Nuclear Blast

Nile – Those Whom the Gods Detest Review

Nile – Those Whom the Gods Detest Review

By Angry Metal Guy on October 26, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, 3 comments

Nile has long been one of the few brutal death metal bands, in that sort of Hate Eternal vein that I’ve ever been a real big fan of. They have, probably due to the judicious use of their musical talent, been able to make a type of brutal death metal that is interesting and varied enough that it doesn’t feel like a waste of time to listen to. Actually, that’s the understatement of the year. These masters of grindy death metal have produced some of the most memorable death metal albums of the modern death metal era starting in earnest with their classic record Black Seeds of Vengeance in 2000, but continuing through to today. 2007’s masterpiece Ithyphallic made my top 10 list and I have been greatly anticipating my chance to listen to the new opus, entitled Those Whom the Gods Detest.

Hypocrisy – A Taste of Extreme Divinity

Hypocrisy – A Taste of Extreme Divinity

By Angry Metal Guy on October 26, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 0 comments

Hypocrisy – A Taste of Extreme Divinity Rating: 3.5/5.0 Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | USA) Website(s): hypocrisy.tv | myspace.com/hypocrisy Release Date(s): USA: 11.3.2009 | EU: 23.10.2009 Hypocrisy is a band that should need no introduction in the world of modern death metal. But, surprisingly to me, many in the American scene still are not aware […]

Epica – Design Your Universe Review

Epica – Design Your Universe Review

By Angry Metal Guy on October 12, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, Nuclear Blast, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, 12 comments

Epica is a symphonic power metal/gothic metal band from the Netherlands that has really taken the scene and the world by storm since their founding in 2002 due to the amazing voice of their mezzo-soprano vocalist (who also happens to be a hotty, there are no coincidences in metal) Simone Simons and the epic *cough* nature of their music. Design Your Universe is the band’s fifth album, and honestly, the first one I’ve ever sat through assuming the band would be like a mix of old Theatre of Tragedy and Nightwish.

Belphegor – Walpurgis Rites Review

Belphegor – Walpurgis Rites Review

By Angry Metal Guy on October 12, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, Black Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 1 comment

Austria’s Belphegor are evil. Really, really evil. They have long been the darlings of the underground for a lot of people and had a reputation for being that old school brand of blackened death metal that was raw and evil as hell. Of course, as big evil pissing contests have never been my thing personally, Belphegor is a band that I have no personal experience with. This is actually the first album I’ve heard from these guys and so I’m coming at this from the perspective a total n00b. That’s right, I used the word n00b in my blog.

Scar Symmetry – Dark Matter Dimensions Review

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.

Threat Signal – Vigilance

Threat Signal – Vigilance

By Angry Metal Guy on August 27, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, American Metal, Canadian Metal, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Metalcore, 0 comments

Three years after their initial release, after being a true Internet success story, Threat Signal is back with a new album called Vigilance. I never got to review the first album, and I must admit that this style is a little bit too sugary sweet for my tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard contained within the borders of Vigilance: a band comfortable in their own shell, producing music that skates the fine line between pop metal, metalcore and thrash. This record is sure to bring delight to those among us who aren’t fans of the more heavy hitting, brutal or technical things that are flooding the market these days.

Hackneyed – Burn After Reaping Review

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

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

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.