Record reviews
“Given that I have a great relationship with my father, didn’t get bullied in high school, and don’t hate my hometown, my qualifications to review nu-metal are basically nil. Alas, I’ve made my superiors here rather upset in some way, shape, or form and have been duly saddled with a Greek nu-metal opus in the form of Project Theory’s Something between Us.” Ouch.
“Horses live troubled lives. They cart. They carry. They race. They die if they fail. And now the poor bastards have yetis on them. It’s a cruel world and one depicted by Yeti on Horseback (band from Ontario, yetis from Northern Saskatchewan) through their bleak doom metal.” Beasts of bourbon unite!
“For those that have been with us for awhile now, you know that Winterfylleth doesn’t get a lot of love around here. Though the “bashing” by AMG and Roquetin are minimal, the band’s atmospheric, Viking (oops, Anglo-Saxon) black metal approach does cause droopy eyes in the AMG offices. And, unfortunately, my take on the band isn’t far behind my predecessors’.” We’re a tough crowd.
“Look up “adversity” in the dictionary, and you’re likely going to encounter a picture of Brooklyn’s Candiria. The legendary hardcore outfit, made infamous through their fusion of hip-hop, freeform jazz, NYC hardcore, and death metal, crushed crowds the world over with their frenetic live show. Influential albums such as 1999’s The Process of Self-Development and 2001’s 300 Percent Density wowed listeners with their amorphous stop-on-the-crest-of-a-dime style changes, ridiculous lyrical flow by frontman Carley Coma, and the ability to keep things heavy. A horrific van accident that nearly killed the band in 2002 disrupted the momentum significantly.” Brooklyn strong.
“When I saw the promo descriptor for Northern Crown’s debut, The Others listing it as “epic doom,” I took a flyer and grabbed it. You never know when you’ll stumble across the next While Heaven Wept or Atlantean Kodex, and I’d want to plunder all the glorious metal cred such a discovery would impart, while lording it over staff members in the AMG break room. So is this the doom juggernaut you’ve been waiting for? I can’t formulate the beginnings of a sensible answer to that question.” Steel be flummoxed.
“Once almost exclusively the preserve of floppy-haired teenagers, metalcore is a style that seems to delight and depress in equal measure, depending on whom you talk to. There is a smattering of bands who fall into the genre however, such as Heaven Shall Burn, While She Sleeps and Crossfaith, to name but a few, who manage to demonstrate that with the right nous it’s in fact possible to produce a substantially more wholesome, mature record than your stereotypical ‘core’ band. Formed in Syracuse in 2001 out of the ashes of local straight-edge vegancore outfit Earth Crisis, Freya have been churning out sludgy metalcore, with much emphasis on their hardcore beginnings, for over a decade now.” Upstate New York in da house!
“So when I see a promo that comes from The Reticent, a one-man (Chris Hathcock) project hailing from North Carolina, I am a bit leery. Then I read he is a Grammy-nominated individual. Cool! For what? Well, for being a music teacher, and you know what they say: those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach (or review). So I expect a lesson in obscure scales and don’t hold out much hope for awesomeness.” Caution: avoid if happy.
“First, we have Fronch fries. And Fronch dressing. And Fronch bread. And Fronch death metal. And to drink, ta-da! Peru! As with most bands with old guys like me in them, I have a long history with Mercyless. I received a cassette promo of 1993’s Coloured Funeral right after losing access to a free copy machine that put a nail in the coffin of the print version of Unchain the Underground. While I never got around to reviewing it, that particular slab of adventurous Fronch death metal stayed in regular rotation and made the cut through upgrades to CD right into the digital age.” Mercyless is about to activate your dental plan.
“It’s been said by some that Moldova sucks, but when it comes to metal, Latvia does not! Hailing from Latvia’s capital city (Riga), Eschatos have been constructing their brand of avant-garde/progressive black metal since 2012.” Better black than red.
“Amidst all the inevitable aspects of life and death metal, as we know it, the tried and true sounds of old school Swedish death appears here to stay. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and the rotted riffs and buzzsaw tones of the Stockholm death metal scene that spawned endless imitators of varying quality remains a strong source of inspiration for up and coming death metal bands. And sucker’s like I keep coming back for more.” You can’t have just one bite of Swede-death.
