Angry Metal Guy

Goatwhore // Blood for the Master
Rating:  4.0/5.0—-Bloodbath & beyond
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: goatwhore.net/ myspace.com/goatwhore
Release Dates:  EU: 10.02.2012  US: 02.14.2012

Holy shite, this is a feisty and fiery one! One of the most successful “project” bands in recent memory, Goatwhore has come roaring back, filled with piss, bile and cayenne peppers on album five, Blood for the Master. This is nasty, blackened death/thrash from the most stagnant bayou of the Big Easy and it’s the musical equivalent of a gator attack. Featuring former members of Crowbar, Acid Bath and Nachtmystium, Goatwhore is professional, single-minded and out to punish mankind. Although they started as an American take on Norwegian black metal like Darkthrone, they’ve since settled into life as a drooling, chomping, black/death/thrash beast. While their past few albums have been a bit samey at times, they were always fun in a berserk, foaming at the mouth kinda way. Blood for the Master continues in the same direction as 2009′s Carving Out the Eyes of God but feels a bit more intense and well thought out. It hits like a nuclear howitzer from Hades with thirty-eight minutes of face melting ugliness and malevolent swagger. There are lots of  nods to the classic Bay Area thrash sound, some black n’ roll, classic death riffing and ice-cold, hyper-kinetic trem-abuse. What makes this so entertaining is the odd biker rock vibe Goatwhore manages to impart to the mach-speed chaos. Its hard to explain, but this sounds like black/death as done by a southern rock lovin, greasy biker gang and it works. While this ends up more of a thrash album than a black or death metal opus, it retains enough of an icy black heart to keep most frowners frowning happily (is that possible?). While it doesn’t differ much from what Skeletonwitch has done on the past few albums, its harder, meaner and way more convincing. Continue reading

Dodecahedron // Dodecahedron
Rating: 1d12+5
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: ddchdrn.com | facebook
Release Dates: Out Worldwide

When I was first cutting my teeth as a reviewer over at the long defunct Unchain the Underground, I had the distinct honor of reviewing Blut Aus Nord‘s 2003 opus The Work which Transforms God. I recall it distinctly being one of the most difficult reviews I ever had to write. The music the band created was new, extreme, pummeling, challenging and ultimately difficult on a level which few records I’d ever heard before were. It offered up an extremity for which I was not prepared. I could tell, though, that it was a revolutionary record. It was something special truly special… Extreme, abstract, brilliant, innovative and done in a way that I was not ready for. I really, really hated it.  Continue reading

Wildernessking // The Writing of Gods in the Sand
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Superb.
Label: Anthithetic Records
Website: wildernessking.bandcamp.com
Release Dates: February?

Time and time again, I have berated black metal as an institution. Partially because it is so institutionalized that it seems to have lost its teeth and inventiveness, and partially ’cause where it does seem to be advancing is into areas that I think are boring. So, I’m not exactly the guy who you should be looking to for your black metal needs (my flash in the pan status among the young and hip is evidence enough of that). I require things to not suck move a little faster, have a little more action and not be generally cliché and irritating. Wildernessking (formerly known as Heathens and hailing from South Africa) is all of these things, while not falling into the clichés of a scene past its prime. While the band has moved on a bit from the black n’ roll origins of their first demo Oh, Mock the Heavens and Let the Heathens Sing, they offer up with their new full length The Writing of Gods in the Sand, a remarkable slab of inventive black metal, whatever way you want to slice it. Continue reading

Abigail Williams // Becoming
Rating:  3.5/5.0 — Taint your wagon
Label: Candlelight Records
Websites: myspace.com | facebook.com
Release Dates:  EU: 2012.01.27 | US: 01.24.2012

I’ve never been an Abigail Williams fan. Their debut was lackluster and derailed by metalcore underpinnings. In the Absence of Light had some actual potential but was far too generic. Needless to say, I had modest expectations as I sat down to examine their new album. Well, Steel Druhm was nearly knocked from his stately Chair of Metal Judgment [Metal Chair of Judgement? - AMG] by what he heard on Becoming. Gone are the tepid attempts to recycle left-over Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth riffs and horror movie symphonics. In their place is raw, shoegazey, post-rocky, contemplative blackness, loaded with doomy atmosphere, close in spirit to Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch, with elements of Aurvandil and Emperor mixed in. It’s a startlingly major change to be sure (even more so than their previous shift from black-core to Dimmu-worship), and proves there’s no wagon they won’t gleefully hop onto. Surprisingly though, their newest disingenuous switch works well and they may have found the style they can excel at. That is, if they can stop pursuing every new fad and trend (the technical term is “chasing their own fail”). Continue reading

Sear Bliss // Eternal Recurrence
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Label: Candlelight Records
Websites: searbliss.hu |  facebook.com/searblissband
Release Dates: EU: 2012.01.23 | US: ?

Sear Bliss are a black metal band from Szombathely, Hungary. They have been active since 1993, founded by vocalist (who is also the) bassist (who plays some) keyboardist András Nagy. Eternal Recurrence is their seventh full-length album. Sear Bliss began recording Eternal Recurrence in late July of 2011 and spent two months in the studio. Known for their complex and multi-layered instrumentation, the band have incorporated wind and brass instruments into their sound, as well as synthesizers. With Eternal Recurrence, Sear Bliss are opting for an even more progressive, experimental approach to black metal. Continue reading

This little gem fell from Odin’s mighty beard in the waning days of December and since that time of year is so hectic, this may have eluded the attention of many metal-minded folk. Steel Druhm simply cannot abide such a ruinous oversight. Why? Because the U.K.’s Forefather plays such a highly endearing mix of black, viking and folk metal with some power and NWOBHM tossed into the Anglo-Saxon stew. Over the course of five albums, they’ve honed that mix into an insanely catchy, guitar-driven style of epic-infused music. With Last of the Line (Seven Kingdoms Records), that honing continues unabated and this is one sharp ass piece of jagged iron. Though Forefather consists entirely of two brothers (both appear in Folkearth as well), they know exactly how to blend genres and craft tunes that alternate between catchy and heavy, epic and black and most of this material is designed to stick deep in your brainpan. Stylistically touching on Falconer (or Mithotyn to be more exact), Running Wild, Tyr, Crom, Ensiferum and Amon Amarth, they manage to carve out their own identity and I’m betting after hearing some of this stuff, you’ll join me in wondering why Forefather isn’t more of a household name in metal… houses. Continue reading

I’m not sure I’ve made it clear during my vainglorious tenure at Angry Metal Guy Web Industries, but I love me some  Immortal. I also tend to appreciate bands that shamelessly mimic Immortal (see Byfrost) because, I really love Immortal and they don’t release twelve albums a year as they should. Therefore, if one follows the logic chain I’m forging, I’m literally forced to love Balfor. These Ukrainian black thrashers are fully onboard the Immortal party bus and their sophomore release Barbaric Blood is a shameless theft of all things Abbath and it’s pretty good to boot (available via Pulverised Records). Making it all the more interesting is the occasional inclusion of some vintage In Flames style guitar shreddery and melodic wankery. Yep, the boys have some chops and when paired with some nifty songwriting and a flair for the dramatic, this becomes one of the better slices of blackened thrash nobody heard this year. So, should you try hearing it? Well, ask yourself this. Are you morbid? Wait, wrong question. Are you into Immortal? Continue reading

So I’ve been digging through un-opened promos from this year that simply got missed due to scheduling or whatever and man, I’ve really hit the fucking jackpot with this one. I feel terrible that I missed it because it’s awesome. Lately, I’ve had a lot of issues with black metal as a whole. I am not alone in this. Even the ultimately reliable and excellent Taake kind of disappointed me this year. I’m not a post-black metal kind of guy and yet, for the life of me, I can’t find any black metal bands that really fucking rule these days. It’s like the scene just up and left the area I was inhabiting. Continue reading

Vyrion // Vyrion
Rating: 4.5/5.0 —A light amid the blackness!
Label: Rockdale Records
Websites: vyrion.com/ myspace.com/vyrion
Release Dates: Out now!

Steel Druhm doesn’t ask for much. Beyond undying devotion to the Angry Metal Guy website and Steel Druhm personally, I expect so little. In a rare moment of selfishness however, I deigned to demand more innovation in the field of black metal music. Predictably, much brouhaha ensued and I was labeled a rabble-rouser, blasphemer and enemy of the scene. Happily, I can now report my heartfelt demand has been masterfully answered by a crew of Aussie upstarts by the name of Vyrion. Never heard of them? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I stumbled upon them quite by chance. It was a fortuitous stumble indeed, for their self titled debut is a mammoth slab of progressive blackness with scads of death, doom, traditional metal and post rock blended in seamlessly. After only a few minutes of listening, I knew this was something special. Across the length of this interesting creature are myriad surprises, twists and turns and the end result is an exceptionally well done and very heavy slice of innovation. For those who regard black metal as a static art form, immune to the fickle influences of time and trend, this will be like a loathsome disease. If however, you agree with me that the genre is badly in need of a newness injection, don’t let this one fall through the cracks. Continue reading

Raventale // Bringer of Heartsore
Rating: 3.5/5.0 —Moonsore–o
Label: BadMoodMan Records
Websites: myspace.com/raventale
Release Dates: Out now!

Ukrainian black metal? With doom and viking elements? By a one man band? Sounds good to me! While Steel Druhm must sheepishly admit to being late to the Raventale party, now that I’m here, I’m a happy fucking camper indeed. That’s because one Astaroth Merc has single-handedly spewed out a very entertaining and enjoyable platter of contemplative, brooding, atmospheric and doomy black metal on his fifth album, Bringer of Heartsore. So good is the material here, I’m willing to overlook that awful, AWFUL album title (plus, I’m assuming English is like his fifth language so mistakes will be made). So what will a listener be treated to on a Raventale album? A composite of Moonsorrow, Helrunar and SIG:AR:TYR (minus the folk acoustics). That means big, sweeping musical pieces, alternatively epic, melancholy and brutal. Sometimes hollow like a dark, empty void, other times ice-cold like Nordic winters, Astaroth weaves many a mood over this relatively short but sweet blackened sojourn. I find myself impressed enough to begin immediate excavation of their back catalog for more rich doomy, blackened goodness. To decide if you might feel the same, read all the fine words below, in order. Continue reading