Dominic Sanderson: Blazing Revelations (2025)
I love it when a band or artist stretches just a little bit further than what the majority of listeners expect when they come to an album. Dominic Sanderson is in his mid-20s, and while his brand of analog progressive rock has some of the usual touchstones, I can hear more avant-garde leanings, taking bits of Van der Graaf Generator and swirling them around with the more modern vibes of The Tangent on Blazing Revelations, his sophomore album released earlier this year. It’s an incredible album, growly and thick and heavy with jamming, yet still tied to intricate arrangements and structure. Plus, flute…so you know it’s got a little of that angular Tull riffing.
Continue reading “Dominic Sanderson: Blazing Revelations (2025)”
The 9C Files: Mean Mistreater’s Do Or Die
There’s an alternate reality, a shadow world if you will, where Mean Mistreater, the Austin, TX metal upstarts came out in the late 80s, and after months of hard work delivered their sophomore album Do or Die to the label. The response from some cigar-chomping exec with dollar signs in his eyes (I’m thinking specifically of this image) would leer and hand them a dictionary-sized pile of notes, probably starting with things like “the drums are too busy”, “why is it so fast?” and – perhaps most horrifying – “can you make it more, you know…sexy?” Thank god we don’t live in that shadow world, and thank god Mean Mistreater are here not changing a damn thing from their fantastic debut, giving us a ripping storm of a heavy metal record, all bite to accompany its massive bark.
Continue reading “The 9C Files: Mean Mistreater’s Do Or Die“
(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 81: Sanity Check
I’m burning myself out. I think the stress of work, my only child being away in college and the attendant stress with that, along with the self-imposed commitment to get a 2025 review in every day was just too much this time, and I found myself not enjoying the process like I did last year. These next few days the plan is just to relax and let the music just be music, not a box to check off or a pile in my office to shrink. So I’m going to move a little slower, a little more deliberately. I don’t want to one of those people who want to write but all they ever write about is the fact that they’re not writing; I’m doing this for myself, and I find the best way through is just to keep writing. Which hey: I just did.
This week is a very random suite of stuff that’s ben keeping my head and heart afloat this week.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 81: Sanity Check”
Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (2025)
It’s raining, and the camera tracks in toward the window of a yellow school bus. A young child, dripping wet, stares wistfully out the window at something. Cut to an over-the-shoulder shot as we see what the boy is staring at. It’s blurry due to the camera’s focus on the window, but that shifts to outside. We see a young girl twirling in the rain, her head tilted toward the sky, smiling as the teachers run in slow motion to usher her to the bus. What? Oh, something from Sharp Pins. Anything from the Radio DDR album that came out a few months back. Yeah, that one. Just use that in place of any sound…
Continue reading “Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (2025)”
Ashenheart: Tales From Eternal Dusk (2025)
From a purely sonic perspective, cassette might be the ideal format for black metal. I started with CDs, dabbled a bit in vinyl for my favorite bands in the genre, but lately I’ve been grabbing cassettes from Bandcamp (usually from the excellent Fiadh Productions), connecting the threads of collaborations until I found Ashenheart and their latest, Tales From Eternal Dusk. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect: had I discovered them earlier, I might have been turned off by their former adherence to FromSoftware video games for their thematic inspiration. But when the band channels second-wave energy with a more modern, intentional spirit this well, I guess you can lay your Bloodborne fanfic on heavy as you please.
Continue reading “Ashenheart: Tales From Eternal Dusk (2025)”
The 9C Files: Cradle Of Filth’s The Screaming of the Valkyries
At this point what do you even call Cradle of Filth? If you’re one of those black metal purists who will only listen to necro-fi recordings recorded in a forest with a tattered extension cord stealing electrical currents from the parents of one-man band bedrooms1you probably shrugged the band off ages ago. Even fans of the band’s symphonic gothic black metal melange probably had a hard time somewhere around the time of their leap to Sony for Damnation and a Day and Roadrunner for Nymphetamine and its followups. Whatever your hangup, I’m here to tell you that for the last 10 years Dani Filth and Co. have been bringing the unrighteous metal might, and The Screaming of the Valkyries continues the trend of being distinctly CoF even as it consumes more thrash and melodic influences. Come live deliciously with me below the jump.
Continue reading “The 9C Files: Cradle Of Filth’s The Screaming of the Valkyries“
Consuming the Tangible 