MattCantina

NP: Conqueror - War Cult Supremacy

Necros Christos - Domedon Doxomedon; you know you are listening to this band when a single album is comprised of 27 songs, half of them being either ambient interludes or ritualistic chants

I gave that new AtG album a secondary spin this morning. Now I can tolerate fairly well most of the songs, but it still lacks memorability to me, with the exception of a few moments. Though I think it's one of their best works to date, Gardens of Grief and The red in The Skies is Ours will always hold the no#1 spot.

Hellhammer - Death Fiend

17 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

After a couple of listens, I'm liking the new one better than I thought I would. Lots of boilerplate, but I think the melodic sections are stronger and more interesting than their last outing, and I like the layers of clean guitar used as texture here and there. Tomas sounds good, too, more expressive and stronger than I was expecting. Too bad Adrian is still phoning it in - he uses the same few patterns throughout the entire album and that combines with the homogeneity of the guitars to drag things down for me. Overall I think it's a good step up from their last one, and for that matter it's more in line with my taste these days than SOTS. Not a masterpiece, but maybe a better-than-average Swedish melodeath album with a handful of parts worth looking forward to.

I actually think the title track is the weakest song on the album, to the point that I'd probably skip it if I end up listening to this more frequently. I kind of get what you're saying about the strings, but I didn't mind them at all; they've always used string parts here and there, and I don't get the sense that this was an attempt to be experimental or edgy at all, just a little flourish to close out the album.

I'll give it another spin just in case. Though, it's a while I don't listen to ATG or modern melodeath in general

Antediluvian - Septentrional Teophany

Antediluvian - Logos

Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre lo Anemi Francor

14 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Good luck to you, I hear cycling is a great form of exercise (he says while staring at his bike).

I'm getting frustrated by the fact I still haven't written a solo I'm happy with for this Paint It Black cover. The rest of the guitar is written down to the BPM for each section and I have an idea of the bass and drums. Maybe I can dump the solo if I re-arrange things a little...

Cycling is fun, I should try it out again when I have some spare time. Now that you reminded me, I also don't listen to The rolling stones from quite a lot of time. 

I was planning to do this a long time ago, but either I was overwhelmed by work or just too lazy to start. I'll start a sort of workout routine from now, my goal is to make it last at least three months. 

Virgin Steele - invictus

At the Gates have been unfortunately victim of their own redundancy. I listened to their new album, felt uninspired. The title track is decent, but only because it has a somewhat catchy main riff to back up a pretty lackluster/watered down chorus. Though, that final violin segment in A Mirrior Black was completely unnecessary in my opinon. I've never understood the appeal of mindlessly adding unorthodox instruments into the mix wihtout a sense of general direction, which is what this album needs the most. 

Acherontas - Faustian Ethos; mixed feelings about this band. They are pretty vanilla but not bad either

28 minutes ago, deathstorm said:

Hey guys I got bad news my mom went to the hospital last night she hasn’t come home yet  I hope she’s ok 

Hang in there dude. Hope it goes well

NP: Some Antediluvian. I like how they keep the majority of their songs short and go straight to the point. The ambient interludes  are also quite eerie

Sodom - In the sign of evil

Monstrosity - Imperial Doom

Nifelheim - Self Titled

Both Paracletus and Synarchy arrived today in perfect conditions https://imgur.com/wN0grn2 

There is a cool textbook inside that Paracletus digipack which I'd like to analyze soon, it features several quotes from the King James Bible, some engravings too. Interestingly, the lyrics were transcribed as just one huge piece of text, without the names of each song first. 

NP: Mgła - Exercises in Futility

Current week;

1) Baise Ma Hache - Bréviaire Du Chaos. That was unexpected, I'm digging this band quite a lot. While it doesn't reach the levels of their peers Peste Noire, it features the same melancholic/Byronian attitude of the latter, which makes their compositions sound more like a military march rather than a metal song. 

2) Deathspell Omega - Diabolus Absconditus. I'm a seasoned listener of DsO, but it's still amusing how little I know about them. This EP is a total mind screw. Endless layers of dissonance and tempo changes, surreal lyrics (which seem more like a philosophical essay to be honest) and a lenghty interlude in the middle of the song, creepy yet relaxing at the same time. 

3) Sadistik Exekution - The Magus. Well, they literally have a trilogy which consists of the word "fukk", so that's pretty self-explanatory. 

NP: Baise Ma Hache - Bréviaire du chaos; for uninitiated, this band is mostly a Peste Noire clone. I'm liking them quite a lot though

Painting

Carcass - Heartwork

4 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

After how good their first two albums were, it really sounds like they phoned it in on this one. Mameli's vocals aren't anywhere near as good as Van Drunen's, and the songs are repetitious, dull, and directionless for the most part. All of the instruments hang back more than usual, leaving enough open space to draw your attention to how ineffective Foddis' drumming is. It always has been, but it didn't matter on earlier recordings because the intricate and dynamic riffs mixed with the raging vocals and frantic pacing did plenty to consume the attention of the listener. They added keyboards, but the keyboards don't really add anything since they just follow the guitars or fill the empty spaces with whole/half notes, and having two guitars similarly doesn't matter if they're both going to play the same thing. Even Tony Choy hung back, barely doing anything that doesn't just follow the rhythm guitars, which begs the question "why bother bringing him in or mention that he's 'Tony Choy (from Cynic)' only to not utilize his talents?"

I just don't get what happened here. How do you go from being the leaders of the pack to the runt of the litter in the space of two years? It seems like the pretense of ambition with keyboards and ambient interludes without any actual ambition.

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Brace yourself man, if you haven't heard their later material yet. Total wankery

Black Harvest - Abject; finally getting around to listen to it. Attrition is the next