Today marks the final installment of Old School hardcore Thrusdays with the members Umea throwback punks, AC4. Check out parts one and two, if you should so desire. This week, I asked bassist Christoffer Jonsson and guitarist Karl Backman to list off the albums they spent as much time longingly staring at back in the day as much as they did listened to. Top Five Old School HC Album ...

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a new twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors... Blood Bound Books first came to the Metalnomicon's attention via Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead: Dark Tales Inspired by Music -- an exquisitely depraved, cleverly devised anthology which is not only dedicated to the immortal ...

When Call of the Void is not on the road (most recently in support of recently released Dragged Down A Dead End Path), guitarist Patrick Alberts returns to work and, as he describes it, deals with PTSD ("Post Tour Super Depression"). Having never been on tour, I can't identify other than to say that his feelings still probably encapsulate those who endure the daily grind with no tour break in ...

5. Saint Vitus. Crosses galore on the second Vitus logo. Three of them. For the Trinity perhaps. The original SVS logo only had one. Three’s a crowd, we say. But this logo is boss. Looks a bit cheap and overdone at first blush, but the barbed letters? Could be heavy metal cliché. Nope. Crown of thorns symbolism. Crosses that dot the two “I” letters? Could be just crosses. Nope. Candle ...

We got semi-retired punk/metal atavist Stevo do Caixão, currently of Tombstones and formerly of the legendary Impetigo, as well as Axeslasher guitarist/vocalist Professor Pizza, and metal scribe Andy O'Connor -- sadly, that's his real name -- currently of Pitchfork, Metalsucks, and Noisey, among other publications, to break down the upcoming Maryland Deathfest, debunk old myths and create new ...

If you live anywhere near NYC and love extreme music, hopefully you've had a chance to check out Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn. Once you find and step through the black doored entrance, not only does the front bar offer a wide variety of drafts and specials, but the back room hosts some of the best shows the city has to offer (Goatwhore played earlier this week, Nails headlines tomorrow). Once ...

In case you haven't heard, the new Coliseum record—which was one of our Top 20 Most Anticipated Records of 2013—comes out on Tuesday. Our May issue not only has Shane Mehling's review of Sister Faith (spoiler alert: he likes it), but Adrien Begrand's profile of the Louisville trio. In fact, said interview with Ryan Patterson ended up serving as the impetus behind the vocalist/guitarist's ...

Swedish retro thrashers F.K.Ü. -- i.e., Freddy Krueger's Underwear -- cite "80's horror flicks and old copies of Metal Forces magazine" as the band's primary inspiration, and the band has spent over a decade now backing up that claim, encapsulating odes to Maniac Cop, Hellraiser, C.H.U.D., Motel Hell, and a bevy of other seminal horror splatterfests in sonic homages to Exodus, Nuclear Assault, ...

One of my favorite albums so far this year, Woe's Withdrawal, drops on Tuesday. To mark the occasion, guitarist Ben Brand sent along the following playlist that I'm pretty sure only he could adequately describe: "In honor of the transition into Spring, I want you all to start thinking about getting that garden growing. Inch by inch, row by row. Here is a sonic checklist that should turn your ...

We're less than a month out now from the release of Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats' sublime psychedelic doom n' roll tour de force Mind Control, and, lord, does the tranquil-yet-oddly-sinister old school VHS clamshell-esque cover artwork suit the album's messianic death cult lyrical theme and transcendentalist sonic vibe. "The whole album reeks of VHS and low-budget exploitation so I wanted ...