Spinefarm

Swallow the Sun – Emerald Forest and the Black Bird Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 1, 2012 in 2012, 3.0, Doom Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Doom Metal, 7 comments

Finnish doom sensations Swallow the Sun are back. The morose Finns (that’s redundant) have returned in 2012 with their fifth full length record and most gargantuan release to date. Indeed, having discovered that all their music is put out on compact disc, Swallow the Sun has embarked on a quest to fill the whole damn thing with their plodding, thick doom metal. Unwilling to edit themselves, they instead have produced 67 minutes worth of new doom for the consumption of their adoring fanbase. This massive work, entitled Emerald Forest and the Black Bird has spent a long time in my Review Gestation Chamber™ due to being so much music that I have been incapable of listening to it in a single go.

Soen – Cognitive Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 31, 2012 in 2012, 4.0, Groove Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Swedish Metal, Groove Metal, Progressive Metal, 11 comments

I guarantee you the guys from Soen have to brace themselves for every review they’re going to read for two reasons. The first of these is that this band contains Steve DiGiorgio, heavy metal’s best bassist and best fretless for hire and oh, right, Martin Lopez who we last saw as a member of Opeth. I have to say that I’m partial to these two guys as musicians (nothing against Ax, but Lopez is a special drummer) and so when I heard that this record was coming out I did some begging and got me a copy for review. Apparently there are other musicians in this band, but we don’t actually care The rest of the band is made up of by two Swedish guys, the vocalist and Platsbarzdis, the guitarist, for what is a four piece of alternative or kind of groovy progressive metal. Not progressive like Opeth or Vintersorg or Porcupine Tree but progressive like Tool. And by that I mean, they sound exactly like fucking Tool (that’s the second reason).

Shining – VII: Född förlorare Review

By Angry Metal Guy on May 13, 2011 in 2011, 4.0, Black Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, 6 comments

>Shining is about as hip as it gets among so called “underground” black metal bands, though really at this point, what with being signed to Spinefarm now, I guess they’re not super underground anymore. But whatever, success does not make a band sucky by its very nature—no, it’s Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™ that does that. And with the anticipation building around VII – Född förlorare (English: Born Loser[s]) due to the myriads of issues that surfaced in the process of recording, mixing and getting the album even out, it pretty much should go without saying that I’ve really been looking forward to this record. Haven’t you been looking forward to it? Damn straight.

Amaranthe – Amaranthe Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 8, 2011 in 0.5, 2011, Groove Metal, Heavy Metal, Metalcore, Reviews, Spinefarm, Swedish Metal, Eurocore, Not Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 100 comments

Amaranthe has three vocalists. Just let that sink in for a while. From what I can tell, not one of those vocalists plays an instrument. Instead, they found three “attractive” people to do vocals for them. The first is a woman, who sounds like a pop singer (think E Type) and who I guarantee you cannot name a Slayer record. The second is a screamy dude. He’s got a beard (’cause he’s tough and angsty, you see) and he screams, but not too much (he must be very, very, very bored on stage). And then there’s the ‘power metal’ vocalist (Berg from Dream Evil) who’s just as over-produced as the chick vocalist and is there to get 14 year old girls all silly over his perfectly groomed dreadlocks. Behind them are several soulless session musicians (from Mercenary, Dragonland and Engel). Though, frankly, this is a band that is functionally made of session musicians, since integrity seems to be lacking.

Crimfall – The Writ of Sword Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 9, 2011 in 2011, 4.0, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Viking Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 8 comments

One of the things that one can never take into account when one is a music reviewer is the fact that one receives records and must render judgment in a short amount of time. Especially as a “soulless blog,” production of material sometimes happens in a week. In a sense, every review you read from a label who doesn’t trust this Angry Metal Guy is being done “split second” as opposed to having time to let a record ripen. Such was definitely the case with Crimfall’s first record As the Path Unfolds… which, while I enjoyed it, didn’t strike me as anything more than just an enjoyable record. However, here I am two years later listening to it regularly and really loving it. If I would score the record today I would give it a 4.5 and I would encourage you all to buy it (buy it, seriously, it’s great).

Children of Bodom – Relentless Reckless Forever Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 7, 2011 in 2011, 3.5, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Neo-Classical Metal, Thrash Metal, 20 comments

Children of Bodom. I think the last time I cared about a Children of Bodom release was when I heard the very disappointing Follow the Reaper which followed what was absolutely in my top 5 for 1999 the venerable Hatebreeder. Oh man, I not only loved the shit out of that record, I even saw them play an amazing show (with the exception of a bored Wirmen being a douche on the keyboards) at Milwauke Metalfest. And I defended the band’s honor against every old, grizzled metal dude on the extreme metal forum I went to at the time. They called them Children of Boredom. Unfortunately, I kinda started to agree with them after a while and the records that followed Follow the Reaper were progressively more and more embarrassing.

RoutaSielu – Pimeys Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 24, 2011 in 2011, 3.0, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Death Metal, Groove Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 1 comment

So, it’s actually a little weird that I would even be reviewing this disc since it seems to hardly be receiving an international release at this point, but it’s got some points of interest. First, it’s the band of Before The Dawn and Black Sun Aeon mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen, so it’s not like something one wants to actually ignore. Saukkonen produces a lot of material, he probably has 4 bands I don’t know of even, but the man has a heart of metal and his material is always solid, heavy, groovy and laden with great choruses. RoutaSielu isn’t a whole lot different; only this time the whole record is in Finnish and it causes some accessibility issues.

Moonsorrow – Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 11, 2011 in 2011, 5.0, Black Metal, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Record o' the Month, Reviews, Spinefarm, Viking Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Viking Metal, 21 comments

Moonsorrow is one of the few bands I can think of that no one I know doesn’t like. They seem to unite all fans of underground metal because of their amazing music and authenticity. Let’s face it, a band who writes 15 minute dirges in their native, and arguably alien, tongue doesn’t want for authenticity. Only a few other bands I can think of, like Primordial and Enslaved really have the respect of everyone in what they do. It’s like they’re playing on another plane of existence or something. That, predictably, raises expectations for new Moonsorrow records through the roof (to say the least). But unlike others, Moonsorrow never fails to deliver and Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (Like Shadows we Walk through the Land of the Dead) is a monument to what atmospheric black metal should be like and to Moonsorrow’s impeccable legacy.

New Moonsorrow = <3

By Angry Metal Guy on January 12, 2011 in 2011, Blog Posts, Epic Metal, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Spinefarm, Viking Metal, 3 comments

So, the new Moonsorrow track has been put up on YouTube in (count them) TWO videos ’cause Moonsorrow writes songs that are TOO LONG FOR YOU(TUBE)! The release dates are: UK Feb 21 Finland Feb 23 Germany, Switzerland, Austria Feb 25 Rest of Europe Feb 28

Kiuas – Lustdriven Review

By Steel Druhm on April 20, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Finnish Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Melodic Metal, Power Metal, 1 comment

As a young lad, my dear mother strove to teach me two important things: first, don’t be an angry metal boy/guy, and secondly, never judge others. Well, as an angry metal guy reviewing albums I’d say I’m a major disappointment, but I really can’t say that I’m as big of a disappointment as the meaning of the Finnish band Kiuas’ name. Kiuas is a Finnish word that roughly translates into sauna stove or stove of sauna. So, in essence, this band is called “SAUNA STOVE?” These guys lose Angry Metal Points.