Congrats on being a metalhead. Guess I'll never be a "Serious metal fan" because I refuse to identify as such. Metal purism couldn't exist without personal taste, so trying to argue that is getting down to the most basic level of art criticism: it's subjective. I understand your point, but bands that play every metal…

Portal is good but they're like Gorguts or Artificial Brain, every album is a chore to figure out, but ultimately rewarding…sometimes

I met the ultimate metal purist in a bar a few yrs back, he literally shit on every single band that I mentioned, no matter what the sub genre. When I asked who he liked he shrugged and said "Portal" unenthusiastically . People like that is why I will always be a music fan who mostly listens to Metal vs. a…

Wolves in the Throne Room, ironically, were dismissed as new school poser garbage by bands like Leviathan etc. before Liturgy were getting noticed. I think WITTR got plenty of attention in their time, but making a big ambient space record wasn't the best way to get back in the American Black Metal conversation.

there is a LOT of loud still out there

I was surprised in that recent Pitchfork feature how genuinely enthusiastic HHH was about his diagrams and all that jazz. He was a little disappointed/embarrassed when the interviewer wanted to talk about the music and the backlash. HHH is definitely in his own goofy world, but I've never gotten the sense that he's…

most underrated metal album of the past 5 yrs, IMO

right, but the response would be (in my opinion) "Wow, Agalloch just made a great album that sounds nothing like Agalloch."

I like all of the bands you just mentioned, as well as Liturgy. I think the actual music gets a lot of hate just because of the culture/people involved. If a band like Panopticon or Agalloch (or more respected American Black Metal band of your choice) had released Aesthethica with no manifesto attached, it would have…

Man, this album is nuts. I understand the hatred for them, but I give them credit for always making interesting music. Metal purists will always hate them, but I think they really do belong in a Lightning Bolt-ish genre more than Black Metal.

they think they're good but they're actually bad

Lullaby was bad, Haunted was unbelievably bad. Although, I did like the story about discovering heaven on another planet…probably would have been much better if it was just better short stories without the garbage wrapper that tied them together.

Lullaby, the book where Palahniuk started sounding like a college english major who read way too much Palahniuk

They're good.

if you'd had a film expert like Gregg do this interview, we could have learned more about what the best movies are right now and gotten a peak 'inside hollywood'…smdh

Showalter was looking a little doughy on Comedy Bang! Bang! hopefully he's been playing a lot of capture the flag in the interim.

If anyone has informed observations about incest, it's probably Kid Rock

David Carradine? C'mon, man

yeah…and Anakin built C3P0

Paul is a genius. Glad he's getting the recognition he deserves!