Here is a list of the staff members of Metal Blast. As you can clearly see, we all cover the world of heavy metal exceptionally well. If you click on our names you will be taken to our respective writing portfolios so you can travel back in time to see what we may have thought of some of your favorite albums. If you have any questions or rude comments about a specific style or article one of us has written, you can send your poorly worded e-mail to us directly. We promise to try and get back to you in a timely manner!
Name: J & Max
Position: Editors-in-Chief
E-mail: Max [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 28 & 30
Biography: They’re in charge. That’s all you need to know.
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Name: Jon Burkan
Position: Assistant Editor
E-mail: JonBurkan [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 26
Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Favorite Sub-genres: Death/brutal death, grindcore, goregrind, black, and thrash
Biography: Having grown up in the vast industrial wasteland known as Detroit, my sister subjected me to multiple albums by bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Exodus, I quickly became immersed in the world of heavy metal for life. Even with my love of the tradition styles of metal, I always found myself craving something louder and heavier, thus bringing me to the much more extreme side of this genre of music. With classic bands such as Dismember, Autopsy, and Napalm Death always dominating my stereo system, I felt content to dig as deep as possible into the depths of ghastly heavy metal, and all these years later I still haven’t hit the bottom.
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Name: Anthony Amendola
Position: Writer
E-mail: Anthony [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 22
Location: Long Island, New York, United States
Favorite Sub-genres: Metalcore, deathcore, death metal, melodic death metal, progressive death metal
Biography: I DON’T KNOW :’(
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Name: Ben Chipman
Position: Writer
E-mail: Ben [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 21
Location: Kansas City, Kansas, United States
Favorite Sub-genres: Prog/post, black, death, sludge, thrash
Biography: Ben lives in Kansas, plays bass in a prog-metal band and writes about metal for this site. That just about sums it up for him.
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Name: Sam Finer
Position: Writer
E-mail: Sam [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 23
Location: New York, New York, United States
Favorite Sub-genres: Doom, drone, stoner, sludge, black, death, grind, avant-garde/experimental, d-beat
Biography: Although my first exposure to the world of metal came with grooving along to the titans of Woodstock ’99 and buying a Korn CD in my local mini-mall’s Sam Goody (shut up I was twelve), I quickly learned the error of my ways after purchasing Black Sabbath‘s Paranoid a few years later. Ever since I first heard the opening chord of “War Pigs,” my life has been defined by a neverending hunt for the heaviest of riffs and the crunchiest of guitar tones. I occupy my spare time with collecting vinyl, gaming (in both video and tabletop flavor), and noodling on the bass, but I haven’t been able to do those things much ever since Jon locked me down here in this deep dark place. He said he’ll let me out if I behave, but it’s been months and I’ve done everything he’s asked me to. I just want to see the sun again.
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Name: Facundo Rodrigo Campos
Position: Writer
E-mail: Facundo [AT] metalblast.net
Age: 26
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Favorite Sub-genres: NWOBHM, thrash, Gothenburg death, 80′s, Nu, & 50′s pop music
Biography: I remember staying up past my bedtime when I was a kid, I had been flipping through radio stations aimlessly until my finger just stopped on Q107. I was instantly hooked by the drums, guitar and sheer heavyness of the song. I really didn’t know what music could be that heavy. Ever since then I’ve been hooked and attended shows in the seediest of dives to the most expensive arenas, met my share of rock stars, even won a few awesome pieces of memorabilia. But I’ll never forget the time an 8 year old me thrashed out on my bed at 2am to “Master of Puppets”.
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Name: Jovan Ristic
Position: Writer
Age: 24
Location: Pirot, Serbia
Favorite Sub-genres: Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Modern Metal, basically anything melodic.
Biography: Born and raised in the small town of Pirot, Serbia, he’s a passionate Metal and Science Fiction (read: Star Wars) fan. Some of his favorite bands include Avantasia, Faith No More, Gamma Ray and Volbeat, with Helloween being his all time favorite (although he claims he loves ALL metal and does not discriminate against any sub-genre). Jovan lives in Serbia, where he studied English Language and Literature at the University of Novi Sad.
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We are always looking for talented people to join our expert staff. If you believe you have a good command of the written English language, can keep up with our strict schedule, and love heavy metal, then you can contact Jon to ask how to apply for a writing position.
