“From Judas’ selling out the Son of God for a mere 30 pieces of silver, to Julius Caesar meeting his sticky end at the hands of several disgruntled Roman senators, and his own nephew, Brutus. History is rife with tales of betrayal. The Finns are back in town and Poetry of the Ill-minded is set for release just next week. What connection can the esteemed Shade Empire possibly have with these horrific accounts of betrayal?” Music gets very personal.
“One of my favorite things about writing for Angry Metal Guy Unlimited, LLC is when I’m blindsided by a new band. Quiescence, the 2014 debut album by Italian doomsters Shores of Null, impressed the hell out of me with their wonderful combination of Daylight Dies riding with Alice in Chains en route to an Amorphis gig, and landed themselves on my Top Ten(ish) list of that year. Here we are three years later, and they return with their eagerly-awaited follow-up, the dreary Black Drapes for Tomorrow.” Comfortably null.
“Impressive Atlanta rockers Royal Thunder have proven their credentials in the modern rock scene on the back of a couple of solid EP’s and great albums. Debut LP CVI blindsided me with its explosive rock hooks, dynamic songwriting, and bluesy southern swagger, flooring me in such a way that I admit to being apprehensive when they returned with sophomore album Crooked Doors in 2015.” Kingly hard rock for the unwashed masses.
“Were you one of those kids raised on Rocky movies? If you were, you soaked up those bombastic training montage scenes that were so essential to the Stallone flicks. You cheered as he ran along the beach, screamed as he climbed snowy mountains, shouted when he lifted 2 ton heavy things and whistled as he chased poultry around sketchy back alleys. Part of the thrill of those scenes was the relentlessly upbeat, hilarious cheesy soundtrack populated by the likes of 80s radio icons, Survivor.” The 80s called; they want their 80s music fans back.
“Whenever Tuomas Saukkonen releases something there’s a certain amount of buzz in the filthy underbelly of metal. When he had Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon running simultaneously, he released a staggering amount of high-quality melo-death steeped in Finland’s biggest export – melancholy. After folding both well-regarded acts and creating Wolfheart, things seemed to take a few steps backward quality-wise.” Have you found the secret that I have lost?
“Treacly melodies, sub-dermal hooks and pop-infused synths, Ember Falls are gunning for stardom by way of your mental taste buds with their debut, Welcome to Ember Falls. Fame is an elusive, fickle beast and Ember Falls is but another band hoping to stand out amongst a deluge of delicacies jostling to whet our collective appetite. It remains to be seen whether Welcome to Ember Falls sluices down an eager gullet, hitting the bliss point like an Olympic sharpshooter or is instead a bitter pill to swallow.” Take your black medicine!
“From the brutally vintage cover, you’d be entirely justified expecting Speed and Violence to be a homage to the glory days of Exciter, being as they shamelessly appropriated the cover dynamic of their first album and riffed on the title of their second and best known platter (Violence and Force). While you’d be 110% right about the 80s throwback style Ranger wallows in, you’d be wrong about the chief influence.” It ain’t easy, being speedy.
“Rest in hazy, gloomy peace, The Wounded Kings. A picture of a tombstone, a few words on Facebook, and we we’re left robbed of an illustrious specimen of progressive, psychedelic doom metal, condemned to finding solace in the five praiseworthy full-lengths and several smaller releases they recorded.” It’s with heavy hearts and a pocket full of doom that we wish The Wounded Kings farewell…
“In all honesty, I grabbed Isolation – the Kansas City quartet’s third full length since forming in 2005 – fully expecting to hate it. After all the great albums that landed in my lap recently, low-brow electronica/metalcore seemed like an interesting change of pace, and while I get 95% of our readership probably despises this music, I did my best to go into Isolation with an open mind.” Masochism is alive at AMG.
“Not unlike a djentier and techier Every Time I Die, Masquerade combines a fuck-all attitude, tightly riveted melodies and rhythms, and a sense of abrasive aggression into a 42-minute package that feels like getting a piece of steel wool shoved down your throat—yet it remains hooky enough to wash it down with something sweet afterward.” Like putting Splenda on brass knuckles.
