“>We’re all familiar with the uncanny valley, yes? When something bears most of the aesthetic qualities of a living being, but a few crucial little details are off and the whole thing gives you the heebie-jeebies? Metal has such a valley, and the ambiguous beast called “modern metal” lives there.” We know you all secretly love deathcore.
“Sharks leapt right into the cultural zeitgeist recently, with Katy Perry’s cartilaginous companions helping turn the Superbowl halftime show into something out of Dorah the Explorer’s Beachside Acid Trip. It’s perfect timing for Australia’s Feed Her to the Sharks to release third album (and Victory Records debut) Fortitude.” You know the thing about a shark, he’s got… lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eye. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. Metalcore is kinda like that too.
“I never got into the modern zombie craze. Maybe I just had too much of it when I was younger: in high school I played the Gamecube Resident Evil reboots with religious fervor and watched more George A. Romero movies than was probably healthy…thus, you can imagine my sentiments when assigned a promo from a South African band called Zombies Ate My Girlfriend. Not only is that moniker absolutely terrible, it blatantly panders to a trend that was stale two years ago – a trend that I never gave a shit about in the first place. However, as I learned with Calm Hatchery, a bad moniker doesn’t always equate to bad music.” Terrible name, terrible cover, but it’s the music that counts, you elitist snobs!
“There are three things you need to know in regards to Raunchy: 1) I’ve had an unhealthy love affair with them since stumbling across Wasteland Discotheque back in 2008; 2) they have the most misleading band name ever; and 3) never say “can I get Raunchy?” when asking for their promo.” We call that a micro-aggression, and we only tolerate macro-aggressions at AMG. HR awaits!
“Sylosis have been one of the few bands bridging ‘popular,’ festival-headlining, metal with self-proclaimed high-brow or underground metal in recent years. You’re just as likely to encounter flat-cap toting hipster types as you are long-haired, neck-bearded ‘purists’ in the crowds of one of their gigs.” The state of modern metalcore isn’t great, but these blokes look to change all that, or distance themselves from it.
“I realize that my covering this album will be a little controversial for some readers out there. Yes, the cover is a close-up of a dude’s heavily made-up eyeball, accentuated by black fingernail-polished hands. And yes, it’s metalcore.” We dont often highlight metalcore albums (for obvious reasons ), but Grymm has a soft spot for this golden oldie of the core scene.
“Last year, two EPs caught me totally off-guard. For a long time I just couldn’t get on with any form of punk – despite my penchant for good grind – though in recent years my tastes have developed and I’ve been increasingly delving into the –core end of things. But I was totally unprepared for how much I would enjoy Tide of Iron’s split with Grace (The Hard Work EP), and even more so Enabler’s Flies.” When we at AMG get surprised, we make sure you hear about it toot sweet.
“Unearth are among the last of their kind. The New Wave of American Heavy Metal – if there ever was such a thing – has crashed, receded, and carried away a flotsam of recycled Gothenburg riffs, open string drop-D breakdowns, and post-Pantera toughguy groove. Bands not dissolved in the fizz of waning popularity and ill-conceived murder-for-hire plots have either distilled themselves into Top 40 radio rock (Avenged Sevenfold) or continue struggling to recreate the glory of their heyday (Killswitch Engage). Unearth stand alone….” So much for progress and evolution.
“Here’s a free top tip for all you kids looking to break into the music business: name your band something easily googleable. Distance have been kicking around for almost ten years now – forming in 2005, releasing a demo in 2006 and several singles at the end of the last decade – but presumably escaped any significant interest because no-one could bloody find them.” Marketing is for the market wonks, but you have to give them a little help.
“Once upon a time, in the days of MySpace, there was a band called He Is Legend. They had the misfortune of association with the mid-2000’s metalcore scene, and worse yet, they had a long way to go in the songwriting department. Over time they went through awkward growth spurts, thankfully ditching their core trappings, but struggling with finding their own style.” Mr. Fisting rings in the holiday season with the very first of our “Things You Might Have Missed” recommendations, and this time, it’s all about the fruit!
