“It must be tough carving out a lengthy career within the somewhat narrow and restrictive confines of the grindcore genre and remaining vital and relevant as fresh faced young upstarts storm the scene. This problem hasn’t seemed to halt Finnish stalwarts Rotten Sound, who started their career back in 1993, from delivering consistent, high quality output.” And yet somehow these guys keep it up!
“For whatever reason, bands tend to get less and less extreme as they age. Sometimes it’s the extremity of earlier albums being too much to match. Some musicians just get tired of metal, like Brent Hinds or Mikael Åkerfeldt. Bands can change style completely, like Opeth and Cynic, or they can just write more choruses, as Kurt Ballou says of Converge. Yet for all the diversity of unmetalification, there are some very consistent pathways that musicians and bands tend to follow. Today’s example, most notable in Cynic and Opeth, is something I like to call Kronos’ Law of Increasing Hippietude[1. It is suspected that this contributes directly to Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings.].” Kronos is working on his thesis and his advisor seems to have disappeared.
“I’m not going to lie. I chose to review this promo on the basis that Draugnim sounds like Draugr – an entity which should be familiar to fellow Elder Scrolls nerds. On this basis, I predicted vaguely folkloric Scandinavian black metal. Indeed, Vulturine boasts Finnish Pagan metal similar to a popular band whose new album is also soon to drop.” Super nerds unite!
“Oranssi Pazuzu narrowly missed out on Captain Ricard’s Best Black Metal Album of 2013 award (that went to Teethed Glory and Injury) with the magnificent Vaonielu. An instantly accessible yet bizarre and musically deep record, Vaonielu kept me away from my Toto loop for weeks with its sublime blend of catchy, aggressive riffs, trippy grooves, psychedelic synths, and menacing atmosphere.” Fear the wrath of Pazuzu’s schlong!
“When great music flows from a band like water, it cranks up expectation to burning point. Your nerves tingle at the mere mention of a new official video. And your palms sweat a little as the band’s shiny new promo drops like manna into your outstretched, grabby hands. With so many full-bodied offerings under their belt, can Omnium Gatherum make a clean sweep giving themselves a mighty four out of four winning streak?” Grey is the new black.
“Amoth is a highly talented group of musicians who play a hyper-kinetic style of progressive metal with elements of tech-thrash, power, goth and traditional metal all patched and glued together with gum, tape and optimism.” Duct tape solves so many problems, but maybe not this one.
“While I’m a man who has never invaded a cottage owned by bears, eaten their porridge, and slept in their beds while complaining about everything the entire damn time, I sometimes feel a bit like Goldilocks when commenting on melo-death.” It’s time to bed hop our way through the melo-death genre.
“Hexvessel came into my life in 2012 and filled a void in my soul I didn’t even know existed. You see, I didn’t have any Finnish psychedelic forest folk in what passed for my miserable existence, and only when I tasted of its rich goodness did I realize how much I always subconsciously hungered for it.” And the fire still burns.
“Every promo to hit my desk receives an initial listen without the reading of websites, promo sheets, or any such fuel that would result in premature judgment. Sometimes absorbing myself in the artwork or the musical theme of the album transforms a mediocre first-listen into something worthwhile. Other times it does not.” Will such a fair and even-handed approach make Evil Drive a pleasure trip?
“Svart Records is a bastion of strange Finnish acts, and Jess and the Ancient Ones is one of the strangest. Starting with the same 70s occult rock indulged in by Ghost and Jex Thoth, they add in surfer rock and more than a little tripped out psychedelic acid rock to arrive at something altogether different.” Surf’s up and Satan is down!
