“On Thorns I Lay have had an unusual career arc, evolving from doom death into goth rock and eventually alt-rock weirdness. After a 12 year period of inactivity, these Greeks reinvented themselves as a doomy melodeath act and 2018s Aegean Sorrow mixed elements of Insominium and the early Peaceville titans adroitly for an impressive platter of sadboi death. Threnos sees them sprinkling a wee bit more of their old doom style into their melodeath sound.” Thorn birds.
Lifeforce Records
Hanging Garden – Into That Good Night Review
“Evermore difficult to believe has been my luck in the ongoing war against the promo bin. Despite multiple attempts to lower my less than angry rating average, including seeking out non-atmoblack/Muppetcore albums or else surrendering my fate to Steel like a damn N00b, I somehow just keep wading out from the promo sump smelling like roses. This brings us nicely to my main point, being that I can’t believe that Dr. Fisting turned down the opportunity to drop everything and craft an unpaid review for Into That Good Night, the sixth album by Finland’s Hanging Garden.” Shaking fists at gardens in the sky.
Vorna – Sateet palata saavat Review
“With the annual pilgrimage to dead leaves and perpetual darkness underway, an appropriate soundtrack is imperative to survival; I need something that will simultaneously sonically augment the surrounding scenery as well as shield me from its scheduled sadness, something which will bring this death to life and save me from it. Such a savior has arrived in the form of Vorna’s Sateet palata saavat, and though I am loathe to share such splendor with the likes ov you, the urge to babble about said greatness has temporarily overtaken my selfish recalcitrance: you’re welcome, yo.” The autumn wind smells like Muppet.
The Holeum – Sublime Emptiness Review
“One of the only neat things about this angry metal gig is how you can select an album to review and within a spin or two have a pretty good guess as to which of these other cretins will enjoy said album. Today I present to you The Holeum’s somber sophomore escapade, Sublime Emptiness, with the strong suspicion that our silverbackedest scribe will scoff this stuff up.”Embrace the hollow.
Glare of the Sun – Theia Review
“This site has introduced me to countless gems that have captivated me and permanently improved my life in inimitable ways, yet even my most heartfelt exercises in overrating have failed to yield ‘that’ album unto me… until now. With Theia, the sophomore full-length from Austria’s Glare of the Sun, I have found completion, something that fills my Muppet void in ways that would make Ron Jeremy blush.” Sun worshiping.
Oceanwake – Lights Flashing in Mute Scenery
“I wrote four years ago that “doom” metal is best when it is onomatopoeic. It should not just be a four-letter descriptor for a genre and should instead invoke feelings of cataclysm which match those four letters which can be as long as you want them to be. Doom. Doooom. Doooooom. Oceanwake arose from their Finnish lake with an understanding for this quality but have progressively widened the lens through which they viewed their craft, absorbing post-metal and progressive influences such that their sound is no longer so easily pigeon-holeable.” Pigeonhole we must.
CLEARxCUT – For the Wild at Heart Kept in Cages Review
“It’s not exactly a secret that I hate you humanity and love King Apathy, so when I was presented with the opportunity to review the debut act of a band featuring Matthias S of King Apathy and ascribing to the same neo Cattle Decapitation lyrical teachings, it should come to roughly no one’s surprise that I squealed like a mildly surprised Kenword jumped at the chance to do so. This was a wish come true.” Wish or curse?
Besta – Eterno Rancor Review
“Hello, it’s me. I was wondering if, after all these years ov atmoblack reviews, maybe you’d like to meet something different? After rolling in the deep end of our promo bin’s blackest, mopiest waters for so long, it felt appropriate to set fire to the reign ov black ‘n boo-hoo bands and send my love to a new genre.” Muppet grinder.
King Apathy – Wounds Review
“As a pledged and proud purveyor of pessimism and particularly powerful pieces ov post-black pain, it’s probably presumed by you plebs that this puppet perceives positivity and pleasure as pointless and pathetic, practically on par with such unpalatable practices as publicly popping pimples or pooping in the pool. Well, be proud, you presumptuous phucks poopyheads: you’re right. Everything sucks and it’s all your fault. It’s hard for a Muppet to make much meaning of mankind’s minute moments of mirth when there’s just so much wrong with the world. I could go on forever about how humans are just the absolute fucking worst, but it wouldn’t sound anywhere near as glorious as King Apathy’s latest sonic assessment of the essential suckiness of our species. So, in the interest of avoiding my transforming into a velvety Lewis Black, let’s rant talk write about that instead.” And this guy thinks the SCORE he’s giving these guys is the thing that’s gonna get him fired…
A Secret Revealed – Sacrifices Review
“I’ve learned that when it comes to the promo sump, metalcore sneaks in the back door. This makes sense. we at AMG like to joke about all things -core, so why explicitly say you’re a metalcore band in your promo? Why not say you play post-metal, and when you’re safe inside the city gates, sneak out of that Trojan horse and stab the shit out of us with your VERY EARNEST SCREAMING and siq breakdowns? And so it is that I find myself reviewing Sacrifices, the second full-length from Germany’s A Secret Revealed.” Core at the door.