“WOW that’s a uniquely tasteless sort of cover, isn’t it? It’s as if industrial Finns Turmion Kätilöt felt the need to be seen after getting signed by Nuclear Blast, and figured that bad publicity is good publicity. Well, the cover stands out alright, just in the worst way. Let’s hope the music is better.” Naked launch.
“A hierophant – a word I was dimly aware of but confess that I had to look up – is a person who leads the religious into the presence of that which is deemed holy by the relevant congregation. It also a card in the tarot deck and at least one of its meanings is that of a teacher or counselor who aids the seeker in the acquisition of knowledge. Both of these meanings are wholly appropriate for Bay Area trio Forlesen’s debut, Hierophant Violent. I would estimate that, since beginning my tenure serfdom here at AMG, my musical consumption has increased by upwards of 80% and I was listening to a lot before I started. And yet it’s rare indeed that an album hits me like Hierophan Violent did.” Elephantine Hierophant.
“If I had just one word to describe Ols’s new album, Widma, I’d have to go with vivid. Exhibit A: “A tart drop of blood, a frozen hawthorn berry draws an unclear sign.” After pouring over the English translation of Ols’s Polish lyrics, my original lukewarm response began to morph into fondness.” End of seasons.
“Absolva, the act entirely composed of the touring band for Blaze Bayley, have returned with their fifth album of slightly modernized NWoBHM. I first stumbled on these gents back in 2017 when their Defiance platter wound up on my desk, and found their style easy to like and as familiar as a favorite pair of socks. This is a crew of seasoned veterans from the U.K. traditional metal scene, and guitarist Luke Appleton even finds time to play bass for Iced Earth when not touring with Blaze.” Blazing new trails.
“Hot on the heels of the fantastic Nightbringers, my hopes for the latest from The Black Dahlia Murder could not have been more detached from reality. Of course, those expectations couldn’t and wouldn’t pan out… but not how you might expect. If Nightbringers saw a wizened The Black Dahlia Murder reflecting on Nocturnal and their launch into outer space, then Verminous ruminates on Deflorate, Ritual, and Everblack, the records that kept them aloft among the stars.” Great expectations, dangerous expectations.
“Doom is a tricky genre to get right. At least in my opinion. It has a fine line to walk, trading in tectonic riffs, bleak atmospherics and roared vocals, often at glacial speeds, it risks sacrificing memorability on the altar of heaviness. Swedish quartet Ocean Chief have done their time and paid their dues, however, and should be well equipped to avoid this pitfall.” Riff rafts.
“Seriously. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Like ‘pagan’ wasn’t already a bad word to most of the Christian population. Now it’s a bad word for Christian-hating metalheads. Unfortunately, the folky, melodic, and, at times, quite beautiful qualities of the genre veil the National Socialist squabble from many-a anti-Semitic band and label. Which, for someone that loves this style of music, is frustrating as hell. Many writers—not only of this website—won’t touch the stuff. Though plenty of writers skip over one-man black metal outfits because there’s a bajillion of them—all blurring together in one chaotic sound after another—’pagan black metal’ bands get tagged and placed in a cold locker. Not a band name mentioned. Not even out of spite. But, neither I nor Spain’s At the Altar of the Horned God will let these motherfuckers spoil a good time.” Nazis bad, pagans good.
“Once again, I picked promo for an irrelevant reason. German/Irish blackened death trio Khôra wound up in my review queue because their name sounds like the name of one of our cats (Kora). I feel like that’s a perfectly reasonable justification for album selection. If it isn’t, well, then I guess I don’t care. Khôra doesn’t care either, and put out whatever the hell they want regardless of what your tastes or expectations are.” Cats and jammers.
“For such an iconic band, there aren’t many modern groups that sound very much like Death. Sure, Gruesome’s whole schtick is sounding like them and Skeletal Remains have a hearty Death influence, but compared to the legions of bands that mimic Entombed or Incantation, Chuck Schuldiner’s brainchild seems underrepresented. After Live Burial answered the call earlier this month, Atlanta’s Cemetery Filth are here with their Dominion debut to profess their own love of Schuldiner’s work.” I am become Death.
When I
“When I’m unsettled, I retreat to what I know; to what I’m comfortable with. And while there’s a global pandemic locking down the planet, these are profoundly unsettling times. When the promo bin threw some atmospheric black metal my way, I was completely on board for that. This is the genre, after all, that got me into metal, and it’s where I feel most at home. No matter the time of day, or my mood, I can always spin some atmoblack. The icy embrace warms my cold heart and calms me. Which is all to say that Realm of Eternal Night, the debut album from British outfit Argesk, is precisely the kind of music I was looking for this week.” No escape.
