Archive for Death

Fuming Mouth: Ringing in a New Chapter

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , , , on 10/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“It doesn’t matter who you are – we’re all human, you know – even if you reach this point of victory and you conquer death and all that, the bell still tolls for thee.”

Those are some of the first words uttered by Fuming Mouth mastermind Mark Whalen. As Central Massachusetts as they come, Whelan is direct and blunt, and his concision is not only evident in what he says in conversation but what he pours into his hardcore-meets-death-metal project.

Fuming Mouth’s early recordings flaunted Whalen adeptness at guitar, bass and vocals — and, in the words of Whelan he knew he had struck gold “immediately.” Whelan divulges his trick as follows “The goal isn’t to be the heaviest band. It’s to make good songs. … And it was never even to build a fan base; it was about a scene and a community. I want to contribute to hardcore and add my little piece to it.”

Continue reading →

The Stooges, Death, New York Dolls and Patti Smith Set the Table for Punk: A Brief History Lesson

Posted in Essays with tags , , , , on 09/15/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“Punk” music didn’t start in 1976 or 1977, with Ramones’ self-titled album or Leave Home, which came out in those years, respectively. Sex Pistols didn’t launch the genre with the four singles and album (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols) the British band released in those same years. 

The same goes for The Clash’s self-titled debut, released in 1977; The Damned’s Damned Damned Damned and Music for Pleasure, both issued in 1977; or albums by the Buzzcocks, Black Flag or MC5. Rather, the seeds of punk – a term coined by the godfather of rock-music journalism, Lester Bangs – were planted many years earlier, not by bands but by an attitude and a sound that cropped up in scattered pockets of the Western world.

Continue reading →

Two Cent Review: Left to Die’s ‘Initium Mortis’

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags , on 07/23/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

In my first review for Bandcamp Daily, I argue that Left to Die’s Initium Mortis is a relentlessly punishing—and, naturally, relentlessly macabre—debut record. It’s the product of original Death members breathing new life into vintage songs by that band, which helped lay the groundwork for the bloody birth of death metal.

Continue reading →

Death-Metal-Parody Proposals For ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

Posted in Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on 06/06/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Amon Amarth’s “Valhalla Awaits Me” -> “Pizza Awaits Me”
Cannibal Corpse’s “Covered With Sores” -> “Covered With S’mores”
Carcass’ “Inpropagation” -> “Inpoopagation” Continue reading →

Cover Me: French Miami’s French Miami

Posted in Cover Me, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 01/03/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

An ongoing series in which musicians reveal the artists they’d most like to hear covering their songs. Continue reading →