Listurnalia 23 comes to its close as a particularly perplexed and disconcerted El Señor Cuervo counts everything up and makes a list of the albums which garnered the Angry Metal Groupthink™ seal of approval. Needless to say, this year has portended some disturbing developments.
The days grow short and Listurnalia grows ever more refined and thoughful. Or so you would like. See what El Cuervo and GardensTale do to the curve.
![Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/lunar-chamber-shambhallic-vibrations-01.jpg.webp)
“If you were to describe “things that are up El Cuervo’s tree,” progressive death metal with Buddhist themes running for only 30 minutes would be quite high up. Such was the promise of Shamhallic Vibrations by Lunar Chamber. Fortunately, the quality matched – even exceeded – my expectations. I had thought this was a full-length but it was only as I was preparing this article that I noticed it is pitched as an EP. Given its place on my AotY list and a longer-than-Reign in Blood duration, I was only too happy to prepare a proper write-up.” Up the tree and into the cosmos.
When Panopticon drop a nearly 80-minute magnum opus on us, we impress 2 staffers to share the weight. That means you get a double review of The Rime of Memory.
“And so it begins. The time of year when everything is one big charge towards the end of December and all the merriment that entails. It was only by accident that I chose The Black Nativity by A Hill to Die Upon, a collection of blackened renditions of Christmas carols.” There is only Yule.
“War metal is always appealing to me. War flows from, and results in, the worst of humanity and therefore provides a fertile breeding ground for the darkness and heaviness inherent to metal music. The two feed off each other. What surprised me about Left Cross, and the reason for this review, was their provenance. Richmond is one of the wealthiest and most pleasant parts of the UK. Hardly a fitting backdrop for a metal subgenre characterized by brutal heaviness. However, after beginning this process I was distressed to learn that Left Cross hail from Richmond, Virginia.” The war next door.
“Efraah Enhsikaah. The unpronounceable one-person black metal band without much of any social media presence. My black metal one-sheet bingo card was satisfied for One Thousand Vultures Waiting to be Fed in just 2 sentences. 1000 Vultures will sound familiar to those already close to black metal. The typical features of tremolo-picked guitars, raw guitar tones, and raspy, uncomfortable vocals are present and correct. The exception is blast-beating drums that are surprisingly infrequent due to the record’s mid-pace compared with other blackened bands.” Birds ov a kvlt.
“Despite my general distaste for band names that include numbers, I was immediately struck by Norway’s 35 Tapes and how fitting a name that is. When I think of tapes I think of something old school, reflective and nostalgic. When I think of 35 tapes I think of King Crimson and Mellotrons. These qualities align with 35 Tapes and their new album called Fabric of Time. It advances through 45 minutes of progressive rock with a subtle lilt, unveiling more with repetitions in a way that feels like a tape unraveling.” Sticky enough?
“The unheralded band that could. Moonlight Sorcery are a melodic black metal band that materialized out of nowhere and destroyed any skepticism I had about their buzz. Their first EP, Piercing through the Frozen Eternity, was killer, comprising 4 tracks of bona fide 4.5 material. The sequel, Nightwind: Conqueror from the Stars, was darker, moodier, and less melodic but still extremely compelling. Not even a year following the second of these, I was delighted to discover that a full-length debut was due; 44 minutes of premium black metal was promised. Is it even possible for these Finns to match my expectations?” Finnish magic and mayhem.
“The existence of Sylosis roughly tracks my own experience with non-mainstream metal, running from 2008’s Conclusion of an Age to 2020’s Cycle of Suffering. The band lost me somewhere in the middle as I was diving into the more extreme sub-genres of metal’s sewer, despite my favorable comments on 2015’s Dormant Heart, no doubt induced by a bout of regional favoritism given that they hail from the same bit of the UK as yours truly. Cycle of Suffering represented a roaring return, comfortably my favorite of their albums and comfortably my second favorite album from 2020. Sylosis are one of Britain’s most exciting and energetic bands but how can A Sign of Things to Come hope to match their prior incredible success?” Modern problems.
