Angry Metal Guy

Zebulon Pike // Corpse is the Space of Time
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Yowza.
Label: Unsigned
Websites: zebulonpike.com | facebook.com/zebulonpike | myspace.com/zebulonpike
Release Dates: Out Now!

One of the simplest facts about Zebulon Pike is that they are a band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After that, things become much more complicated, as they engage in a genre of music that can only be described as auditory mad science. Formed in 2002, every single one of their albums has been a brain-demolishing piece of experimentation: And Blood Was Passion in 2004, The Deafening Twilight in 2006, and Instransience in 2008. With each release, they have become more dense, more intelligent, more volatile. Space Is the Corpse of Time continues this progression, spiralling out in a universe of it’s own making. Continue reading

Trillion Red // Two Tongues EP
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Gollum is puking.
Label: Unsigned
Websites: www.trillionred.com | www.myspace.com/trillionred
Release Date(s): February 2011

When a band states that they make “truly unique music“ or something to that effect, I’m always skeptical. Most of the time it just means that it a) sucks ass or b) isn’t “unique” at all, but just more of the same. Trillion Red, however, really do have a sound of their own, and it doesn’t suck. While you could just throw them on the huge pile of Neurosis copycats, it really wouldn’t do them  justice, because there’s more to their music. It has the typical ingredients of atmospheric sludge – the down-tuned guitars, the huge riffs, the minimalistic drumming, the synths – and, unfortunately, boring and sometimes awkward ambient sections.

Continue reading

The Fallen Divine // The Binding Cycle
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Loosely bound aggregate of excellent fragments.
Label: Unsigned
Websites: myspace.com/tfdofficial | facebook.com/fallendivine
Release Dates: Is it out? I could only find a couple tracks available online.
By: A Prospective Overseer of Unsigned Bands

The Binding Cycle is the first full-length album by Norwegian quintet, The Fallen Divine. Founded in 2009, and with one EP under their belt, the band worked with King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque at his studio, Sonic Train, to produce the album. And he produced the fuck out of them. The sound on this album is so clean it sparkles. Which is as it should be, because there is a lot going on and The Fallen Divine don’t want you to miss any of it. A self-described progressive metal band, they have a lot of influences and only one shot at showing you that they’ve mastered them all. Fortunately, they pretty much have. Continue reading

Bjørnar Selsbak // Rygteflom/Tunge Taarer
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Tons of potential here
Label: Unsigned
Websites: myspace.com/bselsbak
Release Dates: Out worldwide

So, a couple months ago I got Lumsk‘s debut Åsmund Frægdegjevar and I have to say that I was really impressed. It’s one of the most unique folk metal records I’ve ever heard. Slow, but the smart blending of progressive elements with traditional Norwegian folk music and the melodies was stellar. In fact, way better than their contemporaries in a lot of areas. However, I was soon informed to not check out the band’s later material, largely because the guitarist who had written the majority of it had left the band. This creativity, however, lives on in this single or EP (or whatever it is) released all these years later which is made up of two songs “Rygteflom” and “Tunge Taarer”. Continue reading

Shroud of Despondency // Dark Meditations in Monastic Seclusion
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Simultaneously beautiful and ugly
Label: Self-released
Websites: BandCamp | MySpace
Release Dates Digitally: Available Now | Physical: Feb. 12th, 2011 – Worldwide

Some say that the album is dead. And no, by this I don’t mean vinyl, because for all but the biggest audiophiles vinyl really is dead. I mean the album; a set of interconnected songs that form a whole, that induce you to sit and listen to them all and enjoy. Every truly monumental record is one of those kinds of records—one that should make you want to sit down and listen and just feel that swelling in the chest, or whatever you feel when you find something that really hits home. Few live up to this these days and I think there are several reasons for this—though, I’ll save those for another time. But Shroud of Despondency‘s Dark Meditations in Monastic Seclusion is one such record, a cohesive whole and a supremely honest offering which, for all its warts, is a tremendous piece of work. Continue reading

A Walk with the Wicked // Architects of Sadism
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — A Walk with the Up-and-Coming
Label: Unsigned
Websites: awalkwiththewicked.com
Release Date: January 28th, 2011

Old school death metal is making a comeback around the world and apparently South Africa is no exception to this rule. In fact, as I’ve already referenced, South Africa is an up-and-coming scene that seems to have little cohesive sound but still has a lot of talent in it. Because of that, whenever you get a demo from one of these bands it’s always a surprise—and this was an old school death metal surprise that came out in the form of A Walk with the Wicked‘s debut disc Architects of Sadism. It was also a pleasant surprise, at that. Continue reading

Crow Black Sky // Pantheion
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — A promising start!
Label: Unsigned
Websites: crowblacksky.bandcamp.com
Release Dates: November, 2010

One of the things that people have been lamenting about the dawn of the Internet and how it will affect the future of music is that localized scenes no longer get localized sounds—and Crow Black Sky is definitely an example of this. Or more specifically, the South African metal scene seems to be a great example of this. See, Crow Black Sky is a melodic death metal band, whereas the other two bands that I’ve heard from South Africa (Heathens and A Walk with the Wicked) are black metal/black n’ roll and old school death metal. Due to access to music and information worldwide, it sorta kills that homogenization effect that gigging together, hanging out together and shopping at the same record store seemed to cause. Is it possible that the black metal scene from Oregon is the last cohesive scene we’re going to ever see? Well, that’s not actually relevant to this review. What is relevant to this review is that despite (or because of) the lack of homogeneity in the South African scene every single one of these bands that I’ve heard has been really very good. Crow Black Sky being no exception. Continue reading

Sanity of Impiety // In Life We Despise
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Very Promising
Label: Unsigned
Websites: myspace.com/sanityofimpiety
Release Date: Available from December 17th, 2010

I know it’s not a popular standpoint, but I’ve actually been pretty critical of Sweden’s underground. It is true that Sweden has produced some of the best metal in the world, I still have a bit of a feeling of “What have you done for me lately?” While there are some great bands out there that we all know, the underground here since after that first wave in the early 90s just hasn’t been the same. However, in the last few years a new generation of Swedish death metal and black metal has started coming to the forefront. Sometimes these are older bands, but there are also a number of younger bands carrying on the banner of their proud Swedish heavy metal heritage and doing it well. Sanity of Impiety, from up north in Umeå (the same city which spawned Meshuggah, Naglfar, Cult of Luna and others) is certainly one of these bands. Continue reading

What was happening in your life in 1995? Maybe you weren’t into metal yet, or maybe you weren’t aware that there was something growing in the heart of Sweden that would soon be one of the most successful and influential scenes in the history of heavy metal. Between 1994 and 1996 a myriad of amazing records were released from Scandinavia, Sweden in particular, but also the budding black metal scene in Norway was going on and even Finland was producing Amorphis records. Katatonia released For Funerals to Come that year, as well as it being the year of the mighty Slaughter of the Soul in 1995 as well. Go through your iTunes or on RYM or wherever and check out what was going on.

For one group of Swedes, however, 1995 was a beginning that never really lead anywhere. The band was called Empuse, which was apparently some kind of blood sucking insect, and they won a contest. While they never got signed, they probably should’ve been. I was given their demo recently and I’m surprised at how forward thinking this record is, particularly having talked to the guy who wrote the songs who knew absolutely nothing of the other bands in the scene (and in fact has only recently started listening to Katatonia and Opeth). It’s like when you read about how certain things that are very similar to each other evolved in isolation (like the wolf and the dingo) from each other. It’s fascinating, and it’s a piece of metal history that unfortunately had been lost until now.

Check this demo out and try to put yourself in 1995 and see if you’re as impressed as I am with it. These are the two tracks and that’s the cover (just click and save it). They are definitely worth your time.

The Song of Revelation
Stirred by Blindness

Eternal Silence // The Arsonist
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Smokin’!
Label: Unsigned
Websites: eternaldeath.com | myspace.com/eternalsilence
Release Dates: Available now on Band Camp | iTunes, etc., 26th of March | Out on CD this summer

Eternal Silence is a death metal band that hails from New London, Wisconsin and has been around as long as this Angry Metal Guy has been into death metal. They started out in the late 90s, released a record in 98, an EP again in 2002 and then went silent—though they’ve been playing shows around Wisconsin and Illinois consistently. Like so many bands, they’ve suffered from issues surrounding labels, studios and band members, but somehow the core of this group has managed to stick together and stick it out. Sometimes stubbornness is really the best friend of a musician. Eternal Silence has shown that years of patience and hard work can pay off.

The Arsonist is the culmination of an 8 year wait and, while it’s a hell of a lot shorter than I would’ve expected after 8 years of silence, the record is smoking (no puns intended). Playing death metal in the style of Vader and Impious and rooted in the very foundations of the death metal scene, these cheeseheads have written 6 heavy, engaging and all around kick ass tracks. Normally one would try to highlight the best tracks on this record in order to explain what it was exactly that one liked or didn’t like: but to be honest every track on here is stand out. The excellent blend of old school death metal song writing, i.e., a little bit more verse/chorus than a lot of modern bands, with melodic riffing and no fear of groove results in evenly, smartly written tracks with a lot of dynamics that keep the listener hooked in for the entire length of the record.

The band is tight and long gone are the weaknesses that marred the 2002 release The Dawning of Chaos. While that previous EP was well-recorded, the rhythm section was tricky and weak at times and the writing of the tracks was a bit repetitive at times. The time down, and lots of live shows has definitely done Eternal Silence a lot of good and The Arsonist exhibits the kind of tightness and punch that one expects from good death metal. The situation on the low end especially has markedly improved since the 2002 EP and it’s nice, too, that the production leaves room for “new” bassist and bearded fiend Jake Fredrick to shine on nearly every track.

As you can tell, there aren’t a lot of weaknesses on The Arsonist. Probably the most stand out is that some of the riffing on “Centuries of Blood” is weak, and that’s probably the weakest track on the record. But honestly, the biggest weakness might be that this record is a few years too late. While the tracks here are strong, The Arsonist isn’t exactly blazing new trails. I’m sure that the well-schooled fan of death metal, the type that’s always looking for new stuff, could write this record off as being “rehashed” and could argue that case. Eternal Silence isn’t exactly coining “The Wisconsin Sound” or anything. They’re just making good, honest death metal that will induce headbanging and the throwing of horns. No pretentiousness involved.

While pretty well known among the scene in the Midwest, Eternal Silence has suffered from a lack of attention outside of their home turf. The Arsonist will give them a chance to expand their audience, touring territory and hopefully get picked up by someone who can really give them what they need, or at least help them expand in the whole DIY field that so many bands are taking these days. Fans of death metal of almost any stripe should check these guys out as they have music that could appeal to almost everyone but the most entrenched fan of certain sub-genres. This Angry Metal Guy is planning on spinning the hell out of this record, anyway.