“Atmospheric black metal. Some run to the hills, disgusted by the label, while others embrace it with an incredible fervor, an addict in desperate need of his next fix. Part of the beauty, or tedium, of the ‘atmospheric’ label is its elusiveness. Ranging from one-man bedroom-studio synth-heavy releases to six-piece major-label indie-black-digeridoo extravaganzas and everything in between, I never really know what freakish concoction awaits.” Life is like a box of kvlt chocolates.
“Instead of a dull description of the five tracks and 44 minutes of Fen-like black metal on this Canadian quintet’s debut, let’s do something else. Take out a blank sheet of paper, draw a five-by-five square grid, and write one post-black cliche in each square. Ready? Good, because it’s time for POST-BLACK BINGO!” When you play Post-Black Bingo, you win or you…shoegaze.
“We’re familiar with Austin Lunn’s home-grown, folk metal Panopticon around these parts. His bluegrass-infused black metal has garnered justifiable (though some say excessive) acclaim, especially as his work has progressively become more melodic and accessible. But this time around he’s sharing album space with German folk-meisters Waldgeflüster, with whom I am less familiar. The split apparently had its roots in the bottom of many beers – as many of the best ideas do – shared between Lunn and Winterherz (of Waldgeflüster) and I was eager to hear what they’d produced.” Split the album, don’t split the beers.
“We’ve reached the end of 2015 and this year I’m personally editing these Top Ten lists. For the first time (ever) I am reading the production of the different writers we’ve assembled over the last few years. I am shocked. I am dismayed. I feel angry, offended, galled. But I am not surprised. Under Steel Druhm and Madam X‘s indulgent care and averted gaze the young Angry Metal Staffers have run amok. Alas, after having actually consumed of the words these gentlemen produce, I’m firing them all. It’s back to the drawing board: me, Steel Druhm, and as much metalcore as you can eat!”
“Austin Lunn is proving to be one the most talented and prolific musicians in the modern American metal scene. Barely a year after releasing the excellent Roads to the North and contributing to Saor’s stunning depiction of Celtic folklore, Aura, he’s returned with the seventh full-length under his primary Panopticon moniker.” Grab your dip and stick it in your lip. It’s time for some redneck black metal!
“Painting an elaborate portrait of the mysterious but beautiful Scottish Highlands, Aura is atmospheric folk metal of the kilt and haggis variety. Saor is the brainchild of Andy Marshall, ex-Falloch, and he saw great success with his début Roots.” The hills are alive with the sound of…SAOR!
“My first exposure to Falls of Rauros was their sophomore release, The Light That Dwells in the Rotten Wood. Even though it doesn’t wander far from the style established by other great post-black metal bands of the Pacific Northwest, I immediately fell in love with its flow and seamless execution.” Can this lesser known act survive in the shadows of greater companions like Agalloch?
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.
“With 2012’s Kentucky, Panopticon became among the most interesting black metal projects operating in the U.S. Unlike many USBM lynchpins that stubbornly ape the sound and ethos of their Scandinavian influences, Austin Lunn’s one-man black metal project took a full-fledged approach to the genre as tied to his own home and hearth of Kentucky as that of his Scandinavian forefathers. For those out of the loop, the result was an ambitious, politically-charged concept album centered around Kentucky’s blood-soaked history of coal mining, soundtracked by an unprecedented mix of black metal and bluegrass music.” Black metal and bluegrass sounds as good a mix as peanut butter and mayonnaise, but hey, you gotta try it to know!
