“Let’s get this out of the way up front: despite being named after Onset of Putrefaction’s opening track, Foul Body Autopsy doesn’t really sound much like Necrophagist. If you came hoping for a whirlwind of brutal neoclassical tech death, you’re better off reading one of Kronos’ reviews; for the rest of us, slightly techy melodic death metal is what’s on the operating table today.” Bone Saw is ready!
“When I saw the name On Thorns I Lay pop up in the fetid muck of the AMG promo sump, I was more than a bit surprised. I’d followed this mercurial Greek act pretty closely back in the early aughts as they steadily evolved from primitive doom death to goth metal, and on to something like a heavier Radiohead on their 2003 album, Egocentric. The band then promptly imploded and were not heard from again. Apparently they reformed and released an album in 2015 which I completely missed, and now they’re back to deliver Aegean Sorrow. And what a different beast they’ve become since 2003.” Gyros of sorrow.
“When I was first exploring metal’s myriad subgenres, I figured out what I like to hear in folk metal in record time. My favorites the style has to offer are those of the fast, infectiously catchy variety; acts like the early incarnations of Ensiferum and Equilibrium make up my personal top tier, plodding mid-paced and accordion-based stuff fills out the bottom tier, and any band in the mid-tier is merely forgettable. Battlesoul falls into this mid-tier, but it’s certainly not due to mediocre songwriting chops.” Tiers of the dragon.
“In my eighteen months writing for this blog I’ve somehow failed to even once express my affinity for Skeletonwitch. They are, without question, one of my very favorite metal bands; their ability to pair unconventionally hooky melodies with equally catchy thrash rhythms, bred with prominent elements of melodic death and black metal, gets my blood flowing in a way that traditional genre affair can never quite match. Describing Skeletonwitch’s sound in this review also serves to summarize the sound of Denver, Colorado’s Necropanther.” Blast Panther.
“In the interests of full disclosure, I must confess that I think Delain, the Dutch symphonic metal band, is trash.” Now we can all move forward.
“I often wonder why bands ape a particular sound to death, but pass over another. Is Iron Maiden truly more worthy than Judas Priest? Why does Dark Tranquillity never get the same love as In Flames and At the Gates? What makes Bathory a hot ticket but not Type O Negative? Final Hour, as you may suspect, evoked this line of questioning with their take on melodeath’s tried and true tropes. Their influences are exactly the ones you would expect, and their music works inside the box.” Crazy like a box.
“This past week I was giving Frozen Crown’s The Fallen King my dozenth or so spin as I was handling a particularly annoying clean-up report at my other office job. Typically, when faced with such an irksome task, I like to listen to fast music of either the aggressive or uplifting variety; either emotional response triggered by the conflicting styles will do the trick to kick my ass into work-mode. This particular go-round with Frozen Crown struck me, as it handily enabled both responses.” Don’t let it go.
“Norway’s In Vain is a melodic death metal band with a blackened edge to them. The band, which double’s as Solefald’s live band and features Sidre Nedland who is the brother of Lazare, is back after five years with their fourth album, entitled Currents. They released Ænigma back in ’13 and it was mightily well-received.” You won’t believe what happens next!
“Death on Fire wants you to know that Witch Hunter isn’t your grandpa’s melodeath. If that Playboy-for-Pyramid-Head cover doesn’t convince you, one spin through its prickly hollow will. There will be none of that slickly-produced astronaut cheese metal you babies lap up so greedily, not today. The music of one-man band Tim Kenefic is ugly and coarse, like clawing at a scab that will never heal.” Pick your poison, pick your scabs.
“As a card-carrying member of the unpaid, overworked Metal Reviewer’s Guild, I’m forced to squeeze my music listening into the small deadly spaces between a full-time job, commuting, family responsibilities and the oft heard of, seldom experienced phenomenon of sleep. This means a goodly portion of my time with any given album is spent while riding trains and subways to and fro New York City. Rare are the albums that allow me to press play and drift away into sonic bliss, removed from my commuting tedium as I’m transported to a new world. Greek upstarts Ocean of Grief have given me just such an album with their brilliant debut, Nightfall’s Lament.” Last train to Sad Town.
