“Ah, the sun-scorched desert of California. The birthplace of stoner metal with the rise ofKyuss, the arid plains are infertile for all but rocking grooves and fat riffs. Though the movement spread worldwide, including the current stoner peak in Sweden, there’s still something about bands rising from the original dustpan. Blackwülf are attempting the same with their catchy brand of accessible stoner, judging by their sophomore full-length Sinister Sides.” Desert riffs and fuzzy gifts.
“Let’s turn our attention to the other great mystery of our time – the identity of the members of Deathwhite. With two slobberknocker EPs of excellent goth-doom under their invisible belts, we still have nary a clue who they are or what they’re trying to hide. All we know is that the band features members from better known acts and likely hails from the Massachusetts/Pennsylvania region. Given this light evidentiary trail and their carefully cultivated enigma status, I wasn’t even surprised when their first full-length appeared out of nowhere, only to be pulled back a week later and held from release for almost a year. Now that For a Black Tomorrow has finally re-appeared, it raises more questions than answers.” Spook-core is suspiciously good.
“Finland’s Thaurorod has finally produced its third studio album after a hiatus of nearly five years, and I finally have both one of my most-anticipated releases of 2018, and a album that isn’t excruciatingly hard to write about.” From the coast of gold, across the seven cheese.
“Contrary to popular belief, researchers have recently concluded that all metal does not, in fact, sound the same. Turns out, there are completely different styles of metal altogether. Like, tons of them. There’s a speed one, and a black one, and a doooom one and a melodeath… *ahem* Anyway, the point of my having shattered your world with such unfathomable concepts was to pave the way for blasphemous trvth bomb number two: it’s not always about the riffs, yo.” Metal awareness.
“This past week I was giving Frozen Crown’s The Fallen King my dozenth or so spin as I was handling a particularly annoying clean-up report at my other office job. Typically, when faced with such an irksome task, I like to listen to fast music of either the aggressive or uplifting variety; either emotional response triggered by the conflicting styles will do the trick to kick my ass into work-mode. This particular go-round with Frozen Crown struck me, as it handily enabled both responses.” Don’t let it go.
“If your home country only has a whopping 172 bands documented on The Metal Archives, with roughly half of them split up or otherwise disbanded, there’s a decent chance that relatively few people have ever heard your particular take on metal before. Such is the case for Erdve, a fledgling four-piece emerging from the enigmatic Lithuanian underground.” Small scene, big sound.
“Hang around the AMG blog dispensary long enough and you’ll quickly discover that we don’t have a lot of love for EPs. As recently outlined by our Supreme Leader, a lot of fucking albums make their way into the promo trough, and we’re almost certain to overlook them in favor of more fulfilling and fleshed-out full-lengths. So when Steel Druhm actually caves to a request to review an EP – one that we weren’t even provided a promo for – by a foaming-at-the-mouth Eldritch, you can be sure of two things. One: HR is almost certainly on its way to my tenticubicle. Two: British trve metal outfit Dream Tröll has something really special on their hands with The Witch’s Curse.” E.P. stands for Extreme Penalty.
“It’s a big deal when a band lists major influences, like Ævangelist, Dodecahedron, and Blut Aus Nord, in their biography. Sometimes it’s an innocent list, meant to feed the reader with keywords. Other times, it’s misleading. In Ophe’s case, the list ain’t that far off, as the band takes their forefather’s black/avant-garde style and French’s the fuck out of it. It’s Dodecahedron’s low-end, mixed with the dark, distant blackness of Ævangelist and layers of Område and Spektr. When you look deeper into Ophe, this isn’t a surprise. Considering that this one-man band consists of Område’s own Bargnatt XIX. But this ain’t no Område.” One, man, one basement.
“The first word that pops into your head when you hear Old Money/New Lows – regardless of any review’s priming – is “fat.” Closely followed by “sassy.” Barren Womb’s fourth album possesses of swagger in immense proportion, but as one would expect from a band whose debut carried the moniker On The Origin of Faeces, it’s tempered by good humor. The Trondheim noise rock duo sure as hell know how to hold your interest, mixing irreverence with earnesty and violating Yngwie’s law with a shit-eating grin.” How can sassy be MOAR??
“It’s always cool to see another website put down the pen the keyboard and help a band out. In this case, the good folks over at The Sludgelord have done just that by creating their own self-titled record label! For their debut, they’ve released Dismal Planet, the debut full-length by South Carolina’s sludge duo Coffin Torture.” Coffin up a lung.
