2016

Gojira – Magma [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Gojira – Magma [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Gojira’s Magma was a pretty major release this year, and while it didn’t get any Angry Metal Guy love it got plenty of Huck N Roll love. So much so, in fact, that it landed in my comprehensive, well thought out, Best of 2016 list.” Feel the Huck love.

Plateau Sigma – Rituals [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Plateau Sigma – Rituals [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

“Italy’s Plateau Sigma have been on my radar for a couple of years: they always edged something quite interesting with their emotive doom metal but they lacked consistency and the song-writing was choppy at best. Yet it was with eagerness that I encountered their second full length, given the chinks of excellence evident previously. Rather than continuing the trend of slow but steady improvement, Rituals enveloped me entirely in its sheets of atmospheric doom and calming beauty, upheld by a strong, mid-paced core.” Doom in your stocking.

Sentient Horror – Ungodly Forms Review

Sentient Horror – Ungodly Forms Review

“‘Tis the tide of Yule and if you’re anything like me, you might find yourself wondering just what might be malingering under the tree in those sinister rhomboidal shapes… If you’re exactly like me, then you too must be hoping for some filthy Swedeath to furnish the festive season. Now if your partner hasn’t taken it upon themselves to wrap up a platter of Scandinavian malignancy, then fear not because Sentient Horror are the D-Beasts for you, arriving just in time to plunder Christmas with that smooth Stockholm sound.” You know Santa’s on his way. He’s loaded lots of horrors in his sleigh.

Eternal Champion – The Armor of Ire [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Eternal Champion – The Armor of Ire [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

“How did I miss an album with that cover, you ask? We didn’t get the damn promo, that’s how. If we did, I’d have seen the title (the same as a much beloved Sega Genesis brawler from my youth), taken notice of the art and the rest would be history. Now that I’m way late to the raiding party, I’m finding this thing the near-perfect companion piece to the awesome Sumerlands debut of earlier this year.” Obtain the Sword of Groupon and come with us!

Heavens Decay – The Great Void of Mystery Review

Heavens Decay – The Great Void of Mystery Review

“We all know December is the Great Dumpster Fire of Destiny for promos, and one does not simply sort through it without being stunned by the world-class dreck the labels unleash upon us poor, defenseless reviewers like so much coal in our stockings. Even in dead-end December though, you can sometimes trip over an industrial grade gem – the kind that will never shine like a pricey diamond, but may just win your affection anyway with its durable, utilitarian badassery. The Great Void of Mystery by Heavens Decay is one such stone of note.” December dumpster diving is risky business.

Dark Portrait – A Harrowing Atrocity Review

Dark Portrait – A Harrowing Atrocity Review

“It was with great reluctance that I took Dark Portrait’s A Harrowing Atrocity for review. It’s nothing against the band, but with the end of the year deadlines looming, TYMHM articles to write, and a top-ten list to hash out, there is little time for those unfortunate albums whose label thought it appropriate to release in the blackest month of the year.” From the promo dead pit comes…blackness.

Rivette – In Vertigo EP Review

Rivette – In Vertigo EP Review

“Physicists have long grappled with the enigma that is time travel and while jaunting to the future remains plausible, going the other way is all but an impossible dream. Pfffff, impossible to a lab coat-wearing egghead, maybe, but not to Finland’s Rivette, who have stuck two fingers up the nose of relativity with their debut EP, In Vertigo.” Up yours, Einstein!