Dio

Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame Review

Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame Review

“The other day, I was eating lunch with my 6-year-old son Ezkaton, and I swear to God, he gazed out the window with a thousand-yard stare and said the following without any prompting and without any music playing in the background: “Dad, I don’t know why I like Greyhawk so much. I don’t even try to like them, but they just make me like them.”” Sons of iron.

Firewind – Firewind Review

Firewind – Firewind Review

“While I’m not intimately familiar with the vast majority of Firewind’s discography, entries like debut Between Heaven and Hell, 2010’s Days of Defiance, and 2017’s Immortals have all impressed me in one way or another. When I first got my guitar, Gus G. was the darling of the guitar magazine world after being selected for the prestigious role of being Ozzy’s solo axeman. But it’s his work on Dream Evil’s debut Dragonslayer — a record that happens to be one of my favorite heavy/power releases of all time — that cements him upon a nostalgic throne in my metal heart.” Born of Firewind, other fire and steel.

Goden – Beyond Darkness Review

Goden – Beyond Darkness Review

“We’ve discussed revivals before, and tributes aplenty. Just look at Sweven’s Morbus Chron tribute–kind of a bit of both, and to mixed reactions. The list goes on: Black Sabbath and Heaven and Hell; Immortal and Abbath. Musicians looking to revive an old project under a new name must tread lightly, as we don’t want Morbus Chron 2.0, for example, but something that acknowledges the past while taking a fresh step forward. Today’s topic of discussion, New York’s Winter, a relatively quiet 90’s death metal act that nevertheless influenced the development of the death/doom niche with its murky and sprawling tunes.” Winter is coming back.

Badd Kharma – On Fire Review

Badd Kharma – On Fire Review

“We live in a society where people add extra letters (specifically u’s) to words that don’t belong. As well as spelling words purposely (I think?) wrong to give them more emphasis. Or they use words that don’t mean what they think they mean. Who could forget the days of ‘wassup?’ and ‘wazzup?’ I mean, what’s not hip about saying ‘what’s up?’ or ‘what is up? Or remember when people used the word ‘bad’ but actually meant ‘good’? Or when you use ‘cop’ instead of ‘get’ and ‘whip’ instead of ‘car’? What the fuck is going on around here? Now there’re umlauts over consonants and v’s instead of u’s. ‘Lead’ is ‘led,’ ‘funeral fuck’ is ‘fvneral fvkk,’ and ‘rand’ has a ‘5’ in front of it. And now… there’s Badd Kharma.” Fyre is hawt!!

Dead Kosmonaut – Gravitas Review

Dead Kosmonaut – Gravitas Review

“January has been kind to me, and while I haven’t been the overrating bastard that Holdeneye has, I also haven’t had anything bad come my way. Am I just in a good mood? Likely not, since I hate winter. Even this blind dip into the promo bin, Dead Kosmonaut’s second album, Gravitas, has been more than a pleasant surprise, helping pull me out of the winter doldrums with a wholly unexpected sound and style.” Crushed by an anchor.

Ironflame – Blood Red Victory Review

Ironflame – Blood Red Victory Review

“Born in America’s literal heart of steel, Ironflame makes music that lives and breathes those heroic values. The brainchild of one Andrew D’Cagna (Nechochwen, ex-Obsequiae), the band specializes in true heavy metal, championing the styles of their musical forbears in Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Dio.” Blood for the power gods!

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2019

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2019

“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.

Quayde LaHüe – Love out of Darkness Review

Quayde LaHüe – Love out of Darkness Review

“I was saddened to learn that by skipping the first day of Eliminator Fest, I’d missed a performance by the band that I find myself covering today: Olympia, Washington’s Quayde LaHüe. After spending time with their debut album Love out of Darkness, I’m vowing to catch them live at some point, because these guys and gal kick some serious olde school ass.” Love in a dark place.

Howling Sycamore – Seven Pathways to Annihilation Review

Howling Sycamore – Seven Pathways to Annihilation Review

“Last year’s self-titled debut from prog “supergroup” Howling Sycamore was one of my more positive surprises. On paper it shouldn’t have really worked: extreme drumming married to down-tuned guitars, then mashed in with over the top old-school vocals and the occasional crazed baritone sax. Yet the whole thing gelled in some weird, freakish way, and I was left hoping it wasn’t a one-off project. Well, here we are less than a year and a half later, with Seven Pathways to Annihilation, the band’s follow-up.” Screaming trees.

Black Oath – Behold the Abyss Review

Black Oath – Behold the Abyss Review

“From their formation in 2006, it’s been clear that the oath the chaps in Black Oath have taken is to keep traditional doom/occult metal in the style of Candlemass and Black Sabbath alive and kicking. Their first full length, The Third Aeon was an unsurprising but competent slab of 60-BPM epic doom dirges. On subsequent releases Ov Qliphoth and Darkness and To Below and Beyond, the band evolved their style somewhat to incorporate Gothic rock and mild progressive elements into a more distinctive brew which frontman, bassist and vocalist A. Th (not a typo) has christened “Cursed Rock Musick” (also not a typo).” Diabolus in Musick.