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ZAO - A Well-Intentioned Virus

Manowar - Fighting The World

Pungent Stench - Been Caught Buttering, Austria 1991. I feel like this album gets unfairly passed over. Absolutely one of the best death metal records of 1991. And I say that knowing there were some real bangers released in 1991. Massacra - Enjoy the Violence, French death/thrash 1991 Parler Anglais ou mourir? I liked this album well enough in '85, but it hasn't aged like a fine Bordeaux. More like 40 year old camembert.

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

Mark had asked about my never finished year end list for 2023, so I figured I'd share what I had before I gave up on it. I'd only just started making cuts, so this will be a lot longer than normal. Because of that I'm going to post it a little at a time and break it up by genre...and since the black metal list was the longest, I'll post it first. Black Metal Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare Arbor - Behold... The Age of Pagan Blood Atheosophia - Shadowgate of Winter's Spirit As the Shadows Envelop Me – Fedrekult Astral Tomb of Yearning - Summoning the Impenetrable Night Aeon Furnace - Providence Descends Abisma - Disciples of the Black Ram Black Hurst – S/T Blutschwur - Those of My Blood Crucifixion Bell - Mirages in Izar Ceremonial Crypt Desecration - Unholy Black Metal Against the Modern World Dai-Ichi – S/T Dominance - Slaughter of Human Offerings in the New Age of Pan Demoncy - Black Star Gnosis Ebony Pendant – S/T Fellwinter - The Dawn of Winter Final Eclipse - The Dark World Flaming Ouroboros – Blood Gauntlet Ring - Beyond the Veil of the Night Graf - Rite of Nocturnal Passage Gam - Alt hans væsen Geistaz'ika - Midnatsbøn ved djævelens port Helleruin - Devils, Death and Dark Arts Hinsides - Hinsides hörs djävulsklockans urklang Iron Firmament – Keepeater Kringa - All Stillborn Fires, Lick My Heart! Krigstjørn - Mod guders svig Kurgan - Ascetic Dissociations Lja – 1943 Mavorim - Ab Amitia Pulsae Motstand – S/T Mycorrhizae – The Great Filtration Noitila – Langennut Nöldr - Chaotic Mysticism from the Tormented Silence Nahasheol - Serpens Abyssi Nartvind – Breath of Night Orkblut – Ghost Paths to Septentrion Obsidian Grave – Blood of the Night Oerheks - Grondslagen Regnum Tenebrarum - Légendes noires Ravensrealm - A Crash of Heathen Thunder Sulphuric Night - Black Metal Tyranny Tsjuder – Helvegr Trest - Sorginak Unholy Craft - Naar all tid er omme Vestígio - Vestígios (^Mark and FA will both want to check out the above album) Versteck - Symbols of Seven Harmonies

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (2003) Coroner - Grin

I believe that is what really turned me off to IPAs. Like Surge, I won't turn down a perfectly good beer if someone is handing it to me, but they're never my first choice. Down here, breweries either try to see just how bitter they can make a beer as some kind of badge of honor or how many weird ass fruit combos can be added. It's akin to the hot wings trend, let's make these perfectly good chicken wings inedible as some test of manhood by adding 43 ghost peppers and top it with a scotch bonnet. People claim to enjoy them, but I can't see how. And it's all fine and good. Plenty of beer out there to like for everyone. Just annoying that every brewery has to have 60-75% of the menu dedicated to the same variation of style. In stores, seems that's all they carry anymore and most just suck (the ones you mentioned, Voodoo Ranger, Space Dust, 420, the list goes on). Many started out good, but over the years got bought out by conglomerates or over expanded and the quality dropped. Stone was sold several years ago and had never been the same. Everyone has their own preferences. I personally don't like German beer. Lukewarm on IPAs and Pilsners. Will never seek one out, but will never turn down a freebie.

Storm of the Light's Bane, 1995 Dawn - Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) Sweden 1998 Dawn - Nær Sólen Gar Niþer for Evogher, 1994 Unanimated - In Light of Darkness, Sweden 2009 Necrophobic - Hrimthursum, Sweden 2006

IGGY POP - I'm Bored

Morbid Angel - Covenant

Coffin Curse - The Continuous Nothing, Chile. Where the hell's Blivvington gotten off to anyway? Wasn't he telling me that Death Metal Promotion channel got shut down? Well it seems he's back now with a new red logo. Unless it was a different YT channel Blivvie was talking about, I can't remember now. Obscurial - Heretic, Malaysia. Digging this one. Yeah, I've never really pictured you as being particularly aerodynamic.

S.O.D - Speak English or Die (1985)

Atheist - Piece of Time

First album was pretty good and I caught them live in Denver on that tour back in '17 opening for Denmark's Undergang which was a solid performance. But this new album's a snoozer, listened to half of it one time, wouldn't buy it. Just checked, it's the same 3 guys, wonder what happened? Turns out writing memorable death metal isn't as easy as it looks. Pungent Stench - For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh, Austria 1990 Benediction - The Grand Leveller, UK 1991

GLOATH - Solitude Consciousness

I don't know if it's worth a damn, not having tried it, but I've seen in my local that several of the better known foreign brewers like Paulaner and Weihenstephan are making non-alcoholic versions of their beer. If anyone can pull off a reliably decent tasting non-alcoholic, it's probably going to be one of them. What's interesting about those breweries though, is because their beer is so "blah" in flavor, their quality control is absolutely topnotch. It has to be because being so lacking in actual flavor any deviation would be incredibly noticeable

Obituary ‎@ Frozen Alive recorded at Stodoła Club, Warsaw Poland. August 24th, 2006

I'll second this suggestion. It's not quite as catchy as Dissection were at their best, but what it loses in that department it more than makes up for in depth and quieter shifts in the guitars. For me at least, that creates a ton of replayability. NP: Fantasma - Abomination of Human Pestilence ▶︎ Abomination of Human Pestilence | Fantasma | Narbentage Produktionen (bandcamp.com) This one's growing on me. It's only an EP, but it shows a lot of potential.

Exodus - Tempo of the Damned (2004)

Havukruunu - Kelle Surut Soi, Finland 2017 Havukruunu - Havulinnaan, 2015

I don't often have the time, (or make the time), for watching or listening to podcasts but if I did that looks like one I would watch.

SKALLAR - Skallar ADIXION - Disfruta Tupa & Lang

NP: Chainsword - Born Triumphant ▶︎ Born Triumphant | Chainsword (bandcamp.com) Polish dm. The expected Bolt Thrower and Vader are in here along with a few tricks to vary things up. Otherwise the album knows what it is and fully embraces the idea that doing something unoriginal extremely well will always beat doing something original poorly. Fans on the subgenre, myself included, will enjoy.

Saw ASG last night. Probably one of my favorite live bands ever. Killer show. So this morning on the way to the grocery store: ASG - Feeling Good is Good Enough ASG - Win Us Over Now, eating chips and queso listening to my RSD haul: Motorhead - Remorse? No! The Dead Milkmen - Bucky Fellini Sisters of Mercy - first 2 EPs Sepultura - Morbid Visions Sepultura - Bestial Devastation

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland

If my booty moved like Sarsippius then I'd show you. NP: Infectious Grooves - Sarasippius' Ark

I didn't mind Elegant Weapons. Not sure how often I'd actually listen to it if I owned it but initial impressions were good. NP: Infectious Grooves - The Plague That Makes You Booty Move

BIG|BRAVE - A Chaos Of Flowers. There are some beautiful passages here. They are further from metal than ever but that's OK. ENGULFED - Unearthly Litanies of Despair. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Noice, but. MÆRE - ...And The Universe Keeps Silent. Spare, thoughtful music.

Kryptograf - The Eldorado Spell

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS - Jessica

ZAO - Live From The Church

The Cult/Love

Alright now this is starting to make sense, I didn't realize you were talking abut sours either. Don't remember anyone saying anything about sours, we were talking about the hugely popular IPAs and how a lot of them have that citrusy after-taste that I personally don't care for. They're drinkable in a pinch, and some are better than others, but I don't seek them out. Now sours are a completely different story. When a bunch of us went to the Metal Threat festival at Reggie's in Chicago back in July '19, one of our mates who happened to be from the windy city took us all (wasn't his shout but he suggested the place) to this burger joint called Kuma's Corner that had all of their burgers named after various rock and metal bands. And they had shitloads of different beers on tap. I made the mistake of ordering one of those sours since I'd never tried one before. I took one sip and almost spit it back out, had to flag down the chick to take it away and bring me something else. Never again, that was truly some nasty shit. Don't know how the normies can even pretend to like it man. You don't really say "blimey" in real life do ya Doc? That was just for poetic effect, right? NP: Engulfed - Unearthly Litanies of Despair, Turkish death

So wine. Man T-Guy, you sure hate a lot of stuff. Little kids and puppy dogs are probably on the list too right next to rainbows and sunny days.

Yo JT can you explain to me sir how these Whiskey Rebel dudes play "southern metal" if they're from fucking Sheboygan, Wisconsin? Can't get much less southern than that unless you go to Alaska. Or is 'southern' just a state of mind? Back in the day our "southern rock" bands were Skynyrd, Hatchet, ABB, MTB and the Outlaws. And even as a New Yorker I loved all that shit. But those bands were all from Florida, Jaw-ja and Carolina. No one would have accepted a "southern" rock band from up north in Yankeeland. Nowadays it seems they have "southern" bands from up north and I even saw one or two you posted that were actually European. What's up widdat? Also I'm mildly curious to try one of these modern post-Udo Accept albums you keep posting just to see what they sound like without Udo. (which one would you recommend I try?) But I never actually do it because I'm sure I'll be disappointed. I only ever liked two Accept albums to begin with even back in their hey-day, R&W and Metal Heart, so I'm not exactly a super-fan. Did see them once at L'amour in '85 though and I have to admit they put on a helluva show. I saw TT Quick a few times a few years before that back when they were a LI club band and I even had their first EP so I'm somewhat familiar with MT, and I don't think I could accept that guy as the front-man for Accept. It's Udo's band dammit. His thick German accent and being just barely over 5 feet tall was part of the appeal. I guess change can be hard for us old guys. Accept - Metal Heart 1985

VORGA - Beyond The Palest Star

DOWNWARD - Cruel World

Satyricon - Nemesis Divina (1996)

Love me some Tyr! The epic feel to the music, the melodic compositions, and the stellar vocals all make this band a great listen at any time. Can't go wrong with Body Count either! The last couple of albums have been fantastic.

Body Count - Murder 4 Hire

Hardbone - "This is Rock 'N' Roll" Hardbone - "Bone Hard" Overkill - "Scorched" Facebreaker - "Dead, Rotten, and Hungry" Fantastic, mid-paced death metal!

Been on an Annihilator binge the last couple weeks. Not that I've had much time to listen to music. Only heard their 1st two albums in full before now. Tight, fast and catchy riffing. That's what makes the band. They can be cheesy at times but when the musicianship is this good, I'll allow it.... Started off with Refresh the Demon on which songs 1-3, and 5 are killer. Went over to King of the Kill where I only enjoyed "21" and "Second to None" (except the mellow middle part). Checked out their S/T (2010) and it's overall pretty solid. And finally currently listening to Metal which is also pretty good after one listen. And speaking of riffs, also been revisiting random tracks off this old favorite of mine:

Big motherfucking Lebowski, one of my very favorite memes. I love the way he just stirs that drink ad infinitum 'til the end of time. Or 'til the end of the internet, whichever comes first. That also happens to mirror the exact look on my face while I'm reading most of your posts! I also like this one quite a bit... And this one... And of course this all time classic...

Ebola - Distorted Romance Weald and Woe - For the Good of the Realm ASET - Astral Rape

How does it feel to be part of the basic-bitch casual crowd that can't handle the throat-eradicating, tongue-petrifying bitterness real men crave? I think part of the reason they're everywhere is that they're easy to do an ok job on quickly, and the hop flavor and bitterness can cover up a lot of little flaws and inconsistencies that would ruin a more nuanced beer. But that doesn't make for a great experience. They are not all like that. If you're ever up this way, like for Messe Des Morts, lemme know. Too much good beer up here for you not to try some.

Mütiilation - Black Metal Cult (2024) This one snook past me.

Funkadelic - Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad. (The Doodoo Chasers) Fried ice cream IS a reality. Aosoth - Complete Show Live In Paris, Oct 27, 2016

So much beer, so little time. I do prefer a beer you can't see through too. As I write I'm thinking fondly of the time I spent in Belgium last year. Mrs Thatguy wanted to see Art Nouveau architecture and eat mussels and chocolate. I wanted beer. We were both happy. If I were 30 years younger I would definitely cultivate a man bun and there's nothing wrong with that.

Both of these are swill in my book. They're better than Bud but that's not saying much. I can understand not liking IPAs, especially if you've never had a really good one as fresh as possible, or maybe if you're someone (like my wife) who finds hop bitterness disgusting. Even under good conditions the flavors can take a while to click. But unless you've tried the real deal, you don't know what you're missing. I was burned out on the hazy ones until I lost my sense of smell to Covid the first time around. Hazy, hoppy IPAs were the only thing that cut through the noise and tasted "normal" to me. Lucky me, northern VT is the land of plenty.