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What Are You Listening To?


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42 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

CAVE IN - Heavy Pendulum. Very well done but not really to my taste.

BLUT AUS NORD - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses. This is more like it. Murky and dark.

Not enough howling and barking on either of these though.

Several of my friends were bitching last night on our ongoing text thread about how the new BAN doesn't have any vocals (at least not any traditional vocals) again just like Hallucinogen didn't. Vindsval is done with vocals they said. Normally that would bother me a bit, the way The Chasm's last album not having any vocals all but ruined it for me, despite the music being excellent. But somehow BAN gets away with it. Hallucinogen was fucking excellent, so good in fact that I don't even miss the vocals on that one. And the new one with the long name I can't remember and the shitty cover art is nothing short of stellar. Can't imagine it being improved upon any with some bestial barnyard noises added in. But don't worry Doc, I know you're just being facetious.

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1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

 Normally that would bother me a bit, the way

I normally want to hear vocals too - and it doesn't have to be howling and barking but I didn't much like the clean vocals on the CAVE IN - but I agree, it's not a problem with BAN. It's a good album.

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Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses   ...finally getting to hear it all the way through. This is great. There are a ton of vocals on here. They're way down in the mix, out to the sides, and two-thirds of them are chanting stuff, but they're still vocals, and it's cool how they still pull my attention in that way even though they're mixed like backing tracks. 

Golgothan Remains - Adorned In Ruin   ...I like it better each time I hear it. A little too straightforward to be entirely captivating for me but it's a lot of fun. Thought I was losing my mind with all the talk about barking vocals a few days ago, so I had to go back to it... and I gotta say I'm not really hearing it. A handful of choppy growls in a few spots, for emphasis, which I guess you could call "barks"; a couple of howling moans in the first tune; two or three Luc Lemay-style pained yells; two songs with spoken word parts, and one that sounds like a sample. To me this stuff seems pretty obviously used as spice for particular moments. The vast majority of the vocals are growls and higher rasps, which sound totally normal (and also powerful, well-done, etc) to me. I like variety and expressiveness, TBH I wouldn't mind even more on a recording like this.

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