affectionately reinterprets them through an artist's lens.


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