“Welp, Dr. AMG and Doc Grier are off to a hectic year. With a very understandable back-and-forth of “I can take it,” “You can take it,” and finally, “It won’t be on time,” here I am feeding the plebs a review of one of the most-anticipated releases of 2023.” Enslaved by deadlines.
“On initial listen, I can tell you that Den Tapte Krigen is no Vi Overlevde. Let that sink in as you consider the consequences of that statement. Is that good or bad? For one, Den Tapte Krigen is a tighter album (only eight tracks) with a formalized theme. There’s fluidity from the beginning to the end of this journey. What about those surprise transitions and standout songs, you ask?” Rejoin the Kult.
“At War with the Multiverse is a familiar, yet fresh take on their established formula, featuring a re-jinked line-up that has tirelessly honed the material comprising this long-awaited return. Whereas Epoch of Unlight’s sound has previously featured a technical, thrashy black metal core embellished with melodeath and progressive elements, At War with the Multiverse flips the tact a little.” Run to the Unlight.
“I know we’ve been harping about shitty band names a lot this year, but come on. Franklin Zoo? Why? Is your music about 6-year-olds getting their first biology lesson because two bonobos decided to get exhibitionistic? Do you have a tearful ballad saluting Harambe? Apparently not, since The Dandelion Child addresses the philosophic studies of Soren Kierkegaard.” Animal farming.
“Let me preface this review with a bite-size Contrite Metal Guy: I overrated Subterranean Masquerade’s last album, Vagabond, by half a point. While it’s still a damn cool album, with a great sense of adventure and exploration, it was also a bit unfocused and unbalanced, a shortcoming of which I failed to make note at the time. Alas, I am only human, and as the first underground band I discovered all on my own back in 2005, this band has a special place in my heart.” Cave raves.
May 2021 be a better year for us all.
Doc Grier has a Top Ten(ish) of 2020 worthy of fear. Grab a beer and peer into the unknown.
L. Saunders and Mark Z. unveil the kvlt, savage, and unusual. They also give us their Top Ten(ish) of 2020.
“If you haven’t gone back to the band’s humble beginnings, you’re missing a hell of a lot. And, not in the sense of the classic black metal of old. No, no. You’ve missed one LP (Marras) and two EPs (Tuoni and Sarastus) of acoustic beauty. There’re more acoustic guitars, pianos, and strings in that handful of songs than all the liquidated Guitar Centers combined. That said, don’t expect grandiosity and orchestral pretentiousness. October Falls’s acoustic discs sound like a couple of guys with guitars sitting around a campfire. A couple of musicians playing simple music for the moon, for the woods, for themselves.” Moon music.
“Yet, the success of a musician is only measured by one’s support and their growth in the field. Green Carnation’s Tchort has proved his worth and Bear Mace’s Sugar has done the same. Bear Mace’s newest release, Charred Field of Slaughter, is that proof. You want to know what a man can do with a guitar, with killer bass and solo partners, with one of the genre’s nastiest vocalists, and nearly forty years of death metal boiling through one’s head? Witness.” Bears, beets, burly death metal.
