I sent my friends a screenshot of my site traffic today, because the number of unique visitors ended with 666. As the writer of a metal site, I am duty bound to point out the Number of the Beast with it occurs. This post, however, is not about evil. This post is about love. 

I started Both Kinds of Heavy as an outlet to share some of my silly thoughts and as a means of expressing myself. While I hoped that other people would read it, I never really expected it to gain any kind of real readership. It was a labor of love, pure and simple. 

And yet, for some reason, people are reading it. Or at least some AI bots or web scrapers are reading it. I'm not saying this site is ever going to be the next Pitchfork or even the next Invisible Oranges. Let's face it, a site dedicated to fitness and heavy metal is kind of a dumb idea. Nevertheless, thousands of people have read my site. Not hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands yet, but thousands nevertheless. Mostly in the United States and Canada, but apparently several dozen in Germany, for some reason. 

I want to thank each and every person who has taken the time to read something on this site, and to offer up this suggestion: That silly idea you have? You should do it.

Editor's Note: Both Kinds of Heavy existed in a more primitive form for about a year before launching in its more polished state at the end July 2026. I wrote a few pieces that I think hold up reasonably well during that time, and I'll be resharing them occasionally so they might find a wider audience. This piece was originally published in September 2025.

I could have tried to come up with a clever headline, but why be anything other than direct? This post is about music making me happy. 

I don't know if I've ever expressed the fact that I genuinely love putting this column together every week. Giving myself a little musical scavenger hunt every makes every Friday feel a little like Christmas morning. And there's nothing better than hearing someone say that they discovered something new through my picks - it genuinely makes me happy. So thank you for reading, and if you find anything that strikes your fancy, let me know in the comments section or drop me a line at bothkindsofheavy@gmail.com

This week is a mix of singles and albums, and, as always, it's an eclectic bunch. Read on!

Here it is, folks: the most perfect Both Kinds of Heavy topic of all time. Today, the new Jeff Nippard newsletter hit my inbox on this very topic. It turns out that there have been many studies on this topic over the years, and science actually has an answer to this question. 

Editor's note: My good friend Josh Burke travels to far more festivals than I do, and he was at Post Festival in Indianapolis while I was at Fire in the Mountains in Montana. He was kind enough to share his thoughts about Post in the writeup that follows. Please give it a read - if he gets a warm enough reception, perhaps he'll also grace us with his thoughts on the upcoming ArcTanGent festival!

By Josh Burke

Post Festival 2026 has come and gone. In what has been a weird (and, frankly, terrible) year in so many ways, the core of what makes Post a can’t-miss festival remains. There's great music of course, but also great people. It feels like a cliche to call any festival a “family,” but it’s well-deserved here. I’ve met and gotten to know a lot of great people in the three years that I have attended, and reconnecting with them has become almost as important as the music to me. I know a lot of festivals say that and mean it, but I haven’t found a festival with a more accepting vibe. That matters more than ever these days. That vibe comes from everyone - the organizers of the festival (the tireless, amazing, delightful Sean, Nason and Derek), the bands, and the people who travel from all over the world to be in Indianapolis for the weekend. Everyone is hanging out, digging the bands, and chatting with everyone else all weekend. There is nothing cooler than hearing Phil from Caspian say that they would not be a band if it weren’t for The Appleseed Cast, and then seeing him packed into the small room with everyone else watching The Appleseed Cast, bobbing his head and singing along.

Well, I stayed up way past my bedtime last night to join KFAI's Root of All Evil show, but it was definitely worth it. I had an absolute blast talking about this site, fitness, and Fire in the Mountains. You can listen to the archived show here. I stick around for the first three hours. Thanks again to host The Doof Lawyer for having me on!

I try to get these posts out as early in the day as possible, but this week was a challenge - there was simply too much good stuff to check out! I didn't even get to everything that caught my eye. That's a good problem to have, right? Anyway, below we've got some new versions of old materials and a bunch of great new stuff, including a few that really push the boundaries of metal. Raise the horns and read on!

I've been trying my hand at writing about music for about a year now, and I'll admit that recapping the concert experience still feels like a weak point for me. Take, for example, last night's Tomahawk and Melvins show at First Avenue. The main question that any concert review show answer is if the performances were good or not. If you're reading a recap of a Mike Patton project's show, you already know it was good. The man simply does not phone things in. The same can be said about the Melvins - Buzz Osborne is an old pro, and knows how to deliver live. So yes, both bands were great last night, but if you read on, I'll try to deliver a few other takeaways that are worth your time. 

At Fire in the Mountains, professional photographers were everywhere. There are a lot of really lovely images of the festival online, almost all of which are better that what I've got here. That said, I took a fair amount of photos during the festival, and you can see a selection of them above. I may do another collection as well. Like I said, I took a lot of pictures!

"Hey man, nice shirt!"

At Fire in the Mountains, I heard or said this phase more times than I could count. I'm guessing that everyone who attended had a similar experience. They all probably had a particular shirt that got more attention than the others. For me, it was my Giant Squid shirt with the cover of Monster in the Creek. My friend Scott got a lot of attention for his Insect Ark shirt. 

Fire in the Mountains got me thinking about many things, one of which is how important the humble band shirt is. The tradition of metalheads wearing our favorite bands on our bodies is more than just supporting those bands. It's a calling card, a statement of who we are. For me, the band shirt has legitimately shaped the course of my life.