What Are You Listening To?

[AlSymerz]

Suicidal Tendencies - Join The Army

 

[Serpentboi1992]

[AlSymerz]

Skid Row - S/T

 

[Serpentboi1992]

[Innominate]

Cadaver - Edder & Bile

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Ifernach - Capitulation of All Life, Quebec Canada. Here's a late entry to the album of the year sweepstakes, dropped on the 16th. I'm only halfway through, it's definitely good just as I would have expected, but it's not blowing me away like his last one did. So I'm thinking it's not top ten material or anything like that, way too much killer shit for that this year, but maybe it'll factor in somewhere further down.

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Enslaved - Eld

Evoken - Hypnagogia

[Innominate]

Virus - Carheart

[Sheol]

On 12/18/2021 at 10:38 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Arioch's vocals are a weak point here for me

I just have real specific tatses when it comes to black metal and this doesn't check enough of my boxes.

😲 I'd say! I think Arioch is generally considered one of the best black metal vocalists ever, for good reason. I love the variation and pathos in his voice.

 

On 12/18/2021 at 11:27 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yeah man this is very good, I'm digging it.

 

The guy behind it, Erech Leleth, has a lot of bands, all good. Ancient Mastery of course, but also Golden Blood (thrash/black/heavy metal with a little dash of punk), Narzissus (more raw black metal), Grandeur (more epic than AM), Carathis (haven't actually listened to this one yet).

[FatherAlabaster]

Virus - The Black Flux

[AlSymerz]

Megadeth - KIMB

[JamesT]

Lorna Shore - "...And I Return to Nothingness" (EP)

[MacabreEternal]

Genocide Pact - s/t

[AlSymerz]

Helloween - S/T

 

[Innominate]

Ustalost - The Spoor of Vipers

[Thatguy]

7 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Virus - The Black Flux

There is nothing quite like Virus.

AQUILUS - Bellum 1. Too much piano tinkling, but like the curates egg, the good bits are good.

[Innominate]

Urarv - Aurum

[FatherAlabaster]

Nur Run - Among Those Waves

Voices - Breaking The Trauma Bond

[AlSymerz]

 

Orden Ogan - Final Days

[JamesT]

59 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

 

Orden Ogan - Final Days

Man I love that album.  I've played it through at least a dozen times.  I'd say it's on par with the previous release "Gunmen", perhaps even better.  I don't listen to much power metal these days - outside of DragonForce, Rhapsody of Fire, and Orden Ogan, but it hits the spot when I'm in the mood for it.

[Serpentboi1992]

[AlSymerz]

14 minutes ago, JamesT said:

Man I love that album.  I've played it through at least a dozen times.  I'd say it's on par with the previous release "Gunmen", perhaps even better.  I don't listen to much power metal these days - outside of DragonForce, Rhapsody of Fire, and Orden Ogan, but it hits the spot when I'm in the mood for it.

Yeah I'd tend to lean toward it being better than Gunmen, but not miles ahead. It starts out great and carries itself quiet well for the whole album and the story is quiet good.

I'm going through my power metal 2021 releases at the moment, I think I only have 3, Helloween, OO and Powerwolf.

 

NP: Powerwolf - Call Of The Wild

 

[JamesT]

7 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Yeah I'd tend to lean toward it being better than Gunmen, but not miles ahead. It starts out great and carries itself quiet well for the whole album and the story is quiet good.

I'm going through my power metal 2021 releases at the moment, I think I only have 3, Helloween, OO and Powerwolf.

 

NP: Powerwolf - Call Of The Wild

 

Sounds like a great plan!  I do enjoy Powerwolf quite a bit as well.  That Helloween album is fantastic - definitely one of the best metal releases in general, not just for power metal.  Having all of the past and present vocalists participate makes it an incredible experience.  

[markm]

On 12/18/2021 at 4:38 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Got me all excited there for a minute Marky Mark, you had me thinking this was gonna be a game changer. I gave it a shot, had no problem getting through the 54 minutes, record had its moments and I found it to be a reasonably enjoyable listen. I'll probably come back to it again in a few days for a second impression but when it's all said and done I don't think this one will be a purchase. Definitely not gonna crack my list. This is not surprising as I've never been much of a Marduk fan either. Arioch's vocals are a weak point here for me as well as the lack of real compelling riffs. I'm sure the jury will be hung on this one, you won't be alone out on a limb with your take Mark, there will be others who dig this. I just have real specific tatses when it comes to black metal and this doesn't check enough of my boxes. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah man, you know I respect your lifelong love of metal while I'm more of a casual fan, but we definitely look at things differently. 

I needed to listen a second time on headphones because I've learned I need two good listens at least to wrap my head around a good album. The first time is acclimation, the second is to evaluate. 

I'm a big admirer of Arioch's work. Now, as an individual, he's probably a stone's throw away from a NSBM scumbag but he brings an artistry and vision to his dark art that I find rather impressive. You want evil in black metal, this is the dude. 

Reckon he was a time and place for me because Plague Angel Came out in 2004 which coincided with the time when I was rolling up my sleeves and trying to dig into extreme metal.

I had heard of Marduk and bought an Itunes download of La Grande Danse Macabre (2001) that I found disappointing. I think it's pretty much accepted that Daniel Rostén breathed new life into Marduk with his singular vision of BM and through Wormwood, afic, they struck gold with creative energy and then things got a bit stale. 

But Funeral Mist is the unadulterated creation of Arioch who describes his music as "chaotic and "musically bizarre". 

From what I've gathered, he takes years between albums to cultivate his ideas and  his Satanic philosophy is similar to DSO, but rather than lengthy lyrical essays he's created his own sound that is immediately recognizable as his own. What distinguishes him in my mind is actual songwriting, memorable tracks that are distinguishable from each other and multiple musical ideas rather than a one note Johnny. The music isn't generic or rote. It's unique and original. 

He uses samples of sermons, biblical quotes often changed or subverted, a kind of savage animalistic religious fervor and he mixes things up with lots of weird atmospheric moody elements-doom, creepy ambience and on and on.  There's a kind of experimentation without being avant-garde or prog that I find compelling and a lot of thought into the execution of sound and message. 

I needed to listen more before I can say definitively, but Deiform sounds more direct and less atmospheric while still holding the hallmarks of his style. 

.

 

[markm]

Time for me to dig into some of the popular albums of the year-

Iron Maiden/senjutsu-better than I expected, frontloaded, the last few tracks feel like vehicles for trading solos and improvising. Songwriting pretty solid. Mature and majestic. 

Mastadon/Hushed and Grim-This one took me two listens, but I like it. After the glory days ending with Crack the Sky, I fell off their bandwagon. This one feels like they've figured out how to write a good classic rock styled album traversing the range of their influences-overlong but so was Physical Graffiti and The Wall. 

Gojira/Fortitude-I enjoyed The Way of the Flesh...now, apparently they've got a huge following, billboard charting success---I'm hearing a mix of remnants of their death metal influenced prog with mainstream radio friendly accessible catchy songwriting, groove metal....