Angry Metal Guy

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

Opera IX  //  Strix Maledictae in Aeternum
Rating: 1.5/5.0 – Not completely shitty… but close.
Label: Agonia Records
Websites:  operaIX.it | myspace.com/officialoperaix | facebook.com/OfficialoperaIX
Release Dates: EU: 2012.01.24 | US: 02.28.2012

To say that Italian symphonic black metallers Opera IX have been keeping a low profile would be an understatement. The last time I even heard their name mentioned was back in the days of Napster and the Y2K virus. At the time, their mix of black metal with gothic imagery and female vocals was pretty rare in the scene [Yeah, if you had never heard of Cradle of Filth, I guess. - AMG], and it seemed like the band was poised to do great things. Now, they have returned in 2012 with Strix Maledictae in Aeternum, their first album in 7 long years. Continue reading

Vallenfyre // A Fragile King
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — In crust we trust
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: vallenfyre.co.uk | facebook.com/Vallenfyre
Release Dates: Out now!

2011 might as well be dubbed the year of Swedish Retro Death. Band after loathsome band has burst from the underground to pay rancid homage to genre legends like Entombed, Dismember and Grave. Despite the sheer volume of the stuff, Steel Druhm has remained supportive and for the most part, the trend hasn’t worn out its welcome. Now we get Vallenfyre‘s debut full length from a veritable death metal super group featuring members of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Cradle of Filth. With such a pedigree, it shouldn’t be too surprising when A Fragile King has everything you would reasonably expect from a Swedish death album. It’s chunky, thick, nasty and vile. It’s an ode to all things Entombed with a sizeable injection of Celtic Frosty goodness as well. At times, its so much like the immortal Left Hand Path it’s uncanny, yet it also brings in plenty of dire dirges to shake things up. This MOFO was conceived in unholy sin, birthed in ungodly filth and raised on bloody carnage. There’s a guitar sound heavy enough to fracture your vertebrae and vocals so grisly they’ll disturb the deranged. But, you rightly ask, is it actually good? Oh yes, it’s really good! This is unapologetically retro and doesn’t strive for innovation but it nails home the tried-and-true Swedish sound with the subtlety of a Panzer division. How this will sit with you depends entirely on your tolerance for more Swedish death. If 2011 has fed you all the old-time death you can stomach, move along and I won’t think less of you. If not, belly up to the death buffet and chow down on this meatloaf of the damned. Continue reading

Okay, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Black metal as a genre has stagnated and become very boring. While that inevitably happens to every musical genre (power metal has had it bad for about six years), with this particular style it seems far more pronounced and chronic. Although I’ve appreciated the scene and sound from its earliest origins (as a Bathory fan in the 80′s) and essentially grown up alongside the genre, the past year has seen things run into the creative wall and slowly slide into a morass of tedium and lethargy. Be it the symphonic or the raw and primitive, very few bands are doing anything new, interesting or compelling (even the new Agalloch felt samey and safe). While some solid albums surfaced in 2011,they feel increasingly rare and even those offered little in the way of innovation or originality. Obviously, of all the subgenres of metal, black metal is the most rigid, inflexible and laden with rules and expectations of scene orthodoxy. Throw a saxophone solo on a power metal album, it may be daring and ballsy. Try that on a black metal album and you’ll be burned in effigy across Norway (and parts of New York). Continue reading

Netherbird // Shadows and Snow EP
Rating: 3.5 —-Angry birds!
Label: Scarecrow Music Group
Websites: netherbird.com/ myspace.com/netherbird
Release Dates: Available for streaming now!

Sweden’s Netherbird is aiming to be the angry black metal bird that revamps the music industry. Although they aren’t particularly well-known yet, their 2010 release Monument Black Colossal met with my approval and I found their Cradle of Filth-meets-Dissection style of symphonic heaviness quite enjoyable. Since that release, they appear to have adopted an unusual marketing approach for their music. They’ve announced their intention to release three EPs over the next year, which together would comprise their next full-length album. As we speak, Shadows and Snow, the first of these planned EPs, is available for free downloading on their home page. It’s unclear if the future releases will be free or not. Whether this new approach will catch on or not remains to be seen but hey, free downloading from the band itself is always damn cool. So, is this worth the price of…free? Yes, it would be worth it even at twice that price (whatever that means). While very short (three songs and a musical interlude), Shadows and Snow features well crafted, engaging black death with enough personality to stand out from the frostbitten, frowning hordes and in these days of black metal malaise, that’s high praise indeed. Oh, and it’s free too! Continue reading

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

Septic Flesh // The Great Mass
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — (Torture) chamber music
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: abstrata.net | myspace.com/septicfleshband
Release Dates: EU: 18.04.2011 | US: 04.19.2011

Yet another highly anticipated 2011 release is upon us! This is the eighth crusade by the Greek masters of blackened death Septic Flesh and they brought a few new tricks with them as they refine their crazed classical music meets brutality approach. 2008′s Communion was hailed as a highly creative accomplishment and The Great Mass is a continuation and enlargement of that sound and concept. Taking their basic blackened death style and merging it with performances from the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a full choir, Septic Flesh have now become a full blown orchestral/symphonic death metal juggernaut. With a full orchestra involved, this is obviously going to be a bigger, more bombastic album and its hardly easy listening. While they traffic in the same over-the-top, dramatic theatrics as Therion, they manage to keep things much more linear (and therefore much more listenable). While bands like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir have long employed symphonic orchestration to accent their sound, Septic Flesh have now embedded it into their core and made it an integral part of their make up and identity. 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

I can’t admit to being or having been a big Cradle of Filth fan. I had a friend who didn’t like either them or Dimmu Borgir and gave me Spiritual Black Dimensions and Dusk and Her Embrace on the same day. I exclusively listened to Dimmu and didn’t really like the Cradle record at all. So I got Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa with a bit of skepticism (at best). I mean, really, when was the last time that you heard anything good about this band? A band that on the Top 100 Ways to be Black Metal list is referenced about 8 times: “Don’t be Dani Filth”.

But while Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa isn’t revolutionary and, hell, it may even be described as a rehashing of everything the band has already done, this record has some punch and pizazz. Sure, it’s melodramatic and yeah it’s cheesy, but it’s also fast, fun and with some surprisingly catchy riffs and orchestral arrangements. Instead of being embarrassing like I was expecting, it was less crappy than that—like, actually, it was good and it kinda grew on me. Now, I’m not going to say that this is high art, but for old fans who haven’t listened to the band in a long time, this might be worth checking out. There are some good songs on here (and some great ones) and a feel that will definitely appeal to anyone who was ever a fan (and to fans of melodic/orchestral black metal who have been too afraid to check the band out).

Just hide it from your real metal friends. And don’t be Dani Filth.

Highlight: “The Nun with the Astral Habit” and “Lilith Immaculate”

Winterhorde // Underwatermoon
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Forward thinking symphonic black metal?
Label: Twilight-Vertrieb
Websites: winterhorde.com | myspace.com/winterhorde
Release Dates: Out Now! (July, 2010)

It isn’t often these days that I review something that I found on my own. In fact, given that the amount of time that we here at Angry Metal Guy for reviews has gone down immensely compared to the huge numbers of promos we receive, it’s probably irresponsible for me to do so. But this Angry Metal Guy is always worried that we’re still not getting every CD of golden worth and highest quality. Once again this fear has been vindicated—but fortunately for you guys, I still love metal enough that I actually go looking for shit that we haven’t received here. And because of that, I stumbled upon Winterhorde a melodic or orchestral black metal band from… Israel? Yeah, turns out, even Israel which lacks for snowy winters has black metal guys who think that snow is the ultimate eviiiil. But don’t let the silly name fool you, because Winterhorde is not just your average melodic black metal band and Underwatermoon, while excitingly ESL in name, is anything but lackluster. Continue reading