“Grey Skies Fallen have managed to fly under the radar here at AMG, despite releasing music for nearly a quarter century. While previous albums saw the band leaning into the more aggressive side of death-doom, the return of founding guitarist Joe D’Angelo has yielded a record steeped in the weepy sadboi doom of My Dying Bride and November’s Doom.” Three shades of Grey.
![The Crawling – All of This for Nothing [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The_Crawling_All-of-This-for-Nothing-01-768x768.jpg)
“U.K. doom-death act The Crawling had some decent to solid releases in the past, their doom-death style both familiar and comforting, but they never really blew me away. They’d been quiet since 2018’s Wolves and the Hideous White, but they roared back in a big way in August with their third album, All of This for Nothing. Taking their blend of influences ranging from Novembers Doom, Bolt Thrower, and My Dying Bride and pushing the envelope hard, they created what is their most expansive and entertaining album thus far.” Crawl on your knees, oh hear the ugly voices.
“Long, long ago (1995 to be exact), an unheralded Green Bay, Wisconsin act named Dusk threw their hat in the death-doom arena and dropped a short debut titled …Majestic Thou in Ruin. I stumbled upon it in a record store while in law school and bought it based entirely on its tranquil cover art. I was quite taken with what was inside too, and the band’s rough, raw, yet highly atmospheric style resonated deeply. Dusk walked the same morose and tortured territory as diSEMBOWELMENT, but they opted to stick closer to the doom side of things, at times almost venturing into early My Dying Bride / Anathema soundscapes.” Dusk and her replace.
“When we discuss this majesty in metal, common threads lead to Fleshgod Apocalypse and Septicflesh and their ominous orchestras, the strength of battle in the rhythms of Bathory and Amon Amarth, while colossal vastness grants Ahab its weight or Ataraxie its bleakness. Germany’s The Circle utilizes all of the above in its dense and expansive blend of melodic death, doom, and black metal, capped off by symphonic soundscapes and a Gothic vocal style.” Might, majesty, and muscle.
“The mysteries of old school death metal are as arcane and unknowable as the most opaque of graduate school philosophy textbooks. The genre ingredients are so rudimentary, yet they can be bent, twisted, and deformed into a seemingly endless tide of horrific abominations. Back in 2020 Michigan’s The Glorious Dead tested their formulas fatal to the flesh on debut Into Lifeless Shrines, taking the basic OSDM blueprint and sprinkling in light prog and blackened elements.” Glory or bury?
“Has it really been 11 years since Saturnus last surfaced to drop a crushing doom album upon our bare naked toes? Though these perpetually depressed Danes were not part of the Peaceville movement in the early 90s spearheaded by My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost, they were right behind them, effectively covering much the same ground on albums like Paradise Belongs to You and Martyre. Talented but unproductive, they managed just three albums between 1997 and 2006 before taking 6 long years to drop 2012s Saturn in Ascension. More than a decade later, I’d written off the prospect of getting another Saturnus opus.” Reborn in the storm.
“Negative 13 first hit the scene way back in 2002 (at the time as Negative Theory) with their self-titled (again Negative Theory) sludgefest. Presumably, life happened, as it so often does, and their dozens of fans were left with a welcome mat tagged with a goodbye note. However, in this world that keeps on giving, the past couple years have allowed people to rekindle old hobbies (and ditch new hobbies), bake bread (and then never bake bread again), and, in this case, jam with old friends. Just like that, these reinstated Pittsburghers were able to reissue their previous album as Negative 13 and lay plans for their sophomore outing Mourning Asteri.” Positive negativity.
“Every now and then an unheralded act comes out of left field to whack you in the melon with a baseball bat forged of creativity and intensity. Colorado-based progressive death metal act Headshrinker just did that to me with their Callous Indifference debut. Combining rancid old school death with doom, suicidal-depressive black metal, and prog elements, this talented crew featuring members of Polyptych along with Havok’s Pete Webber on drums, created a deep dive into the complex and painful issue of mental illness and the soul-killing isolation and anguish it inflicts on those suffering from it. Feel good music this is not as the listener is plunged into a musical simulation of mental affliction with all its disorientation and unease.” Insanity and genius.
“I’ve had a few occasions now where I stumbled upon a promo in the never-ending heap and was beset by a vague sense of recognition. I’ll set out on a search through our vast archives, swearing I’ve read a review of this band or that, until I finally find the record in question, only to discover that the author of the review was, in a twist of truly Shyamalanic proportions, myself. This was not the case, however, for The Vicious Head Society, whom I still remember well as one of the most nonsensical names for a band I’ve had to cast judgement upon.” Extinction level head.
![Catalepsia – Inheritance [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Catalepsia_Inheritance-01-768x768.jpg)
“2020 felt like a year in which a lot of quality albums escaped our reviewing grasp. In some cases we simply didn’t get promo and in others we just missed the boat altogether because we’re fallible human beings. Count Inheritance, the sophomore album from Latvia’s Catalepsia, in the former category, and it was our loss for not getting our hands on this freaky beast way back in January.” Sleep studies.
