Pallbearer

Alunah – Awakening The Forest Review

Alunah – Awakening The Forest Review

“There was a huge weight on Alunah’s shoulders at the advent of their career. Hailing from Birmingham, the illustrious home to heavy metal, it would have been all to easy to fly under the radar. Fortunately, their début captivated doomsters with its crushing riffs and entrancing female vocals, and the follow-up White Hoarhound miraculously eluded the sophomore slump by boldly expanding their sound to epic levels and progressing their song-writing prowess. Now, Awakening The Forest has arrived and blows them out of the water.” The year of quality doom keeps a rolling!

Record(s) o’ the Month – August 2014

Record(s) o’ the Month – August 2014

It’s that time again. Record(s) o’ the Month for August has been a most contentious process at the Angry Metal Guy offices. Fortunately, for those of us who happen to be the dictatorial owner of this website, the winner was obvious. But as I shredded the symbolic votes of my lovely, naïve staff of indentured servants, I was struck by what a good month August has been. This is the first month with two 5-star records ever on this website (I think), and that says something right there. Given that the rest of 2014 has been a tour of disappointment and dismay punctuated by a few pleasant, if sparse, surprises from bands no one’s heard of, it was nice that some established bands and rising stars releasing the records we expect of them. And while I can only choose one Record o’ the Month, we do runners-up for one reason: so that the winner knows who to direct their gloating at. However, a second reason could be because some months it’s pretty hard to choose and we want to recognize the things that we felt shone bright during the last month.

Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden Review

Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden Review

“Ah, the dreaded Second Album. It’s the infamous make-or-break moment that either legitimizes a young act as The Real Deal, or the one record that calls a band on its bullshit. Case in point: 2012’s Sorrow and Extinction put Little Rock, Arkansas’s Pallbearer into the ears and hearts of many doom aficionados, rightfully earning its place on many end-of-year playlists. A minor line-up shuffle and a few high-profile tours later, they’ve returned with the much-anticipated Foundations of Burden.” With several AMG staff members anxiously hoping for a big win from these doomsters, can they deliver?

Moss – Horrible Night Review

Moss – Horrible Night Review

“Even attempting to articulate just how great a band Moss are at what they do is a fool’s errand. Not only is their sound crushing and brooding beyond any band I’ve ever experienced but every new recording they release seems like a blue-moon event that simply cannot be missed. Horrible Night, Moss’ latest album, was met with an equal amount of excitement to die-hard fans, me among them — anxiously waiting for the follow-up to 2009’s absolutely monolithic Sub Templum, which is one of doom/drone metal’s best releases bar none.” Noctus tells you whether or not it was worth not sleeping or eating for months to get his hands on the very first copy of Horrible Night.

Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction Review

Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction Review

My oh my, doom is getting more and more epic (read as long-winded) and it seems the genre is increasingly stricken with chronic Metallica-itis (inability to edit or cull songs). With bands such as Pilgrim and Swallow the Sun releasing albums loaded down with mega-long, droning numbers, attention spans everywhere are being tested and found wanting.