Things You MIght Have Missed 2017

Vulture Industries – Stranger Times [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Vulture Industries – Stranger Times [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“Borrowing from the likes of Arcturus, Vulture Industries likes the melodic and the avant-garde. The result is that Stranger Times, like the rest of the band’s material, is chill, moody, and accessible. It’s simple grooves and smooth vocals bring a smile to the face of the most-hopeless insomniacs and a smirk to the loneliest of night dwellers. It’s for late night drives home and for midnight walks through frozen city parks. In essence, it’s music for the pre-dawn street sweepers. It’s peace in peace-less times and it’s an escape when you need it the most.” Escape to Vulture Mountain.

Me and That Man – Songs of Love and Death [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Me and That Man – Songs of Love and Death [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

It always struck me as curious, that Nergal didn’t branch out with any other such notable side-projects. 2016 came and went, and with it Nergal’s single-minded dedication to Behemoth. But in 2017, his Me and That Man project saw fit to release Songs of Love and Death.” A very special episode of Nergal and the Man.

Ancestral – Master of Fate [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Ancestral – Master of Fate [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“A couple of years ago, I did a favor for Underground Symphony Records, and they retaliated by sending me a package of OOP and/or hard to find old power metal CDs — much to my delight. Amongst those CDs was the 2007 debut of Sicily’s Ancestral, a work of rough-edged, chaotic, yet surprisingly aggressive and adept power metal. Skip ahead a handful of months, and the band was announcing its upcoming sophomore release on Facebook after a wait of nearly a full decade.” Italian treats minus the dairy.

Blaze Bayley – Endure and Survive [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Blaze Bayley – Endure and Survive [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“The true wisdom of age is learning when not to give a fuck anymore and just doing what works. Endure and Survive—which marks Bayley’s 8th solo album since 2000 and is a description of what he’s been doing all this time—is one more piece of Bayley’s gritty dedication to just playing heavy fucking metal.” He has the SPACE…madness!

Palantír – Lost Between Dimensions [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Palantír – Lost Between Dimensions [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“Stormspell Records has rocketed to the top of my list of favorite labels this year, with a case of such enjoyable and varied heavy/power metal pyrotechnics as Blazon Stone, Grimgotts, Númenor, Ancient Empire, Nocturnal Alliance, Raging Fate, Dream Tröll, and perhaps my favorite of the lot, the subject of this review: Sweden’s Palantír.” Gaze into the orb, and you’ll find AMG gazing back.

Redemptor – Arthaneum [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Redemptor – Arthaneum [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“By technical death metal standards, Arthaneum is an odd but compelling beast that stands-out by operating outside the box, while holding all the trademarks avid listeners of the style have come to expect. The intricate and complex musicianship impresses in all departments, but there’s a more measured, controlled approach, rather than purely focusing on unrelenting barrages of speed and cramming as many notes and ideas into each song as humanly possible.” There’s no place like tech-death for the holidays.

Pillorian – Obsidian Arc [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Pillorian – Obsidian Arc [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“There is a river in us all. It flows a unique spirit through our veins, the life blood of individuality. It gives our identities health and life, and drowns the rest of the world. We float along our own rivers of inspiration, each current of catharsis unique to its respective sojourner yet universally binding us in our need to follow these fjords on a slow course to oblivion, until there is nothing left of us here. Dark is the River ov Muppet, not unlike the waves of Black Lake Ni∂stång which carried me through the falling snow of Maine’s dead winter days for years. What I’m trying to say is that I really, really miss Agalloch.” Join the club, bub.