December 2022 Feature Release - The Revolution Edition
So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.
This month’s feature release for The Revolution has been nominated by myself. It's 2009's "Buster" debut album from Los Angeles sludge metal/metalcore outfit Admiral Angry, a release that I ran into while putting together the playlists a couple of years ago & have been meaning to get around to checking out ever since. I look forward to seeing what it's got to offer (& also whether the dual tagging is really fit for purpose).
https://metal.academy/releases/13522
I'm gonna have to apologise for this one as in hindsight "Buster" really doesn't have much to do with metalcore or The Revolution. It's really a djenty sludge metal record & a damn fine one at that too. The tracklisting is seriously consistent & the music is as filthy & depraved as you could ever ask for. Front man Chris Lindblad screams his absolute guts out in a marvelous performance while the techy djent feel to some of the riffs is something that I'm yet to experience in combination with a genre like sludge. Closer "Illusion of Strength" is the highlight for mine & is a wonderful example of the sound that the poorly titled Admiral Angry have to offer but there's not a weak moment on here & I thoroughly enjoyed the experience overall. It's a crushingly heavy album full of psychotic, drug-fueled self-harm & spite.
For fans of Black Wall Sheep, Knut & early Amenra.
4/5
I did my review, here's its summary:
Formed in San Francisco, Admiral Angry can feed listeners some anger that might be terrifying for the inexperienced. Originally a grindcore band, they then switched to their own sound that combines the sludge of Neurosis, the hardcore of Black Flag, and the doom-ish heavy metal of Black Sabbath. Vocalist Chris Lindblad delivers some of the most tortured-sounding vocals in extreme metal/hardcore. The sludgy low tempo shows some talent in writing, while being a bit restrained. What you can expect is slow heavy downtuned sludge, often as djenty as Meshuggah, with a few occasional brief hardcore speed-ups. In fact, there really isn't any metalcore prominence, and only one of the songs sounds close enough to metalcore in the drumming and riffing. The rest is tight tough heaviness you wish for more of from the band members. Sadly, founding guitarist Daniel Krauss passed away from cystic fibrosis at age 22 after recording this album and one more EP. I felt some pain in my heart when I found out because I lost an outside-world friend of mine last month (as of this review), same age, similar cause of death. In the beginning of my full review, I asked you all to remember the work of this band and their fallen guitarist. Buster is a good album with some of the heaviest dread. RIP those two young fellows gone too soon; Daniel Krauss and my outside-world friend....
4/5