“Ah, Lucifer. I remember listening to their self-titled debut album back in 2015 and being immediately hooked by the killer pipes of frontwoman Johanna Platow Andersson and their take on fuzzy, doomy occult rock. But as I sit here to craft a review of Lucifer’s fifth album (aptly titled Lucifer V), I must admit that after that very first dance with the devil in the pale moonlight, I haven’t listened to them much in the intervening years.” New year, same Devil.
“Wo Fat and I go back a long ways. Some trivia for you before we dig in: my first ever Angry Metal Guy review was written in May of 2016, for the band’s Midnight Cometh album. But, dear readers, I hear you saying “Huckster, we never saw said review.” This is true. By the time Steel Druhm and myself sorted things out, my fully-edited review was a few weeks too late to post. It probably sucked as well, but the album didn’t. It isn’t possible for these guys to suck, to be honest. And now here we are, six years to the month later, and I can finally review a Wo Fat album for you.” Wo to you of earth and sea.
“There are still bands out there that hearken back to the loud, bluesy days of hard rock. Clutch is today’s prime example of that style, and ZZ Top is the granddaddy. Both bands love the blues, and love to boogie. You can add Floridian quartet The Electric Mud to that cadre. These guys are beer drinkers and hellraisers, and on sophomore album Burn the Ships they aim to show us all how gritty southern blues-rock should be played.” Deep South ship kicking.
“Corrosion of Conformity has a convoluted history, to say the least. Beginning as a hardcore trio in the early ’80s, the band eventually became a five-piece metal band, before promoting guitarist Pepper Keenan to lead vocalist for the landmark Deliverance album in 1994. In recent years, the original three-piece had reconvened without Keenan, starting off strong but eventually running out of steam with 2014’s lackluster IX. By popular demand, No Cross No Crown features Keenan’s return to the fold and is the first album in 18 years to include both him and original drummer Reed Mullin. Can these guys recapture whatever it is that made Deliverance and its follow-up Wiseblood so compelling?” Corrosion will continue until conformity declines.
“I love the retro metal/hard rock movement. Call it retro, call it dad metal, call it what you want. When it’s done well it can be as much fun as it was back when I was listening to the real thing in the ’70s and ’80s. Do it badly, though, and it’s just sad. ” All rise, then boogie.
“Every once in awhile it’s fun to shuffle through the promo pile in search of an album that explores the good ole days of rock—and by “good ole days,” I mean old-man Steely D days. Even when it’s done shittily, the outcome triggers special memories of sitting around listening to the godfathers of heavy metal and hard rock on shiny black “frisbees” (as we use to call them).” The olde ways are back in vogue (not vogueing though).
In our new monthly feature, which will show up here on the 15th of every month and run over the next few days, I (Angry Metal Guy) will select 5 bands at random (usually those who have followed my directions and have bandcamp accounts) to get blurbed by every member of the AMG staff. The idea is to do at least a bit of our part to point out that the metal underground is still an important part of the world of metal. While we simply don’t have the manpower to produce regular reviews of unsigned bands, this is my attempt at a minor mea culpa if nothing else. So enjoy Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo and our second entry for April 2013: Boudain!
We all have those bands we’re aware of for years but never make an effort to hear. I’m not even talking about bands you’re pretty sure you’ll hate (i.e. Korn). I’m talking about the bands you hear about, make a mental note to check out, only to be distracted by something shiny. The U.K.’s Orange Goblin is one of those bands for yours truly. I’ve heard of ’em forever, heard mostly good things, but just never got up the gumption to track down their stuff.
Have you ever wondered what a group of Norwegian black metal musicians might sound like if they played greasy biker rock? Well wonder no more, just hunker down with a case of brews and Chrome Division. Featuring Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) on guitar and members of Old Man’s Child and Ringnevond, Chrome Division delivers something like a drunken mixture of ZZ Top, The Misfits, Venom and Lynyrd Skynyrd. There’s nary a cold, icy riff to be found on their new album 3rd Round Knockout and instead you get rowdy, raucous, ribald and very adolescent rock/metal that’s actually exceedingly well done. This is well written, catchy, fun and highly addictive stuff and it even leaves behind much of the Motorhead worship found on their earlier albums. Its an alcohol fueled party album that virtually forces you to pop open a cold one as you listen. How can anything that drives you to drink be bad?
