“Immersing myself in the twisted, feral cauldron of Dark Evils Desecrate and its relentless assault, Tanin’iver appear hellbent on writing the most ugly, evil, and uncompromising anthems as possible to soundtrack a fiery apocalypse. Bells, whistles, and gimmicks are jettisoned for an old school underground sound converging in the dankest underground corners where raw black metal brawls with death and thrash influences.” Dark for darkness sake.
“After reviewing a slew of bigger releases and personal favorites in recent months, it’s nice to reconnect with the underground and plunge into the dank, mysterious corners of the promo sump. In doing so I stumbled across Germany’s Kadaverficker and their fifth full-length album, Superkiller (A Musical Journey Between Life and Death). Kicking around the traps since forming in 1993, Kadaverficker released a hefty collection of demos, splits, compilations, and various other shorter-form releases, eventually dipping into full-length territory on 2012’s Exploitation Nekronation. What can you expect on an LP that leaves nothing left in the tank across a whopping 71-minute runtime.” Ficking around,
“Australia’s Woods of Desolation makes metal to metaphor by. The band’s evocative style of blackgaze, preoccupied with the natural world and the passage of time, provokes strong reactions from their small but passionate cadre of fans. The Falling Tide is WoD’s first album since 2014’s As the Stars. That one dropped during what can be called Peak Blackgaze, when outfits like Alcest and especially Deafheaven briefly captivated mainstream audiences and divided the backpatch set with their twinkling takes on metal’s trvest subgenre.” All star gazers.
“Along comes Stockholm’s Encryptment with debut Dödens Födsel, a title that translates from their native Swedish as… wait, give me a second with Google Translate… my goodness! “Dead Fetus.” That’s grisly, but fair enough–the Kingdom of Metal is a tough place to be an angel or a fetus. Dödens Födsel was a random pluck from the Promo Sump, and I half-hoped to let it go neglected in the crush of list season and day-job deadlines. Then I pressed “play,” and the album assaulted me with a half-hour of crusty, blackened death vitriol.” Womb raider.
“After smashing out three albums and gathering loads of momentum over a five-year period, Mantar have remained quiet on the recording front, aside from a collection of cover songs. Pleasingly, Mantar return with their anticipated fourth offering, boasting a cool album title and minimalistic cover art. Can Erinc (drums) and Hanno (guitars, vocals) muster the creative energy and belly fire to deliver a knockout punch?” Moretar!
“California’s Wolf King came bursting out the blocks with their impressive 2018 debut, Loyal to the Soil, a piece I covered during the annual Things You might Have Missed season. Armed with a seething attack, hybridizing extreme metal with blackened hardcore, solid riffs and chunky grooves, the album served up gnarly aggression and pissed off attitude in spades, boding well for a bright future. Now the band returns with sophomore LP, The Path of Wrath, upping the intensity and blackened quotient, while otherwise keeping the guts of the debut formula intact. Although slightly less sludge and rock riddled, Wolf King set off vibes not dissimilar to German wrecking ball Mantar, a favorable comparison to my ears.” Wolves with grievances.
“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. Cascading promos, unreasonable deadlines, draconian editors and the unwashed metal mobs – it makes for a swirling maelstrom of music and madness. In all that tumult, errors are bound to happen and sometimes our initial impression of an album may not be completely accurate. With time and distance comes wisdom, and so we’ve decided to pull back the confessional curtain and reveal our biggest blunders, missteps, oversights and ratings face-plants. Consider this our sincere AMGea culpa. Redemption is retroactive, forgiveness is mandatory.” Bygones begone.
![Wolf King – Loyal to the Soil [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WolfKing-LoyaltotheSoil01.jpg)
“Wolf King’s impressive debut LP Loyal to the Soil dropped back in April and marked the young Californian band as an act to watch. Vitriolic blackened hardcore sits at the core of Wolf King’s sound, with sludgy beat-downs and whiffs of grind fleshing out their confident and aggressive formula. Although by no means a pair of peas in a pod, there’re certainly some aesthetic and tonal similarities with Germany’s Mantar, with Wolf King arguably having the upper hand when comparing their 2018 releases.” Wolf King can do anything.
“On Thursday the 9th of August, myself and 19,000 others descended upon the grounds of an old manor house in the heart of the British countryside for a weekend of heavy metal, drinking, and debauchery.” AMG was there. Were you?
“On August 24th Mantar release their third record: The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze. After setting some of our heart’s ablaze with their violent grooves and destructive aggression, I wanted to get to know how the band created and perpetuated their violent sound.” Mano a mano with Mantar.
