“Extreme metal is a brutish, ugly and wholly negative style of musical expression almost by default, but Dyodyo Asema – a collaboration piece between Gnaw Their Tongues and Alkerdeel – resides squarely in the filthiest fringes of the genre.” Brutish, ugly and wholly negative is our stock-in-trade, but even we think this stuff is way out there. JF Williams got dirty on this one so we could stay (relatively) clean.
“Today on Angry Metal Guy we’re pleased to present you with some depressive, experimental doom black… wait, are those pink orchids? How adorable! It’s times like this that question whether I was destined to be a flower-arranger rather than a metal reviewer, but thanks to the adventurous forays of An Autumn for Crippled Children (AAfCC herein), I can finally embrace the idea of being both.” And on this special day of Thanksgiving, please allow Noctus to give you the gift of crippled children.
“I love the first two Artillery albums. I’ve said so often and I’ll continue to trumpet the work those great Danes did until I’m in the cold, hard ground. Since I went on an Angry Metal Tirade about this very topic in my review of Artillery’s 2011 My Blood opus, I’ll digress from further gushing here. Suffice it to say, since those treasured platters, Artillery has had its share of ups and downs, with My Blood being particularly unimpressive and legacy bruising. After some line up tweaks and a new vocalist, they’re B.A.C.K. with Legions and a slightly new approach while still trying to resurrect their former greatness.” The first family of Danish thrash is back again and this time, they don’t make Steel Druhm weep at the grave of their former greatness. That’s good, since we hate seeing the guy cry black tears of wengeance.
“Genre tags such as progressive and avant garde are kind of paradoxical terms in metal. Surely something truly progressive or avant garde should traverse the outer fringes of musical expression, bringing to the table a metal forged of fearless, arcane exploration? Often that’s not the case – those terms are in many ways boxes only slightly larger than thrash, death, and other tags of old. Does the anticipated third album of England’s Code break free of these restraints?” JF Williams asks and also answers. That’s why we keep him around.
It’s time for some Double Deicide!! Yes, I know that sounds like a professional high dive maneuver, but here it’s Steel Druhm and Madam X weighing in on the new opus from those infamous Floridian demon lords. Is In the Minds of Evil a return to the glory days or another safe and stale dose of by-the-numbers death? Opinions may differ, even in this here post!
The phrase “underrated” gets thrown around a lot, but it’s a pretty apt description for legendary Oregon punks Poison Idea. These guys somehow never got the respect or notoriety that their contemporaries did, despite having their songs covered by everyone from Turbonegro to Machine Head to Pantera (yes, that fucking song from The Crow). Led by larger-than-life frontman Jerry A. and equally huge guitarist Pig Champion, PI were a force to be reckoned with, both musically and physically (legend has it that the band weighed over 1,300 lbs. at the height of their substance abuse days). Here’s a weighty slice of classic hardcore for you, re-released with many bells unt whistles. Mr. Fisting rubs the belly and tells us what kind of sounds to expect from this seminal punk crew.
“It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.” “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.” “Yes, it will, Precious, won’t it? It will get the hose!” Just like Buffalo Bill strutting his handiwork, Satan’s Wrath have returned full of, thrashy, blackened, Greek bombasity. They’ve recovered their Frankensteined Venom and Possessed skin-suits from the far reaches of their respective musty wardrobes and with the help of their trusty BeDazzler, they’ve given them a brand spanking new lease on life!” BeDazzled by the Devil? What else needs to be said about this homage to old school black/death/thrash and all things Venom and Possessed. Nothing!
“Prospekt is a British tech-prog metal band, whose debut full length, The Colourless Sunrise features a blend of traditional progressive metal, melodic metal, and djent. While it’s always a fun game to pick out a band’s influences, Prospekt spoiled that job for me, as their Facebook page proudly lists the likes of Symphony X, Dream Theater, Opeth, and Meshuggah, among others. Sadly for Prospekt, they don’t quite measure up to the lofty standards of the aforementioned influences. Still, for our more astute readers, that mention of Meshuggah has got to stand out a bit, so let’s spend some time examining that.” Another day and another probationary writer joins the AMG fray as Dagg sheds some light on the prog-metal scene and up and comers, Prospekt. Do they have the chops to impress in such a cerebral, artsy-fartsy genre? They certainly packed the right influences!
“In 2009 I received a promo for Liv Kristine’s ‘new’ band Leaves’ Eyes and I was curious. The record was called Njord and as a fan of Liv’s voice and epic symphonic metal I figured for sure that I would be in for a treat. I was wrong. I was so very, very wrong. My complaints about the album were many—but a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was so compressed that it never felt heavy and the song-writing was just plain mediocre. Meredead, which followed two years later on schedule, was also a miserable record. The folky stuff was of the “let’s throw in a flute, hooray folk metal!” genre and I simply didn’t even have the patience to finish reviewing it. But because I am a masochist (and I’ve always liked Liv’s voice ffs!), I broke out Symphony of the Night when it arrived in my box.” Always a sucker for a lady with a pretty voice, Angry Metal Guy gave the new Leaves’ Eyes a chance. Is this turning into Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football?
“On the surface, there’s a lot to hate about Shitfucker. The hacky, try hard Vice interview that introduced them to the world didn’t do them any favors. Neither did their stylized swastika logo, nor the fact that their moniker is reminiscent of the nickname I gave to my third grade bus driver. Combine these elements with the comically lo-fi crap-stomp of lead single “Sex Dungeon,” and this band was easy to hate: A group of low-talent, low-class scum-fucks looking to capitalize on a strange metallic affinity for sleaze that rarely reconciles with the listener’s world view. Red flags were everywhere. I mean, how could an album called Suck Cocks In Hell be construed as anything other than cheap gimmickry?” How indeed?? Watch as Jordan Campbell somehow makes sense of this senseless abomination.
