In the runnings for most underrated album of the 2020s.

I plan on, and might, do a whole thing on Sumac's The Deal and I have, in my ill-attempted "podcast", attempted to get at some of what makes that album such an important album in the annals of modern metal/experimental music, but at least one important point of context is that it's not ISIS.

Always a good idea www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmKG...

ICYMI

Periodic mental-health pit stop AKA listening to the album The Eternal Resonance by the band Sweven sweven.bandcamp.com/album/the-et...

Fun fact: White Zombie's Astrocreep 2000 (released 31 yearsago) is the album that caused me to start writing (whether that's good or bad thing is up to someone else). My first short story at 15 was a riff off of the "if God is the dealer how do we never win" line in "Grease Paint and Monkey Brains."

A Spirit Adrift question. I never got that project, wasn't my thing. But this new one I seem to like more. Is it because it's objectively better or am I only now realizing a past mistake and there are previous albums I just have to revisit?

// Is a Ceasefire a Ceasefire if the Fire is Still Burning he Thought as He Listened to Sick Metal // Feat: Warning, Slift, The Callous Daoboys, Gomma, King Freak, Tolaat, Eva Ras, Trichomoniasis, Soulburn + info on Theophonos, Still Burning, and Me. machinemusic.net/2026/04/11/i...

It would seem that the new Spirit Adrift artwork might be channeling the Book of Ezekiel revelation so I wanted to just say that two of my comp covers were in on it too: VOL. 1 was Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones and VOL. 3 the ingesting of scroll of prophecy.

In the great universe of music as self-therapy, Virus is brain surgery and Morbid Angel is an enema

Afrika Bambaataa dead at 67 stereogum.com/2495346/afri...

Get those emotions ready, folks warningdoom.bandcamp.com/album/ritual...

Bad things abound, evil things, in fact, so small blessings count: Leaving off your listening of Altar of Plagues' Mammal album and returning to it in the morning when you still have "All Life Converges to Some Center" to listen to. candlelightrecordsuk.bandcamp.com/track/all-li...

Still the best death metal demo of the past who-knows-how-man years. Perfect encapsulation of a new sound, perfect insertion into the "tradition" of that sound, and perfect "demo sound" while feeling complete and thought-out. bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/altar-...

ICYMI

As I stand here today, April 5, 2026, I don't get the new Converge releases. They feel like stripping away everything that made them unique and, to me, important, for the sake of going back to some basic sound. I have been wrong in the past, and might be wrong now, but that's where I am right now.

Feeling the Strain Getting Ready to Snap While Savoring Soul-Warping Music Feat: Fyrnask, Downfall of Nur, Dälek @ipecac.com, Dead Void @darkdescentrecords.bsky.social, Sacrificial Ecstasy, Iffernet, Funebrarum, Cult of Occult, @ultha.bsky.social + some info machinemusic.net/2026/04/04/f...

Hot Damn

RIP Bo Lueders. Riff legend. harmswayband.bandcamp.com/album/blinded

Celebrate 30 years since my life changed but more importantly 30 years since everyone's life changed with the releases of In Silver with Blood with this interview I did with Steve Von Till a few years back about the making - and suffering - of that album. machinemusic.net/2020/08/13/p...

New Ultha 🖤🖤🖤 just what I needed today! @vendettarecords.bsky.social

April Fools on Metal Archives is upon us

Wtf new Haunter and they're not called Haunter anymore. I was already confused man. Sick logo tho sacrificialecstasy.bandcamp.com/album/relic-...

Don't sleep. I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death. But speglas.bandcamp.com/album/endark...

ICYMI

Misusing Time Better Spent Actually Getting Shit Done or Playing with My Kids to Write About Weird Metal: Panopticon / Great Falls / Ghorot / Sconfitta / @hellrippermetal.bsky.social / Rosa Faenskap / Oerheks / Night Vigil @infinitedreamscape.bsky.social / Vertige machinemusic.net/2026/03/29/m...

I can't think of a more post-Megadeth band than Hellripper. hellripper.bandcamp.com/album/corona...

ICYMI

// The War Inside My Head: An Interview With Daggers // I don't know if you already know Daggers, but if you love punk/proto-black-metal/ and noise rock you HAVE to know them. They have a new EP coming, and so I did a short interview here. Check them out. machinemusic.net/2026/03/25/t...

Another nine years on this platform and I'll make it to at least 505 followers

Doom Buggy: A Black Metal Tribute to The Presidents of the United States of America

How do I feel? Well, I'll tell you how I feel. bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com/track/the-fi...

ICYMI

More in the good news column

New music meltdown feat.: Neurosis / Deafkids / @papangu.bandcamp.com / Otras / Stormkeep / Powerplant / Goreworm @transcendingobs.bsky.social / Ara / Yew / Hajduk + INFO ON Primeval Well, A Pregnant Light, Burial and more. Keep very safe. machinemusic.net/2026/03/21/d...

As a side note to the entire Neurosis supernova-event - I guess it took Aaron Turner joining Neurosis to get that new Isis album

Neurosis are back and they have Aaron Turner now?!??! WHAT neurosis.bandcamp.com/album/an-und...

ICYMI

/// The War Inside My Head: An Interview with Black Metal Project Yhtill /// It's been a while since I did one of these, but it's been a while since I got all fired up over a wall of black metal noise. Check them out, and the interview as well. machinemusic.net/2026/03/18/t...

A horrible day in an endless run of horrible days. Feel like both crying and flying my kids out of this fucking swamp of fascist shit. Nothing is helping and nothing maybe can help but, to my own surprise, Hissing is helping quite a bit. hissingseattle.bandcamp.com/album/perman...

ICYMI

New weekly post feat the musical stylings of: Yhtill / Blasart / Slavehouse / Warped Savior / Temple of Void @relapserecords.bsky.social / Kraath / Devoid of Thought / Trespasser / Eternal Champion / Conifère + INFO ABOUT NOTHING machinemusic.net/2026/03/14/f...

Supremely premature hot take: Not only do I absolutely love the the new Eternal Champion "EP" I will probably be listening to it for the rest of my life. eternalchampion.bandcamp.com/album/friend...

The world continuing to collapse on your head, how does that sound? It sounds like the debut from experimental/drone/folk trio Metzulot. Feat. members of Zeresh, Choshech, and Kadaver. The sound of lethargic despair. metzulot.bandcamp.com/album/metzulot

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Art is Meaningless? Post: Trelldom / Den Edele Dood / Exhumation / Kommodus / Erbeet Azhak / Incandescence / La Torture Des Ténèbres / Leila Abdul Rauf @leilaabdulrauf.bsky.social / A Forest of Stars / 遠人之歌 + some info about some stuff machinemusic.net/2026/03/07/w...

Doing an Arnaut Pavle re-visit was, as expected, a great idea. What a fucking album, and what a fucking track. arnautpavle.bandcamp.com/track/call-f...

ICYMI