“Tempest was one of those remarkable underground metal debuts which developed sufficient hype to breach the upper echelon of popular online publications despite its apparent lack of commercial appeal. The oppressive funeral doom, courtesy of the plucking, hitting and growling gents over at Lycus, was positively received by Pitchfork, Decibel and theneedledrop, ultimately garnering a Relapse record deal. Some of us didn’t quite get Lycus before. So did we get on the hype train yet or what?
![Acrania – Fearless [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cover-768x768.jpg)
“Acrania is so fresh it makes Genghis Tron look like Bloodbath and so fun it makes Revocation look like the National Society of Accountants.” Accountants are nowhere near as much fun as lawyers.
![Refused – Freedom [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/a1885858130_10-768x768.jpg)
“If you don’t know who Refused are, or that they’re (along with Born Against) Fucking Dead, you must be so young that you missed the phase in the early 2000s where every two-bit nü-metal act on the planet was citing their final record as a major influence (for the masochists among you here is a reminder of just how bad this era was). You young rapscallions are perfectly capable of using AltaVista yourselves so I’ll spare you the history lesson; all you need for the moment is that the band split in 1998, and few ever expected them to return.” But honestly, what old guy can pass up reliving their wasted youth?
“I know this will be a shocker to many, but it appears that Dr. Grier’s second review of 2016 is a thrashy one. This time, however, it’s not a by-the-numbers release of straightforward Metallica, Slayer, or Exodus brown-nosing.” The Doctor and his thrash are like conjoined twins and just as cranky.
“I’ve said it before and now I’ll say it again: there are only a few bands I know won’t disappoint me and Brainstorm is the vanguard of those few precious dependables. Sure, some albums are more massive than others, but they’ve yet to let me down with a weak or uninspired effort.” Steel loves his dependables and his Depends.
I’ve been in the mood for some killer stoner rock as of late. Ever since the almighty Kyuss went belly-up in 1995, I’ve been on the lookout for some killer jams to race cars, drink a few IPAs, and clean some demons to. The deserts of California were a ripe breeding ground for desert jams, and Kyuss’s disbanding left a gaping hole. Roaring down the highway in a souped-up, cherry-red Camaro comes Norway’s El Caco, who bring with them their seventh full-length, imaginatively entitled 7. Do they have what it takes to become the new stoner rock kings, or should you just hush them all away?
“The Raleigh-based power trio of Suppressive Fire plays a brand of fun and slightly blackened thrash that skips the pizza entirely. Culling mainly from the “devil metal” of Nunslaughter, Nocturnal Breed’s Fields of Rot, and producer Joel Grind’s main outfit Toxic Holocaust, this is a modern take on thrash, infused with more extreme elements but still being rooted in the ethos of the harsher end of the classics spectrum.” So, can this debut differentiate itself in the early days of 2016?
“California’s own technical thrash metallers, are a band who does everything I love in metal. They write fast songs, packed with frantic energy and rarely pushing the 5 minute mark. Their guitar work is tight, melodic, and classically influenced. Ride Forth, which drops on January 8th from Prosthetic Records, is an album that goes from zero to 90 in a split second and never drops in intensity as it pounds through nine tracks of palm-muted, staccato licks, arpeggios galore, and non-stop double-kick ass kicking (all while doing it for the Horde!).” Well, that sounds promising. But everyone knows that things are never this simple with Angry Metal Guy.
“Ever a purveyor of mild understatement, Encyclopaedia Metallum describes Venomous Concept as the “side project of several notable metal musicians.” Their lineup reads like a fucking who’s who of grindcore royalty and it’s one of Shane Embury’s fifteen gazillion side-projects.” Grind Royalty would be good band name too.
“Yeah, I’m pretty peeved about that title, too. In a Car Bomb-esque display of eccentricism, the experimental metal group that Dr. Fisting calls “the loudest band I’ve ever heard in a club” have offered unto the world a palindromically-titled album that’s a darling of search engine optimization but a demon for memorability.” Kronos drops some scientific knowledge on all y’all. Is 1010II0101 more memorable than its title?
