“Timechild takes the feel-good sounds of hard rock past and fuses a modern-looking, 00’s radio melancholy to form their own brooding yet bolstered identity. Cuts from Blossom & Plague don’t feel far away from the T-injected dad jams of a band like Tremonti or the soulful and virtuosic AOR thump of Winery Dogs, but this unheralded Danish act plays without a notion that bands like that even exist.” Time, tide, and plague.
“An unheralded young act from Denmark, I tackled Chronicle’s third LP, Where Chaos Thrives, without previous experience with the band’s material. Nevertheless, that may be my own unfortunate oversight, as Chronicle play a bouncy, raging style of thrashy melodeath meets technical death shreddery that can certainly fit neatly in my wheelhouse if the songwriting goods are up to scratch.” Chronicles of anger.
“What should be said of the workhorses? The acts that caught your ear once and never let go? Not the kings of the mountain, no, but perennially at least at base camp. Like your dad used to say, the world needs 2.75-rated records too. Svartsot surmounted the folk metal summit but once with their 2007 debut Ravnenes Saga; their three shots at the top since have fallen well shy of that peak. Still, their thick-axed folkery scratches a certain itch, and given the Danes’ obligation to their sound, there’s little chance their fifth album, Kumbl, will be a disaster. There’s also little chance it’ll be a hit.” Ready to Kumbl.
“I grabbed this promo from the rattlesnake and scorpion-infested bin at AMG’s Southwest office because I thought it was thrash. See, I’ve been on a thrash kick lately and I had no qualms grabbing another thrash release to review. The band name didn’t exactly strike me as a band that played thrash. But, who am I to judge? Maybe they’re swampy thrashers from the South, like Pantera and Exhorder. But, this is no thrash band. Everything I know about life is a lie.” Swamp romps.
“2020 seems to be the year of bands returning from the wastes. I’ve reviewed at least three bands so far this year that haven’t released an album for eight plus years. Næstved, Denmark’s original melo-death export Withering Surface dropped their last album, Force the Pace, way back in 2004.” Withering still.
“I found myself wondering whether the members of Freddy and the Phantoms who aren’t the eponymous vocalist/keyboardist Frederick (Freddy) Schnoor write down “Phantom at Freddy and the Phantoms” on their resume. The promo material did not answer this pressing question, so I’ll happily assume they do. Also on the resume of any given Phantom is participation in one of 2015’s best rock records: Times of Division.” Rocking the stars.
“‘You shall riff your neighbor as yourself.’ Riffs may not be the secret solution to stopping the coronavirus outbreak, but they just might be the secret solution to weathering the storm.” Get thee to a riffery.
“Over the years the band lost some members, went on hiatus from 1991 to 1996, and released a slew of albums that never seemed to generate as much fanfare as their debut. Other than some curious midnight listens of Vengeance, I certainly hadn’t heard anything from the group until I came across Eye in Hell while rifling through the promo bin. Freshly signed to Mighty Music, this is the the band’s eleventh studio album and shows sole founding member Zhema Rodero joined by a new drummer and a trusted cohort of musicians who’ve been with the group for a few years now. Almost four decades into their existence, do Vulcano still scorch your ass or are their brutal eruptions long behind them?” Nighttime eruptions.
“Three years ago, Tygers of Pan Tang’s self-titled twelfth album made me feel good about old NWoBHM bands, and their ability to craft enjoyable-enough songs. I hadn’t revisited it until it was time to review their new album, Ritual. In fact, I even went and revisited the referred-to review above. I mean, there’s always a chance that, because I was still in my rookie year as a member of the AMG Conglomerate, I was taking it easy on some bands. But I’ve been around for a long time now, and having a warm place in my atrophying heart for a band is not only unacceptable, it is now unheard of.” Tales from an overrating bastard.
“Every once in a while, I’m put in a position where I have to explain to some wide-eyed innocent how it could possibly be that I don’t care much for Nightwish. The only reason this happens, mind you, is because of the band’s undying popularity and colossal influence in their genre. My problem? I like symphonic in my metal. But I don’t like the band that everyone seems to copy to get there. So why would I pick up Hollow Mirror, the debut full-length from Danish band Ethereal Kingdom?” Wishing for the night.
