“It must be tough carving out a lengthy career within the somewhat narrow and restrictive confines of the grindcore genre and remaining vital and relevant as fresh faced young upstarts storm the scene. This problem hasn’t seemed to halt Finnish stalwarts Rotten Sound, who started their career back in 1993, from delivering consistent, high quality output.” And yet somehow these guys keep it up!
“As the old saying goes, you can legally coerce Abbath out of Immortal, but you can’t stop Abbath from up and taking Immortal with him in spirit. So instead of taking the ball and going home, Abbath proceeded to take the ball and dunk on the fools who think that Immortal can survive without him.” Abbath is back with Abbath. Hail Abbath!
“Last time Hate Eternal graced the digital halls of AMG, they left Steel Druhm throbbing with excitement and elation and in turn he gave 2011’s Phoenix Amongst the Ashes a near-perfect score. Four years later it appears something has throttled the throbbing, as their latest full-length Infernus was dropped on my desk alongside a wonderful lack of punitive metalcore.” Floridian death metal is back to melt ice cream and your face, and we’re all outta ice cream.
“Ghost Brigade are tough to neatly pigeonhole into a specific genre. Their early material was definitely post-metal/post-hardcore, but as they matured their sound evolved to include doom, gothic rock, alternative music and slight touches of black metal and prog. By the time they released Until Fear No Longer Defines Us, their style was quite the interesting stew of influences, yet their music remained accessible, direct and highly emotional.” Lineup changes abound, so does the classic sound stick around? We have…the DEETS!
“Babylonian mythology has provided inspiration for a good few metal band names – Marduk, Tiamat, Absu, erm, Ereshkigal (cheers Wiki) and of course the subject of today’s scrutiny. Blood of Kingu kicked off in 2005 after the dissolution of Hate Forest, and contains the former members of that black metal entity along with two of their colleagues from Ukrainian nature-worshippers Drudkh. Debut album De Occulta Philosophia sounded just as you would expect given this pedigree, with the added novelty of throat singing. Sophomore Sun in the House of the Scorpion brought back metal growls to complement the glottal chants while improving on the songwriting and adding variety. Would they continue this upward trajectory on latest album Dark Star on the Right Horn of the Crescent Moon?” Bablyon isn’t just a town on Long Island, you know!
“I’ve noticed that the face of Norwegian black metal is a changing, it’s becoming more adventurous, more rock infused, more progressive and God forbid, more accessible [well, it can’t get LESS accessible — Steel Druhm]. I can confirm however, that while they’re not just all about the evil any longer, they definitely haven’t lost sight or forgotten about the mighty Dark Lord Satan! Breath people, all is still right in the world.” How does Koldbrann fit in to this new movement? Follow Madam X on her trend analysis.
