[Archive - From The Legion #1]: MusoLegion Albums For 2024.
Hearkening back to early 2024 from the old and now-defunct (RIP) website, here’s InnerStrengthCheck and MusoLegion’s first ever From The Legion feature! As part of Music Mondays, at ISC we bring regular updates from this heay/alternative music community of which myself and others are admins. Check link for MusoLegion Facebook group, subreddit, Spotify podcasts, Youtube channels and more. IG: @musolegion.
ISC Podcast Ep. 15 (Interview): NIKLAS SANDLIN of KATATONIA Talks 2025 Australian Tour, And More.
Check the link for video (Youtube) and audio-only (Spotify - available on numerous other podcast platforms as indicated!) for my archival interview from prior, now-defunct ISC website (RIP) with Niklas Sandlin, bassist of Swedish modern metal heavyweights Katatonia. In the interview, we discuss touring, thoughts on Australia in general, his perspective within the band as a long-term member and much more!
[Archive] ISC Podcast Ep. 14 (Interview) James 'Human Furnace' Bulloch, Vocalist of RINGWORM Talks New Album, Touring, Creative Process
See here for our interview with vocalist James ‘Human Furnace’ Bulloch from 2023, from our sadly now-defunct website (RIP). On the rarest of occasions, there comes along a band that latches on and annihilates your ears with such a unique combination of sounds, you find yourself dislodged from the monotony of every-day music, and rooted firmly in the terrain of admiration. Cleveland Ohio’s Ringworm are no strangers to this concept and have been fascinating metalheads with their unorthodox melodies for over 30 years.
[Archive] ISC Podcast: Ep. 13: Interview with BJORN ‘SPEED’ STRID of SOILWORK.
(Archival Post - originally posted to our now-defunct (RIP) prior website on Jul 27th, 2023). I was fortunate enough to provided a third opportunity to speak with metal luminary Bjorn 'Speed' Strid, frontman and vocalist of the mighty Soilwork and, more recently, disco-lovin' supergroup The Night Flight Orchestra. See link for both audio-only podcast version and video interview, via our Youtube channel!
[Archive]: ISC Podcast Ep. 12. Lorebites - A Forbidden Lands Campaign Narration.
An early example from our previous website (RIP, *sniff) of some tabletop RPG narrative pieces I plan on doing more of over time. This is a mini audio-drama, told from a perspective of a fantasy storyteller recounting the tale of our [now ill-fated, also RIP] Forbidden Lands campaign party - the mercenary group known as The Fourteen Limbs as they traverse the Ravenlands.
[Heavy News] Introducing: Music Mondays and Tech Tuesdays!
Featured Image: Lachlan R. Dale, solo artist and label owner of Worlds Within Worlds and Art as Catharsis. (interview with Lachlan incoming as i extract it from the carcass of our now-defunct old website, RIP). This article was originally posted to our old website, long may it rest, and introduces Music Mondays for the first time - a regular column including all the latest in heavy and alternative music news, features, reviews, ISC content updates and our own musician updates as well!
[Heavy News] THE CIMMERIAN's ‘An Age Undreamed Of’... Out Now and Streaming!
(ISC Heavy News, 13.01.25) - Los Angeles (CA) - Doom/Thrash trio THE CIMMERIAN set a crushing tone for the new year with today's release of An Age Undreamed Of..., the band's first full-length album! This rogue set conjures images of high adventure and mayhem with an aggressive mix of sludgy-based rumblings, caustic fuzz-filled riffs, and sonorous war drumming that recalls High on Fire, among others.
[Heavy News] Open Kasket Releasing ‘Trials of Failure Album’ February 7 via Barbaric Brutality.
Little Rock, Arkansas Beatdown Death Metal Horde, Open Kasket, will release their debut full-length album, Trials of Failure, on February 7 on digital platforms and physical media, inc. cassette! The album comes courtesy of Barbaric Brutality Records. This news piece delivered with care of Clawhammer PR, straight to the Heavy News desk. Lots more comin’. Stay tuned.
[Heavy News] DYNAZTY Release New Single 'Call Of The Night' + New Album GAME OF FACES Out On February 14th
First New ISC Heavy News item for 2025! Creators of power metal super-track 'Heartless Madness', DYNAZTY today release their third single 'Call of the Night'. The new album Game of Faces will be released on February 14th, 2025 via Nuclear Blast Records. See the link for full album details, tracklist, preorder link and streaming/video links for the latest single.
[RIFFS] Big Tech: Guys. Can We Just *STAHP* Adding Stuff To The Stuff? Signed, Brady.
Feat. Image Credit - Glenn Guy, 2015. (LINK). Hoo-kay. Don’t know about everyone else, but Lorrdy-Lord can we just ask Silicon Valley to tone it back a bit? Stop. STAHP. It’s time to stop. Bed-time, now. Night night. Too many browser-AI-bots. Too many superfluous Big Tech gadgets. Let’s talk about some digital minimalism, have a little relatable rant about perceptual and digital overwhelm, and wrap it up all with some great and informative Youtubers and apps. Let’s. Let’s do.
Hey Guys, It’s Ricky and Julian and Bubbles Talking about THe Band - Frig OFf Mr Lahey, Man.
Hey guys, it’s Trailer Park Boys. Ricky LaFleur here, with Julian and Bubbles and Brady and Butters.Anyways guys, Brady’s had the DHHS brain attention thing go upwards so he said we could write a post aboot FOML, Frig Off Mr Lahey. It’s like two bands with the one ABCD-head altruism-disorder guy, it’s like cypher (cyber)grindcore Side A, Side B is all aboot ambience and Bubble’s kitties. It’s a big Canadian Amsterstralian conflaboration, check it oot guys. We;ve got pepperoni links guys.
[Archive - 26.11.24] Introducing: #MusicMondays and #TechTuesdays!
Whilst I don’t have the capacity re: time and energy etc, plus have lost a bit of metadata with the death of my prior site - I can’t in good conscience let stellar posts and input from the Musolegion community (as well as a chance for promoting a lot of great bands!) go to waste. See here for an explainer and initial introduction to Music Mondays (featuring our Musolegion ‘From The Community’ column) and Technical Tuesdays blog series. Keep following us on the new site for future segments!
Introducing A New ISC Category - [Riffs]!
(Featured Image credit: Adam Neely, aka An Absolute Living Treasure Of The Youtube Musician/Theory Community). This episode elaborates on a newly-added Category type, Riffs, and what this entails - essays, non-podcast written blog content, et cetera. Originally posted on our sadly-now-defunct prior website (RIP) in late 2024.
[Blog Update] Swingin’ The (Un)Dead - 2025 Content Roadmap (Jan)
Hope y’all appreciate this one cause holy HELL it was a bit of work! Full Content Roadmap for ISC blog for 2025, including each individual archive piece for re-writing/posting from our prior now-dead website. Plus, a heads-up on the scheduling and content of the Podcast for 2025, list of albums for review and much more. Back to it.
A Philo-Slothical Piece - Thank You From Me, Your Host.
(Content Warning - Explicit Language!). A heartfelt and sincere thanks-in-advance to YOU, the Inner-Strength Check community. In this article, I reiterate the ultimate purpose of this whole project, and the reasons I’ve kept going through 4 years and a new website from the ground up. Thank you. Sincerely.
[Heavy News] They Could Not Kill The Metal: #MusicMonday Musolegion Edition
Rising from the ashes of our dead site, the powers of necromancy and heavy metal community unite to bring you - our first instalment of From The Legion for 2025! I’ve dedicated the entirety of our first #MusicMonday segment for 2025 to Musolegion, the community, recent AOTY/nation-focused discussions via our blog/group, as well as sharing our subreddit, Instagram, Youtube Channel, Spotify, Bandcamp and more! Hop in.
[Riffs] Surviving the Clickers: My Epic Journey in 'The Last of Us: Factions'
Reposting from the back-end of our now-unfortunately-dead prior website, this Riff (our lingo for non-podcast essays, articles etc) by Mal explores his experiences with revisiting The Last Of Us: Factions for Playstation 4.
[Archive] Interview with MARK PALFREYMAN of Australian Prog-Metal Institution ALARUM.
Archival post, picked from the carcass of our dearly-departed old website (RIP). This warrants sharing again; a fantastic Q & A with Mark Palfreyman, bassist/vocalist of Australian progressive metal legends Alarum in April 2023. They’ve since released a new full-length in Recontinue. Check the article for links to that and more!
[ISC Podcast, Ep. 10:] Interview w/ ELISSA JEWELL, Owner of DEADLIFTS AND DEATH METAL (11.07.23).
See here for Brady’s discussion with Elissa Jewell, Melbourne-based trainer and owner of local business Deadlifts and Death Metal back in 2023. We discuss everything ranging from common fitness industry thinking-traps to mental health, striking out with a brand based on your passions, and much more!
[Album Review] –Devin Townsend –'PowerNerd' LP
A repost from our sadly-dead-as-of-NYE-2024 old website. RIP. In this article, Mal discusses his thoughts on Devin Townsend’s rockin’ 2024 opus PowerNerd. As a new listener, Mal offers a fresh-eared perspective to the latest from the mad scientist of prog metal.