Six years have passed since I wrote, “my guess is that […] the follow up [to Writ of Sword] in a couple years will be even better.” Was I right?
Metal Blade
Byzantine – The Cicada Tree Review
“The Cicada Tree finds the DIY experts on a major label, joining the Metal Blade juggernaut, and embracing their progressive tendencies more than ever before. Hints of their prominent influences, including nods to Pantera, Testament and Meshuggah, are still present, but as usual Byzantine discover innovative ways to transcend their influences into a crackling melting pot of creativity and powerhouse hooks.” Bitten by the prog bug.
Execration – Return to the Void Review
“It’s easy to wonder if death metal is currently in the midst of an existential crisis. In one sense, it perpetually is; its obsession with mortality is such that everyone from Martin Heidegger to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine would tell the genre to chill out a bit. On the other hand, the acts that find themselves popular with critics wear a different sort of existential crisis on their sleeves, one of existential malaise. As one should always be wary of virtually everything that critics (along with intellectuals and “experts”) tell them, everyone ought to be extremely cautious about the “future” of death metal and the current state of the classic sound. Norway’s Execration is one of the bands in the thick of this existential crisis.” Musical Pokemon.
God Dethroned – The World Ablaze Review
“One of the things I admire most about metal, aside from its obvious ability to inform and compel, is the genre’s inherent capacity for escapism. Flinging itself from that cosmic top turnbuckle, sometimes life descends on us hard. Between a career trajectory that, when I can look at it without wincing, appears disturbingly Escher-like, and some life decisions you’d be forgiven for thinking only a brain aneurysm could inspire, you better believe I don’t say no when a little distraction wanders my way. Enter God Dethroned, Dutch overlords of all things death and war-like, with their first release in seven years.” The Dutch masters…of war.
![Wormrot – Voices [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cover-1-768x768.jpg)
Wormrot – Voices [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]
“There’s no trophy for being the world’s best grindcore band. No cash prize, no formal congratulation. The closest things Wormrot ever got were an unsolicited record contract from Earache and fleeting love of a deaf goat. Wormrot don’t care.” Just grind, baby.
Allegaeon – Proponent for Sentience Review
“If you look at the top of this page, you will find a reference to the old adage “less is more.” The phrase came from the minimalist art movement and is still a common saying in many areas of art and design. In music, it usually describes how an album can be improved by removing songs or song sections that don’t add anything to the album as a whole, leaving the bloat on the cutting room floor. Here at Angry Metal Guy Universal Enterprises, we’re big fans of the principle; we don’t have a 45 Minute Rule for nothing. Allegaeon, being top-class musicians, of course know all about such basic rules of composition. They just don’t give a fuck.” When is more actually more?
Hammers Of Misfortune – Dead Revolution Review
“Longtime AMG readers may recall my excessive worship of guitarist John Cobbett and his various projects. His main endeavor, Bay-area prog-metallers Hammers Of Misfortune, has been dormant since 2011’s 17th Street, and with good reason. Vocalist Joe Hutton was involved in a near fatal motorcycle accident, Cobbett and wife/bandmate Sigrid Sheie welcomed their first child and released an album with Vhöl, and the Hammers themselves went through several lineup changes. Five years later, the band returns with the heavier, more direct Dead Revolution.” Let’s get hammered.
Desaster – The Oath of an Iron Ritual Review
“Desaster is fuckin’ coconuts. There, I said it and I stand by it. The reigning overlords of overkill are back for an eighth album full of lunatic blackened speed/thrash loaded with nods to the deep roots of metal and NWoBHM. They’ve always been unhinged, unpredictable and at times almost a parody of metal itself, but they’ve churned out some righteously amusing and trve moments of molten goodness over their leather and spike studded career.” Feel the foam!
Amon Amarth – Jomsviking Review
“The first man I killed was the earl’s right-hand man / When he came to take her away / I ran his own sword straight through his throat / And then I stood there, watching him fall!” Amon Amarth’s Jomsviking wastes no time reminding you to whom you are listening. Of the Swedish metal scene of the 1990s—a scene so legendary and influential that it became almost cliché after incessant imitation—Amon Amarth is one of the very few who has continued strong. While not every record has been a Lindesfarne, their discography is like a series of profitable raids that have raised their profile so high that Jomsviking isn’t being released on Metal Blade in Europe. Amon Amarth is officially a major label band now, having signed to Sony in the three years since Deceiver of the Gods was released in 2013.
Artillery – Penalty by Perception Review
“You gotta hand it to Artillery. They just keep firing away long after the original thrash wars faded into memory and many a speed détente was put in place. Longevity aside, it seems they’re taking their second (or third) run at metal immortality quite seriously. 2013s Legions was a solid dose of Danish steel with a more melodic bent courtesy of new voice Michael Bastholm Dahl.” And the cannons of wrath did thunder once more….
