Pon
Emeritus

Reviews 130
Approval 95%

Soundoffs 206
News Articles 6
Band Edits + Tags 943
Album Edits 1,487

Album Ratings 3610
Objectivity 90%

Last Active 01-08-23 8:51 am
Joined 02-13-12

Review Comments 5,985

 Lists
04.17.22 Pon's Top 50 ov2k2104.10.22 2021: Rejects ♦
01.21.21 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2k20 ♦10.08.20 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked (Again)
05.19.20 some classical jamz05.03.20 some metal jamz
05.05.19 For BlushfulHippocrene ♦05.02.19 Recent 2019 jams
04.19.19 Some 2019 Classical ♦04.18.19 Some 2019 m/
01.16.19 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2018 ♦07.25.18 Hard as Feck Riffs ♦
07.08.18 Classical in 2018 ♦04.23.18 Jac's (late) 1st Quarter 2018 ♦
12.27.17 Jac's Top 30 of 2017 ♦10.20.17 Classical in 2017 ♦
04.01.17 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked ♦03.29.17 Dissonant Tech
More »

Jac's 10k Comment Milestone

So it's confirmed that I have no life and the site has consumed my very being, but oh well. Was tossing up a couple ideas for what to do like fav users (but that's lame), top 100 albums, my journey through music but I settled on my 10 favourite albums as of right now. Hope y'all enjoy reading because I tend to ramble a bit, but whatever, here are Jac's 5s, ranked.
10Candlemass
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

I will admit that I?m not too well versed in doom metal but this album towers over
anything I?ve heard in the genre. Yes the title is incredibly cheesy, but I?ve yet to
hear anything that nails the prototypical doom atmosphere quite like this (Musta
Seremonia and Transcendence into The Peripheral have similar levels of doom but
are completely different beasts). Johan is a god and best Candlemass vocalist as
well, if you disagree you?re wrong and I?ll fight you. I?ll probably lose too but that
won?t change the truth, hail Stan!
9Immolation
Close to a World Below

Probably the most sinister atmosphere in death metal and one of the most integral
albums in the genres history, Close to a World Below is, for many people, the
perfect death metal album. Contorted, atonal riffing, superlative drumming from Alex
Hernandez and the otherworldly low-end growls of Ross Dolan; what?s not to love
exactly? It?s difficult not to descend into hyperbole when describing such an album,
but it?s my list and I?ll do what I want.
8Death
Symbolic

Is there anything to say about this album that hasn?t already been said? The
perfect balance of aggression and accessibility, and one of the funnest death metal
albums I?ve ever heard. Chuck Schuldiner is arguably the best-rounded talent in the
genre?s history ? vocals, guitar work, song-writing, lyricism, there wasn?t an area
where he didn?t excel. His clean singing in the ?Painkiller? cover on this album?s
successor as well as his work in Control Denied really shed light on how good this
guy was, and Symbolic was his (and Death?s) peak.
7Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No.9, Op.95

Not technically an album but whatever. It?s been about a year since I actively
began listening to classical (before then all I really listened to was a bit of neo-
classical as well some stuff by Samuel Barber), but in that time this symphony has
always stood out to me. Although I?m generally not as big on Romanticism as I am
on the two eras that preceded it, something about this album?s melodies, harmonies
and the pacing strikes a chord. The 3rd movement is probably my favourite because
m/m/m/m/ but truth be told they?re practically interchangeable in terms of
enjoyability.
6Dark Tranquillity
The Gallery

Dark Tranquillity was for the longest time, my absolute favourite band and this is
not only their magnum opus but the best melodeath album of all time, bar none.
Though I?ve generally grown off melodeath since I joined this site and began
exploring the nether regions of death metal more intently, this still gets regular
spins and has probably my favourite leads in any album I know. Mikael Stanne
needs a big hug as well he sounds like he?s in a lot of emotional pain but it gave
way to a pretty damn good vocal performance, also the bass is omnipresent
everything is so pretty sounding makes me want to die and go to heaven so I can
experience it perpetually.
5Agalloch
The Mantle

I remember when I first listened to this I didn?t really care for it because not
enough m/m/m/m/ and I went and listened to Ashes expecting something more my
sorta thing but turns out I kept returning to this and the rest is history really. I
mean come on if ?In The Shadow of Our Pale Companion? ain?t the best song ever
it?s definitely up there. Sound engineering is so well balanced and everything just
has this breezy elegance to it. The black metal vocals are more like whispers really
kinda sounds like forest spirits telepathically telling me to burn shit and to be
honest I probably would if I couldn?t listen to this again I?d be super pissed.
4Godspeed You! Black Emperor
F#A# (Infinity)

I rarely play this but when I do, oh my damn. Probably the most hair-raising album
I?ve ever heard, truly a work of art. Form the opening monologue that describes a
post-apocalyptic wasteland, the imperfect string sections that fill the listener with
unease yet blissful optimism to the monolithic climaxes, this thing is practically
faultless in its own demented way. Honestly, I?m not even sure which version I
prefer, the CD version skips a lot of the deadweight and of course has providence
as well as the climax in ?East Hastings?, but the vinyl (at least the rip I have) has a
fuller sound as well as the feelsy melody in ?Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful? (which
would later become East Hastings but whatever).
3Kashiwa Daisuke
Program Music I

Without question, the prettiest, twinkliest thing I?ve ever heard. It?s incredible to
think this thing (to my knowledge) was composed entirely of samples, and what
pretty samples they are. ?Stella? is pretty much the greatest thing to grace my
ears I mean it?s like a [insert really long winded analogy for absolute bliss], but
?Write Once, Run Melos? is also supremely engrossing despite not being as sweet on
the surface. My CD of this basically has a permanent place in my car, it?s the
ultimate segue for my rage when some old tart is doing 85 in the right hand lane on
the M1. Obviously this is a mere fraction of this album?s practical usage I mean I
even listen to it regularly in my spare time(!) Thank you based Daisuke.
2Cynic
Focus

Kindly Bent to Free Us may be a thing but it will never invalidate the mastery that is
Focus. Still to this day, nobody has even come close to imitating this, not even the
band that made it. I really don?t have a favourite track, pretty much every single
one is perfect, I mean ?How Could I?? has like the best rhythm ever to close it off
but songs like ?Uroboric Forms? are just mindfucks in the best way imaginable.
Three of the 4 members of this band are among the best in their fields, Paul
Masvidal may be a complete airhead but he?s also coincidentally a stunning
guitarist. Reinert is like the best extreme metal drummer ever and let?s not forget
Malone who doubled as the bassist and the wielder of the chapman stick (I?m sure
there?s a proper term for that but eh), rounding off the psychedelic mayhem, so
good.
1Ulcerate
Everything Is Fire

So here it is then, Everything is Fire. If you?ve actually read through all my rambling
I applaud you and I?d like you to be my friend, if you don?t want to be then that?s
okay I understand. Ulcerate pretty much epitomises everything I look for in death
metal, crushing atmosphere, technicality, ridiculous rhythms and song writing,
beastly vocals, it doesn?t get much better than this. Michael Hoggard?s guitar work
and tonal interplay is second to none, I mean the guy just instils feelings of
absolute dread and chaos with his instrument, dunno how he does it. Jamie Saint-
Merat is (along with Reinert) my favourite metal drummer, his cymbal work in
particular is exemplary, combining uncompromising brutality with intricate delicacy
and the like. There is not a single moment on this album that I don?t enjoy to the
fullest extent, not just my favourite death metal album, but my favourite album of
all time.
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