Lord Lucan

Witchery – I Am Legion Review

Witchery – I Am Legion Review

“I like a gap of a few years between albums; I find it reassuring. Anything sub-24 months and I begin to get twitchy. This is probably wholly unreasonable, and I’m sure the AMG readership can think of a litany of absolute turnips that took years to write and record, but I simply can’t help it. I was a little put out, therefore, to discover that Witchery were planning to unbox their latest work, I Am Legion, a paltry 350 days on from the release of their crushing 2016 effort, In His Infernal Majesty’s Service.” It’s the slow knife that thrills.

Wolves in the Throne Room – Thrice Woven Review

Wolves in the Throne Room – Thrice Woven Review

“Whenever I hear a half-decent band describe their upcoming record as ‘experimental,’ I find myself afflicted with a sort of low-level split-personality disorder. Half of me wants to clap them on the back and praise their boldness, while the other 50% wants to give them all a good slap for risking disaster so needlessly.” Claps and slaps for all.

Six Feet Under – Torment Review

Six Feet Under – Torment Review

“As anyone whose late teenage years were lost in a fog of Jägermeister and regret will tell you, lessons learned the hard way often stay with you the longest; fuck things up badly enough and you won’t repeat the same mistake again anytime soon. There are, however, a few hardy souls upon whom this principle is destined to be forever lost—people to whom common sense and reason are just meaningless buzzwords dreamt up by the establishment. People like Chris Barnes.” Fight the power!

Cnoc An Tursa – The Forty Five Review

Cnoc An Tursa – The Forty Five Review

“How do you keep a genre fresh without turning it into something it’s not? This is a question I’ve been pondering for a while now. See, I’ve been a near-obsessive devotee of the whole atmospheric-blackened-folk metal shebang ever since I caught Winterfylleth as a support band back in about 2009. Unfortunately, after many years, countless foliage-themed album covers and a surfeit of unintelligible shrieks about Odin and mountains, the sub-subgenre is starting to feel a little stale, and thus my corresponding enthusiasm for new releases is beginning to wane accordingly.” Kilts, hilts and glory.

Sunlight’s Bane – The Blackest Volume: Like All the Earth Was Buried Review

Sunlight’s Bane – The Blackest Volume: Like All the Earth Was Buried Review

Sunlight’s Bane describe their sound as ‘grinding death and audio terror,’ and they draw their influences from far and wide. Try your best to imagine what Anaal Nathrakh, Black Breath, and Nails would sound like if they were mashed up into one band and you ought to get a pretty good idea of what these guys are all about. The band’s stated aim, simply put, is to return the quality of aggression to heavy music, and listening to The Blackest Volume is like being hit square in the face with the flat side of a shovel; it is loud, unrelenting and violent.” Sunlight can be bad for you.

Kairon; IRSE! – Ruination Review

Kairon; IRSE! – Ruination Review

“True originality can be an elusive commodity to come by in the modern music environment. With the number of untapped creative avenues steadily decreasing with every new album release, many musicians merely end up putting their own spins on pre-established formulas. When a band comes along that laughs defiantly in the face of such convention—opting instead to carve out their own path—it’s only right they’re accorded the recognition they deserve. Finnish progsters Kairon; IRSE! are a band who embrace this mentality emphatically.” Band out on a limb.

Fight the Fight – Fight the Fight Review

Fight the Fight – Fight the Fight Review

“I’m no wine buff but if I ever feel the urge to get rat-arsed in an upper class, debonair sort of way, I usually plump for a bottle of something French. Why? Well, when it comes to the old grape juice, Pierre just seems to know his stuff. Wine is one of those products that carries with it a particular weight of expectation according to the country or region of the world from which it originates, and in this respect music is not all that different.” Nor-core is a thing?

Laster – Ons Vrije Fatum Review

Laster – Ons Vrije Fatum Review

“Attempting to categorize Laster is like trying to catch air with a net, but in a hypothetical “pick a genre or die” kind of scenario, one would probably end up lumping them in with the blackened shoegaze crowd. To do so would be a crass oversimplification, however, as their music incorporates an absurdly diverse range of elements and influences.” AMG policy requires air nets be worn at all times.

Murg – Gudatall Review

Murg – Gudatall Review

“With the AMG promo bin positively bulging under the sheer weight of obscure one-man black metal projects nowadays, whenever I’m tasked with reviewing the work of an unfamiliar BM outfit, I’ve almost begun taking it as a given that it’s going to be a solo affair. When Gudatall—the latest effort from mysterious Swedish black metallers Murg—landed in my inbox, I almost choked on my caviar when I cued up a promo photo and found there to be not just one individual behind the name, but two.” Two is the unkvltist number that there’s ever been.

Sithter – Chaotic Fiend Review

Sithter – Chaotic Fiend Review

When you’re still feeling young and invincible, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that the lifestyle choices you make today can have very real repercussions for your future health and well being. Now while I’m fully aware that this sounds like something your mother might say in an attempt to keep you on the straight and narrow, there is nevertheless a salient point here, and it’s something that Mike Williams is currently all too aware of. “As I write this, the Eyehategod frontman is laid up in a serious condition in hospital, awaiting a liver transplant, with decades of excess finally beginning to take their toll on his fragile body. In spite of his chaotic lifestyle, the speed and ferocity of Williams’ deterioration has still come as a considerable shock to many, so the release of Chaotic Fiend — the latest showing from Japanese Eyehategod worshipers Sithter — comes at a poignant time for both the sludge scene and the metal community as a whole.” Tributes and well wishing.