Grymm

The beard knows who is trve.

Retro-spective Review: Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse

By Grymm on March 1, 2014 in Black Metal, Norwegian Metal, Retro Reviews, Black Metal, 6 comments

“Has it really been 20 years? Goddamn, I feel old. In 1994 PG (Pre-Grymm), I was a high-school sophomore with an in-between mullet/long-hair, burnt out on mainstream metal (“90s Metal Weirdness,” anyone?), and I was looking for darker, heavier, faster affairs. With some recommendations from friends as well as some trusty advice from the long-dormant-and-majorly-missed Metal Maniacs magazine, I would be introduced to a slew of new (to me) bands, including one by a bunch of teenagers from Norway who would be creating, and later changing, the blackest of all musical landscapes to come…” Grymm gets in the Wayback Machine for a wistful look at one of the defining moments in Black Metal History. He’s a wistful guy, that Grymm.

Will of the Ancients – To Our Glorious Dead Review

By Grymm on February 21, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, 11 comments

“There’s something to be said about wearing influences on your sleeves. I may hail from the blackest forests of Southern New Hampshire and primarily enjoy black metal, but I have a soft spot for well-played power metal, old-school thrash, and melodic death metal. I’m known to geek out at the sound of a well-crafted guitar melody, soaring vocals, and urgent drumming. But, never in a million years would I picture it all on one album.” Grymm gets a shock, and you just might too!

Indefensible Positions: Grymm Defends Projector

By Grymm on February 15, 2014 in Blog Posts, Indefensible Positions, 58 comments

Every once in a while the metal scene collectively pisses on a band or record and someone needs to step up and defend why they like it. We normally don’t spend a lot of time defending shitty records, but sometimes genuinely interesting or good records get lampooned by an overly conservative heavy metal scene and that calls for a professional contrarian to defend it! If ever there were professional contrarians, it would be the staff of AMG. So here we are to re-hash a record from our past that (some of us) love that everyone else seems to have soured on (or never liked in the first place). Watch as Grymm gamely defends Projector: Dark Tranquillity’s most reviled album. They say luck favors the foolhardy!

Hail Spirit Noir – Oi Magoi Review

By Grymm on February 13, 2014 in 2014, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Code666 Records, Greek Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 13 comments

“Are you sick and tired of getting your evil delivered to you in cold, icy, frost-bitten care packages from Norway? Does your black heart sink when there’s too much treble in your diet? Do you lack the strength to pick up those juicy invisible oranges you once craved? Sometimes, you just want Satan’s message to be delivered in a nice, toasty-warm basket with some fresh bread, a bottle of wine, and a couple of aromatic cigars.” And that’s where Hail Spirit Noir comes in. It’s time for a cozy brunch date with the Dark Lord.

Stilla – Ensamhetens Andar Review

By Grymm on February 9, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Nordvis Produktion, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, 1 comment

“Sometimes, when you hear a new band, you are reminded of a long-forgotten gem that is hidden in the recesses of your mind. As years pass, you forget certain things, sure, but it’s always interesting when something jostles your memory banks and brings back a flood of missing memories. Stilla, the alter ego of Sweden’s Bergraven plus vocalist A. Petterson (De Arma) are an interesting proposition. Atmospheric, moody, and cold, Stilla have a very creative little gem of an album with Ensamhetens andar [Spirits of Loneliness in translation – AMG], their second full-length. In their pursuit of atmosphere and the desire to be at one with nature, they opened up an unexpected floodgate.” Grymm waxes nostalgic for black metal’s younger days as he examines some new darkness. Ah, black stuff….

Soreption – Engineering the Void Review

By Grymm on January 25, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Unique Leader, Death Metal, 6 comments

Technical death metal. You know the images and sounds those three words conjure up: endless sweep arpeggios, slapped bass with only the freshest of strings, fast double-bass drumming, an album cover that utilizes colors on the cooler side of the Color Wheel (mostly hues of purple and blue) and has an alien somewhere in it, the band logo in a sharp, nigh-symmetrical font…. And for the most part, you know what to expect when someone tries to take the throne from the likes of Decapitated, Gorguts, or Necrophagist. We’re all about the Color Wheel here at AMG, but only the cool side. We also appreciate some good tech-death. Does this qualify?

Culted – Oblique to All Paths Review

By Grymm on January 13, 2014 in 2014, Canadian Metal, Doom Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 3 comments

“The Internet is a wonderful thing. You can find pretty much everything via the web: your future ex-wife/husband, unnecessary lists you never knew you wanted to read, questionable porn based on whatever, and yes, even band members. Culted are a unique group. Three-quarters of the band live in Manitoba, Canada, and they’ve never met their vocalist, Swedish-based Daniel Jansson, with the exception of file-sharing and email correspondence. Remarkably, even without ever being in the same room, they craft some seriously cold, bleak soundscapes.” These guys run their band like AMG runs this website. It’s all about distance, isolation and cold, inhuman technology!

Lethe – When Dreams Become Nightmares Review

By Grymm on January 12, 2014 in 2014, Avante Garde, Debemur Morti, Gothic Metal, Not Metal, Reviews, Not Metal, 3 comments

“When I throw the label “experimental metal” out to you, what does your blastbeat-addled mind conjure for images and sounds? Does your brain picture off-the-wall time changes, weird instrumentation, musical concepts foreign to metal, or something truly out of left field? Or, like me, does it simply explain that what you’re about to listen to, well, isn’t really metal? Sadly, 9 times out of 10, most “experimental” bands fall into the latter category. Lethe is a new project featuring Anna Murphy (Eluveitie) and Tor-Helge Skei (Manes) waving the “experimental metal” flag with their debut, When Dreams Become Nightmares. Does Lethe carve a new path through the thickets, emblazoning new trails, and sending the hordes kicking and screaming, welcoming the dawn of a new day in the world of heavy metal?” Grymm answers this thorny question and weighs the relative worth of this experiment in metal and/or non-metal.

Things You May Have Missed 2013: Patrons of the Rotting Gate – The Rose Coil

By Grymm on December 15, 2013 in 2013, Black Metal, Irish Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2013, 1 comment

“My summer vacations weren’t very… productive. Here’s a quick laundry list of my early Grymmness: blowing on Nintendo cartridges to get that damn pink screen to stop flashing, trying (and failing) to learn how to skateboard, playing guitar in a proto-metalcore band that would make early Converge shake their heads in embarrassment, swimming in a ice-cold pool in New Hampshire, etc. Needless to say, my summers were for lounging and goofing off. So when I ask how was your summer and you say, “Oh, it was okay, I just spent the entire summer writing, recording, screaming, playing, programming drums, producing, mastering, and even doing the artwork for the debut album of my one-band progressive black metal band. Nothing major!”, you are either: a) gleefully full of shit, or b) multi-talented Irish lad Andrew “Manshrew” Millar, sole proprietor of Patrons of the Rotting Gate, and mastermind behind their impressive self-released debut, The Rose Coil.” Grymm sets his review phaser on fanboyish glee and blasts way about something you might have missed.

Sheol – Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple Review

By Grymm on December 2, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Death Metal, English Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 3 comments

“What’s old is new again. Many new bands are ravaging old graveyards to exhume rotting corpses of bands and styles long since past their sell-by date. 70’s proto-doom, 80’s retro-thrash, and now, 90’s fuzzy Swedeath are the templates that bands are utilizing to create their own legacies. UK’s Sheol are the newest duo to bring out the rotting, zombified corpses of early Dismember and Darkthrone into the sunlight (studios) with their debut EP, Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple.” 2013 winds down as it cranked up – with loads of old school Swedish death. Do you have room for just a little more?