To say that The 11th Hour’s Ed Warby has done a couple of things in his musical career would be a pretty major understatement. From his early days in legendary Dutch death metallers Gorefest to his current band Hail of Bullets and exceptional doom metal project The 11th Hour, to being prog legend Arjen Lucassen’s […]
When I started this review zine I had a friend who told me that I shouldn’t write in the first person on here. That as a reviewer I was to try to write objectively, like my opinion is fact and not simply a jaded metal guy on the Internet spewing his opinions about records. I think this is impossible for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that we all like certain things and dislike other things. I’ve been decried by readers for liking certain records that are apparently aren’t metal enough for them. Whereas others think I’m too hard on their favorite band. But this record proves my point that one needs to write from a place of opinion. See, I have never been the world’s biggest doom metal fan. To be totally frank, I associate a lot of doom with “funeral doom” or “drone doom,” which is a genre that I find to be incredibly boring. And honestly, I like bands that bring it with intensity and speed. I like staccato riffing and tight technicality and progressive approaches. I’ll make no bones about it, I normally associate slow and boring in my brain. That’s right, I probably have hated on your favorite doom metal band of all time at one point or another. So consider that when you’re reading this review and take it for what it is.
Sure, folk metal is Europe’s deathcore, but somehow it’s so much more enjoyable as a genre! It probably has something to do with the accordions. Oh, and the lack of breakdowns. If folk metal is Europe’s deathcore, than I’d have to say that Arkona is the equivalent of The Red Chord or Between the Buried and Me: so much better than the genre-title implies. Many have come to associate folk metal with the silliness of Korpiklaani and written it off as too much for their tastes. Then there are other people who get a little bit nervous about the sort of nationalistic shit that could easily be associated with a band like Arkona in a land where right wing extremists are definitely an issue. But as far as this Angry Metal Guy is concerned: Arkona is not your average folk metal band and Goi, Rode, Goi! is definitely not your average folk metal record.
As posted on the official forum, here’s footage of Mr. V singing. Â It’s short, but if you’re a fan, it sounds good. Yup!! I’m stoked.
According to a post that Vintersorg made on his forum, he and Matias are slowly at work recording the follow up to 2007’s Solens Rötter. While a name hasn’t been given for the new record yet, he teased today that in fact all the lyrics have ended up being in Swedish—and that this is entirely […]
Fame has its benefits. Getting signed immediately after you leave/get fired from your other band is one of those things. Of course, the inevitable problem with fame is that no matter how far away from what you got famous for, you will always be compared to it. And for me, Liv’s voice will live on forever in Theatre of Tragedy’s classic album Velvet Darkness They Fear. Leaves’ Eyes is not Theatre of Tragedy and Njord is definitely not Velvet Darkness They Fear, and while it doesn’t need to be that album all over again for me to like something she’s done, I know it can be better than this.
A short note from Vintersorg was posted on his official forum on the 13th of August, so three days ago. In his very cunning Internet style, Mr. V let us all know that they’re doing some recording for the new record (I’m assuming it’s the demoing process though it’s possible they’re in the studio). We’ve […]
Wow, more news today. And, frankly, I think I’m probably the first to actually update this stuff. So I was on the Vintersorg forum today when I came across an update that was written by him. It basically sounds like things are pretty much in gear for him recording an album over the rest of […]
Fejd released their fourth CD, Storm, earlier this year and, for those of you who regularly come to this site, you’ll know that I really dug it. But who are these Swedish viking types, and where do they come from? How is it that they were producing totally awesome demos, but never got a record […]
“For fans of Turisas, Finntroll and Nightwish,” the advertisement read. How could I possibly pass that up? I’m definitely a fan of Turisas and Finntroll, though, Nightwish I’ve pretty much been able to do without—sans diva or not. But reading that tagline, I wondered how any band could actually manage to blend these three bands into one cohesive whole. “No,” I thought to myself, “it’s really not possible to do in a convincing manner.” Apparently, and to my great dissatisfaction, I was wrong.
