“Ferrous and I, drunk or otherwise, recently groused about who to blame for death metal’s modern sound. Much like my lumping of base-camp thrash into two molds, modern rip-offs and retro rip-offs, I think death metal organizes along similar lines. OSDM has its own originality problems, but it clearly surpasses the hyper-modern tripe so often homogenized that telling bands apart is like asking infant quintuplets which one shit their diaper.” Let’s blamestorm!
“You’ve all heard the adage about variety and spices, right? Variety keeps things fresh and interesting. After all, if Colonel Sanders only used one herb and/or spice for his fried chicken, would it taste as lively? What am I getting at? Greece’s Embrace of Thorns dropped off their fifth album, Scorn Aesthetics, into my hot little paws. I’ve listened to this album at least five times. I’ve listened to it on my way to and from work. I’ve also lit candles, darkened my living room, and rotated the house cats for freshness and spirit-warding. What did I find?” The spice must flow!
“AMG.com has ridden the The Night Flight Orchestra (“NFO”) horse pretty hard since the release of their first album in 2012. The illustrious Dr. Fisting (then masquerading as Fisting Andrew Golota) was their discoverer and therefore the designated reviewer thus far. Now that he is absent, presumed dead, I have taken up this mantle to impart opinions on a band that our founder abhors.” New tickets to paradise.
“Well I’ll be damned. It looks like your friendly neighborhood Steel Druhm swiped a King Diamond / Mercyful Fate worshiping band out from under the usually vigilant Doc Grier while he was sleeping with his back turned. U.K.’s The Heretic Order rock a kind of sloppy, sleazy mash-up of Kingly hits and meat n’ taters heavy metal, and they do so with the grace and subtlety of a gaggle of drunken bikers.” No order, no mercy.
“Anicon attempt to concoct equal amounts of pessimistic Scandinavian melodic black-metal with the contemporary ‘experimental’ touches of US bands such as Krallice. 2016’s debut record Exegeses was a dark, and winding black metal album. Entropy Mantra intensifies this.” Contents under pressure.
“Hailing from Austin, Texas, Morgengrau are another act to tow the classic death metal line, and while they don’t attempt to break boundaries per se, they do affect a few refreshing accents seemingly lost to the annals of death metal history, and second album, Blood Oracle, is all the more coherent for them.” Old death and blood magic.
“Al Ard are described as a mixture of black metal and dubstep, and if you didn’t grimace at least a little just now, you probably managed not to hear about dubstep in the first place. Dubstep is the unholy combination of a computer on the fritz and all the worst tendencies of electronic music. The last time we saw a metal band try to incorporate dubstep was about as pleasant as using a lamprey for a fleshlight. Can Al Ard overcome my prejudice?” Step off.
“The hallowed Angry Metal Spreadsheet Ov Promos was the first time I’d heard of Unborn, and thus I decided to leave my reservations at the door, enter the Vøid, and find out just what these Finns were all about. Does this sixth full-length grind n’ roll, bump n’ grind, or just stand around looking ominous in a hooded sweatshirt?” Roll out the grinder!
“New Hampshire is known for a lot of things, such as the Old Man of the Mountain, harsh winters, and the best chicken tenders ever. Death metal, though, isn’t one of those things. Luckily, Dover’s Begat the Nephilim are looking to change that with their wordy debut, the Fiona Apple-esque Begat the Nephilim I: The Surreptitious Prophecy/Mother of the Blasphemy.” I am Begat Death.
“Vibrant old school death releases from Lik, Skeletal Remains and Ripped to Shreds have highlighted 2018 so far, and with an upcoming full-length from Extremity on the horizon, things are looking bright for fans of the retro style. That said, can Down Among the Dead Men raise the bar and lay waste to the standout competition?” Old dogs, deadly tricks.
