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.

Continue reading

Ulcerate // The Destroyers of All
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Tons of potential here
Label: Willowtip Records | Hammerheart Records (EU)
Websites: ulcerate-official.com
Release Dates: Out for a long damn time

Being a well on the way to aging angry metal nerd, I have a stomach that is not quite as leadbellied as it used to be, and many of my friends and acquaintances are under similar circumstances. There’s only so much beer and whiskey a stomach can handle before it gets a little acidic (although I continually go back to testing the limits every now and then). Hence I’ve been quite amused by the band name Ulcerate since they stormed the realm of heavy music with 2009′s Everything is Fire, which was one of my favorite albums of that year. The title track of that album was very impressive (one of my favorite metal songs of recent memory), as well as the rest of it (that album is nasty!). 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 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.