Sheol

Aeon - Doorknocker

Happy birthday! What Al is saying is true. You will also randomly forget which year it is and write 2022 well into June.

I think I was lucky in that when I started to get seriously into metal internat was starting to take off (late 90's) and finding likeminded through online communities, IRC (what's now called Discord), web forums and web rings was easier. The novlety of internet also made the lines between metal, goth, punk and hardcore less rigid so you were introduced to more bands outside of your interest-zone. I've never really had many IRL friends who were seriously into metal. Even now the guy who knows most about metal and whom I've known the longest doesn't care for 25% of the bands I listen to.

Yeah in my experience Sabbath riffs are very airy and with carefully placed notes, which makes them easier to not sound muddy when downtuned.

I like some Ed - fucking - Sheeran songs, but I feel, like many acoustic musicians, that he's grown increasingly boring and souless (must be the red hair) with increasing fame. Side note, why do red hairs be called gingers? Far as I know ginger is yellow, beige when not peeled.

Depends. Not everyone named their cat Ni**erman. That's a choice! 😁🤪There were tons of people who were not racist, misogynistic or antisemites in the 18-1900's, where did they get their damn humanistic ideas from? I think that somewhere people just felt good about treating other groups like shit, not from a lack of "knowledge" but from a source of superiority. I mean, Lovecraft is also kind of a special case as well because as Jon said, he was the equivilent of an incel or hikikomore, and was mentally abused by his unstable mother. Not the best circumnstances for wide personal growth. So there's tons of explanations for a guy like Lovecraft, but that doesn't mean they are excuses. So I guess it'd be unfair to judge people historically but you can definitely criticqe them and point out their flaws.

Majesties are unashamed 90's melodeath worship and I'm all for it. Not only nostalgic but those hooks and songs are legit! MAJESTIES - Vast Reaches Unclaimed

Yup, but here's the kicker, the new In Flames is actually good. Like, the best since Colony. Granted, there's still some of the Whine Flames of the 00's left, but it's tempered by good songwriting. I'm as shocked as you, but I really like Foregone.

Same here, no gamer but the first 3 episodes have been excellent. Ep 3 was a TON sadder than I expected. Surprisingly emotional. Ramsey and Pascal are fucking superstars.

Could it be different types of endurance/aerobics? I don't know what you mean with "running with a pack" but explosive aerobics like battle ropes of 100 m dash is very different from jogging for hrs or carrying a load while walking in rough terrain, at least in my experience. I quite like sled pushes/pulls because they get my heart racing and I feel like I'm gonna die, but it's for very short distances so they feel very doable. Running a mile feels like utopia in comparison. Especially on the knees.

Same, Mariner was kinda grating and annoying, ADtF was ok, I disliked it in the beginning but last year I revisited and found the C/D side stronger than the A/B. But the EP was a promising sign and I really liked TLRN. It felt like a good mix between the teutonic, mechanical style of Vertikal and the softer, more organic stuff from Eternal Kingdom and A dawn to fear. Johannes also released a collaboration with Perturbator called Final Light, that may be why you feel more time (and albums) has passed?

The press blurb even referenced Blizzard Beasts, so it's all very intentional. I dig the song a lot, it's interesting to hear where LoM moves after raw BM, dungeon synth and postpunk BM. New Häxanu-album "Totenpass" incoming Feb 7. Häxanu - Ephódion Also, Bizarrekult and Verminous Serpent (members of Slidhr and Primordial).

Black Sabbath - Live in paris 1970 Sounds absolutely fantastic, before the band got too snowblind, and was still a tight unit who gigged all the time. And I think this is also the first time I got a good look at Iommis finger-thimbles.

I was today years old when I realised that @AlSymerzname is a play on "alzheimers". I just thought it was his real name.

Oh hell yeah, really really great. Love the prominent bass too!

I've always had a good metabolism and been pretty lean but lack of training and comfort eating currently has me at 167 pounds at 5'11 and none of that is muscle anymore. I've noticed a bit of a lovehandle forming around my waist. I need to get back into the gym, I don't like where this is going...

I think the John Wick movies have been clever about it. Most is practical effects with wires, stunt training etc, but the muzzle flashes and some of the car action is CGId.

I think The Batman by Matt Reeves was really good. Felt like a solid detective story, going back to Batmans origins before he became a gadget/monster show.

Man there's a lot of music I've never heard (of) this year. Here's my Top 21 list (why 21? Because why not?) 1. GGGOLDDD - This shame should not be mine Easily the best album of the year. Emotional, cathartic and empowering. This isn't really metal, but there's certainly heavy sections. I think this would appeal to the likes of @markm and.... 🤷‍♂️ 2. Jordfäst - Av stoft Just like previous album, Av Stoft is a fantastic journey through hardships and torment via the vehicle of black metal. Jordfäst play folk metal in the very essence of the word; recalling a 18-19th century layer of working class toil on their music and lyrics, without using accordians or folk songs. The perspective is always the worker, looking up at the unjust rulers and the unjust sky. 3. Saints n Sinners - Rise of the alchemist When I first heard this in march it was clear that this was gonna stay with me for a long time. The greatest power/heavy metal album of the year comes from.... fucking Turkey? Yep, with incredibly catchy riffs and choruses and a singer evoking Bruce Dickinson without the needless higher register wailings, SnS is fucking phenomenal and I can't wait to see where they go next. 4. Erzfeynd - Muspilli / Behaft bekert / Wyrm / Split The lone German has had an incredibly productive year and while most material was written last year, 2022 saw the literal ketchup effect of no less than 4 EP:s/splits, and they all rule. This is by far my favourite discovery of the pandemic years and I can't recommend him enough. 5. Misthyrming - Með hamri It's Misthyrming, you know it rules! 6. Besna - Zverstva A hidden Slovakian gem of atmospheric black metal coupled with hints of post-metal. A really wonderful treat, and a band that I think will break big with their next album, similar to what happened to Gaerea. You heard it here first. 7. Ultra Silvam - The Sanctity of Death Just as viciously sharp as The Spearwound Salvation, but with slightly more refined song writing. The chaotic feeling of wheels coming of is intact though! 8. Venus Principle - Stand in your light A mellow, rocking, beutiful album featuring ex-members of Crippled Black Phoenix, with paired male and female vocals. 9. Tchornobog/Abyssal - Split Tchornobog (and all Markov Soroka's bands) have quickly become one of my favourite entities of dark, abyssmal churnings and the split did not only not disspoint, but also introduced me to U.K.'s Abyssal. Both bands deliver 20+ min songs that both wreck minds and corrupts spirits. 10. Absent in Body - Plague God A honest to god super-group that actually delivers. Featuring current or former members of Amenra, Neurosis and Sepultura AIB's main strength is the atmosphere of dark corruption in the music and the absolutley filthy vocals of Colin van Eeckhout (I think). I would also like to highlight the excellent lyrics who also has a very distinct and rhythmic pacing to them. The lyrics could work just as well as spoken word-poetry. 11. Cult of Luna - The Long Road North The undefeated kings of posthardcore/metal. The Long Road North is like the perfect blending of Vertikal and A Dawn to Fear; futuristicly cold and arboreally hostile, while also infinitely beautiful. 12. An abstract illusion - Woe A modern take on death metal with breakdowns, synths, but without falling into the trappings of death/metalcore or djent. 13. Mortuus - Diablerie The true forgotten gem of 2022 black metal. I don't think I've seen this on any AOTY list. This is mid-paced orthodox black metal with a great balance between atmosphere and agression. Topnotch stuff. 14. Egregore - The Word of his law American death metal with a very out-there approach. It's like listening to a round metal cube forcing itself into a square wodden hole. 15. Moonlight Sorcery - Nightwind: The Conqueror from the Stars These Finns surprise-dropped this EP towards the end of the year and just like "Piercing..." there are fleet-footed black metal with a huge dose of 80's shred guitar and tons of charm. Standout track is definitely "Constellations". 16. Shaam Larein - Sticka en kniv i världen The only doomrock band on the list, so you know they must be great! Has a bit of the occult rock flair but packs a lot more attitude and brassknuckles than your usual Devil's Blood-clone. Great, soulful vocals from Shaam too. 17. Kvaen - The Great Below You know this one. The Funeral Pyre set the meloblack scene ablaze two years ago and it's no surprsie The Great Below continues with equal prowess. 18. Kuggur - حصاد ضَوْءٌ النُّجُوم An electronic, ambient album by former Sólstafir drummer Gummi, musing on the artistic similarities between Icelandic and Middle eastern folkmusic. The result is beautiful. 19. Det Eviga Leendet - Reverence Swedish black metal band with Jacob from Mare Cognitum on vocals. A tempered iron gauntlet weilding a spiked flail to your temple, over and over. Hints of dissonant chords keep you on your toes, but you're mainly here for the beating. 20. Deathspell omega - The Long Defeat The most accessible and catchy album by the Frenchies, with some wellsuited guest vocals from M and Arioch. unfortunatly shithead Aspa is still there. 21. Moonlight Sorcery - Piercing Through the Frozen Eternity This EP dropped in febuary and it took me well into the summer before I discovered it. Glad I did though since it's a very, very fun EP. Finnish black metal with extra everything.

Wait, Al Symerz is Kuke? God damn, I go on holidays and the whole forum is ruined. Kuk means cock in swedish so I thought the old name was fitting 😄

Really like this one, surprised becuase it's usually a bit outside my wheelhouse, but it's varied and got some clever things going on.

I've tried Mörk several times and I just can't find anything to hang on to. It's just mediocre, not bad, just mediocre.

Knowing Denmark it was probably hashish and they called it rocket 😄

WTF? I always assumed rocket was the USA name for what we call ruccola. And as it turns out, ruccola = arugula = rocket.

Metallica - Live Shit: Binge & Purge - Seattle 1989 Possibly the best live metal album of all time.