Record(s) o’ the Month – August 2019

No, you’re getting this in right under the deadline! – AMG


A couple weeks back, I made the comment on the Twitter machines that I think bears a bit of reflection here in these hallowed pages.

Eternal Storm is going a long way to help me make this point—as people were quick to remind me on Twitter. Come the Tide is on people’s lips for good reason. For fans of melodeath, Eternal Storm’s debut is a glimmer of hope in a field that is becoming increasingly fecund of excellent melodic death metal bands. And Come the Storm offers up everything we can want in this regard: chunky death metal riffs and brutality meet with melancholy melodies and birth an addictive listening experience. While a bit long at sixty minutes, the record is chock full of stellar riffs, great ideas and songs you’ll remember. And when Cherd (distinguished winner of the Worst Taste for a New Writer Award at the 2019 Angry Awards™) and Angry Metal Guy (the standard by which all should be judged™) agree, you know that something really special is going on.

Runner(s) Up:

Devourment // Obscene Majesty — “Devourment have been refining these songs for five years and the extreme care they took could not be more obvious. Across 47 minutes the band maintain the highest standard of brutality and never lose the listener’s attention, always ready to clobber with a new riff or a brilliant, thuggish slam. Even for most metal listeners, an album this impenetrably punishing will be too much, but those masochistic and deranged enough to bear its weight will be smitten. Obscene Majesty is not just a great slam album or a great death metal album; it’s one of the greatest metal albums of the decade.” – Kronos

Dialith - Extinction Six album coverDialith // Extinction Six — “Extinction Six is both a tremendous success and a promising debut. Of all the things to do with no label support, symphonic power metal must be among the most difficult. Yet Dialith‘s debut cuts a bloody swath through the legacy of Nightwish‘s Once by driving ‘the symphonic’ hard back into ‘the metal,’ eschewing the frustrated pop careers trend of the last 15 years. In doing so, the talented Dialith appears to have put heart, soul, and personal savings into producing a stand-out debut. Extinction Six’s sweet, Europower-and-melodeath-influenced onslaught hits just the spot; combining gorgeous melodies, beautiful vocals, and solid fretwork with a dose of groove and speed for an invigorating debut.” – AMG

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