“In order to prepare myself for Rivers of Nihil’s sophomore effort, Monarchy, I naturally went back to The Conscious Seed of Light, which I initially hated. And lo and behold, this time I found that I liked it – even less.” Kronos the Merciless hath damned the rivers.
“What do you think of when I say “progressive metal?” Well, if you’re anything like me, you think of early ’90s wanks from New York, nerdy band photos of cheap sunglasses and bad haircuts, masturbating guitar solos, cheesy keyboard theatrics, and lengthy double-albums longing to be The Wall or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” Nobody wanks in New York!
“Danish one woman black metal project Myrkur burst onto the scene in a shroud of mystery with her debut self-titled EP last year. When her identity was revealed to be New York based artist Amalie Bruun of indie-pop duo Ex-Cops, the fickle factions of the wider metal community were seemingly more concerned about her apparently dubious metal cred than the frigid blast of old school Norwegian black metal, post-metal atmospherics and melancholic folk the EP delivered.” Damn those fickle factions to Hell!
“I made no secret of my throbbing love for theirOpus Eponymous debut, and made even fewer bones about my disappointment with follow-up Infestissumam. With the band tied one and one and the writing apparently now being handled by someone named Klaus Ahlund, I looked to Meliora to determine if Ghost was a flash in the pan or a serious act worthy of the buzz their enigmatic antics earned them.” Is this one friendly like Casper or a total mess like Slimer?
“Last time Hate Eternal graced the digital halls of AMG, they left Steel Druhm throbbing with excitement and elation and in turn he gave 2011’s Phoenix Amongst the Ashes a near-perfect score. Four years later it appears something has throttled the throbbing, as their latest full-length Infernus was dropped on my desk alongside a wonderful lack of punitive metalcore.” Floridian death metal is back to melt ice cream and your face, and we’re all outta ice cream.
“Vrath has fingerprints all over the place, so I suppose it’s not much of a surprise it’s taken nearly six years for us to get Hubris In Excelsis, Scythian’s long-awaited sophomore album. Working in earnest since around 2012, Vrath stated it was his intent to absolutely destroy the debut, but To Those was a beast of an album – death-thrash that was primal, huge in scope, and savagely catchy.” Six years in the making? What does he think this is, a funeral doom project!
“Portugal’s Vaee Solis don’t have much experience administering slow tempo lashings steeped in thick doomy riffs, or for that matter, flogging you mercilessly with shrieks and snarls loaded with blackened ideology. It makes sense then that they’d turn to the guidance and creative output of seasoned veterans like Celtic Frost and Venom to light their path.” Whip it good!
“Fresh from their evidently finite dormancy, Japan’s popular death-doom export, Coffins, is back with the mini-album Craving to Eternal Slumber. The legend that is Happy Metal Guy favorably reviewed their previous release, and this largely fits into the canon they’ve already established for themselves.” It’s funny you should mention Happy Metal Guy and canon in the same sentence….
“Last year Enabler put out one hell of a record in La Fin Absolue du Monde. I didn’t score it, as we don’t do that for our Things You Might Have Missed features, but you can tell how much I loved it by its presence at the top of my Top Ten end-of-year list, above even Voices’ wonderful London. Looking back I might swap them around, but no matter; it’s a killer album, so when Madam X received the promo for Enabler’s latest opus she kindly sent it in my direction. I was, naturally, throbbing with anticipation.” Sometimes life can rob your throb.
July was a crazy month here at Angry Metal Guy studios. Not only did we have our best day ever (again), but we all agreed on what should be the Record o’ the Month for the first time in a very, very long time. There was little self-flagellation or—as the case usually is—n00b-flagellation. Instead, we all gathered around the fact that Angry Metal Guy‘s word is law. It’s nice when that’s the case, it makes a guy want to post the Record(s) o’ the Month a mite earlier than usual.
