Your alternative to mainstream metal!

Three months after the release of EP Stenka na Senku, Arkona have released Slovo, the full-length banquet to the EP’s amuse bouche. The folk element is unquestionably the crux of the album, and this leads to an extremely interesting approach to sound construction. Because the folk instruments and traditional songs [...]

Garden of Fainting Stars is the third album in a trilogy by experimental rock band Book of Knots, preceded by Book of Knots (2004) and Traineater (2007). It’s hard to confine this band to a genre beyond the vague category of “experimental,” as their music is something organic, eclectic and [...]

Southern California-based hardcore band Retox have released their debut full-length, Ugly Animals, as a joint venture between Ipecac Recordings and Three One G. The group share members Justin Person and Gabe Serbian with the Locust, and Person is also the founder of Three One G. Ugly Animals is painted with [...]

Nightrage. Insidious. Fitting names, because the sun is down and listening to them is infuriating me. The album is getting under my skin. Never before have I struggled so hard to pick out what I specifically hated about an album because I just didn’t give a shit. Seriously, I maintained [...]

One of the finest releases in the progressive rock and metal spere so far this, is Bilateral by Norwegian avant-garde/prog rock outfit Leprous. It’s incredibly free spirited and dauntless musical experience which gives bigger and more established bands a run for their money. Guitarist Oddmund Suhrke was more than happy [...]

The thing about having a bit of potential is, well, at some point you either have to demonstrate that you can fulfil that potential or you might just find that fans move on to the next new thing pretty quickly. It was with no little sense of anticipation therefore that [...]

The first time I heard about So Hideous, My Love… I was DDing/babysitting at a backyard keg party in June. I was talking to a longtime friend and former coworker when he mentioned that he had recently joined a new band I had never heard of. I couldn’t hear much [...]

In the Questionless Metal Interview (QMI), I ask individuals involved in metal (from musicians to engineers to publicity people to reviewers, etc.) to “answer” a series of unspoken “questions.” This idea was adapted from writer George Murray’s popular and always interesting Questionless Book Interviews. The results, well, are always completely [...]

Sometimes you just can’t please some people. If I said to you I had a record that had all the best bits of the Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and Black Sabbath- with a smattering of Kylesa thrown in for good measure, you’d be well pleased wouldn’t you? [...]

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Option Paralysis truly lives up to its name. To the casual listener, the album comes off as a complete sensory overload, however to fans of the band, this is the crowning achievement of their long and diverse career. The Dillinger has always traveled at light speed [...]

awesome review, individual knows their metal

Dear Alternative Matter, My band Burnsred recently released our self-titled CD, and we're interested in having a review of it ...

Hi, we´re a young DIY Metal Band from Germany and would like to know if you could do a review for our ...