Progressive Death

October Falls – A Collapse of Faith Review

October Falls – A Collapse of Faith Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 1, 2010 in 2010, 3.0, Black Metal, Debemur Morti, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 0 comments

Depressed Finns are really no surprise in metal these days. It seems like Finns are a pretty morose bunch in general. A country famous for bands like Poisonblack, H.I.M., Sentenced, Insomnium, Black Sun Aeon and Swallow the Sun, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that some pretty bleak and depressing stuff comes out of Finland. And let me be clear, that’s not even naming huge groups of bands that I’m sure others could probably come up with. But October Falls isn’t your standard “depressed metal” band from Finland. There are no silly ESL lyrics about being buried in a plastic bag or any of that jazz. Instead, October Falls is a “depressive” black metal band with folk sensibilities.

Empuse – The Beginning of the End (1995)

Empuse – The Beginning of the End (1995)

By Angry Metal Guy on May 24, 2010 in Blog Posts, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Progressive Death, Swedish Metal, Unsigned Bands, 3 comments

What was happening in your life in 1995? Maybe you weren’t into metal yet, or maybe you weren’t aware that there was something growing in the heart of Sweden that would soon be one of the most successful and influential scenes in the history of heavy metal. Between 1994 and 1996 a myriad of amazing records were released from Scandinavia, Sweden in particular, but also the budding black metal scene in Norway was going on and even Finland was producing Amorphis records. Katatonia released For Funerals to Come that year, as well as it being the year of the mighty Slaughter of the Soul in 1995 as well. Go through your iTunes or on RYM or wherever and check out what was going on.

Cynic – Re-Traced Review

Cynic – Re-Traced Review

By Angry Metal Guy on May 4, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, American Metal, Avante Garde, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Progressive Metal, 4 comments

I make no bones about it, I have a total love affair with Cynic. Long have I been a sucker for good progressive metal and Cynic is about as good as progressive metal gets. While I was a bit young to really have appreciated Focus when it came out, I re-discovered it later and fell in love with it. When Traced in Air came out in 2008 I pretty much fell over myself with joy. That record has maintained a constant place on my playlists since it was released and ranks among my top 10 albums of the last decade. So when I heard that they were going to re-do some of the tracks in different styles as an EP I was justifiably excited, but skeptical at the same time. I grew up in the age of the Nine Inch Nails re-mix album: I know what happens when jackasses mess around with an already winning formula. Nothing good.

Barren Earth – Curse of the Red River Review

Barren Earth – Curse of the Red River Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 31, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 5 comments

Barren Earth took me completely by surprise. As a rule I do not post reviews of records from labels that do not send me promos of them. I think it’s a disincentive for them to do so and generally bands don’t deserve the promotion. However, sometimes bands come onto the radar that I can’t ignore, as is what happened when I picked up this new Barren Earth record on a total whim. In fact, I didn’t even know that this band had ex-members from Amorphis, the drummer from Moonsorrow, the guitarist from Kreator or the vocalist from Swallow the Sun involved, or that it was mixed by Dan Swano. I guess I should have expected that this would be a great record…

Aeternam – Disciples of the Unseen Review

Aeternam – Disciples of the Unseen Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 15, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Metal Blade, Power Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, Power Metal, 4 comments

Egyptian metal is apparently a genre now! I didn’t have any clue! I just thought it was kind of a thing that Nile did. And then it was Nile and Behemoth. And then it was Nile, Behemoth and SepticFlesh. And now it’s Nile, Behemoth, SepticFlesh and Aeternam! I think that counts as a genre! So, that’s pretty cool in and of itself. Oh, and it turns out that Aeternam is pretty cool themselves, leading to a generally all around happy feeling for a few fleeting moments before the general irritants that keep me so angry all the time come crashing back in.

Kobi Farhi Interview

Kobi Farhi Interview

By Angry Metal Guy on February 9, 2010 in 2010, Century Media, Interviews, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Progressive Metal, 3 comments

For anyone who has regularly read my site, it is pretty obvious that I am a big Orphaned Land fan. So it is no exaggeration to say I was pretty stoked to do an interview with the band’s vocalist, lyricist and gigantic personality, Kobi Farhi. We had a chance to talk about several different things, ranging from the cultural approach to metal in Orphaned Land to working with Steven Wilson (from Porcupine Tree). For the first time I am going to offer the audio of this interview edited down with some clips from the record, as well as typing out the “transcript” as it were. The transcript, of course, will have the full text and the audio is a bit more edited down so as to cut out the BS.

Interview with Mary Zimmer from Luna Mortis

Interview with Mary Zimmer from Luna Mortis

By Angry Metal Guy on January 22, 2010 in 2009, 2010, American Metal, Century Media, Interviews, Power Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2009, Unsigned Bands, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 1 comment

One of the most promising bands that I’ve ever encountered in my time in the underground has been Luna Mortis. Within the scene that they were surrounded by, it was basically taken for granted that if someone from the scene was going to take off it would be them (at the time called The Ottoman Empire). To no one’s surprise they got bigger, got better management, got a better band together and continued developing. To no one’s surprise they started getting good press and good reviews and making contacts. To, I think, a lot of people’s surprise they ended up getting signed by Century Media. Not that they didn’t deserve it, but just to think that a group of local kids were getting picked up by the label that had shepherded so many of us into the extreme metal scene was pretty astounding.

Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review

Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 8, 2010 in 2010, 5.0, Century Media, Folk Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Progressive Death, 9 comments

Few bands will ever make their own mark on a genre of music. it’s just a statistical rarity. Someone once told me that there are something like 5 million bands on MySpace, if that gives you an idea of the breadth which exists when one is thinking in terms of how many musicians there are out there. Of those, most of them probably last longer than a year, never produce much of a demo much less get signed to a real label, and how many ever produce a real step forward into a new decade with a statement of great things to come? The chances of becoming a professional musician are basically NIL and then of the number that do, how many ever produce something that will be remembered and affect enough listeners to ever influence any? That number is even smaller. Orphaned Land is one of the few bands that will ever exact change in metal and they are doing so now with their new record The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR.