Jeff Treppel

VIDEO PREMIERE: Carnifex’s “Die Without Hope”

May 14, 2014

Do you like slow motion? How about fire? Then boy, do we have a video for you. The video for the title track of the latest album from up-and-coming deathcore act Carnifex features more slow-mo and flames than a Michael Bay movie, plus sweet riffs and knuckle-cracking breakdowns on the musical side. You might not…

VIDEO PREMIERE: Kataklysm’s “The American Way”

May 13, 2014

Who would’ve thought that, 24 years after it was first released, Sacred Reich’s classic thrash tune about the dissolution of the American dream would still be just as (if not even more) relevant? Cynical people, certainly, and also Canadian death metal evergreens Kataklysm. They included a cover of said song on the special edition of last…

TRACK PREMIERE: Tweak Bird’s “Greens”

May 6, 2014

Tweak Bird aren’t really metal, so let’s get that out of the way right now (although they ARE more metal than last week’s track). Still, it’s hard to imagine that readers of this site aren’t into The Flaming Lips, Meat Puppets, or Melvins, if not all of them. Besides, Failure is in the Hall Of…

LIFE TO FALSE METAL: Watter’s “Small Business”

April 29, 2014

Occasionally, it’s nice to listen to things that can’t be described as “brutal” or “crushing.” On the flipside, who the fuck wants to listen to Modest Mouse? That’s why it’s nice to have bands like Watter as palate cleansers. I’ve had This World on my stereo every night this past week as I went to…

STREAMING: Aurvandil’s “Thrones”

April 22, 2014

Aurvandil play sick folk-influenced black metal. You can listen to our debut of their second screed to the darkness below, and in the meantime, here’s the man himself to explain what’s going on. What’s your writing process like? There are a lot of intricate layers going on in the music and that must be complicated…

TRACK PREMIERE: Bludded Head’s “Rotten Demon Shit”

April 15, 2014

As fun as it is to cover everything Carcass and At the Gates are up to, occasionally it’s nice to shine a light on a truly underground band. Dallas’s Bludded Head definitely fall into that category, scooping out unpleasant sludge with a tendency towards the minimalist. Their misery comes from a real place, too – singer/guitarist…

TRACK PREMIERE: Tusmörke’s “All Is Lost”

April 8, 2014

Tusmörke came out of nowhere (well, Norway) two years ago with a supernaturally good debut album, one that paid homage to Krautrock groups like Amon Düül II and English psych folk like Jethro Tull while investing their retroactivity with an infectious verve. Not metal in the least, obviously, but where else can you find listeners…

STREAMING: Satyress’s “Dark Fortunes”

April 1, 2014

Satyrs are super horny (literally!) goat people. Satyress is the female version of that. Do not do a Google image search of the term unless you want to feel dirty. But if you want some awesome occult doom with an intense vocalist, Satyress the band are your thing. Their debut, Dark Fortunes, contains so many…

TRACK PREMIERE: Raw Power’s “We’re Moving”

March 25, 2014

Raw Power have long been one of the most underappreciated bands of the early crossover movement (I even did a Lazarus Pit on them a few years back). Still going after 30 years of punk fury, their 10th full-length, Tired and Furious, is about to kick everyone’s ass. We have the first track for you,…

Exclusive Sneak Peek at Danny Lilker Biography “Perpetual Conversion”

March 18, 2014

Danny Lilker is a goddamn legend in the metal scene. His long history includes stints in bands as diverse and influential as Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Storm Troopers of Death, and Brutal Truth. Now on the verge of his 50th birthday, he’s announced his retirement from the touring life, and what better to celebrate his accomplishments…

STREAMING: The Wounded Kings’ “Consolamentum”

March 11, 2014

You guys realize that we are in a renaissance for doom metal right now, right? So much excellent heaviness out there. Maybe it’s because everything sucks just like it did back in the 70s. I don’t know, I’m not an historian. I do, however,  know quality when I hear it, especially when it’s as attached…

EXCLUSIVE: Acheron Album Preview/Interview Video

March 4, 2014

Waldo wasn’t a big fan of the new Acheron album, Kult Des Hasses, but he’s a parrot – what does he know? They’ve been doing their death metal thing for 25 years now, and they sound just as putrid as the day they were first spawned. Lots of guest players, lots of Satan, lots of…

TRACK PREMIERE: Vices’ “Wasteland”

February 25, 2014

Hey, finally a band name AND song title combo that describes my managing editor’s life. Vices play hardcore with a blues rock edge, reminiscent of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster before they started to suck. “Wasteland” will make you want to go smash some liquor bottles down by the creek real good. Their debut…

LIVE REVIEW: Failure at the El Rey 2/11/14

February 19, 2014

What a difference 16 years can make; there were probably more people at Failure’s first reunion show than bought their last album, 1997’s Fantastic Planet. The (mostly white male) fans packed into the El Rey Theater in their hometown of Los Angeles last Thursday night, February 11, for an evening with the heavy rock heroes….

TRACK PREMIERE: Prizehog’s “Shed”

February 18, 2014

Prizehog’s fourth album is called Re-Unvent the Whool. That should give you an idea of just how weird these weirdos are. They come from Portland, because of course. Disconnected sludge floating in an abyss of fuzz, “Shed” is a pretty good example of what you’re going to get when you contaminate your turntable with the…

VIDEO PREMIERE: Mantar’s “White Nights”

February 11, 2014

The latest video from Mantar has something for everyone: shirtless dudes, screaming, wolves, epilepsy-triggering editing. It’s also in black and white, just to give it that extra bit of artsy. Musically, they have some Motor-sludge lovin’ blackness going for them as the dynamic duo as they smash through post-metal, doom, and even some screamo. In…

TRACK PREMIERE: Entartung’s “Blasphemaverit in Spiritum Sanctum”

February 7, 2014

You know you’re in for some serious black metal destruction when the waveform is a solid block. Entartung have an unpronounceable name and a penchant for German efficiency, one that they put towards killing your eardrums. They’ve built a pretty impressive temple of evil in Peccata Mortalia, their second album. Most of you are snowed…

TRACK PREMIERE: Omotai’s “Throats of Snakes”

February 4, 2014

I swear that I’m not deliberately scheduling streams this year of bands with names that are either difficult to pronounce or something you wouldn’t want to say out loud, but here we are in February and here I am with a track from a band called Omotai. If you don’t think Kylesa are shouty enough…

STREAMING: Prostitute Disfigurement’s From Crotch to Crown

February 3, 2014

I am not nearly the wordsmith that John Darnielle is, so I will borrow a quote from a post he wrote about the band in question a few years back on his sadly defunct Last Plane to Jakarta blog: INTERLOCUTOR: My grandmother has asked for an excellent new death metal album for her birthday. I…

STREAMING: Fluisteraars’ “Dromers”

January 28, 2014

Continuing the trend of posting streams from bands whose names I can’t pronounce, this week we have a full album stream from Fluisteraars. Apparently it means “the whisperers” in whatever language they speak in the Netherlands. Not a hell of a lot of whispering going on to these ears, but there are definitely some nuances….

TRACK PREMIERE: Nashville Pussy’s “Pillbilly Blues”

January 21, 2014

Finally, a track premiere from a band whose name I can pronounce! It’s not a name I can say in polite company, but, you know, baby steps. Hard to believe these guys have been slinging their unique brand of shitkicker punk for nearly 20 years, but here they are, on full-length number seven and still…

TRACK PREMIERE: Soreption’s “Engineering the Void”

January 14, 2014

I’m pretty sure “Soreption” is a made up word. I think maybe it’s a phonetic transcription of vocalist Fredrik Söderberg’s shrieks. These dudes play seriously gnarly technical death metal to the level where you might need a physics degree just to headbang to it. You can hear them constructing the framework of the abyss as…

TRACK PREMIERE: Waldgeflüster’s “Mit welchen Fesseln”

January 7, 2014

Apparently Waldgeflüster means “Whispering Forest” in German, which isn’t actually an inaccurate description – well, until the black metal part kicks in, and then I guess it’s more of a shrieking forest. The solo project of the dude who calls himself Winterherz, Waldgeflüster weaves together black metal and pastoral neo-folk in an unexpectedly organic way….

New Year’s Metalutions

December 31, 2013

In 2014, I resolve to: Descant the insalubrious. Yoko Ono Chimaira. Stop smashing hammer faces. Train my army of attack hamsters. Look into whether or not goat sacrifice requires a permit. Resist your touch of evil. Follow Darkthrone on tour. Convince Albert to do a Hall Of Fame on Nightwish’s Wishmaster. Transcribe Obituary lyrics. Watch…

In League with Santa: A Metal Holiday Gift Guide

December 17, 2013

If you’re like me, you’re super lazy and wait until the last minute to buy gifts for people. If you have a metalhead in your life, though, it can be difficult to find that perfect present. After all, it just doesn’t seem that clever to get them yet another set of Death reissues. Don’t worry,…

TRACK PREMIERE: Graveborne’s “Tiesi Päähän”

December 10, 2013

Graveborne have clearly studied at least 75% of the albums in our Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time Special Issue. Also, they are from Finland. That should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect when you click the Soundcloud link below. Still, it’s really, really good black metal, the sort…

STREAMING: Immortal Bird’s “Akrasia”

December 3, 2013

As an avowed rodent partisan, I must confess to a certain dislike of our fine feathered friends – or, as I like to call them, sky vermin. And one that lives forever? Parrots already live for over a century; that’s quite long enough already (sorry, Waldo). Despite their questionable name, though, Immortal Bird – the…

This One Clothing Line Will Make All Other Holiday Shopping Redundant (Plus Contest!)

November 26, 2013

Did you ever wish that someone made high quality T-shirts for you, the discerning metalhead, that were not also catnip for douche bags like Affliction? I mean, one can’t wear band shirts ALL the time. Variety is the spice of life, even if that variety only comes within the realm of black T-shirts. Well, Mick…

MEET THE BAND: Yidhra

November 19, 2013

Having been to hundreds of shows in my life, it’s pretty rare at this point that I get blown away by a totally unknown band – but that was exactly the case with Yidhra when I saw them play the Complex in Glendale, CA a few months back. On a great sound system, with Haxan:…

EARTHLESS: “From the Ages” Track-by-Track Breakdown

November 12, 2013

If you haven’t heard Earthless’s From the Ages yet, you are missing out on the best instrumental psych jam album of the year. These guys don’t NEED a vocalist; any singer would just get left behind, abandoned to float off in space forever. The members of the band were kind enough to give a track by…