![Darkthrone – Astral Fortress [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Darkthrone_Astral-Fortress.jpg.webp)
“Darkthrone is the only early-days black metal band that’s kept me interested through the decades. In times when I care little for the vast majority of black metal releases, I’ll always give a new Darkthrone album a fair shake. That’s because over their 36-year career, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz always embraced change and took more risks than a degenerate gambler at a no-limits poker table in Macau.” Olde, colde, bolde.
![Sadist – Firescorched [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Sadist-Firescorched-01.jpg.webp)
“Nearly 30 years into their career, Sadist still manages to fly under the radar. For the olde and young who dig through the single-word glossary of 90s tech/prog/weirdo death metal, Sadist falls curiously along the progressive spectrum. True to the Italian horror spirit that Sadist embodies, their work tiptoes the line between abstract and abrasive to unsettling effect, and just plain meandering and ineffective.” Sadistic biscuits, firescorched.
![Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/a0216729942_10-768x768.jpg)
“Zeal & Ardor have always been a band of “buts” (with only one “t”!): individual songs have been great but previous albums haven’t quite coalesced into a consistent whole. The live show is fantastic but the energy is lost in the recording studio (compare the scintillating live performance of “Baphomet”—with its classic “Right hand up! Left hand down!” chorus—to the tame studio version). Their schtick of combining slave gospel with black metal is great but it’s also limited in its options and will become overdone soon. Which meant a great deal rode on their third album, Zeal & Ardor. Was the band going to fulfill its promise, or remain an interesting, if flawed, mishmash? A “but” band, if you will?” But rock.
![Wormrot – Hiss [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Wormrot-Hiss-01-2048x2048.jpg.webp)
“Time—Hiss took even more time than Voices. For 21 tracks that span 33 minutes, six years? Well, unlike Wormrotߵs last outing, Hiss, in the spirit of the full-color rendering that garnishes the cover, is lush, which is not a word we often associate with the furious and grinding arts.” What’s that noise??
![Cherd’s Raw Black Metal Muster [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GravePilgrim-MoltenHandsReachWest-768x768.jpeg)
“There are two types of people in this world: those who appreciate raw black metal, and those who live fulfilling lives with friends and careers and family who speak to them at holiday gatherings. I’ve declared my love of raw black metal here before, and since the advent of Bandcamp, the kvltest of all metal genres has become infinitely more accessible. Every year I wade through acres of tape hiss and tinny treble, looking for the half dozen or so raw black releases that rise above the buzzing tangle of cobwebs to rarified, putrid air, and this year, I’ve finally decided to document my findings.” Colonel Muster in the basement with a spiked club.
![The Chasm – The Scars of a Lost Reflective Shadow [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/the-chasm-scars-of-a-lost-reflective-shadow-768x768.webp)
“The Chasm have achieved legendary cult status in the death metal universe. Bursting on the scene way back in 1992, this Mexican act essentially took the blueprint from Possessed’s Seven Churches, slapped some early Mayhem insanity on top, and off they went into the swirling madness. An album from The Chasm is guaranteed to throw more wild riffs at you than a sane mind can process and you will be battered and bewildered by the twists and turns their trademark style takes.” Where the wild riffs grow.
![Gloson – The Rift [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/a3076198733_10-768x768.jpeg)
“Most sludge is boring. Repeating chords for an hour doesn’t make you ISIS, just like playing a 16-string guitar at 65,536 bpm doesn’t make you Archspire. Excellent post-metal requires even more self-control than other genres, since it needs to be repetitive but not dull, simple but not lazy, and creative but not flashy. Enter Gloson.” High glos.
![Gorotica – Morbid Menagerie [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Gorotica_1.jpg)
“Your beloved Aunt Maxine passed away after a long illness, and now the family faces a choice between two admittedly less-than-ideal options. Is it better for necrophiles to take their pleasure with what remains of the old gal, or for ghouls to cook her up into a delicious fricassée? The corpsefucking cannibals in Gorotica answer this question with an enthusiastic “por que no los dos?”” Corpus delickti.
![Brymir – Voices in the Sky [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Brymir-Voices-in-the-Sky-01-768x768.jpg)
“Sometimes, the music doesn’t click. On paper, it should be halfway up your alley before the first song is over. It’s the right genre, right ideas, right pace, but the shit thrown against the wall still slides off into the ooze of a thousand less-deserving records. Heretofore, that was Brymir. I wanted to like them; I should have worshiped them. But their first three entries of symphonic melodic death escaped me like self-awareness from your favorite black metal band. So why, oh why, should a tired wvrm limp out of the doldrums of exile to dump on a band he doesn’t really like?” Early Brymir gets the wvrm.
![Trollfest – Flamingo Overlord [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/817314-768x767.jpg)
At its root, Trollfest’s sound combines the “huumpa and the beast” formula popularized by Finntroll with the diverse musical influences and a willingness to expand into whatever style feels fun at the moment from DSO. But unlike aforementioned artsy (and potentially fartsy) Swedes, Trollfest pretty much sings about their collective alcohol problem (like Korpiklaani). And honestly, every time I listen to a new Trollfest album I ask myself the same question: “Why don’t I listen to these guys more?”
