Video: "The Chosen" by Black Royal

In case it's escaped your notice, this winter's time is nearly done. There is less than a single month from spring. In the not too distant future, we'll all be complaining that it's too damned hot and we miss the winter.

Keeping in mind, this blogger will be saying that in March.

During the time away from the snow, living vicariously through metal is paramount. So, check out this video set in a snowy tundra featuring leather, sheep, witches, blood, and wolves.

Ask Black Royal about the symbolism on Facebook and their debut album can be preordered on Bandcamp.

LP Review: "Troll" by Troll

Troll

It's easy to judge a book by its cover and look deeply into the dark pits of the soul and other hippy stuff right?

Well, consider if nothing else, just the word troll.

Yesterday my family took sick days and I worked from home in order to care for them.

During that time, my daughter subjected me to no less than two hours of Trolls cartoons.

The kiddo has also inherited a fandom of Harry Potter, but would she consider the troll in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to be the same thing as Branch or Poppy?

We haven't even gotten to the trolls in The Hobbit. So, really if you think about just those three parts of popular culture, the word troll evokes three very different connotations.

Video: "Devils Of Your Time" by Argus

Remember a time when bands like Iron Maiden and Dio were synonymous with heavy metal?

Before bands like Metallica, Carcass, etc all started their invasion of metal...it would seem that extreme metal might be an invasive species which started strangling out the melody.

(NOTE: Yes, I know melodic metal still exists.)

Well, if you're in Pittsburgh, PA and you need to hear that old timey metal. The kind of metal my kid's father grew up on, check out Argus.

Don't hesitate to get their feelings on invasive species on Facebook and order on Bandcamp via Cruz Del Sur Records.

Wrong Band Again Grethor Helps Out

Grethor

Life is crazy you know.

After speaking to the hackers, we were informed that this time would be accurate, but first I had to buy 2,000 twitter followers, a goofy and expensive hat, and we did that, but still here we are.

No closer to Iron Maiden. Grethor however did answer the call as best that they could.

Check it out below while I peruse the list of the 13 Russian Nationals indicted to see if my PR Contact is among them.....

LP Review: "Second Edition" by Gygax

Second Edition

It's been too long since some proper Dungeons & Dragons stuff has landed here.

In the interim, we have attempted to get even nerdier, even more old school, and even more into Dungeons & Dragons.

The Kiddo and I have watched the entire Dungeons and Dragons television series from the early 1980's.

Did you know it starred Willie Aames as Hank The Ranger?

It's also worth noting that this television show had pretty much nothing to do with the game at all. Even the character classes weren't real, besides Ranger and Thief, but Shelia never backstabbed anyone so it's kind of a ripoff.

So, yeah, it's been a little while since things have gotten any more D&D here.... Hell, it's been a minute since our D&D Loving friends Gygax have dropped an album.

Video: "Liquid Gold" by Mercure

There was this band, The Lumberjack Feedback.... You may have seen their review that I did or the vinyl copy of their latest album that I sometimes post the picture to.

Well, now there's an offshoot band. It's kind of like when Roger Waters does an album, it sounds like Pink Floyd, but a little bit different.

It won't take long to see what the difference here is, but the rock is still there.

Check it out below!

MLP Review: "Visitation" by HAR

Visitation

Why is it that the opposite of what we require can give us such fulfillment?

Beer, it's a depressant, but it can make us feel so happy. Like Carl said man, there's nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away.

This is so true when it comes to music.

When we're angry, giant bursts of anger, be it via video game violence, extreme metal, etc allow our anger to abate and bring us back to sensible modes.

When we're feeling sad, we listen to the Blues, but like the Jazzman said, the blues ain't about feeling better, it's about making other people feel bad. As with anyone who's alive and kicking, there are negative emotions circling inside of me.

Vinyloscopy with Acid of Honeymoon Disease

One of the cool things about doing the interviews for me is learning about the people behind the music that fills our lives.

It didn't take long for my contacts to extend outside of the borders of These United States. Europeans have been involved with American music ever since the English started playing their own version of the Blues.

But what about their friends to the North? Let's find out a bit more about Honeymoon Disease's Acid and how she takes in her music.

Take it all in.

1. The first album I ever owned was?

When I was young, about five years of age, my mom gave me weekly allowance equivalent 2 euro. 

We often passed by a local record store called "Musikörat" down town (Uppsala, Sweden). I managed to save up some money, I think it was 5 or 6 euros, because I really wanted to buy something from that very record shop. 

Video: "Nowhere Near Live from Machine Shop Studios" by Vex

Let's get a Texas sized slab of death metal. It hasn't been all that long since I attended my first death metal concert, and it would be presumable that I'm not the lone ranger in that regard.

Seeing the musicians actually bringing death metal to life on stage was something really cool and to this day is still a bit scary, as it should be.

So check out Vex playing live in the studio. After this moves you, pick up the EP on Bandcamp for just a dollar.

LP Review: "Plagues and Ancient Rites" by Disembowel

Plagues and Ancient Rites

So, apparently there's something going on down in South America.

The Brazilian Metal Scene, well that is the stuff of legend. If you're just now hearing about Brazilian metal, I would wonder why you're reading this blog.

(Unless you're looking to learn and then it makes total sense and welcome!)

What I'm told is that the small and thin nation of Chile has this thing going on. There's been a little bit of action on here from that desert country.

So, there's an occult music scene down there. That makes me interested to see what I've been missing. This website is the result of my looking past Kiss, Metallica, and Iron Maiden to see what there was to see....

Vinyloscopy with Chris from Owl Maker

Owl Maker

You make recall the interviews we've seen sending around asking all sorts of rockers about how they listen to music....

Yes?

Well, it occurred to me that not enough of them are singing the praises of the vinyl.

Punches packed with Wax-ed....ok that rhyme was terrible.

Because of my personal love of the unsquared circle, we need to talk to some other folks out there about why they love these silly black (and many other colored) discs. Today we're hearing from Chris of Owl Maker. They are putting out their debut release, Paths of the Slain next month and they're doing it by their own damn selves.

LP Review: "The End of Mankind" by Adversor

The End of Mankind

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

Well it may not have been all that long ago, and the galaxy wasn't that far away either. In fact, it's probably appropriate to say that the galaxy was just a subdivision on the other end of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.

In the years when your friend here was discovering that Iron Maiden wasn't the heaviest band in the world, many days (and nights) were spent at my best friend's house in his basement.

We listened to Metallica. He tried to teach me how to play both the guitar and the bass and both in vain. We watched live concert videos.

It was an oasis in a chaotic time for me and even though we're no longer in contact, those times are still very special to me and have been coming up in ways lately, especially while listening to Garage Inc by Metallica that was recently acquired on vinyl....

Video: "Glossolalia: by Disaffected

Allow to me an American for a moment. The greatest thing in the world is a buffet.

If you didn't know, I'm not a foodie and even though I enjoy great food, sometimes it's just fun to be able to go, sit down, and eat a minimum of seven animals and roll yourself home.

And if you're feeling like, more responsible, man, you and your family can all go and eat like you were in 4 or 5 different restaurants. Where else besides a buffet can you get steak and sushi (that's worth eating) for like $25? (FULL DISCLOSURE: Casino Buffet)

DISAFFECTED reminds me a lot of those buffets....Their music is really varied and there've found a way to reference every single band they've ever heard in their lives without writing a 18 minute epic.

Check it out below.

LP Review: "Eight Coffin Nails" by Alghazanth

Eight Coffin Nails

It's time to get full on heavy metal hipster.

How's that you ask?

We're going to get down with several word long subgenres.

Everybody around here knows that this guy is a big fan of doom metal, stoner metal, pagan metal, ya know, all those different names for that would basically be Neo-Proto-Metal.

Or would it be Neo-First-Wave-of-British-Heavy-Metal?

I'm not certain that this particular wave has every been properly pigeonholed into an entirely pointless sub-sub-genre, but yeah, let's move forward.

Today's review features that Finland Band that everybody's been talking about, Alghazanth. They are a Finnish black metal band that's been circling the globe since 1995. Eight Coffin Nails is the first album since 2013's The Three Faced Pilgrim.

Straight Interview with Necrosexual

Necrosexual and Friends

Every so often there comes an artist that's so magnetic, so gradniose, and so damned yeah...that we need a second taste of from the Bonus Cup.

Necrosexual was the first person who answered our Iron Maiden review.

Because of that, it was high time we learned more about what makes this young(?) man tick.

What we found out may shock you. It may alarm you.

You may also need to change your sheets before you read this, because ask yourself, how long has it been since you changed the sheets? It occurs to me that my daughter needs new sheets on her bed, but she has to get the toys off of it first.

Where were we?

Ah yes, what's surely going to be the greatest moment in rock journalism history. This is going to make us the C. Thomas Howell of Rock Journalism...get your cuppa tea ready...because you're going to get to meet Necrosexual.....

Video: "Rule The World" by Lechery

By the Power of Greyskull! Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

The force is the POWER of the Jedi.

This is one of those times when we just need to let our power flow through us before we all explode right? Lechery featuring Martin Bengsston (formerly the bassist of Arch Enemy) is about to drop a new disc full of that classic power and fury that captured folks like myself at a very young age.

All those harmony leads, all those anthemic vocals. It's time go. Get in the truck.

Check them out on Facebook.

LP Review: "Metempsychosis" by Nest

Metempsychosis

It's not uncommon for Glacially Musical to review artists who have put out their very first record, sometimes even on vinyl.

One thing we have never done, to my extensive, though swiss cheesed memory, is to review a label's first release.

So before we get to talking about Nest, let's talk about Sludgelord Records. Presumably, my readers are familiar with that other website who also loves Doom Metal, The Sludgelord.

I look up to them, because I feel like I'm them, but nowhere near as good, but working at it!

Anyway, they had the idea that it was time to start a record label. What kind of metal do you think they're putting out?  Yeah, it's totally sludge/doom metal...or whatever other label you'd prefer to put on it.

Video: "The Perspective of Evil" by Demonstealer

It's been awhile since we've heard from Demonstealer. This time we no only get to  hear from them, but we also get to see them!

Let's just say, look at that the gear they need to use in order to make this brick wall of riffomania.

Don't forget to ask them ridiculous questions on Facebook and find out more at Bandcamp.

LP Review: "The GBG Sessions" by Hypnos

The GBG Sessions

McDonalds strives to make sure all of their food tastes the same no matter which store you go to, and they also strive to underpay their employees.

Well, that's not a bad idea, the same taste not the contributing to wage slavery bit....

But I prefer places that actually make their food rather than thawing and heating things up.

To that end, those restaurants are great. There's this Indian restaurant we go to and I always try to get something different. I know the general flavor of the dish, but not precisely what it's going to be.

The Sign Records is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to eat. Their menu isn't limited. They seem to be cooking up new meals and desserts constantly.

Video:"The Divide" by Trigger

Do you remember what life was like when cable and satellite television was a luxury? Apparently Trigger does!

For anyone under the age of 30...in those days you didn't have a squillion channels and streaming services. so you had to watch whatever was on the three major, two local, and one public station between the VHF and the UHF stations.

Sundays...you either watched Football or whatever movies were on. These guys have created a video that's reminiscent of so many of those terrible movies that we watched back in the day.

On the plus side, the song kind of kicks ass too. Trigger might just be worth putting onto your radar.

Tell them about your favorite movies on Facebook! Check out their katanas on Bandcamp.

LP Review: "Where All Hope Fades" by Ataraxy

Where All Hope Fades

As of this writing, it's nearly the middle of February and since the world has changed, all of our winters months have become largely the same in St. Louis.

They are cold, warm, hot, cold, warm, cold, cold, and grey.

It's usually around this time, after the Suberb Owls have flown, before baseball heats up, and when hockey is in its slumber that St. Louis finds itself here.

Where is here?

It's a place where there is very little. The people are staying inside of their homes. The bands are staying away.

The salt remains all over the ground and the trees still sport their barren look. It's the ugly underside of winter here. If we still got snow, it would be glorious. My daughter and I have only had a single snowball fight this year...

Video: "Declaration of War" by Crimena

It's time for a few minutes of a full on onslaught.There are times in this world when darkness wins and the best way to eradicate that darkness is with pure crushing heavy metal.

The band themselves has the following to say about the video. Here in America, we all know veterans who've returned home and sometimes left a part of themselves in the war.

"The video depitcs the stugles of a man haunted by the horrors of war and the reality he must face when he returns home. The video also has a deeper meaning, one that is in context with the rest of the songs on the upcoming EP and the entire ideea behind the said EP, but, unfortunatley at the moment we cannot disclose more On this video we collaborated with our friends Andrei Ursu and Mitel Corici, the same guys that did our previous two videos (Mutawwa and Gospel of the unbeliver) and were helped a lot by Airsoft Craiova and Wrath Inc. This is the first single that we release in the new lineup and it is just a teaser for the great stuff that is to come."

Check out Crimena on Facebook.

Video: "Overture 2112/The Temples of Syrinx" by Earth's Yellow Sun featuring Rody Walker

Rob Torkelson's Armada featuring Herman Menderchuk! 

Wait, sorry, this isn't a Kids in the Hall sketch, but this would be at least three times as Canadian. We have a prog rock band from Toronto covering a significant swath of Rush's seminal 2112.

It gets better they're all wearing Rush shirts and sending some gent on a quest who doesn't appear to even be in the band.

But there are in fact bearded wizards. Did I mention the horn section? I feel like I had to have mentioned the horn section.

Or was it just the wizards? I mean, how many videos are there with wizards hanging out and giving away Rush records?

Not enough.

Speaking of which, we need some of those wizards in St. Louis.... But in the mean time, check out these crazy people on Facebook.

Coffin Torture Isn't Iron Maiden

Coffin Torture

Well, we made contact again with the Russian  Hackers.

They were informed about the Iron Maiden/Necrosexual mixup. We were duly informed that that was all fake news and then all of a sudden about 15,000 Trump Twitter bots hit us hard and then followed us over to Instagram...

It was a bad scene, man.

To make it up to us, the Russian Trolls said they were going to get our interview.

I'm pretty sure this isn't Iron Maiden, but who am I to say...like hey this is Coffin Torture or something?

Video: "Parchment" by Andy's Room

Today's a day of calm and fortitude and green tea...lots and lots of green tea.

To that end, let's all meet up in Andy's Room for some Emotional California Bean Burritos.

Well, if they don't have any of them, at least you can download this song for free! Click their name for more information.

Rock on!

LP Review: "The Promise of Strangers" by The Fugitives

The Promise of Strangers

Well, it's mail bag time!

What arrived in the legitimate, snail paced, oft hated by President Trump, USPS?

Well, it's an album by a buttressed duo from...just give me a moment to check the PAPER press release, the internet, and everything else....

And well, honestly I have no idea where The Fugitives are from, but that's fairly poetic don't you think?

Listening through this album, the second time through is playing as this is typed, it's reminiscent of the old band this guy had back in the day. Our bassist and second guitarist had this idea of playing music and writing songs that were all in different styles.

Video: "Fortune Time" by Godless Truth

There are few genres of music that hail the almighty guitar riff than extreme metal. There are few countries in this world like The Czech Republic in terms of metal per capita.

One might say that Prague is rifftopia. That being said, I have no idea if Godless Truth hails from that particular beautiful city.

What we do know is that they're rising from the ashes and returning to the studio and stages worldwide. In the meantime, check out the video from a the upcoming release.

Tell them welcome back on Facebook and get your preorder on with Bandcamp.

Motherslug's Cameron Calls Bruce Dickinson 'The Other Guy'

Motherslug brought us a spectacular record last year. If you haven't done so yet, check out The Electric Dunes of Titan and go ahead and demand a vinyl release...because I know I need it.

That was their third album, but let's talk about Cameron. He's the one who's talking to us today and here's what he has to say about the music he digs....

1. The first album I ever owned was?

I used to have a paper round and every week when I got paid I would ride up to the record store at the end of the street and spend it all on music. 

I bought a lot of singles Soft Cell - Tainted Love was the first, Devil Went Down to Georgia, Billy Squiers were others that I remember (and still have) but the first album I bought was either Kiss Alive II or Devo Live, strangely both live albums but I can't remember which one was first.

LP Review: "Unholy Destruction" by HAMMR

Unholy Destruction

In hopes of becoming a fully qualified Black Metal Historian, Lords of Chaos is sitting on my bedside table. Thank you, St. Louis Public Library!

One of the things it has taught to me is that there was a blood hatred between Death Metal and Black Metal. At least that's what we're supposed to believe from Euronymous and Varg Vikernes.

My loyalties have always been on the Death Metal side and not the Black Metal side. Even without knowing that there was an East Coast/West Coast style beef between Oslo and Tampa Bay.

Interestingly enough I chose Death Metal with Kiss and King Diamond being huge favorites of mine. Seems wrong doesn't it? Kind of like how Clark The Canadian Hockey Goalie chose Shortstop and not Catcher.

Thankfully, there's been a truce in my blood. It was just about the Gateway Drug to allow the blackness to enter my soul. Last year, We were able to cover a spectacular Black Metal show featuring some Death Metal.

Video: "Pain Reprisal" by Genocide Pact

Genocide Pact has a new video... Their name reminds me of mutually assured destruction, but is destroying each other via nuclear weapons genocide?

It's something that hopefully we'll never be dissecting, but doesn't it sound pretty brutal?

Speaking of brutal...check out this heavy as hell video. It's thick and slow. Slow and heavy metal is oft overlooked.

Check out their latest record, Order of Torment, out on Relapse Records. In the mean time, ask Genocide Pact about their BPM on Facebook.

EP Review: "Starved and Hanging" by Eye of the Destroyer

Starved and Hanging

Eye of the Destroyer is a band who's racked up some pretty impressive numbers of followers on social media.

We've been online buddies for awhile now.

Finally, we have an opportunity to review some of their music. Their latest EP, Starved and Hanging, is getting a physical release which means, it's finally being birthed into the world as a real thing.

It's a bit of a shorty, but we're going to do our best to talk about it, shall we?

It's only four tracks and about eleven minutes long, but those eleven minutes are sheer brutality.

This EP starts off angry and stays that way the throughout the entire time. There's a touch of ambiance before the thumping...it's a nice little touch.

Video: "The Banished Heart" by Oceans of Slumber

These days, it's rare that we can take a simple moment and enjoy something nice and fairly drowsy. Oceans of Slumber...that seems like it'll be calm and easy.

This track is about ten minutes long, perfect for a cat nap, but, it's seeming that this song isn't slow as slow as it was when it started...

Well, let's see where this goes. You can preorder the album on all of your favorite formats HERE.

Interview: Monty from Galactic Cowboys Is Never Bored

Galactic Cowboys

After a 17 year hiatus, the Galactic Cowboys are back and they're hot on the heels of their reunion LP, Long Way Back To The Moon.

Recently Monty was able to stop by the Glacially Musical Orbiting Space Station, 2nd Moon of Jupiter, Hallway On The Left Hand Side of the Lunchroom on the second leg of his round trip on the way back home from the moon.

If you think a layover in Atlanta is bad...try one on Io.

GM: Talk me through how you guys decided to get it back together.

Monty: I actually got a call from my friend, Bill Evans, and he told me there might be a label interested in signing us. 

I'd worked with Bill in the past on some solo stuff, and so I knew he had some connections, and I told him I thought it sounded interesting.