manofmuchmetal

[manofmuchmetal]

IMPORTANT UPDATE - website move!

IMPORTANT UPDATE – website move!

Hi Everyone, this is a quick announcement that I have moved! I have had my website professionally re-designed & can now be found at https://manofmuchmetal.net/ It’s the same content, same artwork, same awful reviews, just in a more professional format. So please, feel free to check it out, let me know what you think, and maybe even bookmark it & follow me on all the socials via the newly…

[manofmuchmetal]

Thirteen Goats - Servants Of The Outer Dark - Album Review

Thirteen Goats – Servants Of The Outer Dark – Album Review

Artist: Thirteen Goats Album Title: Servants Of The Outer Dark Label: Independent Release Date of Release: 1 July 2022 I’m really not entirely sure how I should view this album, and how I should go about reviewing it. Thirteen Goats is a new name to me, and to the metal world at large, with little known about the band, other than they like heavy, extreme metal, they have a sense of humour,…

[manofmuchmetal]

New sounds to wrap your ears around - Vol.1 - 8th July 22

New sounds to wrap your ears around – Vol.1 – 8th July 22

Welcome to the first post in a brand new series called ‘new sounds to wrap your ears around’ The idea of these posts is simple. Every week, I am inundated with requests and/or updates from bands that are either well-known, deep in the underground, or brand new. Often, these requests or updates seek to get me to feature a new song on my website. Up until now, I’ve had to say ‘thanks, but I only…

[manofmuchmetal]

Vomit Forth - Seething Malevolence - Album Review

Vomit Forth – Seething Malevolence – Album Review

Artist: Vomit Forth Album Title: Seething Malevolence Label: Century Media Records Date of Release: 8 July 2022 We’ve all been there – you wait for someone to pass you in the supermarket, and they blank you; you’re cut up by another driver on the road; someone acts in an antisocial manner on public transport. Well, instead of stooping to their level and acting inappropriately, I suggest you…

[manofmuchmetal]

Greylotus - Downfall - Album Review

Greylotus – Downfall – Album Review

Artist: Greylotus Album Title: Downfall Label: The Artisan Era Date of Release: 8 July 2022 Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Greylotus are a relatively new and emerging name in the technical death metal arena. They released an EP in 2018 entitled ‘Savior’, and toured in the US with Abiotic, Cognitive, and God Of Nothing in 2019. Just last weekend, they came to the shores of Blighty to play…

[manofmuchmetal]

My Soliloquy - Fu3ion - Album Review

My Soliloquy – Fu3ion – Album Review

Artist: My Soliloquy Album Title: Fu3ion Label: Rare Artist Music Date of Release: 11 July 2022 I have closely followed the career of Pete Morten ever since I discovered him whilst plying his trade with UK progressive metal band Threshold. Being involved in some of my favourite and most enduring records by one of the best bands within the genre will certainly help with the spotlight. However,…

[manofmuchmetal]

Pestilent Hex - The Ashen Abhorrence - Album Review

Pestilent Hex – The Ashen Abhorrence – Album Review

Artist: Pestilent Hex Album Title: The Ashen Abhorrence Label: Debemur Morti Productions Date of Release: 8 July 2022 Melodic black metal and I have always been keen bedfellows, so the opportunity to check out a debut album from a new player in the scene was too tempting an offer to pass up. In fact, I’ve been keeping an eye open for this album from Pestilent Hex since it was announced a…

[manofmuchmetal]

Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation - Album Review

Porcupine Tree – Closure / Continuation – Album Review

Artist: Porcupine Tree Album Title: Closer / Continuation Label: Music For Nations Date of Release: 24 June 2022 I want to start this review by being completely transparent and honest. I have never been a particularly big fan of Porcupine Tree. I have a few of their albums in my collection, but I cannot remember the last time that I actually chose to play any of them. I bought them because,…

[manofmuchmetal]

Conjurer - Páthos - Album Review

Conjurer – Páthos – Album Review

Artist: Conjurer Album Title: Páthos Label: Nuclear Blast Date of Release: 1 July 2022 I can’t quite believe that it has been over four years since I first wrapped my ears around ‘Mire’, the debut album from UK-based metal band Conjurer. Despite being described as a sludge/post-metal outfit with strong doom leanings, I had to give them a go at the time because of the hyperbole and excitement…

[manofmuchmetal]

Ironflame - Where Madness Dwells - Album Review

Ironflame – Where Madness Dwells – Album Review

Artist: Ironflame Album Title: Where Madness Dwells Label: High Roller Records Date of Release: 1 July 2022 If I’m honest, when I saw this release nestled within my promo pile, I didn’t have high expectations for it. I’d never heard of Ironflame before, and the questionable and dated cover artwork did nothing to whet my appetite when I first laid eyes on it. I’ve leaned to trust my instincts…

[manofmuchmetal]

The best albums of 2022 so far - April to June

The best albums of 2022 so far – April to June

We’re halfway through 2022 already. How on Earth did that happen? It’s true what they say, that the older you get, the faster time seems to fly by. However, the good news is that it gives me an excuse to bring you a round-up post of my favourite albums that have been released in the second quarter of the year, between April and June. In the same way as my post for the first three months of the…

[manofmuchmetal]

Horizon Ignited - Towards The Dying Lands - Album Review

Horizon Ignited – Towards The Dying Lands – Album Review

Artist: Horizon Ignited Album Title: Towards The Dying Lands Label: Nuclear Blast Records Date of Release: 1 July 2022 A combination of melodic death metal and Finland? That sounds like a marriage made in heaven to me. For a start, there’s no doubting the heavy metal credentials of this country across a huge range of subgenres, but it is also home to my favourite melodic death metal band of…

[manofmuchmetal]

Municipal Waste - Electrified Brain - Album Review

Municipal Waste – Electrified Brain – Album Review

Artist: Municipal Waste Album Title: Electrified Brain Label: Nuclear Blast Date of Release: 1 July 2022 Seeing as I have finally embraced a greater love and appreciation for the thrash metal genre over the past year or two, I felt like it would be a good opportunity to listen to the new album from Municipal Waste, one of several bands within the genre with which I have never previously…

[manofmuchmetal]

Paganizer - Behind The Macabre - Album Review

Paganizer – Behind The Macabre – Album Review

Artist: Paganizer Album Title: Behind The Macabre Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Date of Release: 24 June 2022 Welcome one and all to another instalment of ‘Matt drops the ball’, or as I prefer to call it, my review of Swedish death metal stalwarts Paganizer’s twelfth full length release, ‘Behind The Macabre’. It feels like the more music I review, the more I need to discover, because…

[manofmuchmetal]

Philosophobia - Philosophobia - Album Review

Philosophobia – Philosophobia – Album Review

Artist: Philosophobia Album Title: Philosophobia Label: Sensory Records Date of Release: 24 June 2022 For all of my new-found love of some more extreme styles of metal, I will always gravitate back to the progressive metal scene, because it is one of my favourite, and most enduring styles of music, particularly the more ‘classic’ melodic end of the spectrum. It feels, though, as if the pool…

[manofmuchmetal]

Darkane - Inhuman Spirits - Album Review

Darkane – Inhuman Spirits – Album Review

Artist: Darkane Album Title: Inhuman Spirits Label: Massacre Records Date of Release: 24 June 2022 Ever since I discovered ‘Expanding Senses’ back in 2002 or thereabouts, I have had a soft spot for Swedish band Darkane. At a time when I was still very heavily into exploring everything that the melodic death metal genre had to offer, I stumbled across their third album and never looked back.…

[manofmuchmetal]

Exocrine - The Hybrid Suns - Album Review

Exocrine – The Hybrid Suns – Album Review

Artist: Exocrine Album Title: The Hybrid Suns Label: Unique Leader Records Date of Release: 17 June 2022 I come at this review as a newbie, unfamiliar with the work of Exocrine, but within a couple of spins through, I found myself wishing that this wasn’t the case. However, it isn’t the greatest surprise in the world because it is only in the last twelve-eighteen months that I have truly…