Andrew Miller

Death metal ain't for everyone. But Decrepit Birth makes a good case for being the perfect gateway through which the metal-phobic could enter the darkened realm — provided that the prospective listener could overlook that scary-sounding name. Take an instrumental like "The Enigmatic Form," from the, Santa Cruz, California band's...

Death metal ain’t for everyone. But Decrepit Birth makes a good case for being the perfect gateway through which the metal-phobic could enter the darkened realm – provided that the prospective listener could overlook that scary-sounding name. Take an instrumental like “The Enigmatic Form,” from the, Santa Cruz, Calif. band’s...

Cradle of Filth scaled back their twisted-burlesque spectacle on the Thornography tour, which, combined with the record's unseemly catchiness, led to some dismayingly unfreakish sets. But the British metal provocateurs reverted to harsh thrash on last year's Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, a concept album chronicling the depravity of French...

Cradle of Filth scaled back its twisted-burlesque spectacle when touring in support of 2006’s Thornography, which, combined with the record’s unseemly catchiness, led to some dismayingly unfreakish sets. But the British metal provocateurs reverted to harsh thrash on last year’s Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, a concept album chronicling the...

The longest-running rivalry in modern metal pits Mushroomhead against Slipknot, a conflict that continues its inexorable march toward some sort of Wrestle­mania resolution. The feud started back in 1999, when Mushroomhead accused Slipknot of stealing its creepy-mask shtick, and it's only become more heated in recent years. Mushroomhead ridiculed its...