Avante Garde

Cynic – Re-Traced Review

Cynic – Re-Traced Review

By Angry Metal Guy on May 4, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, American Metal, Avante Garde, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Progressive Metal, 4 comments

I make no bones about it, I have a total love affair with Cynic. Long have I been a sucker for good progressive metal and Cynic is about as good as progressive metal gets. While I was a bit young to really have appreciated Focus when it came out, I re-discovered it later and fell in love with it. When Traced in Air came out in 2008 I pretty much fell over myself with joy. That record has maintained a constant place on my playlists since it was released and ranks among my top 10 albums of the last decade. So when I heard that they were going to re-do some of the tracks in different styles as an EP I was justifiably excited, but skeptical at the same time. I grew up in the age of the Nine Inch Nails re-mix album: I know what happens when jackasses mess around with an already winning formula. Nothing good.

Les Discrets – Septembre et ses dernières Pensées Review

Les Discrets – Septembre et ses dernières Pensées Review

By Lord Doom on April 17, 2010 in 2010, 3.0, Avante Garde, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, 0 comments

It would appear that now defunct, scene-polarising French black metal troupe Amesoeurs have another project place under their name, this time in the form of bassist Fursey Treyssier’s Les Discrets; a post rock-meets-shoegaze project that still has that very noticeable smell of metal that Amesoeurs and it’s sibling project Alcest gave rise to.

Alcest – Écailles de Lune Review

By Noctus on April 11, 2010 in 2.5, 2010, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, 6 comments

Alcest are a band hyped beyond comprehension, but not without merit or reason. In their debut, Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde, there is something beautifully otherworldly about the sound Alcest creates; A mysterious aura of pure ecstasy – a melancholic veil. I call it a veil because the beautiful melodies and personality of Alcest’s music are just a disguise, hiding a narcissism and lack of ingenuity. The “oo’s” and “aa’s” which riddle Alcest’s music may be very pleasant, but this angry metal guy finds himself screaming for Neige, the project’s motor and vocalist, to bloody sing something, rather than simply using his voice to portray nothing. It’s almost frustrating to me that I’m totally in love with this band.

Since the first Alcest record was released in 2007, Neige has gone into other projects, such as the ever-popular Amesoeurs. This has had the effect of helping to mature Neige’s songwriting and Écailles de Lune certainly showcases a certain maturity. It’s beautifully multi-layered, practically spewing thought-provoking and emotion-evoking power.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis Review

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 25, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, American Metal, Avante Garde, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Sporadicore, Hardcore, Mathcore, Metalcore, 1 comment

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s fourth record, Option Paralysis, has been one of the most anticipated records of this year so far. And for good reason, people are really taken by this band and their unique style. DEP has released some seriously wacky, sporadic records in the past that are both crazy and challenging and yet so very enticing and addictive, even teaming up with Mike Patton (and others) on an EP called Irony Is a Dead Scene. They’re a very hard band to stick into a genre, bordering on technical metal and hardcore as well as pulling in influences from industrial, jazz, acoustic rock and well, you name it, they can do it. That makes them feel very fresh, but can they maintain that freshness on Option Paralysis.

Borknagar – Universal Review

Borknagar – Universal Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 22, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Indie Recordings, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 1 comment

Borknagar is a class act and has been for a long time. Reaching all the way back to their first, self-titled release, this band has separated itself from the herd by being just plain more interesting and unique. Eventually they just separated themselves from the modern black metal scene altogether, heading towards more progressive pastures. Universal continues a trend away from the raw and simple towards the highly complex, dynamic and progressive—but the question is whether or not the band’s fans and general public will want to follow the band in this direction. Well, and whether or not where the band is leading is somewhere worth going. [Read the whole review here.]

Petrychor – Dryad Review

Petrychor – Dryad Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 16, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, American Metal, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Reviews, Unsigned Bands, Black Metal, 3 comments

I frequently complain about black metal these days. Partially this is because I think that a lot of post-black metal is fucking boring and partially ’cause the not-post-black metal is also fucking boring. In general, black metal is in a place where nothing really that interesting is going on. Sure, there are bands out there that are putting out good material, but for the most part the signed stuff is so-so and the classic bands are disappointing with new material and the state of the scene, in my opinion, is pretty sad. So I was pleasantly surprised to get turned onto this piece of art by the Californian do-it-yourselfer just called “T”. The project is called Petrychor and displays all of the things that I would hope to hear out of this budding scene sort of embodied in a single 3 song EP entitled Dryad.

Sigh – Scenes From Hell Review

Sigh – Scenes From Hell Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 27, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, The End Records, Classical, 4 comments

Let me start with the a territory that isn’t very comfortable for many in heavy metal: orchestrations. Heavy metal has seen many variations on the classical orchestration in many different subgenres. Neo-classical metal, like the wanky stuff with Yngwe or Symphony X, has long bragged about the influence of baroque and classical music. Bands like Rhapsody of Fire and Epica do things that sound like they should be straight out of a movie score and black metal even has a symphonic sub-genre, most notably filled by Dimmu Borgir, whose symphonics have gone over the top in the last few years with the addition of Mustis (though we’ll see what happens now that he’s gone). Never before in my tenure of heavy metal listening have I heard orchestrations used in a black metal record to such effect as they have been used on Sigh’s new record Scenes from Hell.

Cormorant – Metazoa Review

Cormorant – Metazoa Review

By Angry Metal Guy on September 19, 2009 in 2009, 4.0, American Metal, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, 2 comments

Before this last week I’d never heard of Cormorant[1. Cormorant: “a large diving bird with a long neck, long hooked bill, short legs, and mainly dark plumage. It typically breeds on coastal cliffs, and is noted for its voracious appetite.” This voracious appetite has come to be used figuratively implying “an insatiably greedy person or thing.” – Thanks OAED] or of Saturnine Media. Because of this, I was able to be pleasantly surprised by what is one of the best underground albums of the year. But if you’re reading this, you don’t have to be surprised, you can go out and buy it as an informed consumer. You’re welcome.