Some bands choose simple names like DEATH or KREATOR. Others apparently consult ancient gods, dead languages, medical textbooks, or simply let a cat walk across the keyboard. Here are 15 bands guaranteed to make even seasoned metalheads pause for a second before saying their names out loud. 1. ANAAL NATHRAKH […]
Metal stories
HULDER Open the Gates to the Otherworld with New Single “View From Nemeton”
Some black metal artists chase nostalgia. HULDER have spent the last few years proving that tradition can still feel dangerous. The Pacific Northwest project has unveiled “View From Nemeton,” the first single and video from its upcoming third album, Verbolgen, due out August 7 via 20 Buck Spin in North […]
Spain’s TODOMAL Are Quietly Becoming Doom Metal’s Best-Kept Secret
Sometimes the most interesting doom metal doesn’t come from rain-soaked Northern Europe. Sometimes it comes from the abandoned heartlands of Spain. Spanish atmospheric doom duo TODOMAL have announced their third album, Graveyards Of Joy, due out on July 3 via Season Of Mist. And despite its deceptively uplifting title, nobody […]
DEAN GUITARS’ Parent Company Files For Bankruptcy Amid Mounting Legal And Financial Troubles
For decades, DEAN GUITARS has been one of the most recognizable names in heavy music, with its sharp-edged instruments becoming synonymous with everyone from DIMEBAG DARRELL to countless thrash, death, and shred guitarists. Now, however, the company finds itself facing perhaps the biggest challenge in its history. According to recently […]
ARCHGOAT Return from the Abyss with New Album ‘Nightbringer, Lightbringer’
There are few bands in extreme metal as stubbornly devoted to their own path as ARCHGOAT. Trends come and go, production gets cleaner, genres split into increasingly obscure subgenres—but the Finnish veterans continue marching through the darkness with all the subtlety of a battering ram wrapped in barbed wire. Five […]
END IT Declare War On Banana Man, Accidentally Lose To Banana Man
Hardcore has finally found its greatest enemy. Not cops. Not landlords. Not Nazis. Not Live Nation. Not $42 merch fees. A guy in a banana costume. Baltimore hardcore band END IT recently played Toronto with TERROR, PAIN OF TRUTH, and START TODAY, and somewhere in the crowd was a man […]
Ira Black’s New Band APOCÆLYPSE Ask Who’s Really in Control on “INTELL-I-GENTS”
Most metal veterans eventually start a side project. Some record a blues album. Some buy motorcycles. Ira Black decided to build an entire futuristic metal band and put himself behind the microphone. The longtime guitarist known for his work with VIO-LENCE, METAL CHURCH, LIZZY BORDEN, I AM MORBID, and WESTFIELD […]
When Metal Bands Went Full Hollywood: The Most Expensive Heavy Music Videos Ever Made
Metal has never been known for throwing money around. Most bands are happy if the van survives the tour and nobody has to sleep on a venue floor. But every now and then, somebody in the heavy music world decides that a normal music video isn’t enough. Why shoot in […]
Report: Maryland Deathfest 2026, Part 2
(Continued from here) The nature of a festival like this is that after spending several days running between stages and watching dozens of bands, it’s difficult to remember every performance. By the end, what stays with you are the truly exceptional moments — something unexpectedly spectacular, something predictably spectacular, or […]
Report: Maryland Deathfest 2026, Part 1
Late May, Memorial Day weekend — which means it was time once again for one of America’s finest and most eclectic metal festivals, the annual Maryland Deathfest. This is the kind of event people buy tickets for before a single band has even been announced. Because of the reputation. And […]