Angry Metal Guy

Aurvandil // Yearning
Rating: 4.0/5.0 —May the Norse be with you
Label: Eisenwald Records
Websites: loomofthevoid.net/aurvandil/
Release Dates:  Out now!

Steel Druhm has become increasingly disillusioned with black metal over the past year or two. Apparently I’ve reached the saturation point where all the Dimmu Borgir wannabes started to sound just like all the Emperor wannabes and so on ad nauseum. There’s a clear stagnation in the scene and only the best are able to rise above the fetid swamps of mediocrity. Thankfully, into this dark morass comes a beacon of light by the name of Aurvandil with their debut Yearning. Hailing from France, Aurvandril is the brainchild and creation of founder and sole performer Aurvandil (although he apparently used a session drummer here). Mr. A is deeply entrenched in the traditional sounds and ethos of Norwegian blackness and Yearning freely references the great works of Burzum, Emperor and Enslaved while also offering a refreshing take on what came before. Its clearly a sound and style rooted in the 90′s but for whatever reason, the execution feels fresh, engaging and highly impressive. Equal parts punishing and beautifully melodic, it has a sweeping, epic atmosphere that one can’t help but appreciate. It’s good enough to partially offset my black metal malaise so he/they must be doing something right! Continue reading

Iskald // The Sun I Carried Alone
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Too cold to warm up to
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: iskald.com | myspace.com/iskald
Release Dates: EU: 17.01.2011

When reviewing albums, I find they usually fall into one of three categories. “Instant Winners” that stick with you and get plenty of praise, “Growers” that may take anything from a couple of listens to a couple of years to finally sink in and then “Duds” that just seem to evaporate as soon as the album finishes. The last category is the hardest to give an honest opinion on simply because there is very little to hook in to and unfortunately, I find Iskald‘s latest offering, The Sun I Carried Alone, to be treading down this path. Continue reading

Helrunar // Sól
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — A double dose of ballsy blackness!
Label: Prophecy Productions
Websites: myspace.com/helrunarhorde
Release Dates: EU: 03.01.2011 | US: 02.08.2011

Well, we’re certainly off to a great start for black metal in this shiny new year. First we get a righteously good release from Belphegor and now the  unheralded German unit  Helrunar erupts from relative obscurity with a double album of masterfully grim, bleak blackness. Yep, you read that right, a DOUBLE ALBUM of massive black metal clocking in at ninety minutes! So, you might be asking, who do they think they are? How dare they release a double album? Well, the short answer is, they’re Helrunar and a whole lot more people are going to know them REAL soon because Sól is going to stamp them firmly on the black metal map. Continue reading

Burzum- Belus.

Some people wanted me to review the new Burzum a review, but honestly I didn’t even get a promo of it and wasn’t about to download it illegally or spend money on it just so I could review it. So instead, I have found a review that will work—a review written entirely in LOLCAT. I gotta give a shout out to the MetalSucks guys for pointing this out.

IN SUMMARYS, EVEN THOUGH DIS ALBUM SOUNDZ LIEK SHIT AN IZ BIT LONG AN BORIN, IZ KIND OV K. IT NOT AS GUD AS OTHR BLACK METAL STUFFS LIEK DEATHSPELL OMEGA, BUT IT NOT BAD.

IT BIT ANNOYIN THOUGH AS ALL TEH SONGS R SUNG IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE. IT HARDR 2 UNDERSTAND THAN ME LOLOLOL. HE CUD BE SINGIN I IZ GOIN 2 SHOP 2 BUY SUM UNDERPANTS BUT IT IN FUNNY LANGUAGE AN IT SOUND EVIL AN IT MADE ME SKERD!

ALSO DIS AR TEH WUT VARG LOOK LIEK IN SMILEY FORM <:-[

Angry Metal Girlfriend found this blog with a really very amusing flowchart of Heavy Metal band names. It was obvious to me from the getgo that this person was not, in fact, a real fan of metal because they missed the ever important Names Taken from Lord of the Rings section (see: Gorgoroth, Burzum, Amon Amarth, Amon Din, Crebain, Isengard and so on and so forth), but it is, in and of itself, a very excellent flowchart which demonstrates just how awesome metal naming conventions really are. Also, complete with inverted pentagram. (Cick the picture below to get it to open in a new tab/window.)