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Helen Money, Arriving Angels

2013 | Label: Profound Lore / Revolver

By J. Edward Keyes Editor-in-Chief

07.17.13 Play any of the songs on the harrowing third record by Alison Chesley — who records as Helen Money — on electric guitar, and you’d have one of the most brutal, unnerving metal records of the year. But play them as she does on cello, and — well, you still have one of the most brutal, unnerving metal records of the year. Much of this comes from Chesley’s command of dynamic. Aptly-titled album-opener “Upsetter” starts with a low thrum that skitters forward like a tarantula before erupting into slasher-film goring,… more »

Portal, Vexovoid

2013 | Label: Profound Lore / Revolver

By Jayson Greene Managing Editor

07.16.13 Nirvana once wrote a song called “Endless, Nameless.” Take a look at this picture of Portal’s lead vocalist, and then submit to the swirling, backed-up churn of “Orbmorphia,” from the Australian death metal band’s fourth album Vexovoid, and you may find yourself with an entirely new appreciation of what those two words can mean.

Portal, as a band, is all texture, no melody. But they have mastered so many different textures that you never think to yearn for melody. The down-tuned guitars, gurgling beneath the ever-shifting blastbeats of the… more »

Kvelertak, Meir

2013 | Label: Roadrunner Records

By J. Edward Keyes Editor-in-Chief

07.15.13 Metal typically exists in a kind of “either/or” dichotomy: either bands are grinding and infernal or they’re triumphant and anthemic. The Norwegian group Kvelertak is strictly “both/and.” Their scorching second record Meir pairs the bludgeoning brutality of bands like Cannibal Corpse Rotting Christ with the kind of sugary hookiness typically found on an album by Andrew W.K. “Manelyst” is the perfect example: It opens with a barrage of barnstorming chords, a terrifying asteroid shower of sound, before cruising up into a refrain that’s practically singable, sounding like something from the… more »