So yeah, here’s your ‘RotM back in time’ to ‘compliment’. [sic] the demonic front that [I] to contribute [my] own blog”.
In a hard-fought month filled with more great metal, and even some very good prog, there wasn’t a single record that grabbed my attention. Leisha Reue. An amazing combination of desperate depression and razor sharp riffs that evoke legend Wind up, Leisha (pronounced “Leitha” rather than “Leipa” in case you’re wondering) has created a masterful, potentially even excellent, black metal platter that deftly balances the genre’s past and present. The album which Carcharodon aptly diagnosed as “rich and textured” is also “uncompromising”, carving a unique path through the depressive black metal subgenre with aggressive riffing and on-the-attack production. Yet despite being free of the reverb endemic to all things ‘depressing’, Reue: perfectly evokes the existential angst of regret. “Filled with emotional baggage and great songwriting” Carcharodon concluded, “Reue: It was a very good way to start 2023.” This was the clear winner almost from the minute I started listening to it.
Runner(s) up
Twilight Power // In the heart of Wintervale [January 20th, 2023 from Nuclear Blast Records] — My constant frustration is the amount of lactating jokes that come out every time power metal is posted here on AngryMetalGuy.com. Yes, I’m aware that the genre conventions of co-playing your favorite Dungeons & Dragons™ character can be a little silly, but it’s a tragedy that we can’t accept stellar, adventure music-making bands because it makes us feel silly. enjoy ourselves through the game. Or, to put it another way, we feel stupid have fun! And here’s what In the heart of Wintervale It’s funny! The album is adventurous, epic and amazingly fast power metal from Sweden’s Dalarna (+ brilliant Italian singer). Throughout this epic takeover Wintervalethese Swedes hit the listener with “bombastic” and “flashy” songs that develop a diverse, more experimental sound than that. Twilight Power previously trafficked. The result is an extremely distracting record with only minor flaws, and which Eldritch Elitist rightly claims to “reveal a distinct hunger to replicate their unmistakable sound without betraying what made it so beloved in the first place. between In the heart of Wintervale adventurous spirit and vastly improved mix and overall production” the future has never looked brighter Twilight Power.
…and oceans // Both in the gardens and in the tomb [January 27th, 2023 from Season of Mist] – It was not long ago …and oceans Impressed me and most of the crew with his first album in 18 years. Mother of the cosmic world earned our accolades, a monthly record spot, and performed quite well during Listurnalia. Two and a half years later, Both in the gardens and in the tomb Another slab of great symphonic black metal that fills it emperor-shaped hole in our life. Both in the gardens and in the tomb offers a blistering black metal, synthetic ambience and intensity matched only by his disciplined songwriting, where …and oceans differs from the contemporary black metal scene, “which prioritizes the atmosphere generated by repetition”, El Cuervo. The old crow did not stop at this in his praise, asserting that “Both in the gardens and in the tomb falls right into the Goldilocks zone for melodic black metal, straddling the line between light and heavy, catchy yet powerful.” This creates potential for new fans because …and oceans They’re “so traditional in their blast beats and gritty sound, yet so brash in their melodic sensibilities, they offer just the gateway new fans may need to reach the dark side.” But whether you’re an old fan or a new Both in the gardens and in the tomb should grace your record collection.
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