Holdeneye

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

Lord Fist – Wilderness of Hearts Review

By Holdeneye on November 17, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 36 comments

“Holdeneye, you’ve been assigned Lord Fist. Nothing personal.” Lord Protector Steel Druhm occasionally likes to try to cover up his warm, gooey, soft, loving center by presenting a hard candy shell. He does this by brandishing one or several of his many weapons, by pretending to enjoy the daily staff beatings morale-building exercises, or by tossing you promos that he thinks you’ll hate. The latter often feels as if a grenade has been dropped into your unsuspecting lap sans pin, but I was elated when I saw that Lord Fist falls under the New Wave of British Heavy Metal genre and that they hail from Finland — much like the band that I covered in my first ever review for AMG. Might Steel have unwittingly lobbed a winner into my hands, or have I just been Lord fisted?” Fist of the North Steel.

Death Dealer – Conquered Lands Review

By Holdeneye on November 13, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 47 comments

“Formed in 2012 by Ross the Boss (ex-Manowar, Ross the Boss), Sean Peck (Cage), and Stu Marshall (Empires of Eden, ex-Dungeon), America’s Death Dealer is a bonafide heavy/power metal supergroup. Over the years, they’ve released two albums and picked up former Into Eternity drummer Steve Bolognese and Symphony X bassist Mike LePond, making the lineup for 2020’s Conquered Lands simply mouthwatering.” Iron sharpens steel.

Hell:on – Scythian Stamm Review

By Holdeneye on November 4, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, 94 comments

“I was initially unimpressed by the band’s name — specifically that tricksy colon — and subsequently passed over the promo during my perusal of the bin. But when I saw this simultaneously exciting and terrifying art while scoping out the competition at another blog, my interest was renewed. After conducting some research, I learned that Hell:on is a stylized — and search engine optimized — version of “Hellion,” and that Hell:on have been peddling their wares since 2005. Their base sound has always been a heavily thrash-infused style of death metal, but over time they’ve incorporated more and more traditional folk instruments, ritualistic textures, and symphonic arrangements to evolve into what feels like a different beast entirely.” Hell: on Earth.

Scardust – Strangers Review

By Holdeneye on October 28, 2020 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 166 comments

“I have a strange relationship with progressive metal. On one hand, I feel like the vast majority of prog is made up of decent song ideas separated from one another by fancy time signatures, self-indulgent experimentation, and other forms of needless wankery. But on the other hand, I proudly claim progressive titans Symphony X and Nevermore as my two favorite bands of all time. Those bands had a way of making their immensely complex compositions seem deceptively simple — a hallmark of a good prog band in my book. To me, progressiveness is really just the amplification of — or an embellishment upon — what a band already does well. Thus, my view that much of today’s “prog” music is really just embellished nothingness. On that cheerful note, enter Israeli progressive metal band Scardust.” Prog for dummies.

Invincible Force – Decomposed Sacramentum Review

By Holdeneye on October 21, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 27 comments

“What happens when an invincible force meets a purely lethal object? I’m not sure, but sit down, and I’ll tell you what happens when an Invincible Force meets a big, cuddly, soft-hearted metal reviewer who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Chile’s Invincible Force formed in 2007, and it should come as no surprise that, as a band that took their name from a Destruction track, they initially modeled their sound after the slightly blackened teutonic thrash sound of their heroes. After releasing a host of demos and splits, 2015’s debut full-length saw the band’s sound taking on a more violent approach that verged on death/thrash. Five years later, the promo materials for sophomore effort Decomposed Sacramentum reveal that the band is “leaving behind their early, more scholarly aspirations in favor of something far more sinister.” Force multiplier.

Goratory – Sour Grapes Review

By Holdeneye on October 13, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Grind, 50 comments

“While scrotal brutal technical death metal is not usually my bag, potty humor certainly is. Boston’s Goratory butter their bread with filth — as evidenced by past album title jewels like Orgasm Induced Diarrhea — and when I saw the ballsy artistic choices the band had made for new record Sour Grapes, I was helpless to resist.” Poo Poo platter.

Necrophobic – Dawn of the Damned Review

By Holdeneye on October 11, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 66 comments

“I’m not exactly sure how responsibility for this review survived its fall down the AMG Seniority Ladder™ to find its way to little old me, but I’m certainly glad it did. Necrophobic holds a special place in my heart. Not only did my enjoyment of the band’s previous release Mark of the Necrogram begin my quest to discover and love black metal, but I still remember reading Al Kikuras‘ incredible review of said album. It was the first time that I seriously considered how cool it might be to write reviews for AMG.” Necro 4 eva.

Neck Cemetery – Born in a Coffin Review

By Holdeneye on October 9, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 67 comments

“Hello, neighbor. Would you like to play a game with me? Yes? How about the “guess the genre” game. You know, the one where you look at an album’s cover to see if you can predict what it will sound like? How about we start with the band name? Neck Cemetery. Yikes. That’s a bad name.” Wreckin’ necks.

Nightmare – Aeternam Review

By Holdeneye on October 5, 2020 in Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 29 comments

“France’s Nightmare are no strangers to the heavy metal scene. The band’s origins go back four decades to their foundation as a punk outfit in 1979. Over the next few years, the punk stylings gave way to the burgeoning heavy metal sound of the early 80s and the band released a couple of full-lengths before going on hiatus in 1988. But Nightmare’s best work was yet to come.” Dream warriors.

Skeletoon – Nemesis Review

By Holdeneye on September 30, 2020 in Reviews, Power Metal, 94 comments

“I didn’t have a choice about this one. Regular readers will recall my central role in the Skelator Incident, so it should come as no surprise that Steel Druhm took one look at band called “Skeletoon” and their self-proclaimed “nerd metal” and immediately assigned it to me. He announced his excitement for me to review these goofy guys on one of our AMG Staff Zoom chats, and since it went so well last time he did that, I was more than a little apprehensive.” The Toonies.