Darkthrone have been grandfathered in metal culture several years ago. By that, I mean Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have earned the right to do whatever the fuck they want and they will never not be cool. They indulged in that privilege for almost twenty years now, starting with the awesomeThe Cult is Alive in 2006. Darkthrone have been coloring their brand of black metal with anything ranging from crust punk to prog rock. On their new record It Beckons Us All……. I feel like it reached a point where they’re not metal anymore? It Beckons Us All……. (with seven dots at the end) is forty-three minute ..read more

Authenticity in art is overrated. I get the appeal of being yourself and whatnot, but not everyone is interesting or relatable. Imagine if Prince sang folk ballads about his relationship to his mother? His music would lose its appeal. There's nothing wrong with lying to people as long as everyone's in on that lie. If Weird Al Yankovic would've made an earnest movie about his life, nobody would’ve given a flying fuck. But Weird Al being Weird Al, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is the high-effort shitposting we all know and love. So, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is Weird Al (played by a low key aw ..read more

If you haven't lived through the pre-internet era, you can't possibly understand its magic. Time was linear back then. If you saw something odd on television, the only possible barrier between that specific occurrence and total oblivion was your memory. Hours of disposable content aired on television and then disappeared forever. There were so many surreal blips in popular culture. If you want to understand what these blips felt like (or just feel them again), indie horror movie Late Night With The Devil's got you covered. Late Night With The Devil tells the story of an ambitious late night te ..read more

Whether they'll admit it or not, everyone wants to be famous to some degree. Being seen and heard is a need. But it doesn't guarantee you're going to be understood. Every famous person will tell you : they all suffer from a weird conundrum that never affects everyday people (except when they go viral on internet). People constantly assign the most random meaning to whatever they're doing. Kristoffer Borgli's movie Dream Scenario is not about this conundrum at all, except that it totally is. Dream Scenario tells the story of Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage), a mild-mannered biology professor who ev ..read more

There are bands you have to see live in order to understand. The Killers were one for me. I never got into their stuff and one day, my boy dragged me to their concert and I went "Oh, I totally get it now". Inter Arma is one of these bands. First time I heard one of their records, I didn't understand what I was supposed to feel. I caught them opening for Full of Hell last year and got that "oh" moment when I saw their frontman Mike Paparo furiously stomping the stage and howling away. New Heaven should put any confusion about to who they are to rest, though. It’s great. Inter Arma are on the ve ..read more

No one ever asked for a Napoleon movie. Even if someone did, that person most likely didn’t ask for a three hours long, American made movie about French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte with a bunch of english-speaking actors cosplaying as French revolutionaries. That fact itself is somehow Ridley Scott's Napoleon’s biggest calling card. How can such  a lush, expensive film no one ever wanted can be any good? It HAS to be a train wreck, right? While it’s ferociously dispassionate about its own topic, Napoleon is alright. I feel like it’s appropriately twisted and nihilistic for the historical e ..read more

My Dying Bride are what I call a reliable band. The British Gothic Doom titans have always known who they are and have always played within their strengths over their thirty-four years career. It’s great to have bands like that. Purveyors of precise pleasures. They have been such an overwhelming force in the Goth metal community over three decades that they could tour for the rest of their lives without ever writing new music. But the well hasn’t dried up yet for My Dying Bride and they are back with A Mortal Binding. This is very much a My Dying Bride record. It draws within the lines of thei ..read more

Photo Credit : Zachary Jones The first time I heard Full of Hell was not so long ago, but I had somewhat of an epiphany. For the first time in my life, I was hearing a music that I carried in my head and in my heart since I was young. A mix of unbridled ferocity, industrial heaviness and wonder, overwhelming electronic interference and noise, I was immediately a fan. I also became obsessed with the creative process of such a unique and counterintuitive band that went against everything, every musician who ever thought they were extreme believed in. Since I’ve been reviewing records for Vox &am ..read more

People who have never done manual labor or construction are delusional about what is achievable. They mix up thoughts and actions. They think thinking a thing through—and having a thing make sense in your mind—means that you can translate that sense into reality. You absolutely cannot. There is theory. There is practice. (p.69) I was born in a small town where people work with their hands. There was little place for a pop culture nerd out there, but it doesn't mean there wasn't any poetry. Of course, locals always fawned over the harsh beauty of the territory and whatnot, but there's more to w ..read more

Any wrestling fan will tell you : the Von Erich family story was begging to be made into a movie. In the early-WWF era, they were as important as they were cursed, like kayfabe Kennedys. I didn't see The Iron Claw in theatres because it was the Holidays and I had other things to do, but I was bummed out the only thing non-wrestling fans got out of it was a meme of Zac Efron crying in the grass with a weird haircut. So, I watched The Iron Claw over the weekend and kind of got it. Well, somewhat. The Iron Claw tells the story of the Von Erich family, four badass Texas brothers with a batshit cra ..read more