Japanese power metal maestros, Lovebites dropped their latest album, Outstanding Power and certain AMG staffers decided it merited a double review. Let the love nibbles commence.
Children of Bodom
![Suotana – Ounas II [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cover-2.jpg.webp)
Suotana – Ounas II [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]
“Remember the Finnish melodic death and power metal fusion of the late ’90s and early ’00s? Bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah, and Norther were all the rage for a short while. You even had stuff like Ensiferum for a folkier interpretation, or Catamenia for the blackened side of things. The truth is that it never really left. Suotana is one of the bands keeping this sound alive and well, and they have more history than one might think.” Increasing your death power.
![Aephanemer – Utopie [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Aephanemer-Utopie-01.jpg.webp)
Aephanemer – Utopie [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]
“I first encountered Aephanemer between Prokopton and A Dream of Wilderness, and it was love at first listen. Their classical flourishes seamlessly converge with aggressive riffing to develop complex layers of hook-infested earworms so inescapable that no prescription can rid me of their iron thrall. Four years after their last outing, Aephanemer returns with a mature interpretation of their signature sonic stamp.” Apes and hammers and melodeath.
Mors Principium Est – Darkness Invisible Review
Since 2003, Mors Principium Est has released eight full-length albums of top-notch melodic death metal. Most people agree, however, they really took flight in 2012, which coincidentally is a year after Andy Gillion joined the band. Gillion was fired, however, in 2021. So, with the re-entry of the original guitarists and a new creative engine, I’ve been dying to know how Mors would navigate album number nine. And now it’s here…
Buried Realm – The Dormant Darkness Review
“Colorado’s Buried Realm, the technical melodic death metal project of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Josh Dummer, has built a steady following since 2017’s The Ichor Carcinoma. This is largely because— alongside his role as the primary writer and producer of Buried Realm’s music— Dummer is one hell of a guitarist. Additionally, he enlists a prominent cast of guest musicians for each album, adding another layer of proficiency to his progressive soundscape.” Shred with the dead.
Urn – Demon Steel Review
“As a U.S. government employee, I’ve spent way too much time lately thinking about RIFs and not enough time thinking about riffs. Fortunately, Finland’s Urn is here to change that. Helmed by vocalist, bassist, and former guitarist Jarno Hämäläinen (a.k.a. “Sulphur”), this black/thrash troupe raised hell throughout the 2000s via albums like 666 Megatons and Dawn of the Devastation, both of which blasted with reckless abandon and hit with all the subtlety of a hand grenade.” You Urned it!
Stuck in the Filter: October 2024’s Angry Misses
2024 can’t truly be history til all the Filters are unclogged. Here comes the gunk!
![Kalmah – Kalmah [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/a1740768079_0-768x768.jpeg)
Kalmah – Kalmah [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]
“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!
Sigir – Rainmaker Review
“Us metalheads have an above-average reverence for classic bands, I feel, but the genre is doomed to die without ample young blood. Finland, officially the most metal country in the world, is fertile ground for such saplings to sprout, and Sigir is among its freshest crop. After a previous project named Ritual of Terror never made it off the runway, three of its members found a new guitar player and plowed on. Rainmaker is their debut, the first full-length any of the foursome ever released, promising a fresh take on black-infused melodic death metal. A bold claim from a troupe of greenhorns; can they live up to it?” Making it rain (blood).
Moonlight Sorcery – Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle Review
“The unheralded band that could. Moonlight Sorcery are a melodic black metal band that materialized out of nowhere and destroyed any skepticism I had about their buzz. Their first EP, Piercing through the Frozen Eternity, was killer, comprising 4 tracks of bona fide 4.5 material. The sequel, Nightwind: Conqueror from the Stars, was darker, moodier, and less melodic but still extremely compelling. Not even a year following the second of these, I was delighted to discover that a full-length debut was due; 44 minutes of premium black metal was promised. Is it even possible for these Finns to match my expectations?” Finnish magic and mayhem.
