Angry Metal Guy

Argus – Beyond the Martyrs Review

By Steel Druhm on September 10, 2013 in 2013, American Metal, Cruz Del Sur, Doom Metal, Epic Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Epic Metal, Heavy Metal, 6 comments

“Argus is one of the leaders in the “trve,” “cvlt” metal wave ov late. They specialize in the kind of muscular battle metal that makes you long for the days of swords, sandals and institutionally approved beer wenching and you can almost feel the hair on your back growing as you spin their odes to brotherhood and bravado. Long have they toiled to perfect their blend of Iron Maiden riffs, the doom-based power of Candlemass, Grand Magus and Doomsword and the oiled pectoral charm of Manowar.” Ready for some no nonsense, old school metal from the days of High Adventure? You better be because Argus is back to kick ass and chew bubble gum and they’re ALL outta bubble gum.

Grumbling Fur – Glynnaestra Review

By Alex Franquelli on September 9, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, English Metal, Not Metal, Reviews, Thrill Jockey, Not Metal, 3 comments

‘“Why did you start making music?” I asked, while pretending to sip the amazingly cheap red wine in my half-broken glass, scouting for what was left of my dignity while lying on the cold floor. I don’t think he ever gave me an answer, but there are times when Daniel O’Sullivan does not even bother formulating a reply. He breathed out another puff, I turned my head and gave an intoxicated nod to the ceiling while looking nowhere ahead of me. Grumbling Fur’s music is exactly like that whiff. It is not an answer because nobody has ever posed the right question.” If we ever needed someone to decipher that whiff of smoke, you know we’d call Alex to do so. He speaks smoke and obscurity, after all.

Stupid Metal Trends #3

By Angry Metal Guy on September 7, 2013 in Blog Posts, Stupid Metal Trends, 29 comments

Recently, we dropped a review of the new Carcass record Surgical Steel, that eviscerated our daily records in terms of number of visitors and was an all around awesome record. With amazing cover art, a really great name and a few pretty ballin’ tracks, Surgical Steel is an album worth owning. As you can see from this picture above, it comes in several formats. It comes on MP3, on vinyl, there’s a digipak and jewel case CD. Hell, there’s even a cassette. Wait. What? A fucking cassette!? Nuclear Blast Records is releasing their most hyped release of the year on a motherfucking CASSETTE TAPE!?

Windhand – Soma Review

By Steel Druhm on September 6, 2013 in 2013, American Metal, Doom Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 9 comments

“Windhand is like the next door neighbor who walks around his front yard in tidy whities whilst swigging from a can of Rheingold ®. You want to like him, but he makes it really tough. As purveyors of super fuzzed-out, monolithic stoner doom, they’re often mentioned in the same breath as Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats; likely due to the groovy, 60s/70s style vocals they utilize. However, where Uncle Acid writes relatively short, hooky doom-rock anthems, Windhand opts for huge, laboriously slow, long-winded odes to mammoth distortion similar to Electric Wizard and Dopesmoker-era Sleep.” Windhand, the cult heroes of ginormous stoner doom/drone are back to oppress the masses with the power of THE RIFF! Will Steel Druhm be oppressed? He’s always so damn anti-authority, so who knows?

Mael Mórdha – Damned When Dead Review

By Madam X on September 5, 2013 in 2013, Candlelight, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Irish Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, 5 comments

“Not only do lesser known Dublin based Mael Mórdha have some serious Primordial-worship going on, but members of the Mael Mórdha horde also act as session musicians for their touring big brothers. At any rate, knowing their close affiliation to Primordial (whom I hold in pretty high regard) and that Mael Mórdha boast a recent signing to Candlelight Records offering them a wider distribution base, I was a tad keen to hear their fourth full-length release. Damned When Dead is an infusion of traditional Irish laments and dirges on a sturdy back-bone of folk metal with some doom and gloom for added good measure, much like that on offer by Primordial and in part by Waylander. ” Join Madam X as she takes you on a guided tour of Irish folklore, piles of bodies stacked high to the sky and her own barbaric bloodlust. Be afraid.

Ulcerate – Vermis Review

By Jordan Campbell on September 4, 2013 in 2013, Death Metal, New Zealand Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Death Metal, 5 comments

“Ulcerate’s emergence was rather inauspicious. Their first work, The Coming of Genocide, didn’t hold much promise. It was pretty standard for mid-aughts uber-blast brutality, assaultive to the point of redundancy. But there were some gnarly guitar squalls nestled in their amateurish blastfuckery, and on their first true album, Of Fracture and Failure, things started to get wild. Then, Everything is Fire happened, and things got real.” First Carcass and now this? It’s all big releases, all the time and and Jordan Campbell is on the job with his always insightful musings.

Carcass – Surgical Steel Review

By Dr. Fisting on September 3, 2013 in 2013, Death Metal, English Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Rating, Reviews, Death Metal, Grind, 48 comments

“What time is it? It’s motherfucking Carcass time, people. If you’re anything like me, you felt cheated by their “final” album Swansong back in ’96, and the legions of Heartwork-inspired posers failed miserably to fill the void. You may have given up hope on any kind of closure, until the band’s return to live work in 2007. Since then, it’s been a waiting game, a simple “will they or won’t they” concerning new music. And now, after a 17-year wait, the answer comes in the form of the brilliantly-titled Surgical Steel…” What’s the verdict? Only time, and your scrolly button, can tell!

Nymf – From the Dark Review

By Steel Druhm on September 2, 2013 in 2013, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Swedish Metal, Transubstans Records, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Stoner Metal, 2 comments

“Every now and then AMG himself deigns to drop an unknown chestnut of metal into my promo bin and demands my thoughtful analysis. From past experience, these have ended up being quite enjoyable surprises (Dofka, Degial). Now he’s provided me with From the Dark, the second release from the obscure Swedish stoner/doom act Nymf which walks the line between typical stoner acts like High on Fire and Orange Goblin, American trve metal like Argus and more traditional doom like Candlemass.” Rough n’ ready stoner/doom from Sweden sounds mighty good and Steel Druhm would usually order it from the menu, but will Nymf satisfy him or get sent back to the chef along with some choice words?

Record(s) o’ the Month – August 2013

By Angry Metal Guy on September 1, 2013 in Blog Posts, Record o' the Month, 21 comments

After July’s lull, it’s important to remember that there are some big releases that hit in August (though, it seems like the big hit is coming in September: Haken, Týr, Carcass, Ulcerate, etc.). This wasn’t the worst month ever, that’s for sure. There was some really amazing stuff going on here, actually. Still, there really was no serious competition for the top spot this month. Nej, indeed, it was pretty obvious all along that Swanö was going for the win with his new project Witherscape.

Watain – The Wild Hunt Review

By Madam X on August 31, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Black Metal, Century Media, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 6 comments

“Alright, so unless you live under a rock, by now you MUST have an inkling that Watain have carved another notch to their bullet belts with their fifth studio release — The Wild Hunt. This attractively adorned album (depicting the spoils of a lengthy musical journey) hit the shelves a few days back with all the usual hype and aggrandizement one would expect of a Watain album, released through their own label His Master’s Noise (under the umbrella of Century Media Records). Following on from their well received opus of 2010 (check out how Angry Metal Guy weighed in on Lawless Darkness here), The Wild Hunt sees Watain beefing up their orthodox brand of black metal, showing the middle finger to the dictators of the world and borrowing from a feast of decidedly odd influences. So what of it, have these gents from Sweden’s Uppsala, who cite the influence of Bathory and Dissection among others, delivered the goods.” Madam X breaks down the new Watain record The Wild Hunt. What does she think? The world may never know!