Invisible Oranges: The staff knows what's cool before it's cool. Their endorsement can make a band blow up. Their name refers to the clutching gesture you make when the mighty force of metal flows through you. When they're not too busy throwing the metal horns or making said clutching gesture, the team has their fingers on the pulse of the underground, all the while covering important and established acts, too. They lean extreme, but never with that pretentious, too-cool-for-the-room vibe.
Metal Riot: Metal Riot covers a wide range of bands, including news, interviews, and reviews. The staff personally curates the content – you cannot create or upload a profile page yourself – and that means that the team believed in the band enough to get behind it, create the profile, and offer coverage. It's a true labor of love performed by informed people.
Cryptic Rock: Because it mixes horror film/TV coverage and rock music. Duh. The site is becoming more and more all-encompassing, and has expanded to feature more mainstream-leaning acts. There's really a wide-reaching, yet well-managed depth of content on the site. The Cryptic Rock crew is pretty comprehensive with its coverage and interviews, and prides itself on getting behind an act early.
Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies. ― Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Sonic Cathedral: Both of these sites have a narrow but critical focus – they each specialize in coverage on women in hard rock and heavy metal. They're covering the niche of a niche, beautifully so; Sonic Cathedral takes it a step further, as it focuses on the vocalists. These sites spotlight the females who make this genre great. Who runs the world? Girls, of course. (Source: http://blog.sonicbids.com)
