| 1000 Funerals Portrait Of A Dream | 4.5 |
| A Forest of Stars The Corpse of Rebirth | 3.5 |
| Acid Mothers Temple Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars | 3.5 |
| Altar of Plagues White Tomb | 4.0 |
| Amaranthine Trampler As The Colour Of Love Flows | 4.0 |
| The only album by one-man funeral doom band Amaranthine Trampler is another journey through the lands of melancholy, death and loneliness but with an approach which in some tracks can be called utterly unique...rfans of Warning's Watching From A Distance & Ataraxie's Slow Transcending Agony will like it in spite of being totally different ! |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl This Lush Garden Within | 3.0 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl Ashes in the Brittle Air | 2.5 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl Mesmerized by the Sirens | 3.0 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl Remnants of a Deeper Purity | 4.5 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl 10 Neurotics | 1.5 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl The Scavenger Bride | 4.0 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire | 4.0 |
| Black Tape for a Blue Girl The Rope | 3.0 |
| Blaspherian Allegiance to the Will of Damnation | 3.0 |
| Consummatum Est Hypnagogia | 4.0 |
| There s considerable diversity in this new release. depressive as hell, lyrics are unbelievably well written, Moerke's soprano ethereal vocal and the guy's death growls have reached the pinnacle that fans after their three years absence expect. highly recommended . Gush this record is suicidal |
| Cruachan Blood on the Black Robe | 3.0 |
| Cruachan latest effort, taken as a whole body of work will be considered as kind of aimless and messy by many, probably...but at the same time it boasts some of the greatest tunes ever in Celtic-Pagan metal scene ! They simply rule.rSongs like An Bean Sidhe, the title track or The Voyage Of Bran feature thoughtful, frenzy-jolly!!! Celtic melodies, amazing female vocals, outstanding riffs , drumming and more. Great production of the record has made all this clearly audible. rOne of the interesting features of the album is the length of songs..while their average length is about 6 minutes, many of them sound noticably EPIC! Highly diverse nature, numerous stylic changes and outstanding musicanship have made this possible.rTalking about cons, the songs are scattered around seemingly aimless, this causes some interruptions in the flow of the album other than that some songs are unbearably repetetive, the repetition has nothing to do with hypnotic vibe of Black metal records..they're off-putting, from 11 songs of this release, 5 songs simply suck.rBy the way Karen Gilligan has left the band, so Keith Fay does the female-vocal . |
| Empyrean Sky The Snow White Rose of Paradise | 2.0 |
| Encoffination Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh | 3.0 |
| Gnaw Their Tongues For All Slaves... A Song of False Hope | 4.0 |
I may 4 my rate , it s growing on me pretty fast , it's sickeningly poetic
4, for sure ! His mind is unbelievable ! |
| Lake of Tears Illwill | 3.0 |
Those who already have this album but haven't give it a listen ...can be divided in 2 groups! Those who can't refrain from feeling nostalgic after Forever Autumn apocalyptic period and the rest who had no problem with The Neonai-Era.Second group will be quite satisfied and my homesick fellas shouldn't be greedy at all !!!
Most of the album is consisted of heavy metal up-beat tunes or Green Dayish(yeah!!!) riff-based songs like"Parasites"and melodic trashy grooves like " The Hating" or "U.N.S.A.N.E".
Here are tracks that left an impression on me :
House of The Setting Sun : A down-tempo folk-oriented reminder of heartfelt "When My Sun Comes Down" from "Crimson Cosmos" which is outstandingly impressing .
The title track is also catchily well-structured that really shines bright.
The two other interesting tracks are "Behind The Green Door " with its gothic-influenced lyrics and bagpipe solo and "Out Of control" which stands out as the shortest but oddly has a progressive nature.
In nutshell latest Lake Of Tears release has something to offer to any generic metal fan...but may not work well as a whole body of work. |
| Lake of Tears Forever Autumn | 4.5 |
| Les Rallizes Denudes '77 Live | 5.0 |
| At the time of writing this review, the lenght of the album was kind of a hinderance in its accessibilty for me but the more I listen to this masterpiece the more I think I have to admit that I was mistaken. Not a barrier but an uplifter ! rUndoubtedly a classic of the genre and more ! |
| Like Drone Razors Through Flesh Sphere Ex Nihilo Nihil, Ad Nihilum Nihil Posse Reverti | 3.5 |
Apocalyptic, ritualistic funeral doom,drone,noise from Spain.rShare some similarities with Aethenor's Betimes Black Cloudmasses or some Sun O))) releases but hypnotizing in an utterly different level, Imagine an otherwordly DMT trip !
The title is a philosophical adage meaning, "From nothing, nought; to nothing
nought returns."
|
| Lycia A Day in the Stark Corner | 5.0 |
| This is a masterpiece ! An album to commit suicide with ! |
| M8L8TH By the Wing of Black | 4.0 |
| Mains de Givre Esther Marie | 4.0 |
| It's an abstract record Which is made of Eric Quach’s dark ambient soundscapes (often electric guitar feedback ) and haunting violin sighs of ?ilie Livernois in darkest, bleakest way possible ...it sounds perfectly unique ,highly recommended for fans of Lycia, black tape for a blue girl , raison d'etre , love spirals downward , soul whirling somewhere and... though it can't be compared to any of them ! I may change my vote to more than 4 ..because since I started lsitening to this record I found it really growing. |
| Morbid Angel Altars of Madness | 4.5 |
| Morbid Angel Covenant | 4.0 |
| Nargaroth Spectral Visions of Mental Warfare | 3.0 |
| Nargaroth's latest release is an attemp to create a mysteriously dark sonic atmosphere, incorporating sounds of nature, mideveal violon and cello composition (first and forth track), fuzzy vibe of Burzum's Filosofem(second track), dark ambient, oceanic soundcapes (third track) which leads to a transitional 2-minute interelude, a shortened version of the opning track, leading to one of the longest songs on this album ( a completely electronic-laden filler that is meaninglessly unreasonable ) I, myself, try to ignore the previous song because right after that comes 2 of the most emotional black metal tunes ever made , aesthetically consistent and heart-breakingly depressive...the closing track in my opinion is repeating the same mistake as the one made in aforesaid electronic-driven track.rBrushing two mentioned tracks aside, It's an amazing listen with its ups and downs and worthwhile because of its unexampled moments of purity. |
| Nirvana Incesticide | 4.5 |
| Orakle Tourments et perdition | 4.5 |
| Pantheist Pantheist | 3.5 |
| Totally different from whatever this band ever done and aesthetically more consistent than previuos releasaes.Thematically, Pantheist steps into a romantically somber realm which simultaneously sounds mysterious and melancholic.There's no growl or harsh vocals ,only soft, mournful clean singing.Like "Journey Through The Lands Unknown", each song is consisted of many diverse parts while keeping a highly clear proportionality, though it's less experimental than aforesaid record.Personally, I like Journey Through The lands Unknown by far better, nevertheless Pantheist self-tite surely will be part of my musical life for long. |
| Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles | 4.5 |
| Pestilence Spheres | 4.0 |
| I don't really care much about rates! but this one is absolutely, criminally underrated!!! |
| Sarcofago The Laws of Scourge | 4.5 |
| This record stands out from any other Sarcofago's releases..matured lyrical themes, amazingly complex time signatures, precisely written basslines, perfect production, mind-blowing guitar solos and a lot more ....this is suggested to all Extreme Black-thrash-death-technical metal fans. |
| Skullflower Obsidian Shaking Codex | 3.5 |
| Improvisational noise-based texture like their other releases is what this album is built on, some industrial elements here and there but very rare usage of loops,tape or generally electronic instrumentation. it must be listened on head phones if you want to be wholly musically assaulted !rThis is one those records that I love without an actual reason..it's mesmerising, charismatic , revelatory and inspiring. |
| Stabat Mater Stabat Mater | 4.0 |
| The Sun Came Up Upon the Left And the Dreams so Rich in Color | 3.5 |
| Tiamat Amanethes | 2.5 |
| Tiamat A Deeper Kind of Slumber | 5.0 |
| It s a psychedelic odyssey in dark realms of doom ! flawless , perfect! |
| Uaral Lamentos A Poema Muerto | 4.0 |
| Urna Iter Ad Lucem | 3.5 |
