“I was saddened to learn that by skipping the first day of Eliminator Fest, I’d missed a performance by the band that I find myself covering today: Olympia, Washington’s Quayde LaHüe. After spending time with their debut album Love out of Darkness, I’m vowing to catch them live at some point, because these guys and gal kick some serious olde school ass.” Love in a dark place.
“When you see an album cover like this (painted by the drummer, no less), and a slogan that goes “In a doomed world, they must remain Thrice as Strong,” well, who wouldn’t grab this from the promo sump? Everyone but me, it seems. I’d never heard of Ogre before, despite these Portland, Maine doomsters having been around for twenty years now. It’s a great name for a band, though, and I love their use of the word “Thrice.”” Thrice pudding.
“The tides of progress in metal will never erode the bedrock of the genre, that special thing we call heavy metal. The mix of power, strength, hope, and joy inherent in this little slice of the metal pie will always appeal to many metalheads so long as the genre continues to exist. Fortunately for Screamer, there will always be a place for records like Highway of Heroes. Fortunately for us, this means bands like Screamer will continue to make them.” Your mom’s a… nah, too easy.
“Netherbird too evolved up quite a bit since the rocky, raw days of their youth. They’ve gone from garish gothic to contemplative pseudo-meloblack and the maturity required to handle that respectfully. Into the Vast Uncharted, then, is apropos, as despite that growth, Netherbird is a band searching for more.” Free (Nether)bird.
“I’ve always worried whenever a band leaves their roots behind to explore different paths that, depending on who you ask, either betray their humble upbringings (and rabid fanbases) or turn them into creative juggernauts. Case in point: Arizona’s Spirit Adrift, once a one-man doom metal project spearheaded by vocalist/guitarist Nate Garrett, has blossomed into a fully-realized heavy metal machine, and both 2016’s Chained to Oblivion and 2017’s Curse of Conception being radically different from each other in terms of both mood and style, but thankfully not quality.” Ancient Spirit.
“Please take a moment with me to enjoy the hell out of that album cover. It’s a thing of beauty, to be sure, and one can read many things into it about the music it might conceal: vibrant, complex, and eerie, to start with. And while the cover may not be A Feast for the Sixth Sense, it’s certainly a feast for the eyes.” Dead next door.
“Few metal bands use wrestling as a conceptual driving force and I don’t know why. It has everything a band needs to produce chaotic, vibrant, wildly imaginative music. Well, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, weighing over a thousand pounds for sure (five members), hailing from Oulu, Finland, please welcome old school heavy-metal body-slammers Wrestling. They’re here to bust your spine and insult your mothers with their speedy mix of Accept and Judas Priest on Ride on Freaks, their debut release.” Sweat and regret.
“Being that I don’t listen to Greece’s Firewind, the first time I heard of guitarist/songwriting Gus G. was when he replaced Ozzy Osbourne’s Zakk Wylde. So, naturally, I hated the guy. I know, it’s not his fault, it’s the circumstances. Like when the Yankees dropped Don Mattingly in favor of Tino Martinez. He filled the position well and achieved some great things, but it’s hard to replace someone who’s been the face of an organization (or a band) for so long. At the end (as far as the Yanks go), it wasn’t a complete bust. And, for Ozzy, it didn’t fucking matter anyway. Regardless, both sets of shoes are big shoes to fill. But, before all this, Gus G. was the dude that released the guitar wanking “masterpiece,” Guitar Master.” G is for guitar-gasm.
“There’s only so far you can go when you write Linkin Park rock/metal. That said, Judas is one of the more fluid albums the band has ever put to tape. It flows the way you’d want a rock album to flow. It doesn’t overdo it, like the balls-and-booze Sins and Bones, nor does it overcompensate (for lack of balls), like the growly Do You Wanna Start a War. And it has the passion to at least be convincing. There’re a few hard-rock flops but the band actually attacked Judas with the same ferocity as Do You Wanna Start a War. But, the wimpy growls are gone and Judas is the better for it.” The Wizard of Fozz.
“The Unity know a thing or two about history, two of its members having kicked tires in Gamma Ray for a spell, but the trip down memory that is their self-titled debut goes further than their own stomping grounds and offers an experience akin to a boisterous evening catching up with those legendary veterans. But this isn’t Just Another German Power Metal Band (JÄGPMB), as beneath the glossy Teutonic shell twitches layers of classic acts such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and – perhaps unsurprisingly – Helloween.” Who wants Jäger bombs?
