I’ve been listening to metal for over 20 years now. From first hearing “One” by Metallica on the radio to my cousin introducing me to Overkill and Sepultura to the obsessive internet digging to find the next undiscovered underground gem – it’s been quite the journey. Recently, I’ve noticed that the 20th anniversaries of several…

I have thought about this often and watching this presentation only confirmed that, as metalheads, I think many of us might be naturally predisposed towards pessimism (I’m fairly optimistic when it comes to my own personal trajectory, but not when it comes to our collective future). Our choice of music expresses the ills of the…

As the dreaded Judge Dredd, I have to admit that I did a pretty poor job of keeping up with the Metal world this year – especially in the last few months of the year. Despite this unpardonable sin, 2014 was a pretty amazing year for me.  I spent the first 8 months finishing up…

Like any other Metal Nerd, I have watched countless documentaries, read tons of articles and interviews, and looked at tons of photography concerning Metal’s history, fanbase, and of course, the music and bands.  What I still find interesting after all of these years of Metal Nerdom is how much more unconsciously critical I am of work…

On a personal note, this was probably one of the best years of my life.  I spent the first half finishing up a year teaching English abroad in Santiago, Chile.  Then I spent a great summer home with my family and friends.  Finally, in August, I came to South Korea to teach English for an…

Sadly, none of us hosts the Malicious Intent radio show any longer (I haven’t for well over a year and a half while Mark of the Beast and Wulf haven’t for about a year, I think).  In lieu of an ACTUAL radio show that we host, we have a Facebook page on which we’ll post…

As any casual listener can infer, Metal bands often take themselves very seriously.  Even as an avid Metal listener and musician for the last 15 years, I’ve often felt the same way.  One of the first images that comes to mind when thinking of overly serious Metal musicians is the now infamous clip from Gaahl’s (of Gorgoroth) interview…

Noisey, a sub-site of the uber-hipster king of irony, Vice Magazine, recently completed a surprisingly unironic video interview trilogy entitled “One Man Metal”.  These videos focus on three “One Man” Black Metal projects:  Leviathan, Xasthur, and Striborg.  I was a little skeptical at first, but the interviewer seems like a veteran metalhead.  In fact, to…

(photo credited to Hindustan Times) Salon.com recently posted (OK, it was a whiiiiile ago) an article about Metal fandom in the tech-world of India.  Unfortunately, the author, Jason Overdorf, follows some of the same mistakes made by other media sources with limited knowledge of the genre (Dire Straits?  Metal?  HAHAHA).  Nonetheless, it is still a good read.  The author…

While I was well immersed into the world of underground Metal by 2000, I was still naïve and impressionable in terms of my metal tastes.  I obsessed over sub-standard bands like Deeds of Flesh or Thyrfing.  I thought Vinnie Paul was one of the best drummers in Metal.  I thought “Re-Load” wasn’t THAT bad of…

I had a laugh recently when The Dillinger Escape Plan posted a note dating back to a gig in 2008 on their Facebook page.  The note was passed to them by the management of a venue and it reads, “If they dive in the crowd with guitars or climb the truss or get anyone else…

(Warning: gratuitous pseudo-intellectual masturbation) Something Corey Taylor of Slipknot (ugh…I know, but bear with me) said during one of those lame-o history of metal shows on VH1 struck my fancy.  He said, “Metal is probably the last bastion of real rebellion, real masculinity…real, real men basically getting together and beating their chest.”  If you ignore…

I think the latter half of this year is shaping up to be the better half of 2012 in terms of new metal releases.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, sludge/noise supergroup Old Man Gloom (featuring members of Cave In, Converge, and ISIS) reconvened earlier this year to play a string of shows in…

Seasoned and well-respected metal writer Kim Kelly recently wrote an article for NPR.  The scene is set at Maryland Death Fest while she muses on stereotypes regarding metalheads and also the way in which American Metal is differentiated from that of Europe, etc.  It’s a good read! You can check it out here.

Being that Metal is an international phenomenon that transcends race, class, gender, culture and everything else*, one might think it difficult to really pinpoint common characteristics amongst its brethren.  However, there is one element that I have found to be not quite universal, but surprisingly common, is how fucking NICE everyone is. I couldn’t recover…

It’s time to rant, and as a note, a rant deserves to be unrevised and unedited to reflect its immediacy. I’m not sure if anyone else feels the same way I do, but to me, one of the most maddening aspects of being a fan of heavy music is the fact that I am (not…

I know, I know. I have been missing in action for the past couple of months or so. It’s not you, it’s me. Just the normal stuff: contemplating the eternal void, crushing posers, and conducting Satanic sacrificial rites. You would be surprised how much time all of that takes up! In the meantime, I have…

While meandering around on YouTube watching Wolves in the Throne Room interviews, I came upon what I believe to be representative of the unattainable “kvlt beyond kvlt”. Seeing and hearing is believing: Apparently, they’re called Goats int Throne Room (sic) and they are an actual band as evidenced by this concert footage: So trve. So…

My friend once told me that he met someone at a show who only listens to Death Metal, but not just that-he only listens to Death Metal that MAKES him feel dead. Depending on how you feel about that will probably indicate how you feel about this statement: I consider myself an open-minded metalhead. In…

The definition of “underrated” is one that is hard to grasp if you don’t have a pre-determined scale that you’re utilizing. In my opinion, the few albums I’ve listed here were unique for their time (and still are), and may have even been highly lauded when they first came out, but I feel like they…

We go to see bands live for a variety of reasons. We go see bands for the music (obviously), the musicianship, and sometimes just to have a raunchy time. Some of the following bands are bands I don’t always listen to in my free time, but I sure as hell see them live whenever they…

Since its advent, one indelible element in metal has always been the musicians’ use (and abuse) of substances. Whether it be Electric Wizard’s or Sleep’s (and essentially the rest of the stoner metal/rock genre) non-stop smoke-a-thon, Iron Maiden’s legendary Herculean drinking, Sigh’s use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, or EyeHateGod’s use of…well, everything. As legendary comedian, Bill…

I think we can all agree that there are a plethora of utterly ridiculous names for metal bands: Fuck…I’m Dead, Goblin Cock, Cock and Ball Torture, Anal Cunt (R.I.P. Seth Putnam), Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation, and Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ just to name a few. Hell, there is even a Turkish band called …Aaaarrghh……

Overall, I unfortunately don’t think this was a very strong year for metal when considering how colossal the last few years of the decade have been as far as supplying great and innovative releases. However, there is certainly hope with a number of bands releasing their debuts. Some of these debuts made my top ten…

With the release of their newest album, “Paracletus” (“Comforter” or “Holy Spirit” in Greek), Deathspell Omega has completed it’s unholy trilogy of Satanic spiritual awakening which includes albums “Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice” (“If you seek his monument, look around you” in Latin) and “Fas-Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum” (“By Divine Law, go you Cursed, into…

I’ve never portrayed myself as a soothsayer, nor even as a Nostradamus impersonator, but I feel as though I have somewhat of a good prediction of what the next “big thing” in metal will be. That “next big thing” is going to be Post-Death Metal and I will tell you why. For years we have…

Arguably, one element of the heavy metal subculture that has allowed it to not only survive but to thrive (albeit, with some droughts) during the several decades it has been in existence is the culture of alienation that exists within it. With some exceptions, there has been little that has changed concerning the social norms…