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Satyricon - Volcano; The Age Of Nero

I used to like Volcano pretty well and never really got on with Age Of Nero. My impressions have coalesced around a midpoint; they're both ok for what they are, even if they're missing nearly everything I like about Satyricon's earlier albums. Nothing really stands out. I guess I'm not sorry I no longer have these on CD.

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Decapitated "Nihility" - never really got on with these guys but this record has grown on me the past week.  The issue I have with most "technical" death metal is that often it sacrifices some energy and gives proceedings an almost mechanised sound, but "Nihility" defeats this standard.  There's aggression in measured quantity and an almost controlled violence to events.

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7 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

Decapitated "Nihility" - never really got on with these guys but this record has grown on me the past week.  The issue I have with most "technical" death metal is that often it sacrifices some energy and gives proceedings an almost mechanised sound, but "Nihility" defeats this standard.  There's aggression in measured quantity and an almost controlled violence to events.

That one and "The Negation" are my two favorites of theirs. Without falling down the rabbit hole, I don't consider them to be straight tech death; I'd put them in the "brutal tech" category. They certainly have the chops, but they have more willingness to use simple parts and put songwriting above flash.

 

Satyricon's self-titled has certainly grown on me, seems to have a lot more to offer than their post-ND outings.

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17 hours ago, GrayscaleDawn said:

I´d recommend their latest, Monotony fields if you haven´t checked it out.. tracks like "The distant dream of life" and "Descending inner night" are just bloody awesome. Too few people know or are into this band! Glad to hear i´m not the only on around here. :) 

I think the last I bought from them was 'Illusions Play' or whatever it's called, and I was fairly disappointed with it and found it a bit uninspiring. I'll have to give 'Monotony Fields' a listen, but I hope it doesn't live up to its name. 

12 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Satyricon - Volcano; The Age Of Nero

I used to like Volcano pretty well and never really got on with Age Of Nero. My impressions have coalesced around a midpoint; they're both ok for what they are, even if they're missing nearly everything I like about Satyricon's earlier albums. Nothing really stands out. I guess I'm not sorry I no longer have these on CD.

I think 'Volcano' is a much better album than 'Age of Nero', but I agree with what you're saying about them. Don't forget poor old 'Now Diabolical' which slots in between them. Three albums that kind of sound the same and are ultimately pretty boring. With such long gaps between albums this is basically the same sound from 2002 to 2013 when their self-titled album came out. That's 14 years of my life taken up with one dimensional boredom metal. Great live band though. 

Still got them all on CD though, and none of these albums are as terrible as the latest self-titled release. IMHO etc. 

5 hours ago, H34VYM3T4LD4V3 said:

Motorhead - Just 'Cos You Got The Power

This is my favourite Motorhead song. Great, classic, Lemmy lyrics. 

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6 minutes ago, Requiem said:

I think the last I bought from them was 'Illusions Play' or whatever it's called, and I was fairly disappointed with it and found it a bit uninspiring. I'll have to give 'Monotony Fields' a listen, but I hope it doesn't live up to its name. 

I think 'Volcano' is a much better album than 'Age of Nero', but I agree with what you're saying about them. Don't forget poor old 'Now Diabolical' which slots in between them. Three albums that kind of sound the same and are ultimately pretty boring. With such long gaps between albums this is basically the same sound from 2002 to 2013 when their self-titled album came out. That's 14 years of my life taken up with one dimensional boredom metal. Great live band though. 

Still got them all on CD though, and none of these albums are as terrible as the latest self-titled release. IMHO etc. 

"Volcano" is definitely better than the "Rebel Extravaganza" shitshow, but the whole period just sounds like a left turn to me now. I actually liked the self-titled when I listened to it today. Was left cold initially, but now I'm looking forward to putting it on again soon to see if it holds up. For that matter I've finally caught myself actually digging Enslaved's "RIITIIR". Takes me a while sometimes... I didn't get into "Ghost Reveries" until three or four years ago, for instance.

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2 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

"Volcano" is definitely better than the "Rebel Extravaganza" shitshow, but the whole period just sounds like a left turn to me now. I actually liked the self-titled when I listened to it today. Was left cold initially, but now I'm looking forward to putting it on again soon to see if it holds up. For that matter I've finally caught myself actually digging Enslaved's "RIITIIR". Takes me a while sometimes... I didn't get into "Ghost Reveries" until three or four years ago, for instance.

I'm frequently coming around to albums late. I do it all the time. Katatonia's 'The Great Cold Distance' took ten years. 

Regarding Satyricon's self-titled - I just checked it on wikipedia and it came out in 2013??! What the hell, where did the time go?? I bought it the week it came out but it only felt like a year or so... Scary. 

I'm definitely going to listen to it again. I played it to death when I first got it, hoping it would click, but it never did. It felt so flat and lifeless, as if each guitar note was played without an ounce of passion, and poor old Frost was left bewildered with nothing much to do. 'Phoenix' is an ok song but again simply because it steps out of the formula a little bit. Have you heard 'They Rode On' by Watain? Same sort of deal with clean singing and I much prefer it. 

The other thing that I remember standing out in a bad way as I tried to immerse myself in it was that many of the riffs were really boring, yet had to carry the songs. For instance I remember there wasn't a lot of accompanying sounds to bolster the experience, or many changes; it was sort of just a bunch of very simple, unexciting 'riffs' that almost anyone could write. I really had no idea what Satyr was playing at. Five full years since 'The Age of Nero', and those were the riffs he came up with??

But like I say, maybe it's time to give it another spin now that I'm a few years older and wiser. It can't be as bad as I remember it, can it? 

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Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake

This is actually pretty awesome. I don't think I ever really gave Testament credit before. I remember in 1995 I was hanging out in the US and I bought 'The Ritual' on cassette and I really loved that album, although obviously it's more of a rock album than thrash metal. And I don't care how you slice it, Chuck Billy sounds a lot like James Hetfield (or vice-versa). But this is really cool. I'm enjoying it. 

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53 minutes ago, Requiem said:

Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake

This is actually pretty awesome. I don't think I ever really gave Testament credit before. I remember in 1995 I was hanging out in the US and I bought 'The Ritual' on cassette and I really loved that album, although obviously it's more of a rock album than thrash metal. And I don't care how you slice it, Chuck Billy sounds a lot like James Hetfield (or vice-versa). But this is really cool. I'm enjoying it. 

Brotherhood of the snake is a really kickass album, to be honest not many old school bands release anything even close to it these days. It was my "go to" album when walking for a month when it was released, a rare thing that an album does that these days, i usually have 2-3 playthroughs and then i change the album. :) 

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