“And so emanates my refrain: 2015 was a shit year for metal. My colleagues, and you, reader, may disagree, but I stand firm in my ambivalence towards this year’s release schedule as a whole.”
Trials
Grymm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2015
“2015 has not been the best of years for yours truly, with car accidents, challenges, setbacks, and death upon death upon even more death dropped into my unwilling lap. I was ready to rain supernova-warm hellfire upon this calendar year, but thankfully, a much-needed vacation with friends just this past week helped to deaden the pain of all this negativity the year had brought upon me. Musically, it’s been quite positive and productive. October alone was a monster of a month for metal, as you can see by my list. So despite all the negative garbage, at least the soundtrack was incredible.”
The AMG Staff Picks the Top Ten Records o’ 2015: There’s No Accounting for Anything Anymore
“We’ve reached the end of 2015 and this year I’m personally editing these Top Ten lists. For the first time (ever) I am reading the production of the different writers we’ve assembled over the last few years. I am shocked. I am dismayed. I feel angry, offended, galled. But I am not surprised. Under Steel Druhm and Madam X‘s indulgent care and averted gaze the young Angry Metal Staffers have run amok. Alas, after having actually consumed of the words these gentlemen produce, I’m firing them all. It’s back to the drawing board: me, Steel Druhm, and as much metalcore as you can eat!”
![Battlecross – Rise to Power [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Battlecross_Rise-to-Power-768x768.jpg)
Battlecross – Rise to Power [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]
“It comes of no surprise to those of you restlessly commenting on EVERY FUCKING review, YMIO, and TYMHM article that I got truly thrashed this year. Being a product of the Bay-Area heyday, I haven’t had much fun with any of the modern thrash output storming the iTunes racks in the last decade or so. But 2015 gave me a few monsters I will love for eons to come.” The Doctor is a thrashard.
War Agenda – Night of Disaster Review
“As this year comes ever-closer to its conclusion, I couldn’t help but pull up last year’s picks for Records and Song ‘o the Year. It didn’t quite dawn on me that there isn’t a thrash album to be found on my list. In the grand scheme of things, this is not surprising being with the old-farts producing some real turds and the newbies re-hashing the old-fart’s classics. The year, however, harbors some thrash threatening to invade my end-of-the-year picks.” There is no safe harbor when re-thrash comes to call.
Record(s) o’ the Month – July 2015
July was a crazy month here at Angry Metal Guy studios. Not only did we have our best day ever (again), but we all agreed on what should be the Record o’ the Month for the first time in a very, very long time. There was little self-flagellation or—as the case usually is—n00b-flagellation. Instead, we all gathered around the fact that Angry Metal Guy‘s word is law. It’s nice when that’s the case, it makes a guy want to post the Record(s) o’ the Month a mite earlier than usual.
Trials – This Ruined World Review
“Trials’ lucky third record—This Ruined World—poses a problem. It is a unique, modern thrash album—and I don’t mean -core, seriously—with few peers and little grounds for reference in 2015. And Trials has been growing into this for some time. While I enjoyed the debut album Witness to the Downfall, I was floored by 2013’s In the Shadow of Swords, which hit the #3 spot on my Top 10(ish) of 2013, and which still ranks as one of the best records I’ve heard in the last 5 years. So This Ruined World comes with a world of expectations, so to speak.” Goddammit. Expectations can only lead to disappointment. Or can they…?
Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Hannes Grossmann – The Radial Covenant
For those who don’t know Hannes Grossmann, you probably do know the bands he’s been involved in. He’s got Obscura, Necrophagist, and Blotted Science on his “list of things that make me cooler than you,” and one can only guess that The Radical Covenant is the Obscura record we would have gotten if Grossmann hadn’t decided to quit. And while I’m a fan of Obscura, I felt the band nailed it with Cosmogenesis and I’m not a huge fan of 2011’s Omnivium (anymore). Ironically, Grossmann said in his parting message from the band that the musical difference between he and founder Steffen Kummerer was the reason that he left the band. Apparently Kummerer was more invested in a Cosmogenesis sound, which could leave one expecting, then, I shouldn’t like this record as much…
Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) o’ 2013
Angry Metal Guy is becoming an interwebs institution. You might not realize this, but this is my fifth Top 10(ish) Records o’ the Year since I started this as a lone Internet Metal Warrior back in 2009, reviewing for my literally dozens of readers, none of whom commented. Can’t believe it? Try these on for size. It’s impressive how far this little blog that could can come, and it’s amazing how much I used to review! Several CDs a week! Incredible. Anyway, the times they are achangin’, but the one thing that isn’t changing is that I have opinions and galldarnit, I’m going to tell you them.
Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) Songs of 2013
Every year we listen to a lot of music, and while some records might be superior, they don’t always contain the best songs. So, I started doing the “Top 10(ish) Songs o’ the Year” to point out the amazing songs that I love even if they come from records I don’t have to love. So here’s the first of my amazing Top 10(ish) lists from 2013. I’ll write a year-end look for my Top 10(ish) albums later, so without further ado…
