by Fred Pessaro // BBG

One Tail One Head at Inferno Festival, April 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

2012 was a year of considerable personal growth for me, as a person, a photographer and a music fan. As I recounted in my favorite photos of 2012, I got to shoot some of my favorite bands of all time and travel the globe in search of new ones. The beginning of the year was spent dealing with personal drama, and if it werent for key records in my life I shudder to think at where I would be right now. To every band on this list and many who aren't, I cant thank you enough.

First order of business, my musical pallette is much much larger than just a series of metal records. This is NOT a list of my favorite records of the year, because that would surely include other entries from across many different genres. This is, however, a list of some of my favorite heavier records.

To me, the term "heavy" can be defined in many ways, from the elongated riff on a doom record to a noise squall to a particularly punishing punk-rock beatdown. While most of the following records are "heavy" in the traditional "distortion and loud guitars" sense, a few are not. You'll see metal, you'll see deathrock, you'll see raw punk, you'll see hardcore, and many spots in between in the numbered list below. And to answer your question, yes you'll see Swans... right beside D-Clone and Asphyx.

My favorite records of 2012 are below. Hopefully you'll see a connection in favorites or maybe discover something new. Regardless, I hope you found your own favorites of the year whether in this list or outside of it.

Continue reading "The Year in Heavy (Fred Pessaro // BBG's favorite metal, punk & other records of 2012)"

Pallbearer at Knitting Factory, September 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Decibel Magazine has compiled their annual list of top 40 albums of the year. As usual, there are some surprises but the 2012 top ten is basically a list of nine veterans with only a single newcomer to the bunch. The full list of top records of the year according to Decibel Magazine is below, along with a tweet from the winning band. Buy your copy HERE.

Continue reading "Decibel Magazine's top 40 LPs of 2012"

by BBG

Horrendous walk the tightrope of wearing their influences proudly and carving their own path on The Chills, the band's debut full-length out today via Dark Descent.

Horrendous's well-received Sweet Blasphemies demo in 2010 showed the East Coast trio channelling/reimagining the early waves of death metal on both this continent and the EU, bringing to mind a marriage of the Swedish death invasion with American pioneers like the great Autopsy or early Death. If this record was released a few weeks sooner, I'm guessing it would be on the tip of DM-fans' tongues as a favorite of 2011, so keep a look out for 2012. It rips.

Stream The Chills in its entirety below, and order a copy on CD via Dark Descent now and on vinyl this spring. So far no tour dates to speak of, but we'll keep a look out.

Continue reading "Horrendous gives you "The Chills" (stream it in full)"