Primordial

Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 27, 2011 in 2011, 3.0, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Epic Metal, Irish Metal, Metal Blade, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Epic Metal, Folk Metal, 14 comments

I guess it was bound to happen, eventually. One of the bands I used as the pillar of consistency in my eyes, several times I might add, has kind laid an egg on this one. Primordial has been a band to look up to for a very long time, for me, having never produced what I consider to be a mediocre record, they’ve soldiered on in relative obscurity up until 2007’s utterly superb crowning glory in To the Nameless Dead. Normally when a band has a “post-great album slump,” it happens because of pressure to produce, but it has been all of four years since Primordial released a record and so I can’t even blame the label, on this one. This one just loses me in the middle (trust me, I’ll explain).

Cruachan – Blood on the Black Robe Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 16, 2011 in 2.5, 2011, Black Metal, Candlelight, Folk Metal, Irish Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 4 comments

So, like them or not, Cruachan has been around since the early 1990s doing their Celtic folk metal bit with varying success. Their most widely well-regarded record is the album Folk-Lore from 2002, but there was at least a little love for the band’s blending of Gaelic folk music and metal. For me, the band has always had an air of ‘amateur’ about them. While bands like Primordial and Skyclad produced unique music at a high level, there’s always been a seed of a good idea with Cruachan, but an execution problem. So, how does Blood on the Black Robe live up to the legacy of the band?

Angry Metal Guy’s Best Heavy Metal Songs of All Time 30-21

By Angry Metal Guy on April 8, 2011 in Blog Posts, 27 comments

Closer and closer we draw to the best heavy metal song of all time, but indeed there is much in between and none of it has been come to lightly. I actually have spent a lot of time mulling over this list since its creation and I am pleased, thus far I can’t think of anything major that I’ve left out, which must mean that they are not indeed ‘top songs’ at all. But let me get to one note of concern that people have raised. They say that one of the reasons that a list like Gibson’s travesty is valid is because “it’s hard to know if these songs can stand the test of time!” I just want to take a minute to call bullshit.

Best Heavy Metal Songs of All Time – 50-41

By Angry Metal Guy on March 26, 2011 in Blog Posts, 31 comments

So instead of a review, today, you’re getting what is going to be a 5 piece attempt to shame the assholes over at Gibson, who apparently haven’t listened to heavy metal since 1984. While this list is bound to be controversial (trust me), it is also done with a very specific purpose in mind, which is to remind everyone that heavy metal has continued to exist since Nirvana sold a bunch of records. But, of course, the Anglocentric jackasses over at Gibson didn’t realize this. Anyway, this oughtta piss everyone right off, but hopefully someone involved in the creation of that list feels ashamed for having been such idiots. Note to old guys: shit still happens once you’ve stopped caring.

Moonsorrow – Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 11, 2011 in 2011, 5.0, Black Metal, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Record o' the Month, Reviews, Spinefarm, Viking Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Viking Metal, 21 comments

Moonsorrow is one of the few bands I can think of that no one I know doesn’t like. They seem to unite all fans of underground metal because of their amazing music and authenticity. Let’s face it, a band who writes 15 minute dirges in their native, and arguably alien, tongue doesn’t want for authenticity. Only a few other bands I can think of, like Primordial and Enslaved really have the respect of everyone in what they do. It’s like they’re playing on another plane of existence or something. That, predictably, raises expectations for new Moonsorrow records through the roof (to say the least). But unlike others, Moonsorrow never fails to deliver and Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (Like Shadows we Walk through the Land of the Dead) is a monument to what atmospheric black metal should be like and to Moonsorrow’s impeccable legacy.

Rotting Christ – Aealo Review

By Angry Metal Guy on February 18, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Black Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, 6 comments

There aren’t many bands that can claim something that Rotting Christ can claim: they have more buzz around the band now than they have ever had, and this is their 10th album. Now the hardcore, or the old school fans, will claim that they’re not nearly as good as they were “back in the day,” but I think the band has done a lot of development since the “old days” and really planted themselves firmly on the border of modern, mainstream metal. I mean, even their label is calling them just “dark metal” now, though I think there are some things that still hold them in the black metal category. Aealo is the follow up to the band’s 2007 masterpiece Theogonia, a record which lit their fanbase aflame and which saw the band broadening their appeal to new fans all over the world. It is fair to say that Rotting Christ has continued on the heels of Theogonia with Aealo, because the majority of the stylistic themes which ran through the previous album and made it great remain.

The Greatest Band EVER (to come from Wausau, Wisconsin that starts with a D…)

By Angry Metal Guy on January 8, 2010 in American Metal, Blog Posts, Death Metal, Unsigned Bands, WIMetal.org, 1 comment

My buddy Chris just uploaded a video from the now defunct Heathen Crusade’s first ever show. It was where his former band Dumah opened up for Moonsorrow and Primordial and it was probably one of the best shows of his, or any member of that band’s, life. Anyway, little did I know they had taped […]