“It’s dark,” says Chino Moreno. “It’s a trip.” Not a bad off-the-cuff summary of Deftones’ ninth LP, Ohms, which amplifies the art-metal band’s signature dynamic extremes: Frank Delgado’s shadowy synth atmospherics are more prominent in the mix, and Stephen Carpenter’s detuned riffs scorch the terrain beneath them. But Moreno isn’t describing the album — instead, he’s […]
Friday marked the beginning of a well-deserved celebration for Ava Max. After two years of building her musical resumé with a series of hits, the pop riser finally released her debut album, Heaven & Hell — fittingly enough, during one of the most hellish times in human history. And since a pandemic-stricken year isn’t necessarily the ideal […]
Twenty-three years before he’d achieve cult icon status as the affable patriarch of one of reality television’s most profane families, things were looking fairly bleak for Ozzy Osbourne. Freshly booted from Black Sabbath — the groundbreaking band he co-founded — Ozzy was in the throes of heavy addiction, drowning himself in booze with his musical […]
Brian D’Addario, 23, and his brother Michael, 21, were still teenagers when they signed with legendary indie label 4AD and released their debut album as The Lemon Twigs, co-produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado. The Long Island siblings are both singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists who expertly evoke the sound and spirit of ‘60s and ‘70s rock at […]
The whole reissue concept didn’t come across my obsession desk until my first tour of duty at SPIN as an editorial intern in the fall of 1997. One of my tasks during my two days in the office — back when it was on 18th St. near Academy Records — was opening the editors’ mail. I’ll […]
Although he’s managed to cloak himself in mystery for the last 30 years of his career, Tricky offered a surprising level of candor and transparency in his must-read 2019 memoir, Hell Is Round the Corner. As he documents in the book, the Bristol-born musician has always used music to escape a reality plagued by misfortune, violence […]
Yesterday, metal lost one of its realest: Riley Gale, singer for Dallas thrash kings Power Trip, who died at age 34. As someone who followed the band in their home state, there’s a lot I could say about Gale and the band he fronted. They meant a lot to me and a generation of metal […]
It’s been two decades since the Rancho Carne Toros and East Compton Clovers held a cheer battle that would become a cultural touchstone for years to come. With the help of “spirit fingers” and an ensemble cheer routine to “Hey Mickey” in the end credits, Bring It On became a box-office sensation, grossing $90 million […]
For the last seven years, L.A. rapper-songwriter Duckwrth had the album title SuperGood in the back pocket of his overalls, saved for a rainy day. One problem: Life hadn’t quite given him that super-good feeling yet. But 2020 almost did. At least in the beginning, when he hopped in the studio and recorded his entire new project in […]
“Dark.” That word came up the most as SPIN spoke to nine musicians about Facelift, the groundbreaking debut album from grunge gods Alice in Chains. Thirty years later, it’s the ultimate description for the album’s bleak sound, anchored by the tortured lyricism of frontman Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. While 1992’s Dirt is widely considered Alice in Chains’ masterpiece, 1990’s Facelift introduced […]