“”Blackened ambient dungeon synth”—thus read the descriptor for this promo. “Sounds fun,” I thought, even if it meant enjoying it ironically. Odyrmos are quite serious, however. Their name means “heavy lament,” and their chosen medium with which to express this is, oddly, a combination of melodic black metal and medieval dungeon synth.” Dungeon drapes and oceanscapes.
“With a one-sheet that closed with “FFO: Behemoth, Marduk, Watain, and My Dying Bride,” I expected competently played blackened death metal… with weepy violins, morose lyrics, or whatever else that could possibly be associated with My Dying Bride that would potentially throw a huge monkey wrench into the classic blackened death metal formula.” If you can dodge a wrench….
“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?
“Before I delve into the guts of this self-titled debut from Indiana’s Skeleton Wolf, I’d like to pose a question to our loyal readers here at Angry Metal Guy. What is your favorite drunken party metal album and/or band? You know the kind of metal that just lifts a gear and thrives with the accompaniment of alcohol.” Okay, who said Men Without Hats? You leave the hall right now!
Metal has been doing some collective soul searching for a while. The retro-thrash and retro-death movements – along with the ever-growing vest metal movement – have been built on a longing back to the simple, the original, the true. In this push, a lot of bands have been making the claim to the true metal legacy and Kobra and the Lotus are no exception.
Well, it’s been a very interesting year for me, Steel Druhm since joining Angry Metal Guy Industries in April. Despite the no pay, brutal hours, an Angry Metal Boss based overseas and enough hate mail to choke a Belgian aardvark, it’s been tons of fun and I wouldn’t trade one minute of it for a million Amorphis CDs. This year, like every other year, saw it’s fair share of shining metal moments and plenty of steaming crap as well. All things considered though, it’s a great time to be a fan of metal and there’s so much out there to choose from, it can get overwhelming trying to stay current and hear all the worthwhile releases. As the year winds down and we get set for the start of 2011, I want to wish all our readers a happy holiday season and give a big metal salute to all of you (and an extra big salute to the Angry Metal Guy himself for giving me a forum for my metal rants). I hope we were able to turn folks on to some quality music and generally entertain with our opinionated and self-righteous musings, ramblings, tirades, manifestos and diatribes.
