2.0

Trap Them – Blissfucker Review

By Kronos on June 4, 2014 in 2.0, 2014, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Grind, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Grind, 1 comment

“Trap Them has for years been in that beautiful sweet spot of great hardcore with a monstrous buzzsaw guitar sound. 2011’s Darker Handcraft pushed out excellent songs at high speed and sounded really good thanks to Kurt Ballou’s revered production chops, turning many a head and securing an already growing reputation for excellence. Three years later, Blissfucker readies for release, but with an entirely new rhythm section and a long silence from the band, what could have been cooking?” Let’s look in the pot, shall we?

Den Saakaldte – Kapittel II: Faen i Helvete Review

By Madam X on May 26, 2014 in 2014, Agonia Records, Black Metal, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 0 comments

“”One of the most hateful and gloomy records Norway has spawned,” “a twisted remedy for joy and must have for black metal enthusiasts.” Seems the promo gods are oozing praise like a big fat weepy festering boil for this little super-group of ex-Gorgoroth, 1349, Koldbrann, Fortíd and Nidingr members!” Hey look, another “super group.” Blah!

Plain Ride – Skeleton Kites Review

By Dr. Fisting on May 11, 2014 in 2014, Ektro Records, Finnish Metal, Not Metal, Reviews, 7 comments

“Plain Ride,’s latest album, Skeleton Kites, is billed as “a blues album created with a mindset of a West African proto-doom band, made in Finland.” If you’re wondering what the fuck that means, that makes two of us. More importantly, who is Plain Ride? Well, they’re a 5-piece band from Finland who have been around for about a decade. They’re led by vocalist/guitarist Janne Westerlund, who is apparently a big deal as a solo artist (never heard of him). Their website describes their style as “Folk, Country, Blues, hypno-psychedelic Krautrock.” In layman’s terms, that means that Plain Ride is either pretentious as fuck, or they have a very imaginative PR person.” I’m putting money on the latter.

Planet Rain – The Fundamental Principles Review

By Kronos on May 6, 2014 in 2014, Melodic Death Metal, Mighty Music, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 4 comments

“I like my death metal bleak and abrasive, dissonant and depressing, and full of sound and fury. Whether it signifies anything is irrelevant. But I wasn’t always like this, there were days when the young Kronos thought All That Remains was pretty damn heavy, had never heard of grindcore and had yet to utter the phrase “not brutal enough.”” Thankfully, our little Kronos has grow up…or has he?

Landskap – I Review

By Grymm on May 4, 2014 in 2014, Doom Metal, English Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Reviews, Doom Metal, 5 comments

“‘There.’ That one word can describe a place of interest. It could be a home you grew up in, a pub you frequent, or a restaurant you and your family or friends enjoy eating at. ‘There’ can also be used as a point of indication in a role, such as ‘I was there to purchase cat food while making evil grimaces and throwing up invisible oranges at the cashier lady.’ What is the point of all this, you may ask?” Oh shit, ain’t that a cliffhanger!?

Aurvandil – Thrones Review

By Steel Druhm on April 11, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Eisenwald Records, French Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 4 comments

“I don’t review much black metal because I’m pretty tired of the genre and there are more avid and enthusiastic reviewers at AMG who can deal with it properly. However, for unknown reasons, I took quite a shine to Aurvandil’s 2011 opus Yearning and gave it high marks. Now we get Thrones, which was originally released last year as a limited edition cassette, though why anyone would release anything on cassette is beyond my simple mind (why not an 8-track edition or if you really want to be kvlt, go with a phonography cylinder).” In the mood for 50 minutes of low-fi blast beating? Here’s your huckleberry.

Iron Savior – Rise of the Hero Review

By Steel Druhm on February 27, 2014 in 2014, AFM Records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 25 comments

“Iron Savior is one of those “comfortable old shoe” kind of bands. Every album is essentially the same and the quality ratio is generally respectable. They were never much for shifting stylistic paradigms and it’s fair to call them the AC/DC of overblown sci-fi power metal, but as long as the music was good, it was all fine. Sure, their recent output hasn’t exactly rivaled their classic early period stuff, but they never dropped a total dud either and 2011s The Landing was plenty of fun in all it’s overproduced, studio-abusing bombast.” Those crazy Germans are back with more Gamma Ray-meets-Judas Priest power metal for the masses. Will this be your new metal savior? Steel Druhm opines.

Profezia – Oracolo Suicida Review

By JF Williams on February 26, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Italian Metal, Moribund Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 0 comments

“It’s 2014, and bog standard black metal is alive and well! The Italian group Profezia (“masters of high drama”, if the promo hype is to be believed) play a kind of Burzum-esque minimalist black metal. Oracolo Suicida is their third full-length originally released late last year, but is now seeing release in the states through the grimmest of long-running black metal labels, Moribund Records. I probably don’t need to tell you that Profezia lives up to its promise of offering cold, grim black metal done in the old way, and for many, that will be good enough. But for those looking for a little more than “Old English font” black metal, a litany of concerns arise for Oracolo Suicida.” Please observe silence as JF williams begins the reading of the litany.

Adrenaline Mob – Men of Honor Review

By Steel Druhm on February 20, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Century Media, Groove Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 33 comments

“Umm, I’ll be honest with you. I really wasn’t looking forward to this album. As much as I worship Sir Russell Allen (Symphony X, Allen/Lande) and his golden pipes of steel, I really hate this hard rock/nu-metal side project he has going on with friends. Their Omerta debut was a painfully shallow, cringe-inducing foray into Disturbed styled nu-metal mixed with grungy barroom rock and it really didn’t work, even with Allen on vocals and Little Lord Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment) on drums.” The Mob is back again. Do they rule yet?

Within Temptation – Hydra Review

By Steel Druhm on February 5, 2014 in 2014, Dutch Metal, Gothic Metal, Reviews, Roadrunner, Gothic Metal, 29 comments

“I’ll admit to liking the early Within Temptation output like Mother Earth and The Silent Force. Sure, they were a dime-a-dozen, female-fronted gothic metal act with more gloss and slickness than the complete works of Glee, but the song-writing was consistently sharp and catchy without sounding too commercialized or fake and Sharon den Adel had big, captivating… vocals. Things started to drift for me by the time The Heart of Everything came along and though it had some good songs, it also felt more forced and AOR. I paid scant attention to 2011s The Unforgiven and didn’t really want to review this one, but hey, somebody had to do it and I wanna be somebody!” Steel Druhm reviewing goth rock is always a scary ride on a rough road. Tempted yet?