“Metalcore. Deathcore. The ever nebulous ‘melodic metal.’ These are tags that discomfit discerning metalheads like myself. In those rare moments where I experience the excitement for a new release in these genres, as I did with Russia’s Quiescency, the worst case is that my anticipation overinflates. Since the band announced Message for Lamb roughly forever ago, my expectations for their debut record swiftly reached an unreasonable altitude. Alas, what goes up must come down.” Lamb stewed.
“Those who know me barely at all or better can confirm that I will listen to anything. Indiscriminately. Without hesitation. Unless it’s thrash metal or doom metal or speed metal. With these three subgenres of my beloved I am picky, who knows why. Assassin belong to the thrash metal category. Established in 1984 under their current moniker (they spent one or two years under the name Satanica), Assassin only have a few titles under their bullet belt. This is due to a breakup in 1989, but after reuniting in 2002 the band has released material steadily every few years or so.” Old dogs, old tricks.
“‘I’ll have to wait,’ says the little voice in my head, ‘until that winter wonderland of Things You Might Have Missed returns at the end of the year.’ Well, it’s fucking January, and I’m not waiting another gotdamn picosecond. I have an album with which you should get yourselves familiar all quick-like, because it’s my favorite release this month.” Patience is for wimps.
“Karen, Plankton’s computer wife, defines ‘seaweed’ as, and I quote, ‘50% sea, 50% weed.’ I define Wormhole as ‘50% worm, 50% hole,’ where ‘worm’ represents tech-death and ‘hole’ represents slam. I rarely encounter genre-blending bands who can evenly balance the weight each constituent style bears upon their respective sounds, but Wormhole might be the first to find a perfect 50/50 distribution.” Numbers, worms and holes.
![Gorgon – Elegy [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gorgon_Elegy_albumArt-768x768.jpg)
“Unlike the other Gorgon from France that released a 43-minute album in January, this Gorgon plays an opulent brand of symphonic death metal—a personal favorite subgenre of mine. That their second full-length Elegy released two weeks into the year and is still kicking my posterior like the absolute badass it is should tell you all you need to know.” Gorgon will eat you.
![Firelink – The Inveterate Fire [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/firelink_theInveterateFire_albumArt-768x768.jpg)
“Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the duo peddle the finest wares of the melodic black metal persuasion. Woven deeply into their abyssal constructs is a red-blooded passion for the Dark Souls video game series rife with metallic imagery ideal for musical adaptation.” Soulmass awaits at the Kiln of the First Flame.
![Pristine – Road Back to Ruin [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pristine_roadBackToRuin_albumArt-768x768.jpg)
“Once again, whether due to rank neglect or prior obligation, we missed Pristine’s latest slab of bar-brawling, leather-bound, bluesy hard rock goodness. Fans of this site will remember Huck N Roll swooning over Pristine’s Ninja, which was indeed a strong record from a Norwegian band operating way under the radar punching way above their weight class. Road Back to Ruin punches even higher, swinging and swaggering hard enough to fell Sequoias like blades of grass.” Roads best taken.
“It seems that music holds a special place for many, like myself, who feel they can’t always safely express concerns about their own mental health. Music functions both as a creative outlet and as a method of processing what we feel, occasionally to the point that it heals. Furthermore, music offers a powerful community simply by existing, and metal, I believe, especially so. Therefore, Grymm, Master of Muppets and I reached out to a few artists whose product takes a hard look at mental health and its relationship with music. First up is an interview with ALN of Mizmor.”
“How convenient! An extreme metal record distributed by none other than Extreme Metal Music. Can’t get much more straightforward than that! The band is Voltumna, who I am sure every single person here has heard of before. The record is Ciclope. The time is now. The place is here. The reviewer is me. Time to crack open this cyclopic skull and see what lurks inside! Blackened death metal? Just what I wanted!” Extreme gifts.
![Tardigrade Inferno – Mastermind [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/tardigradeInferno_mastermind_albumArt-768x768.jpg)
“Mastermind is one odd duck. Put one way, this album is literally my personality written into a metal record. Put another way, it’s a circus-tent nightmare from clown hell, and Frontierer happened to play there once and left their chunky guitar tone there by accident.” What the hell did you miss??
