Portuguese Metal

Glasya – Heaven’s Demise Review

Glasya – Heaven’s Demise Review

“The level of diversity available with metal music is a wonderful thing. At any given moment, I’m completely enamored with two or three styles of metal, but those styles are constantly in flux, my needs and desires shifting with the mood of a given day. Lately, I’ve been coming back around to symphonic metal. Embrace of Disharmony launched me back in, and I’ve come to miss that orchestral, symphonic, and otherwise over-the-top element in my heavy metal. Enter Glasya.” Wish upon the night.

Ravensire – A Stone Engraved in Red Review

Ravensire – A Stone Engraved in Red Review

“Ancient armies will clash. Muscle, sweat, bone and blood will meet gleaming steel. Once tranquil fields will be littered with tattered banners and fallen heroes. This is Ravensire’s world and we just fight in it. Hailing from Portugal, they’re an epic heavy metal band through and through, taking inspiration from all the best swords (Doomsword, Ironsword), the Viking ethos of Bathory’s Hammerheart era, and of course, the loin beclothed he-men of Manowar.” Stone beats Steel.

Nihility – Thus Spoke the Antichrist Review

Nihility – Thus Spoke the Antichrist Review

“It’s been said that the scariest monsters are those which are vaguely familiar. From zombies to the shape-shifting alien in The Thing, it seems the best way to leave a sense of lasting fear in your audience is to take familiar traits and twist them into something grotesque and appalling. Metal (usually) isn’t designed to scare people, but the same basic principle applies. The new releases I enjoy the most are those which take recognizable features from other bands and morph them in their own unique way. Portuguese quintet Nihility are a great example of this. With their Thus Spoke the Antichrist debut, the group take the Behemoth and Belphegor influence promised in the promo blurb and mutate it with an injection of brutal death metal.” Familiar Hell.

Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In Review

Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In Review

“Man, this March has been ridiculous. Just when all of us at the AMG Consortium of the Infernal’s brimstone lounge were bitching and moaning about the unfair quantity of choice black metal—leaving in its wake a noticeable dearth of death metal goodness—out of nowhere comes Equipoise, Gomorrah, Venom Prison, Aephanemer, and now Vltimas. Like Equipoise, but also not at all like Equipoise, Vltimas is a supergroup. Based out of Portugal, the band is comprised of three legends of the metal scene: David Vincent of Morbid Angel on vocals; Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen (ex-Mayhem, Aura Noir) on the guitars, and Flo Mounier of Cryptopsy fame manning the kit.” Something supergroupy this way comes.

Graves – Liturgia da Blasfemia Review

Graves – Liturgia da Blasfemia Review

“Portuguese black metal had a bumper year in 2018 simply by virtue of the release of Gaerea’s debut album called Unsettling Whispers, which ranged from very good to great. It may not have made the cut for my year-end list but it’s an accomplished listen which drags various blackened scenes from the past twenty-five years into its melting pot. The prospect of further Portuguese debutantes, masquerading under the name Graves, was therefore enticing and it was with interest that I selected Liturgia da Blasfemia from the promo pool. With but a single demo under their belts this represents their first foray into the world of fully-developed releases.” Can you dig it?

Toxik Attack – Assassinos em Série Review

Toxik Attack – Assassinos em Série Review

“I’m proud to tell you that I happen to be AMG’s resident specialist when it comes to Portuguese language thrash/speed releases from Helldprod Records. No other writer here can boast the honor of reviewing such a record, >and now I’ve done it twice in my illustriously short career. It may be an impossibly narrow niche, but hey, you have to start somewhere! Assassinos em Série is the debut album from Portuguese band Toxik Attack, and it is my next great hope for thrash in 2019.” Closed for remediation.

The Ridiculous Year o’ Death Metal Round-up, Part 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

The Ridiculous Year o’ Death Metal Round-up, Part 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

“2018 has been undeniably kind to death metal. So kind that it became impossible to pay the necessary attention to every release worthy of note. So, possessed of tyrannical temperament and iron resolve, Kronos and I have enlisted the help of the staff to cover those bands that went so unjustly overlooked.” – Even MORE death metal we missed!? Wow, we’re bad at this job.

Enblood – Cast to Exile [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

Enblood – Cast to Exile [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

“I’ve always thought that tech death and melodeath are more similar than most people realize. Both mainly use riffs comprised of individual notes played in succession, the difference is that tech death is faster, more complex, and typically has better T-shirts. I used to be quite interested in music which fused the two styles, namely early Arsis, early Revocation, and Vornagar’s sole album. These days I typically veer toward the blacker and thrashier realms, which is why I found it so surprising that Enblood’s Cast to Exile appealed to me as much as it did.” Tentacles in your face.

Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers Review

Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers Review

“A black metal Transcending Obscurity release with monochrome artwork: who could have ever foreseen this one falling into my velvety grasp? Portugal’s Gaerea certainly put their Muppet-est foot forward when casting Unsettling Whispers into the Angry Metal Promo Sump, and yet I was wary. Black metal is the best metal, ov course, but it’s also everywhere and lately sounding too similar to itself. Sure, a few vague details got my attention, but I’m a poseur and all the Muppet love in the world can’t make an album innovative or objectively meritorious; did I perhaps build my hopes too high only to find yet another band trying to be either Ulcerate or Agalloch?” Black metal art.