Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald

Record #863: Mountaineer – Giving Up the Ghost (2022)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

When I was first introduced to Mountaineer through their 2020 record Bloodletting, I was instantly enamored. That record is an inspiring bit of gorgeous sludge metal that transcends the emotional resonance of the genre without stretching beyond the sonic conventions laid down by Isis, Cult of Luna, and others.

So when Giving Up the Ghost was announced, I was equal parts excited and apprehensive. Bloodletting felt so singular that it might be impossible to follow up in a satisfying way. Either they make the same record and it winds up boring or they shift the formula of their careful chemistry and it doesn’t reach the same reaction. I actually waited a few weeks after it was released to listen to it because I was so nervous that it wouldn’t live up.

Since I’m reviewing my personal vinyl copy, you could probably deduce that my worries were unfounded.

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Record #862: Mineral – The Power of Failing (1997)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I will be the first to admit that sometimes, my opinions about certain bands or albums have absolutely no rational sense behind them. Take for instance The Power of Failing. I have been a huge Mineral fan ever since I bought a CD copy of EndSerenading at my local record shop in high school, even following Chris Simpson on to his wonderful project The Gloria Record.

So what line of thinking led me to not care at all about The Power of Failing until I was well into my thirties?

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Record #861: Heriot – Profound Morality (2022)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

In feudal England, a heriot was a tribute paid to the lord of the land when a serf passed away. It was an undeniably oppressive practice, robbing poor families now bereft for the benefit of the already wealthy tyrant of the land. The heavy outfit Heriot from the UK practices a similar form of oppression, but in the form of their sonics.

One of my go-to phrases in describing music is “oppressively heavy.” But when I first heard Heriot, I realized that I have not known what it means to be so heavy that it’s oppressive. This is the kind of sonic density that squeezes your skull, that crushes your bones. It’s the sort of heaviness that dominates your attention and ceases the existence of all else.

Profound Morality, their debut, is only eighteen minutes long, but it leaves an impact crater far larger than its physical size, thanks to its unrelenting mixture of metalcore, industrial, post metal, old school hardcore, and even some glimmers of nu-metal.

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Record #860: Elder – Dead Roots Stirring (2011)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Ever since I heard Reflections of a Floating World, I have nurtured a low-key obsession with the Bostonian/German group’s brand of progressive, psychedelic doom metal. After following them to Omens, I’ve started working backward, picking up their back catalog as I can.

Dead Roots Stirring, their sophomore record, might not have anyone hoisting it up as the group’s best album, but this might contain their purest devotion to bands like Black Sabbath, Kyuss, and Sleep without the Rush worship that their later work has been criticized for.

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Record #859: Blood Incantation – Starspawn (2016)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As I’ve stated before—about this same band—I’m not the biggest fan of technical death metal. But for whatever reason, Blood Incantation somehow manages to bypass my displeasure for the genre’s indulgences. However, my appreciation of the Denver quartet has been satisfied by 2019’s Hidden Histories of the Human Race, the group’s apparent opus, so I haven’t done much exploration of their other material.

That apparently wasn’t enough for my subconscious: whatever nighttime phenomenon caused me to buy Hidden Histories in my sleep struck again, and I was greeted a few days later to a tracking number for a copy of Starspawn that I didn’t remember ordering.

While I expected it to utterly pale in comparison of its successor, Starspawn is a worthwhile work in its own right. Had I heard this instead of Hidden Histories, there’s a good chance that my feelings toward Blood Incantation would be the same.

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Record #858: Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (2022)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Cave In have often been described as chameleons. However, those tree-dwelling lizards can really only change their color, which is a poor analog for the Boston quartet’s sonic shapeshifting abilities. They’re more like some sort of Lovecraftian cephalopod, changing its color, shape, and size at will. From the brutal metalcore of their early records to the soaring space rock of Antenna, Cave In has thrived on reinventing themselves.

But on Heavy Pendulum, they somehow manage to fit every facet of their career into a single—albeit massive—record. They follow all of their seemingly contradictory instincts to their breaking points, creating what might be the most Cave In-y Cave In record of all time.

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Record #857: Locrian – Return to Annihilation (2013)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

My toxic trait is that I am constantly looking for new music instead of listening to the thousands of albums I already know and love. When I go to the gym, when I walk the dog, when I work around the house, I almost always throw in my earbuds, go to Spotify, and look for something new.

Last week, when I dragged out the mower for the year’s inaugural lawn mowing, I pulled up The Angelic Process’ profile and scanned through the related artists section, and my attention was drawn to Chicago drone metal/doomgaze outfit Locrian and their 2013 album Return to Annihilation. 

Before I had even finished mowing the lawn, I tracked down a copy on Discogs.

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Record #856: Glassing – Light and Death (2017)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Sometimes, a band that hasn’t impressed you releases an album that finally gets your attention. And sometimes, that album ends up working as a key for the rest of their discography.

I have been aware of Glassing longer than I’ve been a fan. It’s probably been two or three years since I first saw the Holy Fawn folks gushing about them on social media, rushed to see what the fuss was about, and quickly filed them in the “not for me” category. A few months ago, Twin Dream made me fall in love with the Austin trio, but my affection has been largely reserved for that album alone.

But I don’t listen on repeat very often, even to albums as monstrously lovely as Twin Dream, so I started to explore their earlier records. And as luck would have it, their third album shifted my perspective enough that the same songs that once seemed too abrasive and acerbic for me to enjoy are now hitting me just as strongly.

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Record #855: A Hope For Home – In Abstraction (2011)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald


On 4/20 this past year, I was working on a joke article for Tuned Up called “Blaze It and Praise It: The Stoner-iest Christian(ish) Albums Ever Released.” While brainstorming in the staff Discord, one of the other writers mentioned that A Hope For Home’s last record was basically just a sludge metal record. I hadn’t heard it, so in the spirit of doing good research, I put it on.

In about ten minutes, I was scouring Discogs for a copy, yadda yadda yadda, and here we are.

In Abstraction isn’t just “basically a sludge metal record.” It’s a rich blend of sludge heaviness, post rock atmosphere, and post-hardcore energy that is still fresh.

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Record #854: Helms Alee – Keep This Be the Way (2022)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Helms Alee has always been unpredictable. Even besides the triple-vocal attack—which ranges from throaty screams to dreamy cleans to riot grrrl-esque shouts—they have always implemented a number of styles into their brand of heavy, weird music. I first discovered them on a Wikipedia article about sludge metal fusions, describing them as “Sludge/shoegaze,” even though they themselves simply call themselves “grunge” (probably just because they’re from Seattle).

But they have never been as fearlessly inventive and monstrously heavy as they are on Keep This Be the Way. Nonsense title aside, this is a staggering album that showcases the best that Helms Alee has to offer, and pushes them into bold new territory.

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