Darren Lewis, Author at First Angel Media

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Music ReviewsThunderbird Divine-Magnasonic

Having caught Thunderbird Divine at last year’s second annual Descendants of Crom festival, I was immediately taken by their Kyuss/Clutch/Monster Magnet/Led Zeppelin/Fu Manchu worship and engaging band leader Erik Caplan’s innovative use of the theremin, a lesser-known instrument that is finding its way back into vogue in heavy music circles (see also Pittsburgh’s Pyrithe). I had thought of interviewing Mr. Caplan about the album. https://thunderbirddivine.bandcamp.com/ But I honestly couldn’t think of anything substantial to ask...

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Featured Articles Show Reviews Your SceneLegendary Album Series: Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak

Darren Lewis1 week ago405 min

Thin Lizzy, despite only having one album go gold in the United States through the power of two enduring radio hits, continue to be a tremendously influential act decades after they disbanded and their seminal frontman, Phil Lynott, passed away. There’s been some controversy over the band reforming under the Thin Lizzy name in recent years and with a new one boasting original material in Black Star Riders. But none of that mattered this evening...

Music ReviewsDeceased-Ghostly White

Darren Lewis3 weeks ago663 min

King Fowley is metal’s equivalent of a late-night creature-feature host or narrator of a old horror comic book. One can picture him spinning yarns from a moldy castle or abandoned mansion as he heartily laughs at your terror with rats crawling about his feet. Having been plying his trade for around 35 years now in bands such as October 31, Doomstone, and Abominog, Fowley’s primary act, Deceased, offered us Ghostly White in 2018, a ghoulish...

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Featured Articles Music Reviews Your SceneHorehound – Holocene

Darren Lewis2 months ago1944 min

Horehound vocalist Shy Kennedy has become quite the mogul of the Pittsburgh metal scene, particularly in its vibrant doom corner, where she holds court not only as a performer but as an organizer of the Descendants of Crom festival and the owner of the interesting Blackseed Records, a label that is a mission for her as opposed to a mere business venture. Kennedy and her bandmates are in rapturous love with all sounds down-bred from...

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Music ReviewsAutomb – Esoterica

Darren Lewis2 months ago1694 min

Despite his youth, Serg Streltsov is a veteran of the Pittsburgh metal scene and a survivor having come to the United States from Ukraine. After sharpening his claws in bands such as Dreadeth, Incinerate Creation, Bloodwraith, Haxxan, and even gory death metal pioneers Necrophagia, Streltsov has brought us something new and more intimate in Esoterica, the first offering from Automb. With another even more battle-scarred member in drummer Scott Fuller, who has seen combat within...

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Music Reviews UncategorizedMy Top Metal Albums Of 2018

Darren Lewis3 months ago4752 min

This has been yet another loaded 12 months of metal. I’ve never listed this many before and decided not to pare it down any further. So…now, in no particular order, I proudly present to you…The Class of 2018! Top Albums 2018 1. Wolftooth-s/t 2. Aparia-Beyond the Walls of Man 3. Gygax-2nd Edition 4. Visigoth-Conqueror’s Oath 5. Immortal-Northern Chaos Gods 6. Portal-Ion 7. Judas Priest-Firepower 8. Primordial-Exile Amongst the Ruins 9. Shakma-House of Possession 10. Tribulation-Down...

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Featured Articles Show Reviews UncategorizedTomb Mold Menace Howler’s

Darren Lewis3 months ago2153 min

More than two months ago, intensely morbid, violent, and technical Toronto death metallers Tomb Mold branded the psyches of those who were fortunate, sturdy, and brave enough to attend Migration 2 over the course of their set. On a misty Monday in November, they returned to a nearly full house at Bloomfield’s Howler’s Coyote Café, slamming skulls into gravestones with funereal aplomb. Percussively impressive was skinsman/larynx Max Klebanoff, who was able to growl and rumble...

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Featured Articles Music ReviewsIcarus Witch-Goodbye Cruel World

Darren Lewis3 months ago2365 min

There was a time when acts in the vein of Icarus Witch were the temporarily exiled aristocracy of the heavy metal scene. However, Icarus Witch are no nostalgia show. While paying tribute to the past in their singular way, they also look forward, blazing paths with the precision of lasers and the aplomb of a fireworks display. Icarus Witch are on their fifth album and fourth singer, current throat Andrew D’Cagna also moonlighting in...

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Featured Articles Show ReviewsMachine Head Settle Their Debt To Pittsburgh With Interest

Darren Lewis4 months ago1995 min

Robb Flynn is a warrior born. Early in the year — the team captain of a band with a very complicated trajectory that took them from groove metal to nu-metal to thrash to a place where they embrace their entire history–stopped a show 45 minutes into what was to be a 2 1/2 hour spectacular after a throat infection put up an insurmountable wall. A date was rescheduled. Tickets from the prior date were honored....

Featured Articles Show ReviewsIcarus Witch Usher In A New Release At Get Hip Records

Darren Lewis4 months ago2843 min

It was like a well-attended family reunion that was being held on a misty Saturday night close to Halloween in a decidedly industrial part of town. The venue, Get Hip Records, also doubles as a record label, shop, and warehouse and was highly apropos for such a historic event and a general showcase for Icarus Witch, one of Pittsburgh’s most exciting metal acts. Andrew D’Cagna, a multi-instrumentalist known for his work in Brimstone Coven and...

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