“Today I shall be reviewing Motherless, the third album by the Swedish Trial. They are unfortunately unrelated to the sadly-defunct but happily-reincarnated, Chicago-based thrash outfit Trials. Upon consideration, I’ve come to regard Motherless as an album which my superiors will detest.” The rabble are roused.
“Even the most stigmatized genres within the metal canon were born out of an earnest desire to innovate, and as such I’m willing to give any style — or in this case, a combination of styles — a fair shake. Enter Greece’s Locust Leaves, a band I was rather eager to cover due to their proclaimed fusion of prog, black, thrash, and doom metal. Locust Leaves does indeed cover all of these styles (and more!) in the span of just thirty-six minutes on their long-gestating debut A Subtler Kind of Light.” Many Greek chefs, small kitchen…FIGHT!
“Scientists all agree that 2016 is the worst year of anyone’s life who has ever lived, including mine. We lost a lot of musical heroes this year (both metal and otherwise), and the current political climate has brought unprecedented levels of stupidity to my doorstep. Worse yet, I am often surrounded by terrible music made by dickheads.” Read this and don’t be a dickhead.
“It should be fairly apparent by now that I loves me some doom. As of late, I’ve been on an almost exclusively doom-rich diet: death-doom, blackened doom, even “esoteric doom.” I’m beginning to think it might be high time to cut down; after all, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. But, as always, I’m suckered in by that one last bite… This particular tender morsel comes to me in the form of Americans Cardinal Wyrm and their third release Cast Away Souls, and as it happens, it’s deceptively filling.” Commence the doom shaming.
“Longtime AMG readers may recall my excessive worship of guitarist John Cobbett and his various projects. His main endeavor, Bay-area prog-metallers Hammers Of Misfortune, has been dormant since 2011’s 17th Street, and with good reason. Vocalist Joe Hutton was involved in a near fatal motorcycle accident, Cobbett and wife/bandmate Sigrid Sheie welcomed their first child and released an album with Vhöl, and the Hammers themselves went through several lineup changes. Five years later, the band returns with the heavier, more direct Dead Revolution.” Let’s get hammered.
“The Super Sentai are a team of superheroes who protect planet Earth from the relentless onslaught of assorted evil beings while sporting tight, really tight, brightly colored, super tight costumes. Though you might not have heard of the Super Sentai despite their essential work, I assume you know of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, who are their Western counterparts.” Go go Super Sentai!
“Bay area supergroup Vhöl seemed to come out of nowhere with their self-titled 2013 debut. Led by Hammers of Misfortune/Ludicra guitarist John Cobbett, Vhöl contains members from both bands but proved to be a different beast entirely, combining disparate elements and metal subgenres into something truly original. Two years later, the follow-up Deeper Than Sky arrives, and given the band’s pedigree and the quality of the debut, my expectations are high.” The Doctor has a man crush.
“I’m a bit wary of reviewing prog records because I don’t want to end up sitting through eighty minutes of decadent aural onanism from tedious Dream Theatre wannabes (I would rather listen to eighty minutes of “Wannabe”). But done well prog provides musical nourishment rarely offered by other genres, and having spent a large portion of the year listening to grindcore, I was ready to take a risk with Pseudo/Sentai.” Jean-Luc is a risk taker and that can be risky.
“Sabbath Assembly have always been odd, especially since they used their music to proselytize about the obscure religious splinter group known as the Process Church of the Final Judgment. This resulted in albums like Ye Are Gods and Quaternity playing like Manson-esque hippie cult indoctrination music and they were definitely an acquired taste with limited replay value. Cast out and finding their own way.
“In the mood for something really different? Sabbath Assembly certainly qualifies. As explained in my review of their Ye Are Gods opus, this is a bizarre project based on the teachings of the mega-obscure Process Church of the Final Judgment; a strange apocalyptic hippie cult from the 60s that believed in a union of Christ and Satan that triggers armageddon. Led by Jamie Myers (Hammers of Misfortune, Wolves in the Throne Room) and Dave “Xtian” Nuss (ex-Angkor Wat), they craft an unusual hybrid of 60s hippie folk rock and religious hymnal music.” Need religion in your life? Feel the urge to join a Satanic cult? Here’s the one album that meets all your needs! Now with added scripture reading.
