I will never be able to separate Enslaved from my experience of attending the Fire in the Mountains festival in 2026. Prior to attending, they were the highest-billed band that I wasn't particularly familiar with, inspiring me to listen through their entire catalog in order. This deep dive gave me the foundation I needed to enjoy their set at the festival, which contributed to what was a genuinely life-changing experience. I emerged from Fire in the Mountains as bona fide Enslaved fan, and since then their new album, Mið, has been one of my most anticipated albums of the year. 

I recently read a post from some tech bro that claimed that the era of streaming music was over, because AI music would soon wipe out the need for any kind of human-made music. Just tell the agent what kind of music you like and mood you're in, he said, and exactly what you were looking for would be automatically generated. 

I can't think of anything that sounds less appealing. 

The new album by Master Boot Record, Computer Metal, was created with the computer as the primary instrument. But, as the band is quick to point out, every note on this heavy chiptune album was composed and guided by a human. Master Boot Record is the project of multi-instrumentalist Vittorio D’Amore, and while the music on Computer Metal is primarily electronic, you can always hear the human heart that guided its creation. 

I realized while listening to Wallensteins Garage, the debut album by Berlin's SEK, that I've referred to bands having a Krautrock influence many, many times. It also occurred to me that some readers may only have a vague sense of what that actually means. We're going to get into it, because SEK is essentially impossible to write about without getting extensively into Krautrock. I'm certainly not an expert on the subgenre compared to some of the real devotees out there, but I'm not a complete novice, either. The lesson begins below! 

Halloween is almost upon us, and I am woefully behind on horror movie viewing for the season. I'm not, however, behind on listening to new albums. Below I've got a bunch of stuff for you, including some black metal, a new album from one of the genre's biggest icons, and a few things that are hard to classify. I've also got another horror movie recommendation for you, and a couple of other surprises. 

Update: After I published this, I listened to a couple additional albums that I really liked, and have added those below.

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rebecca Vernon of SubRosa and The Keening over video conference. Over the course of our conversation we discussed many things, including SubRosa's reunion and the possibility of new music, politics in music, the origins of the new The Keening, and much more.

One quick note: this interview is a straight upload from the video conference with no editing, and if I do more of these I'll likely try to figure out how to pretty these up a bit.

It is 1,000 years in the future, and civilization as we know it has ended. What is left over is a world of ruins, mutant creatures, and portals to other dimensions. Vestiges of mankind have survived, and a post-apocalyptic religion is dominant. This is the world of Estuary, the darkly majestic new album by US black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. 

Last Friday, Great Falls released The Bite That Grows Up, their second album on Neurot Recordings. The new album is noisy, brutal, and vicious, dealing largely with the challenges of parenting and feelings of guilt and failure. I've been a big fan of Great Falls since their previous album, Objects Without Pain, so I jumped at the chance to have a brief conversation with them about their art. My conversation with bassist Shane Mehling and guitarist/vocalist Demian Johnston is below. 

Friday is here, praise Dracula! It's a pretty solid new release day, with two albums I reviewed and really liked and a couple more good ones I didn't get to. We've got all flavors of metal for you below, or all the flavors that matter, anyway. Into the pit with you!

Slift is a band that, until last night, I was only moderately familiar with. I had given their albums a couple listens, but nothing in their recorded output particularly grabbed me. A couple days ago, BKOH guest contributor Josh Burke expressed astonishment that there were still a few tickets left for their show in St. Paul, as he'd seen them live before and they always put on an excellent show. So I decided to join him at last night's show, and I'm very glad I did. Josh is right about this one: Slift is a top-tier live band. 

It is Spooky Season, the most wonderful time of the year! I love horror movies as much as I love music and fitness, so October presents the perfect excuse to write about this other passion. Last week, I compiled 10 horror movies about health and fitness, and this week I've got 10 horror films where music plays a significant role. Not all of these movies are about metal music per se - there are hundreds of horror movies with metal on the soundtrack, but I went for movies where music has a significant bearing on the plot. Of course, even though some of these movies don't have heavy music on the soundtrack, they're all metal AF in their own ways.