John Staley and Derek Showerhead
146 episodes listed below
Heavy reviews with teeth and tangents.
Heavy records get worked over track by track, with plenty of attention to riffs, tones, vocals, production, and whether the thing actually hits. Interviews widen the frame into touring, writing, gear, sobriety, memorial weight, and the messy lives around aggressive music.
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Heavy music is treated here as something felt before it is neatly categorized. The show’s reviews usually start with a record on the table, then move into riffs, vocals, bass tone, drum feel, production choices, track sequencing, and the harder-to-name sensation of whether a song lands. It can be exact about sound without sounding polished. A Lamb of God review talks about weight, groove, industrial touches, Randy’s voice, and the thrill of a track that makes car listening feel a little dangerous. A Chamber review turns chaotic hardcore and mathcore into a conversation about Nashville, Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, intensity, and the strange everyday pressure of waiting too long in a drive-thru. That is a good picture of the show’s method. The music stays central, but the route is rarely straight. Textures brings out the more analytical side, with clean vocals, ambience, polyrhythmic progressive metal, accessibility, and older records all weighed against each other. Turnstile opens a wider argument about bands evolving beyond hardcore roots, with comparisons to The Police, Rush, and the clean guitar vocabulary of a group becoming something broader. Rob Zombie prompts lineup memory, White Zombie nostalgia, and a lively case for a return to a familiar 90s and early-2000s charge. Interview episodes keep the same informal pressure. Jacob Lilly talks about Chamber, release timing, touring, Ozzy, memorial samples, and performing songs that carry real-life grief. Kenny Hickey talks from a home studio about Sun Don’t Shine, Type O Negative, gear, rehab, sobriety, and darker material without turning the exchange into a tidy confessional. The hosts are comfortable admitting taste, confusion, excitement, and limits. They mispronounce things, correct each other, joke about sponsors, and still return to specifics. That looseness is the point. It makes the criticism feel like a long conversation between people who know the music well enough to argue about it, but not so stiffly that the records stop feeling fun, loud, physical, and personal.
Made for: For metal, hardcore, and heavy rock listeners who care about riffs, vocals, production, lineup changes, and how a record feels outside the press cycle. It especially suits fans who like informed conversation without glossy critic distance.
What sets it apart: The show turns technical listening into everyday language, then lets jokes, memories, and side stories prove the point. Reviews feel track-aware and musician-curious, while interviews stay loose enough to reach gear, grief, touring, sobriety, and genre identity.
We love the heavy music. Sometimes we stray into lighter stuff, but more often than not we keep it heavy. We talk about albums and singles and occasionally have a guest for an interview. If you like the heavy stuff too, follow and subscribe to the channel and comment who you’d like us to review. It’s free and it’ll make our black hearts sing. Be sure to check out the fellas' website for links to all podcasts and written reviews, team bios and the like. You can even leave them a voicemail eviscerating their performances! https://www.shittalk...
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Close, candid album discussion gives heavy music fans specific reasons to hear a record differently, with musician interviews adding context from inside the work.
The hosts treat heavy records as arguments worth having, moving through songs in detail while testing each album against the band's earlier work.
A falafel-logo argument warms you up for Lamb of God riffs and track-by-track verdicts.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A release-day metal interview with real weight, loose banter, and just enough detour to feel human.
This episode follows Chamber into release day with Jacob Lilly and lets the record do most of the talking. The hosts keep things loose and metal-nerdy, which gives Lilly space to talk about the long wait after the standalone single, the relief of finally having the album out,…
A lively metal review that keeps its focus on riffs, weight, and the case for a comeback.
This episode spends its time on why Lamb of God feels like a return to form: the new record hits hard, the logo gripe gets its moment, and a few tracks bring back that older urgency.
A chaotic Nashville metal record gets a lively read from hosts who see Chamber as a band on the rise.
Shit Talk Reviews spends most of its time on Chamber's This Is Goodbye, a Nashville album the hosts describe as psychotic, chaotic, mosh metal, hardcore, and technical math metal.
Genotype is airier and less heavy than Phenotype, with a few standouts and vocals that may not land for everyone.
Textures' Genotype lands after a long pause and feels more ambient than djenty, which is a clear shift from Phenotype. It was once meant to sit beside that album, but the band dropped the companion-piece idea and built something new instead.
Chicago critics DeRogatis and Kot pair new-album reviews with deep dives into records like Rumours.
Annual Songlines Music Awards ceremonies spotlighting global artists, from Afrobeat to sevda.
A high schooler's music diary — Grammys press pass stories to family concert interviews.
Stephen Hyden and Ian Cohen argue about indie rock, one Metacritic score at a time.
Aaron Bruno discusses The Barbarians of California’s upcoming album Megatons, scheduled for August 21, 2026, and the band’s strategy of releasing singles individually.
Chamber catches Nashville mid-turn.
The episode digs into Lamb of God’s Into Oblivion, treating it as a hard-hitting return from a band on its tenth studio album.
The hosts focus on Chamber's This Is Goodbye.
Textures are back, and Genotype gets a wary welcome.
The hosts discuss Rob Zombie's upcoming album 'The Great Satan' and its return to his classic sound.
This episode features an interview with musician Kenny Hickey discussing his new band Sun Don't Shine, his home studio renovation during the pandemic, his journey through rehab and sobriety, and how these experiences influence his music.
Two hosts discuss the new Turnstile album 'Never Enough', comparing the band's evolution to The Police and analyzing specific tracks.