The roots of black metal stretch back to Norway and to a group of friends and musicians who milled around or worked in a record store called "Helvete" - hell. In 1987, a band called Mayhem that formed out of this milieu released the Deathcrush EP, twenty minutes that laid out the path for the genre. Much has been written with regard to these early days of the band - its history is dominated by murder, suicide, and arson - but despite a difficult (and criminal) past, Mayhem has survived and evolved. more ›

You may not have heard of it, but last month San Antonio promoter Aaron Mendiola and partner Tim Pittides staged a daring, ostentatious three-day metal festival called the Goregrowler's Ball, a summation of their talents as bookers and cheerleaders of local metal shows. Held at a venue called The Korova, the festival boasted fifty bands and was headlined by Brutal Truth, Exhumed and Suffocation. While strong on local acts, the festival also managed to tempt an international roster of artists. The festival took place on November 18th-20th after months of preparation and ticket sales that included a three-day pass that went for just $60 if purchased in advance. more ›

The creators of possibly this year's finest black metal record...sorry, American black metal record....sorry again..."Transcendental American Black Metal" album Liturgy have scheduled a show at Red7 on July 28th. We reviewed that album Aesthetica here, and regardless of your preferred nomenclature for this music, one thing is certain - drummer Greg Fox is so good you will shit. more ›

The poster for this show claims Black Metal Rides Texas and one can only shrug and mutter, “Ain’t it the truth.” The mighty Goatwhore, New Orleans’ blackest of the black, invades Emo’s outside stage the day before Hump Day, accompanied by a horde of their peers. Led by guitarist Sammy Duet, formerly of legendary NOLA sludge/psych monsters Acid Bath, and vocalist Louis Benjamin Falgoust II, also of the equally brutal Soilent Green, Goatwhore indulges its creators’ fondness for old-fashioned, riff-mangling, God-denying, Satan-worshipping black metal (or blackened death metal, if you prefer to split hairs while you bang your head) to the loudest degree possible. more ›

Washington state’s Wolves in the Throne Room are somewhat of an anomaly. Typically boxed into the ambient black metal sub-style of the black metal sub-genre (stay with us here), the band is one of the luminaries on the U.S. black metal landscape that’s making a conscious effort to push the boundaries of a genre that has a tendency to remain stagnant. The band incorporates an ecologically conscious worldview, not only into their music but also their lifestyle (members live on a sustainable farming compound outside of Olympia that they call “Calliope”), and an emphasis on catharsis and spiritual well-being rather than black metal’s more traditional nihilism and misanthropy. more ›