“Blackened death metal is like pizza. Just as mediocre pizza is still generally satisfying, so too is decent blackened death metal still pretty enjoyable when you’re craving something extreme. Case in point: Chicago’s Blood of the Wolf.” Blood pizza (with pineapple).
“Before diving in, let’s make one thing clear to newcomers to this band: Judicator worships Blind Guardian, and has been doing so since vocalist John Yelland and guitarist Tony Cordisco decided to form a band after meeting at a BG concert in 2012. Over the course of four albums, the band has displayed a steadfast dedication to carrying on the German pioneers’ legacy, splicing hooky, thrashing power metal with mountainous vocal harmonies while simultaneously carving their own melodic niche.” Judicator is Blind!
“As devoted readers, you may recall the Big Hoss himself released an expanded and updated article filled to the brim with advice for bands attempting to prostrate themselves before us. The first of the undoubtedly approaching tidal wave of bands that worship the article and obey it like scripture is Fátima, a French doom metal band that actually went and sent us lossless FLAC files, a move that will set an important precedent among hopefuls knocking down our door.” Give us your finest sound files!
“Let’s get this out of the way up front: despite being named after Onset of Putrefaction’s opening track, Foul Body Autopsy doesn’t really sound much like Necrophagist. If you came hoping for a whirlwind of brutal neoclassical tech death, you’re better off reading one of Kronos’ reviews; for the rest of us, slightly techy melodic death metal is what’s on the operating table today.” Bone Saw is ready!
“Distances’ Diableries has a pretty cover, but one I’ll always remember for a subtle flaw. The Albuquerque-based post-metal unit’s new full length comes beautifully dressed in auburn hues, cloaked in North American fauna. Monarch butterflies cloak the figure, and wrapped around the neck — sorry, what kind of snake is that? Some unholy graft of king snake and rattler, it seems. Perhaps it’s a symbol — the harmless given fangs — though it seems hardly worth it to have a dangerous snake mimic a harmless snake that mimics a dangerous snake. Yet the album embodies these conflicting layers, shuttling its death metal riffing past a mournful violin resting on aphotic sludge muck. Is Diableries dangerous? Or is it a lonely soul, wearing another’s colors to ward us away?” Serpent surprise.
“One of the most criminally overlooked thrash albums from the glorious 80s was a little gem called Brutal Destruction by unsung Belgian act, Cyclone. It had a great balance of anger, aggression, melody and hooks and I still go back to it some 30 years later. The band went on to release another solid album, then vanished. Out of the fall of that and other Belgian acts like Decadence arose crossover thrashers, Trouble Agency.” Trouble’s abrewin.
“My heart may belong to metal, but it was Coheed and Cambria that cemented my love for rock music. One of my favorite bands to this day, C&C’s influence on my musical tastes has resonated long into my twenties, with sonically similar acts like The Dear Hunter helping to keep me invested in their particular blend of modern alternative and progressive rock. It’s surprising to me then, as a fan of such a specific style, that I’d never encountered Connecticut’s Mile Marker Zero.” Prog is a highway, and you’re gonna ride it.
“Why do we love music of such a harsh, ugly aesthetic? Once, during my college years, I was asked this question by a project coach. It wasn’t the first time I heard the question, but it was the most memorable, as for the first time it wasn’t asked as an attack but of genuine interest. I found I did not have a satisfying answer. “It has a furious energy, a certain power that gives me a rush for all its darkness,” was the best I could say. But at the time, I did not yet listen to doom metal, and if I had, it might have complicated my search for a genuine answer further. Because how would I describe the appeal to bands like Vile Creature, a duo who makes deliberate, hideous music that is slow and steady.”
“In my eighteen months writing for this blog I’ve somehow failed to even once express my affinity for Skeletonwitch. They are, without question, one of my very favorite metal bands; their ability to pair unconventionally hooky melodies with equally catchy thrash rhythms, bred with prominent elements of melodic death and black metal, gets my blood flowing in a way that traditional genre affair can never quite match. Describing Skeletonwitch’s sound in this review also serves to summarize the sound of Denver, Colorado’s Necropanther.” Blast Panther.
“Records that pair abstract, artsy gore with a thematically rich title are the telltale wrappings of albums that may as well be the metal world’s equivalent of Oscar bait; you don’t have to listen to Horizon Ablaze to know that they deal in a progressive, forward-thinking strain of black/death metal. And yeah, most of those records are good, but The Weight of a Thousand Suns is especially fucking good.” There goes the tease.
