MacabreEternal

W.A.S.P. Forget the theatre for a minute here. I knew all about Lawless and co’s stage antics and shock lyrical content, but it was not any of that brazen, cocksure headiness that drew me to the band. Nope it was purely the music. I would argue that from the debut through to ‘Crimson Idol’ they rarely put a foot wrong. Yes, ‘Inside The Electric Circus’ perhaps needed a trim and ‘The Last Command’ too. But neither were turkeys and I played both of them to fucking death as a teenager being energised by the likes of ‘Jack Action’, ‘9.5. - N.A.S.T.Y.’ and ‘Wild Child’. ’The Headless Children’ showed some real maturity with actual structure to the songs and a little more teeth and less tongue in cheek than what had come before (although ‘Mephisto Waltz’ sucked and blowed and the same time). The final piece of the maturity scale came with ‘The Crimson Idol’. To hear a band more infamous for tits n tattle perform a concept record and not get lost in the story and let the music still be centre stage was a real treat. I spent so many of my teenage years playing W.A.S.P. for a good portion of each of them it seems criminal that nowadays I don’t pick up their CD’s off the library shelves more. Key Album - The Crimson Idol Morbid Angel The mind bending sonic wizardry of Trey on Morbid Angel’s first 2 albums just blows me away still to this day. Despite my affection/nostalgia for Obituary as my death metal gateway band, Morbid Angel occupied my turntable/CD drawer for a large percentage of my teenage years also. There was a poise about MA that I felt no other band had at the time. Vincent looked like a shampoo model who ate puppies at children’s parties and the cool menace of his vocals further cemented the image. Sandoval was a fucking beast on the skins and Brunelle worked the riff engine, stoking the fires with near passive effort. ’Altars of Madness’ and ‘Blessed Are The Sick’ change places as being my favourite MA release more often than I change my duds! I even forgave the dry sound to ‘Covenant’ after many years off being put off by it. Hell, even when Vincent has been sacked, had handbags at ten paces with Trey or just decided that Country is his thang, Tucker steps right in and the band molds accordingly, creating some great records along the way. A common theme in my list is bands who mature, whose songwriting goes up a notch within mere years. The step up from the debut to ‘Blessed...’ is so obvious and the whole record is caked in fucking atmosphere to the extent that you can ice it, slice it and serve it dinner parties. Key Album (today at least) - Blessed Are The Sick

Vanum ‘Ageless Fire’

Sanguinary Trance ‘Wine, Song & Sacrifice’ (an album about most nights of the week at my place really)

There’s so much win here you could slice it, toast it and spread butter on it’s blackened crumb! Mmmmmmmmmm...blackened crumbs!

Yep, it just isn’t digesting as well as it used too and I can’t figure out why. Could be different story again in a few weeks/months.

Welcome

Sacramentum 'Far Away From The Sun'

Judas Priest Priest have nowhere near the impact on me that say an Iron Maiden or a Metallica have. My love of Priest was born completely out of 'Painkiller' and at the time of release I only had that and then 'Ram It Down' to listen to in my humble collection. It has not been until recent years that they have taken a more prominent position in my metal journey with my library being stacked with various releases of theirs. I think their importance is that they add a variety to my collection just by virtue of their discography alone. From the high octane metal of the aforementioned 'Painkiller' and last year's near resurrection of that quality on 'Firepower', to the arena rock anthems of the 'British Steel' era through to the intricate story telling of 'Sad Wings...' there's something for most moods in Priest's back catalogue. But I won't shy away from being another one (of the established many) who worship 'Painkiller', not just for its energy and intensity but also for the fact that in the year it was released it had several strong challengers (1990 was a great year) and it still stood head and shoulders above all. Key Album - Painkiller Deftones Yes, that's right, the Deftones are in here. There was a time when I had drifted from the metal shores of my established kingdom and was in danger of falling out altogether with the genre. Deftones actually served as my gateway back into metal with their blend of accessible, melodic and hazy/gazy songwriting coupled with that aggressive, hormonal teenager with a knife nu-metal style that all the cool kids listened to. 'Around the Fur' and 'White Pony' hold special places in my heart but it was actually 'Diamond Eyes' that originally grabbed my attention one Sunday afternoon when I was feeling bereft of music and needed something to slap me upside the head. Worked a treat. Key Album - Diamond Eyes Kreator I get the talents of Destruction and Sodom when talking about Teutonic Thrash metal and I enjoy most of the aforementioned two's output over the years but it was the evil intent that sat behind 'Pleasure To Kill' that really made me sit up and take notice of the German Thrash scene, above even 'In The Sign Of Evil' or 'Obsessed by Cruelty'. Mille Petroza's vocals were like acid in my ears and the raw atmosphere of the record coupled well with the structure of the songs that gave it a menacing edge over the likes of 'Seven Churches' even. Since the sophomore I have gone on to own all of their records through from the debut, up to and including 'Coma of Souls', and find myself visiting them all with regularity. Key Album - 'Pleasure to Kill'

Welcome, thanks for taking note of the advice earlier. Hope you enjoy your time here. Based on your tastes it appears you are in good company here.

Moved from Intro section - please read the forum rules before posting non-intro threads in the Intro section. Further breaches of the policy will be considered as SPAM and may result in warning or bans.

Have Tool commissioned you for their new album cover perchance?

Behexen 'The Poisonous Path' (2016 - Debemur Morti Productions) Behexen's most varied work to date makes for some interesting listening as we get a blackened crust sound emanating some d-beat/hardcore styles whilst at the same time remaining authentic to the black metal sound we all know from them. A well produced album that maintains the presence of all instruments in the mix without sacrificing the energy of the sound. Sacramentum 'Far Away From The Sun' (1996 - Adipocere Records) As part of plugging gaps in my digital library with physical releases I have had the pleasure of listening to Dissection 'Storm of the Light's Bane' in my car for like 3 weeks now. Also I picked up Sacramentum's debut as part of this process but I have to confess that I have really struggled to get into it (certainly in comparison with the experience I had around revisiting Dissection at least). It just doesn't stick in my head at all and when it is playing I find it fails to hold my attention properly. I judge a good record by how well it keeps me company on a long drive out - which perhaps isn't the setting for this record, maybe it requires more personal time with it - and sadly I just found 'Far Away From the Sun' didn't cut it despite many repeated attempts. Moonsorrow - 'Verisäkeet' (2005 - Spikefarm Records) So, Moonsorrow have been on my "to do" list for about 2 years now. My recent preference for a more melodic and folk edge to my BM (whilst also delving further into the Finnish scene for my blog writings here) seemed to lead me on a natural course this past week to discover this absolute beauty of a record. I can only liken it to meeting an attractive but very plain looking member of the opposite sex. You engage in a few initially casual dates, before you reach the stage of a meal at their pad and you realise from the shelves of their abode that they have a hidden depth of knowledge beyond anything you first expected in terms of the dimension of their understanding of music. Occasionally, it does get a bit dull but never pompous or grandiose. You eventually decide this is the one for you, invite them round to yours for absinthe and canopies, feast on them and hail the dark lord for his gifts!

Xasthur - s/t EP (2006) Xasthur - 'A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors'

Might wanna change that font. Can't read a word of what you typed. EDIT - better, cool list, welcome.

Destruction ‘Release from Agony’