Ulcerate

Kronos’ Top Ten(ish) of 2016

Kronos’ Top Ten(ish) of 2016

“This being a Kronos feature, I must first launch into a brief and hateful tirade against an absurd and laughably incompetent enemy. Towards that end, I’d like to alert an Angry Metal Guy staffer that we are now officially beefin’. And that staffer is… 2015 Kronos.” War inside his head.

Dormant Ordeal – We Had It Coming [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

Dormant Ordeal – We Had It Coming [Things You Might Have Missed 2016]

“Since first cozying up to Dormant Ordeal one sleepy summer Saturday, the thundering masterclass has hardly left my rotation. Perhaps not the finest death metal to ever emigrate from Poland, We Had It Coming nonetheless evokes a primal emotion that renders it impossible to extract rational thought from the perpetual desire to blast this savage motherfucker from the rooftops.” But that might scare away Santa!

Record(s) o’ the Month – October 2016

Record(s) o’ the Month – October 2016

“We predicted October would be a sticky wicket of a month for the put upon electors of Best in Show, and it certainly was. Any number of killer platters could have been hoisted overhead and declared the new Golden Calf without damaging our enormous metal cred and everyone had their own personal favorite clutched tightly to their steely bosoms. So how did we decide?” Civics lessons for free, only at AMG!

Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis Review

Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis Review

“God is dead, but what can be done once the corpse is buried? Just to the left of nihilism, HP Lovecraft staked out a territory where divinity was absent and mankind insignificant, battered by forces beyond time and comprehension. Anti-christian, nihilistic, and cosmicist themes have all long been staples of metal, both lyrically and musically – but after decades the fear is gone; the well dry and the water stagnant. To reach ever greater extremes, these tropes must be transcended. Ulcerate did so.” Look busy, the abyss is watching.

Phobocosm – Bringer of Drought Review

Phobocosm – Bringer of Drought Review

“One of the complications of writing about and conceptualizing metal in the past – well, almost a decade – has been the music’s incredible diversity and availability. With bands able to record and distribute music so easily, scenes and trends have become less important and less centralized. Sure, there’s been a huge interest in nostalgia-core – occult rock and retro-thrash albums arrive in AMG’s inbox monthly – but it’s doubtful that in 2026 we’ll think of the first half of the ‘teens as being dominated by musical throwbacks. Metal as a whole lacks a zeitgeist, and in some ways that’s frustrating, because it’s hard to keep up with such a decentralized and broad genre – but death metal, as a smaller and more manageable entity, does indeed seem to have direction.” And that direction is interesting indeed.

Ad Nauseam – Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est [Things You Might have Missed 2015]

Ad Nauseam – Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est [Things You Might have Missed 2015]

“Earlier this year, Grymm called Imperial Triumphant’s incredible sophomore effort Abyssal Gods “the best French black metal album in recent history” and lauded the half-Pyrrhon band as the new bringers of discomfort and disgust, mixing Obscura-influenced death metal with atmospheric black metal and the occasional ukulele. They’re not alone.” Using sickness as salvation.

Obscene Entity – Lamentia Review

Obscene Entity – Lamentia Review

“Competition arises in the strangest places, and one of them is at the buffet. In eternal struggle of trying to cost the restaurant more than the ludicrous bill you’ll receive, there are three main strategies you can employ. First, eat a reasonable amount of the most expensive stuff. Second, sample a pinch of a large variety of foodstuffs and hope the numbers work out. Third is the dining equivalent of scorched earth policy, characterized by indiscriminate gluttony and staunch looks of disapproval from the wait staff and eventually your family or friends with whom you came. This method ensures a win, but at what cost?” Unbuckle the belt and prepare for stuffing.

Apparatus – Apparatus Review

Apparatus – Apparatus Review

“Grab your plush Cthulhu, throw away your textbooks on Euclidean geometry, pack a few snacks, and look reanimated, folks: the Dissonance Train to R’lyeh with a temporary stop in Obscura-ville is now boarding. If there are two things that seem to captivate plenty of minds in modern metal on the extreme side of the fence, they’re H.P. Lovecraft stories and how to translate the outer reaches of sanity into music via an incredible amount of dissonance.” Cthulhu 2016.