Death Metal

Scar Symmetry – Dark Matter Dimensions Review

By Angry Metal Guy on September 29, 2009 in 2009, 4.5, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 9 comments

I remember the first time I heard Scar Symmetry very clearly. I was checking out some stuff on MySpace when I saw that they were going to be playing the House of Metal festival and I was blown away. Not blown away with how good they are, though talented one cannot deny they are, but how sickly sweet their melodic stuff is. I sat their and listened to it with my mouth agape thinking “really? Does this pass for death metal these days? How are these guys not a Top 40 band?” The answer to that is actually quite obvious: instead of dropping the death metal vocals, these guys have blended death metal vocals in with what I think is probably the most pop sensible writing I’ve ever heard in a metal band.

Interview with Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder (2009)

By Angry Metal Guy on September 20, 2009 in 2009, American Metal, Death Metal, Interviews, Metal Blade, Swedish Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, 0 comments

Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder is the first person I’ve ever interviewed more than once. Â Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember that. Â When I talked to him, the guys were a start up band from Detroit that was soon going into the studio to record Miasma a record that went over, well, remarkably well. […]

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.

Insomnium – Across the Dark

By Angry Metal Guy on September 9, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, Candlelight, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Finnish Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, 5 comments

Insomnium is one of those bands that rides on the border of melodic death metal and progressive rock, straddling the fence between good, solid heavy music and the proggy stuff that all the sadboy metal guys listen to. Those guys who secretly love The Cure and Depeche Mode and end up making stuff that sounds like newer Katatonia, Anathema or Amorphis. This isn’t really a critique, but it lets you know right off the bat where these Finnish melodic metallers are standing in reference to the never ending “is melody metal” war that seems to be going on these days.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate Review

By Angry Metal Guy on September 9, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, American Metal, Death Metal, Deathcore, Metal Blade, Metalcore, Reviews, Death Metal, Metalcore, 5 comments

The Black Dahlia Murder is becoming a veteran band among this new wave of melodic American death metal/metalcore or whatever the hell you want to call it. To get this out of the way right away: I think that The Black Dahlia Murder has been treated unfairly by a metal community sad to see the disappearance of the old school metal guy anywhere except brutal death metal. Modern American metal has come to be dominated by short-haired, tattooed hardcore lookin’ kids who often have super diverse taste in music and have never donned a leather jacket or a goatee in their lives. These hardcore lookin’ dudes put on shows that have an energy that often times metal dudes lack in their own live performances, and they’re gaining notoriety with their blending of brutal death metal and stupid core breakdowns. The Black Dahlia Murder has been lumped in with these guys because of tattoos and plugs, but they are certainly not akin to these bands. No, The Black Dahlia Murder is easily one of the best melodic death metal bands the United States has ever produced and despite them sounding a lot like At The Gates plus blast beats, I think they do it very, very well and very consistently.

Angry Metal Guy’s Playlist August 22nd – August 29th

By Angry Metal Guy on August 30, 2009 in Black Metal, Blog Posts, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Playlists, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Viking Metal, 0 comments

These last couple weeks have been pretty crazy for this Angry Metal Guy.Â I’ve moved south from the fair city of UmeÃ¥, to the much bigger (and arguably fairer) city of Uppsala.Â While I miss Norrland, I do have to say that I’m quite enjoying certain aspects of the student culture in the city of […]

Amon Amarth – The Crusher (Reissue) Review

By Angry Metal Guy on August 29, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, 4.0, Death Metal, Metal Blade, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 0 comments

Amon Amarth – The Crusher (Reissue) Rating: 4.0/5.0 (Record) – 3.0/5.0 (Reissue) 4.5/5.0 (Live Record) Label: Metal Blade (EU | USA) Website(s): myspace.com/amonamarth | amonamarth.com Release Date(s): USA: 09.01.2009 | EU: 28.08.2009 Amon Amarth is on top of the fucking world right now.Â The Thor’s Hammer is the new pentagram and every kid is hailing […]

Hackneyed – Burn After Reaping Review

By Angry Metal Guy on August 17, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, 0 comments

Hackneyed is a bunch of kids. That, apparently, is the selling point for this band. Do not be fooled, you should not buy an album because it’s 16 year-olds who made that record. That’s retarded and should be avoided. That said, Hackneyed should probably be checked out by you for another reason: while the record starts out slowly, Burn After Reaping turns out to be a very good.

Vader – Necropolis Review

By Angry Metal Guy on August 12, 2009 in 2009, 4.5, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, 4 comments

Vader doesn’t have the star power of other Polish bands on their labels (whose CD I just reviewed here), but they definitely have the talent and the drive after all this time. To give the reader a little disclaimer: I haven’t ever been a big Vader fan, in fact, this is only the second full Vader album I’ve heard and I wasn’t terribly impressed with the earlier one–though one never knows how it would sit today. What I remember is thinking that the band lacked a few things that made me wonder why I should even be listening to them at all. Apparently I was having a bad day or something, either that or Vader has had a phoenix-like rebirth from the flames. No matter what happened, Necropolis fucking rules and I’m stoked about it.

Behemoth – Evangelion Review

By Angry Metal Guy on August 10, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, Black Metal, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 4 comments

Maybe I’m alone in this, but Behemoth’s tremendous success over the last few years, starting with the record Demigod has long been a great surprise to me. Not that the band isn’t good and doesn’t deserve the success. Frankly, they are great and they do deserve the success, but just the idea that a blackened death metal band from Poland would be causing such a stir wasn’t something that had crept into my mind a few years ago, before they released their first real popular “opus.” Demigod of course was followed up by a weaker The Apostasy which, while good, couldn’t possibly have lived up to the expectations of the earlier material. And, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it’s probably never bad to be hotly anticipated) for the band, Evangelion is one of the most hotly anticipated records of the year. I’ve been trying to get my hands on it for a while and now that I’ve finally got a promo version of it, I’ve been playing the hell out of it.