“Say what you will about Adam Clemans, but Skeletonwitch really lost something when they kicked Chance out, leaving me hungry for bands that captured the rowdiness of their early days. Enter All Hell.” Skeletons, witches and Hell, oh my!
Dissection
Wormwood – Ghostlands: Wounds from a Bleeding Earth Review
“Sometimes an album comes along that progressively gets better listen after listen. With their debut full-length Ghostlands: Wounds from a Bleeding Earth, Swedish melodic black metallers Wormwood have constructed such an album.” Worms, wood, ghosts, what else could you need?
In Thousand Lakes – Age of Decay Review
“Their older stuff isn’t half bad with its Dissection-inspired melodeath and meloblack hybrid, and certainly offers a blacker, rougher outlook than those of the Gothenburg ilk at a similar time. Yet In Thousand Lakes hail instead from the significantly less kvlt Spain. It is at least one of the rainier parts. But all this research and I’d not even yet listened to the album! I pulled on my Somberlain boots and prepared to get stuck into the Light’s Bane…” Tales from the thousand fakes.
Curse of Denial – The 13th Sign Review
“I, like a lot of you, I’m sure, have an uncanny, savant-like memory of where I was and, more often than not, what mischief I was up to when I first heard a particularly evocative album. I remember, clearly, being 17 and hearing Rust In Peace for the first time and how I sat open mouthed as “Tornado of Souls” bombarded me with the sonic equivalent of Gamma rays, cursed forevermore to Hulk out whenever a sweet thrash riff graced my ears. Categorically, I will never forget first hearing Bolt Thrower’s “World Eater” whilst I sat in my friend’s room, dispatching copious amounts of cheap beer.” Beer, bros, brutality.
Thron – Thron Review
“Relentlessly picking on black metal bands whose members opt for anonymity is a favorite pastime of ours here at Angry Metal Guy, but it kinda sorta makes sense when you look at the practice from the band’s perspective. When trying to break into the scene, withholding one’s identity means that critics have only the music to go on, and if the musicians happen to suck, it eliminates any possibility of cred shredding in the eyes of the masses.” Secret identities are metal.
Balfor – Black Serpent Rising Review
“Way back in 2011 I was pleasantly surprised by a little known Ukrainian blackened death act called Balfor. So much so that I wrote a Things You Might Have Missed for their sophomore outing Barbaric Blood. Their highly effective fusion of Immortal-riffs and In Flames guitar virtuosity really got to me and though it wasn’t very original, it left me looking forward to hearing more from them. It took over five years for them to resurface and they do so with a radically different line up with only founder Thorgeir Berserk returning, but Black Serpent Rising is finally here.” Snake bite, on my leg!
![Uprising – Uprising [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/uprising-cover-768x765.jpg)
Uprising – Uprising [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]
“Why we would be receiving a promo (with a 2017 release date) for a record that has been out since March of 2016 is beyond me. Well, it’s not beyond me because this sort of thing happens all the time. Sometimes it occurs because of a band’s recent signing and re-release of that album or, other times, it’s because a new distribution deal sends the record overseas. Regardless the reason for the delay, I couldn’t pass up a last-minute TYMHM for Uprising’s self-titled debut.” Another minor gem from us to you. Now buy us a beer.
![Siaskel – Haruwen Airen [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SIASKELCOVER-768x696.jpg)
Siaskel – Haruwen Airen [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]
“Very few things impress me more than a band that knows how to incorporate ideas from their native lands or languages into their music. Take Orphaned Land’s beautiful incorporation of Middle-Eastern motifs in their message of unity, for example. I’m a sucker for this kind of sound.” Roots, bloody roots!
![Far Beyond – A Frozen Flame of Ice [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Far-Beyond-A-Frozen-Flame-of-Ice-768x768.jpg)
Far Beyond – A Frozen Flame of Ice [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]
“Many have complained about 2016’s selection of great music, and not without reason; it can seem a bit lacking. Germany’s Far Beyond, the one-man project of Eugen Dodenhoeft, decided to roll with the simplest solution of all to 2016’s musical woes: stop releasing music that isn’t great. With this, A Frozen Flame of Ice was born. That was simple enough to fix.
Bornholm – Primaeval Pantheons Review
“Metalheads saying “I’m a pagan” is, generally speaking, our chosen genre’s equivalent of wine-guzzling middle-aged single women who say they’re “not religious, but spiritual” during those book clubs where Eat, Pray, Love is read in perpetuity. It’s empty posturing made to make someone sound more profound and “enlightened” than they actually are. So-called pagan metal is generally melodic stuff with a lyrical eye to old folklore but, other than that, the definition doesn’t give us a whole lot to go on.” Only join Book of the Dead clubs.
