Saunders and Dear Hollow bring their high class tastes to the party with their Top Ten(ish) of 2025. Break out the caviar and meths!
Dax Riggs
Tyme’s and Killjoy’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025
Tyme and Killjoy bring their Top ten(ish) lists to the public without fear or shame. Was that wise?
Who Are These Clowns and Where Did They Put My Flesh Stapler? The AMG Staff Pick Their Top Ten(ish) of 2025
The AMG Staff Lists are ready for review, examination, and ultimately, rejection.
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders Review
“It’s a weird fact of life to experience this, but ask anyone with creative tendencies, whether dabbling or full-on submersion, what their biggest fear is, and many (if not all) will tell you that hating the very thing that gives you life and joy will be at the top. Burnout murders the love one has for everything they enjoy making, and sometimes the elixir one needs is time and distance away. That time and distance could be days, or it could stretch to months or years. Dax Riggs, the influential voice of his eponymous band as well as the frontman for the recently-reactivated legendary Louisiana sludge beast Acid Bath, took 15 years away from the music world shortly after the release of 2010’s Say Goodnight to the World, and seemingly lived up to that album’s title by disappearing off the face of the world.” Dax’s back!
Kolossus – K Review
“As I do with all bands that have a discography, I started from the top. It was only last year that Kolossus dropped their debut record, The Line of the Border. In those forty-plus minutes, my lips would involuntarily mouth, ‘What the fuck?’ Each song is nothing like the last. Each brings something new to the plate, and none cared what came before or went after. It refused to follow the rules—it’s own or anyone else’s. And, to an extent, K is no different.” K is for Klosers.
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2020
Doc Grier has a Top Ten(ish) of 2020 worthy of fear. Grab a beer and peer into the unknown.
Rosy Finch – Scarlet Review
“The hallway that led to my office in grad school was red. Both walls. I shit you not. To make matters worse the hellish tunnel narrowed as you approached its end—where, to no one’s surprise, you could find my office. Trust me when I tell you that five years of red walls can fuck with a person. Like grad schools, animals also use the color red to ward off people. Red can represent everything from lovers to the most gruesome of deaths. And Spain’s grrrl sludge group, Rosy Finch, is every bit as varying in its topics and delivery. With artwork that looks as though poor Carrie got it again, this is Scarlet.” Red is a slow color.
Sorxe – Matter & Void Review
“But, the two biggest differences between Surrounded by Shadows and Matter & Void are the ones our beloved Brother Grymm had the biggest issues with—bass presence and song length. Justifiable complaints considering the band have two bass players and a nine-track sludge debut that carries on for almost an hour. But the band appears to have nipped these in the bud. Matter & Void is bassy, beefy, and its six tracks clock in at a mere thirty-five minutes. Not to mention, Sorxe has a label this time around. Time to find out what Matters and what’s Void.” Sludge matters.
Godhunter – Codex Narco Review
“What kind of ‘god hunter’ is Godhunter? One out in search of truth, peace, and reasoning? Or are they on a hunt for revenge; fed up with the silence that returns their prayers or the global devastations no mortal man seems capable of preventing? Godhunter are many things and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were both.” God is game.
Spock’s Beard – The Oblivion Particle Review
“What do you think of when I say “progressive metal?” Well, if you’re anything like me, you think of early ’90s wanks from New York, nerdy band photos of cheap sunglasses and bad haircuts, masturbating guitar solos, cheesy keyboard theatrics, and lengthy double-albums longing to be The Wall or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” Nobody wanks in New York!
