Reviews

Record reviews

Human Cull – Stillborn Nation Review

Human Cull – Stillborn Nation Review

“Band names are difficult to decide on, which is why so many of them are overwrought (Cryptopsy), ridiculous (Gorguts), deliberately self-effacing (literally any local hardcore band) or a combination of the aforementioned (The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza). No matter how terrible or fantastic a band is, their name can have a huge effect on what you think of them. Enter Eexeter’s Human Cull, a band whose sobriquet is so fantastically violent and straightforward that it could only signal one thing: really good grind.” Good grind is hard to find. Ask anybody.

Dodsferd – The Parasitic Survival of the Human Race Review

Dodsferd – The Parasitic Survival of the Human Race Review

“”No rules and no respect for none!” These wrath-filled words of wisdom give me the impression this Greek band of misfits like their metal the same way that they take coffee, straight up, black and nasty as hell. I’m new to Dodsferd, but from what I can gleam on the interwebs, it’s the principle project of Wrath, frontman for the likes of Nadiwrath, Kampf, Grab and ex-Drunk Earth (now adopting the moniker NunOnBong!).” Greek black metal is so very…Greek. Madam X can tell you more.

Shroud of the Heretic – Revelations in Alchemy Review

Shroud of the Heretic – Revelations in Alchemy Review

“”This band would absolutely crush live.” That’s pretty much what was running through my head constantly throughout the entirety of Revelations in Alchemy, the debut full-length from Portland, Oregon’s Shroud of the Heretic. Those scenic, picturesque sounds brought forth by fellow Portlandians Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room are nowhere to be found here. Instead of beauty and introspection, you get a sludgy, slimy atmosphere that will prove hard to wash off, even after repeated listens. The problem is, will you return for those repeated splashings?” Slimy sludge splashings are always hard to refuse. But should you pass on this particular muck?

Winterstorm – Cathyron Review

Winterstorm – Cathyron Review

“So here’s my thing with a lot of power metal, the key part of the genre that sits at the crux of my relationship to it: the success of any particular album relies so heavily on the listener’s ability to completely invest in it. Like the suspended disbelief that allows film audiences to sink unquestioningly into the universe a particular movie occupies, so each power metal album must create its own mini-universe, of fucking epicness, and convince the listener that it is worth abandoning reason for the duration of the album.” I don’t know about you, but I love me some fucking epicness! If you feel the same, read on!

Nebelung – Palingenesis Review

Nebelung – Palingenesis Review

“I grew up in the woods. My parents’ house was located just outside of town, set back just a little from the highway, and there was a stretch of woodlot on one side of the house that stretched almost half a kilometre. I’d play there, read there, climb the trees and bury treasure in the soft, mossy dirt. Behind the house were some farmer’s fields — corn, soybeans — and behind there, more woods and lakes. I spent much of my time pleasantly lost, surrounded by bugs and dirt and the green and a blue arch of sky; I had a recurring dream (I think) of walking out my back door and into the woods at night, surrounded by dancing lights, and losing track of which were fireflies and which were stars. Listening to dark folk project Nebelung’s latest release, Palingenesis, is the closest I have felt to those dreams, and that time in my life, in years.” The beauty in this darkness took Natalie back to some happy childhood memories. How cool is that?

Retro-spective Review: Warrior – Fighting for the Earth

Retro-spective Review: Warrior – Fighting for the Earth

I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to this little gem of an album. It pretty much defines the term “forgotten classic” and I’m sure many never even heard of Warrior. They’ve had an extremely stop-start career, having released only four albums in 30 years, but their 1985 debut Fighting for the Earth is a classic piece of 80s metal loaded with top-notch, super memorable anthems that straddle the line between a classic, old school style and gritty hard rock. Sounding like a mix of early Savatage, Obsession and Armored Saint, it’s one of those platters that epitomized the early American metal sound and after this release they were often spoken of in the same breath as Queensryche as the “next big thing.” Steel Druhm grew up with this album and he’s always annoyed nobody knows about it. So…know about it!

Retro-spective Review: Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse

Retro-spective Review: Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse

“Has it really been 20 years? Goddamn, I feel old. In 1994 PG (Pre-Grymm), I was a high-school sophomore with an in-between mullet/long-hair, burnt out on mainstream metal (“90s Metal Weirdness,” anyone?), and I was looking for darker, heavier, faster affairs. With some recommendations from friends as well as some trusty advice from the long-dormant-and-majorly-missed Metal Maniacs magazine, I would be introduced to a slew of new (to me) bands, including one by a bunch of teenagers from Norway who would be creating, and later changing, the blackest of all musical landscapes to come…” Grymm gets in the Wayback Machine for a wistful look at one of the defining moments in Black Metal History. He’s a wistful guy, that Grymm.

Miracle Master – Tattooed Woman Review

Miracle Master – Tattooed Woman Review

“Hot on the heels of Steel Druhm’s review of Crematory’s Antiserum and sticking with zee Germans, we have Miracle Master’s Tattooed Woman, which delivers an unhealthily large dose of Dio worship, a smattering of modern American hard rockers Shinedown and the growlings of Monster Magnet.” Madam X loves her catchy hard rock, but can she make it through a whole review without Jorn nuthugging? Take your bets now!

Iron Savior – Rise of the Hero Review

Iron Savior – Rise of the Hero Review

Iron Savior is one of those “comfortable old shoe” kind of bands. Every album is essentially the same and the quality ratio is generally respectable. They were never much for shifting stylistic paradigms and it’s fair to call them the AC/DC of overblown sci-fi power metal, but as long as the music was good, it was all fine. Sure, their recent output hasn’t exactly rivaled their classic early period stuff, but they never dropped a total dud either and 2011s The Landing was plenty of fun in all it’s overproduced, studio-abusing bombast.” Those crazy Germans are back with more Gamma Ray-meets-Judas Priest power metal for the masses. Will this be your new metal savior? Steel Druhm opines.

Profezia – Oracolo Suicida Review

Profezia – Oracolo Suicida Review

“It’s 2014, and bog standard black metal is alive and well! The Italian group Profezia (“masters of high drama”, if the promo hype is to be believed) play a kind of Burzum-esque minimalist black metal. Oracolo Suicida is their third full-length originally released late last year, but is now seeing release in the states through the grimmest of long-running black metal labels, Moribund Records. I probably don’t need to tell you that Profezia lives up to its promise of offering cold, grim black metal done in the old way, and for many, that will be good enough. But for those looking for a little more than “Old English font” black metal, a litany of concerns arise for Oracolo Suicida.” Please observe silence as JF williams begins the reading of the litany.