“I’d be lying if War Curse’s new offering didn’t take me aback. It is so different from anything they’ve done before that it took me a few spins to grasp. Like many bands before them, Confession will either be a stroke of genius or their weakest album.” Curse of evolution.
“It feels like only yesterday when you all hated me for giving such high praise to Crisix’s 2018 release, Against the Odds. I understand that everyone thinks Power Trip is god and everyone is getting tired of the Havok/Warbringer sound, so thrash is getting more and more difficult to get into these days. Thrash, with a modern touch, is even harder as it all seems to sound rehashed and repetitive. I’m not sorry I love the fun and upbeat character of Crisix. I’m not sorry ‘Perseverance’ and ‘Xenomorph Blood’ make me lose my shit. I’m not sorry Against the Odds made my list that year. I’m not sorry for my love of thrash. I’m not sorry for having such an exquisite taste. I’m not sorry for anything. OK… I am sorry you’re so dead inside that you can’t enjoy fun things. I’m also sorry for this: thrash veterans Psychosomatic and their newest release, The Invisible Prison.” No regrats.
![Ars Moriendi – La solitude du pieux scélérat [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/627020-768x768.jpg)
“I may drive like a twenty-year-old, dad-joke like a forty-year-old, but I’m as fit as a flabby sixty-year-old and as spry as a seventy-year-old. I have two cups of coffee and have diarrhea for the rest of the day and, two beers later, I’m drunk. Yet, with Angry Metal Age comes Angry Metal Wisdom. As well as a lot of annual visits from old friends to the old-people home. This year, visits came from Darkthrone, Kampfar, Rimfrost, Sorxe, Stormhammer, Via Vengeance, War Curse, Reign of Fury, Second to Sun, and others. One visit I was most excited about was from Ars Moriendi.” Olde habits.
“Name another site out there with writers hiding behind silly monikers whom you know better than your best friends. Name a site you dared to lean on, pouring your heart out in the comments, getting positive and uplifting responses when you needed them most. Name a site you’ve spent as much time debating, loving, and sharing music as you have on AMG. You can’t.” Truth telling.
The dusty plains of the 2018 thrash scene is a distant memory as we plunge forward with scary rapidness to the pointy end of the year. Thrash hasn’t exactly set the metal scene ablaze in 2019, however there’s at least been a string of solid and noteworthy thrash platters. Greek stalwarts Suicidal Angels return with another retro inspired batch of thrash anthems on seventh album, Years of Aggression.” Decades of aggression.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, being the child of the thrash era, I love when a song turns on end and a chugging lick crescendos into a neck-snapping attack. But, I also miss the days when a band could write a thrash classic that wasn’t waiting around for that mid-song savagery. War Curse also remember those good ol’ days. That’s why they gave us Eradication.” War Curse (and Pepperidge Farms remember).
![Lucis Absentia – Gehenna Gate [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucis-Absentia-Gehenna-Gate-01.png)
“I remember when I was first introduced to Cincinnati’s Lucis Absentia back in 2015. Only that wasn’t the name they went by. When Justin of War Curse first told me about them, they had a single EP under the moniker of Gomorrah. With the name change in 2016, the rumors of a full-length release began to whirl around the dark alleys of the underground. And, now, after three long years, Lucis Absentia’s debut record is here. And you, I, we are going in on Gehenna Gate at ground zero.” Gate creepers.
“Twenty-seventeen is turning out to be the year of thrash. On top of Kreator and Overkill, there’re new releases from Havok, Warbringer, Power Trip and, later this year, War Curse and Reign of Fury. In between all that, we also get a contribution from Australia’s own Harlott.” Thrash now comes with an extra “T” for added toughness.
“I have many friends that share my exquisite taste in music. If this were not the case, I would not have stumbled across Spellcaster and their newest release, Night Hides the World. Suggested to me by a member of War Curse, Spellcaster is a purveyor of the simple and the accessible. Fusing six-string details with strong vocals, these Portlanders combine Iron Maiden-esque hooks with Ghost-ish melody.” Metal friends beat Super Friends any day.
“Despite the general misconception from non-metal folk that our beloved art form is a one-dimensional game, in reality metal in 2016 is as wide-ranging as it’s ever been, offering a bevy of stylistic riches and impressive diversity in both the cultural and genre stakes. Death metal itself has morphed and mutated from its rank beginnings into a myriad of sub-genre offshoots to appease extreme tastes of all kinds.” At the metal buffet, would you find room for Verment on your plate?
