(Andy Synn once again presents you with his take on three upcoming albums from the UK Metal underground – come for the awesome artwork, stay for the magnificent music)
One of the most depressing things to observe as a Metal writer is how, every year, it seems like there’s less and less room for nuance in the way we talk about new albums – everything is either “absolute garbage” or “absolutely perfect”, and this polarisation is then amplified by a media landscape which increasingly favours only the loudest, most obnoxious voices and harshest, most extreme viewpoints.
This issue is then exacerbated by the fact that, because there’s just so many different sites/zines out there now whose lack of ethics (or quality control) means they’ll basically throw a 10/10 at anything, it seems like some bands (and their fans) have been actively conditioned to expect fawning praise whenever they release something, and often react quite badly to even the mildest criticism.
The thing is… no band or album is perfect. There’s always room for improvement in everything, and it doesn’t do “the scene” any good when those who write about it are more interested in brown-nosing and boot-licking in order to burnish their own “brand” than they are actually offering up an honest opinion.
So let me be clear – while I fully recommend all these albums, each of which represents a slightly different facet of the fertile UK underground, I’m also going to be offering some constructive criticism where I see fit.
And, if you can’t accept that then, well, maybe this isn’t the site for you.
