The title track of Sumac’s latest album, 2020’s May You Be Held (Thrill Jockey), is a tough-love affirmation built for trying times, when soothing sounds just don’t cut it anymore and you need self-care that’s more like the cathartic group therapy you might find in a Klingon gladiatorial arena. The postmetal power trio use punky, […]
Tag: Southern Lord
Posted inMusic
Heavy experimentalists Nadja turn from shoegazing to stargazing on Luminious Rot
Experimental drone and postmetal outfit Nadja got their start in 2003 as the solo studio project of ambient musician Aidan Baker, but by 2005 he’d enlisted the help of bassist and vocalist Leah Buckareff to bring his music to the stage. They’re a married couple as well as bandmates, and they’ve since relocated from their […]
Posted inMusic
Quebec trio Big|Brave get heavier than ever on Vital
Quebec trio Big|Brave have always been great at drawing things out. Most of their songs pass the ten-minute mark, and they’ve made a hallmark of deftly adding heady layers of emotion to minimal, glacial drone rock. On the brand-new Vital (Southern Lord), though, the band lean further into doom metal—and this dramatically less minimal sound […]
Posted inMusic
Xibalba plunge into new depths of metal and hardcore on Años en Infierno
Named after a Mayan term that roughly translates to “place of fear,” Southern California trio Xibalba have been blending strains of metal and hardcore for nearly 14 years. They’ve increasingly leaned into their Latino heritage (they sing in both Spanish and English) and their death-metal influences, while expanding into new moods and song structures; on […]
Posted inMusic
Okkultokrati alchemize grimy punk and metal into a dark triumph on La Ilden Lyse
Oslo six-piece Okkultokrati cast a net into rock’s grittiest, dankest seas and dredge up an electrifying hybrid sound: they twist influences from heathen black metal and thrash together with hedonistic rock ’n’ roll and furious crust punk. Much of the band’s music seems designed for underground shows, drag races, and various more questionable activities, but […]
Posted inMusic
They came, they saw, they smoked: Sleep celebrate their decade-long reunion and impending hiatus at Thalia Hall
Most band reunions don’t live up to the hype, but most bands aren’t Sleep. In the early 90s, the Northern California trio—bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros, guitarist Matt Pike, and drummer Chris Hakius—laid down a guttural strain of Sabbath-worshipping blues metal, filtered through a crusty psychedelic lens. They broke up in 1998 following a years-long […]
Posted inMusic
Guitarist Dave Specter on the young stars building the future of the blues
Current musical obsessions of recording artists Dave Specter and Nicholas Tremulis and Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig
Posted inMusic
Macie Stewart of Ohmme on a band to smile and dance to
Current musical obsessions of Dave Collis from Slow Mass, Macie Stewart from Ohmme, and Leor Galil from the Reader
Posted inBlogs
Black Breath prep for their newest album by dropping its title track, the pummeling and hateful ‘Slaves Beyond Death’
In anticipation for the upcoming Slaves Beyond Death Black Breath share the album’s title track, a fun mix of filthy metal riffs and doomful lyrics.
Posted inBlogs
Get out of the way, Baptists’ grimy hardcore scorcher ‘Harm Induction’ is gonna mess you up
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is “Harm Induction” from the upcoming Baptists full-length Bloodmines.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: The unwavering tension of Sunn O))) and Ulver’s ‘Western Horn’
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is “Western Horn,” one of three tracks from the Sunn O))) and Ulver collaborative album, Terrestrials.
Posted inBlogs
Three Floyds and Pelican team up again, this time for the black IPA Immutable Dusk
Pelican celebrate the release of Forever Becoming by tapping a new Three Floyds collaboration at their Bottom Lounge show on Wednesday.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: “The Cliff,” the rumbling new burner from Pelican
The local instrumental metal four-piece gets heavy on the latest tune from the forthcoming Forever Becoming.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: Nails’ “Wide Open Wound,” hate-fueled hardcore
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is “Wide Open Wound,” from the upcoming Nails album Abandon All Life.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: Enabler, “False Profit”
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is from Enabler’s upcoming All Hail the Void