Dreams Of Consciousness

Neurosis/Neurot Recordings and The Firekeeper Alliance have collaborated on a music video. Imagine It Follows meets Reservation Dogs, using two songs from the latest Neurosis album An Undying Love For A Burning World as a backdrop.

Pouring one out for Lou Koller of Sick of it All. SOIA were my favourite NYHC band, and one of the main reasons I moved to New York in 1997. I met Lou a few times at gigs over the years, and he was always kind and gracious to his fans - even long-haired metal dudes like me. This loss hurts. RIP, Lou. Thanks for being such a great role model for what a frontman should be.

Imperial Triumphant bassist Steve Blanco has a new solo album, which features original piano compositions performed on a Shigeru Kawai SK-7. Misztikus was recorded live at Music City Piano in Nashville, TN, and is out now.

[photo by Ben Nieves]

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Miscreance are a Venetian crew whose work genuflects before prog death's holy trinity: Atheist, Cynic, and Pestilence. Their second album Reminiscence will be released by Season of Mist on August 28th.

[photo by Alice Siega]

Maybe it's the emphasis on mid-paced chord progressions, or maybe it's Ricardo Baum's Jaz Coleman-ish vocals - but I don't think I've heard any band make the connection between classic heavy metal and Eighties goth rock/post-punk as explicit as The Night Eternal. Their third album Cold Velvet will be released on August 21st by Metal Blade Records.

[photo by Nona Limmen]

Psycroptic will be touring Australia in August with Rivers Of Nihil, Growth, and Slaughtercult. Tickets and info can be found here.

You can listen to my 2025 interview with Rivers of Nihil vocalist/bassist Adam Biggs here.

If the phrase "melodic death metal" fatigues you, fear not - the blast and fretboard wizardry of Atlanta's Malefic separate them from the hordes of Gothenberg plagiarists. Their debut full-length Impermanence is out now through Terminus Hate City.

[Photo by Jeri Mize IG: @529jeri IG@vizions_of_mize]

Deathgrave are a Bay Area deathgrind outfit, who are notable for having metal super producer Greg Wilkinson on guitar. Their third album Hell is Evil features guest vocals by Autopsy's Chris Reifert, and will be released on August 21st by Tankcrimes.

[Photo by Matthew Kadi]

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You can watch my recent interview with Greg Wilkinson here.

Shabti is a progressive death/black metal trio from Portland, ME with members of Obsidian Tongue, Falls Of Rauros, and Panopticon. Their third album Haze, Cacophony, And White Light will be released on August 21st by Contemn Light.

[Photo by Frank Lincoln Sample]

Street Tombs brings together members of Santa Fe groups Predatory Light, Superstition, and Infera Bruo to play a punky/thrashy style of old school death metal. Their second album Existence Is Corruption will be released on August 21st by Carbonized Records.

[Photo by Lloyd Gray]

Baptized in Slugs [Weekly Mixtape 229]

Crowbar | MΛKE | Throes | Magnitudo | Destroy My Brains | Gout SLC | IRREVERSIBLE | Blue Heron | Yeti On Horseback | Blackstaff

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Music On This Mixtape:

Crowbar: "Her Evil Is Sacred" taken from the album "Zero And Below"

MΛKE: "The Judge" taken from the album "Exegesis at the End of Time"

Throes: "Basura" taken from the album "The Colorless Light of Emptiness"

Magnitudo: "Hummingbird" taken from the album "M A T E R I A L I S M"

Destroy My Brains: "OCI (Obsessive Compulsive Imploder)" taken from the album "Wilt"

Gout SLC: "Fatlas" taken from the album "Marijuana for Non-Medical Purposes"

IRREVERSIBLE: "Esus" [edit] taken from the album "Vessel"

Blue Heron: "Grey" [Fudge Tunnel cover] taken from the album "Emulations"

Yeti On Horseback: "Drug Addict" taken from the album "Traditional Addictions"

Baltimore's Misery Index helped usher in a new era of US grind when their debut EP Overthrow was released 25 years ago. The Feral Future 7" features the first new song the band has released in 4 years, and is out now through Season of Mist.

[photo by Ryan Phillips]

Buñuel vocalist/former Oxbow frontman Eugene S. Robinson suffered a stroke at the beginning of July. There's a fundraiser to help cover his medical and rehabilitation expenses here.

The four day Fire in the Mountains Fest will take place at Red Eagle Campground, within the Blackfeet Reservation from July 23rd-26th, with performances by Amigo the Devil, 16 Horsepower, Yob, Sixteen Horsepower, Neurosis, Enslaved, Baroness, Between Two Worlds, Borknagar, Agalloch, The Ruins of Beverast, SubRosa, Full of Hell, Gallowbraid, Wayfarer, MIDWIFE. Yaotl Mictlan, El Welk, Tarantella, Savage Oath, Nocturne, Sigh, Sumerlands, Old Man Gloom, Dreadnought (CO), Phobophillic, and Galvanist.

Tickets and info can be found here.

You can listen to my 2015 interview with Full of Hell vocalist Dylan Walker and drummer David Bland here.

You can listen to my 2020 interview with Yaotl Mictlan vocalist/guitarist Tlatecatl here.

You can listen to my 2023 interview with Wayfarer guitarist/vocalist Shane McCarthy here.