Releases

First Fragment – Dasein Review

By Kronos on May 26, 2016 in 2016, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Unique Leader, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 41 comments

“I’d like to begin this review by discussing the gigantic fucking roll that French-Canadian guitarist Phillipe Tougas is currently on. Starting with last year’s release from Serocs, he has played on three downright kickass albums, all favorably reviewed on this very website. His work with Zealotry gained my notoriously stingy tech/prog-death approval, and his bizarre Timeghoul and Demilich-inspired project Chthe’ilist is almost certainly going to make the Kronos year-end list. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, his longest-running band, the neoclassically-inspired tech-death outfit First Fragment, is finally dropping their first full-length album.” Kronos is so cute when he’s not bashing tech-death production techniques.

Katalepsy – Gravenous Hour Review

By Kronos on May 16, 2016 in 2016, Death Metal, Reviews, Russian Metal, Unique Leader, Death Metal, Slam, 15 comments

“Slam’s audio palette isn’t especially varied. The death metal setup – already instrumentally optimized for a pretty particular group of timbres – tuned down and sometimes pitchshifted into an almost inaudibly low register doesn’t give you much to work with in terms of tone diversity, which is why so many slam bands have tight, grating snares and so many slam riffs go all in on pinch harmonics. And when Katalepsy go all in, I mean all in.” Go big or go home.

Plebeian Grandstand – False Highs, True Lows Review

By Kronos on April 22, 2016 in 2016, Avante Garde, Black Metal, French Metal, Hardcore, Releases, Reviews, Throatruiner Records, Black Metal, Mathcore, Noise, 38 comments

Plebeian Grandstand is a name destined for immortality. Over the course of two albums – 2011’s How Hate is Hard to Define and 2014’s Lowgazers, the Tolousian group have annihilated any doubt as to their supremacy in extremity. How Hate is Hard to Define’s distillation of noise, black metal and mathcore proved their worth as ‘the angriest band on the planet,’ but the sheer ambition of Lowgazers propelled the group somewhere further.” Prepare to be destroyed.

Zealotry – The Last Witness Review

By Kronos on April 12, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Death Metal, Lavadome Records, Progressive Death, Reviews, Death Metal, 30 comments

“I’m not particularly invested in movies, but Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is one I recommend; an unlikely but enticing story of a handful of astronauts on a mission to restart our dying star. It has a compelling atmosphere, a beautiful minimalist score, and portrays scientists, for the most part, as real and diverse people – something that films rarely accomplish. Zealotry seem to like it as well.” Progressive death is always a ray of sunshine.

Murder Made God – Enslaved Review

By Kronos on April 7, 2016 in 2016, Comatose Music, Death Metal, Greek Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 12 comments

“Greek brutal death outfit Murder Made God didn’t exactly make a splash with their debut, Irreverence, which introduced the band with little fanfare. Enslaved isn’t out to challenge your conceptions of brutal death metal, but there’s a wealth of material on this album that shows the band growing but certainly not diversifying. With a name like Murder Made God, brutal death is what you expect, and brutal death is what you get.” Take what you get when it is given!

Geryon – The Wound and the Bow Review

By Kronos on April 2, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Death Metal, Profound Lore Records, Progressive Death, Releases, Reviews, Death Metal, 26 comments

By now, you’ll have learned about/salivated over the prospect of Gorguts’ new EP, Pleiades’ Dust, which looms on my horizon like a shining oasis of pretense. If you’re unlucky enough not to have the privileges of an AMG staffer and still have to wait to listen to it, then boy do I have good news for you. The Obscuran prog death trend is still picking up steam and kicking up dust, now most pertinently in the form of New York two-piece Geryon. The side project of Krallice’s Nicholas McMaster and Lev Weinstein, Geryon are a band I’ve overlooked, but The Wound and the Bow struck me immediately.

Piss Vortex – Future Cancer Review

By Kronos on March 24, 2016 in 2016, Danish Metal, Grind, Indisciplinarian Records, Releases, Reviews, 9 comments

“Ten seconds into Future Cancer, I was damned sure of one thing; this band is from Long Island. Combine the irreverence of the name Piss Vortex with their progressive spin on, of course, grindcore, and you’ve got one grimy, disgusting EP dredged up from the alligator infested sewers of… Copenhagen?” Kronos is great with taxonomy, but not so much with geography.

Atlantis Chronicles – Barton’s Odyssey Review

By Kronos on March 18, 2016 in 2016, Apathia Records, Death Metal, Deathcore, French Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Releases, Reviews, Deathcore, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 27 comments

“It’s bands like this that keep Pär Olafsson employed. While it appears that 2014’s lampooning of less-than ballsy artwork nearly shamed the sphere out of existence, bands are still very much in the market for both cities and the color purple, and nobody does them better. As you might expect, Atlantis Chronicles are a modern death metal band whose bio describes them as having “a strong ocean’s mysteries theme,” although the true mystery here is how that name wasn’t already taken by a series of young adult fantasy novels.” Yeah, well. That can’t be good.

Wormed – Krighsu Review

By Kronos on March 9, 2016 in 2016, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Releases, Reviews, Season of Mist, Spanish Metal, Slam, 40 comments

“The wait is finally over, slam nerds. If, like me, you have been long awaiting the next chapter in the story of Krighsu, the Terrax, and stellar depopulation in the year 8K, then fear not; the new Wormed album, Krighsu, is cresting over the pseudo-horizon, so it’s time to leave that geodesic dome and begin vortex mitosis.” The wait is over, or has it just begun?

Obsidian Kingdom – A Year with No Summer Review

By Kronos on March 4, 2016 in 2016, Progressive Rock, Releases, Reviews, Season of Mist, Spanish Metal, Progressive Rock, 15 comments

“Catalonian prog-rock quintet Obsidian Kingdom caught my ear with Mantiis, an ambitious and cinematic debut that I’ve come back to often since its 2012 release. The album bordered many genres, but its kaleidoscopic diversity was more than a gimmick; Mantiis felt like a truly complete experience, complete with groovy death riffs, Floydian ambience, acidic snarls, and heartfelt synth-piano ballads. As the band like to say, it’s “hard-to-classify,” and just when I got my hopes up for more of the same, A Year with No Summer comes along to cleverly sidestep them.” The summer wind came blowing in from across Catalonia.