Napalm Records

Gloryhammer – Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex Review

By sentynel on June 3, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Napalm Records, Power Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, 134 comments

“If you missed the tongue-bathing AMG gave their last album, Gloryhammer are one of the best active Rhapsody-style epic power metal bands, and also a loving, self-aware parody of same. They’re founded first on quality and second on overly-amped up tropes—D-tier speculative fiction plot, non-native English speaker lyrics, etc.—to the precise point where they become obviously funny. It’s not so overdone that it becomes tiresome, and it works because of the attention to detail and cohesiveness of the whole: take a couple of elements away and you might wonder whether they were actually serious all along.” Get hammered.

Candlemass – The Door to Doom Review

By Steel Druhm on February 21, 2019 in 2019, Doom Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Doom Metal, 102 comments

“It’s interesting to watch things come full circle with Candlemass. Having helped reboot doom metal in the 80s with their excellent Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, the band launched a career spanning several decades. While their output varied in quality over the years, they are rightfully considered a legendary doom band. 2012s Psalms for the Dead was supposed to be their swan song, and founder Leif Edling has since kept busy with his Avatarium and Krux projects. The urge to reform his original band proved too great however, and for this reunion Leif even managed to dig up original vocalist Johan Langquist, who hasn’t done anything since Epicus Doomicus.” Doom at your door.

Corrective Measures: Angry Metal Guy’s Stack o’ Shame Edition

By Angry Metal Guy on July 6, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Blood Music, Death Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Industrial Metal, Italian Metal, Kscope, Melodic Death Metal, Napalm Records, Neo-Classical Metal, Norwegian Metal, Progressive Rock, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, chiptunes, 86 comments

“Like with video games or books, one’s “Stack o’ Shame” is the stuff one intends to do but has not been able to do for one reason or another. These reviews are all too late to write full 600-800 word reviews for. On the other hand, I am going to be way too busy this winter to be able to handle writing a bunch of TYMHM. So, I am invoking my right to rule through this (hopefully one-off) post that rounds up some stuff that I fully intended to review and didn’t. So by ways of an apology to both you, the readers, and the albums in my Stack o’ Shame, I bring you some angry, metal blurbs. Mea culpa.” Sometimes sorry is enough.

Kamelot – The Shadow Theory Review

By Steel Druhm on April 5, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Napalm Records, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 150 comments

“There aren’t many bands as steeped in class and refinement as Kamelot. Since their earliest days their take on melodic power metal has been swanky and upper-crust,, and its only grown more polished over the years, adopting neo-classical influences and pompous orchestration. The Shadow Theory marks the band’s third release with Tommy Karevik behind the mic, and things are as elegantly highfalutin as ever, often at the expense of the heavy and the metal components of their sound.” Fancy boys making noise.

Heidevolk – Vuur van Verzet Review

By Dr. Wvrm on January 23, 2018 in 2018, Dutch Metal, Folk Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Viking Metal, Folk Metal, Viking Metal, 59 comments

“I’m a bit of a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to folk. I occupied the Ensiferum / Finntroll bandwagon for a decade, but the Viking folk of Heidevolk came to me as a recent and pleasant surprise. They are not Bathory, not Korpiklaani, not Týr or Vintersorg, but the Dutchmen blend the aesthetics and strengths of each into one cohesive package.” Go folk yourself.

Audrey Horne – Blackout Review

By Steel Druhm on January 15, 2018 in 2018, Hard Rock, Napalm Records, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Hard Rock, 50 comments

“Before there was The Night Flight Orchestra, there was Audrey Horne. They were the first extreme metal collective to rediscover and mercilessly plunder the sacred crypts of 70s and 80s radio rock, leaving naught behind for subsequent tomb raiders but Frank Stallone 8-tracks and broken pieces of Toto and Billy Joel imports. Those purloined rock relics helped fuel album after album of irresistibly rowdy music, establishing these sticky fingered Norwegians as the best hard rock band America never produced.” Who rocks in a pineapple under the sea?

Summoning – With Doom We Come Review

By Eldritch Elitist on January 5, 2018 in 2018, Austrian Metal, Black Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 103 comments

“If I were tasked with appointing one artist as head of a guild of Tolkien-inspired musicians, Summoning would be my number one pick with a bullet. That’s not just because Protector and Silenius have been churning out reliably high quality material for over two decades. As an act that pays tribute to a man who created a fantasy realm so intricately as to craft entirely new languages for it, Summoning has always been similarly ambitious, spawning a musical language as beautiful as it is unique, as if it were forged from cultures that couldn’t possibly exist in our own realm.” Ring in the new year!

Stälker – Shadow of the Sword Review

By Huck N Roll on November 29, 2017 in 2017, Napalm Records, New Zealand Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 82 comments

“Last year in our EP edition of TYMHM, I waxed eloquent about a great little proto-thrash demo from some Wellington, NZ upstarts, Stälker. Their Satanic Panic cassette was such a nasty bit of early speed metal that it garnered the attention of Napalm Records, and this power trio was set to record their full-length debut this year. Enter Shadow of the Sword.” Only a big sword casts a shadow you can enter.

Moonspell – 1755 Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on November 9, 2017 in 2017, Gothic Metal, Napalm Records, Portuguese Metal, Reviews, Gothic Metal, 60 comments

“Remember that first time you listened to Moonspell’s Wolfheart or Irreligious? If you’re like me—or half of the other writers here at AMG—that was a hella long time ago. And, after over twenty years, those fucking albums still beckon me. Sure, tag me as a seeker of nostalgia, mark me as a purveyor of the past, label me as a connoisseur of memories. But, like it is with many classic records that have taken hold of me, it’s not just the quality of the music that planted the seed. No, it’s also the when, the where, and the what-happened that occurred the first time I listened to these albums.” History, memory, Moonspell.

Serenity – Lionheart Review

By Angry Metal Guy on October 26, 2017 in 2017, Austrian Metal, Napalm Records, Power Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, 97 comments

“Serenity is an Austrian symphonic power metal band that has met my standards with 2016’s Codex Atlanticus. That record was solid, yes, but I was surprised by the band’s newest record landing in my inbox a year after its release. More concerning than surprising, however, is that the record is a concept album about Richard the Lion-Hearted. A solid record a year later is an ask for most bands, but do-able. A solid concept album in the same time is simply a reach. So, is Serenity’s Lionheart a good album? And, more importantly, is it a good concept album?” Lions, hearts and crusades, oh my!