Dark Tranquillity

Meridian Dawn – The Fever Syndrome Review

By Grymm on July 8, 2020 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 26 comments

“In the late 90s and early 00s, yours truly bombarded himself with an unhealthy amount of melodic death metal. Basically, anything and everything that came from Gothenburg, Sweden was feverishly devoured at an alarming rate. All blame goes to At The Gates, of course, but quite a few great albums came from there. Sadly, so did some absolute dreck. But there’s no denying that the groundwork that they, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames laid for bands to come, because no matter what, it just keeps coming, much to our joy and/or dismay.” Fever and syndrome.

Withering Surface – Meet Your Maker Review

By Carcharodon on June 19, 2020 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 26 comments

“2020 seems to be the year of bands returning from the wastes. I’ve reviewed at least three bands so far this year that haven’t released an album for eight plus years. Næstved, Denmark’s original melo-death export Withering Surface dropped their last album, Force the Pace, way back in 2004.” Withering still.

Mitochondrial Sun – Mitochondrial Sun Review

By sentynel on February 11, 2020 in 2020, Argonauta Records, Electronica Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Electronic Metal, Electronica, 14 comments

“Solo projects are an interesting beast. While rarely as successful as their originating bands, done well they can tread new and interesting ground. Done poorly, though, they can end up a pale imitation of the bands they came from. Mitochondrial Sun is the side project of Niklas Sundin, Dark Tranquillity’s long-time guitarist. Fortunately, it falls into the former category. ,b>Mitochondrial Sun is primarily dark instrumental electronic music, largely in the vein of 65daysofstatic, but also forays into modern classical.” Dark new age.

Haunt – Mind Freeze Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 13, 2020 in 2020, American Metal, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Reviews, Shadow Kingdom Records, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 51 comments

“Yet, as simple as their style of ’80s NWOBHM is, it’s not like fans have to absorb much from one Haunt record to the next. But the fear of too-much-too-soon lingers. With repeat listens, If Icarus Could Fly didn’t quite live up to Burst into Flame. This leaves a big question mark for this year’s Mind Freeze. Will this new album continue the gentle decent? Or is Mind Freeze Haunt’s Master of Puppets? You’ll have to see what happens next!” Haunting the clickbait.

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2019

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 1, 2020 in 2019, Blog Posts, Lists, 101 comments

“Name another site out there with writers hiding behind silly monikers whom you know better than your best friends. Name a site you dared to lean on, pouring your heart out in the comments, getting positive and uplifting responses when you needed them most. Name a site you’ve spent as much time debating, loving, and sharing music as you have on AMG. You can’t.” Truth telling.

Gatecreeper – Deserted Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on October 4, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Death Metal, 60 comments

“Well, the dog days of summer are upon us. Except they’re not. It’s 5 am and 68 degrees outside and I’m freezing my ass off. Come on, sun. Get the fuck up and shower me in your relentless rays of sunshine. Cook the desert sand once more and soften the asphalt so it’ll nestle my broken body when I fall dead from heatstroke. Anything to keep me from shivering under my pelt blankie as I settle down to Gatecreeper’s new record, Deserted. My only hope is that this new release will warm my blood like the band’s 2016 debut did before.” Fire and Ricin.

Ereb Altor – Järtecken Review

By Steel Druhm on September 20, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Hammerheart Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Viking Metal, Black Metal, Viking Metal, 20 comments

“If you found a younger version of me anytime from 1991 to about 2013, and asked past me how many albums I wanted to hear similar to Bathory’s mighty Hammerheart release, I would grab you by the throat and scream “ALL OF THEM!” before running into the night to pillage and sack the sackable. The sound and atmosphere of Bathory’s monsterwork was so damn trve, mighty, and metal, how could anyone grow tired of it? Around 2013 however, I did start to grow tired of the style, because so many of the bands attempting it lacked the charisma and gravitas to pull it off properly.” Hammer fail?

Urn – Iron Will of Power Review

By Mark Z. on September 16, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 38 comments

“Nothing in this world is as good as blackened thrash metal. In the book of Z, it is the pinnacle of not just metal, but music in general. While Australian acts like Gospel of the Horns and the fukkin almighty Deströyer 666 do it best, that doesn’t mean the rest of the world has nothing to offer. Finland’s Urn are one such band who have been reliable in keeping my head banging over the years, even if their straightforward take on blackened thrash was never enough to bring them to the big leagues.” Boo-Urn?

Polemicist – Zarathustrian Impressions Review

By Grymm on August 30, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Fólkvangr Records, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 26 comments

“Admission time: My timing, when it comes to our promo bin, quite frankly sucks. By the time it comes to reviewing a new album, either the week is spoken for due to my teammates devouring the contents of the bin in record time, or there’s some slim pickings in the bin. Case in point: Zarathustrian Impressions, the debut album from Pennsylvanian newcomers Polemicist, was one of a paltry few remaining albums left for me to scour.” Polemic pandemic.

Kryptos – Afterburner Review

By Mark Z. on July 6, 2019 in 2019, AFM Records, Heavy Metal, Indian Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 37 comments

“”Full speed ahead—let’s burn up the night!” So screamed Kryptos vocalist and guitarist Nolan Lewis, thus closing out the Indian quartet’s 2016 opus Burn up the Night. That album excelled by infusing classic heavy metal riffs with harsh vocals and it more than earned its spot on my Year End list that year. But apparently full speed is no longer fast enough. Fifth album Afterburner sees the band cranking the throttles into overdrive and doubling down on everything that made Night great.” Still burning in the night.