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Top 3 albums/eps of the week.


MacabreEternal

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  • 1 month later...

Leviathan "Massive Conspiracy Against All Life" - one of the more underrated of Leviathan's releases I find.  It seems to have a much more gritty and almost "seedy" undertone to it than I first realised.  Prefer it to "Tentacles of Whorror" or "The Tenth Sub-Level of Suicide" if I am honest but still is no challenger to "Scar Sighted".

1349 "Beyond The Apocalypse" - with January 2018 seeing me make a conscious effort to fill gaps in my BM listening experience/library content I was pleased to discover the second 1349 record is a vast improvement on "Liberation".  This time around there's a much more palatable mix and cohesive instrumentation making for a much more accessible experience.

Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" - the most fitting description of this I have seen is "the ultimate hardcore comedy album".  It's a fiery and sharp punk album that rightly makes an entry into my music library as a pivotal punk release.

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Eternal Valley "The Falling Light" - already I am finding releases from 2017 that I missed and am picking up late on.  This came out on 22nd Dec and is a really cool mix of dark, depressive and misanthropic BM which has real atmosphere to boot.  On a week where I have mostly felt low in mood this has picked me up on more than one occasion.

Corrosion of Conformity "No Cross No Crown" - yep, I am totally surprised by this release.  Never really been a massive fan of COC, but the energy on here is really strong and Keenan sounds reinvigorated.  A bit too long in terms of tracks but still thoroughly entertaining.

Summoning "With Doom We Come" - this has grown on me in the past week.  It has almost been the soundtrack to my week such is the frequency it has enjoyed in terms of plays per day.  I don't find it as enchanting as the musical style may want to lend itself to.  More I am engaged with the repetition of the sound and the direction of the record as a whole.

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  • 2 weeks later...

1349 "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" - the thrashy edge to this record pleases me greatly, bu at the same time it retains its BM heart perfectly and displays it proudly on sleeve.  The move away from the previous two releases' penchant for ambient ludes is welcome - although I thought them great on both "Revelations.." and "Demonoir" - but what really stands out is the more direct feel to this album.

Corrosion of Conformity "No Cross No Crown" - I am getting over the "length" issues I have with this although a trim would definitely make this better still as a structured album.

Nachtmystium "Demise" - after my journey of discovery with 1349 throughout January I have now moved on to Nachtmystium for February (although it is still Jan).  I found their debut a bit dull to be honest, although they do the BM aesthetic well enough.  "Demise" has more bite to it and obvious maturity too.  It reinvents no wheels but does the job well enough all the same. 

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1349 "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" - the thrashy edge to this record pleases me greatly, bu at the same time it retains its BM heart perfectly and displays it proudly on sleeve.  The move away from the previous two releases' penchant for ambient ludes is welcome - although I thought them great on both "Revelations.." and "Demonoir" - but what really stands out is the more direct feel to this album.
Corrosion of Conformity "No Cross No Crown" - I am getting over the "length" issues I have with this although a trim would definitely make this better still as a structured album.
Nachtmystium "Demise" - after my journey of discovery with 1349 throughout January I have now moved on to Nachtmystium for February (although it is still Jan).  I found their debut a bit dull to be honest, although they do the BM aesthetic well enough.  "Demise" has more bite to it and obvious maturity too.  It reinvents no wheels but does the job well enough all the same. 
Demise is pretty dull to my ears, it seems like pretty aimless Burzum worship to me. I haven't heard the debut, but there's only really a short period of Nachtmystium's music that I've enjoyed. They found their sound on Instinct: Decay, and then lost it again by the time of Addicts. Blake went a bit too far down the junkie hole at that point, and it seems like that is what caused the music to suffer.

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14 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Demise is pretty dull to my ears, it seems like pretty aimless Burzum worship to me. I haven't heard the debut, but there's only really a short period of Nachtmystium's music that I've enjoyed. They found their sound on Instinct: Decay, and then lost it again by the time of Addicts. Blake went a bit too far down the junkie hole at that point, and it seems like that is what caused the music to suffer.

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Yeah, was reading through Blake's antics the other day.  Some sorry shit gone on there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Rotting Christ - 'Lucifer Over Athens'. Two huge disk of live Rotting Christ songs from across their full career. Great track selection, good musical production on the guitars - terribly washed out cymbals. Bizarrely poor mixing of crowd sounds. It doesn't feel like a live show at all as there is absolutely no atmosphere. It sounds like a rehearsal tape I reckon. It could have been so much better with the live vibe coming through by leaving the crowd sounds up a bit during songs, and waaaay higher between them. Pretty weird release. First Blind Guardian, now Rotting Christ - I think atmospheric bands lose a bit of what makes them special when they're just a bunch of blokes jamming it out live. I guess it's back to the albums for me where I can lose myself in a magical world of darkness and transcendence...

Eldamar - 'A Dark Forgotten Past'. A beautiful and mesmerizing album. Borrowing the template from Summoning, this is one-man-band atmospheric black metal par excellence. 

Kiss - 'Animalize'. I'm really at the end of my 80s Kiss obsession now, but this still gets a few plays in the car on a sunny afternoon on the way home from work. It stays on after track three if I'm getting beer that night....

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5 hours ago, Requiem said:

I think atmospheric bands lose a bit of what makes them special when they're just a bunch of blokes jamming it out live.

I imagine that for many bands, atmosphere in their music can only really be at its full potential in a studio.  Everything would have to be just right, and the dynamics of a live performance would likely present too many uncertainties to capture the same sound.  That being said, they are many bands that can create the experience that they want live (Mayhem, Sunn O))), etc.).

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I imagine that for many bands, atmosphere in their music can only really be at its full potential in a studio.  Everything would have to be just right, and the dynamics of a live performance would likely present too many uncertainties to capture the same sound.  That being said, they are many bands that can create the experience that they want live (Mayhem, Sunn O))), etc.).
I disagree completely. Sometimes the atmosphere is slightly different live than on recordings, but it is almost always much more tangible and immersive if the band is good at what they do.

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38 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I disagree completely. Sometimes the atmosphere is slightly different live than on recordings, but it is almost always much more tangible and immersive if the band is good at what they do.

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I guess that it might just depend on the atmosphere that is the goal.  I would imagine that senses of solitude, nature, and the like might be much harder to create inside a concert venue.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
11 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Cheers for the true Sentenced!

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It's a great album. Almost doomy in parts and a lot more enjoyable than 'North from Here' as far as I'm concerned. Impressive production too for a 1991 debut. 

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It's a great album. Almost doomy in parts and a lot more enjoyable than 'North from Here' as far as I'm concerned. Impressive production too for a 1991 debut. 
North From Here is a different beast entirely. I love them both for different reasons, I don't think I could pick a favorite. It all just depends on my mood, I guess.

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4 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

North From Here is a different beast entirely. I love them both for different reasons, I don't think I could pick a favorite. It all just depends on my mood, I guess.

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It is a different beast, and I would say that despite the band's considerable change in style, it's the one that stands out the most. When I listen to 'Shadows of the Past' I hear elements of what the band would become. I don't hear any of those elements in 'North From Here' which is really different. 

My version of 'Shadows...' is the release with their two demos on a separate disk, and there's even stuff on the demos that reminds me of later Sentenced. Not in the rockiness of it, but in the way Miika writes and structures his riffs. 

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It is a different beast, and I would say that despite the band's considerable change in style, it's the one that stands out the most. When I listen to 'Shadows of the Past' I hear elements of what the band would become. I don't hear any of those elements in 'North From Here' which is really different. 
My version of 'Shadows...' is the release with their two demos on a separate disk, and there's even stuff on the demos that reminds me of later Sentenced. Not in the rockiness of it, but in the way Miika writes and structures his riffs. 


That's the version I have too. I don't like the demos as much as the album though. I'm not familiar enough with their Gothic stuff to hear if any of that style carried over, but I wouldn't be surprised. I can't imagine anything off of North From Here carrying over though, the melodies and composition style are totally different. It sounds like Miika was listening to a lot of Nocturnus and Atheist when he wrote it.

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Due to work ruling my life this is more a top 3 of the past month i think, such is my lack of time to even have music on in the background given i am in conference calls most days when working from home now. Anyway, first world problem rant over:

Judas Priest “Firepower” - in terms of their modern output (90s onwards) this is second only to “Painkiller” in my book.  Literally can play it in my head from start to finish, which to some might suggest a safe album which it most certainly is not.  It has an assured poise about it that gives me the sense of it being written by a band who are carrrying their heads held high (which they are obviously) and still are enjoying making music.

Forbidden “Twisted Into Form” - this has been an album I have struggled with historically. I just cannot get on with Russ Anderson’s vocal style.  The majority of it comes of as spoken word, which isn’t that strange a bed fellow on a thrash record but it is not even as if the actual vocals are of any real quality to balance the spoken sections.  I just do not get the hype surrounding this record, which is not me saying that this is a crap record by any means but it is overrated to my ears.

Kreator “Coma of Souls” - finally picking up where I left off with Kreator after the relative disappointment of “Extreme Aggression”.  The band came back swinging the punches here coming off as a tad darker and (ironically) more aggressive.  Gonna have to add this to the CD collection this week.

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Due to work ruling my life this is more a top 3 of the past month i think, such is my lack of time to even have music on in the background given i am in conference calls most days when working from home now. Anyway, first world problem rant over:
Judas Priest “Firepower” - in terms of their modern output (90s onwards) this is second only to “Painkiller” in my book.  Literally can play it in my head from start to finish, which to some might suggest a safe album which it most certainly is not.  It has an assured poise about it that gives me the sense of it being written by a band who are carrrying their heads held high (which they are obviously) and still are enjoying making music.
Forbidden “Twisted Into Form” - this has been an album I have struggled with historically. I just cannot get on with Russ Anderson’s vocal style.  The majority of it comes of as spoken word, which isn’t that strange a bed fellow on a thrash record but it is not even as if the actual vocals are of any real quality to balance the spoken sections.  I just do not get the hype surrounding this record, which is not me saying that this is a crap record by any means but it is overrated to my ears.
Kreator “Coma of Souls” - finally picking up where I left off with Kreator after the relative disappointment of “Extreme Aggression”.  The band came back swinging the punches here coming off as a tad darker and (ironically) more aggressive.  Gonna have to add this to the CD collection this week.
I've always had a hard time with Forbidden's vocals too, but that album is good enough musically that I can overlook them.

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