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Mining Metal: Critical Extravasation, Cryptae, Dream Unending, Elder, Fell Ruin, Feminizer, Spider God, and Tchornobog, and Abyssal

Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence contributing writers Langdon Hickman and Colin Dempsey. The focus is on noteworthy new music emerging from the non-mainstream metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels — or even releases from unsigned acts. Peter Griffin once asked, “Where are those good old-fashioned values on which we used to rely?” While he was talking about entertainment at large when he posed that question, stroking his inappropriately-shaped chin, it’s debatable if he’d ask heavy metal, the genre that holds onto its good old-fashioned values with a Mankind-Mandible-Claw-like grip, that same query. This is to say that metal is laden with refinement more than drastic innovation. Now, this is actually good in that metal has arguably ...

5 Things to Know About Muni Long, Best New Artist Nominee at 2023 Grammys

Come February 5th, all eyes will be on the controversial Best New Artist category at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Among the 10 artists who received nods is Muni Long, whose song “HRS & HRS” is also nominated for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. The singer-songwriter formerly known as Priscilla Renea will be competing against Anitta, Domi & JD Beck, Latto, Omar Apollo, Samara Joy, Måneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg for the Best New Artist award. With over a decade’s worth of experience under her belt, Long’s presence can be heard through some of music’s most recognizable names as a writer and featured artist. As Priscilla Renea, she went on to release two albums before pivoting to her new moniker (pronounced “money long”) in 2019. Advertisement Related Video S...

Willow Review: Fantasy Television That’s Here For a Good Time

The Pitch: It’s been quite a time for super-serious sci-fi and fantasy epics, as anyone who’s attempted to keep up with House of the Dragon, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Sandman, and many, many other shows will tell you. But here comes Disney+’s Willow, with a modern rock song in its heart, a young hot ensemble ready to jump into action, and its own take on swords and sorcery to share. Willow? You Mean Three-Time MTV Video Music Award Nominee Willow, Don’t You? Okay, as a longtime fan of the 1988 film Willow, a person who has spent a lifetime yelling “What do you mean, you haven’t seen Willow?” at people… I know that there’s a good chance that most people are not familiar with the original Ron Howard-directed fantasy adventure. So here’s the deal: In the original movie (w...

Little America’s Second Season Offers a Much-Needed Dose of Optimism: Review

The Pitch: It’s often very difficult to feel optimistic about the general state of things in this country. For people who have grown up and lived through crisis after crisis, the many who were thrust into unsteady job markets and a Sisyphean uphill battle of debt and financial instability, the elusive American Dream sounds like just that — a dream. For the particularly vulnerable, like people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community who face a rapid increase in life-threatening rhetoric, there’s an intersectionality to the frustration and fear that can accompany everyday life in the US. While film and television aren’t an immediate salve for wide-reaching systemic issues, stories do matter, as does representation. Little America, the Apple TV+ anthology series developed by Le...

Inside Perry Farrell’s Enduring Mission to Popularize Stateside Warehouse Culture

Losing a million dollars will teach a man a few things. Just ask Perry Farrell.  Farrell has maintained just the right combination of DIY attitude and an appetite for controlled chaos to continue effectuating his lifelong ambitions in music—but it hasn’t always been sunshine and roses for the legendary rocker. Today the Jane’s Addiction frontman is planting the seeds of a promising global event series, “Heaven After Dark.” While the event itself has the makings of a hit, Farrell needed to apply decades of experience and intangibles to make it so.  Ahead of the upcoming “Heaven After Dark” takeover of Los Angeles’ Catch One in early December 2022, Farrell caught up with EDM.com for a candid interview wherein he shared his view on...

5 Things to Know About Anitta, Best New Artist Nominee at 2023 Grammys

It’s that time of year again, folks. The 2023 Grammy Award nominations are here, and while it’s always fun to see deserving artists receiving shoutouts and industry accolades, the Grammys tend to include some head-scratching decisions, too. The category of Best New Artist, in particular, tends to raise some eyebrows. (The primary question that arises each year: Is this artist actually “new,” or are they perhaps just new to members of the Recording Academy?) With something so subjective, the lines are easily blurred; for example, while it’s incredibly exciting to see Brazilian artist Anitta receiving some attention from the Recording Academy, the singer and songwriter has been releasing music for over a decade; her debut single arrived in 2012. To be fair to the Recording Academy, Anitta di...

This Is How Anime Was Embraced by the Arab World

The world of anime is vast and highly influential. It has one of the largest fandoms in the world and that’s no different in the Middle East. Taking Hypebeast on his personal journey, anime’s influence in the region as well as how it continues to inform his work, Palestinian artist Rami Afifi reflects on his admiration for the Arabic dubbed Grendizer and how it created a sense of belonging during his formative years. We inhaled any anime we could. At the time, anime meant Arabic daytime cartoons. Growing up, we had the classics like Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, but it was anime that captivated us. At the time, we thought shows like Captain Majid (Captain Tsubasa), Grendizer (UFO Robo Grendizer), Sunshiro (Plawres Sanshiro) and Al Rajol Al Hadidi (Dinosaur War Izenborg) w...

This Is How Anime Was Embraced by the Arab World

The world of anime is vast and highly influential. It has one of the largest fandoms in the world and that’s no different in the Middle East. Taking Hypebeast on his personal journey, anime’s influence in the region as well as how it continues to inform his work, Palestinian artist Rami Afifi reflects on his admiration for the Arabic dubbed Grendizer and how it created a sense of belonging during his formative years. We inhaled any anime we could. At the time, anime meant Arabic daytime cartoons. Growing up, we had the classics like Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, but it was anime that captivated us. At the time, we thought shows like Captain Majid (Captain Tsubasa), Grendizer (UFO Robo Grendizer), Sunshiro (Plawres Sanshiro) and Al Rajol Al Hadidi (Dinosaur War Izenborg) w...

Why Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Had to Sing “For Real” in Bio-Drama George and Tammy

When it comes to taking on a challenge like the Showtime limited series George & Tammy, Oscar winner Jessica Chastain says that the challenge is the point. “I’ve always kind of been all in when it comes to this,” she tells Consequence. “It has to cost me something. It can’t be too easy.” No one would ever describe George & Tammy as “too easy” — the six-episode biographical drama spotlights the complicated bond between iconic country singers George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Chastain), with both Shannon and Chastain not only physically transforming themselves as much as possible for their respective roles, but performing all the songs sung by the duo in the series, including hits like “Stand By Your Man,” “Two Story House,” and “Golden Ring.” Jones and Wynette met at...

TAWBOX Will Always Push the Boundaries of the Live Concert Experience

Building a career in the music industry doesn’t always have to be straightforward. You could take on multiple jobs (or even stay with only one for years) before figuring out exactly which road you want to take. Just ask TAWBOX, the BAFTA-winning creative director duo composed of Amber Rimell and Bronski. The pair ensures that the audience experiences a live performance that’s second to none through their frequent work with Stormzy and the likes of Dave, Olivia Rodrigo, Weezer and Arlo Parks. Prior to developing some of the most significant tours and performances in modern music history, Rimell turned her hobby of dance into a professional performance and choreography career and Bronski took on several roles as a musician and live event producer. From the jump, the pair had a very strong an...

The Menu, Glass Onion, and the Limits of the Eat-the-Rich Satire

Over these past few years, the phrase “eat the rich” has been accumulating quite a bit of popularity in our cultural lexicon. Originally an anticapitalist slogan coined by political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “eat the rich” has become more applicable than ever, used by the masses as a response to a growing dissatisfaction toward billionaires and other beneficiaries of the 1%. It’s also been thematized heavily in contemporary pop culture, gaining traction starting in 2019 with the advent of films like the riveting Best Picture winner Parasite, the cat-and-mouse thriller Ready or Not, the star-studded whodunnit Knives Out, and the stripper crime comedy Hustlers. Each of these stories attempted to critique the systems and ideologies that drive and preserve the ever-widening wealth gap...

Best New Tracks: Stormzy, NBA YoungBoy, Lil Baby x Nardo Wick and More

As the week in music comes to a close, HYPEBEAST has rounded up the best projects for the latest installment of Best New Tracks. This week’s lineup is led by Stormzy, NBA YoungBoy and Lil Baby x Nardo Wick, who each released the album This Is What I Mean and the music videos for “Hi Haters” and “Pop Out,” respectively. Also joining this selection are offerings from serpentwithfeet, Emotional Oranges, Duke Deuce, Nick Hakim and MFnMelo. Stormzy – This Is What I Mean [embedded content] After a three-year hiatus, Stormzy makes his exciting return with This Is What I Mean. The 12-track project is his billed as “an intimate love letter to music” as he shares his “vulnerabilities, regret, frailties, healing, joy and triumph in a manner and to an extent that reframes the noti...