Angry Metal Guy

Marduk // Iron Dawn EP
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Laying down the gauntlet for mass-obliteration.
Label: Regain Records | Blooddawn
Websites: marduk.nu | myspace.com/truemarduk | marduklegion.com
Release Dates:  Out now
By: Nemesis

Marduk stand as one of the most revered and influential black metal acts on the planet. They were hugely significant to me personally when I was fresh to all things diabolical in metal. Albums such as Heaven Shall Burn as We Are Gathered, Nightwing and especially the faultless Panzer Division Marduk are masterpieces straight from the abyss. I’ve always maintained this band as the uglier brother of fellow countrymen Dark Funeral, never quite as ambitious, but much rawer in their approach. Continue reading

Ragnarok // Collectors of the King
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — If it ain’t baroque…
Label: Regain Records
Websites: ragnarokhorde.com | myspace.com/ragnarok
Release Dates: EU: 22.03.2010 | US: Never?

It’s about time someone took black metal to some new exciting levels. A music style can only go so far until it becomes somewhat stale, and for every album released, there are ten others that do the same thing – and almost none of the time is it markedly better. Black metal is no exception, and I have a lot of respect for bands that try something new and innovative. But there are some bands that don’t need to. Some bands, no matter how many albums they release of the same style, never grow stale and are always the best of the trade when it comes to the style of music they perform.

Among the ranks of bands that perform excellent black metal that never seems to grow stale is Ragnarok. Normally overlooked by fans of black metal, they’ve been going since 1994. Something I cannot understand is how a band that has been going for 16 years, with 6 full length albums (Which are all very critically acclaimed, may I add) can be so criminally overlooked by the general community of black metal fans. Judging by the quality of this record, fans of black metal really need to give this band some needed attention.

A lengthy six years had passed since their previous offering Blackdoor Miracle, a critically acclaimed album that is worshiped by their fans and I cannot see Collectors of the King disappointing anybody at all. Instead, Ragnarok really do show they know exactly what they are doing on this record with monolithic black metal riffs soaring through the air, a distinctive dark and brooding feeling, a blisteringly fast tempo on nearly every song, beautifully performed drumming and well written satanic lyrics. To top it off, Ragnarok add their highly competent songwriting to this angry, dark and frostbitten cake. Every song here is multi-layered and dynamic, which keeps the listener interested until the very end, giving you the urge to play the album again.

The melodies displayed in this album are a definite highlight. They lay on top of the thick, distorted chords beautifully. The melodies themselves have a distinct Windir (ca 1184) or Taake feel to them; there’s a subtle folk influence here – just not in the form of traditional folk. If these songs were at walking pace, you’d find yourself marching to them, preaching the gospel of Ragnarok. They’re engaging and memorable, to the point where I could even recommend this to folk metal fans that don’t really appreciate black metal.

Every track is a triumph in its own way (with the exception of “Resurrection”, which is the fairly useless intro clocking in at less than a minute). If you’re thinking of checking this out, I’d definitely listen to the title track—”Collectors of the King”—it’s probably the highlight of the album. The only criticism I have towards this track is the fact that it ends too soon, I feel like it could have been stretched a bit more and given more of a gradual ending rather than it coming as a surprise. Every song seems to have this feel – but it’s a small niggle.

It’s difficult to go so in depth about an album that doesn’t step a toe out of line. The bottom line is, if you like black metal, you’ll love this. If you’d like to start getting into black metal, this is an album I’d recommend to you. It’s accessible (as far as black metal goes), engaging and superbly executed. Perhaps this will give Ragnarok a place among the kings of black metal, I feel they have earned it. Fans of Taake, Windir and Tsjuder can rest easy with Collectors of the King. As far as modern black metal goes, this is the best you can get.

Arckanum have signed with Sweden’s very own Regain Records! Just got the press release. The band has a new record coming out this year called Sviga Læ and it should probably be fucking awesome.

Swedish black metallers Arckanum have inked a deal with Regain Records. Shamaatae (all instruments) states: “It feels really good to work with Regain Records. The new Arckanum album ”Sviga Læ” is a dedication to Surtr; Giant and Ruler of the world of flames Múspellzheimr, and Loki; the Flaming Giant and Archenemy of the worlds. ”Sviga Læ” is a manifestation of the blazing Chaos and the burning of the gods.” ”Sviga Læ” is scheduled to be out later in 2010.

Arise // The Reckoning
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Nostalgic and enjoyable
Label: Regain Records
Websites: ariseonline.com | myspace.com/ariseonline
Release Dates: EU: 22.03.2010 | US: 04.06.2010 [or out now?!?]

Arise was a little late on the uptake on the first go around of the Gothenburg sound—forming in 1996, but really getting their first demo out there in 1998 and getting signed about the time that all the death metal elitists I knew were already writing off the sound as “done”. However, unlike most of the bands from that era, they are still alive and kicking and putting out music of the style that was popular at the time. There’s some confusion about this record, which according to some sources came out last year, but it’s being promoted right now by Regain with a release date of the 22nd of March (which means it’s out now). It has, indeed, been a few years since Arise put out their last album, but even with the departure of two members, they don’t seem to have lost any steam.

Now don’t get me wrong, you could probably hum each of these tunes the first time through. If you’re even slightly familiar with the Gothenburg sound from the early/mid-1990s (Hypocrisy, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, At The Gates) then you have heard this band before a bajillion times. You probably first heard it when the Swedes did it. Then you heard it again when the Americans did it. And now there are some Swedes doing it again, and showing that when done without breakdowns and hardcore screams it can still be a sound that’s engaging and fun to listen to.

The record starts off with a bang, bursting out the door with the track “Adrenaline Rush”, which clocks in at under 2 minutes long, and it’s really pretty much a thrash and headbang fest for the next 41 minutes and 20 seconds. Aside from the track “Pitch Black”, a borderline Meshuggah-esque mechnical metal kind of track, these tracks are all pretty much the kind of thing that you are familiar with from Slaughter of the Soul. But, while not novel, it certainly is well done. Particularly the title track, “The Reckoning” and the final track “End of Days” stood out for me.

Fans of melodeath should definitely check this record out. It could be slightly addictive to the right listener, I think, but if you’ve had your fill of the Gothenburg sound then this is probably a record you can skip. That said, these guys are really good at what they’re doing. The songwriting is concise and addictive and the feel is heavy and solid and hasn’t lost any of its original intensity, like some of the other originating bands (who we won’t mention here—but who know who they are!) from the Gothenburg scene. All-in-all this is a very good record, it just lacks the novelty that the metal scene craves to keep itself fresh.

Trident // World Destruction
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — OK, but not special
Label: Regain Records
Websites: trident666.com | myspace.com/tridentofficial
Release Dates: EU: 22.03.2010 | US: 04.06.2010 [?]

An outgrowth of the ideas of a former Dissection guitarist (Johan Norman) and a couple of members of the band Necrophobic, Trident hits the stores on the 22nd of March throughout Europe and hits a totally virgin audience. These guys pretty much came out of nowhere—having basically played locally in Sweden and apparently they circulated a demo or something that got them picked up by Regain. Formed in 2007, Trident is a blackened death band in the veins of the aforementioned bands and is yet another Swedish assault on Christendom and the senses that will surely inflame passion in some corners.

World Destruction is not a revolutionary record that is going to make you want to drop everything and jump on the new wave of Swedish blackened death or anything. It is that good blend of black metal and Swedish death metal that bands like Necrophobic and Dissection have done extraordinarily well over the years. The vocals are raw and evil, high in range and they match the blast beat laden rhythm section well. The guitar work is well done, fast, sweepy with lots of trem picking and staccato riffing and it’s pretty much par for the course. However, the dynamic nature of the record is pretty much fast, faster and fastest. There are very few slow parts, but when they do come up they are more than welcome—interrupting what, at times, can start to lose its extremity because of its uniformity.

Let’s cut right to the core of this record, though: you have totally heard this before and you’ve heard it done way better. While there are standout tracks (particularly toward the end of the record), World Destruction is not a standout record. The riffs are good, the players are excellent and the production is solid. But often times the guitar melodies are weak, the song structures are standard and there are only a few moments that break away from this monotony. Which is sad, because there are excellent ideas on World Destruction. But instead of being executed well and offset by something a little bit more unique or technical, it pretty much just feels like run of the mill blackened  death metal.

Fans of the aforementioned bands and the Swedish black metal scene will probably find things they like on World Destruction. Particularly the tracks “Stockholm Bloodbath”, “Slaves to Anguish” are strong and the title track “World Destruction” is a total fucking scorcher, with amazing riffs, vocal performance and feel. But sadly enough, World Destruction, unlike its title track, is largely unmemorable and uninteresting. We know what the guys in this band are capable of, and therefore look hopefully to future releases—but this isn’t going to replace any of your Dissection or Necrophobic records in your playlists.

Månegarm // Nattväsen
Rating: 4.5/5.0 – Excellent! Sounds a lot like Vargstenen, but who thinks that’s bad?
Label: Regain Records
Website: myspace.com/manegarm | manegarm.com
Release Dates: EU: 19.11.2009 | US: 11.22.2009

Nattväsen (Night Creatures) is the name of the new Månegarm record, and one that works well with the feel of the entire album. Clocking in at a good LP length of 45 minutes, this record explores musically and lyrically the fears which we as humans have had as long as there has been night. Those fears of the things that creep out of sight, be it the ghost of a mountain (“Bergagasten”), the creatures in our dreams (“Nattsjäl-Drömsjäl”) or a mythical creature (“Draugen”). This concept seals together a record of some of the best folk/viking metal that is currently available by any band.

Honestly, I’m a sucker for Månegarm‘s style. It’s like a great big blend of Otyg and Amon Amarth. Fusing the melodic death metal with more clean vocals, folky riffs and melodies and violins leads to some of the best riffing and memorable tracks I’ve heard on any record this year. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you rock out at the time and then, later, when you’re doing whatever you’re doing (in my case it was doing dishes—you know, angrily.. ’cause that’s what Angry Metal Guys do..) you start whistling melodies.

Really, the songwriting is great. While the structures are often pretty traditional, they keep it fresh enough with a good mix of thrashy clean vocals, good vocal harmonies and death metal vocals that you never feel like they’re falling into too much repetition. The musicianship isn’t over-the-top progressive, but there are some pretty bad-ass electric violin solos from the poofy-haired member of the band (Jan Liljekvist) and the band is equally comfortable writing good clean parts, and even a full acoustic track (“Delling”) which signals the dawn of a new day.

It is this kind of musical and conceptual cohesion that makes Månegarm the cream of the crop in this genre right now. Their ability to consistently write intelligent, coherent records that smack of musical taste and maturity at the same time as writing addictive, sing-songy melodies (visor) is something that I think is phenomenal. There are not many bands that have the same musical breadth and depth as Månegarm does, while not making their music pretentious and out of reach. And while this record is not a terrible departure from Vargstenen, why break down the formula that is obviously working for them? The only major format change is that it feels like the songs have more folk-breakdowns than on Vargstenen.

Simply put, there isn’t a bad track on this album. My favorite is “Nattsjäl-Drömsjäl,” but every song on here, including the acoustic one, stands up to the test. The band also does a good job of linking things and creating a feeling of creepiness and uneasiness at various points in the album, which definitely lends to the concept being such a phenomenal success (see: “Hraesvelg” and “Nattväsen” for examples of this).

All-in-all, this is a great record with all the working parts in order. I honestly hope this record thrusts the band more into the public with some better promotion and a good touring package or two (you hear that Heathenfest organizers? These guys are so much better than fucking Blackguard). Sure, all the lyrics are in Swedish, so it’s a little harder for an English language audience to really pick up on it, but Ensiferum and Korpiklaani really enjoy more success internationally—I’d like to see the same for these guys, because they deserve it.

Gorgoroth – Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt
Rating: 3.5/5.0 – Not the barely controlled chaos of the King/Gaahl years, but old school and well done
Label: Regain Records
Websites: gorgoroth.info | myspace.com/gorgoroth
Release Dates: EU: 21.10.2009 | USA: 11.11.2009

Gorgoroth is almost more infamous than famous these days.  Known for the extremity of its members, its outrageous and genuinely evil and offensive stage shows and, most recently, its law suit, the band has gained the respect of the black metal scene in recent years for moving ahead of the pack with a calculated but extremely raw sound.  2003′s Twilight of the Idols and the band’s 2006 release Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam had seen the band slipping from the hands of the former primary writer into the hands of King ov Hell.  With that, the sound of Gorgoroth became far more aggressive, blasty and chaotic.  Of course, with the split, Gorgoroth reverted to Infernus who wasted no time in producing a new ode to Satan: Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt.

Honestly, as a fan of the later Gorgoroth material, I was a little bit worried that this album was not going to be very good.  I certainly had come to see Gaahl and King ov Hell as the primary members of the band and as the blackened heart at the core of Gorgoroth.  However, that part of me had forgotten what a stellar album Destroyer was, in my ignorance.  Fortunately for me, Infernus came to remind me that Gorgoroth is far from done.  Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt should be seen as a statement of intent from Infernus, I think.  A reminder that Gorgoroth became a black metal powerhouse not through the later albums, but through the early albums which were instrumental in helping form what we see as the “traditional” black metal sound, but were still high quality black metal. All of the songs were written between 2006 and 2009, when Infernus was, in essence, being frozen out of the band and Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt puts this material forward and says “I never went away.”

Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt is definitely much more controlled and  conventional than the previous incarnation of Gorgoroth.  In fact, I was quite taken aback by it at first.  I had been expecting something else, and what stood out for me was how clean this record is and how it really is an orthodox but at the same time remarkably beautiful album. Black metal has always had a certain dark mystique for the majority of us who like it.  Raw, dark and extreme is what many look for, but I’ve always had a soft spot for bands like Taake who could weave good melodic influences into their work at the same time as being dark and extreme.  This is done beautifully on this album, which is littered with fetching harmonized tremello-picked guitar parts and even have chanting on the stand-out track “Satan Prometheus”.

In a way Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt is a return to form for the mighty Gorgoroth more than anything else. If you want to see the band as a band that was hijacked and has now been reclaimed, that is how this album plays. And I think it is a beautifully produced, well written album that balances old school, slow, riffy black metal with other more traditional black metal conventions.

A final note for the traditionalists: this was not recorded in a forest and therefore the production is probably too good for you. In fact, as I stated earlier, the production on this album is actually crystal clean and very well-balanced. The rawness and atmosphere of the older material isn’t there, even if the writing style is a lot more in that vein.  For me, this isn’t an issue. I like good production so long as it’s not over produced and this album isn’t overdone. And fans of the genre, honestly, should check it out.

Unfortunately, this review didn’t quite make it to 666 words either.

Marduk – Wormwood
Rating: 4.0/5.0 – Sure, they’re not breaking lots of ground, but they’re so damn good at it…
Label: Regain Records
Website(s): marduk.nu | myspace.com/truemarduk
Release Date(s): USA: 10.13.2009 | EU: Out now!

Marduk is legendary in the black metal scene for releasing some of the most ground-breaking black metal of its time. Records like Panzer Division Marduk and especially Heaven Shall Burn… When We Are Gathered considered two of the finest black metal albums ever released; the former having been likened to Slayer’s magnum opus Reign in Blood in reference to how it changed black metal by upping the ante.   However, like Slayer, few bands get a chance to redefine a genre more than once and Marduk is no different.  While Wormwood is an excellent example of the fact that raw black metal can still be made and can still be compelling, Wormwood isn’t a scene defining record.  It’s just a very good record.

But just because Wormwood isn’t going to change how you think about black metal, doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth picking up.  This album is chock full of amazing riffs, raw as fuck vocals and just plain all around black metal mastery. Honestly, the addition of Mortuus on vocals all those years ago was probably the best thing that happened to Marduk in a long time.  It changed the sound enough to make the band seem somehow “new” again, and added a rawness and just straight up evilness that sends chills up the listeners spine.   This guy is easily one of the best vocalists in black metal today, and after helping make Rom 5:12 a masterpiece, Wormwood is the perfect follow up.

Frankly, I have trouble finding anything to criticize about this record.  Sure, it’s not mind-blowingly new, but it doesn’t feel overdone or boring either. Even the slower parts on the record, like the intro to “As A Garment” work to push the record in a good direction, and every track is memorable on its own. As has become the standard for later Marduk, the breakneck speed has been slowed down some, but this doesn’t detract from the heaviness, the rawness or the atmosphere.  In fact, it adds to it.  And when it comes right down to it, how many bands can even say “Hey, we’re releasing studio album number 11,” and have it be such a tour de force as we see on Wormwood.

To be honest, the big surprise for me on this album is that I don’t ever remember these guys being so melodically “pleasing.”  I know it sounds like a weird thing to say, but I seriously never remember leaving with melodic riffs and leads from Marduk albums floating around in my head while I’m doing other stuff. However, on Wormwood there are definitely melodic pieces that really stand out. See the “chorus” in “The Fleshy Void” which is honestly one of the best black metal trem-picking riffs I’ve ever heard.  Extreme, heavy and, oddly catchy (without being cheesy).

I’d like to say that Marduk is back, but they never really went away. Wormwood is a continuation of a legacy of excellence that few bands can claim.  After a stretch of more pedestrian works these guys have rallied and come back as strong as ever with an excellent record that impresses and never, ever bores.

Hey you!  Go listen to the new Marduk track on Myspace!  Who’s stoked?  Oh, I am.  After Rom 5:12 you should be, too!