Author Archives: Max Heilman
-
Max Heilman’s 50 best metal albums of 2019: 40-31
Back for more, eh? Well, it’s not getting any lighter. We’re going to keep plugging away at my top 50 metal albums of 2019. I pride myself on listening to all kinds of decadent heaviness,…
-
Max Heilman’s 50 best metal albums of 2019: 50-41
It’s that time of year where everyone scrambles to compile their favorite albums lists. If you’re like me, this becomes a bit of a masochistic task. I’ve listened to so much heavy, dark, angry music…
-
Year-end blitz: RIFF’s 2019 in review lists are coming!
We’re about to cross into a new year, and a new decade! It’s been quite an eventful year for music of all kinds. At RIFF, we’ve been busy looking back over the past 365 days. Our…
-
ALBUM REVIEW: Yann Tierson distills his vast body of work with ‘Portrait’
Yann Tiersen may be best known for his songs that wound up in the sound track for the award-winning romantic comedy Amélie, his discography only gets more remarkable from there. Spanning French folk, classical, drone and ambient…
-
ALBUM REVIEW: Coldplay retakes its creativity on ‘Everyday Life’
The synthetic meditations of 2014’s Ghost Stories and the vibrant alt-pop anthems of 2015’s Head Full of Dreams saw Coldplay ruminate on its embrace of pop music. Granted, Chris Martin and co. have always remained rock…
-
ALBUM REVIEW: Sleep Token makes its definitive statement with ‘Sundowning’
Sleep Token distinguishes itself with more than anonymity. Run by a mysterious mastermind known as “Vessel,” the project plays a combination of contemporary indie pop, tech-metal and post-rock as a form of worship. The object…
-
REVIEW: Chelsea Wolfe ends her birthday week with a goth-folk ritual in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe marked a birthday last week. She’s kept busy for much of 2019, releasing her meditative folk album The Birth of Violence and embarking on an acoustic tour. While her current…
-
PREMIERE: KaiL Baxley swarmed on “Beneath the Bones” video
South Carolina singer-songwriter KaiL Baxley started fleshing out songs and recording demos for his 2020 album around the time a friend bought a cabin in Skyforest, a town in the Angeles National Forest, north of…
-
ALBUM REVIEW: Despised Icon remains deathcore royalty on ‘Purgatory
During deathcore’s infancy in the early 2000s, Despised Icon helped pioneer some of its key traits. “Pig squeal” vocals, Roland TR-808 drum machine drops and flat-brimmed hats are scene hallmarks at this point, but the…
-
ALBUM REVIEW: DJ Shadow and friends appraise ‘Our Pathetic Age’
Under that moniker DJ Shadow, Joshua Paul Davis in 1996 gave sample-based music one of its first hit albums with Endtroducing. He transcended the established norms of ‘90s hip-hop by incorporating elements of ambient music, electronica and…
