Jean-Luc Ricard

Rex Shachath – Revocation of the Blood Elect EP Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on December 1, 2015 in 2015, Death Metal, Great Dane Records, Reviews, Death Metal, 8 comments

“I like my death metal like the Swedes like their herrings: putrefied to the point of being potentially hazardous to consumers. Come to think of it, that’s also how the Swedes like their death metal. No wonder I’ve been enjoying the waves of throwback Swedeath that have splashed across my eardrums with remarkable frequency since Bloodbath’s debut re-popularized the Stockholm sound over ten years ago. But even the pungent flavor of semi-rotten fish becomes bland and unsatisfying when consumed in bulk, and so it is with retro death metal.” When is too much really too much?

Beaten to Death – Unplugged Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on October 30, 2015 in 2015, Grind, Mas-Kina Recordings, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, 37 comments

“Beaten to Death: standard grindcore band name, anything but a standard grindcore band. Featuring ex-She Said Destroy vocalist Anders Bakke, ex-The Cumshots guitarist Tommy Hjelm, and Tsjuder drummer Christian “Bartender” (aka AntiChristian aka Jorn’s drummer since 2014, so you know he’s epic), Beaten to Death formed in 2010 and wasted no time putting out their first record Xes and Strokes just a year later. I missed this at the time because I am a tool, but fortunately Angry Metal Guy (or rather Jordan Campbell) was on hand to enlighten me come 2013 and the release of the band’s sophomore Dødsfest!” Relax, this isn’t really unplugged.

Bastard Grave – What Lies Beyond Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on October 27, 2015 in 2015, Death Metal, Pulverised Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, 25 comments

“I presume most of you guessed Bastard Grave’s chosen genre without listening to a second of their music, but in case you’re an extreme metal newbie (welcome! Take a seat, have some cake! Don’t mind the skulls, they’re not real. Probably), this extract from their promo sheet will give you a hint: “With the opening blare on the album starting off with the all-too-familiar guitar feedback reminiscent of a vague Entombed-ish trademark, it is easy to tell What Lies Beyond is heavily laced with the murderous HM-2 destruction and with absolutely no mercy.” That’s right, old school Swedish death metal that’s so devoid of new ideas, even the label thinks it’s generic!” Let’s get rote to the point, shall we?

Pseudo/Sentai – Bansheeface Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on October 13, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Unsigned Bands, Non-metal Metal Things, Progressive Rock, 42 comments

“I’m a bit wary of reviewing prog records because I don’t want to end up sitting through eighty minutes of decadent aural onanism from tedious Dream Theatre wannabes (I would rather listen to eighty minutes of “Wannabe”). But done well prog provides musical nourishment rarely offered by other genres, and having spent a large portion of the year listening to grindcore, I was ready to take a risk with Pseudo/Sentai.” Jean-Luc is a risk taker and that can be risky.

Shrines – Shrines Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on September 30, 2015 in 2015, Apocalyptic Witchcraft, Black Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 17 comments

“As Voices guitarist Sam Loynes says “yes to anything that comes [his] way, metal or otherwise,” his growing list of projects are quite numerous. Shrines (formerly Diminished Fifth) is the third of Sam’s bands I’ve reviewed, and one I’ve been very much looking forward to listening to.” The Voices and Voices related love continues unabated.

Leaves’ Eyes – King of Kings Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on September 22, 2015 in 2015, AFM Records, Folk Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, Folk Metal, Gothic Metal, Symphonic Metal, 50 comments

“Once a writer has reviewed a band, it’s standard practice for them to review any subsequent records that band releases. Unless, of course, AMG wrote the original review and is too busy masturbating over old Iron Maiden records to critique new music. As you will have noticed, this scenario arose just the other week, and that’s why it’s fallen to me to review Leaves’ Eyes’ latest platter.” We have a system and you’re gonna use it!

Pyramids on Mars – Echo Cosmic Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on September 16, 2015 in 2015, Canadian Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Progressive Metal, 25 comments

“Sometimes I’ll pick a band from the promo list just because they have an interesting name. So it was with Pyramids on Mars, who I dearly hoped were a bunch of Richard C. Hoagland inspired conspiracists writing metal for martians.” Here at AMG we’ve brought you the scoop on goblin metal and troll metal. Why not add martian metal to the list.

Enabler – Fail to Feel Safe Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on August 14, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Century Media, Hardcore, Metalcore, Reviews, Hardcore, Metalcore, 29 comments

“Last year Enabler put out one hell of a record in La Fin Absolue du Monde. I didn’t score it, as we don’t do that for our Things You Might Have Missed features, but you can tell how much I loved it by its presence at the top of my Top Ten end-of-year list, above even Voices’ wonderful London. Looking back I might swap them around, but no matter; it’s a killer album, so when Madam X received the promo for Enabler’s latest opus she kindly sent it in my direction. I was, naturally, throbbing with anticipation.” Sometimes life can rob your throb.

The Antichrist Imperium – The Antichrist Imperium Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on July 30, 2015 in 2015, Black Metal, Death Metal, English Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 11 comments

“The past couple of years have been good to Akercocke fans. Though that entity is sadly dead and buried, the magnificent Voices emerged from its grave, releasing an excellent debut in 2013 as well as last year’s near-masterpiece London. But Voices wasn’t the only thing to slither from Akercocke’s rotten cadaver….” That’s one potent carcass!

Organ Dealer – Visceral Infection Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on July 21, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Death Metal, Grind, HPGD Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 8 comments

“Feed the silage of Napalm Death, Rotten Sound and Cephalic Carnage (the grindier bits) to the cow of creativity, and Cattle Decapitation will likely have something to say about your heinous animal cruelty. But survive their wrath, and one to three days later this noble beast will reward your sadism by passing quite the musical meadow muffin.” Poo goes there?