Sentient Ruin Laboratories, an Oakland-based endeavor founded 11 years ago by an individual who goes by the name “M,” gives superb yet overlooked music—almost always of the heavy, experimental, and obscure variety—the exceptionally high quality that it deserves.
Archive for the Features Category
Inside the Label: The Mysterious Sentient Ruin Laboratories
Posted in Features, Inside The Label, Interviews on 04/15/2025 by Kurt OrzeckDusk Sees Hope for Metal in Homeland of Saudi Arabia
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Dusk on 04/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“Trading CDs is illegal. Metal music was illegal in (Saudi Arabia). Music in general (was outlawed) by what was called ‘the religious police.’ ” So says Dusk in New Noise‘s latest installment of On Tyranny, a series about artists making music under authoritarian regimes.
Blood Lemon Guitarist Puckers Up to Her Smoochable Cats
Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags Blood Lemon, Lisa Simpson on 03/28/2025 by Kurt OrzeckLisa Simpson of Boise breakout band Blood Lemon discusses, for New Noise‘s Pet Sounds series, her two tabbies: Gabriel, who is about 8 years old; and Chicken, who is one-and-a-half years young.
They/Live Leader on Growing Up Mormon, Teaming With Drab Majesty
Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags Drab Majesty, They/Live on 03/25/2025 by Kurt OrzeckDelve into my New Noise conversation with polymath Whitney Mower, who fronts Born Losers Records band They/Live and survived the disastrous fires that recently ravaged Los Angeles.
On Tyranny: Punk Legends UK Subs Denied Entry Into US Due to Alleged Trump Criticism
Posted in Essays, Features, News, On Tyranny with tags On Tyranny, trump, UK Subs on 03/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
A new chapter in Trump’s war on free speech has apparently begun, with members of punk legends UK Subs denied entry into the U.S. and detained after traveling to play a concert Stateside, according to The Guardian. The U.K. news outlet cites accounts purportedly posted on the band’s Facebook page. (The Bad Penny does not utilize or endorse social media.)
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Kuwaiti Metal Artist Abzy Calls Hate ‘A Black Hole’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Abzy, Dusk, Meshari Sangora, On Tyranny on 03/20/2025 by Kurt OrzeckIn the latest installment of my new On Tyranny series for New Noise, I caught up with Abzy, a metal and rock musician from Kuwait, and chatted with him about what life was like for artists when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq.
On Tyranny: Hungarian Black-Metallers Sear Bliss Lost ‘Freedom’ In Orbán’s Autocracy
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Donald Trump, On Tyranny, Sear Bliss, Viktor Orban on 03/19/2025 by Kurt OrzeckHungary’s longest-running band, Sear Bliss, recently spoke with me about what it’s like living in a country ruled by a despot who happens to be good friends with Donald Trump. Get a glimpse of the serious threats American artists are now facing at home, where the Trump regime is now disappearing dissenters, in the latest edition of New Noise‘s new series, “On Tyranny.”
On Tyranny: Necrofier Frontman Wonders ‘Is It Going to Be Like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Christian Larson, Hell's Heroes, Necrofier on 03/17/2025 by Kurt OrzeckWhen we recently chatted with Christian Larson about his upcoming Hell’s Heroes festival and what his band Necrofier is up to, we also had to pick his brain about what the hell is going on in the United States of America.
Lo-Pan: ‘We Play at the Audience. We Do Not Play for an Audience’
Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags Big Trouble in Little China, Lo-Pan, Magnetic Eye on 03/01/2025 by Kurt OrzeckHeavy-hitters Lo-Pan give New Noise an early preview of their fifth record ahead of its April release–and, to The Bad Penny‘s particular delight, geek out about Big Trouble in Little China.
On Tyranny: ‘People in America Have Blinders On,’ Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe Says
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Lamb of God, Randy Blythe on 02/25/2025 by Kurt OrzeckAs part of The Bad Penny‘s new series called On Tyranny and focusing on how artists deal with living under authoritarian regimes, we’re dusting off an interview with Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe conducted on December 23, 2007.
At the time, Blythe—known more as a deviant class clown than a philosopher—was one of the only vocalists in metal or punk screaming unabashedly about the Gulf war and the crimes of George W. Bush.
Check out the prescient words of one of metal’s greatest frontman in this interview, originally published in unparalleled graphic novel/ rock magazine Royal Flush and now presented online for the first time.
Check out these related stories:
• “‘On Tyranny’: Musicians Living Under Authoritarian Rule Speak Out” (2.24.25)
• “Thy Catafalque Mastermind Talks About Meaning of Life, Living Under Dictator Viktor Orbán” (12.10.24)
• “Malist Creator ‘Exhausted’ By Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine” (9.7.24)
• “Moscow Metal Band Malist Voices Opposition to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine” (5.15.23)
• “Faith In Metal: Orphaned Land Push For Peace In The Middle East” (9.28.10)
• “Steve Earle: ‘It’s Very Dangerous To Be Ignorant Of Islam’” (9.8.10)
Also related: “My Friend Neamah And The State Of Our Country” (9.21.24)
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