“A Spanish band that’s been active since 1999, Vhäldemar released a pair of relatively well received albums in the early 00’s, featuring influences far-flung as Gamma Ray, Manowar, and Rhapsody. After independently releasing a couple of underwhelming records in the early half of this decade, they’ve found a new home with Fighter Records, a label known around these parts for harboring the disasterpiece that is Tales of Gaia’s Hypernova.” Power metal: Approach with caution.
“Pagan black metal stalwarts, Kawir, typically wait four years between releasing albums that are decent, yet overlong and poorly produced. That all changes with their seventh LP, Exilasmos. Dropping a mere nineteen months after Father Sun Mother Moon, this record hits the road with tires spinning!” Blackened Greek salad to go.
“Metal is like a sponge: capable of sucking up any foreign juices. Classical music? We’ve seen that thousands of times since before In The Nightside Eclipse. Country? Not too common, but there’s a number of stoner and folk metal bands that incorporate its imagery. But flamenco? Sure, Allegaeon has the odd interlude, but it’s hardly integral to their sound, feeling more like a wacky gimmick than a serious crossover. Impureza take offense to the absence of flamenco metal, due to their proud Spanish herita- wait, they’re French?!” No expects the French-Aztec Inquisition. Seriously, nobody does.
“Eternal Flight is a more varied creature than most that have been crawling around in the prog/power underground for the last 20 years. Whether as itself or as Dream Child, Eternal Flight has been slowly leaking albums since 1996, with Retrofuture being number six in total and fourth under the new moniker. Certainly better acquainted with a darker lyrical and melodic approach than most of their “power metal” cousins.” If it ain’t retrobroken, don’t retrofix it.
“Antioch, the last album from Sweden’s Throne of Heresy, proved little more than its own existence. The “I riff therefore I am” approach to music did little to impress, and despite good pacing and a few fun songs, It was brought down by an uninteresting Swedeath sound and even more uninteresting boilerplate lyrics. Having thus consigned Throne of Heresy to the ignominy of the 2.5, I found myself not terribly interested in listening to their latest. Yet in my supreme magnanimity, I decided to give the band another chance with Decameron, and well I should have.” When Kronos plays a game of thrones, things get brvtal.
“It comes as little surprise that Finland, a country whose sun-cycle engenders circadian insanity, is host to a veritable pantheon of definitively heavy bands. Desolate Shrine stand proud amidst their ranks, hoisting aloft a looming colossus of atmospheric death metal to further blot out the sun. Standing on the shoulders of an already potent discography, fourth album, Deliverance from the Godless Void, weaves arcane Incantations through Thergothonian vistas for yet another evocative and doubly crushing outing.” Finland murders the Sun.
“Preconceptions can go far, regardless of the subject. From only a handful of clues, people extrapolate a picture and form an opinion. Take Niviane with their debut album The Druid King. With only the name, title and album cover to go on, I expected folk-infused power metal, possibly in the vein of Elvenking. As it turns out, my folk expectations weren’t warranted.” Expecting an elf, and you get an orc. A mean one.
“Five years ago, another metal blog referred to As I Lay Dying’s Awakened as “the world’s first retro-metalcore album.” While that same not-to-be-named blog was also recently guilty of authoring one of the most idiotic self-serving shitposts I’ve ever read, in the case of Awakened they were actually right. With its melodic Gothenburg riffs, gang vocals, soaring clean choruses, and pummeling breakdowns, the record hearkened back to mid-00s metalcore at a time when the rest of the scene was too busy being balls deep in whatever Periphery was doing.” Old core, new core. At this point, what does it matter?
“To fully appreciate where we’re going, we must understand a few things about Hobosexual. Firstly, they’re not metal, and that isn’t going to kill you. I might though, if you opt to miss out on this slab of goodness based on that detail alone, but let’s try to avoid all that. Secondly, that name. According to the band’s Facebook page, ‘Hobosexual was adopted by Ben and Jeff as a tongue in cheek dictatorial spin on affiliation as antiquated preference.” Once you go Hobo, you never get clean.
“With so many bands coming out of Finland, I’m starting to wonder if there’s a single sub-genre of metal unrepresented. Today’s platter is the fourth full-length from one-Finn drone project Opium Warlords. Masterminded by Albert Witchfinder (Azrael Rising, Spiritus Mortis), the album promises a vision of humanity scraping primitive survival from the husk of nuclear apocalypse, set to a soundtrack of bluesy minimalism. Or at least, that’s the ambitious byline the label tries to sell.” Some things sell themselves.
