Author John Skibeat
My first taste of Australian progressive technicians Caligula’s Horse comes as quite a shock. Having sampled the delights of Skyharbor & Alaya at recent UK TechFests and been blown away by each one’s recorded output, I see it as an… Continue Reading →
Instrumental metal isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea but it’s most certainly a genre that lends itself to emotional abandonment. And with post-metal burgeoning, it seems everyone’s at it these days. Another for the melting pot, Greek three-piece Arrakis formed… Continue Reading →
For a large proportion of fans, Man The Machetes are a band that require deep consideration before you attempt to tackle their music. Q: Do you mind if there’s not a jot of the Queen’s English in your lyrics? Q:… Continue Reading →
Hailing from Wilmington, North Carolina, here is a story of two buddies, one a drummer from Thunderlip!, one a frontman and guitarist for ASG, never quite being able to make time to write and perform together. Wildlights (formerly known as… Continue Reading →
For their second stab at a long-player, Indiana’s Yellowtooth have decided to get heavy. With Year Of Desolation’s John Hehman twiddling the knobs, together they’ve produced an eminently raw-sounding recording and with it a whole world of pain. Yep, the… Continue Reading →
Someone wiser than me once said “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. Ignoring such wise council, I find myself pre-judging the latest disc to land on my disc. Robert Høyem, who has also created art for bands like… Continue Reading →
Album number two from Swedish occult dark rockers, Year Of The Goat, comes with heaps of their usual melodrama plus a subtle blend of multiple genres. Each one is shot through with their own stylized affectations woven into more recognisable… Continue Reading →
Hailing from the American heartlands yet taking their name for the Swedish for “the water is whispering”, Vattnet Viskar have always been an innovative, multi-faceted band. On the one hand, their clear first love is for the more familial strains… Continue Reading →
One band who undeniably create a weighty wall-of-sound, an earthy noise that explodes from fathoms below the surface, is High On Fire – they never were a band for the faint-hearted. Embedded into the driving whirlwind that is Des Kensel’s… Continue Reading →
Everyone has gaps in their collections. Mine happens to be industrial and synthetic rock. Anzi (which even Last.Fm struggles to locate) nicely fills that gap, so my points of reference here are inevitably going to be bands like Rammstein, Ministry… Continue Reading →
Self-releasing all but one of their first five releases, these fly-by-wire monsters from Ohio are a bit of a rare find. With few having heard their suffocating wall-of-death sound before, it’s a delight to finally wrap ears around it. Well,… Continue Reading →
With Secrets Of The Sky’s sophomore effort they really have thrown caution to the wind, tweaking their delivery and content to fully realise an album with one continuous, free-flowing storyline. It picks up from the very point where their scintillating… Continue Reading →