Kenstrosity

Destroying AMG's metal cred from within.

Whyzdom – Of Wonders and Wars Review

By Kenstrosity on September 13, 2021 in Reviews, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, 14 comments

“The time has come for this young(ish) sponge to return to his roots—bombastic, cheesy symphonic metal helmed by a classically trained soprano. This genre of metal used to be my absolute favorite for many of the same reasons people lambast it today, up to and including the extreme lactose concentration, countless layers of orchestration, and the wall of sound production that so easily overwhelms the neurally frail. I craved the feeling of my entire brain lighting up, desperate to keep up with the immense amount of stimuli bombarding it at once. Now on their fifth full-length album entitled Of Wonders and Wars, France’s Whyzdom attempt to recreate that same firework exhibit inside my nervous system.” Wonder wail.

Stuck in the Filter – August’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on September 8, 2021 in Blog Posts, Stuck in the Filter, 34 comments

“It bears mentioning that in light of how much I had going on this month, my ability to properly cover the better offerings in the metalverse took a hefty punch to the dick. But just because I missed the opportunity to wax poetic over a bunch of cool stuff doesn’t mean I forgot about them. This segment is my chance to at least touch upon them briefly for your edification, with the help of my fellow colleagues!” Filter Techs…assemble.

Malison – Death’s Embrace Review

By Kenstrosity on September 3, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, 23 comments

“Malison—a young band in a growing line of thrash-oriented power metal acts—arises from San Diego, California in a valiant attempt to revitalize a genre riddled with mediocrity. For their sophomore effort Death’s Embrace, the quartet delivers speedy power slashes forged in the fires of heavy metal and tempered in a brief soak of thrash metal. No synths. No choirs. No autotune. Just metal and mettle.” Anvil’s envy.

The Slow Death – Siege Review

By Kenstrosity on August 25, 2021 in Reviews, Death Doom, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, 18 comments

“Transcending Obscurity always makes a concerted effort to deliver quality releases throughout each year of operation. I’d think most labels, especially ones focused on metal music, share the same ethic. However, what sets Transcending Obscurity apart for me is the sheer variety of extreme metal artists they recruit. Sure, there’s plenty of brutality on board, not to mention about seven thousand active Rogga projects. But then you get things like The Slow Death, a funeral death doom outfit from Australia who stand poised to deliver their fourth LP, Siege.” Siege perilous.

Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate Review

By Kenstrosity on August 12, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 47 comments

“I’ve had my eye on Ænigmatum for two months now. As with most things that cross my path on the river Bandcamp’s neverending stream, the colorful but still fleshy and spiny cover for the Portland, Oregon quartet’s sophomore effort Deconsecrate caught my attention—and, thankfully, so did the advance track. It was a twisty, gnarled hurricane of blackened death metal from a label I normally associate with more knuckle-dragging fare. Needless to say, Ænigmatum seemed poised to deliver something fresh in a summer that’s been remarkably dry for this sponge.” Songs for scouring.

Epoch of Chirality – Nucleosynthesis

By Kenstrosity on July 22, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Instrumental Metal, Progressive Metal, 9 comments

“2021 has seen it’s share of terrible band names. Epoch of Chirality does very little to up the ante in this regard. The name is bulky and awkward, and even trying to imagine it with an English accent—seeing as how the one-man instrumental project is based in England—doesn’t improve its sonic aesthetics. But as we’ve also seen quite a few times this year, a bad name a bad album does not make. With an open mind, I dove into this synth heavy dose of instrumental metal.” Is chirlaity dead?

Vandor – On a Moonlit Night Review

By Kenstrosity on July 14, 2021 in Reviews, Power Metal, 41 comments

“Two years ago, I touted Swedish power metal outfit Vandor as one of the most promising new acts in the genre, if for no other reason than the fact that their production aesthetics were orders of magnitude above the standard. To this day, In the Land of Vandor remains one of the best-sounding modern power metal albums I’ve ever heard. The bass shoved itself to the forefront and the vocalist took a central position, only occasionally weaving toward the front when he needed to really gnash his teeth, resulting in a record that sounded legitimately powerful. Uneven songwriting and iffy vocals held it back, but I was fairly confident they could rectify those issues with time. Let’s see how they’ve done!” Open the Vandor and let in some moonlight.

Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia

By Kenstrosity on July 9, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 60 comments

“I didn’t choose this. This album I had no intent to cover. But, thanks to a contract I signed under duress, swearing myself to temporary servitude under one green, be-grilled Kermit impersonator, I am here reviewing a random record of his choosing. Lo, here I be, with UK trio Qrixkuor (pronounced “Trix-are-for-kids,” I believe) and their debut opus Poison Palinopsia. Two tracks. Forty-eight minutes and change. This is going to be one weird, wild ride.” Death writ large.

Stuck in the Filter – June’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on July 8, 2021 in Blog Posts, Stuck in the Filter, Death Metal, Melodic Metal, Metalcore, Nu Metal, Progressive Metal, Rap Metal, Thrash Metal, 47 comments

“So here’s a segment you all likely are too young to remember/never thought you’d see again. And it comes from the most unlikely source to boot—me! I discovered this feature through one of our monthly staff review calls/execution ceremonies, and I thought it was a shame we don’t use it more often. This comes on the back of a month where many of us were swamped with life events, massive overtime at work, and other such stressors. Naturally, we missed a bunch of releases, both ones we received promo for and ones we didn’t.” No filter!

Felled – The Intimate Earth Review

By Kenstrosity on June 28, 2021 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 20 comments

“Felled approach black metal differently than many. There’s a lot of mournful folk imbued within these sonic landscapes, thanks to a lead violin which takes center stage as often as, if not more often than, the lead guitars. Dour atmosphere grips with a cold, unforgiving hand and drags you across snowy tundra, no thought given to your ability to weather the journey. All that matters is that the melodies and moods cut through your thin flesh-wrapper and find a home deep inside your marrow.” Intimate despair.