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…

If you spend enough time on the Internet you begin to think that most readers visit sites just to stir the proverbial shit pot. But occasionally the Web will serve up something so delightful and unexpected that it validates the whole premise of connecting the world and equipping the population with tools to allow them…

If you were to ask us what the acronym S.O.D.O.M. means, we’d have to be honest with you. We don’t know. Storm of Death of Metal? If Sodom were Czech, it might work. Sacrifice of Dead on Mars? Maybe Giorgio Tsoukalos were involved in the song’s conception, then we’d give it a 86.5% match. Or,…

The best high school house party of all time disguised as an experimental rock band, Helms Alee is trying to Kickstart funds so they can record, package and self-release their third album, Sleepwalking Sailors. But the ladies and dude are coming at it from a different angle — they’re selling you the pre-sale of their…

As you can tell from the giant picture there, our very own J Bennett has a band (he’s the one that isn’t wearing a dress)– along with drummer Kelly Johnston and Black Math Horseman’s Sera Timms – and they’re pretty awesome. Hell, Ghost picked them to be their sole opener on their current North American…

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…

The following home-shot recordings of cult Italian metal champs Dark Quarterer should serve as a how-to for any bands, young or old, who want to marry metal’s appetite for epic derring-do and mysticism with a resolutely blue collar work ethic and run with it. You see, epic metal just doesn’t magic itself epic after a…

I’m trying to put a finger on The Formulas of Death, but I can’t. Was the intention to make an album that’s hard to fit into one easy category?Adam Zaars: No, that wasn’t the intention, but I’m not surprised to hear the question. The intention was just to create flowing music. It would have been…

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… In her exquisitely rendered, frequently disquieting, always edifying new book House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films well-respected critic, festival programmer and King Diamond…

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…