ANOMALY “Planet Storm”
By Theron Moore
For as long as I can remember, Milwaukee has always been a hotbed for metal, especially death metal. Enter ANOMALY with their new space themed record, “Planet Storm”, a self-release through Bandcamp which dropped September 17. “Planet Storm” contains re-recorded, remastered versions of three songs from their 2019 EP of the same name, with five additional new tracks.
Usually when bands decide to do conceptual or themed records, the rate of failure tends to be high because essentially you’re writing a novella and your chapters are songs telling the overall story. ANOMALY hit it out of the ballpark with “Planet Storm”. The music is heavy, tight, and on par with any major (indie) label release.
There’s more direction, forethought, and structure on “Planet Storm” than previous music on their 2015 EP, “Terms Of The Saw Doctor”, which, don’t get me wrong, is / was killer, but tended to be a little more freestyle and grindy. Six years later, ANOMALY have matured and progressed in their creative vision, expanding on their “heavier than thou” death metal sound into a veritable ten ton wall of pure sound. The band isn’t afraid to slow it down and build atmosphere, turn around, and stick a chainsaw in your face.
Honestly, I couldn’t understand the lyrics but it’s a death metal record, right? From what I gathered reading their bio and the song titles, “Planet Storm” is an exploration of the greater cosmos and mankind’s place in it. I love Milwaukee for a million reasons and the sheer volume of metal that comes out of that city year after year (since the 80’s) is staggering, and ANOMALY does the town proud with “Planet Storm”. Support the band, buy a copy and if you’re in the area, catch ‘em live. I give this album four apocalyptic asteroids out of five.