In September we toasted the best new bands of 2011. Bright futures for those guys! But come this time of year it's also important to remember the musical groups who called it a day. Some of these…   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 »

As often as I listen to it, I keep finding new layers and sounds in Ludicra's The Tenant, the crusty San Francisco black metal band's great followup to 2007’s Fex Urbis Lex Orbus. As I said when I…   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 »

As I mentioned in the last installment, this edition of Haunting The Chapel features an interview with towering Gaza vocalist Jon Parkin (I'm 6'5", he's 6'7", so he earns "towering," for sure).…   Read Story »