Idaho’s ‘Lapse’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags on 07/17/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Idaho is best known for producing more potatoes than anywhere else in the U.S. In recent decades, it’s become so red that Idaho is now neck and neck with Mississippi as the most right-wing state in the Union. Idaho boasts the most miles of rivers than anywhere else in the country. The majority of its residents are virulently anti-government land conservationists not just suspicious of but resentful toward anyone who isn’t a third-generation Idahoan or older. Along those same lines, what today’s Idahoans feel more strongly about than anything else is their pure, white-hot hatred of Californians. 

Continue reading

At The Gates Eye Next LP; Tomas Lindberg Talks Philosophy, Literature In Epic Conversation

Posted in Interviews on 07/16/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg by Piero Paravidino

We left virtually no stone unturned with Lindberg, a hyper-literate social studies teacher who is far more obsessed with the magical realism of authors like Jorge Luis Borges and the philosophy of pessimism espoused by Eugene Thatcher than overexposed occultists like Aleister Crowley. Enjoy one of the headier, epic interviews with one of the most crucial members of not just MDM but of heavy metal on the whole in the last 30 years, via New Noise.

Cloud Rat Chat About Fave Fests, ‘Grimiest’ Venues

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 07/12/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

As everyone’s favorite “three-piece grindpunk psychonaut unit” (their words, not ours) head out for another tour, go to New Noise for some previously unpublished thoughts about music festivals they shared with me during a conversation last year.

Bangladeafy’s ‘Vulture’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags on 07/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Bangladefy‘s Vulture reflects a band that, now 15 years old, still isn’t focused on what its two members want their endeavor to be. Read my full review via New Noise.

Huntsmen’s ‘Dry Land’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews on 07/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Huntsmen expand their sound in such tantalizing fashion that their previous two full-lengths seem so small in comparison. But The Dry Land still misses the mark. Read my full album review via New Noise.

What’s The Deal With Dark Tranquillity Vocalist’s New Side Project?

Posted in News with tags , , on 07/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Fans of Dark Tranquillity and vocalist Mikael Stanne shouldn’t be so baffled by his new project Cemetery Skyline putting out three singles without formalizing a full-length. The answer is in front of our noses. Read my news report via New Noise.

Photo credit: Krichan Wihlborg.

Blvck Hippie’s ‘Basketball Camp’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Interviews on 07/10/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

On the second album by Blvck Hippie, Josh Shaw channels the momentum of emotional turmoil into a vibrant, propulsive musical feat with a bigger, bolder sound than their debut. Read my full review via FLOOD.

Perchta’s ‘D’Muata’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags on 07/10/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

The second full-length by Austria’s Perchta is a so-called feminist manifesto—and one of those rare records that not only accomplishes said feat but does so with glorious results. Read my full review via New Noise.

Orbit Culture Try To Keep Momentum Going With Next LP

Posted in Interview Transcripts, Interviews with tags , on 07/09/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

In light of Orbit Culture’s astronomical rise (pun most definitely intended), we break out the transcript of our February conversation with the Swedish band’s frontman. Go to New Noise for a closer look at the Swedish melodic death metal band that everyone—well, OK, the majority of people who have actually heard of the subgenre—are dying to know more about.

Alcest’s ‘Les chants de l’aurore’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags on 07/09/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

After a five-year wait, the French blackgaze duo explore the gamut of human emotions as they clear the high bar they’ve set for themselves on their six previous post-metal releases. Read my full review of Alcest‘s Les chants de l’aurore (Nuclear Blast) via FLOOD.