This week's Pitchfork feature is on Norwegian music: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/05-10-10-big-outside-of-norway.shtml
First off: "nobody is writing about metal in any critical way." That is complete and utter bullshit. Pfork might ignore all things heavy, but there are certainly TONS of great writers out there covering the scene. I've pared down my metal coverage because there's so many others doing it far better. But, Nick Sylvester does namedrop some decent acts even if he reviles some good ones in the process. Oh-well, so it goes - you can't have it all I suppose.