Holdeneye

When you wield the 4hammer, every album looks like a nail.

Greyhawk – Thunderheart Review

By Holdeneye on April 4, 2024 in Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 44 comments

“Greyhawk peddles traditional metal with a strong element of shred included thanks to their mighty guitar virtuoso, Jesse Berlin. The band’s focus on positivity and heroism is my favorite thing about them, and their music never fails to raise my spirits. An incident at the band’s 2021 show in Boise showed that heroism moving beyond fantasy and into reality when bassist Darin Wall was wounded while preventing a gunman from opening fire on the people gathered outside the venue. Now that’s a fucking heavy metal tale.” Tougher than lead.

Glyph – Honor. Power. Glory. Review

By Holdeneye on April 1, 2024 in Reviews, Power Metal, 46 comments

“Made up of current and former members of Skelator, Greyhawk, Gatekeeper, and Ravenous, Glyph brings together some of my favorite traditional/power metal musicians from recent years as they throw their hat into the space fantasy ring. Very much channeling Gloryhammer, Glyph shows shades of Sabaton and Alestorm as they offer up some simple modern power metal.” Power is as power does.

Necrophobic – In the Twilight Grey Review

By Holdeneye on March 14, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 73 comments

“When I covered Necrophobic’s 2020 release, Dawn of the Damned, I spoke at length about what this band means to me as a reviewer and fan of heavy metal music. These guys singlehandedly got me into black metal, and when I hear other bands playing a similarly melodic, death metal-infused version of the genre, I can’t help but hold them up next to these guys, my personal archetype of what this style is supposed to sound like.” Necro-mongering.

Firewind – Stand United Review

By Holdeneye on February 28, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 30 comments

“When I pulled reviewing duty for Firewind’s self-titled release way back during the bizarre spring of 2020, I wasn’t prepared for how hard the record was going to hit me. Aside from the band’s debut and a handful of tracks throughout Firewind’s discography, I’d never really been grabbed by their sound, so when Firewind arrived on-scene with the gnarly vocals of front man Herbie Langhans alongside some of Gus G’s tightest songwriting ever, it managed to land a sucker punch right in my sweet spot.” Hot winds blow warmly.

Vitriol – Suffer & Become Review

By Holdeneye on January 23, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 102 comments

“When our resident death metal professor, Ferrous Beuller, covered To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice, the debut full-length from Portland’s Vitriol, he was struck by the sheer heaviness that dominated the record. And while he noted the enormous potential displayed by the band, he bemoaned the lack of balancing contrast, a lack that prevented the monstrous material from making the intended impact.” Impact is imminent.

Abhoria – Depths Review

By Holdeneye on January 22, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, 31 comments

“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, music critics are generally complete morons. We listen to music, feel some feelings, think some thoughts, and then write some words, all the while thinking that our opinions might actually matter to anyone besides ourselves. In fact, we often times don’t even agree with our own opinions when given enough time and distance from when and where we originally formed them. Case in point: my review of Abhoria’s self-titled debut record, in which I nitpicked that the almost uniformly aggressive nature of the songs made the tracks blend together a bit” Reviews are for suckers.

Holdeneye’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Holdeneye on January 1, 2024 in Blog Posts, Lists, 106 comments

Our resident King of Enthusiasm and Trad Metal has much wisdom to share and it has been summarized and bullet-pointed in his Top Ten(ish) of 2023 for those of you who weren’t paying attention all year! Listurnalia rolls on, ever more refined.

Legendry – Time Immortal Wept [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Holdeneye on December 21, 2023 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, 29 comments

“I had every opportunity to grab the promo for Time Immortal Wept, the fourth full-length release from Pittsburgh’s Legendry. Unfortunately, I was slated to cover two other albums for that release week, neither of which I actually completed. But for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been spinning this delicious morsel of Manilla Road-meets-prog/psych-rock, and it has been worming its way into my mind relentlessly.” Frosty the Swordman.

Owlbear – Chaos to the Realm [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Holdeneye on December 15, 2023 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Heavy Metal, 44 comments

“Eldritch Elitist first brought Owlbear to my attention by mentioning the band in the AMG back channels, and it was a tip that I forgot almost immediately. Fortunately, I rediscovered the band independently after being drawn by the name and the album artwork. When I started the album, my heart was immediately set ablaze by “Fiend of Fire,” Chaos to the Realm’s fantastic opener and one of the finest trad-metal tracks you’ll hear all year.” Whose sword is this anyway?

Gatekeeper – From Western Shores [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Holdeneye on December 8, 2023 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Heavy Metal, 44 comments

“It is with great shame that I come before you today to admit that I initially missed Gatekeeper’s second full-length album From Western Shores when it released back in March. As Vice Premier of All Things Olde here at AMG, it is my responsibility to cover anthing traditional that happens to sneak through the Steel Filter™, and in 2023, I have failed mightily in this duty.” Dishonor and redemption at the Gates.