Unless you happen to be Robert Pollard/Guided By Voices or Buckethead and have a blatant disregard for quality control, recording and releasing eight studio albums over a five year period is probably really difficult, if not impossible. Creedence Clearwater Revival not only managed that task between 1968-1972, but in ‘Green River’, ‘Willy & The Poorboys’, and ‘Cosmo’s Factory’, they managed to deliver a trio of cast iron classics. The latter is an album still beloved by millions; a soundtrack to a generation.
Tag Archives: metal
THE HOLY NOTHING – Vol. 1: A Profound And Nameless Fear
On this debut EP, The Holy Nothing wield some genuinely enormous riffs. Creating a sound that takes a huge influence from stoner metal and mixes that with a few grungy influences and a pinch of hardcore, their sound shifts between crunchy, sludgy and the groove laden, ensuring this musical trio are often more interesting than your average Orange Goblin, Fu Manchu and Kyuss wannabes.
HATRED REIGNS – Awaken The Ancients
Released five years after their well received ‘Realm I: Affection’ EP, Canadian death metallers Hatred Reigns’ ‘Awaken The Ancients’ is a full length, full throttle, intensive slab of brutality that genre fans won’t want to miss. In a little over half an hour, the band shares a speed driven approach that shares strong DNA with a few of the greats. Drawing from the pioneering works of Suffocation and Death, through to the more technical aspects of bands like Imperium, and even taking in the death/thrash crossover sound of early Sepultura in a few places, the eleven tracks convey a huge sound that reminds the listener why well played death remains so vital. However, beneath the relentless rhythmic assault and oppressive vocal stance, you’ll also experience musicianship which explores deep textures and tautly played solos that rank among some of the underground’s best.
WEIRD TALES – Second Coming, Second Crucifixion
It’s taken Weird Tales a fairly long time to actually make a record deserving of their talents. Their early works often sounded like a swampy, low budget mess; their EP of blues covers was a woefully misjudged experiment, and although their live EP from 2021 was very cool in its own way, it often sounded like there was a much better band desperate to be heard underneath the mass of distortion.
LOWER 13 – Deception EP
By mixing elements of thrash and prog metal, Lower 13 have always taken a more interesting approach to constructing huge riffs than a lot of bands, but on their ‘Deception’ EP, their aggressive style takes a giant leap forward.