“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. The reviewing collective at AMG lurches from one new release to the next, errors and nOObs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if two three aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slavering masses their personal rankings of that discography.” Vote Goatwhore.
“Legendary sludge metallers Eyehategod is another high profile and revered NOLA band from the wrong side of the tracks, carving out a punishing career of ugly, hateful, feedback drenched sludge, including genre classics, Take as Needed for Pain and Dopesick. Built upon foundations of immense hardship, personal pain, resilience, and rocky turbulence, particularly those of troubled frontman Mike IX Williams, Eyehategod returned with a self-titled comeback album in 2014, their first LP since 2000’s Confederacy of Ruined Lives. It was a solid return, staying true to the band’s gnarled roots. The passage of time and age shall not weary Eyehategod.” Transient ugliness.
“Raging Speedhorn. Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time. And to be honest, I didn’t really expect to hear it again but it would seem it’s pretty Hard to Kill this six-piece from Corby in the UK. I first came across Raging Speedhorn when they opened the main stage at Ozzfest in Milton Keynes in 2001. I am almost certain that I saw them again at some point and, after conferring with one of my best mates, I think this may have been a rather unlikely-seeming slot opening for The Dillinger Escape Plan sometime around 2002 or 2003. I hadn’t thought about them since then until a few weeks back, when Holdeneye alerted me to the fact that we had received the promo for Hard to Kill and asked whether, as the only person to ever reference Raging Speedhorn on the blog, I was interested. Hell, why not.” Can’t kill the Horn.
“Through my obsession with Acid Bath, I developed a taste for other trailblazing NOLA bands, from Soilent Green, Eyehategod, Down and Crowbar, to lesser known acts, like underrated grind maestros Flesh Parade and Mule Skinner. The latter act released a gem of a lone LP in 1996 called Abuse that I snagged a CD copy of many moons ago.” Skin to win.
“Though buried deep underground, the metal scene has been a constant fixture in Australia for decades. While no genre is shirked, death metal seems to be the one that spawns in numbers comparable to the infinite variety of Tim-Tams that clog our biscuit aisles. And it’s not the couth, be-speckled type of tech-death either. No, it’s the putrid, knuckle-dragging variety – foul, angry music that is violence committed in red and black. This hostile predilection is a curious thing, it seemingly runs counter to our laidback, “she’ll be right” attitude.” No Serenity now!
“From the beginning, metal was the place for wayward souls to find refuge from society’s scornful gaze. Be you a high school drop-out, a Dungeons & Dragons bespectacled nerd, or just someone who didn’t click with the cliques, metal provided a soapbox to the disenfranchised yearning to give voice to their frustrations. Born from the rejection of consumerism and music’s increasing pomposity, punk too acted as a bulwark against the hegemony, drawing a rebellious fringe to its anarchistic bosom. As metal and punk grew in popularity, a disillusioned minority rebelled against their respective subculture’s dalliance with mainstream acceptance and fused elements of the two genres to create something truly repugnant: grindcore.” Hitting the Stonewall of grind.
“Some 20 years ago, several prominent NOLA scene members activated Goatwhore and a new beast and underground supergroup was born, most notably featuring Acid Bath/Crowbar axeslinger Sammy Duet and Soilent Green frontman Ben Falgoust. It took a while before Goatwhore perfected their blasphemous style of sludgy, death-infused black metal, striking pay-dirt with the back-to-back punch of 2006’s A Haunting Curse and 2009’s Carving Out the Eyes of God. Since then they’ve been treading water with a couple of solid but less engaging albums, lacking the staying power of their best work.” Goats are excellent swimmers.
“KforKill is either one of the most on-the-nose monikers for a death metal band you’ve ever seen or a segment on Sesame Street devised by a writer trying desperately to get fired. In this case it’s the former and as a mechanism for establishing listener expectations it does an effective job of priming you for what’s to come. It did get me thinking: can this rudimentary but direct approach to band names be applied to other styles? Black metal? CforCorpsepaint. Speed? BforBulletbelts. Power metal? DforDon’tbotherwastingyourtime.” That’s cold, man.
“It was bound to happen. As I’m sitting here, writing a review of the appropriately titled An Ill Wind Blowing, the second album by Swedish sludgemeisters Age of Woe, I gaze out the rear door and see picturesque blue skies, mild temperate winds, and a garden teeming with life and vibrancy, complete with a Godzilla statue wolfing down some unfortunate garden gnomes. This is all important to note because, just a full day ago, Hurricane Matthew beat the ever-loving shit out everyone in its path through the Bahamas and parts of Florida, including my sleepy neighborhood.” From the storm comes…doom.
“Dripping savagery and gnashing bared teeth, that can only mean one thing… Goatwhore’s back! For those not familiar with the piss and vinegar thrashing of Blood for the Master or going back a little further the Satanic ritual of The Eclipse of Ages Into Black, Goatwhore are a stewey blackened death “project” with an all American, New Orleans twist that borrows not only members, but also the subtle influence of metal veterans Crowbar, Acid Bath, Soilent Green and Nachtmystium.” Blackened swamp thrash hath returned.
