Mike IX Williams, Eyehategod’s multitalented vocalist, is no stranger to extracurricular activities (and we’re talking the purely legal ones here, folks). He’s a published author and poet (check out his book Cancer As A Social Activity if you get a chance); sings with a side outfit Arson Anthem and also released a spoken word seven-inch…

Not much is known about Liverpool’s Conan. No, this isn’t the same Conan you see on late night TV or the same fictional king(s) Conan/Kalidor who bedded Sandahl Bergman and Brigitte Nielsen in the early ’80s, but rather this Conan is a UK-based doom metal trio who’ve kept their mouths shut by employing Internet stealth…

So, for the record we don’t in any way endorse actual drinking and driving. That’s just stupid. However, the geniuses at Dream Arcades have invented a machine that we heartily endorse getting wrecked while using. It has been our experience that the addition of beer to most things makes them better. Except driving. Did we…

After a fourteen year hiatus from writing and recording new music — not to mention the permanent break with longtime vocalist Udo Dirkschneider — fans had some cause to be skeptical of Accept‘s 2010 return. Blood of the Nations, however, proved to be a shockingly impressive comeback record — not just a resurrection but a…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we contract a severe case of…

Once Second Wave titans Emperor were done scorching the earth with black metal, Ihsahn wasn’t slow in scaling the genre’s perimeter fence, and high-tailing it in search of a fresh sound that rested far from the genre’s weirdly orthodox iconoclasm. Progressive metal was a neat fit, a suitably abstract direction to define his sound as…

I’ve never been on tour, but I’d imagine that being couped up in a car/van/bus with the same people for hours on end necessitates certain accoutrements. One of the most basic and relevant for our purposes, of course, is the car stereo. The AUX jack may put your entire library at your fingertips, but just…

Any time we receive a note promising music that “marries traditional coal mining songs with harsh, expansive black metal” we’re intrigued. And Panopticon’s “Kentucky” is sort of the metal equivalent of a William Faulkner novel: dense, multifacted but also soulful. The album, due in June from Handmade Birds/Pagan Flames, touches on the difficulty and despair…

Most of the Deci-faithful haven’t heard of prog wizards Mörglbl, but I’m sure there are a few who know guitar maniac Christophe Godin, who’s somewhere between legends Allan Holdsworth, Mattias Eklundh (of the underrated Freak Kitchen) or Steve Vai. Or, somewhere between the groove-thrash of Pantera, the zaniness of Primus, and Holdsworth’s fusion genius. Sans…

Seattle’s brutalest, techiest, deathgrindiest band in Seattle is going on tour. Theories (feat. members of Samothrace, Skarp and Scourge Schematic) is ravaging the west as they head to and from Chaos in Tejas, creating fans from whatever audience members don’t thrash themselves to death. They start in Seattle with a set opening for demi-gods Nasum…