“Credit where credit is due: Sea of Consciousness might be the first band outside of Napalm Records-core to don color-coordinated robes, and I think that’s just kinda neat. It’s further refreshing to see this band releasing their unsigned debut in January, rather than in the slaughterhouse of the autumn pre-awards season. I’d like to think Sea of Consciousness realizes that an early-year release gives them a larger platform by default.” Into the depths of metaldom.
![LiveWire – Under Attack! [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Livewire_UnderAttack_01.jpg.webp)
“I don’t remember how I heard about LiveWire’s debut record, Under Attack!, but I do know that its album artwork caught my eye as I scrolled through my Bandcamp feed, and, well, here we are. The Aussie troupe used to operate under the moniker Fenrir, but in 2019 they rebranded and shifted in style. Since then, a few singles trickled out of the pipeline until April, when this absolute supernova of a record exploded into existence.” Hardwired to sponge destruct.
“You might be surprised to hear that even in a position of relative music authority, more than a handful of my recommendations fall flat. Case in point: Riptime. I’ve preached the virtues of this album more than a handful of times on Twitter to zero fanfare. My AMG colleagues, caught in the fever of the 2021 list season, essentially shrugged it off. Now here I am, in full clown makeup, writing a few hundred words to apparently nobody at all. And that’s okay, because even if it’s for my own amusement, there’s no other band I’d rather be writing about right now than Mega Colossus.” Mega ginormous.
“A new Mayhem release is the most exciting thing to happen in metal this year. Unlike most other bands who offer refinements and (ideally) improvements on their established sound with each release, Mayhem exhausts a sound on each full-length by exhausting a theme; as the sound’s purpose is to express the theme, the sound’s purpose is fulfilled once the theme is expressed. This means the lazy reviewer can’t merely compare the new Mayhem record to prior ones and base his analysis on that without completely missing the point of the record at hand — Mayhem’s career is an anthology, not an arc.” Mayhem’s Hell awaits.
“For the first three years of their existence, Nanowar of Steel operated under the shortened moniker of Nanowar, adding the of Steel subtitle through a hasty MS Paint logo re-work in 2006. As NoS’s Facebook page states, this was done “not in order to spoof Rhapsody of Fire, but for REAL and TRUE copyright issues.” There’s some serious power metal in-jokage going on with the title alone, an infectious cheekiness that has spread to every corner of Stairway to Valhalla’s musical and lyrical execution.” Sign of the Humor.
Through hellstorms, hail and snow, Steel Druhm keeps delivering the power metal like a creepy, metal-obsessed mailman in full battle armor. Today’s package includes the classic power stylings from Seven Kingdoms. If you like the super catchy Hammerfall and Gamma Ray sound, this will blow your mind as it did Mr. Steel’s. It seems there’s no end to the power metal destruction he plans to unleash on these here pages in the coming weeks, so batten down the hatches and prepare accordingly.
Ah, 3 Inches of Blood. I’ve had a very dysfunctional relationship with them, filled with dizzying highs and crushing lows. I’ve alternated between enjoying them, questioning the reasons for their existence and dismissing them as a gimmick.
Stand UP for EXCITER!! Sorry, had to be done. Anywho, Exciter is a band with some serious metal history under their bullet belts. These Canadian metal troopers were there at the birth of thrash metal in the early 80s. In fact, their debut, Heavy Metal Maniacs could be considered the vanguard of said movement since it came out months before Metallica’s and Slayer’s debuts and Germany’s Destruction always cited that album as their inspiration for thrashing like maniacs. Subsequent albums like Violence and Force and Long Live the Loud were also hailed as Angry Metal Masterpieces of the 80s and I was a big fanboy. Sadly, good things never last and Exciter hit some rocky times on later platters and eventually disbanded, rebanded and disbanded yet again, releasing uneven material throughout. However, in 2008 they returned with a new line up (guitarist John Ricci being the only original member) and released the impressive Thrash Speed Burn and now the same line up returns to kick even more ass with Death Machine.
Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder is the first person I’ve ever interviewed more than once. Â Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember that. Â When I talked to him, the guys were a start up band from Detroit that was soon going into the studio to record Miasma a record that went over, well, remarkably well. […]
