Symphonic power metal began with an orchestra that lived inside a keyboard. Between 1998 and 2004 Nightwish, Stratovarius and Rhapsody traded the sampled strings for real players, and the mix had to make room.
By Julien Vasseur
1 November · 9 min read
Explainers
The deathcore logo kept the spikes and drips of death metal and dropped the riddle: two stacked lines of readable capitals built for a MySpace profile picture and a black shirt, then a swing...
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Explainers
Metallica's Orion is the instrumental at track seven of Master of Puppets, built outwards from a middle section Cliff Burton wrote on bass. How it is put together, what the bass solo really...
By Declan Rourke
Essential Albums
The last great year, and it does not look like an ending. Rust in Peace and Seasons in the Abyss sixteen days apart, the first thrash only package tour, and in the same twelve months every e...
By Declan Rourke
Eirik Solvang
Black Metal
The Black Metal Records Collectors Chase
Andrzej Sawicki
Blackened Death
Viking, Folk and Everything Else Death Metal Absorbed
Rafael Quintero
Death Metal
The Death Metal Records Collectors Chase
Gareth Llewellyn
Grindcore
The Underrated Sludge Metal Albums
Ilse Brandt
Doom Metal
The Doom Metal Fonts
Declan Rourke
Heavy Metal
Orion: Cliff Burton's Instrumental, Bar by Bar
| Date | Band | Album | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov 2026 | Dantalion | Dantalion | Full-length |
| 3 Nov 2026 | Nihilo | Abyss | Full-length |
| 5 Nov 2026 | In Vain | Architects of Mayhem | Full-length |
| 5 Nov 2026 | E-L-R | Atropa | Full-length |
| 6 Nov 2026 | Comeback Kid | Chosen Hell | Full-length |
| 6 Nov 2026 | Carnifex | More Than Misery | Full-length |
| 6 Nov 2026 | Hatebreed | Fatal Paradox | Full-length |
| 6 Nov 2026 | Saor | Caledonia | Full-length |
| 6 Nov 2026 | Orbital Gate | Engineering His Planetary Dominion | Full-length |
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