Requiem

Me too, but I'm always a bit nervous about each release too. I'm excited to see if they've kept up the amazing quality that was found on 'Hammer of the Witches'!

I was slightly disingenuous with the wines because half of those were afterwards at our friends' place. And the food was only so/so and we said we probably wouldn't be back. Actually the food was pretty good but they seemed to rush us by bringing out each course really quickly. It was fun but we had to tell them to slow down!

I've seen HIM a couple of times and I can definitely concur with your view about Valo. The first time I saw the band they were great and Valo was amazing, the second time he was so skinny and I thought he was definitely on some sort of drug as he really wasn't engaged. At one point he stopped a song after a few seconds and admonished the drummer before making them all start again. He also left the stage in the middle of the set to have a "break" which was really weird. He asked the crowd and they all said "No" and he just said, "Actually yes" and just walked off. All very odd. The ego was huge. Awesome to see another fan of The 69 Eyes! As for Sentenced, if you haven't heard their last two albums in their entirety ('The Cold White Light' and 'The Funeral Album') make sure you do! Much more 'metal' than HIM and The 69 Eyes.

Yeah, I edited it because I put the album on as I was posting and found it to be neither awkward nor as riddled with falsetto as I remembered it. It's actually a really good album and for some reason I remember it being worse than it is.

I couldn't agree less. I definitely like 'IX E', but it doesn't hold a candle to 'Anthems'. The essence of the album is good, no doubt, and it has some great moments, but it's so complex and 'deathy' that the things that made Emperor great in the first place are really lost. It's cool, for sure. But gosh, to compare it to 'Anthems'. No.

So does Mayhem. This is a very odd way to determine your personal preference for a band's music, especially because Burzum has no official live albums out. It almost seems as if you're not taking the content of the music into account at all. Also, let's count the official Mayhem releases: Studio: 7 (Deathcrush, De Mysteriis, Wolf's Lair, Grand Declaration, Chimera, Ordo, Esoteric) Live: 5 (Zeitz, Liepzig, Mediolanum, Euro/US Legions, De Mysteriis Alive) With some pretty significant line-up interruptions, I think this is still a pretty good output. If you prefer Burzum, just say Burzum.

Ok, let's map this out: Food: Chinese duck broth Spring roll with sweet chilli sauce and lettuce San Choi Bao Peking duck wrapped in pancakes Wines: Random Cabernet Sauvignon x 2 Random Riesling x 1 Jacobs Creek sparkling wine x 1 Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc x many

Ha! Brilliant post. That's next level clever. I tip my hat to you, sir. 10/10. Finally another Sirenia fan around here. This is from my least favourite album of theirs but I applaud you nonetheless! Now Playing: Ex Deo - The Immortal Wars

I've tried for years to like Novembers Doom, but they just don't cut it. I actually own 'The Knowing', 'The Welcome the Fade' and 'The Novella Reservoir' and they're just not that interesting. I took 'The Knowing' into my car the other day after a few years off to see if I like it, and it was only ok at best.

This is definitely not the band to start with if you're exploring folk metal. That would be more like Moonsorrow or Thyring. Anyway, some really good Ensiferum albums are 'Iron' (with their best track 'Iron') and 'From Afar'. 'From Afar' in particular is quite a huge and epic album by this band's standards. 'Unsung Heroes' has some great tracks but if you're looking for more intense music it can probably wait.

Car anthems of the past week: Ex Deo - 'The Immortal Wars' Children of Bodom - 'Halo of Blood' Warrant - 'Best of' Septicflesh - 'Titan' Rotting Christ - 'Rituals'

Jyrki 69 from The 69 Eyes has his debut solo album coming out today called 'Helsinki Vampire'. The first track released 'Bloodlust' is really boring, and this one below sounds like it's taken from the 69 Eyes rejection pile... but I'll still check the album out because I'm sure there'll be some good stuff on there. Right? Right??

Wow, what an admission. I respect that. For me, 'Nightside' is so good that I can't really listen to it without going a little crazy, like I want to run out into the woods or immediately quit my job. It's like a taste of what real life should be - or the potential for what it could be. Oh man even typing this is getting me amped so I'm going ahead and hitting Submit Reply before I put the house up for sale...

I was having a shower with my itunes on shuffle and it went from Poison's 'Every Rose has its Thorn' to Emperor's 'Ancient Queen'. As I stood there amidst the steamy torrent, I thought 'What a contrast'.

I don't really see how this is a Vs thread, but here are some of my favourite replacement vocalists: The best replacement singer of all time is obviously Tomi Joutsen who replaced Pasi Koskinen in Amorphis. We also have: Vincent Cavanagh who replaced Darren White in Anathema. Maniac who replaced Attila in Mayhem (I'm not saying he's better, but I am saying he is awesome) Can't think of any more personal ones for me without going into Bruce Dickinson territory which I don't want to do.