MacabreEternal

Morbid Angel - Blessed are the Sick (1990)

I watched it. Very disappointed. I hadn't watched most of the previous iteration with Jody Whittaker as the Doctor because I felt she was a terrible actor who over-hammed it far too much. Had hoped for some sense to return with Tennant nut unfortunately, although he does bring some stability back to the role, they have also brought back Donna Noble as a character. Portrayed once again by Catherine Tate who I simply cannot stand, the show is on to a loser. Still very youth orientated in the themes (which I get, it's a family show after all) but this nonsensical "gender-crisis" apparently inherent in youth nowadays is bleeding into the storyline already and I have little patience for this "gender-neutrality" construct. Could be I am getting too old for the show but I doubt I will hurry to watch it.

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness (1989)

The Acacia Strain - Failure Will Follow (2023)

Celeste - Epilogue(s) (2023)

Altarage - Sol Corrupto (2022)

Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery (2008) Obscure Sphinx - Epitaphs (2016)

Vastum - Inward to Gethsemane (2023)

Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986) Doing my self-assessment for the tax office this afternoon (yes it is that magical time of the year already), where despite every penny I have earned being visible to them already I have to waste four hours of my life giving them all the data they already have for me all over again, just on the off-chance I have found time to undertake a second job/secondary source of income that I have not declared. Relevant tracks here: Battery, Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be and of course Damage Inc.

Google Bard, ChatGP and AI in general can go fuck themselves. Users caught using them will be banned for 24 hours.

Today's selection whilst mostly doing chores: Knife - s/t (2021) Master - s/t (1990) Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

Aara - En Ergô Einai (2020)

Weedeater - Jason...the Dragon (2011)

Skinless - Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead (2006)

Analepsy - Dehumanization by Supremacy (2015)

Fires in the Distance - Air Not Mean't For Us (2023)

I can't comment on their back catalogue but if Aftermath is representative of their usual quality then I have heard all I need to hear. Sure fire way to kill my interest in a record? Collaborate with Jamie fucking Jasta (or worse - a rapper, and that happens on this record also). Even Todd La Torre's input gleans nothing amazing. The guitarists can play I grant you but the songwriting is all over the place with no two concurrent tracks consistently showing the same level of aptitude. Aftermath was better than that terrible Bazookiller release from Holycide though - a lot better.

Holycide - Bazookiller (2023) Angelus Apatrida - Aftermath (2023)

Mānbryne - Interregnum: O próbie wiary i jarzmie zwątpienia (2023)

Immolation - Failures For Gods (1999) Normally a guaranteed win with anything I discovered by them, Failures for Gods has always been the exception to the rule for me with Immolation's otherwise fantastic discography. With only Alex Hernandez new in post, the same line up that produced Dawn of Possession and Here In After somehow managed to go off the boil with album number three. I will call out early in the review that although Hernandez is a fantastic drummer, his performance on this record is dubious and suffers from some mistiming on top of a poor mix and production that makes the drums sound too wet and tepid. His perfomance on Failures for Gods is nowhere near the level of confidence that is obvious on the follow up to this record, Close To A World Below (my favourite Immolation album). To be clear though, the let downs on this album are not all down to Alex. Paul Orofino does little to help the band with a production job that sounds murky and claustrophic. Guitars sound stifled, as if struggling to find space to fill with their angular sound. The clicky sound to the drums does nothing to help this sense of confinement and in the end, only Dolan's vocals get anything like the attention they should in the mix. Again, this problem did not persist when Orofino continued to produce Immolation albums for the next few releases so I suspect that Failures for Gods was his first death metal production job (or one of his first at least) and so he had quickly learned his trade come the next album. This album is full of the trademark Immolation attack coming straight out of the traps with the monstrous Once Ordained making the bands intentions clear enough on track one. But a few of the tracks on here feel cumbersome in nature with that familiar shifting sound becoming more of a lurch, certainly without a consistent sounding percussive backdrop to shape and guide it at least. The threat of the melodic and lead work of the guitar is all but tamed in the grander scheme of things, sounding more monotone than menacing. Thankfully little more than a blip on the discography, Failures for Gods is cursed by a tired production job and some lack of focus on all details and is an album that I rarley visit as a result.

Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos (1989) This one has always been a struggle for me due to the production job that sounds too suppressed and muffled. Being familair with all of the Bolt Thrower discography I just cannot fight the feeling that the band are somehow restained from getting into full flow here. The guitar sounds sterile and there is no weight to the drums or bass for me. It is ironically like a blistering black metal album in its production values at times. I had thought this was due to me owning a remastered, FDR version but from listening to the original album I can see that the master tapes are the source of the problem. Tishy drums and somehow a scratchy effect to Karl's vocals to boot. Content would be superb if it had been produced properly.

Marduk - Those of the Unlight (1993) Spending my time off work this work trying to get through some more critical listening, with the focus today being on albums I have never really gotten along with but cannot always recall why. Moving away from the death metal of the debut (although random leads still punctuate Those of the Unlight which do feel out of place still on a black metal record), the sophomore is a much stronger affair in terms of musicianship and songwriting. We are a long time before the blasting fury of Panzer Division Marduk and things feel much more controlled here and the bass is given a very open reign across the album, seemingly mapping a mature trajectory in its wake. The main challenge I have with this album still is that it is more than a bit boring. Whilst I am not looking for a dynamic edge to proceedings I do still find that most of Those of the Unlight just passes me by. I do not get the praise that this record gets from peers who consider this Marduk's magnum opus. It somehow sounds like black metal only done half-right, occupying this odd environment where it is knocking at the door of bm most definitely but sounds more gothic in places than I would exepct it to. I can't shitcan it by any means but I just feel the transition to full blown black metal had yet to be completed in full at this stage.

Ken mode - VOID (2023)

Uada - Crepuscule Natura (2023)

Immolation - Acts of God (2022)