Akoma

Lost in Grey – The Waste Land Review

By GardensTale on January 9, 2019 in 2019, Finnish Metal, Reaper Entertainment, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, Folk Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, 61 comments

“Another year, another Nightwishcore, one is tempted to think at the sight of Lost in Grey. At this point, I’d be mighty tempted to make a template review and merely swap names and album titles out for the most homogeneous sound in the business. Efficient reviewing for 2019! Or it would be, if Lost in Grey had not unleashed the first major musical upset in my worldview of the year with their sophomore album The Waste Land: it attempts something different with the style!” Bombast in the borderlands.

Canyon of the Skull – The Desert Winter Review

By GardensTale on August 20, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 22 comments

“I might have a minor masochistic streak when it comes to reviews. Sure, much of my rapidly developing reputation for reviewing dreck (see: Akoma, Invidia, Insatia, Blind Seer) arose from sheer bad luck on blind promo selection. But why else would I stand up and say “I’ll take the ring to Mordor” when Steel mockingly requested volunteers to review a 37-minute, self-released(!), sophomore(!!), single-track(!!!), instrumental(!!!!) doom metal album?” Snakebit.

Insatia – Phoenix Aflame Review

By GardensTale on June 23, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Pitch Black Records, Power Metal, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, 85 comments

“The promo selection at AMG is a brutal process. If you are late to the game, all the good stuff has been picked by the vultur- I mean, my colleagues, and your choices are reduced to black metal, metalcore or symphonic metal (which nearly always means Nightwishcore.) I was late this time, and Jorn help me, I picked symphonic power metal album Phoenix Aflame completely blind. I recall my last thought before my own private hell was unleashed: “Can’t be worse than Akoma.” The early bird gets the Wormrot.

Dusius – Memory of a Man Review

By GardensTale on March 22, 2017 in 2017, Extreme Metal Music, Folk Metal, Italian Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Folk Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Viking Metal, 65 comments

“There’re as many ways to suck as there are to rock. There’re bands like Akoma and Starkill that make watered down, lowest common denominator crap. There’re can’t-be-arsed bands like Green Bastard that sound uninterested in their own music. And there’re the inept enthusiasts, of which newcomers Dusius might be the patron saint. This band clearly love what they do, but most of it is truly, genuinely bad.” We are bad, and that’s good. We will never be good, and that’s not bad.

Primal Attack – Heartless Oppressor Review

By GardensTale on February 4, 2017 in 2017, Portuguese Metal, Rastilho Records, Reviews, Uncategorized, Groove Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 17 comments

“Primal Attack play thrashy melodic death in the vein of The Haunted but run it through an ‘actually any good’ era Machine Head filter. There’s also a strong Pantera presence in the ‘fuck you’ attitude.” Put on your beater and strap on the heater.

Akoma – Revangels Review

By GardensTale on January 7, 2017 in 2017, Danish Metal, Massacre Records, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, Symphonic Metal, 92 comments

“Let’s play a game of ‘guess the genre!’ We have a band with a nondescript, vaguely fantasy-sounding name. Google betrays it to be the Ghanese word for ‘heart.’ The album name is Revangels, which I’m guessing is a contraction of revenge and angels? That seems likely, but I choose to believe it’s about angels that have become groupies for deceased drummer The Rev, instead because that’s more clever than the alternative.” Show no symphony.