King Crimson

Birth – Born Review

By Felagund on July 18, 2022 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, 28 comments

“As I listened to Born by Birth, it became clear I was witnessing another throwback progressive rock band being, well…born; one which harkens back to a bygone era of English prog majesty; less identified by the harder-edged, complex compositions of early Rush and more by the extended jams and intricate, less metallic instrumentation of King Crimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Genesis. These were the bands I’d fallen in love with during my earlier sojourns, and it’s clear the Birth boys feel similarly.” Born too late.

An Evening Redness – An Evening Redness Review

By Ferox on February 23, 2022 in Reviews, Drone, 14 comments

“”Only that man who has offered up himself entire to the blood of war, who has been to the floor of the pit and seen the horror in the round and learned at last that it speaks to his inmost heart, only that man can dance.” So goes a notable passage from Cormac McCarthy’s bleak masterpiece Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West. It’s a brilliant and endlessly quotable novel that serves as the source material for An Evening Redness’s debut offering of Americana-tinged drone/doom.” Harvester of Moon.

Heavy Meta – Mana Regmata Review

By Dear Hollow on February 15, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Mathcore, Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 29 comments

“Don’t get your hopes up, ye of heavy metal’s golden years. Heavy Meta is nearly everything you hate about today’s extreme music. Mathcore, black metal, noise rock, and prog all have a hand in this monstrosity, and if there is an inkling of distaste for any of these styles, Mana Regmata might need to come with a side of aspirin. Featuring a tongue-in-cheek moniker that you could proudly proclaim at any party, it’s a group that only jokingly defines itself as “blackened progressive cowboy nintendocore.”” Meta health.

Malady – Ainavihantaa Review

By Huck N Roll on December 7, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, 19 comments

“Malady might be the best-kept secret here at Angry Metal Guy World Headquarters. Aside from myself and old-soul-in-a-youthful-body El Cuervo, I don’t think anyone else has heard of them, let alone loved their first two albums the way we did. Maybe it’s because ElC and myself love to find obscure prog acts. Maybe it’s because these guys aren’t even remotely metal – in fact, maybe it’s because they remind us of early-era King Crimson and other prog-rock acts from a half-century ago that they tickle our fancy.” House calls with Doc Huck.
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Snares of Sixes – MoonBladder Review

By Carcharodon on October 5, 2021 in Reviews, Drone, 31 comments

“Jason William Walton. By my count, this guy has been a part, or founder, of at least 24 bands, collaborations and projects. Most notably, of course, as bassist (and sometimes songwriter) for the much-missed Agalloch. Other entries in Walton’s bio include folk-doom outfit Dolven, the bonkers electronic oompah of Especially Likely Sloth and progressive melodeath band Sculptured. Walton strides across broad musical lands, arriving at Snares of Sixes, an experimental collective ‘assembled, arranged and constructed by him.” Constructed insanity.

Tuesday the Sky – The Blurred Horizon Review

By Huck N Roll on September 1, 2021 in Reviews, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 13 comments

“Jim Matheos just might be the best guitar player nobody ever talks about. He’s all about tone, nuance, and restraint, which goes completely against the prog metal grain. I think of him as prog metal’s version of David Gilmour. I mean, Fates Warning, the man’s primary outlet, once released a progressive metal album with no guitar solos. Who does that? Matheos has been involved in a few projects that are well known and respected in the prog world – yes, Fates Warning, but also his Arch/Matheos albums with John Arch and OSI, his collaboration with Kevin Moore to name a couple. Tuesday the Sky, essentially a Matheos solo project, doesn’t fit in with any of these other projects.” Mindful Matheos.

Dawnwalker – Ages Review

By Twelve on December 1, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 26 comments

“It was a cold, rainy day outside the AMG offices (not that I’d know; I don’t have a window) when Huck N Roll spoke of Ages, the fourth full-length release from London, England’s Dawnwalker. “Prog death with folk undertones,” he says. “Billed as a mix of Opeth, Enslaved, and King Crimson,” he says. “I’m already busy or I would take it,” he says. Well, as I happened to be the only person in the room when he said all of this, I decided to take him up on the offer, and went in knowing only that.” Blind progress.

Exist – Egoiista Review

By Huck N Roll on September 12, 2020 in 2020, Reviews, Progressive Metal, 14 comments

“It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I heard of Exist. However, this Baltimore band has been around for over a decade, with their debut EP coming out back in 2010, and Egoiista is the group’s third full-length release. Most of the material here was conceived at the same time as the band’s last album, 2017’s So True, So Bound, and has been honed and refined over the past few years. Max Phelps is the leader here. He had a brief stint as guitarist in Cynic earlier this decade, and one can definitely hear that influence at times on Egoiista. This is a modern progressive metal album in the sense that it makes use of plenty of instrumental dynamics, and plenty of clean/harsh vocal transitions. Plenty of bands do this; not all succeed. So how about Exist?” Leggo my Ego!

Zedi Forder – Isolation (and Zedi Forder Superium – Judgement) Review

By Huck N Roll on May 21, 2020 in Reviews, Alt-Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, 43 comments

“As summer draws near, something has been lacking. Not the patio beers, or the large gatherings, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on until the kind lads from Zedi Forder sent me their latest work, Isolation, a few weeks ago. Then I remembered what an awesome summer band these guys are.” Wherein our hero writes a blog post about his summer drinking habits. Oh, and reviews a couple weirdo metal records from the band Zedi Forder.

Rose Tint: El Cuervo’s Discoveries of 2019

By El Cuervo on December 23, 2019 in American Metal, Blog Posts, Danish Metal, Dutch Metal, English Metal, French Metal, Heavy Metal, Non-Metal Metal Things, NWOBHM, Progressive Rock, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 56 comments

“Following my last couple of year-end lists, it should now not come as a shock that I spent more time fleshing out my historical knowledge of music than my contemporary knowledge. In honor of my abject failure in keeping my eye on the present, I have received approval to document my ever-deeper plundering of previous decades in an article detailing my favorite older records which I first heard in 2019.” Old things, young ears.