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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

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Borknagar - s/t

Borknagar - The Olden Domain ...ok, my opinion of this album hasn't changed. I find it really difficult to enjoy. I want to make a fan edit of these two albums and cut out all the bullshit keyboard tracks, rearrange a few of the songs to get rid of the wrong turns, and go back in time and get the Garm who did vocals on Nattens Madrigal and have him do vocals on The Olden Domain. Maybe it's the way he approaches the English lyrics, but he's missing most of the venom that made his harsh vocals so great. Revisiting this album reminds me of why it took me years to warm up to them past the debut.

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BlutAusNerd Newbie

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Borknagar - s/t

Borknagar - The Olden Domain ...ok, my opinion of this album hasn't changed. I find it really difficult to enjoy. I want to make a fan edit of these two albums and cut out all the bullshit keyboard tracks, rearrange a few of the songs to get rid of the wrong turns, and go back in time and get the Garm who did vocals on Nattens Madrigal and have him do vocals on The Olden Domain. Maybe it's the way he approaches the English lyrics, but he's missing most of the venom that made his harsh vocals so great. Revisiting this album reminds me of why it took me years to warm up to them past the debut.

 

I'm the opposite. I feel like the debut is pretty dull and stock sounding for the time and scene, whereas The Olden Domain broke out into much more memorable and compelling territory. I like the way Garm sounds here, and that degree of venom from Nattens Madrigal wouldn't have really fit here with the more triumphant and folksy sound.

 

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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

FatherAlabaster

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24 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

I'm the opposite. I feel like the debut is pretty dull and stock sounding for the time and scene, whereas The Olden Domain broke out into much more memorable and compelling territory. I like the way Garm sounds here, and that degree of venom from Nattens Madrigal wouldn't have really fit here with the more triumphant and folksy sound.

 

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Huh, I really just don't hear it. The only thing I can get into about The Olden Domain is the way the clean vocal parts prefigure the approach Garm would take on Ulver's "Themes..." I like that album a lot, and it's interesting to hear him developing his ideas, but I find everything else about this one confused and off-putting. Maybe I'll come around in another couple of years?

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BlutAusNerd Newbie

BlutAusNerd

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24 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:  

I'm the opposite. I feel like the debut is pretty dull and stock sounding for the time and scene, whereas The Olden Domain broke out into much more memorable and compelling territory. I like the way Garm sounds here, and that degree of venom from Nattens Madrigal wouldn't have really fit here with the more triumphant and folksy sound.

 

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Huh, I really just don't hear it. The only thing I can get into about The Olden Domain is the way the clean vocal parts prefigure the approach Garm would take on Ulver's "Themes..." I like that album a lot, and it's interesting to hear him developing his ideas, but I find everything else about this one confused and off-putting. Maybe I'll come around in another couple of years?

 

That seems to have proved useful to you in several cases, so this might end up being one of those as well. My opinions change over time too, but seldom by large margins.

 

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Thrashman Enthusiast

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On 7/10/2017 at 8:15 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

I second this. There's a bunch of great stuff in there, and I'm pretty sure I haven't even listened to all of the bands you've posted. I like the idea of also having smaller, more focused threads that could be easier to navigate and digest; I think/hope there's room for all of them here. I've had a good time posting in the old-school thread since it lines up with a lot of my listening habits, and I don't want to accidentally bog down your thread with duplicates.

 

23 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

There's always room for everyone's recommendations, I don't want to step on any toes or downplay the significance of the posts of others. My style for those has just been to add all of the death metal bands that I listen to, but focused posts can be more effective in a lot of ways.

I have no memory, whatsoever - turns out that I've most definitely trawled through both of the sticky recommendations threads in the DM forum before. Quite possibly more than once. And I'm sure I'll do so again too. Looks like I well-and-truly murdered one of those threads when my previous similar thread was merged into it though, whoops! See - no memory. On the plus side - I am more than happy to see (and fail to remember) the same suggestions a whole bunch of times :D 

Seriously though - I'm enjoying the oldskool thread a lot, but if it would be better off being merged at any point then I'm Totally happy with that. Just don't blame me if I kill your thread in the process ;) 

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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

FatherAlabaster

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14 minutes ago, Thrashman said:

Seriously though - I'm enjoying the oldskool thread a lot, but if it would be better off being merged at any point then I'm Totally happy with that. Just don't blame me if I kill your thread in the process ;) 

I see no reason to merge it. We discourage duplicate threads, but DM, and for that matter some of the other subgenres, are varied enough that it makes sense to me to have spaces for more specialized discussions.

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BlutAusNerd Newbie

BlutAusNerd

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Ooh, how about a doom-death/death-doom kind of thread too?!

Ok, now I'm just being greedy.

 

There's a similar thread in the doom section that I've been working on for years, which is where most of my doom/death recommendations have been placed. There are all forms of doom there, but it would probably be worth checking out for you.

 

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Requiem Newbie

Requiem

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10 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I want to make a fan edit of these two albums and cut out all the bullshit keyboard tracks,

Don't you dare touch those keyboards. I actually don't have 'The Olden Domain' and the one after it. I just need them to complete the Borknagar collection. I should get around to it at some point. 

NP: Saol - 'Guardians'

What an amazing album. 

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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

FatherAlabaster

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1 hour ago, Requiem said:

Don't you dare touch those keyboards. I actually don't have 'The Olden Domain' and the one after it. I just need them to complete the Borknagar collection. I should get around to it at some point. 

NP: Saol - 'Guardians'

What an amazing album. 

How about you touch those keyboards and spell "Saor" correctly, you picky obsessive. :D

Ok, so regarding keyboards, I can take or leave them depending on the album. But both the self-titled and The Olden Domain are dragged down by those keyboard-based instrumental interludes. I'm not particularly fond of that style of interlude on albums by (say) Satyricon, Cradle Of Filth, MDB, or Akercocke, but for whatever reason the way they're used in early Borknagar is more glaring and strikes me as bullshit. I hear them and find myself annoyed. Instead of making a fan edit and dispersing it to the world at large, I'll just rely on the magic of my digital media library applications to remove the offending tracks from my playlist... Happy?

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Requiem Newbie

Requiem

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7 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

How about you touch those keyboards and spell "Saor" correctly, you picky obsessive. :D

Ok, so regarding keyboards, I can take or leave them depending on the album. But both the self-titled and The Olden Domain are dragged down by those keyboard-based instrumental interludes. I'm not particularly fond of that style of interlude on albums by (say) Satyricon, Cradle Of Filth, MDB, or Akercocke, but for whatever reason the way they're used in early Borknagar is more glaring and strikes me as bullshit. I hear them and find myself annoyed. Instead of making a fan edit and dispersing it to the world at large, I'll just rely on the magic of my digital media library applications to remove the offending tracks from my playlist... Happy?

Oh I'm ecstatic.

The funny thing about misspelling Saor is that at the time I wrote it I mulled over how it should be pronounced for quite some time, and I'm still uncertain. It will an awkward moment when I finally have to mention them verbally at a party/board meeting/church service. An immaterial contemplation if I'm going to spell it wrong anyway.

Unsurprisingly, I'm a huge fan of the keyboard interlude. Cradle are the masters of it, and the final track on 'The Shadowthrone' is panzergodly. Yes, I can even sit through most of Burzum's 'Daudi Baldrs', that's how much I like them.

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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

FatherAlabaster

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12 hours ago, Requiem said:

Oh I'm ecstatic.

The funny thing about misspelling Saor is that at the time I wrote it I mulled over how it should be pronounced for quite some time, and I'm still uncertain. It will an awkward moment when I finally have to mention them verbally at a party/board meeting/church service. An immaterial contemplation if I'm going to spell it wrong anyway.

Unsurprisingly, I'm a huge fan of the keyboard interlude. Cradle are the masters of it, and the final track on 'The Shadowthrone' is panzergodly. Yes, I can even sit through most of Burzum's 'Daudi Baldrs', that's how much I like them.

I've only listened to a smattering of the prison albums and his later stuff, but actually I quite like the hypnotic quality of the ambient tracks on older Burzum albums. It's great when I'm painting, anyway, I probably couldn't sit through it if I wasn't working on stuff. I don't like the fake orchestra vibe, or the fake cinema soundtrack vibe, but Varg's tracks seem to use the sounds for their own merit. They get a little hokey but they don't strike me as artificial in the way the others do.

I guess it's time for me to revisit Mortiis and the Wongraven album... :D

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