“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Welcome to the Garden State!
Doc Grier has a Top Ten(ish) of 2020 worthy of fear. Grab a beer and peer into the unknown.
![Heathen – Empire of the Blind [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Heathen-Empire-of-the-Blind-01-768x768.jpg)
“Heathen. I’ve got three shirts that say it and nine people that call me that. I liken it to a word like ‘dickhead.’ It’s got great pop and works in all situations. Though it’s maybe more fun to call my mom a ‘dickhead’ rather than a ‘heathen.’ But, I suppose it depends on the day. Speaking of fun, let’s talk about that other Heathen. The one that released Empire of the Blind, and we never got it.” Blind fury.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, being the child of the thrash era, I love when a song turns on end and a chugging lick crescendos into a neck-snapping attack. But, I also miss the days when a band could write a thrash classic that wasn’t waiting around for that mid-song savagery. War Curse also remember those good ol’ days. That’s why they gave us Eradication.” War Curse (and Pepperidge Farms remember).
“During their halcyon years Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax loomed large over the thrash landscape, basking in success and spawning a fanbase so large it defied a horizon. But there existed a tier below the A and B-listers, bands like Allegiance, Heathen and Xentrix who eked out a modest existence built on solid albums supported by a coterie of eager followers. This is not a vein you’d expect a modern thrash band to mine for inspiration, yet that is exactly where Hellnite have chosen to strike their pickaxe with their debut album, Midnight Terrors.” Mine the medium.
“Have you ever wondered what Lanfear would sound like if they played old-school thrash metal? How about if Atlantean Kodex had listened more to Exodus than Epicus Doomicus Metallicus? If you said yes to both those questions, then you are Steel Druhm and I claim my five pounds.” Re-thrash makes people wonder about many things.
“I love the first two Artillery albums. I’ve said so often and I’ll continue to trumpet the work those great Danes did until I’m in the cold, hard ground. Since I went on an Angry Metal Tirade about this very topic in my review of Artillery’s 2011 My Blood opus, I’ll digress from further gushing here. Suffice it to say, since those treasured platters, Artillery has had its share of ups and downs, with My Blood being particularly unimpressive and legacy bruising. After some line up tweaks and a new vocalist, they’re B.A.C.K. with Legions and a slightly new approach while still trying to resurrect their former greatness.” The first family of Danish thrash is back again and this time, they don’t make Steel Druhm weep at the grave of their former greatness. That’s good, since we hate seeing the guy cry black tears of wengeance.
Paradox has been knocking around for ages, with few albums resulting. Steel Druhm is here to fill you in on the latest from these Germanic mavens of melo-thrash. Can one of metal’s least prolific bands sway the nostalgic metal heart of the Steel One?
