Features / Music

I’ve been going to punk shows for well over a decade. That statement may seem like bragging, but it’s not. Most people in my day to day life think going to punk shows is dumb. I can understand why. At a punk show there is a good chance you’ll be … Read more

13 Jan – 18 Jan, 2016 MONA, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia In 2011, I visited Tasmania for the first time. In many ways it was still uncharted territory and one of the few things I knew about the place was that Hobart was the late Joachim “Blacky” Fuchsberger’s adopted home. While … Read more

Hobart, Tasmania January, 18-22, 2017 We no longer engage, sing nor dance. We do not know how to anymore. Instead, we watch other glorified people sing and dance on stages, preferably through the lenses and screens of mobile devices, reducing it to a purely passive, receptive pleasure and ourselves to … Read more

19-21 January 2018 Hobart, Tasmania – Australia Nine is fabled to be the number of completion and fulfillment. After nine incarnations in Hobart and not only adding spark but providing much needed fire to the local summer season, the 2018 incarnation was a bifurcated affair with the first half of … Read more

It's strange that, while numerous memories have vanished from my mind over the years, I can still remember where I was when I learned of the death of Kurt Cobain: in a school bus, rounding the loop outside an elementary school in south-central Pennsylvania. Probably the strangest thing about remembering … Read more

PART I: Beginner's Blues In the beginning... There was silence. For the first seven years of my existence, silence. Then one day, a strange thing happened. I began to notice sounds coming up through the furnace vent into my bedroom. Using my powers of deduction that Frank and Joe Hardy … Read more

PART II: I Was A Teenage Headbanger When I bought Number of the Beast, I immediately knew it would make an excellent addition to my collection. Why? Cuz the cover was so friggin cool, that's why. You see, Eddie ruled over the Devil, and the Devil ruled over the people. … Read more

PART III: Seminal Moments In History Dec. 6, 1986 While at an autograph signing from Cinderella, who were in town opening for David Lee Roth, I tell singer Tom Keifer how awesome he is. He says nothing. Dec. 19, 1986 Waiting for Metallica at their bus, bump into Duke Erikson … Read more

There’s no shortage of new music or exciting shows this fall. But two of the big ticket items include a new record by KEN mode (Null, Artoffact Records – check out new single "Throw Your Phone In The River" here) out Sept. 23, followed by the band’s set at No … Read more

Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum is a Grammy Award-winning and Juilliard-trained composer. She was born in New York City. She grew up listening to classical music “by the pound,” as well as enjoying musical theater and film music. She is greatly skilled and immensely talented. In this interview Nora talks about her creative … Read more

  There is a light that never goes out, and it has nothing to do with the Smiths. It's actually more closely affiliated with Travelodges, train stations and airport terminals. Last month, some friends and I attended most of the dates on A.F.I.'s Octoberunderground Tour with Dispute and The Explosion in … Read more

By Matt Hutchison -- A Jesuit school might not be what the general population would consider a thriving spot for underground music culture, yet that’s part of the allure of KXLU 88.9 FM. Entering the radio station’s cluttered, vinyl-stacked, and sticker-tacked fourth floor production area is like stepping into another … Read more

Can you believe that this is the tenth iteration of Only Death Is Real? Ten editions of a column featuring some of the best and most exciting extreme music of today and ten editions of a column that celebrates just how diverse the underground metal scene really is. The world … Read more

Welcome to the first Only Death Is Real of 2021. Not much has changed since the last time although perhaps there is now some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel in terms of being able to get back to some kind of normality. Perhaps you’re able to meet … Read more

It is time, once again, to wax lyrical about how creative the underground metal scene is. This year has seen a surge in artists presenting their full vision for the first time, perhaps an effect of being shut indoors for much of the last 18 months and having the means … Read more

The number 13, unlucky for some, a portend of doom, of sign of bad things to come. For Only Death Is Real the number 13 brings a handful of releases that range from electronic beats to deeply religious texts to raw black metal and dungeon synth. The number 13 is … Read more

Circle of Ouroborus - Kiromantia (His Wounds) Keeping up with Circle of Ouroborus could be a full-time job in itself, as the duo turn around new music at a rate that is enough to give one a moment of breathlessness. They have been quieter in recent years compared to the … Read more

The first Only Death Is Real of 2022 comes at a tumultuous time, a time where the pandemic still has a grip on the world and where world leaders can wantonly decide to invade their neighbours on a whim. The nuances are, of course, much trickier to unravel but from … Read more

Baazlvaat - An Old Forgotten Text (Self-Released) Baazlvaat appeared as if from nowhere (Flint, Michigan) during 2021 with The Higher Power, a record that owed as much to Bathory as it did to Thin Lizzy (despite the band not really knowing the latter), as a home-recorded full-length that quickly caught … Read more

The collection of artists that make up this edition of Only Death Is Real have something that connects them. Despite the surface appearances being markedly different across the board, the five bands/musicians gathered here have been wildly prolific in their careers -- whether that’s for a long or a short … Read more