“Ten albums down. This landmark tests a band in many ways—not everyone’s destined to land on Defenders of the Faith after all. That vital quality, consistency, remains part of that longevity. And as Angra Metal Guy has stated before “Consistency has been hard to come by for Angra.” At least that was until Secret Garden fell upon the world and took with it those words.” Angra management.
Angra are back with a new power metal opus this week, so we did our official ranking. You may not agree, but you must study this grand work of metal journalisming.
When 2 months of Filter crud collects, things get sticky. We got our hands dirty in July and August so you could have nice, fancy fingernails.
“Belarusian instrumental tech death duo Essence of Datum did what many have tried and failed to do: help me enjoy of deep instrumental metal. For me, there’s something missing in metal that lacks a vocal element. Part of that is surely rooted in the fact that I almost never listen to purely instrumental music anymore. Nonetheless, the core problem I encounter is that so little instrumental metal excites me, either because of fluffy songwriting with no real backbone, or because it’s simply an excuse for a solo artist to wank all over me without my consent. Not so with Essence of Datum or their last effort, Spellcrying Machine, which was a thoughtful, detailed, and compelling instrumental piece. Can its follow-up, the strange and wacky Radikal Rats, keep that trend running?” Rats in the tech.
Death metal’s legacy is inextricably wrapped around the works of Death. Their final release The Sound of Perseverance is now very olde, so let’s reflect on what once was.
“Tension and release. This relationship is a core tenet of musical composition (and most other art forms for that matter), and in the wide world of metal few genres rely on it as heavily as those with “post” attached to them. The swell and crash that is so endemic to the style requires precise attention to detail to succeed. One can dwell too long in the simmering buildup and risk losing the listener’s attention, or approach the climax too quickly and cheapen the crushing effect of the arrival. The middle road reveals a maxim of post-metal; simple form yielding complex expression. Finland’s Besra aim to thread this needle with their second full-length, Transitions.” Sound and fury signifying….
“Dolph does Focus, who could have seen that coming? Certainly not a ramshackle group of kids in Florida who drank death metal in the wild and jazz fusion in the heat of endless study and rehearsal.” We said FOCUS!
“German collective Alkaloid bucks the trend often associated with bands fitted with the ‘supergroup’ tag. With a line-up boasting members of such lauded acts as Spawn of Possession, Obscura, Necrophagist, Eternity’s End, Dark Fortress, and many others, on 2015’s striking debut The Malkuth Grimoire, and 2018’s phenomenal sophomore opus Liquid Anatomy, Alkaloid ascended to elite status in the modern progressive and technical death metal scenes.” Dream team on paper (but see the N.Y. Jets).
“You gotta love a good genre-bending record. Morphing between two, three, or even more distinct metallic styles is not easy, but it’s even more difficult to attempt while still putting out a great record. Boston, Massachusetts progressive symphonic metal act Ice Giant aim to join these ranks of successful shape-shifters with their sophomore LP, Ghost of Humanity.” Kitchensinkcore.
“After nearly a decade’s hiatus, Pomegranate Tiger resurface to bring their brand of heady instrumental prog to the cerebellums of the masses. Hailing from Ontario in the Great White North, Martin Andres’ passion project made a splash in 2013 with debut album Entities, and after 2015 follow-up Boundaries he chose to join forces as a touring musician with province-mates Oni. Emerging from an extended hibernation, All Input Is Error sees Andres returning to Pomegranate Tiger as a certified one-man band tackling humanity’s inevitable slide towards The Singularity.” Crouching tiger, hidden restraint.
