PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.
Tags
Recent
Music
Mastodon's 'Medium Rarities' Could've Used More Substance
Medium Rarities is the kind of album that will appeal mostly to longtime Mastodon fans.
05 Oct 2020
Music
Post-rock's Coastlands Meditate on Loss, Growth, Change on 'Death' (album stream)
Guitarist Jason Sissoyev speaks about Coastlands' emotionally-charged new LP, a meditation that is heavy in more ways that one. "It pummels you, then there's this release and then it keeps going," he says.
05 Oct 2020
Music
Napalm Death Return With Their Most Vital Album in Decades
Grindcore institution Napalm Death finally reconcile their experimental side with their ultra-harsh roots on Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism.
23 Sep 2020
Music
MetalMatters: August 2020 - Busier Than Usual
In a packed month with 20 great new heavy metal records, Faceless Burial and Necrot stun with their death metal prowess, Jaye Jayle and Steve Von Till break ranks, and Primitive Man gaze further into the abyss.
31 Aug 2020
Music
Twisted Sister's Dee Snider Muses on Live Performance and Music Faves
Speaking on a range of topics, including filmmaking, the future of live music, and his appreciation for artists such as UFO and Thin Lizzy, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider proves game for all topics.
27 Aug 2020
Music
King Buzzo Continues His Reign with 'Gift of Sacrifice'
King Buzzo's collaboration with Mr. Bungle/Fantômas bassist Trevor Dunn expands the sound of Buzz Osborne's solo oeuvre on Gift of Sacrifice.
11 Aug 2020
Music
Between the Buried and Me's Baby Pictures Star in 'The Silent Circus'
The Silent Circus shows Between the Buried and Me developing towards the progressive metal titans they would eventually become.
05 Aug 2020
Music
Titan to Tachyons' Experimental Heaviness on Full Display via "Earth, And Squidless" (premiere)
Featuring current members of Imperial Triumphant, Titan to Tachyons break incredible new ground in the realm of heavy music.
05 Aug 2020
Music
Old Man Gloom Mourns Loss on 'Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning' and 'Seminar IX: Darkness of Being'
A heavy feeling of loss pervades Old Man Gloom's new albums as these songs are a way of coping and documenting grief, as well as commemorating how much Caleb Scofield meant to the band.
04 Aug 2020
Music
MetalMatters: July 2020 - Back on Track
In a busy and exciting month for metal, Boris arrive in rejuvenated fashion, Imperial Triumphant continue to impress with their forward-thinking black metal, and death metal masters Defeated Sanity and Lantern return with a vengeance.
31 Jul 2020
Music
Metal's Imperial Triumphant Discuss 'Alphaville' Their Soundtrack to a Pandemic
On Friday, avant-garde metal band Imperial Triumphant release Alphaville, their best album yet. It may just be the soundtrack to a pandemic, and it's a redefining moment in metal.
29 Jul 2020
Music
MetalMatters: June 2020 - Heavy Tunes Get Us Through the Heatwave
Visit the cold, desolate worlds of Paysage d'Hiver. Experience the boundless experimentation of Neptunian Maximalism. Watch in awe the death metal refactoring of Pyrrhon and so much more.
23 Jul 2020
Music
GOD's 'God IV - Revelation' Is a Towering Feat of Theologically-Tinged Prog Metal (album stream)
GOD's God IV - Revelation is beautiful and brutal in equal measure. It's a masterful series of compositions. Hear it in full today before tomorrow's release.
13 Jul 2020
Music
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.
25 Jun 2020
Music
Exquisite Corpse: Guns N' Roses' 'Use Your Illusion I and II'
If there was a gravestone for MTV-style '80s metal, it would probably be Guns N' Roses' 1991 opus Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.
18 Jun 2020
Music
RidingEasy Records Readies New Brown Acid Comp With the Brood's "The Roach" (premiere)
Brown Acid: The Tenth Trip features some of the most obscure sides on the planet, including this 1969 blues-based ripper that imagines what Motörhead might have sounded like as the house band at a Toledo Holiday Inn.
16 Jun 2020
Music
Nightwish Go in a Folk Direction on Their Double LP 'Human. :||: Nature.'
In the curious case of Nightwish's Human. :||: Nature., the whole is ultimately less compelling than the individual parts it comprises.
19 May 2020
Music
MetalMatters: April 2020 - Notes from the Quarantine
In times of quarantine we listen and we write, so here are 20 extreme (and some experimental) records to spin during these times.
19 May 2020
Music
The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2010
In 2010, the metal world honored the memory of Ronnie James Dio in the coolest possible way: by making it the best year for new music the genre saw in a very long time.
01 May 2020
Music
Hip-Hop/Metal Duo C Trip A Dip into "Thought Streams" (premiere)
The first ever hip-hop/metal crossover from Translation Loss is an exciting joint venture that seamlessly melds two seemingly disparate genres.
29 Apr 2020
Music
Punk and Metal: Frenemies for Life
Worlds collided when punk and metal realized they were opposite sides of the same coin.
27 Apr 2020
Music
MetalMatters: March 2020 - Self Isolation
March's MetalMatters features extreme tunes to get you through difficult times. Hopefully, they will momentarily allow you to escape from this harsh reality.
10 Apr 2020
Music
MetalMatters: February 2020 - Running on All Cylinders
February in heavy music features long-awaited returns from Psychotic Waltz, Envy, and Today Is the Day, along with a healthy dose of black metal and experimental music.
05 Mar 2020
Music
On 'H.A.Q.Q.', Liturgy Craft a Compelling Case for Transcendent Black Metal
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix and his comrades in Liturgy combine ambitiousness, risk-taking and sheer skill into a fresh triumph on H.A.Q.Q.
27 Feb 2020
Music
Frayle Deliver Anthems for the Persecuted Via '1692' (album stream) (premiere)
Living dark may be the best revenge as Cleveland's Frayle suggest on their debut LP. Fans of gothic and black metal will rejoice as will those who love Portishead and Cocteau Twins.
11 Feb 2020
Music
MetalMatters: January 2020 - One Year Anniversary
The new year, and the new decade, kick things off in the most promising way possible as a combination of newcomers and established acts produce amazing works across death, black, metalcore, power and thrash metal.
10 Feb 2020
Music
Music, Drama, and Philosophy with Liturgy's Hunter Hunt-Hendrix
Liturgy founder Hunter Hunt-Hendrix discusses religion, philosophy, history, and music from Johannes Brahms to Waka Flocka Flame.
22 Jan 2020
Music
MetalMatters: December 2019 - The End of the Decade
The last month of the 2010s was defined by an explosion of black metal grimness, modern and retro sprinkled with death metal brutality, caustic hardcore and some historic re-releases.
15 Jan 2020
Music
Poppy Expands Her Musicality and Challenges Genre Conventions on 'I Disagree'
Poppy lays bare a necessary reminder to reject conformity and encircle empowerment. Whereas I Disagree explores what is confining and liberating - the latter is the album's unequivocal focal point.
09 Jan 2020
Music
MetalMatters: November 2019 - Winter Is Coming
Filled with everything from extreme doom/death and progressive death to experimental avant-garde jazz induced visions and screamo dreams, November does not disappoint.
10 Dec 2019
Music
The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2019
For yet another year, metal shows its endless well of creativity through fierce musicianship and ambitious outlook, highlighted through these 20 exquisite records.
27 Nov 2019
Music
Noise Rock's Buildings Urge You to "Sit With It" (premiere)
Minneapolis noise rock band, Buildings return with a new album and a new cut that speaks to the frustrations we face every day. Buildings make boredom sound (almost) fun on "Sit With It".
13 Nov 2019
Music
Sunn O))) Revisit the World of 'Life Metal' with 'Pyroclasts'
The companion piece to Sunn O)))'s masterful Life Metal completes the most organic and minimal chapter in the drone masters' journey.
08 Nov 2019
Music
Wilderun's 'Veil of Imagination' Is a Wonderfully Chameleonic Progressive Metal Adventure (album stream) (premiere)
Boston's Wilderun construct an epic combination of folk, classical, metal, and progressive rock on their third LP, Veil of Imagination. Hear it in full before it's release tomorrow.
31 Oct 2019
Music
Alcest Deliver Exceptional Blackgaze Catharsis on 'Spiritual Instinct'
Everything that fans could want—and everything that makes blackgaze stand out—is contained within Alcest's Spiritual Instinct.
24 Oct 2019
Music
MetalMatters: October 2019 - What's That Noise?
October is dominated by heavyweight returns from noise rock pioneers Swans and Lightning Bolt, while also filled with the black metal bleakness of Blut Aus Nord and the Great Old Ones, while Vastum continue 20 Buck Spin's death metal master class streak.
22 Oct 2019
Reviews
Features
PM Picks
© 1999-2020 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated.