Soilwork

Freya – Grim Review

Freya – Grim Review

“Once almost exclusively the preserve of floppy-haired teenagers, metalcore is a style that seems to delight and depress in equal measure, depending on whom you talk to. There is a smattering of bands who fall into the genre however, such as Heaven Shall Burn, While She Sleeps and Crossfaith, to name but a few, who manage to demonstrate that with the right nous it’s in fact possible to produce a substantially more wholesome, mature record than your stereotypical ‘core’ band. Formed in Syracuse in 2001 out of the ashes of local straight-edge vegancore outfit Earth Crisis, Freya have been churning out sludgy metalcore, with much emphasis on their hardcore beginnings, for over a decade now.” Upstate New York in da house!

Solution .45 – Nightmares in the Waking State – Part II Review

Solution .45 – Nightmares in the Waking State – Part II Review

“Last year Christian Alvestam (ex-Scar Symmetry, Torchbearer) and his Solution .45 project dropped the first installment of a double album that went by the name of Nightmares in the Waking State – Part I. As expected, it was grounded in the same metalcore-tinged melo-death Alvestam’s been associated with throughout his music career. It had a few strong highlights but as a whole it was nothing earth-shaking. Almost a year later he’s back with the second installment of his double creature feature, but should you care?” Caring is sharing.

Chariots of the Gods – Ages Unsung Review

Chariots of the Gods – Ages Unsung Review

“Every metal-head has their watershed moment; whether that’s Master of Puppets, Symbolic or actually Watershed, that magic album taps you on the shoulder and says “young poser, let me show you the way to trveness.” Chariots of the Gods bills itself as melodic metal with In Flames as its top influence, I’m feeling cautious yet optimistic.” Get ready to chug.

Aktaion – The Parade of Nature Review

Aktaion – The Parade of Nature Review

“Here at AMG, one of my biggest challenges (besides suppressing my gag reflex when cleaning out the office refrigerator) is trying to keep my reviews to a tidy length. Between describing a band’s sound and influences, elaborating on the various songs, bitching about the production, and writing shitty and superfluous opening paragraphs, it can be hard to squeeze all my thoughts into only 700 or so words. Fortunately Aktaion’s sophomore outing The Parade of Nature is the rare record which can be accurately described in a single term: Gojira-core.” That’s better than gorilla-core at least.

Silent Line – Shattered Shores Review

Silent Line – Shattered Shores Review

“If you’re feeling a combination of bored, Aristotelian, churlish, and are unwilling to leave your house, Form and Matter: Metal Edition is fun for the whole family. It’s a simple game where you make the “form” (the “definition”/record title) match the “matter” (the music) of a record. Some examples: Your Weird Drunken Uncle Makes an Edgy Hard Rock Record; Alestorm but Not as Good, and Eight Strings, Zero Riffs.” And that brings us to today’s contestant.

Soilwork – The Ride Majestic Review

Soilwork – The Ride Majestic Review

““You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” – Conventional wisdom or Will Rogers, no clear date. “We play melodic death metal with metalcore elements and tons of hooky choruses!” – Soilwork via Stabbing the Drama, 2005. Combining these two quotes explains the position from which I’ll tackle Soilwork’s tenth full-length The Ride Majestic.” When we start quoting Will Rogers, the poo usually hits the oscillation device.

Night Flight Orchestra – Skyline Whispers Review

Night Flight Orchestra – Skyline Whispers Review

“Way back in 2012, the a little band called Night Flight Orchestra issued an under-the-radar gem called Internal Affairs. Despite having members from two past-their-prime metal bands (Soilwork & Arch Enemy), the music recalled the golden age of ’70s radio rock with passion and quality. Fast forward three years, we get word that NFO has released their follow-up, Skyline Whispers…a few days ago. We missed them twice!” We feel shame.

Nekrogoblikon – Heavy Meta Review

Nekrogoblikon – Heavy Meta Review

“We all have a little touch of crazy inside us. You know what I mean; trapped laughter that rumbles out with such force it makes your belly hurt. Sadly with all the hullabaloo and day-to-day grind we forget to stop and breath, but more importantly, we forget to laugh. American melo-death merchants, Nekrogoblikon have made it their mission to remind us that tapping into our crazy and embracing the silly is just downright necessary and I support that!” Goblins are the medium, meta is the message.

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Amaranthe – Massive Addictive

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Amaranthe – Massive Addictive

“To say that I’ve had an ongoing “love/hate” relationship with Amaranthe would be a far too forgiving description of my feelings towards Sweden’s very own ’90s pop-commodity-metal band’s first two albums. I even took a moment last year to openly admit that I had spent far too much time and energy hating Amaranthe, and that frankly I couldn’t cope with listening to another one of their records. I have to admit, this was partially a lie: I actually have been listening to the band’s new record far more than I’d like to admit publicly.” We messed up.

Zombies Ate My Girlfriend – Retrocide Review

Zombies Ate My Girlfriend – Retrocide Review

“I never got into the modern zombie craze. Maybe I just had too much of it when I was younger: in high school I played the Gamecube Resident Evil reboots with religious fervor and watched more George A. Romero movies than was probably healthy…thus, you can imagine my sentiments when assigned a promo from a South African band called Zombies Ate My Girlfriend. Not only is that moniker absolutely terrible, it blatantly panders to a trend that was stale two years ago – a trend that I never gave a shit about in the first place. However, as I learned with Calm Hatchery, a bad moniker doesn’t always equate to bad music.” Terrible name, terrible cover, but it’s the music that counts, you elitist snobs!