Bazillion Points Blog

In the annals of forgotten, unappreciated, worthy pioneers, Pittsburgh sludge lords Dream Death loom large. I took some heat after Sound of the Beast...

Original Overkill drummer/mastermind Rat Skates has produced a great DVD memoir, Born in the Basement, that pretty much sums up the completely nuts energy...

Before the odd ultra-sludgy LP with the electronic drums and long before Darkthrone paid tribute with its Goatlord CD, Goatlord were dirgy and shoddy...

This Memorial Day will be a good one for the families of 11 deceased Wiccan soldiers. After a long and embarrassing fight, the US...

Sucky news for the advancement of metal guitar playing -- the user-generated vault of wisdom MetalTabs.com has taken down all of its tabs in...

Appearing at the Milwaukee Metalfest in 1990, Obituary nearly obliterated half the death metal fans in the world with some jerry-rigged stage pyro. The...

Samhain were the dark children of Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Master, and the entire experience of the demo-trading universe. The band was comprised of...

Welcome to the science fiction world of future sausage...the amusing illustration above comes from a story I just wrote for Popular Mechanics about lab-grown...

The litany of abusive, nasty Swedish black metal continues. In the two years since the near-masterpiece IV: The Eerie Cold, Shining has provoked the...

Hailing from the same New Jersey gutters that spawned Overkill, Blessed Death, Hades and then Blood Feast, Insaniac were mid-80s thrash nuts with an...

A true Easter resurrection! Here's Immortal last Good Friday night in Oslo doing "Unholy Forces of Evil" complete with hair fan, dangerous flameburst and...

Japanese Dekotura -- "decorated truck" -- culture proves the Decepticons won the war. Now you can move into a new neighborhood in a vehicle...

Not exactly brutal thrashing madness, Porn Orchard were an Athens, GA, hardcore band marching under the Black Flag banner, with great lyrics about social...

Comic artist Brian Walsby could be the Jack T. Chick of American hardcore punk and the shaggy tendrils that came out of it --...

Is this supposed to be the Orgasmatron-era line-up doing "Ace of Spades"? Thanks to Tim from 310!

Long-overdue evidence here of the ear-shattering Winter 2005 hometown reunion gig by The Rods, featuring Ronnie Dio's cousin Rock Feinstein on guitar and vocals,...

I had a chance to have Tony Iommi, grand wizard of the horned Gibson, sign my battered SG last year, but I passed. I...

Global warming and 100-degree weather in the city this summer doesn't seem so bad compared to being incinerated and cremated for an eternity in...

Here's a sure sign of a rescue mission -- when I popped this cassette from its case, the label flew off the tape with...

I know that's not exactly a raging recommendation, but for a time it seemed every banger on the block except me was shaking their...