363: KATATONIA

A couple of months ago, I did a series of 2-part posts detailing bands who’d undergone such a dramatic shift in sound that I could readily write separately about their early and late output. While Katatonia might have seemed an obvious choice for that run of bands, there’s two main reasons they didn’t make the …

352: BATHORY

There are very few people who can claim responsibility for an entire genre. And then there is Thomas Börje Forsberg, a.k.a. Quorthon. He did it twice. Through Bathory’s first four albums in the latter half of the 80s, Quorthon basically built the blueprint for what would inspire much of the Second Wave of Black Metal. …

348: OPETH

I considered writing about Opeth back during the Chameleons series of posts, but came to the conclusion that two posts, covering early and late periods of the band, just would not work in this case. Opeth’s evolution has been steadily taking place over thirty years. Starting out as a more extreme band mixing death metal …

332: CULT OF LUNA and JULIE CHRISTMAS

I’ve always been a fan of an “all-in, for-keeps” collaborative album. Recent examples from Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle, as well as Converge and a Chelsea Wolfe earlier this month demonstrate how creatively inspired they can be when approached sincerely. When a collaboration really works, it doesn’t matter what genres or writing styles the artists …

331: CULT OF LUNA

After nearly 25 years, Cult of Luna’s absolutely crushing wall of sound delivery is unmistakable. It has grown over the years, becoming more intricate and complex, however the sheer power behind it remains unwavering. They’ve been tagged with many labels - doom metal, sludge metal, prog metal - but the genre most applied to them, …

326: SVARTKONST

I think the thing that surprised me most about Svartkonst after hearing (and loving) their sophomore release, ‘Black Waves’, and reading up on my new discovery was the fact it was all one guy. One-man black metal projects are nothing new, of course, and there are many, many incredibly talented people out there responsible for …