“Less black metal than Trna, and more evocative synths a la Unreqvited, there is no rushing Olhava. Shimmering soundscapes are what they do, albeit that, where Unreqvited has (at least since 2018’s Mosaic I: L’Amour et L’Ardeur) hints of light and promise in the sound, Olhava is all shades of loss and a sense of hopeless grey.” 50 shades of sadboi.
“First things first, that artwork: a hulking antediluvian fish bearing down with spread fins and tangled tentacles on the tiny figure illuminated in the depths. If that doesn’t indicate musical magnitude I don’t know what does. Abyssius, on their debut, self-titled LP, explore the concept of one overcoming the confrontational nature of life’s meaninglessness—just as that behemoth looms, so does the bleak and hollow void.” Fish and nothingness.
“Mega Colossus has more fun than your favorite band. Not that it’s much of a contest given the typically joyless answers most metal fans give in response to the “favorite band” question in the name of cred preservation, but it’s true all the same. Nevermind that these North Carolina dudes can’t help but give the widest of grins in their promo shots; though ostensibly traditional metal, undiluted joy permeates their music on a level most power metal bands could not fathom. Unbridled exuberance seeps from every riff, lick, lyric, and vocal hook.” Mega fun, mega metal.
“Three years ago, Blood Red Throne released a behemoth in the form of Imperial Congregation. After dozens of listens, it proves it’s one of the band’s greatest achievements. Fast forward to 2024, and they’re back with their eleventh LP, Nonagon. Continuing where they left off, Nonagon is a destructive motherfucker that incorporates the butchery of Panzerchrist, the relentless riffage of Old Man’s Child, and the melodic subtleties of Hypocrisy. But, no matter what’s sprinkled throughout, Nonagon remains 100% BRT.” Blood in the throne room.
“I’m a child of the maelstrom that was 80s metal. I was learning what I enjoyed musically during the embryonic days of MTV, and in those early years that channel force-fed me a steady diet of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Def Leppard videos. The 80s metal sound is encoded into my DNA and if you hit me hard enough, old fanzine ink leaks out. This makes me the demographic for what Phoenix Arizona’s Show N Tell are selling on their The Ritual Has Begun debut. This is 100% unabashedly retro metal with a carbon date of 1983-84, when American metal acts were taking the NWoBHM sound and speeding it up.” Show me the METAL!
“Angry Metal Guy might be the only place on the internet where Madder Mortem won’t need an introduction for a significant amount of its readers. The Norwegian band first made waves here with Red in Tooth and Claw, and those waves got much bigger with Marrow earning a well-deserved 4.5 and topping several lists. It’s also the only band with a movie review on the site. When there is no news on the band I still can’t stop name-dropping them, even when it’s not relevant to the music I’m reviewing. So when I contacted the band to send them the movie review and they told me they were in the middle of recording a new album, my inner hype machine went into overdrive.” Heart of a fanboy.
“You never know which bands are going to pull together seemingly disparate minds, whether it be the starving prog fans who can’t agree on anything or the ever-diverging wiles of our own Angry Metal Overlord and Kronos—the polished professor and the angular dreamer. But more so than any other band in the modern progscape, Caligula’s Horse does just that, bridging the gap of the jittery, sweep-starved guitar lover; the hug-craving, sunset-staring sadboi; the chorus-hook, bravado-stricken empath, all with a brand of progressive metal that’s grown alongside genre titans Haken and Leprous in curious, somewhat convergent ways.” Lead a horse to water.
“I cannot claim familiarity or history with Romanian death metal act Necrotum, but the promo sump was shallow in January and an album title like Defleshed Exhumation was sure to catch the eye of Steel even in more target-rich environs. This is the band’s third full-length effort and it features a sound sitting at the crossroads of tech/prog/OSDM.” Right in the Necrotum!
“Despite the middling average score French tech death quartet Exocrine earned on this here blog, I’m a staunch defender of the band’s style. I loved Molten Giant and The Hybrid Suns musically, and thought Maelstrom was an interesting, albeit flawed, exploration of their established sound. The biggest issue holding them back has always been production, cursed to gasp for breath and struggle for room inside a dense concrete block. It’s a shame because if someone else with a gentler touch helped them out in the mastering suite, I’m convinced Exocrine’s track record on this blog would be a more positive one. I picked up their latest, entitled Legend, in the hopes that it shifts that legacy in the right direction.” Of myth or of legend?
“Whether they like it or not, Sulphur Aeon left its mark on the death metal world. While it’s easy to focus on their lyrical themes and reverence for the Great Old Ones as a lyrical monument, their straightforward approach tinged with blackened precision and colossal atmosphere extends to more than the Cthulhu worshipers out there. Take their fellow Germans, the longstanding death metal act Drowned. While the lyrics of Procul His revolve around things like the occult, darkness, and abstract themes, you’ll find that the sound feels straight outta the Antisphere.” Tentacles in the void.
