![Counterparts – You’re Not You Anymore [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Counterparts-Youre-Not-You-Anymore-01-768x768.jpg)
“An old teacher once told me that the best poetry conveys a sense of longing. I would argue the best music does the same thing. Perhaps that’s what first drew me to Canadian melodic hardcore quintet Counterparts about four years ago, when life was growing difficult and the only solace was a long jog through the woods while listening to the group’s 2010 debut Prophets.” Fear and longing at AMG.
![Serenity in Murder – The Eclipse [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Serenity-in-Murder-The-Eclipse-01.jpg)
“There’s a special little subcategory of my year-end list this year that I’m tentatively dubbing “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Finnish!” With much of that country’s melodeath old guard either disbanded, commercialized, or in an ongoing slump, it makes sense that other countries are picking up the slack. And one of the finest examples of the faux-Finn sound you’ll hear this year comes straight from Japan.” Japan to the rescue.
“Back in ’12—when I was wearing an onion on my belt, as that was the fashion at the time—I encountered Diablo Swing Orchestra for the first time. These Swedish purveyors of the abstract and absurdly catchy had composed an album entitled Pandora’s Piñata that I downright loved. DSO went into hibernation after PP and resurfaced again with the news that their long-time vocalist AnnLouice Lögdlund was leaving the band. Lögdlund’s considerable lung capacity was replaced with Kristen Evegård, but unlike other band breakups when you lose a vocalist, DSO kept most of the rest of the band in place and produced a new album. 2017’s newest record is the wittily entitled Pacifisticuffs, which coming from Swedes is a great way of describing what appears to be the Swedish cultural state of nature.” Conscientious objections.
![Timeworn – Venomous High [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/a1706746269_10-768x768.jpg)
“Like them or hate them, Mastodon have grown into one of the biggest metal bands this side of the millennium. But many pine for their pre-The Hunter era, when they were still playing dense, complex sludge metal instead of smooth progressive metal. If you’re like that, Timeworn should come as an absolute treat.” Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?
![Pristine – Ninja [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Pristine-Ninja-01-768x768.jpg)
“It might not have been the best year for male vocalists, but the women in metal more than made up for it. Stellar performances from bands as varied as Royal Thunder, Sabbath Assembly, Chelsea Wolfe, Myrkur, and Diablo Swing Orchestra showed us that the women can bring it. But the best performance of the year came from a band whose album flew under our radar back in June, Pristine, and their fourth album, Ninja.” Women to the front!
“2013 saw the release of one of the most unique power metal albums that I’d ever heard. Till Oberboßel (Elvenpath) and his host of guests constitute the conceptual studio project known as Lucid Dreaming, which is based very faithfully on Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles Of Prydain, a rather idyllic young adult coming-of-age saga inspired by Welsh mythology.” Puberty metal.
![Satan’s Hallow – Satan’s Hallow [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/a2128778736_10-768x768.jpg)
“While there’s no arguing that the terms “retro” and “revivalist” are absolutely appropriate when describing certain acts, they tend to feel a little reductive to me, diminishing a band’s efforts as little more than a novelty. Sometimes facts are facts, however, and Chicago’s Satan’s Hallow are undoubtedly retro yet unequivocally awesome, having dropped the best classic metal record of the year.” Let’s go down to the Metal Revival and find ourselves religion.
“Scars of Armageddon has an interesting fusion of sounds to its credit. The band’s style of power metal straddles the line between USPM and Euro-power, with occasional blips of melodic death metal influence, particularly in the rhythm section. All of this, along with a lack of keys, gives them a Germanic cant.” Chicks dig scars, but power metal? Not so much.
![Dvne – Asheran [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/0010402274_10-768x769.jpg)
“Flow. Like love, it’s a word that’s difficult to describe, but you know it when you experience it. It’s the feeling of losing yourself in a task or a game, becoming one with the activity, balancing perfectly on the edge between skill and difficulty. No frustration, no boredom, and no sense of time or place. If you’ve ever found yourself looking up from an activity after ten minutes and find out three hours have passed, you’ve experienced flow.” Like an everflowing dream.
![Elvenking – Secrets of the Magick Grimoire [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1000x1000-768x768.jpg)
“Welcome to Bizarro Metal World, where the reviews are made up and the scores are reversed! Just kidding, but seriously, Angry Metal Guy himself was set to review this album. However, time being what it is during the holiday season (and AMG being as angry as he is), he didn’t get around to it. As luck would have it -at least for Elvenking – while I’ve heard tell that AMG was quite disappointed with this album, I am not!” Dodging the AMG bullet.
