FEATURES
Heavy Culture: Moonspell’s Fernando Ribeiro Talks Hermitage, Pandemic, Growing Up in Portugal, and More
Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features an interview with Moonspell frontman Fernando Ribeiro. The year 2020 made most of us embrace our hermit-like ways. Little did Moonspell singer Fernando Ribeiro know that the word Hermitage that he came across in 2017 would be an apt title for the band’s brand new album. The new release Hermitage is the veteran Portuguese gothic metal band’s 12th full-length studio album. The LP focuses on topics such as solitude and isolation, but also on community. Heavy Consequence caught up with Ribeiro via Skype in mid-M...
62 Musicians Predict the 2021 Baseball Season
Somehow, some way, it’s baseball season again. Yes, already. Last year’s abbreviated run saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to win their first World Series title in 32 years, something that Ben Gibbard predicted in our 2020 preview. As you can imagine, Dodgers fans — especially the ones below — are in great spirits heading into the 2021 season. So what does that mean about this year? Absolutely nothing. As COVID restrictions start to loosen and with more fans allowed back into stadiums, excitement is beginning to buzz, especially with our group of experts. Like last time, many are hopeful that this will be their team’s year. We searched far and wide to get predictions for the upcoming Major League Baseball season, creating a proper barometer of what these su...
Song of the Week: BROCKHAMPTON and Danny Brown Call Out the Haters on Return Single “BUZZCUT”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, BROCKHAMPTON make their epic return with the help of Danny Brown. “BUZZCUT” marks the first official release from BROCKHAMPTON, the sprawling 13-member hip-hop group, since 2019. After dropping a series of limited-time songs throughout 2020, the band have now made an official return with the assertive single, along with some help from Danny Brown. The undercurrent of the track is one of frustration, focusing on false dreams, haters and detractors, and dysfunctional family dynamics. Member Kevin Abstract leads the first verse and c...
Ford Exploring Prechamber Ignition Technology, Like Maserati Uses, on F-150
Diesel engines used to initiate combustion in a prechamber that housed the glow-plug for cold-starts, but fancy high-pressure direct-injection pretty much retired the prechamber. We’ve recently learned the 2022 Maserati MC20 Nettuno V-6 engine is reviving it—in gasoline engines—as a way to speed the burn rate and extract more work and performance out of the air-fuel mixture. Now we hear Ford is working with FEV, an engineering consultancy, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory on a prechamber engine aimed at boosting efficiency. The $10-million three-year project, partly funded by the Department of Energy, aims to develop a “Next Generation High Efficiency Boosted Engine.” Specifically, the effort aims to achieve a 23 percent improvement in efficiency and a 15 percent re...
EDM.com Presents The Heat Check 003: CharlestheFirst, Kyral x Banko, Player Dave, and More
In modern bass music, listeners and tastemakers consistently find themselves chasing the next big track to blow audiences away. EDM.com’s The Heat Check is a series that highlights the hottest tracks and brightest artists to emerge from the bass, dubstep and freeform scenes. “Wide” – Angelic Root Indie bass prodigy Angelic Root returned earlier this month, releasing The Lost Tapes on Bandcamp Friday. The track opens with bird calls and biomusic elements, which entice listeners before a barrage of low-end bass. Stream or purchase the track on Bandcamp here. “Fleeting Memories” – Charlesthefirst On his latest LP, Solus, Charlesthefirst balances heavy bass and somber melodies. “Fleeting Memories” combines the two, leading fans in with a relaxing piano v...
On the Eve of Something Big
Like many of those in the performing arts world, Eve Hewson is staying in and abiding by pandemic-driven quarantine rules. But although she is physically inside, metaphorically, she’s breaking out. A TV scheduling twist seemingly crafted by kismet has seen her most prominent television work released within days of each other: a starring role in Starz miniseries The Luminaries, set during the 1860s New Zealand gold rush (its season finale airs Sunday, March 28), and the uber-twisty Behind Her Eyes on Netflix. There is also the added bonus of the critically acclaimed 2014 drama The Knick, about opiate-fueled medical professionals in turn-of-the-century New York, just now finding a streaming home on HBO Max. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”:...
SPIN’s Music Pardons!
On the august occasion of our 36th Anniversary, we are issuing our first ever music pardons. No longer does Billy Ray Cyrus have to live in shame! The Baha Men can finally sleep easy at night, the awful yoke of their aural crime lifted! Eddie Murphy can live out the rest of his days appreciated as the great actor and comedian he is, the millstone of “Party All the Time” removed. Breathe, Eddie! <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,”height”:”270″,”playlist”:”10315″,”inviewBottomOffset”:”105px”} }); –> Below are the nine pardons we are issuin...
Mining Metal: Autarkh, Celestial Sanctuary, Demiser, Flesh of the Stars, Koldovstvo, Lunar Shadow, Mare Cognitum, Memoriam
“Mining Metal” is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence writers Joseph Schafer and Langdon Hickman. 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. The heavy metal community lost a real one this month. On March 7th, Swedish death metal vocalist L-G Petrov passed away after a battle with bile duct cancer. It’s the latest in a series of metal vocalists gone too young in the past twelve months, including Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom, and Riley Gale of Power Trip. Petrov was one of the musicians who brought death metal to the masses as the vocalist for Swedish legends Entombed. A quick history lesson, while Entombed did not originate death metal in Sweden, the...
Japan releases softball squad for Tokyo Olympic Games
Japanese softball team head coach Reika Utsugi has urged her players to capture Olympic gold on home soil after naming a 15-strong squad for Tokyo 2020. The team features Yukiko Ueno, captain Yamada Eri and Yukiyo Mine who helped Japan clinch softball gold at Beijing 2008 – the last time the sport featured at the Games. Pitchers Yamato Fujita and Miu Goto, who was named Most Valuable Player in last season’s Japan Women’s Softball League, as well as star outfielder Saki Yamazaki are other notable names. Haruka Agatsuma, Nayu Kiyohara, Mana Atsumi, Yuka Ichiguchi, Hitomi Kawabata, Minori Naito, Yu Yamamoto, Nodoka Harada and Sayaka Mori have also been chosen. “Of course, skills and physical competence are the necessary elements,” said Utsugi. “But in selecting the 15 members, we also took th...
2023 Jeep Wagoneer Trailhawk: Everything We Know About the Upcoming Off-Roader
The excitement surrounding the recently revealed Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer hasn’t even died down yet, and we have it on good authority that Jeep isn’t done making news with this family of vehicles. For example, we know that there will be a long-wheelbase model coming, along with a PHEV version. And you shouldn’t be surprised if, down the road, there’s an off-road version as well—which we had our talented artist, Abimelec Arellano, render in the images you see above and below. Not Trail Rated? While it might not wear a “Trail Rated” badge due to its size, the Wagoneer is still a capable off-roader from the factory—and a “Trailhawk” version would be more so. On a regular Wagoneer, you’ll be able to get adjustable air suspension, 18-inch...
Artist of the Month serpentwithfeet on Black Gay Love, Relationship Advice, and Creative Honesty
Artist of the Month is an accolade we award to an up-and-coming artist who we believe is about to break out. We turn our attention in March to serpentwithfeet, an R&B singer-songwriter presently creating out of Los Angeles. When asked about any especially impactful messages from fans about his music, serpentwithfeet immediately recalls a tweet, regarding his Apparition EP, released last year. He quotes, “This project sounds like what happens in a dollhouse when the humans aren’t looking,” which he follows up with a hearty chuckle. “That is such a great appraisal. And I thought it was a great compliment,” he says. It’s also a more-than-accurate assessment, one that couldn’t be placed on just any artist’s work. Originally hailing from Baltimore — before moving to New York City and now, L...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Robin Wattie of Big|Brave
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. This month’s piece features an interview with Robin Wattie of Big|Brave. Montreal metal trio Big|Brave tackle the weighty issues of gender, race and feeling like one doesn’t belong on their new album, Vital, out April 23 via Southern Lord. The album’s lead single, “Half Breed,” finds singer-guitarist Robin Wattie sharing the experience of being of mixed race and the confusion and insecurity that can come with it. Wattie checked in with Heavy Consequence for the latest “Beyond the Boys’ Club” column to discuss how she and the members of Big|Brave quarantined together...
