Billy and Jill – Razorback Records’ dynamic duo – continue to unearth gore-splattered death metal and thrash. And don’t even start with the goregrind thing, as the vast majority of Razorback acts have fallen into one or both of the aforementioned categories. Anyway, Dallas’s Decrepitaph are a fine addition to the roster and continue a […]

On this day (January 15, 2009), Saxon’s Biff Byford turned 58 and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal icon dismisses it as just another day. Yet it is another day in an illustrious 30-year career as front man for one of the most pure, consistent, and too often underappreciated (at least on these shores) heavy metal bands of all time. On this day, he can once again speak proudly of the release of an outstanding album, Into the Labyrinth, one that combines heavy metal thunder, sleazy electric blues, and triumphant hard rock. At the center of it all is a sound that is distinctly Saxon. There is no secret formula at work here. Members Byford, Doug Scarratt (guitar), Paul Quinn (guitar), Nibbs Carter (bass, keys), and Nigel Glockler (drums) stick to a fundamental songwriting approach on Into the Labyrinth, one comprised of great riffs, memorable choruses, and a rock solid rhythm section, as has been the case with pretty much every Saxon album. It matters not if the style is an epic one (e.g. “Battalions of Steel” and “Valley of the Kings”), an unapologetically heavy one (“Demon Sweeny Todd”), or a bluesy one (“Slow Lane Blues”). As Byford discusses below, it is about remembering your roots, yet always looking to the future, and never forgetting the basics.

What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger; words that seem most appropriate in the context of the demise of Belgium doom/sludge merchants Thee Plague of Gentlemen after the arrest of vocalist Steve Wackenier in 2006. In trying times like those, the best option was to disband Thee Plague of Gentlemen and forge ahead with a new venture that expanded upon the sound of its predecessor. Bassist Steven Van Cauwenbergh, drummer Frederik “Cozy” Cosemans and guitarist Frederic Caure wasted little time in forming Serpentcult and releasing the Trident Nor Fire EP on I Hate in 2007, this time with a female vocalist by the name of Michelle Nocone who worked wonders for a band looking to utilize a traditional vocalist and incorporate a more melodic approach to go with the crushing heaviness. It all came together on the band’s full-length debut, Weight of Light, on Rise Above Records. The approach is unequivocally low-end doom in those leaden riffs and ironclad rhythms, yet the tempos are varied and Nocone not only provides brilliant contrast, but also makes the already ably written tracks more fluid, colorful, and of course tuneful. Time may heal all wounds, but finding one’ s creative groove in the aftermath of tragedy closes them even quicker.

From the opening moments of that chainsaw riff and bruising bass/drum propulsion on “Smoke of Death” you just know that you are hearing something some of us like to call “the real deal.” It is just something about that raw, live-like production and bullshit-free bass/drum/guitar attack on Dishammer’s Vintage Addiction that cannot be copied by […]

The fact that Wisconsin’s Desolatevoid is not a household name in the extreme metal underground is a fucking crime. Perhaps some bands are just meant to be tunnel dwellers. Nah, screw that, it’s time for you and all your friends to grab a copy of debut album Self Medicated Psycho Therapy and new long player No Sign of Better Times and find out what happens when you put crust punk and NOLA metal into a blender. The music is pissed off, calamitous, and abrasively groovy, while the lyrics are a few hairs short of complete dementia. Schizoid vocalist Andy Howard, guitarists Mark Stolp and Brent K, drummer Tim Smith, and bassist/CAH Records chief Nick Carroll discuss what makes Desolate Void tick and why you’re probably too much of a pansy to handle this kind of sonic terror.