Judicator remain a reliable band for fans of quality, USDA Choice Power, while managing to streamline their songwriting approach. The orchestral grandiosity of Blind Guardians meets the rabid thrashing of Iced Earth, but this time around there’s a more straightforward, heavy metal sensibility not unlike genre titans Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. Gone are the long, experimental windings of The Majesty of Decay, and in their place are truncated song structures, sharpened riffcraft, and a renewed focus on powerful, hooky choruses. Yellend’s bright tenor carries the brunt of the workload here, shining in the barreling, traditional power metal moments (“Call Us Out Of Slumber,” “Concord”) but sounding slightly out of place in the slower, quieter passages (“Johannah’s Song,” “Hold Your Smile”). Yellend’s lyrics seem genuine, though, relating tales of lost valor (“Call Us Out Of Slumber”), the call of the wilderness (“Sawtooth”), the massacre at Wounded Knee (“Imperial”), and Cormac McCarthy’s harrowing epic Blood Meridian, an apt epilogue for an album about the scarring legacy of Manifest Destiny.

For all their pushing and rearranging of the genre envelope, Judicator are still a power metal band at the end of the day, and they shall be judged on the memorability of their hooks. I’m happy to report that after shying away from the magic of the chorus on The Majesty of Decay, the earworms have made a triumphant return. Singalong anthems pepper the album, less cheesy than the Italian variety and more like the unabashed brawniness of Manowar or last year’s Nemedian Chronicles (“Sawtooth,” “Hold Your Smile,” “Concord”). The riffs on Concord eschew the lightning-fast runs one might expect from Dragonforce-core and opt for a grounded, foot-stomping aesthetic that fits neatly into the album’s concept (“Imperial,” “A Miracle of Life”). Replayability is also helped by the album’s editing, running 51 minutes across 9 tracks, with a closing epic whose structure is well executed, justifying its runtime (“Blood Meridian”).

Concord feels like a turn in the right direction for Judicator, but it hasn’t fully avoided the pitfalls of its core genre. While the album is stuffed with some real crowd-pleasers, some songs don’t quite make the same impression as their brethren. The relentless major key optimism of “Johannah’s Song” feels like a musical idea that hasn’t been fully formed, and the narrative-dependent “Weeping Willow” never seems to find its footing. Tracks set up in a storytelling format often have clunky lyrics, a little too on-the-nose, and fall prey to power metal’s reputation for cringe (“Johannah’s Song,” “Weeping Willow,” “Hold Your Smile”). But Judicator succeed in channeling a genuine love for their genre on the lion’s share of Concord, and its hard to be untouched by their infectious enthusiasm.

Concord represents a laudatory return to form for Judicator. Cuts like “Call Us Out Of Slumber,” “Sawtooth,” and the embedded title track have monster choruses that threaten to secure slots on my SOTY playlist, and the album as a whole has the gift of memorability. While not breaking any new ground, it feels as if Judicator have finally found the feet to stand on since losing Cordisco, and not a moment too soon. Some may find the closing scene of “Blood Meridian”–ripped straight from the epilogue of the book–a bit hokey, but I think it sums up Judicator’s current state nicely. As the din of fiddles and revelry thickens, Judge Holden whips the bar patrons into an inebriated frenzy and repeats, endlessly, with a menacing snarl, “I will never die.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: WAV
Label: Self-Release
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: March 28th, 2024

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Isa sits at a crossroads. Under the tutelage of Dennis Reksten, who had teamed up with Enslaved at the ripe age of 50,¹ the past few albums received a smattering of spacey synth ambience that allowed Enslaved to explore a new dimension in their craft, culminating in 2003’s Below the Lights. But for Isa Enslaved looked to the electronic and crooning talents of Herbrand Larsen, a young audio engineer who had helped those same albums animate and glisten. The shift in personnel brought with it a shift in drama. Not to say that prior works had lacked that kind of tension, but with lesser Viking swagger,² Isa rolls in its atmosphere through alien soundscapes and vicious harsh vocal cut-ins, with Grutle Kjellson’s inimitable, phlegmy rasp sitting dead center between twisting guitar lines and Larsen’s background counterpoint. No matter how strange and beautiful, Isa remains rooted in the brooding nature of Enslaved’s wintery, black metal identity.

In a manner that eludes many who play for Enslaved’s crown, Isa boasts a brilliant and otherworldly sense of guitar tone that provides and slice and crunch to heroic compositions. Bolstered frequencies lift the snarl of creeping tremolo runs with the weight of Kjellson’s crackling howls into reckoning rolls of Heimdall-weighed power (“Lunar Force,” “Violet Drawing”). Harmonic, heavy-handed, trv metal chords crash down with a classic, grooving beat to swirl a patterned Norse fury among pained wails and into resplendent, progressive modulations (“Bounded by Allegiance,” “Return to Yggdrasil”). Still Enslaved finds a firm footing in black metal, forging Bathory-infused riffage with anthemic tension and classic head-stacked energy to break up any lull in mood that Isa’s narrative lilts present (“Isa,” “Secrets of the Flesh”). And when fresh-at-the-time axe-slinger Ice Dale (Audrey Horne) slips loose with treble-knockin’, tricky blues solos (“Bounded…,” “Neogenesis”), his free and flamboyant style oozes with charisma.

Isa’s breakout and break-though progressive escapades give it the full life force for which Enslaved had been aiming with their earlier experimentations. Though never quite as out there as Norwegian neighbors Borknagar or Arcturus, Enslaved sense of cinema expanded through Isa via bookend atmospherics (“Intro,” “Outro”) and similarly-toned chord reprisals that reinforce the empyrean vibrations throughout every track. The gentle piano punctuation on “Lunar Force” gives shimmering, moonlight assist to the already gothic allure of its foremost stride. You can feel the arena swing that the now legendary, leaned-back Dale supplies to “Isa” and “Bounded by Allegiance” part in reverence to chorus breakaways, harmonized chants, and fluttering acoustics, only to return with additional amplified impact—crushing and unified attack. Isa lives on the edge of crescendo, with its first potential peak (“Bounded…”) ending in a hard stop before yet another catastrophic riff climb, which allows its twelve-minute epic “Neogenesis” the proper environment to build, to soar, to entrance with the majesty that it should. While no strangers to epic narrative, Enslaved used Isa to cement their legacy as masters.

If you ask a dozen Enslaved fans who find their aughts work to be their pinnacle, you may not always hear Isa come out as the dominant choice and for good reason. Much of the songwriting flex that Isa showcases presents in different fashions on many of this celebrated band’s works in that time frame. Whether the stronger gallop of Below the Lights, the heavier-handed psychedelia of Monumension or Ruun, or the near pure progressive romp of Vertebrae, Enslaved has many faces that they’ve worn well and better than other bands. But Isa stands alone for me as the balance of collective visions in the form of a well-armored black metal warrior—an album worthy of adoration from diverse angles of metallic enjoyment.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Enslaved – Isa appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Rooted in the Scandinavian melodeath scene of olde, one might expect August Moon to be a mere revival of early Sentenced or Amorphis. Yet, there is more lurking in the shadows than meets the eye. August Moon blend black, thrash, and power metal with hints of 70’s rock, and even flashes of 80’s synth (“Journey to Other-Worldly Realms and Beyond”), to craft appealing, dramatic compositions that are both engaging and gratifying. Amongst Something Eldritch and Macabre’s core elements are swarming tremolos, Gothenburg harmonies, Hammond-style organ refrains, thrashy Omnium Gatherum-esque melodic hooks, proto-metal grooves, and power metal panache filtered through raw and unrefined production. Underpinned by Tom Hendriksson’s rock syncopations and boosted by great songwriting, Peter Viherkanto’s fiery shredding works in lockstep with Mikko Sorja’s sharp bass and demonic growls to render August Moon’s genre-bending arrangements.

Something Eldritch and Macabre’s success thrives on dynamic songwriting that balances ambition with restraint. Viherkanto’s creative riff craft frames gripping transitions, unexpected shifts, synth and organ overtures, and triumphant crescendos which balance tension and release. Soaring organ lines following heavy blasts in “Constellations Dislodged from the Night Sky” and driving thrash riffs amidst relentless tremolo in “As Cataclysms Swept Across the Cities,” create irresistible headbanging moments that highlight Something Eldritch and Macabre’s strength. Elsewhere, the familiar Gothenburg harmonies embedded within the bridges of “Exitus” or “Summoning of the Feathered Serpent” act to counterbalance the thrash-heavy staccato marches, menacing slides, and frequent stops and starts that resurface throughout the record’s nine tracks. Hendriksson’s measured strikes give Viherkanto’s fretwork space to flourish, employing stylish and inspired rock-centric syncopations with periodic blasts, gallops, and modest tom patterns that enhance August Moon’s tactful songwriting with a selective hand. Though precarious a line it may be to walk, August Moon avoids the pitfall of going for broke and risking Something Eldritch and Macabre becoming a haphazard mess.

But Something Eldritch and Macabre’s pacing falters early and stumbles late. Opener “In the Gallery of All Things Macabre,” and penultimate track “Something Eldritch Up in the Heavens Soon to Wreak Havoc Down on Earth” feel like underwhelming and ordinary bookends to an otherwise great album full of artistic vigor, while closer “The Vulture Stone (Pillar 43 to Commemorate the Apocalypse)” is an apathetic finale. Additionally, Sorja’s growls are jarring at times and struggle to find their place within a treble-heavy mix that lacks low-end heft. Exacerbated by inconsistencies with volume, the raw production would benefit from a more balanced mix to settle Sorja’s growls and give punch to Hendriksson’s kick. Nevertheless, August Moon maintains my interest thanks to the material’s powerful hooks coupled with its concise 39-minute runtime.

Something Eldritch and Macabre is a pleasant surprise and a strong way to close out the year. While production issues and a few weaker tracks evidence that some fine-tuning remains, August Moon’s songwriting and unique blend of aggression and melody give me everything I want in a melodeath record. August Moon has proven that their decades-long journey has been worth it, and this first offering has only whetted my appetite for more.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Personal Records
Websites: Too Kvlt for da Webz
Releases Worldwide: December 13th, 2024

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Choir is a one-man act from Singapore consisting of musician/producer The Choir, offering extreme metal dredged in obscurity and violence. At once blending the pulverizing weight of death/doom, the raw hatred of black metal, and the cavernous echoes of death metal, crammed to the brim with misanthropic dissonance, dense atmospherics, and vicious noise, the act can be compared to the likes of Impetuous Ritual, Infernal Coil, Menace Ruine, and Primitive Man, but with an interpretation of pain all its own. While 2021’s first full-length Songs for a Tarnished World introduced this noise, its follow-up Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence hones it, Choir’s sound achieves relentless devastation and palpable purpose. And it’s a damn shame it was released so late in 2024.

Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence consists of two twenty-two-minute songs, but the tracklist breaks them into three and four movements respectively – one of the few mercies you will receive listening to Choir’s relentless onslaught. Like 2024’s boundary-pushing Ingurgitating Oblivion, Choir combines the outer limits of extreme metal. However, contrary to the elegance, technicality, and grace of Ontology of Nought, Choir molds the festering and rotten loams of lumbering weight, blackened chaos, and ruthless dissonance into a lethal clay, encased in the thick grime of murk. Emerging like many-eyed and many-limbed creatures emerging from the muddy river, movements will sear themselves into your ears from out of nowhere, such as the Mitochondrion-esque chugging riffs (“Bring Them… I,” “Bring Them… III,” “And Sing… IV”), dizzying brain-bleeds and complete disintegrations into noise and dissonance (“And Sing… III”), full-on blackened assaults buried beneath the garbling Portal-esque weight of mud (“And Sing… I”), and ambient sprawls with a rotten hum and bilious distortion trembling beneath (“Bring Them… II”). Gorgeous synth melodies are sparse and stand in stark contrast during capitalizations of crescendos (“And Sing… IV”). While nonetheless bathed in the blood of distortion, they add a distinctly human feel that somehow makes the album much more punishing by contrast while also providing a jagged light at the end of Choir’s pitch-black tunnel.

Choir has accomplished an insane feat, creating an experience that balances haunting hypnotism, primitive ritualism, and cutthroat punishment in its misanthropic blend of extreme styles. Simultaneously a thunderously colossal and lumbering beast and a hateful specter with teeth of lightning, Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence is a portrayal of divine smelt, god silt, and blasphemous murk. Molten and filthy, hypnotic and punishing, Choir is an easy triumph for year-end lists had it been released earlier.

Tracks to Check Out: “Bring Them Tired Ashes to the Black Waters,” “And Sing an Anthem for the Famine”

The post Choir – Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence [Things You Might Have Missed 2024] appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Seeing as how it’s already almost February, you must be wondering why we’re still talking about shit from 2024. Not that I have to explain myself to you, but I didn’t give my minions grueling tasks just so that I could not take the glory for their labors. That wouldn’t embody this blog’s continual aspiration of being terrible capitalists! And so, we press on, searching and rescuing worthy—but not too worthy—pledges for the barbaric, Hunger Games-esque event that is Stuck in the Filter.

BEHOLD! Gaze upon these late-year candidates with the appropriate levels of awe, ye ov little consequence!

Kenstrosity’s Wintry Wonders

Caelestra // Bastion [December 13th, 2024 – Self Release]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For this sponge, I know something is beautiful when it ensnares me into otherworldly environments unlike those which mirrors terrestrial mundanity. UK post-metal one-man act Caelestra specializes in such ethereal worlds, with debut record Black Widow Nebula catching my attention under its blazing miasma of Countless Skies lushness, Astronoidal optimism, and Dreadnought-esque compositional vibrancy. Follow-up Bastion treads much the same path, but with an added emphasis on cathartic spells of intensity reminiscent of current Irreversible Mechanism (“Finisterre”), Kardashev (“Soteria”), or Devin Townsend (“The Hollow Altar”). Balancing these potentially disparate references, mastermind Frank Harper’s compositions flow with an uncanny smoothness without falling into a pit of homogeny. Bastion thereby represents a varied and textured affair built upon compelling guitar leads, unexpected riffs, multifaceted vocal techniques, and athletic percussive movements (“Finisterre,” “Lightbringer,” “The Hollow Altar”). Choosing the long form as Caelestra’s primary vehicle for this musical journey only deepens the experience, as each act offers a wide spectrum of moods, a rich tapestry of characters, and a lush layering of story to enrich any listener’s journey through Bastion (“Lightbringer,” “Eos”). Yet, the whole coheres tightly into a memorable and accessible forty-eight-minute span, easily replayable and effortlessly enjoyable. That, more than anything, makes Bastion a neat little triumph worth checking out.

Earthbound // Chronos [November 26th, 2024 – Self Release]

I have the honor of claiming this find all to my own—something that hasn’t occurred as often this past year as it has in those preceding. Bristol’s Earthbound offer a particular brand of melodic death metal that I want to love more often than I actually do, but they checked all my boxes here. Occupying a space somewhere between Amorphis, Countless Skies, and Dark Tranquillity, Earthbound’s style is simultaneously effervescent, introspective, and crushing on debut record Chronos. Boasting chunky riffs, soaring leads, classic melodeath rhythms, and buttery-smooth baritone vocals, Chronos throws blow after blow for forty-nine minutes of high-engagement material. Looking at standout tracks “A Conversation with God,” “The Architect,” “Cloudburst,” “Aperture,” and “Transmission,” Earthbound’s compelling songwriting tactics and knack for a killer hook recall underappreciated gems by modern contemporaries Rifftera and Svavelvinter. Some of their most accessible moments almost, but not quite, veer into pop-levels of accessibility, further accentuating Earthbound’s infectious energy (“Change,” “Flight,” “Transmission,” “Chasing the Wind”). This works marvelously in Earthbound’s favor, not only making Chronos a joy to listen to in its own right but also impressing me with how polished and professional the band is with only one full-length under the belt. Don’t let this one fall through the cracks!

Flaahgra // Plant Based Anatomy [November 15th, 2024 – Self Release]

WWWWOOOOOORRRRRRMMMHHHHHHOOO… wait, what? Oh, no, this is Flaahgra. But, the riffs sound like my beloved Wormhole! What’s going on? Oh, well this explains it. Sanil Kumar of Wormhole fame is responsible for Plant Based Anatomy’s guitar work. Rounded out by Tim “Toothhead” Lodge (bass), Chris Kulak (drums), and Anthony Michelli (vocals), this Baltimore quartet concoct a fast-paced, riff-burdened blunderbuss of gurgling vegan slam meatier than the fattest flank this side of Texas. It may be based around plants (and Metroid), but there are enough muscular grooves, neat lead work, and boisterous percussive rhythms here to keep even the most ravenous death fiend stuffed to the stamen (“Blood Flower,” “Toxic Green Fluid,” “Solar Recharge,” “Plant Based Anatomy”). Oversaturated with killer hooks, Plant Based Anatomy feels every bit as headbangable as this group’s pedigree indicates, but their application is delightfully straightforward, allowing Sanil’s standard-setting slams to shine brightest (“Plant Based Anatomy,” “Garden Cascade,” “Venom Weed Atrocity”). At a lean twenty-five minutes, Plant Based Anatomy rips through my system as efficiently as any grease-laden, overstuffed fast-food chimichanga, leaving just as vivid an impression in its wake. If there was ever a quick and easily digestible example of what differentiates really good slam from two-buck upchuck, Plant Based Anatomy is it. FFFLLAAAAHHHHGGGRRRAAAA!

Tyme’s Time Turners

Solar Wimp // Trails of Light [November 15th, 2024 – Self Release]

The richly dense knowledge and tastes of the commentariat here at AMG are a marvel. And despite the long hours of hard work the staff put in writing and keeping Redis at bay, not to mention the gut-wrenching task of pumping the n00b sump pit every Friday¹ we continue to scour tons of promo to bring you the best and the rest of all things metal(ish). Invariably, some things trickle up from our most precious readers that deserve more attention than a few rando comments and respects. Such is the case with L.A.’s Solar Wimp. It was during my most recent stint in² continued n00bdom that I scoped one of our commenters pimping the Wimp‘s who released, sadly to me now, their last album, Trails of Light, in November. As my ears absorbed the immediately quirky dissonance of the opener, “Entwined with Glass,” I was reminded of how blown away I was upon hearing Jute Gyte for the first time, this more due to my un-expectations than anything else. What followed was a journey I happily embarked on through fields of saxophonic freedom (“Strand and Tether”) and forests of long-form avant-garde brilliance (“Shimmer”). The black(ish) metal vocals and tech-jazz guitar histrionics of Jeremy Kerner, combined with Justin Brown’s bassinations and Mark Kimbrell’s drums, imbue so much passion into the music on Trails of Light, it has me guessing Solar Wimp may have very well saved their best for last. While I’m sure you’re ready to move on from 2024, I’d encourage you to dip back into last year’s well for a bit and give Solar Wimp’s Trails of Light a listen or five.

Thus Spoke’s Fallen Fragments

Yoth Iria // Blazing Inferno [November 8th, 2024 – Edged Circle Productions]

Yoth Iria’s sophomore Blazing Inferno arrived with little fanfare, which is a shame because they’re very good at what they do. Their brand of Hellenic black metal even charmed a 3.5 out of GardensTale with their 2021 debut As the Flame Withers. The new album very much picks up where its predecessor left off, in musical content as well as the fact that Yoth Iria clearly have a thing for giant demonic figures dwarfing human civilization. In a refreshingly to-the-point format, the group³ serve up some solid, groovy Satanic triumphalism that belies the relatively diminutive breadth of the songs that contain it. With thundering drums (“In the Tongue of Birds,” “We Call Upon the Elements”), spirited guitar leads (“But Fear Not,” “Mornings of the One Thousand Golds”), and a collection of classic growls, ominous whispers, and cleans, Yoth Iria craft engaging and very enjoyable compositions. Tracks manage to hold atmosphere and presence without detracting from the dopamine-producing tremolo twists and wails of drawn-out melody (title track, “Rites of Blood and Ice,” “Mornings…”) that draw it all together. This is black metal that makes you feel good about allying with the light-bringer. Not in any highbrow way, of course, just with great riffs, the right amount of tension and nuance, and convincingly massive compositions that steer away from the overwrought and cringe-inducing. It’s just plain good.

Botanist // VII: Beast of Arpocalyx [December 6th, 2024 – Self-Release]

Though recorded all the way back in 2016, the music of Beast of Arpocalyx has not seen the light until now. The seventh installment in the esoteric, botanical saga, VII: Beast of Arpocalyx focuses on plants with mythological animal associations. In comparison to last May’s Paleobotany, this is the solo work of founder Otrebor yet the heart of Botanist’s music has never been compromised. The distinctive tones of hammered dulcimer, make the black metal ring—literally and metaphorically—with playful mysticism when they engage in chirruping and cheerful refrains (“Wolfsbane,” “The Barnacle Tree”) and a weird eeriness when they stray into the dissonant (“The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary,” “Floral Onyx Chiroptera”). Nothing is substantially different here, but Botanist’s style is an enjoyably quirky one that I, at least, am always happy to indulge in. In many ways, this is not far removed from raw black metal, with the prominent chimes of (not always tuneful) melodicism wrapping snarls and rasps in an iridescent veil that makes the psychedelic turns from whimsical peace to urgent and barbed blastbeat aggression (“The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary,” “The Paw of Anigozanthos”) very compelling, pleasant even. Yeah, it’s kind of weird to hear chorals or synths under blackened rasps and clanging drums, while a dulcimer warbles along. But when the weirdness nonetheless succeeds in developing an atmosphere and inducing a desire to garner a similarly obsessive knowledge of flora, I can’t really complain.

Killjoy’s Atmospheric Attractions

Nishaiar // Enat Meret [December 5, 2024 – Self-Release]

2024 may technically be over, but there were a few releases in December that keep dragging my attention back to last year. First up is Nishaiar from Gondar, Ethiopia, whose sound resides at the unlikely intersection of traditional Ethiopian music, post-black metal, and Enya-style New Age. Coming off an arduous release schedule that yielded an EP and 5 full-lengths in only 4 years, Nishaiar took some extra time to recharge since Nahaxar in 2021. The results are readily apparent–Enat Meret features some of the punchiest material the band has written to date. “Yemelek” combines folk instruments, vibrant male chanting, and rending screams. An important element that elevates Enat Meret is the addition of a full-time female vocalist, whose moniker also happens to be Enat Meret. Her voice ranges from ethereal (“Idil”) to wistful (“Enat Midir”) to commanding (“Beheke”). There is some bloat—intro track “Semayawi” repeats itself for too long and “Awedal” through “Alem” leans too hard into atmosphere to be suitable for active listening. Even so, this is an album unlike any other you’re likely to hear anytime soon.

Atra Vetosus // Undying Splendour [December 20, 2024 – Immortal Frost Productions]

Next up is Atra Vetosus, who came to me by way of rec-master TomazP. Undying Splendour is a captivating work of atmospheric black metal that tempers the wanderlust of Skyforest with the melodic trem-picked fury of Mare Cognitum. It’s stuffed with triumphant, uplifting guitar melodies that contrast compellingly with mournful, anguished shouts and screams. Like a flowing stream, the graceful orchestrations smooth out any rough edges in their path, pairing exceptionally well with the rhythm section in the intro of “Forsaking Dreaded Paths.” The brawny bass lines throughout the album add satisfying oomph and the drumming is constantly engaging with lots of fleeting tempo shifts (“This Fallow Heart”) and expansive tom rolls (“Elysian Echoes”). Atra Vetosus have perfected the difficult art of long-form atmoblack—all the proper songs on Undying Splendour are between 7 and 11 minutes long and, crucially, feel purposeful without meandering. Though atmoblack is often maligned, I’ll happily get behind Atra Vetosus as one of the new standard bearers of the genre at its very best.

Skagos // Chariot Sun Blazing [December 21, 2024 – Self-Release]

They say that good things come to those who wait. Skagos makes an excellent case for this expression with Chariot Sun Blazing, an appropriate title given the tremendous glow-up that the atmospheric black metal group underwent since releasing Anarchic in 2013. While their woodsy black metal has always maintained similarities with the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room (who are also based in Olympia, Washington), this time around the music is infused with a real live string quartet and a two-horn section⁴. The effects of this additional instrumentation run way more than skin deep; Chariot Sun Blazing feels and flows like an actual symphony. For instance, the combination of the Wagner tuba with guitar plucking in the beginning of “Which in Turn Meet the Sea” evoke a misty morning which gradually warms up with guitar and string crescendos to thaw the leftover frost. The compositions are introspective and intimate, which is refreshing when compared with the usual grandiosity and bombast of symphonic music (metal or otherwise). While there’s nothing wrong with the raspy vocals, this is a rare instance when I would be completely okay if this were an instrumental album. This is an experience absolutely not to be missed.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Late-Blooming Bustles

Alarum // Recontinue [November 8th, 2024 – Self Release]

So many bands in the progressive and technical lanes forget to have fun. Not long, unheralded Australian prog/thrash/jazz fusion-heads Alarum, though. Truth be told, I had forgotten this band existed sometime before their 2011 release Natural Causes all up until about September of 2024 when I caught wind of this new release, Recontinue. Their oddball, heavily Cynic-inspired 2004 opus Eventuality… had stood the test of time in my archives plenty for its wild fusion antics woven into a riff-tricky, bass-poppin’ technical platform. And here, twenty years later, little has changed at Alarum’s foundation. A few things have shifted for the better, though, namely Alarum finding a more balanced resonance in production brightness and clarity, which helps highlight the flirtatious bass play of tracks like “The Visitor” and “Footprints” come to life. Additionally, this crisp and cutting mix allows the joyous neoclassical shredding escapades to carve a blazing path toward textures and alien warbles with a Holdsworth-ian charm (“Zero Nine Thirty,” “Awaken by Fire”). But, most importantly, Alarum continues to bring an ever-shuffling thrash energy similar to early Martyr works (“Imperative,” “Unheard Words,” “Into Existing”) while continuing to remember to toss in off-the-wall detours, like the funk-wah intro of “A Lifelong Question” or the bossa nova outro of “The Visitor.” Recontinue, as a late-career release from a continual dark horse from the land down under remains a consistent joy for the ears. If you’ve never heard Alarum to this point, and you’ve always wished that a jazzy, Cynic-inspired band would come around with a more metal attitude than the current trajectory of their inspirations, get Recontinue in your ears as soon as possible. And if, like me, you’ve fallen of the righteous path, know that time can correct all sorts of silly mistakes.

Gorging Shade // Inversions [November 11th, 2024 – Self Release]

With a sound that is as otherwordly and looming as it is terrestrial and bass-loaded, Gorging Shade has taken a vigorous and shaking progressive death metal form. The proficiency with which every performer weaves disparate melodic lines through echoing, ghastly samples and chaotic, witchy background chatter does not come entirely as a surprise, as the entire roster consists of the members of instrumental progressive act Canvas Solaris. Mood, atmosphere and a bellowing howl, though, separate this incarnation of Georgia’s finest. But the eerie space that Inversions inhabits too has manifested as a collective of talents on display with another offshoot from this act, the dark industrial Plague Pslams (composed of bassist Gael Pirlot and drummer Hunter Ginn, who also currently plays with Agalloch). As an experience layered between the history of sounds these tech wizards have created, Inversions lands dense and challenging. At its core, a rhythmic stomp propels each of its tracks alongside percussive riffs that echo the constant motion of Cynic, the blackened scrawl of Emperor, and the melancholy triumph of Ulcerate swells. But in a package uniquely Gorging Shade, a world emerges from each carefully constructed narrative. Sometimes energy rushes forth (“Disease of Feeling, Germed”). At others, noises creaking and crawling lay teasing grounds for careful exploration (“Ordeal of the Bitter Water,” “A Concession of Our City to Modernity”). Whatever the mode of attack, Gorging Shade delivers in a classic and meticulous wall of sound—perhaps a touch too volume-loaded on occasion—that hits first in waves of melodic intrigue, second in aftershocks of plotted and studied efforts. Its later in the year released may have kept Inversions’ treasures more hidden than I would have liked. The beauty of music, of course, is that we may sit with it as little or as long as we wish to parse its tireless arrangement.

The post Stuck in the Filter: November and December 2024’s Angry Misses appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Thirty years is a long time to spend brewing up a debut album, but for Sweden’s

Moondark trades the HM2 pedals and melodicism of their day jobs for a pummeling, straightforward death-doom style on The Abysmal Womb. Solo-less and stripped of technicality as it is, the simple harmonized leads layered over crushing power chords rend the ears and do most of The Abysmal Womb’s damage. Johan Jansson’s and Mattias Norrman’s deliberately restrained yet devastating guitar work conjures strong Bolt Thrower vibes (“Suffer the Dark,” “Infernal Genocide”), as well as whiffs of Bloodbath (“Palliative Dusk”) and sludgy sprinklings of early Crowbar (“Sterile Earth”). Combined with Allan Lundholm’s beefy bass lines and Kennet Englund’s crushing drums, Moondark leaves listeners battered and bruised, as if having survived a ruthless session of sledgehammer flagellation.

Don’t let its near holiday release fool you, there’s no joy within the cavernous confines of Moondark’s creation. The Abysmal Womb’s opening salvo is a one-two punch to the solar plexus and the album’s highlight. “Where Once Was Life,” with its almost Cathedral-esque doom bluesy swagger, will have your head bobbing and your face stanking while the dismal dirge of follow-up “Suffer the Dark” steamrolls you into submission under tank treads of skull-crushing riffs. You’ll be left pining for General Willets and his army of Warmasters to come to the rescue as The Abysmal Womb continues to march, one boot-stomping riff after another. Decimating the last bastion of hope then, and perfectly placed in Peter Bjärgö’s warm and hearty mix are the brutishly discernible growls and icy rasps of vocalist Alexander Högbom, whose Peter Tätgren-does-Ofermod delivery solidifies the relentless atmosphere Moondark is trying to achieve.

However, as The Abysmal Womb crawls past its midpoint, it becomes painfully clear that the horse has been annihilated, yet the beatings continue. Moondark’s firm commitment to plodding pace and nothing-but-bludgeoning riff patterns sees fatigue set in by the end of “Infernal Genocide,” rendering the remainder of The Abysmal Womb a nearly indistinguishable collection of mid-paced riffs as opposed to individually diverse songs. And while I wouldn’t categorize The Abysmal Womb as overtly bloated at just over forty-six minutes, it could benefit from some sloughing. The final track, “Immersed to Crypts,” is the prime example of trimmable fat; with its funeral-like pace and near eight-minute run time—two minutes of which are an ambient outro—spoiling what could have been a stronger outing had the album concluded with the title track.

Scouring the promo pit in December can be tricky, and if you asked me whether I’d enjoy an album made up entirely of mid-paced Bolt Thrower-core and “Eaten”-like Bloodbathery I would immediately tell you, “Hell yes!” But too much of a good thing can sometimes be too much. The Abysmal Womb is a good album, but it suffers under the weight of its commitment. With a dash of the speedy ferocity from Interment and a pinch of October Tide’s melodicism, Moondark might have a masterpiece in its future; the cachet of its members suggests as much. I just hope we don’t have to wait another thirty years to find out.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: moondark666.bandcamp.com | pulverised.bandcamp.com |
facebook.com/moondark666
Releases Worldwide: December 20th, 2024

The post Moondark – The Abysmal Womb Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

What tidings of 2024? The clearest message is one of death. No fewer than nine of the top ten awards, and all of the top seven, constitute death metal or death metal adjacency. Whether tunneling through the trenches (Kanonenfieber), slicing through a human abattoir (Aborted), staggering through disquieted exhaustion (Pyyrhon), or indulging in a spot of deicide (Ulcerate), this article demonstrates the many faces that death metal wore in 2024. So tight was its cadaverous stranglehold that I considered limiting this list to just the top ten to emphasize the power of death metal over the last twelve months. However, I’m unashamed to admit that the presence of a few of my own top ten albums over the #11-20 slots influenced my decision to extend it. A byproduct of this selfish maneuver is that a few other subgenres get a nod in what should be something of a summary of all types of metal from the year.

Interestingly, 2024 saw significantly less consistency across the aggregated favorites, as our writers allocated many fewer voting points across the top ten. Paradoxically, and despite the ubiquity of one subgenre in this aggregation, this indicates a broader spread of taste across the many releases cited in the season’s rankings – at least compared with prior years.³ I prefer this outcome to one of bandwagon-hoppers and hat-tippers, where our staff is compelled to include records popular across our central bloc.

I want to grant one final call-out for those records picked by at least five people but that were suppressed through low rankings such that they failed to reach this aggregation. 2024’s highlights include The Vision Bleak, Spectral Wound, Madder Mortem, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.⁴

–El Cuervo

#20. Nemedian Chronicles // The Savage Sword – “There is also a distinctly epic, cinematic quality that hearkens back to Bal-Sagoth’s overwrought storytelling. Between the propulsive riffs and sweeping melodies, I’m immediately absorbed into the experience with every listen” (Eldritch Elitist).

#19. Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – “From the sophisticated compositions to the entertaining story, and the exemplary instrumentation to the immaculate production, its knotty harmonization of death metal with progressive rock has the aura of perfection” (El Cuervo).

#18. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – “Hardcore-tinged technical death metal for fans of the discordant and the unorthodox, Infinite Mortality is supremely memorable not just for its sound, but for its infallible, hook-laden construction” (Kenstrosity).

#17. Dissimulator // Lower Form Resistance – “The exemplary instrumentation, chaotic energy, and technological feel make Lower Form Resistance sound like Voivod reinvented for the 2020s. In a sub-genre so preoccupied with rehashing old ideas – I do not accept that thrash metal must sound like 1986 – Dissimulator thrives by looking forward” (El Cuervo).

#16. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – “While it’s ‘merely’ black metal, its gorgeous melodies and shrilling tremolos showcase the genre at its finest… The most heart-rending record of 2024, Despondency Chord Progressions showcases the paralyzing power of music” (Maddog).

#15. Hell:on // Shaman – “Hell:on’s mix of death metal, throat-singing, ritualistic rhythms, and Eastern instrumentation makes me feel like I’m trapped within some infernal combination of a death metal concert and a Witcher III boss fight… No other album felt as spiritually dense to me in a year where I’ve fought to find my own personal peace” (Holdeneye).

#14. In Vain // Solemn – “The infinitely versatile vocal performances across the board are my favorite aspect, but Solemn ticks nearly every other box on my metal wishlist too. Catchy yet complex guitar lines, horn sections, a dreamy saxophone solo, string orchestrations… In Vain has perfected their sound” (Killjoy).

#13. Huntsmen // The Dry Land – “Every track is a journey in and of itself, and the diversity is immense. The Dry Land has become one of those albums where I can’t put it on without finishing it entirely; I’ll just keep going ‘Oh yes the next song has these awesome mournful vocals’ or ‘Ah here comes that mindblowing transition.’” (GardensTale).

#12. Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk – “Men Guðs hond er sterk is tight, it’s heavy—though not as heavy as its predecessor—but more importantly it’s complete and brilliant and my Record o’ the Year for 2024’” (Angry Metal Guy).

#11. Meer // Wheels within Wheels – “Wheels within Wheels is my new go-to album when things are bad—it is melancholic and angry, but also optimistic and hopeful, a delicate yet gorgeous balance that speaks to me… It’s like a hand outstretched, a friend with an ear always ready to listen.” (Twelve).

#10. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – [#3, #6, #6, #8, #9, #HM, #HM] – Only just nudging into the top ten by virtue of its seven list placements, Chronicles of Lunacy by Defeated Sanity is the standard-bearer for the death metal onslaught that follows. Forging a singular path that’s both punishingly technical and punishingly brutal, Ferox comments that “it takes extreme skill to weaponize the base and the stoopid this effectively. Defeated Sanity is more than up for the job.” Not only unique but uniquely consistent, Dolphin Whisperer likens the band to “an apex predator in the brutal death metal world. Defeated Sanity’s appearance arouses not questions of competency but rather calculations of the carnage wrought… Chronicles’ fangs glisten with an aged-imbrued tarnish, tearing at my flesh in every way I would expect.” Not all music can proclaim success through violence but Chronicles of Lunacy makes this its goal.

#9. Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – [#1, #1, #3, #4, #HM] – 2024 was an exciting time for Knoxville’s Brodequin, just as it was for the latest class of AMG n00bs. No fewer than two of our most promising suckers graduates picked Harbinger of Woe as their album o’ the year.⁵ Alekhines Gun eloquently describes how it’s a “glorious return for one of the brutal death forerunners… an artistic triumph, a masterclass in riff-craft and song assembly with the sole purpose of flattening the listener into eardrum-flavored toothpaste.” Tyme likewise highlights the guitars, emphasizing that “each brutal riff after riff after riff sated my thirst for emotional release this year and so I hail them, Brodequin, and their riffs.” And though Holdeneye doesn’t focus on the riffs, he nonetheless acknowledges Brodequin’s energizing impact: “Harbinger of Woe’s 30-minute runtime is so bludgeoning that my watch sometimes registers my listening sessions as cardio.” It was never so easy to get fit.

#8. Fellowship // The Skies above Eternity – [#1, #3, #3, #7, #8, #9] – I absolutely love the colorful, cheery presence of Fellowship among the burly death metal otherwise crushing this top ten. I even went to the (low) effort of generating this image to best visualize this association. The Skies above Eternity continues to offer some of the most uplifting and heartfelt power metal ever conceived. Noting its “fantastic songs and endearingly honest positivity,” Sentynel concludes that “there was pretty much no chance The Skies above Eternity wasn’t going to land high up my list.” Clinching his top spot, Eldritch Elitist reckons that the record “excels through consistency and conciseness. The band’s trademark earnestness, vulnerability, and impeccable sense of melodic craft can be felt in every second of the experience. This album may be a 4.0 in my brain, but it’s a 4.5 in my heart and a 5.0 in my soul.” You like joy right?⁶

#7. Iotunn // Kinship – [#1, #3, #4, #4, #8, #ish, #HM] – Dissatisfied with just one Angry Metal aggregated listing, the stand-out Iotunn return three years after their debut with an offering of progressive, melodic death metal. Kenstrosity takes a wide view over the album’s assets, being “the gorgeous compositions, ascendant guitar work, ridiculous replay value, and stellar vocals.” Despite these qualities, GardensTale recognizes that not all of these tracks were created equal. He opines that the lengthy closer is disappointing, but “the songwriting on the best couple of tracks here is simply unparalleled. ‘Mistland,’ ‘The Coming End’ and especially ‘Earth to Sky’ are just massive in a way few bands ever achieve.” Awarding his album o’ the year, Doom et Al rejects the criticism that Kinship is too long; “the songs are exactly as long as they need to be… The result is ethereal, complex, spiritually satisfying prog-death.”

#6. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – [#1, #1, #4, #4, #7, #HM] – The mighty Kronos may be dormant but his legacy remains through reverence for Pyrrhon. Exhaust boasts an “off-the-deep-end brand of experimental death metal” that is “mellifluous and disgusting, rifftastic and immersive” (Maddog). It’s an arcane, impenetrable sort of music, with Dolphin Whisperer articulating this better than I ever could: ”Exhaust demands attention from its initial irony-laced lift-off to its closing brutalist clock-out, swinging skronk-enabled splatters and ache-addled vituperation around every faded line and pothole in its death metal architecture.” Both he and Felagund awarded it their album o’ the year, though the latter focused on its potent theme: “on an album that thoroughly explores the universal theme of exhaustion, be it physical, mental, social, or economic, Pyrrhon’s brand of noise-tinged death metal feels like the ideal tool with which to scrawl their livid manifesto.” There are few acts as inspired as this one.

#5. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – [#3, #4, #4, #4, #4, #6] – Despite failing to win a list placement higher than #3, Devenial Verdict hit our aggregated list with their immense Blessing of Despair. What type of death metal does it brandish? Carcharodon writes “I enjoy the stomping thuggery of Devenial Verdict’s dissonant death well enough [but] it’s the sudden mood swings into what Thus Spoke described as ‘lethally graceful restraint’ that really hooked me.” Accordingly, Cherd admires the “thoughtful transitions and atmospherics… It’s just that Blessing of Despair HAZ THE RIFFS, including my favorite death metal riff of the year.” It’s this blend of heavy and light that best characterizes Blessing of Despair; “the slick mixture of mournful melody and menacing, barked growls; neck-snapping flicks of cymbal, and those resonant, aggressive chord progressions make for—almost—my favorite take on death metal” (Thus Spoke). You’ll struggle to hear more dynamic death metal this year.

#4. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – [#2, #2, #3, #4, #6, #6] – If the last couple of entries in this article experiment with death metal’s musical extremity, then Aborted have always taken a markedly simpler approach. “Blood-drenched, gore-soaked, and happily grindy, Aborted are in a league all their own… The music [builds] a menacing atmosphere that pervades only the stickiest of grindhouse theaters (Felagund). Endorsing the horror, Dear Hollow comments that “Vault of Horrors kicks serious ass. Ripping tempos, bludgeoning riffs, and an unhinged technicality align for an album deserving of the act’s reputation.” Relentless riffs and a hellish host of guest vocalists help each track to stand apart, and even the cantakerous Dr. A.N. Grier agrees that “with tracks like “Dreadbringer,” “The Golgothan,” and “Malevolent Haze,” this new release offers some incredible depth and relentless brutality.” If you like gory, grindy death metal you need look no further than Aborted.

#3. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – [#1, #2, #2, #5, #6, #6, #10, #HM] – Perhaps the greatest surprise of the year was the interminably brutal but interminably intriguing Violence Inherent in the System by debutants, Noxis. Maddog characterizes it as a “remarkable blend of old and new. The album’s stomping riffs and popping snare drum root it in 1990s brutal death metal. Conversely, its exuberantly grimy bass tone, its proggy rhythms, and its surprise woodwind extravaganza feel unabashedly modern.” This dichotomy of styles is developed further by Saunders: “raw and unclean, technical and brutal, thrashy and proggy, sharp and refined, Noxis blaze their way craftily through memorable, riff-infested wastelands with unbridled aggression, speed, and finesse.” Capping his list with this album, Ferox concludes that the varied tools result in songs that are all “a wild ride that alternately crushes, challenges, and tickles… and somehow they do with zero pretension and abundant commitment to brutality.”⁷

#2. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – [#1, #2, #3, #6, #6, #6, #7, #9, #9] – Kanonenfieber enjoys the great honor of being AMG.com’s only 5.0 rating in 2024 on the incomparable Die Urkatastrophe. Despite the fact that He “would not necessarily have chosen to listen to [it], Die Urkatastrophe is a powerful album that walks the line between black and death metal [and like] so many of the best albums is both thematically coherent and full of individual standout moments” (Angry Metal Guy). And while Sentynel is normally averse to particularly brutal metal, “the craft [of an incredible vocal performance, sharp melodic writing and a weighty story] drew me in anyway.” However, no one loved Die Urkatastrophe like Carcharodon, so I’ll let him finish this: “It has everything and is more than I dared hope for as a follow-up to my beloved Menschenmühle… It is brutal, vicious [and] anthemic [but] it is the storytelling that elevates this record to the next level.”

#1. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – [#1, #2, #2, #3, #4, #4, #5, #7, #8, #HM] — Collecting the most top five list selections, Cutting the Throat of God comfortably out-muscled its competition as AMG.com’s favorite album o’ the year. Both Dear Hollow and Cherd cite Ulcerate’s newfound humanity on this record as one of its key qualities. The former writes that it constitutes “the vicious and the ethereal blended into unspoken horror, with meditations ranging from the frantic to the morbid,” while the latter opines that “there [is] something warmer and more human to what I had previously considered a rather detached style… [it’s’] like dream-walking through a hedge maze.” But it’s our resident Ulcerate fangirl that best loved the record so she will conclude this piece: “Distilling the tension and the turmoil into tidal forces of incredible rhythm, and dark, brilliant melody with Cutting the Throat of God, Ulcerate reach transcendence… This is atmospheric death metal perfected” (Thus Spoke).

The post AngryMetalGuy.com’s Aggregated Top 20 Albums o’ 2024 appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Fifteen years of Angry Metal Guy and year 15 will be remembered as a genuinely good year for metal. There were several excellent releases I was genuinely excited about and as the year went on, things got even better. For the first time in a while, I felt like I had a glut of options and felt guilty about what was and wasn’t making the list. In terms of total performance, year 15 at AMG stayed roughly on par with 2023. We wrote 691 posts (mostly reviews), which, in terms of raw numbers, dropped to lower than 2023 and was once again the lowest since 2015. We made up for it in girth, however, with the average post sporting a whopping 955 words! This might be a case of the self-fulfilling prophecy biting me in the ass for consistently yelling at everyone for being overwriters at which point they see themselves as overwriters and begin to overwrite. Or, maybe it’s because we had fewer reviews to balance out the longer posts. Regardless, we finished with a “big-boned” 660,024 total words in 2024. We averaged 38,617 views a day, leading us to our second-highest annual readership numbers ever at 14,129,320 total page views; a tick down from last year, but that’s not surprising when we’re writing fewer posts.

The readership of AMG is as global as ever, but the USA, UK, and Canada retained their spots as 1, 2, and 3 on our Top 10(ish) Biggest Readerships. Germans continued to flock here in droves, maintaining their position at number 4 on our list with Australia coming in at healthy 5. I’m a bit surprised at Australia for not taking umbrage at getting beat by the Germans last year, but when you live in constant fear of your absolutely frightening environs, I guess that’s the least of your worries.² Spots 6-9 are the same as last year with Netherlands, Sweden, France, and Spain. But coming in at number 10 was Finland! Our strategy of lauding Finnish bands is finally paying off. “How” you ask? Well, if I can get to celebrity status in Finland, I intend to go there so I can be awkwardly ignored in social situations by an entirely new population of Scandinavians. I was happy to see Poland sneak up to the coveted “ish” spot on the list, but that means Brazil dropped out of the Top 10(ish) and that sucks.³ We were once again visited a single time by a mysterious robed reader from the Vatican City and I want to extend a warm Angry Metal Guy welcome to the lone citizen of Micronesia who found their way to our sacred halls.

The biggest, coolest thing that happened in 2024 (following one of the shittiest things to happen in 2024) was, of course, helping Kenstrosity deal with the catastrophe that was his life following Hurricane Helene. It was so cool and gratifying to see just how generous and amazing the fans of AMG were and we’ll never forget your generosity. We also added n00bs—welcoming Alekhines Gun, Tyme, and Killjoy as new blood for the Bloodgod (with more coming, we promise)—and saw the return of the illustrious Mark Z. We lost—at least for the time being—Ferox at the end of the year and that sucks for all of us. But losing him to a burgeoning career as a showrunner and movie director seems like the kind of thing that isn’t such a bitter pill to swallow. Personally, alas, 2024 was pretty much the worst year of my life. The reason I equivocate is because every time I think something like that I can only think of Homer Simpson saying: “So far! The worst year of your life so far!” But 2024 was marred by a breakup I did not want and struggles with both my physical health and the obvious consequences thereof. I re-read my Top 10(ish) of 2023 and was amused in that “oh, sweet summer child” kind of way when I read:

On a personal note, this year [2023] was supposed to be one of the best of my life. It has been an unmitigated pile of shit, with only a few bright spots. As usual, I’ll try to make 2024 a better year, where I am Angry Metal Guy in practice, not just in spirit. A new year always brings unreasonable and unrealistic goals that get broken in shame by April, doesn’t it? Well, that’s mine.

Alas, that ended up being quite a bit more prescient than I could’ve anticipated given that it was the 31st of March when the Behind the Music voiceover guy had to step in: “Then tragedy struck…”

So, 2024 turned out to be significantly worse for me than 2023. That said, I did, in fact, work a lot more on AMG than I have in previous years and it’s helped me to create a map of how that’s possible for the future. Furthermore, I’m finally starting to understand the things at the root of my BS—beyond unfortunate and frustrating life circumstances or the fact that I’m a big worthless loser⁴—and I hope that results in some real progress. Because, when all is said and done, Angry Metal Guy has stood the test of time for a reason and I’m proud of it and want to be involved in it. I like the music, I like most of the people, I like hazing n00bs, and I like arguing incessantly about opinions. Even if I feel a little out of lockstep with metal trends in recent years, I still think that my voice is important here and I want to have it here. And it’s thanks to everyone here, particularly Steel Druhm, Dr. Grier, and the other helpers, as well as the writers and of course, the readers, who have kept this all afloat while I am trying to solve the mystery that is my brain.

To moderate expectations for 2025! Here’s the Top 10(ish) of 2024.

#ish 2: Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay [August 24th | Liminal Dread Productions | Bandcamp] — I’m relatively certain that if you had polled the writers and readers of AngryMetalGuy.com and asked them to predict this list, Dawn Treader’s Bloom & Decay would not have come even remotely close to placing on my Top 10(ish). And it makes sense. Dawn Treader traffics in a genre of black metal that I rail on at every chance. At this point, my personality is basically constructed of jokes about how calling something atmospheric just means they use a lot of reverb. And yeah, Bloom & Decay uses inordinate amounts of reverb, I can’t deny it. But better, Ross Connell subverts the ‘one-man black metal project’ tropes by being good, actually. The record is emotionally poignant, musically rich, and laden with pathos—causing that aching bloom in my chest while listening to what feels at times like sad songs playing in major keys. If there’s one reason I haven’t been back to this album as much as other things, it’s because it’s hard to listen to at times. The messages contained here and the way they are delivered can be challenging at times; long discursive samples that are hard to have repeated back at you time and again in a time of a lot of despair. Still, that’s hardly a knock against Dawn Treader’s work, there are a lot of people who would suggest that it’s exactly that which makes Bloom & Decay art. And there’s no question in my mind that Bloom & Decay is a work of art.

#ish 1: Verikalpa // Tuomio [April 19th, 2024 | Scarlet Records | Bandcamp] — But then again, who needs serious emotionally poignant works of art when you can listen to Finnish guys writing amazing blackened melodeath that heavily features faux accordion and lyrics, presumably, about drinking? I feel a bit guilty that these guys have yet to make a number on the list—having previously been relegated to an -ish—but they are getting better and better and Tuomio has been a joy to listen to in a year where almost nothing else brought me joy. In a way, Verikalpa’s sound is a form of nostalgiacore for me—with its 2004 production, its 2004 riffs, and my 2004 urge to drink beer and headbang. But, as Steel Druhm would argue out of pure self-interest, some things are timeless and change is bad, so this isn’t a critique. And while the metal-listening public lost its taste for folk metal after the glut that was released in the late 2000s, I find Verikalpa avoids the pitfalls of the sound, delivering only the highest quality riffs and blasts. Loaded with groove and chunky riffs, Verikalpa knows how to write solid, speedy, fun, and brutal metal that will make you want to drink a beer and lift some weights. And again, what more can we truly ask of any metal band? If you aren’t listening to and loving Verikalpa by now, you’re missing out. Of all the Finnish releases with dated sounds this year, Tuomio is the best.

#10: Grendel’s Sÿster // Katabasis into the Abaton [August 30th, 2024 | Sur Del Cruz Music | Bandcamp] — If there was a major “I did not see that coming” moment in 2024, it was that Grendel’s Sÿster never left my playlist once I heard it for the first time. An addictive record, I summed it up best when I wrote that “this German four-piece drops metal that reeks of patchouli and ‘Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!’ to surprising effect. The core of Grendel’s Sÿster’s sound is the combination of fuzzy guitars, bubbly p-bass, and boxy drums into something that will undoubtedly call to mind the ’70s hard rock of your choice: Wishbone Ash, Jethro Tull, Thin Lizzy or nostalgia merchants like Gygax.” And that sound—not a sound that I spend my free time chasing down—could be directly shot into my veins and I couldn’t be happier. There’s something pure and honest and beautiful about this music. It is both poppy and niche, both pretentious and utterly not; it breaks down binaries and exists in the interstices. And goddammit, it’s what one roadie for Porcupine Tree once said of Blaze’s first three records, “it’s good, honest heavy metal.” And that’s it. The cream rises to the top; good songwriting always wins. And Katabasis into the Abaton is loaded with great songs, fun ideas, and idiosyncratic vocals. It’s surprising in all the right ways.

#9: Oceans of Slumber // Where Gods Fear to Speak [September 13th, 2024 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — Some experiences are unforgettable, and getting to see Oceans of Slumber in the summer of 2024 and really hear Cammie Beverly live was one such experience. There are few people in the world who truly have a Voice with a capital V and Cammie is one of them. The band’s performance was entrancing and her presence was commanding. It was literal goosebumps. I had been enjoying Where Gods Fear to Speak for a few weeks at that point, but seeing Oceans of Slumber live transformed my entire understanding of the unique strengths contained herein. Between her voice, genuinely progressive—and at times challenging—songwriting, and the fantastic performances, Where Gods Fear to Speak sounds like the culmination of the band’s career. Having learned from the past and meshed it all, listeners are left with something transcendent, beautiful, and the perfect balance of heavy and delicate. If there’s one knock on this record, it’s that people may struggle with a flowing relationship to song structure and hooks. But for the sophisticated listener, each song on Where Gods Fear to Speak is a beautiful step on an unforgettable journey.

#8: Iotunn // Kinship [October 25th, 2024 | Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp] — Hard truth time: I was never super enamored in Access All Worlds. While the blog and the commentariat were busy heaping praise upon the best band to come out of Denmark since Mercyful Fate, I held my tongue and gave them the spotlight they deserved because I was in a definite minority. But the record never inspired me. So, I approached Kinship with skepticism. I love Jón’s voice—this is no secret—but at 68 minutes long with 10-minute songs and one record in the bag I hadn’t felt… you know how it goes. I was happily surprised when Kinship hooked me hard. Jón’s voice brings everything together, but the blackened undercurrent spicing up the melodeath riffing (pretty sure Amon Amarth called their lawyers about a couple of the riffs in “The Anguished Ethereal”) matched with an epic scope that could be carried only by someone with the brass timbre and Grondesque vocal power of Aldará. I have been back to this again and again since I broke down and dropped it on the proverbial turntable. It is deep enough to keep me coming back, it’s hooky enough to kick that dopamine into high gear, and it’s beautiful and well-crafted with that aching Scandy melancholy that I crave. Bravo, Iotunn, this is a real first step towards me forgiving your spelling of ‘jotun’ and the Stockholm Bloodbath.

#7: Fellowship // The Skies above Eternity [November 22nd, 2024 | Scarlet Records | Bandcamp] — I am hardly the first person to note that it’s difficult to follow a beloved record. I think it’s even harder to follow a beloved debut. And I doubt there’s an album that’s been released in recent years that is as beloved as Fellowship’s debut, The Saberlight Chronicles. Putting the hopes and fate of the Europower scene in the hands of these tiny pastoral persons and sending them off to Mordor was never a good idea. But surprise, surprise, they survived!⁵ And they’re back with an album that has inspired the kind of dedication that only the rare band ever gets close to, landing super high on people’s lists despite being a late November release. And you can hear why. The Skies above Eternity is yet another 45ish minutes of fantastic, guitar-driven melodic power metal that simultaneously rules and takes itself seriously enough to have good, interesting, relatable, and at times inspiring lyrics while also embracing the fun and natural, inherent silliness of power metal. That’s a hard balance to strike and Fellowship nails it with aplomb. They say you don’t want to be the guy who follows The Guy, you want to be the guy who follows the guy who follows The Guy. I suspect The Skies above Eternity will always be slightly underrated because it isn’t The Saberlight Chronicles. But fuck me if it isn’t excellent.

#6: Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair [October 4th | Transcending Obscurity Records | Bandcamp] — I knew that these kids from Finland were alright when I jokingly called them “Morbid Angelcore” on Instagram and they took it with grace.⁶ Honestly, of all the stuff that the “No Fun, Only Reverb and Feels!” flank of AMG has dredged up and dumped hyperbolic praise on, Devenial Verdict is one of the bands to which I feel the most grateful to have been exposed. Often sold as either “dissodeath” or “atmospheric death metal,” because they’re both wildly popular subgenres of death metal, both feel like misnomers. Rather, Blessing of Despair is an album loaded with memorable moments and melodies, and while it does, indeed, employ a lot of “atmosphere,”⁷ I was not prepared for the elite-level Azagthoth-on-LSD riffs that litter Blessing of Despair. I wouldn’t say that Blessing of Despair is OSDM, but the riffing evokes the masters in ways both direct and subtle and it gives the record an impeccable vibe. Devenial Verdict has wrought a brilliant death metal album where riffs abound, the atmosphere is set on the “Cathedral” setting, and every song is better than the last. Maybe the best word to use to describe their x factor is gravitas. But whatever it is, Devenial Verdict’s got it in spades.

#5: Octoploid // Beyond the Aeons [July 5th, 2024 | Reigning Phoenix Music | Bandcamp] — The amount of love that Beyond the Aeons isn’t receiving is one of the scandals of 2024, in my opinion. This started with our own positive—but tepid, if I’m honest—review of Beyond the Aeons and has continued through Listurnalia. As a passive, but legitimate, autocrat of Angry Metal Guy, I have half a mind to shut this place down over this deep disrespect for Amorphiscore. Honestly, it pains me not to make Beyond the Aeons the #1 album,⁸ because I have listened to these 33 minutes of extreme metal—occasionally tremmy and black, but mostly just solid melodeath—more than almost anything else this year. Tracks like “Coast of the Drowned Sailors” feed my need for new Amorphis and my secret wish that they were heavier. And that’s one thing I’ll give Octoploid, unlike Barren Earth, Beyond the Aeons doesn’t dwell too long on anything. It kicks off and speeds along, hitting you with catchy leads in the key of Moomin and doubled with synth—as one does. Don’t sleep on Octoploid. Beyond the Aeons is energetic, fun, catchy, and worth at least a couple of spins a week six months after it was released.

#4: Opeth // The Last Will and Testament [November 22nd, 2024 | Moderbolaget] — What Opeth has accomplished on The Last Will and Testament is remarkable. Unlike so many bands, Opeth’s reimaginations of its sound still speak to me. The Last Will and Testament is a smart, coherent, and melodramatic record that does Mikael Åkerfeldt and crew credit. The reason that this record elevates itself above the ceiling that most Newpeth lived under, however, is that they are finally able to turn the music up to 11 again compositionally. After more than a decade without the emotional and compositional peak (and release) of a guttural growl released from the diaphragm over a particularly chunky riff or heavy drums, The Last Will and Testament continues the band’s development but gives them a release valve—”§4″ being the highlight for me, where they transition from Opethro Tull—a jazz flute solo—to Deathro Tull with some operatic, but dour, death metal. And it simply feels good to hear them doing both of these things simultaneously. Having gone through and relistened to the discography at length, it is striking how Opeth circa 2024 sounds very little like the band I fell in love with in the late-’90s/early aughts. To be able to both be markedly different and feel like the same band is a deeply underrated trait. This could have been higher if I’d had longer with it.

#3: Fleshgod Apocalypse // Opera [August 23rd, 2024 | Nuclear Blast Records | Bandcamp] — I knew almost immediately that Opera was going to be a controversial record. I was not prepared for the hyperbolic pushback that Opera garnered from fans of Italy’s death metal answer to [Luca (Turilli / Lione)’s] Rhapsody [of Fire] for being, as I wrote myself, “undeniably poppy.” Sometimes I think that we fans of the extreme metal scene have lost sight of what pop music really is. The fact that people have been heaping scorn on Fleshgod Apocalypse for writing operatic death metal because Veronica Bordacchini doesn’t only sing using proper operatic technique and the band simplified some of its compositional tendencies is, to put it lightly, patently absurd. Opera is fun! It’s energetic and well-crafted, and it has a better excuse for writing more palatable and less grandiose music that uses more traditional pop and rock compositional structures than Nightwish ever had,⁹ and it literally has dramatic choirs arpeggiating in Latin behind grinding blast beats and death metal growls as I’m writing this blurb! Fucking get over yourselves. Go enjoy the shit out of Opera. No one sounds like Fleshgod Apocalypse and when they hit, they fucking hit. And Opera hits! It is thematically interesting, deeply personal, and cohesive in the way that the best albums are while featuring a diverse and excellent performance from Bordacchini. Easily one of the best records of 2024.

#2: Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe [September 20th, 2024 | Century Media | Bandcamp] — One of the things that makes the work at Angry Metal Guy interesting after 15 years is editing other writers’ work. It’s a pleasure to get to talk to, work with, and help guide the brilliant writers that we have working here. And because I want to hear what I’m reading about at the same time, I listen to a lot of music I would not necessarily have chosen to listen to myself. Noise’s work—such as 2023’s #5 record Leiþa—has come to my attention because of the work that Carcharodon has done in covering his projects. So, when I went to edit Die Urkatastrophe, well aware of the impending 5.0, I was edified to read a well-argued analysis that highlighted for me exactly what it was that appealed to me so much about Kanonenfieber’s critically acclaimed¹⁰ platter. Die Urkatastrophe is a powerful album that walks the line between black and death metal, with surprisingly polished and smooth production and artfully crafted songs. Like so many of the best albums, it is both thematically coherent and full of standout moments. Arresting moments like the gunshot at the end of “Der Maulwurf,” the best-placed samples since Velvet Darkness They Fear, and a superb flow make Die Urkatastrophe a triumph that we’ll return to for years.

#1: Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk [March 22nd, 2024 | Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp] — The best album of 2024 was an undeniably easy choice this year. Released the day after my life started falling to pieces, Hamferð’s third masterpiece is a tale of tragedy (with a smidgen of hope), driven by strong songwriting and stronger performances. There are plenty of things that one can point to that help to differentiate Men Guðs hond er sterk from the field this year: the band’s sound is expertly crafted, and with pristine production, and the band—who apparently records without a click track?!—carries the emotional weight of their music perfectly despite the largely opaque language in which it’s presented.¹¹ Furthermore, enough cannot be said about the powerhouse of a vocalist that Hamferð is fortunate enough to have. Jón Aldará’s vocals carry the day with a brassy baritone that evokes the mourning that all doom peddlers are chasing but so few nail. Men Guðs hond er sterk is tight, it’s heavy—though not as heavy as its predecessor, which I missed—but more importantly it’s complete and brilliant and my Record o’ the Year for 2024.

Honorable Mentions:

In Vain // Solemn [April 19th, 2024 | Indie Recordings | Bandcamp] — Having been released when I was in the moment of absolute denial and despair as my life fell apart, you’ll forgive me for not having heard this album until the last couple months of 2024. And I suspect that if I had been able to spend more time with it, it would have worked its way onto the list proper (though, man, it’s hard to know what would go). Once again, In Vain does such an outstanding job of balancing all the different sounds and influences, and I will never get sick of any clean vocals from the brothers Nedland (RIP Solefald). These guys are great and Solemn keeps them batting 1.000.

Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God [June 14th | Debemur Morti Productions | Bandcamp] — Another album that should’ve been higher on my list (but where would I have put Verikalpa then, guys!?). Ulcerate has been awesome and it’s almost unremarkable that they continue to be awesome in new and different ways. The thing that I keep coming back to Cutting the Throat of God for is the fact that these are probably the band’s most addictive and hypnotic riffs. Their sound has always had a fluidity that made them unique, but there are times when I feel like a snake being charmed as I’m listening to Ulcerate pump out fascinating, liquid riffs that seem to morph in scope and feel without ever breaking stride. Another record that is getting the shaft on this list.

Sonata Arctica // Clear Cold Beyond [March 8th, 2024 | Atomic Fire Records] — I started out skeptical about Clear Cold Beyond, and then I ended up loving it. The problem is that this was another record caught up in the Great Dumping o’ 2024 and got lost in the mix. This album has the benefit of having some really fun “we’re sorry we wrote Talviyö and then released two fucking acoustic cover records in a row” moments, but it’s not just an apology tour.¹² The strength of Clear Cold Beyond is watching Kakko do the things he’s best at: write about creepy dudes with seriously bad boundaries (“Dark Empath”); write awkward lyrics about social topics that are kind of funny but also maybe not (“California”); and most importantly is his transformation into Dad Rocker (“The Best Things”). This record didn’t ever threaten to be Top 10, but it also deserves a nod for bringing me a ton of joy, even if I can’t listen to “The Best Things” without getting choked up.

Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun [August 30th, 2024 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — I have been a little back and forth with Anciients, but Beyond the Reach of the Sun was an absolute banger that got snubbed for a Record o’ the Month spot, despite receiving an excellently written, laudatory review from Saunders. And perpetual self-editing complaints aside, Anciients is one of those bands whose ability to craft Riffs is unmatched. Every single song on this album has one of those Riffs—not just riffs, gotta capitalize that R so everyone knows that we’re talking about iconic stuff here—and I am, frankly, jealous of the feel and groove that these guys seem to have as second nature. This album clicked for me when I put it in the cans on a flight and just sat and listened to it and man, we are spoiled with an absolute embarrassment of riches in metal. These guys are an honorable mention? It’s unfair.

Caligula’s Horse // Charcoal Grace [January 26th, 2024 | InsideOut Records | Bandcamp] — After it was summarily 3.0’d by the guy who brought you the Angra list everyone thought was absolute crap, I feel like everyone just forgot about Charcoal Grace. But I’m going to be honest with you, this record deserved a lot better than it got at the hands of the traitorous reviewer who poo-poohed it and then, allegedly, went on to kick his dog and demand his wife make him a sandwich. This is a more subtle Caligula’s Horse, I admit. How they seem to be swapping places with Haken becomes more manifest with every release. But this record is a true headphones album that deserves a hi-def version of the release, serious cans, and a dark room. It’s loaded with great riffs and fantastic songs and has a particularly poignant and powerful closing. Also, the level of detail here is unreal. Appreciate what you have while they are still putting out amazing albums.

Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System [June 28th, 2024 | Rotted Life Records | Bandcamp] — One of the surprises of the year is an album named after one of the funniest jabs at the anarchosyndicalists in our lives. Noxis’ brand of frantic, technical death metal—complete with my favorite snare of the year—has swept through the Angry Metal Guy staff for a reason. The reason? It’s fucking great. At 45 minutes, Violence Inherent in the System is a record with the energy and addictiveness of Gorod, even if the songwriting chops aren’t quite on that level yet. But you don’t have to be Gorod-good to be good and Noxis is good. I’m looking forward to their sophomore release Scimitars Lobbed in Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies, due Q4 2025/Q1 2026.

Madder Mortem // Old Eyes, New Heart [January 26th, 2024 | Dark Essence Records | Bandcamp] — In my Record o’ the Month blurb for Old Eyes, New Heart, I wrote “What Old Eyes, New Heart does is show Madder Mortem as alive and creative as ever, showcasing a more vulnerable, introspective side of themselves. Tracks like ‘Here and Now’ and ‘Cold Hard Rain’ weep with power and raw emotion, giving fans all the feelz they yearn for, and there’s simmering anger girding the material as well. As GardensTale noted, regarding the very personal, intense feeling of the new music: ‘Old Eyes, New Heart will stand as one of the most intimate and therapeutic albums we’re bound to get this year.’ And who isn’t going to need a little bit of therapy in 2024?” Yeah, I found myself listening to this album a lot this year because it expresses what I couldn’t. Again, prescient.

Blood Incantation // Absolute Elsewhere [October 4th, 2024 | Century Media Records | Bandcamp] — Yeah, it’s fine I guess. A little overhyped in the comment section, though. Remember that time when it got released and everyone who hadn’t heard it yet was like “RECORD OF THE YEAR!!!!!!1!” five minutes later? Pepperidge Farms remembers. In all seriousness, this record is great and I enjoyed it which is why it’s here. But while it threatened to hit the list as an #ish, it never really felt like RotY material to me. Still, give these guys their due. They are unique and cool and you love to see the enthusiasm about weirdo progdeath.

Top 10(ish) Songs o’ the Year:

#ish: Karol G // “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” — Fuck you.

#10: Sonata Arctica // “The Best Things” — Fans of the band and this album are going to laugh, but this song kills me. Dad rock. I love it.

#9: Wintersun // “Storm” — When I saw everyone sporting “Silver Leaves” as the highlight of Time II, I had to do a double-take. As I covered at length in my review, the one song that I felt lived up to Jaari’s potential as a player and composer was “Storm,” and this track is a fucking doozy. This track perfectly executes both the blend of blackened death metal and power metal that makes Wintersun’s inability to produce something truly epic frustrating. If I had only heard “Ominous Clouds” and “Storm,” Time II would’ve gotten a 4.5. This is the only memorable thing he wrote on the entire album.

#8: Oceans of Slumber // “Wish” — It’s weird the tracks that call to you on an album. I love this whole record for a bunch of different reasons, but on “Wish” there are little melodic things that Cammie does here that make my heart ache. The lyrics, too. I feel ’em. Deeply underrated record.

#7: Fellowship // “Victim” — “I swear, I won’t always feel like a victim! I won’t always fight on my own! So, forgive me these transgressions as I live a life of lessons and I grow to overshadow darker thrones! This king is king alone!”

#6: Opeth // “§4” — No more perfect encapsulation of why Opeth is impressive than how hard they nailed this song. Love the porn beat with the Ian Anderson flute solo (Deathro Tull, lol) that gives way to stadium rock that gives way to grindy death metal. Just inject that fucking shit straight into my fucking veins. Unff.

#5: Grendel’s Sÿster // “Cosmogony” — This song is metal as fuck. I love the fun little extra beat they drop in to make it feel like a slightly lopsided wheel rolling along. But there’s nothing about this that doesn’t live up to what I wrote above: good, honest heavy metal. Catchy, riffy, and fun to listen to. Top it off with a bass-heavy section and a gallop carried on the guitar and you’ve got yourself a recipe for an epic, addictive track. More of this, plz.

#4: Fleshgod Apocalypse // “Morphine Waltz” — This song fucking rules. From the opening strains with the horn section in the orchestra to the 3/4 time signature (y’know, ’cause it’s actually a waltz), to the raw, punky performance from Bordacchini. Extra points for the fucking balls to the wall bridge with the huge choirs before the guitar solo. Like, how do you fucking people not think this is one of the best albums of the year? JFC.

#3: Caligula’s Horse // “Mute” — One of Caligula’s Horse’s strongest traits is their ability to write epic conclusions to their albums. “Mute” is up there with “Graves” in terms of the sheer weightiness of the whole thing—though this time it’s more delicate. Beautiful.

#2: Anciients // “Despoiled” — Riff of the year at 3:57. Gives me involuntary metal face. Love the vocal melodies, too. Great stuff.

#1: Madder Mortem // “Things I’ll Never Do” — This song fucking kills me. Has anyone checked on their lyricist recently?

The post Angry Metal Guy’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024 appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

I feel that it’s been an overall good year for album art. There’s still tons of diversity in style and subject and medium, and also tons of big monsters looming over small people. That just seems to be a never-ending thing in metal. The only big name missing this year was Eliran Kantor, who has been in the top 10 every year and usually with multiple nominations (he and Adam Burke are the chief reasons for the ‘one entry per artist’ rule). Can anyone do a wellness check on Kantor? See if he’s doing alright?

If you have kept up with these in the past (and if you wanna catch up, here are the last six editions!) you might notice a new section to this article. Whilst last year I merely decried a rule against AI covers, I now shall battle actively against this most heinous trend, this lazy cheap cop-out that betrays a disregard for art as a whole. View this section as worse than the worst, because the worst at least put some effort into it. Though the AI Hall of Shame entries aren’t the only ones using machines to piss in the pool, they are the most blatant, soulless, and unimaginative AI monstrosities that got vomited from a generator onto a metal album this year.

As for the rules that haven’t been elevated into a full-blown public stoning, they remain by and large the same:

• Only albums we’ve reviewed will be considered
• One entry per artist, to keep diversity high
• No public domain art (Avernus had a very good one this year, though!)

AI HALL OF SHAME

#3. Tyraels Ascension // Hell Walker — It’s a new band and they also released an entire videogame to go with the album, so some leeway can be granted, but not much. The intricate logo is pretty cool, the border is tasteful, but the utterly generic-looking demon thing is just a load of washed-out bleh.

#2. The Nidra // Destination Locked — This one is just baffling to me. Am I to read this as an underwater mutated skeleton dance-off? Most of the bones are disconnected and the longer you look at it, the less sense the skeletons make. The glossy AI filter really makes it feel like a first-pass effort, too. The only thing I use AI image generators for is NPC’s for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and I put more care into those than these guys do. And PAPYRUS? Fuck off.

#1. Deicide // Banished By Sin — The other two entries, at least, are debuts. Struggling artists without much cash to speak of, I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t be angry. Deicide, on the other hand, are top of the food chain. Seeing a band of their stature use AI so brazenly makes my blood boil. Overtures of Blasphemy had pretty sweet art: hit whoever made that up, get a new piece from them, and pay your fucking artists! This is low even for Glen Benton. And the result just looks bad even at a glance, a monochrome mess of random shapes and details tacked together without vision because a machine doesn’t have vision, it just has an infinite grab bag of things to stick together. I’d say go to hell, but it’s Deicide, so that was probably already the plan.

THE WORST

#3. Tommy Concrete // Unrelapsed — Enough with the straight-up anger, time for some laughs! I’m not sure whether a grade school kid actually drew this or whether it just looks like it, but the daisy chain of spoon-toothed spines with one wing and one leg, going round to end up on a hysterical were-rat… It’s bad, even awful, but it does make me laugh. Perhaps if there were more of that and fewer random crayon colors for a background, I’d not judge this as harshly.

#2. Oscillotron // Oblivion— This is less than nothing. An entirely black cover with just the words on it would have been better than this. Is there some deeper meaning behind it? I don’t know, and I don’t care, it’s static in a box and it’s bad.

#1. Jeris Johnson // Dragonborn — But not as hilariously awful as this collage of 1999 gaming screenshots, cut from a frumpled magazine with imprecise kitchen shears and stuck together lazily for an arts and crafts project at school. The album is fucking awful and the cover does a great job of warning people to stay away. Good job, Jeris, here’s a gold banana sticker, now fuck off.

THE BEST

#(ish). Sidewinder // Talons (artist: Sophia Dainty) — I had to resort to asking the band directly who created this cover art, and I can’t really find other art from Ms. Dainty, which is a shame, as her talent is undeniable. The illustration uses techniques that evoke woodcutting, befitting the druidic nature of the imagery. An unusual but evocative image.

#10. Sunburst // Manifesto (artist: Vasilis Georgiou) — Mr. Georgiou is both the artist and the artist, as he leads Sunburst on vocals and created this dynamic, colorful cover art. The enigmatic figure dissolving into color as if snapped by a hippie version of Thanos makes for a striking bit of contrast, and I love the way the band logo has been incorporated into this artwork.

#9. Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectres and Strife (artist: Kaja Kumor) — Color and contrast are also the strong suits of Kaja Kumor’s burning cathedral that graces Unhallowed Deliverance’s album. The angelic blue overhead clashes beautifully with the fire. It matches the gradient of the subject matter: peace up above, growing into chaos and violence below. The two watching figures and the departing planes really add to the story depicted, too, rounding the piece off on multiple levels.

#8. Iotunn // Kinship (artist: Saprophial) — Saprophial’s art of Kinship is an unusual piece. The focus is off-center, not even in a golden ratio kind of way. The figure’s anatomy is strange and vague, largely hidden in the shadows. There’s something graphic novel-like about its contours, and a kind of roundabout anonymity usually reserved for the late Lewandowski. But zoom in and you see a highly intricate piece of sublime texture, perfecting the art of hatching in different styles to make the picture feel like you can touch it and feel the lines under your fingers.

#7. Vredehammer // God Slayer (artist: Simon Bossert as S. Bossert Art) — Though both seem to be drawn on a dark canvas and leave a fair amount of space beside their subjects, God Slayer is in every other way almost an antithesis to Kinship above, which reflects in the music of both bands. No mystery here: this is colossal, epic and violent, imagery that gets your heart racing immediately. What strikes me the most about this cover is the framing, the fish-eye lensing of the sea that seems to pulls the ship and serpent together, drawing the eye back to the center. One of the better monster pieces of the last few years.

#6. Vitriol // Suffer & Become (artist: Dylan Humphries) — If I had a nickel for every ‘stuff winding through a skeletal ribcage’ cover this year, I’d have two nickels. One of the earliest contenders, Humphries’ art for Vitriol is of the immediate eye-catching variety. The large and detailed skeleton and the vivid coloration of the snakes ensure the image grabs your attention. But a longer look gives a more forlorn feeling. The turned away pose, the approaching storm, the distant castle, the warrior’s items in the skeleton’s lap. All attributed to a sense of failure, a sense that something has gone wrong. I do love an image whose emotional response evolves as you study it.

#5. Feind // Ambulante Hirnamputation (artist: Jasper Swerts as Infested Art) — This year’s best black and white art without a doubt. Infested Art lives up to its name with this grueling piece of body horror, of which the emotional evolution goes from ‘nope’ to ‘NOPE’ to ‘FUCK NO.’ The linework here is sublime, with crisp contours and dotwork shading working together to create a highly precise account of all the horrifying things happening to the central torso. There are as many fresh horrors in this picture as there are details. We can leave it at ‘too many to count.’

#4. Uncomfortable Knowledge // Lifeline (artist: Reuben Bhattacharya as Visual Amnesia) — It’s a shame that Uncomfortable Knowledge doesn’t seem to be getting off the ground musically, because I love the concept they are going for with Visual Amnesia’s excellent art, continuing the tale of the Black Queen from the band’s debut. What would otherwise be a somewhat picturesque scene in the early 1900s is made disquieting with the skull robot masks and impossible day-night reflection, creating a sort of downplayed nightmare scenario. Subtle, elegant, and haunting in hushed tones.

#3. Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun (artist: Adam Burke) — Adam Burke is a mainstay here, and it seems he is branching out of pure space pictures more and more. Though this striking scene is still largely on-brand, unlike the Burke runner-up for Hideous Divinity, it gets points for its sprawling surreal cosmic horror. It can be difficult to depict a figure larger than mountains that actually feels larger than mountains in 2D art, but this piece succeeds, and it wins Burke the coveted ‘big thing looming over small people of the year’ award.

#2. Pyrrhon // Exhaust (artist: Caroline Harrison) — Ms. Harrison and Pyrrhon have become fast friends, as few can depict ugliness as beautifully as either in their respective media. The art for Exhaust is a harsh and tragic depiction of death and the self-inflicted destruction of our environment, yet surrounded by the holographic rainbow of the oil spills that wash away in the rain, there is a strange sense of beauty here as well. The visceral and realistic horror is front and center, however, and it’s confrontational in a way few bands or visual artists dare to be.

#1. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay (artist: Francisco Abril and Nuria Velasco as WelderWings) — The duo known as WelderWings make some astounding surreal art that is beginning to be noticed by the metal community. Witnesses used another beautiful piece from their studio, but when I saw Dawn Treader’s, I knew it would be nigh impossible to top. The meadow is rendered in beautiful soft tones. Blur is applied with artistic precision, which makes the details on the focused elements pop better. But the way the skeletal figures contrast with this peaceful scenery is what truly makes this cover. It makes the quietude feel false, a decoy for something terrible. This is all the more effective with the absence of skulls or limbs, suggesting a kind of body horror we can only hope will remain as far in the past as the bones suggest. Endless imagination and pure artistry resulted in a gorgeous yet perfectly unsettling masterpiece, more than deserving of the title of AMG Artwork of the Year.

The post GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2024 appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

As the tendrils of winter usher in good bourbon¹, unwanted family visits, and moon-bitten frost, the trvest of the black metallers come out to peddle their wares. Releasing anything so late in the year is a bold move, as list-mania seizes the hearts of authors across the blogosphere, making an uphill battle for bands from the first note. Here to try their luck today is two-man USBM outfit Wuldorgast, a band so young that at the time of this writing, they don’t even have a page on the Archives. Such youthful vigor is brimming with promise, and debut Cold Light arrives with admittedly dope artwork, seeking to leave its mark on my top ten(ish) and trigger a holly jolly shakeup. Does it stand a chance?

Cold Light sports some of the most engaging production I’ve heard in a black metal album by a country mile, filtering the razor wire of Spectral Wound into a Blasted Heath echoing assault. This extra touch of the cavernous (rather than the merely lo-fi) helps the drums to thunder and riffs to ring out with space and clarity, aiding chug-heavy sections in “Natural Life is Eternal Battle” and the more blast-heavy sections of “Cold Light of Reason” in assaulting the listener from the onset. Leads are caustic and catchy, weaving blackened infectiousness from the first listen, with trusty double base incisions disguising simplistic riffing under howling, reverb-drenched trimming. Vocals yowl and shriek with organic bile, sounding like they’re emerging from the bottom of a well. All in all, Cold Light lashes out as engaging and pleasing to the ear.

However, repeated listens slowly degrade infectiousness into replete repetition and overt simplicity. The first half of Cold Light sports riffs that sound like Judas Iscariot with improved production, but Wuldorgast forgot to include the proper stream-of-consciousness flow that comes with the style. Instead, the listener is treated with moments and melodies that are enjoyable at first blush, only for the band to insist that you don’t yet enjoy them as much as you ought. First song ” Obscured in Shadows” features exactly four riffs, run through twice. Other songs feature more riffs in quantity, but each sound like a minor tonal variant of the one that came before it until all the moments begin to blur together in a haze. The drumming is serviceable in such sections and leads are ear-worm bait, but are placed predictably and are played exhaustively, as if the band got too stoked on their own ideas and forgot how to self-edit.

This is made more confounding by the matter of track sequencing. Wuldorgast manages to cram almost all their good ideas into the back half of the album. Cold Light ends with songs featuring actual time signature changes, riffs that consist of more than two to five notes² and vocal style alterations. “Cipher to Eternity” is the easy highlight, with absolutely monster chug sections, punky riffs, nifty effects over the instruments, and leads that scream “mosh-fodder” after the first measure. Such a bizarre raise in quality (instead of the typical front-loading) does make Cold Light a unique listen, but the good songs don’t outweigh the front half’s collection of tediousness.

Ultimately, this peculiar bisection of quality is Wuldorgast’s greatest stumbling block. Black metal this cavernous is a rare treat, and when Cold Light hits, it hits hard and with savagery. In tone, I enjoy it very much. It is unfortunate that it hits far too infrequently, with no tone able to disguise its weakness. An improved track sequencing and greater use of imagination across an album’s worth of songs will go far in helping them cultivate their sound. Otherwise, this is a curious end-of-year footnote. If you haven’t had your fill of winter black metal yet, harvest the b sides for a playlist, but otherwise, it seems year-end lists are destined to remain undisturbed.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Website: wuldorgast.bandcamp.com/album/cold-light
Releases Worldwide: December 13th, 2024

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