Author: Nicholas Kula

Black metal is a curious genre, and Sweden’s band Craft is back to satisfy just a little more of that curiosity with their latest album, Void.

The uniqueness of black metal lies in its relationship with its fans. Metal listeners, a group known for their discerning taste and quickness to point out anything disingenuous, are perfectly in harmony with black metal, a genre whose vocalists are primarily concerned with sounding as evil as possible.

Two of the biggest players in the contemporary “chiptunes” scene are coming to Portland tomorrow night to drop a 20-megaton nostalgia bomb.

Anamanaguchi are arguably the current kings of this relatively obscure genre, but in order for this to sound impressive, you must know the brief roots of chiptunes, which go back a lot further than you might think.

With Blood Lust, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have released a modern stoner rock classic that truly draws a line in the sand—one that separates the posers from the people who actually grew up listening to this stuff.

Upon hearing (or reading) their name, one might think Uncle Acid is a completely different kind of band. Their full name conjures up images of a sophomoric, snot-nosed punk band that stands a good chance of never leaving the garage in which they were conceived. It would appear that “and the” bands are reserved only for novelty acts, and “& the” bands are even more rare.

A real-life guitar hero is coming to the Aladdin Theatre this Friday to show Portland’s players a thing or two about technique.

Adrian Belew—a.k.a. Frank Zappa’s protégé, David Bowie touring musician and, most notably, head oddball of progressive experimental band King Crimson—is assembling his Power Trio for another North American run, and Portland is in his sights.

If there’s one thing that raw, energetic bands command, it’s raw, energetic youth.

The Ax, one of Portland’s most turbulent and chaotic rock bands, is returning to the Tonic Lounge on Saturday. The show may be one of the last times you get to catch this band before they blow up.

My time in Paris had come to a close, and I looked toward new horizons. My journey brought me to Rome, Italy and Barcelona, Spain and highlighted how the three cultures are very different—here’s why:

Norway is often described as the epicenter of all things metal. And why shouldn’t it be? Norweigan metal band Burzum had a member that was arrested for killing a rival band’s singer and burning down churches in Norway. As such, it is only fitting that awesome American metal band Havok hails from Denver, Colo., a populous city surrounded by mountains that countless manly-men have died in.

When you’re really good—and I mean upper echelon, few-in-the-world-are-better—at an instrument, after some time you pretty much get a free pass on anything you want to do in music. Lo and behold, that’s exactly what’s happened here. Sometimes, it’s good. This is one of those times.

In today’s ever-changing musical landscape, it’s not too often that a band can make a name for itself before releasing an album without churning out cookie-cutter garbage. There was a time in musical history when bands could garner great hype before cutting wax, but that time is long since gone. That said, it baffles the mind how Connecticut-based something-trio Snake Oil has managed to gain a little bit of following before this, their self-titled debut LP.