“These guys describe their sound as “imagine if Meshuggah couldn’t count,” describing a blend of the mathy pioneers’ wonky rhythms, Will Haven’s dissonance, Crowbar’s riffs, Car Bomb and Humanity’s Last Breath’s boundary-pushing technicality.” Baby’s got back (hair).
“The “for fans of” line in any given promo is a true test of character. While most bands crank out their faves, there are intriguing blends that grab attention. Most of these are disappointments, often running the gamut of extreme metal buzzwords only to be the latest act to sound exactly like In Flames, but there are others whose combinations are pretty accurate, like the tantalizing combination that the California-based Owdwyr boasts in its debut Receptor: from Car Bomb, Human Remains, and Fleshgod Apocalypse to composers like Bach, Allan Holdsworth, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. In essence, Owdwyr may be genius or not, but this trio is always batshit crazy.” Owdwyr812.
“A project of Sebastian Montesi of Auroch, Egregore, and Mitochrondrion, Atemporal offers death/black insanity with Thorn Genesis. Featuring homage to the blasphemous Scandinavian greats, twisted Lovecraftian apathy, and blazing death heft in equal and lethal doses, expect dissonance and intensity at every blind turn.” Atemporal parking only.
![Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Blindfolded-and-Led-to-the-Woods-Nightmare-Withdrawals.jpeg.webp)
“Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, is a band from New Zealand with a bit of a storied past. Originally starting off as a humor-centric deathcore group with bizarrely titled offerings like Armed to the Teeth with Jellybeans or My Vaseline Diaries, the song “Atop the Wings of a Magpie” changed everything. Dissonant interplay, ominous tempos, speedy riffs, and even a guest spot from Nile’s Karl Sanders replace mindless breakdowns and Psyopus-inspired wankery. Nightmare Withdrawals may not be their debut, but it’s their breakout album, and for good fucking reason.” Deliverance to quality.
“Ysgaroth is a “progressive extreme metal” band from Vancouver, their self-released Storm Over a Black Sea being their debut. While I’ve never entirely understood the phrase “extreme metal,” these Canucks throw everything and the kitchen sink into their poutine platter: black metal shrieks and tremolo, thrashy riffs, hardcore drumming, technical noodling, and avant-garde post-metal/sludge strangeness for a multi-car pileup with multiple fatalities.” Frequent wind.
“I hate being sick. I recently recovered from a cold that I received from my year-old nephew that me and the Mrs. Hollow kept passing back and forth to each other ad nauseam. If a cold can be that frustrating, puking is even worse—breaking out in cold sweats and chills while worrying about keeping any form of nutrition down is truly frustrating because nothing seems to make one feel better. It’s probably even worse vomiting fire, which apparently is something Australian death metal group Ignivomous has on their mind because that’s what their name means. Must hurt.” Burning throats and ears.
“Pretense is a bitch. I’ve found myself being more and more cynical through the years about people who claim to be the best at what they do. From athletes and artists to people I interact with on a daily basis, I prefer action and art to speak for itself. Therefore, I found myself suspicious with Filipino blackened death metal three-piece Deiphago, who proclaim to be ‘arguably the most violent band on the planet, as well as one of the most envelope-pushing.'” Heavy is as heavy does.
“The Schoenberg Automaton first caught my eye with their self-titled 2010 EP, which I probably found while browsing Bandcamp in a Meshuggah-induced stupor, keeping an eye out for anything promising that my penniless ass could download. The three-track tour de force immediately turned me on to the Brisbane based tech-death group and their jittering, atonal, and surprisingly refreshing style. Since that excellent EP, the Aussies have had three years to muster all of the necessary insanity for a full-length release that matches the intensity and freshness of those three songs which first put them on my radar. Vela had better damn well deliver.” Our man Kronos tells you about an Australian death crew you might have missed and probably shouldn’t have!
