Warbringer

King Parrot – Ugly Produce Review

King Parrot – Ugly Produce Review

King Parrot make grindcore great again. At least that’s what I thought after first hearing the Australian quintet’s 2012 debut Bite Your Head Off, which bucked genre norms by fusing groovy aggression with honest-to-God vocal hooks and a “hip slumdog” attitude. In my review of 2015 follow-up Dead Set I referred to the band as the “Die Antwoord of grindcore,” and that remains one of my favorite analogies I’ve made at AMG to this day.” King for a day, grind for 12 minutes.

Dead Head – Swine Plague Review

Dead Head – Swine Plague Review

“I’ve liked Dead Head for nearly a decade, though I haven’t thought of them in nearly that long. During one youthful torrent rampage, I collected an album for every letter of the alphabet; 2009’s Depression Tank served as the D. Titillated by the delightful mix of Panzer riffs and bullet belts, I patiently anticipated a follow-up, my naive exuberance skating right over Dead Head’s spotty release pattern.” Plagues before Swine.

Distillator – Summoning the Malicious Review

Distillator – Summoning the Malicious Review

“Thrash has deflowered many a metal virgin over the years, myself included. As such, regardless of the modern state of the thrash metal scene, it’s easy to fall back into cozy nostalgia, despite my belief that the majority of thrash bands are caught in a perpetual loop of attempting to rehash the genre’s past glories and ’80s heyday rather than forging their own path of destruction. Pulling strands from the much pillaged Bay Area thrash scene of the ’80s, spiked with whiffs of old school Slayer and Destruction, Distillator go about their business with minimum fuss and plenty of throwback thrash attitude and tightly executed chops.” Distillation was never this heavy.

Warbringer – Woe to the Vanquished Review

Warbringer – Woe to the Vanquished Review

“Riding in the sizable wake of retro thrash darling Havok’s new album comes Warbringer, delivering Woe to the Vanquished, their fifth album of Bay Area inspired thrash. Over the course of their speedy career, Warbringer have been careful to conform their sound to what is considerable acceptable for the style, cleaving close to the Exodus, and Death Angel playbooks and eschewing pretty much every other influence.” Old thrash in a black coat.

Power Trip – Nightmare Logic Review

Power Trip – Nightmare Logic Review

“Remember the good old days when thrash spoke to every unhappy degenerate forced to take a piss as Big Brother stood by watching? It was a time when metalheads rose to the occasion, spoke to people better than even our greatest orators, and made a stand against crooked politicians. It was a time when being a rebel stood for something and tearing each other apart in circle pits and walls-of-death was the greatest form of therapy.” Some gave some, Doc gave more.

Kvelertak – Nattesferd Review

Kvelertak – Nattesferd Review

“Oh, Kvelertak. Five years ago and hot on the heels of their 2010 self-titled debut, it seemed the Norwegian sextet were the subject of every third MetalSucks post, and their wild live shows were the stuff of legend. In a metal scene curdling from years of cvlter-than-thou extremity, the group’s insanely catchy combination of blistering black metal, hooky arena rock, and party-hard attitude not only appeased metalheads with a repressed desire to let loose and rock out, but also broke through to listeners who seldom dipped their toes in the insular metal blogosphere.”

War Curse – Final Days [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]

War Curse – Final Days [Things You Might Have Missed 2015]

“What can be said about War Curse’s Final Days? Well, it’s the best Slayer album of 2015. Tapping into Slayer’s mid-paced, hard-hitting era, War Curse delivers deliberate crushers that are neither lightning speed or slow paced, ripping raw or polished piggery.” And the bar was set so high by the last Slayer album too!