Mystikus Hugebeard

Velothian – Mythic Dawn Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on February 16, 2026 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 31 comments

“If, like me, you played a lot of the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), then you might agree that the game has a nigh unbeatable vibe. The densely forested hills rolling into the distance, the subtle call of a nearby Nirnroot, the grossly overconfident mudcrabs, the endearing jank of two townspeople conversing like they’ve only just discovered human language; it’s a distinctly cozy high fantasy setting that feels like home in a way few modern games could hope to replicate. Thus, I was excited to learn that Velothian, the epic post-black metal act that was previously featured on the 2024 EP Roundup for their Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind-themed EP Path of the Incarnate, now draws from Oblivion as inspiration for their debut full-length, Mythic Dawn.” Scroll goals.

Ulver – Neverland Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on January 4, 2026 in Reviews, Electronic, Synthwave, 50 comments

“Happy New Year, ya filthy animals! How about we usher in this stupid year with something that came out on literally the last day of 2025. That’s right, a nice, breezy slice of industrial synthwave and ambient melancholy that sounds like something you’d hear from the radio on a cruisin’ Miami drive, but on like a miserably gloomy day. Which, if you’re familiar with Ulver, the purveyor of today’s jams, is equal parts straight outta left field and yet also predictable.” Postcards from the fringe.

Thumos – The Trial of Socrates [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]

By Mystikus Hugebeard on December 18, 2025 in Things You Might Have Missed 2025, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 49 comments

“Say one thing about the AMG readerbase, say that they harbor absolutely zero ambiguity within themselves as to what kind of music they’re not interested in. I anticipate that some who wander these halls will balk at Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates: a colossal two-hour, fully instrumental collection of doomy post-prog metal. Indeed, it’s not what I’d call the most accessible album I’ve written about, so who am I to judge? However, I were to say another thing about the AMG reader base, I’d say that they can appreciate artistry when they hear it more than the average listener.” Hemlock for the holidays.

Danheim – Heimferd Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on November 7, 2025 in Reviews, Neofolk, 14 comments

“Ah, the Viking Age. One of the most mythologized eras in history, and a bottomless well of inspiration for cool things like video games, shows, books, tattoos, and bad things like obsession over ancestral purity, shockingly racist ideologies, and lutefisk. But the best thing of all, and most importantly, music! Which leads us to Danheim.” The poor Norsemen.

Cea Serin – The World Outside Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on September 18, 2025 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 37 comments

“The game of finding the right words to describe your music is one that all bands must play. Do you tow the line, allowing a reader’s mind to fill in the blanks with something easy like “heavy metal” or “black metal?” Or will you stand out from the crowd with a challenging label, and risk confusion? Thus do we arrive at today’s topic, the Louisiana two-piece Cea Serin. In some circles, the enigmatic term “mercurial metal” has been coined to described Cea Serin. A tricky turn of phrase that could indeed mean anything! However, I’ve become an expert metal translator after my time spent with Cea Serin. My team of expert analysts have helped me decode that into human language. The direct translation: the Proggiest Prog to ever Prog.” Prog for prog’s sake.

Panopticon – Laurentian Blue Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on August 26, 2025 in Reviews, 111 comments

“With the mammoth Panopticon ranking the electrifying Månegarm review behind us, we can now look towards the album that the ranking was made in anticipation of: Laurentian Blue. What we weren’t quite expecting was that Laurentian Blue would be an unusual album to follow the ranking. After ten albums of post-black metal, this is the first standalone Panopticon work of purely dark, folksy Americana. It goes without saying that Americana has ever been a key component to the Panopticon soundscape, so do not mistake “unusual” for “unwelcome.”” 50 shades of bluegaze.

Mouth of Madness – Event Horizon Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on July 15, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 44 comments

“As metalheads, there are many things we collectively appreciate about our musical genre, but one important component I often see lauded is originality. It’s not exactly a deal-breaker, but it can be exhilarating to listen to something treading unexplored territory. Indeed, a common complaint leveled against artists is calling a piece “derivative” or some such. If you count yourself amongst those who take umbrage with being unoriginal, then look no further than German duo Mouth of Madness and their debut album Event Horizon!” Tastes like burning.

Sun After Dark – Tatkraft Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on June 13, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Gothic Metal, 44 comments

“Sun After Dark is an enigmatic new project that comes to us from one Benjamin König. He was a co-founding member and the principal composer of frigid black metal legends Lunar Aurora, which will surely excite my Dear and Hollow friend, but has very few listed musical credits since Lunar Aurora’s dissolution in 2012. In the interim, König has been a prolific artist, providing album artwork for bands like Botanist, Horna, Equilibrium, and so on. In fact, König’s artwork for Polar Veil by Hexvessel was even awarded 10th place on GardensTale’s Illustrious Artwork Extravaganza. Today, Herr König is cursed blessed with his first trve AMG review, for his first musical work in roughly a decade: Tatkraft.” Art and darkness.

Witchcraft – Idag Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on May 23, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Occult Rock, Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, 42 comments

“Once, Witchcraft were a prominent figure in the analog rock/metal scene, mentioned alongside acts like Orchid, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and The Sword. They treated us to some right bangers like 2005’s Firewood and 2012’s Legend, and I was eagerly anticipating whatever might come after 2016’s Nucleus. What eventually followed was the acoustic and intensely somber Black Metal, which struck me as less of a Witchcraft album and more as a hyper-personal form of artistic expression by multi-instrumentalist frontman Magnus Pelander, something meant for him and him alone. It’s an honest and compelling artistic work, but it can be difficult to recall amidst the context of Witchcraft’s proggy occult doom/rock discography. Now, with two fresh band members, Witchcraft have reincorporated the lo-fi buzz n’ fuzz.” Which Witch?

The Night Flight Orchestra – Give Us The Moon Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on February 11, 2025 in Reviews, Hard Rock, 74 comments

“As the youngest writer currently staffed at and embarrassing the great AMG lineage, I glean real pleasure at the irony of me reviewing The Night Flight Orchestra. I mean, NFO is basically “Hey the 80’s called, they want their music back” whereas I’m smack in the later part of “only 90’s kids remember this,” blessedly not part of the “skibidi” generation by a couple of years. Pimply little scamp though I might be, I fucking love NFO, which just goes to show that all ages are vulnerable to the raw magnetism of that slick, sexy 80’s sound.” 80s 4 forever.