JF Williams

High Spirits – You Are Here Review

By JF Williams on May 9, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Heavy Metal, Hells Headbangers Records, Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 4 comments

“Running searches on the vast database that is the Metal Archives can be a fascinating – and sometimes hilarious – way of looking at the genre at a whole. For example, filtering for “lyrical themes”, unsurprisingly, finds that “nihilism” and “national socialism” trump out “rock”, “rocking” and “fun” in the heavy metal thematic lexicon. We sure are a cynical bunch, aren’t we? I’d like to think that Chicago-based traditional metal champion Chris Black (fellow music journalist and leader of a number of lauded traditional heavy metal groups such as Dawnbringer and Pharaoh, both of which I’ve unfortunately managed to neglect) himself went on a sojourn into these nether reaches of the Archives and decided that enough was enough. Black clearly has no time for modern metal cynicism, and his one-man throwback project High Spirits, with lyrical themes tagged in the Archives with “rocking” and “being in high spirits,” is about as light-hearted and easily palatable as modern metal gets.” Chris Black continues to be the new black in the world of throwback metal.

Neige Morte – Bicephaale Review

By JF Williams on April 5, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, ConSouling Sounds, French Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 1 comment

“One of my dearest friends is also my musical antithesis. As much as I can’t understand his love of power metal and Devin Townsend’s Ziltoid record, he cannot fathom how I can unironically enjoy something like Sunn O))) or Revenge. To him, a lot of the wonkier stuff I listen to comes off as noisy hackery, or glorified refrigerator hum. I’ll admit, making pure dissonance your primary compositional tool is a slippery slope in extreme metal. But, when done right, it leads the likes of Portal, Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate and Gorguts (among many others, obviously) into creating some truly moving stuff in spite of their opaqueness. How, exactly, someone could not be immediately enthralled by the first five seconds of Obscura or Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice is a place I don’t want to go mentally. That being said, it’s times when I listen to an album like Neige Morte’s sophomore release Bicephaale that I find myself siding right with my naysaying buddy.” JF Williams dons his naysayer hat for his review of these French black metal warrior’s latest.

Forteresse/Chasse-Galerie/Monarque/Csejthe – Légendes Review

By JF Williams on March 25, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Reviews, Sepulchral Productions, Black Metal, 5 comments

“The French-Canadian province of Quebec has a rich black metal scene, and Canadian black metal label Sepulchral Productions has strung together a real gem in the form of Légendes, a four-way split EP of proud Québécois darkness. In keeping with each group’s dedication to Québécois cultural and national identity, the split unites some of the scene’s more well-known groups – Forteresse, Chasse-Galerie, Monarque and Csejthe – to explore Quebec’s folklore.” Ready for a rare four-way split of French-Canadian blackness? Wendigos unite!

Twilight – III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb

By JF Williams on March 14, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Black Metal, Century Media, Reviews, Black Metal, 4 comments

“It’s easy to be skeptical of the US black metal super-group Twilight. Perhaps the only one of its kind, this ever-changing collective has included key players from Leviathan, Draugar, Xasthur, Nachtmystium, Krieg, Isis, The Atlas Moth, Minsk, and, as of this year, Sonic Youth. As one might imagine, the results have been polarizing among listeners, and with their third (and final) release III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb, Twilight has elected to go all out with a fantastically idiosyncratic record.” J.F. Williams is throwing around terms like perversely groovy and bizarre and disjointed. Does this spark your interest? Read on!

Profezia – Oracolo Suicida Review

By JF Williams on February 26, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Italian Metal, Moribund Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 0 comments

“It’s 2014, and bog standard black metal is alive and well! The Italian group Profezia (“masters of high drama”, if the promo hype is to be believed) play a kind of Burzum-esque minimalist black metal. Oracolo Suicida is their third full-length originally released late last year, but is now seeing release in the states through the grimmest of long-running black metal labels, Moribund Records. I probably don’t need to tell you that Profezia lives up to its promise of offering cold, grim black metal done in the old way, and for many, that will be good enough. But for those looking for a little more than “Old English font” black metal, a litany of concerns arise for Oracolo Suicida.” Please observe silence as JF williams begins the reading of the litany.

The Wounded Kings – Consolamentum Review

By JF Williams on February 16, 2014 in 2014, Candlelight, Doom Metal, English Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 3 comments

“Supreme overlord and beloved Great Leader Angry Metal Guy recently suggested that we don’t lead into our reviews talking about genre, in the interest of avoiding redundancy. Moreover, I’d imagine that the average AMG listener doesn’t really need a lesson on thrash metal 101, right? That’s because, in many cases, it does a disservice to band’s artistic uniqueness – isn’t it better to discuss the band, rather than its relationship to the genre it would appear to work within? I wish I could say that was possible with The Wounded Kings, but this Dartmoor-based five piece do little if not play to a genre, which is that of Sabbath-ian Electric Wizard worship.” Now that we pigeonholed everything, JF Williams discusses the merits of the music itself.

Omnivore – Omnivore Review

By JF Williams on January 22, 2014 in 2014, Italian Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 2 comments

“Reductivity is hard to resist when reviewing a band like the Italian death/thrash 4-piece Omnivore. If I were lazier, my review of their self-titled debut would be comprised entirely of Youtube links to various songs by Sadus, Kreator, Demolition Hammer and early Sepultura. I’d be a jerk, but accurate nonetheless.” JF Williams is a jerk, but he’s our jerk, so it’s okay. BTW, here’s more re-thrash.

Gnaw Their Tongues and Alkerdeel – Dyodyo Asema Review

By JF Williams on January 12, 2014 in 2014, Avante Garde, Belgian Metal, ConSouling Sounds, Dutch Metal, Reviews, 4 comments

“Extreme metal is a brutish, ugly and wholly negative style of musical expression almost by default, but Dyodyo Asema – a collaboration piece between Gnaw Their Tongues and Alkerdeel – resides squarely in the filthiest fringes of the genre.” Brutish, ugly and wholly negative is our stock-in-trade, but even we think this stuff is way out there. JF Williams got dirty on this one so we could stay (relatively) clean.

Things You Might Have Missed 2013: Paysage d’Hiver – Das Tor

By JF Williams on December 18, 2013 in Black Metal, Swiss Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2013, Black Metal, 2 comments

“Christmas sure came early this year! Swiss ambient black metal enigma Wintherr is back in black (and white and gray) with his 10th (!) full-length demo release Das Tor under the Paysage d’Hiver moniker, and it greets you like a hug from an old friend. For those already familiar with Wintherr’s aesthetic approach of making frigid black metal that was likely recorded with an 8-track in the middle of a blizzard, you can stop reading here and fire up the cassette deck, because Das Tor makes no changes to the sound Wintherr has perfected over the last 15 years. All you need to know, dear reader, is that it slays and deserves all 80 minutes of your attention.” We haven’t highlighted much low-fi, primitive black metal lately, but JF Williams thinks this is worth the press. The cover is pretty damn cool too.

Things You Might Have Missed 2013: Bolzer – Aura

By JF Williams on December 11, 2013 in Black Metal, Death Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Swiss Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2013, Black Metal, Death Metal, 4 comments

“This year produced a great deal of excellent EP releases, but the Swiss duo Bölzer’s mini-LP Aura managed not only to be the best of the bunch, but also beat out most full-lengths with three tracks and 23 minutes of some truly next-level occult black/death metal. The record features perhaps one of the best riffs of 2013 in “Entranced by the Wolfshook,” which marries a Blut Aus Nord-ian guitar tone with pseudo-Wagnerian orchestral synths and an absolutely bangin’ main riff that you can’t help but meet with a shit-eating grin and grimace. Seriously – it’s the kind of metal-as-all-hell lick that an appreciation of which should serve as a litmus test to expose the false amongst our ranks.” JF Williams draws your attention to an EP you might have missed which may or may not feature the Riff of the Year! I like riffs. Do you?