“It’s time once again to turn loose the Swanös! Well, the Swanö named Dan anyway. That’s because the mega-man is back with his Witherscape project, and as before he’s brought along his mustachioed compadre, Ragner Widerberg to provide multi-instrumental support. Those who heard the massive debut, The Inheritance know what to expect – rich, melodic, somewhat progressive death metal with a cosmic ass-ton of hooks, mood and memorability.” The Danimal is back for the attack.
“No, Kronos hasn’t died. But yes, this is a Unique Leader record which he isn’t reviewing. Rather than his cold, dead hands, I obtained it via the surprisingly bureaucratic AMG promo distribution system instituted this year by our Weberian overlords. A quick glance at the Unique Leader roster will leave you entirely unsurprised by the record in question: Suffer by Lord of War, a US-based death metal troupe.” Enter the Iron Cage of rational thought!
“When Centinex’s name appeared on the promo list, I was (un)pleasantly surprised. I even assumed it was a sick joke; faxing Steel without delay to confirm that Centinex indeed had a new album out. OK, so I knew the band hadn’t dissolved (again), but a year-and-a-half turnaround for a new album was quite a surprise.” That’s the only way you get surprises from Swe-death these days.
“Reviewers the world over can agree; compartmentalizing bands into neat little genre labels can make life easier, but don’t necessarily do bands justice. Case in point: Virginia’s Inter Arma are equal parts Southern rock, sludge, doom metal, 70’s prog rock, and cavernous death metal.” Pigeonholery is an art AND a science.
“Let’s cut right to the chase, peeps; we live in a time where there’s very little innovation to be had within our blessed little circle of extreme music. Sure, you have bands that throw humongous curveballs at you from the far left, or those bands where they don’t innovate, but they sure as hell deliver with incredible conviction and sincerity. But more often than not, we are caught amidst the never-ending waves of retro-insert trend here.” Why do people always expect new stuff? You’re lucky to get olde stuff! Ingrates….
“One of the little rituals this modern world has created around music is the five-second Google “research” for whatever relevant info we can find on a new or unknown act. Doing this for Spanish black/death metallers Sheidim pointed me to a wiki-page about the shedim, demons from Jewish tradition that follow death and fly around graves. It also gave me a bunch of names that were as unknown to me as this young group. But there were two repeatedly referenced names that I knew. The first was Watain.” That’s funny, I never knew Watain was Jewish.
“Don’t be surprised if this is the first you’ve seen of an album from Internal Suffering. The long-running Colombian brutal death metal band has been silent for the past ten years, shuffling from city to city without releasing so much as an EP. And I’m fine with that, seeing as much of their previous output was not to my liking. 2006’s Awakening of the Rebel was naught but a smear of blast beats to me, and the continuous aggression of their music largely defeated itself. Cyclonic Void of Power, however, is a step in the right direction.” Is this the dawn of Vagabond metal?
“If you’ve never heard of Monsterworks before, welcome to the club. Originally expecting Black Swan Annihilation to be the debut album from a group of spritely young upstarts, I was pretty amazed to find this London-based quartet is actually one of the most productive bands since Suidakra.” Expectations are for posers!
“Hey kids. I’ve been away a while. Real life grabbed me by the collar and I couldn’t ignore it for fear of fucking up my future. But unlike your father who left for those cigarettes 10 years ago, I have returned. And what a way to return – the new Be’lakor, the critically-acclaimed melodeath darling child from Down Under.” What a way to make a re-entrance!
“Another day, another release from Unique Leader; yet there is no release for me. As the de facto tech-death guru at the AMG offices, I’m caught in a near perpetual state of mild frustration as streams of 16th notes tickle my cochleae and bearded men scream putrid nothings into my ear. While the year thus far has been pretty kind to the genre, Sturgeon’s law is still in effect, and Deceptionist’s debut, Initializing Irreversible Process, is my latest helping of the caviar of middlingness.” Somebody needs a staycation.
