Madam X learns the hard way that reviewing isn’t always a happy picnic. Nay, indeed, sometimes reviewing is a miserable picnic, full of bees, rain and miserably long songs that don’t ever end. Norway’s Kraków is a hard, but fair teacher.
Norwegian Metal
Svölk – Nights under the Round Table Review
Norwegian Svölk continues to show that the boundaries of Norwegian metal is expanding and for the better, at that. Lord Doom tells you more!
Khonsu – Anomalia Review
Keep of Kalessin mainman’s brother releases his own project. Are they truly “bonded by blood”? [YOU’RE FIRED! – AMG]
Trollfest – Brumlebassen Review
To be honest, I’d never checked out Trollfest before. I’m an Angry Metal Guy, not a fucking silly one. These guys looked too goddamned much for me. Sure, I like Finntroll a lot, and they’re kinda silly, but there’s always been a serious side to them despite the band’s rambunctious and ridiculous music. But Trollfest? I dunno. They always struck me as just a pair of lederhosen and a made up language too far. But ack och fy, I have been living my life in the shadow! What a sad, sad, Angry Metal Guy I have been. Brumelbassen is a meistervärk!
Retro Reviews: Trelldom – Til et annet…
Angry Metal Guy (hey, that’s me!) and Steel Druhm have long had it in for black metal. Indeed, one can hardly look upon the pages of AngryMetalGuy.com without hearing a cranky metal guy bitching up a storm about how black metal isn’t what it once was; how it’s boring, overly conservative (not necessarily in viewpoints, but in musical approach) and mediocre. Hell, even the new girl is in on the “black metal is boring” thing. So, tonight, when a friend of mine was showing me some of his tracks and they reminded me of Trelldom and I was suddenly struck with a bit of nostalgia and broke out Til et annet… a great record which maybe hit a tad too late for the trve black metal folks.
Kråke – Conquering Death Review
Kråke have chosen to play with the big boys by entering the symphonic black metal arena. Unfortunately, the big leagues are maybe a tad too hard for ’em.
Ihsahn – Eremita Review
Post-Emporer, Ihsahn has kicked a lot of ass, but After was a controversial record without a doubt. While I gave it my thumbs up at the time, I feel like it hasn’t aged well—with the saxophone performance being my biggest complaint. Sure, jazz and metal have histories of solo players who push the boundaries of what is “acceptable,” but the saxophone performances get pretty taxing after a while. So for me, the thing that I’m looking for from a new Ihsahn record is that it lives up to the songwriting and groove-oriented riffing from The Adversary and especially angL which is one of my favorite records of the last 10 years. So, as you can guess, I approached Eremita (Latin for “hermit” and the root of the English word “eremite” if you weren’t aware) nervously.
Jorn – Bring Heavy Rock to the Land Review
Yeah, I’m a Jorn fanboy! Wanna make something out of it? Do ya???
The Wretched End – Inroads Review
Some bands can easily blur the line separating thrash and death metal. You find yourself enjoying blast beats with screams, mid-tempo chugs with blistering solos, a trebly production with some deep throat growls. They are the elements we all love so much about those two very convincing reasons for man’s existence on this planet. But what do you actually call it? Is it Death metal? Thrash metal? Death/Thrash metal? And how about that ridiculous tag ‘deathrash’?
Borknagar – Urd Review
Borky didn’t bork it this time.
