Progressive Metal
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 ...
Mining Metal: Abduction, Daeva, Faceless Burial, Forlesen, God Alone, MAL, The Otolith, and SUMAC/Keiji Haino
Every month, I could write to you all about how the selection process for this column is hard. When you first sit down to do something like this, there’s a hunger to write about all the bands that really get your engines going, to finally get to make people outside of your circle hear the things you’ve rehearsed in your head to pitch all this music you love to others. But as the months (and now years) creep on, you start finding that, well, those bands keep putting out music and a lot of it has stayed pretty good, but now new bands have joined the pack, and oh that’s a new label, and I’ve never even heard of this scene before, and wow these classic bands came back and put out a really special release, and… So sometimes the choices are less based on pure quality as other paradigms. One of t...
Liturgy Announce New Double Album 93696, Release Title Track and Mini-LP: Stream
Liturgy have announced a new double album and shared the title track “93696.” The band also released a new stand-alone mini-LP, As the Blood of God Bursts the Veins of Time, that is available to stream now. Clocking in at 15 minutes, “93696” is another ambitious sonic leap for Liturgy. The genre-defying epic is structured into three movements that are crammed with musical flourishes. At any one point, you might hear tremelo-picked black metal riffs, a Melvins-y breakdown, or mind-boggling mathematical prog. The howls of guitarist/vocalist Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix (formerly Hunter Hunt-Hendrix) peek in and out of the fray. Hunt-Hendrix has been at the center of Liturgy since its inception, often joined by a revolving-door lineup of musicians who can achieve her complex musical vision. Here, the...
Ghost’s Tobias Forge Talks Arena Rock, Jack the Ripper, and the Band’s Next Album
Ghost are the rare band that formed in the past 15 years to graduate to arena headliners. In fact, the Swedish metal act is about to embark on its latest massive tour, playing North American arenas with support from Mastodon and Spiritbox. The outing kicks off Friday (August 26th) in San Diego, and runs through a September 23rd show in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with tickets available via Ticketmaster. The new run follows up an early 2022 US tour that saw Ghost co-headlining with Volbeat, and playing their first shows since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the concert industry. Heavy Consequence caught up with Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge (aka Papa Emeritus IV) to discuss the band’s return to the road, their latest album, IMPERA (released in March of this year), and whether the wheels are alrea...
Mastodon Unveil Sinister “More Than I Could Chew” Video Ahead of Tour with Ghost: Stream
Mastodon have unveiled the music video for “More Than I Could Chew,” the latest single from 2021’s Hushed and Grim. The acclaimed metal band’s new video comes ahead of their high-profile North American tour with Ghost and Spiritbox. The outing kicks off August 26th in San Diego and run through September 21st in Peoria, Illinois, with tickets available via Ticketmaster. Directed by Zev Deans, the video is inspired by vintage psychedelic horror and is cast in hazy oranges and reds. The members of Mastodon appear as distorted images, cut amongst a vivid retelling of The Garden of Eden. Advertisement Related Video Lisa Saeboe assumes the role of Eve, while Brenden McGowan plays the tempter Lucifer. In contrast with Hellacious hues of red covering the band members, the cutaways to the Garden ar...
Spiritbox Surprise Release New Three-Song Collection, Including Video for “Rotoscope”: Stream
Spiritbox have surprise-released a new three-song collection titled Rotoscope, while unveiling the music video for the title track. You can stream all three tracks now. The title cut sees Spiritbox embracing a more industrial metal sound. The pulsing beats and crunchy, syncopated riffs have a danceable quality, with frontwoman Courtney LaPlante going full melodic-pop on the vocals. But the clean singing dissipates on the chorus — a nu-metal explosion that’s wholly unexpected. The Max Moore-directed video showcases the intensity of LaPlante’s performance on the track. The release also includes two additional tracks, “Sew Me Up” and “Hysteria.” The former is a mid-tempo riffer that recalls Diamond Eyes-era Deftones with its balance of pop-like songcraft, melody, and harshness. Advertise...
9-Year-Old Girl Masters Tool’s Complex 15-Minute Song “7empest” on Guitar: Watch
Tool’s complex 15-minute opus “7empest” is a difficult cover for anyone to attempt. Don’t tell that to 9-year-old guitar shredder Maya Neelakantan. In the YouTube clip, Neelakantan puts on a Nandi Bushell-esque display of talent as she expertly darts around the fretboard. Adam Jones wrote some deft guitar parts for the Fear Inoculum track, and it appears he has a worthy understudy in Neelakantan, if ever needed. She even emulates his wah pedal footwork. As she explains in the introduction to the video, Maya was inspired to play her “most favorite song” after receiving a brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar for her ninth birthday last month. Of note, Jones famously plays a Les Paul and even has his own line of signature models with Gibson. Advertisement Related Video “This is my most favorite s...
Jinjer Granted Permission to Leave Ukraine for Tour, Share Video for “Call Me a Symbol”: Stream
Ukrainian metal band Jinjer have been granted permission to leave by the nation’s Ministry of Culture to embark on a tour to help raise funds and awareness for their war-torn country. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Jinjer were forced to drop off their support stint on Slipknot’s US “Knotfest Roadshow” tour. They instead helped raise funds for Ukraine via merch sales to support resistance efforts and refugee relief. The band hopes to continue raising awareness and money while traveling abroad. Per a press release from the group, Jinjer’s upcoming European summer tour and festival appearances are officially confirmed. “We are very honored to announce that together with the help of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, we have successfully been granted permission to travel abroad as amb...
Tool Members Join Brass Against for Performance of “Stinkfist”: Watch
Tool recently wrapped up their European tour, and members of the band celebrated by jamming their classic song “Stinkfist” onstage with support act Brass Against. The performance took place at the outing’s final show on May 24th in Budapest, Hungary. Brass Against are known for their big-band covers of songs by Tool and Rage Against the Machine, among others. In fact, “Stinkfist” was a regular number in their set leading up to the collaborative performance. This time around, Tool’s Adam Jones, Danny Carey, and Justin Chancellor joined them onstage for the high-energy version of the Ænima song. Tool typically play pranks on their opening acts on the final shows of tours, as they recently did with Blonde Redhead, when they sported blonde and red wigs and danced around onstage during the the ...
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Releases Debut Solo EP Portals: Stream
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has released the Portals EP — his debut solo release. He also unveiled the video for the song “High Plains Drifter.” The instrumental four-song offering marks the first time a core member of Metallica has pursued a solo project while remaining in the band. Hammett recently told Rolling Stone that he was “shocked” he got the band’s blessing to release the EP, alluding to the conflict that partially led to the exit of former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. Hammett even worked with personnel close to the Metallica camp, including Edwin Outwater — the conductor of the S&M2 concerts — and veteran producer Bob Rock. That said, the music on Portals is a far cry from the thrash metal of Hammett’s full-time gig. Advertisement Related Video As we remar...
Kirk Hammett on Discovering Prog Rock and Having the First Metallica Solo Release
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Metallica’s Kirk Hammett gives Kyle Meredith a call to talk about his debut solo EP, Portals, and how it was birthed from his horror movie exhibition and when Metallica did S&M 2. Related Video The guitarist tells us about just discovering prog rock bands like Genesis, Yes, and Jethro Tull, as well as not being much of a fan of The Beatles. He also talks about what it means to have his EP be the first Metallica solo release, and the possibility of eventually playing these songs live. Advertisement Hammett also discusses if he would do a guest-packed solo album in the vein of Tom Morello’s recent releases, future pl...
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Indulges Classical and Prog Tendencies on His Excellent Debut Solo EP Portals: Review
For a band with a such a storied career as Metallica, it is rather surprising that the longtime active members haven’t ventured off into various solo projects. That said, if we were to have wagered which member was most likely to go it alone, our best bet would’ve been Kirk Hammett. For years we’ve been hearing about the guitarist stockpiling hundreds, if not thousands of riffs on his phone. Considering Metallica’s deliberate workflow, only so many of these riffs and melodies, if any, will actually make it onto one of their records. Kirk needed an outlet, and he found it with his debut solo EP, Portals. No, this isn’t Kirk’s foray into becoming a singer-songwriter. Rather, the four-song release is entirely instrumental and contains minimal traces of heavy metal. Hammett said he took a “Aud...
