Nevermore

Witherfall – A Prelude to Sorrow Review

By Steel Druhm on October 30, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Century Media, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, 64 comments

“Witherfall was one of the biggest surprises of 2017. They came out of left field and blew my doors off with a hyperactive, highly technical take on power-prog rivaling Symphony X and Nevermore. Formed by several White Wizzard ex-pats including guitar titan, Jake Dreyer (Iced Earth), their Nocturnes and Requiems debut was bigger-than-life, over-the-top and spared no wankery or noodling for a rainy day. Luckily, their songwriting was stout enough to stand up to the onslaught of more is MOWWRRR musical showboatery. Just over a year later and they’re back with a new drummer and backing guitarist, and poised to drop their sophomore outing A Prelude to Sorrow.” Draining the wank bank.

Green Death – Hallowmass Review

By GardensTale on October 18, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Combat Records, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 52 comments

“Let it never be said I’m not game for unconventional genre hybrids. Gothic speed metal? Hand me the scalpel. Power death metal? Probably just melodic death metal in disguise, but I’ll don my bib all the same. Thrash doom metal? Now we’re talking! Green Death from Des Moines, Iowa, claim they managed to inject doom, melodic death, and other scraps of genres into thrash metal. The biting speed and fury of thrash seem antithetical to the heavy-handed lethargy of doom, rousing the suspicion that the genre description is full of crap, or as they say on that side of the pond, fake news.” It an’t easy being green and dead.

Brainstorm – Midnight Ghost Review

By Steel Druhm on September 24, 2018 in 2018, AFM Records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 99 comments

“No matter the relative strength of a given year’s metal output, knowing a new Brainstorm album is on the horizon always warms the cockles of my miserly old school heart (ov Steel). They’ve been one of the most consistent and enjoyable metal acts since 2000, releasing album after album of meat n’ taters metal sounding like Nevermore’s progressive and modern approach jammed through a Judas Priest and Iced Earth accessibility filter.” Midnight special.

Shadowkeep – Shadowkeep Review

By Swordborn on April 7, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Power Metal, Pure Steel Records, Reviews, Power Metal, 12 comments

“Britain’s Shadowkeep lay more or less dormant for seven or eight years following 2008’s The Hourglass Effect, which itself was delayed due to line-up changes. This oft-contracted plague of metal bands received a cure in January of 2017 when none other than James Rivera of Helstar stepped forward and offered his services as the voice of the band for its long-awaited self-titled fourth studio album. As something of a fan of Shadowkeep’s earlier work, and especially The Hourglass Effect, I was interested to see what James would bring to the table in a setting other than Helstar (a band I’m admittedly not overly fond of).” Shadows of Hel(star).

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2017

By Dr. A.N. Grier on December 30, 2017 in 2017, Blog Posts, Lists, 121 comments

“Remember that scene in Ghostbusters (the real Ghostbusters…) where Winston tells Ray, ‘If someone asks you if you are a god, you say yes!’ Well, if someone asks you if you want to write a guide for teaching organic chemistry, you say hellafuckingno. I’m serious. Do yourself, and everyone around you, a favor. So, yeah, this year’s been nuts. Thankfully, there’s Angry Metal Guy—a solace for all metalheads to come together and be verbally abused and cat-tailed in the company basement.” Cat’s got yer list.

Warrel Dane Dead at 48

By Steel Druhm on December 13, 2017 in 2017, Blog Posts, 92 comments

“Sad news hit the metal world today, as Warrel Dane, singer of Sanctuary and Nevermore, passed away at the age of 48, apparently from a heart attack.”

Communic – Where Echoes Gather Review

By Steel Druhm on October 27, 2017 in 2017, AFM Records, Norwegian Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 31 comments

“Communic sits comfortably in the subgroup of metal acts that don’t get the attention they deserve. With 4 albums of pretty consistently sharp, heavy prog metal under their belts, they’ve essentially filled the gap left when Nevermore folded shop. Albums like Conspiracy in Mind and Waves of Visual Decay mixed a satisfying crunch with soaring vocal harmonies, slick progressive sensibilities and a dark edge that draws me back often.” Dark minds plot darkly.

Witherfall – Nocturnes and Requiems Review

By Steel Druhm on February 7, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, 79 comments

“When you spend a lot of time sorting through an overloaded promo bin, sometimes it becomes hard to see the dark forest from the evil trees. You look for the big releases, separate out the worst of the unsolicited junk, try to find things to appease the overly finicky tastes of our diva fancypants drama club review crew – it’s a real grind. And sometimes as you grind along, you spot an unheralded dark-horse that you just have to hear. That’s how Witherfall came into my life.” Tales of romance in the promo bin.

Corona Skies – Fragments of Reality Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on November 16, 2016 in 2016, Alt-Metal, Finnish Metal, Groove Metal, Heavy Metal, Metalcore, Mighty Music, Power Metal, Reviews, Rock, Hard Rock, Pop Metal, Power Metal, Rock, 36 comments

“Having read plenty of trash masquerading as philosophy and heard plenty of nonsensical music both within and without metal, I figured I was desensitized to weird stuff. Hell, the world seems almost desensitized to weirdness; Jacques Lacan, one of the biggest dolts to ever pretend to think about stuff and write it down, posited that an erection was equal to the square root of -1 and more than zero people took him seriously.” Weird is full of surprises.

Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake Review

By Steel Druhm on October 26, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 135 comments

“2016 will go down as the year 80s thrash legends struck a blow for the AARP crowd. It’s the year Anthrax, Megadeth and Death Angel all shook off the dust and complacency, releasing shockingly good albums, and in what may be the final sign of the Apocalypse, even Metallica seems poised to drop something marginally listenable next month.” Next stop: Apocalyptic City!