Life of Agony

Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Genres as Pejoratives

By Angry Metal Guy on August 26, 2012 in Blog Posts, Alternative Metal, Deathcore, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Nu Metal, Technical Death Metal, 85 comments

A really curious thing happens from time to time that I think it’s time to comment on. Because we all (that is, those of us who read and/or write AngryMetalGuy.com) love heavy metal, we all essentially draw boundaries for it. It all depends on your perspective, but largely we say that one thing is metal and another thing is not. We make fun of the things we find to be not metal and we praise (and often deify unnecessarily) that which we find to be super metal. This is not a surprise. In fact, I’d guess that it’s a natural part of the human brain: we group things and put them in their place so as to better order our world. We also use cognitive short cuts in order to reach conclusions about the vast seas of information that exist outside of our existence.

Delain – We Are the Others Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 17, 2012 in 2.5, 2012, Dutch Metal, Reviews, Sensory Records, 16 comments

Delain is a normative rock band from The Netherlands. Normative rock, that’s a new genre.

Biohazard – Reborn in Defiance Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 25, 2012 in 2011, 2012, 3.5, American Metal, Hardcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Hardcore, 1 comment

Oh man. Biohazard were one of those bands that really broke me into heavy music when I was just a tyke. While the band’s debut, which oddly enough was largely edited verbally, never did much for me, Urban Discipline, State of the World Address (I still have the version with the orange gel case somewhere), and the much maligned Mata Leao were all albums that dug into my 10 to 14 year old soul and left permanent impressions. Those records were tough, heavy slabs of machismo that with Type O Negative, Life of Agony and Sepultura paved the way towards the heavier side of tracks. Unfortunately, I grew away from these guys and, I’m going to be frank, their records really started going downhill in quality (turns out I *wasn’t* down for life). So, when I saw that the original lineup had reunited for a new record (before Evan Seinfeld left the band), I gotta say: I was interested in spite of myself.

Iron Thrones – The Wretched Sun Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 28, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, American Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Record o' the Month, Reviews, Unsigned Bands, 3 comments

Those of you who have been reading Angry Metal Guy since the beginning will remember that I lauded heavy praise on a Minneapolis, Minnesota based band called Iron Thrones last year after I downloaded their record (for free) and had myself a little Angry Metal Hernia. The band was incredible. Like some kind of unholy cross between Opeth and Jesus… or whatever. I promptly declared the record amazing, gave it five stars and then took a cold shower. In any case, Visions of Light, the debut, still ranks as the best unsigned act I’ve ever heard and I have had very, very high hopes for the follow up record, The Wretched Sun, which will be self-released on the 27th of July after the very talented band went and won the No Label Needed contest and got sent to a pro studio.

Old Dudes Talk About Getting Old

By Angry Metal Guy on May 14, 2010 in American Metal, Blog Posts, 7 comments

Doc Coyle from God Forbid posted a really interesting blog over at Metal Sucks which I recommend everyone go and read right now. Now sure, Doc isn’t a modern day philosopher, but what he is is about one year older than I am. And he’s also someone that this Angry Metal Guy can really agree with on several points. I, too, have recently gone through this “I’m getting old,” thing, when I realize that I’m meeting people who were born in years I remember, Oh, 1988, huh? Yeah, well, shit Seventh Son of a Seventh Son came out that year! My brother got it for Christmas!” I get added on MySpace by people who were born the year that I was an angsty teenager who listening to Life of Agony and Type O Negative and pretending I was miserable. Or really being miserable I guess.

Angry Metal Guy’s Classics: #2

By Angry Metal Guy on August 11, 2009 in American Metal, Blog Posts, Roadrunner, 2 comments

OK, so the first album that I did in my “classic albums” section was Type O Negative, which of course, was one of my favorite bands at the time. But they also turned me onto Roadrunner Records, which for those of you too young to remember, was kind of one of the few places even putting out metal in the US during the 1990s. Sure, in retrospect, a lot of that stuff wasn’t that great. But there were a few bands on that label that put out some good records. Sepultura had Chaos AD which I loved, and one band that stands out for me to this day, and that I really loved as an angsty teenager, was Life of Agony.