Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power (2025)

I can remember Deafheaven in Decibel Magazine way back when their debut Roads To Judah came out in 2011. It was solid, but at the time I had other musical preoccupations so dropped it. Then Sunbather came out and everyone lost their goddamn minds. And with good reason: that cover, the wall of sound that would sprout a literal army of imitators, none of whom could touch the band and only weaken the subgenre to the point where we’re all kind of sick of it. Since then the band have been both expanding and contracting their sound, drilling into their blueprint, blowing it up, and then reassembling it again, all to varying results. But those results were necessary, because after too many listens to count Lonely People With Power might be the band’s best, most honest album in their career. It’s certainly one of the best metal album in 2025, so time to do that thing when I figure out why I think that way.

ChrisJune 2, 2025June 1, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Carcass: Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)

On the last Bandcamp Friday Earache Records heavily discounted their vinyl stock, and the carrion call of Carcass was simply too alluring to ignore (as was the alliteration in that sentence). I’m a fan of every era of the band, but the pronounced slide into technical death metal on Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious has always been a personal favorite. With the addition of Michael Amott on second guitar the band retained their grimy, rough edges which elevating their riffs and songwriting to something that wouldn’t be out of place on a Death record. It’s the perfect bridge between their earlier, grind-heavy sound and the pristine shine that would come one album later.

ChrisMay 23, 2025May 23, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Kal-El: Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (2025)

The Norwegians have practically cornered the market when it comes to modern progressive rock, so why not desert/stoner rock as well? Kal-El has in just over a decade carved out a very nice discography of hard, anthemic rock that straddles stoner metal, doom, desert rock, and even some subtle shades of psychedelia. Full length number six Astral Voyager Vol. 1 wraps the band’s vibe in a grand science fiction concept as well as some killer album art, with Vol. 2 promised for later in the year. This is my second release from Blues Funeral Recording’s PostWax Unlimited series, and a welcome surprise that has me eager to dig deeper into the band.

ChrisMay 21, 2025Leave a comment

Dead Brain Cells: Universe (1989)

Sometimes you hear something – usually at a certain age – and it becomes the cornerstone of how you define something. Whenever I thought about my favorite kind of metal music, I always thought musically of Universe, the sophomore and final album by Canadian technical thrash band Dead Brain Cells, more commonly referred to as DBC. It was that aggressive, intricate and twisted guitar work that recalled a more diabolical Fates Warning, and even if my brain wasn’t focused on a particular song, it was focused on the overall vibe, the execution. This, my brain would say to no one in particular, was how I conceived of metal.

ChrisMarch 27, 2025March 27, 20251 Comment

Cassette

Satan: Suspended Sentence (1987)

Everything about Suspended Sentence, the sophomore album from the UK NWOBHM pioneers Satan is a little rougher than their stellar debut four years earlier. The artwork feels a little rushed, the logo almost an afterthought. The production sounds muted, compressed and thin in sections, maybe overcompensating for songs that didn’t quite catch the fire Court In The Act did. And perhaps the most glaring change if you’re a fan: Brian Ross is missing on vocals, replaced for this one album by Michael Jackson (not “that” Michael Jackson) of Pariah. It overall makes for a more rough and tumble album, but though it doesn’t come up for listens that often, I still find moments of excitement in the way Satan build out their riffs and songs, so to kick off 80s metal week and close out March 2025 let’s dig in and see what’s behind the bones.

ChrisMarch 25, 2025March 25, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Nite: Cult Of The Serpent Sun (2025)

Only three months into the new year and traditional heavy metal is having one hell of a banner year. First there was Century in January bringing us their debut Sign of the Storm; in February came the streetwise and ripping Mean Mistreater with their second album Do Or Die. And now in March we have the big one: the furious blackened rock and roll heavy metal swagger of San Francisco’s Nite returning with album #3. Cult of the Serpent Sun embraces the spirit of denim and leather, of the NWOBHM and makes sure to inject some lethal dark majesty in its riffs and lyrics, taking the “heavy” part of heavy metal to its zenith. Goddamn do I love this album…

ChrisMarch 19, 2025March 18, 20252 Comments

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Tag: metal

Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power (2025)

Carcass: Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)

Kal-El: Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (2025)

Dead Brain Cells: Universe (1989)

Satan: Suspended Sentence (1987)

Nite: Cult Of The Serpent Sun (2025)