Things You Might Have Missed 2021

Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Huck N Roll on December 16, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 28 comments

“A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum this year; I started listening to a handful of albums that had the black metal tag affixed to them. I don’t know if it was my mindset, the evolution of musical taste, or the fact that some of this music was actually really good, but three of these albums made my list (four, if you count the sweet little Sea Mosquito track), and today I’m going to tell you about my second-most favorite of the bunch: Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species, by the mysterious collective called Epiphanic Truth.” Psalms for the poor.

Windfaerer – Breaths of Elder Dawns [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Eldritch Elitist on December 15, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 35 comments

“It is often difficult for me to know where to begin when writing about a record that resonates with me as deeply as Breaths of Elder Dawns. New Jersey’s Windfaerer swept me up so swiftly that I cannot even recall where I was first made aware of this record; the experience of listening to the album completely swallowed me.” Enjoy of deep breaths.

Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Doom_et_Al on December 14, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, 24 comments

“You’re going to be bombarded by TYMHM vying for your attention in the coming days/weeks, so here’s the elevator pitch for Ancient Mastery’s debut, Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol: one man black metal band meets dungeon synth, but synth straight from “The Final Countdown.” Throw in a story about journeys and wizards, and a cover ripped straight from Paysage d’Hiver, and the signs are about as promising as a great deal from Honest Hal’s Used Motors.” What do we need to do to put you in this album today?

Edu Falaschi – Vera Cruz [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Eldritch Elitist on December 12, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 34 comments

“I fucking love Angra. When I was first hired onto the AMG team, I even entertained the idea of adopting the handle of Angra Metal Guy, partly in retaliation to AMG Himself‘s review of Secret Garden. That piece is what convinced me to apply to this blog in the first place. I agree with a lot of the Guy‘s takes, but the notion that Secret Garden was an improvement over the band’s older material, which is infinitely more effervescent and charismatic, is borderline delusional. Now, with the opportunity to review Edu Falaschi’s first solo outing of original material, I feel something close to vindication.” Cruzin’ to wictory.

Project: Roenwolfe – Edge of Saturn [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Holdeneye on December 12, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, 33 comments

“American power metal is one of life’s great simple pleasures. Take some killer thrash riffs, find someone to wail over the top of them, and—voila!—instant US powah. Of course, the truth is more nuanced than that, but I’m not far off. My two favorite bands of all time, Nevermore and Symphony X, may embellish the style with progressive elements, but when you boil things down to what really makes both of those bands awesome, you find two things remaining: riffs and vocal theatrics.” Project: Power Wolfe.

Beaten to Death – Laat maar, ik verhuis naar het bos [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By El Cuervo on December 11, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, 35 comments

“Some of you may whine that Laat maar, ik verhuis naar het bos (Nevermind, I’m Moving to the Woods, if Google Translate is to be trusted) is not a 2021 release. True enough; it released on vinyl in September 2020. However, the limited run offered and timed vinyl-exclusive meant that very few people actually heard the record until 2021. Beaten to Death, in a fit of questionable genius, released the record digitally as 4 separate EPs released across 8 weeks, the last of which was only unveiled on 24 December 2020. Acquiring each of these and editing their metadata into the vinyl arrangement was quite the faff, let me tell you, and I heard the record in full for the first time on 1 January 2021.” Time is a human construct.

Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Carcharodon on December 8, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 100 comments

“The sonic palette in which Kanonenfieber lays out its tale is rooted in atmospheric black metal, meeting in the middle ground between the howling melodies of Minenwerfer and the more bombastic power of Panzerfaust. There are, however, nods to the likes of Bolt Thrower, and the gravelly, rasping growl of the vocals owes as much to traditional death, as it does to black metal.” The art of war.

Celestial Swarm – Gateways to the Necroverse [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Kenstrosity on December 6, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, Death Metal, Slam, 10 comments

“It seems like I routinely encounter one album within the first week of the year that sticks with me to the end. In 2021, that honor belongs to Celestial Swarm’s immense debut, Gateways to the Necroverse. The international four-piece claim to innovate a novel subset of br00tality: “slamming black metal.” Given what I’ve spent an entire year absorbing, I think a better moniker is “brutal black metal,” but I suppose that’s splitting hairs.” At the Gateways.

LLNN – Unmaker [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Carcharodon on December 2, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Funeral Doom, Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, 60 comments

“Denmark’s LLNN—a name which I initially assumed must be an acronym—were unknown to me until I happened upon a rec in the comments on September’s ROTM. Now, I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of all things post-, so when someone touts anything with that tag, I am going to investigate, particularly if they describe it as ‘absolutely devastating.’ And holy fuck, they weren’t kidding.” Unmaker’s mark.