“Remember Amaranthe? Say what you want about them as a metal band (which, if you’re being six figure tax return levels of charitable, would be “not so great”), but as a pop band they’re alright. Massive Addictive was catchy, regardless of the fact that it was meticulously crafted by Swedish pop robots, made of 100% candy-coated processed cheese, and equal in substance to a sugar rush. Italy’s Secret Rule is pure processed cheese too.” Cheese and sugar go together like dynamite and napalm.
“The brilliant melodies of Iron Maiden and Metallica opened the door to metal for a young Diabolus. But it was the timeless riffs, redline intensity, and searing speed of Reign in Blood that pushed me through it. In the back of my mind, the dragon of Reign in Blood’s speed is always being chased because of this. The viciousness of Slayer’s finest (half) hour complemented its speed, and even today it sounds an order of magnitude faster than your garden variety blast-happy tech-death typewriter-core band.” I hear typewriter-core is the new post-black.
“I don’t agree with my dad on everything, but there’s one thing we do agree about: cruises are the best way to vacation. Free all-you-can-eat buffets, breezy tropical weather, alcohol and entertainment available everywhere, and – most importantly – you’re always within walking distance of your room, so you never have to worry about getting a DUI or throwing up in an Uber on your ride back to the Red Roof Inn. But a cruise with 60 metal bands and over 3,000 fans from all over the world, making a four day round-trip to Jamaica with bars that never close? That’s a whole different beast entirely!” In the Navy, you can rock the seven seas!
“Being the black metal fan I am, I’ve scared many a girlfriend with my devil-worshiping, goat-sacrificing practices; which – according to these people – are not the result of the music but because that’s who I am and why I listen to metal music. All people have opinions and metal fans are no different. Many were recently offended because of the semi-regular appearance of the Christian deity in this year’s releases. As you can probably surmise, Signum Regis is here to continue this God-fearing trend.” We’re reviewing so much godly music lately that we may qualify for tax exempt status!
“If it was a bunch of one-man black metal bands before, now it’s a bunch of cheez whiz coming Count Grier’s way. Previously it was in the form of the slick The Valiant/Valiant’s/Variant/Variant’s Fire release by Damnation Angels and now it’s Time Stands Still from Canadian-based Unleash the Archers.” Don’t they mean “unleash the arrows”?
“What makes old-school swords-and-steel heavy metal great? Is it the loveable cheesiness, the huge riffs we all remember years down the line, or the almost tangible energy that inspires us to headbang, shout along, and makes us feel alive?” I always thought it was the loincloths and fashionable sandals.
“Standing at the crossroads of catchy hard rock and traditional metal, Eden’s Curse has been quietly killing it since 2007. Founded by vocalist Michael Eden, this quasi super group (composed of players from bands I mostly never heard of) has released three albums of high quality, hook-filled, anthemic music similar to Leverage, Masterplan, Starbreaker and the Russell/Lande albums. Though the members have ample musical chops, they eschew wankery in favor of simplistic, rocking tunes with memorable choruses and their approach invokes the charms of 80s style, bluesy, quasi-hair metal.” In the mood for something light and sweet? Eden’s Curse has just the thing for your musical sweet tooth. Oh, the sugar rush!!
“Hungarian power metal sages Wisdom continue to spin the tale of the adventures of the mysterious figure “Wiseman” on their third full-length album Marching for Liberty. The Budapest-based quintet favor power metal at its most grand and bombastic, in the style of Rhapsody of Fire and Dragonforce, with the symphonic leanings of Nightwish or Stratovarius. Those who favor an understated or reserved interpretation of power metal should look elsewhere, as Marching For Liberty is an example of the genre with hyper-drive engines fully engaged.” Hyper-driving power metal sounds pretty okay, if you’re into that kind of thing. Read and find out what Natalie thinks about it.
Holy Grail is one of these new-wave, big-named bands that got picked up by Nuclear Blast in the last couple of years that I had never really bothered to check out. Mostly my apathy can be blamed on crankiness ’cause I’m old. But their specific brand of nod-to-the-old-school power metal with a modern edge seems to perfectly encapsulate a lot of what’s going on in the metal scene these days, and their 2010 release Crisis in Utopia was met with generally positive responses. Still, I somehow managed to ignore these guys when they dropped their first record and given all the chatter I figured I’d make up for that by giving Ride the Void a go.
When we say we missed this release, we mean we REALLY missed it…by years!
