Twelve

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Aleynmord – The Blinding Light Review

By Twelve on August 28, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, 21 comments

“It was some time ago now that the mighty Steel Druhm wandered into the Angry Metal Break room, bewildered and dazed, a single page of text — the promo sheet for Aleynmord’s debut The Blinding Light _– stuck to his paw. He read it out to us. It claimed such things as “a range of vocals from a shrill cry, yells, cleans, and even Americana-esque whistles enshrouded by a fog of thick guitars and a walking bass, The Blinding Light is a concise collection of tracks which convey this powerful emotion that can only be attempted to describe.” What was noteworthy about this strange text was that it never actually told us what genre the music was. There was debate; there was intrigue.” Blind no more.

Veonity – Sorrows Review

By Twelve on August 21, 2020 in Reviews, Power Metal, 11 comments

“Not long ago, I began to question why I take power metal assignments from our Promo Pit. Looking back, power metal and I haven’t gotten along too well over my tenure here, and I’ve begun to feel like reviewing the style is simply inviting disappointment. At that point, however, I was already slated to review Sorrows, the fourth full-length from Veonity, a Swedish group I’d previously never heard of who began storming up the scene in 2013.” Hope blooms in the Pit of Despair.

Cancer – Opioid Review

By Twelve on August 13, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, 11 comments

“It’s not often that depressive black metal comes across my desk, but when it does, I relish the opportunity to sink my teeth into it. The primality of black metal lends itself really well to the expression of misery in a way that other genres of music just don’t. So news of Cancer’s second full-length release, Opioid made me, paradoxically, happy.” Misery loves Cancer.

Selenseas – The Outer Limits Review

By Twelve on August 7, 2020 in Reviews, 14 comments

“Seeing the almighty “power metal” banner waving boldly above a Pile of Intrigue in the Promo Pit is a fascinating experience, because it never fails to bring out my optimism and cynicism in roughly equal amounts. On the one hand, I love power metal. On the other hand, it’s such a straightforward genre that even established acts occasionally have trouble with a potentially generic sound. As per usual, optimism won out, so today I will tell you about my experience with Selenseas, a Russian group dabbling in symphonic power metal.” Power outage.

Katalepsy – Terra Mortus Est Review

By Twelve on July 30, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, 21 comments

“Ah, death metal, my old nemesis. This style and I have never quite seen eye to eye on things, which I think comes down to me not having an especially high tolerance for prolonged brutality. I like rhyme and reason, order, and all things calm and sane. So given that, you might wonder why I would read the words “Russian brutal death metal masters Katalepsy return with their devastating new record Terra Mortus Est” and think “sounds good to me!” Honestly, I would too.” Insanity and Terra.

Drops of Heart – Stargazers Review

By Twelve on July 22, 2020 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, 11 comments

“Although “melodeath/metalcore” is rarely a good thing around here, the greatest strength of Stargazers is how very well Drops of Heart are able to merge these styles together. Stargazers boasts a unified, cohesive sound in the rough style of Soilwork (whose vocalist guests on “Starlight,” so that’s probably not a coincidence), preferring their metalcore influences over their melodeath ones.” Stargazing into the past.

Buried Realm – Embodiment of the Divine Review

By Twelve on July 20, 2020 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 22 comments

“Buried Realm play an eager, galloping sort of melodeath, with lots of speedy leads, upbeat riffs, synthesizers, and solos everywhere. It’s almost as if Blind Guardian enthusiasm and subject matter met up with Scar Symmetry’s love of ambience and melodic-yet-death-y riffs, while the vocalists from the latter act offered helpful hints here and there.” Melodeath potluck.

Väki – Kuolleen Maan Omaksi Review

By Twelve on July 14, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, 30 comments

“I enjoy a rather hesitant dance with black metal. It doesn’t take a whole lot to turn me off to a sampling of the style – I’d say I’m pretty picky here. But I just can’t help myself trying. Väki, who hail from Finland and purport a strong fascination with death, are the latest to pique my interest, and I couldn’t initially put my finger on why.” Embrace the grave.

Virtual Symmetry – Exoverse Review

By Twelve on June 30, 2020 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 16 comments

“My personal favorite of the AMG banners has always been that most legendary of Yngwie Malmsteen quotes – “How can less be more? That’s impossible!” It’s a perfectly true statement as long as you’re willing to completely miss the point of the original cliché, which, frankly, makes for a great worldview. In that vein, I bring you progressive metal, in the form of the sophomore full-length from Swiss-Italian Virtual Symmetry; that output, Exoverse is the very definition of an album that believes, with everything that it’s got, that less is not more, that that would be impossible.” More is MOOAR.

The Moon and the Nightspirit – Aether Review

By Twelve on June 27, 2020 in Reviews, Folk, Not Metal, 10 comments

“I love receiving distinctly non-metal promos. I mean, it’s the name of the site, right? Angry ‘Metal’ Guy. Receiving folk, neo-folk, ambient, and similar musical styles feels like a statement from their artists: “no, it isn’t literally metal, but it’s metal in enough ways for you, ‘Guy.’” And I’m not complaining; from Winterfylleth’s The Hallowing of Heirdom to October Falls’s Kaarna to Forndom’s Faþir, some of my favorite musical discoveries have been metal “in all the right ways but one,” and all featured on this site. Since 2005, The Moon and the Nightspirit, a Hungarian duo featuring multi-instrumentalists Ágnes Tóth and Mihály Szabó, have been making traditional folk music; Aether is their seventh full-length album, and it feels like it belongs in all three of the above fields.” Aether realms?