Angry Metal Guy

Lacuna Coil // Dark Adrenaline
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Banal.
Label: Century Media
Websites: lacunacoil.it | facebook.com/lacunacoil | myspace.com/lacunacoil
Release Dates: US: 01.24.2012 | EU: 2012.01.25

Lacuna Coil is a band that I used to like pretty well. I’ve seen them live a few times and I thought they put on pretty good shows and I have a lot of respect for them as a hardworking touring band. Musically, though, I think they’ve been pretty hit and miss. While I enjoy In A Reverie, Unleashed Memories and liked a few songs off of Comalies, their modern sound has developed into something that is really quite derivative of the American nü metal trend—and specifically their last record Shallow Life was produced in a way that sounded exactly like Linkin Park and was entirely unlistenable to these ears. So I have to say that it was with consternation that I elected to start listening to this album in the first place.  Continue reading

Opera IX  //  Strix Maledictae in Aeternum
Rating: 1.5/5.0 – Not completely shitty… but close.
Label: Agonia Records
Websites:  operaIX.it | myspace.com/officialoperaix | facebook.com/OfficialoperaIX
Release Dates: EU: 2012.01.24 | US: 02.28.2012

To say that Italian symphonic black metallers Opera IX have been keeping a low profile would be an understatement. The last time I even heard their name mentioned was back in the days of Napster and the Y2K virus. At the time, their mix of black metal with gothic imagery and female vocals was pretty rare in the scene [Yeah, if you had never heard of Cradle of Filth, I guess. - AMG], and it seemed like the band was poised to do great things. Now, they have returned in 2012 with Strix Maledictae in Aeternum, their first album in 7 long years. Continue reading

Some records are so monumental that you need more than one opinion on them, particularly if those records have created this kind of feedback. In this case, we will be reviewing Morbid Angel‘s newest record. This is monumental, there is no other way to put it.

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Insense // Burn in Beautiful Fire
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Quoth the Raven, ‘No more core!!’
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: myspace.com/insense
Release Dates: EU: 2011.04.08 US: 04.08.2011 [Digitally]

Reviewing albums like this is how I pay my debt for getting the Amon Amarth review. My inbox will become a wasteland of the very worst metalcore, deathcore, screamocore and whatever soulless rubbish Angry Metal Guy can hurl at me in an Oden-like rage (thank God I didn’t ask for the upcoming Amorphis review). As part of my community service, I’m here to enlighten you about Norway’s Insense and their fourth album Burn in Beautiful Fire. If you never heard of them, these guys play third-rate metalcore with all the emo/screamo pap that goes along with that craptastic style. Their bio says Anders Fridén of In Flames thinks they’re the next big thing to hit the scene. Well, if this is what Anders thinks is good music, that explains why In Flames has sucked so thoroughly since Colony. All apologies and respect to Mr. Fridén but even by metalcore standards this is super shitty and irritating. It’s boring,  annoyingly unoriginal and painfully below average in every aspect. I even hate the freaking album cover. Continue reading

The Haunted // Unseen
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Best left unheard too
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: www.the-haunted.com | myspace.com/thehaunted
Release Dates:  EU: 21.03.2011 | US: 03.22.2011

I’m sure most know the history of The Haunted and how they formed from the ashes of the legendary At The Gates. Despite my love for At The Gates, I never fully understood the stellar press and support The Haunted received and always felt they were one of the most overrated bands on the planet. Eventually they started to drift toward a more metalcore style and I lost the limited interest I had in them. Now they’re back with album seven Unseen and they’ve left their thrash days in the dust, probably for good. Instead, they deliver a strange, directionless mess of experimentation, emo angst, nu-metal and alt-rock. It’s clear they’re writing only for themselves and could care less what their fans expect or hope for at this point. While that’s admirable from an artistic perspective, when the results are this tedious and uninspiring, it’s both tragic and cringe-inducing. No matter how brave and creative they want to be, at the end of the day they should still be striving to write good music and they seem to have forgotten that here. Continue reading

Rabbits // Lower Forms
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Irritatingus Maxiumus
Label: Relapse
Websites: rabbitusmaxiums.com | myspace.com/rabbitusmaximus
Release Dates: EU: 14.02.2011 | US: 02.15.2011

OK. So. Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a huge fan of anything Rabbits is defined as. I don’t really like hardcore and haven’t liked it since I was in high school. And even then I only flirted with the genre and never really got into it. Second, I listen to a lot of music. I get new music every day and I hear new shit all the time. I try to be pretty open minded, but sometimes I just don’t like shit. And I really, really, really don’t like Rabbits – Lower Forms. I’m sure these guys are OK with that, though, because that’s the point of being counter cultural. Continue reading

Lazarus A.D. // Black Rivers Flow
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Somebody shit in the river
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: lazarusad.com | myspace.com/lazarus1
Release Dates: EU: 01.28.2011 | US: 02.01.2011

There are plenty of myths that sane folks know to be false like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and honest politicians. However, one should never count the sophomore slump among those fairy tales and urban legends, for it is very real and very painful to behold. Exhibit A for 2011 is Lazarus A.D. who had a decent if not remarkable debut with 2009′s The Onslaught. Many seemed to lump them in with the retro-thrash revival and while there was some Exodus aping to be sure, they always sounded more metalcore-ish to my ears. Although I hate metalcore like I hate taxes, there was enough aggression, energy and nods to the old school throughout The Onslaught to make it semi-palatable and I didn’t totally hate it. Well, there is simply no digesting their second platter Black Rivers Flow, as Lazarus A.D. have firmly embraced their inner mall kid and all things Shadow’s Fall and the result is a veritable black river of crappy, overused grooves, tough guy posturing and general mediocrity. Continue reading

Shadows’ Grey // Bonjour Tristesse
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — If you love the Twilight series, you’ll love this!
Label: Twilight-Vertrieb
Websites: myspace.com/shadowsgreyband
Release Dates: EU: 21.01.2011 | US: 01.21.2011 (digitally)

You know, if you read this blog all the time you’d probably be getting the impression that I hate female fronted bands who are doing sort of the gothy thing. But that’s not true. It’s actually something I really enjoy when it’s done right! I have no issues with gothic metal, I don’t find the sort of dramatic, over-the-top stuff to be a turn off really. It just needs to be done well, something that it is serially not. And there are varying levels of ‘not done well,’ but let’s say that Shadows’ Grey—the German band formerly known as Scargod who had one EP in 2007—is one degree of the idea. Continue reading

Sirenia // The Enigma of Life
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — The Banality of This Album
Label: Nuclear Blast [EU | US]
Websites: mortenveland.com/sirenia | myspace.com/sirenia
Release Dates: EU: 21.01.2011 | US: 02.15.2011

So, I must admit, I was excited to hear this new Sirenia record. For whatever reason I’d not spent much time getting to know the band of former Tristania founding member Morten Veland and I guess I figured that Sirenia had to be pretty good ’cause, well, I’m willing to give people who have done cool shit the benefit of the doubt. Of course, it’s been a decade since the band formed and I’ve never had the kind of intrinsic motivation to actually go out there and try to learn the about the band—and after listening to The Enigma of Life I’m pretty damn glad I never wasted my damn time [see the final note, however — AMG]. Continue reading

Architects // The Here and Now
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Someone might have liked this record in 2002
Label: Century Media
Websites: myspace.com/architectsuk
Release Dates: EU: 21.01.2010 | US: 02.01.2010

I know very little about J Pop. It’s quite popular among Swedish alternative kids (though, I might be behind since it seems like everyone’s all obsessed with South Korea now?) and I know that I can’t hear what they’re singing about (and that it makes me feel happy). But what I’ve heard is that in Japan there’s a new trend every quarter and that when that trend is done, the pop stars are done. They have a shelf-life of three months. No one takes them seriously and not a single person in the entire country would take them seriously as “artists” because, well, they’re not. They’re pop stars—engineered to sell music for kids obsessed with trends. Metal has trends—and really, people, it does—metalcore in the early 2000s was the coolest thing EVER and a bunch of bands who were all doing exactly the same thing got signed. But, of course, established labels are slow on the pick up of trends and so 4 years after the trend really started getting hot and relevant Century Media and Metal Blade started having bidding wars over metalcore bands. The year is 2011 and they’re stuck with these bands. And I can’t think of anyone who isn’t super fucking sick of this sound. But I sure as hell am. This sound had a shelf life of about.. oh, I dunno, 3 months. And it should’ve stayed there.

So, there you have it guys from the band, you probably should just skip reading the rest of this review.

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