What Are You Listening To?

[RelentlessOblivion]

Vulcano - Bloody Vengeance

[Dead1]

Death - Leprosy

All the Chuck tributes have got me in the mood!

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Wormwitch - Wolf Hex, Vancouver BC 2021

 

Corpus Christii - The Bitter End of Old, Portugal

 

[Dead1]

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom

Never heard this before.  Interesting this gets called black metal by some but it sounds far more death metal/grind.  Would sit better next to really early Carcass and Bolt Thrower than Mayhem.

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends - haven't heard this one in over a decade!

[Innominate]

Peter Gabriel - Melt

[Arioch]

10 hours ago, Dead1 said:

The Haunted - The Haunted Made Me Do It - Also one of my favourite albums.  I prefer the The Haunted to At The Gates.  So much more ferocious and riffy.  First 4 The Haunted albums were all solid gold! 

I love the first two albums but my favourite is the first one.

 

6 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Death - Leprosy

All the Chuck tributes have got me in the mood!

My favourite Death album.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

5 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom

Never heard this before.  Interesting this gets called black metal by some but it sounds far more death metal/grind.  Would sit better next to really early Carcass and Bolt Thrower than Mayhem.

Blasphemy are generally considered the fathers of war metal. Which is sometimes also referred to as bestial black metal, or in my little world I often call it goat metal. But the rest of the metal world calls it war metal, which is a sub-genre of black metal. There are clearly some death metal elements present in war metal so you're not completely wrong, but Blasphemy and indeed all war metal bands are definitely considered to be part of black metal. Just obviously not of the 2nd wave Norwegian style which hadn't even really gotten off the ground yet in '89 - '90 when these guys got started. Mayhem and Darkthrone only had a couple of demos each out at this point and neither one of them had solidified their styles yet. I don't hear anything in common with Carcass or Bolt Thrower personally.

War metal and grindcore are both aggressively chaotic styles, but there are distinct differences which I think will become evident if and when you listen to more of it. There's some overlap between bands considered war metal and bands now considered black/death which is another related sub-genre that hadn't really been invented just yet either in '89 - '90. But now that we do have the term, there are some people who use the terms black/death and war metal basically interchangeably. I would describe it like this, war metal is a mixture of black and death while most of the early death metal of this time period still had one foot firmly planted in thrash. Except for those early grindcore bands that were very close to death metal (and indeed all 3 of them evolved into playing what I'd call death metal at some point in their careers) but they had a lot more hardcore punk in their sound which set them apart. No one would ever call any of those early UK deathgrind bands (Carcass, Napalm, BT) black metal.

 

Blasphemy - Blood Upon the Altar, the first demo, Vancouver BC 1989

 

Nuclear Desecration - Desecrated Temple of Impurity, California 2008

 

[Arioch]

Nevermore - The year of the Voyager (2008)

One of the very few heavy metal bands I like. RIP Warrel Dane ! 🤘🏻

[navybsn]

7 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom

Never heard this before.  Interesting this gets called black metal by some but it sounds far more death metal/grind.  Would sit better next to really early Carcass and Bolt Thrower than Mayhem.

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends - haven't heard this one in over a decade!

Wow. Thought most everyone knew Blasphemy. GG nailed it. If you dive into early USBM ( Blasphemy is Canadian but generally get lumped in), you'll find quite a few different interpretations of BM that are nothing close to the Norwegian sound. Bands like Von, Grand Belial's Key, Black Witchery, Demoncy, and Winds of the Black Mountain are much closer to the Bestial War metal that we know and love today because they basically invented it. Not all of those bands played that style, but you can hear their influence on those bands that are playing it today (Demoncy being a bit of an outlier). The USBM scene was extremely varied early on with very distinct regional scenes. Still a few, but much less than before. You of course know Absu which is considered USBM, the most known - IMO anyway - Judas Iscariot, Weakling, Leviathan, Cobalt, Recluse, Nachmystium, and Krieg are all worth checking out too if you aren't familiar.

If you're looking for more like Blasphemy, Proclamation from Spain is basically a clone.

I feel a USBM binge coming on today.

Black Witchery - Upheaval of Satanic Might

Von - Satanic Blood Angel

Weakling - Dead as Dreams

 

[MacabreEternal]

Pentagram - s/t (1985)

 

[navybsn]

A few more USBM bands worthy of mention you may not have heard of:

Perverseraph

Hemloch - the one with Danny Lilker

Teratism

Sangraal

Ember

Enkil

Black Funeral

Noctuary

Ludicra

Xasthur

Twilight

Kult of Azazel

Surely leaving a good few out, but I'm sure GG or our knowledgeable friend @MarkhantonioYeatts can chime in with what I've left out.

[Arioch]

Hate Eternal - Conquering the Throne (1999)

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy

[Arioch]

Scorpions - Animal Magnetism (1980)

 

[JonoBlade]

31 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy

I was gonna buy this as I'd been listening to BAN this morning....but then found this:

Lovecraftian Echoes | Blut Aus Nord (bandcamp.com)

Why was I not informed?!

[markm]

34 minutes ago, Arioch said:

Scorpions - Animal Magnetism (1980)

 

Bought that album this year....good one!

21 minutes ago, JonoBlade said:

I was gonna buy this as I'd been listening to BAN this morning....but then found this:

Lovecraftian Echoes | Blut Aus Nord (bandcamp.com)

Why was I not informed?!

Listing to that one myself---saw it on an ATOY list recently....so far digging this....says a collaboration with DMP (don't know who that is) as a continuation started in 03 from The Works That Transforms God. 

Undeath/ Time to Rise from the Grave

[MacabreEternal]

Immolation - Acts of God (2022)

Number eight on my end of year list that if I am being honest, the boredom of being unable to do much of anything with COVID has led me to do an end of year list.

I have listened to a lot of death metal in my lifetime. Give or take a couple of years, I have been active in the genre from its beginnings and have explored all manner of variants, sub-genres and cross-genre blending over the last 30+ years. In that time, I have seen bands hit real runs of form in terms of consistency and finding their peak output (Death from more or less start to finish) as well as simply finding amazing one-off releases from the more obscure artists in the far corners of the globe. I have watched bands like Morbid Angel define the very essence of the genre and then tragically run out of gas yet inexplicably carry on despite there clearly being nothing in the tank, whilst other old favourites like Obituary seem to have more than enough determination (if not necessarily the quality of old) to still bang out some serious death metal material.

Inevitably with so many choices out there, some bands slip through the net initially. Some quite well-known names in fact because I did not listen to any Immolation until well into the noughties. Over time, as I have discovered more and more of their output, they occupy a rarefied space in my buying habits whereby I will buy pretty much anything they put out, cold. Whilst I am unable to stipulate that the band has a flawless discography, their levels of consistency for over three decades is unable to be matched by many of their contemporaries. Such is my admiration of them I waited three long months to listen to their latest offering on vinyl as opposed to just going for the instant streaming option that is so easy to access nowadays.

For reasons I will go into shortly, upon initial purchase, I undertook a second full listen through in the digital format as there was a genuine need to compare the two following my initial spin on my trusty turntable. The over-arching statement first though is that this is Immolation through and through. Technically capable without being overly technical death metal, urgent without being sloppy and beastly without needing to be utterly monstrous at the expense of structures or form. You could pick this album up knowing nothing about the band and tell instantly that this is a record written and performed by guys who have been around the block a few times and who know their stuff as a result. The disdain for organised religion still sits at the heart of their lyrics and song themes and instrumentally they still balance pace and tempos well to offer a varied playbook out of which they pull every play possible over a lengthy fifteen tracks.

Complete with superb artwork from Eli Kantor, Acts of God is an album staged on very familiar and welcoming ground. However, as much as there is to be celebrated, there are also some challenges which keep the scores on the doors well away from being a full compliment. Firstly, Acts of God is too long. Now, this is not to say that it outstays its welcome – far from it. As a vinyl experience though you have two discs to play and each side averages around three songs so the overall experience gets a bit stop-start. Absolutely my choice to go with vinyl of course, but this really emphasises that there is a lot to get through here.

As I mentioned above, once I had heard the vinyl version of the album I reverted to the digital version for my next run through. There were two reasons for this. Oddly, Dolan’s vocals sounded too monstrous upon first listen, to the point of them sounding artificial. Clearly just and oddity in the formats as this is not an issue on the digital version. I also thought the production sounded a little too muddy on the vinyl format and again, this is not an issue with the streamed format. Whilst neither of the above challenges ruin the listening experience overall it was worth exploring the detail on this occasion. Worthy of noting that the album sound on vinyl is (as you would expect) absolutely huge.

Although by no means flawless, Immolation’s eleventh studio offering is well worth the five-year wait (as well as the extended couple of months due to issues with the vinyl pre-orders). It still sounds like a mature, well-established death metal band that are still able to sound relevant and individual at the same time. There cannot be many more of these in the tank – at least not based on my already noted experience of other bands in the genre who began at approximately the same time – and so to all intents and purposes Acts of God should be celebrated for the fine death metal album that it is.

[JonoBlade]

10 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

Immolation - Acts of God (2022)

Firstly, Acts of God is too long. Now, this is not to say that it outstays its welcome – far from it. As a vinyl experience though you have two discs to play and each side averages around three songs so the overall experience gets a bit stop-start. Absolutely my choice to go with vinyl of course, but this really emphasises that there is a lot to get through here.

Thank you and amen. I would probably buy more vinyl if bands kept the running time down to two sides of an LP.

If you're gonna do an album on vinyl, make it one disc and have awesome artwork and lyrics foldout or something special. 

The last LP I bought was Mastodon. That is a proper double album which is fine but the artwork looks cheap. Not that it isn't a good drawing, but the detail is shit and print quality lame. There is a pull out lyric sheet but no cool booklet and pictures...and no download code for fuck's sake.

[FatherAlabaster]

45 minutes ago, JonoBlade said:

I was gonna buy this as I'd been listening to BAN this morning....but then found this:

Lovecraftian Echoes | Blut Aus Nord (bandcamp.com)

Why was I not informed?!

That one is also really cool. I'd kind of ignored it as a "side project" when I got the BC email, but glad I finally got around to it. I have a lot of BAN left to purchase. The "industrial" stuff is reliable right now because it sounds good in the car and the baby likes it... less so the Memoria Vetustas of the world.

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

AVSKUM - In The Spirit Of Mass Destruction

WORLD BURNS TO DEATH - The Graveyard Of Utopia

BONES BRIGADE - Focused

REPROACH - Reproach

 

[navybsn]

@MacabreEternal - absolutely 100% yes. Immolation is as solid as they come and never disappoint. My gripe is the same as yours, a little too long, but that's it. Will be on my list mid pack as well. they've been an instant cold purchase for me for as long as I can remember.

@JonoBlade - I like the latest Mastodon, but I agree that it could have been edited down and would benefit from better packaging.

The binge continues:

Grand Belial's Key - Mocking the Philanthropist

Judas Iscariot - An Ancient Starry Sky

Demoncy - Empire of the Fallen Angel

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

4 hours ago, navybsn said:

A few more USBM bands worthy of mention you may not have heard of:

Perverseraph

Hemloch - the one with Danny Lilker

Teratism

Sangraal

Ember

Enkil

Black Funeral

Noctuary

Ludicra

Xasthur

Twilight

Kult of Azazel

Surely leaving a good few out, but I'm sure GG or our knowledgeable friend @MarkhantonioYeatts can chime in with what I've left out.

....this list is a splendid start....I would add a few more....

AVERSE SEFIRA

LAMP OF MURMUUR

PANOPTICON

YOUNG AND IN THE WAY

BASTARD SAPLING

LURKER OF CHALICE

AHKLYS / NIGHTBRINGER

PROFANATICA

BLACK FUNERAL 

ACHERON

VELVET CACOON

POISON BLOOD

 

[Serpentboi1992]

[AlSymerz]

Num Skull - Ritually Abused

 

[Sheol]

10 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom

Never heard this before.  Interesting this gets called black metal by some but it sounds far more death metal/grind.  Would sit better next to really early Carcass and Bolt Thrower than Mayhem.

 

This will probably get me kicked out of the goat pen, but I've come to teh conclusion that I don't really like Blasphemy. It's a form of BM that is chaotic in the bad way, not really stand-out riffs, vocals or atmosphere. If it's gonna be chaotic and dissonant i much prefer my BM like Teitanblood, Novae Militae and DsO.