“AMG is pleased to host the premiere of “Tainted Soil” from Liminal Shroud”s forthcoming Through the False Narrows album which releases on November 20th.” You heard it here first!
Carcharodon
Ecclesia – De Ecclesiæ Universalis Review
“The good old Inquisition was not humanity’s finest hour. I guess it’s all well and good to take religion seriously, if that’s one’s thing but it’s a bit presumptuous, I would suggest – perhaps with the benefit of hindsight – to go about torturing and burning thousands of people at the stake for either being insufficiently religious, not the right kind of religious or, in many cases, simply a woman. Still, putting the very real horrors of this extended folly to one side, the Inquisition does make for bloody good source material for a metal concept album. And so say French six-piece Ecclesia.” No one expects the Doom Inquisition.
AMG Goes Ranking – Death
“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 three aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slathering masses their personal rankings of that discography and what if the rest of the personality used a Google sheet some kind of dark magic to produce an official and all-round definitive aggregated ranking of that band’s entire discography? Well, if that happened, we imagine it would like something like this …” Death to all!
Sólstafir – Endless Twilight of Co-Dependent Love Review
“Icelandic post-metal titans Sólstafir need little introduction but we at AMG Towers are fans of formulaic, masturbatory prose, so I’ll provide one anyway. Sólstafir is Icelandic for ‘radiating sun beams,’ something I have always thought to be wildly inaccurate as a name for this entity, which at no point embodies sunshine. In their early days, Sólstafir played raw, aggressive black metal, interspersed with hints of Viking metal and occasional atmospheric passages (see the debut, Í blóði og anda). Since then, with each release, Sólstafir have evolved, peaking, many would argue, on their fifth full-length, 2014’s Ótta.” Twilight of the Ice Lords?
Kardashev – The Baring of Shadows [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]
“Now, I know what you’re thinking: ‘another year, and another EP that Sharkboi is trying to pass off as an album for TYMHM purposes.’ Well, we all have our Christmas traditions and, apparently, this is now one of mine. And, quite frankly, you should be thanking, not judging, me because The Baring of Shadows is an incredible piece of work from Tempe, Arizona’s Kardashev.” Missing times.
Ba’al – Ellipsism Review
“Post-black and blackened post metal. The same thing, surely? I would argue no. Post-black metal tends to rely on lengthy, brooding atmospheric passages, interspersed with blasts of black metal fury. Blackened post metal, on the other hand, should be towering, mesmerizing riffs with that vicious black metal edge to proceedings. Sheffield, UK’s Ba’al have been knocking around since 2016, putting out EPs in their first year and then in 2019 also, but the absolute shitshow that is 2020 sees this four piece dropping their debut full-length, Ellipsism.” Post-Post.
Yer Metal is Olde: DOWN – NOLA
“Supergroups. That exciting moment when you learn that members of two or more bands you love are coming together to create … well, if we’re honest with ourselves, usually disappointment. It’s rare that supergroups come close to fulfilling that promise and that’s probably because they can’t. That’s not their fault – expectations are always sky high as a new group coalesces but different fans want different aspects of their favorites to be front and center in the new entity. A rare example, however, of a supergroup not just living up to the hype but downright crushing – at least for this fan – is DOWN.” OLDEA
Raging Speedhorn – Hard to Kill Review
“Raging Speedhorn. Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time. And to be honest, I didn’t really expect to hear it again but it would seem it’s pretty Hard to Kill this six-piece from Corby in the UK. I first came across Raging Speedhorn when they opened the main stage at Ozzfest in Milton Keynes in 2001. I am almost certain that I saw them again at some point and, after conferring with one of my best mates, I think this may have been a rather unlikely-seeming slot opening for The Dillinger Escape Plan sometime around 2002 or 2003. I hadn’t thought about them since then until a few weeks back, when Holdeneye alerted me to the fact that we had received the promo for Hard to Kill and asked whether, as the only person to ever reference Raging Speedhorn on the blog, I was interested. Hell, why not.” Can’t kill the Horn.
Empress – Premonition Review
“Vancouver progressive sludgers Empress originally came on my radar in July, which is when their debut LP, Premonition, was originally due for release. It was delayed until now and, for once, the delay was driven by good news, namely that Empress had been picked up by a label, Petrichor (which seems to be an off-shoot of Hammerheart Records). I guess a bit of time was then needed for the band and new label to get all their sludgy duckies in a row ready for the release.” Ready to rule.
B R I Q U E V I L L E – Quelle Review
“B R I Q U E V I L L E. Yes, the promo blurb immediately reassures me, the “spaces between the letters are indeed part of their moniker.” And I roll my eyes and dispense with the spaces. Quelle is the third record from this Flanders, Belgium collective and the first to have a title, following 2014’s self-titled debut and 2017’s II. The title is a linguistic play on Quelle’s differing meanings in German and French, ‘source’ and ‘which,’ respectively, with the “theme of a ‘source’ and the ‘which’ linking it reflexively to our previous album artwork,” quoth the raven Nazgûl-robed, golden-masked BRIQUEVILLE member.” Another BRIQUE in the wall.