“Loud, heavy, dense, raging, lacking any sort of subtlety or nuance – rarely has a band been so aptly named as Primitive Man. Self-releasing their debut to critical acclaim both here and across the metalogosphere, they followed it up with a series of splits before being snapped up by Relapse for their latest outburst of hatred. Their approach has remained pretty consistent across these releases: crank everything up until it feeds back, then hammer out the most repulsive blackened sludge they can conjure.” Better call your local Department of Sludge Control.
Relapse Records
Torche – Restarter Review
“In recent years, very few bands have been able to prevail over my increasingly jaded and negative outlook on music and life itself. One of those bands is Miami natives Torche, who won me over with their unique combination of melodic sense and gut-pummeling heaviness.” Will Mr. Fisting still carry the Torche after this release?
Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars Review
“The month of January is always a difficult one for us writers here at Angry Metal Guy. As evidenced by the staggering amount of Things You Might Have Missed articles that are still coming in, the sheer sparsity of new music is leaving us parched with thirst for thrilling material, and even more so when said thrilling material is at an absolute premium.” Can some heavy sludge shake off Grymm’s early year doldrums? And why are we already have doldrums?
Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Black Anvil – Hail Death
“Three years ago at a Krallice show in New York, a band named Black Anvil took stage, struck an immense wall-shaking chord, and immediately captivated my unsuspecting ears with their hefty, head-crushing riffs. Unlike the post-progressive-neo-sludge-blueberry muffin-whatever I expected to accompany Krallice, Black Anvil was firmly grounded in the primal forms of extreme metal, somehow combining black, death, thrash, and doom without sounding like they’d spent the last decade huffing rubber cement and playing Celtic Frost records backwards.” Holidays go better with rubber cement huffing.
Abysmal Dawn – Obsolesence Review
“Those readers familiar with my reviews may have guessed that I have a bone to pick with modern death metal. In reality, it’s more like a small skeleton. I love death metal, and I’m no retro-fanatic, but the vast majority of death metal that’s been made this decade is about as inventive and impactful as a marshmallow gun. The genre has always risked stagnation through competition, but as of late it’s a pissing contest between dozens of bands trying to be more technical, more brutal, and louder than everyone else, and none of them succeed.” The wrath of Kronos is terrible to behold when it comes to sub par death. Can Abysmal Dawn sooth the savage beast that dwells in his jaded heart?
Pig Destroyer – Mass & Volume EP
“Pig Destroyer. EP. Are you ready for 20 minutes of aggravated, misanthropic deathgrind anthems in the vein of Phantom Limb? Because you’d better not be.” What the hell does that mean? Kronos is such an enigma.
Myrkur – Myrkur Review
“The old PR hype machine has been cranking out the pre-release superlatives and playing up the mystery surrounding the debut EP from Scandinavian one woman black metal project Myrkur. Typical of male dominance in the metal community, the gender novelty has been thrown around, however it’s the identity of this apparently Danish born artist that has raised much speculation and underground sleuthing from dedicated metalheads.” We love a mystery here at AMG, and this one is a riddle wrapped in an enigma and coated with Scandinavian ice.
Yer Metal is Olde: The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
“In my experience, there are two kinds of people; the ones that love The Dillinger Escape Plan, and the ones that don’t really get what all the fuss is about. Among the former group, there are those who say that they peaked early and have been cruising since Under the Running Board or 2002’s brilliantly strange Mike Patton collaboration Irony is a Dead Scene. These fans will claim that, after one of these two albums, the band either stopped being abrasive enough or stopped being inventive. In scientific circles, we tend to call sentiments like these “Wrong.” In reality, the zenith of the world’s most beloved mathcore band came in 2004, with a bold and bold-faced album named Miss Machine.”
Mortals – Cursed To See The Future Review
“Now this is a pleasant surprise. With all the funeral doom, pagan folk metal, and post-black I’ve been subjecting myself to lately, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve had enough time to deeply reflect and wax philosophically with myself for quite a while. Sometimes, you just want to sit back, relax, and get steamrolled for almost a good hour without any form of forgiveness or breathing space. Enter Brooklyn, New York’s Mortals and their second full-length (and first for Relapse), Cursed To See The Future.” Tired of soulful introspection? Want to get beaten to a pulp instead?
Tombs – Savage Gold Review
“Alchemy is a powerful philosophical practice that would lead their followers to perceived unlimited power. One of those goals ultimately outlined by alchemists is the ability to transmute lesser metals (such as lead) to more noble, socially-desirable metals such as gold. This romantic and idealistic viewpoint of bettering simple metals can be reflected onto the human race as well, with one’s desire to elevate themselves from more modest, humble origins to become something greater, more powerful. And yet, somehow retain their primal instincts while transmogrifying into their ideal form. Such is the basis of Brooklyn, New York’s Tombs and their newest album, the rightfully-titled Savage Gold.” Deep thoughts, profound words, nasty music. Enjoy!