Hardcore

Leach – Lovely Light of Life Review

By Holdeneye on May 19, 2021 in Reviews, Groove Metal, Hardcore, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 22 comments

“In one of my very first reviews after being officially added to the Angry Metal Guy staff, my plan to preemptively punish myself with metalcore was foiled by my inability to not like metalcore. Well, “metalcore” may be a bit of a misleading label when it comes to Leach, because 2019’s Hymns for the Hollow found them employing a sound that reminded me a lot of the groovy melodic death/thrash style currently employed by their fellow Swedes in The Crown and The Haunted. That “core” label probably gets leveled at these guys because their songs tend to have more of a commercial tinge and because vocalist Markus Wikander uses hardcore shouts that can veer into “screamy” territory at times. Long story short: Hymns of the Hollow won me over with its simple-but-effective formula. But follow-up Lovely Light of Life is finding me two years older and two years wiser, and there’s no way I’ll fall for Leach‘s charms again. Right?” Love, hate, and metalcore.

The Plague – Within Death Review

By Holdeneye on May 6, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Hardcore, 27 comments

“I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been spinning Black Breath‘s Sentenced to Life a lot recently. Maybe it was the epic face-kicking that I received from the recent Enforced release, but something made me seek out even more crossover bludgeonry by which to flagellate myself. Sentenced to Life saw the Seattle band blending crossover thrash with the rumbling HM-2 Swedish death metal of Entombed and Dismember, and the results were pretty glorious, earning the coveted 5.0 from my predecessor in unbridled optimism, Happy Metal Guy himself. Well, between this preparation and my recent Entombed kick following the passing of L.G. Petrov, I was primed to reach for the next buzzsaw promo I found. It sounds distasteful to say at a time like this, but bring on The Plague!” Get down with it.

The Armed – Ultrapop Review

By Kronos on April 28, 2021 in Reviews, Hardcore, 100 comments

“Only Love was The Armed’s Vexovoid. For the sliver of readers who have heard both, that probably makes as much sense as it does to those who have heard neither. Vexovoid (the Portal album) was a push. Portal were driving their sound even further into clotted murk, draining that last drop of pus from the wound not with a syringe but with a vise. Vexovoid was crushed and suffocated by the band’s own attempt to solidify its sound, with the musicians resting their weight on an extremely thick and compressed production. In retrospect, that wasn’t a great idea; the record loses a lot of impact on repeated plays because the production is so dense. It becomes a massive pile of sound that obscures the band’s most interesting ideas. Now, maybe a sliver listeners get it. With Only Love, The Armed slammed their eclectic hardcore into synth-driven pop and told Kurt Ballou to make it sound like an absolute nightmare. He did. There you go. Blown-out ambitions, blown-out production: Vexovoid. Fresh popcore for all.

Horndal – Lake Drinker Review

By Holdeneye on April 11, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, 9 comments

“Art always has a theme, even if that theme is not having a theme. Consciously or unconsciously, the theme informs the art, and never the twain shall be separated. But sometimes the thematic elements of a piece of art transcend their medium, taking on a life all their own and looming so large that it can be difficult for a critic to properly evaluate the piece. I’ve found this to be the case with Swedish band Horndal. Named for the small industrial town where some of its members were born and raised, Horndal is the sound of a town lamenting its own demise. Their debut album Remains told the story of the closing of the local steel mill and of the devastating and dehumanizing aftermath for the citizens of Horndal, and sophomore record Lake Drinker tackles the struggles created when tech monstrosity Google purchased huge tracts of land near the town in order to build massive server facilities.” Home is where the hurt is.

Enforced – Kill Grid Review

By Holdeneye on March 12, 2021 in Reviews, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, 97 comments

“Oh man, have I been excited to get my hands on this one. In 2019, I happened upon the promo for At the Walls, the debut record from Richmond, Virginia crossover thrash act Enforced. The album was a combination of previously-released demo and EP tracks with some newer material, and while this may have resulted in some minor consistency issues, that thing riffed hard, riffed often, and barely missed my 2019 year-end list. The thought of a follow-up record written in one, cohesive go was tantalizing, and my excitement only grew when I heard that Enforced was picked up by Century Media last year. But at the same time, when a raw, passionate band moves to a bigger label, I always get a bit nervous.” Dying on the grid.

Yer Metal is Olde: Corrosion of Conformity – Blind

By Grymm on March 10, 2021 in Blog Posts, Yer Metal Is Olde, Doom Metal, Hardcore, Punk, Sludge, 22 comments

“Blind, Corrosion of Conformity‘s third album, was an odd duckling for various reasons when it dropped in 1991. It remains the only album to not feature longtime bassist/vocalist Mike Dean in any capacity, but also the only album to feature his replacements, vocalist Karl Agell and bassist Phil Swisher. It also debuted guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, who only sang lead on the album’s hit single, “Vote With a Bullet.” Above all else, Blind saw the band at a crossroads of sorts, with one foot planted in the band’s seminal punk/hardcore history, while planting the other foot into Sabbath-drenched doom/sludge territory. The end result captured lightning in a bottle and today, Blind joins the ranks of the Hallowed and the Olde.” Blind but farseeing.

Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone Review

By Akerblogger on February 1, 2021 in Reviews, Hardcore, 27 comments

“The three members of Austin’s Portrayal of Guilt are young and full of punk. Jadedness and grey hair is a distant worry. They are raging, raging against the dying of a light that so many have gently entered. Youthful vigor is a fleeting thing. If the rage of youth could be bottled it would sell billions. For many bands, the golden thread of youth unravels and vanishes in a flash. It’s a ball of yarn and a knitting needle then, a life trying to recreate the glory of days gone by. The rare band or individual breaks the mold, but for the most part, nothing can recapture the seething potential and momentum of the early days.” Alone in angst…together.

Tombs – Under Sullen Skies Review

By Doom_et_Al on November 18, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Hardcore, Sludge, 66 comments

“In the early 2010s, powered by bands such as Deafheaven and Liturgy, “hipster metal” became the favorite pejorative for acts that thumbed traditional metal conventions. Embraced by the mainstream, many of these groups, unfortunately, just weren’t very good, which led to metal purists rejecting them. This resulted in said mainstream accusing said purists of being snobby gatekeepers. Cue lots of sulking, posturing and finger wagging. In among the noise, however, were some real gems that were unfairly tainted by the “hipster metal” label. Although less overtly “subversive” (read: “pretentious”) than their Brooklyn counterparts, Liturgy, Tombs weirdly found themselves in this boat with their excellent debut, 2011’s Paths of Totality.” Trend Tombs.

Ysgaroth – Storm Over a Black Sea Review

By Dear Hollow on November 11, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 35 comments

“Ysgaroth is a “progressive extreme metal” band from Vancouver, their self-released Storm Over a Black Sea being their debut. While I’ve never entirely understood the phrase “extreme metal,” these Canucks throw everything and the kitchen sink into their poutine platter: black metal shrieks and tremolo, thrashy riffs, hardcore drumming, technical noodling, and avant-garde post-metal/sludge strangeness for a multi-car pileup with multiple fatalities.” Frequent wind.

False Gods – No Symmetry… Only Disillusion Review

By Dear Hollow on October 15, 2020 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, 8 comments

“I’m the biggest Eyehategod fan I know, and sludge gets a bad rap. I get it: much like drone, if you just amp up the distortion to an 11/10 and know how to abuse the blues scale, you’ve got it made. Of course, there’s more nuance, like the need for facial hair, flannel, intoxicating substances, a shotgun, and some dark woods in the Deep South, but that’s just pedantic. My point is, you wouldn’t expect Crowbar-esque sludge from some dudes in New York, New York.” Empire expanding.