“One of the saddest things in music is the “almost there” album. It’s the album that has all the traits of something that should work, and yet it doesn’t. It’s the kid on the soccer team who is bad, but not bad enough to know he’s bad. It’s the guy in the friend group who everyone tolerates, but no one would be sad if he moved away. It’s the hundreds of albums that are released every year, met with a shrug at best, and are swiftly forgotten.” That’s not ominous or anything.
“Some ideas sound great in theory. Fewer look good when put to paper. That crucial step of transforming an idea from paper into reality? Well, let’s just say only the best of the bunch should see the harsh light of day. Taking three of metal’s premier wailers and screamers and having them lustily compete with one another for an album’s worth of over-the-top manic hysteria is not such a worthy concept. Aptly named The Three Tremors, this project features Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth), Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin (Jag Panzer, Satan’s Host), and Sean (no cool nickname) Peck (Cage, Denner/Sherman).” Banshee business.
“I’ve come around to better goregrind since, first by early Carcass and then Haemorrhage and General Surgery. Novelty grind, such as the shockingly good Trappist, has also wormed its way into my rotation. I haven’t listened enough to form an opinion, but Bitchfork and their “farm grind” is making a splash too. Defecal of Gerbe is novelty goregrind, except instead of gore the focus is on the scatological. Mothershit is also sung in French, meaning I miss about ninety percent of the jokes outside of some titles. C’est la vie.” POO-urns.
“It would probably surprise nobody to learn that my background as a metalhead began with symphonic metal. Somehow (read: through a series of ill-advised sessions of reckless YouTube binges) I discovered it during the early days of high school. Symphonic metal enlivened me and became my gateway into this marvelous metalverse. Today I return to that hallowed ground upon which my transformation manifested. Waiting there for me is Lemuria—a symphonic black metal band from Belgium, est. 1999—with their third epic The Hysterical Hunt.” Night hunt at the opera.
“Fans of 80s thrash, rejoice! For we have a couple of albums coming out over the next few weeks from bands that were active in the genre’s infancy. First up is the latest from the never-let-go-of-the-dream quintet, Flotsam and Jetsam. I’ll mention the Jason Newsted–Metallica connection only because my February review will contain a similar reference, but everyone’s aware of this link. Most of those people haven’t really listened to the band, either then or now, which is a shame. While not as influential as their more famous counterparts in the “Big 4,” their first two albums, as well as 2016’s self-titled return to form, are well worth checking out.” Flotzilla’s revenge.
“A belated Happy New Year to all. But the genre at the core of today’s review may not be conferring that same wish on its listener; namely, atmospheric, Gothic metal. And there is surely but one obvious band when we consider Gothic metal from Brooklyn, NY; namely, Type O Negative (‘TON’). Given the clear limitations of a specific sub-genre of metal in one borough of a city, it’s no surprise to learn that Sal Abruscato, the Brooklyn goth behind A Pale Horse Named Death (‘Pale Horse’), has long-standing ties to that late but great band as a founding member of both.” Type So Negative.
“Spillage is the brainchild of one Tony Spillman (get it?), a true journeyman of the Chicago metal scene who worked as a guitar tech for Trouble and appeared in Earthen Grave with Trouble alum Ron Holzner. After the unfortunate demise of Earthen Grave, Mr. Spillage wanted to pursue his own creative endeavors, founding Spillage and releasing a self-titled debut in 2015 featuring Trouble’s Bruce Franklin on guitar. Fast forward a few years and the band has a new lineup, with Franklin producing instead of performing. With all these connections to Chicago’s premier doom act, you’d expect sophomore opus Blood of Angels to be a chip off The Skull, and they do bill themselves as “power doom.”” Troubled.
“Not long ago, sweating the steely Damocles ax of content output, I considered outing my own Indefensible Position: Soilwork’s most recent two full-lengths, The Living Infinite and The Ride Majestic, are their best. Formulaic? Sure, but riddled with tip-top bangers and speedy sing-alongs stronger than any they’d ever done. That both received 2.0s balled my segmented digits into puny rage nuggets whenever that betrayal came to fore. But then, an oddity: I re-spun the damned things, probably for the first time with my shiny reviewer ears, and found my ire lessened.” Still tilling the same soil.
“Mo’ynoq, Uzbekistan is a former fishing capital and trade hub now lain low. Once a place of bounty, the decline and poisoning of the Aral Sea by the agricultural practices of the Soviet Union have left it dying husk, its few remaining inhabitants stricken with cancer and illness even as they scratch out a living from their drying, dusty coastline. It is from this place that North Carolina’s Mo’ynoq borrow their nom de guerre. However, such an evocative (if obscure in the United States of 2019) moniker all but mandates high standards.” Dead seas.
“The saqra of South American lore pesters, pranks, and provokes the lovely people residing in the former domain of the Inca Empire. Though unclear whether that tradition begat their codpiece affinity, Saqra’s Cult’s 2017 debut Forgotten Rites embraced that legacy surprisingly well for a bunch of Belgian black metallers glomming onto a different continent’s folk tales. Tribal black metal works about as well as [Insert Anything You Can Imagine, Really Here] black metal ever works—pretty damn well (if you can riff). But with The 9th King losing a lot of their overt South American influence, can Saqra’s Cult still put the can in Incan?” That pun stands alone.
