“During my latest sojourn through the tepid waters we writers wade through to scoop up our latest promo, I encountered Stormbringer, the latest from French black metal outfit Conquerors. Confronted with Witch King-esque cover art, a Slayer-inspired logo and the knowledge that this was the band’s third full-length album, I was more than willing to give these Fenriz lookalikes a chance. Curse you, expectations.” No storm, no conquest.
Doom_et_Al and Dear Hollow have their big boy lists. Did they use that great power responsibly?
“In the early 2010s, powered by bands such as Deafheaven and Liturgy, “hipster metal” became the favorite pejorative for acts that thumbed traditional metal conventions. Embraced by the mainstream, many of these groups, unfortunately, just weren’t very good, which led to metal purists rejecting them. This resulted in said mainstream accusing said purists of being snobby gatekeepers. Cue lots of sulking, posturing and finger wagging. In among the noise, however, were some real gems that were unfairly tainted by the “hipster metal” label. Although less overtly “subversive” (read: “pretentious”) than their Brooklyn counterparts, Liturgy, Tombs weirdly found themselves in this boat with their excellent debut, 2011’s Paths of Totality.” Trend Tombs.
“Violence is as American as cherry pie, or so the great MLK Jr. once said. The genesis of this hunger for bloodshed has many roots, but an obvious one is the Wild West. A perfect storm of technological force, an insatiable desire for expansion, a fondness for guns, and laws that were… flexible. It was a violent time, and black metal is violent music, so it seems curious that these have never really been combined before.” of gunsmoke and corpsepaint.
“World’s Blood operates at a similar intersection of folk, atmospheric black metal, and progressive tendencies as Agalloch. I would make some terrible puns about if it can take up that mantle or if it would merely be a pale imitation of those folkloric influences but I won’t do so as a man of class.” Class is cancelled.
“I was impressed by Colorado’s Wayfarer on their debut. Their post-black metal was nuanced, densely textured and showed great maturity for a young band. I was eager to overlook the flaws since their base was sound, with such touchstones as Winterfylleth or Wildernessking. A year and a half later, Old Souls succeeds Children of the Iron Age in Wayfarer‘s discography….” And a much more jaded and cynical El Cuervo awaits.
“As the season to be jolly fast approaches, Colorado’s Wayfarer is here to bequeath unto us morose darkness-dwellers a jovial record of festive classics… or so you may think from the Christmas wreath on the album artwork. To the dismay of my planned seasonal merriment, what I actually found is a stellar record of post-black metal with deathy undertones – think Agalloch but with Primordial added for the extremity. Wayfarer is a young group with big plans, and Children Of The Iron Age is their first full-length foray into the sphere-obsessed world of extreme metal.” I think our obsession with spheres on metal albums has finally come to a middle.
