Maddog

Angry dog from an angry blog

The Flight of Sleipnir – Nature’s Cadence Review

By Maddog on October 5, 2024 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Folk, Folk Metal, Post-Metal, Stoner Metal, 34 comments

“The Flight of Sleipnir’s 2021 opus Eventide made ripples in the underground, blending stoner doom, acoustic folk, and post-metal—familiar elements but crafted into a cohesive, beautiful whole. We hadn’t covered them since 2014’s V., so I nabbed Nature’s Cadence as soon as I could, hoping it would elevate the band from goodness to greatness. I knew that either way it would be a breath of fresh air, and its gorgeous cover art was irresistible.” Even AMG is getting into cadence discussions this week.

Concrete Winds – Concrete Winds Review

By Maddog on September 23, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Death Metal, 19 comments

“I left my first splotch on this fair site with Concrete Winds in 2021. The regrettably-titled Nerve Butcherer was an archetypal 3.0. Concrete Winds’ brand of war metal was fierce, concise, and exciting, but I haven’t returned to it due to its shameless recycling of ideas. Their new self-titled record seems to promise a similar experience, even in its minutiae.” Can Concrete Winds innovate enough to excite this crazy dog? Give in to your anger to find out!

Wormed – Omegon Review

By Maddog on July 5, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Slam, Technical Death Metal, 88 comments

“It awakens. Hope dies. Well-rested after an eight-year slumber since Krighsu, Wormed boots up. Programmed for violence, its processor whirs as it hones in on your location. It finds you in minutes; hiding in the alley behind St. Vitus wasn’t your best move. As soon as you spot its piercing red eyes, you realize the jig is up. In that split second, you see Wormed’s sculpted metal features gleaming in the midnight neon, like a steel diagram of the muscular system. You don’t know its Origin. All you know is that you have to run. So you run.” Run, hide, you’ll still get Wormed.

Julie Christmas – Ridiculous and Full of Blood Review

By Maddog on June 24, 2024 in Reviews, Hardcore, Noise, Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, Sludge, Sludge Metal, 64 comments

“Appearing 14 years after her solo debut The Bad Wife, Ridiculous and Full of Blood was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. While it may not be the greatest album of the year, it might be the most soulful. Christmas’ sophomore record is both indescribable and exactly what you’d expect. Ridiculous and Full of Blood is at once a bloodbath and a hypnotic tapestry.” Christmas comes early.

Holycide – Towards Idiocracy Review

By Maddog on June 23, 2024 in Reviews, Thrash Metal, 36 comments

“When I first saw this promo, I suspected that the review would write itself, though I hoped otherwise. Sporting an album cover whose thrash cred was rivaled only by Holycide’s logo, Towards Idiocracy seemed destined for a middling score. I adore old-school thrash for its power and nonconformity, but the majority of underground 2020s bands yelling about AI and Orwell don’t stick. After one listen through Towards Idiocracy, I sighed and claimed Pyrrhic victory, resigning myself to writing a generic 2.5 review to match the blandness of the album. I was wrong.” Thrash for idiots and elites.

Eigenstate Zero – The Malthusian Review

By Maddog on May 29, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, 22 comments

“After a six-month hiatus from writing (and most everything else), I couldn’t resist reviewing an artist with eigen- in their name. My excitement for linear algebra drew me to Eigenstate Zero’s third record, despite my inkling that “eigenstate zero” was a nonsense phrase. Unsurprisingly, Eigenstate Zero is a solo prog project, and The Malthusian offers 78 indulgent minutes of off-kilter death metal from Sweden’s Christian Ludvigsson.” Death, math, and taxes are acquired tastes.

Kalmah – Kalmah [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Maddog on January 3, 2024 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 40 comments

“I’ve seen surprisingly little hype about Kalmah’s self-titled album. It hasn’t popped up on mainstream end-of-year lists. Alongside bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah held the reins of Finnish melodic death metal in the early 2000s. Blending blistering melodic riffs with prominent synths, Kalmah defined their sound twenty years ago and has reveled in it ever since. Emerging five years after Palo, Kalmah’s self-titled shows them doing what they do best.” Kalmah down!

Theophonos – Nightmare Visions [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Maddog on December 20, 2023 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 27 comments

“Nightmare Visions is a blackened grindcore debut from Michigan’s Theophonos, the brainchild of Jimmy Hamzey (Serpent Column). If that genre label sounds unappetizing, don’t let that deter you. Theophonos took every hard rock and metal song released since 1967, crammed them all into a woodchipper, and assembled the mangled output into a blackened 30-minute hydra. Miraculously, it works.” NightmareER!!

Myrkur – Spine Review

By Maddog on October 27, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Folk, Folk Metal, Rock, 83 comments

“Myrkur apologists and her detractors both have a point. Her 2015 debut M succeeded as folky black metal, but aped predecessors like Ulver’s Bergtatt (1995). Two years later, Mareridt established a unique voice for Myrkur, but suffered from inconsistency. 2020’s Folkesange abandoned metal in favor of acoustic folk. A resounding success and an easy 4.5, Folkesange thrived on Amalie Bruun’s vocal melodies and her knack for arrangement. Its highly anticipated successor Spine resurrects Myrkur’s black metal roots amidst dreamy pop and mid-paced rock.” Crouching pop star, Myrkuring dragon.

Thy Art Is Murder – Godlike Review

By Maddog on October 3, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Deathcore, 36 comments

“Hate them or love them, you know them. Australia’s Thy Art Is Murder catapulted into the deathcore stratosphere in the early 2010s, through the technical The Adversary (2010) and the powerful Hate (2012). Despite its inconsistency, Thy Art Is Murder’s output earned sizable crossover appeal from death metal fans; think All Shall Perish, not Bring Me the Horizon. Godlike, whose release was delayed a week by line-up drama, follows four years after the middling deathcore-fest Human Target.” Thy Art is Drama.