Blog Posts

Howl of the Underdogs Movie Review

Howl of the Underdogs Movie Review

By GardensTale on July 9, 2021 in Blog Posts, Movie Review, Gothic Metal, Progressive Metal, 16 comments

“Usually, band documentaries are reserved for two types of Acts. Either, those who made it big and want to have their legacy cemented, which will often be titled something like “The Rise Of Band.” Or, those who made it big and crashed so spectacularly it makes for a good story: “The Rise And Fall Of Band.” What usually doesn’t happen is “The Lack Of Rise Of A Great Band That Somehow Never Made It Big.” But Madder Mortem isn’t really a usual band, with their decades of experience pumping out fantastic albums with stunning emotional depth and a completely unique sound which I’ve not heard replicated or imitated anywhere.” Underdogs have their day.

Stuck in the Filter – June’s Angry Misses

Stuck in the Filter – June’s Angry Misses

By TheKenWord on July 8, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Metal, Metalcore, Progressive Metal, Rap Metal, Thrash Metal, 50 comments

“So here’s a segment you all likely are too young to remember/never thought you’d see again. And it comes from the most unlikely source to boot—me! I discovered this feature through one of our monthly staff review calls/execution ceremonies, and I thought it was a shame we don’t use it more often. This comes on the back of a month where many of us were swamped with life events, massive overtime at work, and other such stressors. Naturally, we missed a bunch of releases, both ones we received promo for and ones we didn’t.” No filter!

Basement Dwelling Black Metal Artists Voice Frustration With Bigger Bands Recording in Basement During Pandemic

Basement Dwelling Black Metal Artists Voice Frustration With Bigger Bands Recording in Basement During Pandemic

By Steel Druhm on April 1, 2021 in Blog Posts, 59 comments

“A growing chorus of one-man black metal acts across the world are voicing concerns over bigger, less “cult” bands recording from home, often in basements, during the ongoing pandemic. Long considered the refuge of the most low-fi, commercially inaccessible blackened projects, home basement recording has become much more common since COVID first appeared in March of last year.” Cries from the underground.

GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2020

GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2020

By GardensTale on December 22, 2020 in Blog Posts, 175 comments

“We spend every single day of the year on this blog talking about music. The highs, the lows, the marshes of the meh. Occasionally, we give a nod to an especially beautiful cover (or an especially heinous one) to buff our word count for the article, but it’s barely a condiment on the edge of the buffet plate, stacked with pretentious slop, that we throw casually in front of the voracious readership. But this one time a year, I don’t have to talk about the music at all.” Gardens variety galleries.

Yer Metal Is Olde: King Diamond – The Eye

Yer Metal Is Olde: King Diamond – The Eye

By Dr. A.N. Grier on December 5, 2020 in Yer Metal Is Olde, Heavy Metal, 59 comments

“Then there’re examples like Fast Eddie Clarke walking away from Motörhead and the canning of Ozzy Osbourne by Black Sabbath. Anthrax, Exodus, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest lost their vocalists, who psyched everyone out and returned later anyway. In some cases, end-of-era albums are more like transition pieces—bridging the gap between the band of old and the band of new. Arguably Metallica‘s …And Justice For All fits the bill. It was clear that Justice was different, but it wasn’t until Metallica arrived that everyone saw what Justice really was. King Diamond‘s The Eye is also such an album.” Fading eyesight.

AMG Goes Ranking – Death

AMG Goes Ranking – Death

By Carcharodon on November 3, 2020 in AMG Rankings, Blog Posts, Death Metal, 152 comments

“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. The reviewing collective at AMG lurches from one new release to the next, errors and n00bs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of one of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if three aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slathering masses their personal rankings of that discography and what if the rest of the personality used a Google sheet some kind of dark magic to produce an official and all-round definitive aggregated ranking of that band’s entire discography? Well, if that happened, we imagine it would like something like this …” Death to all!