“If being wrong about things ranks amongst your favorite hobbies, you probably answer the question of “which country has the overall best death metal scene?” with something other than “Finland.”” Finland, Finland, Finland! It’s always about Finland.
Svart Records
Acid King – Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere Review
“The stoner doom warriors, led by vocalist/guitarist Lori S. finally returned to the studio after a self imposed hiatus following the release of their excellent III long player a decade ago. The result is this anticipated fourth full-length album, entitled Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere. So where do Acid King stand in 2015? Has a lengthy period of gestation resulted in a drastic detour from their long established and rarely tweaked formula?” Prolific they are not, but back they are.
Heavydeath – Eternal Sleepwalker Review
“Today’s metal underground is more complex than ever. The Internet has opened up every time period and obscure scene for both exploration and exploitation, resulting in genres and subgenres spliced apart, hybridized, fused with non-metal elements, and shat out in an accelerating vortex of name-your-price Bandcamp zip files and ostensibly enthusiastic blog posts that seem to proclaim every half-assed side project as the best thing since Black Sabbath.” Why, we’d never!
Tähtiportti – Tähtiportti Review
“So, do you know anything about techno? What you’re about to read is a review of an album as far removed from metal as anything that ever appeared on Angry Metal Guy. There are only two, minor and farfetched at that, connections between Finland’s Tähtiportti and metal.” Admit it, you like techno. Bats and ants and bats and ants!
Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Mantar – Death By Burning
“Say what you will about the quality of metal in 2014, there was certainly no shortage of impressive debut offerings from hungry up and comers led by killer full-length debuts from Artificial Brain, Black Crown Initiate and Dreamgrave. Another band that released a stellar first effort worthy of your time and cash was Hamburg-based duo Mantar.” We missed this, and it never stops hurting.
Callisto – Secret Youth Review
“Post-metal had something of a heyday in the last decade, with seemingly everyone on the Internet gushing over Isis’ Panopticon, Neurosis’ Given to the Rising, and whatever Cult of Luna and Pelican were up to. While there’s still quality post-metal coming out today (The Ocean’s Pelagial in 2013, Beak’s debut last year), I think it’s safe to say the genre is no longer as in vogue as it once was.” And if you don’t have vogue, what do you have?
Bog Oak – A Treatise on Resurrection and the Afterlife Review
“There are many things one can do in 20 minutes. Cook a frozen pizza. Watch an episode of an over-produced and unfunny American sitcom. Slump idly while contemplating the ultimate meaninglessness and futility of life. Now Bog Oak are here to stake their claim on these precious minutes with their short but sweet début EP.” From the darkest depths of the cranberry bog comes this blackened doom act. Mmmm, cranberries.
Lotus Thief – Rervm Review
“I must admit I was pretty excited when I first read about San Francisco’s Lotus Thief, a duo consisting of musicians that are also members of Botanist. The promo blurb and various press snippets mentioned buzzwords like “space metal”, touches of avant-garde, and experimentalism which was enough to tickle my interest. Knowing how great the music from their other project was, I dug into Lotus Thief’s debut Rervm with a lot of expectations.” Expectations are a lot like chocolates. Too many make you die and otherwise ruin shit.
The Deathtrip – Deep Drone Master Review
“Ever since I picked up my first copy of Darkthrone’s Transylvanian Hunger, I’ve been in love with old-school black metal (even though it wasn’t “old school” back then). I’m not sure if it’s the satanic themes, the atmospheric tapestry of nonstop trebly guitars, the vicious/desperate vox, or my craving for the frozen, isolated terrain that personifies the genre so well (“cold” isn’t a word used in the southwestern United States).” It’s old, but is it still bold?
Sleep of Monsters – Produces Reason Review
“Remember Babylon Whores? No? Honestly my memory did require some jogging, but they were a rather good Finnish gothic rock band (yeah another) that released some underrated albums in the late nineties/early noughties before disappearing about ten years ago.” There’s nothing like some tasty, goth-rock stle metal! But does this have the right flavor?
