Dec 182024
 


photo by Hillarie Jason

(One of the perennial highlights of our year-end LISTMANIA series are the articles Neill Jameson has contributed, and we’re very happy that he’s doing so again this year. This one is the first of three four installments we’ll be publishing. To be clear, Neill wrote the title of this feature himself.)

What a fucking ridiculous year. Between wars, threats of wars, the election, that fucking girl who’s famous for a joke about dick spittings and whatever new allegations your favorite band has against them it’s just been an exhausting twelve months. What better way to cap that off than by reading a bunch of assholes telling you what you should have listened to this year instead of whatever meandering bullshit you actually did. Unless it was Krieg’s split with Withdrawal, you obviously have exquisite taste. 

After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?

Last year I skipped the genre format for my lists and just threw everything together, with the obviously subjective “best” saved for last. I did this mostly out of laziness but I think we’ve built a new tradition, like picking out who not to send Christmas cards to this year because they did something to publicly shame the family, like supporting RFK. 

Sure the comments section will be measured and forgiving after that one.

So this’ll be a few parts, depending on how much I can write while tucked away in my office hiding from my employees. Here’s part one: Continue reading »

Aug 272024
 

Let’s be honest: When some of you metalheads (or at least those who are a bit jaded), see a band advertised as one whose Philadelphia-based members combine more than a collective century of experience, you might think, “Oh, a bunch of old dudes, probably playing tired old music.”

But when you see that their resumes include names like Krieg, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Polterchrist, and Mortal Decay (among others), maybe you’ll start reconsidering your assumptions.

And then when you hear what these people have done in their band Distant Dominion, you’ll really feel foolish — as you scramble for fire extinguishers and wonder where your teeth went after the music punched them out. Continue reading »