proto-metal

Hindsight is 20/20. Love makes you fat and other idioms. And people are assholes. It’s funny to see the same people who tell you ohh that new Steve Harris album is absolute phish, then singing its praises to get a feature and an interview.

The good ole Tygers Of Pan Tang are still roaring, with their newest album “Ritual” dropping in late 2019. In a year that a lot of older bands came up with some pretty good albums (Angel Witch, Diamond Head, The Rods come to mind), the Tygers are also coming up with the goods, with an album that sits well with the rest of the canon and pretty much cements Jacopo Meille’s era, as the genuine heir of the bands rich 80s legacy.
 

These Swedes are celebrating a decade of existence this year, by releasing their fifth outing. Sounding like a less refined version of Enforcer and Ambush, they have a penchant for writing that straightforward, samey, simplistic metal that’s easy to enjoy, but hard to appreciate for more than the cheap thrill it is. The main issue other than the somewhat flat songs, is Andreas Wikström, the singer, who is not terrible, but is a far cry from being great.

Initially I didn’t know what to make of Tanith’s offering. I do like Russ Tippins’s guitar playing, both in the bands he’s been in (ie Satan and Pariah), as well as his solo material… his solo gigs in fact are rather “different” and not as metal and that might in part have given birth to a band like Tanith. With his metal output directed into Satan’s albums, it seems that Tanith is a vehicle for “everything else”.