What Are You Listening To?

[FatherAlabaster]

Out Of The Mouth Of Graves - Shrines To Dagon   ...nope

Afterbirth - In But Not Of   ...yup

[Thatguy]

MASTODON - Hushed And Grim

[Dead1]

At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

Carcass - Surgical Steel

Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

[Nasty_Cabbage]

NP: Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant

▶︎ Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant | Amor Fati Productions (bandcamp.com)

I do enjoy some fuzzy black metal from time to time.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

31 minutes ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

NP: Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant

▶︎ Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant | Amor Fati Productions (bandcamp.com)

I do enjoy some fuzzy black metal from time to time.

That's my frontrunner for album of the year so far. 🤘🐐 👹

[Nasty_Cabbage]

6 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

That's my frontrunner for album of the year so far. 🤘🐐 👹

I suppose it does fit your profile pretty well. I don't know as I'd call it my frontrunner, but it delivers the goods for sure. It's probably my third favorite black metal album I've heard this year behind Ofnus and Izrod, but there's going to be a load of death metal and at least one doom album in there. Still, the black metal contest is super close this year and almost any of those three could end up on top.

NP: Ὁπλίτης - Τρωθησομένη

Τρωθησομένη | Ὁπλίτης (bandcamp.com)

Two monster albums just months apart. Most bands we're lucky to get one every two years. Pretty sure this dude doesn't sleep.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

10 minutes ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

I suppose it does fit your profile pretty well. I don't know as I'd call it my frontrunner, but it delivers the goods for sure. It's probably my third favorite black metal album I've heard this year behind Ofnus and Izrod, but there's going to be a load of death metal and at least one doom album in there. Still, the black metal contest is super close this year and almost any of those three could end up on top.

I remember liking that Izrod but not enough to buy it. Wouldn't say Ofnus was bad, but it's atmospheric so not really my thing. There'll only be a handful of atmo-black albums each year I'll like enough to buy. The Ὁπλίτης is prog, so again not my thing. 

I'm a litte nuts (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I separate my end of year lists by sub-genre. One list for black, one for death and one for the hybrids: black/death, black/thrash, death/thrash. I've tried mixing them all together in the past, but I find it impossible to compare and rank things when they're from different sub-genres. And if I did it that way it would be overwhelmingly dominated by black metal and black/death, so this way the other death metal and black/thrash stuff gets to see the light.

I keep a running list of my favorites each year so I'll know what I need to go back and listen to at the end of the year. Currently my black metal list has 52 albums on it. These are my top 20 right now in no real order other than the top 6 being my top 6:

   2023

Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant
Olde Throne - In the Land of Ghosts
Óreiða - The Eternal
Altertum - Thunder from the Great Halls
Nattverd - I Helvetes Forakt  Norway
Kaevum - Kultur  Norway
Ondfødt - Det Österbottniska Mörkret
Mulla - The Injury
Miasmes - Répugnance
Flammae - Ordo
Horda - Form                       
Tarfania - Netherworld
Perdition Winds - Burning Spiritual Crypts
Tsjuder - Helvegr
Vorgfang - Viser Fra Ildens Enger
Aara - Triade III: Nyx
Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare
Daemonlust - His Vast Coldness 
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant
Teke - Beginning of the End

[AlSymerz]

Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

[Nasty_Cabbage]

 

Quote

I remember liking that Izrod but not enough to buy it. Wouldn't say Ofnus was bad, but it's atmospheric so not really my thing. There'll only be a handful of atmo-black albums each year I'll like enough to buy. The Ὁπλίτης is prog, so again not my thing. 

I'm a litte nuts (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I separate my end of year lists by sub-genre. One list for black, one for death and one for the hybrids: black/death, black/thrash, death/thrash. I've tried mixing them all together in the past, but I find it impossible to compare and rank things when they're from different sub-genres. And if I did it that way it would be overwhelmingly dominated by black metal and black/death, so this way the other death metal and black/thrash stuff gets to see the light.

I keep a running list of my favorites each year so I'll know what I need to go back and listen to at the end of the year. Currently my black metal list has 52 albums on it. These are my top 20 right now in no real order other than the top 6 being my top 6:

   2023

Verminous Serpent - The Malign Covenant
Olde Throne - In the Land of Ghosts
Óreiða - The Eternal
Altertum - Thunder from the Great Halls
Nattverd - I Helvetes Forakt  Norway
Kaevum - Kultur  Norway
Ondfødt - Det Österbottniska Mörkret
Mulla - The Injury
Miasmes - Répugnance
Flammae - Ordo
Horda - Form                       
Tarfania - Netherworld
Perdition Winds - Burning Spiritual Crypts
Tsjuder - Helvegr
Vorgfang - Viser Fra Ildens Enger
Aara - Triade III: Nyx
Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare
Daemonlust - His Vast Coldness 
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant
Teke - Beginning of the End

I hear you. Paring down a list to twenty, much less ten is really tough with mixed genres. Like is it really fair to say I enjoyed Sacred Outcry (power metal) more than I enjoyed Carnosus (death)? Not really when it just kind of depends what my mood is when I hit play. Still year end lists are supposed to be fun and encourage a little bit of poo flinging among metalheads. I think I've only ever seen a real honest to god verbal fight break out over that kind of thing once, and the two people really didn't like each other in the first place. I don't take it super seriously and see it more as an opportunity to binge albums I've heard that might not make the cut just to be sure.

NP: Execution - Eternal Dreams

▶︎ Eternal Dreams | Execution | EXECUTION (bandcamp.com)

This band has been around for a while apparently with only two full lengths to their name. I can enjoy this type of thing, but there's absolutely no doubt that they were gunning for a shot at getting signed by Century Media or a label like them. They would have been right at home next to Dark Tranquility or Nighrage. It's honestly not bad depending on how you feel about that type of thing. Very much a product of it's time. Oddly, though it certainly fits with those bands the primary influence I'm hearing is Edge of Sanity. I can't remember exactly what year Crimson was released, but something tells me they were listening to a lof of either that or The Spectral Sorrows when composing this. I like it, but I can understand why some metalheads who were around for the heyday of melodeath in the nineties might not.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Carnal Tomb - Abhorrent Veneration, solid o.s. m&p German death 2019. This one's from 4 years ago, new one comes out in November. 

 

Cabinet - Pt. III: Get In... (Enter the Cabinet) 2022, Mammoth Lakes, California. This was one of their two full lengths from last year, the new one comes out tomorrow. Funny this probably appeals to the Portal/Abyssal people, but I hate Portal, only like one Abyssal album, but I love this. Probably appeals to the Fluids people too and I do dig most of their stuff.

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

10 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Out of the Mouth of Graves - Shrines to Dagon   ...nope

Afterbirth - In But Not Of   ...yup

M-A says this won't be out til October, what'd you get an advance copy from Code?  I know he'd mentioned a bunch of times that they've been working on it but didn't realize it was all mixed and mastered and done already.

D'ya do the cover this time round? I'm looking at it here and there's no gas masks, no steps and no penises so I can't really be sure if it's your work or not. 😜 Yet there does seem to be a tie-in with the spaceman from the 4D Flesh cover (which is awesome btw) because this dude looks like he's got a space helmet and an oxygen hose. The one thing almost all your work seems to have in common is there's a human figure in it. So I'm torn, I thought I remembered him saying they were going with someone else for the cover this time but that was months ago so they could have changed their minds since then. But you're listening to it two months before it comes out, so that would make sense because they'd want you to hear the album before you started work on the cover. But the more I look at this the more I'm thinking no this wasn't one of yours. Your people all look drawn and this spaceman has been done in some other digital medium. Pretty cool all the same whether it's yours or not. I'd just ask Cody but it's 3am he's sleeping haha.

 

 

 

NP: Fluids - Not Dark Yet, brutal deathgrind 2021, man I almost forgot how good this one was.

 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

NP: Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

▶︎ Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite | The Ruins Of Beverast (Ván Records) | The Ruins Of Beverast (bandcamp.com)

It's Beverast. You pretty much know what you're getting.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

47 minutes ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

It's Beverast. You pretty much know what you're getting.

Ruined Beaver-ass. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already since Blood Vaults. That was my #1 aoty for 2013, narrowly edging out Cultes des Ghoules. Remember arguing with my friend Bob about it, he had them 1-2 the other way. Rain Upon the Impure was great, 8/10. Never connected with Foulest Semen in the same way, not sure why, 6.75/10. BV 10/10 then I thought Exuvia was an absolute piece of crap, 4/10. Still on the fence about Grimoires, 6/10. So it seems you really don't know what you'll be getting with Beaver-ass. I think Exuvia really ruined them for me, no pun intended. Still great live though, absolutely mesmerizing.

 

Shape of Despair - Return to the Void, Finland 2022. Funeral doom is not my usual cuppa. I've no idea why I'm listening to this. Only at 4:20 am will something like this work for me. Maybe it'll make me sleepy. I'm actualy really enjoying it though, this is very good. In the light of day tomorrow I'll probably wonder wtf I was thinking.

 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

49 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Ruined Beaver-ass. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already since Blood Vaults. That was my #1 aoty for 2013, narrowly edging out Cultes des Ghoules. Remember arguing with my friend Bob about it, he had them 1-2 the other way. Rain Upon the Impure was great, 8/10. Never connected with Foulest Semen in the same way, not sure why, 6.75/10. BV 10/10 then I thought Exuvia was an absolute piece of crap, 4/10. Still on the fence about Grimoires, 6/10. So it seems you really don't know what you'll be getting with Beaver-ass. I think Exuvia really ruined them for me, no pun intended. Still great live though, absolutely mesmerizing.

 

Shape of Despair - Return to the Void, Finland 2022. Funeral doom is not my usual cuppa. I've no idea why I'm listening to this. Only at 4:20 am will something like this work for me. Maybe it'll make me sleepy. I'm actualy really enjoying it though, this is very good. In the light of day tomorrow I'll probably wonder wtf I was thinking.

I suppose if we're going by the quality of the material. The style pretty much stays. Maybe I'm sort of overshooting with my standards as far as how different they are from album to album. It's not like what Ulver was and what Ulver became, or Behemoth if you prefer.

  I'm neither here nor there with them, but I will spin to them occasionally . It's sort of like when my brain decides to remember "oh yeah, Primus exists". I really don't mind Primus at all, but I definitely don't want any of their songs bouncing around in my skull for a week.. Pretty much the same with Ruins of Beverast.

[FatherAlabaster]

2 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

M-A says this won't be out til October, what'd you get an advance copy from Code?  I know he'd mentioned a bunch of times that they've been working on it but didn't realize it was all mixed and mastered and done already.

D'ya do the cover this time round?

Yeah, Cody let me hear the tracks early. It's great. I think it's my favorite thing they've done. And no, I didn't do the art this time around. Cody had something different in mind for their move to Willowtip and my schedule was beyond full. I hope I can do some more stuff for them in the future, we'll see how it goes. There is a track out on their BC now:

https://afterbirthnydeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/in-but-not-of

[JonoBlade]

8 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

SIDE BOOB!

[JonoBlade]

4 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

https://afterbirthnydeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/in-but-not-of

I was reminded that there used to be a band from my home town called Afterbirth. There are a few on M-A but not the one I was thinking of. Couldn't find on you tube, but did find this from same era which brought some nostalgia:

 

[MacabreEternal]

Fange -  Pantocrator (2021)

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, JonoBlade said:

I was reminded that there used to be a band from my home town called Afterbirth. There are a few on M-A but not the one I was thinking of.

Surprising how many Afterbirths there are, or have been. One of the worst band names ever imho even though I'm friends with the guy. Makes you wonder what were some of the names that got rejected before they settled on Afterbirth.

 

Stepped outside to mow the lawn earlier and discovered it's lightly raining. So much for that idea. My lawn mower broke last week, pull cord is locked up and I'm not mechanically inclined. My buddy who gave me this old mower he inherited from somebody could probably get it running for me but the day it broke he was headed up to Maine and he's camping this week, has no signal where he is. So I got the old 60 Volt battery mower out of the trailer that I'd bought when I lived in Denver and it was perfect for me then because I just had a small 30 - 40 minute lawn. But I have a full acre now which takes me 2.5 - 3 hours, and the battery only lasts 15 - 20 minutes. It used to last 30 - 40 when it was new in 2017 but planned obsolescence and all that shit. So now I have to mow 20 minutes, throw it on the charger for 3 hours, mow another 20 minutes, throw it on the charger for 3 hours...rinse and repeat throughout the day. Rainy days are a waste it just gets all clogged with wet grass. By the time I finish the whole lawn 15 - 20 minutes at a time it needs it again and I have to start all over with the first section. I'd get another battery but the company's been bought out they don't sell them anymore. Could get a Chinese aftermarket repacement battery that might or might not be compatible (depending on which reviews I want to believe) but they're only 2 Amp hours for $200 and I figure if the 4 Amp hour battery I have lasts me 20 minutes, the 2 Amp Hour would only last me 10. I'd get another riding mower with which I could knock out the whole thing in under 40 minutes, but they're $2k and I'll be selling soon. And for damn sure I will not be getting another place with an acre of fucking grass to mow. First world problems I know.

 

Evoken - Atra Mors, FD 2012 Lyndhurst NJ. The masters of funeral doom/death and I'm not just saying that because they're Jersey boys. 

 

[FatherAlabaster]

23 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Surprising how many Afterbirths there are, or have been. One of the worst band names ever imho even though I'm friends with the guy. Makes you wonder what were some of the names that got rejected before they settled on Afterbirth.

Hey, they were kids, it was the early 90s on Long Island. How were they to know? I remember Cody either sent me or posted a picture of the chalkboard outside one of their first shows after they got back together, and they were listed as "After Birth", which I thought was hilarious.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Hey, they were kids, it was the early 90s on Long Island. How were they to know? I remember Cody either sent me or posted a picture of the chalkboard outside one of their first shows after they got back together, and they were listed as "After Birth", which I thought was hilarious.

 

Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, Immolation (alright they weren't from Long Island but Yonkers ain't that far off) these were cool band names. Afterbirth not so much. But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And Chuck Schuldiner was from Oyster Bay LI (just 7.5 miles from where I grew up) so really you could say Long Island was the bithplace of death metal.

I was already 32 and a busy single father of a 3 year old in 1993 when Cody formed Afterbirth at 18 or 19 so I missed out on that whole LI scene. Early Afterbirth was bit more slammy though so not sure I would have been ready for something like that back in those days. Still if I'd have known him back then I would have urged him to pick a better name!

I knew him when he was putting the band back together around 2012/13 but by then the name was a known entity in BDM circles so of course I understood he was gonna stick with it. When Matt died he considered staying as an instrumental death metal band and we all told him no dude get a vocalist. Especially since he doesn't like playing solos (I'm sure he probably could, he just lacks confidence) because you definitely need at least one or the other, vocals or solos. I like the newer stuff better than the first two demos but the vocals aren't exactly my favorite thing ever. (either Will's or Matt's) But still I've gotten used to them as well as Cody's version of "brutal-prog" (fortunately for me it's not completely weird and overly dissonant) and I'm genuinely looking forward to hearing the new record.

 

Afterbirth - The Time Traveler's Dilemma, 2017 Long Island NY

 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

6 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

SIDE BOOB!

Hey, it counts as culture so it's okay to post it.

NP: Inferno - Omniabsence Filled by His Greatness

▶︎ Omniabsence Filled by His Greatness | Inferno | Necroeucharist Productions (bandcamp.com)

I'm only on the first real track and it reminds me of Mayhem's Ordo Ad Chao; and album I actually really like if I can forget that it's Mayhem playing it. Who knows though. I'm one of those weirdos who thinks Grand Declaration of War is excellent and really underrated (despite the goofy accented spoken word passages and the *shudders electronic eurotrash track). It's good enough to make me want to hear the whole thing anyway.

4 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

 

 

Now that is an excellent band name for death metal.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

6 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

SIDE BOOB!

Side boob is the best of all the socially acceptable boobs. Way better than cleavage. Some say under boob is better but I've always been a much bigger fan of side boob. 

 

[FatherAlabaster]

16 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

 

Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, Immolation (alright they weren't from Long Island but Yonkers ain't that far off) these were cool band names. Afterbirth not so much. But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And Chuck Schuldiner was from Oyster Bay LI (just 7.5 miles from where I grew up) so really you could say Long Island was the bithplace of death metal.

I was already 32 and a busy single father of a 3 year old in 1993 when Cody formed Afterbirth at 18 or 19 so I missed out on that whole LI scene. Early Afterbirth was bit more slammy though so not sure I would have been ready for something like that back in those days. Still if I'd have known him back then I would have urged him to pick a better name!

I knew him when he was putting the band back together around 2012/13 but by then the name was a known entity in BDM circles so of course I understood he was gonna stick with it. When Matt died he considered staying as an instrumental death metal band and we all told him no dude get a vocalist. Especially since he doesn't like playing solos (I'm sure he probably could, he just lacks confidence) because you definitely need at least one or the other, vocals or solos. I like the newer stuff better than the first two demos but the vocals aren't exactly my favorite thing ever. (either Will's or Matt's) But still I've gotten used to them as well as Cody's version of "brutal-prog" (fortunately for me it's not completely weird and overly dissonant) and I'm genuinely looking forward to hearing the new record.

 

Afterbirth - The Time Traveler's Dilemma, 2017 Long Island NY

 

That's around when we started talking as well. Maybe a little later, 2014ish. I think Jayke put us in touch. I do have the old demo stuff and I remember them talking about going instrumental, even played a couple shows with no vocals if I recall correctly. I think Will is a great fit for them. I saw him with Artificial Brain a bunch when I lived in NY and his live presence was always awesome, totally energetic - it made up for the other guys essentially just standing there. 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

9 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

That's around when we started talking as well. Maybe a little later, 2014ish. I think Jayke put us in touch. I do have the old demo stuff and I remember them talking about going instrumental, even played a couple shows with no vocals if I recall correctly. I think Will is a great fit for them. I saw him with Artificial Brain a bunch when I lived in NY and his live presence was always awesome, totally energetic - it made up for the other guys essentially just standing there. 

 

I asked him one time I said "Code why are you skulking around back in the shadows?" he said "I'm more of a background shadows kind of guy, that's Will's job to stomp around the stage and do the talking." It's just one song but in this video he looks like he's at least making some kind of effort to be present, I've seen vids where he basically turns his back and hides in a corner. The drummer Keith looks pretty energetic back there behind the kit though.

I've known Jayke and Cody since the Amazon metal forum days of 2008 - 2010 when Jayke was just 21/22 and Cody was in his early 30's. Sadly I've hung out with Jayke from Salt Lake City on several occasions while I've never met Cody in person, even though up until October '16 we both lived in Suffolk County Long Island only about 30 minutes from each other. Our babies prevented us from ever going out anywhere at night. He never comes to MDF or Metal Threat or anywhere with the rest of us because his wife freaks out and won't let him go anywhere unless it's work, an Afterbirth gig or a practice session. I guess she can't really stop him from attending those but he'd better get his ass straight home afterwards haha. Was gonna drive out to Amitville to see them one time a year or two ago but I couldn't arrange babysitting that particular night. One of these days.

 

Afterbirth Live @Saint Vitus Bar Brooklyn, NYC 07/20/2023