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Overkill “Last Man Standing”

Got high hopes for the new album if this is any fair representation of what is to come.  Energetic thrash metal with a big, menacing build up on the intro.  Roll on Feb.

 

New song ‘Head of a Pin’ is not so impressive. Gets better mid way through. Still, looking forward to the album.

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Mayhem - 'Grand Declaration of War'. 

As I've just selfied to @True Belief, I have a fully signed (in person) copy of this amazing album. 

In full disclosure, I fully became a Mayhem fan just after it came out in 2000, so I was probably more open to post Euronymous machinations more than your older fan, but I stand by the observation that this album is pure brilliance. To think that it's so different from 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas', yet there's the essence of similarity there with Hellhammer's drumming that occasionally shines through. 

I'm a staunch believer that the Blasphemer/Maniac regeneration of Mayhem is of itself one of the greatest combinations in metal history, so as a stand alone, this album is brilliant. As a legacy that grows upon the old days of Mayhem, I say it's a miracle. 

Actually True Belief has seen the signed copy before but I got excited and sent him a killer selfie. 

One thing that is never discused with 'Grand Declaration of War' is the brilliant fold-out sleeve. It's one thing to hear it on youtube, it's another to hold the six panel, double-sided fold out cover with lyrics, art and band member shots. Hail Maniac. Hail Blasphemer. Hail Dead. Hail Euronymous. 

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25 minutes ago, Requiem said:

more open to post Euronymous machinations more than your older fan

I've been with Mayhem since 1986. There are some "older" fans than that, but not many.

However, I agree that they got several orders of magnitude more musically interesting after Blasphemer came into the picture. That Wolf's Lair thing was pretty impressive back in the day. Before, they were arguably more myth and posture than actual performers of art worth taking seriously. Which is okay, but it's not the same thing. I have a soft spot for that "total performance" thing, where somebody go "all in" for the purpose of making a point. This is not unheard of in the great tradition of black metal.

But "its a long way to the top if you wanna rock'n'roll" and there's no way at all if you haven't got the right kind of chemistry working between several people who are singularly talented in their own right. Which is why I have no problem saying that Mayhem didn't come into "true form" like that until the first Maniac/Blasphemer incarnation. I also like the work with Attilla. The "old" Mayhem was a whole different kind of act. They were less artistical and more political.

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Accidentally just listened to some Watain. God, what an overrated band. I've got their last four or five albums and do I go back to them? I do not. Why did I buy them? I thought I was doing the right thing. I was not. 

NP: Shining - 'X Varg Utan Flock'

This is so beyond Watain that it's hard to describe. Kvarforth's vocals are the screams of the everyman, caught in the mundanity of a world that he neither asked for nor anticipated. This is the ultimate depressive black metal with energy to burn in those guitar solos. Genius black art. 

 

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Ozzy - Blizzard of Oz

Soilwork “Verkligheten”
Malevolent Creation “The 13th Beast”
Flotsam & Jetsam “The End Of Chaos”


I’m interested to hear your thoughts about Malevolent Creation in particular. I’ve only read shitty reviews but the 3-4 songs I’ve heard sound interesting enough to wanna check this one out.

Also, that Flotsam album sounds great to me so far. Need to give it repeat listens but I’m quite enjoying it.
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6 hours ago, True Belief said:

I’m interested to hear your thoughts about Malevolent Creation in particular. I’ve only read shitty reviews but the 3-4 songs I’ve heard sound interesting enough to wanna check this one out.

Also, that Flotsam album sounds great to me so far. Need to give it repeat listens but I’m quite enjoying it.

 

I am writing a review of both later for the blog here, will link it for you later.

NP: The Nightly Disease "Smell of Burning Wood" enjoyable though this is, it is still nothing short of Drudkh worship, albeit done well.  Great for relaxing and (strangely for me) working to as it runs with repeated structure over the two tracks so requires little of my attention.

Corner "R.I.P." - now it's a party!

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