“Two reviews ago, I picked up my “last” review for the 2020 calendar year. Now, here I am, submitting my real last review for 2020 about as late as you can submit one, uncharacteristically content with my tardy contribution. I really did plan on being done a couple of weeks ago, but then I heard the first few seconds of Mossweaver and I knew I couldn’t let the year end without shining a spotlight on this one.” Moss peeping.
“2020 has been a looooonnnng year and here I find myself, almost at the end of it. My List – following a not insignificant amount of agonizing – has been submitted, two TYMHMs have been written (two still to go, admittedly) and I am staring at my last full review of the year. So, what I need now from Dormanth is a real burst of the zingy, energetic melodeath the promo blurb promised, to carry me through these last couple of weeks.” Fever dreams and downfalls.
“Heeeere’s Jonny! Again! I’m not sure how many albums Jonny Pettersson has released in 2020, but this is the third I’ve covered, and the second by his Wombbath project. The band released the sprawling, mostly compelling, Choirs of the Fallen back in March and have since signed with Transcending Obscurity Records. Not wanting to wait to see where this new partnership might take them, Jonny and co. are releasing Tales of Madness, a collection of several rerecorded demo tracks from the band’s pre-Jonny past.” Womb service.
“Matching album art to musical concept is, I imagine, a challenging task for any artist or band to attempt. Two different artistic styles coming together in harmony is certainly a tough ask, but in this case, Gjoad have nailed it. The painting you see over there, by Franz Steinfeld, could not be a more accurate description of the Samanōn sound — which is a good thing, because it’s the primary reason I picked this one up to review. I wanted something primal, something powerful, and something ancient, and it seems to me that that’s exactly what this Austrian trio are going for on their debut release.” Sound packaging.
“I’m a simple n00b. I like my meat rare, my Dr. Pepper with ice[1. Shoutout to adults who drink soda.], and my black metal raw. I don’t ask for much, just give me some chunky riffs and the vision to support them and you have my axe. What Minneapolis’ traditional doomers Kult Of The Wizard have done on their latest offering, Gold, is so much more and it’s made a simple n00b like myself all warm inside in a way that the usual holiday cheer of the season doesn’t normally bring about.” N00b appeal.
“As I close out the year with reviews, what better way than to go back to my roots? Is that vague? Maybe. Mysterious? Definitely. What on earth would I have in common with Heretical Sect? Am I a skeleton with a snake in my skull? Maybe. I’ll bring that up with the doctor later. I suppose you could ask: what do chile, Breaking Bad, Ancestral Puebloans, hot air balloons, and the worst pedestrian safety rating in the US have in common? Secting crew.
“Genus Ordinis Dei’s last platter, Great Olden Dynasty, was a surprisingly excellent piece of symphonic and melodic death metal. Italian metal is not usually known for its restraint, particularly with symphonics, but while the orchestral textures were as excessive as expected, the songwriting was tight and focused, and the versatile roar of vocalist Niccolò is a fantastic asset to the band. 3 years later, the band’s aspirations have grown.” Inquisition-core.
“We all know how pivotal that second album can be. Time after time, history has made an example of the all-important sophomore sway. When an inaugural record successfully seduces the masses, all eyes immediately turn to what comes next. In 2018, Australia’s Depravity took great pleasure in repeatedly slamming my face into the wall with their brilliant debut Evil Upheaval. The fact that it did so with such aplomb in a year dominated by death metal ensured its place on my end of year list. Now, follow-up Grand Malevolence arrives with something to prove.” Prove you harmed.
“Twenty-twenty has been the year of ore. Iron ore, that is. We’ve seen it extracted from the earth, thrown into the blasting furnace, and molded into steel. From that steel, we’ve seen so many swords forged, that it’s practically raining the motherfuckers. There’s Ironsword and Megatron Sword, Possessed Steel and Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire, to name a few. And it won’t fucking end as long as Steel is fanning the furnace.” Mask ore die.
“Iron Savior may not have started the whole Euro-power genre, but founder/vocalist/guitarist Piet Sielck certainly had his hands on the original putty as a member of the early version of Helloween. Though he never ended up recording with them, you can hear the influence of that protozoic era of power metal in everything Iron Savior does. Since their 1997 debut they’ve consistently churned out quality Euro-power with strong links to classic metal and they’ve always delivered it with more heft and muscle than 99.999% of their frilly be-shirted peers. Skycrest is their 12th platter of metallic anthems to the Metal Godz and things are as they should be.” Iron sharpens other iron.
