Requiem

That's off the 'Cherry Pie' album. That album in fact was originally going to be called 'Uncle Toms Cabin'. Agreed. It's one of their best songs. I love that track. I still need to buy this album.

Finally got Necrobutcher's Mayhem 1984-1994 book in the mail. It looks amazing! Of course that gives me the motivation to take out all my Mayhem gear again and take a photo - this time without missing bits and pieces!

You sound like my ex-girlfriends. "I would go out with you Requiem, but gosh I'm so busy! Maybe next year..." I was so happy in 2007! The first Geelong premiership since 1963. I have the DVD!

You dislike a football team for traumatic reasons? You're not one of 'those' fans are you? If Will can drag himself away from the Barwon Market long enough he's more than welcome.

I think there are more Australians here than any other nation. I didn't even bother watching this game and it's hard to get interested in Australian football these days, unless Geelong are winning. We need to have an Australian metal forum members convention here in Melbourne. It will be me, True Belief, Will, RestlessOblivionForever (sic) and anyone else I've forgotten. Actually there's no reason why Will can't join us the next time Truey and I catch up, as Will's a Victorian. Will, you want to hang with two veritable metal legends? And if you can't find any, want to hang with us? We are even cooler in real life.

I got into Scotch a bit back when Mrs R worked at Diageo in the UK and was bringing home bottles of Talisker and things like that. Good stuff. They were always breaking out the Johhny Walker blue label although never when I was around go figure. Scotch tends to disappear very quickly when I'm around so it's seldom seen these days.

The Brahms Requiem was amazing last night. 100 person choir and an orchestra. They didn't use no backing tracks neither! *see backing tracks thread in General Discussion forum*. Edit: Just realised my username is Requiem. Oh snap.

Sure you did.

Aren't they touring soon? Are you going? I've never heard their music - I guess I should check it out, especially if they're flirting with 'DT.'

As long as they don't bring any sharp wooden skewers and don't go too heavy with the garlic I should be alright. As for the guests, let's just say that they'll be providing afternoon tea. Oh yes, I'll be eating my fill once they arrive but there won't be a cake to seen. Bwahahahahahaha....

Great post. Sorry I missed it until now. At one point Ozzy claimed that he wrote the 'Bark at the Moon' album with one finger on a piano, oh the lies. Apparently Jake E Lee wouldn't hand over any of the riffs he wrote for 'The Ultimate Sin' until Sharon gave him a proper lock-in contract so that he could get credit and payment. At least he got those things but then booted out. I have a feeling if memory serves that Bob Daisley wrote all the lyrics for 'Bark at the Moon' for a one off payment. So yeah, the 'All songs by Ozzy Osbourne' foolishness is a total nonsense on that album as he didn't write a damn thing. Imagine the nerve, trying to tell the press that he wrote all those incredible guitar riffs with one finger on a piano. Even in a drunken haze how could anyone disrespect the songwriter and themselves to that extent. Then they wouldn't pay Phil Soussan properly for 'Shot in the Dark' on 'The Ultimate Sin'. I mean, it just goes on and on... It just amazes me how much of a sociopath Sharon is, and how much of a goddamn walk-over Ozzy is. Everyone blames Sharon, and that's ok on some level because clearly she is the mastermind, but Ozzy follows around like a damn dog. How could he even consider those buffoons Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin re-recording the drum and bass on the first two albums?? How any of that got off the ground at all, by the participants, the record label, and Ozzy, is just beyond me. It makes me angry, even today. Skully, have you got Bob Daisley's book 'For Facts Sake'? If you don't have it, please get it. It's incredible and exposes all the details of these matters.

Indian last night was really good. Nice atmosphere in the restaurant too. Castle Requiem is hosting the local mummies and demons for a Mother's Day afternoon tea, so there will be plenty of empty sarcophagi in the surrounding provinces while we invoke Ra and Anubis via cake and cups of tea. Some of the people visiting this afternoon would be better off embalmed and buried, quite frankly...

Requiem's Top 10 Albums of 1993 Alright, we're back in classics-ville, where a teenage Requiem was drinking Jim Beam and coke with his feckless friends, making out with chicks to the sounds of some of the best music ever created. Here we go: 10. Immortal - 'Pure Holocaust' A classic album, I'm not as head-over-heels for this slab of grim black metal as some people, but it still gets more rotation at Requiem Towers than the microwave tray. 9. Cathedral - 'The Ethereal Mirror' Doom, disco and Sabbath, I can't tell you how many times my friends and I put 'Midnight Mountain' on and jumped around the room like ecstatic fools back in the day. Ah, good times. This album has a great atmosphere and some fabulous riffage. Great earthy production too. 8. Darkthrone - 'Under a Funeral Moon' The middle album of the trilogy, this is cold, frightening, with amazing artwork, track titles, band photos. "Alcohol in my veins, tears fall as I think of you...". I wish Darkthrone would write songs like this again instead of tracks about Wyoming and Canadian Metal. 7. Satyricon - 'Dark Medieval Times' This sounds otherworldly. I prefer 'The Shadowthrone', but this is still a brilliant album back when a young Satyr was worshipping at the throne of Euronymous. A stunning black metal album with all the bells and whistles that made this genre so special before it got all $. 6. Burzum - 'Det Som Engang Var' Speaking of... This is classic Burzum. Repetitive riffs, that intense vocal, simple drumming all wrapped up in brilliant artwork. Again, not my favourite Burzum album, but this is just so precious. There's 'time and place' in every chord, and you can feel the enthusiasm and magic spilling out through the speakers. 5. Anathema - 'Serenades' All of the Peaceville 3 bands make the top five this year. 'Serenades' is big, slow, romantic and a once in a lifetime album. Darren White kind of groans and warbles all over this like a dying moose, but it somehow works, plus his lyrics are romantic odes that still resonate today. The acoustic interlude 'J'ai Fait Une Promesse' is just haunting with those female harmony vocals. Oh god what an album. 4. Paradise Lost - 'Icon' Paradise Lost were already miles ahead of the pack when this came out. It took the rest of the gothic metal world another 3 years at least before they were even close to putting gothic metal/rock songs like this together as far as structure and songwriting is concerned. This album sounds amazing. So many hits: 'Embers Fire', 'Christendom', 'True Belief'. Songs full of potential usernames for the future... 3. Dissection - 'The Somberlain' Goddamn. Who knew guitar melodies could actually be so good that they cause you pain? The thing about Jon Nodtveidt is that for all his personal intensity he knew all about emotion in music. Just incredible really. 2. Type O Negative - 'Bloody Kisses' I prefer the digipak re-release by Roadrunner Records that expunged all the jokey songs and re-arranged the tracks to make more sense at the request of the band, but either version will do. This album is a beautiful, untouchable gothic metal classic. 'Christian Woman', 'Black No. 1', 'Summer Breeze', 'Suspended in Dusk' (if you have the digipak). Every song is a classic, and this combined with 'October Rust' is easily the band's peak. 1. My Dying Bride - 'Turn Loose the Swans' It's hard to explain what this album was like when I first heard it in 1996. I can only imagine what its effect was like in 1993. The violin, the shadowy band member shots in the booklet, the opening and closing tracks that didn't even have guitars and drums. The deep romantic voice of Aaron Stainthorpe which wasn't as annoying as it now is. This album was and remains so special to me on a personal level. So many bands have ripped off 'Turn Loose the Swans' and the whole violin thing has become diluted, yet at the time this was so radical, so fresh. When I hear this album it's just like when I heard it as a teenage kid. Perfection.

Yeah, The Haunted... so unexciting. As for my 2015 list, as stated at the top of my 2016 list, it's a few pages back in this thread. Before I launched into the chronology from 1994 I had already done lists for 1996, 2001 and 2015, so I didn't bother doing those ones again. The next thing I'll do is start at 1993 and work my way backwards. I don't know how I'll go deep into the 80s but I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

So tonight we're heading into the city to see a performance of Brahms's 'Requiem' and Beethoven's 1st Symphony at the Cathedral here in Melbourne. I couldn't think of a more amazing setting and it's going to brilliant. However, we're having dinner beforehand at - wait for it - an Indian restaurant. Now, I'm a huge lover of Indian cuisine, but getting all tarted up in our Sunday best for a classical music concert in the southern hemisphere's cultural capital and stopping off for a bloody curry on the way... It doesn't really compute. No one goes to the city for Indian in Melbourne, the culinary capital of the world. I pushed for a French restaurant or some such, but the mistress of eternal damnation and nocturnal erotik phantasies (Mrs Requiem) went ahead and booked Indian. It'll still be fun. And that's what's on my mind this evening. Requiem out.

Breaking news: A train has derailed near Lowell, MA, killing dozens and injuring many more. Initial investigations point towards track tampering, and police wish to make contact with a shady looking character seen leaving the scene with armfuls of metal spikes. Suspect is armed with heavy metal knowledge and may be dangerous(ly artistic).

Well, that's great to know, Ecthelion. A real weight off my mind. Although there would be plenty of reasons to think less of me if you knew me better... I meant I would reserve further comment so as not to ignite another fruitless discussion of its pros and cons.

Correct. Depending on perspective that's either a good thing or a bad thing. There's an undercurrent of hostility around here for the great 'Slaughter of the Soul', so I'll reserve any further comment at this juncture.

Requiem's Top 10 Albums of 2016 and thank god this is the end of the modern era lists I can write! My 2015 list is a few pages back in this thread, created before I decided to write lists chronologically. Compared with 2014, 2016 is a golden year for metal. Just amazing. Alright here we go: 10. Moonsorrow - 'Jumalten Aika' The Fins are back with another epic. I don't know how much more I can take from these pagans, but I'm still going strong for now. I still need to listen to this more, hence it's uncertain placing at number 10. Henri Sorvali is easily the best pagan metal writer of all time (see also Finntroll). 9. Novembre - 'URSA' A very good album from these Italian masters of melodious melancholy. It's not quite the classic I was hoping for, but this is subtle, beautiful and sinks in nicely after a few listens (and vinos). I'm not sold on the mixing and I'd love to hear this remixed, but the emotion is real. 8. Insomnium - 'Winter's Gate' Albums that are one long song don't usually do it for me, but this is a fabulous, monumental work of art. It's so refreshing to see this band step away from the tried and true riffs that had admittedly become a little repetitive, and instead use some new ideas. This is a beautiful album. Step through the winter gates! 7. Dark Funeral - 'Where Shadows Forever Reign' This album has grown on me a lot over the past four or five months. It opens up with each listen and now I just love it. Yes it's norsecore, but it's about as good as norsecore gets. I'm not 100% on the new vocalist as I'm a major Emperor Magus Caligula fan (or whatever his name is), but this guy does the job. The riffs and production are the best part of this album. God it's a sweet product they've come up with here. For a more mainstream black metal release it's also got a decent whack of satanic darkness that I think really works well. In fact, they feel less cartoony than on past albums. Good stuff. 6. Trees of Eternity - 'Hour of the Nightingale' This is amazing. Juha Raivio from Swallow the Sun with the Norman brothers (ex Katatonia) and Kai Hahto (Nightwish/Wintersun) and an amazing female vocalist Aleah Stanbridge who has now apparently died. I need to hear this a lot more, but holy hell this is one special release of gothic tinged doom metal. Juha Raivio is one of modern metal's greatest songwriters by the way. Get on board. Also Nick Holmes guest vocals on the last track. This has some sort of magic to it that can't be fabricated. 5. Borknagar - 'Winter Thrice' Oh man, what a year this is. God I could cry. This album is the best Borknagar release ever in my opinion, with the grand triptych of vocalists (Vintersorg, ICS Vortex, Lars) meeting up with Garm/Trickster G on the title track. Brilliant progressive folk metal with intelligence and emotion in equal parts. 4. Sirenia - 'Dim Days of Dolor' The best Sirenia album, and anyone remotely into symphonic or gothic music would love this. It leaves the rest of the genre in the dust. Instead of the foolishly long songs of the previous album (which didn't make my list), Morten Veland has trimmed all the tracks to between 4 and 6 minutes and the effect is symphonic metal perfection. My god the songs. Also features new French vocalist Emmanuelle Zoldan who was previously part of a choir for Sirenia and she does a stunning job. This album is monumental. 3. Fleshgod Apocalypse - 'King' Goddamn what the hell. A concept album about a royal court and its schemings in what appears to be the eighteenth century, set to some of the greatest orchestral death metal ever produced. One of the most brilliant covers and booklets you'll ever find too. Worth actually buying so you can read the lyrics which are works of art. This band actually understands classical music and it sounds real. Just magical. 2. Rotting Christ - 'Rituals' And the greatest Rotting Christ album ever produced. All those recycled riffs from previous works come together in their best possible forms, except this time with enough variety to take it all to the next level. This is truly sacred, and you could have commune with any deity via these songs. Light some candles and listen 'Thou Thanatou' loudly on a moonlit night and I guarantee you'll see any god you want. 1. Katatonia - 'The Fall of Hearts' And here it is, the album that just keeps getting better. In future years this album will still be improving, ever reflecting the changing seasons of my life. 'Old Heart Falls' is the anthem for all downcast adults, caught in an absurd suburban life of emptiness and futility. A classic album and the end to one of the best years metal has ever produced.

My use of 'decade' was retrospective. You're right though, and I'm sure their album this year will trump it! I haven't heard the albums by those other bands with the exception of Behemoth, but I've had a gutful of them. 'Gut full' is an Australian colloquialism meaning you're fed up with something. I feel Behemoth are really overrated. I have about five of their albums. Going cheap on ebay soon... By the way, aren't you one of those guys who say that 'Slaughter of the Soul' isn't that great an album? I could be wrong, but if that's the case I could never imagine anything At the Gates would do by way of a reunion would appeal to you. They were hardly going to make 'The Red in the Sky' part II! So my bemusement at 2014 is partly due to me not knowing that many albums, but also not being happy with the albums that I have heard. It really took me by surprise too and I didn't see it coming. When I did my 2014 research I thought, 'um... where are all the good albums? What's going on here?!'

Requiem's Top 10 Albums of 2014 2014 is without doubt the worst year of metal in probably the history of metal (with the exception of the number 1 album). Anyway, here we go - I just managed to scrape 10 albums together... 10. Primordial - 'Where Greater Men Have Fallen' Never a huge fan of these guys but I own a few albums. Live they're amazing. On CD they don't really do it for me. This is pretty cool I guess. 9. Bloodbath - 'Grand Morbid Funeral' I hesitated to put this in my list at all because I really don't know it very well and I don't own it. I like what I've heard and I intend to purchase it. Nick Holmes! My bois in Katatonia. Bloodbath are always pretty good. This didn't change my life though, like I thought it would when I first heard Holmes was in. 8. Mayhem - 'Esoteric Warfare' One of my favourite bands. Some random guitar player wrote this album and Attila, Necro, the random dude and Hellzy play on it. It's not as impenetrable as 'Ordo ad Chao' but it's still pretty hard to get into. I could have done with a little less 'esoteric' and a little more 'warfare'. Shitty artwork too. Who the hell are the guitarists these days? Who would even know or care? 7. Eluveitie - 'Origins' Another album I'm not super familiar with, but these guys are always good for a pagan laugh. No great hits on it though. 6. Insomnium - 'Shadows of a Dying Sun' This is a pretty good album of emotional melodeath and I do like it a lot. It's just not amazing and a lot of these riffs are recycled from past glories. 5. Alestorm - 'Sunset of the Golden Age' This is more like it. Obviously you have to be in the mood for this type of tomfoolery, but the song 'Drink' is a goddamn beer classic. Everything about this act is pretty second rate, but that's part of the fun. Pirate metal. I mean, really... 4. Sebastian Bach - 'Give em Hell' This is a great rock album. The songs, the production, the mood. 'All My Friends are Dead' is a classic. 3. At the Gates - 'At War with Reality' The big return was disappointing I guess but it's still pretty good. The repetitive riff at the end of 'The Circular Ruins' is amazing. 2. Varathron - 'Untrodden Corridors of Hades' This is more like it! The Greeks and Italians seem to be the only ones left with any genuine heart and soul these days. This is a great unconventional black metal album with a truly haunting atmosphere. That opening track, 'Kabalistic Invocation of Solomon' is a true portal to raising dark spirits of the earth. 1. Septicflesh - 'Titan' Thank god this album exists to save a terrible year in metal. This is possibly my favourite album of the last fifteen years and gets better every listen. The ingenuity of the lyrics ('War in Heaven' is about black holes etc), the scope of the orchestral movements, the repetitive symphonic melodies at the end of 'Prometheus' and 'Confessions of a Serial Killer'. The perfect production. Each note here is a huge combination of heart-string tugging and gut punching, and it's the aural equivalent of the inner turbulence of a life lived between the fickle modern world and the infinite depths of mythology promulgated through the Jungian collective unconscious. Album of the decade. 'Prometheus' is song of the decade.

Most metal things I own: Mayhem jacket The Slayer Mag Diaries by Metalion CD collection

Listening narratives - I think we need more of these. NP: Dark Funeral - 'Where Shadows Forever Reign'

Yeah, I picked up your humour. I don't think I've ever actually put scotch or bourbon in coffee before. It's hard to understand how they would ever cross paths. It's a few steps down from putting coke with scotch. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually had scotch anyway - certainly several years ago.

Are we talking being one, or driving one? semi? Would you rather be Satyr or Frost?