eternal champion
Our 21 Favorite Concerts of 2021
Ah, 2021 — the year live music (mostly) roared back. After 18 months of livestream drudgery, it felt like unicorns dancing on a rainbow every time someone so much as plugged in a guitar. It was a year of “post-vax concert stories,” where every show was a hard-won reunion, a triumphant homecoming, and a victory all at once. Strangest of all, it was the year when we found ourselves getting misty just being able to look out at a crowd, marveling at the gift of singing shoulder-to-shoulder with someone other than our cats. Okay, so we’re still a little sentimental. The point is, in a year when every show was a grand slam of catharsis and joy, it was slightly painful to narrow this list down. But after not getting to do one at all in 2020, we are ecstatic and proud to give you some of the highe...
Blast Rites: November 2020’s Hottest Metal
Welcome to the first edition of Blast rites! Every month, we’ll find the shreddest, the grimmest, the doomiest, the thrashiest, the most wacked out, the most metal metal out there. Hot albums, hot tracks, hot whatever – we only bring the most hellish heat. Eternal Champion — Ravening Iron (No Remorse/Sword Worship) The first thing you hear on Ravening Iron, the second record from Eternal Champion, is vocalist Jason Tarpey banging hammer to anvil, kicking off “A Face in the Glare.” Literal metal on metal. And when he hits that Tom G. Warrior “OOGH!” moments later, part-time play-warriors throw their plastic swords into their Kia Souls and disperse defeated. If you ain’t banging, you ain’t hanging. And you gotta bang or else: Eternal Champion have really tightened up, delivering sharp,...
