Cosmogenesis

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Hannes Grossmann – The Radial Covenant

By Angry Metal Guy on December 18, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2014, 18 comments

For those who don’t know Hannes Grossmann, you probably do know the bands he’s been involved in. He’s got Obscura, Necrophagist, and Blotted Science on his “list of things that make me cooler than you,” and one can only guess that The Radical Covenant is the Obscura record we would have gotten if Grossmann hadn’t decided to quit. And while I’m a fan of Obscura, I felt the band nailed it with Cosmogenesis and I’m not a huge fan of 2011’s Omnivium (anymore). Ironically, Grossmann said in his parting message from the band that the musical difference between he and founder Steffen Kummerer was the reason that he left the band. Apparently Kummerer was more invested in a Cosmogenesis sound, which could leave one expecting, then, I shouldn’t like this record as much…

Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Beyond Creation – The Aura

By Angry Metal Guy on January 24, 2012 in 2011, American Metal, Canadian Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2011, Technical Death Metal, 6 comments

I made comments earlier to the effect of that I’d not heard the 2011 death metal record of the year. Nader Sadek definitely fills in that gap deftly, but Beyond Creation’s 2011 release The Aura from some obscure Canadian Label that is going on a 6 month vacation so you can’t actually order records from […]

Obscura – Omnivium Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 22, 2011 in 2011, 4.5, Death Metal, German Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, 11 comments

March has really been one hell of a month, hasn’t it? To think after Amon Amarth and Vintersorg we get to follow it all up with Obscura’s Omnivium. If any record counts as the most-anticipated of the year, Obscura is probably getting pretty close to that level. Having released in 2009, what was really a hell of a surprise for most listeners (including people who’d purchased their previous record) in Cosmogenesis, these technical death metallers built on their Necrophagist cred (and sound) and on the legacy of the mighty Death with their technical, progressive death metal, complete with awesome fretless bass attack. So, while this isn’t really a record that can fall victim of the sophomore slump (being the band’s third record), it certainly is an album that could fall victim to overly heightened expectations. And, I must admit, this Angry Metal Guy certainly had heightened expectations

Top 10(ish) of 2009

By Angry Metal Guy on January 5, 2010 in 2009, Blog Posts, Things You Might Have Missed 2009, 2 comments

Well, everyone else under the sun has been releasing their Top 10 lists, and for those of you faithful readers out there I’m sure you’re also interested in what I’m going to say about the best records of 2009. First, let me say that for the first half of this year I was not indeed Angry Metal Guy, but instead, I was just a normal guy buying my metal and hoping that it was going to be fucking awesome. Now, I’m a bitter critic. As a bitter critic I hear a lot more, but this year has still been characterized by some of the biggest bands on the scene for me. Mainly, Amorphis, who in my opinion have released the finest album of the year, if not the finest album of their very distinguished career. But, let me get to that later. There have been some great records this year, but there has been a lot of mediocre shit. Think of this list as being two-tiered, top 10 and then top 20. The top 10 are the records that I think were really awesome, elite albums, the second 10 are records that I think are great and worth your time and effort. Note that I haven’t heard certain albums that I’d like to hear due to that whole poverty not being offset by stealing music thing. With this, I hope to launch AngryMetalGuy.com into the new year on a new note: one where bands suck less.