31 Dec
Every year, we interview a number of musicians and artists about the intimate details and philosophical underpinnings of their album cover artwork. It's an ever-massive undertaking, but we make sure to include every genre, from doom metal to disco, minimal electronic to mainstream pop, with the intention of highlighting the best visual art, regardless of why or who created it. You can see entries from previous years here, and browse 2013's entries by either scrolling down or selecting a category below. > Narrative & Mythological Album Covers > Photographic Album Covers > Illustrative Album Covers > Mixed Media & Collage-Based Album Covers
09 Dec
Out with the old, no matter how good it is! Here's our comprehensive list of Top Albums of the Year 2013, schizophrenic as always to reflect the diverse tastes of our staff, though there is some overlap. It's highly recommended you check out every release here, as each has its own creative strengths.
Matthew Carter - electronic, experimental, metal, pop, rock Vivian Hua - dance, indie, pop, psychedelic, soul Troy Micheau - classical, electronic, experimental, instrumental Judy Nelson - dance, electronic, indie, pop, psychedelic, soul Elizabeth Perry - indie, mainstream, pop, rock Peter Woodburn - classical, instrumental, metal XUA - electronic hip-hop, mainstream, pop Albums of the Year 2013
18 Oct
AURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy rock music. This month, Cloudkicker streams his ninth record, Subsume, Jesu returns with a new track, plus songs from Doomriders and the supergroups Mutoid Man (members of Cave In and Converge) and Black God (members of Coliseum and Young Widows).
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Cloudkicker - "Subsume"

Ben Sharp, who creates under the moniker Cloudkicker, has been blasting the instrumental music scene to pieces since he started releasing music back in 2007. Everything is written, recorded, mixed and mastered at his home in Columbus, Ohio, and like the true lover of music Sharp is, all of his releases are streamed for free online. Physical copies exist, and if you love Cloudkicker’s jams enough. you can always pay Sharp for his efforts as well -- and money should definitely be thrown his way for his prog-metal influenced take on instrumental music. His ninth (!!!) release since 2007, Subsume is streaming on his Bandcamp page, with a limited vinyl run scheduled for sometime in the early Fall. Do yourself a favor and hop on this wagon. It is well worth the ride.  

Jesu - "Homesick"

Jesu, the brainchild of metal God Justin Broadrick, is back out with a new album soon, and it seems like it has been quite some time since his last. Every Day I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came has the appropriate long-ass title befitting of any post-metal album, and as the first track "Homesick" shows, Broadrick has gone with a more guitar-oriented approach this time. Granted, is about as thrilling as watching paint drip off a wall and slowly dry into chips, but don’t let that deter you. Any Jesu release is well worth the effort to soak in, and as fall approaches, the soundtrack for the season has arrived with it.
29 Jul
AURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy rock music. This month, Pelican is back with a new album, Revocation introduces a banjo to their metal jams, plus songs from Harm's Way, Dog Shredder and ALL PIGS MUST DIE.
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Pelican - "Immutable Dusk"

In the early 2000s when post-metal was really beginning to take hold, Pelican were synonymous with the instrumental version of what ISIS and Neurosis were busy churning out. The Chicago quartet became quickly known for their sprawling soundscapes on The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, but changed it up a bit on recent albums -- hedging their bets more on shorter songs than the long 10-minute-plus jams they were known for. Rumor at the time was although the band loved the long stuff, the shorter jams were more enjoyable to play live. Fan reactions to that change appeared a bit mixed at times, so the die-hard, old-school Pelican fans will be delighted with their new song off of Forever Becoming, due out on Oct. 15 courtesy of Southern Lord.  
26 Jun
AURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy rock music. This month, Kylesa is back with a new album, Deafheaven is redefining black metal as they know it, plus songs from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sun and Setting and Sleeping in Gethsemane.
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Kylesa - "Unspoken"

For a while there, it seemed like Kylesa were releasing too many albums. After a flurry of activity to close out the decade, Kylesa's latest effort, Ultraviolet, is now out on Season of Mist Records and took three years to complete. The final product is one of the band's most focused efforts to date, eschewing the chaos that their dual drummers entail and entering more into a progressive-sludge realm (if there is such a realm). The video for "Unspoken", directed by Brodie Rush with artwork by Tyson Schroeder, is a children's book told through the eyes of a metalhead.

 

02 Jun
The short West coast tour pairing of Narrows and Retox answered the question, "What happens when supergroups and side-projects collide?" Can each individual entity within the group find content in wearing his new skin? Or will he shed it like a bloody husk once the tour is over to pursue past glories instead? As Narrows and Retox feature a smattering of individuals from the likes of The Locust, Botch, These Arms Are Snakes, and Unbroken, to name a few, your previous coveting of those names may implore you to read further.

 

Rotture -- Portland, OR -- 22 May 2012 Photography by Mitchell Wojcik

 

31 Dec

Our third-annual album cover art feature uses interviews with artists and musicians to highlight the philosophical, thematic, and conceptual significance of great album cover artwork. THE BREAKDOWN    12 Collage + 14 Digital Illustration, Drawing, Design + 19 Illustration, Painting, Drawing + 8 Black And White Photography + 22 Color Photography + 6 Deluxe Packaging + 10 Fashion,...

29 Nov

"This new Russian Circles album is their best one yet," I said last month for the fourth time in my life to the clerk at Sonic Boom Records. She stared back at me blankly as I gleefully clutched my new copy of Empros and ran home for its first spin....

23 Dec

2010 has come and gone, leaving in its wake a magnitude of amazing album artwork. This year, we decided to speak directly with the forces behind the album artwork about creative processes and inspirations. A massive feature with over 90 interviews with musicians and artists....

10 Jun

Acid Tiger have something to strut, for sure. Their self-titled debut, featuring Ben Koller from Converge on the drums, is a psychedelic mind trick -- equal parts funky riffs, southern rock, and progressive rock all jumbled together in a mind-bogglingly cohesive fashion. The album effortlessly jogs between all the genres.  The...

22 Nov

"Seethe" is my favorite adjective when it comes to describing hardcore. To seethe is to become violently agitated and excited. Not merely agitated, but violently agitated. Belgium's Rise And Fall are seething on their new album, Our Circle Is Vicious. From the opening back-handed slap that are "Soul Slayer" and...

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