Our Team

Who writes what. Each editor covers a corner of the music and answers for the opinions in it.

KaosMetal started as a news site with a database attached, run by one person who spent more time reading fanzines than sleeping. The site you see now is the second life of that idea: the same database of bands, albums and songs, rebuilt, with a rating system where verified critics and fans score every record separately, and a newsroom that files what happened in metal today, every day.

The news writers cover what happens in metal every day: tours, releases, the industry, the people. The editors write the long reads: the histories of the genres and their scenes, the band biographies, the essential-album lists, the label histories, the portraits and the reviews. Every piece on the site carries the name of the person who wrote it.

Founder

Bobby White

Bobby White

Founder and editor-in-chief. Thrash is home. Interviews, festivals, live reports, and the final say on what goes in the database.

Founder Thrash Metal Interviews Festivals Live reports

Bobby White founded KaosMetal and runs it. He does the interviews, covers the festivals and files the live reports, and he signs off on every band, album and rating that enters the database. He has been collecting metal records since before he could legally get into the shows he now reviews, and thrash is where it started and where it stays.

Online he also goes by Saint Sylveszter, or Stallone, as his friends call him.

News Writers

Everything under News is written by one of them.

Lars Hendriks

Netherlands

Lars Hendriks

Tours and festivals. Ten years at a press agency before he let himself write only about metal.

Tours Festivals Live
Lars spent a decade on the culture desk of a press agency before admitting that the only stories he cared about had double kick drums in them. He covers tours and festivals: who plays where, when, for how much, and what got cancelled.He grew up in the country that gave the world Dynamo Open Air and can quote the capacity of most venues between Rotterdam and Hamburg from memory. Agency habits die hard: the who, what, where and when are always in the first sentence.
Full bio »
Latest · 8 articles
Marie-Ève Tremblay

Québec, Canada

Marie-Ève Tremblay

Releases and videos. Raised on Québec death metal, came into the press through a singles-premiere blog.

New releases Singles Videos Premieres
Marie-Ève grew up in Québec at a time when Cryptopsy and Gorguts were the local bands, which explains a lot. She started a blog that premiered singles from bands nobody had signed yet, and a few of them got signed. KaosMetal hired the blog.She covers releases: new singles, videos, album announcements and premieres. Short, factual, slightly warmer than the wire.
Full bio »
Latest · 37 articles
Ben Ashworth

England

Ben Ashworth

Industry and labels. Former A&R at an independent that folded; now he reports on the business side with a straight face.

Labels Music industry Contracts Streaming
Ben did A&R for an independent label that went under owing money to half its roster, an education no journalism course can offer. He now covers the part of metal that happens in offices: contracts, signings, acquisitions, pressing runs, streaming numbers and the occasional bankruptcy.Ben will tell you what a number means: whether 50,000 copies is a triumph or a footnote, and for whom.
Full bio »
Latest · 4 articles
Tomas Berglund

Sweden

Tomas Berglund

People and scene. Former regional newspaper reporter; covers the stories about the people: health, deaths, books, films, awards, statements.

Scene news Artists Books & documentaries Awards
Tomas spent eight years on the news desk of a Swedish regional daily before KaosMetal, which is where he learned to write a death notice that respects the dead and a hospital update that respects the family. He covers the human side of the scene: illnesses and recoveries, deaths, memoirs, documentaries, awards, public statements and the occasional feud.He writes plainly and a little warmly.
Full bio »
Latest · 11 articles

Editors

Histories, biographies, essential albums, label histories, portraits and reviews.

Eirik Solvang

Western Norway

Eirik Solvang

Black metal editor. Grew up in the shadow of the Norwegian second wave, has heard every "true" argument twice, and trusts riffs over corpse paint.

Black Metal Blackened Death Pagan Metal Viking Metal
Eirik has been writing about black metal since he was old enough to sneak into shows. He came up through tape trading and small-town record shops in western Norway, spent eight years as a live sound engineer for touring extreme metal bands, and still judges an album by what it does at volume in a small room.He has no patience for genre policing and even less for bands that mistake atmosphere for songwriting. On KaosMetal he covers black metal in all its shades, blackened death, and the pagan and Viking corners of the scene: the genre history, the biographies, the essential-album lists and the portraits. Expect precise language, an opinion, and no reverence for reputations.
Full bio »
Latest · 131 articles
Andrzej Sawicki

Southern Poland

Andrzej Sawicki

Blackened death and Eastern Europe editor. A librarian by trade and the archivist of the Polish extreme scene since the nineties.

Blackened Death War Metal Polish Metal Eastern Europe Labels
Andrzej is a librarian who has spent fifteen years cataloguing the one collection his library never asked for: the demos, flyers and fanzines of the Polish extreme metal scene, from the first Vader rehearsal tapes to the present. He writes the way an archivist reads, in long sentences, with dates, pressing runs and label histories where other writers put adjectives.On KaosMetal he covers blackened death, war and bestial metal, the Polish and Eastern European scenes, the label histories and the long biographies that need an arc rather than a headline.
Full bio »
Latest · 29 articles
Rafael Quintero

Florida, USA

Rafael Quintero

Death metal editor. Ex-drummer, lifelong Florida scene rat, still buys demos on tape. If it has blast beats, he has heard it.

Death Metal Brutal Death Slam Florida Scene
Rafa played drums in Florida death metal bands through his twenties, toured in a van that broke down in four states, and has been on the other side of the merch table ever since. On KaosMetal he covers death metal, brutal death and slam: the genre history, the biographies, the essentials, the Florida scene and the American labels.He writes short, he writes loud, and he talks to you like you are standing next to him at a show. Production details, drum sounds and label gossip are his weak spots. Bands that take themselves too seriously are his favourite target.
Full bio »
Latest · 129 articles
Gareth Llewellyn

Wales

Gareth Llewellyn

Grindcore, crust and powerviolence editor. Squats, basements, a photocopied fanzine at seventeen. Laughs at the things that scare everyone else.

Grindcore Crust Powerviolence Noise Gore
Gareth grew up in the squats and club basements of south Wales, put out a photocopied fanzine at seventeen and promoted shows until the basement got shut down. Grindcore was born on his side of the Bristol Channel and he writes about it as if he had been in the room, which for the later years he was.His beat on KaosMetal is grindcore, crust, powerviolence, noise and the gore end of the pool, plus the small labels that keep it alive. He writes about it with humour, on the grounds that grind is written that way or not at all.
Full bio »
Latest · 4 articles
Ilse Brandt

Eastern Germany

Ilse Brandt

Doom, stoner, sludge and gothic editor. Former festival programmer, patient listener, allergic to hype.

Doom Metal Stoner Sludge Gothic Metal Funeral Doom
Ilse booked the slow and heavy stage at a mid-sized German festival for seven years before moving to the other side of the desk. She has a programmer's ear: she listens to whole albums, in order, and she notices when a band has one idea stretched over forty minutes.On KaosMetal she covers doom in all its weights, stoner and sludge, gothic metal and funeral doom: the genre history, the biographies, the essentials, the doom festivals and the labels. She writes at length, without jokes, and she says clearly when something is not good enough. Praise from Ilse is earned.
Full bio »
Latest · 2 articles
Curtis Vance

Midwest, USA

Curtis Vance

Industrial and avant-garde editor. Caught the Wax Trax! era as a club kid, then spent twenty years behind mixing desks. Talks about music in frequencies.

Industrial Metal Electronic Avant-garde Cyber Metal
Curtis grew up in the Midwest on the Wax Trax! records his older cousin left behind, the ones that made industrial music something you could dance and headbang to at the same time, and he never quite recovered. He went on to engineer live sound for industrial and metal bands and wrote a gear column for an American magazine for six years.On KaosMetal he covers industrial metal and everything that plugs a machine into a riff: electronic, cyber, avant-garde, the hybrids and the labels that dared. He explains music in frequencies and decibels, with a grin, and hard rock when it turns up.
Full bio »
Latest

Nothing published yet.

Declan Rourke

Midlands, England

Declan Rourke

Heavy and thrash editor from the region that invented the genre. Ran a photocopied fanzine at sixteen and never really stopped.

Heavy Metal Thrash Metal Speed Metal NWOBHM Classic Metal
Declan started a fanzine in the Midlands at sixteen with a borrowed photocopier and a list of addresses from the back of a music weekly. It ran for eleven issues and got him into more backstage corridors than it should have. He has written about the people who made heavy metal what it is for fifteen years and still sends handwritten thank-you notes.On KaosMetal he covers heavy metal, thrash and speed metal, the NWOBHM legacy and the veterans who are still touring: the genre histories, the classic biographies, the essentials and the portraits. There is a story attached to most things he writes, and he is generous with bands and hard on nostalgia acts that stopped trying.
Full bio »
Latest · 179 articles
Julien Vasseur

France

Julien Vasseur

Power, progressive, symphonic and folk editor. Conservatory-trained, left for a Blind Guardian show and never went back. The flamboyant one.

Power Metal Progressive Metal Symphonic Metal Folk Metal
Julien studied composition at a French conservatoire until a Blind Guardian concert made the decision for him. He has spent the years since writing about the parts of metal that care about arrangement: power metal, progressive metal, symphonic and folk, dressed for the occasion in velvet and rings.He reads scores, he counts bars, and he will tell you exactly which key change a chorus depends on. His articles are long, technical when they need to be, and dry in their humour. He has strong views on choirs.
Full bio »
Latest

Nothing published yet.

Jonah Pike

Virginia, USA

Jonah Pike

Metalcore, deathcore, nu-metal and hardcore editor. Thirty-one, still goes to matinee shows, still loses his voice.

Metalcore Deathcore Nu-Metal Hardcore
Jonah grew up on the Virginia hardcore scene, where the line between a metal show and a hardcore show was whoever brought the PA. He has run merch, driven vans, and shot a few hundred sets from the photo pit before he started writing for KaosMetal.He covers metalcore, deathcore, nu-metal and the hardcore crossover. Short sentences, straight talk, a bit of fun, and no interest in whether something counts as "real metal". If it makes the room move, it makes the site.
Full bio »
Latest · 6 articles

How we work

People who go to shows

Everyone here came to writing from the scene: bands, fanzines, festivals, labels, record shops. The genre an editor writes about most is the one they grew up in.

Sources, always

Every news item links to where it came from, and quotes stay quotes.

Two scores, no favours

Critic ratings and fan ratings live side by side. Coverage is never traded for advertising, promo or placement.