Month: July 2025

The Making of Performance and Cocktails by Stereophonics

Neil Johnson 26 July 2025

Performance and Cocktails by Stereophonics: The Making of a Modern Classic Sometimes, an album arrives at just...

Heartwork: Carcass’s Pioneering Melodic Metal Journey

Heartwork: Carcass’s Pioneering Melodic Metal Journey

Neil Johnson 19 July 2025

Carcass – Heartwork: The Album That Redefined Extreme Metal Some albums don’t just change a band’s direction—they...

The Making of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis

(What's The Story) Morning Glory (Deluxe Remastered Edition)

The Making of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis

Neil Johnson 7 July 2025

In October 1995, the world changed for Oasis and for British music. Their second album, (What’s The...

Podcast Episodes

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Welcome to Riffology, where a GenX and a Millennial talk about the albums from their youth. It’s more fun than it sounds…

Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains gets the full Riffology treatment: the leap from Schizophrenia to something lean, hostile and oddly elegant. We dig into why the first half feels near-bulletproof (“Beneath the Remains,” “Inner Self,” “Stronger Than Hate,” “Mass Hypnosis”), how those nocturnal sessions at Nas Nuvens bled into the record’s raw edge, and where Scott Burns helped sharpen the attack. It’s the grim middle ground between thrash and death—menace over flash, breakdowns that earn their keep, and riffs that chug without ever getting comfortable.

We wander through the artwork lore too—Michael Whelan’s “Nightmare in Red,” the Obituary swap, teenage-bedroom posters, and the strange orderliness of tape-trading that forced you to live with whole albums rather than skip buttons. Max and Igor’s engine, Andreas’ knife-point melodies, Paulo holding the line; a band stepping forward, already pointing at Arise while still covered in the dust.

Then the end happens—again the funniest stretch—featuring an unscheduled James Hetfield cameo, a perfectly serious argument about whether the evening meal is “tea” or “dinner,” and a sign-off that devolves into an apology cascade capped with “Sorry, mum.” Dry, accidental, very on-brand.