The Black Dahlia Murder

Mors Principium Est – Dawn of the 5th Era Review

Mors Principium Est – Dawn of the 5th Era Review

“The first time I heard Mors Principium Est was at the end of 2012 when I discovered that they had been slotted to release their first record in five years in December. Somehow in the course of my metal journey I’d managed to miss a band that few have anything bad to say about. In fact, despite being a bit late to the scene—with a debut record in 2003—Mors is one of those bands that everyone I know seems to either not know or love. And AFM releasing your new record in December? Not helping. This time of year is when lists blossom and we bloggers start going through all the stuff we’ve heard and a lot of the stuff we haven’t: new records have trouble finding their way on to our radars in December. AFM seemed to be telling them: ‘No end of year lists for you.'” December? Must mean AFM is releasing a new Mors Principium Est record. AMG has the scoop.

Ichor -Depths Review

Ichor -Depths Review

“Take a close look at this album cover and you’re bound to notice that it looks exactly like every other goddam modern death metal band’s album cover. This is no coincidence, seeing as an impressive chunk of death metal releases over the past decade have all been painted up by one man: Pär Olofsson. The guy’s website is a bizarre who’s who of modern death metal covers stripped of their identifying characteristics, so that any metalhead worth keeping around can have fun rattling off artists and titles as the paintings scroll by. Ichor are his latest patrons, and, in continuance with modern death’s gore/symmetry fetish, he felt compelled to draw them some purple tentacles for Depths.” Do Ichor’s purple tenticles wrap themselves around, and get their death-like grip on Kronos?

Tribune – Tales Review

Tribune – Tales Review

““Progressive death metal” is a phrase full of lush semantic promise for me. Those three words hold the suggestion of an interesting and diverse palette of sound, with enough nuance to be respectable and enough hard-hitting and energetic release to satiate my almost masochistic desire to headbang. Sadly, the suggestion is all too often a bit misleading – as bands fail to deliver compelling songs amidst the interwoven forest of off-kilter rhythms and odd, but uninspiring tonalities. The very promise of difference all too often homogenizes the genre through an arms race for musical novelty and this prevents artists from forming a distinct identity. Identity is something Vancouver’s Tribune certainly isn’t lacking in; they’re decidedly not a copycat and their second album Tales is one of the most distinctive records I’ve heard this year.” Promises, promises, promises, that’s what tech-death means to our man Kronos. But can Tribune live up to their promises (and promise)?

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Labyrinth Review

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Labyrinth Review

Labyrinth is 2013’s incarnation of Fleshgod’s neo-classical death metal. Once again, Labyrinth is not a clone of the band’s previous work, but instead it seems to be Fleshgod’s attempt to reach a happy medium between Agony and Oracles, musically.” Angry Metal Guy weighs in to wordily explain how he feels about the latest slab of orchestral tech death from Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse. When we say wordily, we really mean it. Like a thousand freaking words just telling you what he thinks of this album. It’s kind of ridiculous really. No one should spend that much time writing about an album. Who the hell does he think he is?

Record(s) o’ the Month – June 2013

Record(s) o’ the Month – June 2013

I’ll admit it: June was better than much of the year before it. I mean that as in: June produced more records I really like than the entire month before it in almost its entirety. It gave us great releases from Amon Amarth, Autopsy, Summoning, Locrian, Author & Punisher, Svart Crown, Queensrÿche, Black Sabbath, White Wizzard (no accounting for taste, as they say), and last (but certainly not least) The Black Dahlia Murder. That’s a list not to be trifled with. So let’s cut through the bullshit and hand out the award for Record o’ the Month!

Happy Metal Guy Comments: On The Carry-Over Effects in Music-Reviewing And Other Scientific Mumbo-Jumbo

Happy Metal Guy Comments: On The Carry-Over Effects in Music-Reviewing And Other Scientific Mumbo-Jumbo

“I guess you could say this is Happy Metal Guy’s version of Angry Metal Guy’s well-known article on objectivity mixed with Steel Druhm’s rant about the trials of a music reviewer. In research methodology, there is a phenomenon called “carry-over effects”. This refers to the problem of a previous experimental treatment’s effects on research subjects carrying over to the next experiment the subjects are participating in, which is likely to confound the results of that experiment.” In one of the strangest posts ever at AMG, Happy Metal Guy dons a lab coat and attempts to redefine the ongoing struggle for reviewer objectivity through the prism of science, scientology, phrenology, eugenics and other illegal human experimentation. In short, he aims to blind us all…with (junk) SCIENCE!

The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack Review

The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack Review

The Black Dahlia Murder were on a downward slope, succumbing to Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™ with every step when Deflorate was released. The album was bordering on “nothing special,” and a record that probably didn’t make many End o’ Year Lists from that year or rank anywhere near Unhallowed or Nocturnal on lists of what TBDM’s best record was. So, as fans of this blog know, Ritual’s release was a gigantic step for The Black Dahlia Murder. It was an album that truly revolutionized the band’s sound, gave them a fresh start and blew my fucking mind. It should not be understated the seriously epic shift in feel and writing between Deflorate and Ritual, and the result is maybe one of the biggest swings for me in terms of excitement about a band’s forthcoming work that I can think of. A new TBDM record was becoming routine; Ritual proved that it was anything but.

Persefone – Spiritual Migration Review

Persefone – Spiritual Migration Review

Persefone is in a bit of a strange position; a darling of the underground progressive metal scene, while still not being particularly well known. Formed in 2003, these Andorran prog metallers have a sound deeply influenced by the ’90s melodeath, progressive black and prog scenes including Opeth, Borknagar, Arcturus and Symphony X. In 2004 they released their debut record Truth inside the Shades and followed up quickly in 2006 with the epic Core. But it wasn’t until 2009 when Persefone blew the world of progressive metal up with Shin-Ken. The record was long, in-depth and gripping — with a unique sound palette that still hit home with metal fans. Technical, sprawling and unique Shin-Ken set the bar for Persefone tremendously high.

Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Genres as Pejoratives

Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Genres as Pejoratives

A really curious thing happens from time to time that I think it’s time to comment on. Because we all (that is, those of us who read and/or write AngryMetalGuy.com) love heavy metal, we all essentially draw boundaries for it. It all depends on your perspective, but largely we say that one thing is metal and another thing is not. We make fun of the things we find to be not metal and we praise (and often deify unnecessarily) that which we find to be super metal. This is not a surprise. In fact, I’d guess that it’s a natural part of the human brain: we group things and put them in their place so as to better order our world. We also use cognitive short cuts in order to reach conclusions about the vast seas of information that exist outside of our existence.