Down

King Hitter – King Hitter EP Review

King Hitter – King Hitter EP Review

“I’m sure many of you have a big soft spot for C.O.C.’s Blind album, and in that regard, I’m no different. It’s become a genre classic and been showered with endless accolades since it’s release almost 25 years ago (that metal is olde!). A big part of the album’s appeal for me is Karl Agell’s gritty, tough-as-nails vocal performance. He was by far the best vocalist C.O.C. ever had and it’s a perpetual bummer he recorded but one album with the quasi-iconic band.” Dancing with the dead is so 1991, but it’s great to hear from this guy again anyway.

Exorcism – I Am God Review

Exorcism – I Am God Review

“Super-groups are an odd breed of duck. They either end up a bunch of egos, ball-busting for attention (a fight nobody wins) or they end up something along the lines of Down’s NOLA – chilled out, soaked in beer, raw and dirty and probably totally fucking stoned. This little collective I happened upon most recently via Rock n Growl Promotion, hail from a range of countries including, unsurprisingly, the USA and more surprisingly Spain, Italy and France.” An international doom rock supergroup starring the likes of Joe Stump? Intriguing!

Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo: Boudain – Boudain EP

Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo: Boudain – Boudain EP

In our new monthly feature, which will show up here on the 15th of every month and run over the next few days, I (Angry Metal Guy) will select 5 bands at random (usually those who have followed my directions and have bandcamp accounts) to get blurbed by every member of the AMG staff. The idea is to do at least a bit of our part to point out that the metal underground is still an important part of the world of metal. While we simply don’t have the manpower to produce regular reviews of unsigned bands, this is my attempt at a minor mea culpa if nothing else. So enjoy Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo and our second entry for April 2013: Boudain!

Corrosion of Conformity – Corrosion of Conformity Review

Corrosion of Conformity – Corrosion of Conformity Review

Corrosion of Conformity fans can generally be divided up into two teams: aging hardcore guys who only enjoyed the band’s first few records from the early ’80s, and metal dudes who prefer the band’s more recent incarnation with Pepper Keenan on vocals. These two teams don’t like each other, and Team Hardcore really doesn’t like latter-day COC. This conflict has been going on for decades, but the battle lines shifted recently when the three founding members of COC decided to reunite, sans Keenan, to record new music as a trio for the first time since 1986. Would the band finally deliver some crossover thrash to satisfy the old-schoolers? Or will they continue along the sludgy path they’ve been traveling since 1994’s Deliverance?

Crowbar – Sever the Wicked Hand Review

Crowbar – Sever the Wicked Hand Review

So I’m super unqualified to review this record because I a) don’t like sludge and b) have never listened to Crowbar before this moment. Sure, I’m sure I should have heard them, but I gotta be honest with you, I’ve been sort of busy. There are plenty of scenes that have developed since the 1990s and the slow, southern rock post-thrash stuff has never been my thing. Name bands from south of the Mason-Dixie line and I probably don’t like them unless they’re Kris Kristofferson. Always hated Down, didn’t think Corrosion of Conformity was terribly special (and this one’ll really burn your ass), I never liked Pantera or its postbellum incarnations. (Oh and I don’t like Black Label Society because they want to be a southern band even though Zakk Wylde is from fucking NEW JERSEY.) Given all of that, then, I was pretty fucking stoked that listening to this record wasn’t torture! In fact, it was really enjoyable. Let me regale you with the tale.