Tag: metal

694. Kittie

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(November 2025) Episode 694 is KITTIE, an all-female heavy metal group from Canada. Their first album (1999) has a nu metal feel but they move into punishing death metal, except for their fourth album which is a departure in a more melodic direction. Vocalist Monica alternates between clean singing and throat screaming. It’s simultaneously intense and fun music.

Favorite album: In the Black

Favorite song: Ugly

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Try Spit for the nu stuff, or I recommend In the Black and Fire for death fare.

690. Deftones

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

Episode 690 is DEFTONES. I make a habit of launching an episode when I visit an artist’s city or country. And so I started Deftones while in Sacramento (our mutual hometown). I was disappointed. They are rooted in metal, as their first groove/nu-ish album showed. But the emo-vocal alt-metal style they settled into is not to my taste. It’s like Coldplay with distorted guitars. I saw someone describe them as “the Radiohead of metal.” Well, invoking the old Simpsons gag – I like nuts and I like gum, but I do not like them together.

Favorite album: Adrenaline

Favorite song: Minus Blindfold

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Mmm, not much of one. Maybe the first album.

687. Lamb of God

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(October 2025) Episode 687 is LAMB OF GOD. They are considered among the vanguard of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal of the late 1990s and 2000s. As such, their music is an amalgam of thrash, death and hardcore metal that transcends efforts to confine them to a category. Throat-screamed vocals (with relative lyrical clarity), speed and groove are prominent features, with the technical precision of an expert clockmaker. Always powerful, never boring. This episode includes the two albums released as BURN THE PRIEST.

Favorite album: Wrath

Favorite song: Sepsis

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: There’s not a bad album in the lot. Their first album, the eponymously-named Burn the Priest, is a good place to start.

684. Biohazard

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(October 2025) Episode 684 is BIOHAZARD. A good example of a crossover mix of metal and punk with a healthy dose of rap metal (especially early in their recording career). The attitude and lyrics are more to the punk side, full of anger and defiance. It’s aggressive and intense stuff.

Fun fact: Joining Tame Impala, Biohazard becomes the second artist for which I completed the episode on the same day their most recent album was released.

Favorite album: Means to an End

Favorite song: A Lot to Learn

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: I’m not a big fan of metal/punk fusion, but they’re better than others. Urban Discipline was their breakthrough album and is probably a good place to start.

678. Hermano

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(September 2025) Episode 678 is HERMANO. This stoner rock band was more a side project of John Garcia of Kyuss, but it’s worth knowing their 3.5 albums of material. The “stoner” label comes from the guitar tone. Applied with groove and tempo, you get Hermano and bands like Fu Manchu – as distinct from stoner metal with its slower if not drone pace and backgrounded vocals (the apex of which is Sleep). The latter is my preference, although I enjoyed Hermano. I also included the sole album Garcia recorded as UNIDA.

Favorite album: Dare I say…

Favorite song: The Bottle

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first two albums are the best.

676. Gojira

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(September 2025) Episode 676 is GOJIRA. A big part of the enjoyment of this metal act from France is that they don’t confine themselves to one style; it’s a mix of thrash, death, nu, groove, prog and math metal, both within and across songs (not unlike Sepultura). This French stew has made them a national icon – they were the first metal band to play at an Olympic opening ceremony (Paris 2024) – and international status. Environmentalism is a recurring lyrical theme. Joe Duplantier’s pick scrape technique is a nice distinctive touch.

Favorite album: From Mars to Sirius

Favorite song: Flying Whales

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I think From Mars to Sirius, The Way of All Flesh and L’Enfant Sauvage are their best albums; Magma is their most acclaimed but my least favorite.

666. Satan

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(August 2025) Episode 666 is SATAN. Of the many bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, their distinction was being among the fastest, playing a kind of thrash before that label became popularized in the Bay Area.  Even that is not enough, IMO, to get them close to the top tier of NWOBHM. A lot feels rote, and despite the opportunity provided by the name, they never go full evil on lyrics or imagery. Amidst lineup changes, they also recorded as Blind Fury and Pariah, probably trying to avoid stigma in the satanic panic era. They reformed in 2013 with their original singer for several albums which bored me.

Favourite album: Court in the Act

Favourite song: Trial by Fire

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums (under the Satan name) have a certain vintage.

658. Boris

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(June 2025) Episode 658 is BORIS. There isn’t a single term that aptly describes the music of this Japanese trio, although “noise” might be the closest. It’s sludge/stoner metal, drone, noise rock, dream pop metal, or experimental, depending on their phase or the album. They can do long drone noise like their debut, Absolutego, or pick it up into thrash mode, like Akuma No Uta. They also go pop, like on New Album or Attention Please. Vocals are selectively employed, and I’m not a fan of the men’s vocal style used on non-thrash tracks, which I label “dream pop metal.” Their output is voluminous, with an abundance of collaborations, notably Merzbow, so there are plenty of options to choose from.

Favorite album: Pink

Favorite song: Blackout

Favorite album-length song: Absolutego

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Best albums for heavy doom and thrash are Akuma No Uta, Pink and NO, as well as the Heavy Rocks trilogy. For drone/sludge try Absolutego, Amplifier Worship and Feedbacker.

650. Carcass

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(May 2025) Episode 650 is CARCASS. An extreme metal band from Liverpool that influenced grindcore and melodic death metal. Their early (late 80s/early 90s) albums are punishing affairs (the best in my opinion), cultivating a certain image with song titles like “Vomited Anal Tract,” “Mucopurulence Excretor,” “Crepitating Bowel Erosion” and “Embryonic Necropsy and Devourment.” They reunited in the 2000s for a couple decent but not distinguished albums.

Favourite album: Symphonies of Sickness

Favourite song: Corporal Jigsore Quandry

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first three albums: Reek of Putrefaction, Symphonies of Sickness and Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious.

642. Sepultura

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2025) Episode 642 is SEPULTURA, vaulting to the top tier of my favorite metal bands. In a genre that demands a high level of orthodoxy to the metal formula, Sepultura separates themselves: they create music within the metal idiom. Beyond their skillful navigation within subgenres (speed/thrash, death, groove, prog), they bring in novel elements like drumming rhythms from their native Brazil, notably on the albums Chaos A.D. and Roots when they reached their creative peak. But it’s not a mere meld, it makes part of a whole. Each album has its own personality; they’ll try something new and then circle back to hit you in the face with power thrash.

Favorite album: Roots

Favorite song: Lookaway

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Highly recommend. Chaos A.D. and Roots are their most inventive, but there’s really not a bad album in the lot.