Avenged Sevenfold

He Is Legend – Endless Hallway Review

He Is Legend – Endless Hallway Review

“In their post-reunion era He Is Legend has displayed plenty of music on the sonically heavy side. Endless Hallway carves new levels of emotional vitriol in their catalog. If you’ve followed any news surrounding this band, particularly surrounding vocalist Schuylar Croom’s health, you know that there’s a reality out there where this record never happened. Particularly in the time surrounding the recording of this album.” The Legend goes on.

Mister Misery – A Brighter Side of Death Review

Mister Misery – A Brighter Side of Death Review

“‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ so the saying goes. But in our modern metal landscape, where a single look at an album cover or a song name can hook us or repel us forever, it’s damn hard to do otherwise. Mister Misery (strike one) are dying for your attention, as illustrated by that album cover (strike two). Their so-called brand of “horror metal” should be strike three, good morning, good afternoon, good night. And yet… maybe read the first page.” Twisted Mister.

Defecto – Duality Review

Defecto – Duality Review

“I’ve seen the question time and time again on any review below a 2.5. “Why even review this?” Well, there’s a bunch of reasons. An important one is, as soon as we pick a promo, we’re honor bound to review it regardless of quality. Oftentimes we don’t even know what we’re getting into, signing the contract over only the band name, album title and genre. A writer may start up a promising promo and have his head in his hands before the first minute is out, knowing he’s on the hook. That wasn’t the case with Defecto; I’ve reviewed the Danes before, to unspectacular result, and fully intended not to subject myself this time. But the band was brought up during our monthly meeting and the Emperor commanded me to pick up where I left off. Drat.” Double broken.

The Offering – Home Review

The Offering – Home Review

“In 2017, Boston band The Offering dropped a self-titled—and killer—EP that got them noticed by Century Media. Well, it’s time to check out their debut full-length Home, so grab something olde, something nü, something growled, and something blues, because today we’ll be haunting the chapel to see if the band can successfully marry an unhealthy number of musical influences into a cohesive whole.” Holy headlock!

Anthrocene – Nucleation Review

Anthrocene – Nucleation Review

“We rarely get lyric sheets with promos. Usually, this doesn’t matter much, as metal lyrics are rarely pinnacles of literary prowess. There’s only so many ways to say that humanity sucks or to discuss the finer points of fighting dragons with flaming swords. As a result, it’s often easy to miss the fact that an album has a concept unless you read it on the promo sheet. Not so with Anthrocene, who went several miles beyond a lyric sheet; with their debut Nucleation they included an entire comic, the speech bubbles and narration forming the lyrics of the hour-long album, revolving around an apocalyptic story of a misanthropic lumberjack turned into a planet-immolating creature by an agent of chaos from beyond the void.” Comic sans!!

In Flames – I, the Mask Review

In Flames – I, the Mask Review

“Let’s get one thing straight. In Flames is not a melodic death metal band anymore, and they haven’t been for quite a while. This is not in and of itself a bad thing. It’s just the way it is. That being said, The Jester Race was a magnificent piece of Gothenburg melodeath. The band has since become the Law of Diminishing Recordings’ main bitch and haven’t been able to get out from under that role. Yet I, opportunist that I am, was all too eager to snatch their thirteenth effort I, the Mask from the grubby claws of the AMG Consortium.” Snatch and sob.

Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

“If you’re anything like me, you have probably avoided Avenged Sevenfold for a long time after hearing their older work, which was so firmly planted in the land of metalcore it didn’t seem like they would climb out of it at any point. Though they did display some growth on their work past City of Evil, they continued to be a turn-off with juvenile lyrics that tried far too hard to be edgy. So if you’re anything like me, you might be skeptical when I say The Stage is a great progressive metal album. Yet here we are.” Yep, here we are all right.