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Most Anticipated of 2016?


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45 minutes ago, Sugar Pill said:

This is the song from the fresh, new album from Serbian progressive metal band Asymmetry. Album came out few hours ago. This was the first sigle.

I appreciate you sharing music you're interested in, but generally speaking, please don't put video links in the "What Are You Listening To" thread. It's too easy for it to get clogged up with band promotion. This thread is a better fit.

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On 9/16/2016 at 7:59 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

I appreciate you sharing music you're interested in, but generally speaking, please don't put video links in the "What Are You Listening To" thread. It's too easy for it to get clogged up with band promotion. This thread is a better fit.

Ah, ok, that's not a problem.

But I really just posted that one because I'm constantly listening to it, not to promote the band.:)

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Ok, so, not really taken with that Bolzer album on first listen but I'll give it more time. "I Am III" is a killer track, but it's the best on the album, there were some duds there. More recent releases I've enjoyed:

Hyperion - Seraphic Euphony (cool stuff if you're into 90's melodic black/death)

Voidthrone - Spiritual War Tactics (dissonant BM with some dark, meaty riffs)

Khonsu - The Xun Protectorate (this one gets a gold star from me, inventive combination of "industrial" black metal with more electronic influences, great sound and vocals)

Zhrine - Unortheta (was blown away by their set, and I'm really enjoying this on first listen - textural atmospheres that have something in common with Ulcerate, but a lot more emphasis on mood and melody)

Mithras - On Strange Loops (not entirely certain what I think of this yet, but I'll leave it here for future reference)

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Personally, this might be one of the most difficult years to put a end of year list together. Not because there are have been only a very few amount of good albums released, but because of the opposite. There are too many good albums, from which there aren't any particulair albums outstanding. Some candidates to make it to the list:

  • Urfaust - Empty Space Meditation
  • Alcest - Kodama
  • Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelija
  • A.M.S.G. - Hostis Universi Generis
  • Thrawsunblat - III: Metachtonia
  • Hexvessel - When We Are Dead
  • Nadra -  Allir vegir til glötunar
  • Eneferens - The Inward Cold
  • Behexen - The Poisonous Path
  • Sojourner - Empires of Ash
  • Arkona - Lunaris
  • Fyrnask - Fórn
  • Throane - Derrière Nous, La Lumiere
  • Sylvaine - Wistful
  • Spire - Entropy
  • Esben and the Witch - Older Terrors
  • Insomnium - Winter's Gate
  • Skuggsja - Skuggsja
  • Départe - Failure, Subside
  • Lascar - Absence
  • Zhrine - Unortheta
  • Schammasch - Triangle
  • Mono - Requiem for Hell
  • Death Fortress - Deathless March Of The Unyielding

 

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Skuggsja has been a favorite of mine this year, for sure. I've also enjoyed that Zhrine album over the past few days, we'll see if it wears out its welcome after a few more listens. I liked parts of the Schammasch album, but it dragged itself down under the weight of that cut-rate Gladiator soundtrack material, I could have done with a lot less of that.

I don't want to make an exclusive list, but others I've really enjoyed are: Gorguts, Grave Miasma, Ulcerate, Plebeian Grandstand, Wormed, Vektor, Virvum, Mortichnia, Meshuggah, Setentia, Khonsu, EPs from Sunless and Dead Congregation, and I'm spending some time on Inverloch, Australis, and maaaybe Auroch. I've mentioned a few others above that I'll go back to at some point, I'm looking forward to Bethlehem and Krallice, and I still need to get on that DSO album. Funny how we have some similar tastes and yet there's almost no overlap on our lists. So much good music this year, it's hard to even catch up.

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I've heard Wormed, Mortichnia and Setentia as well. Those are great albums for sure as well, but they snowed a bit under all the other releases. (Did that make sense? Or am I Dutchifying things here? :D ) Same goes for DsO and Dead Congregation, I haven't even had the time to check them out properly as well. But from what I heard so far of the DsO album, I am not sure what to make of it. Time will tell, if I ever get to it.

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2 minutes ago, Frostaudn said:

I've heard Wormed, Mortichnia and Setentia as well. Those are great albums for sure as well, but they snowed a bit under all the other releases. (Did that make sense? Or am I Dutchifying things here? :D ) Same goes for DsO and Dead Congregation, I haven't even had the time to check them out properly as well. But from what I heard so far of the DsO album, I am not sure what to make of it. Time will tell, if I ever get to it.

It makes sense! We might say "they got snowed under by the other releases" but it's an unusual turn of phrase in this context. I like it.

If you haven't listened to the Ulcerate and Gorguts records, please do, they're both fucking incredible. Among the best releases from either band, IMO. The Ulcerate album in particular is really dense and bears close listening.

Setentia's bad fortune is to be an "Ulcerate-style" band from New Zealand releasing a debut in a year when Ulcerate themselves absolutely killed it, and I expect that album to be overlooked. One of my friends who does a lot of reviews actually dislikes it because he sees it as too derivative. I disagree; I think it's interesting to watch the style taking hold among newer bands.

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I really enjoyed the previous releases of both Ulcerate and Gorguts, so those are still on my list as well. Hopefully I get to them soon, as I heard indeed a lot of good things about the new Ulcerate album. And regarding Setentia I agree a bit with both sides haha. I understand why he sees it as too derivative, because I have the same feelings at some parts as well. However, in my opinion, that wouldn't be fair, as there are clearly some interesting aspects indeed.

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