“Pure Wrath is a one-man atmospheric black metal project from Indonesia, and it really only took that bit of information—plus the cover art you see here—to sell me on reviewing it. I also learned that Hymn to the Woeful Hearts is the third full-length release from this project started by Ryo in 2014, and that he’s using the album to tell a story. Throughout the album, he imagines a mother who survived the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66.” Innocents and Wrath.
“The fusion of death metal and doom metal is something I’ve never fully embraced as a purveyor of the heavy and hard-hitting. I mean, I should have, a long time ago—death metal is usually more extreme than I’m in the mood for and doom metal is great, if occasionally too un-speedy, so the blending should work. Sometimes it does—Rise to the Sky has certainly made a fan of me—but it just isn’t something I often seek out. When I first sampled The Final Sleep, a five-piece band from the United States of whom four are guitarists (yes, one of them is a bassist), I was drawn to the almost-progressive style of the vaguely doom-ish death metal on their sophomore release Vessels of Grief.” To sleep, perchance to scream.
“If there’s one musical style I could argue “let me down” last year, it was power metal. Nothing really grabbed me, nothing impressed me, nothing stuck. That’s disappointing, mind you, because I generally love power metal in all its cheesy, crazy glory. So when I came upon From the Ashes, the debut full-length from Danish newcomers Lastera, I didn’t need much convincing to check it out.” Ash power.
![Sur Austru – Obărșie [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/sur-austru-obarsie-01.jpeg.webp)
“Earlier this year, Huck N Roll reviewed the final full-length release from Negură Bunget, following Gabriel Mafa’s tragic passing in 2017. For several now-former members of the group, however, the musical journey, and spirit of Negură Bunget, persists in the form of Sur Austru, which was formed in 2018 to continue that musical legacy.” Onward.
“This is also how I feel about symphonic metal, its glimmering, shiny surface often subject to intense scrutiny from those who say the subgenre has stagnated. Enter Age of Athena, a new band from Canada’s Ontario whose debut, Gate to Oblivion, combines “influences of American metalcore and European symphonic metal.” Symphony of opera destruction?
“Somehow, we’ve made it to December again, which means the time for cold, dark, angry albums is once again upon us—or so I told myself when I discovered Doodswens (“death wish”) in the Promo Pit, a Dutch duo who plays exactly that sort of music. Specifically, they play frigid black metal of the sort that ruins happy days and wraps around you like a blanket on the miserable ones.” Turn loose the dood swans.
“Take a moment, if you will, and try to recall what you were doing thirty-five years ago. I can’t do that myself, because I’m Twelve, but you should try anyway, if only to appreciate the fact that Alien Force last released a full-length album about that long ago. There have been a few reasons for this, but I bring it up mainly to share my respect for the determination and longevity of these four musicians. The Danes of Alien Force play traditional heavy metal, and their third full-length release, We Meet Again, carries within it many of the same inspirations that can be heard on their debut and sophomore records from the 1980s.” Ancient aliens.
“Bryan Eckermann, of such acts as Scars of the Flesh and Wings of Abaddon, is something of a multi-instrumentalist. In the aforementioned bands, for example, he covers guitars, bass, and drumming, which is already more than a lot of musicians can say for themselves. Since 2014, however, he has also stood at the helm of his own solo project, for which he does, well, everything. Vocals? Eckermann. Keys? Drums? All Eckermann. Mixing? Mastering? Recording? Still Eckermann.” One-man army.
“This album is probably my most anticipated release of this year. To me, Diablo Swing Orchestra don’t simply play avant-garde metal—they are avant-garde metal, owing to the fact that they were my gateway into the genre with the incredible Pandora’s Piñata. And yet, Pacifisticuffs never really drew me in. I blamed the production at the time; something about the sound of the album kept me at arm’s length. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Diablo Swing Orchestra octet is a machine of creativity, talent, and ambition. However I may have felt about their previous release, a new album by them is a special occasion.” Rabbit revenge.
“Science fiction in heavy metal has absolutely no business being as cool as it somehow is. What is it about thick, heavy synths and thicker, heavier guitars that feels like such a strong match? I don’t really like science fiction in general, but as a musical concept? It works. I don’t know what to tell you, it just does. The Design Abstract hail from the Canadian province of Ontario, and seem to understand the game, as Metemtechnosis is their third full-length release under this moniker—and their second this year. The group plays melodic death metal to tell their futuristic stories.” Designing the future.
