Grimoire Records

Lathe – Tongue of Silver Review

Lathe – Tongue of Silver Review

Tongue of Silver represents two landscapes. It beats down upon the dead soil of the barren American West, empty and lonely winds plastering sun-bleached hills. But it pulses with the beating heart of its folklore, as legendary as it is flesh and blood. It’s a tall tale of the mundane, paying homage to not only Americana, but to the crushing weight of drone metal. The story it tells is not of speedy gunslingers or soul-searching troubadours but found in the negative spaces “somewhere between sand and rust:” a living, breathing, and uniquely American commentary on expansion and decay.” American threads.

Gloop – Crayon Sun Review

Gloop – Crayon Sun Review

Gloop is a trio from West Virginia but currently based in Baltimore, having released two full-lengths since 2017. A truly disconcerting brew of noise rock by way of no-wave with a healthy dose of bluesy rock and upbeat punk, Crayon Sun takes Gloop to darker depths with in-your-face dissonance, angular riffs, and a defiant punk attitude. A shapeshifting beast both apathetic, frenetic, and abrasive.” The Glooper.

Yatra – All is Lost Review

Yatra – All is Lost Review

“I reviewed Yatra’s debut early last year to a mixed result. Death Ritual was not without promise, but the stoner doom with blackened snarls didn’t quite live up to what it could have been with slightly tepid songwriting. Naturally, I was curious about how their second album, All is Lost, would fare. A year and a half in current conditions is a pretty fast turnaround; the dangers of rushing lurked in the shadows. And that’s when I found out that All is Lost is, in fact, their third album, after releasing Blood of the Night under a different label in January. 8 months gestation, in 2020?! Who do they think they are, Vardan?” Enjoy ov deep stoner sludge.

Thonian Horde – Downfall Review

Thonian Horde – Downfall Review

“I prefer my black metal atmospheric. Consequently, I’d be lying if I claimed I’ve listened to more albums classified as black ‘n’ roll than there are strings on my guitar. Given my lowly n00b status, I don’t have the great privilege of selectively perusing through the promo bin for albums to share with the AMG community that suit my fancy. Instead, I must welcome what is thrown at me to earn the respect of the AMG staff. Thus, when I hunkered down to listen to<,i>Downfall, the third full-length from self-proclaimed black ‘n’ roll outfit, Thonian Horde, I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for.” Horders, man….

Haze Mage – Chronicles Review

Haze Mage – Chronicles Review

“Growing up, my teenage cat-brain was filled with all sorts of bizarre questions and interesting ‘What If?’ scenarios. How long is the prison sentence for cutting the tags off my mattress? What other dimension does the other sock go when its sibling emerges from the dryer? Most puzzling of them all would have to be ‘What if Glenn Danzig and his cohorts did away with their Satanic leanings and lyrics during their musical peak, and decided to just smoke a metric fuck-ton of pot instead?'” Enter the Maze of the Haze Mage.

Yatra – Death Ritual Review

Yatra – Death Ritual Review

“The size of the role vocals play in genre categorization is a funny thing. At least superficially, harsh screams may be enough to earn a ‘blackened’ tag, and there’s more than one melodic death metal album that would be labelled power metal if it weren’t for the harsh vocals. This can cause a conundrum when a band wants to shake up the status quo with an unusual vocal approach. Enter Yatra, a new band formed after the dissolution of Blood Raven. This fuzzy stoner doom might not draw a second glance if it weren’t for its oddball application of harsh snarls. Is it gonna be enough to set themselves apart from the usual stoner-doom hullabaloo?” Voices carry.

Snakefeast – In Chaos, Solace Review

Snakefeast – In Chaos, Solace Review

“Experimental metal is a tricky genre. For one, it’s defined by indefinability. Where do you draw the line between progressive, simply odd, and truly experimental? What do you call it when a band emulates another’s experimental sound? And, the further off the beaten path a band walks, the smaller the prospective audience is likely to get. Nonetheless, I applaud bands who try to go beyond thinking out of the box and disregard the box altogether. If nothing else, it’ll always have a unique sound, something the majority of bands will never be able to lay claim to.” Saxy boys.

Sloth Herder – No Pity, No Sunrise Review

Sloth Herder – No Pity, No Sunrise Review

“If you’ve never heard of Frederick, Maryland, then you’re amongst 99.9% of the U.S. population. It’s a Podunk settlement in the western part of the state, composed of little more than a quaint downtown, rolling hills, a few cookie-cutter suburbs, and some scattered golf courses. It also happens to be where yours truly grew up. One dark night years after I moved away, I randomly scoured the web for bands from my musically barren hometown, only to come across Sloth Herder and their Abandon Pop Sensibility EP. Treading the foul line between black metal and grindcore, the record was a lot like Thomas Hobbes’ description of life before society: nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbs-core has arrived,

Torrid Husk & End – Swallow Matewan [Split] Review

Torrid Husk & End – Swallow Matewan [Split] Review

“On a Saturday morning I was lazily kicking back in bed, gazing through the shades at the vibrant colors of the gorgeous day ahead, feeling the mild spring breeze float through the window when I decided it was time to delve into Swallow Matewan, a split release between West Virginia’s Torrid Husk and Greece’s End. Some 40-odd minutes later of listening to the despairing double dose of violent, rainbow killing, unicorn enslaving atmospheric black metal and I was left emotionally damaged and wallowing in self-pity.” Unicorn enslaving is frowned upon in this establishment.