“It’s a common argument that winning formulas are difficult to beat and they can be repeated time and time again without diminishing appeal. The triteness of modern black metal has been well documented on this website, and it has to be admitted that I enter every black metal review these days with a sense of apprehension.” And rightly so, buddy!
“Even a quick glance over Obake’s international lineup will tell you that this is not your run-of-the-mill extreme metal band. Nope, the musicians involved in this band are not metal musicians in the traditional sense.” Since we started the day with non-metal weirdness, let’s continue the trend with Obake.
“You know how Kurt Cobain killed Hair Metal? Apparently he didn’t manage to finish the job. It’s taken a couple of decades, but the recent surge of sleaze shows that the blow delivered by Kurt’s Fender Jaguar wasn’t, in fact, fatal.” If Cobain couldn’t kill sleazy cock rock, no one can!
“There comes a time in your life when you have to say to yourself, “Self, what’s wrong with you? Sure, you have responsibilities… obligations, even. What would happen if you were to just, I dunno, shut your brain off for a little wild and just go happily apeshit? You know… legally, of course. You have to be at work in the morning and your significant other will be pissed if he/she has to pick you up in jail at 4 am.” Italy’s Children of Technology pretty much have your soundtrack ready for you with Future Decay.” Release the Moshkenstein!
“Like other hybrid genres, death thrash is inherently diverse. On one hand, you have bands like Deceased and Vader who throw occasional thrashy riffs and old school guitar leads into a classic death metal template; on the other hand, you have bands who take Testament-style thrash as a foundation and stack on harsher vocals and heavier riffing characteristic of death metal. Italy’s Methedras fall into the latter category. The style they play has never really exploded in popularity the way retro-thrash did a few years back, which may explain why Methedras have remained relatively unknown despite forming in 1996 and releasing three full-lengths in the 2000s.” Another new writer dares test his metal at AMG by reviewing some death-thrash. Godspeed, Mark Z.
“”Do you realize that if you fall into a black hole, you will see the entire future of the Universe unfold in front of you in a matter of moments and you will emerge into another space-time created by the singularity of the black hole you just fell into?” Neil deGrasse Tyson probably didn’t picture those words describing the unfolding, infinity of one-man black metal artist Vardan’s latest journey into heartbreak and isolation, but they certainly do.” Black holes, ESL failures and a one man black metal act with awful corpse paint. It’s all here, folks.
“Unexpect’s Fables of the Sleepless Empire is hands down one of my favorite albums ever, and an excellent listen for anyone interested in avant-garde metal. It sets my personal standard for weird shit, which I guess is a bit unfortunate for any avant-garde metal bands I come across. By that admission, my recommendation for Italy’s Embrace of Dishamony means a lot.” Kronos is a harsh judge of weird music, so we always give him the weird shit.
“Elvenking is another one of Italy’s most famous cheese-metal establishments and they’ve been pumping out folk/medieval influenced power metal since 2001’s extraordinary Heathenreel. Unfortunately, since their debut record the band hasn’t produced an album worth all the hope invested in them because of their debut work. In terms of Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™, Elvenking is possibly one of the fastest drop-offs in recent memory. I’ve checked in from time to time over the years, as I want to like them, but I genuinely haven’t ever been able to get into their stuff. The last one I spent any longer amount of time with was 2010’s Red Silent Tides which left me cold and bored, and Era wasn’t great from a songwriting perspective, but the record was genuinely killed by its mastering job.” All has not been well with Elvenking, can The Pagan Manifesto right the ship? Or will they continue to produce flat, disappointing crap?
“Super-groups are an odd breed of duck. They either end up a bunch of egos, ball-busting for attention (a fight nobody wins) or they end up something along the lines of Down’s NOLA – chilled out, soaked in beer, raw and dirty and probably totally fucking stoned. This little collective I happened upon most recently via Rock n Growl Promotion, hail from a range of countries including, unsurprisingly, the USA and more surprisingly Spain, Italy and France.” An international doom rock supergroup starring the likes of Joe Stump? Intriguing!
“Swimming among an overcrowded sea of retro-thrashers, tech-death wankers, and sweepy-haired shoegazers playing post-whatever-the-fuck-the-flavor-is-this-week, there’s a band from Italy that’s looking to Finland and Seattle for the inspiration behind their début, Quiescence. Shores of Null may be a brand-spankin’-new band, but they are looking to capture your attention in pretty interesting ways. And they succeed to a degree.” Grymm just might have stumbled on something interesting here.
