1.0

Boston – Life, Love & Hope Review

By Dr. Fisting on December 6, 2013 in 2013, Frontier Records, Not Metal, Releases, Reviews, 11 comments

“As someone who grew up in the Midwestern U.S., I am more than familiar with the music of Boston. Ever since the late-’70s, FM radio has played almost every track from the band’s 1976 debut album on a daily basis. I’ve never been a huge fan of the band, but some of those songs are pretty badass, if cheesy. More recently, the band was dealt a tragic blow when founding singer Brad Delp committed suicide in 2007. A brief tour followed with Michael Sweet (Stryper) taking Delp’s place, but when Sweet returned to his main band, it was assumed that Boston would be laid to rest. So I was intrigued by the news of a new record, Life, Love & Hope, recorded by mainman Tom Scholz and a mostly new lineup.” The lead singer on their “new” album has been dead since 2007. And it gets worse.

Enbilulugugal – Noizemongers for Goatserpent Review

By Grymm on October 26, 2013 in 2013, American Metal, Black Metal, Crucial Blast Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 6 comments

“33 COPIES. That’s the amount of copies pressed of the 2011 re-release of Noizemongers for Goatserpent, the seminal 2004 “classic” by California’s black/noise merchants, Enbilulugugal. On CDR, no less! This would cause the hearts of both hipsters and black metal elitists to flutter in obscure bliss and revel in the notion that, truly, you have never heard of this before. Sadly, for those (devil) horn-rimmed glasses-wearing folk, Crucial Blast is re-re-releasing Noizemongers for Goatserpent, this time on a two-disc digipak with beautiful art, liner notes… and two discs containing 79 FUCKING TRACKS (!!!) of some of the worst sounds ever put to record.” 79 tracks is a whole lot of bang for the buck. Who would complain about a bargain like that? Our man Grymm, that’s who!

Savage Annihilation – Cannibalisme, Hérésie et autres Sauvageries Review

By Madam X on September 30, 2012 in 1.0, 2012, French Metal, Grind, Reviews, Grind, 0 comments

When Madam X heard this album was full of sick, inhumane grind, she wanted to taste the blood in her mouth as she enjoyed the carnage. When that didn’t happen, she got very unhappy. Lesson for the day: never deprive Madam X of her blood tasting!

Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust Review

By Steel Druhm on August 5, 2011 in 1.0, 2011, American Metal, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Ibex Moon Records, Reviews, Death Metal, 8 comments

Like a swift kick to the frank N’ beans, the new release by this death metal “super group” is shocking and very painful. I really loved Denial Fiend’s quirky 2007 debut They Rise. It merged nasty, old school American death metal and punk rock with a party atmosphere and although very tongue in cheek, it rocked and raged convincingly. To this day it remains in regular rotation at stately Steel Druhm manor. That debut featured some grizzled veterans of the old school scene like bassist Terry Butler (Death, Massacre, Six Feet Under, Obituary) and mega Cookie Monster Kam Lee (Death, Massacre) on vocals. What made They Rise work was the strong similarity to the classic Massacre sound (their From Beyond album is one of the all time best American death metal albums). The songs were savage and raw but also catchy and fun. Basically, it was a damn fine treat for death metal fans. When I heard a new Denial Fiend album was pending, I got giddy like a school girl. When I heard Kam Lee had taken his immense vocal talent elsewhere, I was sad but still hopeful. Well, hope is officially dead. Horror Holocaust features the “vocals” of Blaine Cook (The Accused) and he destroys everything as surely as cops destroy fun and work destroys free time. While there are some decent musical moments, he renders the bulk of the album unlistenable and there’s no denying that it sucks, bigtime.

Morbid Angel – Illud Divinum Insanus Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 4, 2011 in 1.0, 1.5, 2011, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Death Metal, 49 comments

Morbid Angel is elite death metal and has been the standard for as long as I can remember. They have defined death metal for listeners of the genre for decades, influenced all of the great bands to come out of the genre after them, and have been away for 8 long years. 2003’s Heretic was not the best record they’d ever produced, this is most certainly true. But there was no reason not to believe after hearing “Nevermore,” the single that was released ahead of time, that the return of David Vincent would usher in the kind of catastrophic reaction that has ensued. I make it my business to never read reviews of any record before I write my own review, hell, I haven’t even read Steel Druhm’s (which is below this one) of this record. But it was hard to miss the fury, anger and disappointment that has been floating around the ether. I had to ask myself “could it really possibly be this bad?” You see, I’m a stalwart defender of some pretty hated records (most notably Iron Maiden’s The X Factor and Mayhem’s Grand Declaration of War), and I try to listen to every record with a clean slate. And I attempted to do so with this record, as well.

Against the Flood – Against the Flood Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 12, 2011 in 1.0, 2011, Deathcore, Eurocore, Reviews, Siege of Amida Records, Deathcore, Metalcore, 11 comments

So apparently the UK has a lively metalcore and deathcore scene that is being picked up and flown around the world right now. Against the Flood is one of those bands that sits right on the border between the two genres (which are basically just one genre if you look at their girl jeans and stupid hair cuts) and who have taken from me nearly 60 minutes of my life that I will never, ever, ever, ever get back. As a punishment, I will pee on them publicly, from my blog (and wait for their stupid oaf fans, and buddies, to come here and insult me).

The Acacia Strain – Wormwood Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 27, 2010 in 1.0, 2010, American Metal, Deathcore, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Deathcore, 35 comments

I seem to remember The Acacia Strain being an In Flames copy, but I think I must be thinking of another band entirely. Which means that I have no reference for these guys as I’ve never heard them before and I thought they were a metalcore band. Turns out, I’m wrong. Instead, they’re a deathcore band. Now, I try to not generalize about genre conventions while reviewing a band (I mean, it’s unfair to review an entire genre every time you review a band’s record), but I think that I’m starting to figure out what it is about endless breakdowns that I hate. And I’ll tell you. Oh yes, I’ll tell you.

Fimbulthier – Arise Review

By Steel Druhm on July 8, 2010 in 1.0, 2010, Death Metal, Metalcore, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Thrash Metal, Trollzorn/SMP Records, Viking Metal, 1 comment

Into every reviewer’s lap, some crap will surely fall. Now, I can’t complain too much since I’ve had a pretty crap-free run so far as a scribe for the mighty and esteemed Angry Metal Guy. Sadly, that run has now come to a sudden and painful end with Arise, the second album from Germany’s Fimbulthier. I had never heard of these gents before but apparently their 2007 debut was some kind of viking/death metal hybrid, which by the looks of online reviews, didn’t exactly warm the cockles of the metal minded among us. Arise however, is about as viking as Pee Wee Herman in drag. No, seriously, maybe I misread the band description and it said Tricycling metal because there is nothing remotely close to viking metal here. What there is plenty of however, is awfulness and dreck.

In This Moment – A Star-Crossed Wasteland Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 6, 2010 in 1.0, 2010, American Metal, Century Media, Cock Rock, Metalcore, Reviews, Stupid Metal Trends, Cock Rock, Metalcore, 25 comments

So I admit, I’ve never heard SoCal pop rockers In This Moment before. This review will be completely devoid of comparisons to their last two records. Nor will it be filled with witty insights into how the band has changed over their time and whether or not this is a darker record (of course, every new record is the darkest, heaviest, etc., that any band has ever done, so trust the bio about as far as you can throw Arnold Schwarzneger). No, this is going to pretty much be a tirade about how much I really don’t like this album at all or the style of music or basically anything about this at all except for Maria’s clean singing voice, which is very good. You are warned. Don’t throw a fit in the comments because I hate your favorite band: I’ve already warned you. If you read past the jump then it’s your own fucking fault.

Sonic Syndicate – Rebellion EP Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 4, 2009 in 1.0, 2009, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 3 comments

Sonic Syndicate // Rebellion EP Rating: 1.0/5.0 – This is everything that is wrong with modern metal Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US) Websites: sonicsyndicate.com | myspace.com/sonicsyndicate Release Date: Nov. 6th, 2009 Sonic Syndicate are a pop rock band that somehow got signed to Nuclear Blast. Apparently they’re from Sweden, but I wonder if other […]