“Danse Macabre” (1493) by Michael Wolgemut. Not pictured: Ghost’s “Dance Macabre.” OK, enough dancing around it. I’ve done three editions of my Halloween Month and basically none of them has been a legit Halloween list. I’m writing this in advance so there’s no telling what unspeakable horrors have befallen…

John Cale, Courtesy: Paul Hudson/Wikicommons. Welcome to Week No. 2 of Halloween Month. As of the time of this writing the President has returned to the White House from the hospital despite still gasping for air like a blobfish in an ill-fitting suit out of water. What will happen…

Always unpredictable, shock-rocker Marilyn Manson sticks true to form on his 11th studio album, the aptly titled WE ARE CHAOS. The album not only digs into Manson’s heavy industrial rock side but also mixes his more ethereal and atmospheric tendencies in a more pronounced way than on past records. He…

Rob Zombie gets festive. We’ve made it! Halloween is less than a week away and after columns about horror punk and horrorcore we’ve finally reached the main event: Metal. Horror metal is a thing, of course, but why limit ourselves to that narrow box? There are so many Halloween-appropriate…

Tool performs at the Aftershock Festival on Oct. 13, 2019. Courtesy of Aftershock. SACRAMENTO — Northern California’s annual hard rock festival, Aftershock, continued its upward trajectory as one of the premiere national events for heavy music. What began back in 2012 as a one-day and one-stage event has ballooned…

 Everyone manages stress differently. Some people use guided meditation, some people go with binge drinking and an underground fight club. There are as many coping strategies as there are people. Similarly, some people go for some mellow, soothing music. Most people really. But that’s not how I roll.…

Every week people get mad at me for my top five. Sometimes it’s songs in the honorable mentions list that they think should’ve been at the top, sometimes it’s songs that they think got snubbed entirely, but people haven’t been this mad at me over something I wrote since…