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Post by viggosaurus on Apr 5, 2021 6:26:08 GMT -5
Funeral Mist: Okay, I know that when this album came out, viggosaurus and I had made a couple of posts about this album back in 2018 when it came out, but it has been quite some time and I didn't spend a whole lot of time with this album. By the time it came out, I had already become burnt out on black metal. However, I'm revisiting black metal and discovering bands and rediscovering the gems I had. This album has really gone up in value to me, big time! In fact, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite metal albums. The variety of song styles here is incredible. The twists and turns are often unpredictable and simply badass. The vocalist here is the same for Marduk over the last few. years (Marduk is one of the few other black metal bands who doesn't fuck around), and this guy has one of the best voices in black metal in my opinion, if not the best. He has so much range and a large variety of approaches to convey a twisted and sorrowful journey in this album. But here I am attaching the song which most excites me about this band. This is one of the two or three slower songs, and it is just amazing. The way they used the space here is so open, and yet so impactful. The opening drum doesn't build, but rather cycles. While it seems uneventful, listen to the whole sound of the drum, not just the impact. Pay attention to how sounds decay. It's a different kind of atmosphere when discussing black metal. This band does atmospheric without forcing it, and it just comes across in the most organic of ways. One of my top metal songs of all time. Incredible album. And its a one man band, Mortuus does it all except for the drums.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 5, 2021 6:40:04 GMT -5
Funeral Mist: Okay, I know that when this album came out, viggosaurus and I had made a couple of posts about this album back in 2018 when it came out, but it has been quite some time and I didn't spend a whole lot of time with this album. By the time it came out, I had already become burnt out on black metal. However, I'm revisiting black metal and discovering bands and rediscovering the gems I had. This album has really gone up in value to me, big time! In fact, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite metal albums. The variety of song styles here is incredible. The twists and turns are often unpredictable and simply badass. The vocalist here is the same for Marduk over the last few. years (Marduk is one of the few other black metal bands who doesn't fuck around), and this guy has one of the best voices in black metal in my opinion, if not the best. He has so much range and a large variety of approaches to convey a twisted and sorrowful journey in this album. But here I am attaching the song which most excites me about this band. This is one of the two or three slower songs, and it is just amazing. The way they used the space here is so open, and yet so impactful. The opening drum doesn't build, but rather cycles. While it seems uneventful, listen to the whole sound of the drum, not just the impact. Pay attention to how sounds decay. It's a different kind of atmosphere when discussing black metal. This band does atmospheric without forcing it, and it just comes across in the most organic of ways. One of my top metal songs of all time. Incredible album. And its a one man band, Mortuus does it all except for the drums. I was aware he was handling all the stuff but I didn’t know he didn’t do the drums. Either way, the man is an incredible artist. His vocals alone are just top-notch. On top of that is absolutely impressive songwriting. Just...damn...like this is probably my favorite black metal album ever.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 5, 2021 20:30:00 GMT -5
Thron: I recently reviewed this album for Metalcrypt.com and gave this a solid 4/5. This is melodic Black Metal in the vein of Watain, Dissection, and at times even Tribulation, but heavier than Tribulation. As you can see from the video, the vocals are vicious and yet extremely easy to understand. You hardly need a lyrics sheet to know the lyrics on this album, which I find extremely impressive in a Black metal album. Each song on the album is different, and not all of it is just tremolo riffs, so it's dynamic enough to hold interest through its 53 minutes in length. Do give it a listen and see for yourselves!
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 25, 2021 1:07:38 GMT -5
Spectral Wound: This band from Montreal have just released their 3rd full length album. So far, they've released a new album every four years rather consistently with the first one in 2015 and the second one in 2018. I'm not going to pretend I know too much about this band, as I don't, but I do know this new album after having listened through it a few times. This is Black Metal in a very traditional fashion, which sounds like a blend of Darkthrone, Gorgorath, Mgla, and perhaps Carpathian Forest at times. It has a general old fashioned Black Metal approach, but sounds rather modern. The vocals are true to the oldies, high and energetic rasps soaked in some reverb effects. The instruments sound rather powerful most of the time while blending melodic riffing into the tremolo riff base. Well, anyway, if you like Black Metal at all, this is an album well worth checking out. Many are frothing at the mouth for this one, and for good reason. I'm not even a huge fan of the subgenre, but I love this record.
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Post by tucker on Jun 9, 2021 13:56:45 GMT -5
Spectral Wound: This band from Montreal have just released their 3rd full length album. So far, they've released a new album every four years rather consistently with the first one in 2015 and the second one in 2018. I'm not going to pretend I know too much about this band, as I don't, but I do know this new album after having listened through it a few times. This is Black Metal in a very traditional fashion, which sounds like a blend of Darkthrone, Gorgorath, Mgla, and perhaps Carpathian Forest at times. It has a general old fashioned Black Metal approach, but sounds rather modern. The vocals are true to the oldies, high and energetic rasps soaked in some reverb effects. The instruments sound rather powerful most of the time while blending melodic riffing into the tremolo riff base. Well, anyway, if you like Black Metal at all, this is an album well worth checking out. Many are frothing at the mouth for this one, and for good reason. I'm not even a huge fan of the subgenre, but I love this record. that album RIPS, I've been jamming it since it dropped pretty regularly. I fucking love black metal
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Post by stringypoo on Nov 9, 2021 0:54:12 GMT -5
Havukruunu: I don't need to do a whole write-up. This band has been posted two or more times already on TDM. But I just wanted to do a big shoutout to them and their new EP that released about a month ago. I've listened to it a ton, and with more listens I realize something: Havukruunu are easily one of my top 10 bands of all time. And I am bored of most Black Metal! So that says a lot. This track here is awesome, epic, and incredibly memorable. Enjoy it!
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Post by stringypoo on Jan 11, 2022 20:46:36 GMT -5
Stormkeep: I got to this album pretty late in the year of 2021, which partly explains why it did not make my 2021 best of list. However, I feel fairly confident it belongs somewhere in my list, at least within the top 5-20 albums area, as it is certainly better than the back half of my list. Anyway, enough about that. Black metal that does not sound like it was recorded in a microwave, with a flair for the epic. Melodic and almost folky in small pockets, in a Viking Metal kind of way at times. But otherwise it also bears resemblances to early Cradle of Filth without those god-awful Dani Filth vocals. And this is just miles better than Cradle ever were. The part at 1:18 in this video/song here is just a badass moment, for those looking for something to get excited about in their music:
Edit: In case my description isn't enough for you to want to check this out, here's a review from probably my favorite metal reviewer on Youtube, a member of the Banger TV review crew. Funny enough, her top two albums of the year 2021 were this Stormkeep album and Lucifer's Fall's new album, which was actually MY #1. Perhaps I like her because sometimes her reviews lead me to some of my favorite things, as she has incredible taste.
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Post by stringypoo on Jan 17, 2022 20:06:24 GMT -5
Sekoria: Here's a band who have quietly released some albums. Due to no reviews on metal-archives, I had low expectations, but this gave me a very strong impression. It's a strong Black Metal release for a number of reasons. It's epic at times, has a mixture of tremolo AND actual riffs, is tuneful and melodic at times without losing intensity, and has a great vocal performance, among many other things. I appreciate the variety in the songwriting, as Black Metal frequently gets too repetitive. I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find anything they truly did not like here. Great start to 2022!
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Post by stringypoo on Jan 18, 2022 20:02:06 GMT -5
Wiegedood- Another black metal release from this new year which has already blown me away is the new one by Wiegedood. Wow, fast and furious describes a lot of it, but also there are elements that make it sound weird at times. Also it can be on the noisy side sometimes, which evokes that Converge-like punkiness or something. This is hella good, don't sleep on this one!
Also, this music video is freaking nuts. Look at the hilarious yet creepy segment from 3:55 to the end. I can't decide if I should laugh or cry...
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Post by stringypoo on Feb 8, 2022 20:06:01 GMT -5
Pensées Nocturnes: Super cool, this one! A one man Black Metal band with incredible talent and diversity. This could easily end up on my year end list given how insanely fun it is to listen to, but time will tell. I don't like to make such statements this early in the year. What you get is French, Avant-garde Black metal full of tortured vocals mixed with...operatic tenor vocals??? This dude is insanely gifted. The music is just as dynamic as he is, frequently utilizing a variety of instruments sometimes giving you Italian opera notes infused with Black Metal. It's a blast and not at all too cheesy to be good. Just go listen to it!
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 8, 2022 21:51:47 GMT -5
For some reason, I've avoided this band for quite a long while. I think because I was never in a Black Metal mood for several years, but perhaps this post is good for people who also don't really classify deeply as Black Metal fans.
Panopticon: This is a one man band effort from a guy originally from Kentucky, now in Minnesota. He does not always work alone though, and live performances do of course require more members. This often gets billed as atmospheric Black/Folk Metal. Why folk? There are a variety of instruments used within the tracks, and some tracks sound quite different from the blast of sound you'll hear on this one. At its most intimate moments, it is pure folk music with acoustic guitar, cellos, violins, and much more. At its most intense, it's a blast of huge musical energy of blasting drums, synths, varied vocals that cover a variety of styles, and unique instruments popping in here and there. This is a band that wants to throw everything at you, and they do so in a very powerful, meaningful way. Emotive music, which makes this likely the easier thing to latch onto for people not into Black Metal. It often doesn't feel like Black Metal at all. To anyone who doesn't know this band, I do hope you'll check them out. I ignored the band for far too long, which is sad given how many excellent releases there are. The sample here is from last year's album.
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 18, 2022 1:56:47 GMT -5
Wędrujący Wiatr: Soooooo this is currently the album for which I am writing a review for the Metalcrypt site, and I just simply don't want to write it because the minute I write and send in my review to the site owner, I'll likely need to turn my attention elsewhere to the next album I'll review. I am posting the whole album here, a long one over an hour. The length was off-putting at the start, but now I find this is an album I never want to end. Atmospheric Black Metal like this is just so special. It's not one of those typical evil-sounding Black Metal albums. Instead, this feels like a very spiritual and uplifting journey through the forests and over the seas. The working theme of their music is nature, which is well represented. Should one translate the Polish song titles to English you suddenly can feel a strong connection to the music, which enhances it greatly. Skip through it for now if you're sampling, just to get an idea for what it offers, but I can tell you that it is one of the more rewarding listens you'll take if you really allow yourself to submerge into its world and check out the song translations on their Facebook page and all. I REALLY hope to buy this with the 50 page book they included with it. That's just incredible care and detail for this stellar record. And this is not a Black Metal album that requires you to be a fan of Black Metal to like it. Fans of post-metal may easily find something here to enjoy. It has the passionate energy of melodic post-hardcore and other styles, without sounding like those. Yeah, I can pitch this one in essay form and nobody will read that so I'm going to stop my pitch here.
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 27, 2022 21:06:19 GMT -5
Heltekvad: This Danish "Medieval" Black Metal band has been popping all up all over my Youtube from being included in a shoutout on Banger TV to being front-paged on my feed by Black Metal Promotion's channel. I've been listening to the album for three or four days now and it is definitely a special. To a degree, this previous track is somewhat misleading if you're expecting more of that Classical, Italian Opera-level brass section stuff like you'll hear at the beginning of this track, because this is the only place you'll find that in this track, but nevertheless, the qualities from the remainder of the song are consistent. A fairly classic Black Metal sound in that it's full of repeated tremolo picked riffs (rather melodic riffs at times), blast beats, high vocals, and the like. This track allows you to hear the bass more than some of the other songs near the end with the triplet rhythm pulsing underneath. What stands out the most when listening to this band though is the vocalist, who often sounds absolutely tortured, and haunted, like a demented and lingering spirit haunting the chambers of an abandoned castle or some shit. This track does not display that quality as much as most of the others, so I highly recommend you to check out more tracks as well, as his vocal performance sometimes steals the show. Very cool and compelling Black Metal offering here, well worth checking out.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 10, 2022 22:18:57 GMT -5
Véhémence: Normally I have already listened through an entire album before I post or recommend it, but with this I just do not need to. This is just top-notch Black Metal of the epic and medieval tag variety. There is so much to enjoy about this album. Really fast drums with creative patterns and fills, very diverse vocals throughout, folky instrument bits as well as a few folky melodies that appear sparingly so as to not alienate people who just want good Black Metal, and really epic song structures that have great peaks. It's rare I'm in love with an album this much before I've finished hearing it all. Normally that's a bad sign in that future listens are less interesting but I don't believe that's the case here. Absolutely beautiful acoustic guitar bits and plenty of special surprises here. Just go listen to this!
Whole album stream here courtesy of Black Metal Promotion:
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Post by stringypoo on May 3, 2022 0:00:41 GMT -5
Vanum: It took me quite a while to decide if I like this or love it. I think I love it now. This band seems to float around, but it caught my attention that they had operated out of New Mexico (seemingly still so, along with Oregon...interesting...) because New Mexico is the bizarre state of the US I know the most intimately despite having never lived in it. I've driven around and seen everything in it, including the charming little town in the middle of nowhere called Hatch, New Mexico. Please do a Google image search on that town to see what a really charming hidden small town looks like. I regret never stopping at the one restaurant for a burger, but I was already well-fed when I passed through. ANYWAY, this is black metal, sure, but it's a bit epic in delivery. The song structures are somewhat lengthy, and in the case of some tracks like this one here, the title track, culminates in a very epic heavy metal fashion that nearly makes you forget it's a black metal album. It's kinda hard for me to put my words to this record and how it sounds, it's better to just listen for yourself. The mixing feels a little dry, and it was hard to decide if I liked that at first. Now I pretty much think that's a cool and defining feature of the album that I wouldn't change looking back.
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