Nicholas Franco, Author at Cryptic Rock

Overkill – White Devil Armory (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJuly 30, 2014

There is nothing like the fresh, hungry intensity of a young band on the rise. Tight, angry, and sporting a sick bass tone straight out of 1986, Overkill has just released an album called White Devil Armory. Established thrash acts from back in the day ... Read More

Vintersorg – Naturbål (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJuly 23, 2014

Andreas Hedlund, aka Vintersorg, is a character many have yet to hear of here in the states, but the truth is the brilliant, hyper-creative Swede has been quietly churning out records since 1994. While his Norwegian neighbors in Satyricon and Ulver are often credited with ... Read More

Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse – 20th Anniversary Edition (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJuly 17, 2014

A little over twenty years ago the prosaic, lightly peopled nation of Norway was torn apart by a rash of arson, murders, and general mischief perpetrated by a tiny sect of miscreants known infamously as the Inner Circle. A group of teenagers who gave birth ... Read More

Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJuly 17, 2014

Goatwhore, hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, are a hard band to categorize. They resist being put into any one sub-genre, something journalists and fans cannot seem to keep themselves from trying to do. Forming out of the ashes of Acid Bath back in 1997, their ... Read More

Agalloch & Jex Thoth cast a spell on Irving Plaza, NYC 6-30-14

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJuly 3, 2014

The line stretched down the block and clear around the corner at Irving Plaza on Monday, June 30th. The masses had gathered to catch two musical prodigies visiting from the American west. Portland, Oregon’s Agalloch and Madison, WI mysterious Jex Thoth were in town; a cool ... Read More

Equilibrium – Erdentempel (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoJune 17, 2014

In a world where the pagan/folk explosion has saturated a once exclusive genre, it is not easy anymore to truly distinguish oneself within pagan metal’s bloodied and battle-tested realm. Equilibrium formed back in 2001 in Munich, Bavaria, deep in the heart of heavy metal’s adopted ... Read More

Nicholas Franco

Overkill – White Devil Armory (Album review)

Vintersorg – Naturbål (Album review)

Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse – 20th Anniversary Edition (Album review)

Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (Album review)

Agalloch & Jex Thoth cast a spell on Irving Plaza, NYC 6-30-14

Equilibrium – Erdentempel (Album review)

Overkill – White Devil Armory (Album review)

Vintersorg – Naturbål (Album review)

Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse – 20th Anniversary Edition (Album review)

Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (Album review)

Agalloch & Jex Thoth cast a spell on Irving Plaza, NYC 6-30-14

Equilibrium – Erdentempel (Album review)

This Week in Horror Movie History – Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

This Week in Horror Movie History – Hellraiser (1987)

This Week in Horror Movie History – The Curse (1987)

Interview – Elana Justin of Motive Black

Interview – Jeremy Wagner of Broken Hope

Interview – Magne Furuholmen of a-ha

Succubus (Movie Review)

We Live in Time (Movie Review)

The Summer With Carmen (Movie Review)