It is, as you all know, difficult to keep up with the number of unsigned bands that we get music from. But, usually as a matter of luck, I occasionally decide that I have time to check something out (or I’m just avoiding my work). Fortunately, I followed the link to a Bandcamp (that’s usually a thing that gets me to click unsigned bands) for some itsy-bitsy, teeny, teeny, teeny-tiny Swedish metalcore-influenced prog-metallers Ennead who are writing music better than a lot of signed acts that I get these days when they can’t even grow facial hair. Sometimes I follow links and am unimpressed and turn the shit off, saving the band face. In this case, however, Ennead snuck up on me and surprised—and impressed—the hell out of me.

Of the EP’s 27 minutes, the first 6 minutes made me a bit nervous. Starting with an “Overture,” which set the tone pretty well, the EP opens up with “Frozen Eyes.” This track starts off with a sort of modern In Flames feel to it, chuggy and melodic, before dropping into a half time chunky riff. Jumping into the verse, vocalist Tim Stridh was singing a bit, but I was a bit turned off by guitarist and backup vocalist Andreas’ sort of Anders Fridén approach to the sort of screamy whiny thing to offset the melodic parts. The track reminded me of Avenged Sevenfold or Unearth in its delivery—vocally and musically—but the chorus caught me and the downtempo bridge enchanted me with its vocal harmonies, before smoothly building up to an intense (and entertaining) breakdown and final crescendo. While a little cookie cutter and uncomfortable at times, the ending “Frozen Eyes,” did enough to keep me listening to get to the real meat of the record.

The next 21 minutes, made up of tracks “Death by Drought,” “Mourningstar” and “Successor,” show off a wide variety of feels and style influences that help the band keep things fresh and to break out beyond the barely better than cliché opening track. “Death by Drought,” shows off the chunky modern metal vibes and mixes them with Opethy 6/8 swing and Tool or Soenesque vocal melodies and bass driven groove. “Mourningstar,” starts out with clean guitars and some beautiful melodies that are melancholy but simultaneously catchy, before launching into swelling pre-chorus and a djentesque, lurching chorus that half-steps back down to the verse. While this track also ends up with vocalist Stridh (or is it Pistolelis screaming?) doing his best New England hardcore talky impression, the track is largely driven by the clean vocal performance, which is brilliant. The final track, “Successor,” starts out with Amon Amarth style pummeling and trem-picked melodies before jumping into a gang-chanting, hardcore verse. But again, Ennead distinguishes itself with the chorus melodies and the Arabic influenced licks run on a clean guitar underneath the thick, chunky riffs. And while the song continues to build in intensity, the band launches into some heavily groovy material and once again ending on a melodic crescendo before fading out with piano—like Frozen Eyes began.

What these guys do best, in my opinion, is fuse their influences into epic soundscapes. Their songs twist and turn, often having surprising melodic ideas and amazing zeniths. These moments are enchanting and addicting and keep the listener coming back. It’s impressive how the band, while not as technically able as Eminent or Riverside (it’ll come), writes intellectually stimulating music that blends all of these styles as diverse as Arabic music influences and Korn-like 90s chug into a cohesive and impressive whole. All of the musicians playing on this EP are eminently talented. With the rhythm section showing off their flare occasionally (particularly on “Death by Drought”) and the guitarists impressing with melodically interesting guitar solos and riffs. Frozen Eyes is a super promising EP from a super promising band. Drop the half-good, cookie cutter title track and this is one of the best 3 track demos I’ve ever heard. It’s free and it’s worth listening to and mentioning to your friends.

More Angry:

1. Torture Division – Through the Eyes of a Dead Review
2. Leaves’ Eyes – Njord Review
3. Soen – Cognitive Review
4. Through the Eyes of the Dead – Skepsis Review
5. Thulcandra – Under a Frozen Sun Review

In Happyland, kids and adults alike have to go through mandatory entertainment classes in funhouses and are taught to avoid anything serious and academic in nature like humans avoid AIDS on Earth. Most of our entertainment here is space-shuttled in from Earth and stolen from the bedrooms of human toddlers while they are sleeping, and our entire culture and societal order is based around it. I guess that’s why all of our teachers wear purple dinosaur costumes and we all didn’t know Dora the Explorer couldn’t really hear us through the television screen until we hit retirement age.

So, one of the most nostalgic forms of entertainment I had from my not-too-long-ago childhood was the art of performing yo-yo tricks, but while it was really fun, it was also the most frustrating form of entertainment I ever had as a Happyland kid. While playing with Power Ranger robot toys and Tamiya racing cars were no-brainers and easy peasy, trying to perform some advanced yo-yo tricks really got me spouting insanely vulgar words such as “stupid” and “idiot” (and earned me some rear spanking). In particular, the “Loop the loop” and “Shoot the moon” tricks were and still are difficult to perform to me, and whenever each of these two tricks goes wrong, you could easily get hit on either your chest or head.

Apart from giving me a pun-tastic excuse to come up with the above anecdote, Moonloop doesn’t just literally remind me of my yo-yo past, but sonically reminds me of the process over which one learns (or, in my case, tried/tries to learn) an advanced yo-yo trick: an experience filled with determination to grasp the mechanics at first, but which slowly dissolves into  a state of uncertainty as to what the whole idea behind it is anyway. Just like how I once happily swung the yo-yo up into the air for the millionth time, attempting “Shoot the moon” again, and got a forehead bruise in return which rattled my brain wonky and got me thinking how illogical it was for a spinning yo-yo to really try and punch through the rock-solid Moon at the speed of a kilometer or two per second, cruising through this sophomore full-length album from Spain’s nature-loving Moonloop is nothing short of a fun yet perplexing experience.

First impressions from the sophisticated-looking, post-modern-ish cover art made me think Moonloop was just going to be another djent or melodic death metal band, but what the heck! I certainly did not see that progressive death metal thing coming. It’s as technical as it is progressive as well, somewhat giving the instrumentals an Obscura flavor to them, and just when you thought the vocals are going to be those gruff and boring-as-hell growls throughout, your cynical ears encounter frequent clean singing that is utilized alongside tranquil guitar strumming sections with light drumming (as heard in “Wailing Road” for example) and are forced to convey to your brain that… what? It reminds you of Damnation-era Opeth now? Daaaamn, that was the yo-yo bump on the forehead for me.

The constant shift between rough, modern-sounding death metal and peaceful, progressive rock moments fits Moonloop’s lyrical mysticism and cover art well, but it is slightly overdone in my book. Musical eclecticism fits bands who know how to have fun (like the lovably wacky Kontrust!) really well because eclecticism is generally at its very best when the subject has a few screws loose, but for sane people like Moonloop who obviously have important messages about preserving nature and loving Earth, even this minimal amount of musical eclecticism should be used with restrain in order to keep the imagery conjured in the listener’s head focused—and not blurry due to interference from additional attention being diverted away to be paid on the musical stylistic changes to and fro. For bands whose albums tend to have one philosophical-sounding, coherent theme in place, it is better to be as stylistically consistent as possible. That’s what I have learnt from listening to albums such as Opeth’s Damnation and Obscura’s Omnivium.

This isn’t a bad record, but it won’t be receiving extra spins in the Happy Stereo ever. One thing good that came out of it, though, was the desire to crack out the good ol’ yo-yo and give it a spin instead! Welp, time for me to loop the moon and shoot the loop! Err… I mean moon the loop and loop the shoot! Wait, err… I got this. It’s time to moon the shoot and loop the loop! Gargh, close enough.

No related posts.

Steel Assassin is a mighty obscure act by anyone’s reckoning. They were knocking around all throughout the 80s and 90s but could never get a proper album released. Then, quite out of the blue, they released War of the Eight Saints in 2007 and totally blew me away with their ballsy, aggressive take on American power metal and NWOBHM. It was one of the best albums of that year, but didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. It featured a sound mixing Helstar, Jag Panzer and Armored Saint with loads of Iron Maiden influence, and shunned the frilly, girlie trappings of Euro-power metal. After a long lay off, Steel Assassin comes back (again, seemingly out of the blue) with WWII: Metal of Honor, and in the process, borrows a page from Sabaton and hurls a war-themed album at us. It’s more balls-to-the-walls traditional metal in the same mode as War of the Eight Saints, with tons of testosterone, piss and vinegar. While it falls short of the grandeur of their last outing, this is a very good record with a few truly enormous songs.

Things get off to a monumental start with ”God Save London,” which treats the horrors of Germany’s bombing campaign of London with the proper amount of rage and sobriety. It’s a powerhouse number with huge vocals and a very doomy, dark chorus accompanied by air raid sirens. The riffing is very much of the Maiden school and the overall delivery is excellent. Even better is the flat-out stormer ”Blitzkrieg Demons,” which packs more punch than any four Sabaton songs. Thick, heavy riffing is joined by rough-hewn vocals and galloping bass lines Steve Harris would lovingly approve of. The chorus has nifty double-tracked vocals and things eventually speed up into a chaotic, near-Motorhead level of choppy, bass-rockin intensity. Keeping the high quality going, “The Iron Saint” brings more Maiden-esque riffing and gallop and a nicely hooky, melodic chorus. At around 3:30, it seems to end, but then goes into an extended soloing section which is quite well done and engaging. Other standouts include the slower grind of “Four Stars of Hell,” the uber dramatic, epic length “Normandy Angels” and the out-of-place but catchy Rush cover, ”Red Sector A.”

While things are fairly consistent, the first four songs are of such high quality, the rest of the album can’t match them, and there’s a drop off as things rumble along.  Songs like “The Wolfpack” and “Guadalcanal” are solid and enjoyable, but fall short of the high bar set early on. Of the bunch, only “Bastogne” drops down to average level due to the absence of a decent chorus (though the riffing is quiet good).

This is a very guitar-driven type of music and Kevin Curry and Mike Mooney bring the heat with a bunch of extra heavy versions of NWOBHM riffs. They also excel at those “pure metal” types of solos that make you stand up and raise the horns. Not to be outdone, Phil Grasso does his very best to be the American Steve Harris, and his bass gallops are all over this thing. John Falzone is the band’s secret weapon, with a big, powerful vocal style that walks the line between the rough edge of John Bush and the high-pitched theatrics of golden era Bruce Dickinson and Harry Conklin (Jag Panzer). He provides the war themed material with enough grit and toughness to make it believable, but can still get all dramatic and lofty too.

The production is sharp and brings the guitars and bass forward as the classic Maiden albums did. It’s great fun hearing the interplay between them, and it’s always nice to actually hear the bass on a metal album. The mix is a bit raw and ”anti modern,” which is wise choice, since an album filled with battle metal shouldn’t have a candy-coated, super polished sound.

Any fan of classic metal and bands like Pharaoh should definitely hunt this (and War of the Eight Saints) down. It has that vintage style, but packs enough modern power and heaviness to keep from sounding too retro. Sabaton better bring their big guns if they plan to match firepower with this thing. Now, strap on your helmets and hit the damn beach!

More Angry:

1. Assassin – Breaking the Silence Review
2. Pharaoh – Bury the Light Review
3. Primal Fear – Unbreakable Review
4. Arch/Matheos – Sympathetic Resonance Review
5. Argus – Boldly Stride the Doomed Review

Hey, Havok is back! I know everybody thinks we review far too much retro thrash (or was it Mexican murder ballads?), but Havok is at the top of the movement and excels at what they do. I loved their Time is Up opus and AMG himself approved of their Burn platter (and he’s no friend to retro thrash, let me tell you). They know their way around the classic Bay Area thrash sound pioneered by the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Exodus, and they bring enough youthful exuberance to make it feel authentic and sincere.  It doesn’t hurt that they can play the fuck out of their instruments either. To tide us over until their next full-length, they’ve seen fit to honor us with a short, four-song, semi-money grabby EP titled Point of No Return. It consists of a really shitty album cover, two new tracks, two remakes of thrash classics (Sepultura‘s “Arise” and Slayer‘s “Postmortem/Raining Blood”) and two live videos. While I think EPs have been largely relegated to the past by the new age of MP3s and streaming, and I can’t see running to the store for four songs, its fun, well done and a nice enough thrasppetizer.

Picking up where Time is Up left off, the title track is straight ahead, angry thrash just like they made in the good old days. It has a great sound reminiscent of old Death Angel and packs the appropriate amount of ass kicking attitude. The riffs are jagged and sharp and David Sanchez has some vicious rasps and screams. The solo work here is restrained but rocking, and Pete Webber’s drumming is aggressive and fun. “Cradle to the Grave” is even better, with a simple but hooky riff, a fun, thrashy gallop, and really pissed off, acid drenched vocals. There’s also some interesting solo-work and a whole lotta chunky, thick riff patterns. I don’t know if these tracks were leftovers from Time is Up or recent creations, but they’re right in that same quality zone.

Naturally, covers of classics never come close to the magic of the originals, but Havok does a fine job on Sepultura‘s “Arise.” Sanchez actually sounds a lot like Max Cavalera and they nail the frantic, 100 mile-per-hour attack that made the song a legend. Better yet is their go at “Postmortem/Raining Blood.” It takes a fair amount of nutsack to cover the Mac Daddy/Daddy Mac of all thrash songs, but they throw themselves into it with a passion and it sounds great. Sanchez’s vocals shine (the guy has the ideal thrash voice) and his screams rival those of a youthful Tom Araya. All things considered, a worthwhile cover.

And that’s pretty much it, folks. It’s an EP and there’s not much here, but it’s enjoyable and shows why Havok is at the vanguard of the retro thrashers along with Municipal Waste and Warbringer. It also reminds me I want a new album from these guys ASAP, and that’s its real purpose. Damn, that’s a shitty album cover!

More Angry:

1. Havok – Time is Up Review
2. Havok – Burn Review
3. Degradation – Juggernaut Review
4. Exumer – Fire & Damnation Review
5. Evile – Infected Nations Review

Dim Mak - “Between Immensity and Eternity” — The riffs in this fucking song.

The 11th Hour – “Rain on Me” — Amazing vocal parts, great feel. A perfect track from a fantastic record.

Alcest – “Faiseurs de monde” — The build in this song is amazing. Who cares if the record is underwhelming!

Swallow the Sun – “Hate Lead the Way” — The record may be a laying down, but this song I will come back to time and time again.

Spawn of Possession – “Apparition” — Technical death metal done the right way? Why yes, yes it is. Elite.

Hail Spirit Noir – “Against the Curse, We Dream” — This crazy retro, avant-garde black metal from Greece makes parliamentary neonazis ANGRY!

Anathema – “The Gathering of Clouds” — These dirty hippies make some good music. This song especially enchants me with its slow build and busy harmonies.

Gorod – “5000 at a Funeral” — Creepy intro. Amazing riffs. Awesome song.

Borknagar – “The Beauty of Dead Cities” and “Frostrite” — Can’t decide. Both so goddamned elite.

Jeff Loomis – “Surrender” (Featuring Ihsahn) — Yeah, hard to fucking fight with this song. Really goddamned elite.

Sigh – “Equale” — Ha. This song just rules. The whole record could be here. Expect me to change my mind on this one.

Diablo Swing Orchestra – “Justice for Saint Mary” — This track is just triumphant. Totally love the drama of it and the melodies and orchestra.

More Angry:

1. Dim Mak – The Emergence of Reptilian Altars Review
2. Top 10(ish) of 2009
3. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10 Songs from 2011
4. Steel Druhm’s Top Ten Songs of 2011
5. Angry at the Internet

Stockholm’s Diablo Swing Orchestra was one of those rare records that seriously took this Angry Metal Guy by surprise. One should emphasize from time to time just how much metal we get to review and how often it is simply easy to say: “Meh, I’ve heard this before.” This job is filled with highlights, for sure, every once in a while one gets a The 11^th Hour or Sigh or Orphaned Land, but there’s a hell of a lot more Ravages and Diabulus in Musicas; records that just make you sigh and put your head down until you’ve given them their requisite listens. So when you get that record that really surprises you, well, you know you’re in luck. Early this year, I had Dodecahedron that really just surprised the hell out of me and creeped me out, but now I’ve got Diablo Swing Orchestra which is like an unholy union of meatheady groove metal, eggheaded orchestral arrangements and opera. All at a fervor more akin with satanic ska than most of their countrymen’s approach to metal and with a level of skill that is uncanny.

But what’s surprising about this album isn’t just the combination of these different styles into a coherent whole, it’s also how deftly they do it with the number of different tones, colors and textures they work with. For example, opening track “Voodoo Mon Amour” starts out with blaring, swinging horns and tom heavy drums with a crunchy, groovy guitar riff and all the retro pizzazz (feels like an appropriate time to break this word out) and vocal excess from Annluice Loegdlund you’d expect from a band playing a throwback kind of swing. But after a twisting and turning ride, they end up on “Justice for Saint Marie,” which is not only epic (8:17), but dark and sensual in its use of orchestral texture, with male vocalist Daniel Håkansson’s voice delicately texturing a masterfully dark song which ends with glich-like industrial beats and cuts out to end the 52 minute record. It is with a deft hand that a band must balance these kinds of contradictory styles and Diablo Swing Orchestra not only does it, but they do it masterfully.

In between these bookends, the album traverses through operatic, classical pieces (“Aurora”), groove laden samba (“Guerilla Laments”), a track that really reminds me of Beirut but with serious balls (“Kevlar Sweethearts”) and even some straight up thrash metal (What Would Slayer Do?) riffing on “Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball” before launching into chorus that if replaced by a female voice could be on a Nightwish record. All along the melodies and are subtle, often in non-traditional modes and keys, but don’t let that fool you: Pandora’s Piñata is infective in its poppiness and unapologetically pummels the listener with hook-laden track after hook-laden track.

I think that the use of an orchestra, swing and gypsy music—plus two different vocalists—gives the band a level of freedom that most bands just simply don’t have when they’re tied down by a single vocalist, two or three melodic instruments (guitars, keyboards, and bass). But not only that, the use of all of these instruments means that they’re able to take the one good thing that groovecore has to offer (the groove) and transfer it into this addictive blend of melodic genius and aural orgasms. There is literally not a track on here that I wouldn’t recommend, and there isn’t a single thing wrong with this album. From the musicianship, to the songwriting to the production, it’s a fucking riot.

More Angry:

1. Sigh – In Somniphobia Review
2. Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review
3. Sigh – Scenes From Hell Review
4. Iron Thrones – Visions of Light
5. Dodecahedron – Dodecahedron Review

By my extensive calculations and careful application of Steel Druhm’s Theory of Genre Longevity (Pat. Pending), retro thrash is in the fourteenth minute of its fame window. As the clock runs down, all sorts of mediocore stuff gets jammed through the pipeline. That translates into roughly one good album for every five released. Those are some long odds facing retro thrash wannabe’s and there’s no reason to sugarcoat it.  It’s a tough world and most of these acts will soon be abandoned alongside the metal highway to rust and decrepify. That brings us to HeXen‘s second album, Being and Nothingness. HeXen play a melodic version of 80s thrash, similar to Exodus during their Fabulous Disaster and Impact is Imminent era. Unlike most thrash band’s however, HeXen makes an effort at appearing somewhat progressive, and they enjoy showing off their technical abilities every chance they get. This means cramming tons of noodly guitar work and showboatery into each and every song. Their 2008′s debut State of Insurgency showed promise, had some decent material and impressive playing, but was brought way down by awful vocals and amateurish writing. After four years in which to refine their approach, Being and Nothingness shows they still have chops to spare. Unfortunately, they still have an annoying vocalist as well. Making matters worse, they failed to beef up their song writing acumen, and this is one of those albums that bounces off my steely cranium like a tennis ball, leaving nothing behind except a slightly annoying red mark.

After a decent instrumental opener, things take a turn for the mundane with “Grave New World.” It’s a particularly generic thrash anthem with riffs so stale, you’ll swear they were left over from the Nixon Administration. When Andre Hartoonian’s vocals come in, things really take a dive. His utterly nondescript thrash barks are boring and irritating in equal measures and he does nothing to make the songs work. “Defcon Rising” is better and has a variety of interesting riffing and nice solos, but it’s still submarined by the vocals and laissez faire approach to song construction. The rest of Being and Nothingness is composed of average to below average efforts at technical thrash. Tracks like “Private Hell,” “Walk as Many, Stand as One” and “Stream of Unconsciousness” all fail to register on my carefully calibrated ThrashOStat and essentially bore me to beers. The WAY overlong “Nocture” is fourteen minutes of music with only about four being worthwhile. Only “The Nescient” rises to the level of acceptable thrash (but still doesn’t inspire an urge to ever hear it again).

What makes HeXen such a frustrating listen is the obvious talent they possess. This is one tight unit and Ronny Dorian and Artak Tavaratsyan can play the living daylights out of their axes, and do so at the drop of a dime. Though they seem to write a shocking amount of basic and uninteresting thrash riffs, they pepper every song with wicked solos and generally well done harmonies. This results in bad songs with great moments of musicianship. Another problem is how low-key their style of thrash is. It’s sort of fast, but not too fast. It’s sort of heavy, but not too heavy. Basically, HeXen is the Wonder Bread™ of retro thrash. Despite my dislike of their recording output to date, I’ll be the first to admit, if they ever figure out how to team their musical talents with high level writing, they’ll be a sick beast (assuming they get a new vocalist).

Another negative for Being and Nothingness is the production. The guitar tone is very underwhelming and without enough edge for a thrash album. With thrash, I need to be overwhelmed, or at least whelmed! Rather than going for a raw and nasty sound, things are polished and clean and I have no idea why. Also, the dreadful vocals are too far out front. If you don’t have a good vocalist, why would you put them way out front? These kinds of questions keep Steel Druhm up at night.

So, without further sugar-coating, HeXen is a band firmly ensconced in the third tier of the retro thrash pyramid. After two albums, I don’t see them escaping to a better zip code, despite their indisputable technical skills. Sadly, in a genre with a  shelf life that’s rapidly burning down to entropy, there isn’t much time for third tier acts. Unless technical know-how means more to you than memorable songs, file under “whatevs.”

More Angry:

1. Degradation – Juggernaut Review
2. Havok – Time is Up Review
3. Vise Massacre – Expendable Humans Review
4. Toxic Holocaust – Conjure and Command Review
5. Occultation – Three & Seven Review

Not sure if any of you guys follow the Japanese anime/manga series known as Bleach, but the album artwork reminds me of the series’ protagonist’s Hollow mask. In any case, Furyon sounds rather huggable and bad for asthma-prone people, but this rising UK band have concocted a decent debut full-length album here, which will make those asthma-prone people catch their fleeting breaths. Call it heavy metal or hard rock, as usual the line is blurred, but what is clear is how much more melodic the band’s take on either one of the traditional genres is. Imagine Bruce Dickinson-style vocals, a thicker musical texture than Iron Maiden, and a hint of Iron Maiden’s newfound progressive influences on 2010’s The Final Frontier; and your mental ears have pretty much nailed it. Oh, throw in the fact that the record’s mixed and mastered at a volume much gratifyingly louder than Iron Maiden too.

While some of the tracks are lengthy, they actually avoid sounding monotonous and being just white noise. “Souvenirs”, “New Way of Living”, “Fear Alone”, “Wasted On You”, “Desert Suicide” all clock in at 8:04, 6:22, 7:40, 5:50, and 8:15 respectively—all of which are way past the average song length of roughly three plus minutes. But take “New Way of Living” for example, it starts off with vocalist Matt Mitchell singing solo, before the usual heavy metal/hard rock paraphernalia flashily enter with pomp (especially that reverberating bass!), before leading into a tight passage consisting of a heart-tingling guitar solo backed by catchy riffs from the secondary guitars. This goes on until about a minute of the song is left, and by then, a recapitulation of how the song began (solo vocals >> all instruments enter) finishes off sensibly and symmetrically. Creative, musically pleasing, yet organized!

Most Iron Maiden worship bands simply copy their idols’ previously favored A B A (basically, this is the standard Classical single-movement structure of the Sonata form) song structure. Furyon, however, actually embellish it with powerful bass backings during the typical riff passages and eyeballs-glued-to-the-fretboard moments of virtuosic shredding during the typically highly-predictable climax of a traditional heavy metal/hard rock song.

As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” [Actually, I think it's "If it ain't baroque..." — AMG] Perhaps I should add on to it a little: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it too much.” That’s right, popular sayings that resonate with 99% of the masses aren’t 100% correct allthe time (and did I mention that 87% of statistics are usually made up 100% of the time?). One thing though, people with short attention spans might not be able to sit through all 1 hour and 4 minutes of this melodic epic. Catchy or not, most people will probably get butthurt before they hear the last note of the last song.

Old blokes who dug and still dig Iron Maiden will find both nostalgia and freshness in this record, while young kids and adults who might not have explored the older sub-genres of metal music will find this a good substitute for Iron Maiden. This is Iron Maiden updated for the modern crowd. This is… the NWoUBHM/HR (New Wave of Updated British Heavy Metal/Hard Rock).

More Angry:

1. Iron Maiden Moons the US
2. Hell – Human Remains Review
3. Pharaoh – Bury the Light Review
4. White Wizzard – Over the Top Review
5. Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier Review

Let’s look at a list of Kickstarter successes. First, I’m not aware of any metal bands that have been successful on Kickstarter (and technically, Wildernessking would not have been successful on Kickstarter because they never did make their whole goal), but I assume some must have been [Obscura was - AMG]. But the projects I am aware of that have been successful on Kickstarter are The Order of the Stick, Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2, Amanda Palmer, The Banner Saga and a number of others who have the same kind of pedigree that they do. What you’re seeing from the projects is that already established artists and developers show up, and they pull in tons of support—overwhelming their goals by as much as 900%. Ex-Stratovarius guitarist Timo Tolkki has taken 27 days to get to 98% of 50,000 dollars, for example, and he still has 33 days to go. But if you start digging a little bit what you see is that there are tons of really great project ideas that gain no traction. This is not because they aren’t necessarily good (I am particularly interested in this independent video game Uktena which has gained very little funding, though given its niche value it’s maybe not the world’s best example)—instead this is because they are no one. And this is the key. An influx of capital is necessary for the production of material, but also the promotion of that material. Traditionally, record labels have done this. And while record labels are certainly not the ideal way of funding this business given their business models, what a record label does is take bands that could never have raised that money and elevate them—at cost, of course, to the band.

Kickstarter does not elevate bands that are unheard of. There can be plenty of reasons—particularly in a society where local music scenes are suffering dramatically because of the readily available massive amounts of media on the Internet—why great local bands don’t get heard by anyone. This means having to get those bands other types of exposure. But the problem is that breaking into that market requires a lot of luck, but it also requires a lot of personal capital investment or someone taking a chance on you. That chance taken, the label can use their contacts and networks to advertise the band’s music, to get the band media attention and to do all of the things that these institutions are built for and that independent musicians are not built for.

So there are two things that I come away with from this. First, independent musicians do not have the networks to break out of their structural position. In this sense, we can think about what Amanda Palmer can raise (what, 588k as of the 8th of May at 17:12 Central European Time) versus what an independent artist can raise. Doing it independently means you raise a good chunk of money to fund a professional product but you have no money leftover for any of the expenses that turn you from a local artist with a CD no one is buying, into an act that is touring nationally and selling merch. AFP (that’s Amanda Fucking Palmer) was on Roadrunner, had a successful band that opened for Nine Inch Nails, has toured alone without equipment and often sleeps on peoples’ floors. She does not do what a metal band needs to be able to do in order to succeed on the road. But all of that money still needs to come from somewhere: and for a small band with no success under its belt, but a lot of talent, labels fill that void.

Second, whenever anyone says “Oh, but the talent will rise to the top,” (which is what Internet philosophers love to say secure in their faulty assumption that everyone starts out with exactly the same opportunity), it’s easy to call bullshit. I’m sure every single reader of this blog knows of a band that was really good that never went anywhere and couldn’t get attention. I’m sure if you were to dig through the Kickstarter pages you would find tons of great ideas that will never get the attention of the masses so that no one will know ever existed because they were not known by anybody and so they were never given the kind of exposure that would be necessary. And then, even if independent artists are successful at funding a project, they cannot fulfill all of the same functions that a label can, because like in all power situations, power is situated in already existing capital and structures. In essence, what’s happening when an Amanda Palmer or Obscura or Radiohead or Timo Tolkki has success with this kind of “business model,” is that the capital investments of labels are paying off.

I’m not saying that there isn’t a place for Kickstarter—that should be obvious—but I am highly suspicious that this is going to be the way for new bands to really “make it” in the modern context. For someone who has already established herself and has a big following, I think Kickstarter is ultimately way smarter than signing a new record deal. The economic incentives make perfect sense to me in that specific situation. But in this case, there isn’t a slope to climb to get there so much as a cliff that needs to be scaled in order to stand on that plateau. Labels invest money in climbing gear for bands. Sometimes that gear is faulty and sometimes these dudes just can’t climb, but the labels do their best to make sure that their investments pay off. And while that’s not perfect (really, really, really not perfect), it is definitely better than a situation where “the crowd” only funds what they’ve heard of  already or the extremely lucky band or project that gets name dropped by a successful artist.

More Angry:

1. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: Friendly Advice from an Angry Reviewer
2. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On His Own Obsolescence
3. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On AngryMetalGuy.com
4. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Mass Effect 3 and Artistic Integrity
5. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Objectivity

Just in time to wash away the bitter taste of Six Feet Under, comes this ridiculously sick death metal masterstroke by Blood Mortized. Taking the vicious, old school Swedish death sound from their Bestial EP and improving on it in every way, The Key to a Black Heart is exactly what you want from the style and death metal in general. Drawing huge inspiration from the nasty gallop of Entombed‘s Left Hand Path and mixing it with the sludgy doom of Grave and Asphyx, Key gives you speed, grind and dirge, just at the right time, in the right doses. Loyal readers may recall my ranting and raving over Entrails debut Tales of the Morgue, and while that platter rocks muchly, this thing beats it at its own retro game. Before you throw up your hands at the thought of even more retro Swedish death, this one is the real deal, right up there with the new Asphyx, and even better in some ways. It’s brutal and crusty, but also surprisingly catchy and hooky. In fact, several tracks seem destined to land among my all time favorites in the genre. 

Savage opener “Unleashing the Hounds” mixes thrashy, Entombed-y goodness with crawling, mega-heavy doom riffs and sets the stage for what’s to come. It even features a guest solo by death metal old-timer, Rick Rozz (Death, Massacre). The real fun hits with “The Heretic Possession,” which is just a GREAT fucking song and a textbook example of Swedish death in all its vile glory. The raw, buzzing guitar tone fills my heart with evil glee and the uber nasty vocals of Mattias Parkkila couldn’t be better. As heavy as it is, its catchy and way more accessible than it should be (I seriously can’t stop playing it). “Only Blood Can Tell” is another oddly hooky but heavy-as-hell number, and you WILL be singing the simple but ear-wormy chorus (the discordant solo at 3:00 is a keeper too). “Dead and Rotten” has some of the most authoritatively rolled R sounds you’ll ever hear (dead and rrrrotten!). “Doomsday Architect” is simply brilliant and flattens me every time I spin it. It’s straight forward and simple, but so damn powerful and effective, it’s a deathy wunderkind. When Parkkila bellows “I swallow your fucking heart,” he sounds frighteningly serious about it. The climbing riff patterns work to perfection and get the blood boiling, and the Rozzster comes back to drop a gratuitous whammy dive or three. It’s a total win across the boards.

Elsewhere, they bring back “Rekviem” from the Bestial EP and the creepy, ominous doom-crawl is  the perfect change of pace. The guitars sound monumental and things grind along insidiously. “Burn and Die” brings in some early Amon Amarth ”epic battle” influence to the riffing, which isn’t a big surprise, since Anders Biazzi played with them from 1992 to 1998. The Amon influence pops up again in the closing title track, which has a boatload of cool riff-work. While the first half of the album is superior, all the songs work very well and nothing feels like filler.

The Key to a Black Heart is such a triumph because  it manages to make brutal death metal seem catchy, much like Death did on Leprosy. When you walk around for days muttering the ghastly words to a nugget like “Doomsday Architect,” you know you heard something pretty special. Parkkila has become one of my favorite death vocalists and he really outdid himself here (he also did a helluva job on the Malfeitor album). He sounds like a cross between Johan Hegg and L.G. Petrov (with a hint of Martin van Drunnen), and his roars, rasps and gurgles are a ghoulish delight. Biazzi and  Gustav Myrin also deserve a lot of credit for their excellent riffing and collection of jangly, creepy solos. They borrow the best elements of Entombed, Dismember and Asphyx and rip your face off with power, but also throw in subtle melodic hooks that keep the songs bouncing around in your head.

Another success is the perfectly raw, rough-around-the-edges production. The guitars have the obligatory Sunlight Studio sound and they buzz and roar with conviction. They’re placed very high in the mix and pack a huge, molar-rattling wallop. Parkkila is prominent too, and you can hear every phlegm ball he coughs up in grotesque detail. Finally, the drums have a great, organic sound, devoid of the replaced/overprocessed sound so common in modern death metal.

When you feel like thanking a band for the time and effort they put into an album, it says a lot. Well, thanks guys, this thing is a killer! It’s easily one of the best death metal albums to come out in a long time, and it’s heading for a top spot on my “best of 2012″ list. This deserves a whole lot of attention from fans of extreme music, so make sure you track it down. Ummm, why haven’t you got it yet??

More Angry:

1. Blood Mortized – Bestial Review
2. Malfeitor – Dum Morior Orior Review
3. Demonical – Death Infernal Review
4. Asphyx – Deathhammer Review
5. Black Breath – Sentenced to Life Review