Requiem

Novembrine Waltz - Novembre

Jack and coke if I want to be metal, rum and coke if I want to be a pirate. There's close to a 50% chance of each, but if pushed I'll go with jack and coke cause it's a little tastier. Would you rather watch an animated children's movie or a romantic comedy?

I'm not going to Kreator/Vader because I really haven't been following their releases and I'm not too sure if I'd actually enjoy it. Could be cool though. It's at 170 Russell which is a much better venue than Max Watt's, so that's a plus to going. Where have you seen set times for the Napalm show? Doors open at 8pm and there are four bands to get through including Napalm. If Black Rheno start at 8:30, and even if the bands stick to an average of 45 minutes per set I still don't see Napalm coming on until basically midnight when you factor in change-overs etc. I have a real issue with headlining metal bands coming on this late and at one point I even wrote to the manager of a venue after Primordial came on at 11:50pm on a Thursday. It's my current issue of choice. Frankly, I would have thought The World's Most Liveable City could do better, but metal promoters are largely morons. As I said at the time to anyone willing to listen, you would never have a sporting event, gallery opening, play or other 'main event' starting at midnight. So why a metal headliner?

I love Mayhem - they're one of my favourite bands - but I honestly think it's time they broke up. On the one hand they still have Helhammer, Necro and Attila, which gives a great deal of authenticity to the project, but outsourcing the music composition to Teloch... it could be anyone really. And Attila's lyrics are just too personal to him and esoteric (read lame) to us; they don't mean anything in the context of 'Mayhem'. Their last two albums are real dross and it's abundantly clear that they're still going just to cash a pay check. Even their live shows are lame and oh so tired these days and I've seen them maybe half a dozen times. Reading Necrobutcher's amazing pictorial book of the 1984-1994 years has only reinforced this in my mind. It's time to say goodbye before they tarnish the legacy any further.

Which albums put those two years at the top of the pile for you? By the way, 1996 is my all time favourite year for music.

Chuck Berry for sure. In 1880 would you rather be a US President or the UK Prime Minister?

Jaded - To/Die/For

I was intending to see this but there are so many bands on the bill and I know Napalm won't go on until about 1am or something. I just don't have it in me to last that long (I've never had much staying power, just ask my ex-girlfriends...) Also, Melbourne has just been named World's Most Liveable City for the seventh year running, so Relentless will be enjoying that one. It's all a bit 'yawn' for us these days as we are just so used to being the best that I'm starting to feel bad for the losers in Vancouver who just can't catch a break hahaha losers. Also on my mind is I'm at the metal pub and it's raining outside. Skid Row just came on the PA, sweet.

100%. My wife can't understand why I still buy CDs and it's hard to explain it to someone who just doesn't get it. Its like a drug though in that the high isn't the same. Buying a CD in the 90s when I had to save up for three weeks, without having heard a single track from it, then worshipping it. There's really nothing comparable these days for me as the albums now come in packages of three or four...

I've been in Notre Dame Cathedral but never heard this bunch of malcontents' music. I'll check it out.

I think I'll definitely get another album or two for the collection. Thanks for the recommendation.

Same for me - I'd say they're just outside the top ten. I got into doom and gothic metal in 1995/1996, so I technically missed the debut albums from My Dying Bride, Anathema, Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Amorphis, and Cradle of Filth, but have nonetheless followed their twists and turns for the last 22 years. I'm amazed and excited that they're still together and, with the exception of Anathema, putting out some of the best music of their careers.

I've got this one and 'Upon Promethean Shores'. I think that's all I own from these guys. They're ok but don't really have staying power. The cover artwork of 'Upon...' is beautiful though. Regarding Anorexia Nervosa my collection is pretty thin.... I only have the 'September EP' and of that I really love the 'Sister September' song. I'm guessing these titles cause I'm in my phone and can't be bothered looking them up.

Albums like 'Darkness and Hope' certainly keep it downbeat and lack the theatrics of the post-'Memorial' era. I love that sort of music though so for me it works. My friend and I bought 'Irreligious' just after it came out and it drove us wild. Amazing moment in time. So when I got into Moonspell they only had two albums out. Makes me feel old, but it's been great following their journey.

Awesome choices. There are a couple there that I'm not familiar with and will have to check out. I have to say, I'm surprised to see one of the first couple of albums from Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania missing. Are you into these albums?

Rotting Christ's last few albums have been really samey, and there seems to be a lot of riff recycling going on from old Sakis, although it really all seems to work perfectly on 'Rituals'. I think you'd enjoy the drama and pomposity of that album. It's just stunning.

I'll second that for sure. I have their first three albums and they're generally very good. Schwardorf's previous band Empyrium were amazing, so there's some good lineage there. This is all true. Trends come and go, especially in music. In fact, I think modern music, both metal and non-metal, shows even more than clothing how fashions move and shift. Like you say, I'm one of those guys who has a pretty good idea of what I like and it's funny to see things fall in and out of favour while I still sit here in my (metaphorical) frilly white vampire shirt. I've said it before, but being a gothic metal/doom/dark (what have you) fan living through the 90s and 00s, that huge shift that my favourite bands like Paradise Lost, Amorphis, Moonspell, My Dying Bride, Theatre of Tragedy etc all made, going from heavily atmospheric 'metal' to a more rock and even electronic vibe, then back to metal again in the mid 2000s (with the exception of Theatre of Tragedy) really bewildered me. I can certainly understand a band's desire to try new things, but gosh they really did follow the same path there for a while. I don't include Anathema in this because I think it's clear that they really were interested in changing and staying changed, exploring new directions. But by the end of the 90s they were all jumping the gothic(y) ship.

Wow, I have to love that mid-90s video quality. I remember when 'Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends' came out, and even then that cover art was almost a bridge too far for me. And yep, 1997 really does seem to be the year that vacuumed a lot of bands into the gothic metal genre. I really like these songs. This band, Hecate Enthroned and Anorexia Nervosa really need to send 'Principle...' era Cradle some cheques. This is great fun and for me a really cool era in music.

I have a soft spot due to the romance of the Kerrang/Mick Wall history which I find really amazing. The golden age of flying journalists first class to write about bands and gigs, putting them up in five star hotels. What a different world it is now. Imagine spending thousands of dollars for a few articles.

I was never the hugest Nevermore fan. I think I should probably give them more of my time - I've got a friend who loves them. I haven't heard the new Marty Friedman track either although it came up in my YouTube recommendations. I'll go with Marty due to his impact on me as a young immortal listening to 'Rust', 'Countdown' and 'Youthanasia' in my (misspent) youth(anasia). Pretty hard to go past those moments in time.

While we are on the topic of vampiric metal, I should also probably point to less rocked based but quite vampiric albums like: Cradle of Filth - 'V Empire' Cradle of Filth - 'Dusk and Her Embrace' Abyssos - 'Together We Summon the Dark' And I know I mentioned them before but the ultimate expression of erotic musical vampirism in the absolutely untouchable Type O Negavtive tracks: 'Wolf Moon' (which I guess is technically about werewolves but it's so damn vampiric), 'Haunted', and 'Suspended in Dusk'. I get shivers just thinking about these songs, especially the first two.

And because of this a lot of bands tried to distance themselves from the gothic metal label - it became a dirty term for a while there. I can't recall a genre that had so many people pile on so quickly then bail just as quickly - except for maybe hair/glam metal. In c1997 gothic metal was everywhere, with bands like Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh even having a dabble. By 2002 it was a different story. As you say, several gothy rock bands like To/Die/For, Charon and Sentenced became labeled as gothic metal, and they were obviously vastly different to early Theatre of Tragedy etc. Personally I love both streams and have always proudly said so. So many great bands and albums.

Hey @FatherAlabaster, that Kyle Sanders is a talented guy, isn't he.

So did you wake up one morning and panic that you didn't have enough of these albums, or is this the realisation of a goal that's been in the pipeline for some time?

You've got a pretty good point here. I'm convinced. Yeah, I have to admit I was being a bit cheeky with that post. I guess I should have used more emojis.