“News from Germany, courtesy of power metal band Victorius: apparently it’s totally fine to remove pesky vowels from words as one sees fit, much in the same way the Brits pretentiously shove “u” into words that never needed it (let the comments war commence)!” Take a vowel, leave a vowel.
![DGM – The Passage [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/DGM-The-Passage-768x768.jpg)
“Italy’s litany of exports are unmistakably intertwined with the country’s culture; one look at a Fiat or an Armani suit and my intuition immediately tips me off that it’s a product of pizza-pasta land, even if I can’t quite place what makes the item in question distinctly Italian. The same applies to DGM.” It’s all in the seasoning.
“If my hypothesis is correct, then this should be AMG’s last full review of the year, and the honor has gone to a lowly newbie thanks to some seasonal schadenfreude courtesy of Steel Druhm. See, with our infamously dreadful December promo pool to pull from, I let the fates decide my final assignment of 2016. So while everyone else cozied up by the fire with their choice Things You Might Have Missed, he assigned me to tackle the third record of prog project The DRX, Throughout Within.” Prog the halls, then leave same.
![Wardrum – Awakening [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Wardrum-Awakening-768x768.jpg)
“With few exceptions, last year sucked for power metal. Sabaton made their first real whiff, Rage dropped their worst album in ages, and Twilight Force tarnished an otherwise solid record with dreadful production. And then came Wardrum.” Bang on the Wardrum all day.
“Ah, another week, another black metal hybrid album. I’ve been snatching these up like candy lately, and for good reason: the only albums I’ve awarded a 3.0 or higher thus far have paired the genre’s trademark icy dissonance with a variety of other styles to great effect.” Blackened candy is best served cold.
“It’s time to come clean. While I (and many of my colleagues) have been blithering on in our writings about how 2016 has been a fantastic year for — insert subgenre here — metal, I must admit that this year has been a bit underwhelming for me. Not in terms of the sheer number of quality releases, mind you, but rather in the notable dearth of legitimate surprises.” Somebody’s getting greedy….
“Can a death-grind equivalent of Avantasia featuring members of Cynic, Anthrax and Bolt Thrower possibly live up to its pedigree?” The Stench Price is too damn high!
“A few years back I had the pleasure of seeing Kamelot live at the only venue in my home state that hosts good metal concerts. It was a brilliant show, with the audience belting every lyric while the band granted us an unanticipated level of interactivity, yet one man I met in the crowd remained nonplussed. Forget one of America’s best power metal bands; this guy was excited as all fuck to catch second-rate supporting act Delain.” Taste is a terrible thing to taste.
“By the time you read this, Halloween 2016 is long gone. Oral surgeons have deposited their paychecks earned at the expense of children unfortunate enough to chomp down on razor blades, and your cranky olde neighbor is probably marching across the street right now to ask when the hell you’re getting that damned rotting jack o’ lantern off your porch. As I’m writing, however, the night of Halloween is still young, and I have an appropriately eerie soundtrack to accompany the festivities.” The pumpkin stays right where it’s at, bub.
“When I was saddled with West Virginia natives Cognition’s sophomore LP Procession of Thoughts, it was with the impression that I would be receiving a prog album to review. Neither I, nor the powers that be, had any indication that this was not the case. Every piece of promotional material released by the band comes with a “progressive metal” descriptor and a giant eye, one of the genre’s many stalwart symbols, graces an awkwardly framed cover which absolutely screams prog. Despite all meters pointing straight to wankery, it took me less than a minute to realize that I had been duped.” Cognitive dissonance.
