“Oxx is a trio from Aarhus, Denmark, having released three full-lengths and an EP since 2012. In spite of easy recollections to mathy insanity, pigeonholing The Primordial Blues is unfair even to the act’s own discography, as the ominous sprawling of 2015 debut Bury the Ones We Love and Burn the Rest differs fundamentally to the frantic Dillinger-core of 2019’s The Skeleton Is Just A Coat Hanger.” Big, not so dumb OXX.
“I cut my teeth on metalcore. During these tender teen years, I witnessed its growing djentification and I liked most of what I heard (sorry). I did, however, bemoan the inevitable slide towards radio rock of my former favorites such as Bring Me The Horizon and Architects. In fact, my loss of these bands from rotation was a significant impetus for my branching out into more extreme flavors of metal. But even though I’ve largely left it behind, I’ve got a soft spot for metalcore that arises most often during a workout, driven by a desire to recreate my first feelings of exhilaration in the emotional melodicism and angst. Creak stood out, not only as an opportunity to indulge.” Nostalgia creeps and creaks.
“The Acacia Strain has had an interesting career. While their breed of hardcore-tinged deathcore rattled skulls throughout the 2000s with albums like Continent and The Dead Walk, 2014’s Coma Witch and closing track “Observer” changed everything. Showcasing capabilities beyond down-tuned “djunz” and edgy lyrics, it set the path forward with purpose and prowess.” Double the Strain.
“Burning Tongue is a quartet from New York, citing bands like Trap Them, His Hero is Gone, Bathory, and Celtic Frost as influences. Debut full-length Prisoner’s Cinema is their first release in eight years, since EP Blackest. At heart a hardcore punk band, these New Yorkers spew nihilistic sermons with fervor and intensity, dragging in influences of grind and death metal for a foray whose comparison feels a tad like a more hardcore-influenced Nails or Great American Ghost minus the deathcore.” Criminal entertainment.
“Normally we don’t review “mini-albums” here, but Collision’s The Final Kill thankfully slipped past the watchful eyes of the promo bin cadaver hounds – I suppose they were kept busy. The reason I decided to run headlong into this is because this is the Dutch band’s final release. I reviewed their oddly named Satanic Surgery a few years ago and didn’t give it a great score – or, honestly, even an okay one. Since we’re all stuck inside anyway, I figured why not shack up with The Final Kill, see the end of a movie that I started watching more than three-quarters through yet somehow found myself invested in.” Plagues make strange bedfellows.
“If you’ve followed the band’s thirty year career at all, you may think you have an idea of what you’re in for; but Howling demonstrates a disregard for convention as flagrant as my indifference for sentence length.” Run-on with the pack.
“Last year Enabler put out one hell of a record in La Fin Absolue du Monde. I didn’t score it, as we don’t do that for our Things You Might Have Missed features, but you can tell how much I loved it by its presence at the top of my Top Ten end-of-year list, above even Voices’ wonderful London. Looking back I might swap them around, but no matter; it’s a killer album, so when Madam X received the promo for Enabler’s latest opus she kindly sent it in my direction. I was, naturally, throbbing with anticipation.” Sometimes life can rob your throb.
Happy Metal Guy is concerned about your GPA and motivational issues. He thinks some Hatebreed might help, but only when your schedule allows it.
