Promoter Alexi Front began his love affair with Scandinavian metal in the mid-2000s by publishing a zine and running a label. He started the Scorched Tundra festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2011, and five years later he began throwing one in Chicago as well—spearheading a sort of underground-metal sister-cities program. Front is a curator by […]
Tag: Rezn
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Time to jump on the Bandcamp stuff you’ve been waiting to buy
Once again, it’s “Bandcamp day”—when almost all your money goes to the artists and labels you want to support.
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Chicago’s Rezn gets more psychedelic and experimental on Chaotic Divine
Chicago has no shortage of bands making metal or psychedelic rock (thank God), but relatively few operate in that sweet spot where the two genres overlap. If you’re into that kind of thing, you’re going to want to keep your eye on local four-piece Rezn. Over the past few years, they’ve released a couple of […]
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Two of Chicago’s rising dark rock groups collaborate in the studio and onstage
It would be worth an outing to the Empty Bottle just to see two of the most compelling bands Chicago has produced in recent years on one bill. Dark postrock trio Lume entered the fray last year with their full-length debut, Wrung Out (Equal Vision), a raw, emotional, and cinematically dreary work that examines loss […]
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Scuzz-metal supergroup Hitter keep it simple and nasty
When I first heard of local outfit Hitter coming together—with Adam Luksetich of Foul Tip on guitar, Madalyn Garcia of Lil Tits on bass, Ryan Wizniak of Meat Wave on drums, and Hanna Johnson of Lifestyles and Lil Tits on vocals—I was expecting them to be the coolest, punkest band I’d ever hear. But these […]
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Forever Deaf Fest celebrates a mix of homegrown heavy sounds
Chicago is well-known as an incubator of house music, industrial, noise rock, emo, and drill, to name a few. But the city’s decades-strong legacy of groundbreaking metal has only just begun to get its due in recent years, as a variety of heavy music styles have come into a blackened sort of vogue. The latest […]
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Acid King and Rezn join forces for a night of heavy psych at Reggie’s
San Francisco’s mighty, shaggy—and a little bit unnerving—stoner powerhouse Acid King haven’t released a new album since 2015’s landmark Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (Svart Records). A major lineup shakeup at the end of 2016 put front woman Lori S. back onstage with new drummer Bil Bowman and bassist Rafa Martinez, who played with […]
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The Sword in the Bones on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was designed by local artist Mute Neighbor.
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Hogg drop a new LP of tense, ritualistic throb ’n’ roll
Hogg drop a new LP of tense, ritualistic throb ’n’ roll, Elastic Arts hosts the 15th annual Sonic Celluloid multimedia mashup, and more.
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Memphis hip-hop label Culture Power45 keeps up the Chicago love
Memphis hip-hop label Culture Power45 keeps up the Chicago love, Outrun the Sunlight celebrate a new album of instrumental prog metal, and more.