![Orphique – Consécration Cadavérique [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Orphique_Consecration-Cadaverique_01.jpg)
“Consécration Cadavérique is a relatively brief album, clocking in at just over 38 minutes, but that’s across only five tracks, meaning it boasts both a tight runtime and lengthy compositions. I generally avoid the latter in my black metal, as trem-heavy, blast-beaten repetition can quickly grow tiresome, my mind begins to wander and the unrelenting wall of sound quickly becomes indecipherable background noise. Yet Orphique make it work.” Long and short of it.
“That night in my bedchambers, I had just changed into my dressing gown and settled before the fireplace when a song began playing, faintly, but growing louder until, alarmed, I recognized it as “The Hammer” by Skelator. “How?!” I cried. “Such drivel in my house?!” Just then, a ghostly apparition burst into the room and strut about like a pro wrestler winding up the crowd. I shuddered, for I knew its face.” Right in the Dickens!
![Record(s[es]) o’ the Month(s) – October & November 2022](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2211-Square_Splash_2x_NOTEXT.jpg.webp)
December is upon us. Smoke rises from the mountain of doom, Listurnalia™ is just around the corner and Steel Druhm rides to AMG HQ in a vain attempt to get the Record(s) o’ the Month back on track in 2023.
“A great benefit of working for AMG, beyond the weekly bowl of gruel that barely keeps you alive enough to clack out reviews on the blood-stained keys of the staff Commodore 64, is the exposure to bands from around the globe. This is my third review of a Middle Eastern band and my second Israeli band. While new to me, Arallu has been around. They’ve spent 25 years writing about religious wars and the hatred that’s perpetuated in the age-old conflicts in their corner of the world. Their sound began as raw blackened metal, inspired by early pioneers of the genre, but is steeped in traditional and ancient Sumerian melodies and instrumentation.” Metal tourism.
“Since its inception in 2012, Ofdrykkja seems to have been labeled as atmoblack. That was just about accurate for 2014 debut, A Life Worth Losing, although even then there were indications that these Swedes had designs on something grander. That proved to be the case, as the band’s sound has continued to grow and evolve through Irrfärd (2017) and Gryningsvisor (2019), with black metal largely abandoned on the latter, save for some occasional, harsher vocals (see “Wither” and “As the Northern Wind Cries”), in favor of exploratory post-rock and Scandinavian neo-folk.” I, voiddrifter.
Losing a friend sucks. Whether human or animal, sudden or expected, chronic or acute, death comes as part of life and rarely does it arrive when we most need it. Unfortunately, shortly before the release of Risingfallߵs debut album, Rise or Fall, one of their founding members, Yoshiki, gave way to a chronic illness. However, Risingfall knew they couldn’t let this hold them down—this throwback act hailing from Japan knows there’s only one way to celebrate death: heavy metal.” Metal never dies.
“Not much has changed for Detherous on the style front. Last time I referenced the early thrash of Kreator and the early death of…Death, but the most fitting returning comparison belongs to Demolition Hammer. As if the increased groove profile of Unrelenting Malevolence wasn’t enough to convince you that Detherous worships Demoliton Hammer’s Epidemic of Violence, the band has even included a cover of that album’s incredible opener.” Unrelenting hammer smashed facing.
“I’ve enjoyed my share of nasty, greasy death metal this year, and in the preceding 11 months when genre favorites like doom have been poorly represented, it’s been death that kept reliably turning my crank. As we enter the dreaded dead zone of November and December when promos are scant and generally sub-par, I hedged my bets by hoarding as much death as I could cram into my iron sump skimmer of bestial inwasion. One of the death nuggets stuffed unceremoniously in the junk truck was Carnal Savagery’s fourth full-length, Worm Eaten.” Compost pokery.
“Nazghor play old school black metal with the melody turned way up. Think classic Dissection mixed with the hyperactivity of Sacramentum. Since 2016’s Death’s Withered Chants, Nazghor have followed an ever-more melodic road without sacrificing their trve brand of old school satanism. Seventh Secular Crusade walks the path ever deeper without sounding like it has abandoned its black metal roots.” Satan Claws is coming to town.
“There’s electronic metal, and then there’s this Vengeur record. Superficially similar, Herman ‘Vengeur’ Pańkow’s solo project could hardly have less in common with that subgenre. ‘Witch house,’ ‘dissolved genres,’ and ‘avant-garde’ are just some of their Bandcamp tags. The fact that this is on I, Voidhanger should also give fair warning of its idiosyncrasy. Nothing, however, could prepare me for what would come after I pressed play on Par Feu et Par Flammes.” Beat of the electro-heart.
