2022

Blood Incantation – Timewave Zero Review

By Saunders on February 24, 2022 in Reviews, 124 comments

“After releasing a pair of highly acclaimed albums, coupling quality old school death with progressive and psychedelic embellishments and spacey themes, Denver’s Blood Incantation rapidly ascended into a respected, high profile ‘it’ band in the modern death metal scene. As such, any new material is eagerly awaited upon. Hidden History of the Human Race dropped in 2019, rolling the momentum onwards and upwards from their Starspawn debut, again showcasing Blood Incantation’s innovative and experimental approach to death metal. Well-publicized prior to its impending release, third LP, Timewave Zero, marks a drastic experimental detour, featuring a pair of lengthy compositions of ambient, cosmic atmosphere.” Empty space in your face.

An Evening Redness – An Evening Redness Review

By Ferox on February 23, 2022 in Reviews, Drone, 14 comments

“”Only that man who has offered up himself entire to the blood of war, who has been to the floor of the pit and seen the horror in the round and learned at last that it speaks to his inmost heart, only that man can dance.” So goes a notable passage from Cormac McCarthy’s bleak masterpiece Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West. It’s a brilliant and endlessly quotable novel that serves as the source material for An Evening Redness’s debut offering of Americana-tinged drone/doom.” Harvester of Moon.

Corpsegrinder – Corpsegrinder Review

By Felagund on February 23, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, 52 comments

“Let’s get this out of the way: I love Cannibal Corpse. I’ve been a devotee for years, a fact that will undoubtedly color this review, which is completely and utterly devoid of objectivity. To be more specific, I’m a fan of post-Barnes era Cannibal Corpse; that magical moment in 1996 when George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher took the vocal reins on Vile and imbued everyone’s favorite splatter-core death metal band with his trademark brutal bellow. And now, 26 years and 11 studio albums later, Mr. Fisher has finally decided to go it alone, foregoing Target discounts and World of Warcraft raids in order to render unto us his very first solo record.” A Corpse is a Corpse, of course, of course.

The Neptune Power Federation – Le Demon De L’amour Review

By GardensTale on February 23, 2022 in Reviews, Hard Rock, 15 comments

“Love songs are not metal’s forte. The last album I reviewed, as far as I can remember, that devoted significant attention to the subject was Hemina’s Venus, near the start of my tenure. That makes Le Demon De L’amour the first in over half a decade. If I hadn’t already been familiar with The Neptune Power Federation, I might’ve been skeptical. But Memoirs of a Rat Queen was the highest 3.5 I ever gave. I still wonder whether it should have been a 4.0, and a big reason for that was the album’s pinnacle love song, “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You.” So if anyone could ‘reclaim the love song,’ as the band proclaims, it’d be these eclectic Aussie rockers.” Demon love in the deep blue sea.

Boguslaw Balcerak’s Crylord – Human Heredity Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on February 22, 2022 in Reviews, 18 comments

“Crylord as a word evokes the purest of sadboi feelings—songs of scoured hearts and drowned eyes. Rest assured, Boguslaw Balcerak’s Crylord will do anything for love, but not that. Human Heredity promises nothing more than a good time, despite the band moniker’s sorrowful suggestion. Rather, their light-hearted brand of arena-ready tunes threatens to grease your day with gooey power-infused cheese.” Dairy Malmsteen.

AMG’s Guide to Cannibal Corpse

By Carcharodon on February 22, 2022 in AMG Rankings, Death Metal, 87 comments

“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. The reviewing collective at AMG lurches from one new release to the next, errors and n00bs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of one of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if two aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slathering masses their personal rankings of that discography.” Ready the hammers (for smashing).

Møtivatiøn – The Infinite 8 Steps tø Pøwer / Møney / Møre Review

By Carcharodon on February 22, 2022 in Reviews, Alt-Metal, Groove Metal, Sludge, 17 comments

“Supergroups are not uncommon in metal. I’m sure each of you can think of three such acts—of perhaps varying quality—in just a couple of seconds. Here are the first three that came to my mind: DOWN, Demons & Wizards and, for some reason, Them Crooked Vultures, which may not even qualify as metal. Also operating on that fuzzy edges of metal is today’s subject, Møtivatiøn. Where those previous bands are supergroups, using that term for Møtivatiøn is an insult to supergroups: the population of this record classifies it as a super conurbation.” Your life needs coaching.

Stuck in the Filter – January’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on February 21, 2022 in Blog Posts, Stuck in the Filter, 79 comments

“January 2022 has been surprisingly strong for me here at Angry Metal Guy. Normally the first couple months of the year make me question whether I even like metal anymore, but this year started off with a pretty loud bang for a change. Our collective expectation that only the loosest of shit would slough down the pipeline created a situation where we missed a few quality movements.” Welcome to the Super Bowel!

Guild of Others – Guild of Others Review

By Holdeneye on February 21, 2022 in Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 21 comments

“Too many bands today make progressive music for the sake of being progressive, prioritizing meandering exploration over songcraft, and this is akin to a chef filling a bowl with flavorful seasonings and serving it as a full meal. Guild of Others seem intent on dishing out hearty meals seasoned with proggy goodness, their promo even going so far as to quote prolific music critic Martin Popoff, who is supposed to have said, “Guild of Others accomplish the near impossible, and that’s make progressive metal that is accessible.” Let’s see if there is any truth to these words, or if they’re merely promospeak.” Guild to last.

Tersivel – To the Orphic Void Review

By GardensTale on February 20, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 40 comments

“Few bands in metal have the combination of popularity and totally idiosyncratic sound that Gojira enjoys. The first time I saw the band perform, it was still playing support for Fear Factory; nowadays that’s hard to imagine, and would most likely be the other way around. On top of that, its style is instantly recognizable; mechanistic, multi-stage, palm-muted riffs full of syncopation and odd time signatures combined with complex drum fills and patterns. It’s so readily familiar, in fact, that the band have begun to sound like a flanderized version of itself, and any band taking inspiration from the Frenchies is bound to run into copycat accusations. That didn’t stop Tersivel from trying anyway.” Ape the best, ignore the rest.