If Dutch avant noise metal duo Dead Neanderthals were looking to add a little blackened thrash to their chaotic instrumental sonic stew, one might think a collaboration with erstwhile Skeletonwitch guitarist Scott Hedrick would do the trick. Except Dead Neanderthals—Otto Kokke (synthesizers) and René Aquarius (drums)—likely weren’t looking to take things in that direction and Hedrick, as it turns out, is all too happy to go far afield from his day job and meet the pair on their turf. Hedrick collaborated on DN’s 2019 full-length, Ghosts, and he’s back in the fold on their brand ..read more

Danish avant metal trio Oxx have a lot to offer in a mere 2:36 on their latest single, “The Hypostasis.” The track is a crosscut between sludgy lumberings and manic riffing that feels both mathy and chaotic. It’s a helluva ride, punctuated by enraged vocals and a rhythm section that feels like it’s been given the unenviable task of making sense of complete madness. Clearly these Danes—Alex Bossen (guitar/vocals/lyrics), Martin Aagard (drums), Anders Frodo S. Mikkelsen (bass)—are on some sort of wavelength, because what should sound like a sonic train wreck has a sort of unexpected cohesiveness ..read more

So many questions. So, so many questions the new video from New Zealand avant black metal noiseniks Tuscoma brings to mind. We won’t bore you with all of them, but the title of the track accompanying said video, “The Importance of Being Vogue,” is certainly obtuse. Is it an in-joke, a reference to Vogue magazine or just a bunch of words put together to give the song a title? Listening to its relentless, pulsing throb and semi-shrieked/shouted vocals without the visuals of the video there’s no apparent fashion tie-in/reference—sounds like shoegazey/noisy avant metal. And then there’s ..read more

Try to put yourself in my (admittedly worn out) shoes for a moment:  It’s 2010, and you’ve been a devoted metal acolyte for years, but that’s not why you go to Web of Mimicry.  You haunt that label’s website because it’s run by ex-Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance, and that dude releases some truly wonky shit that occasionally nods toward the heavy but mostly scratches that spazz-jazz itch we all get.  Spruance’s own outfit, Secret Chiefs 3, has released some of the best weird music of the past fifteen years, and the label has also offered up wicked strangeness from Estradasphe ..read more