Welcome back to Milwaukee Metal Monthly, the column where I discuss the metal scene in the headbanging-est city in Wisconsin. This month we’re gonna do things a lil’ different. Half of the column will be an interview—the “normal” half, I s’pose—and the other half will be a buncha 2025 releases by local bands that I really enjoyed, and also ones that I haven’t previously covered or mentioned. More on that later.
For the sole interview of the month, I spoke to Shadows Taller Than Souls, a stoner metal band that I discovered the same way I discovered Psychic Shiv and Imprecation Of Love back in October’s installment: sorting local Bandcamp releases by new arrivals. Ain’t broke ’n all that. The trio of Millennial, bespectacled long-hairs—vocalist and guitarist Nick Stadler, bassist Dan Schmidt, and drummer Joe Widen—all have similar tastes, thought patterns, and overall (psychedelic) aesthetic. Indeed, it became clear early on that these three function, at least in a conversational capacity, a bit like the Beastie Boys—which is to say: they finish each other’s thoughts and riff as a single entity on pop culture.
The first thing to know about STTS is that, yes, there’s a lotta self-deprecating humor thrown around amongst and between them—which, to an outside observer, something like Stadler saying he’s spent 20 years practicing guitar just to get mediocre can incorrectly scan as cynicism and/or detached irony—but at their core these three dudes are kind, sincere, and often entertaining. And I know this because (1) they invited me into their practice space for the interview, during which (2) they talked to me for an hour—during dinner time, no less—and (3) offered me an Andes Candies as I was leaving. They’re just nice (stoner) fellas, is what I’m sayin’.
Anyhow, let’s get the obvious part outta the way: the band’s name. It’s likely some of y’all recognize the reference to a song beloved by classic rock radio and abhorred by every guitar store in existence, “Stairway To Heaven”—specifically, the lyric “And as we wind on down the road / Our shadows taller than our soul.” The origin of the band’s name was my first question, and is an excellent example of how they flow conversationally as a unit.
“It’s funny, because I think you’re the first person who came out and asked us that,” says Schmidt. Stadler then adds: “Other people never put that together.” Then Schmidt jumps back in: “Yeah, I tell people our band name, and their eyes just glaze over—like, ‘That’s a lotta words.’” And then Widen brings it home: “Tends to be the crowd of advanced years—maybe a generation or two above us—who are immediately like”—Widen then affects an old-fogey voice—“‘Oh, Led Zeppelin—I see what ya did there.’”
Naturally, that loose vibe extends to the band’s origin story, too. The whole thing’s a bit zig-zaggy, so let’s just use the portion of how Widen joined as a microcosm. Basically, their original drummer left for personal reasons, and the band needed to find a replacement quickly because there were upcoming shows lined up. Since Stadler had at one point been Widen’s boss, they already knew each, and so Stadler contacted Widen via Facebook asking if he still played drums and if he was interested in joining. Widen said yes and learned the band’s entire then-set in “about a fortnight.”
It was just supposed to be a one-time thing—a band-aid, essentially—but Widen ended up nailing the gig. “And that, ultimately, just resulted in me going from a stand-in drummer for one show to being, like, the drummer,” explains Widen. “I felt like I was enrobbed in, I dunno, a coven.” The four of us share a laugh, then Widen sorta-corrects himself: “Well, maybe not a coven, but at least a cult of some kind. And I was like, ‘Cool. I’m down to be the new member of the cult.’”
All three members are like that. Here’s Stadler on the reason he picked up a guitar: “Jimmy Page is why I wanted to play guitar when I was 12, and I make music that sounds nothing like Jimmy Page.” And here’s Schmidt, who also functions as the band’s de facto recorder and engineer, on the band’s early days of recording: “So, what recordings did exist, they were kinda rudimentary. Like, usually when I was constructing them I started with a very basic drum beat [on a drum machine] that I just pulled outta my ass.”
Indeed, self-awareness is one of their strengths, allowing them to hone in on what they wanna do as a band. This has allowed them to evolve quickly over a handful of releases thus far. Having started out as what they call “doom punk,” on their demo Rough Stuff and first EP Doom Punk, both from 2021, they’ve since gravitated towards the stoner/doom half of that, starting with their 2022 single “Fantasized,” which acts as a makeshift demarcation line. Since then, they’ve grown into a pretty great stoner metal group whose influences—Monster Magnet, High On Fire, Orange Goblin—are as obvious as they are nostalgia-inducing.
Which brings us, finally, to the reason why I contacted the band: Ouroboros, their super-fun debut LP, due out on December 19. (The band was kind enough to send me a promo copy, which I’ve been enjoying for the last two weeks.) The record’s a collection of both new and old material, with some of the latter—such as “Grim By Reputation” (my favorite) and “Rebirth”—dating back to the band’s infancy. As Stadler puts it, “To me, [Ouroboros] is kind of a celebration of all the songs that we’ve been playing for people over the past couple years.”
Speaking of playing, the band doesn’t have any shows lined up because they want to focus on writing and recording new material. “We’ve talked about splitting [the material] into EPs or releasing it as an album,” states Stadler. “We’re gonna figure it out.” But that doesn’t mean STTS aren’t opposed to playing live if the opportunity presents itself. “When we’re ready we’re gonna play some shows,” he explains. “I mean, if we get invited to play a show that we can’t turn down in the meantime, I feel like that can definitely happen. But we’re not actively planning anything super-huge at the moment.” Schmidt then jumps in with, “A good chunk of the shows that we play we’ve been invited to play,” to which Widen adds dryly, “But we’re not expecting to, like, hear from Metallica.”
And now for the buncha blurbs I promised about Milwaukee-based music worth your time. Before we dive in, let me be clear: this is not a ranking. It’s just 11—so, 10 + a bonus one because it’s Christmas time—EPs and LPs that I think are worth checking out, and blurbs about why.
It Is Dead | Liberate, Upon The Altar Of Freedom
No Milwaukee-based release captured the righteous anger of 2025 better than the 21 minutes of Liberate, Upon The Altar Of Freedom. It Is Dead’s mix of crust punk, sludge metal, and black metal is a potent one for left-wing sloganeering like “No human can be illegal on stolen land.” Liberate may not move the needle or convert anyone, but that sure as shit doesn’t in any way detract from the catharsis from rockin’ out to it. Perhaps the Bandcamp description says it best: “This album is a demand for a People’s Party, created for and by the people. These are war songs for the resistance.”
Bongwraith | Bongwraith EP
Weed + The Lord Of the Rings? Sure, why not. I like dumb puns and heavy music, so of course I was gonna give a song called “One Riff To Rule Them All” a go. (The best pun here is “As Above, So Bilbo,” which I still chortle at no matter how many times I read it.) Anyhow, this deeply satisfying EP of sludge-y stoner metal is denser and heavier than a neutron star, so crank up the volume for maximum pleasure. Here, they rightfully dropped vocals in the years since their 2017 demo, allowing them to focus on bludgeoning the listener in unbridled fashion. Bongwraith, then, is the most fun you can have while being brutally pummeled.
See No Evil | Damnatio Memoriae EP
With Damnatio Memoriae, See No Evil have gotten heavier and thrashier since their two-song single Justify Your Contempt from 2023. (Justify, BTW, has one of my favorite lines from this decade: “Change is always written in blood, especially when it’s overdue,” which, sadly, has only become more relevant since then.) Matching the upgraded ferocity is vocalist Ben, whose Hulk-smash bark has gone from furious to apoplectic. This is especially useful for delivering threats (promises?) like, “If you draw first blood, I’ll prolong the bleeding / Give me an inch, I’ll go for your whole fucking existence,” a lyric that functions as a menacing thesis statement both for the EP and for the band itself.
Sacrament | Divine, Dismantle EP
Impressive debut from a quartet that specializes in combining 2000s metalcore, galloping melodeath, and a touch of groove metal. In other words: mix one part Killswitch Engage and two parts The Black Dahlia Murder, add a coupl’a drops of Lamb Of God, and shake well. Unsurprisingly, there’s lotsa flashy leadwork here, and thanks to wise arrangement choices it’s enjoyable rather than distracting. If, like me, you got into the harder and more extreme strains of metal around the time that Iraq was becoming the sequel to Vietnam no one asked for, then Divine, Dismantle is for you.
Want Of Sin | Hydrophobic (Bandcamp)
Having shortened their songs and streamlined their arrangements since their 2020 demo Echoes Of Resentment, Want Of Sin have found their own identity on their debut LP Hydrophobic, shifting a bit towards early Cradle Of Filth and away from early Deafheaven. The sextet’s smartly upgraded the production and added more tastefully-busy drumming, resulting in far superior material. And then there’s vocalist Bliss Bathory—probably the most interesting and most versatile metal vocalist in the area—who’s able to effortlessly jump between a possessed shriek and haunted singing, as if there’s an internal battle between human and demon. (Bathory’s unhinged screaming during the otherwise tranquil “Inevitable Stream” is deeply unsettling, and worth experiencing on its own.) In short, Hydrophobic is the bar for black metal in Milwaukee.
Scroll | Cursed Beyond Flesh EP (Bandcamp)
This is for the ’90s (death) metalheads. Cursed Beyond Flesh is a total throwback, but with modern production. Had it come out 30 years ago, it woulda been produced by Scott Burns for sure. Yet, Scroll manage to set themselves apart with intelligent lyricism. Here’s guitarist and vocalist Trevor J. Keay growling about gore with a literary flourish: “Rot assaults olfaction, sight unseen / Chemical burns consume thee, razed, liquidized.” Elsewhere, you can find ten-dollar words and phrases like “illimitable,” “extirpate,” and “neurasthenic chitinization” sprinkled throughout the EP. Lest you think Scroll take themselves too seriously, though, have a look at how they describe their own music: “4 tracks, 15 minutes, 0 filler. Just 100% pure rippin’ old school chainsaw death from beyond the grave and behind the Wendy’s.” Yeah, that’ll do.
Conniption | The Theatre Of Invention (Spotify Apple Music)
Conniption have spent their first three albums becoming one of Milwaukee’s premier thrash outfits. With their stellar fourth, The Theatre Of Invention, they’ve finally ascended to the throne by fully incorporating prog metal’s pomp and flair for the dramatic into their sound. Naturally, these songs are the most engaging (and the most bombastic) of their career, and, as with their previous outings, the real draws here are the guitar pyrotechnics and vocalist Michael Brigham’s stratospheric banshee-howl, both of which are turned up to 12. Maybe you can argue whether or not it’s the best album by a Milwaukee metal band this year, but what is inarguable is that it’s the most impressive.
Mazoku | Mazoku EP (Bandcamp)
I’ve used music as comfort food this year to help deal with the crumbling world around me, binging on stuff from my high school and college years—so, lotsa Nine Inch Nails, Miles Davis, and Rush. In other words, I’ve been binging on nostalgia. Naturally, I was primed—which is to say, pretty much guaranteed—to dig Mazoku’s debut EP, a hybrid of nu metal and metalcore that’s unabashedly petulant. The former was my gateway drug into heavy metal, so there’s always gonna be a soft spot in my heart for it, regardless of immaturity. Mazoku rise to that challenge, nailing the sub-genre’s teenage posturing, impotent rage, and penchant for screaming obsentities—i.e., “Talking shit all the time while you degrade me / Pulling out my fucking hair as you berate me / I’m fucking sick of it; I’m fucking over this / All these motherfuckers won’t admit that they are full of it”—while dealing with infidelity and struggles with mental health. Thus, Mazoku answers the question, “What if Slipknot’s self-titled LP and Unearth’s The Stings Of Conscience had a child, and that child grew up to have seething contempt for existence itself?”
Niveous | Endless Snowfall EP (Bandcamp)
This splendid, well-played debut EP from the black metal trio—who share members with fellow locals Outer Graves and Cryptual (who themselves put out some killer death metal this year)—is as confident as they come. While Endless Snowfall doesn’t reinvent black metal, it stands out by playing against type with catchy riffs, tidy arrangements, and a big boost from crisp, clear production that’d make Patrick Bateman proud. Similarly, the sing-song-y vocals—sickly croaks rather than tortured shrieks—are kinda-telligible, allowing their winter-obsessed lyricism—“Crowned in ice / The king of none / Frozen spires / Touch the void”—to shine through the grey skies. Niveous make black metal more inviting than it has any right to be, so if you’re curious about the genre, this is as good a place as any to start.
Gunderslam | Wrath Beyond Creation (Bandcamp)
I don’t play modern videogames, so I haven’t played the 2020 action RPG game Hades. Obviously, I also hadn’t heard its soundtrack before stumbling across Patrick Gunderson’s mostly-instrumental take on it. As Gunderslam, the guitar wizard metal-izes videogame soundtracks—as he did last year with Hollow Knight—to impressive effect. In other words, Wrath Beyond Creation is first and foremost for guitar nerds, especially on “God Of The Dead Pt. 2” which features several guest players all showing off their six-string skills. Yes, the musicianship is often flashy and tech-y, but Gunderson’s smart and tasteful arrangements prevent the album from devolving into self-indulgent wankery for its own sake. As a prog-leaning and melodically-soaring style of metal, Wrath is a delightful listen, even for non-metalheads.
DrawTheirFire! | AGAIN! (Bandcamp)
More than any other Milwaukee release, AGAIN! is the finest summation of the last 12 months. Despite being written and recorded on January 3, it predicted with striking accuracy the madness and cartoonish absurdity that filled the entire calendar, all the way down to song titles such as “i am the meat in an incompetant [sic] sandwich” and “you might feel a slight sensation (this will only hurt a lot).” The batshit insanity of the 11 minutes of constantly-disorienting music—a fascinating concoction of noise, grind, death metal, mathcore, and, in one curious case, an ambient soundscape thing called “the rest is up to us”—covers more ground in 18 tracks than Carmen Sandiego, and can make you wonder if you’re losing your goddamn mind at any given moment. Then again, that’s also true of any given headline from any given day of 2025, making this record the perfect soundtrack to a year that can just fuck all the way off a cliff.
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