Radical Research Podcast

For our 126th episode, Radical Research travels to the farthest reaches of our favorite country and we do so with a rare companion, Agalloch lynchpin, John Haughm. In this episode, we dive into the discography of Thule, a progressive rock band that defies the rules of progressive rock. Dark, nocturnal, frozen, magical - Thule's seaborne prog offers the listener glimpses into forbidden worlds. We h...

Radical Research has risen! For our first episode following the tragic event of Jeff's house fire and the loss of members of his beautiful feline family, we have chosen to return with an exploration of one of the most emotional and intense albums of the 1990's, Anathema's Eternity . This album takes the weight of the profoundest Pink Floyd and marries it with the doom and feedback sorcery upon whi...

What started as a joke ("send us a $10,000 donation and we'll do an episode on Bathory's disasterpiece flop, 'Octagon'!") Well, we wondered what that kind of episode would be like, so we decided to just chat about it and see what happened. No big plan, no huge overarching analyses...just a little walk through the ugly, clattering eighth album by a man and band we absolutely worship. We count 'Octa...

As Hunter so aptly calls it early in this short episode: “ Fiend for Blood is an EP that is in the process of dying.”          After the classic Mental Funeral of 1991, Autopsy released the Fiend for Blood EP as its follow-up. Those who were there in 1991 would have already recognized Mental Funeral as a towering achievement of death metal and, indeed, time has proven us right on that score. But F...

Australia’s Vauxdvihl (or, for a short time, Vaudeville) came quickly, evolved swiftly, and left behind a beautiful corpus of 19 documented songs. We have stood in awe for three decades of this short but impressive discography, and episode 123 of our weird little podcast is an attempt to bring you into the Vauxdvihl fold. (Beware of the ridiculous amount of Fates Warning mentions here…or make a dr...

Jeff: “Was talking with my friend S. Craig Zahler a few days ago, and we were discussing Sarcofago’s 1987 debut, I.N.R.I. Zahler noted that there are some bewildering timing issues in 'Nightmare,' and how he’d like Hunter ('who is 20 times the drummer I am') to try and identify what the hell’s going on. I put this quandary/query to Hunter and let ‘er rip.” Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page...

This episode brings to a close our periodic investigations of the Steven Wilson-curated 'Intrigue' compilation. Covering progressive sounds in UK alternative/post-punk music from 1979-89, 'Intrigue' nails its intention, proving that, while traditional prog rock may have waned in the '80s, that spirit of adventure and invention remained alive through the work of dozens and dozens of UK music-makers...

In this .5 episode (the longest point-5 we’ve done to date), we offer up 6 subjects of previous Radical Research episodes and take a look at their activities since we last put our spotlight on them. (As we explain at the beginning, the sound quality is rough this time, as Hunter is still reeling from Hurricane Helene’s effects on his household's technology.) Note I: The Radical Research Patreon pa...

Switzerland’s deadliest export, Coroner, which sliced and sawed its way through the metal landscape of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, has finally found its way under the Radical Research microscope. From the savage thrashing mayhem of R.I.P. to the reclined elegance of its final missives, Radical Research dives deeply into the methods and madness of one of metal’s ablest battalions. Note I: The Radical...

A quick look at Queen’s “The Prophet’s Song,” its a cappella middle section, and the treatment it was given by one Jeff Scott Soto in various live performances. It’ll all make a little more sense when you listen… Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option....

Is there an album more representative of this podcast's main focus? Not outside of Norway, there isn’t. Montréal’s DBC (Dead Brain Cells) released ‘Universe’ in 1989, a tech-y cosmic opus of 37:26 that manages to cover the big bang, the evolution of life, the fall of the dinosaurs, man’s eventual dominance on Earth, and humanity's possible future in the album's brief but eventful duration. Join us...

This is a “careful for what you wish for” kind of thing. For years and years, we hoped that we could hear the mighty Steve DiGiorgio’s bass work with more clarity on Death’s 1991 masterpiece, Human . Once we could, thanks to the 2011 reissue, we relented and realized we preferred the original version after all. We present this mini-episode in good humor and with an anxious heart, because we hope n...

Operating outside of the metal infrastructure, but heralding its glory and complexity more so than most “true” metal bands, The Fucking Champs, in their 1994-2007 rampage, cobbled together elements of Trouble, Confessor, Don Caballero, and Kraftwerk and reshaped the geometric possibilities of math metal, all with the insouciance of its indie rock roots. Please join us as we attempt to solve this r...

Sometimes it takes a while to come around to an album. In our case, it took 28 years with Cryptopsy’s second album, None So Vile . Better late than never. We repent!!! Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are...

The one-long-song album is a rare event in the metal genre, and a tough assignment to tackle and get right. We hold up these five albums as the finest examples of the approach. While it’s difficult to convey their scope in snippet form, we tried our best and had a lot of fun doing so. (Incidentally, this also happens to be one of our longest-ever episodes!) Join us, even if these albums only have...

Our man Ginn loves him some Gadd! In this brief episode, we extract three of Hunter’s favorite moments by his favorite drummer on the planet, Steve Gadd. It results in something we thought we’d never do on this podcast: play a snippet of a Paul Simon song. But you have to admit, Gadd is Badd…Badd Ass! Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offe...

Pull up a chair and get your ears out! We get giddy when we’re together in the same space, which we were for this episode. You’ll hopefully forgive our exuberance and all the talking over each other in excitement of brotherhood, music, pizza and other various inputs. All in the name of exalting the third of four CDs in the Steven Wilson-curated Intrigue compilation series. Join us for another walk...

In this brief episode, we spotlight the two metal bands brave enough to tackle the middle part of King Crimson's innovative and highly influential 1969 classic, "21st Century Schizoid Man." Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose...

When it comes to a difficult-to-define concept like psychedelia in music, it's subjective. It’s not all hippies with sitars and lava lamps and bongs…but that’s not wrong either. With a little help from author Michael Hicks and his parameters for what makes music psychedelic, we pose the question: “What is Psychedelic Music?” and offer the Radical Research answer. Note I: The Radical Research Patre...

Our second in the Permeable Lines series, and our first point-5 episode since 83.5 nearly two years ago! That enough numbers for you? Join us for a brief dust-up between inspiration and rip-off. You decide. (More numbers: “18 is actually 9…it stuck in his mind….”) Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for th...

We celebrate musicians and bands that rapidly evolve and challenge their audience with newness each endeavor. But the abrupt left-turn San Francisco metal band Hexx took between 1986 and 1987 is beyond fascinating, and beyond the norm. It culminates in one of our favorite albums of the early ‘90s, the mighty, seething, adrenaline-injected Morbid Reality . Strap in, freaks, this will be a bumpy rid...

Radical Research can’t stay away from Scandinavia for more than a brief spell. To that end, your hosts find themselves in Sweden, digging through the short but robust initial run by Mourning Sign. Over the course of a demo, an EP, and two full-lengths, Mourning Sign twisted and bent metal into a wide variety of shapes. Neither exclusively brutal, progressive, nor melodic, but rather an alloy of al...

For our 113th episode, we dispense with the usual exhalations of the past in favor of the thrills of the tense present-future. Thief, the Los Angeles-based brainchild of visionary producer, Dylan Neal, has released one of 2024’s most extraordinary albums, Bleed, Memory , a harrowing journey through the late stages of the human mind and spirit. Without giving away all of the album’s treasures, this...

For its 112th episode, Radical Research travels to balmy Greece to investigate the cryptic evildoing of Hail Spirit Noir, whose hellbroth of black metal, prog, psychedelia, and witchery strikes a special chord with your hosts. We take a deep look at the band’s first four albums and find ourselves more spellbound than ever before. There is no warding off the spell, so give in and join us in this mo...

For episode 111, Radical Research returns to its spiritual homeland of Norway. But on this trip, RR steers clear of the usual avant suspects and instead climbs the Mountains of Might to take a closer look at Immortal’s twisted and divisive fourth album, 1997’s Blizzard Beasts . Though optically outside of RR’s usual territory, the hosts make a compelling case for the album’s inclusion in the annal...