2012-02-02 SYVEN from Finland is a stunning example of how far musicians can be taken if they follow their inner voices. Thor talked with Aslak Tolonen about the journey starting with the beautiful debut album "Aikaintaite". Dominik Irtenkauf journeys deeper into the frothing soil of what has become known as Black Metal theory, here with an interview with Nicola Masciandaro, publisher of the Hideous Gnosis anthology. For the KVLT ACADEMICK ov the AGM.com audience, from the pulpits of post-structuralist abominations...

.........................................................................................................................................................

2012-01-26 EL SCHLONG, a unique and vibrant power trio are slowly taking over the world, one country at a time. A band of headbanging gypsies, or victims of international visa laws ? Suleiman finds out all this and more in a detailed chat with vocalist/guitarist Leah Hinton. No visuals here, but the ones within the text are freaking huge! Just a head's up.

.........................................................................................................................................................

2012-01-19 There is little needed to be mentioned of ALCEST these days, be it clamouring despise, enamoured celebration or objective analysis. Mystery Flame had an in-depth conversation with Neige, the visionaire whose third album Les Voyages de L'Ame was recently released. Among the reviews today: Åsa Septikemi explores the symphonic ramblings of GROMTH's The Immortal. Suleiman dissects the Greek human-lovers THIS IS PAST's new album. Finally, Marco Guerra Avitabile reacts... somehow... to... KUBARK. And on a completely different note: hardly anyone can have missed the US debacle of the SOPA / PIPA acts. If you value a free Internet in any way, sign all the petitions you can find - especially the US citizens among our readers. Check it out, and why it matters for all of us who care for any culture besides major corporation commercial bullshit.

.........................................................................................................................................................

2012-01-13 FINALLY it is here! Your votes, your tastes - and now, your results! Not the five, or the ten, or the thirteen best Avantgarde-Metal albums of 2011, but the TWENTY sovereign phonograms amongst which you dwelled throughout the past year! Complete with an exclusive interview with the proud winner... Did your own choices match with the peoples' votes? Have a look! Now let's kick off the dirt and grime of the old, and wander into a new year filled to the brim with amazing musics. And what better way than to let Åsa and Suleiman lead the way with, respectively in that order, the pan-European debutants of OMEGA CENTAURI and the science fictionists of UMBAH? As you may notice, the weekly updates have moved more and more unto Thursdays, rather than the habitual Wednesday routine (technically this is written on Friday the 13th, which is cool but irrelevant). Well, expect no change in that department; from now on, mark your AGM calenders for the day of Thor! New year, new bad habits!

.........................................................................................................................................................

2012-01-05 As we await the results from the Reader's Poll, where the best albums of the past year are elected democratically and tastefully, a few of us contributors to AGM.com wanted to present our top 10 of 2011. Highlights in musics and else onomatopoetic and geographical pseudogenres be damned! - things you might have missed, and things you mustn't miss for the world! ENJOY, OR DON'T

.........................................................................................................................................................

2011-12-29 The New Year is a-coming, and the AGM.com HQ is silent in preparations for the first weeks of January, when not one but two summaries of the past year will be presented. First, as an opener, a choice selection of contributors' personal top 2011 lists, and then, more importantly: YOUR lists! You can still vote, and if you haven't yet it's about time, the polls close this Sunday so, for the last time... Go vote!

.........................................................................................................................................................

2011-12-21 Well... holiday season coming up - merely three weeks to the Chinese New Year for example - and things are slowing down a bit. Another bunch who enjoys slowing things down are ISOLE, the Gävle-based SweDoom orchestra, whose guitarist/vocalist Crister Olsson was greeted by Mystery Flame in Madrid some weeks ago. Oh, he's also in EREB ALTOR, and here is an interview with him. Merry Yuletide, happy Hanukkah, hail Satan, cheers! And vote, all of you who haven't yet!

.........................................................................................................................................................

2011-12-15 Into the dark we ride with our ever-itinerant metal correspondent MysteryFlame, and what can be darker than Madrid, mid-December? An array of death-doom-to-black-and-beyond bands inside; PRIMORDIAL, ENSLAVED, ISOLE, KATATONIA... and so on, and so forth. Plenty of pictures too. Another in a long row of 2011 comebacks: aVoid dips his feet into the ebony lake to catch a whiff of the brooding lights.... M.G.A. floats between perceptions, experiencing the unbelievable. Read what the new DYSKINESIA record is about. And keep those votes coming in!

.........................................................................................................................................................

2011-12-08 Lo and behold! It is the return of the Essential Kow-Killer, the MetaBaron of HypraMetal, the Void of Occidental Symbology: CHRYST. PhantasmaChronically interviewed hither by Tentakel Pppp. LOCRIAN again, this time clearing the table and starting from fresh. Pure insanity analyzed by M.G.A. EL SCHLONG again, deeper into the pit, spectrally inspected by Suleiman. LAETITIA IN HOLOCAUST again, amorphous and descending occultism, layered by aVoid. And don't forget to VOTE!

.........................................................................................................................................................

2011-11-30 A double headliner for you all this week! WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM are once again unbound and at loose: equally heralded as the originators of a supposed new sub-subgenre of Black Metal and indeed one of the more important and exploratory units of the genre in the late 00's, as derided for, well who knows, stepping out of the mainstream of evilness? Mystery Flame hooks up with Aaron Weaver for a lengthy (to say the least!) chat about... well, everything it seems. Read it! The second part of this week's program relate to the fact that the year of 2011 is speeding up towards its end. That's right folks, it's time to VOTE YOUR TOP 5 AGM ALBUMS OF 2011! And finally, some reviews. aVoid reacquaints us to the unsettling world of DIAPSIQUIR, back from the grave to spread some nice & nasty negativity. Out of Poland, an ominous bass rumble is heard. Suleiman investigates this primordial industrial emission, known as WHALESONG...

.........................................................................................................................................................

View all weekly updates