Kenstrosity

Destroying AMG's metal cred from within.

Stuck in the Filter – October’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on December 16, 2022 in Stuck in the Filter, 23 comments

“A bit of business before we get dirty. This, October’s Filter, will be the final Filter published in 2022. It will be this way because the staff and editors are on triple-time putting together TYMHM posts, List articles, and Roundup compilations for your sorry behinds. As such, we hardly ever get any extra listening time for things that aren’t official promos or year-end list candidates. That being said, we’ll rev back up in January with a dual-month Filter that will cover November and December entries from those who cheat time during the next two months.” Season’s scrubbings!

Scalpture – Feldwärts [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]

By Kenstrosity on December 15, 2022 in Things You Might Have Missed 2022, Death Metal, Hardcore, 42 comments

“Hailing from the Bielefeld region of Germany, the quintet specialize in the historical record of military conflict as their lyrical focus, with this newest opus detailing scenes from World War I. Keeping that in mind, you wouldn’t expect the record to be what you’d call “fun.” Except, Feldwärts is massively, addictingly fun.” WAR ARTS!!

Veilburner – VLBRNR Review

By Kenstrosity on December 3, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 26 comments

“Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull was my 2021 Album o’ the Year. It should’ve been Ferrous Beuller‘s as well, though I suppose it’s easier to forgive him his transgressions since he did award Imperative Imperceptible Impulse his crown. In any case, Lurkers was another installment in an almost unfuckwithable string of killer material from Pennsylvania mind-flayers Veilburner. Their sixth record in a mere eight years of existence, the too-poor-for-vowels VLBRNR, has big shoes to fill to live up to the standard set by Lurkers.” Veils yet unburned.

LiveWire – Under Attack! [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]

By Kenstrosity on November 11, 2022 in Things You Might Have Missed 2022, Power Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 34 comments

“I don’t remember how I heard about LiveWire’s debut record, Under Attack!, but I do know that its album artwork caught my eye as I scrolled through my Bandcamp feed, and, well, here we are. The Aussie troupe used to operate under the moniker Fenrir, but in 2019 they rebranded and shifted in style. Since then, a few singles trickled out of the pipeline until April, when this absolute supernova of a record exploded into existence.” Hardwired to sponge destruct.

Stuck in the Filter – September’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on November 5, 2022 in Stuck in the Filter, 37 comments

“September’s Filter is extra late. It’s extra late for a wide array of reasons, not the least of which involved this sponge working long hours several weeks on end, the looming threat of list season, and a flu scare. But I refuse to let my “colleagues” sit idly by and skimp out on getting my Filter cleaned out. So, I chased them all over the AMG campus until they submitted—or suffered.” Suffer the Filters.

Obsidious – Iconic Review

By Kenstrosity on October 31, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 39 comments

“There’s been an incredible amount of hype roiling behind international supergroup Obsidious’s upcoming debut record Iconic. Having lived under a rock for the past two years, I missed literally all of that hype, only first becoming aware of Obsidious late this past summer. Nevertheless, once I heard all of the numerous advance singles, I was convinced that this would be my Album o’ the Year by the time I got to hear the whole thing. Technical death metal meets post-apocalyptic space opera meets musical theater? It’s quite possibly the most me thing to fall into my lap during my entire four-year tenure at AMG to date. Needless to say, I generated plenty of my own hype. The question remains, did Obsidious live up to it?” Hype and reality.

Catalyst – A Different Painting for a New World Review

By Kenstrosity on October 22, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 11 comments

“I completely forgot about French tech-death upstarts Catalyst. That seems to be happening to me more often lately, and it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, I get the privilege of experiencing sudden bursts of excitement whenever announcements for a band I haven’t heard from in a while catch me by surprise. On the other hand, it feels like a betrayal by my own mind when a band I was interested in slips out of memory. Nonetheless, Catalyst’s debut The Great Purpose of the Lords was a cool slab of epic tech death, as recent revisits these past couple of weeks confirmed. Let’s see what the follow-up, A Different Painting for a New World, has in store.” Forget me not? Knot?

Stuck in the Filter – August’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on October 14, 2022 in Stuck in the Filter, 36 comments

“Leaf-looker season rapidly approaches. It’s time to batten down the hatches, get your grandparents’ affairs in order, take all of the money out of your bank accounts and stuff the cash in your mattresses, and buy six different kinds of shotgun with enough ammo to fill your entire Volvo station wagon. And, of course, we can’t forget to give the filter an extra deep clean as the constant tourist traffic whips dirt and grime into the air and into our precious filtration system.” Clogged gutters and Filter clutters.

De Profundis – The Corruption of Virtue

By Kenstrosity on October 14, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 58 comments

“De Profundis is a great band who gets a lot of love behind the scenes at AMG HQ, but somehow routinely misses out on full coverage. This kind of thing occurs occasionally and for a number of perfectly understandable reasons, of course. But after seventeen years of diligent work, it’s high time that the English death metal quintet get a proper review from us for their sixth full-length, The Corruption of Virtue. And, as is our prerogative, we bring this review to you late.” Corrupted deadlines.

Coffin Torture – Blennoid Review

By Kenstrosity on October 7, 2022 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Sludge, 12 comments

“South Carolina duo Coffin Torture deal in an especially heavy and deadly brand of sludge—reminiscent of the slower cuts from High on Fire, and Dopethrone minus the blues influences—and specialize in the art of The Riff™. In fact, I daresay the band injected a fair amount of straight-up death metal into Blennoid, such is the devastating nature of its groove and verve.” If the coffin’s a-rockin’…