Angry Metal Guy

Trillion Red // Two Tongues EP
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Gollum is puking.
Label: Unsigned
Websites: www.trillionred.com | www.myspace.com/trillionred
Release Date(s): February 2011

When a band states that they make “truly unique music“ or something to that effect, I’m always skeptical. Most of the time it just means that it a) sucks ass or b) isn’t “unique” at all, but just more of the same. Trillion Red, however, really do have a sound of their own, and it doesn’t suck. While you could just throw them on the huge pile of Neurosis copycats, it really wouldn’t do them  justice, because there’s more to their music. It has the typical ingredients of atmospheric sludge – the down-tuned guitars, the huge riffs, the minimalistic drumming, the synths – and, unfortunately, boring and sometimes awkward ambient sections.

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Sanity of Impiety // In Life We Despise
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Very Promising
Label: Unsigned
Websites: myspace.com/sanityofimpiety
Release Date: Available from December 17th, 2010

I know it’s not a popular standpoint, but I’ve actually been pretty critical of Sweden’s underground. It is true that Sweden has produced some of the best metal in the world, I still have a bit of a feeling of “What have you done for me lately?” While there are some great bands out there that we all know, the underground here since after that first wave in the early 90s just hasn’t been the same. However, in the last few years a new generation of Swedish death metal and black metal has started coming to the forefront. Sometimes these are older bands, but there are also a number of younger bands carrying on the banner of their proud Swedish heavy metal heritage and doing it well. Sanity of Impiety, from up north in Umeå (the same city which spawned Meshuggah, Naglfar, Cult of Luna and others) is certainly one of these bands. Continue reading

Drudkh // Handful of Stars
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Good, but not exactly earth shattering or anything…
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: myspace.com/drudkhofficial
Release Dates: EU: 20.09.2010 | US: 09.21.2010

Not to be snatchy or anything, but I have to say that Drudkh is probably one of the most hyped underground black metal bands of all time (to the point of not really counting as underground anymore, I think). After Microcosmos made a big splash in 2009, I wasn’t sure that they were going to be pulling out a new record in 2010, but the band is back with a record that is proving to be a major disappointment for a lot of fans. It’s not a surprise, however. How do you follow up a record that was hailed as the greatest thing since Varg Vikerness first took a shit on a microphone and called it art? Continue reading

Iron Thrones // The Wretched Sun
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Sophomore slump (but still great!)
Label: Who Needs a Label?
Websites: ironthrones.com | myspace.com/ironthrones
Release Date: July 27th, 2010

Those of you who have been reading Angry Metal Guy since the beginning will remember that I lauded heavy praise on a Minneapolis, Minnesota based band called Iron Thrones last year after I downloaded their record (for free) and had myself a little Angry Metal Hernia™. The band was incredible. Like some kind of unholy cross between Opeth and Jesus… or whatever. I promptly declared the record amazing, gave it five stars and then took a cold shower. In any case, Visions of Light, the debut, still ranks as the best unsigned act I’ve ever heard and I have had very, very high hopes for the follow up record—The Wretched Sun—which will be self-released on the 27th of July after the very talented band went and won the No Label Needed contest and got sent to a pro studio. Continue reading

The Ocean // Heliocentric
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Inventive and interesting!
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: theoceancollective.com | myspace.com/theoceancollective
Release Dates: EU: 12.04.2010 | North America: 04.13.2010

Apparently everyone but me has heard of The Ocean Collective and has been all stoked about them for the past few years and talking about how cool they are. Apparently they’ve even opened up for bands like Cult of Luna and Opeth and have toured the world doing tons of shows and going through a bajillion members on the way! Who knew!? Apparently everyone but me! So let me say that this record was a shot in the dark. Metal Blade is distroing another more underground band through their label and while this hasn’t always done them well, this was definitely a good choice.

Heliocentric is a record that borders onto what I think most people would probably call post-hardcore at this point. These guys belong right in the same league as Cult of Luna, Ghost Brigade, Burst and others who have deftly blended hardcore, metal and alternative rock into something its own. Heliocentric offers one of the most cogent and inventive additions to this legacy with an orchestral approach that hasn’t been seen with the other bands. The songs here are varied in their rhythms and sounds, with solid bass and vaguely progressive hints and jazz influences from time to time.

One of the biggest complaints that I’ve encountered about this album has been that the band has changed their sound. “Why does a band have to include clean vocals to ‘go progressive,’” complained one Straw Man on the Internets. I think there’s a pretty good answer to that, actually. See, clean vocals have a dynamism that harsh vocals of any kind do not have. In this case, it allows The Ocean to build more chords, harmonies and layers into their music, adding another dimension that would absolutely have been missing from Heliocentric otherwise. While the music on here is borderline prog and there are orchestral pieces that are very cool, were it not for the clean vocals this album would be a lot less interesting. Vocalist Loïc Rosetti performs admirably, giving melodic dimension the songs and giving voice to the beauty and the conceptual depth of the album.

The records soft underbelly may be the lyrics. While I don’t have the lyric sheet in front of me, those things that I did make out were pretty week. It sounds like the band is giving voice to Galileo’s struggles with discovery and the ensuing battle with the Catholic church. This ended in his recanting and being put on house arrest. This is a fascinating topic and it’s cool to use as a thematic piece, and for a band known for their massive projects, it’s makes sense that they’d go this route. But the lyrics often come off as simple, lacking depth and a little cheesy at times. This is partially because trying to write from someone’s point of view and do internal dialogue is just really tough, so it’s no surprise that the lyrics fall short in those cases. A for effort, but these guys aren’t going to be winning a Nobel Prize is poetry or anything.

Taken in its entirety, however, Heliocentric is a very cool, interesting and forward thinking record. It’s nice to see bands thinking big and aiming at these huge concepts and this record is well-executed and loaded with great tracks. In my opinion some of the best stuff on here are tracks like “Ptolemy Was Wrong” and “Catharsis of a Heretic” which have a lot of clean vocals and nice depth to them. But every song has cool parts and this makes me want to dig deeper into the band’s discography.

I didn’t know these guys, but this is apparently Ghost Brigade‘s sophomore release. And it is a good record. A really good record. I’d have to say that this is probably the best combination of the sort of post-hardcore theme that’s been building for a while in the underground and “modern rock” (of the sort that Katatonia has become). Actually, to give it to you quick, these guys pretty much sound like Katatonia and Cult of Luna‘s savant lovechild. This record is solid as hell with great melodies, great atmosphere and they pull of that dirty sound that lots of bands (see: Atlas Moth, Solstafír, and many others) are doing these days, but combining it with good melodic metal moments and sort of sadboy rock. Isolation Songs is definitely fantastic, and could even be one of the year’s best.

The Atlas Moth – A Glorified Piece of Blue-Sky
Rating: 3.5/5.0 – A mix of sounds that works very well, but doesn’t stand out for me..
Label: Candlelight
Website: theatlasmoth.com
Release Date(s): EU: 21.09.2009 | USA: 10.6.2009

Sludge, and many variations thereof, have definitely been working their way into the “mainstream” consciousness of heavy metal guys for a long time.   Bands like Neurosis, Isis and all of their clones have permeated the hard skin of heavy metal, giving it something rawer, weirder and that makes heavy happen through slowness more than through technical insanity.  The Atlas Moth follows in that vein very much, blending sludge, southern groove and what sounds to me like a very Cult of Luna, Neurosis hardcore approach that is sure to please the fans of this style.

A Glorified Piece of Blue-Sky isn’t the worlds greatest piece of sludge art or anything, but they have managed to make a sound that I don’t find even remotely compelling 99% of the time, and add something to it that I really have to appreciate.  One thing that does it for me is the production of the album, which sounds like these guys are grooving in a big dark cave somewhere.  This, combined with the fact that The Atlas Moth takes their sweet-ass time getting anywhere at all with their tracks, gives this record an ambience that shouldn’t be overlooked.  In an era of pristine clean production, A Glorified Piece of Blue-Sky is a wittily titled dissertation on the understanding of groove, ambience and heaviness in the epoch of triggers and sterility.

Of course, aspects of that ambience I could do away with.  Fun space noises?  Over-rated and boring.  But the tracks themselves are well-crafted, highly convincing and there is an emotional weight which seems to overlay this record in a way that a lot of bands are missing—it’s something that I think goes missing a lot in metal.  In some ways, despite the fact that these guys don’t really sound like it, they have a big of My Dying Bride buried deep down there or something.  Another important thing that stands out about this record is how brutally heavy it is at times, despite being technically very simplistic.  I have commented in the past, and to people personally, that a lot of metal doesn’t feel like it has an edge anymore.  Certain projects sound like something middle-age women who appreciate such stellar artists like Michael Bolton would fall in love with.  The Atlas Moth does not suffer from this fatal flaw.  The sound is huge, raw and heavy, with a wide range of vocals and a thick punching low end.

There is a major drawback for me, and that’s that the songs don’t seem to stick.  Despite being heavy, groovy and ambient, there are only a few moments on this album that really stand out for me.  The rest of it feels, honestly, like I could be listening to the same song on every track.  Is it one big 50 minute song that I’m listening to?  This is an unfortunate weakness that a lot of sludge has for me.  While there are some cool things and I appreciate the ambience, it works better as background music than it does as something I feel like actively istening to.   That said, I think this album will definitely go over well with fans of the genre.  While it’s not terribly dynamic, in my opinion, it definitely offers something more than a lot of the shit I’ve heard in the genre.