“By now we all know Tuomas Saukkonen is a force of nature. He’s Finland’s metal juggernaut as surely as Rogga Johansson is Sweden’s, and over the decades he’s created some brilliant music with Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon and Dawn of Solace. Several years ago and for reasons unknown, he folded all his bands and started fresh with Wolfheart.” The leader of the Finnish pack is back with more sadboy melo-death.
“If there is one thing that can be said about Slovenia, it’s that they have supplied us with a number of great metal bands. For instance, there is… ummmm… well… fine, so I don’t know any off the top of my head. But they’ve given us at least one good metal band.” Does one good band make for a regional scene?
“It’s not to often that punk-derived genres get to fly the ‘progressive’ banner, but if forced to name a modern prog-grindcore act, Fuck the Facts would be the first words from my mouth. The Ottowan group’s devil-may-care attitude towards stylistic unity is something of a treasure in the grind world and their constant shuffling between deathy prog-grind and grindy prog-death, all whilst collecting the refuse of a half-dozen other genres, is a joy to witness.” Prog and grind go together like nuts and gum.
“Okay, admission time: as you can probably guess, I don’t always rely on the Grymm Grab Bag™ to decide who or what I get to review. If it’s a band I love or have a history with, I’ll give a fair looksee and go from there. In some cases, the name alone will grab me and say, “dude, review this, please.” Hence, Finland’s Tomb of Finland. That’s a pretty benign name to most people, right?” Wait for it….
“In order to prepare myself for Rivers of Nihil’s sophomore effort, Monarchy, I naturally went back to The Conscious Seed of Light, which I initially hated. And lo and behold, this time I found that I liked it – even less.” Kronos the Merciless hath damned the rivers.
“Last time Hate Eternal graced the digital halls of AMG, they left Steel Druhm throbbing with excitement and elation and in turn he gave 2011’s Phoenix Amongst the Ashes a near-perfect score. Four years later it appears something has throttled the throbbing, as their latest full-length Infernus was dropped on my desk alongside a wonderful lack of punitive metalcore.” Floridian death metal is back to melt ice cream and your face, and we’re all outta ice cream.
“Fresh from their evidently finite dormancy, Japan’s popular death-doom export, Coffins, is back with the mini-album Craving to Eternal Slumber. The legend that is Happy Metal Guy favorably reviewed their previous release, and this largely fits into the canon they’ve already established for themselves.” It’s funny you should mention Happy Metal Guy and canon in the same sentence….
Yer Metal Is Olde is a recurring thing that we’re using to fill up space while we whip our new reviewers for reviews of new the material that we assigned them, but they can’t seem to figure out how to turn in on time. The idea was spurred on by the swath of amazing and classic records that are turning 10, 20, or 30 this year. It’s crazy to think that all the stuff that we worship is really as old as it is. Time moves quickly, but these classics never seem to lose their shine. Still, their enduring quality doesn’t change that your favorite metal is fucking old.
I don’t know of many downfalls that could be described as majestic, nor had I previously crossed paths with these Mexican mercenaries, the brainchild of Jacobo Córdova from Zombiefication and various other underground bands. Perusing their background I discovered Majestic Downfall have been kicking round the traps for the best part of a decade, with …When Dead marking their fourth Long Player. Doom and death go together like ebony and ivory.
“Genre-defining albums don’t come along every day – or every year – so when they do pop up, it’s important to take note of them for future generations like me. When The Gallery saw release in 1995, so many moons ago, I was not really prepared to appreciate its artistry due to a preoccupation with jaundice.” Prepare for some yellow journalism.
