“Serbia isn’t a big hitter for metal. Controversial movies perhaps. A geographically-unlikely affinity for basketball. Even war crimes in the early 90s. Yet despite a lack of internationally recognized metal acts, it clearly has a love for the trvest, classic metal of the 80s. Claymorean’s fifth full-length album entitled Eulogy for the Gods was written as an homage to Mark ‘The Shark’ Shelton of Manilla Road, to Virgin Steele and to the 80s generally.” Hail, hail to 80s.
“Of all the things we have reason to bitch and moan about in 2021, whether it be this goddamn pandemic, sports, politics, work, annoying neighbors or whatever frustrating societal issue is pissing you off in these turbulent times, I don’t believe thrash should be on the bitch list. Yes this timeless genre that was a gateway for many folks into the wider realms of metal, has had quite the fruitful year by modern standards. Which brings us to the latest album from unheralded German thrashers Nocturnal, entitled Serpent Death.” Snake Whacking Day.
“The main problem with death metal is that it’s boring as hell. That may seem rich coming from The Guy Who You Know Exists Only Because of His Profuse Writing About Death Metal, but that’s also why you’re here, isn’t it? You know death metal is boring. If you wanted to listen to boring-ass death metal, you would just do it. Instead, you come here to read articles written by over-educated losers who let you know ahead of time which records manage to make death metal not boring. Spread Plague Death is not one of them.” Zzzzzeath.
“Describing themselves as “theatrical metal,” Summoner’s Circle is a swirling morass of influences that, peculiarly, leaves little lasting impression. Chaos Vector takes the most accessible parts of mainstream death metal and mainstream black metal and mixes them with the accessible melodies of modern progressive metal. Given that the vocals are largely blackened rasps a la Rimfrost, the guitars pull double duty in trying to make the proceedings overtly heavy and melodic. Progressive is definitely used in the catch-all way here.” Chaos and design theory.
“Moon Unit traffic in a tongue-in-cheek brand of progressive metal that’s heavily influenced by groups like Faith No More, with a dose of Spock’s Beard and an undercurrent of Saturday Morning Apocalypse’s wackiness. On paper, at least to this humble reviewer, that sounds like quite the conglomeration; one with the potential to produce a fun, over-the-top but ultimately rewarding prog metal album.” Lifestyle choices.
“Though Steel threw this at me because of the Phoenix connection, what really got me was the promo whitepaper. None other than David Thoener mixed the Phoenician’s debut record. And for him to say that the quality of Magick reminds him of his work on Rainbow’s Rising is a big deal. So, I began spinning the record.” Numbers racket.
“And now the subject of today’s review: Nunslaughter. They’ve peddled their wares from Pennsylvania and Ohio since 1987, offering a fusion of the earliest death metal with later punk. Only 4 full records have occupied the intervening years, though they literally have dozens of other EPs, splits and live albums. 2021 brings with it their fifth full-length entitled Red Is the Color of Ripping Death, and their first release of this type in 7 years.” Nuns on the run.
“Steel Druhm recently announced loudly to the writers that someone should review some sludgy doom record that was probably pretty good. I fell over my desk and several trash cans reaching from the promo. Turns out, I was duped. First of all, Sweden’s Heathen Rites are not sludge.” Sludge misjudge.
“Unless you only got into metal recently, you are sure to have an array of bands that you’ve listened to in the past and enjoyed, but for whatever reason you didn’t delve any deeper or keep up with their new releases. Occasionally you might see a namedrop somewhere and go “huh, yeah, I liked that band.” Sometimes you might even pick the thread back up. It’s how I got back into Madder Mortem, for instance. Other times, you shrug and move on, pursuing new thrills instead, making a solemn oath that you never fulfill, to one day get back to that enjoyable echo from the past. Such a moment of recognition struck me when I saw the name Thyrfing pop up in the promo box. “Thyrfing!” I said. “They were cool! Vansinnesvisor was a good album, I recall. They were kinda sorta big at the time, right?” Norse whisperers.
“Fluisteraars was undoubtedly my biggest surprise discovery of 2020. Everything about Bloem was simultaneously right for me and completely wrong for me. But I came back to it, again and again, and finally, it wormed its way onto my year-end list and continues to be a staple of my listening for long walks on the side of the road. I was stunned to learn that they had a new album coming this year, but looking forward to new material from these guys.” Flowers of melo-evil.
