El Cuervo

I'm not deliberately contrary.
The Risen Dread – Night Hag Review

The Risen Dread – Night Hag Review

By El Cuervo on January 25, 2022 in Reviews, Metalcore, Thrash Metal, 13 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.

Aquilus – Bellum I [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

Aquilus – Bellum I [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By El Cuervo on January 12, 2022 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 65 comments

“Griseus by Aquilus was the best metal album of the 2010s never reviewed by AngryMetalGuy.com. It is a wonderful, ethereal, expressive, other-worldly experience tied to the metal genre by its atmospheric, blackened qualities, but spending just as much time and energy on its classical ones. It is, in short, symphonic black metal, but is so much more than this implies. This brings us to December 2021 and its long-overdue sequel, a decade in the making.” Music of blackened socialites.

Wilderun – Epigone Review

Wilderun – Epigone Review

By El Cuervo on January 7, 2022 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 390 comments

Wilderun’s Epigone marks the band’s first new material while signed to Century Media, but fourth record. Readers of this website will know that I think they are the best band of the 2010s, having composed progressive, deathly, folksy metal records that will stay with me forever. Their last two albums have both been my record of the year (and AMG Himself’s) and the band continues to accrue acclaim for their incredible sound and talent. Epigone is, without a doubt, an album that comes with high expectations from everyone. It’s interesting to note, then, that the title means “a less distinguished follower or imitator of someone.”

Beaten to Death – Laat maar, ik verhuis naar het bos [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

Beaten to Death – Laat maar, ik verhuis naar het bos [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By El Cuervo on December 11, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, 35 comments

“Some of you may whine that Laat maar, ik verhuis naar het bos (Nevermind, I’m Moving to the Woods, if Google Translate is to be trusted) is not a 2021 release. True enough; it released on vinyl in September 2020. However, the limited run offered and timed vinyl-exclusive meant that very few people actually heard the record until 2021. Beaten to Death, in a fit of questionable genius, released the record digitally as 4 separate EPs released across 8 weeks, the last of which was only unveiled on 24 December 2020. Acquiring each of these and editing their metadata into the vinyl arrangement was quite the faff, let me tell you, and I heard the record in full for the first time on 1 January 2021.” Time is a human construct.

Be’lakor – Coherence Review

Be’lakor – Coherence Review

By El Cuervo on November 3, 2021 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 74 comments

“In a stunning display of journalistic talent, I actually still agree with the 3.5 I awarded to Be’lakor for their last record all the way back in 2016. Vessels was a solid successor to what distinguished gentlemen regard as one of the best one-two punches of melodic death metal: Stone’s Reach and Of Breath and Bone. It was an accomplished musical development from these records, though not a real development in quality. The 5-year gap since this is an especially long time in a world of 3-year album cycles, so does this indicate another assured step? A return to form?” Form and emptiness.

Osukaru – Starbound Review

Osukaru – Starbound Review

By El Cuervo on October 19, 2021 in Reviews, Glam Metal, Hard Rock, 40 comments

“Alarm bells tend to ring when, after randomly picked an album for review, that album is one of several for a band you’ve never heard previously. It usually signifies a group toiling in mediocrity, never having sufficiently impressed a critical mass to start developing a reputation. In the case of Sweden’s Osukaru, I suspect it may be a consequence of their style. The target demographic of their sixth release, Starbound, stopped listening to new music in 1992 with the last good Def Leppard record, the stratification of a variety of extreme metal sub-genres and the advent of grunge as the most popular form of rock.” Star daddy.

Cosmic Burial – …to the Past Review

Cosmic Burial – …to the Past Review

By El Cuervo on September 29, 2021 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 4 comments

“Atmospheric black metal is the gift which keeps on giving. It will not stop giving, even if you beg it to. Since the mid-90s it has grown out of its blackened roots, adopting folksy strings, shimmering guitars and cosmic synths as it has developed and stratified. There are now literally thousands of bands doing very similar things, all attempting to stand out through the delicate fusion of black metal with emotive atmospheres. Germany’s Cosmic Burial is one such group – or rather, one such individual given that this is (not unusually) a one-man affair.” Too much past, not enough present.