MDD Records

Vehemenz – Vehemenz Review

Vehemenz – Vehemenz Review

“Nothing annoys me more than when artists hype up their work beyond perceivable notions. You know what I’m talking about. “It needed to be visceral.” (adorable, Linkin Park). “…unique, not following trends” (right, Savn)? It’s just better for everyone involved to just shut the hell up and let the music do all the communication for you instead of throwing out false pretenses in hopes that maybe someone out in the Nethersphere will somehow agree with you. In other words, take a note from Germany’s Vehemenz, who have managed to grab my attention and kept me musically fixated and grinning ear-to-ear with their self-titled debut 5-song EP, all without overhyping the ever-loving shit out of it.” We at AMG will tolerate no guff, bullhockey or hype. None!

Aurora Borealis – World Shapers Review

Aurora Borealis – World Shapers Review

“From palpable obscurity, tumultuous streams of glory gushed, ten thousand thousand rainbows rushed and reveled through the boundless sky, in jousting, flashing radiancy.” That was David Vedder’s description the Aurora Borealis back around the 1800s, and today it remains a fitting description of these Maryland-based blackened death metallers that deliver a brand of bludgeoning melodicism reminiscent of Carcass and Morbid Angel.” Madam X shakes off the oppressive yoke of black metal to review…blackened death metal. No wonder she’s so dark of demeanor!

Genghis Khan – Genghis Khan Was A Rocker Review

Genghis Khan – Genghis Khan Was A Rocker Review

“First off, let’s get one thing straight: Genghis Khan was, in all likelihood, not a rocker. He was many things — military genius, emperor, conqueror of many lands, and guy who killed a shitload of people. It’s possible that some of those things kind of rock, although the surviving populations of Russia, China, and the Middle East may beg to differ. Regardless, Khan lived many centuries before western music even existed, and there’s no evidence of him liking rock or metal. Anyways…so yeah, Genghis Khan the band. These guys are an Italian trio playing what could loosely be called ‘power metal.'” Mr. Fisting loves his world history and has some issues with this Italian trio’s debut album and its historical inaccuracy. Forget the wrath of Khan, this is the wrath of Fisting!!

Pessimist – Death from Above Review

Pessimist – Death from Above Review

“The artwork is so typical and the title, silly and banal as hell. Even a cursory glance at the pointy band logo should immediately hint at which metal sub-genre this band belongs to, but hang on for a second and hold back that derisive snort…” Oh no!? What’s Happy Metal Guy going to say? The suspense has got to be killing you…

Exarsis – The Brutal State Review

Exarsis – The Brutal State Review

“One of the stranger parts of American culture is the phenomena of the Civil War reenactment. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is exactly what it sounds like: History buffs and other geeks dress in 1860’s-era clothing, meet at a public place, and painstakingly recreate some of our nation’s most infamous battles. As fun as this might be to watch, the reenactments are somewhat predictable, because every single time (with one exception) the outcome is exactly the same. If you can imagine the futility of witnessing the same battle over and over again, fully knowing how it will end, then you are beginning to understand how difficult it is to review retro thrash albums.” And that brings us to the dulcet tones of Greek thrashers Exarsis. Mr. Fisting thinks these guys just made one of the better Bay Area thrash records of 1989, except that they’re from Greece and it’s 2013. That poses a problem.