Some Of My Favourite Songs
Not an all time list (as it would be huge), but a list of a few personal essentials and stuff that has recently worked its way into my listening. My reasoning ranges from deep personal meanings, to "This song fuckin riffs like a bastard" Just a little idea of what i enjoy about music i suppose. |
| 1 |  | 40 Watt Sun
The Inside Room
Restless - I've always loved this song since i first listened to it, but recently with the birth of my daughter it has taken on a more new and significant feeling for me. My little girl was born by emergency section, after which it was noticed by surgeons that my wifes appendix was at the point of bursting. Panic ensued in theatre as i was ushered outside while doctors, nurses and other surgeons were frantically called. As my wife had slipped out of consciousness and was unable to respond i was asked to consent to surgery (which i did), they made it clear that things were not good and that she was in a lot of danger if they didn?t act fast. Now what i am getting to is the emotional change this song has now had for me, the lyrical sentiments of the song and specifically "But I will play for you any part you need, my love, I mean it. Take the longing from these restless eyes. And keep it for as long as you need. I mean it. Take the longing from me." These sentiments pretty much summed up the way i felt in what was the scariest hour of my life as i sat outside the operating theatre holding my daughter who was about 15 minutes old, while all hell broke loose in the operating theatre. In these moments i was faced mentally with a lot of things, the obvious one being that i was now a father and responsible for the life i held in my hands. Also with the possibility that my wife may not come out of the room i sat outside, which brings me to the lyrics of the song. In the moments i contemplated my own wifes mortality (which was obviously terrifying) i would have given and sacrificed anything (including my own life) just to make sure she was safe and could go on to be the amazing woman and mother i know she will be. So yeah, this one means a lot to me these days. |
| 2 |  | Gris
Il Etait une Foret...
Vuex-tu danser? - Another more personal one for me, i'm not one for listening to a great deal of depressive styled black metal but Gris are an amazing band and this album as a whole is one of my all time faves. Again though i come to this song more than most due to the experiences i've had while listening to it. I went through a period a year or two ago whilst working early shifts were i fell asleep to this album most nights, i would usually drift as this song was starting and the mental images / nightmares i experienced were so vivd and powerful the emotinal impact they had sometimes took days to leave me and for things to feel normal again. I always attribute this to Icares vocal performance which on this song in particular carries a very human pain. To casual listeners the vocals can come accross as standard black metal shrieks/howls but the power and emotinal delivery of Icare is one of the best in the genre. This song, much like the album as a whole, comes together to become more than the sum of it's parts and to take on a life of it's own over time. All of this band's material is amazing but this song and album will forever hold a twisted place within the darkest corners of my mind. |
| 3 |  | Morbid Angel
Altars Of Madness
Maze Of Torment - Morbid Angel are a band who i have only been listening to for a couple of years (mainly just abominations & altars) and have only recently finished picking up the rest of their discography. But from the first time I heard it, this song has just stood out to me and demanded to by listened to repeatedly. Morbid angel have obviously done a lot of amazing songs and the genius of Trey Azagthoth is without question, but this song just destroys everything I it?s path. I still swear blindly that Pete Sandoval?s blasting in the chorus could open up portals to another dimension. |
| 4 |  | Durazis
Prayer Rehearsal
Durazis Prayer - A band whose material I have slowly been collecting for 2 years now (I am awaiting the final demo to complete my collection) whose material is as rare as rocking horse shit (tape releases limited to 66 copies). This was the first of the physical tapes I got my hands on and I played it incessantly for months on end, this the first real song that appears after the intro is one of my favourite things ever and is pretty much everything I love about black metal. Raw and as lo-fi as humanly possible, this is just two guys setting up their gear pressing record on their ancient cassette recorder and playing with every ounce of passion and hate in their souls. Part of what is known as the orthodox black metal movement along with bands like Forgotten Spell and Nosvrolok, Durazis worship satan as a living deity and play with the purpose of summoning the dark lord himself. HAIL SATAN M/ |
| 5 |  | Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath - Where it all began? The rain, the church bells, then it hits???. THAT FUCKING OPENING RIFF!!!! And so it begins, the beginnings of heavy metal and doom. The ominous tone, Ozzys wailing voice, the change of pace in the final third that gives way to Iommi?s solo. It?s all here, everything that makes Black Sabbath special is in this song. |
| 6 |  | Axis Of Light
By The Hands Of The Consuming Fire
I - Another modern black metal band that has had me waiting with baited breath for new material since they released their split release with Death Fortress last year. To date they have released a grand total of six songs (they?re all awesome) and are supposedly releasing a mini LP through Fallen Empire records at some point this year. I chose this song, because it opens their first demo and ever since I heard the opening few seconds of it I?ve been hooked. |
| 7 |  | Forgotten Spell / Nosvrolok
Galaxis Necro / The Black Awakening
Galaxis Necro - Amazing split release from Germany's Forgotten Spell who weigh in with a sole 23 minute raw, blazing black metal masterclass that deserves to be listened to by anyone who calls themselves a fan of the genre. The song is unrelenting with the vocals becoming more and more desperate as the song evolves. Although the pace stays the same the song carries a feeling of rising intensity throughout and by the end it?s practically suffocating. Amazing stuff, amazing band. |
| 8 |  | Burzum
Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Det Som Engang Var - A black metal classic, plain and fucking simple. |
| 9 |  | Candlemass
Nightfall
The Gallows End - Of all the amazing songs Candlemass have released, this one is not necessarily the best but for some reason even now I find myself singing this seemingly at random all of the time. In terms of songwriting and riffs I could pick a number of songs ahead of this, but this is the one that I keep coming back too. Epic stuff. |
| 10 |  | Carcass
Symphonies Of Sickness
Reek Of Putrefaction - Similarly to Candlemass, Carcass have probably done better (it depends on which sound of theirs you like I suppose). I for one love their early period for the filthy, dirty, bile filled scum bucket sound they had. This song opened their 1989 filth riddled masterpiece Symphonies Of Sickness and pretty much sums up what you can expect from the rest of the album. Putrefying corpses never smelled so good. |
| 11 |  | Emperor
In The Nightside Eclipse
Into The Infinity Of Thoughts - One of the first black metal albums I ever bought, this song itself didn?t necessarily stick out to me straight away (although the vocals did). I was more taken by the obvious choices of songs like I am the black wizards and inno a satana, but over time the opening to what is still one of my favourite black metal albums ever has become my favourite thing Emperor ever put their name too. The air of magic and mystery that permeates the song is something special and as I said before Ihsahn?s vocals are nothing short of amazing. |
| 12 |  | Rhinocervs
Odour of Dust and Rot
Glossolalia - Filth In the Light - A short sharp 3 minute burst of black metal that sounds like the musical equivalent of someone attempting to write riffs that represent broken glass. I know that sounds odd, but is what comes to mind every time I listen to it. Maybe one day some more Glossolalia material will see the light of day, but I doubt it. |
| 13 |  | The Kill
Shower Of Bricks
Shower Of Bricks - These Aussie mentalists have been playing straight up violent grind for a number of years now and this is my favourite song of their hands down. Unrelenting, violent and with a twisted sense of humour to boot. Great stuff. |
| 14 |  | Obliteration
Nekropsalms
The Worm Which Knaws In The Night - Combining osdm, bm and some sort of odd psychedelic edge, this song crams so much that I love about music into it?s run time that it had to be on here. |
| 15 |  | Poison (DE)
Into The Abyss
Yog Sototh - I finally managed to get hold of a physical copy of this recently and it?s not left my stereo since it arrived, this is probably my favourite song off this classic 80?s black thrash demo. |
| 16 |  | Sarcofago
I.N.R.I.
Satanic Lust - Something about old first wave black metal really draws me in, I suppose I?m a sucker for under produced stuff that sounds like it?s just a few guys in a practice space kicking the shit out of their instruments. Although Sarcofago?s debut is not badly produced by any means (not by bm standards anyway) there is a frantic, sloppy quality that I love about it. It also helps when the music is played with the sort of blasphemous conviction that it is on here. |
| 17 |  | Thergothon
Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Sothoth
Yet The Watchers Guard - Another amazing band that have their own unique atmosphere, their demo recording still stands as their ultimate triumph. With a guitar tone heavier and thicker than their sole full length, the atmosphere of their demo sounds like descending down a darkened corridor lined with large medieval looking oak doors where screams of pain and torment fill the fetid air. |
| 18 |  | Ulver
Nattens Madrigal
Hymn I - Another old bm classic, this album was one of the first albums I listened to that was classed as having a ?raw? sound. After I heard the opening song I knew I wanted more, allegedly recorded in the woods on an answering machine (or so the legend goes) and it sounds awesome. |
| 19 |  | Vlad Tepes
The Return of the Unweeping Moon
Under The Carpathian Yorke - Another raw black metal song here, this time from the infamous LLN. This song appeared on numerous Vlad Tepes Demos as well as the legendary split with Belketre march to the black holocaust. But this recording from their very first demo is probably the one I always come back too, the no-fi sound and the youthful vigour of the very first demo is unparalleled and brims with hate and complete rejection of all life. |
|
