Loucifer

The Infernal Sea have been announced for the New Blood Stage. SUPERB band! Check them out if you haven't already

Recent purchases for me include: Finntroll - "Blodsvept" Sabaton - "The Art of War" Ex Deo - "Caligvla" Panopticon - "Social Disservicies" Panopticon - "Collapse" Panopticon - "Panopticon" Panopticon - "On the Subject of Mortality" Panopticon - "Kentucky" Cryptik Howling - "Them" Cryptik Howling - "Vitium Intus" ... and I pre-ordered Cryptik Howling's "Synthetic Ascension Design". The Panopticon stuff is amazing! I wrote a review of "Kentucky". I'd be happy to share the link if anyone is interested.

According to my Last.fm, my top 5 bands for this week are: 1. Finntroll 2. Eastern Front 3. Theudho 4. Frostwork 5. De Profundis Obviously, this changes week by week.

Apologies for the double post... but... I'm seriously hooked on the new album. It's ridiculously good!

Ummm... maybe "Ordinance" by Secrets of the Moon.

I'm looking forward to getting the debut EP from Sidious. Just been listening to the stream on ZT Mag's site and it sounds great. Just my cuppa tea!

I'll give it a go!

Finntroll - "Skogsdotter"

I got the album yesterday - I love it already. Not a grower like "Nifelvind" (although I now also love that album). Roll on May when I can see them! Keep of Kalessin are supporting as well - it's going to be fantastic!

I do a bit.... I took part in Nanowrimo in 2011 - that was a lot of fun (although no-one will EVER read that novel!). I'd like to actually write a novel someday and get it published, but it's difficult to get started. Do you write? Can you give me any tips?

Hey Deb, welcome to the site! I'm a newbie too

Great to meet you!

Perhaps it's just semantics, but is theft really the right word? To my mind, theft / stealing is taking something which doesn't lawfully belong to you, away from someone else, leaving them without said item. Making a copy of something (which is what you're doing by downloading a song) isn't quite the same thing. Not to mention that it's an inferior quality copy and you don't get the packaging and the artwork, which is one my favourite things about buying the actual CD or vinyl. For example, would you call photocopying some pages from a book theft? Because I wouldn't! Don't get me wrong, before people in bands start getting on my case, I'm not exactly condoning music piracy, it's just interesting to have both sides to the debate!

Some bands deserve their success after toiling and releasing quality albums in the underground, Behexen, Inquisition, and Watain (yeah, they're shit) but all of these bands have paid their dues and have persevered relentlessly to get where they are. Defining "mainstream" success on the level of Cradle of filth is one thing, but when I see these bands getting shit like Inquisition for playing 70,000 tons of metal its kind of aggravating. It's like fucking hell guys how many years do you expect exceptionally talented musicians, to limited their albums to 500 7' hand numbered copies of black vinyl that and constantly playing smaller regional fests- until you finally realize some bands have worked their way to where they are. I love underground black and death like most other guys, but if a band plays well and earns their success who cares who they play with ESPECIALLY when they keep their original sound.

I agree! I had to listen to Nifelvind several times before i could truly enjoy it! You are gonna love the new album i think' date=' i got the limited edition of the album. You can listen to it on Spotify now.[/quote'] I've ordered the limited edition too, so it should be here today

[ATTACH=CONFIG]459[/ATTACH] I hated "Illud...", but I don't think Morbid Angel should die because they created it. Saying that Darkthrone 'should die' because they've created music that is not to your tastes is a little OTT.

I'm a MASSIVE Finntroll fan. (I also love Moonsorrow too - I thought I'd mention that since I noticed someone had mentioned them earlier in the thread). I found that "Nifelvind" was difficult to get into at first, but it's definitely a grower. I've got high hopes for the new album and I'm seeing them live again in May. Woo hoo!

Sure' date=' it does lend itself well to some albums, but it's also a stereotype that doesn't exist for everything. I get sick of hearing about how black metal is "always so under-produced" and "intentionally sounds like mud", but this is nowhere near always the case, and when it is it's often because it's a demo or debut album. It's not cheap to make an album, so I can understand the feeling of just wanting to get it out there and save some money, but many black metal bands do go for a bigger production that does work for them in most cases.[/quote'] I agree with you - there's a place for both.

I think if "Taake" had have been released by anyone else, it would have been adored - the fact is that Hoest has just set the bar too high for himself! lol It's definitely going to be hard to top the first three albums. Now that the 'best of' album (I guess it's a best of!) has been released, I wonder if Taake are going to take a slightly different direction. It does feel like they're drawing a line under what's been released so far. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Ok, I've just had a quick read of this thread and I feel ready to throw in my two cents... Firstly... This...

The whole point' date=' which some people appear to be missing, is that an illegal download does not equal a lost sale. I would argue that most people use downloading to sample tracks, much in the same way as borrowing a CD / vinyl / cassette from their mate for example. Then if they decide they enjoy it, they'll buy their own copy, go to a gig or buy a tshirt. Of course I'm generalising, and there must be people out there who don't ever buy something to support the bands, but my point is that those people are few and far between.[/quote'] I agree, it does seem like quite a lot of fans who initially illegally download then go onto to buy the album or merch/gig ticket, etc. Also, I still stand by the thought that a 'true fan' would not rip off their favourite bands by not buying the album. So, let's say an album was only available on CD (through some fluke!) - the true fan would buy it and the equivalent of the illegal downloader wouldn't. It's not a lost sale if that person was never going to even entertain the thought of buying it anyway. However, to a degree, it is still theft. A bit of a contradiction there, but I think there is a difference. Is the internet killing metal? No, I don't think so. The internet brings it's own set of challenges, but it also brings about a whole set of good points. Although bands may not be able to make a full living through their music alone, by being able to manage their own sales (to a degree) and deal with fans directly, they're able to get back some of their costs and not have to pay out to half a dozen middlemen in the process. I think direct sales through sites like bigcartel and Bandcamp are terrific. Even though both do take a cut (they are businesses afterall), it's not a massive amount. Also, if it wasn't for Bandcamp, I wouldn't have found out about a shedload of amazing bands (Erebus Enthroned, FrostSeele and Ethernal instantly spring to mind - check them out ). I think in order for bands to make some money these days, they need to try something a little bit different. Although music should (and always should) be the main focus for any band, they also need to look into what they're offering fans. These days people need more of an incentive to part with their cash (times are hard, folks!) - so merch deals (someone mentioned beanies and t-shirts earlier), limited edition vinyl pressings - even cassette tapes are all worth looking into. Hell, in the last couple of months I've bought 3 cassette tapes. I never thought I'd be saying that in 2013. I also think vinyl is making a bit of a comeback - especially through sites like Bandcamp (I don't work for them, I swear - I'm just really impressed with the idea!) - when the buyer also gets an instant digital copy of the album with their purchase. To me, that really is the best of both worlds. Another good thing about the internet is forums/sites like this one. I'll stop sucking up now....

They're also a good choice because they're obscenely consistent. Their first 3 albums are masterpieces, and their two most recent were only slightly less good than those. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

Do you think I can think of a single song that hasn't already been mentioned? Nope. Typical! Good call on "1916" by Motorhead though - that song always gives me goosebumps whenever I listen to it. A superb piece. Although I'm not entirely sure what all of their songs are about (sadly, I haven't had the time to look up/translate the lyrics), Cor Scorpii's stuff has a wonderfully melancholic atmosphere.

Moon - "The Shining"

Don't like it, don't listen to it. I absolutely agree. There should be an addendum to that though that states "if somebody else doesn't like it and you do, don't get butt hurt about it". The entirety of my posts on this subject have been because of people getting up at arms because some people here don't like that stuff. We have all stated numerous times that nobody is telling anybody what to listen to or what not to listen to, yet people still seem to get offended even though disdain for those styles of music are anything but new or surprising. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

I think the use of shit production for the sake of it is a bit rubbish. However, I do also feel that there is a time and a place for the harsher sound. Sammath recently released a demo track from their forthcoming album and I think the low-fi production gives it a really raw and uncompromising atmosphere. I think the track is going to be tidied up somewhat before its actual release, so it'll be interesting to compare the two versions when the album becomes available. Just in case you're interested, here's the track I was talking about: rlszQkcCuqY