“Hällas—Sweden’s self-styled administrators of ‘adventure rock’—has suffered a nearly decade-long absence from AMG. Back in 2017, El Cuervo (rightly) awarded Excerpts from a Future Past a 4.0, praising the debut for its transportive aesthetic and cohesive performances. Since this one-off review, Hällas has become a premier neo- proto-metal act, yet they haven’t reached the exceptionality of their entrance.” Adventure rock or butt stock?
“Debut albums are a fickle thing. Often the strongest release by a band for years to come, even giving rise to the term “sophomore slump” when the inevitable follow-up can’t hit the same highs. And so, debuts are make-or-break. For Tampa’s Cold Steel, Discipline & Punish is such a piping hot serving of crossover thrash, I can’t help but be excited for their future.” Steel is best served cold.
“When a group strikes gold, I imagine that there might be a temptation to continue mining the same vein. In 2022, Sweden’s An Abstract Illusion seized the metalverse by the collective throat and shook it with forceful pathos. Woe was a start-to-finish progressive death metal masterpiece which edged out some stiff competition to take the number one spot on my personal Top Ten(ish) list that year. The same was true for Carcharodon, whose mighty shoes—flippers?—I humbly struggle to fill. Now, with the release of The Sleeping City, An Abstract Illusion boldly declares that they are not content to repeat themselves.” Illusion and concrete.
“Arguably more than any other subgenre, doom metal is as much about aesthetic as it is raw substance. The meshing of tone with riffs of tectonic heft to compensate the substitution of speed with glacial pace is key to the formula, with many a genre great being defined by the two elements in equal measure. Long running doom outfit Slowmatics, first founded in 2004, are here to drop their eighth LP Atomicult, and have opted to modify this approach a little by making a cosmic themed album. Being a sucker for space and all its aural manifestations, I was intrigued to see whether such a relatively rare framework could mesh well with the force and requisite black-hole summoning doom is known for.” Space in the face.
“I’m not sure why The Great Old Ones continue to be lumped in with the post-black metal scene. Their general reliance on space-y tremolo riffs made sense of the post-black tag up through 2017’s EOD, but 2019’s Cosmicism felt so viscerally progressive as to displace the band from any notable acts under that particular genre umbrella. And yeah, sub-subgenre tags are thin by their very nature, but with the release of Kadath, the notion that The Great Old Ones remain “post” anything feels downright silly.” Aging greatness.
Starting 2025 with a bang was always important, and I elected the “being 26 days late with your Record o’ the Year post” as the best possible way to give everyone that patented Angry Metal Guy feeling of waiting and waiting only to be smacked in the face with 5000 words that you disagree with entirely. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Executive Dysfunction™! Let’s make a list!
Listurnalia rolls ever onward to glory! Next up are El Cuervo, GardensTale and Eldritch Elitist, each with a glowing Top Ten(ish) of 2024 to consider and study in depth. Have at them!
Saunders and Felagund continue Listurnalia with another set of lists. MOAR lists for the Blood Godz!
Mere weeks remain before the big holiday events befall us. Of course, I’m speaking about the AMG Listurnalia, but yeah, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s are coming too. Before these festive occasions distract us, we must churn out several belated Record(s) o’ the Month features because running them in 2025 would be really tacky. And so we come to the now distant month of October and the fruits it bore us. Eat well, but save room for figgy pudding!
“Fresh on the heels of other progressive death accolades in the comeback-record-sphere, Bedsore has staged a lesser-hyped return of their own. Four years on the books since 2020’s Hypnagogic Hallucinations, about which Ferrous Bueller proclaimed that Bedsore aimed “to be as creative as possible within the band’s preferred scope,” these Italian metal history buffs have returned not simply to their ’90s death metal-inspired roots. Trading logo-adorned garments and pit-tussled hair for amber-tinted shades and pressed, patterned shirts—buttoned enough to allow the tease of a scruffy chest—the Bedsore troupe has turned over not to expose a pustular dorsum but rather an ashen mound of patchouli and burnt flower.” Free love and bedsores.
