“To be honest, I have remained only peripherally up to speed with the court proceedings and inter-band politics between the original Queensrÿche and Tate’s new Operation: Mindcrime as relationships (and Tate’s musical sanity) spiraled into decline. Hence, The New Reality is my first concerted exposure to Tate’s post-Queensrÿche work.” Here in the now…of hazing.
![Æther Realm – Tarot [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/a4166387068_10-768x768.jpg)
“Why do I do this? I am not paid to write here; I wouldn’t mind but I never set out to cash in on my inconsistent drivel at 700 words a pop. Love of the gig, the craft, the community all register and indeed carry me when nothing flows and everything comes out like shit, but that did not impel me to sign up. Having something to say reads more like a line on a CV than a raison d’etre, but maybe. Tarot make me think so. I can count on one hand the number of records that so immediately and viscerally impacted me as Æther Realm’s second effort. Rectifying its absence here might just be why Jørn put me on this planet.” Jorn to review.
“As this isn’t my memoirs, nor a review of a decades-old Nuclear Blast and Relapse sampler, let’s get to what’s written on the top of this page, and what you came here for: Neocaesar’s 11:11. And what a guy with a dreadful Slayer pun as a pen name who talks about Plato too much has to say about it.” Sophistry and death.
As a general rule, metal is just plain better in Sweden. Even half-hearted attempts or poor imitations turn out better when sourced from that otherworldly place, with its spike-studded halls and platters of herring, meatballs, and fruit soups. And speaking of fruit soups, the new generation of HammerFall and Iron Maiden praise has arrived in the form of Stormhold’s second studio album, Salvation.” Sweden takes a holiday.
“Oh, December. That special time of year, when the masses try to buy their way out of SAD, supermarkets become more unbearable than usual thanks to seasonal saccharine soundtracks, and even the AMG promo bin transforms into a smoldering heap of nope. Some blind themselves to the solstice’s sadness with festive lights, others drown it in nog, but let me assure you: there will be no happiness.”
“With 2017 wrapping itself up nicely like a present to your loved ones, changes still occur that can throw one for a loop. Whether they are sudden visits by loved ones, finding a sweet deal on that thing you wanted for so long, or (in my case) landing a new job in a whole new career, last-minute shifts can make or break you. Take Chicago’s Pale Horseman, as their fourth album, The Fourth Seal, was initially set to be released independently until the band got signed just a week before the album was supposed to drop, pushing it back a few weeks.” Fourth Seal of approval?
“Genus Ordinis Dei (GOD for short) by their name wonder what the biological classification of an Abrahamic God would be, and they do this by seemingly breaking the rulebook and combining symphonic death metal with elements of the traditionally blue collar of deathcore.” Symphonic deathcore? Surely you can’t be serious.
“Ah, December. Also known as the reviewer’s doldrums. Hardly anything good is ever released in December: it’s the time of year when our aggregate review scores take a bit of a tumble. In poring over the December releases, I found four albums that seemed marginally appealing. Hot Wired Beat, the sophomore effort from Finnish rockers Hard Action, wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless, I’m game for taking one more kick at the retro metal cat.” What did that retro cat ever do to you?
“I love Insomnium. Big shock, I know. Of the eight reviews with Insomnium namedrops this year, I own more than half of them. Imagine my dismay when, upon returning from re-education vacation, I stumbled across a lonely slab of Insomnium-core from November, unreviewed and unloved. From Greece, to boot! Aetherian laid their pearly adoration for melodeath’s upper crust before swine and I’m going to give them their due.” Melodeath before nuclear hogs.
“Winter is coming, and not just in Westeros. As the days grow shorter and the coats grow thicker, a somber feeling draws across us all, blanketing anticipatory holiday cheer. Seasonal Affective Disorder (with its hilarious acronym SAD) strikes its yearly blow, and the call of morose doom metal like Hallatar and Loss is stronger than ever. But frankly, in this melancholic time of the year, it’s nice to have a band around who don’t give a flying iota about the dark short days ahead. The Atomic Bitchwax is that band in body, mind and spirit.” Screw your winter!
