Nov19

Corrective Measures: Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestral – Legacy of the Dark Lands

Corrective Measures: Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestral – Legacy of the Dark Lands

“What is the goal of Legacy of the Dark Lands? To my ears, it sounds the point of the album was to write a metal opera in the style of Blind Guardian. But what if the goal of Legacy of the Dark Lands, a thing that made sense at the time of its conception was accomplished between 2002’s A Night at the Opera and 2015’s Beyond the Red Mirror? What if, in the years since A Night at the Opera, Blind Guardian had developed their sound to be so unique and so orchestral that by the time Legacy of the Dark Lands was released, it was unnecessary and maybe even uninteresting?” S&M Part Deux.

Horrizon – World of Pain Review

Horrizon – World of Pain Review

“One of the earliest things I’ve learned in my short tenure working with these angriest of metal men is how difficult describing music actually is. Scholars throughout time have worked hard to remedy this situation by giving us the hallowed name drop, and venerated genre tags, that we might use few words to convey great meaning. And yet, these still often fall sadly short of describing the actual phenomena we experience. I could tell you, for instance, that the music of World of Pain, the third full-length output from the German band Horrizon.” When words fail.

Reveal – Scissorgod Review

Reveal – Scissorgod Review

“No month of horror movies leading up to the big day. No romantic nights with Elvira. No King Diamond/Mercyful Fate marathons. But, I’ll be goddamned if Halloween escapes me before 2019 ends. So, instead of turkey preparations and being thankful for the useless shit in my life, November is my new October. And, as it turns out, there’s no one I’d rather spend it with than Reveal and their third concoction of mindfucking black and death, Scissorgod.” No safety scissors these.

Blosse – Nocturne Review

Blosse – Nocturne Review

“Earlier this year, our Angry Metal Overlord declared on Twitter that he was ‘done with atmospheric anything for a long time, but particularly black metal… Everything sounds the same and no one has any ideas.’ Now, your good pal Doomy cut his teeth on atmospheric black metal like Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch, so this was heresy to my eyeballs.” Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the bored.

Adrian Benegas – The Revenant Review

Adrian Benegas – The Revenant Review

Adrian Benegas, perhaps best known as the keyboardist and founder of symphonic metal act Tragul, is at the beginning of a familiar story: a talented musician and composer takes a step away from his band to attempt a symphonic power metal solo project, one in which the story, lyrics, and compositions will be done solely by himself. He will write a story and bring it to life in musical form, bringing in guest musicians and vocalists to play various parts of the story. Is this sounding familiar yet?” Avant horizon.

Stormwarrior – Norsemen Review

Stormwarrior – Norsemen Review

“Aeons ago, long before I answered the casting call to write for this prestigious hostile work environment or had even commented on a review, I was but a reader and lurker of the site. Even then, I imagined that I might one day find my name written upon the sacred digital stone of AMG’s “About” tab. I fancied that I might form an inseparable bond with one Swordborn, the site’s apparent resident cheese custodian. In my fantasies, we’d frolic together through meadows like metal Cupids, firing 4.0’s and 4.5’s at power metal albums all willy nilly, laughing all the while.” Oh, so this is one of those fanfics.

Ignivomous – Hieroglossia Review

Ignivomous – Hieroglossia Review

“I hate being sick. I recently recovered from a cold that I received from my year-old nephew that me and the Mrs. Hollow kept passing back and forth to each other ad nauseam. If a cold can be that frustrating, puking is even worse—breaking out in cold sweats and chills while worrying about keeping any form of nutrition down is truly frustrating because nothing seems to make one feel better. It’s probably even worse vomiting fire, which apparently is something Australian death metal group Ignivomous has on their mind because that’s what their name means. Must hurt.” Burning throats and ears.