“Déluge is a French black metal/post-hardcore quintet, a demo and debut full-length Æther under their belt since their 2013 formation. Perhaps most similar to acts Downfall of Gaia or Celeste, Déluge’s sophomore effort Ægo Templo is content channeling the worship of hyper-melodic post-rock-influenced post-hardcore or screamo acts like Envy, So Hideous, or Suffocate for Fuck Sake.” After France comes the flood.
“I’ve learned that when it comes to the promo sump, metalcore sneaks in the back door. This makes sense. we at AMG like to joke about all things -core, so why explicitly say you’re a metalcore band in your promo? Why not say you play post-metal, and when you’re safe inside the city gates, sneak out of that Trojan horse and stab the shit out of us with your VERY EARNEST SCREAMING and siq breakdowns? And so it is that I find myself reviewing Sacrifices, the second full-length from Germany’s A Secret Revealed.” Core at the door.
“The typical pitfall of pseudo-experimental metal bands is their tendency towards buffoonish self-aggrandizement and the accompanying insistence on pompous philosophical themes. Often drawing inspiration from edgy, coincidentally anti-humanistic philosophies and providing a “thinking man’s take” on black metal, they immerse themselves in childish interpretations of nihilism and neoreactionary doctrines. The similarly arty and bombastically theatrical Potmos Hetoimos, the long-standing one-man progressive sludge project of Baltimorean Matt Matheson, is an antipode of such acts.” Humanistic is as humanism does.
“Last year’s Nails record was as blunt as they come. It’s rare that a band can generate enough hype — and then live up to it — that they can brazenly assert their superiority without being a laughingstock. But the trio did just that, leaving an open challenge to would-be peers in the title track of You Will Never be One of Us. When Moral Void heard the refrain, they thumbed their noses at the speakers. ‘Fuck you, Todd Jones,’ they said, ‘yes we will.'” Join or die.
