“The forefathers of death metal were truly spoiled when it came time to come up with a kick-ass band name. The genre’s progenitors ran wild with synonyms for various acts of violence and bits of viscera (not to mention those nerds who pulled inspiration from Warhammer 40k), but when the thesaurus has fallen to tatters, where does a budding young death metal band pull its inspiration from?” How about Proust?
“There are one-man bands and there are one-man bands. Via Vengeance is the latter. Shane Ocell is not only the sole-instrumentalist of this Arizona-based doom band, but also performs guitar, drums, and vocals simultaneously. Yep, you heard me. The Via Vengeance live experience consists of Ocell sitting behind a kit, chugging away on a guitar, and belting out vicious incantations through his monitors. For this reason, Ocell’s songwriting is simplistic, proving that doom can be done well without over-the-top epicness.” One man, big doom.
“Not many people know Costin Chioreanu musician. Most metalheads know Costin Chioreanu artist. Since the artist appears to have quite the workload, it’s not surprising that the musician is an “ex” member of most his musical endeavors. Lucky for us, the musician is back with a debut full-length filled with unsettling avant-garde black metal.” Sounds suspiciously like another strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!
“When perusing the AMG Upcoming Crap We Need to Review List™ of new releases, it’s easy to judge bands based on their names. King Heavy and their self-titled debut album apparently fell into the doom metal category, and I immediately made the connection with King Giant’s recent release – the two similarly titled bands within the same genre would surely broadly equate and offer a convenient comparative review?” Nothing is as it seems on the Crap List.
“Admittedly, Valborg’s fifth full-length Romantik was selected for review by yours truly based solely on one thing: Valborg apparently sounds like Triptykon. I know; that’s not exactly the best approach when selecting a promo. However, being the fan I am of Tom G. Warrior Inc. (look no farther than my pick for 2014’s Album of the Year), how could I go wrong?” Did someone get trick-tykoned?
“Hailing from Chicago and proclaiming to be the purveyors of “martial black metal,” Kommandant don their Sunday best (consisting of black dress shirts and gas masks), raise banners and wind-torn blackened flags of time-honored propaganda, and set the rhythmic march to the local courthouse. Good thing I’m in no short supply of black button-ups.” Gas masks are very versatile from a fashion perspective.
“2015 has been the Year of Black Metal, hasn’t it? Coincidentally, it’s also the Year of the Goat in the Chinese Zodiac, so it would make sense.” A high tide raises all goats.
“This was a bear of an album to review. Let me elaborate a bit for clarification… it’s not just because Italy’s Mourning Mist are a new band with precious little background besides having bassist/vocalist Kvasir (also of Profezia and Abhor) in their ranks, as well as a violinist. Hell, violins in metal ain’t nothing new, right?” Not at all, but when will someone incorporate some balalaika?
“I’ll fully admit that I have a soft spot for fun in my metal. After all, a man can only listen to Ulcerate growl about entropy, Triptykon purging Tom G.’s demons, and Kvarforth whining about how long it took him to clean out his bathtub after his fateful promo video (I don’t speak Swedish, so this is conjecture) so much, and even though I greatly enjoy all of those artists and listen to their great work regularly, sometimes a change of pace is needed. Enter Alberta’s Striker, and their excellent third album City of Gold.” For the record, bathtubs are a real pain in the arse to clean.
“Man, so much has happened in 2014, aka my second year writing for Angry Metal Guy. Having my very own office away from the boiler room (which reeked of desperation, sadness, and decaying flesh… kinda like your local Abercrombie & Fitch with less Axe body spray), seeing familiar faces leave, welcoming in a new batch of talent… it’s been a pretty hectic year.” Grymm’s all grown up and has a man’s list! *Sniffle*…Where did the time go?
