When you think "black metal," Australia may not be the first place that comes to mind. But like that Snorlax album I reviewed earlier this year, the land Down Under has its fair share of blackened greatness. The latest installment comes from Graveir, a five-piece from Melbourne, with their new album King of the Silent … Continue reading Graveir – King of the Silent World Review
One thing that I've really enjoyed about operating Burnt Coffee HQ is the amount of stellar debuts we've seen come across the desks of our caffeinated enterprise. If it weren't for this site, I may have missed out on several great new bands. The latest comes in the form of a debut single from In … Continue reading The Espresso – a quick review of In Earnest’s debut single “Put Me Under”
Whether it's Crystal Castles or Cannibal Corpse, band names can often give insight to what the name bearer sounds like. But multi-instrumentalist Cameron Smith uses a musical alias to let us know what he's not. Whether he's the archnemesis of a certain Kevin or trying to prove he's not a meme, one thing is certain … Continue reading not kevin – Good Enough EP Review
Prog and punk may seem like mortal enemies, but there's a London-based three-piece called Serpent Tax who play a mix of the warring styles. Usually my gripe with modern prog is that it's too easy to spot the ripoffs. Serpent Tax doesn't really sound like anyone, so that's a great start. But how exactly do … Continue reading Serpent Tax – Downpour EP Review
Spotlights are part of a legion of bands (see also: Holy Fawn, Niights) who take their shoegaze and post-metal influences beyond the My Bloody Valentine and Deftones aping of their peers to create something they can truly call their own. Their last album Love & Decay made my Top 20 list last year, so naturally … Continue reading Spotlights – We Are All Atomic EP Review
Several years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Crowbar open for Carcass. While I was a much bigger Carcass fan at the time, I was floored by both bands' performances. They're on different ends of the subgenre spectrum, but in the moment the booking made sense. However, the thought didn't occur to me until … Continue reading Beggar – Compelled To Repeat Review
Katie Crutchfield, a.k.a Waxahatchee, brings us a serious Album of the Year contender with her latest project, Saint Cloud. In her most stripped-down work to date, Crutchfield takes influences from folk, country, and Americana to create a refreshing expansion to her sound. The lyrics throughout Saint Cloud offer vivid imagery of open fields, big sky, … Continue reading Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud Review
Nu metal is making a comeback whether I like it or not. This can be a good thing in the hands of an eclectic band like Code Orange, but it gets real bleak when major metal publications write a million articles titled something like "23.1416 Nu Metal Albums that Turn 23.1416 Today". On their debut … Continue reading Imonolith – State of Being Review
Hyborian are cursed in the sense that every review of them mentions Mastodon and Baroness. But it's hard not to - Hyborian takes cues from those bands' riff-driven Leviathan and Blue Record periods respectively, but with vocal heights that neither band could reach at the time. Their 2017 debut album Volume I was top notch. … Continue reading Hyborian – Volume II Review
"Progressive metal" can be a loaded term. On one end, you could be in for some engaging, envelope-pushing music. On the other, you'd be hearing dudes with gauged ears ripping off Meshuggah and Tesseract. While I can't speak to the state of Vancouver band Neck of the Woods' ear piercings, I can say their new … Continue reading Neck of the Woods – The Annex of Ire Review
