Angry Metal Guy

Har du nånsin märkt att svenska band faktiskt sällan får spela i Sverige? Det känns som de stora banden från Sverige åker på turné över hela världen men aldrig längre norrut i landet än Stockholm (om dom ens spelar i Sverige). De flesta som dyker upp gör så på festivaler under sommaren och helt ärligt är jag inget fan av festivaler (för dyrt för få bra band—undantaget är House of Metal, förstås). Men av alla svenska band som jag jättegärna skulle vilja se så finns det ett som jag aldrig lyckats se men måste se innan bandets slut: Shining. Jag vet att många inte skulle hålla med men jag tycker att Shining är lätt ett av Sveriges bästa band och medan VI: Klagopsalmer inte var lika bra som tidigare plattor, ser jag verkligen fram emot VII: Född Förlorare som släpps senare i år. Continue reading

Nox Aurea // Ascending in Triumph
Rating: 3.5 — Very good, but drags a bit at times…
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: myspace.com/noxaurea
Release Dates: EU: 05.07.2010 | US: 07.13.2010

Doom is something that I have really gotten a taste for in the last couple years. A lot earlier, when I was actually playing in a band with a lot of doomy tendencies, I was actually terribly bored by most of it. But with the release of some really fantastic doom records that I’ve gotten into, it’s been harder and harder to avoid it—I like doom a lot when it’s done well. In spite of that earlier distaste for the genre, the one area that I’ve always had a soft spot for, however, has been well done gothic doom. Particularly the stuff with the “beauty and the beast” style of vocal interplay between well done female vocalist and growls. While this sound is hardly novel in 2010, Nox Aurea has attacked it anew with their second release (and Napalm Records debut) Ascending in Triumph. Continue reading

Netherbird // Monument Black Colossal
Rating: 3.5/5.0 – Crappy name, but this bird can fly.
Label: Scarecrow Recordings
Websites: netherbird.com | myspace.com/netherbird
Release Dates: EU: 09.07.2010 | US: 07.20.2010

One thing that I love about heavy metal is that every time you think you have a pretty thorough knowledge of the overall scene, some band you never heard of slithers out of some crevasse and bites you in the ass. Sweden’s Netherbird is just such an ass biter and their second full length, Monument Black Colossal seemingly came out of nowhere and surprised me with some impressively done melodic black metal, despite the really crappy band name and nonsensical album title. What is it with Sweden and metal these days anyway? That place is crawling with quality, ass biting bands! Continue reading

Soilwork // The Panic Broadcast
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Commercial as hell…
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Website: soilwork.org | myspace.com/soilwork
Release Dates: EU: 02.07.2010 | US: 07.13.2010

Wow. So, it’s been like 10 years since I’ve listened to Soilwork and it turns out that they don’t sound at all even remotely the same. Sometimes a band falls off your radar and you don’t even think about them at all and honestly, Soilwork is one such band. Now, it’s probably not a surprise to anyone else but I was in utter shock when I turned on The Panic Broadcast to discover that the Gothenburg sound had totally been replaced by eurocore! See, now you’re laughing at my ignorance, but I’m a bit surprised. See, in Angry Metal World™ the last record that Soilwork released was actually The Chainheart Machine in 2000. And back then, these guys were playing a not-entirely-novel, but very, very good version of the Gothenburg sound. Turns out in the much lamer real world Soilwork has had a bunch of records and gotten a new vocal style, a new sound and hyper-produced. Continue reading

Witchery // Witchkrieg
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Riff after kick ass riff
Label: Century Media
Websites: witchery.se | myspace.com/witcherytheband
Release Dates: EU: 21.06.2010 | US: 06.29.2010

Hey, turns out that Witchery is releasing a new record in a few days. Far be it from me to not review this monster of a super group, especially given the news that got everyone pretty worked up: ex-Marduk vocalist Legion joined the band on vocals. Not only does this cement the band as serious super group (now sporting members or former members from Opeth, Séance, Bloodbath, Arch Enemy, Marduk, Devian, Spiritual Beggar, The Haunted, and Satanic Slaughter), but it adds a well-known quantity to the band. Turns out that Swedish scene is a tad bit inbred. But does this kind of caliber, and a back catalogue of well loved records mean that Witchery will hit home anew with their deathy brand of thrash metal in 2010? Continue reading

Grave – Burial Ground
Rating: 4.0/5.0 – Unbury this death metal monster!
Label: Regain Records
Websites: grave.se | myspace.com/gravespace
Release Dates: EU: 14.06.2010 | US: 06.29.2010 [Unsure]

It seems safe to say that after surviving 22 years, Grave has become an official death metal institution as well as being one of the founding fathers of the classic “Swedish death metal sound” along with Entombed, Unleashed and Dismember. Therefore, when the esteemed Grave Institute releases a new album, long time and newbie death heads alike should sit up and take notice. Burial Ground is album number eight for these long running purveyors of deathly tidings and being their usual consistent, quality selves, this is a solid, old school slice of vintage Swedish death metal but with a few surprises as well.

Continue reading

Istapp // Blekinge
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Retarded good.
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: istappofficial.com | myspace.com/istapp
Release Date: EU: 04.06.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

Sweden’s Istapp (translation: icicle) was a big surprise for this Angry Metal Guy. A Swedish melodic black metal from Blekinge Län (which is basically the far south of Sweden) I had never heard of them. They’ve been around in the scene for a while, apparently, having released several demos and then a demo compilation (with practically the same track list as Blekinge). More surprisingly, the band’s vocalist is reported to have been in Spawn of Possession until 2009, which is a strange connection given that the band is at almost the opposite side of the spectrum from the well known and worshiped tech-death band. But while Istapp isn’t going to win any awards with the hardcore fans of black metal with their clean vocals, their pristine production and their melody, they are certainly going to win a lot of fans who like their metal fast, melodic and, more importantly, awesome.
Continue reading

Watain // Lawless Darkness
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Black metal excellence
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: templeofwatain.com | myspace.com/watainofficial
Release Dates: EU: 07.06.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

This Angry Metal Guy rips on black metal a lot. One of the most overdone and ill-performed genres in the history of metal has to be black metal. The problem is that when black metal is performed poorly by individuals who are not invested in it, then black metal is boring, simplistic and uninteresting. But when black metal is performed with the force and fanaticism of Sweden’s very own Watain, then it is a force to be reckoned with. And finally Lawless Darkness the new full-length from this Uppsala/Stockholm, Sweden-based black metal act is here and it is a force be reckoned with. It harkens back to the days of yore, when black metal was new, vile and most importantly, dangerous and excellent. Continue reading

Aeon // Path of Fire
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Techy goodness
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: myspace.com/aeon666
Release Dates: EU: 21-24.05.2010 | US: 05.25.2010

Swedish death metal, I mean real Swedish death metal with the legacy of brutality that everyone can identify in the form of (insert your favorite Swedish death metal bands here) lives on in Aeon, a band that hails from Östersund a city in Jämtland (which is basically in the mountains and towards the Norwegian border). Östersund, while not known for its thriving metal scene, has indeed birthed one of Sweden’s current and most brutal death metal bands who were signed to Metal Blade and released an album a couple of years ago entitled Rise to Dominate which really excited fans of the tech and (more-or-less) brutal styles of death metal. I believe when I was introduced to them the words “fucking ridiculous” were definitely involved somewhere in that conversation. Continue reading

H.E.A.T. // Freedom Rock
Rating: 0.5/5.0 — Cynical bullshit
Label: Playground Music
Websites: heatsweden.com | myspace.com/heatsweden
Release Dates: Northern Europe: Out | Rest of Europe: 28.05.2010

It is more and more apparent to me every day that heavy metal is going into a hibernation stage. As an Angry Metal Guy I try to keep my ear to the ground for movement in a forward direction, particularly from younger people. Instead, there’s nothing but a rash of neo-heavy metal and thrash bands that flood the market as apparently 18 year olds all feel like the really missed out on thrash and are out of ideas. But what’s worse than kids writing thrash metal records that could’ve been written in 1982? Kids writing butt rock albums that should’ve been written in the dying throws of 1980s cock rock in about 1991. That’s right, H.E.A.T., from the same town as venerable rockers Europe have decided to run with 1980s action movie theme as the basis for their sound.

So, you know how this sounds. In case you don’t, it’s like Winger or Warrant or any other one of those generic, unremarkable 1980s butt rock bands that everyone was so happy to do away with in the early 1990s. But there’s a twist. Oh yes, a twist. (Actually there’s more than one.) Firstly, this is an intentionally radio friendly pop band that is having their sound driven by the pop music industry in Sweden towards short, catchy and, finally, TV friendly songs that are cynically aimed directly at the panties of middle aged women who were super sexy in 1986 and miss all the hairspray, stiletto heels and tight skirts (or just never stopped..). Secondly, these guys aren’t even remotely on the cutting edge of anything. They are pure nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia and I’m not actually sure how they sleep at night, because they must have no dignity.

But let me go on a little tangent before continuing this review. Let us remember that when Europe released their excellent first two albums (Europe, and The Wings of Tomorrow a record that I still regularly listen to) they were doing something new. Sure, they were trying pretty hard to be Thin Lizzy and they were cheesy as hell. But they were on the cutting edge of rock  (not as cutting as Bathory but, really, aside from that). They were part of a generation of young dudes who were breaking against the old traditions of masculinity by taking long hair, mullets and tights to extremes. They were writing Malmsteenesque guitar solos that still rule and they didn’t have producers standing at their backs (neither were they thanking slave drivers in their booklet). They were an independent group that got signed and wrote some great fucking music before finally selling their souls to the devil.

H.E.A.T. is the exact opposite of Europe. They are the exact opposite of forward thinking. They are the exact opposite of rock music rebellion of danger, of toughness and of anything except for pre-packaged commercial crap. They are nothing more than a repackaging of another schlager hit (complete with obligatory key changes in the final chorus). While they, surprisingly, do write their own music and are actually apparently fairly gifted musicians (there’s the occasional guitar solo that is really well done—like the one from the utterly cheesy “Danger Road”), the utter cynicism of this music turns my stomach.

Then again, I’m not the target audience by any stretch of the imagination. I feel like I’ve actually maybe been a little hard on the neo-thrash bands. Because thrash, while it maybe got a tad commercial when Metallica and Megadeth were on top of the world in the early 90s, isn’t the kind of thing that they’re expecting to have huge commercial success with. Drinking beer, rocking a Flying V and wearing tight jeans is still fundamentally metal and cool. H.E.A.T. is fundamentally neither of those things and if you’re a real metal fan you will not like this unless, maybe, you have an ironic mullet. Then it’s up in the air.