Record reviews
“The festering stench of classic Swedish death metal is surely one of the most comforting and addictive scents in the metalverse. Try as I might to disregard the bulk of subpar bands pedaling the oversaturated style where bands are so often prone to lazily ripping off their idols with blatant plagiarism, when the words ‘old school Swedish death metal’ are thrown about I generally sit up and take notice.” Fun Fact: you can’t spell Feral without fear.
“As child of the ’80s, and metal fan of the mid-to-late ’90s, Sweden was a signpost that meant “great metal.” Sweden was a magical haven of everything my neighborhood wasn’t: filled to the brim with amazing bands. Ironically, by the time I moved to Sweden, the things that were left over were the things I liked the least….” That doesn’t sound like a promising start to a review.
“Being of the ‘80s thrash generation, I was born a few years too late to experience the actual birth of metal first hand. As a result, I have had to seek out that old-school sound and those pioneers of what we now know as “metal.”” And seek out he did.
“Looking at the cover of the new Helloween album, it strikes me that these chaps made quite a career out of the whole “not taking ourselves too seriously” schtick. They’ve been at this for 30 years, eternally projecting the same jokey-hokey, fun-timey German thing while essentially creating the entire Euro-power genre singlehandedly. That intrinsic lack of seriousness permeated the music more over time, and the cutesy pumpkin monsters and cornball lyrics have at times been too much to bear, leading some (me) to take their music less and less seriously as the years went by.” Does anyone remember laughter? These cats do.
“When you look up the term “underdogs,” there’s a band photo of Armored Saint looking back at you. They’ve struggled since 1983 to eek out a foothold in the metal market and in the process released some great albums like Raising Fear and Symbol of Salvation. And they were easy to root for as the quintessential blue-collar metal band stubbornly staying true to their sound, but they were always held back by bad timing, musical trends and personal misfortunes.” The Saint is marching back in and you may want to be in that number.
“Longtime readers will have gleaned of my general distaste for the post–The Faceless tech death scene of modern times. While there are still a lot of cool acts out there producing great tech death that doesn’t stray into the territory of the growing dissonant/experimental death scene (more on this later), such as Origin and Archspire, there are even more bands jumping aboard the proverbial white fifteen-passenger van and opening up their very own, cash-only, cut-rate ramen emporiums.” Kronos is unhappy and somebody has to pay.
“Rather than a true sub-genre, “avant-garde” seems more a default category for bands who can’t be pigeonholed with a nice, tidy tag. With a name like Ebonillumini it’s almost a given this is a band worthy of the avant-garde label. Less obvious is that they’re far removed from anything like an Arcturus style of forward-thinking, unconventional metal.” Icebergs ahead!
“Rebounding from their infamous flirtation with electronic pop music, British doom legends Paradise Lost have kicked out a string of albums since 2005 that rival the sonic oppression of their early-’90s heyday. More recently, the band has embraced their death metal roots, as evidenced by guitarist Gregor Mackintosh’s Vallenfyre project and singer Nick Holmes’ involvement with Bloodbath. This intensified commitment to old-school heaviness sets the stage for The Plague Within.” The Lost Ones are back, but what do they sound like after vacationing in the realms of death?
“After a slobbery storm of critical fellatio that even the Farmer’s Almanac would’ve had a tough time predicting, Deafheaven’s Sunbather ended up toppling Kanye West’s Yeezus as the mainstream’s champion of unbridled artistic genius in 2013. Far from the first band to follow the post-black-gaze muse, the near-consensus on Deafheaven’s supposed brilliance was monumental, creating a prime climate for followers to begin putting their own spin on the style.” Sigh…. Deafheaven is creating clones again, and they are sunbathing!
“Near the end of Disney’s Ratatouille there’s a climactic scene during which the harsh, scrupulous restaurant critic Anton Ego (personality modelled, clearly, after AMG’s staff) savours the best ratatouille he’s ever had. Overwhelmed by the tastes and flavors that transport him back to his childhood, he’s left altogether dumbfounded with his usual negativity utterly dismantled. In a way, that’s the effect Amestigon’s Their had on me.” Did he just compare us all to a rat?
