Martin Popoff – Page 34 – Lollipop Magazine

The Defaced – Domination Commence – Review

May 17, 2002

The Defaced combining extreme Swedish violence with the white hot and heaviest bits from Amercian nü metal bands, most notably Machine Head and Slipknot.

Slipknot Unmasked – Joel McIver – Review

April 19, 2002

An extremely detailed and insightful book that looks at the complicated pre-fame underpinnings of the band through the second album’s touring shenanigans.

Green Carnation – Light of Day, Day of Darkness – Review

March 29, 2002

One continuous hour-long song, yet is somehow an effortless listen, a plush escape combining Amorphis, Floyd, folk, and the most frigid of Scandinavian dooms.

Carnal Forge – Please…Die! – Review

March 22, 2002

Insanely speedy, death Swede thrash perfection, bands like The Haunted and The Crown coming to mind, but sounding like Seal in comparison.

Scholomance – The Immortality Murder – Review

March 15, 2002

Scholomance prove that Americans can gut and reconstitute esoteric black metal in the craggy name of Van Der Graaf prog as handily as Norwegians.

Slipknot – Iowa – Review

March 15, 2002

True to the hype, Slipknot have created a meteor shower of extreme sights and sounds, deftly masking a nü metal premise they and Ross helped create.

Goliath – The Gate – Review

March 15, 2002

A thick, simple type of stoner rock, frustratingly crossed with slow, mainstream heavy metal, a lower tier proposal.

Midnight Sun – Metal Machine – Review

March 1, 2002

I hear hooky Priest in here, Blackout-era Scorpions, Bruce-era Samson, along with the vocal twang of that old Malice guy, and the humorous side of Helloween.

Blue Öyster Cult – Curse of the Hidden Mirror – Review

February 22, 2002

Curse… is less metal, more Buck-poppy and ennui-bluesy. It’s daring, hooky but only in a shimmery salmon run manner.

Judas Priest – British Steel – Review

February 22, 2002

I recall the instant plug-me-in magic of British Steel, and the inevitable ascendance of the band (like watching Metallica blow up with Masters of Puppets).