zackflag

I'm skipping 1990 since I'm just realizing now that there actually weren't too many albums that year that I like all that much.... 1991 10. Sadistic Exekution - The Magnus One of the OG Bestial black/death metal albums and one of the better ones for the time. I vastly prefer these guys to Blasphemy or Beherit. It's amateurish and messy as fuck but still a lot of fun. 9. Sepultura - Arise As far as I'm concerned, Sepultura disbanded after this album. This was them at their apex and now that I think about it, this is the only thrash album from the 90's that I hold in very high regard. 8. Bolt Thrower - War Master Far from my favourite Bolt Thrower album, I much prefer the ones before and after this one (Realm of Chaos, IVth Crusade), but it's still a damn good album and one of the better death metal albums from a monumental year for the genre. 7. Sentenced - Shadows of The Past A very good and very overlooked Finnish death metal release. Doomy, melodious and even atmospheric at times but nonetheless still pummeling. 6. Suffocation - Effigy of The Forgotten The album that birthed brutal death metal (and slam, unfortunately) and one of the first death metal albums to completely forgo any thrash influence. This thing still goes hard even by today's standards. Just absolutely crushing. 5. Master's Hammer - Ritual Most people would probably call 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky' the first proper second wave black metal album but I think there's a good argument to be made for Ritual being the one to really kick it all off. At the very least, it's one of the more influential albums to shape what black metal would become. An underrated classic, to be sure. 4. Convulse - World Without God One of the pillars of Finnish death metal and an undisputed classic release. This thing is basically perfect. 3. Immolation - Dawn of Possession Probably my number one favourite death metal band. These guys wouldn't truly find their footing until the latter half of the 90's but Dawn of Possession is still a classic. Much more "conventional" than what Immolation would become known for and because of that I kinda see it as the odd duck in Immolation's discography. 2. Death - Human Everyone has a favourite Death album and this one is mine. This album to me is the perfection of Death's sound. Just on the cusp of being a prog/tech death album but not quite. It sits right in the pocket. The perfect bridge between their primitive early style and the proggy melodic stuff they would move on to soon after. 1. Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream This is the best Swedish death metal album ever made, if you ask me. If this was the only Swedeath album I ever heard again for the rest of my life I'd be perfectly fine with that I wouldn't feel like I was missing out at all. This is the gold standard by which all others are judged. Just the opening track alone is better than everything Entombed and Bloodbath have ever done, and I will die on this hill.

That's gonna be a 4/10 for me. I've never dug the clean singy / symphonic thing Arcturus had going on. They were no Emperor, that's for sure. Drautran - Blot Lohen Der Opferung

Just checked what the Metallica MA page had to say on this as I was genuinely curious. Turns out Cliff had songwriting credits on roughly 8 songs total from those first 3 albums, 4 of them being on Ride The Lightning, and only one on Kill em All (Anesthesia). That's more than I would've guessed, so there's seems to be some truth to what your saying here. Hetfield on the other hand has writing credits for the entirety of their first three albums, which I guess only makes sense, guitar players are usually the ones writing all the music.

Huh, it has always been my understanding that James and Lars ruled that band with an iron first and had complete and utter control over the musical direction of the band, especially in the 80's. Kirk and even Cliff were essentially just along for the ride. So even if Cliff had never passed we still could've gotten the same AJFA album, except maybe with more bass....

Ironically enough, the 5150 has been one of the gold standards for extreme metal guitar amps for basically 30 years now. I own one myself and can attest to it's quality, no distortion pedal required. I guarantee literally dozens, if not hundreds, of your favourite death, black and black death albums have been recorded with this exact amp.

Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition, Chapter III: The Astral Drain Hmmm.... I'm a little let down by this one so far. It's pretty good, just not as good as the two albums that preceded it.

It was a joke. NokturnalBoredom was a former poster here who, like yourself, really leaned into the whole "I am very badass and nothing offends me" shtick.

Okay I'm about 95% convinced this is that NokturnalBoredom guy with a new account, lol.

Warfare - Doomsday Whoa! What's this??? A new hardcore album in 2022 that I actually like!?? We are living in the weirdest timeline...

KVAD - Cold & Dark, As Life (2022) Yeah this is some good shit.

Fair point and you're most likely correct here. However, it is strange and incredibly frustrating in this instance that the entire Enslaved discography has found it's way on to Spotify, which I'd have to imagine would require a licensing agreement similar to that of bandcamp, yet only roughly 1/3 of those albums are available on bandcamp. I really hate to have to rely on Spotify and Youtube for music but I guess that's the way the wind blows these days...

Enslaved - Isa Enslaved - Ruun Put these albums on bandcamp! Fuckers!

I'm no nutritionist but I'm pretty sure if your diet mainly consists of whole foods and minimal sugar, you're probably gonna be okay.

Grima - Rotten Garden

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands (2022) This is the raw black metal album to beat this year. This thing is fanfuckingtastic. Morrigan - Plague, Waste and Death Finally got around to picking up something from these guys after many glowing recommendations from the Goatmaster. Yup, these guys are indeed very good. I slept on them for way too long. Better late than never right?

Well..... that's promising news. Hopefully they wind up on bandcamp. My old 192kbps Mp3's from Itunes are in dire need of replacement lol.

Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder

Stangarigel - Na Severe Srdca (2022)

It's freakin' hot as fuck outside! California punk it is... Circle Jerks - Group Sex Dead Kennedy's - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables D.I. - Horse Bites Dog Cries Descendants - Milo Goes to College

I last saw Maiden in 2012 and they were commemorating their tour to "Seventh Son..." and they were utterly fantastic. Literally couldn't have asked for a much better show and setlist. Mind you, they were merely uhhhh.... 60 yr olds back than and not..... whatever they are now (math is hard). King Diamond - Them King Diamond - Conspiracy

Hierophant - Death Siege (Black/Death, Italy) Now this right here is how I want my Black/Death to sound! Everything about this rules. Releases Aug 26.

Saidan - Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal (2022) Man, this album is such a weird beast. I like it, but..... it's weird. It's like the closest I've heard of someone making an actual competent cross between pop, punk and black metal. It shouldn't work and I shouldn't like it, but it does and I do.

I checked out that new Stellar Tomb demo and it just made me wanna listen to Inquisition, and now I can't stop.... Invoking The Majestic Throne of Satan Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm Nefarious Dismal Orations

The Colorado Avalanche are actually my favourite team. They were very dominant in the late 90's/early 2000's and I hopped on the bandwagon then and stuck with them since. I hate Toronto with a burning passion haha. You are correct that fighting originated in Hockey as a form of self policing. Particularly as a way for teams to protect their teammates, like if an opposing player takes a run (hit or body check) at a star player than that guy probably gonna get some punches thrown his way. So it's a deterrent more than anything. But the NHL implemented what's known as the instigator penalty, meaning that whoever is perceived to have started a fight on the ice gets an extra 2 minutes on top of his 5 minute fighting major. So anytime a fight occurs in most instances one of the two teams will be on a powerplay afterwards, and it's not in a players interest to knowingly make his team kill a penalty haha. The league also made it a rule that you cannot take your helmet off when you drop the gloves. These rules have proven to be quite effective in reducing fighting in the game.

Rodent Epoch - Hidden Temple (2022) This seriously rules!