May25

Record(s) o’ the Month – May 2025

Record(s) o’ the Month – May 2025

There are months when the Record(s) o’ the Month feels like a sacred duty. It is the noble, worthwhile culmination of rigorous listening and passionate discourse. And then there’s May. May, a month in which Dr. A.N. Grier tried to vote for a band called… SEXCAVE or some shit 4 or 5 different times with different pseudonyms, and where Dolphin Whisperer almost made me rage quit by making a single joke about “sky-tearing tonalities,” which, like… what kind of pretentious fucking bullshit is that? Do you people even listen to music or do you just sit around all day making up stupid poetic ways of saying absolutely nothing?

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Empyrean Sanctum – Detachment from Reality

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Empyrean Sanctum – Detachment from Reality

“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Enter the Cyber Riff Arena!

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Kalaveraztekah – Nikan Axkan

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Kalaveraztekah – Nikan Axkan

“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Get in the death groove.

Haitón del Guarataro – Pombero Review

Haitón del Guarataro – Pombero Review

“Cryptids are cool as fuck. I don’t believe in them, but highly localized monster myths are just a fascinating insight in the fears and priorities of a particular culture, especially the often esoteric rules surrounding the fabled creatures. For his second album, Alexis Uribe of one-man band Haitón del Guarataro from Buenos Aires, Argentina, focuses on the Pombero, a short hairy humanoid being from Paraguayan folklore. It steals eggs and honey, impregnates women, and is appeased by gifts of rum and cigars. So it’s basically Steel Druhm on a bender. Context aside, I was intrigued by the concept behind Pombero; an album that would morph from stoner doom into black doom across the runtime.” Cryptic.

Quadvium – Tetradōm Review

Quadvium – Tetradōm Review

“Who needs two guitar players when you could have two master bass players at the helm? Quadvium seeks to answer this question with the fiery fingerwork of metal legends Steve DiGiorgio and Jeroen Paul Thesseling. DiGiorgio revolutionized bass playing in the metalsphere through radical death works with Autopsy, Death, and his own band, Sadus. Even if you don’t know his name, you may recognize these hallmarks of percussive and frenetic bass engineering, or any number of the thrashy, deathly, or progressive albums to which he has lent a wild, throbbing pulse. Likewise, Thesseling has weaved his way around celebrated releases, designing a style equally tricky but heavier in jazz-indebted fusion. Both Pestilence’s Spheres and Obscura’s breakout albums would not have seen the same light without his buttery and bleeping presence.” Bass on bass wiolence.

Obsidian Tongue – Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn Review

Obsidian Tongue – Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn Review

“I felt a brief surge of excitement when I saw we had received the new Obsidian Tongue album to review in late April. Maybe I subconsciously remember Carcharodon’s positive review of the aptly-titled Volume III, or maybe I was just in a black metal mood at the time, but I made note of the discovery either way. I was sure the aforementioned shark-man would be writing these words instead of me, but life is funny sometimes, and here I am. Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn is the fourth full-length release from the US-based black metal outfit.” The Tongue finds you.

Eschaton – Techtalitarian Review

Eschaton – Techtalitarian Review

“Imagine you are trying to get your friend into a genre of music you love. Perhaps that genre has some unfortunate tropes that even an untrained ear can discern as all instances being relegated to the denigrated status of the lowest common denominator. You know first impressions are crucial, and thus desperately want theirs to be of music that goes beyond those trappings so your friend can share your joy. Let’s say that genre is tech-death, and the album that your friend first comes across in their journey Eschaton’s third, Techtalitarian. The band’s discography heretofore has been solid, but unremarkable, and given a prior emphasis on something closer to deathcore, you feel justified unease.” Friends, enemies, wankcore.

Walg – V Review

Walg – V Review

“As I have mentioned before, I’m focusing primarily on contact form promos this year. But every now and then, I will make exceptions, mostly to cover bands I have seniority over. Fortuitous, then, that twice-listing meloblack mavericks Walg sent their fifth opus V in through our back door, allowing me to keep my streak and eat it too!” Walg cake for all!