“Eyehategod’s new self-titled record is one born out of tribulation. Pulling it together to pen a new record 14 years after the release of its predecessor Confederacy of Ruined Lives, the incumbent kings of drug-addled sludge metal miserablism have gone through a litany of troubles, including poverty, drug withdrawal, prison time and an apocalyptic natural disaster.” Trials and tribulations can’t keep Eyehategod from returning to sic the gators of despair on you once again.
“Finnish folklore tells the tale of a small rabid cult in the 19th century, performing blasphemous actions on followers of old Finnish religions, including ritual sacrifice and burying innocent townsfolk alive. This small cult was discovered, and sentenced to die by fire on the altar in their own mansion, burned alive with most of their scriptures, save for one book which was left miraculously intact. Such is the story of Kadotetut, told by relative newcomers Vainaja. Svart Records labeled this as “one of the heaviest records ever made in the Finnish language,” and I’ll be hard pressed to disagree.” Really heavy shit about creepy Finnish murder cults. That my friends, is metal.
“Sure, we’ve all heard of beating a dead horse, but have you heard of D-beating a dead horse? Retro Swedish death is that rotting carcass and Bombs of Hades return once again to kick and stomp it with more Entombed and Dismember based bootery. Atomic Temples picks up right where 2012s The Serpent’s Redemption left off and delivers another overdose of unrefined Swedish death mixed with rudimentary crust punk and half baked Motörhead outtakes, and much like the last platter, it’s a fairly fun listen if you’re in the proper frame of mind.”
“A few years ago, his majesty Steel Druhm reviewed Insense’s, Burn in Beautiful Fire, and hated the shit out of it, incensing many a fanboy. It was, according to him, “third-rate metalcore with all the emo/screamo pap that goes along with that craptastic style”, and by the end of the review he was ready to build a church out of copies of the album just to trick Varg Vikernes into beautifully turning them all to ash. Naturally, Steel never wants to hear a single chug out of these Norwegians again, so the task of reviewing De:Evolution has plummeted down the totem pole into my hopeful hands. “Hooray!” comes the cry of the fans, “Surely this new reviewer will bring justice to our beloved Insense, and right the wrongs of that petulant website which we shall not name.” Or will he…?” Judgment awaits!
“The entire concept of a “supergroup” requires that at least some of the parties involved were “super” individually, prior to forming a band together. An unfortunate side effect of this is that when they have bills to pay, or get tired of working with their bandmates, they can always go back to whatever they were doing before. This is what led to the demise of Black Country Communion, when guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa returned to his solo career, taking BCC keyboardist Derek Sherinian with him. Undaunted, bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple) and John Bonham stunt double Jason Bonham carried on, enlisting unknown guitarist Andrew Watt.” Another supergroup…sigh. Mr. Fisting tells you just how super they truly are.
“Nothing annoys me more than when artists hype up their work beyond perceivable notions. You know what I’m talking about. “It needed to be visceral.” (adorable, Linkin Park). “…unique, not following trends” (right, Savn)? It’s just better for everyone involved to just shut the hell up and let the music do all the communication for you instead of throwing out false pretenses in hopes that maybe someone out in the Nethersphere will somehow agree with you. In other words, take a note from Germany’s Vehemenz, who have managed to grab my attention and kept me musically fixated and grinning ear-to-ear with their self-titled debut 5-song EP, all without overhyping the ever-loving shit out of it.” We at AMG will tolerate no guff, bullhockey or hype. None!
“It’s hard to know exactly what to say about a record when the band itself provides a more succinct – and honest – characterization of it in their own promo language than I ever could have: “The second Teitanblood album corrects the misconception about death metal being music. Mortui vivos docent.” Well, there you have it. Clearly, intellectualization is completely redundant when writing about a band like the Spanish death/black duo Teitanblood. You either get it, or you don’t.” There you have it indeed.
“We here at AMG (mainly AMG and myself) pretty much lost our collective shit over the last Sabaton album, Carolus Rex. The combination of an interesting historical concept and inspired song writing really made that platter explode and we showered it with praise, adoration and fanboy kisses (of iron). This all came as a big surprise to me, because I always found the band to be average and despite a unique style and sound, they seemed incapable of producing consistent albums.” So which Sabaton takes the battlefield this time? The old or the new? Steel Druhm reports from the front.
“The driving force behind any band is their desire to create, to share the inner workings of their collective minds and to leave behind a part of themselves when they cease to exist. Some artists within only a few years manage to fill pages and pages on Encyclopaedia Metallum with thick, extensive and mightily impressive discographies. Décembre Noir wandered a different path and although being around for a fair few years, they’re only now releasing A Discouraged Believer, launching the bands death-doom approach and setting you on a journey that feels oddly spiritual in its lament.” Not the most prolific act out there, but better late than never, eh?
“We haven’t reviewed any Swedish retro death for a spell, so here’s a big chunk of it to fill our crust quota. But Vallenfyre isn’t your average Swedish retro death band, mind you. They hail from the U.K. and are a super group of sorts, helmed by Gregor Mackintosh, longtime guitarist for goth/doom troupe Paradise Lost. Joining him in these brootal endeavors is Hamish Hamilton Glencross of My Dying Bride and Adrian Erlandsson of At the Gates.” Quite the pedigree of death, eh? It’s all in the breeding.
