Argonauta Records

Destroyer of Light – Mors Aeterna Review

Destroyer of Light – Mors Aeterna Review

“2019 hasn’t given me all the doom goodies I’ve been craving thus far, and that makes me a churlish Steel. Since I tend to take it out on the AMG staff, this becomes a lose lose situation for all involved. This led me to hope Texas doom mongers Destroyer of Light might alleviate my essential doom deficiency with their third album, Mors Aeterna. I wasn’t familiar with their past works, but the promo one-sheet caught my attention by namedropping Sleep, Electric Wizard and Mercyful Fate. Well, Mors Aeterna is definitely doom, but it’s more in the ancestral line of Candlemass and Black Sabbath than any of those promo PR teasers.” Doom for all.

Earth Messiah – Ouroboros Review

Earth Messiah – Ouroboros Review

“Gothenburg three-piece Earth Messiah are also going old school with their full-length debut Ouroboros. The Swedes’ downtuned, heavy stoner-rock sound is ripped straight out of the late 1990s and follows on from a solid two-track demo, Nocturnal Thoughtgrinder, which they put out in January 2018. A full cycle of the seasons (and a record deal with Argonauta Records) later, are Earth Messiah reborn or stuck living in the past?” Stones and time.

Varego – I Prophetic Review

Varego – I Prophetic Review

“I’m gonna go ahead and say it: making good music is hella difficult. Us reviewers have it easy; the only skill our trade requires is writing good. But an album has so many steps where it can falter and bring down the entire Jenga tower. The musicians have to be able to play their instruments reasonably well. If they have a vocalist it’s double the trouble, judging by how many albums are tripped up by the vocals. Songwriting is a balancing exercise in and of itself; riffs, bridges, structure, all without sounding too derivative and trying for some originality. Then when you finally have everything put together, you have the recording and producing process, and it may still fall into traps of sounding lifeless or generic. It’s a miracle any good albums are produced at all!” Me write good some day.

Hollow Leg – Civilizations Review

Hollow Leg – Civilizations Review

“The most widely known motto by the late legendary movie reviewer Roger Ebert is probably “It’s not about what [it’s] about, it’s how it’s about it.” It’s an elegant way to say that a self-effacing B-movie may be just as (or more) successful as a grandiose historical epic at doing what it set out to do. Similarly, metal albums can be intended as highfalutin, genre-defining epics and fail miserably, or be highly entertaining and successful at simple and straightforward goals. The curiously named Floridian outfit Hollow Leg is among the latter category.” Head up, leg empty.

Sons of Lazareth – Blue Skies Back to Gray Review

Sons of Lazareth – Blue Skies Back to Gray Review

“I don’t do well in the heat. This n00b is a strictly cold-weather creature. Despite this, I do very much enjoy stoner-desert rock. I’ve done so ever since I first encountered Kyuss’ seminal Welcome to Sky Valley. So imagine my excitement when the promo bin – manifesting in the ominous shape of Steel Druhm – threw me Blue Skies Back to Gray, the debut album from Italian stoners Sons of Lazareth.” Left to die.

Loimann – A Voluntary Lack of Wisdom Review

Loimann – A Voluntary Lack of Wisdom Review

A Voluntary Lack of Wisdom is smothered in a dense layer of fuzz. But not the delicious tickle of a soft blanket, this is a bed of post-doom fiberglass. Italian three-piece metallers Loimann release this—their third full length—touting it as being more in your face and featuring less complex songwriting than prior efforts. Formed in 2001, it seems a change of direction was in order for this album. Keyboards have been dropped altogether and the harsh vocal quotient has been increased in an effort to provide a more extreme overall result.” Fiberglass-core.

Carcharodon – Bukkraken Review

Carcharodon – Bukkraken Review

“Although Carcharodon come from the filigreed halls of Italy, legendary for its theatricality, they named themselves after the genus for the great white shark and the megalodon, and they call their music macho metal. If you still don’t know which side of the subtlety fence they fall on: there’s a song on here called “Whalefucker.”” Macho, macho metal.

Cities of Mars – Temporal Rifts [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

Cities of Mars – Temporal Rifts [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

“Social media has had a major impact on our lives. From reading racist diatribes on Facebook to constructing shelves from things that were never meant to be shelves on Pinterest, few are completely outside the bubble. One positive change is the short distance between artists and fans. Take Cities of Mars, for instance. Earlier this year, my girlfriend was randomly added by these unknowns from Sweden. Fast forward a few months and we were chatting them up after a show in Antwerp, two in a crowd of a dozen including the opening band, the earthshaking riffs that’d emanated from the cafe’s ten square foot stage still ringing in our ears. You may now be thinking: “GardensTale, you’re abusing your power as an AMG writer just to plug a band we’d never hear otherwise, just because you met them!” And you’d be right, but I wouldn’t do that if Temporal Rifts wasn’t a sweet, solid and succinct slab of spacey stoner doom.” Nepotism and Neurosis.