Category: Cassette

demoniac - nube negra
Cassette

Demoniac: Nube Negra (2023)

Even if you don’t get the homage to Peter Gabriel based on the cover to Nube Negra, the third full length from Chile’s Demoniac, you’ll feel that sense of restless exploration in the thrash band’s sonic assault. It can be a bit startling to hear where bands now are taking the genre I fell in love with 40 years ago; the music here seemed primed for a younger, more voracious mind. I can barely keep up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t thoroughly enjoy the attempt.

Continue reading “Demoniac: Nube Negra (2023)”
Unknown's avatarChris1 Comment
helms deep - treacherous ways
Cassette

Helms Deep: Treacherous Ways (2023)

Every week in March we’re doing themes (he randomly decided this morning), and this week we’re going with my weirdly growing and evolving cassette collection. Similar to my collection as a kid, it’s largely made up of smaller metal releases, filled with killer cover art and tiny inserts almost impossible to read, often imprinted with color on the cassette itself. I’m not going to advocate for its fidelity or superiority over other formats: the truth is I love the nostalgia it brings, and if I’m ordering something from a band on bandcamp and the price difference isn’t massive, I’d rather spring for physical media when I can. And so we begin with some fantastic trad metal from Florida’s Helms Deep, and their debut Treacherous Ways.

Continue reading “Helms Deep: Treacherous Ways (2023)”
Unknown's avatarChris1 Comment
a picture of the records, CDs, and cassettes I either bought or came in over Labor Day weekend, 2024
Cassette, CD, Miscellany, Vinyl

It Was A Good Haul (Labor Day Edition)

I’m starting to think through what comes next after wrapping up my Flower Kings series (should be done this week), and make sure it doesn’t interfere with the other big series I have coming up – that’s the 11th annual Hooptober marathon over on Letterboxd, where an ever-increasing amount of folks band together over the course of late September into October watching way too many horror films based on a set of strict rules. My list is here, and I expect to summarize my reviews here to make up for the lack of consistent content until the marathon wraps up on Halloween. And so I looked over at my carefully arranged futon at all the vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs that came in and, uh…yeah. I’m pretty well sorted for the next month or so.

Continue reading “It Was A Good Haul (Labor Day Edition)”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
slimelord - chytridiomycosis relinquished
Cassette, Vinyl

Slimelord: Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (2024)

Oh look! Another frenzied, left-of-center 20 Buck Spin release! I kid (or gently chide, as noted in the Civerous review) because, as much as the label may have a “type” (and a “look”) when it comes to their death metal releases, you and I can’t deny that – more often than not – the results are pretty dang spectacular. Case in point: this debut full-length by the wonderfully named Slimelord. Taking the sludgy modern death metal currently in vogue as their foundation, they slather on a whole lot of weirdness throughout Chytridiomycosis Relinquished, and if you thought that title was a mouthful, wait until you get inside the music. This has fast risen up for me as one of the best death metal releases this year, so let’s get into it.

Continue reading “Slimelord: Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (2024)”
Unknown's avatarChris2 Comments
k'mono - return to the e
Cassette

K’mono: Return to the “E” (2021)

Sometimes you settle into grooves with your media. Last May I spent about a month devouring giallo films, absorbing the genre and various auteurs (three cheers for Sergio Martino). In music it feels like the past year or so has been a spiraling descent (or ascent, if you prefer as I do) into progressive rock, something I always enjoyed but recently have grown to identify more deeply with. I recently caught a video review for Mind Out of Mind, the sophomore album from Minneapolis’s prog upstarts K’mono over on Sea of Tranquility, and on the strength of that I checked them out, picking up both that album and Return to the “E”, their debut. We’ll get to the new album next, but since I was scrolling through this site and fondly remembering when I was covering my collection in alphabetical order I figured I’d start here, right at the beginning with a fine debut that hints at the growth they’d achieve on their second release.

Continue reading “K’mono: Return to the “E” (2021)”
Unknown's avatarChris1 Comment
ali helnwein - pterodactyl
Cassette

Ali Helnwein: Pterodactyl (2017)

My first cassette review!  Supposedly this $25 Wikoo portable cassette player has Mega Bass™ and that weird warping noise I heard five minutes into “Side A” of Pterodactyl, the odds and ends compilation from composer Ali Helnwein was part of the charm!  I’m kidding (a little bit); I know there are much better cassette players out there that probably do this tape a lot more justice than my rinky-dink player is, but I can still see the nostalgic charm of the wonderful uniformity of the cassettes, and the music – regardless of media type or file size – is fantastic, a collection of unused film cues and smaller pieces that highlight the whimsical and intimate genius of Helnwein’s music.  Continue reading “Ali Helnwein: Pterodactyl (2017)”

Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment