Pure Molten Metal: What Makes A Band Metal?

After reading a short article on Metal Undeground about metal and image, then debating people in the comment section, I decided to make my opinions fully known here on my own personal soap box. The author brought up 2 up and coming bands that are flown under the metal flag, Ghost and Ancient VVisdom, whom are not the typical metal band that would fit a bill with Sodom or Autopsy. They have the look, they have the lyrical inspiration, but do they have the sonic capabilities to be considered "metal"? In that line of thinking, what does it actually mean to be metal? Is it being fast and furious? Is it soaring vocals? Is it twin guitar harmonies that shred the living daylights out of mere mortals? Is it corpse paint that brings to mind the living dead? The answer............who the hell knows!?!?!

 

Ancient VVisdom – “The Opposition”

 

Favorite Metal Albums of 2012

Well hi there folks! It’s been a long time since you all have been privy to my delicate words of wisdom, my insightful bits of astuteness that stick to your brain like a gallon of sugar drenched in pancake syrup. In my long absence the human race has survived the impending Mayan apocalypse, the majesty that is the holiday season, and we look forward to maniacs hording guns and trying to hold off the gummement from stealing their assault rifles. In the midst of all this fun, the year of 2012 ended and 2013 is now in full swing. And what does that mean for all us keyboard bandits? YEAR END ALBUM LISTS!!!!!!!^%!&$!^%!!!!&^%!(&*!!!!! Who else could be more excited than metal enthusiasts spending all their time looking for the latest and greatest bands that no one else has heard of?! Now I know that this is a little later than most other sites, hell this is probably the latest one on the interwebz, but that doesn’t mean that my list is not chock full of metal goodness. It may not be the most underground list but damned if I did not enjoy the hell out of these albums. So please enjoy, debate, tell me I’m wrong, and then we can all get on with our lives. Peace out homies.

A View from the Pit: Black Breath and Red Fang

When I found it about this show a mere week before the event, I was in shock that I had not realized two amazing bands were going to be gracing the same stage with their beautiful presence. Two bands diverse enough to keep the venue full and keep the crowds attention for the duration of the night. Hipsters and heshers alike filled the floor and participated valiantly as if this were the last show that one would ever be witness to. Local black/death/thrash/crust/whatever other label you want you add on brought in the locals and new found riff master generals Red Fang brought the name recognition now that their latest album, Murder The Mountains, had decimated the underground. With the venue opening an hour and a half before the show even started (!) it was a little unnerving at the low attendance at first, but after local openers Brokaw lit a fire under everyone's asses, the crowd filled in and the bloodshed was ready to begin!

Allegaeon Formshifter Review

WHY U NO LISTEN TO ALLEGAEON?!??!?!?! Is it because their name is almost impossible to read? Is it because you don’t like awesome music that is capable of setting your balls on fire!?!? Whatever your reason is, you need to settle in and listen to these melodic-tech-death maestros. Their previous album Fragments of Form and Function was one of my favorite albums of 2010 and I have been eagerly awaiting their next opus.  Welcome 2012 when the Fort Collins, CO band released Formshifter, another grand piece of melodic death metal. Combining death metal with classical guitar interludes and mind bending solos that make the Haldron Collider seem like a 6^th grader’s science project, the band seem to have elaborated on their previous album and expanded their horizons to new reaches.

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Cerebral Bore

Relatively new to the scene, Cerebral Bore out of Scotland have seen much success after only one full length album, 2010’s Maniacal Miscreation. With new track “Horrendous Acts of Inequity” released in February of 2012, we can only hope that a new album is right around the corner. And with a high profile spot on the Summer Slaughter Tour alongside heavyweights Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, Goatwhore, and Exhumed, Cerebral Bore are set to bore (pun intended) their brutal death metal straight into the minds of thousands more heshers.

New Band Spotlight: Balescream

We here at NW MetalHead Productions are always looking for new bands to put into the spotlight. Today we spotlight Balescream, a melodic death/groove metal band from Newcastle. Getting ready to put out their first album, they have released a couple demo songs to get their name out there. For fans of Devildriver, As I Lay Dying, and In Flames, they play a chunky style of melodeath that has grooves for days. The talent in this band is very evident and I cannot wait to hear more from these guys in the future. If they move more towards the melodic death metal side of their sound big things could be in their future. So for now check out their 2 songs "Cyclonic Terror" and "Kusanagi" and raise your horns up high!

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Skinless

Beginning their br00tal journey way back in 1992, Skinless have been grinding out brutal death metal longer than most of you have even been alive! Even though they have been around for so long, though recently split up in April of 2011, only 4 full lengths were ever released. However there were several demos, EPs, and splits released to give even the most heartless beasts enough to bash their faces into the wall with. And today we praise the work of these soulless harbingers of gore, enjoy!

A View From The Pit: Municipal Waste and 3 Inches of Blood

With new albums from crossover giants Municipal Waste and power metallers 3 Inches of Blood recently being released, this is a tour that was meant to grab you by the short hairs. Both of these beasts are known for their live shows so it was guaranteed to be an excellent night of wailing vocals, wailing guitars, and more stage diving than the Obese Child’s Choir of Milwaukee on bacon grease night at the local VFW hall. And when you bring along underground sludgsters Black Tusk, it is going to be a booze-soaked fun filled evening!

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Cattle Decapitation

Here’s a new feature of NW MetalHead Productions. We all need to take a little break during the week and what better way to take a break than listen to some br0000tal metalz?!?!?!?! Some of it will be brand new, some of it will be the clichéd blast from the past. There will definitely not be any ballads or ambient passages here, just the heaviest of the heavy. Let us get this ish started!


“With every life I take, an ecosystem I create. Blood and guts consume my life! I am the ‘brutal gardener’, I – ‘quantity controller’, no more insane than Jesus Christ!”

Never one to disappoint, Cattle Decapitation play grindcore; technical, progressive, and br00tal grindcore. Monolith of Inhumanity is the newest album from these wily vets and it follows the lineage of previous albums The Harvest Floor, Karma. Bloody. Karma., and Humanure. And even though there is a little bit of GASP! clean singing, it is not done in a way like all the craptastic metalcore clones out there.  It is sure to get all the diehards and new fans moving in the pit when they start touring with Voivod, Havok, Misery Index, and Fear Factory this summer on the Shockwave touring festival. But in the mean time while they are not bludgeoning your skull in, have a listen and get ready to get br00000talized!

Marduk - Serpent Sermon Streaming In Full

Black metal these days seem to be all bogged down with ethereal moments, drawn out keyboards that try to be "atmospheric", or clean singing, GASP!, Marduk is continuing their mission continue what black metal was to begin with and do not fall into the trend of hipster douches trying to be trve. With their new album Serpent Sermon coming out and a tour beginning now, Marduk are ready to take over the black metal world that Watain have been ruling as of late. The good news here is that CVLT Nation are streaming the entire album in full here. Go listen to it because the album is a very good followup to Wormwood and Rom 5:12, their most recent releases that were lauded by critics and fans around the underground. So be sure to check them out on the tour where they will definitely be playing some of these tracks and here is Seattle get there early to see local black metal beasts Funeral Age.