“My favorite Greek giants of atmospheric, Rotting Christ flavored symphonic death metal are back, and right on schedule with the delivery of their latest force of nature. And to add to my fangirlism, the album’s fittingly titled after the most ancient of all the gods – yes you read right, TITAN! Does it get any bigger, heavier or more metal than that?” Was the kraken a titan? He was pretty freaking big.
“Suffolk extreme metallers (and eternal underground whipping martyrs) Cradle of Filth, have given Mordgrimm the official go-ahead to release their infamous third demo, Total Fucking Darkness, to the masses over 20 years after its initial release, remastered with more tracks.” Grymm gets pulled underground into Total Fucking Darkness, will he make it out unscarred?
“Supergroups, as a concept, always intrigued me. When talented musicians from well-respected, established bands get together to create something new, it’s always an invigorating feeling. In practice, however, it rarely happens. The music released ends up being a sum of all its collective parts.” Can Savn escape this insidious super group trap or are they destined to be mere genre repeaters? Grymm tells all.
“Its been a long time since I’ve been impressed by a doom metal record. You would figure it would be a pretty easy thing to get the hang of, if you think about it: create an atmosphere of (circle one: sorrow, solitude, deep introspection) utilizing well-timed (female vocals, violin, acoustic guitar) passages before (crushing ruthlessly, lamenting sadly, turning loose some swans). Yet somehow, at best, recent doom releases have given me a feeling of “meh,” and at worst, eliciting some unintentional chuckles. Eye of Solitude have a few things going for them: they’re young (only been around since 2010), they’re UK-based (and they KNOW their doom metal over there), and they’re hungry. Canto III, their third album, not only has given me hope for the genre once more, but they also have a serious contender for a Best of 2013 record.” Grymm is notoriously difficult to impress when it comes to doom/death, but that’s exactly what Eye of Solitude did.
“In 2009 I received a promo for Liv Kristine’s ‘new’ band Leaves’ Eyes and I was curious. The record was called Njord and as a fan of Liv’s voice and epic symphonic metal I figured for sure that I would be in for a treat. I was wrong. I was so very, very wrong. My complaints about the album were many—but a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was so compressed that it never felt heavy and the song-writing was just plain mediocre. Meredead, which followed two years later on schedule, was also a miserable record. The folky stuff was of the “let’s throw in a flute, hooray folk metal!” genre and I simply didn’t even have the patience to finish reviewing it. But because I am a masochist (and I’ve always liked Liv’s voice ffs!), I broke out Symphony of the Night when it arrived in my box.” Always a sucker for a lady with a pretty voice, Angry Metal Guy gave the new Leaves’ Eyes a chance. Is this turning into Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football?
