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Immortal - Pure Holocaust

I think they're all worth having. If I was trying to be objective I'd say Still Life is the "best" - and it's the first one with the full lineup from BWP, since Åkerfeldt had to record bass on My Arms. But they each have a unique atmosphere. The lineup on those first two albums is really cool, love all the high melodic stuff their old bass player did. Orchid in particular has a vibe I've never heard anywhere else. What I'm saying is, once you pop, you can't stop.

Lichen - Spear & Stone, black metal Virginia Beach Nachzehrer/Mephisto - Cries of the Midnight Horde... Split, SF Bay Area 2023

My favorite Metallica album! Great choice!

Ifernach - The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard, Quebec 2020 Megiddo - The Devil and the Whore, Toronto 2000 You was just a little kid in the 80's, bro! I could not take a whole day full of Rob Halford. I think two Pweest albums would be about my limit, and even that'd be pushing it. But have fun dude. Wish I could meet up with you again in Baltimore next week my friend, but babysitting has really become an issue these last couple of years, so no can do. Little dude's actually home from school today with a sore throat and a 102° fever, strangely reminiscent of 2022 when I was all set to put him on the school bus and then hit the road for Baltimore that Friday morning, until he woke up with a fever that day which he had given to me as well by Saturday, so I had to eat my tix.

The 80's were the shit. Definitely my favorite decade so far. Today - all Priest all day. Going to see the current tour Sunday night (this weekend is a doozy - Gatecreeper/Creeping Death Saturday, Priest on Sunday, and MDF coming up on Wednesday). So I'm starting with Rocka Rolla and going chronologically through the catalog.

I like Grey Islands alright, but for me Death Magic Doom is the real standout of everything past the first 4 albums. Just really solid songwriting front to back. Probably play DMD more than any of their other albums except for the classic debut of course, because who doesn't want to die in Solitude? Find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that some of you kids weren't even born yet when Epicus came out in June of '86. A real game changer that one was, I didn't have any experience with doom metal before that unless you wanna count Sabbath as doom metal. That record was on repeat all summer. Until Reign in Blood came out a few months later in the fall anyway, then that became my obsession. So many killer records came out that year, wish you could've been there with me JT, you would've loved the 80's. NP: Candlemass - Nightfall, 1987

The Sisters Of Mercy - Floodland Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

All the fucking horns. Never met a Mayhem album I didn't like, but GDoW should have been an EP. This morning: Perihelion Ship - To Paint a Bird of Fire - Finnish prog metal goodness Perihelion Ship - A Rare Thunderstorm in Spring

COFFINS - Sinister Oath ....these guys are the fucking coolest......

the return of darkness and evil (1985) - bathory reek of putrefacation (1988) - carcass butchered at birth (1991) - cannibal corpse once upon the cross (1995) - deicide

All the bullet belts weighed them down, so they just could never get to the top of the pile. One of the little known dangers of being too metal. Necroblood - Collapse of the Human Race Oath of Cruelty - Summary Execution at Dawn

As my day at work is drawing to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to list MY favorite Thrash Bay Area albums. If you have any of your own, don't hesitate! I'm curious and above all eager to discover stuff I would have totally ignored. Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence Defiance - Product of Society Defiance - Void Terra Firma Exodus - Bonded by Blood Exodus - Fabulous Disaster Forbidden - Forbidden Evil Forbidden - Twisted into Form Heathen - Breaking the Silence Heathen - Victims of Deception Laaz Rockit - Know your Enemy Testament - The Legacy Testament - The New Order Testament - Practice what you Preach Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare

Holy Moses - Terminal Terror

Exodus - Bonded by Blood (1985)

Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence (1987)

Gotta side with FA here on Still Life. Amazing album and that bass player was my favorite of those that have been in the band. But it's splitting hairs on early Opeth. Everything through Deliverance is so damn good. I thought Ghost Reveries is where it started to trend down, but I do still like that album. In fact, the only one I haven't liked so far is Heritage. I could live without Watershed too, but I don't hate it. One thing I would say is that all the stuff works very well live. Such a tight band. Just picked up tickets to see them again in October. In other words @markm, you're going to need to just pick up everything before BWP. Don't worry, I promise the money will be well spent.

Metallica - And Justice For All

I've never seen Priest even though as you know they are one of my all time favorites. You'll have to let me know if they're worth seeing at this late stage. I have to admit I found watching them inducted in to the Rock and Roll hall of fame as old men depressing as I still think of them as the metal gods from the 80's.

NP: Naxen - Descending Into A Deeper Darkness ▶︎ Descending Into A Deeper Darkness | Naxen | vendetta records (bandcamp.com) Wow. I was not prepared for this. Was just sort of clicking through stuff to get some black metal to go along with some light gaming on a day off from all the personal and professional chaos of my day to day. This thing has some serious heft. It's not about speed or really any single instrument, but something about the way it's so thoughtfully put together is resonating with me. It's giving me that weird feeling of not being able to single out a specific riff or moment that the listener has been carefully guided toward, but each song itself is a complete unit and a well expressed immaculately coordinated shift in weight by all involved. I'm definitely willing to entertain the idea that this one just happened to hit me at the right time and place, but I can still appreciate the effect of catching a left hook out of nowhere before I could prepare for impact. In the least favorable reading I could give, it's a very fortunate accident. Might be my soundtrack for the next few days.

This was me in 1991. I could say the stuff I heard a few years later had more of an impact, or stuck with me for longer, but the groundwork was laid when I was about 11. We had just moved into yet another new place and I discovered MTV and boom.

SIX FEET UNDER - Hair Of The Dog ......oh my god..... .....hideous......

I'll turn a few up for you brother. If anyone else is heading to MDF, hit me up. The one thing I'm not looking forward to is 5 days on my feet. Between now and Hell's Heroes in March, I've developed some foot pain that I can't seem to shake. So I'll be heavily medicating to get through the week. A smarter man would find more appropriate things to do with my free time, but I've not often been accused of being very smart. 11 in 1986, so yeah just a kid. An impressionable yute when all the good shit started to hit. And did it hit. Probably why in the intervening almost 40 years I've never really been able to shake drive for the extreme side of the musical landscape.

It really is an excellent album! And, for me, it would rank right about #10 in the catalog, but that's just how great the whole catalog is. And I absolutely love "King of the Grey Islands". It's my favorite album with Lowe on vocals, and it's in my top 5 Candlemass albums. It's an especially punishing atmosphere the entire way through. "Destroyer" is one of my favorite Candlemass songs - never fails to deliver! Candlemass - "King of the Grey Islands" Candlemass - "Death Magic Doom" Love these guys!

Serpents Oath - Damnation (2024) {Belgium} evil, melodic BM? Yes please Skuggor - Whispers of Ancient Spells (2024) {Sweden} evil and ritualistic AtmoBM Hrizg - Damnatio Memoriae (2024) {Spain} Blackened DM that I kinda like

Finnish Black. Been on repeat. Sarvipää | Aihos (bandcamp.com)

I've seen Candlemass several times in the past few years with Johan on vocals. He really does justice to the older material that he didn't sing on originally (Nightfall). Of course he nails the Epicus stuff. Voice just as strong as ever. One of the better vocalists I've heard in the subgenre recently. Candlemass is one of my favorite bands. Epicus got me into metal all those years ago, but I have honestly never heard anything past Tales. I only ever revisit the first 2 when I get the itch.

Candlemass - Self-titled

It's not that I wont rate them, It's more that I can't without revisiting their albums. IN would definitely be one of my favourites and The Unknown my least but to know where the others fall would need new listen. Been a fan of theirs since just after they formed. They are one of the last bands I worked with (as a part of a larger gig) before getting out of the rat race.

Another great call with In Malice's Wake! I've been a big fan of theirs for about 7 years now. Great ranking! Yes, these guys always seem to deliver. I enjoy every single album, including "Infected Nations" nowadays - it just took a bit to grow on me. "The Unknown" is continuing to grow on me as well, even though there's far less thrash on it. Both musically and vocally, it gets compared often to Metallica's "Black Album", which is one of my least favorite Metallica albums. I can enjoy the Black Album very occasionally, but objectively, it's one of the most baselessly overhyped albums ever released in metal's long history. These days, I listen to "The Unknown" by Evile far more often than I listed to the Black Album from Metallica. Also, fantastic call with the Megadeth debut! That one is actually my favorite Megadeth album. I enjoy "Peace Sells" and "Rust in Peace" and "So Far So Good...So What" just like a lot of fans do, but the debut has a ferocity to it that those albums don't seem to capture, in my opinion. I realize I'm in the minority on that, but it's just how I hear those albums!

Infected Nations - first album I heard by Evile and still my favorite. One of the best thrash albums ever and my fav band of the new wave of thrash (followed by Havok, Warbringer and Vektor). And since AlSymerz won't rank them, Here's my ranking: Infected Nations Hell Unleashed Enter the Grave Five Serpent's Teeth Skull The Unknown NP: Megadeth - Killing is My Business...

Selbst - Despondency Chord Progressions (2024)

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

Hässlig - Apex Predator, Spain black/crust Abhorrency - Climax of Disgusting Impurities, Sacramento CA 2022

Great choice! That album actually took a little while to grow on me. I absolutely loved the debut - and it's still my favorite album from Evile - and was really looking forward to this one. As a whole, the tempo of the songs on "Infected Nations" was notably slower and more mid-paced than a lot of the songs on the debut, and at the time, I wanted almost every song to be played at a million miles per hour. These days, however, I appreciate it when thrash bands vary the tempos a bit. I still prefer for the majority of the songs to be fast-paced, but more varied tempos are a pro for me now, rather than a con. I thoroughly enjoy "Infected Nations" now, as I do every Evile album. Even the newest one, "The Unknown", is an enjoyable listen for me now, even though I wasn't crazy about it at first. If I had to rank the 6 albums thus far, it would go like this: 6) Infected Nations 5) The Unknown 4) Five Serpents Teeth 3) Skull 2) Hell Unleashed 1) Enter the Grave These guys are in my top 4 "new wave" thrash bands, along with Angelus Apatrida, Enforced, and Havok. Curious to hear what your favorite Evile album is!

Evile - Infected Nations

Tyshawn Sorey - For Wadada Leo Smith (Adagio) ...new classical, low-tuned and slow. Only for Thatguy, and maybe markm or Macabre if they're feeling patient. I loved it. Pulitzer winner this year. Unprofessional recording here: https://m.soundcloud.com/tyshawn-sorey/adagio-for-wadada-leo-smith Mayhem - Chimera

Black Witchery - Desecration of the Holy Kingdom

Mayhem - Grand Declaration of War A few good riffs and some impressive drumming but way too many spoken word parts & chants ("Declarations!!") which ruin the whole thing. More filler than actual music. Deicide - Banished by Sin 2 or 3 good songs. One of them being the last song. Almost sounds more thrash than death but not in a good way. Death-thrash is my favorite subgenre when it's done well but this ain't it. Everytime I try to listen to this I find myself not paying attention after a few minutes. Lots going on but nothing too original or hooky. And as was mentioned here, it's way too melodic. I don't like the kind of solos this guitarist is playing, but there's still some great riffs here and the production is great. Still rocking some favorites from my Annihilator binge

Barbarian Swords - Anti-Dogma Megaforce, black/death/thrash Spain 2023 偏執症者 (Paranoid) - Out Raising Hell, Sweden 2020. One part crust punk, one part Midnight.

DANTE - Degradation

Tombstoner - Rot Stink Rip

Caixão (Portugal) - Knaga

Saw Priest on Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith tours at MLG both great shows 🤘

Everyone sleeps on Watershed it seems. I'd say that one has held up better than Ghost Reveries as far as late era Opeth. Yeah, the song Burden is almost the definition of overwrought and unearned dramatics, but aside from that it was very clear at that point that Opeth were heading through prog possibly never to return. It feels to me like the album Akerfeldt wanted to make after spending the better part of Ghost Reveries trying to prove to the fans (and maybe even to Roadrunner even though that label's reputation was utter trash at that point) that they were still a heavy extreme metal band beneath all the prog ornamentation, and the album came out better for it. I'll second the goats with the mosts reaction here, although probably for different reasons. Over the years I've found that Metallica are perhaps the single largest obstacle when talking to the radio-casual crowd about metal. There's just nothing left to say about them, and hasn't been for a long time. Yet when you say "metal" among the chattering rabble the conversation proceeds immediately toward them. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.00. I get that it was kind of fun talking about Lovecraft in The Thing that Should Not Be (even though the famous quote is taken from fucking Goethe, and not H.P.'s work), but there is seriously nothing left to talk about with them. They've been overexposed for decades now, and remain the most annoyingly tedious topic of the entire genre to have ever been taxidermized and put on display for all the garrulous gawkers to cluck about.

Selbst - Despondency Chord Progressions (2024) A few listens in to this and not as smitten with it as I was Relatos de angustia, this one has too much emphasis on the clean parts for my taste. When things get more blackened they are superb but there is an element of being showy on this one that previously manifested as an obvious exploration vein. Having made their discovery (potentially) it doesn't quite land right with me. Technically impressive with (some) quality song writing going on still. Just not as cold and unwelcoming as I would like.

I'm not sure how I'd rank Evile, but I do much prefer their older stuff to their newer stuff. In Malice's Wake - Light Upon the Wicked

Ennio Morricone - The Good the Bad and the Ugly OST (1966)

Lovely and very nicely paced. Thanks. By way of contrast, this is what I listened to this morning. BONGRIPPER - Empty And just before I came here for a visit, and before I resume work on a series of pieces I'm writing for 3 marimbas, vibraphone and double bass BING SATELLITES - Extensions Of Reality But I'll listen to the whole Sorey's piece before I start.