“Foretoken take a particularly aggressive approach to melodic death metal, much like The Black Dahlia Murder do. Yet, this duo also share considerable affinity with more opulent acts such as Brymir, Mongol, Ephemerald, Stormlord and Aephanemer. Symphonics play a support role exclusively, however, as vicious riffing and ripping leads take charge and guide the record through battlefields of speedy tech-death percussion.” Wictory or death!
“”Disinter” means to remove a corpse from the ground. “Disembowel” means to remove someone’s internal organs. And “dismember” means to remove someone’s limbs (which is, presumably, followed at some point by both a disemboweling and a disinterring). So what do we make of Disminded? I think we can accurately assume from the truly metal prefix that we’re dealing with another type of removal altogether. One that is less physical and more mental. And probably just as costly when the medical bill comes due. But far from being just another AMG word of the day, Disminded is also death metal quintet with thrash tendencies hailing from Germany. On their third album The Vision, we’re treated to a double beat down of thrashened intensity and deathened brutality. But does such an onslaught truly cost the listener their mind?” Mind over splatter.
““AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Now attacking Greece.
“Tanner Anderson, Carl Skildum and Matthew Kirkwood unofficially formed Majesties in 2016 with melodic death metal in mind and Gothenburg, Sweden in their hearts. It wasn’t until 2022, however, that their debut album, Vast Reaches Unclaimed, coalesced to present a classic conundrum for conscientious music reviewers: how do we talk about a really good pastiche?” Majesty and decay.
“Bands like Necropanther are the cornerstone of a healthy musical diet. Everyone has that handful of bands in rotation that are guaranteed to release incredible, year-end list-making music on a regular basis, and with Betrayal, Necropanther has further solidified their tenure within this hallowed pantheon.” Panther power.
“1670 A.D. through 1700 was not a good time for Scandinavia. Famine put large swaths of the population in the ground and religious fervor led to horrific witch hunts with scores of women executed in gruesome ways. It is these especially dark times that Insomnium turned to for the inspiration for ninth album, Anno 1696. The concept revolving around the clash between Christianity and paganism, ruthless religious persecution, and the supernatural all plays out to Insomnium’s signature blend of melodeath, doom, and dark folk/goth.” The bad olde days.
“Italian they may be, but Ontborg play melodic death metal of the sadboi persuasion starring the classic Swedish tones of an HM-2 pedal. This old-school Amorphis meets Omnium Gatherum by way of Carnation and Helslave combination threw me for a big loop when I first spun it. Few and far between are my encounters with slow and somber melodeath with such a gritty, serrated sound, and yet Ontborg make it work seamlessly.” Resistence is brutal.
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“Boy, did we miss this one. I reviewed Dystopia A.D.’s Rise of the Merciless back in 2020 and very nearly awarded the band a 4.0. I chanced upon that review doomscrolling through my writing history and was struck with curiosity whether anything else was in the pipeline. But no, the pipeline had already shat out a very fine self-produced album in early December, polished by the artwork of the ever-productive Adam Burke no less.” Missing Dystopia.
“Caught somewhere between a groovy progressive death summoning and a thrash-empowered melodeath drill, Black Water Sunset resurrects classic sounds in a tightly performed package, complete with a session drum appearance by veteran kit crusher George Kollias (Nile, ex-Contrarian).” Black Water and Parks Department.
If you had told me three weeks ago that we were going to get a new In Flames record I would have asked you “Who cares?” But after listening to Foregone for a few weeks, they’ve got my attention.
