Album Rating: 4.0

i didn't think i would say it, but new insomnium might overtake vessels on pure enjoyment factor

Album Rating: 4.5

From Scythe To Sceptre, fuuuuck. one epic riff after another, and they all flow so well. I like the new album too, but damn their riffs used to be on another level on the first two albums.

Album Rating: 4.0

Vessels is better but From Scythe to Sceptre has their best riff.

Album Rating: 4.0

I second that

Album Rating: 4.5

The riff that comes around 5.30 in Sun Delusions is sooo eargasmic.

Album Rating: 4.5

The only thing that is not making this a 5, is a bad production. But hey, it's metal after all. No wankery, no pretention, just pure guitar rampage. Drumming is excellent, though it mixed a bit lower than guitars. No annoying high-hat spam though, which is the case with other excellent melodeath bands.

Album Rating: 4.5

"...bad production. But hey, it's metal after all."

That statement is... quite something.

Album Rating: 4.5

I am stating the obvious. Quite rare there is a metal album, that has superb audiophile grade production. This band is not the case, and I know what I am talking about. Just listen to Colored Sands, maybe you will get the idea how to properly produce intensive metal record.

Album Rating: 4.5

I listened to all Gorguts albums and probably more records in that vein than you, hence why I know better that nicely sounding extreme metal isn't such a rarity anymore, luckily.

Album Rating: 4.5

Luckily for you, you don't have studio grade large scale monitors. Most of the extreme metal on such systems shows its obvious defects. But I can see where you come from, and I don't want to argue, since you dont have crucial experience to understand my position.

Album Rating: 4.5

No, I don't, but it's not that I can't spot some differences with my equipment nonetheless, plus I don't like this air of superiority you're giving away at all. I am not saying there aren't problems with a bunch of modern recordings, and you seem to think I am defending this album's issues, which is not the case; I am merely saying Coloured Sands is not the only notable one that's been done well and, if you want, I could give you some death metal recs that you may find pleasing to your ears and so called experience, because solely based on your ratings, I am not sure you heard them and you really should.

Also, have you heard the vinyl master for this record that can be found on Bandcamp for some improvement?

Album Rating: 4.5

My rating shows only 15% of bands i listen to. I tend to rank album atleast 6 months or year later after i listen to it. So you had a false assumption (Gorguts is just one of my fav band for many reasons), that I have not heard properly mixed albums. But if you have compare amount of good and bad records in extreme metal, the later prevails.

Album Rating: 4.5

The last sentence is definitely true, mainly due to how no one has really cared about it for decades, but it's very nice to see a push for a better quality in recent years, as seen with the latest releases of bands like Sunless, Artificial Brain, First Fragment, Phrenelith, Ad Nauseam and Inverloch.

Anyway, you haven't answered the last question. https://belakor.bandcamp.com/album/stones-reach-vinyl-remaster-5 (sharing it here for everyone interested)

Album Rating: 4.5

Nope, thanks for the info. I'll give it a go, kinda curious about improvements, this album clearly lacks a good production.



Downloading 1gb UHQ version from bandcamp as we speak.

I don't really see the "need" for that level of attention to production - it's also something is still very much debatable given with metal's history and super clean, even production was never a goal of metal in the first place. Don't get me wrong, it can work just fine and I dislike brickwalling as much as the next guy. But I don't think every metal record has to sound polished. Listening to high quality rips of Carcass or Death records - to me these records have impeccable production.

And I wouldn't want to listen to a super cleanly produced In the Nightside Eclipse or Dark Medieval Times, honestly. It would probably alter the sound in a way that takes away from the desired result.

Album Rating: 4.5

They don't need to be overly polished or clean, but they still should be dynamic. Some early DM records may have sounded rough and evil, but were still very dynamic (original release of Left Hand Path, for example). The modern bands I listed above also wouldn't be able to be called 'sanitized' by any means, but they aim for more breathing room and instrument differentiation, and all the better for it.

In that case I'm inclined to agree although I would say that it depends. Some versions of older releases are pretty good in the DR department (Heartwork, Symbolic) - it's unfortunate that brickwalling has become so ubiquitous

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah, especially the Attic Rec. version of Symbolic and the Japan press or the newer FDR edition of Heartwork.

I have the Attic Rec. of Symbolic and the JP of Heartwork. They are some of my favorite albums to listen to on my Beyerdynamic COPs.

Album Rating: 4.5

There is a certain difference between "polished" and "properly produced". There is also a difference between properly produced and what I call atmospheric production - that gritty, almost tinnitus inducing guitars, which can be found on Ulver's Nattens. I am not asking about polished production, there is just some artifacts can be found on the record (no matter what version i listen to), which is not the case with that Vinyl remaster which i am listening to right now. Also, the original 15-16 khz and higher territory is somewhat overly damped and sound too synthetic, while the mid bass is pretty awesome.



Whoa, 2nd track sounds awesome on remaster, definitely a step up over original.