Angry Metal Guy

Crucifyre // Infernal Earthly Divine
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — “Wictory and death!”
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: myspace.com/crucifyre
Release Dates: EU: 17.01.2011 | US: Unknown

The late 2000s have seen a resurrection of the old school Swedish death metal that Sweden became so well known for in the underground before the Gothenburg sound took the world by storm. In the last year we’ve had releases by tons of bands waving the flag of true Swedish death metal—and it’s been fun as hell to hear! Crucifyre is another band that is doing something that I would definitely not describe as new, but something I would describe as ultimately ridiculously entertaining and worth a listen if for no other reason than to experience this “all star group’s” vision of the old school. Continue reading

2010. Wow, man. 2010. We’re counting months now until we all die in 2012. So how do you think it’s going to happen? Do you think that terrorists will get a nuke and fuck up the world? Or do you think that a meteor will hit? Or should I wait until the end of 2011 to ask that question?

Well, either way, now that I’ve given your children nightmares that they will never get over, I’d like to say THANKS. Thanks to everyone for reading this blog of mine (and Steel Druhm’s—who gets a special thanks for writing for this blog of mine). Thanks for responding to posts, for donating to the website to help keep it afloat and thanks for your patience when I can be a little bit inconsistent due to having a life and not doing this for a living (and thanks to Mr. Steel Druhm especially, but also Lord Doom and the others who have helped pick up the slack). It’s really cool that you do that. That you get an RSS feed of reviews that we write. That you debate and that you feel as passionately about metal as we do even if we don’t all agree. That’s awesome.

Also, a big WTF to Southern Lord and Profound Lore for not sending me promos despite repeated requests. What’s an Angry Metal Guy gotta do to get some love from y’all? I’m not going to download your shit illegally to review it, but I’d like to review it! So send me promo already for fuck’s sake!

Lastly, I want to say a word first about the fact that 2010 saw the loss of two of my personal heroes: Ronnie James Dio and Peter Steele. Let’s not forget both of these metal icons who gave in their own very unique ways to the fabric of the thing that we all love. Metal will definitely not be the same with them gone.

In honor of 2010 being a pretty good year (aside from the untimely deaths), I’ve got to present my top 10. And more importantly I have to declare the Record o’ the Year! 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

Valkyrja // Contamination
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Alright, some improvement, but still not understanding the infatuation
Label: Metal Blade (EU | US)
Website: myspace.com/valkyrjaswe
Release Dates: EU: 15/18.01.2010 | US: 01.19.2010

Early in my tenure in 2009 I received a record that was being re-released by Metal Blade: Valkyrja‘s Invocation of Demise, which was a release of an earlier record that was initially released in 2007 on Northern Silence Productions. There were several substantive complaints that I had about the record, which can be summed up as follows: there is nothing new and/or interesting here; it is repetitive and boring; the songs are hyper simplistic and despite being fast, don’t feel terribly heavy. The challenge, then, for Valkyrja to produce a record that I review better is to improve on these things (and since Valkyrja is out to prove themselves to me and me alone, they certainly will try… *cough*) with their new release Contamination.

Recorded in the suburbs of Stockholm Contamination is the culmination of a three years and a new record deal from Metal Blade. While it came out pretty fast, the record doesn’t really sound that rushed. However, it still sounds pretty much like Valkyrja sounded on Invocation of Demise. The style of black metal is still pretty much blast-heavy, trem-picky and slightly melodic, without ever wandering into the territory of Taake-type melody. Instead, Valkyrja can probably be more likely compared with Watain without their extremity or originality.

However, Contamination is a definite improvement on the previous album. The riffing on this record is far more interesting and the song writing is definitely more compelling. There are some good riffs littered throughout and there’s even a song or two on here that I really like (“Catharsis (Contaminate the Earth)” being probably the best song on the record and the track “Ambiance of the Dead” being pretty compelling as well). Three years, and a lot of time to improve their writing and tightness as a band probably definitely helped pushed these guys towards a better record.

That said, the improvement is minimal and the result is an alright record but I still don’t understand the infatuation with the band that seems to be showing up in some black metal circles. They’re talented at what they do, but it seems that black metal as a genre is very much mired in the “we like what we’ve always liked” thing—or they’re producing totally pretentious shit and calling it gold until more than 15 guys have heard of it. This record is basically 58 minutes of the same thing and, frankly, it just gets boring. I make a point of sitting down and listening to all of the records that I get all the way through, despite whether I want to or not, THREE times. I have now done that, but it took me several weeks to even get through it once. I would start the album, get about half-way through and finally break down and change it. It’s not like I don’t like the tracks when I hear them, it’s just that they get repetitive and they’re not compelling enough to keep me engaged for a longer period—and an hour of it is just too much.

If you’re a fan of black metal you’ll probably just think I’m not a fan of the genre and write me off—but I once again will defend myself by saying that I like black metal that is well done, innovative and interesting, just like with any genre of metal. If a band is producing something elite, then it should be obvious: and Valkyrja is pretty good, but definitely not elite.