Review

Alunah – Awakening The Forest Review

By El Cuervo on September 26, 2014 in 2014, Doom Metal, English Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Doom Metal, 13 comments

“There was a huge weight on Alunah’s shoulders at the advent of their career. Hailing from Birmingham, the illustrious home to heavy metal, it would have been all to easy to fly under the radar. Fortunately, their début captivated doomsters with its crushing riffs and entrancing female vocals, and the follow-up White Hoarhound miraculously eluded the sophomore slump by boldly expanding their sound to epic levels and progressing their song-writing prowess. Now, Awakening The Forest has arrived and blows them out of the water.” The year of quality doom keeps a rolling!

As Light Dies – The Love Album – Volume I Review

By Lord Doom on September 26, 2014 in 2014, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Gothic Metal, MAA Productions, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Black Metal, Gothic Metal, 5 comments

“I’m gonna cut the crap: The Love Album – Volume I will rip off all your skin and plunge everything else you’ve got into a vacuous void of nothingness. And you’re gonna like it. Madrid’s As Light Dies successfully takes the atmosphere of gothic metal bands and the ferocity of black metal, only to add a controlled, yet savage and intelligent portioning of avant-garde, resulting in something entirely unique and all their own.” Love songs in the medium of black metal, eh? Well, that’s probably not getting anyone laid.

1349 – Massive Cauldron of Chaos Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on September 25, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Indie Recordings, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 16 comments

“Since 1997, 1349 has evolved a lot. And I mean a lot. They’ve changed so much that their musical career can only be compared to driving down the freeway at 70 miles per hour and hitting black ice. First, you accelerate along the on-ramp (Liberation and Beyond the Apocalypse), until you achieve top speed (Hellfire). When you come upon the ice, it sends you into uncontrollable spins (Revelations of the Black Flame) that you miraculously manage to steer free from.” Winter is fast approaching so it’s time to check your snow tires and drive safely out there!

Malpractice – Turning Tides Review

By Lord Doom on September 25, 2014 in 2014, Finnish Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Sensory Records, Progressive Metal, 3 comments

“These days, prog metal seems to be coming down to how many strings your guitar has, if you’re a virtuoso or not, and what presets you have on your Axe-FX. Seriously, it seems like all the prog metal bands in the scene today have been obsessing over effect processors and compression during production, that it just drains the enjoyment out of it. Even then, they’re too busy wanking on their guitars, trying to constantly outperform everyone else who crosses their path. Essentially, to quote Devin Townsend, it’s a “dick swinging competition.”” When the dicks are a swinging, don’t come a dinging. Anywho, here’s some prog metal.

Internal Bleeding – Imperium Review

By Al Kikuras on September 24, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, 17 comments

“Internal Bleeding helped to pioneer the much maligned (but somewhat loved) ‘slam’ death metal genre over 20 years ago, and are by most accounts the first band to use the term. As the premiere slam band alongside Suffocation, they’ve been divisive since day one.” Love em or hate em, they’re back to get all Strong Island on your ass.

Weedeater – Sixteen Tons Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on September 24, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Sludge, Uncategorized, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, 0 comments

“Doomy stoner metal seems to be creating a lot of buzz in the metal scene at the moment, so what better time than now for Season of Mist to re-release the back catalogue of self-proclaimed “weed metal” band Weedeater? Sixteen Tons was originally released in a cloud of smoke in 2002 via Crucial Blast, and has since gone out of print.” We hate when stuff goes out of print, so here’s an alert that this album is back.

Stench – Venture Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on September 23, 2014 in 2014, Agonia Records, Black Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, 2 comments

“Odors – specifically bad ones – provide no end of inspiration for metal artists, so I was surprised to find that the simple name Stench hadn’t been taken some time back in the 80s when all these extreme metal shenanigans were kicking off (though I suppose this was also the time when metalheads collectively discovered adjectives, so we were treated to Pungent Stench instead). Containing two members of death metallers Tribulation, Stench released debut In Putrescence in 2010, mixing aggressive but melodic black metal with a good waft of Gardens of Grief to come up with a familiar but quite unique scent.” I love the smell of Swedish black / death in the morning. Smells like…Stench.

Beak – Let Time Begin Review

By Lord Doom on September 23, 2014 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 2 comments

“Post-metal has had a lot going for it in the past year. If you count it, The Ocean’s Pelagial was a remarkable work of art, as beautiful as it was heavy. Cult of Luna returned with the monstrous Vertikal last year and even gave fans more music with Vertikal II, the companion EP. And to add to it, Rosetta gave The Anaesthete to the world via Bandcamp, essentially for free. It’s a great time for post-metal…” Can Beak keep the post-metal golden age rolling or are the good times all over?

Sanctuary – The Year the Sun Died Review

By Steel Druhm on September 22, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Century Media, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 25 comments

“25 long years after their last recorded output (damn, that makes me feel old), four-fifths of the classic Sanctuary lineup reunite to write an album that sounds exactly like vintage…Nevermore. Yes, I suppose we could have seen that coming, being that lead man Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Shepard founded that particular power-prog act after leaving Sanctuary, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one hoping The Year the Sun Died would be a glorious return to the traditional American power metal of Refuge Denied rather than a retread of their better known project.” Some folks tabbed this as the most anticipated album of 2014. Steel Druhm wasn’t one of them because he’s not silly.

Madrost – Into the Aquatic Sector Review

By Saunders on September 22, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 16 comments

“After consuming my fill of thick gourmet stew from doom heavyweights YOB and Pallbearer over the past month, it’s refreshing to get back to some no-frills meat and potatoes metal, courtesy of unsigned Californian thrashers Madrost. Firstly, the fact the band is unsigned is a little baffling, especially when considering the subpar tripe that winds up on labels these days. Not that Madrost are a particularly game changing or innovative band ready to set the metal underground ablaze, but they certainly have the chops and enough of their own identity to warrant a record deal.” It has been said we only review thrash here at AMG (or was it death)? Either way, here’s some fucking thrash!