Insomnium

Enshine – Singularity Review

By Steel Druhm on October 15, 2015 in 2015, Melodic Death Metal, Rain Without End records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 88 comments

“Winter is coming, and when the cold reaches my home and hearth, it’s time to break out the top-shelf sad boy melodic doom-death and spin it until Odin renews the world and grants primacy to the sun once more. As the low winter sun encroaches, one of the first bands into the depressive breach is the long defunct but truly excellent Rapture. A close second is the even longer defunct Slumber. The latter released but one brilliant album (Fallout) before imploding, and said album went on to be tragically overlooked.” The Sleeper of Slumber has awakened!

Kataklysm – Of Ghosts and Gods Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on July 31, 2015 in 2015, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 51 comments

“In Quebec, a delicious golden ale called La Fin Du Monde has been brewed for over twenty years. It’s potent by regular beer standards, sitting at about 9% alcohol. The first time I tasted it I was with numerous smart people in a pub, and as soon as I took one sip I knew this would be a beer I’d have a long and happy drinking relationship with. Quebec has also seen the production of Kataklysm material for over two decades now, and my first time hearing them via Serenity in Fire’s “As I Slither” yielded similar results.” Let the ale flow and the death play.

Angry Metal-Fi: The Best and Worst Sounding Albums of 2014

By Steel Druhm on January 1, 2015 in 2014, Angry Metal-Fi, Blog Posts, 66 comments

“Angry Metal-Fi is a series of articles that are cross posted on Angry Metal Guy and Metal-Fi as a collaborative effort to evangelize dynamics in metal.” Tis the season for lists, so let us start off 2015 with a look back at the very best and worst sounding albums of 2014 with the help of those audio gnomes at Metal-Fi.

Dantalion – Where Fear is Born Review

By Steel Druhm on December 2, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Sleaszy Rider Records, Spanish Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 7 comments

“The Spaniards in Dantalion have been knocking around for quite some time in Iberian obscurity. Having never heard of them, it was the cover for their fifth album, Where Fear is Born that grabbed my steely eye and got me to listen, and I’m quite thankful I did. Though their older albums feature a blend of depressive black metal and melancholic doom, they abandoned the blackened aspect of their sound in favor of melodic, goth-tinged doom death, and from what I’ve heard of their older style, they’re all the better for the switch.” Don’t you just love a surprise? Steel Druhm does. He also loves arts and crafts and long walks in the woods.

Doom:VS – Earthless Review

By Steel Druhm on May 9, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Solitude Productions, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 9 comments

“Doom:VS is a one man act with a pretty spotty record of productivity, but man, when they drop an album, it really drops hard! The brainchild of Johan Ericson (Draconian), Doom:VS released back to back gobstoppers of morose doom/death with 2006s Aeternum Vale and 2008s Dead Words Speak and both stand among the genre’s very best. Then, the band vanished from the mortal coil and seemed to be consigned to history. Without much warning, they’ve made a huge return with Earthless and now Johan is joined by Thomas Akim Gronbeak Jensen (Saturnus), who handles all the death roars.” Looking for something to really bring you down? Steel Druhm has just the pill for that.

Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun Review

By Steel Druhm on April 16, 2014 in 2014, Century Media, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 29 comments

“Over the past decade, Insomnium has been one of, if not the most consistent of the morose Finnish styled melo-death acts in operation. They’ve delivered album after album of “dead puppy under the Christmas tree” flavored music, loaded with gothic trappings and they’ve won the melancholy sweepstakes more often than not. In recent years, fellow countrymen Omnium Gatherum have stolen some of their thunder and lunch money with ripping albums like New World Shadows and Beyond, but the sleepless ones soldiered on regardless, doing what they do best on quality platters like One With Sorrow.” Ready to cry a frozen river? Steel Druhm clearly wasn’t.

Blood Mortized – The Demon, the Angel, the Disease Review

By Steel Druhm on November 23, 2013 in 2013, Chaos Records, Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, 7 comments

“No matter how over saturated or played out a musical genre may become, there are always one or two bands that can make it all vibrant, fresh and new again. Whether it’s their raw conviction, enthusiasm or killer song writing, those bands make the years melt away and remind you how it felt to hear the style for the very first time. That rush of excitement, feeling of awe and the sense of being there at the next step in metal’s evolution, that’s what it’s all about! When it comes to classic Swedish death metal, Blood Mortized is THAT band for me.” Stand back! Steel has been waiting for this one with baited breath and now he’s on it like beast at a beast emporium.

Wolfheart – Winterborn Review

By Steel Druhm on September 24, 2013 in 2013, Black Metal, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 8 comments

“Tuomas Saukkonen is no stranger to the pages of AMG. We’ve spoken very highly of his Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon projects and generally came across as nuthugging fanboys of the man’s work. Needless to say, we were as shocked as everyone else when he unexpectedly laid both bands to rest (along with several others) and announced his intention to focus solely on a new act called Wolfheart, which at least initially would consist of just him.” Since we lose two great bands in order to get Wolfheart, is it a fair trade off or did we get screwed? Steel Druhm examines the details and overall fairness.

Kalmah – Seventh Swamphony Review

By Steel Druhm on June 7, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Black Metal, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 10 comments

“As the only blackened thrash band willing to sing about fishing and fish generally, Kalmah always had a special place in my outdoorsy heart. I mean, who else can make simple tales of man vs. fish seem so epic and life threatening? I was impressed by their first four outings (with Swampsong being my favorite), but I felt really let down by their For the Revolution opus, which felt quite tedious. While things kicked back up for the enjoyable and energetic 12 Gauge, it still felt like a band entering the “spinning the wheels” period of their career. Thankfully, Seventh Swamphony sees these psychotic fishermen make a triumphant return to the off-the-rails, blackened thrash of old which straddles the line between the melodic tomfoolery of Children of Bodom and more extreme, cvlt black/death acts.” Do you like blackended catfish metal like Steel Druhm does? If so, you best don the hip waders and read all about the return of the swamp lords.

Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo: Infested – Obliterate

By Angry Metal Guy on April 18, 2013 in Angry Metal Guy's Unsigned Band Rodeo, Blog Posts, 12 comments

In our new monthly feature, which will show up here on the 15th of every month and run over the next few days, I (Angry Metal Guy) will select 5 bands at random (usually those who have followed my directions and have bandcamp accounts) to get blurbed by every member of the AMG staff. The idea is to do at least a bit of our part to point out that the metal underground is still an important part of the world of metal. While we simply don’t have the manpower to produce regular reviews of unsigned bands, this is my attempt at a minor mea culpa if nothing else. So enjoy Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo and our fourth entry for April 2013: Infested!