Black Metal

1349 – Demonoir Review

1349 – Demonoir Review

By Lord Doom on April 23, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, Black Metal, Indie Recordings, Reviews, Black Metal, 1 comment

I first became acquainted with 1349 at their landmark Hellfire album which marked them as leaders of the post-90’s Norwegian black metal scene. It seems with their subsequent release, Revelations of the Black Flame, they lost a lot of support from their “true” supporters for their favoring more ambient passages and relying more on atmospherics than blistering black metal. Luckily, 1349’s latest offering attempts to strike a balance between the two extremes in the genre and Demonoir looks like a very solid album, treading the waters between dark ambient and black metal to great effect.

Triptykon – Eparistera Daimones Review

Triptykon – Eparistera Daimones Review

By Noctus on April 21, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, Black Metal, Century Media, Doom Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 0 comments

There are some musicians that are capable of making a sound, no matter how simple, but always make it sound distinctive to the composer. In the same way, all of Thomas Gabriel Warrior’s creations have a distinct feeling and mark to them, which is why I’m so glad we have this new band on the scene. Warrior has teamed up with three young musicians to continue his creation through the new name, and judging by this record, Triptykon is a name we’ll he hearing more of in the not so distant future.

Warrior had stressed before that this CD would be Monotheist part two, which to me is a relief. After the brilliant Monotheist, I was left wanting much, much more. I’m not saying that Monotheist was too short or unsubstantial, Monotheist had the stamp of Warrior plastered over every sound that was put on the record. If you were in love with Monotheist, like me, you would have had nowhere else to turn to get a similar experience. The terrifyingly gripping feeling just couldn’t be found anywhere else in the metal scene.

Trident – World Destruction Review

Trident – World Destruction Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 25, 2010 in 2.5, 2010, Black Metal, Death Metal, Regain Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, 0 comments

An outgrowth of the ideas of a former Dissection guitarist (Johan Norman) and a couple of members of the band Necrophobic, Trident hits the stores on the 22nd of March throughout Europe and hits a totally virgin audience. These guys pretty much came out of nowhere, having basically played locally in Sweden and apparently they circulated a demo or something that got them picked up by Regain. Formed in 2007, Trident is a blackened death band in the veins of the aforementioned bands and is yet another Swedish assault on Christendom and the senses that will surely inflame passion in some corners.

Borknagar – Universal Review

Borknagar – Universal Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 22, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Indie Recordings, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 1 comment

Borknagar is a class act and has been for a long time. Reaching all the way back to their first, self-titled release, this band has separated itself from the herd by being just plain more interesting and unique. Eventually they just separated themselves from the modern black metal scene altogether, heading towards more progressive pastures. Universal continues a trend away from the raw and simple towards the highly complex, dynamic and progressive—but the question is whether or not the band’s fans and general public will want to follow the band in this direction. Well, and whether or not where the band is leading is somewhere worth going. [Read the whole review here.]

Petrychor – Dryad Review

Petrychor – Dryad Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 16, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, American Metal, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Reviews, Unsigned Bands, Black Metal, 3 comments

I frequently complain about black metal these days. Partially this is because I think that a lot of post-black metal is fucking boring and partially ’cause the not-post-black metal is also fucking boring. In general, black metal is in a place where nothing really that interesting is going on. Sure, there are bands out there that are putting out good material, but for the most part the signed stuff is so-so and the classic bands are disappointing with new material and the state of the scene, in my opinion, is pretty sad. So I was pleasantly surprised to get turned onto this piece of art by the Californian do-it-yourselfer just called “T”. The project is called Petrychor and displays all of the things that I would hope to hear out of this budding scene sort of embodied in a single 3 song EP entitled Dryad.

Ov Hell – The Underworld Regime Review

Ov Hell – The Underworld Regime Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 10, 2010 in 2.0, 2010, Black Metal, Indie Recordings, Reviews, Black Metal, 3 comments

The Gorgoroth debacle over the last couple of years has definitely left me very confused. See, I thought it was King (ov Hell) who was doing the majority of the writing on the later Gorgoroth stuff, which was some of the best, most extreme and interesting black metal that was going on over the last few years (that wasn’t deep, deep underground). Since Twilight of the Idols, Gorgoroth had a total monopoly on black metal extremity and just plain fucking evil. When QPAST was released, it was clear that it was not that modern Gorgoroth anymore and so I assumed that God Seed, and then after that fell apart, Ov Hell would be the thing that continued on the path that Gorgoroth had taken. The left hand path, if you will allow me such blatant silliness.

Finntroll – Nifelvind Review

Finntroll – Nifelvind Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 29, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, Black Metal, Century Media, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 4 comments

I remember the first time I ever got to hear Finntroll. It was shortly after Jaktens Tid had been released and it absolutely blew my mind. It was like the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard: oompah and metal, all tied up in one over-the-top packaging, complete with joik! Many have approached Finntroll as though they’re a joke band, but honestly since Nattfödd, they have been a very serious band in my mind. They took it to the next level with Ur Jordens Djup, which was as dark as anything the band had produced up until this point. And honestly, I don’t think a lot of fans were sure of what to expect next from these Swedish speaking Finns. The answer to that question is Nifelvind… which may be Finntroll’s finest record yet.

Troll – Neo Satanic Supremacy Review

Troll – Neo Satanic Supremacy Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 22, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Black Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 0 comments

Troll is the side project of former Dimmu Borgir bassist current The Kovenant vocalist Nagash (aka Lex Icon), but it also has the honor of being the first project he was ever involved with at the very young age of about 14. However, after the band fell apart it soon became his solo project and has gone through some various incarnations over the year. If one were to give Neo-Satanic Supremacy a cold listen, one would not every know that a major transformation had taken place in the band’s history. No, instead one would assume that Nagash had quit Dimmu Borgir to produce this very record. Because, well, frankly it sounds like the band circa 1998.

Lord of the Logos

Lord of the Logos

By Angry Metal Guy on January 20, 2010 in 2010, Blog Posts, Black Metal, 2 comments

Apparently Christophe Szpajdel has released a book that spans his career and the amazing logos that he’s produced. For those of you who don’t know, he’s the gentleman who has produced some of the most recognizable logos in metal and, specifically black metal, ever. He did Emperor, Old Man’s Child, Wolves in the Throne Room […]