“I have been unkind to doom as of late, doing my best to spurn its demands for attention by avoiding the majority of releases possessed of its lugubrious character. What set this off was the confession in my review of Blackburn Souls by Lord Vigo at the beginning of the year that my patience for doom has worn thin. I no longer have the stomach to hear a single chord reused ad nauseam like a prisoner trying to stretch out a meal made from a caught rat. I’m tired, impatient, and tetchy — moods that ill-suits the emotional commitment required by doom.” Prodigal Sun O))).
Post-Metal
Amenra – Mass VI [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]
“Sometimes life gets dark. I’m not referring to the bullshit in the news, the whore we know as world politics, or the hopeless struggle to remediate the things we’ve done to this planet. No, I mean things get dark. For how selfish it sounds, sometimes things happen to you that make all the worldly issues scatter across the floor, like mercury from a broken thermometer. No matter how you try, you don’t give a shit about anything as you fall deeper and deeper into yourself. That’s the power of depression.” Given to the falling.
Timeworn – Venomous High [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]
“Like them or hate them, Mastodon have grown into one of the biggest metal bands this side of the millennium. But many pine for their pre-The Hunter era, when they were still playing dense, complex sludge metal instead of smooth progressive metal. If you’re like that, Timeworn should come as an absolute treat.” Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?
Sorxe – Matter & Void Review
“But, the two biggest differences between Surrounded by Shadows and Matter & Void are the ones our beloved Brother Grymm had the biggest issues with—bass presence and song length. Justifiable complaints considering the band have two bass players and a nine-track sludge debut that carries on for almost an hour. But the band appears to have nipped these in the bud. Matter & Void is bassy, beefy, and its six tracks clock in at a mere thirty-five minutes. Not to mention, Sorxe has a label this time around. Time to find out what Matters and what’s Void.” Sludge matters.
Perihelion – Örvény Review
“After four long months, the moratorium on Huck N Roll reviewing albums with non-English singing has come to an end. And as luck would have it, this venerable reviewer managed to snag something from Hungary, AKA the Old Country. Perihelion isn’t a very Hungarian word, but the band makes up for that with a plethora of umlauts, accents, double acute accents, and other glyphs throughout their song titles. That automatically makes the band trve and is worth 0.5 bonus marks ” Umlat what your country can do for you.
V – Pathogenisis Review
“V is a project of Daniel Liljekvist (In Mourning, ex-Katatonia) and on their Pathogenisis debut they’re peddling a take on post-metal that clings close to the early days of the style, while also incorporating a good dose of doom. The hardcore element that’s slowly becoming watered down in much modern post-metal is quite prominent here, making V’s sound muscular, aggressive and confrontation. Most importantly of all, it’s chocked full of spleen softening riffs.” V is for Post-metal?
Wormwood – Mooncurse Review
“In the Bible (or at least the New Testament version), Wormwood is the angel or star that falls from the sky, crashing into the waters of the Earth, and killing all living things with its inherent bitterness. Outside of the bible, wormwood is most known for being the key ingredient for absinthe, at one time regarded as a highly psychoactive and hallucinogenic (but still tasty) alcoholic beverage. Whatever the inspiration, Boston’s Wormwood, comprised of members of The Red Chord, Doomriders, and Phantom Glue, pull a little bit of both influences in their sound.” Worm power.
Spotlights – Seismic Review
“I used to love shoegaze. Back in the day, I relished the hazy, wistful atmosphere of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and The Daysleepers, usually while lying on a beach and pondering the life I wasn’t living.” Spotlights glare and shoes gaze.
Dead Is Dead – Constraints of Time Review
“A quick search of Neurosis on our wonderful website is quite revealing: of the first twenty reviews or mentions of those elder statesmen, Yours Truly is responsible for five of the links – more than any other reviewer. That means either I love that band more than other AMG thralls, or I dislike them the least. Which is interesting to me, as I’m certainly not the one here that’s into the heaviest music, for I am olde, and my ears are tender (when they aren’t ringing). So here I go again, getting suckered into a review where Neurosis, Helmet, and Isis are listed as similar acts.” Dead is as Neurosis does.
The Living – The Living Review
“I know some of you, dear readers, feel a pang of annoyance every time we review an album that is barely metal or not at all. “Why are you reviewing this?” you ask. “This is Angry Metal Guy, not Perturbed Rock Person!” And you’re right, of course, but there’s several good reasons to review these cases anyway.” Are The Living out to rustle your jimmies?