“Look to the left. What do you see? One of the worst album covers of the year is what I see, and thus my expectations for Empress of the Cold Stars, the second release from Finland’s Perpetual Rage, are tempered. The fact that I’m reviewing this is a mixed blessing: on the one hand, we here at AMG aren’t subjecting you to a review of Wizard’s newest, since we didn’t get it. On the other hand, there’s this.” Oh, my cold stars and garters!
“How many death metal records today are worth stealing from? Not many, I’d wager; we simply have too many of them to keep track of. Look to the language: the promo writers are bored, ‘brutal’ only has so many synonyms, and hearing that somewhere’s latest upstarts sound like old Deicide is only titillating for so long. But what else can be said? For the average death metal fan, the overabundance of material is a boon and a bane: you’ll never run out of grisly tunes, but you’ll never really dig into a record like older ‘heads did Altars of Madness because a brand new platter o’ splatter is ready and waiting.” Single serving death?
“In my time writing at AMG, I’ve described albums as everything from ’emotionally gripping’ to ‘the pungent air inside my friend’s asshole.’ Yet I’ve never heard something I’d actually call ‘scary.’ That changed, however, upon my first listen of Anima Nostra’s sophomore album Atraments.” Fear is the Mark killer.
“Three years ago, New York’s Tombs dropped an impressive album in the form of Savage Gold, a seamless meld of post-rock heaviness, Gothic sensibilities, and blackened ichor that yours truly enjoyed tremendously. Since then, guitarist/vocalist/mainman Mike Hill presided over a change of labels and personnel, adding vocalist and synth player Fade Kainer (ex-Batillus), drummer Charlie Schmid (Vaura, Gospel of the Witches) and guitarist Evan Void (Hivelords) to the fold. One thing Hill promises with each Tombs release is to expect the unexpected. With The Grand Annihilation dawning, has Hill found the winning recipe, that sweet spot of blackened Gothic perfection?” Reinventing the tomb.
“I had such great luck with my review choices in May that I decided for June I need to bring myself back down to earth, so this month I’m choosing predominantly power metal. Okay, that’s not why, it’s because all the good stuff was already gone by the time I remembered to look for June promos. Anyhow, for better or worse June is Power Metal Month in the Huckster’s household, and we kick things off with the powerfully-named Greek band Valor, blessing us with their third album, Arrogance: The Fall.” Haughty and naughty.
“Does anyone passionately have a favorite Entrails record? This question has animated this review, and I think the answer is “no” in a meaningful sense. People can, and probably do, like one Entrails record better than the others, but I get the feeling that the reasons are a lot more arbitrary than the ones behind the decision about which Morbid Angel record is the best one.” Death takes guts.
“All musicians have to cope with the amount of music similar to their own. There are thousands of bands in any given sub-genre: how do you distinguish yourself? Lately, I have felt this stronger with stoner-doom than any other metal genre. Every band peddles 15-minute songs of plodding cyclical riffing, various sorts of harshly belted vocals, and a slow stomping rhythm section. The bands that do anything different are far and few between, and quickly drop from their bin into a differently labeled one, like sludge-doom or progressive-something.” Space Witch, mother_________.
“After a lengthy North American tour as the special guests of Kataklysm, beginning in California, traversing the outskirts of Long Island (New York) and wrapping up in Florida, I’m expecting some Kataklysm melodic death-isms to wheedle its way into Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten. In short I was expecting a shakeup.” Don’t shake the rotten.
“First, there was Ofermod’s new record, Sol Nox. A solid outing from a band with a notoriety tied directly to the quality of their releases. Though the band shares many connections to “larger” bands in the Swedish black metal scene, Ofermod is a wholly underrated gem. But, Ofermod aren’t the only ones. No, there are others. Many of you may not know them, so let me introduce you to Svartsyn; one of my favorite black metal acts of all time.” Lick the Devil.
“It’s no secret that Secret Sphere hasn’t seen a lot of love over their twenty year career. On top of being snubbed from AMG’s most prestigious of lists, their distinctly Italian take on the Euro-power formula has never come close to breaking away from second-rate status, and the band itself isn’t entirely free from blame.” And now, a blamestorming session.
