I’m a man of few talents as podcast host/blog chief here at ISC. But two I can certainly point to - bad music puns and new thematic series! Presenting the first Gallery of Brewicide, featuring some preamble words of support for music photographers out there, plus additional pics from our prior Conan/Pallbearer headline gig review, courtesy of Blackened Lights Photography/ Richie Black Photography !

‘Girls Rock’, huh? Nah, man. If Saturday’s outright devastation of the Northcote Social Club Melbourne by Brazilian death-thrashers Nervosa (with breakneck local supports Resistance and Mason) is anything to go by - girls THRASH. Check out our review and photography coverage of a truly blistering, fun and frantic night of riffs via the link.

Atmospheric black metal (aka blackgaze, post-black metal) has experienced rapid growth - to the point of oversaturation. One artist who retains a strongly unique musical aesthetic is, of course Nameless (aka Dennis Mikula) of US black metal unit Ghost Bath. See link for Youtube video interview, audio-only version, recent singles, artist/album preorder links, an extensive artist release statement and more!

Featured Image: via Ghost Bath’s official Facebook profile.

The lost arts of alchemy foretold the ability to meld metal, matter, elements and more in a carefully-prepared concoction. We can say much the same of Ukraine’s Tria Prima, whose Three Primes of Alchemy EP is combed over by fellow ISC staffer and honestly-probably-a-wizard-IRL, Dean. Check out the review, with further artist/album links available as well! Slava Ukraini.

Ukrainian atmospheric black metal veterans Drudkh offer their latest musical outing to the world, Shadow Play, released on March 21st via label Season of Mist. Check out ISC staffer Dean’s comprehensive review of this sojourn into their latest darkly aesthetic offering, as well as full-album and single streams, artist/label/album order links and more.

It’s been a minute (several thousand, to be honest) since the last self-contained ISC update regarding sister-blog/music community Musolegion! To commemorate, as an admin of the group I dive into some analytics, discuss some research around the importance of online music communities and most importantly - provide you a bunch of links and updates from what’s cooking in our heavy/alternative music tribe!