Jan18

Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light: Volume One Review

Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light: Volume One Review

“A long time ago, on a website far, far away, I stumbled across a trve underground gem: Pantheion, the punishing debut of South Africa’s Crow Black Sky. Their take on blackened death was unique and impressive, and though the website was deemed a complete failure and ultimately collapsed into obscurity, I never lost interest in Crow Black Sky. Years passed, proper whore websites rose to power, and albums came and went, all without so much as some light clucking from the promising act. My tiny, blackened heart-thing spent many long nights petitioning a Crow-less sky, lifting its skinny metaphoric fists like antennas to Jørn and praying for the call of the bird. Eventually my hope went the way of common sense, gone and pretty much forgotten. So it goes, yo. Then on January 17, 2018, Jørn sent me a miracle.” Well, he is the Crow King.

Rise of Avernus – Eigengrau Review

Rise of Avernus – Eigengrau Review

“Labeled as “Orchestral Doom Death” in AMG’s top-secret promo vault, I figured this Australian act would at the very least make for an interesting listening experience regardless of quality, and with Eigengrau being their second LP, it’s more likely that they’d have their ambitious sound already dialed in. Indeed, Eigengrau is far from boring, and even quite good at times, but Rise of Avernus’ identity crisis makes it a regularly frustrating listen.” Symphony of frustration.

Record(s) o’ the Month – January 2018

Record(s) o’ the Month – January 2018

Another year, another 12 chances to get the Record(s) o’ the Month in on time. Sure, it’s January, the time for fresh starts. And sure, this is on time. But don’t lose hope, not only will I continue to troll you by having excellent taste as compared to your banal, trendy, and/or pretentious opinions, but I will continue to be arbitrarily late and inconsiderate of groupthink when I choose my Record(s) o’ the Month.

Black Space Riders – Amoretum Vol. 1 Review

Black Space Riders – Amoretum Vol. 1 Review

“Back in 2015, Germany’s Black Space Riders underwhelmed El Cuervo to the point that, when jousting over January promos, he couldn’t even remember having reviewed Refugeeum. That is a warning sign if I’ve ever seen one, but something about Amoretum Vol. 1 intrigued me nonetheless, and I’m worried I might regret it: after all, Vol. 2 is also slated to come out this year, and I’ll get stuck with it, good or bad.” You take, you own it.

Philip H Anselmo & The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue Review

Philip H Anselmo & The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue Review

“I try not to expect much from you people, but I think it’s safe to assume that one or two of you just may have heard of one Philip H. Anselmo, and this being the case you may (the ‘may’ is silent) have an opinion regarding the man. I don’t particularly care about any of that, but he definitely does, and this is painfully clear on Choosing Mental Illness As a Virtue, Phil’s second full-length endeavor with The Illegals.” Philling in the gaps.

Rebellion – A Tragedy in Steel Part II: Shakespeare’s King Lear Review

Rebellion – A Tragedy in Steel Part II: Shakespeare’s King Lear Review

“If you encountered me during my misspent youth as an 80s metalhead and asked if Shakespeare and metal went well together, I’d have pondered the question deeply for several seconds, before hurling a half empty Schlitz can at you whilst cursing your ancestral line as posers and PMRC collaborators most foul. In the fullness of time I’ve come to realize the great English scribe’s body of is in fact, potent fodder for metal, teeming with sinister plots, betrayal, murder and war, sweet war. This pairing has been field tested with 2 concept albums based on Macbeth, one of which coming from German’s second-string grave exhumers, Rebellion.” Some are born metal, and some have metal thrust into them.

Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs Review

Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs Review

Orphaned Land has gone through a lot more change than I think I even realized as they have made the journey from an obscure but promising melodeath band to a major label metal act. Back in 2013, I ended my review of All Is One by urging the band and the label not to “fuck with the formula.” The new record, which I was not impressed by, was being released only three years after the incredible The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR. All Is One lacked the depth and force of any of the band’s previous material, a fact which I attributed to the album not having been given the time it needed to germinate. But I didn’t fully realize that since the release of 2011’s The Road to OR-Shalem, the formula had already been pretty well fucked. The first drop was Matti Svatizky in 2012, he was followed by Yossi Sassi in 2014. Both the guitarists had been in the band since 1992 and Yossi is the one I have always associated with Orphaned Land’s characteristic “oriental”+prog rock sound. With Yossi’s departure, it was hard to not imagine that decline was inevitable. So I admit that I approached Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs with mixed feelings and a healthy dose of dread.” Fear and the Orphan.

Rotheads – Sewer Fiends Review

Rotheads – Sewer Fiends Review

“From Leonitus in the Republic of Plato to sad, lonely, middle-aged women reading the barely literate depravity of Fifty Shades of Grey, the ugly, vile, visceral, and disgusting has a wide-ranging abhorrent appeal. Death metal, our chosen disgusting delicacy, revels in refuse instead of aiming for transcendent beauty. Romania’s Rotheads have, with their debut Sewer Fiends, gone straight for the most repugnant place they could envision, and through their music they try to bring the listener down to grovel alongside them.” Filth hounds.