garas
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Album Ratings 2184
Objectivity 79%

Last Active 06-18-21 9:08 am
Joined 09-29-17

Forum Posts 9
Review Comments 6,093

Average Rating: 3.44
Rating Variance: 0.63
Objectivity Score: 79%
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5.0 classic
Abhor (ITA) Occulta Religio
Damn, I totally have not expected this to be *this* overhelmingly good! This a purely perfect theatratical black metal album. The atmosphere is so elegantly mysterious and sinister... simply nails my ideal in the genre. Fantastically well produced album, many bands could learn from this sound. Church organs, strongly heavy metal influenced (first wave-ish) black metal, and a beautifully pleasing and organic production... here it goes a 5.0!
AC/DC Highway To Hell
Alestorm Captain Morgan's Revenge
Amorphis Tuonela
Andavald Undir Skyggðarhaldi
What the hell is going on in Iceland??? Most impressive.
Antestor The Forsaken
Oh well, I have to admit I love this album to death. Cheesy, riffs hard and they had Hellhammer behind the drumkit - the album speaks for itself. Unblack or not, this is definitely a standout release, and a unique piece of black metal with the Christian lyrics and concept behind it. Also: hey, it has a purple cover, which makes it instantly a great atmoblack album. Antestor rules. *casts Smite Evil for extra epicness*
Bathory Under the Sign of the Black Mark
Bathory Nordland I & II
Double albums means double effect. The Nordland I-II double LP stands as a perfect epitome of viking metal, which cannot be outmatched.
Black Sabbath Paranoid
Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell
Black Sabbath Sabotage
One of the best outputs of Black Sabbath.
Blink-182 Greatest Hits
Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Burzum Det Som Engang Var
Burzum Aske
Burzum Filosofem
Caladan Brood Echoes Of Battle
Candlemass Nightfall
Carpathian Forest Black Shining Leather
Carpathian Forest We're Going to Hell for This - Over a Decade ...
Carpathian Forest Journey Through The Cold Moors Of Svarttjern
What a beautiful demo! I instantly fell in love with it: the atmopshere, the aesthetics, the melancholic melodies... simply perfect!
Carpathian Forest Defending the Throne of Evil
Carpathian Forest always stood out from the BM scene because of their uncanny self awareness, and with this one they created the heaviest (kinda symphonic) atmoblack album ever. Tons of crushing and massive riffs, majestic synths, and gruesome vocals. Thuggish, yet elegantly sinister.
Celtic Frost To Mega Therion
One of the most influental albums in metal.
Celtic Frost Monotheist
Incredible work, Celtic Frost's most amibtious work. The overall twisted, dark, and liturgical atmosphere in unmatched, and putting a genre tag is technically impossible to describe what is this. But one thing is for sure: this is heavy, and not an easy listen.
Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon
Darkthrone Panzerfaust
Darkthrone The Underground Resistance
Purest form of metal. Any rating on this under 4.0 is invalid. Sorry, I did not make the rules.
Darkthrone Too Old, Too Cold
Deafheaven Sunbather
Deafheaven New Bermuda
Deafheaven Roads to Judah
Demolition Hammer Epidemic of Violence
This is among the most violent records I've ever heard. Fucking desctruction with endless riffstorms.
Depressive Silence Depressive Silence II
Depressive Silence The Darkened Empires
Depressive Silence Depressive Silence
Depressive Silence Twenty-Five Years
Dethklok The Dethalbum
Dio Holy Diver
Dodheimsgard A Umbra Omega
Dodheimsgard 666 International
Dodheimsgard Satanic Art
Perfection. That's what i've been looking for years!
Evilfeast Elegies of the Stellar Wind
There is one big problem with this album: it sets your standards extremly high in atmoblack, since your chances of finding yet another brilliant release like this are nearly zero. From the perfect guitar tone, through the exciting yet somewhat traditional song structures, to the mesmerizing synths... 'Elegies of the Stellar Wind' has it all, and stands as probably the highest quality atmoblack ever existed. And thinking about this masterpiece was created only by GrimSpirit... it's incredible! I got the goosebumps at each listen even after countless listens.
Fief IV
Fief I​-​IV
One of the shiniest gems in my collection. The title says it all: the whole Fief collection on double CD. Exceptionally good medieval ambient music, a must-have, an absolute classic.
Forest Silence Winter Circle
This the greatest example of black ambient. A dense, dark, and sinister atmospheric masterpiece.
Gustav Holst The Planets, Op. 32
Hellvetic Frost Misanthropic Devotion
Horna Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne
A peak in the band's discography, Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne is all about great melodic riffs in the spirit of the old-school ways. Songs like 'Kirous Ja Malja' are easily in the same league with Satanic Warmaster's best outputs.
Howard Shore The Fellowship of the Ring
Howard Shore The Lord of the Rings: Complete Trilogy
Immortal Battles in the North
Immortal Pure Holocaust
Riffs cold as ice.
Immortal Sons of Northern Darkness
Iron Reagan The Tyranny Of Will
This is THE pinnacle of crossover thrash. Mega fun, mega riffs, mega energy.
Isengard Høstmørke
Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
John Williams Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
John Williams Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope
John Williams Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Judas Iscariot Thy Dying Light
I don't really do instant 5.0s, but this is an exception with a good reason, because this is among the greatest second wave black metal albums from the late '90s. The simple yet crushing riffs, the aesthetics, the super strong mid-tempo sections... everything is just right, nothing is overdone and the album flows nicely. Most impressed.
Kekht Arakh Pale Swordsman
Albums like this are the highest reward for the dwellers of the underground. I haven't heard a classic old-fashioned black metal/ambient release quite a long time. It has everything I love: the eerie melancholy, the contrastinc romanticism, the endless love for the sound of the early '90s, and of course: the riffs.
I'm really loving this.
Kvelertak Meir
Lamentation As Shadow Kingdom Comes To My Sight
Mastodon Leviathan
Mayhem Deathcrush
Mayhem Live in Leipzig
Mayhem Grand Declaration of War
Mayhem Henhouse Recordings
Megadeth Rust in Peace
Megadeth Countdown to Extinction
Morbid December Moon
Morbid / Mayhem A Tribute To The Black Emperors
An essential compilation album which immortalizes Per Yngve Ohlin/Dead's works. Despite this is an extremly bootlegged release, this is still the most precise collection of songs from the best and trvest vocalist in black metal.
Mort Garson Plantasia
Paysage d'Hiver Schattengang
Best Paysage album. Period.
Pentagram First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection)
"No band can sound as good as Sabbath did... Now hol' up!" An incredibly fun and great album, which embodies everything you may know about what is old-school. Pentagram rules m/
Pink Floyd The Wall
Queen Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest
Rage Against The Machine Rage Against the Machine
Return to Forever Romantic Warrior
Richard Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra
Ah, it is so good. The ever-changing flow of moods and atmopsheres make this a 5/5 classical piece (for me).
Samael Ceremony Of Opposites
Satanic Warmaster Carelian Satanist Madness
Satanic Warmaster Strength & Honour
Satyricon Dark Medieval Times
Satyricon Nemesis Divina
Skarpseian Fragmenter Av Trolldom
Blending the past with the present, 'Fragmenter Av Trolldom' is another perfect album from the modern age of dungeon synth. Each song has its own aura, and the overall gloomy and magical atmosphere is simply perfect. *garas's seal of approval*, of course.
Slayer South of Heaven
The very best of Slayer.
Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions
Thangorodrim Taur​-​nu​-​Fuin
The most magical Tolkien-inspired album you would ever hear. This album is full of charming,
unforgettable and epic melodies. A fantastic musical experience, one of the shiniest pearl in the
oceans of music. Who gives a rating under 4.0 probably can't enjoy music at all... (Bonus: to get
this treausre on physical is very challenging.)
The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years
Thorns Thorns
Thy Catafalque Rengeteg
Tormentor Anno Domini
How do we deserve Tormentor?
Ulver Teachings In Silence
Ulver Silencing the Singing
Ulver Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler
Ulver Shadows of the Sun
Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP
Vaa Ur sägen och hävd
AOTY contender neoclassical / dungeon synth. I have no words to describe how beautiful is this...
Wilson Tanner 69
Windrikje Frostland
This is it, the most perfect winter synth album ever made. The mysterious, ancient and powerful aura which fills the entire album is indescribable. Magical.
Zyklon-B Blood Must Be Shed
Aldrahn, Samoth, Ihsahn, and Frost in the same album... Mad riffs, machinegun drums, insane and terrifying lyrics, and haunting synths - all together, an uniquely evil atmosphere has been created. Essential BM demo.

4.5 superb
...and Oceans Cosmic World Mother
Outstanding atmoblack release. Thuggish, heavy, great synths, perfect runtime - everything is given. They kept a tiny little dose of industrial as well, but I liked this modern ...And Oceans more, I think. Cathartic 'til the end.
Acid Bath When the Kite String Pops
Akercocke Renaissance in Extremis
Antonin Dvorak Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, B. 178
Anubis (Fr) Cradle of Civilization
Apoxupon How the Garden Grows
Archgoat The Luciferian Crown
More sophisticated, improved sound quality and production - Archgoat reached a new level with this release. This is a well-balanced, filthy riff storm, and I love it. Their signature style really shines in this release, and stands as an excellent example how to create a nasty black-death album in the old-school way.
Arcturus Constellation
Cheesy as fuck!! This contains just traces of black metal, extremly synth dominant album. Here and there it sounds "funny", but it is still manages to stay somewhat majestic. Very unique and so much fun. I love it!
Avox Desolate Land
Awesome (real) old-school dungeon synth album. Something is truly magical in this one.
Ball Like You Are…I Once Was…Like I Am – You Will...
This is what you get if you cross acid rock from the '60s, with some Black Sabbath and a little touch of blues rock. One of the most fun albums of 2020, an amazing fuzzy psychedelic rock journey.
Bathory Blood Fire Death
Bathory Blood on Ice
Bathory Nordland I
Be'lakor Stone's Reach
Finest melodeath album I've ever heard.
Beherit Bardo Exist
Another twist in Beherit's discography: another electronic/dark ambient album! And it is also among the best works of Nuclear Holocausto. Dense, dark and cryptic atmosphere, crispy textures, great analog synths and great vocals... looks like Beherit follows the Ulver-path now.
Black Anvil As Was
Still one of my favourite meloblack albums, and the way how much I find this an "easy listening" says a lot. The clean vocals are easily the most memorable component, and the way they insterted them into their sound is really original, and has an oddly "uplifting" feel time to time, meanwhile the harsh vocals and the more sinister (yet really heavy metal-ish) riffs bring a certain elegant vibe and atmosphere into the picture - and in my opinion, this makes it a very memorable, pleasant album, a rare kind of modern black metal release which really ages well.
Black Anvil Miles
Such an elegant, wonderfully diverse EP, excellent presentation of the band's talent: crushing/proggy black metal, bluesy moments, a great Merciful Fate cover... EP of the year.
Black Label Society Catacombs of the Black Vatican
Bloodbath The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn
Oh yes. The sound of HM-2 pleases my ears. m/ m/ m/
Botanist VI: Flora
Burzum Belus
Burzum The Ways of Yore
Burzum Thulêan Mysteries
Lots of familiar melodies and sounds, but still something new and exciting. The new (and probably last) Burzum album combined every strength of all the dungeon synth / ambient releases, making it Varg's best and strongest ambient output. A lengthy, but highly atmospheric release, which mostly builds on old-school synths and folk instruments. Fortunately this is lot more similar to "Yore" than "Sol austan", so it was technically impossible for me to not love this album. I wish songs like 'The Sacred Well', 'Gathering Herbs', 'The Ettin Stone Heart' etc. would be longer...
Candlemass Tales of Creation
Typical Candlemass-greatness. The guitarwork is legendary (I love the aggressive, fuzzy guitar tone a lot!), and the rhytm section, especially the drums, sound lot better than in the previous albums - a small change, but it means a lot. (But Nightfall is still their unbeatable masterpiece.)
Carcass Heartwork
Carpathian Forest Through Chasm, Caves And Titan Woods
Carpathian Forest Morbid Fascination of Death
Carpathian Forest produces awesome albums like it's nothing - yet somehow they're criminally underrated... I can't help it: I'm in love with this hard rock influenced style of black metal. And when the synths are involved...ah, sounds evil and sinister, which is fantastic! And as usual, there are some greatly experimental songs as well like "Cold Comfort" which sounds like Carpathian Forest-Ulver collaboration (if only...). And saxophones in black metal never sounded so good.
Celestial Bloodshed Ω
Fantasic album, and I totally didn't expect this greatness. It feels like this album mixes several styles of black metal together, like listening to Mayhem, Carpathian Forest, Gorgoroth etc. at the same time! The vocal performance is outstanding, and also pretty interesting as well - like fusing the vocals style of Per Yngve Ohlin and Attila Csihar together, which results a passionate, overwhelming and horryfing sounds - and I love it, Steingrim Torson was a fantastic vocalist.
Celtic Frost Morbid Tales
Coroner Mental Vortex
Even the roadies of Celtic Frost make better thrash metal albums than most thrash bands... Jokes aside, the Swiss trio behind Coroner is a really talented bunch, and this album is amazingly good in any sense. I sense a grower!
Cosmic Wheels Cosmic Wheels
Craft Void
The slowest Craft, and "Void" rules in every aspect. Very creative, and their interesting take on the genre is more than satisfying. Sometimes it really-really sounds like mid-era Darkthrone, even the vocals sounds similar to Nocturno Culto's style. Damn, this is fucked up dissonant black metal greatness. I should jam this more often.
Craft Fuck the Universe
Craft's finest craft. Solid riffage (the overall impression is something like the mixture of early- and mid-era Darkthrone) and of course the nihilism. Another "must hear once" black metal piece.
Darkspace Dark Space I
It is SO good, enjoyed (almost) every minute of it, and I've just noticed: oh, the album has just ended. Super agressive riffs, and the grim, spacey, sharp atmosphere... the album offered everything I carve for; everything makes an atmoblack album outstanding. Also: this is the best Darkspace album. Period.
Darkthrone Soulside Journey
Darkthrone Sardonic Wrath
Darkthrone Old Star
This Old Star still shines brightly: the new doomy Darkthrone kicks ass.
Deadwood Picturing a Sense of Loss
Sunny vibes. This is probably the best blackgazey album I've heard since Deafheaven's stuff.
Deafheaven Demo
Deafheaven 10 Years Gone
My "secondary-AOTY". Even though I know them "only" for 5 years, this was a very memorable compilation with a tracklist which has almost all of my most favourite songs by them. The dynamic, dreamesque blackgaze masterpieces flow perfectly together, and there is nothing to complain about. (Maybe the odd feeling when I've heard no pianos in "The Pecan Tree", but that's alright.) Listening to "10 Years Gone" is an extraordinary and great pleasure to hear/feel our favourite Deafheaven songs, and especially the pink noisy hug through the two songs at the end felt the most precious. Thanks for everything.
Desolate Moon Phases Heathenstones
Best drone album this year (so far). Interesting, it feels sci-fi-esque and ancient in the
same time...very-very atmospheric.
Devil Master Manifestations
Dio The Collection
Dunjon Magik Dunjon Magik
Brilliant. Exciting blend of modern dungeon synth and synth music from the '90s. The atmosphere is uniquely sinister and magical - true dungeon music!
Emglev Noz Veil
Mesmerizing work, a truly overlooked (and kind of hidden) dungeon synth gem. The atmosphere is exceptional, the synth sounds are gorgeous - I was really surprised when I found out this is from '96! Wonderful work, I fell in love on my first listen.
Erang Kingdom Of Erang
Absolutely beautiful dungeon synth. Rich, diverse, masterfully produced. Shame on me for overlooking it for years... very close to a 5.0. (Terrible album cover tho, haha!)
Erik Wollo Infinite Moments
Creating layers of oddly harmonic feelings, Erik Wollo delivers top quality drone ambient using only electric guitar.
Exhumed Anatomy Is Destiny
Massive, groovy and has sick solos in it: I was sold almost instantly. It feels a kinda thrashy, but in the most positive way. "Anatomy Is Destiny" is one of the most dynamic goregrind album I've ever heard, with near infinite replay value.
Fief III
Fiendish Imp Fiendish Imp
Gaahls Wyrd GastiR - Ghosts Invited
Strong AOTY candidate for me. Fantastic performance, very creative (and progressive) songwriting,
and phenomenal vocals. And yeah, the drums are totally impressive. How dares this band to be THIS
good?
Gatecreeper An Unexpected Reality
Super fun mini album, and again: this band NEVER disappoints. Basically 7 short deathgrind song and one long doom riff fest (yes, it's pretty much doom). A perfect album to start a day with.
Gnoll Music for Dungeons
Gnoll Zargo's Lords
I have no idea how can Heimat Der Katastrophe put out so many awesome releases... I sense some serious magic behind this - especially about artists like Gnoll. The mysterious project's recent output is simply brilliant, top tier dungeon synth music. I simply can't get enough about this kind of fantasy-inspired releases like this, because these keep constantly blow my mind. "Zargo's Lords" is probably the very best what Gnoll ever released. The progression of each song is phenomenal, every melody and instrument is exciting, and the whole package flows like a dream. Just listen to this already, you'll understand.
Goatsnake 1 + Dog Days
Goblin Profondo Rosso
Simply top notch spooky progressive rock.
Gospel of the Horns A Call to Arms
This is how black-thrash should sound. This is one of those records, where you can certainly feel how much fun these guys had making this. Killer riffs and solos, simple and straight-forward songs. Unholy and old-school!
Green Druid Ashen Blood EP
Green Lung Woodland Rites
Grieve (FIN) Grieve
This might be the EP of the year? This is some top tier melodic/atmoblack, presented by an insanely strong lineup. Members of Horna, Satanic Warmaster and Vargrav? Most impressive what they could come up with together.
Hades Almighty Alone Walkyng
Hajduk Природа
This is 100% my taste in lo-fi black metal: strong folk and ambient elements, minimalist riffing, distant and grim atmosphere. Very nice. One spot in my year end list is taken. *garas's seal of approval*
Hallas Excerpts From a Future Past
This album is just simply fantastic. I see why does Fenriz love them so much. The 70s have been born again, and this doesn't sound any dusty at all. These guys are super talented - the proggy touch and those synths are fascinating. And I must confess: I fell in love with 'Star Rider' on my very first listen.
Hallas Conundrum
Another beautiful album by the Swede retro-band. Mesmerizing creation, exciting and adventurous! Wonderful album, and deserves lot more attention! Hällas rules m/
Havukruunu Uinuos Syomein Sota
Insanely good Bathory-worship and Finnish meloblack... ON SPEED! Riffs after riffs, awesome shredding and a more folkish (kinda Ulver-ish) sound: all these together is just simply fantastic, Havukruunu leveled up.
Hexenwood Witchthrone
Fantastic fusion of ancient Hungarian folk music and crushing black metal. Pretty straightforward, insanely riffs and guitar tone, simple yet effective song-structures, the mix is spot on and the folk parts & lyrics are enchanting. Perfect score.
Hexenwood Regevándor
Another damned good album: perfect mix of the old Hungarian pagan folk music and the raw, harsh black metal. Only thing is a bit annyoing is the weaker mixing compared to the first album. But the riffs are just as crushing!
Horna Sanojesi Aarelle
Punching riff-fest. Seemingly they aimed for writing longer tracks for this one, and personally I do believe it was a rather succesful approach, and it gave plenty of place to certain songs to "bloom out". Filled with raw energy, it was a simply fantastic straight-forward black metal release. Title track is easily among their best songs.
Horna Perimä Vihassa Ja Verikostossa
Mega EP! This is a purely massive piece of black metal release from the more meloldic branch of the genre. RIFFS!! I wish they could have recorded this in a better quality, because it is near-classic material.
Horna Kuoleman Kirjo
The "cleanest" Horna album ever, a drastic change from their raw BM style. I think this was a welcomed change with this album, because this more modern production could bring out so much of this concept. Don't expect less than the typical Horna greatness: endless waves of melodic black metal riffs - I was so right about Shatraug kept his best ideas for this band! The best second wave-worship album in 2020.
Immortal At the Heart of Winter
Immortal Damned In Black
Internal Rot Mental Hygiene
Simply mad, super massive riff fest. Absolute grindcore [2]
Iron Monkey 9-13
John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton
Kasjchq / Siege Tower Split
Kataxu North
Extremly overlooked atmoblack greatness. Raw, very synth-dominant - that's how I like it.
Kate Bush Hounds of Love
The only reason I don't 5.0 this, because I found the B-side generally lot more exciting than the A-side with the so-called "big hits". The album has such an unique atmosphere...! There is so much thing going on, and I greatly admire her imagination. Like comparing my two favourites from the album ("Watching You Without Me" & "Hello Earth") is already odd enough, because they're so different, but still feel connected... by her voice and her fantasy. Ah, this is simply a fascinating release.
Korhadt VTTCK
A slow, massively doomy and gloomy, horroric release. This is not an easy listen, very close
to what I experienced with 'Black One' by Sunn O))) - and this is just as heavy.
Krampusnacht Krampusnacht
Lunar Womb The Sleeping Green
Mastodon Cold Dark Place
Mayhem Out from the Dark
Mayhem Wolf's Lair Abyss
Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive
Megadeth Risk
Not really a 4.5 but since it has infinite replay value I gave it. If you have no expectations you can truly enjoy this album. They took risk, and I'm glad they did: each song stands well on it's own and pretty fun to listen to. The mix is great, the song length's are spot on, and Dave's singing is exceptionally good. I enjoy this a lot lately.
Metallica No Life 'til Leather
Mightiest Whatever Ground We May Roam
This is probably the one of the best black metal demos I've ever heard. Diverse, heavy, epic.
Mortiis The Stargate
Murgrind The Power of Yourself
Fantastic EP! Murgrind single-handedly created one of the best DS releases of the year with this one long track. Masterfully produced and composed, super exciting and inspiring, with strong LoTR vibes... the atmosphere is also spot on!
Murmuure Murmuure
Mycologia Assorted Mushrooms of New England
Exceptional album, both in style and concept: Berlin-school dungeon synth about various mushrooms in New England? A winner combo. Definitely one of the best DS albums this year.
Myrkur Folkesange
I really needed this. Beatiful nordic folk + Amalie Bruun's heavenly voice = pure gold. Productionwise speaking, the album is excellent, the instrumentation really matches to her singing, and all those uplifting melodies make this a perfectly relaxing album. Great year for folk music!
Mysticum In the Streams of Inferno
N'Zwaa Maha Kali
Unexpectedly fantastic blackened death metal (with some psychedelic and drone elements). Horror vocals, killer riffs and the production is spot on. (4.7)
Narsilion Nerbeleth
Null (USA) Hiraeth
Extremly long (110+ minutes!), yet consistently awesome atmoblack release. The production is outstanding, especially since we're talking about a one-man band. I loved the very melodic riffing style (which is sometimes steps pretty much into the viking metal territory), the tons of neo-folk infulences and instrumental sections, and the epic dungeon synth elements. Hiraeth masterfully blends these elements together, and the result is a charming and most enjoyable atmo-folk black metal album.
Old Sorcery Realms of Magickal Sorrow
Om Advaitic Songs
Om God Is Good
Owls Woods Graves Citizenship of the Abyss
Super tasty black metal/punk served raw. Maybe it's not the best, but surely one of the most fun
albums of the year.
Paysage d'Hiver Im Wald
The best Paysage d'Hiver after Schattengang. This is a lengthy, a bleak and icy atmospheric riff blizzard accompanied by the typical dark ambient elements we all know and like. 'Im Wald' requires some patience, but still a very enjoyable musical experience. The aesthetics and the atmosphere are both satisfying, BUT: there are not enough lo-fi wind noises!
Paysage d'Hiver Im Traum
Riffs cold as ice of a glacier, 'Im Traum' is something like an extension of 'Im Wald', where Wintherr managed to find something more - something haven't heard or not properly expressed yet. I think this EP outshined the black metal giant in certain aspects, and presents a more ethereal, cold and grim atmosphere thanks to the greater involvement of synths (choirs, pads, or maybe something more?). If you want to experience the "Im Wald-experience" in mini, then 'Im Traum' shall not disappoint.
Paysage d'Hiver Das Gletschertor/Das schwarze Metall-Eisen
It was an interesting discovery how great these 'Schattengang' outcut songs are. Especially "Das scwarze Metall-Eisen" song was an exciting "new" side of Paysage d'Hiver: old-school battle samples, industrial elements, disco beats etc??. The atmosphere of this compilation is outstanding, most impressive.
Pentagram Pentagram
'Pentagram' / 'Relentless', you name it, is an excellent old-school doom record. Personally I was surprised how Sabbathy it was (I didn't know this band earlier). Tasty riffs!
Pentagram Be Forewarned
That's how one does make an outstanding doom album! Many bands could learn from this release. Simply awesome.
Pest [FI] Hail the Black Metal Wolves of Belial
Judas Priest goes to black metal??? Seriously overlooked and forgotten.
Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles
*insert meme* This is something! 'Phalnes Et Pestilence - Salvatrice Averse' is a masterpiece, otherwise this is a very-very good album. Probably the best French black metal album I've heard.
Peste Noire Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor
This is simply crazy good.
Peste Noire L'Ordure a l'etat Pur
Such a weirdo album. The variety (and the lolz) left me no other option than 4.5 this. I have no idea from where did Ludovic pull this out... mad.
Pig Destroyer Terrifyer
Oh yeah, this is heavy. Those riffs...! I especially liked the second half of the album, those songs are really punchy.
Profanum Vulgaris 2009​-​2012
Rage Against The Machine Rage Against the Machine XX
Red Fang Murder the Mountains
Red Fang Red Fang
Sadistik Exekution The Magus
Fantastic. Hellish riffs covered in a thick evil atmosphere, coming from the deepest abyss. The
terrific vocals and the bass are in the spotlight, and the production is raw and tasty. Sadly, the
whole album is not even 36 minutes long... (recorded in '88!!)
Samael Blood Ritual
Satanic Warmaster Fimbulwinter
Much clearer production, killer riffs, some acoustic instruments, beautiful synths - the not raw Warmaster also rules.
Satanic Warmaster Black Metal Kommando
Satanic Warmaster We Are The Worms That Crawl...
Collection of (almost) all the split appearances: an epitome of raw black metal. The cover greatly illustrates the album's overall sound. Every song is killer.
Sear Bliss Letters From The Edge
Selvhat Den Svarte Tid
Shining (SWE) V - Halmstad
Skeleton Skeleton
Alright, I had no choice, but to 4.5 this bad boy. I loved everything about this album: the mixture of first wave black / punk / thrash sounds amazing, filled with raw energy! The production is nice and crispy, the mix is really well balanced (the drums sound is really sweet). Slayzzzzz m/
Slayer Reign in Blood
"Angel Of Death", and every song from "Jesus Saves" are absolute classics, which basically makes this the ultimate definition of a 4.9 album.
Slayer Show No Mercy
Sleep The Clarity (Single)
Sodom In the Sign of Evil
Splendorius From the Ashes
Epic, majestic, exciting and very well composed. This album was a great surprise - the best kind.
Stellar Master Elite Hologram Temple
Storm Nordavind
Summoning Oath Bound
Sunn O))) Oracle
Sunn O))) (初心) GrimmRobes Live 101008
Synth Bard Beyond the Crystal Cave
Taake Stridens hus
Takatoshi Naitoh In The Forest
This album masterfully blends together (old-school) uplifting, dreamy synths and field recordings into a dreamy and beautiful musical journey.
Thangorodrim Gil-Estel
Thangorodrim The Darkening of Valinor
Finally, the lost album by Thangorodrim!! The distinctive aesthetics can be found here, and the album sounds just as wonderful as expected. Interestingly, "The Darkening of Valinor" has the most diverse atmosphere from the whole discography: it is like all the unique winter synth, epic old-school and medieval styles are mixed together - which is extremly exciting. Wonderful album.
The Devil and the Almighty Blues The Devil and the Almighty Blues
The Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads
The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
The Wonders Of Atomic Mutations Tunguska
Thorns Grymyrk
What an overlooked demo...I can understand why was it such a huge inspiration for Burzum & Mayhem
as well: one of the most important demos in the genre.
Thorns Thorns vs Emperor (split w/ Emperor)
Thorns Stigma Diabolicum
Thy Catafalque Geometria
Tsjuder Desert Northern Hell
Ulvegr Arctogaia
Ulver Silence Teaches You How to Sing EP
Ulver Messe I.X-VI.X
Ulver Perdition City
Ulver Metamorphosis
Vindkaldr Enchantments Of Old Lore
Warmoon Lord Burning Banners of the Funereal War
White Death White Death
Fantastic album - and surprisingly this album offers literally nothing revolutionary, this is a completely orthodox release... But this is so catchy, so well-made, so well-produced and those riffs slap SO hard! A most-impressive second wave worshipping modern BM album. Especially the last song is a pure masterpiece, "White Death's Power" is the most perfect melodic BM song ever.
Wormsblood Bounds Beaten
What a demo, a raw black metal greatness! I'm impressed.
Xasthur Suicide in Dark Serenity

4.0 excellent
0 (Null) Entity
Super heavy, post-DSBM with massive atmosphere and with lots of clean vocals - Iceland constantly produces excellent quality metal music lately, and this is no exception.
36 and Zake Stasis Sounds For Long​-​Distance...
Very-very good drone album with a minimalistic approach. As the title indicates, this is a concept album about space travel, and the album fits to the expectations. Ethereal pads, pretty phasing noises - ready for space travel!
A Compendium of Curiosities Heaven Feels Like Floating Around in a Golden City
Dreams embodied in marvelous synth music.
Abhor (ITA) I.gne N.atura R.enovatur I.ntegra
Great symphonic black metal release, and I totally fell in love with the synth section... sounds exactly like an old-school videogame, and matches perfectly to the album's atmosphere. The production is pretty dull, having the vocals as the sharpest component. But since the album has great variety within, alltogether I am very pleased with the overall package. I guess I have a new favourite band now.
Abhor (ITA) Vocat Spiritum Morti
Perfect atmosphere + I loved the drone ambient piece at the beginning, and I the Goblin cover songs.
Abyssic Hate Suicidal Emotions
That buzzsaw guitar sound in this is one of a kind... this atmosphere sends shivers down my spine~
Adrasteia Hymnes de Glaciers
Outstanding, highly atmospheric (raw) black metal / drone fusion demo, which elegantly mixes the two genre's best sides: ethereal and icy drones meet distant, sinister black metal tremolos and fearful shrieks. I loved the tiny experimentations with field recordings and (wintry) synths - I wish this would contain more of them. But I'm greatly impressed!
Adventum Diaboli/Donarhall Cemetery Of Hopes (Split)
Aeberassath Sphaera Aquae
Aerekaer Avindskjold
Afsky Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død
Black metal with emotions.
Ager Sonus Mithra
Ahab Call of the Wretched Sea
Akercocke Antichrist
Akhlys Melinoe
Alcest Spiritual Instinct
Alcest Kodama
Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme
This is a lovely sonical hug for the soul. Best Alcest.
Alestorm No Grave But the Sea
Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies
Amystery Grim Satanic Blessing
Ancient Boreal Forest Where Dragons Dream
Magical and mysterious melodies with BM aesthetics - just how I love it. Also, nice Summoning and Thangorodrim vibes! *garas's seal of approval*
Ancient Boreal Forest/The Cold Domain In The Land Of High Fantasy
Ancient Mastery Chapter One: Across The Mountains Of ...
I like atmocheese. Perfectly balanced album, too bad it has only 4 songs in it.
Ancient Sword Ars Antiqua
Very-very good dungeon synth album. The combination of spacey drone and adventurous synth soundscapes works great; and especially the usage of some rless typical (sometimes odd) synth sounds makes this an outstandingly enjoyable album.
Antestor Omen
Anti The Insignificance of Life
A fantastic DSBM album - more on the traditional second wave side. The album delivers tons of fast, tight tremolo riffing accompanied by a superb guitar tone, somewhat standard styled vocals, and exceptionally good production (but with programmed drums?). The album has a very uniquely agressive atmosphere - and I loved it! The bonus track "Death into Life" is a crushing masterpiece.
Antlers (DE) Beneath.Below.Behold
Anubi Kai pilnaties akis uzmerks Mirtis
This is a very unorthodox release, maybe this is something which could be tagged as avant-garde? Not sure. Anubi's one and only LP is a really exciting listen, since this combines many different styles and genres, which makes this an extraordinary and original album. Very atmospheric, and surprisingly, a pretty much bass driven release, which is one of the least usual things in BM in general. I especially loved the folk elements (traditional Lithuanian, I guess?) and the very unusual synth sounds. This sounds like a wild dream, tbh.
Aornos The Great Scorn
Very strong atmoblack release - I might 4.5 it later. The production quality is spot on, nice and heavy riffing (the solos here and there are also very nice), the bass sounds HUGE which is fantastic, and the synths... ahhhh SO good! Hard to find a pinnacle, since the whole album is consistently massive and enjoyable. I shall grab it on tape as well.
Archgoat Black Mass XXX
Sick live album. Simply there is nothing to complain about: the recording quality is excellent, the crowd is barely audible and each instrument sounds crisp and alive. It is a super long set, but the track order and the general structure is very good- it is a pleasant jam. Headbanging guaranteed.
Archgoat Whore of Bethlehem
Filthy debut, for sure. Simple and effective riffs (lots of Hellhammer and Beherit love) are truly memorable, such as the interesting and unique vocals. The production is pleasantly crispy, which might please the old-school fanatics. The heaviest songs like "Lord of the Void" were instant love-at-first-jams.
Archgoat The Apocalyptic Triumphator
Filthy mix of oldie black metal and death-doom, which means tasty riffs and excellent replay value. The OSDM-type of vocals seemed a bit odd at first, but by the end of the album I totally dug it. Their primitive approach is their strongest weapon (sweet Celtic Frost, Beherit, Darkthrone and general OSDM influences), and I was hooked by it right instantly.
Arcturus Aspera Hiems Symfonia
It is pretty, and I loved the atmosphere - however not every song was that really memorable for me. But still I really-really liked this one.
Asattarn An Old Beginning
Ashes (POL) Ashes
Azaghal Omega
Azelisassath In Total Contempt of All Life
Azelisassath Evil Manifestations Against Mankind
B. Ashra Music For Growing
Another very pretty album. The constant, deep sine bass and the pulsating, ethereal pads together builds a calm and uplifting atmosphere... very hypnotic! And using wind bells as a percussion instrument is simply brilliant.
Balance Interruption Door 218
Ball Ball
This some real sweet '70s psychedelic rock / heavy metal worship right there! Catchy riffs, hot solos... this is out and out rock'n'roll!
Barbarian King Barbarian King
A terrible cover art hides great excellence: Barbarian King's debut is a very-well written and produced fantasy-inspired musical journey. Various instruments, and percussions and exciting melodies - this is all about.
Barbaric Frost Against the darkness
Baroness Red Album
Basic Dungeon Perils in the slums scenario 1: the orcs commune
Bathory Katalog
This is a very odd compilation. Some songs sound better than the originals, and some others were the complete opposite... but generally the changes are on the positive side. However, this is a pretty decent compilation album - under that I mean a satisfying tracklist.
Bathory Nordland II
Batushka HOSPODI
Well, this is very different from the original Batushka, and I have to say: I enjoyed this one probably lot more than the others. I don't care about the story behind the split-up because I rcan't be 100% objective in this case. But again, this is a very-very good album. Hospodi is more on the post-metal side, very heavy, the mix is spot on, and I really enjoyed the the overall ratmosphere of this album.
Beherit Drawing Down the Moon
Pioneering work of the black-death branch, a some sort of a classic album. (The dilemma of keeping it at 4.0 or bumping it up to 4.5 is driving me mad!)
Beherit Engram
Behexen Rituale Satanum
"Here is the raw black metal album with massive riffs and throat-wrecking vocals you've ordered." Behexen's debut LP is always a good jam.
Beketh Nexehmu De Svarta Riterna
Belong October Language
Beltaine Rockhill
This is what I could call simply as: lovely. Very nice and jolly folk album. Am I the only one who gets happy late-summer vibes from this? Beautiful instruments, beautiful production.
Belzebubs Pantheon of the Nightside Gods
Beorn's Hall Estuary
Black Curse Endless Wound
This album ended pretty fast... *hits replay* Seriously, this is some nicely filthy death metal, which really deserves the attention. Well balanced, and most importantly: ~heavyyyyyyyy~
Black Label Society Grimmest Hits
Black Magick SS Rainbow Nights
The fuck did I just listen to...? And why did I like it this much? (Thanks youtube algorithm anyway.) Black metal and occlutism in psychedelic rock disguise?! This is sick, but actually the album sounds pretty great. Ah damn, those guitars and synths are tasty!
Black Magick SS Kaleidoscope Dreams
Black Sabbath Master of Reality
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath Born Again
All the hate aside, I believe this is an excellent album. Huge load of the good ol' Iommy riffage paired with a very interesting and sinister aura. It took me a few minutes to get used to Ian Gillan's vocals, but in the end I think it was a great match. Really nasty album.
Black Sabbath Dehumanizer
This riffs very hard, an aggresive album which was a surprising twist from Sabbath. Sometimes it felt more like on the Pentagram-side of doom/heavy metal, to be honest. But the production is great, the riffs and solos are spot on, and Dio's vocals are fantastic as usual. Too bad it was their last one together.
Bleach Birth Caesarean Tapestries
Blink-182 Dogs Eating Dogs
Blood Tower Clock Dreams
Excellent dungeon synth release. Clock Dreams delivered exactly what I hoped for: dense and mysterious atmosphere, interesting instrumentation & effects, and notable variety in ideas and styles presented. I loved it.
Bonobo Black Sands
Borg The Triumph of Spring
Spring inspired folk music. Very rich in sounds, 100% medieval / renaissance music. You don't hear something like this very often.
Borg Woodland
Another honest and beautiful medieval (neo-)folk album, by the Swede bard. I think there is some improvement from the debut, but it is hard to describe why. I just simply enjoyed this one more. The various instruments, various moods and melodies are astonishing and enchanting, but one thing is sure: it is lovely! So simple, so touching... this makes my heart melt.
Borg The Sacred Mound
Probably the best Borg album. Very well composed and more complex, with the typical lovely and magical aura.
Borgne Y
This is super massive. Heavy riffing atmoblack with nicely placed industrial elements... I'm sold.
Burzum Hlidskjalf
Burzum Umskiptar
Burzum Burzum/Aske
Burzum Reh/Demo 91 (Demo II)
Cain [RUS] Child of Cold
Cal Tjader Fried Bananas
Cal Tjader Stretchin' Out
Basically a best-of Cal Tjader album. A super chill and relaxing latin jazz compilation by the greatest. (The typo on the album cover is pretty annoying.)
Camarde Camarde
Very nice lo-fi dungein synth release. Respetful to the old-school: melancholic and enchanting melodies recorded straight to tape (I assume) - and that's it.
Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Cannabis Corpse Nug So Vile
This is so much fun, way better than what I expected!
Carach Angren Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten
Carbon Based Lifeforms Twentythree
Carpathian Forest Bloodlust And Perversion
Carpathian Forest Fuck You All!!!!
Carpathian Forest Strange Old Brew
Criminally underrated! This album really represents why does Carpathian Forest deserve a place among the very best black metal acts ever. Personally, I really enjoy their daring attitude for not giving a fuck about the genre's standards - next to the
fantastic Celtic Frost-ish black metal songs, they added several exciting tracks: "Thanatology" (slowtempo atmospheric BM masterpiece), "House Of The Whipchord" (JAZZ and horror music mixture with BM vocals - yes, you read it right!) or "Theme from
Nekromantikk" (something I would consider dungeon synth). All in all, this is an outstanding and exciting record.
Castellan Demo I
A dungeon synth album which embodies exactly what I do love in dungeon synth. Very well done.
Castle Zagyx Doors to the Battlefields of Ertbe
Howard Shore plays Mount & Blade: the album.
Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
Celestial Bloodshed Cursed, Scarred and Forever Possessed
Exciting and original: this is a typical Norwegian (somewhat standard) BM album with an interesting production. The theatrical and passionate vocals are the most original element in the package, which clearly stood out and I loved it. The additional chain sounds (for real) were pretty bizarre first, but it brought a very interesting element in to the album's overall sound. Not a revolutionary release, but the result is fairly memorable, a very enjoyable black metal record.
Celtic Frost Emperor's Return
Celtic Frost Parched With Thirst Am I and Dying
Just great Celtic Frost songs thrown together. Isn't it all what matters?
Chaucerian Myth The Book of Margery Kemp
Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part III
Chaucerian Myth Sir Orfeo
Level up. Chaucerian Myth just gets better and better with each release. This album is astonishing, and I think this is a huge improvement. Very classical music inspired style, accompanied by old-school synths - an enchanting combination.
Church of the Cosmic Skull Is Satan Real?
Church of the Cosmic Skull Science Fiction
Cirith Ungol Half Past Human
Good to see Cirith Ungol still kickin', and this EP was a very pleasant and fun listen. I don't care if it is "just" a re-recording session because I had great fun. The riffs in "Shelob's Lair" really kick ass!
Concubia Nocte Mohyly
I love every moment of this EP: starts with an old-school dungeon synth song, and turns into a fantastically well-flowing second wave BM worship. Shame they split-up according to Metallum.
Converge Axe to Fall
This is not really my territory, but it was pretty cool. A bit long, skipped a few tracks, but especially the second half is great.
Coroner Punishment for Decadence
Simply excellent.
Coroner Grin
Super interesting album, where they took a huge step away from their tech thrash style and entered into the sinister realms of progressive/groove metal. 'Grin' has a very interesting aura, and had probably the best studio work from their whole catalog.
Corrupted Temple of Moss Demo I
Corrupted Temple of Moss ​Ancient Magicks Uttered by the Winds...
Cosmic Ground Cosmic Ground 5
Cowl Strange Divinity
Beautiful, simply beautiful. A very atmospheric old-schoolish dungeon synth release, with gorgeous folk and strong drone elements. "Strange Divinity" is a captivating and exciting release, which flows like a slow, melancholic and sometimes nightmarish dream.
Craft Terror Propaganda - Second Black Metal Attack
Craft Total Soul Rape
Craft White Noise and Black Metal
Crafted from hatred - tight riffing, fantastic production, evillllllll atmosphere. Small disappointment they didn't include a harsh noise wall track representing the white noise part, hahaha!
Criptadel Extended I
I'm greatly impressed about this EP. Very original sound, even though the sound of some instruments are a bit similar to other projects. Ah. I'm so into this atmosphere! A portal for the ears to transfer the listener to an underground fantasy world - at least, this is how I felt. Very strong focus on the ryhthm section, which gives a certain dynamism to the release. Similar to Mortiis, but lot more energic and "moving" - it's quite hard to describe. Alltogether, I loved this release because it really fired up my imagination.
Criptadel The Inverted Tower
Excellent, excellent, excellent. Exciting underground fantasy based dungeon synth with strong percussions and with a very original style.
Criptadel The Goblin Market
Underground dungeons, creatures of the dark tunnels, Criptadel's market: welcome to The Goblin Market. The percussion-oriented dungeon synth maester fine creation, exciting in any moment.
Cryptosis Bionic Swarm
This is some really tasty stuff, and finally: some good new thrash! They (perfectly?) blended some death metal, crossover thrash and bits of prog into this thing. The album really just flew by, and I caught myself constantly nodding to the rhythm. The album closer "Flux Divergence" really got me, I love it. (More Tom Araya shrieks, please!)
Curse Upon a Prayer Infidel
Simply awesome black metal release. There is some real intense vocal work, and my beloved Finnish melodic riffing too. Especially the second half of the album is outstandingly good, I loved the combination of thuggish, straight-forward black metal with dark acoustics, and the more experimental tracks as well. (And damn, this concept... this band has balls.)
Curse Upon a Prayer Rotten Tongues
Now, this is an outstanding modern black metal release! This is heavy, theatrical and exciting. I'd say this is pretty similar to Shining's style, but with that "Finnish touch" on the melodies etc.
Daoine Sidhe Daoine Sidhe
Darkeater Что помнит лес
Darkeater Иней чёрного рассвета
Darkspace Dark Space II
Darkspace Dark Space III I
Heavy stuff. (Those Dodheimsgard-ish electronic beats were super cool addition to their sound.)
Darkthrone Plaguewielder
Darkthrone The Cult Is Alive
Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone Arctic Thunder
Darkthrone Hate Them
Darkthrone Total Death
Darkthrone A New Dimension
Darkthrone Frostland Tapes
The full catalog of the early Darkthrone demos and live recordings: it is very interesting to hear the band's progression in time, how they experimented with styles and forged their own sound. Everyone should hear them once.
Data Garden Quartet: Live at The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Exciting "plant-generated" experimental drone piece. Very elegant implementing, the album sounds gorgeous. 116 minutes of vibrating and ever-forming drone music, and I have to admit, that Schefflera plant on the bass synth did a fantastic job, haha! The only problem is that the two main tracks are a bit overlong and the composition gets a little bit samey after a while, maybe a few shorter tracks with different compositions could have been much better, but after all I can't really complain: this is art.
Deafheaven/Bosse-de-Nage Split
Death The Sound of Perseverance
Death Infernal Death (Demo)
Deorc Weg The Chateau of Unrest
I really liked this one, probably the very best by the artist behind Deorc Weg. It has a very modern sound, and perfectly demonstrates the latest trends within the dungeon synth genre lately - and moreover, it executes it with a very elegant way.
Departe Failure, Subside
Depressive Silence Medieval Demons MMXIX
Excellent live album. It was very odd to hear those familiar melodies in a modern context, but it was the same excellent quality like in the old days. Respect.
Desolate Moon Phases As the Dark Empire Burns Around Them
Even though how minimal it is, this album has a very dense and sinister atmosphere: like walking in an evil sanctum or a dungeon. Very cinematic.
Despondent Moon A Spectral Descent
Dethklok Dethalbum II
Devil Master Satan Spits On Children Of Light
DIM (CA) Compendium II
DIM (CA) Compendium I
Like a second Fief! Mellow medieval melodies, which can take you to an another world. Simply excellent.
Dimmu Borgir Inn I Evighetens Mørke
Diplodocus Slow And Heavy
Dino synth... my inner kid is super happy right now, haha! Jokes aside, this is pretty good:
very atmospheric with a certain "ancient" vibe. Nice demo.
Diplodocus Slow And Heavy (B-side)
Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless
Pure rage.
Dissvarth Between The Light And The Moon
This sounds like atmoblack but without the metal - but just because that's what I expected this to be. Very sweet cosmic ambient album, I loved it right after the first seconds... *garas's seal of approval*. Pretty interesting, since I can't really remember if I've heard something like this before...
The album is basically a combination of cheesy and ethereal synths, with some extra vocals and acoustic guitars here and there. And this combination works pretty well! (However, personally I would pair this type of sound instantly with some black metal, which would result probably a second Evilfeast project...)
Drachenfeuer Realm Of Light
Drastus La Croix de Sang
Dream Division The Devil Rides Out
Halloween hit us early this year... An exciting release with great variety within. Spooky atmospheres, great synths and textures and excellent production - perfect.
Drudkh/Paysage d'Hiver Somewhere Sadness Wanders/Schnee (IV)
Essential winter-season black metal jam.
Dungeontroll Labyrinth of the Golden Princess
Enchanting, beautiful and relaxing. The clipping in the mix is a bit annoying, but still: I love it.
Dust Drinker Sky Burial
Very cool drone/noise release, with interesting textures and samples. Also, this release has a noteworthy production, with its clean sound. Meditative, dark and exciting.
Eagle Twin The Feather Tipped the Serpent's Scale
Eagle Twin The Thundering Heard (Songs of Hoof and Horn)
Earth Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version
Elder (USA-MA) Omens
This could have been a strong 4.5 as an instrumental album. I can see myself jamming this frequently.
Elderflower Elderflower
Eldur Siggja
Elffor Dra Sad
Elffor Unholy Throne Of Doom
Tradition. Elffor never disappoints.
Elffor Condemned to Wander
Elffor is still unstoppable. The atmoblack overlord delivers constantly excellent material year by year, and Condemned to Wander is no exception. Riffs cold as ice, epic and cinematic synth-driven melodies: I was instantly sold.
Embryonic Slumber In Worship Our Blood Is Buried
One of the best cosmic/atmoblack releases of the year. The album runs at the slowest pace possible from a black metal album (but there are some blast beat sections, don't worry). Most interestingly the album is built upon the droney space ambient sections instead of the riffs, so it feels like every other element is just immersed into that. Next to the gorgeous droney synth sounds, the additional little instruments as tinklers and tribal drums also had a great impact in creating the album's thick atmosphere. I need more!!
Emperor Wrath of the Tyrant
Emyn Muil Elenion Ancalima
The better Emyn Muil record. The album flows really well, and even though the guitars are covered by reverb a bit too much, the overall atmosphere is great. A pleasant Tolkien-atmoblack album.
Emyn Muil Afar Angathfark
In the steps of Summoning, Emyn Muil delivered another enchanting album which sucessfully creates an epic, adventurous and in the other times mellow and pleasing atmosphere. The female vocals sounded especially good, along with the nice and clean production. Excellent album!
Encloaked Encloaked
Epileptoids Epileptoids
A full instrumental psychedelic surf rock EP? Yes please. A little bit spooky and that vibrato effect on the guitars gives an interesting "shaking" feeling to the overall sound. Also, the production is just simply perfect, very nice and light and every instrument sounds livid and sharp.
Esoctrilihum Pandaemorthium
Esoctrilihum The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods
Esoctrilihum Eternity Of Shaog
Best Esoctrilihum so far, not far from a 4.5. Weirder and more adventurous than ever, I love it. (Bonus points for the synths!)
Esoctrilihum Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath
More and more synths, violins and the usual crazy Esoctrilihum madness. Quite long but very rewarding riff-storms and mystical atmosphere. Also this might be the best album art of the year.
Ethereal Shroud They Became the Falling Ash
However I've missed the "original", I loved the new remastered version from the very beginning. Fantastic sound, perfect amount of reverb and I loved the "Summoning-vocals" as well. Great album.
Evilfeast Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest
Evilfeast Lost Horizons of Wisdom
Evilfeast / Marblebog Isenheimen / Abyss Calls...
This is good split. The Polish-Hungarian cooperation was rather strong, both artist did an excellent work. I liked the coid and mysterious atmosphere, and the ratio of the dark ambient and black metal sections were just spot on.
Evilfeast / Uuntar Odes to lands of past traditions
Exhumed Gore Metal
This rips! Perfectly riff centered chaotic madness. I feel this is a grower, might bump up my rating later.
Falaise A Place I Don't Belong To
Fall Of Man Between God & The Devil
Fattyu Az Alföld sötét szíve
One of the most interesting albums of the year, a pretty doomish folklore-inspired black metal piece. I highly appreciate the variety within, and I really enjoyed the lyrical concepts and the production - the bass is super tasty! Currently one of the best Hungarian black metal projects.
Fattyu Hagyaték
Faustian Pact Outojen Tornien Varjoissa
Very interesting album, the rather unorthodox sounds/instruments made it a very exciting experience. You can hear female choruses, flutes, odd synths and many other rarely used sounds mixed into some classic second wave black metal. Sometimes it even sounds pretty... happy(?). Very unique stuff!
Fen Walker The Totem Wilds Call Thy Name
Fen Walker Sojourns in the Realm of the Undermoon
One of the most exciting releases of the year. Fen Walker masterfully mixes verious genres and influences together, creating a really unique fantasy-inspired Berlin-school electronic / dungeon synth / dark ambient piece.
Feral Spectre Crepuscular Evil
Great old-school sounding raw black demo: primitve, harsh and evil. These guys surely love the early Darkthrone albums!
Fief II
Fief I
Firienholt Beside the Roaring Sea
Very nice atmoblack/dungeon synth blend in a short EP, but a very high quality output. Nice Summoning and Caladan Brood vibes.
Firienholt By the Waters of Awakening
A very relaxing atmoblack journey to the unknown lands. The Tolkien-inspired Firenholt's debut is massively synth-driven, has a gorgeous, uplifting and magical atmosphere, with bits of Summoning and Caladan Brood-worship.
Foetus Flow
Forest Silence The Eternal Winter
Forgjord Ilmestykset
Forlesen Hierophant Violent
I might be a bit late, but it really worth the time to check out. An interesting blend of drone/ambient and (mostly) doom metal. The additional stoner and black metal influences also brought an interesting flavour into this, just as the female vocals - not to mention the awesome Alcest spice from the second song (yummy!) The mystical and kind of spacey (but still full in sound!) atmosphere was very captivating for me, and it was a refreshing experience as well. Bonus points for the good samples(?) and the stunning artwork.
Fostartaly Return of the Jani
Frederic Chopin Nocturnes, Op. 9
Frost (HU) Voices From Beyond The Gates
Frosten With Sigils and Infernal Signs
Really great work, and the diversity witihin is noteworthy the least. Great riffs, and even a full acoustic song, moreover: excellent production! Especially loved the bass work, nicely carries the rhythm section. Nicely done, Frosten!
Further Down The Zone Tapes
Gatecreeper Sonoran Depravation
Gatecreeper Deserted
Alright, this slaps. This band never disappoints. m/
Gehennah Hardrocker
"If you wear short hair you better beware
This is metal warfare
I'll make you bleed, that's what I need
I gonna crush your jaw just because I'm raw
Learn the metal law
Your legs I will chop, If you listen to pop"
m/
Genesis Selling England by the Pound
Very-very pretty album.
Ghost (SWE) Popestar
Ghost and Tape Vár
Calming drone/ambient with a minimalistic, yet effective approach. Meditative and ethereal. I needed this.
gift of gods receive
Gjallarhorn Ranarop – Call of the Sea Witch
Gjallarhorn Sjofn
Glorior Belli The Apostates
Goatsnake Black Age Blues
Goatsnake Flower of Disease
Gordon Bok A Tune for November
Simple and humble - matches perfectly to my moody spirit. I need this on vinyl.
Gorgoroth Promo '94
Gorgoroth Instinctus Bestialis
I really liked this one. Atterigner's vocals really did fit into the overall sound, and this "prog/black" style (with death metal production!) was exciting through the entire album. This has grown on me a lot.
Gospel of the Horns Eve of the Conqueror
Great fun blackened thrash EP from the more melodic branch of the genre. Nice flow (blink twice and it is over!) and catchy riffs.
Grausamkeit Angeldestruction
This riffs! Super awesome lo-fi black metal demo with a dark and dense atmosphere. Primitive riffs, crispy production... yeah, totally garascore.
Grausamkeit Nostalgia - Okkultes Blut
Fantastic blend of old-school black metal and dungeon synth music. It has a quite raw production, and it is very synth dominant - technically these two aspects made me fall in love with this release. There were a few less great songs on the album, but whenever the synths step into the spotlight: it's magical.
Graven The Shadows Eternal Call
Grol the Goblin King of all Goblins
Some very exciting stuff, but just only for those who are into the musical style of old-school video games, or are dungeon crawlers like me.
Grouper Ruins
Hallas Hällas
Beautiful proto-heavy metal (is this a thing?). Super retro, super fun.
Halm The Emerald Disk of Eternity
Diverse and has so much in it! I mean, it reminded me to lot of things, like videogame and movie soundtracks, other dungeon synth albums... so all in all, the overall atmosphere felt very mixed, but mixed from the best components, I'd say: a bit from everything, yet the combination is something new, fresh and adventurous.
Harbinger (US) The Consecrated Barrow
Harbinger (US) The Convocation of Forgotten Gods
Haunted Realm Kingdom of Ages Past
I found this one surprisingly enchanting. It has a calm and melancholic, yet still cold and mysterious atmosphere, which I found very enjoyable. Very modern sounding samples and instruments, but this type of sound is what I also greatly enjoy. "The Knight and the Maiden" was a very pleasant highlight for me even though it kinda reminded me to the music you can hear in saunas or spas, hahaha!
Havukruunu Kelle Surut Soi
How the fuck did I sleep on this so far?! These guys are outstanding, even from the extremly tight Finnish BM scene.
Hellhammer Satanic Rites
You can't go wrong with Swiss black metal, especially with first wave stuff. Simple yet effective.
Hellhammer Demon Entrails (Remastered)
Basically: best of Hellhammer.
Hellripper Black Arts and Alchemy
Sick. Second half of the EP is exceptionally good.
Hermodr Vinter
Hessian Crucible Morbidity Demo
This is still a tasty death metal demo, with some awesome riffs. It was more than great hearing this again after a few years...
Hexenwood Bloodspring
Hiemal Winterscape
High on Fire Death Is This Communion
High on Fire De Vermis Mysteriis
High on Fire Electric Messiah
High on Fire Snakes For The Divine
High on Fire Blessed Black Wings
Hell yes, this slaps hard! High On Fire never disappoints.
High on Fire Art of Self-Defense
One of the best High One Fire albums. These riffs are pure fire! I didn't know that Cletic Frost cover exists, so it was a very pleasant surprise.
Hillsfar Jewel of the Moonsea
I greatly enjoyed this one. Despite the obvious and humble worship of the old-school DS, it also brings something new and unique without sounding generic and lifeless - and I greatly respect that. A bit more on the slower side of the genre, with serious atmosphere. Adventurious!
Hjelvik Welcome To Hel
I'm loving this. I didn't expect much from this album, but I just love how jammy it is. And damn, Erlend is a tricky guy! Inserting the "Necromansy" riff by Bathory (or in "War" by Burzum, you decide) in 'Kveldulv' really got me. Another excellent album which hides behind a very cheesy artwork, but the riffs and the solos speak for themselves. A super positive surprise, and I think it really has a good replay value as well.
Horde Hellig Usvart
Horna Hengen tulet
Massive album, even though this is "just" straight-forward Finnish black metal. But this band just really feels it how to write good albums. 'Nekromantia' and 'Puhdas' are superb jams.
Horna Sotahuuto
Another riff-fest. This album was very close to the early Darkthrone sound, and personally I really loved it!
Horna Kuolleiden Kuu
Horna rules, and it was especially true with this EP, showing how strong they are if they aim for writing more mid-tempo material. I loved this. > "Captures of the essence of pure black metal without feeling like a rehash." [2]
Horna Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua
The perfect epitome how a second wave black metal album should sound.
Horna Sudentaival
(My rating is based on the 2017 remastered version) Super good riff fest, and especially the second half rules! It's not far from a 4.5 too. I love the artwork as well.
Hostlov When Night Falls
Hovert Sol
A beautiful post-metal/DSBM mixture. The additional cello and clean vocals adds a lot to the overall atmosphere. I was surprised how good it was.
Hypothermia Självdestruktivitet född av monotona tankegångarIV
Immortal Northern Chaos Gods
Slightly disappointed: half of the tracks are really great, and the others are just average. Not better than Abbath.
Immortal Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
Immortal All Shall Fall
Impaled Nazarene Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz
One of the most interesting BM albums I've ever heard (even though a few songs are straight up old-school death metal). This is wild - more precisely: very wild. The most outstanding component are the vocals, which is simply madly...evil. Productionwise speaking, the album is very exotic: the typical first and second wave black metal aesthetics can be heard in the very same time, and oddly enough, there are obvious similiarities to the early Slayer, and Sadistik Exekution albums.
Despite the very short song lengths, the album feels very diverse, probably due to the highly experimental aspects. The album has a great riffs, and an uniquely evil atmosphere, so alltogether: this slayz m/
Impaled Nazarene Taog Eht Fo Htao Eht [Demo]
Now, this is one of the most impressive demos I've ever heard. Just pure old-school blackened death metal. Riffs after riffs, and the production is super sweet. And not to forget to mention the evil atmosphere!
Impaled Nazarene Suomi Finland Perkele
Impaled Nazarene Goat Of Mendes
Hyped.
Impaled Nazarene Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace
This was so much fun. Perhaps it is more thrash than black metal, but this riffs incredibly hard! Far more melody-centered album than anything from the Impaled Nazarene discography before, and it was a very welcomed change. The production is also far better than expected, and I especially enjoyed the guitar tone. Speaking of guitars, the various extra influences which come from trad. heavy metal and grind made this album really memorable. Very well executed album.
Impending Doom Baptized in Filth
Inoriand A World Frozen
Calm and ethereal - frosty dungeon drone just how I like it! Additionally, I think it is Inoriand's best so far.
Internal Rot Grieving Birth
Alright, this almost broke my neck... a very straight-forward massive riff-flow. Pure fury.
Internazionale Elegy for the Victors
Iron Reagan Crossover Ministry
Iron Reagan Worse Than Dead
Excellent album, cool riffs - maybe a little bit short. But the mix! Give the sound engineer a
cookie: every instrument and the vocals sound good!
Isegrimm / Ornatorpet The Heathen Kingdom
Wonderful and hypnotic split! Flows like a dream, it has exciting synths and percussions, and has a very adventurous feeling. Both artists really shines in this record.
Isengard Vinterskugge
Fenriz is such a great and talented songwriter! I love the great variety: folk/black, dungeon synth, old-school death metal, rock... he is a real deal, and this album is just another proof why he is my favourite.
Jan Grunfeld Music for plants
Very pretty and relaxing, and outstandingly great for a fully improvised album. The light and ethereal ambiance is a great base and the fusion with the slightly alt rock-ish and experimental elements makes this release especially enjoyable. Maybe it is just me, but I think the last few songs are somewhat similar to the modern Ulver's sound, especially to the live jamming in ATGCLVLSSCAP, for example. This *should* exist in physical formats too!
Jim Hall and Pat Metheny Jim Hall & Pat Metheny
Jim Kirkwood Master of Dragons
Jim Kirkwood Where Shadows Lie
Jim Kirkwood Tower of Darkness
Jon Hopkins Immunity
Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 93 in D Major
Judas Iscariot The Cold Earth Slept Below
Riffs cold as ice...
Judas Iscariot Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotten
Kaouenn On the Day of his Death​.​.​.
Kaouenn Secrets of the Stone Circle
Kataxu Hunger of Elements
Keygen Church ░█░█░░█░█░█░
I guess ???????????? stands for "Chiptune Bach and industrial metal". This is amazing.
Keys of Orthanc Dush agh Golnauk
Keys of Orthanc A Battle in the Dark Lands of the Eye​.​.​.
Khand The Sage of Witherthorn
Wonderful. A very-well composed and adventurous album. Very original sound and samples with an excellent production. Each song is very dynamic, which makes the album constantly "fluid" and dreamy.
King Diamond Fatal Portrait
Mega solid album.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard L. W.
Ye, it was actually far better than expected, and I can see myself jamming this in the future too. *visible shock* Anyway, "K.G.W.L." is among the best K.G.W.L. songs, which is an oddly satisfactory discovery.
Kobold (IT) The village in the frozen mountains
A very pleasant and magical release. I love concept albums (and most of HDK releases are story-driven), because it gives a certain extra excitement to the listening - same case with this Kobold album, I really enjoyed this the adventure in the icy mountains of the Huk Valley.
Krampusnacht Superstar
Great album. But: not just Christmas songs - the self-titled was slightly better.
Ksiezyc Ksiezyc
This could make a great soundtrack for a folk horror movie. Chilling, obscure and very original.
Kvelertak Kvelertak
Kyvon Frozen Grimoire
Slow, icy and chramingly beautiful. Kyvon's debut is a gorgeous piece, which builds upon the classic winter synth sounds, and adds a melancholic atmosphere which I really enjoy.
Lamentation Grabens Symphonie
Despite the plague, 2020 brought us some sweet compilation albums. Releasing the entire Lamentation discography on vinyl was a massively kind gesture from Werewolf Records.
Lamentation Eine Symphonie Der Nacht
Lamp of Murmuur Melancholy Howls in Ceremonial Penitence
You can find the full album here: http://mortuusinsomnis06.blogspot.com/2019/07/lamp-of-murmuur-melancholy-howls-in.html
Lamp of Murmuur The Burning Spears Of Crimson Agony
One of the best BM releases I've heard this year. Great riffs, sweet production and a crispy overall sound.
LEM Twelve Who Stole The Rain
Really great blackened death album, with some doomish vibes here and there. I love the variety within: tempo changes, cool interludes and acoustic sections, great vocals and heavy riffs (with a tasty guitar tone)... hats off, I loved it. It might me a grower too.
Les Abysses Reveal the deep
Licht des Urteils Demo 2019
Life's Question A Tale of Sudden Love & Unforgettable Heartbreak
Lemme slap a 4.0 on this. Shame, it's so short album, because this RIPSSSS! Super fun hardcore/crossover/sludgy thing. Kinda reminded me to the early Mastodon materials - at least this radiates the very same energy.
Limbonic Art Ad Noctum - Dynasty Of Death
Linkin Park Meteora
Linkin Park Hybrid Theory
Lord Wolf Darklands Of Hate
Lorgren Benirus Tome of Unlife
Lovi Kirmukarmu
Gorgeous album. A perfectly relaxing and interesting neo-folk/medieval ambient album which combines nordic folk with a living and charming atmosphere. Unique work, and great concept.
Lumiere Jaskółczy Niepokój
Calm and mellow, droney, and the field recordings are perfectly placed and aren't over-used.
Lycanthropus Lycanthropus
Magic Moss Volume 1
I demand more!! A super fun, uh... acid punk/psychedelic rock EP! I like the punkish vocals choruses, the organ is crazy fun, and alltogether: this is catchy AF!
Magnum Lost on the Road to Eternity
Majestic Mass Savage Empire of Death
Nasty and filthy, the bastard child of psychedelic punk and black metal. This was insanely catchy, dirty production with sweet and sinister organs for the right atmosphere... what can I say? I'm sold!
Malfet Alban Arthan
Not far from a 4.5 by the Grumpy standards. The most well-layered Malfet record so far with top quality production. I have no idea what's the secret behind that choir sound, but it is one of the greatests I've ever heard within the DS genre. The spoken lines didn't add anything to the listening experience for me, and maybe the rainy/watery samples were almost too much, but I'm only complaining because I'm Grumpy. I loved the atmosphere, the medieval instruments etc. - I'm more than satisfied.
Malfet The Snaking Path
Another fine piece of dungeon synth which should have been known for many.
Malfet The Way to Avalon
Very strong release, even though I expected something more "wizardy" based on the cover and
the song titles. This album is very enchanting, and has a very folky side (sometimes like
early Fief), and I liked it a lot. But: too many field recordings to my taste since it's not
building mostly on atmosphere (this is much more melodic), and alltogether: I felt it was too
short. Still, one of the greatest DS releases this year.
Manilla Road Crystal Logic
Such a cool album. The bit slower tempo, the riffs really were especially enjoyable. Too bad the vocals were often more on the "funny" side, but like in the 'The Riddle Master' they were just as how I could enjoy them.
Mare Cognitum Solar Paroxysm
Nice space-black album. I wish the synths would be more dominant, but for example the blackgazey vibes from "Luminous Accretion" were a very cool surprise and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a refreshing listen, and I'm glad we have modern BM bands like Mare Cognitum.
Maria Warner Amanita Musicaria
Massacre From Beyond
OSDM, as I like. I dig every aspect of this album: the riffs (it has a kinda proto-BM edge, what I really love), the production (it is somehow enjoyably "rusty"), the dungeon synth interlude in "Chambers of Ages", and of course: the stunning artwork. Make more death metal album covers like this.
Master Boot Record C:\>DEFRAG
I really love this. It is mostly some really well-written synthwave, but with some really cool "distorted guitar emulations" which are very similar to the old DOS machine sounds. It has some really nice heavy metal inserted into it, but the more "classical" compositions are also really well flowing and quite rhapsodic, like what you'd hear from a Beethoven piece. Very creative stuff, you won't find something like this very often.
Mastodon Emperor of Sand
Mastodon Crack the Skye
Mastodon Blood Mountain
Mastodon Medium Rarities
It was a fun album, especially the mastering was great. Great variety within, and all the live songs sounded just as good as the studio recordings. Fun fact: they managed to play 'Orion' better than Metallica(!). And believe, everyone has to hear the full instrumental version of 'Asleep in the Deep'. Perhaps a bit unnecessary release, but definitely worths the time for a few listens.
Mayhem Chimera
Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts
Mayhem European Legions
Mayhem Life Eternal
Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Mayhem Daemon
Medieval Rites Prologue
Fief fans, assemble! This fills me with great joy. Beautiful and relaxing medieval ambient release.
Medieval Steel The Dungeon Tapes
Okay, this is catchy as hell. At first I wasn't a big fan of the vocals, but in the end I more or less liked it. If power metal would sound mostly like this, then maybe I'd dig it more often.
Megadeth Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
Megadeth Youthanasia
Men I Trust Oncle Jazz
Merciless The Awakening
Tasty Swede death-thrash assault. Tight and fierce riffs, quite great production accompanied by the sweet old-school aesthetics which brings a certain flavour into the whole thing... I love it. Is it just me, or is it kinda similar to Morbid's "December Moon"?
Mercyful Fate Don't Break the Oath
Meshuggah obZen
Metallica Jump in the Fire
Metallica Garage Inc.
One of the few Metallica albums which actually matters. Great jamz.
Methadone Skies Different Layers of Fear
Mightiest & Depressive Silence Recreation of the Shadowlands
Miracle (UK) The Strife of Love in a Dream
Mirkwood (AUT) Demo
Mondfinsternis Lokabrenna
Wow. Some otherworldy high production right here! Cinematically atmospheric, easily outshines many movie's soundtracks. Fantastic quality... the vareity of styles blended together, the production and composition...very well done, I'm impressed. *garas's seal of approval*
Moonless Nights In Old Chambers Of Castle Wewelsburg (Album)
Morbid Saint Spectrum of Death
Pretty much what GamamJ said. Only the vocals are kinda not exactly my taste, but... the riffs man, the riffs!!!
Morbid Vomit Doctrine of Violence
Massive, groovy Finnish death metal - this album does not disappoint!
Mork Katedralen
Solid, and somewhat "standard" black metal album, but sometimes all you need is a consistently good album. The combination of Darkthrone and Horna type of riffage was most pleasant. "Morkthrone" rules.
Morketsvind Forest Ride
Mournful Moon .​.​.​As Shadows Fall Over Zenitheaen
It is one of those albums I fell in love with within a few seconds. Despite being a Lamentation "copycat", this is a very sophisticated album with a charming atmosphere, which respectfully invocates the old-school era of dungeon synth. Beautiful reverby piano sections, melancholic and magical songs, and some black metal vocals here and there... everything is spot on!
Municipal Waste Hazardous Mutation
Municipal Waste The Last Rager
Murgrind Inheritor of the Forest Throne
Mutiilation Black Millenium (Grimly Reborn)
Very straight-forward and super solid raw black metal album. Nothing is overdone, it is just an excellent traditional release: great riffs, and sweet lo-fi(/low-budget) production - exactly in the same vein with the early Norwegian scene's output.
Mysticum Piss Off
Napalm Death Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
A consistently good neck-workout. I loved the variety within, and the album just flew by: bangers after bangers, and even the "rest" songs like 'Amoral' were great. Moreover, the more experimental tracks like the industrial 'A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen' were simply awesome. I really liked the mixing and mastering as well, fits perfectly to the album's punchiness.
Nargaroth Era of Threnody
Nargaroth Rasluka Part I
Nargaroth Herbstleyd
Excellent atmospheric black metal. Also, probably the strongest Nargaroth album ever.
Nargaroth Amarok
I had no expectations about this comp., and it really surprised me how great it is: a simple old-school black metal release + I loved the more experimental "style" of the band's early phase. Unique sound.
Necrodeath Fragments of Insanity
Massive riff-storm by the Italian black/thrashers. The production is very good, the album contains tons of heavy riffs. Slaps m/
Neptune Towers Caravans To Empire Algol
Neverlur / Sequestered Keep Under Nordljosets Straalar / Quests in the North
It was a great introduction to Neverlur's music for me, and I wasn't disappointed. Sequestered Keep was just perfect as always. Such a great, magical split.
Nicatas Drumer Impure Grandeur
Very-very good melodic (thrashy) black metal, thanks for the rec, park! I love when traditional black metal albums which are just simply good. Nothing is overdone, just what I needed: great riffs and the classic BM aesthetics.
Nico Georis Shirley Shirley Shirley!
Now this is a really outstanding experimental album: an album created from a plant's electrical biosignals converted into MIDI! This is an uplifting and mind-blowing experience, and the album has beautiful droney soundscapes and interesting melodies. An ethereal journey on nature's frequencies~
Nightmare Puppy Canal
Nightmare Puppy Nara Nara Voltsong For Shower
Super entertaining album. Thank you for sharing this with us, and hats off Johnny!
Nightwing Black Summer
Nirvana Nevermind
Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York
Nirvana Bleach
Bleach contains probably Nirvana's greatest riffs, filled with desperate rage and darkness. This is heavy, so I love it.
Nocternity Harps Of The Ancient Temples
Nordgeist Frostwinter
Cold as the Siberian winter, a very cool Paysage "clone". Very enjoyable album, where the combination of ice cold riffs, the well programmed drums and the shrieks recreates a very similar atmosphere to Paysage d'Hiverr's classic demos/albums.
Novembre Annoluce
Null (USA) Lore of a Sleeping Forest
Perfectly spot on atmoblack release from the more grim side of the genre. The production quality and the melodic riffing is outstanding, and I loved the overall mood of this album.
Obsequiae The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings
Octobeast / Synthosaurus Mega Clash of Creature Worlds
Holy shite, what a split! This is some really cinematic dino synth split, which sometimes kinda sounds like Fief... and hints of black metal.
Old Sorcery The Path Lies Hidden
Old Sorcery Strange and Eternal
Old Wizard Old Wizard II
Medieval ambient and charming atmospheres: the second Old Wizard album delivered everything I needed.
Oldlands Source of Eternal Darkness
Outstanding lo-fi black metal demo from Brazil. The classic traditional lo-fi BM aesthetics are super sweet, and in my opinion, alltogether it sounds very similar to the early Norwegian releases, especially to the Euronymous-era Mayhem (it has SOLOS!). This slaps m/
On Graves All Must Go
Ontrothon, Saga of the Ancient Glass Ontrothon, Saga of the Ancient Glass
The artist behind Spectral Lore really proved his talent with this release: enchanting, calm yet exciting piece of medieval ambient mixed with dungeon synth. Maybe this could worth a better rating as well, but hearing the same VSTs again and again with so many artists is getting a bit boring... at least, the fusion of different elements in this release could create a different atmosphere. Also, this would be a great soundtrack to a DnD game too - which is always means some bonus points for me.
Opeth Orchid
Describing 'Orchid' with one word, I'd go with: elegant. I loved the old-schoolish (yet clear) sound, the slower sections, and the sweet guitar tone. I think it is a bit lengthy, but otherwise very pleasant album. Perhaps a grower?
Ossa Coronata A Candle
Dark, melancholic, spooky and dreamy. I love the atmosphere the album creates.
Ossa Coronata One With Weariness
Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis
Ozzy Osbourne No More Tears
Paysage d'Hiver Paysage d'Hiver
Paysage d'Hiver Die Festung
This kinda has a Hlidskjalf-ish vibe, but with a different atmosphere... like watching droplets of melting ice through the ears. Ethereal, almost empty yet has a charming effect. (I don't know if it makes any sense.)
Paysage d'Hiver Geister
Harsh and wintry, but Project:Paysage took a bit different direction where Wintherr's most most punkiest riffs (early Carpathian Forest influences?) have been covered by freezing cold and thick snow.
Pentagram Last Rites
Powerful, energic and of course: riffs hard. Last Rites is clearly among the best albums in Pentagram's discography, even though it brought some steps away from the classic old-school sound Bobby stood out for a long time.
Pentagram Show 'Em How
Funny album art hides an amazingly catchy album. Most of the songs came from their '70s material, and the result is a really fun blend between doom metal and rock.
Pentagram Review Your Choices
Oh man, this RIFFS. Songs like 'Change of Heart' are phenomenal. Too bad, Bobby kinda feels out of sync sometimes, and I did not like the "rewritten" classic songs that much as the originals. Really good doom album, nonetheless with such an iconic album cover.
Pentagram First Daze Here Too
I can echo exactly what DDD said. Too bad the great difference in the production quality between the two halves, but nothing dampens the fact: Pentagram rules. Personally I loved the Rolling Stones cover and 'Much Too Young to Know' the most. Pure rock 'n' roll / a bit doom 'n' roll, huh?
Pentagram Sub-Basement
First of all: I love the creepy artwork. Also, I think Pentagram just can't write a bad album. The guitar tone is incredible, and the riffing feels so "full". When the album goes really-really slow, it hits the hardest. Not far from 4.5.
Pentagram Day of Reckoning
Consistently massive old-school doom album. Pentagram rules m/ (A better production could have been nice though.)
Perihelion (HU) Örvény
Perihelion (HU) Agg
'Agg' is their most cinematic work so far, and I'm glad they kept their artistic "bipolar" shoegazey style. I especially loved the lyrics, the droney sounds (not sure if synths or tons of effect pedals), and how good the bass sounds in the whole album. Maybe they could have gone a bit more heavier, and damn, Gyula's vocals were way too quiet in the mix! Also, the title track is amazing, probably the best I've heard from them. Excellent album, I'm a proud Hungarian!
Peste Noire Folkfuck Folie
French "sewer" black metal. Nice.
Pig Destroyer Head Cage
Pig Destroyer Natasha
The creepy sludge/doom Pig Destroyer also slaps. Highly atmospheric piece, and this style worked for them surprisingly well. (The clicking bass drum sound is disgusting, though.)
Pig Destroyer Phantom Limb
Yay, this is heavy as well. I don't know why, but I feel that the second half of the album was stronger than the other (- same case with Terrifyer)... Pretty straight-forward album, very well done.
Poems About The Forest Schwarzes Licht
Beautiful work from (very probably) the members of Depressive Silence/Mightiest. An enchanting, magical, and easily flowing 31 minutes long single track demo with the most beautiful synth sounds and great samples. Most excellent atmosphere, I'm glad I discovered this.
Poison (DE) Into the Abyss
Massive first wave black / thrash album, it has a killer sound. Great ideas, great riffs, and since it's old-school it means an instant +0.5 on my rating. (Thanks Fenriz!)
Power Trip Live in Seattle: 05.28.18
E n o r m o u s sound from a live album!
Power Trip Nightmare Logic
Power Trip Opening Fire: 2008-2014
Okay, this fucking RIPS m/ To be honest, I did not expect such a strong compilation about a bunch of B-sides and rarities, but looks like this band can't produce anything bad. Crossover thrash which melts your face off. Bonus points for the sick artwork.
Prurient Frozen Niagara Falls
An exciting many-faced record, which navigates you through ethers and hell in a noisy dream.
Psychonaut Unfold the God Man
Finally something great under the post-metal tag, not just another trendy hyper-annoying shoegazey boredom. The influences are all crystal clear, and I think they formed them into something, which is their own "flavour". Great jam.
Purl Form Is Emptiness
Beautiful drone/ambient album. This really represents my overall taste within the genre.
Quantic Magnetica
Queen Greatest Hits
Qwalen Unohdan Sinut
Good to see the classic old fashioned black metal spirit in action. A most impressive debut album from Qwlen hailing from Finland. Punkish elements combined with the good ol' black madness of the '90s resulted a really crushing album, and I fell in love with this material almost instantly. Bonus points for the really sinister throat killer vocals - most perfect combination to the instrumentals.
Rage Against The Machine The Battle of Los Angeles
Red Helen Trading Past For Pathways
Redhorn Gate Demo I-II-III
Nice compilation of 3 raw demos: old-school dungeon synth done right.
Rhandir Vagabond's Call
Rothadas Rothadás
Impressive old-school (doomy) death metal demo from a local band I don't know anything about, haha! The 'a e s t h e t i c s'! Ahhh, exactly how I like my DM. I'm definitely looking for some more in the future.
Rotting Christ The Heretics
runescape斯凱利 runescape​.​wav符文風景骨架
What a pleasant surprise: this an excellenet quality dungeon synth release, despite the silly title and cover. It is highly atmospheric, has great melodies and pretty synth sounds. I feel a sudden urge to get this on tape sometime...
runescape斯凱利 runescape​​.​​wav2戰利品的戰爭
Enchanting harmonies and magical atmosphere. This a really excellent release!
Sadistik Exekution We Are Death... Fukk You !
Sanguine Moon What Shadows Once Hid...
Sarke Gastwerso
This slaps. The simple and heavy riffs, and the really exotic synths and guest vocals make this album very memorable, and I might bump up my rating later because I feel this is a grower.
The album is beautiful: the production is spot on, the songwriting is very intelligent and creative (somewhat proggy?) and the overall package offered lot more than what I expected.
The Darkthrone guys are just simply unstoppable!
Satan Cruel Magic
Satanic Warmaster Nachzehrer
Satanic Warmaster Revelation ...of the Night
Oh yeah, this is a max score on the trveness scale. Very solid album, the remastering did wonders with the songs: the biggest change is the quality of the vocals, which drastically improved. Furthermore, both the drums and guitars sound more sharp and agressive. (Fenriz would love the drum sound - so organiccccc!) The only problem with this album is a specific contrast between some of the songs presented: some of them are overlong and less exciting, while others are fantastic and one of Werwolf's best works. If all the songs could punch equally, then it could be a BM classic.
Still, the last (rare) song, "The Will" is one of the best black metal songs ever written.
(If you wouldn't want to listen to the whole thing, at least listen to only that song!)
Satanic Warmaster/Archgoat Lux Satanae
Saturne I
Satyricon Now, Diabolical
Satyricon My Skin Is Cold
Extremly overlooked, and way better than the average score! Except of the title track, you can find great songs from different albums presenting some of the best songs from the band's discography. And 'Mother North' performed with a backup orchestra is unbeliveably amazing - best version EVER.
Scary Larry Scary Larry
Scorpions Comeblack
Summer vibes. This comp. grew on me a lot and in the end I can say: I really like this band now. Tbh, the remastered version of 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' is just simply perfect.
Seax Speed Metal Mania
Secret Stairways Turning Point
Serpent Column Ornuthi Thalassa
Serpent's Isle The Quiet Lakes
Shining (SWE) Fiende
Shining (SWE) Redefining Darkness
Show Me A Dinosaur Plantgazer
Finally, some blackgazey stuff which I don't feel endlessly boring. The solos were a bit meh - often out of place, but generally the album was enjoyable, especially songs like "Selva" were outstandingly great. More or less copycat sounding release, but I liked how it does sound.
Shum Lebegő klaszter
Really cool drone metal album. Interesting textures, additional instruments etc. Really reminded me to the " Void" and the "Prylocasts" album by Sunn O))), which is a great thing.
Skarpseian Tan Gil
Skarpseian Skygge Slottet
Slayer World Painted Blood
Slayer Seasons in the Abyss
Standard Slayer greatness. Lyrically a step away from the previous albums, but still their super solid riffstorm. Hot take: Dead Skin Mask is not even the best song on the album.
Slayer Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
Soundtrack for a good time. The perfect choice for casual Slayer jams.
Sleep Dopesmoker
Sleep The Sciences
Slift Ummon
Finally, I can get behind the hype about something here (duh). This was a very cool psychedelic/stoner/whatever jam. Crispy sound, sweet Sleep influences etc. - well done!
Slytherin When the Darkness Comes
This is really good stuff. A great blend of dungeon synth and Summoning-worship black metal, inspired by... the Harry Potter franchise. The album flows really nicely, the riffs are spot on, and the synths are gorgeous. It was like an instant 4.0.
Sodom Obsessed by Cruelty
Fun and nasty old-school thrash attack.
Sol Distorsion Sol Distorsion
Solanum (GER) Spectral Poetry (Demo)
Exciting, and majestic album, just what I expected from B. S. (half of Depressive Silence).
Solanum (GER) Spheres of Time
Spirit Adrift Divided by Darkness
Oh hello doom-Mastodon, nice riffs you have there.
Splendorius Tearful Misty Woods
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto
Alright, here it goes another 4.0. It was lovely chill "jazz" album (I'm too noob for the whole bossa nova thing). It feels like the melody pulls the percussions with it, and the result is a calmly flowing album + interesting to hear the piano almost always in the "background". Too bad I don't speak Portuguese.
Sterbend Dwelling Lifeless
Stirge Stirge vs. Dungeon Altar
Strid Strid [7'']
Way too short, but awesome EP.
Stygian Ruin Sulfuric Vapour From the Depths
"Exotic" sounds and old-schoolish atmosphere. Stygian Ruin's debut is a very interesting and somewhat charming release, covered by some sort of weird magic which gives a certain spooky feeling to this release.
Summoning Dol Guldur
Summoning Lugburz
Summoning Stronghold
Sundrugs Low
Sunn O))) Pyroclasts
Sunn O))) Flight of the Behemoth
Huge and earthshaking guitar drones and exciting noise textures: a behemo)))th indeed.
Sunn O))) ØØ Void
Sunn O))) Agharthi 09-10
Sunn O))) Meets Nurse With Wound The Iron Soul of Nothing
Svartheim Black Metal Finland
A noteworthy debut, which was an excellent background music-material, where the old-school vibes and the wintry atmosphere triumphs. It reminded me quite a lot to Selvhat-type of DSBM through a very specific melancholic and cold feeling, whick hooked me instantly. It offers nothing groundbreaking - it is "just" a very-well crafted black metal release. Sometimes that's what I need!
Sventovit Longing for the Past
Pretty little album, with a humbly magical atmosphere. Very relaxing!
Synth Bard Gold Box Renditions
Synthosaurus Gigantic Throne
Taking dino synth to the next level, 'Gigantic Throne' is a super fun album.
System of a Down Hypnotize
System of a Down Toxicity
Taake Hordalands Doedskvad
Taake Noregs Vaapen
Taake Taake
Taake Kulde
Taake Nattestid Ser Porten Vid
Super groovy, melodic and has a very enjoyable crispy production. Hoest is a trve riff master.
Taake Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik
Tarot (AUS) The Warrior's Spell
It was a very fun psychedelic / progressive rock album, with awesome guitar leads (+tone), Hammond organs and so on.
Tarot (AUS) Reflections
Taste Taste
Thangorodrim Prologue
All the early Thangorodrim-works have been remastered, and the result is very pleasing, and really have been brought together. This is a more ripe, and fullier complex, which certainly has its own highs and lows, but alltogether this is a fine and valuable musical experience for all the enthusiastic fans of Tolkien's work, and the dungeon synth genre.
The Atomic Bitchwax Scorpio
Some kind of groovy heavy rock / stoner metal, which is extremly entertaining. Each song is catchy, energic and may stuck in the listeners head. I'm sold.
The Avalanches Since I Left You
Bar background music: the album.
The Cold Domain Barbaric Dark Ages
The Flamingo Jones The 5th Floor Of The Tree
Pretty awesome psychedelic rock collection. Most of this is just a huge live jamming, and you can really feel how much these guys love what are they doing.
The Gitas Garland
Grunge is rarely this exciting. I know this band quite a while, but the re-discovery of this album was a rather nice feeling, and I pretty much love all of the presented songs 'ere.
The Haxan Cloak Midsommar (Original Score)
The Kovenant Nexus Polaris
Cheesy as hell, but damn this riffs mega hard. Also the heavy synth driven and bass heavy production, and Hellhammer behind the drumkit makes this impossible to not love. 'Planetary Black Elements' and 'Cariots of Thunder' hit all the right spots...!
The Moon and Saturn The Moon and Saturn
The Necromancers Servants of the Salem Girl
The Rolling Stones Singles 1965-1967
The Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties Request
The Spirit Sounds from the Vortex
That kind of meloblack I really like. Reminded me a bit to Antestor: constantly flowing riffs, even some solos too. Solid output.
The Sword Warp Riders
The True Werwolf Devil Crisis
Werwolf showed again with this release he's still relevant and remained as a standard point, a pillar within the Finnish BM scene. Tbh, I don't know why did he release this under The True Werwolf because this is full BM album~ Slaps nonetheless.
Thorns Trøndertun
Thorr's Hammer Dommedagsnatt
Thousand Foot Krutch The End Is Where We Begin
Thunderbolt / Kataxu Beyond Christianity / North
Thy Catafalque Zápor
5 tracks reworked from 'T?n? id? trlat' - it was technically guaranteed this will be good, and yet I was surprised how much the re-master meant. Such a pretty EP! And the heavier songs slap too!
Thy Catafalque Meta
Thy Catafalque Roka Hasa Radio
Thy Catafalque Naiv
What an exciting album! The variety within is incredible, and the albums feels really "colorful" - like serious Belus (by Burzum) vibes on the first track and nice Berlin school synths in "V�t�" or "A valóság kazamatái" for example. Great guest vocals and so on, and the lyrical themes are very pretty. I expected something more lot more folk oriented, but the result was something more: lots of styles blended together embodying something never heard before.
And I feel guilty about the fact that I didn't really enjoyed every song, so I have a bit mixed feelings about this, but absolutely dominated by the positive side.
Til Det Bergens Skyggene Til Det Bergens Skyggene
Timothy Fife Transcommunication
Gorgeous blend of Berlin-school electronics and drone music, executed perfectly with a super sweet production. I loved the analog synth sounds, and how dynamic the album is...!
Titan (US) I
Tomusz Escape
Tormentor Seventh Day Of Doom
Treasure Seeker Quest for the Secrets Beyond Time
Very nice, I'm impressed. Great medieval ambient release, very playful and adventurous, with pleasant Fief-ish vibes.
Tribulation Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
Catchy gothic black'n'roll? Yes, please!
Triptykon Eparistera Daimones
I sense a potential grower. It took me perhaps way too much time to get into Triptykon, but this was a rewarding challenge. This is a different kind of monster, despite this runs mostly on the very same "hardware". Less liturgical and more "alien" than how Celtic Frost ended, and I totally understand why does Tom believe this is more close to what he has done with Hellhammer than CF. Basically this felt like a refreshed continuation of his musical path which deserves the admiration.
Trist (GER) Willenskraft
Tristengrav II - Nychavgé
Triumph (RUS) Triumph
Trvth Inordinate and Surpassing
Tsjuder Norwegian Apocalypse
Tsjuder Throne of the Goat (2018 Version)
Ulaidh Provincial Kingdoms of Éire
Beautiful debut from Ulaidh, I'm most impressed. Soundwise, this respectfully follows to the old-school traditions, but has a slightly modern edge - and together the album builds an enchanting and mystical atmosphere... Very relaxing.
Ulcerate Shrines of Paralysis
Ulk Ulk (demo)
Ulthar Providence
It is a really good blackened death metal album, it has a perfect runtime, nice riffs and production. And bonus point for those Immortal-vibes.
Ulver Kveldssanger
Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Ulver Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Ulver Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Ulver Drone Activity
So Ulver stepped into the territories of drone ambient music. 'True North' was a rather weak track, but the album builds up itself nicely, and finishes with the brilliant and meditative 'Exodus'. It was a pleasant and interesting experience.
Ulver The Norwegian National Opera
Ulver Childhood's End
Ulver Lyckantropen Themes OST
Ulver Vargnatt
Umbria Follow the ghost hand
Urthrax Cantrips
Uruk-Hai / Burzum The Fighting Uruk-Hai / Wotans Verhängnis
Usnea Portals Into Futility
Vader Thy Messenger
Vale Minstrel Warden Of The Vale
Very-very strong folk ambient debut album, I really liked it. The production is very pleasant, it has nice instrumentation (especially the flutes are the most lovely) and has adventurous but relaxing atmosphere.
Vampyric Desolation Wolf Howl, Blood and Nightfall
Exactly my taste in dungeon drone: mysterious and very atmospheric. I got those Amnesia vibes, perfectly spooky.
Vampyric Tyrant Das Schwert Der Sterne
1: Second wave worship done right. 2: Black metal album cover done right.
Van Halen Van Halen
Vandalorum Flagellum Dei
Vangelis Antartica
If the artic atmosphere could be emobdied in one album, this could be a strong contender for that role. Lovely soundscapes.
Vargrav (FIN) Reign In Supreme Darkness
Veligor Shadow of forgotten Realm
Venom Inc. Avé
Vindland Hanter Savet
Vinterdvala Historien om de sju trollgubbarna
True to burzumish traditions. It's like the early Burzum meets the modern ambient albums, with some extra field recordings. Fantastic, what a gem!
Vitamin X About To Crack
Vlakolak Mekrevtrozmbreh
Despite the minimalistic approach, Vlakolak stands as a really effectively scary project within the dungeon synth scene. This type of spookiness is really original, and I was hooked by its dense and cryptic atmosphere instantly.
Voslaarum Spirits of Xavara
Wake Confluence
More of this please - whatever is it! Post-metal with some... uh, grind? Anyway, this EP with the weird Windows logo is great.
Wallachian Cobwebs Hearken to the Moon Whisper
Wampyric Rites Reflections Of A Frostbitten Moon
Wampyric Rites Demo II
Wampyric Rites .​.​.​In The Desolate Forest of Eternity
Warmoon Lord / Vultyrium Pure Cold Impurity
Split of the year everybody. Two very similarly and consistently good projects found each other, and the result simply slaps. The slightly atmospheric, traditional second wave heavy-riffing yet melodic style worked really well for both of them, and the album doesn't leave you anything to complain about.
Wehmut Wehmut
Great DSBM album, which blend a little post-rock into the overall picture.
West End Motel Bad with Names, Good with Faces​.
White Stones Kuarahy
Great jam! I really dig the guitars, the overdrive matches surprisingly well to the album's old-schoolish style. Great riffs (the proggy parts are tasty!), great production.
White Ward Love Exchange Failure
Willie Colon Lo Mato
Wilsumnes Upon the Altar of Sacrificial Blood
Windir 1184
Super solid, riff-centric meloblack release with just right amount of synths involved.
Windir Sogneriket
winter woods Bewitched In Black Moonlight
winter woods Mountain Of Unknown Gods
Winterlandschaft L'obscurité
Witch Tomb Witch Tomb
Witch Tomb Incantation
Wobbler Dwellers of the Deep
Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestial Lineage
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestite
Wongraven Fjelltronen
Wraith (USA-IN) Absolute Power
Wretched Lament A Portrait of the Plague Age
The "plague synth" album of 2020. In the steps of Foolish Fire, Wretched Lament presented the perfectly depressed, empty, mysterious and "shockingly real sound" of a pandemia. Personally I loved the classical gregorian chant samples, they gave it a certain liturgical and sacred touch, plus the deep dones made this release somehow... doomed.
Wydraddear The Castle Above The Mist
Slowly flowing, grim and melancholic and most importantly: unique. Wydraddear's debut is something else, a dungeon synth album which built covered itself with an atmosphere I haven't heard before, and built it from old-school-ish sounds. It's not easy to capture what is it exactly by words, you have to experience it by yourself.
Xasthur Nocturnal Poisoning
Xasthur A Darkened Winter
Mysterious and haunting. Very impressive for a first demo.
YOB Our Raw Heart
Yoshiko Sai Taiji no Yume
Zake zakè (扎克)
Humble little drone piece, which greatly represents my overall taste in the genre. The light, spacey, dreamy tracks with minimal and pulsating textures make this a pleasant massage for the mind!
Zoltan Kodaly Summer Night & Concerto for Orchestra
It's been a while the last time I listened to Kodály, and it felt great to do that so. 'Nyári este' is especially awesome.

3.5 great
Heaume Mortal Solstices
(DOLCH) Yggdrasil...Nature...Anthems
...and Oceans The Symmetry of I - The Circle of O
36 Music for Isolation
The title says it all: this is a simplistic, and comfortably melancholic drone album. And I think it captured really well that certain mood the artist aimed for.
77 Bright Gloom
A Compendium of Curiosities The Resting Place of Dreams
A very pleasant chiptune dungeon synth. I kinda sensed both old-school and neo-medieval elements in this album, which is a great thing.
Abandoned Places The Funereal Call
Abbath Abbath
Abehrum Ineffable
Abime Échos de Gloire
Abul Mogard Above All Dreams
I love the minimalist conception, the great textures and the ethereal sound.
AC/DC High Voltage
AC/DC Live at River Plate
Ahriman Osko
Alestorm Curse Of The Crystal Coconut
Not their best one, but I had great fun so there is no way I could give less than a 3.5. "We are the pirate metal drinking crew, F*CK YOU!"
Alloch Nathir The Emerald Grotto
Very calm and relaxing forest synth. Worked perfecty for reading, and I think it is a great match to any other activites as well to lift up a tired spirit.
Alloxylon Still and Sombre Death
Alpha Chrome Yayo Spectral Hands
When retrowave, jazz, dark ambient, electronic, classical and dance music meet... the result is this album.
Alphagohm Oneiros
This is not an easy listen. This is like an atmospheric horror soundtrack. Deep; very well done.
Ancient Trolltaar
Ancient Eerily Howling Winds [Demo]
Ancient Svartalvheim
It was a great atmoblack album. Not flawless, but presented some good ideas and contains some really good riffs. It's a good jam time to time.
Ancient Boreal Forest A Relic From The Sands of Time
So the second release of ABF this year is another great piece even though it follows a different concept, more of a medieval and black ambient mixture... still exciting one, though.
Andariel The Coldtears of Monolith
Arapaima North
An interesting, noisy, haunting soundtrack of a nightmare.
Arcana Liturgia Follow the old path
God bless Arcana Liturgia for still making great dungeon synth... This album is a well composed and polished piece of magic for the ears.
Arcane Voidsplitter Voice of the Stars
Archgoat Eternal Damnation Of Christ
Short but sweet jam. A few more song could have been better, though...
Archgoat Heavenly Vulva (Christ's Last Rites)
The Archgoat EPs are slightly less fun compared to their full-lengths, but otherwise it is still a great jam.
Armus Valley of Shadows
Athame (HU) Hódító (Conqueror)
Audn Audn
It wasn't that really atmospheric, to be honest. More of a very enjoyable kind of post-black metal, and I'm really glad it exist. The self-titled track was clearly my favourite, but the whole album makes a generally strong release (the production is really nice and clear, big like for the audible bass) but it's not exactly my thing. Great debut, nonetheless.
Audn Vökudraumsins fangi
Axeman Arrive
Aylwin The Arch Holder
Pretty impressive stuff, despite it is just one 30 minutes long track. It is a "simple", yet effective, a very sweet listen - but that's all.
Azarath Diabolic Impious Evil
Bad Magick Superstition
It was a pretty fun hard rock EP, and damn, 'Cold Trip' was an extremly catchy song! I really hope these guys will come up with an LP soon, because they have great potential.
Bagg Tussa баґґтусса
Baptism V: The Devil's Fire
Great riffs, and the clean vocals here and there sounds especially good - however the overall package package lacks something which would make it really memorable. Still, this is a great modern black metal release.
Basalte Vertige
Basmu Infernal Circles of the Sabbat
Bathory Bathory
Bathory Twilight of the Gods
Bathory Hammerheart
Batushka Litourgiya
Batushka Raskol
A pleasant surprise, I'd say. On the slower side of the genre, and the modern edge is still in Bathuska's sound since their member-split - and personally I enjoyed it. Hospodi was more exciting in my opinion, even though I can't say it was boring or anything, especially because the vocals sound pretty interesting all the way through due to the different styles, but the overall atmopshere was great also.
Batyushka Апостол
Begging Palm Accursed Abnormal
Beherit Electric Doom Synthesis
Beherit At The Devil's Studio 1990
Filth.
Behexen By the Blessing of Satan
Bill Fisher Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad
Very nice doomy stoner rock album, which sometimes blends heavier tones into the overall sound. However, not every song hits that hard, but generally it is a pleasantly heavy jam, and presents Bill Fisher's other creative side - proving he can write "more metal" riffs as well. Solid bobbing material.
Black Breath Heavy Breathing
Black Label Society Stronger Than Death
Black Magick SS The Black Abyss
With a better production this could be easily another solid 4.0.
Black Magick SS Panzerwitch
Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Black Sabbath Vol. 4
Black Sabbath Live Evil
Great jam, "Live Evil" is a generally great live album. (Hearing Dio singing "Paranoid" was a really odd experience, but most of the time he performed the Ozzy-era songs well.)
Black Usurper Shadows Of The World
Blasphemy Fallen Angel of Doom
FILTH.
Blissful Stream Dead Religious
Blood Incantation Hidden History of the Human Race
Blood Lord Unwelcome Guests
Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
Bo Hansson Music Inspired by Lord Of The Rings
It was so relaxing I almost fell asleep. Interesting jazzy prog rock/electronic/ambient/whatever album.
Bone Awl An Obelisk Marks the Line
Boru Inertia
Botanist Ecosystem
Burzum Fallen
Burzum Daudi Baldrs
Burzum Burzum
Burzum Draugen - Rarities
Burzygory Burzygóry
Very mixed bag, but sounds very nice! Some mellow folk here and there, more epic soundscapes and sinister sections - Burzygory's self-titled has them all! A bit short, but the variety within is exceptional.
Butcher 666 Goats Carry My Chariot
It was fun. Especially the title track slaps hard. Sometimes felt a bit samey, but it was nice to hear the good ol' speed metal spirit alive.
Cain [RUS] Notforgiven
Cairdeas Fala Sons of the North
Pretty coold Scottish (/Australian?) black metal, which somewhere in between atmoblack and midtempo second wave stuff. It's pretty good, however a few songs feel a bit long and samey after a while, but it is surely a the better kind of BM.
Calderum The solace path
Pretty good punkish raw black metal / old-school dark ambient album. Great riffs, dense atmosphere.
Candlemass Candlemass
Less exciting than their first few, but alltogether this is HEAVY as fuck. Messiah was the best singer of Candlemass.
Candlemass Ancient Dreams
Carpathian Forest Rehearsal 1992
Carpathian Forest Likeim
The clean Nattefrost also rules. Despite the general strong criticism about this short EP, this is still a nice output. Heavily hard rock influenced BM, which always highly appreciated by me.
Casimir Liberski Cosmic Liberty
NES soundtracks meet some sweet jazz. Great stuff!
Caustic Wound Death Posture
100% what Bedex said. Not far from a 4.0 though.
Caverna Passages of the Endless Quest
Droney soundscapes and bits of Berlin-school electronics: I really like this branch of dungeon synth. Finally some original sounds, and the result could work well as a soundtrack for an RPG videogame (very garascore!). I didn't like the mastering, because everything was unnecessarily quiet for some reason - but on higher volumes this sounds very-very good.
Celtic Frost Into the Pandemonium
Great riffs and all, but there is way too much filler on this album.
Chaucerian Myth The Canterbury Tales
Chaucerian Myth Troilus and Criseyde
Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part II
Chaucerian Myth The Faerie Queene
Chihei Hatakeyama Minima Moralia
Very well made ambient album, which could help me relax a bit in very stressy times. I especially liked the involvement of real instruments, and many other artists should do that, imo. I couldn't pay full attention to it, but I think I will eventually bump up my rating in the future.
Cholosus Way Of Life
Cirith Ungol Forever Black
This was pretty exciting! Too bad that the vocals and the drumming is a bit boring after a while... But the riffs, gentlemen, the riffs!!!
Conqueror's Mourn No More for the Battletrance
Dungeon (synth?) music, especially focusing on real instruments and various samples. Through the modified/stretched/whatever sounds this project's mastermind managed to present an exciting and very unique product. Personally No More for the Balltetrance meant a very refreshing listening experience even though it contains melancholic tunes most of the time. A very nice farewell album.
Coroner R.I.P.
This was great fun. Not their strongest, but still a mega solid tech thrash album. (I loved the opener so much! More ambient, please!)
Coroner No More Color
This kinda fell in between the others, and didn't hook me that much as Mental Vortex, for example. However, the closer track ("Last Entertainment") was one of their most phenomenal works - atmospere and riffs.
Cream Disraeli Gears
It was great, literally. I wouldn't say it was the very best from what I've heard from Clapton, though. (It'll be a great background album when some friends come over.)
Criptadel / Toadlickers Tabernaculum
Finally, one of my favourite dungeon synth acts is back! Exactly those vibes I really hoped for, the same satisfying "underground" music with goblins and trolls! 5/5 barf at the end of the title track. But man, this was too short!
Crypt Master Reign of Decay
Cult of Luna Cult of Luna
Curse Upon a Prayer The Three Woes
Modern black metal rarely sounds this good - but this "theatrical" sound convinced me.
Dahlia's Tear Through the Nightfall Grandeur
Damaar Triumph Through Spears Of Sacrilege
Filthy, unlimited anger. Listen to this instead of Revenge, dudes.
Dark Cavern Dungeon Of Solitude
Dark Fortress Spectres from the Old World
Good stuff, the similarities to the Blasphemer-era Mayhem's and Mastodon's style are nice. Not bad!
Dark Vestige Songs From Saint Andrews Chapel
This is a dark, yet somewhat relaxing and highly atmospheric release, and I especially liked the medieval and middle-Eastern influences.
Dark Watcher Dark Watcher
This is pretty cool. Americana and black metal? I did not expect this could work so well together.
Dark Watcher Hymns Of A Godless Land
Normally americana is not exactly my thing - but Dark Watcher did it again: presenting it in the form that I can truly enjoy: black western! The clean(er) guitars always deliver the targeted "spice" (I am a big fan of that), and of course: this riffs! Grab your hat and your revolver, because things will get serious!
Darkspace Dark Space III
Darkthrone Circle the Wagons
Darkthrone F.O.A.D.
Darkthrone Sempiternal Past - The Darkthrone Demos
Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger
Darkthrone Ravishing Grimness
Darkthrone Thulcandra
David Edren Music For Mimosa Pudica & Codariocalyx
Great plant-insipred electronic release! Greatly dinamic, a very enjoyable listen.
Deadlife Monotonous Sounds of Sadness
Death Scream Bloody Gore
Death Individual Thought Patterns
Deathspell Omega Paracletus
Demolition Hammer Tortured Existence
It's a nice thrash album, but isn't that exciting as their masterpiece from '92.
Demonaz March of the Norse
Dengue Dengue Dengue Siete Raices
Dethklok Dethalbum III
Dodheimsgard Monumental Possession
Great album, but somehow I feel "less could have been more".
Dohlmen Dohlmen
Yes, some great doom! The obvious Sabbath, Pentagram etc. influences are clear from the very beginning, however the vocal front really stood out for me, because it felt so thrash metal-ish, but it worked out well with this style as well. Good production and generally I liked their style. (But stuff like jumping between minor and major chords f.e. in the first song was not gusta.)
Dracula Black Wings Over Transylvania
Sweet heavy metal EP, sounds exactly like unreleased Mercyful Fate stuff.
Dragged Into Sunlight Terminal Aggressor II
Super sinister noise/doomblack combo, whichwas a bit too short (even though it is 28 minutes long)! I could listen to some more, tbh. Anyway, it was definitely an interesting listen, and I'll keep an eye on these guys in the future.
Dream Division Legend Of Lizard Lake
Your soundtrack for a casual dungeon-dwelling AD&D campaign is here.
Drowning the Light A Gleam in the Eye of Set
Druad Vast Beneath the Skies
Druadan Forest The Loremasters Time
Dubioza Kolektiv Happy Machine
Dwalin Sorcery & Might
Tbh, this is the first Dwalin album I enjoyed all the way through. Basically the album sounds like Summoning, but just only the percussions and synths - and I really-really liked it!
Earthencloak Commune of the Gnomes
Edoras Lands of Shadows
It may seem very boring, but I really liked the minimalistic perspective of this album.
Electric Wizard Dopethrone
Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse
Emperor As the Shadows Rise
Empyreal Forest Divinations
The resemblances in style and in aesthetics to Depressive Silence made me like this instantly. Feels really old-school!
Emyn Muil Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga
Enforced At The Walls
Arh, this breaks my neck!! But it was basically: *Enforced:* "Can I copy your homework?" *Power Trip:* "Yeah just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious you copied."
Enforced Kill Grid
Super solid riff storm, with tight production. However, I felt this didn't really have outstanding songs, which in some way means it is consistently great, but in the other hand, it also means a certain "boredom" encoded in the album's DNA. Great fun, though.
Enslaved Yggdrasil
Erang Tome I
Erzebet La Ira del Infierno
You don't hear black metal albums from Columbia really often, but it turns out: Erzebet is a great band, which deserves some attention. Nice raw black metal EP with a really '90s-ish sound and great riffs.
Esoteric A Pyrrhic Existence
Estve Az enyészet ajtaja
Nice raw black metal demo, especially the "passionate" vocals are somewhat extraordinary. Generally, this band has some potential!
Eternal Fear Ancient Woods
Europe War of Kings
Evilfeast Funeral Sorcery
Evilnox Songs Of Oblivion
Evilnox's latest is an exciting, strongly folk-oriented dungeon synth release, and I liked it. Lots of interesting folk instruments, deep drones and sound samples from old videogames... I bet it was lots of fun making it!
Evoken Antithesis of Light
Excilibrius Haunted Lands
Good stuff, it has that lovely Fief-ish vibe, but with more dynamic and dramatic / kinda cinematic sound. If there is an album which wound be perfect for a Diablo-copy, then this is it.
Exhumed Slaughtercult
Less fun than the debut, but still a damn solid goregrind album. The last songs slap really hard!
Exhumed/Gruesome Twisted Horror
Eximperitus... Šahrartu
Unlike other bands with such "meme" names, this is actually fairly entertaining. Also, the "atmospheric death metal" tag is pretty accurate: it has some slower, ambient/doom moments, which fires up the usually boring chug-chugs, like in "Inqirad". Surprisingly good stuff.
Expander Neuropunk Boostergang
This sounds like punk, prog metal mixed together having Bryan Giles on vocals from Red Fang. It was fun, and definitely some original material, but in the end it gets a little bit too samey - especially because each song uses the same formula. That crust punk riff in the s/t track slaps so hard...!
Fabled Black Rider In The Garden Of The Wizard
A short yet very interesting release. Very minimalistic: two tracks of super chill synth music, and the rest is like some form of "music ASMR" - perhaps some xilophone/marimba-like instruments with noises made with some sticks(?), I'm not sure, but it was a very relaxing experience.
Falls of Rauros Patterns in Mythology
False Figure A Promised End
Fattyu Ritu Paganorum
Fief V
Fiendish Imp All Hallows Eve EP
Firienholt The Crownless
Flail Snail Spring Awakening
Fluisteraars Bloem
The cover art tempted me to check this, and was no disappointment. I liked the interesting mix having the bass so loud, and the post-black-ish vibe fortunately did not blunt the listening experience. One last note: personally I feel a little bit more gain could have been better on the guitars.
Foetus Nail
Great album, not that weird like what I expected. The full instrumental songs were the best imo (the opener was SO great!), and I liked the rest of it too, however I found one-two songs a bit annoying and overlong. The vocals are nice and wild, fits very well to this style. And the various samples sounded simply awesome, nice work!
Fogweaver Fogweaver
Fogweaver Spellwind
The comfortably melancholic atmosphere which fills the album is very captivating, and personally I found it very relaxing. A rather slow dungeon synth release, which even tough is very well composed, suffers from being a bit too samey.
Foolish Fire The Culture of Loss
Very moody, melancholic and depressing - yet an enjoyable listen, has a very unique atmosphere. The "plague synth" tag is very accurate.
Foolish Fire Grief as a Passion
Forest Altar Contemplation
Forest Shrine Forest Shrine
Very relaxing dungeon synth (and a bit of atmoblack) release. It was a very enjoyable listen, I liked the production but most especially the overall (kinda old-school) atmosphere of it.
Forest Silence The Third Winter
Forest Wanderer A Tribute To Burzum
Forgotten Woods The Curse Of Mankind
FossaDelRumore Tafari
This was a very interesting album, very unique: a shady mix of classic drone music with industrial elements, with a strong rhythm section which is very close to tribal music. The whole thing is a pulsating, hypnotising mixture. Very interesting.
Frost (HU) Deathtree Mystery
Frozen Winds Necromantic Arts
Funeral Tears The World We Lost
Gaahls Wyrd Bergen Nov '15
Gabestok Én Gang Rådden, Altid Rådden
It was pretty fun fusion of black metal and heavy metal. A bit Mercyful Fate-ish, but it is mostly that kind of nasty death-rockish thing which riffs pretty well. The production was intentionally muddy, perhaps a bit too much muddy because I felt I could have enjoy the sweet guitar tone more if they could have sounded cleaner, in my opinion. Interesting stuff, good jam.
Gatecreeper Sweltering Madness
Gatecreeper Gatecreeper
Ghost (SWE) If You Have Ghost
Ghost (SWE) Meliora
Ghost Veil Sleeping Garden
Glass Sigils Self​-​Titled
Glistening #38 'Half Empty'
Glory In The Shadows Glory In The Shadows
Gloryhammer Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards
Gloryhammer Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terror.
Gnipahalan / Evilfeast Split
Raw atmoblack 2021 edition. Previously, I never heard about Gnipahalan eariler, but in this split I think I have a good reason to find out more. Evilfeast presented another fantastic and majestic piece with strong riffs and splendid atmosphere. (Please release a new LP already!)
Goblin Priest Dank Vision Sewer Crawl
Super good chiptune dungeon synth release, probably one of the bests I've heard. Sounds exactly like an old video game soundtrack. Very energic and the old-school aesthetics are spot on.
Gorgoroth Pentagram
There is a quite big contrast between the two halves of this album: personally I found the first half quite boring, meanwhile I greatly enjoyed the second half - more variety, especially in tempo and simply better riffs. However, Hat's vocals were solid all the way through.
Gospel of the Horns Realm of the Damned
Great LP, but interestingly I found the EPs more exciting and fun than this. Great jam, though.
Gravebomb Rot In Putrid Filth
Graven Perished and Forgotten
Gris Il Était Une Forêt...
Gruesome Twisted Prayers
Guild Of Lore Autumn Macabre
Guild Of Lore Winterstead
Guild Of Lore Storm Haven
Guild Of Lore Leaving Winterstead
Guild Of Lore Wandering Tales
100% the typical Guild Of Lore quality.
Gullinbursti Mythical Metallurgy
Nice album, sounds like the mixture of Fief and Criptadel. I kinda prefer the latter in this specific concept, but this is still a very enjoyable album!
Hajduk Свобода
Hasperim Here Lies A Kingdom In Ruins
Hath Of Rot And Ruin
Have Mercy (MD) Armageddon Descends
Hedge Wizard More True Than Time Thought
Helheim Rignir
Great blackened viking prog rock, I'd say. Great riffs, great vocals and great ideas. One or two songs were a bit dull compared to the others, but generally this is a very good album with an interesting melancholic atmosphere.
Hell (USA) I
Diabolic filth. The overall atmosphere is so heavy in this one - this hits like falling stones, which can push you under the nine hells. I liked the huge sound, and the "very well dosed chaos" (-I can't word this feeling better). This kinda reminded me to Sunn O))) (feel the distortio)))n!!), also I think some Sleep influences can be heard in here.
Hellhammer Apocalyptic Raids
The remaster is such a sweet listen, but I kinda prefer the grittier sound of Demon Entrails over this. Still an iconic release, with near infinite replay value.
Hermith Dernier souffle
Dungeon synth with an immersive atmosphere: I felt really inspired by this. Like soundtracks for deep catacombs or emotional scenes etc.
Hexelwir Honey Moon And Blackened Stars
Great, strongly folk-medieval oriented dungeon synth album. A bit lengthy, but very-well composed work.
Hiemal Best of Hiemal
Hiemal Afterglow
Hiemal Wanderings Within Forests of Despondency II
Hiemal The Long Road Back
Hiemal Arcane Ruins Become Spruce and Moss
High on Fire Bat Salad
Title song is a huge jam, the covers are great fun. Alltogether very fun EP. (Plus I love this
artwork!)
High on Fire Surrounded By Thieves
Hiidenhauta Noitia on Minun Sukuni
Hiroshi Yoshimura Green
Great ambient/electronic piece, with pretty old-school synths and with a gentle touch of field recordings. Alltogether the album has a rather slower tempo, which makes it very pleasant for reading, studying, relaxing etc.
Hirsi These Foreign Shores
Hobbit Places In Middle Earth (demo)
Holy Fawn The Black Moon
Super chill shoegaze EP. If the right amount of ambient music is involved, then it makes everything better - and that was proven true, again. I greatly enjoyed it, too bad it was just 3 songs long.
Hope Drone Void Lustre
Horna Musta Kaipuu
Horna Askel Lähempänä Saatanaa
The first half wasn't that memorable, however the second half is amazing. When they go mid-tempo... ah, that is really punchy! Alltogether it was a great experience, definitely would revisit it later.
Horna Pimeyden Hehku
Horna / Peste Noire Horna / Peste Noire
Horna / Pure Split
Hostlov Perpetual Darkness
A bit samey, but it has some real banger songs! A pretty good early-Burzum clone.
Hostlov Til Sorg Tar Oss
Hour Of Thirteen A Knell Within The Crypt
Hulder Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry
Pretty cool black metal album, with some synths here and there and an overall demo-ish sound. Not enough clean singing though!
I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids Innocence
A great mixture of noise and ambient music, definitely not a prosy album. The high contrast between the rough and harsh noise and the eeire (and kinda light) ambiences is very exciting, and combining them was a brave attempt, but it turned out very good.
Ice Golem Quest To The Ice Castle
Igorrr Spirituality and Distortion
It has its highs and lows: for example the (gated) drums are getting a bit annoying after a while, since they sound pretty much the same... and yeah, way too modern for my taste. But the experimental side of the album is pretty fun.
Immortal Blizzard Beasts
Immortal The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh
A very enjoyable live album by one of the greatest black metallers from Norway. Pretty nice sound and recording audio, Abbath is funny as always, and the setlist is beyond fantastic.
Impaled Nazarene Vigorous And Liberating Death
Crazier album cover = the better type of Impaled Nazarene album. Cool black-tharsh release, which is fortunately more melodic than many of the previous albums. They should finally accept the fact: this is the direction they should follow (the main riff of the title track is so damn good!) Also, I'd like to give some extra bonus points for the sick bass lines and tone, more BM albums need that.
Impaled Nazarene Ugra-Karma
Impaled Nazarene Eight Headed Serpent
One of their better ones. They more or less turned back to their more grind-ish sound - and because of that, the album runs on reeeeeally high speed. Good studio quality (the drums sounds really tight!), and tons of riffs = I'm satisfied.
Impaled Nazarene Nihil
Fairly standard black metal album which runs on high tempo from the very beginning until to the very end (so pretty much like an Immortal album). Quite melodic and they even did some fine solos too. Moreover, this had some really De Mysteriis-alike moments, which was a huge improvement from the previous few albums. Alexi Laiho was great (RIP). I have no idea why did they include "Assault The Weak", because that song was simply horrible...
Impending Doom Death Will Reign
Inoriand The First Warm Day
Irithyll The Foreshadowing​
Iron Reagan Dark Days Ahead
Iron Reagan/Gatecreeper Split
Isengard Traditional Doom Cult
11 minutes of pure fun representing why is Fenriz one of the greatest blessings for humanity ever. Especially the second song "The Fright" is the special: Fenriz went full death rock in that one!! I must get this vinyl sometime...
Isengard Vårjevndøgn
It was super fun album, and surprisingly: not even a single black metal song at sight! Death rock, heavy metal, punk and even an indie folk song in the end... just woah. The Pentagram/Sabbath worship songs were clearly my favourites, but generally it was a very pleasant old-school mix of various styles and influences presented by Fenriz.
Izmor Лютовѣй
Jaaportit Kauan koskematon
Jackyl Jackyl
Jim Kirkwood Tenebrae​-​A Presence of Light
I'm a little bit disappointed. The album has a gorgeous sound, but probably due to the very long runtime I became less and less interested. However, the more droney sounds and sections brought great new "colors" into the overall atmospere - and to be honest, I loved them the most. Still a very nice Berlin school dungeon synth album.
Jo Wandrini Governor Of The North
Judas Iscariot To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding
Kanonenfieber Menschenmühle
Pretty cool post-black release with an interesting WW1-oriented theme. It is generally great with a great production, but a bit varied in quality - but that's just my personal taste (like sometimes the vocals feel too much etc.). Oh, and sick WW1 sound samples too!
Karmiciel Wszy Torre Bert
Kate Teague Kate Teague
Kawir Father Sun Mother Moon
Kawir Adrasteia
Kekht Arakh Night & Love
Kkht Arkh's debut LP is quite muddy atmoblack album, where the ambient sections are the real treats. Outstandingly calm and enchanting synth melodies, and great samples. My favourite was the song "Love" which feels like listening to a melting glacial and frozen heart...beautiful.
King Diamond The Dark Sides
King Diamond Abigail
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Live in Sydney '21
It was a very cool set, and sounded pretty damn tight. Even if you're not so interested about it, at least check "K.G.L.W." live, it's awesome.
Knell of Dawn We Are Made Of Stars
Kriegsmaschine Apocalypticists
The better Mgla and/or Deathspell Omega. At least this doesn't suck.
Krigere Wolf Infinite Cosmic Evocation
L'Acephale L’Acephale
Interesting album, but sometimes gets very boring. The last two songs are superb, I'd like to
hear more like those!
Lamentation Fullmoon Over Faerhaaven
Lamp of Murmuur Cursed Deambulations of the Nocturnal Entities
It was great, the artist behind LoM showed us he can write some really good dungeon synth if he wants to.
Lantlos .neon
This is cool.
Lathliss Demo II
Leander A Journey Lost to Time
Sweet, relaxing fantasy-inspired release. It was kinda like a soundtrack from a long-lost old-school videogame (or movie?) mixed with lo-fi ambiences and a tiny bit of classical music. I can highly recommend it as a background music for reading.
Lichmagick Lichmagick
Living Colour Vivid
It was such a nice album. Funky hard rock meets '80s metal? Whatever, this was great. The gap between the big hits and the filler songs was huge, but the better songs will stuck in your head for sure.
Lord Lovidicus Autumnal Winds And Times Of Yore
Lord Mantis Death Mask
Ah~ this is filthy. Pretty heavy and unique, but I think it is not exactly my taste. I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Lord of Pagathorn Age of Curse
Another great band from Finland. Tight riffing and a good time, in the vein of the faster branch of the genre - I sensed some Immortal and perhaps Havukruunu (the less folky) in here, which is nice.
Lothric Adversarial Light
Madball Hardcore Lives
Madball Set It Off
Nothing amazing but its not mediocre either. [2] Yeah, alltogether the album was a great listen, but nothing really stood out for me.
Magic Lantern (DS) Skeleton Key
A pleasantly melodic dungeon synth piece, which strongly builds upon 8-bit music elements. Anyone who's into old-school videogame soundtracks may like this as well.
Malauriu Morte
Strong release - from the beginning to the end. Sadly, it's way too short...
Malokarpatan Krupinské Ohne
That stolen Scorpions riff in the "Na černém kuoni sme lítali firmamentem" is the most fun thing ever I've heard in black metal. Very mixed bag, and I really enjoyed the various influences presented, but somehow it kinda lacks some punch. Bonus points for the great samples, and for the Carpathian folk elements (plus on the cover).
Marblebog Kietlen
Rather slow and melancholic, 'Kietlen' is a pretty good BM release with obvious early-Burzum influences.
Master's Hammer Jilemnický Okultista
Some songs are a bit too monotonous, but alltogether it was a fun album! I love the cheesy synths. Pretty nice old-school first wave BM stuff, especially the last two tracks were my favourites.
Mastodon Once More 'Round the Sun
Mayhem Psywar
Mayhem Esoteric Warfare
Mayhem Live in Zeitz
I feel this could be a grower, since compared to the other live releases with the legendary lineup, this sounds arguably the best. Very "reverby", but despite that I think this is a very enjoyable one.
Medieval Rites Norse Mythology: A Viking Saga
A heartwarming piece of medieval folk music with ambient vibes. Great producion and pretty melodies. This is one of those albums you want to play in the background when you're about to read a book.
Megadeth Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!
Megadeth So Far, So Good... So What!
Megadeth Dystopia
Megadeth Cryptic Writings
Meshuggah I
Metallica The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited
Metallica ...And Justice for All
Midieval Midieval
Midnight Odyssey Forest Mourners
Pretty good atmoblack release. More or less reminded me to Summoning and to the early Xasthur releases.
Misertus Outland
Mizmor Cairn
Moaning Shadows From The Darkest Heritage (EP)
Moaning Shadows Between the Lines
Monosymbiosis 1
Slow, dense, deep and sinister. Very good horror drone!
Mooncitadel Moon Calls to Wander the Winter's Majesty
Moonless Nights In Old Chambers Of Castle Wewelsburg
Moonsorrow Suden uni
Is this Alestorm in black metal disguise? Damn, those pirates! Jokes aside: this is just some harmless fun. Not that memorable as expected, but definitely fun.
Morbid Carnage Glory To Satan Soldiers
Mork Eremittens Dal
Morketsvind Storhet av Morke
Super fun D-beat EP with a little touch of dungeon synth. 100% garascore.
Mortiis Blood And Thunder
Mortiis Født til å Herske
Mortiis Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør
Moukeprabbeli Bogs And Frogs And Nightly Fog
This sounds VERY-VERY similar to Krampusnacht, but with a different concept. (Same artist, maybe?) Anyway, I loved the atmosphere (which is a bit creepy, but playful at the same time) and simply the sound of this release.
Moulderyawn From Whence the Woods...
Municipal Waste The Art of Partying
Municipal Waste Slime and Punishment
Mutiilation Vampires of Black Imperial Blood
It's pretty straight-forward BM as it is. Super raw, but in the best way. Personally I dug probably the vocals the most.
Mutiilation Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
This was pretty bad at the beginning, but it got drastically better from the second half of the album.
Myrkur Mareridt
Mythmaker The Hero's Journey
Despite the dungeon synth tag on Bandcamp, I won't count this as a DS release. This is basically programmed folk/classical music, exactly what you hear in modern video games, or movies. And this is a very good release! The production is spot on, everything sound nice and clean. Exciting themes, dense cinematic atmosphere - kinda reminded me to the good ol' Gothic's soundtrack (the videogame).
Nachtjaeger Night Hunters
A short, calm and melancholic dungeon synth release. Maybe if it'd be longer then I could give it a better rating.
Nanowar of Steel Stairway to Valhalla
Nargaroth Black Metal Ist Krieg (A Dedication Monument)
Nargaroth Geliebte des Regens
Neckbeard Deathcamp White Nationalism is for Basement Dwelling Losers
I'm not even mad, but this surely has some cool riffs, and better than tons of lo-fi bm bands.
Nifheldhur Of Wolf and Battle
Strong debut, and I don't really get the '90s-vibes despite what's written in the project's description on Bandcamp... The overall sound is like an exciting mixture of Olgerd + Murgrind + Thangorodrim, which is very nice.
Night Foundation Way of Life
Night Tapes Dream Forever In Glorious Stereo
Nimbifer Demo I
Nimbifer Demo II
Great second wave worship demo, it has everything what makes a release stand out from the other boring BM albums on Bandcamp: good riffs and the aesthetics (cover, lo-fi production etc.).
No Point in Living Last Promise
Great atmo-DSBM album with some original attributes. The additional string intruments and the groovier riffs blend together surprisingly well.
NONE Life Has Gone On Long Enough
Nthng Shine
Really nice stuff. I especially loved the first song, "Shine". Such ethereal (aquatic?) ambient pieces are my weaknesses, I just deeply love 'em. The rest was also good! I wasn't really aware this kind of techno exists, so it was a nice surprise for me. The additional noises added a nice texture to the whole thing, but those reverby pad synths outshined everything.
Obituary Obituary
Odd Person The flowers of arcadia
The cover art catched my attention, and the music turned out to be pretty good as well. A nice, playful experimentation with the effects on tape loops and small keyboard melodies.
OLD (US) Modern Scum
Old Sorcery An Inkling of Void
A rather slow, dreamlike, and I think pretty winter synth-ish EP. A perfect choice for a gloomy day - a relaxing experience.
Old Tower The Rise of the Specter
Olgerd Dagor-Nuin-Giliath
Orkenblut Mysteria Arkana, Bd. II
Deep, dark and mysterious. Orkenblut's second release is a very interesting one with odd sounds and noises with an omnious atmosphere.
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz
Pagan Altar Mythical & Magical
Panzerfaust The Suns of Perdition - Chapter I: War, Horrid War
Pathway Песни смерти
Pentagram Curious Volume
It was basically the only album in the band's discography I did not like that much - and it is surprising, since it contains Bobby's better performances. Unlike in Last Rites, Curious Volume's more modern approach isn't exactly that exciting, strong heavy rock influences aside. Interestingly enough. I had the exact same feeling with the latest Candlemass albums as well: there is nothing particularly bad about this, simply the overall package lacks some sparks - the lack of more doomy songs like "The Devil's Playground" leaves this album more...empty. It's an enjoyable album for a few listens, though.
Peste (IT) Peste
Pierre Schaeffer Cinq études de bruits
This is amazing in a very weird way. Doing this stuff in '48 more than revolutionary!
Pig Destroyer The Octagonal Stairway
It was great! The Pig Destroyer dudes created another more experimental EP, with a fresh and exciting sound. The first half contains more typical grind tracks, including their latest singles, accompanied by a huge punch in the second half which contains lots of noise, drones and sound samples - hats off, Blake Harrison!
Precious (USA) He Has Abandoned Us
Profecium Socialismo Satánico
Hesitantly, but here it goes a 3.5. This sounds great: tasty black/thrash metal riffs, and oh my, that beautiful old-school bass tone!! Hats off to the guitarist and the bassist, they sounded exceptionally good in this record. *But the biggest problems are: the vocals are very-very weak, the synths are a bit annoying and I can't take these guys seriously... just have a look on the album's title or the antifa lyrics... and it sounded pretty funny in Spanish*. But I love old-school stuff BM, so alltogether it was a very great listen.
Pumpkinlord Tricks 'N' Treats
Pupil Slicer Mirrors
Solid work, I like this. Despite a few forgettable songs, the whole package is quite slappy and was an interesting listen. The "Husk", "Vilified", "Worthless" trio and the closer, "Collective Unconscious" were my absolute favourites from this.
Rabor Боги и Герои / Gods and Heroes
Red Fang Only Ghosts
Rings of Saturn Dingir
River Tiber Indigo
Rivers Ablaze Blood Canvas
Pretty cool progressive... blackened death metal kind of thing! It has atmosphere, it has the riffs, it has the modern and old-school elements too... yeah, this is just simply great, enjoyed it.
Riviere de Corps Tout est chaos
It was some super cool noise / ambient album, with an interesting punkish attitude. Unique stuff.
Ruin Dweller Brasov
Runeshard Dreaming Spire
Running Wild Under Jolly Roger
Great album, I really enjoyed it. Maybe with a better production this could have punched harder, but since I have no info about how the album was made, I accept it in this way. The vocals were very interesting to me, because sounded like a mixture of Dave Mustaine's vocals presented in Summoning'a style and it worked really well in this record. 80s heavy metal never disappoints.
Running Wild Gates to Purgatory
This album is the perfect example of what "great" (3.5) means.
Rvbbervvitch Mastvrbations Malveillantes
This is among the most diabolical and horrifying albums I've ever heard - like an audible anxiety attack. Madly sinister and noisy atmosphere... but from the very similar elements what elevated Paysage d'Hiver or Darkspace to a legendary status. But this is FAR more terrifying.
Sabbra The Sun​,​The Moon​,​The Stars
It took me too much time to realise why did I find it so odd: no guitars. Interesting
technique, and the result is great. This is punky, this is black, and...this is very short.
Slightly under 4.0.
Samael Worship Him
Saor Forgotten Paths
Satanic Warmaster Opferblut
Satanic Warmaster Revelation
Satyricon Volcano
Satyricon Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Satyricon The Age Of Nero
Satyricon The Forest Is My Throne
Satyricon The Shadowthrone
Satyricon Intermezzo II
Pretty cool EP, with lots of experimentation. The last industrial/dark ambient song is one of the most among of the most exciting stuff the band ever released, and tbh, it really sounds exactly like a Thorns-song...
Satyricon Live At The Opera
Fancyricon: The opera album.
Scary Larry Demo 2
Secret Stairways Enchantment of the Ring
Selvhat Gjennom mørket famlende
Sequestered Keep The Vale of Ruined Towers
Sequestered Keep Magic Amidst the Falling Leaves
Serment Chante, O Flamme de la Liberte
Great atmoblack release with great production and Cascadian-vibes (a bit).
Serpent Column Mirror In Darkness
Serpent Column Invicta
Serpent's Isle Tales of Frigid Waters
Serpent's Isle Archaic Oceans
Seth La Morsure du Christ
Good atmoblack stuff. It kinda lost a bit of steam in the end, but it is still a perfectly executed release. Might be a grower.
SevenSins Legends Of Kazakhstan
Strong, but a bit short (33 minutes) debut. This rather thrashy BM was the very first one I've heard from Kazakhstan, but it definitely won't be the last. I expected some folky interludes or something, but sadly there wasn't any. Anyway, the riffs are solid, so I can't complain.
Seventh Circle (US) Cycle of Violence
Ahhhh, this is a filthy beast and I love it! Really heavy death/doom with hardcore elements. Shame it is just 3 songs long...
Shadowland (RUS) A
Shield Roar Single Combat
Very nice old-school black metal and dungeon synth EP. The ambient pieces are very atmospheric and I pretty much enjoyed them, however the black metal songs are pretty great as well - they have that certain early-Burzum vibe and style I really like. More of this, please.
Shining (SWE) X - Varg Utan Flock
Even though this is considered a "safe" album, this is far better than countless of others. Songs like 'Jag r Din Fiende' are solid jams.
Sick Puppies Dressed Up as Life
Sidereal Fortress The Hermit's Hole
Nice concept album, I found especially the atmosphere captivating, and the folk parts are very enjoyable as well. These more simple compostions fit better to this project, imo.
Sign Of Evil Psychodelic Horror
Pretty fun death rock/black metal album with exciting sound samples. Even though it masterfully captured that certain atmosphere what (usually) can be found at similar bands, but it was a little bit too short for my taste and a few songs were rather weak.
SiJ Floating Clouds
Skeleton Pyramid Of Skulls
Sick demo. It is more punkier and generally less exciting than their s/t LP, but also riffs hard.
Slayer God Hates Us All
Soltri XV. Atra Mors
Soltri The Rising of the King Arthur
Soraksan When tigers smoked pipes...
Spectral Castle I've always been here, as far as I remember​.​.​.
Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum Sol
Pretty cosmic black metal album (maybe a bit blackgazey?) The amount of reverb in the mix was a little bit too much for my taste and the second song was a bit weaker than expected. Around 40 minutes in, I felt the album is getting a bit overlong. The long space ambient song in the end was very pleasing though, finishing the album with great elegancy.
Steel Bearing Hand Slay In Hell
Nasty and punishing speed-death album with incredible guitar tone. They perfectly inserted the speed metal into old-school death metal. The tempo changes and some of their riffs kinda reminded me to Darkthrone as well, but anyhow: this is a great album. Not the most exciting thing you'll hear this year, but surely you can have a good time with this.
Stirge Stirge
Stirge Stirge II
Stone Marrow Messiah, Deceiver
Stormkeep Galdrum
Very-very nice "atmoblack" album - like in having 50-50% of dungeon synth and black metal. They kinda riff for sure, but I think the synth-play was far nicer than everything else. Also, it was a way too short release, in my opinion.
Striges Verum Veterum
Everything about this screams "this is a Shatraug project!" - which is a great thing. However, I somehow feel he kept his best riffs for Horna, and he gave less effort into this band. The production is very modern, and to be honest I liked it, and most importantly each song flows well. However, alltogether the release feels a bit overlong which dampens the listening experience, and aiming through a 5 minutes longtime per song was also a bit overconfidient. Needless to say, this is a very enjoyable album, and anyone who enjoys the more traditional second wave direction filled with melodies shall like this album.
Sulphosfurous Solitary Key
Great first-wave-ish black metal with strong stoner and black'n'roll influences. Great jam.
Sunn O))) Solstitium Fulminate
Sunn O))) Dømkirke
Sunn O))) The Grimmrobe Demos (Demo)
Sunn O))) White2
Sunn O))) Life Metal
Sunn O))) and Ulver Terrestrials
Sunsunmoon Demons in Medieval Times
Svaltvinter Hädangången
Somewhere between 3.0 and 3.5, but decided to give the better for the riffs. And this album really reminded me to an other one, but I can't remember which band was it... anyway, solid work.
Svarograd Magical machinery
Svrm Розпад
It mostly just flew by. Basically, the album has a very consitent flow and atmosphere, with nearly zero "pinnacles". So, yeah, very good for atmosphere, but for me it lacked something "punchy"(?). Perfect background black metal album.
Synthosaurus Rise of the Synthosaurs
Synthosaurus Reptical Wrath
Synthosaurus Secret of the Lost Land
Synthosaurus Metalosauric Crush
Synthosaurus Prehistoric Gods
System of a Down Protect The Land/Genocidal Humanoidz
Good to hear them again, Genocidal Humanoidz was clearly superior (a black metal-ish riff?!) but both songs felt emotional enough for me. I'm just glad they're back. (...but I feel kinda sad too. Best wishes to the people in Artsakh, 2020 is very rough for them.)
Szivilizs Ds Tagtroumschtärbä (demo)
Taake Kong Vinter
Taake / Deathcult Jaertegn (Split)
Great split, Hoest is awesome as usual - and surprisingly, the cover songs were the real treat! Deathcult didn't really convince me, but their Beherit cover sounded awesome. Nice jam! m/
Taake / Helheim Henholdsvis
I really like how this turned out. Both sides showed what are they all about, and especially the Helheim side meant some surprises. Cool stuff, but due to the short runtime, I can't give more than 3.5.
Talog Ukleta Kotlina
Tangorodrim Justus Ex Fide Vivit
Tar'Goraan Hollow Hearts
Teen Daze Four More Years
Temple of Void The World That Was
Yup, this is good. I dig the vocals, pretty standard but fits to the whole thing pretty well. The riffs are good, (yes it chugs m/), but I felt the guitars get a bit boring after a while... these solo-kinda-things weren't that great, tbh. But I'm glad it has some pretty synths in some songs, great addition to the sound!
Tender Defender Tender Defender
Thangorodrim Towers of the Teeth (Demo)
The Cursed Cold One The Hag Of The Sea
Great diversity in a quite short release. Lots of very good ideas, and original sounds - especially the percussions.
The Future Sound of London Yage 2019
The House of Capricorn The Rivers and the Rain
The Mothers of Invention One Size Fits All
It was...quite fun. When it got prog, jazzy and bluesy I really liked it. The rest was...okay.
The Noisy Freaks Straight Life
The Obsessed Sacred
The Police Reggatta de Blanc
~Sending out an SOS~ The album is mostly super catchy, and the bass is incredibly good, tbh: one of the greatests I've ever heard. The second half of the album lacks some spark, shame... but alltogether this is a great and light album, relaxing background music for working and so on.
The Rolling Stones Aftermath
The Rolling Stones Blue and Lonesome
Back to their roots, and it sounded very good. If you got bored by this, then you have problems.
The Soviet Space Dog Project History of Radio
The Trees Community Christ Tree
The True Werwolf / Druadan Forest Split
Thokkian Vortex Thy Throne Is Mine
Pretty diverse release, especially in the second half. The riffing is absolutely follows the "typical" Norwegian style, and some melodies sounds really familiar (not recycled though!). The non-BM songs are fun and/or pretty - good addition. And I think they definitely made this album more memorable than otherwise.
Thornwing Solitary Madness in Crystalline Caverns
Thule thule Under the spell of
Thy Darkened Shade Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet
Alltogether this is a great black metal album, but I couldn't rate it above 3.5. The reason is simple: even though I dig the riffs, the overall album gets a bit samey and overlong after a while. The chanting vocals are great addition, but the harsh vocals are very-very boring. And despite the fast speed, somehow it wasn't "snappy" enough.
Trvth A Galvanizing Derivation
Trvth Process of Adaptation
Great black metal from the Captain, as usual. "Acceptance" is one of my most favourite Trvth track.
Tsjuder Demonic Possession
Just slightly under 4.0. Tons of heavy riffs (some are pretty DM alike) -so the usual high quality Tsjuder. The only problem is the mixing: the vocals and the drums are chocking the guitar, and the bass is nearly inaudible.
TSM aka This Soft Machine On & On / This Place Was Meant For Me
Ulver Wars of the Roses
Umbria Demo
Umbria The Sleeping Wizard
Pretty, dinamic and enchanting work from Umbria - less folk/classical oriented than the previous LP, more on the fantasy synth side. And I sensed some similarities to Mirkwood, and Chaucerian Myth, which is very welcomed. Also: bonus points best artwork of the year, so far.
Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect Order of the Rose Cross
Uppstigning Heros (An ascension in 4 chapters)
Pretty good, and really massive dungeon synth album (9 songs, and like the half of them are over 15 mintes long). A slowly flowing, meditating and operates mostly with the old-school sound palette. The longer songs get a bit repetitive after a while in my opinion, maybe cutting a few mintes down on them could have been better. A relaxing listen nonetheless.
Ur Pale Sea Synth Ensemble
Ur Pale Water Tombs & Crimson Horizons
Urrnil Killer of malevolence (demo)
Urrnil Fabularum
Utred Tribute
Utred Forest
Utred Citadel
Uuntar Voorvaderverering
Nice atmoblack album, really reminded me to Evilfeast but these guys have a bit different style. This release a bit "blunt" sound, putting the guitars more into the background was a bit strange at first but I think it work really well in building up the atmosphere. The album has a pretty nice, organic drum sound and the chanting type of vocals sounded also great. Talented band, took me some time to get into their sound.
Vader Dark Age
Vaelastrasz Adventures of the Red Whelpling
Vagtazo Halottkemek A semmi kapuin dorombolve
This is really wild stuff. Ethno-punk/shaman-punk or whatever is it, one thing is sure: this band has a very unique sound. Not an easy listening, (especially if you don't get the lyrics...) but this is an unforgettable experience. The album slowly crawls inside your head if you give it the required patience...
Vangelis The Dragon
The Dragon is like listening to electronic, psychedelic, folk and ambient music at the same time. It has an interesting atmosphere for sure, and it's just simply hard to describe these tones. However, the result is quite charming.
Vargrav (FIN) Netherstorm
Various Artists (Ambient) Healing Sounds II: A compilation for those in need
Varvitos Forbidden Lost Lore
Finally something noteworthy greatness. Built on sonical atmosphere of the old-school and hints of medieval melodies - eactly what I like in dungeon synth. This also reminded me a bit to the soundtrack of Gothic (my favourite RPG of all time), so the additional nostalgia factor also had an impact why did I like this.
Ved Buens Ende Written In Waters
Velnias Scion of Aether
Album is a continous proggy doom riff-fest, with a small amount of black metal influences. Great jam!
Venom Hell
Vetur Vist
A pretty black metal/folk release - but a hard riffing one! Iceland's output is super massive lately.
Vile Haint Ol' Hatchie Haint
It was pretty cool! The (kinda) lo-fi production generated a thick atmosphere, and I really enjoyed the riffs as well - I believe some of the more experimental Mayhem albums were impactful influences for this band. However, personally I found the vocals way too oppressive in the mix, which was quite tiring after a while. They should have cut back from the volume and there was no need for this kind of enourmous reverb as well. All in all it was great, an impressive debut.
Vitamin X Age Of Paranoia
Very-well made hardcore release, not exactly that good as "About To Crack" was, but still, this is a heavy and fun album.
Vlad Tepes War Funeral March
Exactly what Scuro said. It is some more great and original raw BM.
Vltimas Something Wicked Marches In
It was a definitely great album, but looking at the overall package: it has its downsides. Especially the often mentioned vocals, which was clearly the weakest aspect in my opinion. It just felt simply out of pace a little bit, maybe a different vocal style could have been a better option. Also, I'm still not a big fan of these modernish drum sounds, but fortunately Blasphemer's insanely good riffs outshined everything.
Void (BRA) The Realms of the Unreal
Voslaarum Secrets from Darklight Tower
Voslaarum Immortal Blood
Wake Devouring Ruin
Whatever is this: this is heavy. The different songs lengths are pretty odd, I feel some songs could have been shorter.
Wampyric Solitude Carpathian Melancholy
I'm a simple man, and I do really enjoy these kind of ethereal drone/ambient albums!
Weather Report Mysterious Traveller
It was a surely nice and lovely album, but it felt a little bit "hollow" to me. But it still had a nice impact on my mood while working, though - so it stays as a pretty background music for me.
Werendia Småland
Werendia Werendia
Werendia Folkvandringen
A kinda "one trick pony" type of band, but they perform that trick very well. I love these rather slow and melancholic atmoblack releases, and Werendia is very good at it. It was the best one (so far) from all the 3 releases, slightly more varied and interesting than the others. Pretty calm, and it was great background music for working. Great band!
Whispering Mirrors The Stuff of Old Dreams
It was really nice, but some songs (I assume both sides are seamless mixes of several songs) felt a bit out of place = less inspired / magical. However, this is an interesting album which mixes old-school and modern sounds.
Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
The cheesiness and the catchiness of this album is fantastic - I liked it.
Winter Into Darkness
Nasty sound, depressing aura. Funeral Hellhammer?
winter woods Adirondack Evil
winter woods Adirondack Evil 2
Witch Claw Summoning of the Heksevin
Witch Haunt A Full Moon Shone On Hallows Eve
The best halloween dungeon synth album of the year award goes to Witch Haunt!
Witch Tomb Lord of Blizzards
Witchsteel Mountain of the Red Flame
I'm a bit disappointed. I'm a big fan of the artist, since he brought many great releases into the scene - but this is a straight-up Thangorodrim "copy"... and the spoken lines are quite meh. However, the album's aura and the aesthetical elements are damn fine and enjoyable. Plus I love the artwork.
Wode Wode
Great mix of heavy metal and melodic black. Very pleasant listen, the guitars have some extra, making this band sound original.
Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem Of 12 Stars
Wooden Memory The Lost Stories
Xasthur Subject To Change
Xasthur Telepathic With The Deceased
Xibalba Años En Infierno
I was tempted by the sick cover, stayed for the riffs.
Yellow Eyes Rare Field Ceiling
Ysengrin Parergon
It was a great dungeon synth release, the overall sound perfectly imitates the old-school aesthetics, so generally it sounds like something from straight out from the '90s. A bit repetitive, and not each song is that exciting, but definitely worth the time.
Zakk Sabbath Vertigo
Exactly what manosg said. His take on 'The Wizard' is: a w e s o m e.
Zmyrna Zmyrna
Very cool debut EP. A trvely old-school sound, and cold atmosphere - I'm curious what comes next.
Zombi Shape Shift

3.0 good
0 (Null) Null & Void
It has its moments, but somehow it lacks a consistency. The atmosphere is alright, but time to time it loses from the magic and becomes a bit boring. However, it was a very promising debut. (And I'm glad to see the improvement in their first LP.)
A Monumental Black Statue Aere perennius
A Swarm of the Sun The Woods
It was good, I liked the dark atmosphere, but the album did not offer anything extraordinary. The vocals were really awkward, which is a huge minus.
Abbath Outstrider
Abysa Searemony
Ethereal, calm and relaxing. I can't get enough from these aquatic-inspired droney releases!
AC/DC Black Ice
AC/DC Power Up
Adiaphora Nebra
The reason why was this tagged as dungeon synth is a mystery to me, however it was a pretty chill guitar-centered ambient release, which varies between calm ambiences and darker atmospheres.
Agnes Obel Myopia
It's alright.
Akercocke Words That Go Unspoken...
Akerius Arcanum Hermeticum
It was nice, the album flows very nicely but I always had that certain feeling of "did I hear this somewhere before?".
Alcest Shelter
Alcest Écailles De Lune
Alcest got better later.
Alestorm Black Sails at Midnight
Alestorm Sunset on the Golden Age
Alpha Drone Alpha Drone
Amiensus Restoration
Amn Lands of Intrigue
I loved the analog synth sounds and effects, but this album was too hollow for me... Very nice concept (please, more Faern-based dungeon synth!), but the some of the song titles sound more exciting than certain tracks, and I'm quite sad about to say that.
An Old Sad Ghost Speertraeger - A Rotten Compilation
Ancient Det Glemte Riket
Ancient Boreal Forest Grim Ages
Ancient Mastery The Chosen One
This was still fun, especially the cheesy synths are simply perfect. But I can't understand the change in the production... bass full, no mids, low high? RIP guitars :[
Archgoat The Light-Devouring Darkness
The only sligtly worse Archgoat album. It also delivers their signature styled riffs and flith, however this felt their least memorable work, in my opinion.
Archosaur One Million Years B​.​C.
This was an okay-ish concept-demo, but hey: more dino synth is always good.
Argol Six Spells
Arkham Hearse The Starry Wisdom
A dungeon synth LSD trip? It was a wild one, but pretty interesting.
Arnaut Pavle Arnaut Pavle
Arthuros Ithildin
Arthuros Goddess
It's nice, I guess.
Asagraum Dawn of Infinite Fire
Nice second wave worship, but forgettable. Each song stands very well on its own, but the overall package is very-very samey.
Ashmadai Symphonies for the Kings
Augie March Sunset Studies
Azusa Loop of Yesterdays
While I acknowledge these guys talent and great ideas they showed in this album - but I did not enjoy this as much as I expected. I might be way too eclectic, but... I have no intention to change about this, haha! The riffs and the song structures are fairly interesting and exciting ("Kill / Destroy" is a great jam m/), but on the other side I'm not entirely satisfied with the vocals (I mean the harsh vocals, I loved the clean sections), and with the production. (Those "clicking" and overly compressed drums are the most horryfing thing ever in modern metal...)
Balrog [FRA] The Dark Tower
Barad-Dur Druid's Grove
I expected something greatly different (because the project's name in the first place), but I liked this. A pretty neo-folkish ambient piece.
Bathory The Return of the Darkness and Evil
Bathory Octagon
Bathory Destroyer of Worlds
I gave this another spin, and mos surprisingly: I felt I must re-rate this, because it was actually so much better than how I remembered. Too bad the atmosphere was gone after the 3 songs, but at least the heavy riffs remained. With better vocals, this could have been a very good record.
Batushka Panihida
Beartooth Aggressive
Behexen My Soul For His Glory
It has few weaker songs, but still a pretty solid black metal release. Closer track is mega good, though.
Beneath Ancient Branches Demo 1
Berdische Demo
A charming little piece of dungeon noise. I loved those old-school Yamaha synths from the very beginning, and the minimalistic percussion (which sounds like it was sampled from some cans or I don't know) was oddly cool.
Bibio Phantom Brickworks
Pretty. The piano wasn't always a good addition though.
Big|Brave A Gaze Among Them
Black Altar Black Altar
Black Flag Damaged
Blackmage Baader-Meinhof
Well, this is not bad at all. I expected an epic failure from Ghostemane, but this is in exactly in the same league with the hordes of one-man BM bands on Bandcamp. Only the last track stood out for me, but it was nice.
Blink-182 California (Deluxe Edition)
Bloodbath Nightmares Made Flesh
It is tasty, but somehow the second half feels drastically better than the other half, which made me lower my overall rating.
BLVCK CEILING THRONE
Borg Ugglor i Mossen
The "darker" Borg was enjoyable as well, but it wasn't that captivating for me like the others.
Brutus Greenshield Sharpened Buds Like Lances
It was more of an experimental electronics album than dungeon synth... it had dungeonish elements here and there, but I wouldn't say they had anything more in common. It has nice textures and a very melancholic vibe, but after a while it was a bit tiring for me. It was good for once.
Burzum Balders Død (Dauði Baldrs demo)
Burzum Sol austan, Mani vestan
Burzum From the Depths of Darkness
Cabaret Voltaire Micro-Phonies
This didn't revolutionized my music taste, but this is pretty nice. Those synths are tasty!
Candlekeep The Death of the Gatekeeper
It was lovely, but I think it wasn't that exciting to deserve a 3.5. Hopefully the next release shall have it!
Candlemass Green Valley
Good to seem them still kickin', but I'm a bit doubtful about its replay value. It's a good listen, and the hardcore fans will enjoy this anyway.
Cara Neir Portals to a Better, Dead World
It's fine I guess. The last two songs were probably the best, but the opener was so awful that almost made me skip the entire thing. And I really disliked the guitar tone in the whole album... NOT ENOUGH GAIN! But the more audible bass melodies are nice.
Celestial Conjuration Demo I
Celestial Conjuration Demo II
It's alright. Nice lo-fi atmoblack, but too short and lacks some fantasy. Good for one listen, but that's all.
Celtic Frost Vanity/Nemesis
Surely very far from being the best album in the Celtic Frost discography, but Vanity/Nemesis is a... kinda good album. A more of a mixed bag in terms of quality, but let's focus what came afterwards.
Chainmail Chainmail
Pretty cool debut with a lovely old-schoolish atmosphere.
Chelsea Wolfe Birth of Violence
Children's Book When Fate Was Fair
(Terrible band name.) It's an okay dungeon synth album. I liked the overall sound of it, but the songwriting is all over the place, there is no driving concept or theme within plus most of these tracks are way too short, so it gives almost no opportunity to get into the atmosphere.
Church of the Cosmic Skull Everybody's Going to Die
Well, it is clearly their weakest. Not bad, but the songs are way less exciting and memorable like in the previous albums. Nyeh. I think it could have been much better if they would give more time for this record to "polish" these songs a bit more.
Still, this is a very good classic psychedelic rock album.
Cisza If It Is True What the Prophets Write
Clown Core Toilet
Clown Core van
It was rad. Their typical weirdness is still entertaining. I sensed some improvement: more and better sax solos, and very nice "rest" songs, like 'tears of god' and 'end' - the latter was especially very sweet for me, because I love such ethereal drones. Alltogether, the experimental grind-jazz-whatever duo still makes interesting music, but I don't see myself jamming it very often though.
Coffin Moth Night Of The Witch
Coldworld Melancholie²
Coniferous Myst Forest Rehearsal 5​.​20​.​19
Conjurer (UK) Mire
Corpus Hibernus As The Blood Freezes In My Veins
Count Shirintsu Welcome home, Count Shirintsu
Count Shirintsu Spirit of the Earth
Cult of Frey By The Blood of Odin: Part 1 - Midgard
A traditional viking metal album with pleasant old-school vibes, but a little bit cheesy.
Cyhyraeth (UK) Cyhyraeth
Nice little old-schoolish DS EP, very harmonic and peaceful. But way too short to have a strong impact on me.
Dagor-Nuin-Giliath First Age
Dark Ages Chronicle of the Plague
Darkthrone Land of Frost
Darkthrone Dark Thrones and Black Flags
Darkthrone NWOBHM
Darkthrone Cromlech
Dead To A Dying World Elegy
Deepforest Blackvalley
Deftones Ohms
It was a good listen, but I don't really think I'll come back for this more than a few times.
Delmak-O Cerulean Tomb
Nice Berlin-school/drone mixture album. I especially liked the concept behind it, but alltogether the music wasn't that exciting to me... Bonus points for the awesome cover, though.
Demolition Hammer Time Bomb
I think it's quite good, and I would never call it an ugly album. But it is a definite "one-trick-pony" though, since it lacks variety. However, it kinda riffs but it's far from their best works in terms of quality. But: I dig this more groovy/hardcore-ish sound.
Deorc Weg The Sleepwalk Sessions
Dethklok The Doomstar Requiem
Digre (SWE) Saint Moses the Black
DIM (CA) Compendium III
A very different DIM album. It's more grim and has an interesting sound which accompanies the regular medieval ambient sounds - not really dungeon synth-ish in my opinion. It was a pleasant listen though, nothing is wrong with it, just not my style.
DIM (CA) Compendium Reliquiae
A sligthly disappointing (farewell?) album from the Canadian bard. It just often felt "hollow", as manosg already said like something is missing. But fortunately, in songs like "To Look Back Upon a Stony Gate" the classic medieval spirit was still present! Relaxing medieval ambience with hints of melancholy. Thank you everything, Dim.
Disciple of Dagon Demo
District Unknown [Anatomy of a 24 Hour Lifetime]
Dodheimsgard Supervillain Outcast
Dodheimsgard Kronet Til Konge
Donny Benet Mr. Experience
The 5.0 album art. + Damn, this guy is the master of the bass. I love those cheesy synths... too bad the vocals are a bit lame, however the choruses are very catchy.
Dungeon Altar The Hunter
Quite good little EP - anyone who likes chiptune dungeon synth would enjoy this.
Dungeontroll Journey through the Forest of Uzohr
Even though this was made as a joke, to form the "epitope" of those shitty 11 minute dungeon synth demos: this is good one. Just some minimal, well composed melodies.
Dungeontroll Tales from the Northern Chamber
Dungeontroll From the Shining Kingdom of Uzohr
Dvne Etemen Ænka
It's alright, I guess.
Earth Machine Clad in a Forest of Dark Fir
I definitely enjoyed this DS demo from the modern branch of the genre. The techno-ish elements are odd, but sounded nice.
Ecdelegost Erebor
Quite good Tolkien-inspired release. Not really outstanding, but noteworthy.
Edoras Doors of Moria
Ekthelion Under A Mournful Moon
It is pretty and has an uniquely interesting atmosphere, but tends to be very boring after a while...
Eldamar The Force of the Ancient Land
Eldritch Archways Twilit Woods of Yore
My only problems with this release is that every song sounds like an interlude or intro before something "extra", so it is a bit "hollow" but the melodies and the instruments are all good, so it's not bad.
Elgra Forest Kingdom
Ellende Triebe
A somewhat better kind of post-black release. The production is nice, but this EP lacks... soul, something exciting what could make me listen to this again. Boring wouldn't be a good word for this, but kinda it is the case.
Elminster MIDIeval
How to make sure your dungeon synth albums sell out immediately in two steps: 1. make it sound like Thangorodrim and Fief at the same time. 2. profit. Done.
Eminem Kamikaze
Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Emperor Emperor
Empire of the Moon Έκλειψις
A "standard" black metal release, with slightly more exciting riffing.
Enid Enid
Ente (MEX) Vida y Muerte
Erdstall Caverns of Endless
Erykah Badu New Amerykah Pt. One: 4th World War
Eternal Axe Endless Fantasy
Nice little demo. I liked the old-schoolish vibes and the atmosphere.
Eternal Axe Wizard odyssey
Pretty diverse, and atmospheric - too bad some tracks were a bit too flat and boring compared to others. The last two neo-folk songs are outstandingly good though!
Eternal Valley The Falling Light
Ex Eye Ex Eye
Exhibito In Nobis
Very interesting album, the overall sound and atmosphere is something what an alien spaceship-centered horror movie could have. Otherworldy sounds, dungeon noises, pulsating synths + impossible to predict where it goes, however the album flows nicely and kept me interested all the way through.
Fanebaerer Fra Hånd Til Jord
Fantomas Delìrium Còrdia
Foglord Celestial
Forgjord Laulu Kuolemasta
Forlorn Citadel Ashen Dirge of Kingslain
Fornicus Sulphuric Omnipotence
It's alright. Bonus point for the sick cover art.
Frayle The White Witch
Galdur Age of Legends
Garadrak Loremaster
Garadrak Cyclopean Sorrows
Light and melodic, but not charming enough for me. It's good for a listen, but I'm a bit disappointed.
Germfood Night Of The Consumers - OST
It was pretty fun. The great soundtrack was a key factor in the game's succes for me, because it is not just kinda creepy but respectfully evokes that special atmospere I love(d) so much in old-school video games.
Ghost (SWE) Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic
Glemt Animus (demo)
Gnipahalan Vannalosa Urskepnader
Goatsnake Breakfast with the King b​/​w Deathwish
The 10/10 guitar tone. Pretty nice EP, I definitely enjoyed it, but it's barely more than nothing...
Goblin Contamination
It was nice. But except a few songs, it wasn't really memorable.
Gonemage Mystical Extraction
I'm a bit doubtful about the "synergy" here, but inserting the old-school arcade video game soundscape into black metal is a noteworthy effort the least. Weird stuff, but for me it offered far less enjoyment than the classic method of mixing (true) dungeon synth into atmoblack. Interesting experiment, but that's all I could say.
Gorgoroth A Sorcery Written in Blood
Goropsy Drawing Pictures in the Dark because I Miss You
Grausamkeit Christenschmähung
Gravetemple Ambient / Ruin (demo)
Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens
It is good, but nothing really outstanding or noteworthy. A handful of chill ambient/electronic tracks about plants, but that's all.
Hajduk Кръв
Halfling Rune Squire
Hayley Williams Petals for Armor
Hey, it wasnt't half as bad as I expected. It has some pretty nice and catchy songs but there are pretty awful ones there as well. And oh my... some lyrics are soooo AWKWARD! Oh, and the nice bass lines worth some bonus points! But minus point for the overlong runtime.
Hellvetic Frost Towards a Distant World
Herbie Hancock Head Hunters
I liked the "slower" sections the most, and sadly I can't rate this higher than 3.0 since I did not like the two songs in the middle. So it is literally a "good" album.
Hiemal Cathedral Rocks
Hiemal Haze of Old Valleys
Hiemal Yukon
Hiemal Wanderings Within Forests of Despondency
Hiemal Empyreal Woods
Highland Spokesman Sounds
Pretty ethereal drones.
Hirotaka Shirotsubaki slowdance​,​lowtide
It was pretty and relaxing, but that's all. So, here it comes yet another 3.0 rating~
Hole Dweller flies the coop
Hole Dweller Returns to Roost
A better Hole Dweller album, but I'm still not particularly excited about this project... it is nice, but I don't want to jam this repeatedly.
Holokaust 2001 A Death Odyssey
So, the drummer from Slstafir made a DSBM/black ambient album? It's alright, and has its moments, but it's not the most memorable album I've ever heard.
Homselvareg Catastrofe
Horna Hiidentorni (demo)
Horna Haudankylmyyden Mailla
A surprisingly rather forgettable album, but at least it contains many great riffs. But the weakest vocal performance in the band's history is a huge minus. Shame.
Horna Viha Ja Viikate
Hornwood Fell Damno Lumina Nocte
Hour Of Thirteen Feast And Flame
Human Tetris Memorabilia
I'm not really into post-punk, but I liked this. Perhaps I was just in the mood for this, or I don't know~ The darkwave elements are the best.
I Should've Been A Lighthouse Keeper You Will Be Forgotten
Igorrr Savage Sinusoid
"So, what genre do you play guys?" ... Basically, YES.
Illusory Gates Dusk in the Old​-​Woods
Illyria The Carpathian Summit
Impaled Nazarene Road to the Octagon
It was good, I think their thrashier side is far better, and the songs where they built upon that more felt superior. It's not bad, but a bit far from their best works - it is still a fun listen, though.
Impaled Nazarene All That You Fear
It's good for a listen.
Inferno (NO) Utter Hell
Pretty standard old-school thrash album. Sometimes it gets a bit samey, and I felt some songs are overlong. However, it had its moments where the great riffs could really kick in.
Inoriand Touch Of Frost
Irithyll Frozen in Time
It's a calm and easy listen, I found it particularly good whilst reading.
James Knott Tantamount
jofi Lafcádio
Jorvvik Jorvvik
Judas Iscariot Heaven In Flames
Judas Iscariot An Ancient Starry Sky
Kalmankantaja Nostalgia II: My Kingdom
Somewhat better than most of the Burzum copycats I've heard, especially the synths are really close to what you can hear in Varg's albums - someone did some research, eh? The riffs are very-very similar, sometimes almost the same, to some Burzum riffs, probably just a few changes here and there to make it different. Furthermore, the vocals sound extremly close to the iconic Filosofem-type of sound, so hats off, someone did the homework right. But allogether, I can't give a better score than a 3.0 because it wasn't really original and the lack of progression is getting boring after some time - but the aesthetics are spot on, which is this release's only, but notewrothy strength.
Kathaaria The Complex Void of Negativity
Pretty good proggy black metal, with especially strong instrumental sections. It is surprising to see that it was released in 2008... they were kinda ahead of their time!
Kauan Ice Fleet
Good album, but I didn't feel entirely hooked by it. (Despite the fact I loved the firt two singles, but sadly they've already unveiled their best shots with 'em.) To be honest, I think I'd be more excited about the RPG book they released with this one.
Kensington Vultures
Kensington Rivals
Kensington Control
Kill Your Idols This Is Just the Beginning
This riffs. m/ The vocals kinda drags it down, though.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Nonagon Infinity
The high average rating was a bit misleading, because I don't think this would be the best KGTLW album. But it's good, I guess?
Kormorg Dungeon myths
Korog Mumus
Krallice Demonic Wealth
The only Krallice album I did not hate, which is: something. The synths are cool.
Krampusnacht Trinity : I - The Father
Kvelertak Splid
I'm disappointed. Most of the tracks turned out pretty lame... "Br�tebrann", "Fanden ta dette hull!" & "Delirium tremens" were outstandingly awesome. But the rest? Uninspired (and not black enough!!!!) - pretty much the same case like it was with 'Nattesfred'. And this really saddened me because I'm sure they still have the potential to write something like the self-titled or 'Meir'. Also, I'm satisfied with the new singer, he's a fuckin' awesome screamer (but please, do not try to sing...).
Lantlos Lantlos
The first three songs didn't really impressed me, but 'Kalte Tage' and 'Ein' delivered exactly what I previously expected from this album.
Legend of the Seagullmen Legend of the Seagullmen
Limbonic Art Promo 1995 [Demo]
Linkin Park Reanimation
Lobby Boxer Eugene's Preference
Longsword Longsword
Lord Einsamkeit A Most Certain Death
Lord Einsamkeit Intolerant Tyranny
Lord Einsamkeit Eternal Suffering
Lord Orots Latzineko Erresumaren Itzulera
Lumiere Pieśni Miłosne i Żałobne
Lunacy (US) Melancholic Invocations
Nice atmoblack/black album, this band has some potential.
Lustre (SWE) A Glimpse of Glory
Lycanthropic Depression On Wings of Bats
It was surely something interesting, but not exciting enough for more than one listen. The atmosphere is spot on - like how I'd expect it from a black ambient album - but even as an EP is is very-very short, and with a slightly more effort it could have been much more and much more exciting. But I dig the aesthetics and the main concept.
Lye The Imprisoned Plague Dance
Magnum The Serpent Rings
It's good for a solid jam, but it is kinda punchless and not really exciting or "atmospheric" enough to make me want to jam this repeatedly... + their previous one was lot more catchy than this.
Maladia Demo
Maletum Reckless Age
The strong neo-classical and medieval ambient vibes are nice, but for me the more epic and adventurous song, "Hearth", was clearly the best (awesome Thangorodrim vibes!). No bad for a debut.
Maletum Chosen
Mammoth Grinder Cosmic Crypt
Marblebog Ermitus
A grim and moody black metal/ambient release. In production and riffs this EP shows a strong similarity to the very early Burzum demos/albums, which is something I always enjoy. The vocals are completely not my taste, though...
Marillion Fugazi
Good stuff! Maybe not really my taste (especially the vocals), but it was enjoyable! Pretty synths, and guitars. It is one of those albums I'd use as background music when some friends come over.
Marrasmieli Between Land And Sky
Nice folkish BM, and a pretty strong debut. The second half of the album was especially good (the songs: "Karakorum" and "The Ardent Passage"). I'm not the biggest fan of the production and the drumming though: the whole package sounds flat. Blast beats over blast beats with some extra blast beats, oh and the bass is barely audible - and probably programmed. But the rest is cool: great riffs, the folky stuff is alright, so definitely not bad.
Mayhem Pure Fucking Armageddon
Medieval Rites Epic Viking Battle
Not that epic, but still a nice bunch of medieval-inspired "battle" tracks.
Medieval Rites The Celtic Tavern
I expected more positive vibes. Not really tavern music...
Menace Ruine Cult of Ruins
Mercury Rev Yerself Is Steam
It was an interesting one. I'm not the greatest fan of it, because I didn't like especially the first half, and some of these songs were a bit too long for my taste. One other thing which lowered my final score is the vocals... too much false notes, man. The slower, mellow sections were pretty enjoyable though, and that made it a quite relaxing listen while working.
Metallica Beyond Magnetic
Mgla Age of Excuse
Well, this is: ... ... ... ... ... standard black metal.
MHOR Vichr v haluzích
Midnight Farewell to Hell
Heavy great riffs and all, but this is rather forgettable than revolutionary.
Mimico It's Dead
A greatly interesting debut EP, pretty diverse and has lots of interesting sounds - but it makes it hard to judge because there is a huge contrast between songs - and there is only 4 of them. I'm curious what comes next.
Misotheist For the Glory of Your Redeemer
It was alright. A very-very standard modern BM release which really reminded me to the Polish scene's output - so nothing really new and not that memorable, but at least I enjoyed it more or less.
Misthyrming Algleymi
Moonless Nights Reaching for divinity
Morbus Chron Sweven
I have mixed emotions about this one: I liked half of the album (more or less), but the other half was basically boring or average. I think this is overrated.
Morketsvind Wandering to Nether World
Mors Certa The Ever​-​Turning Wheel
Mortiis The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost
Mortuary Drape All the Witches Dance
Motorpsycho The All Is One
Muknal CN-22
Pretty standard blackened death metal.
Mullbeck The Boy And The Demon
It was alright, but projects like Fiendish Imp are far better in this style of dungeon synth.
Myrkur Juniper
Myrkur M
Mysticum Wintermass
Nahadoth The Trial of Oda Thahn / Dathonah's Prescription
Started really well, ended up pretty meh... shame.
Nameless Hero A Gothic Tale
Nargaroth Rasluka Part II
Nargaroth Prosatanica Shooting Angels
I'm not entirely satisfied with this release, but it has its moments. The title and song titles are horribly bad, and the lack of bass guitar is a bit distrurbing. However, the production is really pleasing for those who might be into the lo-fi aesthetics. Especially the guitars sound pretty good, and in some songs they sounded just as perfect like they'd be taken from the legendary Unholy Trinity - and that's quite an achievement. The tiny bit of industrial elements and additional sound samples are nice, but they feel a little bit forced and unnecessary, however the more ambient centred tracks sounded really great.
Necrot Mortal
It was good, but did not became my all time favourite death metal album. A bit samey.
Nocturnal Departure Cathartic Black Rituals
Not evil enough...
By the way, this is a solid raw (a bit punkish) black album. The slower/midtempo parts are
super massive, but as the tempo jumps up it becomes much less interesting and quite boring.
Nocturnal Effigy The Moonlit Branches of Powder
There are some good or interesting tunes in this album, but alltogether it was rather flat. However, I really liked the old-school production, he nailed that tone perfectly - it made me pleasantly sleepy.
Nocturnal Graves Titan
NONE Damp Chill of Life
Good as DSBM, very boring as atmoblack. The lower tempo, and the depressing mood is in the same vein with the genre's other artist (especially the US line) and works well, but on the other side... it really failed building an atmosphere: way too repetitive, and sounds thin and hollow. The album represents a specific mood, but I really couldn't dive into this, so basically most of the album just went by without delivering something extraordinary.
Nothing Dance On The Blacktop
Odraza Rzeczom
If Mgla and Peste Noire would have been mixed together. Too bad it sounded mostly like Mgla - so let's slap a generous 3.0 on this. Note: the vocals were mega good.
Oh Bellissima The Light is Ever So Futile
Old Nick Flying Ointment
Somewhat nice (super) lo-fi black metal release. The toy keayboard here and there was a bit funny, but alltogether it was okay. Reminded me to the Satanic Warmaster demos.
Old Sorcery Dreams of the Old Kingdom
Old Tower Stellary Wisdom
Old Tower Seelenasche
Fairly safe output from Old Tower - I don't mind minimalism, but this was barely more than nothing... the atmosphere was awesome though.
Old Tower The Last Eidolon
"The Specter meticulously crafted his own style of medieval dark ambient." Pfff... The Specter should take back from his arrogancy, because this style is not original, and he wasn't the one who invented it... I'm not impressed, not at all. Usually, I really like this type of music, however 'The Last Eidolon' was a fairly lifeless album, and definitely not deserved the hype around it - one of the biggest disappointment of the year, tbh. I really liked the artwork, though.
Om Pilgrimage
Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi
After the first listen, well, I wasn't really hooked at all. On the second run though, I liked what I've heard, but especially from the third track. This is pretty, highly atmospheric, but I don't know, it didn't really grab me for some reason...
Order Of The Sacred Light Meditations in Lemuria
Orkenblut Mysteria Arkana, Bd. I
Ornatorpet Vid Ett Berg Uti En Dal
Ornatorpet Vid Himinsenda
Ozzy Osbourne The Ultimate Sin
Ozzy Osbourne Ordinary Man
The songs in the middle of the album are all really good jams, but the rest is below average. (Especially "Straight to Hell" and "It's A Raid" were extremly awful compared to the others.) The album is a very mixed bag, quality-wise. The title track, "Under the Graveyard" and "Eat Me" are showing Ozzy still got it and are outstandingly good, but on the other side most of the other songs are screaming the opposite: they're boring, and the enormous amount of auto-tuning makes them kinda irritating to listen to. I'm still giving a 3.0 to the album, because it is pretty strong output from a 71 old man and, as I mentioned, the songs in the middle are all great hits and personally I can see myself jamming those a lot in the future. Hats off, Prince of Darkness, and best wishes. Ozzy still rocks m/
Paramnesia Paramnesia
Paysage d'Hiver Steineiche
Pelican What We All Come to Need
Pentagram When The Sreams Come
The bad recording quality really drags it down...
Pentagram (CL) The Malefice
It's good, kinda Slayer-ish death/trash album. It's heavy, has good riffs but it gets a bit samey after a while - at least, in my opinion. Otherwise the production is good, and I like the riff-centered approach and the old-school influences.
Pig Destroyer Prowler in the Yard
Poppy I Disagree
Post Malone Hollywood's Bleeding
Pretty bad lyrical expressions and the half of the songs are bloody awful. But the album has some great hits, songs which I pretty much enjoyed, so altogether it was good and definitely worth the time to listen to
this. And Ozzy is still killing it!!
Pumpkin Witch Hovel of the Pumpkin Witch
Quest Master The Twelve Castles
Radioactive Mausoleum Radioactive Mausoleum
Realms in Exile Anghabar: Iron Delvings
Really enjoyable fantasy drone album. Deep drones and minimalistic percussions: perfect background music for working.
Rem Poklade
Rings of Saturn Lugal Ki En
Runecaster The Sleeping Sword
The diversity in this release is outstanding: all the 12 song has its own sound and atmosphere! I greatly respect albums like this, because it really helps me to get into the artist's concept. I especially liked the slower and more droney songs, but each one is great and the kinda old-school sound is also very pleasing. Sadly, most of the songs are very short, and here and there feel a bit unpolished.
Sacred Son Sacred Son
Sacrilege (UK1) Behind The Realms Of Madness (Reissue)
It was a fine experience, but nothing really stood out for me. But: the riffs were fine!
Sadistik Exekution Fukk
Sanguine Eagle Storm Mysticism
Satanic Warmaster ...of the Night
Satanic Warmaster Black Katharsis
Satyricon Rebel Extravaganza
This is not bad, but far from their best works.
Scary Larry Sounds of Isolation
Scorpions Love At First Sting
Secret Shame Dark Synthetics
Sequestered Keep The Fortress in the Timeless Fog
Serpent Column Endless Detainment
Serpent Column Kathodos
It was interesting, but I think I enjoyed this one the least from the Serpent Column discog (so far). The noisier and wilder direction could have been great, but some songs were clearly "hit and miss" for me, and I felt indifferent about some others. It had some real slappers though, like 'Pathlessness' and 'Offering Tounges', but alltogether I don't think I'll jam this very often. And 'Desertification' was a very bad joke...
Serpent's Isle Legends of The Ancient Bay
Sickness (Finland) Nidus Diaboli
Sidereal Fortress Racconti Del Focolare
Siege Tower Siege Tower
Sielunvihollinen Ruhonkantaja
Silvanthrone Forbidden Pathways to Ancient Wisdom
Generally speaking: this was alright. Sometimes the guitar duos were a bit wonky, but alltogether it is a good second wave worship album. It's good for a few listens.
Skillet Unleashed
Slayer Hell Awaits
Hell Awaits is the bridge between the oldie Show No Mercy heavy metal/thrash era and the "classic Slayer sound". Personally I believe this is the least good album from the Slayer catalog in the '80s.
Slidhr The Futile Fires of Man
Slime Golem The Short But Touching Tale Of Slime Golem
It was a good concept album, with this swampy, hypnotic theme. But I can't say it is among of the best releases this year.
Sol Tenebra The Inevitable
Sombre Arcane Sombre Arcane (Demo)
Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
Great continuation of their previous split, and I liked the improvement in the production. Otherwise, the album is an interesting cosmic BM piece, which has stronger (Venus, Jupiter) and not-really-good songs (Saturn, Uranus) as well. Personally I think the albums suffers from its length, because it gets a little samey after a while - even though each song has its own theme and melodies, but well... I simply felt some songs just went by.
Spectral Voice Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
Spectral Wound A Diabolic Thirst
Very solid blackness. Consistently good flow, great riffs and good performance, which was sadly somewhat dull in a few aspects. First of all, the album feels waaaaaay too short (barely hit the 40 minutes runtime), so perhaps keeping a few tracks running longer could have been more effective delivering the desired effect. Additionaly, these 6 songs were way to similar to each other, and I cannot name any pinnacle from the album since it mostly "just flew by". Even though I greatly enjoyed the riffs and the production, this didn't really hook me as I hoped for.
Sperm Angel Life is Poison
Despite the most horrible band name... this EP is actually pretty good. A jammy mixture of black metal and heavy metal - with shireking vocals and rusty sound samples.
Splendorius Norfaragell​-​Thul
Stillness My Snow Princess
Stirge Stirge III
Stone Garden Existential Futility
Sumerlands Sumerlands
Summoning Minas Morgul
Sunken Grove Binding Branches
Nice old-school-ish dungeon synth release. Quite enchanting sound, but perhaps it is a little bit dull for me - however, I really enjoyed the atmosphere it captures!
Sunken Totem Ox Eye
Sunn O))) Black One
Sunn O))) White1
Super Snake Leap of Love
Synthosaurus Dino War
Taake/Whoredom Rife Pakt
I did not know Whoredom Rife from eariler, so his side was new to me, but I'm impressed. The standard Taake song and the cover were very good, but alltogether it was a good listen for once and that's all.
Taur Nu Fuin The Mountain Path
Telepathic Moon Astral Elegance
Tempte Urðr
Thangorodrim Akallabêth
The 3rd Attempt Egocidal Path
The Beatles Please Please Me
The Crevices Below Below the Crevices
It's pretty, but not that exciting I hoped for. "Whispers Of Sorrow" is pretty cool, but it is also an example how annoying some additional vocals can be.
The IXth Key Dungeon
The IXth Key Moon
The Noisy Freaks The Sixth Sense
The Police Outlandos d'Amour
Not bad for a debut, but I didn't enjoy the first half of the album. Nor 'So Lonely' or 'Roxanne' are that really memorable.
The Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon
This is good.
The Sorcerer (IT) Echoes of Distant Times
Threshing Spirit Into The Light
An alright ambient/lo-fi black metal demo(?), but the overall package isn't that captivating. The (bit droney) ambient pieces are good though, I liked this minimalstic yet effective approach.
Toad Sage The Long Forgotten Realm
Interesting release, but I'm not that particularly hooked by it. It was sure fun listening while gaming, but I'm afraid that's all.
Torchlight Haunting Dreams for the Dying King
Torgeist Time Of Sabbath
Torgeist Devoted To Satan
Triptykon Shatter
It was good, but a bit far from the debut LP in terms of quality. Both Celtic Frost live songs sound totally different than how we know them, but I'm not sure the change was for the better... Fun little EP though.
Triptykon Melana Chasmata
Unlike Triptykon's impressive debut, Melana Chasmata has far less excitement to offer. I can't say it is not any good, because Tom G. Warrior rarely wrote anything boring. This album just doesn't have that spark, that spirit what I expected. Other than songs like "Altar of Deceit" and "In the Sleep of Death" this was a rather forgettable experience.
Trvth Black Horse Plague
Uhtceare El Genocidio Primordial Llevará El Nombre Infinito
Ulcerate Stare Into Death and Be Still
(Shrines of Paralysis is still lot better.) I found the little bit more "melodic" sections the deepest, but overally this is a perfectly standard Ulcerate record. The enormous hype probably damaged and dampened my experience, because I think it's not worthy for the average score. Still a pretty heavy album, though.
Ulfberht Vikingr
This is not the best dungeon synth release of the year, but a very memorable one: full of samples from battle ambiances taken probably from movies and videogames, and interesting lo-fi synths which mostly focus on building an atmosphere rather than playing any melodies.
Ulver Nattens Madrigal
Ulver Blood Inside
Ulver A Quick Fix of Melancholy
Ulver Flowers of Evil
"Oh, a bad song. Oh a good song! Oh, another bad. Wait, another good!" [repeat this] To be honest, I'm somewhat disappointed, this wasn't *that* new I expected it to be, more like an Assassination B-side album...? It wasn't hard to sit through, but I don't feel I want to have this on an infinite replay. Last track was clearly my favourite - bringing back those Shadows Of The Sun vibes (for a short time) caught me totally off-guard.
Umbria Farwalker
Upyr The Four Seasons
Ur Pale Crystal Waves Orchestra
Ur Pale New Dawn
Urn Iron Will of Power
Ururdhagaz När Mörkret Tog Över Makten
Sounds awkwardly similar to Thangorodrim: both in sounds and melodies. I wouldn't mind it, if it would be similarly good as well, but this one sounds kind of "hollow" and less exciting... Not bad, but the comparison is unavoidable.
Utred Gothic
Valtyr Töframaðurinn og Mærin
It was a pretty good. Some serious Burzum-worshipping was going on here, which was mostly a pleasant and easy listening. However, nailing the Burzumish secret of nailing the repetitive and hypnotic magic doesn't work for all, and that was the case here: some songs became too samey. But I think there is a great potential in this project.
Vault Of Horror Chapter 1: Vintage Horror
Vindalv Æptir Pushende Ar demo
Vindkaldr Sword Of Moss
Vindkaldr Their Ships Sail from the Moon
Vomir Claustration
This is probably my weirdest rating I ever gave...
Voronmrak Battles of Winter Winds
Voronmrak Silver of Winter
Voslaarum Forgotten Vale
Voyages of the Old Oak Home
Very interesting album. Not exactly that medieval folk ambient I expected: this is much more: very unusual/odd songwriting, instruments and melodies. There are song which are like some folk metal programmed in MIDI(?), I'm not sure, except the fact that I liked this release.
Wall Painted Black Ache
Weeping Sores False Confession
West End Motel Don't Shiver, Your're A Winner
Windrikje ... Des Waldes Ruh
Wine Drinkers Warmth
winter woods Forest Of Mysterious Evil
winter woods Cavern Of Obscure Sacrifice
Wintercry Swords and Magic
Winterfylleth The Reckoning Dawn
It's okay. Tbh, 'In Darkness Begotten' was the only really memorable track here. The album is consistently alright, it worked nicely as a background album, but nothing really catched my attention. The production was nice, though.
Wintermoon (FIN) Reh. Demo 1/1995
Wolfbrigade Run With The Hunted
Wolfsschrei Rise Dead Ember
Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters
Wolves in the Throne Room Malevolent Grain
Wolvhammer The Monuments of Ash and Bone
worms as blind as dirt worms as blind as dirt
Wulkanaz Wulkanaz
Wurdulac Dungeon Lord (demo)
Xathristis All Hope Has Vanished From This Heart
Xibalba Itzaes Ah dzam poop ek
Ygg Ygg
ZAUM Eidolon
Zeke Hellbender

2.5 average
A Wandering Spirit Lost And Forgotten
Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark
Absolute Hell Rememberance
Ad Nauseam Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
I guess it is good, but I'm just not hooked by it. I sensed some Esoteric Warfare era Mayhem in this through the sinister, dissonant and slow chords - too bad I did not like the tech-death parts that much.
Agalloch The Mantle
Almofar C'est la Peste! Sauve Qui Peut!
Anfortas Far Below the City
Anthene Long Formations +4
Arcane Cavern Sorcery of Chaos
Arcane Hand Hohe Bäume
Arcturus My Angel
Arthuros Kosmos
This kinda bored me. Nice Depressive Silence aesthetics, but that's all.
Arvernien Plenilunio
Arxura Delving
Astrophobos Malice of Antiquity
At The Altar Of The Horned God Through Doors Of Moonlight
They forced this way too much... it has great ideas, but it has an extremly lame production, and most of the chantings etc. are just simply boring and not inspiring at all.
Attila Chaos
Aura Noir Aura Noire
Barak Tor Silent Passages And Hidden Realms
Bavingr Warrior Bard
Bavingr Bycirce
Beleriand February
I really wanted to rate this higher, because it is actually well-produced and the atmosphere checks out, but... the opera singing really killed the mood for me. It's like the Amnesia:Machine for Pigs soundtrack was inserted into an atmoblack album. Some may like it, and some other don't - I'm from the latter group.
Berghof Fount of Life
Besatt Anticross
"Did I hear this before?" - this is not a bad album, but too boring to my taste.
Big Black Songs About Fucking
Black Brunswicker Hidden Amongst the Trees and Foothills
Black Mysterium Demo I
Blaze of Perdition The Harrowing of Hearts
Blogmal Blogmal
Blue-Ghost Coral Sea
Bogwitch A Tale of Vengeance
Borknagar True North
Bosque Cleansing
Lifeless and boring lo-fi funeral doom. Throwing a few good riffs into the bowl didn't work for me.
Bosse-de-Nage All Fours
Brendan Wells Plant Music Music For People & Their Plants Vol 1
Brendan Wells Plant Music The Right Side of the Grass
Sadly it was very disappointing. Half of the song sounded very flat and boring, and the rest is was just some lame Mort Garson-copies. Shame...
Candlemass The Door To Doom
Candlemass Death Magic Doom
Carach Angren Franckensteina Strataemontanus
Disappointment of the year. 'Franckensteina Strataemontanus' is the most forgettable Carach Angren record, which wasn't really interesting at all. Each song suffers from being too flat and uninspired, filled with terrbily out of place synth sections and the final result doesn't really feel "heavy" at all. There are some nice riffs here and there, but the overall songwriting is all over the place and the album feels very incoherent despite the clear concept - and that's very frustrating. Additionaly, even though the production is clear and nice, and the vocals are still very-very good, that awfully overcompressed drum sound ruins the listening experience, because it feels very negligent and uninspired, and that disturbingly bad "clicking" bass drum simply makes me mad...
Castillo Castillo
Cauldron of the Sun The Passage Home
Celebdil The Tower
Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part I
Claire Cronin Big Dread Moon
Cradle of Filth The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Cradle of Filth Bitter Suites to Succubi
Cradle of Filth Cruelty and the Beast
Crypt Sermon The Ruins of Fading Light
Cult of Luna A Dawn to Fear
Dark Sanctuary Royaume Melancolique
Deafheaven Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Death Worship End Times
Deathspell Omega The Furnaces of Palingenesia
Departure Chandelier Antichrist Rise to Power
Destroyer 666 Call of the Wild
Devilgroth Svyatogor
Perhaps I'm just not feeling it... feels like the album (or the songs) are just not going anywhere, which led me to feel very bored. It has sometimes an avant-garde-ish edge, but it's not interesting enough.
Dimmu Borgir Eonian
Diocletian Doom Cult
Dunkelbot Angerbach
Ecdelegost Old Souls
Ekud Tun Ekud Tun
Elador Drowned Dreams
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou May Our Chambers Be Full
Dull sputcore stuff.
Enslaved Nema
Enslaved Hordanes Land
Erang Imagination Never Fails
Erang presents: "The Leftover Album". Personally I was disappointed, because I feel this lacks consistency, and feels way too random. I miss that charming atmosphere I know the genius behind this project could cast otherwise... Despite that, I liked this concept (and cover art), but it was more of a missed opportunity.
Erdstall Temple of Ancients
Erferis Hyena Queen
Etchings Wound Demo I
Evanescence The Bitter Truth
It was a quite painless encounter, but still very-very boring.
Fantavras Down Below
Feminazgul No Dawn for Men
The music itself is totally average, but the idea behind it is retarded. It's just waste of time... So it has everything be be worshipped on sput! (Avoid it at any cost!)
Flaekingur Fairy Tales
Fleurety A Darker Shade of Evil
Flughund Shimmering Figure Of The Black Lake
Foal Denu of Wind | Tome of Old Winter
Forest Temple Twilight Within The Ancient Wood
Forgotten Passage Demo
Forgotten Sword Funeral Castle
This is not bad at all, but I couldn't name any highlight from the album, and this kinda lacks some spark. The old-school soundscapes are really nice though.
Forlorn Kingdom Distant Apparitions
Some good ideas, and I liked the lo-fi aesthetics, but every song gets very boring after a few minutes.
Fraudort Dark Dungeon
Fulador The Realm of the Great River
Gaerea Limbo
"Gaerea challenges the archetype of black metal" Pffff, my ass. Just throwing some post-metal into their sound doesn't revolutionize anything. This album is a simply boring and forgettable.
Garadrak A Questing Knight
Gatewatcher Blind Eternities
Gavella Glan A Silent Vigil for Oncoming Plagues
It was just unexpectedly boring.
Gehennah Too Loud to Live, Too Drunk to Die
Ghost (SWE) Prequelle
Glistening #37 'Dying'
Glistening #36 'Fragments'
Godspeed You! Black Emperor G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
It was so boring.
Also I still believe these are two Crinoids on the cover:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoid#/media/File:Crinoid_anatomy.png
Gondar Sword of Gondar
Grandma's Cottage Grandma's Cottage
Grelin Greenclan Grelin Greenclan
Grima Rotten Garden
These post-black bands sound so unoriginal... at least, they added accordions as a kinda interesting extra instrument - too bad I wasn't hooked by it at all. Call me a gatekeeper, whatever, but this is most generously a 2.5 album. Except the accordions, literally nothing stood out for me.
*yawns*
Gronoc Sanctuary Chronicles vol. 1
Grot Donker
Haemorrhage We Are the Gore
Harrod and Funck Live
Hexengrab Schrei der Sirenen
Hiemal The Illusion of Permanence
Hiemal Siberian Horizons
Hiemal L'Exil
Hoppo Frogs & Diamonds
Horna Aania Yossa
The only Horna album which didn't reach my expectations. It was simply forgettable, and too generic. Some tasty riffs flashed here and there, but otherwise it was a rather unsuccesful release for me.
Horrendous Idol
Illuminator In Ictu Oculi
Ilsa Corpse Fortress
Impaled Nazarene Latex Cult
It's very far from their greatest, and this album suffers from the low production (however, the bass still sounds pretty cool), and being too samey.
Impaled Nazarene Rapture
Impaled Nazarene Pro Patria Finlandia
Ingvarr The Hopeless Resistance Of Emberdrin's Army
Inoriand Howling Wind
Inoriand Winteridyll
Inoriand Till The Winter Comes Again
Inoriand Frozen Memories
Inoriand Bringer Of Cold Winter
Inoriand Dwelling In Frost
Inoriand Wintermagick
Integrity/Krieg Split
Jared Hart Past Lives & Pass Lines
Kalmankantaja Nostalgia I: Bones And Dust
Keygard Arboreal Swamp
Keys of Orthanc Unfinished Conquests
I greatly respect Dorgul's work in black metal, but honestly this dungeon synth album is not even close to the first LPs... uneventful, hella lot and boring percussions and pretty samey songs. I'm disappointed.
Khandra All Occupied by Sole Death
Another snoozefest post-black album.
Kharon Kharon
There is potential in this band, but we have to wait for it to bloom out.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Butterfly 3000
"but it's an improvement over KG and LW." Lol, what? Butterfly 3000 was a really weird ride, and some parts of it were pretty nice, but the most of it felt boring - "shock factor" aside. "Interior People" was the album's pinnacle without a doubt.
Klaneth Liberate The Moles
Knife Wizard Dark Mountain Peaks
Knight of Pluto Chamomile
Kommand (USA-WA) Savage Overkill
Korhadt demo 1
Kroda Навій схрон
Kvelertak Nattesferd
Lamp of Murmuur Thunder Vigil and Ecstasy
Lares Towards Nothingness
Soundwise, this is the "most-2020-metal-album". The space theme is cool, otherwise this bored me.
Le Code White
Linarian Sigil Promo 2020
Lord Einsamkeit Ancient Oak
Lord Einsamkeit Ancient Oak Part II
Lord Moth Demo I
Loth Apocryphe
Magusai Roy Bowers Servitor Magusai Roy Bowers Servitor
This ambient albums is not bad, and the "average" word it totally inaccurate for describing this album - for me, it was just a mixed bag of ideas and sounds, I liked some parts and I didn't others...
Marblebog Csendhajnal
Marilyn Manson Heaven Upside Down
Matt Elliott Farewell to All We Know
Oh no... the vocals ruined the whole thing for me :[ Otherwise it would be very nice acoustic album with nice production. But damn, I really hated the vocals...
Mayhem Deathrehearsal
Medieval Rites Attila the Hun
Mefitis Offscourings
I don't like this. The whole thing feels like a mishmash where they tried to mix way too much ingredients together. Checking out this "tech-black" thing was at least an interesting experience, but this is not for me.
Megadeth Super Collider
Megadeth United Abominations
Mesarthim The Density Parameter
Metallica S&M2
Tbh, this sounds pretty good without Metallica. It's good for one listen, but it is the most unnecessary release of 2020.
Metallica Six Feet Down Under Part II
Metallica Live at Grimey's
Mgla Exercises in Futility
Monster Magnet A Better Dystopia
This is not really good... It was a fun idea though.
Moongates Guardian Cold Waters Of Anduin
Mora Prokaza By Chance
One of the weirdest albums of 2020... This is like a crazy mixture of black metal, hip-hop and trap music - and the result is something like a blackened Igorrr. It kinda riffs, but the electronic elements are more vibrant, and the vocals are the most dominant - which sounds very odd: super fast BM vocals and some clean lines here and there, but it is not that good, tbh. Bonus points for the "shock value".
Morbid Angel Altars of Madness
This really bores me.
Mortiis Spirit of Rebellion
High hopes - big disappointment. Come on Mortiis, that's all...?
Mountain Warlock Malefic Wizardy
Mutiilation Majestas Leprosus
Nargaroth Jahreszeiten
Natasakaa EP01
It was alright, but it was too short and the lack of vocals did not work for me.
Nifelheim Nifelheim
No... In an Illusion of Happiness
Nocturnal Depression Four Seasons to a Depression
Nodding God In A Foreign LandScape
Numenorean Adore
OLD (US) It's Called Murder
Ondal's Wisdom The Forbidden Lore of Arcane Magic
This is not going anywhere... I like the synth sounds, but I believe I miss something. *sad noises*
Ostrogoth Feelings of Fury
It could have been a pretty nice album, but the extremly generic and forced vocals ruined the whole thing for me... the riffs couldn't balance that out...
Outer Heaven Realms Of Eternal Decay
Pafund Til rigets ende
Pagan Spell Demo MMXIX
Pale Knight Heathen Kings
Pallid Bloom / Withering Presence Their Verdant Reclamation
Panopticon The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
Pepper Proud Water
Peter Laws The Lonely Tower
Poison Ruin Poison Ruin LP
Somewhere between a 2.5 and 3.0. This has its moments, but this is a rather disappointing attempt in general. The vocals sometimes really killed the mood for me.
Primitive Man Immersion
*fuzz* *beat* AUHGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH [repeat] Sorry, but it was a nope for me.
Pulling Teeth Vicious Skin
Puritas Virginum Black Arts
Quin of the North True Might
I have an odd feeling I've already heard most of these songs somewhere... Are the half of the songs transported from an church's song book to MIDI? It was okay with Krampusnacht, but it is a nope for me. The rest is fine, but nothing outstanding.
RaevJager Raevult!
Red Fang Whales and Leeches
Red Fang Arrows
I'm disappointed. As a band, they evolved and discovered heavier and more dissonant territories, but due to the quite annoying production and of course the change: this didn't turn out any great. A few good songs aside, "Arrows" is more of a mess. Their most colorful and heaviest record so far, but sadly this doesn't offer that much fun as their previous releases.
Rhinocervs RH-08
Rings of Saturn Gidim
Way better than 'Ultu Ulla' was, some great ideas here and there, otherwise sadly this album tends to be boring. Basically 10 song of "guitar flexing". The last instrumental track is still very great, as usual.
Robin Goodfellow Elphame's Wood
Roly Porter Kistvaen
It's been a while the last time when I heard something I felt so divided about: part of me liked it, other hated it. The more ethereal and spacey sections felt really nice, but when it got more noisey I often felt it was too much. It sensed the potential in this, however I couldn't enjoy it that much I hoped so.
Rowen Ashen Spirit
This is somehow terrible and somehow amazing at the same time...
Ruohtta Reetessä
Weid post-rock/experimental/black metal mixture, with a very unique atmosphere. But what's the problem with this? It lack coherency: the EP flows very badly. The badly inserted ambient / (too much) spoken word sections totally ruined the experience, but I still want to give a cookie for the interesting atmosphere. Maybe next time.
Sarcofago I.N.R.I.
Sargeist Satanic Black Devotion
It was disappointing.
Satanic Warmaster Luciferian Torches
Satyricon All Evil
Satyricon Megiddo
The only real interesting one on the EP is the first song, 'The Dawn of a New Age', which sound like something Ulver would do: weird noises, trancey beats, odd vocals and experimental synths... it's a pretty exciting song! The rest is very forgettable.
Scary Larry Demo 1
Schammasch Hearts of No Light
Shelter Ov Shadows Within the Halls of Oblivion
Shining (SWE) Submit to Selfdestruction
Sidereal Fortress Bogatyr
Sidereal Fortress Odissea
"...one of the best dungeon synth releases in recent memory" according to the Bandcamp Daily, August 2019.
LOL and hell no. Extremely average.
Sidereal Fortress Advanced Steel
It was simply boring and some track were really annoying.
Skin Tension Machinic Impulses Of The Hyperreal
Skogsguud The Spirit of a Thousand Lakes
Sojourner The Shadowed Road
Sol Peregrin The Inevitable
The atmosphere was pretty nice, and I liked the overall melancholic mood, however the solos were disturbingly bad... terrible, so it really dragged down my general rating.
Solefald The Linear Scaffold
Solus Ritual Solus Ritual
Sorry... Failure Years of Neglect Apathy
Spire Temple of Khronos
Spirit Adrift Angel & Abyss Redux EP
It's alright, a chill little jam - however, it couldn't deliver much more...
Spirit Of The Old Wood Spirit Of The Old Wood
Sturmgeist Meister Mephisto
Stygian Ruin The Blackened Temple
Stygiofilia Barren Crops of Heavenly Deception
Sunn O))) Kannon
Svartar N/A
Talog Objava Sablasne Tiranije
Talog Drakulin Sud
I guess this is an official soundtrack for a vampyric crypt.
Talog Ona Kojoj Tama Se Klanja
Tamas Madhyandina 1
Tau Cross A Pillar Of Fire
Telaestheticist Roter Tod
Temple of the Fractured Light Psychadelic Witchcraft (And the Groovy Occult)
Interesting psychedelic ambient album, but sadly like the half of the songs were very uninteresting and "hollow". The synths sounded very sweet though, so I believe this project has a great potential but it definitely needs some polishing to make it more interesting. And bonus points for the cover art, I love it.
Terrortron Orgy of the Vampires (Original Soundtrack Recordin
Thangorodrim Dagor Bragalloch
Tharmazegethuzan Revelations Of The Necroglyph
The Atlas Ghost Silent Hill
The Motion Mosaic Avant-Garbage
Dry.
The Oscillation Droneweapon
The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet
Damn, it was probably the worst Stones record I've ever heard. What's this average score...?
The Skaldic Fungi Apparition Parallel Realm and Deeds of Ethereal Heroism
Theodor Die Prinzessin und der Troll
Theory of a Deadman Savages
Thorgnyr Depths
Thou Heathen
It was building up slowly, until reached "Clarity", but right after that song it went downhill very fast... and the album's length was terrible.
Thou Magus
Throne of the Ice Goblin Descending Into Black Hypnosis Through the Ritual
Tiny Mouse The happiest mouse alive
Tomhet (SWE) Tomhet
Tool Fear Inoculum
Tsjuder Throne of the Goat
Turment Nocturn Sense Misericòrdia
Started well, ended up boring.
Uada Cult of a Dying Sun
Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect Canticle Bound In Spirit-Faith In Vampyric Blood
This is some very divisive stuff: mostly I hate it, but: the ambient part in the middle is something I enjoyed a lot. Otherwise I don't get noise music at all...
Valar The Arrival Of The Dragonlord
Valtyr Draumar Baldurs
It was alright, but every second song felt painfully long. However, the overall sound is pretty nice, but it became boring and cutting those songs shorter could have been lot better...
Vanha Melancholia
Vanhelga Enfin Morte
Not a big fan of this, I do not enjoy this kind of vocals (...especially if there are so many sections filled with them). The artwork lured me, sadly it was a hit'n'miss.
Vermicide Violence The Praxis of Prophylaxis
Vindicator Dog Beneath the Skin
Nice speed metal comp. album. Even though the music itself wasn't that really exciting, but listening to songs in different "settings" (studio-demo-live) is kinda cool.
Vindkaldr Stone as Flesh
Violet Cold Empire of Love
This is definitely a post-metal album. Personally this really bores me, and perhaps the "hype" didn't help me enjoying this, since I've seen this cover pretty much everywhere. Ye-ye, brave and whatnot, but sadly this is just another post-metal album which is could be a good only as background noise.
Voronmrak Glares
Vrorsaath Moonlight's Wrath
Wallows Spring
Watain Trident Wolf Eclipse
Winterblood (IT) Foresta impenetrabile
Winterhearth (US) Beneath the Stars
Not bad, but due to the super short length it is hard to really get into this one. But I see potential in this project.
Wolves in the Throne Room Black Cascade
Wyldpfad 1931
Wynter Myst Frore
Xanthochroid Of Erthe and Axen: Act II
Xasthur Defective Epitaph
Xavlegbmaofffassssit.... Gore
Xuthal The Reclusive Dynasty

2.0 poor
Aindulmedir The Lunar Lexicon
I understand what was the main goal of this album, but the result is extremly boring.
Akercocke Rape of The Bastard Nazerene
Alice Boman Dream On
She wasn't even trying to sound any original or interesting.
Alkilith The Shores of Evermeet
I really hoped this will be good (I rarely see truly Dungeons and Dragons inspired dungeon synth), but it was rather disappointing. Like every second song consist melodies "played on the white keys" on the keyboard + some tape hiss... and that is extremly lazy, and I hate that attitude.
Arvernien La Espada de Marak
Very-very repetitive and overused VST sounds. Nah.
Arxura The Sylvan Specter
Bathory Requiem
Behemoth A Forest
Beherit H418ov21.C
Beorn's Hall In His Granite Realm
After Estuary, they went downhills with this. Huge disappointment.
Billie Eilish dont smile at me
Bitter Old Wizard Southern Grim
Blink-182 California
Bring Me The Horizon Amo
Calderum Calderum
Celtic Frost Cold Lake
This kinda riffs, but sitting through the whole thing requires certain amount of patience. Why did I hurt myself this way?
Cineastre Auwald
This could have been a pretty good album: nice Kveldssanger vibes and sweet folk instrumentation, but the vocals and samples are terribly annoying...
Cloister Garth Memories from a portal
I don't know what's worse: the overused and boring VSTs or the lame "experimental" songwriting... at least the black metal vocals in the end are superb.
Darkthrone Goatlord
Despondent Gaze Wish
Dungeons of Irithyll The Dire Pass...
Boring. I get it, it is Dark Souls-inspired, but sadly the album couldn't offer anything more than that...
Eishalle Alone
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou The Helm Of Sorrow
Not again...
Emperor Call from the Grave
Empty (ESP) Vacío
Fallujah Undying Light
Finsternis Kloster der Verwüstung
Flesh Consumed Mutilate, Eviscerate, Decapitate
Folter The Aeon Of The Disembodied
Forest of Orthanc Forest of Orthanc
Freshwater Serpent Demo MMXX
Haken Vector
Haudh Through Forgotten Lands
Hiemal Hyperborean Rituals
Hiemal Celestial Odyssey
Space ambient does not fit to this project at all...
Hobbit Leaving the Shire (demo)
Horna Kun Synkkä Ikuisuus Avautuu
What the hell is this? It sounds like a totally different below average band... I'll pretend this never existed.
Immortal Immortal (Demo)
Impaled Nazarene Manifest
It has a very annoying production. Also, the lack of melodies and the overly repetitive vocals really killed the vibe pretty quickly.
In Autumnus Intrusiveless
Jess Williamson Sorceress
Jinjer Micro
Klaaromtesterven Psychological Pain
Korpiklaani Jylhä
Quite literally unlistenable.
Krallice Go Be Forgotten
Lamp of Murmuur Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
It was good, but most songs felt painfully overlong - maybe the title track was the strongest exception which was really enjoyable. The more death-rockish riffs were nice, but most of the album wasn't really memorable for me. Furthermore I'm not satisfied with the mix either - I simply don't care about the vocals this much, because they're not that exciting... it was too much. The demos were far better than this release, shame.
Lingua Ignota Caligula
Longsword Longsword II
Lord Rashnak Castle Of The Nameless King
Lore Liege A Break In A Harsh Storm
Machine Head The Blackening
Majesty of Oceans The Pelagic Eternal Light
Mayhem Ordo ad Chao
Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell
Metallica Freeze 'Em All: Live in Antarctica
James forgot how to sing, Kirk couldn't even do a decent solo, Rob choosed the poorest distortion
pedal ever, and Lars...well, he was just the usual. It might have been awesome to be there, but
listening now was almost painful. Plus, missing the opportunity to play "Trapped Under Ice" is
super lame.
Metallica Some Kind of Monster
Metallica The Unnamed Feeling
Nargaroth Semper Fidelis
OLD (US) Campsite
Old Path Forgotten Stories
Pontifferasmus Husk the mountains
I'm very disappointed. This is the most uninspired album in the otherwise unsullied catalog of HDK, which is a real shame. Boring, and lifeless.
Powerwolf The Sacrament Of Sin
Psyclopean The Outsider
Pumpkin Witch Final Strike of the Pumpkin Witch
At least there are few decent songs next to the awfully bad ones...
Redig Narrow Gate
Revenge (CAN) Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist
"My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined."
Rings of Saturn Ultu Ulla
Satanic Warmaster Gas Chamber (Rehearsal Demo)
Satyricon Satyricon
Did Sigurd let his kids write this album or what? Just a few tracks have real punch ('Walker Upon The Wind' has some sweet riffs though for example), but songs like 'Trog og Kraft' are extremly disappointing. With 1.5x playback speed, the album sounds twice better than otherwise... The only really good song is (the probably filler) 'Natt', which has a beautifully melancholc and catchy melody...
Shahin Souri About This Time
Very unpleasant drone-ambient piece. Even though it has interesting textures, I couldn't even finish it, it was so frustrating to listen to this.
Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
Sonnov Goqzo
Source Vibrations Vibrational Growth for Plants
I somewhat doubt the efficiency of the intent behind this project, but one thing is for sure: this is very flat and boring.
Suffering Hour The Cyclic Reckoning
This is lolbad. The hell are these ratings...?
Svart Solace A Night at the Spire
Snoozefest.
Taake Manndaudsvinter
Tauregorath The High King of Azurreich
Taylor Swift Folklore
This is not folk? Dammit. At least she could have wrote the music by herself...
The Bloody Nun No Sleep 'til Walpurgis
The Darkness Easter Is Cancelled
The Knife Shaking the Habitual
I really don't like this one.
The True Werwolf Winternight - Demo VIII
Them The Angry Young Them
This Gift Is A Curse A Throne of Ash
Toby Driver and Nick Hudson Black Feather Under Your Tongue
Very forgettable experimental stuff. Started pretty well, but the the vocals killed the whole thing: I didn't feel the harmony between them and the instrumentation, and they were kinda forced. The idea was great though, but the result wasn't really impressive.
Trelldom Til et Annet...
Uniform and The Body Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back
Uppsalan Temple Shrine of the Elements
Vaelastrasz Hope's End
Vaelastrasz The Faint Whispers of Sinister Squashlings
Venom Storm The Gates
Wartoad Wrath of the Mighty Wartoad
Winterblood (IT) Silenzio ghiacciato
Wizards of the Ivory Library Return My Body to the Ocean
Ye Banished Privateers Hostis Humanis Generis
Very uninteresting folk album about pirates, and basically that's all. The dialoges and "field recordings" are super awkward - I get it they wanted to make this sound cinematic, but it felt more of a bad joke than something I'd want to dig. But the album itself is not horrible or anything, just very uninteresting - something what anyone could record by hiring a few drunken guys from an Irish pub. In my opinion, an album should stand well on its own without any visuals - but in this case it was an epic fail... maybe it would make a decent soundtrack for a pirate movie, but otherwise just: nah.

1.5 very poor
American Pleasure Club Fucking Bliss
Astral Tomb Degradation Of Human Consciousness
Well... this was horrible. Sloppy mishmash death-doom chaos with near zero entertainment factor.
BABYMETAL Metal Galaxy
Block knight Block knight I
Carreghud Dungeon Tales
Cherubs Immaculada High
Disgusting Cathedral Adventurers Despised and Rejected
"Let's record some lo-fi mess and call it a day". Despite this release it has some interesting tracks which worth to give a listen, the overall package is terribly weak.
Dystopian Present The Legend of Mr. Pumpkin
Eternal Night Abandoned by Hope, Embraced by Night
Gorillaz Humanz
Grandeburgo XIV
Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos
This is not just boring, this album is extremly lazy. "all instruments performed by Hayley" how is that any impressive?
Hiemal Solivagant Ghost of Cimmerian Woods
Katie Shlon Play some songs to make the plants grow
Despite there is a great idea behind this, the album sounds terribly amateurish...
Keys of Orthanc Of The Lineage Of Kings
And I thought the previous album was bad... this was horrible. This goes nowhere, zero flow in the riffs, too much vocals, and a generally very low-effort feel. I'm extremly disappointed... how could a band fall so low who created such a fantastic album like Dush Agh Golnauk?! No words...
Lana Del Rey Lust For Life
Linkin Park One More Light
Lookfar Beyond the edge of the world
How the f*ck is this among the best selling dungeon synth albums? This was nonsense, barely enjoyable, disgustingly overrated. Pathetic attempt.
Lothringen Penance and Spear
That's how do NOT make old-school dungeon synth.
Markarth Am Main Der Letzte Kreuzzug
Marsyas Zskin Echo and Narcissus
There is a few good tracks in this one, but the most of it sounds just like some randomly sequenced nonsense.
Metallica Six Feet Down Under
Moss Golem The Woods of Galdura
Serpent?s Sword Records nowadays just puts out the same stuff under different names...and gets away with it. Awful vocals also.
Poison Path *YOU'VE BEEN POISONED*
Pumpkin Witch In the Frightful Gaze of the Pumpkin Witch
All the hype for this? I barely could enjoy a few songs.
Pyre of Black Roses Demo I
I don't get what's the point of recording an atmoblack demo to a rotten potato, intentionally... Lo-fi BM can have a magical aura, but when you rape your sound like this, that is unacceptable. Near zero enjoyment. Do you feel kvlt, soft shites?
Schatten Des Monds Blady sen
*lo-fi noise intensifies* The album offers nothing just loud lo-fi wind, rain, and other noises while someone playing major keys only on a synth. Zero progression and annoying mimicry of the old-school. Pathetic.
Stirge Malarian Winds
Talog Vladavina Vampira
The Audient Void Dying Flesh In Immortal Shape
This could have been somewhat good, but due to the poor mix (f.e. way too much reverb) and the unbearably awful vocals it was a disaster.
Troghetstillstand Winter Mist
Ulver Rehearsal Room 1993
Vintlechkeit Isete Skoger Frostskymring​.​.​.
Lifeless Paysage copycat.
Von Satanic Blood (demo)
It is simply terrible.

1.0 awful
Automatonus Among the Ruins of the Basilica of Saint Synthetic
Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Bring Me The Horizon Music to Listen to...
Music to listen to... *pukes all over this* Great example of lifeless plaza pop music. *pukes again*
Castle Ov Yester Echoes From Hobgoblin Ha'
Cetati dacice din Munzii Orastiei The Seventh Obsidian Fortress...
Two kids made some extremly low-effort recording with a toy piano. And the whole process took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish.
Dark Sarah Grim
Draughash The Solar Order
One of the worst DS releases I've ever heard. Waste of time.
Epimetrius Mortal Feet had not Traversed...
Grandma's Catacombs Grandma's Catacombs
Alright, perhaps it's time to abandon the dungeon synth scene... this is a fucking awful trend. Awful for a meme, and awful as it is.
Greta Van Fleet Anthem of the Peaceful Army
Himmelriket Guds Trone I Himmelen
Okay, this is just lolbad, hahaha. Randomly hitting single notes and playing with the pitch button ain't any good...
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard K.G.
This was absolutely terrible.
Liturgy Origin of the Alimonies
Waste of time. Ngl, the intro was kinda alright, but the rest... *painful* waste of time. Congratulations, the worst album and album cover of the year (so far)!
Liturgy H.A.Q.Q.
If this supposed to be revolutionary and the future of black metal then I'll quit. "HAJJ" almost made me cry how awful it is...
Liturgy The Ark Work
Liturgy Aesthethica
Longsword Longsword III
Nekrohobbit Bastard Sword
New Years Day Unbreakable
OLD (US) Gross
Slayyyter Slayyyter
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