Whether playing straightedge powerviolence in their early days or making Godflesh-inspired death metal on 2018’s Rust, Harm’s Way have always been incredibly heavy, aggressive, and mean as hell. In September, the Chicago metalcore outfit released their fifth full-length, Common Suffering (their second for venerable extreme label Metal Blade), where they double down on groovy, industrial-flavored […]
Author Archives: Luca Cimarusti
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Mathy metalcore masters Botch bring their reunion run to Chicago
When mathy metalcore bands such as the Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, and Coalesce reigned supreme in the late 90s and early aughts, no one struck a balance between proggy virtuosity and hardcore aggression quite like scrappy Tacoma upstarts Botch. Formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2002, the four-piece never reached the crossover popularity of those […]
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Two of the planet’s heaviest trios team up for the Twins of Evil tour
The Twins of Evil tour brings together two of the heaviest trios on the planet: Japanese shape-shifters Boris, whose nearly four dozen studio releases cover practically every heavy subgenre imaginable, and American sludge pioneers the Melvins, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Each group will play an iconic album from front to back. Boris will […]
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Local noise rockers Something Is Waiting take a left turn into 90s metal swagger on the brand-new Absolutely
When Something Is Waiting formed in 2016, the band consisted of five dudes whose stacked resumés included stints in several Chicago heavy favorites, and on their first few releases they focused on big, mean, chaos-bringing noise rock a la Unsane. Over the past few years, though, they’ve charted a new direction, trading in nihilistic bludgeoning […]
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Protomartyr expand their sonic palette and add depth on the sophisticated new Formal Growth in the Desert
Protomartyr are the kind of band who create a lot with a very minimal palette. Ever since the Detroit four-piece began releasing music in 2012, they’ve made postpunk with a capital P: wiry guitar, throbbing bass, and jumpy drums topped with the dry, deadpan speak-singing of front man Joe Casey. The first few seconds of […]
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High Priest dose their crushing riffs with undeniable sing-along hooks
A lot of contemporary heavy metal greats are missing something crucial: a sense of melody. That’s where local four-piece High Priest really stand out. The band members are no strangers to making punishing music—guitarist John Regan and drummer Dan Polak also play in death-metal-influenced hardcore outfit Like Rats, and guitarist Pete Grossman helps run Bricktop […]
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Godflesh look to their past on the powerful third record of their reunion run
Industrial-metal pioneers Godflesh have been reunited for 14 years, which is exactly how long they were together when they revolutionized heavy music from the late 80s through the early 2000s. Just as that symmetry presents itself, so do the band’s explorations of musical concepts. Formed in Birmingham, UK, in 1988 by multi-instrumentalist (and former Napalm […]
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Experimental doom pioneers Khanate make a surprise return after 14 years of silence
During their initial run, from 2000 till 2006, New York City’s explosive Khanate helped usher in a new era of experimental heavy metal, setting off an ongoing wave of interest in bands such as Boris, Om, and Sunn O))) (which Khanate guitarist Stephen O’Malley had founded with Greg Anderson in 1998). But while some of […]
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Slayer’s Dave Lombardo goes bonkers on his first-ever solo LP
Dave Lombardo is best known for his work with the legendary Slayer, where he reinvented heavy metal drumming, but he did much more than drive that thrash powerhouse—his resumé feels practically endless. By the time Slayer dropped their fifth album, 1990’s Seasons in the Abyss, it had become clear that Lombardo was more than just […]
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On their second full-length,. . . So Unknown, Philly’s Jesus Piece reach ridiculous levels of heaviness
From the moment Jesus Piece issued their self-titled 2016 debut EP, the Philly metalcore five-piece were clearly the real deal. Slamming together the most intense parts of hardcore and death metal into something guttural and ferocious, the band arrived like a manifesto nailed to your forehead, declaring that they could bring it as hard and […]
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Don’t worry, Sleaford Mods are still pissed off at everyone
When a band have as limited a format and as minimalist an approach as Sleaford Mods, it’s always great to hear them come out with completely fresh and exciting sounds. The British postpunk duo have done this time and time again for more than 15 years, and every one of their releases is engaging, unnerving, […]
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Chicago’s Oozing Wound change pace with their first grunge record
Lots of bands emerged from the lockdown era writing material with a darker tone than their pre-pandemic work. Local thrashers Oozing Wound take that to a new level with their brand-new LP, We Cater to Cowards (Thrill Jockey). Granted, they’ve never been purveyors of positivity—their catalog includes song titled “Everyone I Hate Should Be Killed,” […]
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Chino Moreno immerses himself in dream pop with Deftones side project Crosses
If you love the Deftones as much as I do, you’ve undoubtedly passionately defended them to a nu-metal naysayer. “They’re not really nu-metal,” you might argue. “Sure, they had some rap parts on their first record, but they’ve actually spent most of their career leaning into dream-pop and shoegaze influences.” (I can’t be the only […]
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Philadelphia band They Are Gutting a Body of Water keep shoegaze weird on Lucky Styles
While on tour in 2018, I played a show in a dusty Philadelphia warehouse with locals They Are Gutting a Body of Water, a ragtag four-piece of young shoegaze revivalists. They really connected with me: they looked awkward and out of place, and they played beat-up old gear, but they put so much heart and […]
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Sweet Cobra go post-everything with a brilliant new musical reinvention
Born of the Fireside Bowl hardcore scene, local trio Sweet Cobra have become synonymous with heavy music in Chicago over the past two decades—but they’ve also evolved every step of the way. They started off as a fairly typical early-aughts doomy hardcore act, and though they’ve shifted away from hardcore with proggy, sludgy, and melodic […]