“The wait is finally over, slam nerds. If, like me, you have been long awaiting the next chapter in the story of Krighsu, the Terrax, and stellar depopulation in the year 8K, then fear not; the new Wormed album, Krighsu, is cresting over the pseudo-horizon, so it’s time to leave that geodesic dome and begin vortex mitosis.” The wait is over, or has it just begun?
“When I was younger, I remember pre-ordering Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for the original PlayStation, back when it was announced at my local Babbage’s in the fall of 1996. It would be a full three years later before it was released. In that timeframe, I graduated from high school, worked at Babbage’s then-competitor (Electronics Boutique), quit acrimoniously from said competitor, went Straight-Edge very hard, got unnecessarily angry at life and everything around me, gave up being Straight-Edge very hard, and moved around the same town three times Yet I still had my eyes on the prize. When I got the game, it didn’t quite live up to the expectations despite all the delays. This story illustrates that some would say I have the patience of that unfortunate Bible character, Job.” Oh, that can’t be good…
“We’re familiar with Austin Lunn’s home-grown, folk metal Panopticon around these parts. His bluegrass-infused black metal has garnered justifiable (though some say excessive) acclaim, especially as his work has progressively become more melodic and accessible. But this time around he’s sharing album space with German folk-meisters Waldgeflüster, with whom I am less familiar. The split apparently had its roots in the bottom of many beers – as many of the best ideas do – shared between Lunn and Winterherz (of Waldgeflüster) and I was eager to hear what they’d produced.” Split the album, don’t split the beers.
Oceans of Slumber is walking a very unique path. A combination of melodic death, doom and black metal influenced by the Century Black roster from about 1998, Winter blends that with a sadboy metal and alternative rock base. The album is beautiful, mysterious, and oddly chaotic. It’s also really good.
Sulphur (or sulfur in the States) is ungodly, foul smelling shit. This isn’t exactly news to anyone but you don’t know the half of it until you have actually jousted with the likes of benzyl or ethanethiol. There aren’t many chemicals I’ve worked with that linger on your mustache and penetrate your clothes like sulfur. It’s pungent, it’s offensive, and it’s fucking nauseating. While I’ve had my fair share of encounters with sulfur, I have never encountered its black-metal equivalent—which is odd considering I’ve been a fan of Øyvind Madsen’s other project, Vulture Industries, for years. With a name like Sulphur, I had expected some unsettling, engulfing black metal to match the stomach-turning feelings I get when “sulfur” is mentioned.
“Despite being dubbed the “Chameleon of Rock” for his ever-changing style, the late David Bowie didn’t agree with this title. “For me a chameleon is something that disguises itself to look as much like its environment as possible,” he once said. “I always thought I did the exact opposite of that.” But fret not, you fanatical herpetophiliacs out there, Canadian blackened-death trio Necronomicon is proof positive that musical chameleons do, in fact, exist.” Those who deny the existence of musical chameleons may be musical chameleons themselves. Trust nothing.
“Catalonian prog-rock quintet Obsidian Kingdom caught my ear with Mantiis, an ambitious and cinematic debut that I’ve come back to often since its 2012 release. The album bordered many genres, but its kaleidoscopic diversity was more than a gimmick; Mantiis felt like a truly complete experience, complete with groovy death riffs, Floydian ambience, acidic snarls, and heartfelt synth-piano ballads. As the band like to say, it’s “hard-to-classify,” and just when I got my hopes up for more of the same, A Year with No Summer comes along to cleverly sidestep them.” The summer wind came blowing in from across Catalonia.
“I often gripe about the general state of the current thrash scene and how it’s stagnating with a lack of cutting edge innovators and general over reliance on rehashing the past. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, however, more often than not I find myself looking back to the past and grabbing an old favorite to get my thrash fix. Already in 2016 old school thrashers have been grinning from ear to ear with the return to form of Megadeth and Anthrax, along with the enduring space-age proggy thrash of the recent Voivod EP. Fortunately there’s a heap of room for new faces to emerge and make an impact on the current thrash scene and show that young pups can be as equally wily as old dogs.” Ready yourself for the latest in pup thrash!
“AMG Himself likes to use helpful descriptors to mark band promos on the master spreadsheet so the staff knows what’s what. Having never heard of Arcana 13, my eyes were drawn to his cursory note describing them simply as “Ghost-core.” With my interest thusly piqued I gave Danza Macabra a spin and as advertised, it’s somewhat Ghost-y occult rock, but they make things more interesting by dialing up the heaviness and incorporating a good amount of Khemmis-esque stoner doom along with weird Danzig and Tiamat-isms.” From the crypt comes…monster riffs!
“After a conversation with a friend about power metal, I came to the realization that many of my favorite bands in the genre are cheesy as hell. I’ve come to this slightly ashamed conclusion many times over the years, and as I’ve done before, I pulled out my power metal collection in hopes that all the black, thrash, and death metal hadn’t lessened my love for Tolkien-based nonsense and eight-album concepts about the mighty Metalians.” Cheeses H. Christ, the Doctor is such a Helloweenie!
