Hot food, cold beer and blistering metal
A Viking and a Ninja walk into a bar... There's no telling where that one's going to go, but you just know somebody's going to die. Craft breweries choose all sorts of motifs when naming their creations, and martial-themed beers are far from rare; see Ballast Point's Victory at Sea, Great Lakes Brewing Company's Commodore... Continue Reading →
El Yucateco Salsas Y Condimentos S.A. De C.V - Yucatán, Mexico El Yucateco Salsas Y Condimentos started as a small family-owned business in Yucatan, Mexico in 1968 ("Yucateco" refers to the Mayan people of the Yucatan peninsula). From the start, El Yucateco's focus was sauces made from habaneros. Salsa Picante Verde is one of their... Continue Reading →
Possessor - Gravelands (2019) 4/5 stars Gravelands is the fourth LP from London's Possessor: six tracks of ace stoner/sludge bookended by an intro and an atmospheric reprise whose common aural element— crackling flames— is a great metaphor for the overall driven feel of this album. From the opening Motörhead bass chug, there is no letup... Continue Reading →
Old Man Metal takes the Paqui one chip challenge on the fourth episode of his solo podcast, unleashing a capsaicin apocalypse that has tamed the most ardent lovers of spicy food. Will he survive, or will the Carolina Reaper death chip put an end to his storied lifetime of chile pepper abuse? Tune in and find out! Featuring show beer Sun Grown Lager from Sycamore Brewing.
Maat - As We Create the Hope From Above (2014) 4/5 stars Maat play excellent Egyptian-themed death metal, largely in the vein of Nile: multi-tempo, very demanding technical death metal riffing combined with Eastern-flavored thematic rhythm guitar work and leads, both of which are often played over drumming that is running at a very different... Continue Reading →
In 2003, Pop The Cap began lobbying efforts to raise the ABV limit on beer in North Carolina from a stodgy 6%, promising the state legislature that if the ABV limit was raised to a reasonable level, North Carolina would become a craft beer mecca. The state legislature passed a bill raising the ABV cap... Continue Reading →
Old Man Metal focuses on folding blades with a knife review of the Benchmade Nakamura 484S and the Böhler M390 stainless steel used for the blade on the third episode of his solo podcast, taking a deep dive into stainless steels, particularly modern powder metallugy "super steels", including an in-depth look at heat treatment, tempering, and the elemental composition of stainless steels and the effect those elements have on hardness, strength, toughness and corrosion resistance... all while drinking an Old Tuffy lager show beer from New Belgium.
Lowest Creature - Sacrilegious Pain (2019) 4/5 stars. Lowest Creature play a straightforward style of metal that sees compelling mid-tempo thrash and crossover riffs bolted together into uncomplicated verse/chorus structures, driven in alternating fits by D-beats and thrash-style drumming, with well-placed uptempo sections, hangs and sick mosh parts to build and release tension. Well-done thrash... Continue Reading →
Legion of the Damned - Slaves of the Shadow Realm (2019) Four out of five stars. Primarily mid- and up-tempo thrash riffing, with the neck-snapping riff and tempo changes you expect from good thrash, played against the occasional tremolo-picked death metal passage. The drumming follows suit, again being primarily drawn from thrash, with double-bass runs... Continue Reading →
It's a bit over halfway through the year, so I thought I'd take a quick look at the frontrunners in the perennial race for Album of the Year. So far, the Top 5 is a battle between death metal (2 albums) and black/thrash (2 albums), with death/thrash staking out a piece of territory as well.... Continue Reading →
Old Man Metal's Musings 