Opeth

White Stones – Dancing Into Oblivion Review

By Saunders on September 2, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 16 comments

“Here we are to provide a legal, post-release examination of the quickfire second LP from White Stones, the death metal project spearheaded by Opeth bassist Martin Mendez. 2020’s debut Kuarahy certainly had its moments and was an intriguing, well crafted, if not overly exciting platter. In hindsight, I was perhaps a half-point generous in my assessment. Still, it offered enough interest and intrigue to make me eager to hear how White Stones develop on subsequent releases. Sophomore album Dancing Into Oblivion is now upon us, so how does it stack up?” Whitewater parks.

Yer Metal Is Olde: Katatonia – Last Fair Deal Gone Down

By Angry Metal Guy on August 1, 2021 in Blog Posts, Yer Metal Is Olde, 54 comments

“The year of our Angry Metal Overlord 2001 was a “very good year,” to quote the everyone who has ever spoken about wine in a movie. Indeed, the year that produced Opeth’s epic and scene-changing Blackwater Park and Propagandhi’s Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes, also gave us Mutter by Rammstein, Awakening the World by Lost Horizon and Laundry Service by Shakira. But is Last Fair Deal Gone Down the best album released in 2001?”

Siderean – Lost on Void’s Horizon Review

By Holdeneye on June 25, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 51 comments

“For the second time this year, I grabbed what appeared to be a brand new band’s debut record, only to find that the band has already existed for many years in another form and under another name. This may, in fact, be the member’s first full-length release together, but before they changed their name to Siderean in 2020, the band had worked under the name Teleport for ten years, releasing demo after EP after demo as their sound evolved from the Voivod / Vektor-influenced progressive thrash of their beginnings into another beast altogether. On their final release as Teleport, the 2018 demo The Expansion, the band abandoned nearly every trace of their original thrash sound, embracing a proggy death metal that was infused with copious amounts of dissonance. Somewhere along the way, the members decided that their evolution warranted a fresh start and a fresh moniker, and Siderean was born.” Bring me the event horizon.

The Wring – Project Cipher Review

By sentynel on May 29, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, 19 comments

“The promo’s promise of “Rush without the synths” is a pretty decent summary of what The Wring are going for here. The key elements are complex, layered, noodly guitar/bass lines and shifting time signatures. Prog’s regular downfall is letting the noodling get in the way of good songs, but The Wring keep things tight and let the songcraft lead.” Loose cipher.

Vokonis – Odyssey Review

By Huck N Roll on May 6, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, 34 comments

“Vokonis have been on my radar for a few years now. I jumped in when their debut, Olde One Ascending, was rereleased in 2018, and liked it enough to review their third album, Grasping Time, right here back in 2019. As I found out after purchasing their second release The Sunken Djinn, Grasping Time was a slight step back. It was still a fun record, and the trio came up with many great moments, at times displaying a real knack for catchy riffs and progressive arrangements, but it just seemed like that magic formula was still eluding them. When word of Odyssey came out late last year, my first thought was “Damn, that is spectacular cover art.” Then the inevitable follow-up: “I hope the music holds up.” Thankfully, it does.” Homeric.

Yer Metal is Olde: Opeth – Blackwater Park

By Carcharodon on April 23, 2021 in Yer Metal Is Olde, Progressive Metal, 147 comments

“There are very few albums that I consider to be 5.0s or, in AMG money, ‘iconic.’ There are even fewer that I can actually picture the moment I first heard. One of those, however, is Blackwater Park. Opeth’s fifth full-length album probably shaped my extreme metal tastes more than any other single record and I cannot believe it is already 20 years old.” Park of the beast.

Thron – Pilgrim Review

By Eldritch Elitist on March 1, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 49 comments

“Bands like Thron felt much more special to me as a fledgling member of the AMG staff back in early 2017. In those days, I was just happy to be covering something good. Thron’s debut LP wasn’t just good; it was damn good, and the best record I had covered for this blog at the time I penned my review. Its follow-up, Abysmal, was nothing like its namesake. We unfortunately never received a promo for Abysmal, but it was a successful risk for the band, as they pivoted from pure meloblack to something more diverse and richly textured. As ironically great as Abysmal was, I am somewhat happy I never covered it in retrospect. Its successor, Pilgrim, is on an almost identical playing field.” Thron trend.

Soen – Imperial Vinyl Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 29, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 157 comments

Soen’s Imperial is a record that pursues some of the changes foreshadowed on Lotus. And that little ecosystem of choices can work well with these adjustments, or it can start to cascade.

Luna’s Call – Void [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By Kenstrosity on January 22, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 44 comments

“2020 provided plenty of quality metal releases, but only a scant few of those which tickled my fancy fall into the “progressive metal” category. Of those, we missed two that deserve mention. The first is Cellar Vessel’s immense slab of Xanthrochroided symphonic prog-death, entitled Vein Beneath the Soil. The second—and, obviously, more preferred, since I’m writing about it—is UK quartet Luna’s Call’s sophomore epic Void.” When the void calls…

Arbrynth – A Place of Buried Light [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By Carcharodon on January 5, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Metal, 37 comments

“It’s nine years since Arbrynth dropped their self-titled debut. At that time, these Australians were a five-piece, playing a brand of folk-inspired, prog-tinged black metal, given an almost symphonic note by then-bassist and vocalist Tina, who has since departed. Scrolling forward to 2020 and their sophomore effort, Arbrynth — now a quartet — have narrowed their scope and arguably been somewhat less adventurous on A Place of Buried Light, which is a 50-minute slab of atmospheric black metal. What makes this such an excellent release, however, is the quality of the songwriting and the depths of emotion it plumbs.” Crouching atmosphere, hidden light.