Fifteen years doesn’t seem like that long ago, but at the time I was a 17 year-old who would soon be writing for Al Kikuras at the legendary Unchain the Underground and getting deep into the back end of all the great metal that was coming out of Europe. On the top of my list was my discovery of cheesy power metal. At the time I was swimming in Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, and Symphony X (not Eurometal, I know) records for the first time and really finding my footing. One day while surfing the Internet I stumbled upon a streaming radio station and heard a song called “Letter to Dana.” I was stunned. Shocked. Cheesed out. And totally in love.” Can Ecliptica Revisited rekindle Angry Metal Guy’s innocent youth? Read on and find out!
"Rhapsody"
Rigor Mortis – Slaves to the Grave Review
“Rigor Mortis is about as cult a name as there is in the annals of thrash. Unable to capitalize on the genre’s first wave in the mid 80s, the band’s 88′ debut was a wild, almost cartoonish dose of speed with death undertones that arrived just in time for the entire thrash genre to go over the proverbial cliff due to oversaturation.” This may be the surprise of the year right here.
Dark Fortress – Venereal Dawn Review
“Concepts are tough nuts to crack, you’ve got to get your story across in roughly 7-10 tracks and at the same time the songs themselves need to stand alone and impress. Venereal Dawn is the latest addition to the now seven-deep discography for German black metallers Dark Fortress and it was three years in the making.” Does Dark Fortress crack said nut? Find out by clicking this handy, dandy link below…
Hammerfall – (r)Evolution Review
“Life may be good, but it also subjects us to those unavoidable bitches like death, taxes, hangovers and back hair. One of the very worst of said bitches is the dreaded Law of Diminishing Returns. Few bands better exemplify the havoc this truism can create than Hammerfall. When they fired the opening salvo of the retro metal crusade back in 1997 with their Glory to the Brave debut, their fusion of Euro-power and traditional metal felt familiar, but somehow new and exciting and the song craft was above reproach. Follow up Legacy of Kings was less impactful but still fun, exuberant and catchy as crabs. Then, tragedy struck. Each successive album was weaker, less interesting and less credible, with only a few scattered winners to remind the listener how great things started out. This culminated with the very non-infectious slog of 2011s Infected and it looked as if Hammerfall was in free fall. Don thy plastic helmets and grab thy Nerf swords, for once more into the breach we must fall!
Steel Prophet – Omniscient Review
“If you were following the American metal scene from 1995 through 2001, you know there was a point in time where Steel Prophet seemed poised to conquer the metal world. With their prodigious productivity and an excellent run of releases including classics like The Goddess Principle, Messiah and Book of the Dead, they were often mentioned in the same breath as Iced Earth as the pinnacle of American power/traditional metal and everything was coming up black roses. Then came fractious internal struggles, revolving door line ups and a series of uninspired albums and just like that, they dropped out of the public consciousness, all their hard work seemingly undone. Now, ten years after their last album, they’re back to try to regain some of what they lost with Omniscient.” Steel Druhm wasn’t expecting this and didn’t expect much of it, but can it impress a bitter, jilted fanboy?
Elvenking – The Pagan Manifesto Review
“Elvenking is another one of Italy’s most famous cheese-metal establishments and they’ve been pumping out folk/medieval influenced power metal since 2001’s extraordinary Heathenreel. Unfortunately, since their debut record the band hasn’t produced an album worth all the hope invested in them because of their debut work. In terms of Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™, Elvenking is possibly one of the fastest drop-offs in recent memory. I’ve checked in from time to time over the years, as I want to like them, but I genuinely haven’t ever been able to get into their stuff. The last one I spent any longer amount of time with was 2010’s Red Silent Tides which left me cold and bored, and Era wasn’t great from a songwriting perspective, but the record was genuinely killed by its mastering job.” All has not been well with Elvenking, can The Pagan Manifesto right the ship? Or will they continue to produce flat, disappointing crap?
Angry Metal Guy’s Five Year Anniversary Post
In 2009 Angry Metal Guy started. Since then we’ve produced hundreds of reviews, and Angry Metal Guy has cranked at the world for free. Check out what he takes away from the whole experience.
Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) o’ 2013
Angry Metal Guy is becoming an interwebs institution. You might not realize this, but this is my fifth Top 10(ish) Records o’ the Year since I started this as a lone Internet Metal Warrior back in 2009, reviewing for my literally dozens of readers, none of whom commented. Can’t believe it? Try these on for size. It’s impressive how far this little blog that could can come, and it’s amazing how much I used to review! Several CDs a week! Incredible. Anyway, the times they are achangin’, but the one thing that isn’t changing is that I have opinions and galldarnit, I’m going to tell you them.
Angry Metal Guy’s Nerd Corner: Murder in Baldur’s Gate Review
Gather ’round Internet travelers. Take a seat, and warm your hands by the fire. Load up that Rhapsody CD or maybe Nightfall in Middle-Earth to set the mood. In this new, but probably semi-recurring feature (unless there’s a mutiny), Angry Metal Guy will review things he thinks are awesome but that most of the world thinks are “nerdy.” Or geeky. He can never get those two straight. Anyway. The point is that he’s going to drop probably fairly infrequent reviews of random nerdy stuff that he loves because it’s his website. Or think of it like this: he’s the DM. And therefore, he can. Quit your moaning and roll initiative…
Retro-Spective Review: Barren Cross – Atomic Arena
“We don’t get much “white metal” around these here parts. Not that we’re opposed (well, Madam X and Noctus are), but there isn’t much of it out there and even less that’s actually notable. There was a time where it was more in vogue though, and acts like Stryper crafted an entire identity around being good Christian soldiers under God’s righteous command. While I never cared much for those preachy yellow jackets, I did enjoy one release by a band standing in their pious shadow. Barren Cross was a Christian act hailing from Los Angeles of all places and though they were preachy too, they backed it up with far more metal than Stryper ever did.” It’s time for some good, old fashioned God Metal here at AMG. Wait, come back!! It’s hardly Godly at all, you wicked biscuits!