Angry Metal Guy

Toxic Holocaust // Conjure and Command
Rating: 4.5/5.0 —All hail, no fail!
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: myspace.com/toxicholocaust
Release Dates: Out this week!

The one man thrash brigade is back! That’s right, Joel Grind has crawled back from beyond (Oregon) to hammer us with yet another splatter platter of ugly, primitive but oh-so-good 80′s retro thrash. Mr. Grind has been mucking about as a one-man-band in the retro world since 99′, which makes him one of the originators of the ongoing thrash revival. Whether you love him or hate him depends on your tolerance for thrash and reliving the past. Regardless, here on album four, Conjure and Command, he makes it clear he’s not going away anytime soon. Conjure is yet another huge slab of golden age thrash, written by a true fan of the style for fans of the style. As the album unspools, the listener will hear references to all the great 80′s thrash icons and it plays like a thick, meaty stew loaded with Bay Area and Germanic ingredients. Its almost as if Mr. Grind stumbled across a creepy, Ed Gein style yard sale, the kind with plenty of scary old dolls and strange stuffed animals. Tucked away in the back was a bloody box loaded with the missing riffs of Kreator, Slayer and Destruction. Needless to say, that box was plundered mightily during the making of this album. If thrash gives you a rash, here is your chance to flee. If you feel the need for speed, read on. Continue reading

Assaulter // Boundless
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Blackened Kreator with Middle Eastern accents
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: myspace.com/burningfront
Release Dates: EU: 2011.03.11 | US: 03.15.2011

An extreme metal super-group from down under? Intriguing eh mates? Assaulter is a slightly blackened thrash band featuring S. Berserker, formerly of Deströyer 666 on guitar, bass and vocals and Peter Hunt, formerly of Razor of Occam on drums. For the Australian extreme metal scene that’s pretty super indeed. Boundless is their second album under this moniker and it’s a hefty slice of good old fashioned thrashing lunacy with enough black metal and Middle Eastern influences to make them stand out from the likes of Legion of the Damned and their modern thrash brethren. After never hearing of these guys before, this impressed me enough that I felt compelled to track down the debut as well and I feel on solid ground saying they’re onto something here sound wise. It’s not reinventing the blackened thrash wheel or doing anything truly revolutionary but this is still some solidly ugly, brutal stuff and well executed at that. Continue reading

Assassin // Breaking the Silence
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Tanks for the memories [HEAD ASPLODE! - AMG]
Label: SPV Records
Websites: assassin-online.de | myspace.com/assassinthrashmetal
Release Dates: EU: 2011.02.28 | US: 03.22.2011

It’s old folks week at the Angry Metal Guy offices. That’s because I, Steel Druhm, am officially old and I’ve been tossed assignments for Tankard, Jag Panzer and now, Assassin, the long running, though unproductive German thrash troupe. Along with the aforementioned Tankard, Assassin was part of the German wave of thrash that hit in the mid 80s. Also like Tankard, these guys were in the back of the pack, far behind luminaries like Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. Their 86′ debut The Upcoming Terror was solid, reminded me of a poor man’s version of Artillery (who were amazing on their first two albums by the way) and some even considered it a cult classic. Their 88′ follow up Interstellar Experience was actually less than stellar and passed without much fanfare. After that there was a long period of inactivity due to equipment theft and they didn’t resurface until 2005′s The Club which was uninspiring to say the least (flaming coyote poo to say the most). Now they’re back with album four, Breaking the Silence and a nifty looking cover featuring the return of those bad ass tanks from their debut. So, did these gents fare better than those booze-hounds in Tankard whose album I only just defiled via review? Has the worm turned for these stoic thrashers or was their reformation as unfortunate an idea as wasabi flavored gummy bears? All these questions and more shall be answered so read on intrepid metal fans. Continue reading

Tankard // Vol(l)ume 14
Rating: 2.0/5.0 — The party’s over
Label: AFM Records
Websites: tankard.info | myspace.com/tankardfrankfurt
Release Dates: EU: 2011.02.21 | US: 12.28.2010

Wow, back in the day when the first few Tankard albums stumbled into the light like a wino from a dark alley, I never imagined these guys would be around very long. While amusing, they were the essence of a third tier act and didn’t stand out all that much even in the heyday of thrash. Well, since I now find myself reviewing album fourteen by these alcohol fueled Germanic thrashers, I would say I was pretty wrong about my initial impressions.  While these guys were never in the same league as Sodom, Kreator or Destruction they still managed to become an enduring and productive minor league team. Unlike their bigger peers in the German thrash scene, Tankard was always silly, tongue-in-cheek and largely wrote on the few topics they knew best: drinking, partying and alcohol. Since I myself was a hard partying youth, I casually enjoyed their Chemical Invasion and The Morning After releases for their good humor and frantic pace. After that they dropped off my radar and only in the past week did I start getting to know the Tankard again. Although the goofy, “anything goes” feel is still there, the music and writing doesn’t hold up like I remember it. Once the nostalgia factor wore off, things started tasting a little skunky. Continue reading

Destruction // Day of Reckoning
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Germans do beer and thrash better than you.
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: destruction.de/ myspace.com/destruction
Release Dates: EU: 18.02.2011 | US: 03.08.2011

Some bands age like fine wine, some like sushi. It’s a fact of life and we see it demonstrated time and time again. Today we examine the shelf life of Destruction. These gents have been around forever and started life as one of the big three of the Germanic thrash invasion of the early 80′s along with Sodom and Kreator. Their early releases were classics and seminal reference points within the genre. After being dead for the better part of the 90′s, they reformed in 2000 and started life anew as part of the reawakened thrash scene. Since then, Destruction proved themselves to be firmly on the wine side of the aging formula and the reunion albums ranged from good to great with none better than 2008′s D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. Here on Day of Reckoning, their eleventh platter, Destruction once again prove they’re seasoned elder statesmen of thrash with no sushi in sight. This is yet another slab of righteous, riotous thrash with tons of hooks and it demands the horns be raised high in homage. Continue reading

Sodom // In War and Pieces
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — The saw remains the law
Label: SPV/Steamhammer Records
Websites: sodomized.info | myspace.com/sodom
Release Dates: EU: 10.23.2010 US: 01.11.2011

Sodom, sweet Sodom, ever so reliable and happily predictable. They’re the thrash equivalent of your favorite concert t-shirt. It’s always there for you, it’s comfortable, beer soaked and you go way way back together. Since 1982 these German metal-meisters have given us thrash and more thrash with very little stylistic variation or experimentation and for most long time fans, that’s just how we want it. After all, Sodom always specialized in simple, brutal and dirty thrash metal with punk influences and they were proud to be a thrash band even when thrash wasn’t “cool” anymore. I never had to waste time worrying if they would start exploring jazz fusion, ambient soundscapes or become self important about the message in their music. No sir, Sodom was just Sodom. Thankfully, the comforting non-progression continues on In War and Pieces, their thirteenth platter and they continue to deliver their battle tested (and themed) thrash lunacy. Continue reading

Interment // Into the Crypts of Blasphemy
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Derivative of good, but still good.
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: interment.se | myspace.com/intermenthorde
Release Dates: EU: 02.08.2010 | US: 08.31.2010

Here we go again. I have in front of me the new album Into the Crypts of Blasphemy by long, LONG time members of the old school Swedish death metal scene, Interment. These guys existed in the late 80’s/early 90’s alongside the forefathers of the genre like Entombed, Grave and Dismember, but other than a few demos and such, this is their first real release. So where are we going again exactly? Bear with me and all will be revealed. Continue reading

Angelus Apatrida // Clockwork
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Enjoyable, hungry, not so sticky.
Label: Century Media
Websites: angelusapatrida.com | myspace.com/angelusapatrida
Release Dates: EU: 21/22.06.2010 | US: 06.29.2010

Angelus Apatrida is a Spanish thrash metal band founded in the early 2000s, that is now putting out it’s third record, but Clockwork is the first for one of metal’s biggest labels: Century Media. So when I got this record, I just kinda went “who?” and went on with my day not thinking much of it. The name, which roughly translates to “fallen angels”, means nothing to me and has been sorta flitting in and out of my brain and while I was surprised to stick this in and hear thrash metal screaming at me (that’ll teach me to not read the bio first), I wasn’t really sure that there was anything here that would stick. Continue reading

Watain // Lawless Darkness
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Black metal excellence
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: templeofwatain.com | myspace.com/watainofficial
Release Dates: EU: 07.06.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

This Angry Metal Guy rips on black metal a lot. One of the most overdone and ill-performed genres in the history of metal has to be black metal. The problem is that when black metal is performed poorly by individuals who are not invested in it, then black metal is boring, simplistic and uninteresting. But when black metal is performed with the force and fanaticism of Sweden’s very own Watain, then it is a force to be reckoned with. And finally Lawless Darkness the new full-length from this Uppsala/Stockholm, Sweden-based black metal act is here and it is a force be reckoned with. It harkens back to the days of yore, when black metal was new, vile and most importantly, dangerous and excellent. Continue reading

Barren Earth // Curse of the Red River
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Stellar
Label: Peaceville
Websites: barrenearth.com | myspace.com/officialbarrenearth
Release Dates: EU: 29.03.2010 | US: 04.06.2010

Barren Earth took me completely by surprise. As a rule I do not post reviews of records from labels that do not send me promos of them. I think it’s a disincentive for them to do so and generally bands don’t deserve the promotion. However, sometimes bands come onto the radar that I can’t ignore, as is what happened when I picked up this new Barren Earth record on a total whim. In fact, I didn’t even know that this band had ex-members from Amorphis, the drummer from Moonsorrow, the guitarist from Kreator or the vocalist from Swallow the Sun involved—or that it was mixed by Dan Swanö. I guess I should have expected that this would be a great record…

And great it is. No normal “super group” kind of album (you know, the kind that lacks a soul), this project has taken time to gestate and turn into a real band and the listener definitely gets that feel. If we start at the top and work our way down; one of the thing that stands out about this project is definitely how cohesive the record is. This is not an album with a “hit or two,” but instead a complete album that flows beautifully and is meant to be listened to from beginning to end every time you break it out. Not to say that the tracks aren’t strong, because they really, really are. The opening track on the album “Curse of the Red River” blends death metal pig squeels with a Jethro Tullesque flute solo and excellent melancholic melodic riffing. “Flicker”, another of my favorites, twists and turns from strumming acoustic guitars to machine gun double bass and bestial growls and back, showing off what dynamics can do for a band who is intent on using them to their full extent.

Curse of the Red River is, if you haven’t figured it out, the unholy union of Amorphis and Opeth. If you take Still Life and Blackwater Park era Opeth and mixed it with Elegy and Tuonela-era Amorphis, this is probably what it would sound like. You can hear the kind of mid-paced melodies that you get from those mid-era Armophis albums, for sure. But with the vocal breadth and dynamism that vocalist Mikko Kotamäki displays gives this a much deeper, heavier feel than anything they were putting out during that era. His vocals stand out from the background and offer that perfect contrast, with a good, smooth clean tone and amazing growls which give a force to the tracks that would be sorely missing if performed by anyone else.

The band, in what is quickly becoming a progressive death metal genre in the wake of Opeth‘s gigantic popularity, does an excellent job of blending the styles of doom and death metal with beautiful clean vocals and acoustic parts. However, unlike some bands who are intent on sticking clean vocals into the music, these guys aren’t just building tracks that are throwaway vehicles for a big chorus. Instead, they have all the intensity and melancholy that you expect of the genre and the band involved. On top of that, Barren Earth has a sense for catchy guitar melodies that really stick in your head, leaving the listener humming them for hours after listening to the record.

My biggest complaint about this album, honestly, is that it’s a little too easy to draw the continuous comparisons to Amorphis and Opeth as I’ve done here. Particularly the former band is ever-present in their sound. This isn’t bad, but one wonders if in the long run this will sit well with listeners, or if they won’t just go back and take out Elegy and Tales from the Thousand Lakes and relive something that happened a couple decades ago. While I personally think that this record will probably rank high at the end of the year list, I think there is a possible critique with it being considered too derivative and thereby losing some if its credibility. But personally, this Angry Metal Guy thinks that’s bullshit and will be listening to this album in as much free time as he can spare…

‘Cause it’s fucking great.