Come March every year, the same questions are asked, retreaded thought pieces get pitched: What does it mean to have a music industry festival in the decrepit climate of 2011? Does anyone actually…   Read Story »

Clichés be damned -- this really was a good year for metal. I had a harder time organizing a Top 10 in 2010 than ever before. Ditto the Top 20. It was such a good year that I went overboard and…   Read Story »

This has been a long time coming. Four years ago I gave Agalloch's Ashes Against the Grain an 8.0 on Pitchfork, though it deserved a higher score. The Portland band's fourth album Marrow Of The…   Read Story »

In March, longstanding crusty, female-fronted San Francisco black metal quintet Ludicra are releasing The Tenant, the excellent followup to 2007's Fex Urbis Lex Orbus. I was a fan of the last one,…   Read Story »

Every year I'm tempted to -- and sometimes do -- say "this has been a great year for metal." It's a toss-away idea: If you consume the genre obsessively, every year seems sort of great, the chaff…   Read Story »