Author Archives: Brandon Corsair

It’s tough to understate the importance that The Lord Weird Slough Feg (shortened for most of the article, and much of the band’s career, as just Slough Feg) has had on my life musically. Back in my freshman year of college, they personally got me into heavy metal; I was coming off a high school length obsession withContinue reading “The Lord Weird Slough Feg’s Fiery Debut Turns 25 (Interview with Mike Scalzi)”

One of the most exciting recent bands for me that I’ve had the chance to watch grow since day one has been England’s Heavy Sentence. I grabbed the original Protector / Darkest Hour 7″ as a blind buy on a friend’s recommendation and fell in love; melodic leads, gruff vocals, and swaggering riffs combined well toContinue reading “Entering the Underground #8: Heavy Sentence Nails Classic Heavy Metal “Bang to Rights””

Cirith Ungol’s 2015 reformation was one of the least-likely in underground metal history. The band broke up in 1992 so explosively and with so much internal despair that Rob Garven, the band’s drummer, famously announced that he would never again touch another kit, and vocalist Tim Baker would step back from singing seemingly forever. TheContinue reading “Cirith Ungol’s Monstrous Heavy Metal Is Eternally “Half Past Human” (Interview)”

Though Entierro have been around for some ten years now (some of it as Treebeard earlier on), I’d never heard of them until I was told about a cool new heavy metal short-length with Victor Arduini (Arduini/Balich, ex-Fates Warning) coming out in a few weeks. Almost everything Victor has done has been nothing short of gold, particularlyContinue reading ““El Camazotz”: Entierro’s Doom-Tinged Heavy Metal Takes Wing in the Night (Interview)”

Formed originally in Chicago in 1997, Cardiac Arrest have been terrifying audiences since before half of the current wave of death metal bands were alive, always as stalwartly untrendy as they were fierce and uncompromising. Haven for the Insane in particular should appeal to fans of Autopsy, Funebrarum, Impetigo, and Master.Listen here: BANDCAMPBuy here: NGRContinue reading “OUT NOW! Cardiac Arrest’s Haven for the Insane is available for the first time on vinyl!”

Many of the roots of Japanese death metal go back to one man: Takashi Tanaka. Instrumental both to the legendary Transgressor and involved with cult death/thrashers Necrophile, Takashi has been making extreme music since the tail end of the 1980s. With hours of music between his various bands since then, it’s clear that his loveContinue reading “Anatomia’s Devastating Legacy Inflicts “Corporeal Torment” (Interview)”

Few individuals are as important to the history of Greek black metal as Jim Mutilator and The Magus. Jim was on bass and lyrics duty for all Rotting Christ material through Triarchy of the Lost Lovers, and did bass, songwriting, and lyrics for Varathron through His Majesty at the Swamp. The Magus (George Zacharopoulos) hasContinue reading “Entering the Underground #7: Yoth Iria Wields Hellenic Black Metal Might”

Formed at the onset of popularity of the retro thrash movement in 2005, Nekromantheon have largely outlasted and outperformed all of the bands that were their peers through the rise and fall of thrash revivalism. Targeting from the start the deeper underground and always avoiding the party-heavy themes and aesthetic that plagued their contemporaries, NekromantheonContinue reading “Visions of Trismegistos – An Interview with Nekromantheon”

Death metal has changed quite a bit since the birth of the genre. Every aspect of sonic extremity that could be conceived has been pushed, be that the tempo, production, level of consonance (what’s usually called “harmony”), chromaticism, vocals, and everything in between. Formed in 1987 in California, Autopsy have seen all of that evolutionContinue reading “The Brain-Erasing Legacy of Autopsy’s Mental Funeral (Retrospective + Interview with Chris Reifert)”

There are few genres more inherently focused on the underground than the niche fusion of black/thrash metal. A special handful of bands have managed to get on and stay on big labels- particularly classic ones like Desaster, who have a new album coming later this year on Metal Blade- but for most of them, aContinue reading “Cloaked in Night: Must-Listen Black/Thrash Rippers From 2021’s First Quarter”