In Flames: Clayman (2000)

I needed something that rocked. Riffs that cut, melodies wrapping you in drama leading to anthemic choruses and killer solos. Normally I’d go with some tried and true 80s thrash, but ever since really falling for their 2023 album Foregone In Flames has entered into the riff rotation. Clayman sits squarely in the overlapping boundaries of the Swedish institution’s two distinct phases: on the one hand are the pocket of albums that helped define the New Wave of Swedish Death Metal sound; on the other is the more processed, streamlined metal the band would continue to refine and tweak for the next quarter of a century. As such, it gets the best of both worlds, and has been a favorite of mine since discovering its sound back in my college days.

ChrisAugust 27, 2025Leave a comment

Megadeth: Endgame (2009)

I guess this is how the story ends, to quote a song title from Endgame, the 12th album from thrash metal legends Megadeth? If true, and the forthcoming album and tour is to be Dave Mustaine’s last (under that moniker, at least), it’s good to see him not only leaving on his own terms, but with a body of work that — while it may include a few stinkers — contains more than enough killer albums to justify calling the “legend” tag and anchor their standing in the Big 4 of Thrash forever. And in Consuming the Tangible fashion, rather than mark the occasion with a bona-fide classic, I wanted to put the spotlight in Endgame, which doesn’t get nearly the praise it deserves as a top-tier Megadeth release.

ChrisAugust 15, 2025August 15, 2025Leave a comment

Torche: Torche (2005)

I’m sure there were other bands purveying the sludge pop vibe before Torche; hell, you could say that Floor, the band founded by Torche’s Steve Brooks and Juan Montoya were already setting the groundwork for what Torche, the eponymous debut would crash out of the gate with. But it was my first dalliance with this kind of heaviness, one sheathed in a sparkling pop veneer, made more striking by the rainbows adorning the molten volcano on the cover art. Things would get even more melodic and catchy on subsequent releases, but I started here in that glorious year where extreme metal became a touchstone for me (again); let let’s take a moment and wrap up the work week with why this works (alliteration for the win).

ChrisAugust 4, 2025August 3, 2025Leave a comment

CD, Vinyl

Neil Young: Live At Massey Hall 1971 (2007)

Immersive sound, incredible songs, hearing an artist work their way through soon to be classics…listening to Neil Young in this context was revelatory the first time I hear Live At Massey Hall 1971 when it was first released. It was the first Neil Young record I ever bought, and the album that made me a fan despite knowing so many of his songs via the osmosis of his omnipresence on radio thoughout the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s. It’s a fragile album of immense power, for me one of the pinnacles of the singer-songwriter experience. Passionate, political, personal…all the “P”s are represented on this classic document.

ChrisApril 16, 20251 Comment

Rush: Snakes & Arrows Live (2008)

As a modern document of a band, the live album has been suffering since the onset of the 21st century. I don’t know if it’s because of streaming, the turn to singles and the growing dismissal of record sales, but it feels like the heyday for new live music (archival releases are a completely different, glorious matter) seems to have passed for most bands. Thank goodness Rush never seemed to care about anything like that. 11 live albums that continuously chart the evolution of their live presence is a huge feat, and you could argue they never put out a bad show, even when touring some less than great albums (looking at you, Presto and Roll the Bones). Snakes & Arrows Live is a great example, showing how their later, hard rock approach meshed nicely with their classic tunes, and how a band then more than 30 years its their career can bring excitement and maturity to songs you’ve heard a hundred time before.

ChrisApril 4, 2025April 4, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Iron Age: The Sleeping Eye (2009)

Where were you in the mid to late 00s? I was living the neo-thrash dream, where bands like Bonded By Blood, Gama Bomb, Warbringer, Evile, and others (anyone remember Rumplestiltin Grinder?) were picking up the torch dropped by the bands that got me into metal back in the 80s and running with it, palm muted chugging riffs and dive-bomb squeals littering the road in their wake. And while some achieved a modicum of success, the vast majority got left behind. I know I had no idea of the existence of Iron Age, an Austin, TX band who released two albums in their short history, but damn if The Sleeping Eye, the band’s 2009 sophomore and final release, reissued by 20 Buck Spin in 2019 doesn’t have the goods in a way no of those other bands did.

ChrisJanuary 21, 2025Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Tag: 2000s