Fleshgod Apocalypse

Hour of Penance – Cast The First Stone Review

Hour of Penance – Cast The First Stone Review

“Some bands plug away releasing record after record of dry, digitized discipline that no one particularly cares to recall. And then there are those acts that manage to seamlessly meld technical proficiency, distinct brutality and that often evasive element of musicality that seasons the broth. Italy’s Hour of Penance have, for me, always been one of those bands.” Seasons in the broth.

Angry Metal Guy’s Supplemental List(s)

Angry Metal Guy’s Supplemental List(s)

Yesterday I published my Top 10(ish) of 2016 and it’s a good list. But as has been pointed out, a lot of the supplemental material I usually include was missing. So today I’m posting a follow up: Angry Metal Guy’s Supplemental List(s). This should give you insight into some of the things which weren’t included, as well as a couple of other things I’ve been thinking about posting lists of for a while. This is being thrown together quickly and unplanned. But I just think you guys deserve it and I like list-making. It’s probably something I should list under my hobbies on Facebook.

Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) Records o’ 2016

Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) Records o’ 2016

Twenty-sixteen was a year that started so well. I’d recently performed a counter coup, reorganized things, appointed Steel Druhm to my Internet Banana Republic Enforcer for Life and I was reviewing a lot of stuff. The Record(s) o’ the Month were landing on time, and the trains were on schedule. Then tragedy struck… Alas, the good that was the beginning of the year turned into a fucking bullshit slog where I became progressively overcome by life. Longtime readers will know that I have been much less involved on the back half of this year than at any point in our long history. And I’ll just be honest, I’ve been considering even setting aside the mantle of Angry Metal Guy altogether. This year has been a year of endings, in a way. The end of my faith in humanity. The end of Agalloch’s post-Ulver reign of terror. The end of a lot of famous lives.

First Fragment – Dasein Review

First Fragment – Dasein Review

“I’d like to begin this review by discussing the gigantic fucking roll that French-Canadian guitarist Phillipe Tougas is currently on. Starting with last year’s release from Serocs, he has played on three downright kickass albums, all favorably reviewed on this very website. His work with Zealotry gained my notoriously stingy tech/prog-death approval, and his bizarre Timeghoul and Demilich-inspired project Chthe’ilist is almost certainly going to make the Kronos year-end list. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, his longest-running band, the neoclassically-inspired tech-death outfit First Fragment, is finally dropping their first full-length album.” Kronos is so cute when he’s not bashing tech-death production techniques.

Darkend – The Canticle of Shadows Review

Darkend – The Canticle of Shadows Review

“Until recently, I believe Italy’s Darkend promoted the kind of symphonic black metal that chased the coattails of bands like Cradle of Filth. With their fourth release, The Canticle of Shadows, I was unsure of whether to expect more of the same or something entirely new. I succeeded in missing their earlier releases like Damned Woman and a Carcass, Assassine and Grand Guignol, despite them receiving mostly positive reviews.” What the hell is a canticle?

Atlantis Chronicles – Barton’s Odyssey Review

Atlantis Chronicles – Barton’s Odyssey Review

“It’s bands like this that keep Pär Olafsson employed. While it appears that 2014’s lampooning of less-than ballsy artwork nearly shamed the sphere out of existence, bands are still very much in the market for both cities and the color purple, and nobody does them better. As you might expect, Atlantis Chronicles are a modern death metal band whose bio describes them as having “a strong ocean’s mysteries theme,” although the true mystery here is how that name wasn’t already taken by a series of young adult fantasy novels.” Yeah, well. That can’t be good.

Necronomicon – Advent of the Human God Review

Necronomicon – Advent of the Human God Review

“Despite being dubbed the “Chameleon of Rock” for his ever-changing style, the late David Bowie didn’t agree with this title. “For me a chameleon is something that disguises itself to look as much like its environment as possible,” he once said. “I always thought I did the exact opposite of that.” But fret not, you fanatical herpetophiliacs out there, Canadian blackened-death trio Necronomicon is proof positive that musical chameleons do, in fact, exist.” Those who deny the existence of musical chameleons may be musical chameleons themselves. Trust nothing.

Record(s) o’ the Month – February 2016

Record(s) o’ the Month – February 2016

If I’d thought further ahead, I’d have come up with a fantastic joke about the fact that we’re releasing this February edition of the Record(s) o’ the Month on the 29th of February—that’s right, a leap year. This seldom-occurring date is, of course, special in a lot of different ways and made even more special by the fact that I am once again delivering the Record(s) o’ the Month on time. Well, not just on time, but early. Despite everything—and literally I have so much to do because I spent nearly ⅔ of February fucking sick—I am bucking up and telling you what the best record o’ the month for February was. And you should probably have seen these coming…

70,000 Tons of Metal Live Review

70,000 Tons of Metal Live Review

“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!

Fleshgod Apocalypse – King Review

Fleshgod Apocalypse – King Review

Fleshgod Apocalypse is well known in these parts for having produced a debut album that I worship and two albums since then that I don’t. Back in aught nine, the band released Oracles, which was a neoclassical death metal record unlike anything I had heard. The songs were intense, with intricate, artful, and beastly guitar work. Unfortunately, while songwriting was excellent, the drum sound on the record was a bit like reading a great Russian novel IN ALL CAPS; high art, ruined by someone’s inability to capitalize properly. 2011’s Agony was a better produced record than its predecessor in some ways, but the band undermined its own sound by moving all the interesting melodies and ‘riffing’ to the orchestras. When they returned to correct this problem on 2013’s Labyrinth, the master was so bad that all attempts to rectify earlier missteps were voided by the static of clipping master.