Angry Metal Guy

Spider God – Black Renditions Review

By TheKenWord on January 28, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Pop Metal, 83 comments

“Every once in a blue moon, an album comes along that speaks to me so deeply that I break the rules to cover it. This year, that honor belongs to what is perhaps the most thoroughly unexpected album to ever grace these spongy orifices: UK one-man-band Spider God‘s Black Renditions. I say mad science experiment because Spider God offers no new material whatsoever on Black Renditions—this, my friends, is a covers album. A pop covers album. I’m talking about Britney Spears, The Pointer Sisters, Backstreet Boys, among others.” Spider infections and burnt credibility.

Krallice – Crystalline Exhaustion Review

By Cherd on January 28, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 30 comments

“For the better part of the last two weeks I’ve done nothing but wrap my head around the entire output of Queens, New York black metal alchemists Krallice. This was difficult enough with their mathy, progressive first four albums, but the wildly experimental, technical second half of their catalogue knocked me slightly out of phase with this reality. I see in five dimensions now. I respond to things before they happen, because they have already happened and are never not happening.” Dimensional crosstrainers.

Freaks and Clowns – We Set the World on Fire Review

By Dear Hollow on January 28, 2022 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 28 comments

“Freaks and Clowns is a Swedish quintet, two full-lengths into their five-year career. While undoubtedly power metal in Christer Wahlgren’s vibrato-laden trills, expect little Rhapsody of Fire sword-flashing here. Injected with a healthy dose of AC/DC-esque hard rock and aptly energetic Gothenburg riffing with an Avatar clown theme to boot, tracks range from glam-themed arena-rock anthems to take-no-prisoners beatdowns of riffy goodness.” Game of clowns.

Hellfox – The Call Review

By sentynel on January 27, 2022 in Reviews, Alt-Metal, 14 comments

“As I promised in my list post, I’m once more attempting to pick up the writing habit I successfully maintained for the first half of last year. Alas, this does mean venturing into the notoriously barren January promo box. Worse, I was late and my colleagues had nabbed everything promising. My first selection turned out to be a C-tier early-00s darkwave band so far removed from both metal and good music that even I wouldn’t cover it here. Think Collide, but very boring. Fortunately, I did a bit more due diligence on my second attempt. Hellfox, are certainly metal, describing themselves as alt-metal with a melodeath lean.” Hellfox in the groan room.

Dawn of Solace – Flames of Perdition Review

By Steel Druhm on January 27, 2022 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, 39 comments

“Dawn of Solace‘s 2020 sophomore platter of sadboi goth-doom, Waves ended up my top album that year, surprising even me. It had heavy competition to be sure, but throughout 2020 the album kept its sullen tendrils wrapped tight around my iron lungs, and in the end, it became the soundtrack to a strange period of quarantine, unease, and uncertainty. I suppose this shouldn’t have been a surprise as I’ve long been a sucker for the kind of unhappy tidings Tuomas Saukkonen churned out in projects like Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon, and Dawn of Solace is the ultimate vehicle for his weepy ideations. Third album, Flames of Perdition was originally slated for a 2021 release but got pushed back to this week, giving me much more time than I usually have with a promo.” Mourning in the morning.

Celeste – Assassine(s) Review

By Dear Hollow on January 27, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Hardcore, Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 36 comments

“If you’ve never heard of Celeste, the name and the aesthetic can be misleading. Gorgeous and contemplative black and white photographs of artistic poses and strange characters greet the eyes with a moniker that points to the heavens. If you were to guess the style, you might say post-black or prog, maybe an indie acoustic troubadour, or a bedroom jazz project. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find another act as suffocating and pissed off as Celeste. A visceral fusion of black metal, hardcore, and the filthiest outskirts of extreme subgenres, these Frenchmen are the epitome of scathing consistency, releasing album after album of hypnotic tunes.” Assassin’s breed.

AMG Goes Ranking – Krallice

By Cherd on January 26, 2022 in AMG Rankings, Black Metal, 69 comments

“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 n00bs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of one of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if two aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slathering masses their personal rankings of that discography.” Fearless Krallice rankers.

Depleted Uranium – Origins Review

By Kronos on January 26, 2022 in Reviews, Mathcore, Powerviolence, 15 comments

“Depleted Uranium scrape together the contrasting textures of the Dillinger Escape Plan and cut them with nastier shots of powerviolence. Pivoting between tense builds and haywire blasts of aggression, they try to make the best of Origins’ sixteen minutes and change, never dropping the pace for too long.” Half live.

Burned in Effigy – Rex Mortem Review

By Holdeneye on January 25, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 36 comments

“Melodic death metal is a strange beast for me. It’s one of those genres that almost always sounds good on first listen, but once the novelty wears off, I rarely find myself enamored enough to hang around. I recently joked that Amon Amarth is the only melodeath band I actually like, and while that may not actually be true, the sentiment illustrates what I need in order to like an album of this particular genre. No thanks to sad-boi, contemplative versions of the style; I need riffs and aggression in my melodeath platters.” Burning in elegance.

The Risen Dread – Night Hag Review

By El Cuervo on January 25, 2022 in Reviews, Metalcore, Thrash Metal, 14 comments

“I appreciate a good concept album. Sometimes an album concept merely offers a quirky angle to music which is already enjoyable. Sometimes it is central to the album’s enjoyment itself. In the case of Ireland’s The Risen Dread and their debut record entitled Night Hag, there is a theme worthy of greater exploration and artistic endeavor: mental illness. Important though this subject no doubt is, concept albums that fail forget that substance trumps style, and similarly music trumps message.” Hag time.