Extreme Metal
Mining Metal: An Abstract Illusion, Barn, Floating, Lunar Spells, Mamaleek, Miscreance, Toadeater, and Toughness
As the first summer this decade that felt like a true summer winds down, metalheads rejoice as the seasons turn in our favor. We trade in our black cutoff death metal shirts for black long-sleeved death metal shirts, battle jackets give way to actual jackets (denim and patch-filled, of course), cut-off cargos transform into jeans while combat boots…actually, who knows what metalheads wear to shows these days, though Dave Mustaine is hopefully still kicking about in his Nike Air Tech Challenge IIs. The point is, temperatures will start dropping throughout most of the world soon, and inside those cold weather months is peak metal mise-en-scene. The black metal that champions either Scandanavian pastures or American fauna usually comes with a wintery tone, though that’s not to say that fall d...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself and has a new single, “Last Love,” with Upon Wings. The latest edition of Beyond the Boys’ Club features an interview with Alissa White-Gluz of the band Arch Enemy. Arch Enemy have built a strong name for themselves in the realm of extreme metal, and fans waited with great anticipation for the band’s latest full-length effort, Deceivers, the group’s first album in five years. The set dropped August 12th via Century Media Records, marking the 11th studio release from the veteran metal act. Lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz has be...
Psycho Las Vegas 2022 Invades Sin City with Mercyful Fate, Emperor, and More: Recap + Photos
With a new and larger venue at Resorts World, the 2022 edition of the Psycho Las Vegas festival took place this past weekend, serving up its most diverse lineup yet. The six stages offered something for everyone, and despite a few last-minute scheduling changes the festival once again went off without a hitch. The festivities unofficially kicked off on Thursday (August 18th) with the annual Psycho Swim party, which brought many to the pool area to soak up the sun (and the beer) while watching Uniform, Starcrawler, Death Chant, Bridge City Sinners, Elders, and Eyehategod, before Midnight closed out the evening with one of their heaviest and most frantic sets in recent memory. The festival got its official start on Friday (August 19th) and highlights throughout the day included Devil Master,...
R.I.P. Trevor Strnad, The Black Dahlia Murder Frontman Dead at 41
Trevor Strnad, frontman for The Black Dahlia Murder, has died at age 41. While a cause of death was not given, the band shared the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in announcing his passing on its social sites. Strnad founded the melodic death metal group in 2001 in Michigan, and remained its frontman until his passing. Over the course of 20 years, the band gained a large following and earned acclaim in metal circles with nine studio albums. Their most recent full-length release was 2020’s Verminous. On Instagram, the band announced Strnad’s passing with the following statement: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Trevor Scott Strnad. Beloved son, brother, and Shepard of good times, he was loved by all that met him. A walking encyclopedia of all thin...
Avatar Announce Summer 2022 North American Tour
Swedish heavy metal band Avatar have announced a Summer 2022 North American tour with Light the Torch and Otep. The outing launches on July 6th in Toronto and runs through the end of July, wrapping up with a July 31st date in Tucson, Arizona. Pre-sale tickets are available beginning Wednesday and Thursday (use code ROADIE), with the standard on-sale set for Friday (April 29th) at 10 a.m. local time. Get tickets via Ticketmaster. Advertisement Related Video “They don’t let us out much while we make our albums, so this summer will most likely turn out very dangerous for everyone involved,” remarked Avatar in a press release. “For all the tours we’ve done in North America, we have spent very little time there in the summer. Surely this must have led to a lot of unnecessary suffering that we a...
Without Randy Blythe, Lamb of God Perform with Singers of Chimaira, Trivium, and In Flames: Watch
As reported yesterday, Randy Blythe tested positive for COVID-19, leading Lamb of God to announce that Chimaira singer Mark Hunter and a “few friends” would handle vocals for the band at Tuesday night’s show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Those “few friends” included Matt Heafy and Anders Fridén of support acts Trivium and In Flames, respectively. Blythe contracted COVID after just six shows on Lamb of God’s co-headlining “Metal Tour of the Year” with Megadeth. Instead of canceling any gigs, Lamb of God are proceeding for the time being with Hunter and company helping out on vocals. Last night saw Lamb of God play an abbreviated 10-song set (they had been playing 12 songs with Blythe), with Hunter handling vocals on seven of the tunes, including newer tracks like “Memento Mori” and classics li...
Foo Fighters Go Extreme Metal on New Song “March of the Insane”: Stream
Foo Fighters have unleashed their inner extreme-metal inner selves on the new song “March of the Insane.” Released under the band moniker Dream Widow, the song conjures up early thrash reminiscent of Venom, Slayer, Celtic Frost, and other likeminded acts. While Foo Fighters’ new horror movie, Studio 666, doesn’t arrive until February 25th, it’s probably safe to assume that Dream Widow are a fictional band referenced in the film. The movie is centered around the Foos’ attempt to record a new album in a haunted mansion. The tune, which according to the YouTube description, is from Dream Widow’s “never-released self-titled album.” It’s thrashy as hell, with some very metal vocals from Dave Grohl and spectacular lyrics like, “Sing in a villainous choir / Join in chorus of pain.” Advertisement ...
Mining Metal: The Best Underground Albums We Missed in 2021
Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence writers Joseph Schafer and Langdon Hickman. The focus is on noteworthy new music emerging from the non-mainstream metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels — or even releases from unsigned acts. Inevitably, we come across albums that we’d like to cover but don’t. More than eight good underground metal albums come out during most months, even when the scope of “underground” is narrowed to labels without dedicated distribution. But not every month. January is typically a fallow season for metal records, as people recuperate from the holiday season and begin planning their upcoming year. Because we dedicated December to our annual best-of list, we decided to spend this column covering a few bits and bobs we mis...
Meshuggah Announce New Album Immutable, Share Teaser Video: Watch
Meshuggah have announced their ninth studio album, Immutable, arriving April 1st. They also shared a short video teaser featuring a snippet of new music. While a Meshuggah album was expected this year, no formal details were available until now. The teaser clip posted on the Swedish extreme-metal band’s social media touts fiery artwork by Luminokaya and powerful chugging guitar grooves — a taste of what’s to come. “The title [Immutable] fits perfectly for where we are as a band,” guitarist Mårten Hagström remarked in the band’s Facebook post. “We’re older now. Most of us are in our 50s now, and we’ve settled into who we are. Even though we’ve been experimenting all along, I also think we’ve been the same since day one.” Advertisement Related Video He continued: “The way we approach things ...
Mining Metal: Top 10 Underground Metal Albums of 2021
Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence writers Joseph Schafer and Langdon Hickman. The focus is on noteworthy new music emerging from the non-mainstream metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels — or even releases from unsigned acts. For the December edition, Joseph and Langdon pick their Top 10 Underground Metal Albums of 2021. We thought this year was going to be the mother lode — and it was. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, we predicted that many bands working on albums would hold onto them for a year, expecting the global crisis to end in time for a celebratory 2021 album drop and profitable summer/fall tour. Obviously, some of those predictions fell though, though we did get big summer festivals like Psycho Las Vegas returning, and ...
Meshuggah Reschedule 2022 US Tour Due to Health Issue Within Band
Swedish extreme metal veterans Meshuggah have pushed their early winter headlining 2022 US tour to the fall due to a health issue affecting one of the band members. As a result of the new itinerary, direct support act Converge will no longer be on the bill, but openers Torche will remain on board. Meshuggah’s US outing was set to kick off February 23rd and run through March 20th. Instead, it will launch September 16th in Worcester, Massachusetts, and wrap up October 16th in Atlanta, Georgia. Current ticket-holders will be admitted into the rescheduled gigs, while others can purchase tickets via Ticketmaster. In a Facebook post announcing the postponement, Meshuggah explained that one of their members is “undergoing medical treatment related to a skin condition on his hands.” The full state...
Top 30 Metal and Hard Rock Albums of 2021
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top 30 Metal & Hard Rock Albums list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. After a rough 2020 that saw a global pandemic take over our lives and the concert industry shut down, 2021 was hopefully primed to be the year of the comeback. While live music has returned to a certain degree, it’s been a bumpy ride thus far, as bands deal with COVID outbreaks amidst their camps and fans enter venues with extra caution. One thing we can all still count on is new albums to get us through difficult times, and while 2021 may not have been super prolific as far as new releases, it still proved to be another strong year for the heaviest genre...
