Here is my article for the September edition of Eleven on the local band Union Tree Review. Union Tree Review like to keep things local. By local, I don’t simply mean to the city of St. Louis, but to the very neighborhood they live and play music. Union Tree Review describe themselves as a Cherokee [...]

Kvelertak are about as Norwegian black metal as Refused was Swedish straight edge hardcore, which is to say only slightly. When listening to Kvelertak’s self-titled debut and Refused’s Shape of Punk to Come it’s obvious that they both came from their motherland’s prominant music scenes, Refused were once a typical Swedish SXE band and Kvelertak [...]

I’m a huge Cave In fan. After being introduced to them via Chris Henningfeld back in 2006 when Chris was still the bass player of my old band, I’ve consumed all of their records. From 99′s metalcore masterpiece Until Your Heart Stops to last year’s EP Planets of Old, they’ve rarely miss-stepped (in fact, if [...]

My article on Ocean Rivals made the cover of the August Eleven Magazine. Pretty pumped about that. You can see my article on the top right hand corner of the image below.

“The South will rise again.” A phrase I heard kicked around by borderline racists, good ol’ southern boys and those who just didn’t know any better all throughout my childhood in southern Virginia (and while we can argue about whether Virginia is really the South, but it really makes no difference to the person who [...]

This article is an artist profile of a local St. Louis rock band called Ocean Rivals that I did for the upcoming issue of Eleven. I interviewed the band before writing the article. They were my first “band interview.” The “Quick Tracks” at the end are short descriptions of two of Ocean Rivals songs. Here’s [...]

To any given carpenter, nails are good for one thing: getting hammered on. Southern California’s hardcore grind outfit Nails aren’t your typical stainless steel variety because they hammer right back. Nails are a band that knows how dish out abuse and they don’t mess around. Unsilent Death‘s 10 songs have only three that clock in [...]

“We are the old graves digging the new.” The lyrical conclusion of the third song from Trap Them’s latest musical assault, the 12″ EP Filth Rations is an apt insight to Trap Them’s overall sound: Swedish death metal, Manchester grind, Cross-over thrash, pissed-off punk and abrasive hardcore. Trap Them are a summation of old styles [...]

So I got my first writing gig last month. It’s contributing writer position at a free local music and culture magazine called Eleven. It’s a volunteer position which means I do not get paid, but the magazine is distributed all over town and it’s actually pretty good. Also, it’s work I like to do. My [...]

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a metal show. Maybe even longer since I’ve been to one as good as Haarp, Nachtmystium and Eyehategod a few Monday’s back at Fubar. Part of that is my own fault. I didn’t go see Fuck the Facts last month (which I really regret. I really like [...]