“A tabby cat is what you get when you let nature take its course. Nearly every stray is a tabby because, without selective breeding from human interference, cats just end up looking like that most of the time. Similarly, Atlanta’s Malefic feel to me what you’d get if you let the faster variants of extreme metal reach their natural conclusion. Playing a style that draws from thrash, black and death metal, Malefic formed in 2007 with the stated goal of modernizing black metal. In doing so, they’ve imbued in their slow-cooked debut Impermanence, an intensity and drive befitting a genre-forwarding record.” Maleficent.
impermanence
THRÆDS – Impermanence Review
“Adding to my list of bands with irregular monikers, German progressive post-metal/rock group THRÆDS (pronounced “Threads”) is the latest to fall under the scrutiny of my wide-eyed gaze. Formed in 2019 as a solo project by guitarist Angelos Tzamtzis, THRÆDS has since grown into a multi-national five-piece. Their 2021 Akasha EP garnered the attention of Octopus Rising—an imprint of Argonauta Records—which is now releasing their debut full-length, Impermanence. The promotional material for this Berlin-based quintet bills itself as a seamless blend of progressive post-metal alongside atmospheric rock.” Thread and dread.
Record(s) o’ the Month – March 2021
Steel Druhm and the Plebs have chosen the RotM. Also, that sounds like the name of our new inter-AMG indie rock project…
Stortregn – Impermanence Review
“Every year it seems that in the midst of all the doom, sludge and black metal clogging up my arteries, I find that one album of fast, technical, brutal sci-fi themed metal that I can’t stop listening to. Recent output by Xoth, Æpoch, Beast of Nod and the mighty Archspire have flayed my face meat and chilled my soul with surgical guitars and the unknowable horrors of the cosmos. In 2018 I discovered Swiss band Stortregn through their fantastic third full-length Emptiness Fills the Void. Despite its title, the album absolutely burst at the seams with blackened, thrashy tech death glory that never sacrificed melody for brutality. The cold, dark vacuum of space sounded thrilling in their capable hands. Three years later, Stortregn has moved from the diverse roster of Non Serviam Records to tech death specialists The Artisan Era for their fourth LP Impermanence.” In space no one can hear you fanboy.
Interview with Mirai Kawashima from Sigh
Enigmatic and uncomfortably cheerful, gregarious and ambitious Happy Metal Guy managed to catch up with Mirai Kawashima from the Japanese avant-garde black metal band Sigh. He bombarded him with positivity, amusing anecdotes and uncomfortable questions about steel phalli until Mr. Kawashima relented; answering the questions and talking about… flowers? This fucking blog gets weirder and weirder every day.


















