“Frostbite Orckings may have claim to the most interesting premise in metal, at least in 2023. Based on recordings from hired session musicians, the project is a work of purely AI-generated power metal. The Orcish Eclipse is the project’s debut full-length release, and heralds itself as “the world’s first AI-generated heavy metal album.”” Orc in the machine.
“Well folks, it’s been a good run. This is without a doubt the longest I have gone without landing myself an awful corset-core album. I cherry-picked from the promo bin a little more, I got lucky with a few random rolls. But the dice always turn against you sometime, as any D&D player will attest. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the genre and the worst band name since Significant Point. Then I saw the cover and my fears were confirmed because LOOK AT IT! Gaze upon this absolute debacle and weep for laughter.” Fear and secret rulers.
“Canada’s heavy metal heroes Striker have been launching throwback volleys at the masses since 2009. Their style blends traditional metal ideas with power and thrash influences, often to good effect and they’ve always been capable of hooky songcraft. They also have a tendency to be tongue-in-cheek at times, refusing to take themselves too seriously. These are all admirable traits and make Striker easy to root for. Despite these pluses, they’ve struggled to craft consistently hard-hitting albums. Here comes seventh outing, Ultrapower, with a craptastic cover and an even worse band photo.” Power outage.
“”Modern melodic metal” is a term that wants to say a lot, but in reality conveys very little. More often than not this is a thin disguise for “pop-oriented,” and such is the case before us today. Formed in 2015 and with three previous LP’s under their belt, Sweden’s Metalite seem to have flown under the radar here at AMG HQ. This could be due to an omnipresent dairy allergy circling The Skullpit™, or the aforementioned genre tag provided by the band’s label.” In space no one can hear you be mellow.
“Mega Colossus has more fun than your favorite band. Not that it’s much of a contest given the typically joyless answers most metal fans give in response to the “favorite band” question in the name of cred preservation, but it’s true all the same. Nevermind that these North Carolina dudes can’t help but give the widest of grins in their promo shots; though ostensibly traditional metal, undiluted joy permeates their music on a level most power metal bands could not fathom. Unbridled exuberance seeps from every riff, lick, lyric, and vocal hook.” Mega fun, mega metal.
“AMG’s Law of Diminishing Records is a generally reliable metric that a handful of bands continuously defy, and Denmark’s prog-power mainstays Manticora is one of them. It’s easy to see why; looking retrospectively at their nine prior albums, there is no entry where the band could be accused of failing to innovate or experiment in some respect, a decades-long discographic evolution culminating in the towering To Kill / To Live duology. I maintain that the second act of that duology is their best effort to date, and I lowered my expectations for Mycelium accordingly.” Evolutionary side quests.
“It’s an early-year surprise to be graced with a new album by Germanic power/heavy metal semi-legends Scanner. Early adopters of the Euro-power style created by Helloween, Scanner released two seminal albums at the start of their career. 1988s Hypertrace and 1990s Terminal Earth were rough and ready takes on the slick Helloween style and Scanner made their version extra interesting due to their more unhinged, raw edge. After the very good Terminal Earth, however, it took them until 1995 to drop a follow-up and by then much of the metal market had moved on to more extreme sounds or given up metal entirely and gone grunge.” Olde tech.
![Triumpher – Storming the Walls [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Triumpher_StormingTheWalls_01.jpg.webp)
“As a sponge, I am not usually picky about what music I absorb. I often find my way to liking anything if it clicks the right boxes. For some reason, though, I’m pickiest about traditional heavy metal, both classic and modern. I rarely like anything that falls under the stock “heavy” umbrella, instead preferring things that are hybridized with other, more extreme fare. Luckily for me, Triumpher are here to help raise my sword to full might with their immense, astoundingly compelling debut Storming the Walls, released in March of this year.” Triumph of the swordcore.
“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Welcome to the Garden State!
Steam the Filters, they need cleaning! Fa la la la la la la la. Stains in the gearworks require sweeeping! Fa la la la la la la la. Holiday.
