“At first listen, Bloodletter sound pretty much the same in 2023 as they did in 2021 (or 2020, depending on when you believe the album was actually released). Combine the nasty thrash of a Slayer or a Dark Angel with the melodeath of The Black Dahlia Murder or At the Gates, sprinkle in some icy blackened tremolos, and you’re left with a 35-minute package of highly melodic brutality.” Hate mail!
“There’s something special about a melodic death metal band unafraid to reach into the depths of brutality in the pursuit of killer tunes. Bands like Nawabs of Destruction and The Beast of Nod created some of my favorite metal albums of recent years by utilizing an equal measure of brutal and hyper-melodic elements. Now it looks like Astralborne, a melodic death metal trio hailing from Ohio, prepare themselves to officially join that exclusive category with their upcoming opus Across the Aeons.” Resistance is brutal.
“It’s been a hot minute since this blog has beheld Scar Symmetry. Once the golden standard by which all melodic death should be measured alongside acts like Soilwork and Mors Principium Est that dominated the 2000s, Scar Symmetry has largely settled in the rearview in favor of young blood – always there, just rarely making it known.” Scars are forever.
“Aetherian is young in the sense that this is but their second album, but they’ve been at it for almost a decade now. It has taken the band 6 years to craft a follow-up to their debut. Has the time investment paid off, or is there a sophomore slump after all?” At the bleeding edge of brilliance.
“After almost a decade of utter fear that Onheil was no longer with us, ‘black metal’s Iron Maiden’ are back with In Black Ashes. When Dok Grier was a mere infant in the AMG ranks (and not yet a household name that all praise), he stumbled upon Storm Is Coming and has been erect ever since.” Onheil, on high.
“There’s a group of Finnish melodeath bands that put out a run of absolutely fantastic albums in the early days of AMG: Amorphis, Barren Earth, InsOmnium Gatherum, and of course Before the Dawn. This was a hugely formative time for my music taste, and all those records stick with me over a decade later.” Return of the Dawn.
“A Hill to Die Upon represents the steepest improvement between two albums that I encountered during my overextended employment at AMG Torture Racks and Surgical Paraphernalia. After the disappointing sophomore slump that was Inferis, I assumed the German troupe responsible for the mighty Purgatorium, a veritable clinic on killer slam riffs and technical prowess, burned too brightly too soon. But A Hill to Die Upon gained a well-deserved rating upgrade and remains one of my most revisited albums in the entire deathcore pantheon.” Hill kills.
We cleaned the Filter back in March, but it’s taken a while to process the objects we pulled from the webbing. We apologize for the crud.
“Since the late 90s, Finland has been the spiritual home of sadboi melodeath; an idiosyncratic brand of melodic death/doom metal featuring weeping guitars, dejected rhythms, and a typical blend of pained growls and morose clean singing. Whether this flows from long, cold winter days or the characteristic Finnish solitariness is unclear but what’s more clear is the emotive impact of the music. Another band in the despondent deluge is Oulu’s Slow Fall, primed to reveal their second full-length album entitled Obsidian Waves.” Slow are the waves of sadboi.
“Nothing against Whythre’s 2015 debut, Hel’s Hollow, but it’s shit. It’s slow, dull, and the vocals are just dreadful. To make matters worse, said vocals are all you can hear. It’s like being blissfully drunk, and then your wife yells at you for being such a loser. But it’s ok; those days are past us. Since the release of the debut, Whythre has done a complete overhaul. New singer, new direction, and, goddamn, I am here for it.” Unsafe practices.
