“I cannot claim familiarity or history with Romanian death metal act Necrotum, but the promo sump was shallow in January and an album title like Defleshed Exhumation was sure to catch the eye of Steel even in more target-rich environs. This is the band’s third full-length effort and it features a sound sitting at the crossroads of tech/prog/OSDM.” Right in the Necrotum!
![Syn Ze Şase Tri – Ultimu’ lup [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SZST-Ultimu-lup-Cover.jpg.webp)
“Still on the excellent Code666 after all these years, Transylvanian Syn Ze Şase Tri’s fifth full-length is entitled Ultimu’ lup, and it is their strongest slab of driven, bombastic, orchestral black metal since 2012’s Sub semnul lupului. It’s been a long five year wait.” Wolf back.
“The Rotheads formula may have been tweaked, but this fetid draught retains its signature nose. Here are seven songs spanning forty-three minutes, each one chock-a-block with death riffs played at a tempo often verging on thrash. The band still has songwriting talent in spades, and a penchant for stretching that talent to the breaking point.” Slime to kill.
![Sur Austru – Obărșie [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/sur-austru-obarsie-01.jpeg.webp)
“Earlier this year, Huck N Roll reviewed the final full-length release from Negură Bunget, following Gabriel Mafa’s tragic passing in 2017. For several now-former members of the group, however, the musical journey, and spirit of Negură Bunget, persists in the form of Sur Austru, which was formed in 2018 to continue that musical legacy.” Onward.
“The November 26 release cycle brings us a couple of albums by bands we wouldn’t have expected to hear from; Cynic and Negură Bunget. While Kronos will be filling our heads with his thoughts on the former, the latter falls to me. Not because I am a world-renowned black metal aficionado, but rather because I reviewed the latest (truly excellent) release from Dordeduh, and it is natural to draw some comparisons. Following the tragic death of drummer/band leader Gabriel “Negru” Mafa back in 2017, one would assume that was the end of the band. But Negru had completed a number of drum tracks for the final album in the band’s trilogy, and after a period of mourning the remaining band members took up the mantle and fleshed out the songs, and now they present the final chapter in the band’s canon, Zău.” End of the misty road.
“Until a few months ago I was only peripherally aware of Dordeduh. I had heard their debut album, 2012’s Dar de duh, and thought it was “good” but not really worth revisiting. Similarly, I was aware of the apparent amazingness of Om, Negură Bunget’s 2006 opus, in which Edmond “Huppogrammos” Karban and Cristian “Sol Faur” Popescu played a pivotal role. While that album was stunning in scope, the black metal production values turned me off. Potential, yes: essential, no. Fast forward to 2021, and on a whim I clicked on the first track released from Har, entitled “Descânt.” It was then that I knew I had to not only hear this album, but bring it forth to the Angry Metal Guy faithful.” From Romania with love.
“Methadone is a synthetic opioid best known for its use in opioid addiction management. Its long duration of action avoids the euphoric high and rapid crash and withdrawal that results from using opioids like heroin. Naming your band after the slower, safer, non-euphoric substitute seems like an odd marketing move. (Post-rock cynics might suggest that this is a good description for the whole genre, mind.) Methadone Skies are an independent act based in Romania, and Retrofuture Caveman is their fifth treatment program in twelve years. I hadn’t previously encountered their work, but the promo package promises instrumental post-rock plus doom metal, which sounds like exactly what I need to sate my cravings.” The fix is in.
“Daniel Neagoe is funeral doom’s answer to Rogga Johansson, with no less than ten active bands at the time of this review, according to Metal Archives. Most everyone can agree, however, that his biggest footprint lies with the funeral doom supergroup Clouds, and his mammoth beast Eye of Solitude. Sadly, the latter dissolved in 2019, as Neagoe felt the project came to its logical conclusion. That said, Neagoe teamed up with Clouds guitarist Mihai Dinuta and Eye drummer Siebe Hermans to launch Eye’s spiritual continuation, Mourners.” Happy tragedies.
“FolkCore DeTour, the first live album from Romania’s groovy folk metal ensemble Dirty Shirt, hooked me as it waltzed out the door with clarinet and plucked strings on ‘Rapsodia Romana.'” AMG has always had a soft spot for folk metal, so see what he has to say about Romania’s first gypsy metal band. Eurovision, eat your heart out!
“From Leonitus in the Republic of Plato to sad, lonely, middle-aged women reading the barely literate depravity of Fifty Shades of Grey, the ugly, vile, visceral, and disgusting has a wide-ranging abhorrent appeal. Death metal, our chosen disgusting delicacy, revels in refuse instead of aiming for transcendent beauty. Romania’s Rotheads have, with their debut Sewer Fiends, gone straight for the most repugnant place they could envision, and through their music they try to bring the listener down to grovel alongside them.” Filth hounds.
