Back in 2012, Mehdi Safa, the man behind shelsmusic, was kind enough to talk to us in detail about his label (you can read that here and here). Six months later, we interviewed Astrohenge, one of my favorite discoveries of 2012. So when we heard this week that shelsmusic had signed the London quartet, we…

Many of our readers are aspiring musicians or already recording and touring. But the music business is a dicey proposition in today’s world: record royalties are a rarity, and touring is necessary if you want to make a living. How can you be a metal musician and not wreck your adult life in the process?…

Well, Portland, Oregon sludge stalwarts Stoneburner certainly didn’t rest on any laurels following the release of excellent 2012 offering Sickness Will Pass: the band’s follow-up, Life Drawing — debuted in its entirety below — raises the bar in every possible way…and throws a few sonic curveballs in as well. So dive on into the sludge,…

Late last year I finally came around to Portland (by way of Rhode Island) duo The Body, whose album Christs, Redeemers won me over. Yes, it followed the same direction as the lauded All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood, but it felt more refined, more powerful. However, the prolific duo of Chip…

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…

It is an absolute honor and privilege to present “Salted Crypt,” your first taste of the long-awaited return of one of the greatest extreme music outfits of our time, Trap Them.

Indianapolis’ Coffinworm are essential listening for those who like their extreme metal to open up wide and drown any extant optimism in a genre non-specific swamp of sunken riffs and black metal noise ‘n’ hiss. 2010’s debut LP When All Became None was a loose-limbed doom record that was too anxious and fidgety to plant…

When it comes to describing Sons of Huns’ music we’re at a bit of a loss. Nektar mixed with Black Sabbath mixed with Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica? Steamhammer mixed with Sleep mixed with Ace of Spades-era Motörhead? Sure, any and all of it. The Portland trio’s style also picks up heavy influence from ’70s sci-fi,…

Check out a raging slab of unadulterated, all-star straight-edge hardcore off the upcoming EP A Place Beyond from Boston’s Test of Time below — the precursor to a much-anticipated July full-length release By Design. “Having been involved in the hardcore scene for about fifteen years each,’Timeline’ is a reflection about the feelings that originally draw…

** When we premiered “The Perennial Link” (HERE) off Morbus Chron’s new album, Sweven, we were pretty bummed. Not about the song–the song is basically untouchable–but that we didn’t get the opportunity to stream more, like the entire album. If you’re wondering why there’s so much chatter about Sweven, well, it’s an incredible entry into…