4.5 superb |
Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark |
I feel like this band has danced around greatness for a decade, always just shy of creating
something truly excellent. Here, Abigail Williams has finally put together something incredible.
Atmospheric and enormous without feeling bloated, Walk Beyond the Dark is consistently engaging
and remarkably diverse. I'm glad to see this band finally release the album I always knew
they had in them. |
Acathexis Acathexis |
pretty much top tier quality in terms of atmospheric bm. kind of a cross between what Fuath was going for and the song to song internal progression of bands like Der Weg and Ash Borer |
Ad Nauseam Imperative Imperceptible Impulse |
the ascending and descending dissonant scales in the title track are unbelievable. this
album has a way of consistently finding ways to reinvent the wheel of disharmony in new
and exciting ways, for nearly an entire hour |
Alcest Kodama |
Amia Venera Landscape The Long Procession |
An Abstract Illusion Woe |
a lotta bands write progressive music with "moments" in mind, soundscapes that build towards a natural peak and then ebb away, but I think I've heard very few albums in the last few years that nail that approach like this one does |
Attaque ON LY OU |
bansheebeat Spiral Power |
Batushka Litourgiya |
Be'lakor Vessels |
Be'lakor Stone's Reach |
Be'lakor Coherence |
Bestia Arcana Holokauston |
Birds in Row Gris Klein |
fuckin hell man they managed to improve across the board, phenomenal release |
Black Curse Endless Wound |
Blood Incantation Absolute Elsewhere |
Borknagar True North |
Bosse-de-Nage All Fours |
Brutality Screams of Anguish |
Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze The Fractal Ouroboros |
a meticulously crafted and thought out abstract middle finger to fascism. equal parts
brooding ritualistic atmosphere and oppressive dissonant black metal, bull of apis bull of
bronze's second album embraces pretense and constructs a motif-oriented, weaving, winding
incensed dry throated scream at systems of oppression |
Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss |
Caelestra Black Widow Nebula |
Cave Sermon Divine Laughter |
shockingly good prog/death metal. the dissonant ambient passage that bridges the two halves of Beyond Recognition is absolute genius |
Ceremony (USA-CA) Ruined |
Ch'ahom Knots of Abhorrence |
genuinely great dissodeath. integration of latin tribal influences could have been more seamless, but brings enough to the table to maintain an interesting listen throughout |
Chapel of Disease ...And as We Have Seen the Storm |
Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory |
Cobalt Slow Forever |
Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld Never Were The Way She Was |
Cryptopsy None So Vile |
Cultes Des Ghoules Coven |
CunninLynguists A Piece Of Strange |
Dark Tranquillity The Gallery |
Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon |
Darkthrone The Underground Resistance |
Deafheaven New Bermuda |
Deafheaven Roads to Judah |
Death Symbolic |
Death Was Looming I Am... |
best bm i've heard so far this year (though admittedly it swings between death and black so not totally honest). the thrashy bridge 60% of the way through The Monster You Will Become is some of the most fun i've had listening to music in 2022, and the Roads to Judah Deafheaven homage on Awake is executed to perfection |
Deathspell Omega The Synarchy of Molten Bones |
Deathspell Omega Paracletus |
Der Weg Einer Freiheit Unstille |
Dissimulator (CAN) Lower Form Resistance |
Enslaved Axioma Ethica Odini |
Enslaved E |
Entropia (PL) Ufonaut |
Ethereal Shroud Trisagion |
Every Time I Die Radical |
Falls of Rauros Patterns in Mythology |
Fen Winter |
Galar De Gjenlevende |
Gordon Lightfoot Summertime Dream |
Greyhaven Empty Black |
Hail Spirit Noir Fossil Gardens |
consistently excellent grab-bag of modern black metal styles |
Hasard Malivore |
the layered, distorted malevolence of akhlys without the baggage |
Hath Of Rot And Ruin |
fuckin' god damn this bumps, i see big success in the future for these guys |
Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness |
House of Protection GALORE |
fever 333 meets elements of the recent rise of maximalist pop. really tight songwriting and
catchy to boot
edit: actually I wouldn't really say this sounds like Fever333 after consuming it a lot
more. there's some Linkin Park, some Industrial, some EDM, some The Prodigy, at least one
section that sounds like Loathe could have written it. if that sounds like a lot for one EP
it is, but House of Protection have really gracefully executed combining all those sounds
into their own and produced an excellent first release as a result |
IDLES Joy as an Act of Resistance |
Immortal At the Heart of Winter |
Inconcessus Lux Lucis The Crowning Quietus |
Ingrain Aembers |
Insomnium Above the Weeping World |
Insomnium Winter's Gate |
Insomnium One for Sorrow |
Jeff Rosenstock POST- |
Judas Priest Painkiller |
Kalmah Seventh Swamphony |
Katatonia Dead End Kings |
Kauan Kaiho |
Kauan Ice Fleet |
Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city |
Leviathan Scar Sighted |
Loathe (UK) I Let It In And It Took Everything |
maudlin of the Well Bath |
Misthyrming Með hamri |
Mono / World's End Girlfriend Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain |
Moonsorrow Viides luku - Hävitetty |
Moonsorrow Jumalten aika |
Musk Ox Inheritance |
probably the best august burns red album ever recorded |
Nevermore This Godless Endeavor |
Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral |
Norma Jean Polar Similar |
Numenorean Adore |
Oathbreaker Rheia |
Second Son of R is probably my song of the year, Caro sounds absolutely unhinged in the climax. I don't usually enjoy that kind of indulgent, un-melodic style of just screaming, but it's well done here, which might be the most surprising thing of the album |
Ophanim (CHE) Tämpelskläng |
Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi |
Oranssi Pazuzu Muuntautuja |
less overtly metallic and more disgusting than Mestarin Kynsi, Muuntautuja dials back the
psychedelia for a more oppressive, unsettling atmosphere. how you end up feeling about it
will probably depend a bit on whether you are willing to let their compositions fully
embrace you as a cohesive whole - it's less individually digestible than Kynsi but the
bigger picture leaves an even stronger impression |
Orbital In Sides |
Pagan Black Wash |
Panopticon Collapse |
Panopticon Panopticon |
Panopticon Autumn Eternal |
Austin Lunn sounds refreshed on this release.
He may not have the anger or feeling of
political
dejection that drove the fury and brilliance
of Collapse, but he finally seems to have
found his
voice from other influences. This is as
collected as he's ever been, and it's a
remarkable thing to
behold. Expanding and experimenting has paid
off - Sleep to the Sound of the Waves Crashing
is
something he never would have done before, and
sounds like the song all of New Bermuda wished
it
was.
Oh, and Autumn Eternal (the track) absolutely
fucking slays |
Panopticon The Rime of Memory |
where scars was a little unfocused and ...again was a bit messy, rime is austin's vision
delivered with perfect clarity and precision.
as others have said - a culmination of the band's collective efforts over the years, this
is panopticon tuned to a razor edge
some of the very best emotional work he has done in his whole career - enduring the snow
drought should go down as a black metal classic |
Paysage d'Hiver Im Wald |
Proscription Conduit |
chaotic, urgent, and anxious - a powerful death metal release that channels many influences to come away with a not-so-unique sound but an extremely chaotic and sinister one |
Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come |
Rhun (USA-ME) Conveyance In Death |
has it all. riffs, atmosphere, dissonance, all executed to the pedigree of Falls of Rauros. a stellar release |
Sadistik Ultraviolet |
Sadness I Want to Make Something as Beautiful as You |
i dont understand how damian does it but they really make this fuzzy, warm shoegaze blackened rock with sugary synths and melodic lines sound like the most bummed out material |
Saidan Onryo II: Her Spirit Eternal |
black metal + yay melodies a la ghost bath except it's good instead of terrible |
Saor Forgotten Paths |
Sermon Of Golden Verse |
a remarkably enjoyable concoction of several different prog sounds |
Skeletonwitch Devouring Radiant Light |
Slugdge Esoteric Malacology |
Soilwork The Living Infinite |
Spectral Wound Songs of Blood and Mire |
Sunken Livslede |
Swallow the Sun Moonflowers |
Symphony X The Divine Wings of Tragedy |
Symphony X Paradise Lost |
Thantifaxath Thantifaxath |
Violently Expanding Nothing is an absolute masterpiece |
Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis |
this one sounds like they took their sound, heard oranssi pazuzu's last album and took that sound and made it half the centerpiece. equally psychadelic, oppressive, depressing and explosive |
The Black Dahlia Murder Nocturnal |
The Blood Mountain Black Metal Choir Folklore (Demo I) |
this fucking rulesr50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 more characters |
The Glitch Mob We Can Make the World Stop |
Saw these guys in concert the other day, which sent me into a reverse-chronological listen of their material. It's wild to hear a band get better and better the farther back you go into their material. Maybe someday the Glitch Mob that was artistically focused will return, but I doubt it |
The National Sleep Well Beast |
The National Trouble Will Find Me |
The Red Chord Fused Together in Revolving Doors |
The Smith Street Band Throw Me in the River |
Thought Industry Mods Carve the Pig |
Time To Burn Is.Land |
Touche Amore Lament |
Tyr Hel |
Ultha The Inextricable Wandering |
Valdrin Throne of the Lunar Soul |
late year contender for 2023 best in black metal. up there with stormruler's recent LP. look
nowhere else for combining the bombast, melodicism and fury of 90s symphonic black with
modern sensibilities and incredible leads. if you jammed moonlight sorcery, give this a go |
Vali Forlatt |
Vektor Terminal Redux |
VI De Praestigiis Angelorum |
some of the best black metal i've heard this year |
Wayfarer A Romance with Violence |
Winterfylleth The Hallowing Of Heirdom |
World's End Girlfriend The Lie Lay Land |
WRVTH No Rising Sun |
Zeal and Ardor Stranger Fruit |
4.0 excellent |
108 A New Beat From A Dead Heart |
A Pale December Death Panacea |
hard to describe this. really a huge grab bag of subgenres centered around a black metal core. there's some tech death, there's some dissodeath, there's some doom, there's some groove-y sections. on paper it sounds confusing, but it really works |
Aara Triade I: Eos |
Abduction (UK) Black Blood |
Abduction (UK) All Pain as Penance |
Adebisi Shank This is the Album |
Aenaon Mnemosyne |
if you wanna hear near every subgenre under the sun done at at least an 8/10, plus some jazz, plus some white ward sax action, plus other stuff - this is the album for you |
Against Me! Reinventing Axl Rose |
Agalloch Faustian Echoes |
Agoraphobic Nosebleed Agorapocalypse |
Akercocke Renaissance in Extremis |
Akhlys The Dreaming I |
Alcest Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde |
Alcest Écailles De Lune |
Alkaloid Liquid Anatomy |
Amon Amarth With Oden on Our Side |
Amorphis Silent Waters |
Amorphis Halo |
Amorphis Queen of Time |
Anaal Nathrakh Eschaton |
Anaal Nathrakh Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Her |
Anata The Conductor's Departure |
Anathema The Optimist |
Anberlin New Surrender |
Ancient Mastery Chapter One: Across The Mountains Of ... |
Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion |
Animal Collective Feels |
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 |
Arcturus The Sham Mirrors |
Arsis A Celebration of Guilt |
Asthme Asthme |
Awe Providentia |
this is some primo shit, really polished, mature sounding black metal. totally overwhelming
atmosphere |
bansheebeat Lumine |
bansheebeat Techo Deluxe |
Be'lakor Of Breath and Bone |
Beach House Depression Cherry |
Beach House Teen Dream |
Behemoth The Satanist |
Belzebubs Pantheon of the Nightside Gods |
Birds in Row We Already Lost the World |
Black Fucking Cancer Procreate Inverse |
excellent album. reminds me a lot of the intensity of black curse. going to revisit, probably going to bump up the rating later |
Blackbraid Blackbraid I |
delightful bm album. got a little something for everybody in these new yorkers' take on atmoblack |
Blasfeme Black Legion |
Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation |
Botany Dimming Awe, The Light Is Raw |
Botch We Are the Romans |
Botch American Nervoso |
Brutus (BE) Burst |
kiiiiiiiiiiiinda like a mix between Torche and White Lung, but with the unpredictability you'd
expect from A Wilhelm Scream
Drive is a fucking crazy song |
Cannibal Corpse Violence Unimagined |
Ceremony (USA-CA) Still Nothing Moves You |
Chapter V: F10 Syndrome |
Charly Bliss Guppy |
Chelsea Wolfe Hiss Spun |
Chelsea Wolfe Abyss |
Chthe'ilist Le Dernier Crépuscule |
City of Caterpillar Driving Spain Up A Wall |
Cloud Nothings Here and Nowhere Else |
Cobalt Gin |
Coldworld Melancholie² |
Constellatia The Language of Limbs |
A remarkably excellent atmospheric black metal album, think WITTR meets Violet Cold with a vocal delivery that reminds me of Ashbringer |
Converge Petitioning The Empty Sky |
Converge No Heroes |
Converge You Fail Me |
Cosmovore Into the Necrosphere |
Cradle of Filth Hammer of the Witches |
Crypts of Despair All Light Swallowed |
Crystal Coffin The Curse of Immortality |
might bump, super solid mix of styles make up this groovy and atmospheric meloblack album |
Cultes Des Ghoules Henbane |
Cursed III: Architects of Troubled Sleep |
Cynic Focus |
Daeva (USA-PA) Through Sheer Will And Black Magic… |
a firm reminder that despite its immediate early 90s swerve into VRY SRS KVLT, black metal has been and always will be a fun genre |
Danger 太鼓 |
yeah, this is really really fucking good. glad he finally released an album. one thing that stands out to me is that Danger seems to really excel when he turns the bpm up, but on this album there's really only 1 or 2 tracks that play like that. the rest is Danger exploring moodier, atmospheric sounds and trying on a fair number of hats, all of which (minus the atrocious 19:00) sound fantastic |
Danny Brown Atrocity Exhibition |
Dark Tranquillity Character |
Darkest Hour Deliver Us |
Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger |
Darkthrone Panzerfaust |
Darkthrone Arctic Thunder |
Dead Congregation Graves of the Archangels |
death's dynamic shroud After Angel |
Der Weg Einer Freiheit Der Weg Einer Freiheit |
Der Weg Einer Freiheit Agonie |
Destroyer 666 Wildfire |
Dissection Storm of the Light's Bane |
Dog Fashion Disco Adultery |
Dream Troll Second to None |
Dropdead 2nd LP |
Dropkick Murphys The Meanest of Times |
Dropkick Murphys The Warrior's Code |
Drudkh Autumn Aurora |
Drudkh They Often See Dreams About The Spring |
Duskmourn Fallen Kings and Rusted Crowns |
Dzo-nga Thunder In the Mountains |
Elephant Watchtower The Church Is At Fault |
Eluveitie Spirit |
Eluvium Static Nocturne |
Ensiferum Ensiferum |
Enslaved Eld |
Enslaved RIITIIR |
Enslaved In Times |
Entombed Left Hand Path |
Erdve Vaitojimas |
Esoctrilihum Eternity Of Shaog |
Estatic Fear A Sombre Dance |
Eternity's End Embers of War |
absolutely masturbatory in terms of guitar work but it works???? awesome album |
Exulansis Overtures of Uprising |
FACT burundanga |
FACT Witness |
illl cook something up for this in the next few weeks, love these guys |
Fen Carrion Skies |
Fleet Foxes Sun Giant |
Forgotten Tomb Nihilistic Estrangement |
Full of Hell Trumpeting Ecstasy |
fun. Aim and Ignite |
Funebrarum The Sleep of Morbid Dreams |
Gatecreeper Dark Superstition |
Gavin Castleton Home |
George Clanton 100% Electronica |
Gigantic Brain The Invasion Discography |
Gojira Magma |
Goldfrapp Silver Eye |
Ocean is 10000000000000000000000000000% fire, absolutely killer song |
Gorguts Pleiades' Dust |
Greylotus Motherwort |
exellent material and songwriting slightly let down by wall of sound compressed production |
Gudsforladt Friendship, Love and War |
Haruka Nakamura Twilight |
Hate Forest Purity |
Havukruunu Uinuos Syömein Sota |
Hellripper The Affair Of The Poisons |
High Command Eclipse of the Dual Moons |
Hooded Menace The Tritonus Bell |
Horrendous Anareta |
Howls of Ebb Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows |
Howls of Ebb Vigils of the 3rd Eye |
Howls of Ebb The Marrow Veil |
Hulder Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry |
this has a lot of different influences spread across its runtime and for a relatively new act, I was consistently impressed with how well all of them are executed and play off of each other |
Hyperion (SWE) Seraphical Euphony |
Imbaru El Inherente Sentir en los Árboles |
wonderful neo-folk with a distinctive yet subtle ethnic flair |
Imha Tarikat Sternenberster |
high energy black metal with barbaric vocals. has the pace and urgency of misthryming's release from the previous year (though not similar melody-wise) |
In Cauda Venenum In Cauda Venenum |
Incantation Diabolical Conquest |
Inclination When Fear Turns To Confidence |
boy oh boy does this riff hard, this is like mid-2000s riffy hardcore celebration and I am INTO it |
Inclination A Glimpse Through The Lens |
short and sweet and absolutely killer. these dudes don't reinvent any wheels but their wheels are rock solid |
Insomnium Shadows of the Dying Sun |
Insomnium Heart Like a Grave |
Iotunn The Wizard Falls |
Iron Maiden Powerslave |
ISIS Oceanic |
Island Orakel |
Ixachitlan Eagle, Quetzal, and Condor |
Japandroids Celebration Rock |
JID DiCaprio 2 |
Job For A Cowboy Sun Eater |
Johnny Booth Storyteller |
releases like this really leave you wondering why these guys haven't released more, they
seem incapable of writing bad material |
Judicator Let There Be Nothing |
Kaatayra Toda História pela Frente |
Kaleikr Heart of Lead |
Kalmah Swampsong |
Kashiwa Daisuke Program Music I |
Katatonia The Fall Of Hearts |
Kauan Sorni Nai |
Kauan Pirut |
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly |
Khemmis Deceiver |
not a lot to say here, which is praise as opposed to criticism - innately excellent band delivers yet another excellent album with a few new bells and whistles |
Khemmis Hunted |
khemmis understand quite well that what matters are riffs, and they know their way around a riff or two if you know what i'm saying |
Kllo Maybe We Could |
Krallice Hyperion |
Kvaen The Great Below |
Supremely solid speedy, blast-focused black metal with folk leanings. Excellent vocals and diverse inspirations elevate this above your standard blast-y bm a-la Vorga |
Lamp of Murmuur Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism |
Lamp of Murmuur The Burning Spears Of Crimson Agony |
Lamp of Murmuur Submission and Slavery |
Late Night Alumni Empty Streets |
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV |
Leprous Aphelion |
Les Fragments De La Nuit Musique du Crepuscule |
Lye By Mistake Arrangements for Fulminating Vective |
Mac Miller Circles |
Mare Cognitum Solar Paroxysm |
Mastodon Leviathan |
Mayhem Daemon |
Melechesh Enki |
Minor Victories Minor Victories |
Misery Signals Absent Light |
Misthyrming Söngvar elds og óreiðu |
Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind |
Musk Ox Woodfall |
Musk Ox Musk Ox |
Nadra Allir vegir til glötunar |
NAILS You Will Never Be One Of Us |
Napalm Death Apex Predator - Easy Meat |
Ne Obliviscaris Citadel |
Neurotech Evasive |
awesome take on modern dance music, kind of a mix of light industrial aesthetics with modern
trance |
Nevermore The Politics of Ecstasy |
Nevermore Dead Heart in a Dead World |
Nightbringer Ego Dominus Tuus |
Nils Frahm Spaces |
Nostromo (CHE) Narrenschiff |
Novembre The Blue |
Old Man's Child In Defiance of Existence |
Olde Throne In the Land of Ghosts |
some good old fashioned slightly folk inspired atmospheric black metal fun. smacks of windir in a spot here and there |
Oneohtrix Point Never Garden of Delete |
Opeth Blackwater Park |
Orm Intet • Altet |
phenomenal songs when taken in isolation, but the whole album - 90 minutes long - does not justify its monstrous length, despite the inherent quality of each piece |
Ossaert Bedehuis |
Paladin (USA) Ascension |
Paladin (USA) Anamnesis |
Panacea (USA) A Mind on a Ship Through Time |
Panacea (USA) 12 Step Program |
Panopticon Roads to the North |
Panopticon Kentucky |
Panopticon Revisions of the Past |
Love it, of course. But everyone saw that coming.
It takes a lot to look at your past work and go "this is not good enough, I'm a lot better than
this", and for someone who puts as much of himself into his records as Lunn, these albums may not
necessarily hold the same value or connection for him that they previously did, but Lunn has still
meticulously gone back over these dark horses of his discography and completely reworked
them.
Social Disservices especially sounds a lot different, since his recording situation for that
was so miserable. What was previously a muddled, incoherent, messy album now sounds born again,
newly sinister and haunting.
Once rough gems of an otherwise consistent and excellent discography (yes, even Kentucky), new
life has been breathed into these albums - they now sound a lot more cohesive, focused, and well-
rounded. If you didn't like these albums before, definitely give them a shot now. |
Panopticon / Waldgefluster Panopticon / Waldgeflüster |
Panzerfaust The Suns of Perdition - Chapter II |
deathspell without all the fascism |
Pig Destroyer Terrifyer |
Pixies Surfer Rosa |
Poison the Well You Come Before You |
Poison the Well The Tropic Rot |
Polkadot Cadaver Purgatory Dance Party |
Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet |
Porter Robinson Nurture |
Absolutely the surprise of the year so far. Reminds me heavily of The Flashbulb in terms of both rvariety and execution quality.rPorter has always been successful at huge, bombastic EDM - Nurture shows that he is just as good, rif not even better, at displaying a quieter, more contemplative style. |
Primeval Well Talkin' in Tongues with Mountain Spirits |
Professor Fate The Inferno |
Pupil Slicer Mirrors |
kinda like if Vein met Nostromo, plus a nice lil garnish of dissonance. shit's honestly wild |
Remete (AUS) Into Endless Night |
Rolo Tomassi Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It |
Romans All Those Wrists |
Rorcal Creon |
Rota Fortunae Hinterland |
Rota Fortunae Solstice |
Rotten Sound Cycles |
RUFUS DU SOL Solace |
Rvbbervvitch Mastvrbations Malveillantes |
Sallow Moth The Larval Hope |
Saor Aura |
Saor Roots |
Sarah Neufeld The Ridge |
I get the sense that Neufeld couldn't be boring even if she tried |
Sarcator Swarming Angels & Flies |
nasty heavy/black. riffs exactly like you'd want an entry in this genre to |
Sermon of Flames I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive |
will need more time to see if it stays feeling strong, but overall this is an excellent death/black outing with industrial touches that remind me of Altar of Plagues' last album. |
Shugo Tokumaru Exit |
Shylmagoghnar Transience |
Shylmagoghnar Convergence |
these guys do epic like almost no other band without sounding too cheesy. i think the real deciding factor is how committed you are to hearing 67 minutes of atmoblack with glossy production |
Sielunvihollinen Teloituskäsky |
SIG:AR:TYR Beyond The North Winds |
Sigh Hangman's Hymn |
Sigh In Somniphobia |
okay tyler will give this a 5 and karl will give it a 1 and everyone will be super, super surprised |
SikTh Death of a Dead Day |
SikTh Opacities |
Silver Knife Unyielding/Unseeing |
Sleigh Bells Texis |
Slowdive Slowdive |
Soilwork The Ride Majestic |
Soilwork Verkligheten |
Solar Fields Ourdom |
Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline |
Stormkeep Tales of Othertime |
not the most unique romp out there (some influences played a little TOO straight, like
Windir and Summoning), but what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in
execution and polish
"outshined Emperor" lmao get out of here |
Stortregn Impermanence |
Strapping Young Lad Alien |
Suffocation Pierced From Within |
Sunless Ylem |
Sunless have really elevated their game here. Gonna give it time to digest, but this will probably grow on me. Suffice to say that this one fully capitalizes on their initial mixture of groove, dissodeath and techdeath to make something wholly their own |
Swallow the Sun The Morning Never Came |
Swallow the Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light |
Symphony X Iconoclast |
Thantifaxath Sacred White Noise |
Thantifaxath Void Masquerading as Matter |
well this is no question going to be my AOTY if the one song available is anything to go off of |
The Antlers Burst Apart |
The Antlers Familiars |
The Black Dahlia Murder Ritual |
The Black Dahlia Murder Nightbringers |
The Black Dahlia Murder Verminous |
The Black Dahlia Murder Servitude |
typical TBDM fare meaning excellent riffs, excellent drumming and at least a couple of
extremely well done and memorable leads. the knock against it would be that they've settled
on this sound for about 20 years now, however the important context is that Brian did an
amazing job filling Trevor's role on this one. might not go down as their greatest release
ever, but imo they just needed to show they still had it, and they did |
The Black Twilight Circle Desert Dances and Serpent Sermons |
The Contortionist Clairvoyant |
The Dillinger Escape Plan One of Us Is the Killer |
The End (CAN) Elementary |
The Forsaken Manifest Of Hate |
a remarkably solid overlooked early 2000s swedish melodeath album. |
The Halo Effect March of the Unheard |
The Haxan Cloak Excavation |
The Locust Plague Soundscapes |
The Menzingers After the Party |
The Menzingers Rented World |
The Monolith Deathcult Trivmvirate |
The Oh Hellos Dear Wormwood |
The Red Chord Prey for Eyes |
The Wonder Years No Closer to Heaven |
This White Mountain The Final Sorrow |
hits some pretty massive highs on Bleak Future. modern atmospheric with a depressive lean |
thoughtcrimes Tap Night |
Tiamat A Deeper Kind Of Slumber |
Tim Hecker Virgins |
Tim Hecker An Imaginary Country |
Tonebox Nocturn |
Totem Skin Weltschmerz |
Tourist Wild |
Towers Full Circle |
Tribulation The Horror |
Tribulation Down Below |
Tribulation Where The Gloom Becomes Sound |
Tristengrav II - Nychavgé |
Uhtcearu For Darkness to Subside |
Ultha All That Has Never Been True |
Very solid bm album. Mixture of a lot of sounds and some genuinely unsettling atmosphere at times. Album would be a lot stronger in my mind if they had reordered it or added a bit more intensity to the end of the album, as it loses momentum as it goes |
Ulver Svidd Neger OST |
Ulver Messe I.X-VI.X |
Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar |
Ulvesang Ulvesang |
Ulvik Cascades |
Ume Monuments |
Undeath It's Time...To Rise From the Grave |
groovy, catchy riffy extavaganza. could listen to a hundred more of these |
Unearth Watchers of Rule |
Vali Skogslandskap |
Vanum Ageless Fire |
Veilburner Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull |
Vorga Striving Toward Oblivion |
Warbringer Woe to the Vanquished |
Warbringer Weapons of Tomorrow |
We Lost the Sea Departure Songs |
White Lung Paradise |
White Lung Deep Fantasy |
Wiegedood There's Always Blood at the End of the Road |
Within the Ruins Phenomena II |
an instrumentally diverse and excellent modern metalcore record
lyrics are kinda dumb but what do you expect |
Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars |
World's End Girlfriend Hurtbreak Wonderland |
Wormrot Hiss |
Yellow Eyes Rare Field Ceiling |
Zeal and Ardor Wake of a Nation |
Zomby Dedication |
3.5 great |
'68 Two Parts Viper |
...and Oceans Cosmic World Mother |
A Forest of Stars The Corpse of Rebirth |
A Forest of Stars Beware the Sword You Cannot See |
Abandon All Hope Where Life And Death Meet |
Absu Absu |
Absu Abzu |
Adebisi Shank This is the EP |
Aether Realm Tarot |
pretty good wintersun worship with some abysmal lyrics and a runtime that overstays its welcome |
After the Burial Rareform |
Agoraphobic Nosebleed Altered States of America |
All the Empires of the World ...Will Be Laid To Waste |
Amon Amarth Jomsviking |
Amorphis Eclipse |
Amorphis Under the Red Cloud |
Anterior This Age of Silence |
Artificial Brain Infrared Horizon |
Ashbringer Yūgen |
Atheist Jupiter |
Avenged Sevenfold Waking The Fallen |
Bad Bad Hats Psychic Reader |
Baroness Purple |
Bea5t Empathy Is a Gift |
Beastmilk Climax |
Between the Buried and Me Alaska |
Black Thread Meadowlark (Premonition) |
Blanck Mass World Eater |
Blood Red Throne Fit To Kill |
Bloodbark Bonebranches |
Blotted Science The Machinations of Dementia |
Blurr Thrower Les Voûtes |
Borknagar Winter Thrice |
Bosse-de-Nage Further Still |
very underwhelming on first listen (at least, underwhelming for Bosse). This one feels much less like a progression than their other work does. You would be forgiven for thinking these are All Fours B-Sides. The production is a bit too muddy as well |
Botch An Anthology of Dead Ends |
Cave In White Silence |
Century Black Ocean |
Coldworld Autumn |
an above average bm release, but nothing more |
Cynic Traced in Air |
Daath The Deceivers |
why even call this an album by this band, there's so many guest spots might as well just
call the band 'various artists'
good songs tho |
Darkane Demonic Art |
Der Weg Einer Freiheit Stellar |
Desolate Shrine The Heart of the Netherworld |
Devil Master Satan Spits On Children Of Light |
Devil Sold His Soul Loss |
Disillusion Back to Times of Splendor |
Dismember Dismember |
Dispirit Separation |
Dropkick Murphys Sing Loud, Sing Proud! |
Drottnar Monolith II |
Eagles Hotel California |
Enochian Crescent Black Church |
Equilibrium Sagas |
Ethereal Shroud They Became the Falling Ash |
Fear Before The Always Open Mouth |
Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes |
Fuath I |
warmed up to this. it's hypnotic, in a way. in a weird sense, it's relaxing black metal. |
Gojira The Link |
Grave Digger Fields of Blood |
Gross Reality Escaping Gravity |
Harlott Detritus of the Final Age |
Haruka Nakamura and Akira Kosemura Afterglow |
Haunt (USA-CA) Mind Freeze |
Havukruunu Havulinnaan |
Horizon Ablaze The Weight Of A Thousand Suns |
Hypocrisy Virus |
Immortal Sons of Northern Darkness |
Immortal Bird Sin Querencia |
In Aphelion Moribund |
great album. has a bit of a dip in the middle, but as an album that is an amalgamation of
all sorts of black metal sounds with a focus on mid-tempo riffing a-la immortal or high-
paced like necrophobic, it pulls off everything excellent with a surprisingly sinister vocal
performance to boot |
Inconcessus Lux Lucis Temples Colliding in Fire |
it's pretty good but not as aggressive or angry as their last one. that's not a requirement but I think part of what set that release - and the band - apart from the rest of the black/heavy indulgences is that they managed to mix aggression with fun, and I think it leans a bit more towards fun on this one |
Indian Handcrafts Creeps |
Insomnium Songs of the Dusk |
continues their trend of releasing frustratingly good-but-not-great material |
Intestine Baalism Ultimate Instinct |
Intronaut The Direction of Last Things |
Japandroids Post-Nothing |
Justice † |
Kalmah The Black Waltz |
Kanonenfieber Die Urkatastrophe |
overlong and homogenous, but if this is the sound you're in the mood for you're going to have a hard time finding a better version of it in 2024 |
Kowloon Walled City Grievances |
Lamb of God Ashes Of The Wake |
Lamb of God As The Palaces Burn |
Lantlos Wildhund |
Malthusian/Suffering Hour Time's Withering Shadow |
malthusian side is snore but the suffering hour is great as always |
Mastodon Blood Mountain |
Mechina Acheron |
Mercenary Architect of Lies |
Meshuggah Chaosphere |
Minus the Bear Highly Refined Pirates |
Misanthropy The Ever-Crushing Weight of Stagnance |
vocals kinda stink but the riffs slap |
Mortality Rate You Were the Gasoline |
Motherboar The Beast Becomes The Servant |
Mutoid Man Bleeder |
Nevermore Enemies of Reality |
Nils Frahm Solo |
Novembers Doom The Novella Reservoir |
Obscura Akróasis |
Old Nick Ghost O'Clock |
genuinely at a loss for words listening to this. the collective effort of people who said "Goat Horns wasn't quite cheesy enough" and yet it's just a fucking blast |
Panzerfaust The Suns of Perdition Chapter III |
im a bit with yellow on this but not quite as harsh. a step down in the quality of their previous 2 albums. by panzerfaust standards maybe a 2.5, but by the rest of black metal, a solid 3.5-4. much better than their contemporaries but really below what they're capable of |
Parlamentarisk Sodomi Har Du Sagt A Far Du Si Nal |
Porcupine Tree Deadwing |
Predatory Light Death and the Twilight Hours |
Primus Sailing the Seas of Cheese |
Sadist Firescorched |
proggy death metal that kind of smacks of traced in air cynic. honestly a lot of fun. the
track ordering, however, is a little weird in that the first few tracks range from fast to
midtempo, but the backhalf is pretty much all slower, more experimental affairs. kind of
unbalanced, but overall a great release
edit: oh ya and that drummer is amazing |
Scar Symmetry Holographic Universe |
Septicflesh Communion |
Sepultura Quadra |
Serpent Column Mirror In Darkness |
riffs hard but definitely don't read anything this idiot has said |
Serpent Noir Erotomysticism |
Shining (SWE) VI - Klagopsalmer |
Sigh Imaginary Sonicscape |
SikTh The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out, Wait for Something Wild |
Skyharbor Guiding Lights |
Slayer God Hates Us All |
Slayer Christ Illusion |
Summoning Old Mornings Dawn |
Svrm Занепад |
Swallow the Sun Plague Of Butterflies |
System of a Down Toxicity |
System of a Down System of a Down |
The Absence Riders of the Plague |
The Black Dahlia Murder Everblack |
The Black Dahlia Murder Miasma |
The Black Dahlia Murder Abysmal |
The Body No One Deserves Happiness |
The Faceless Akeldama |
Theophonos Allegheny Rains |
absolutely no one:
jimmy: OMG I AM GOING TO USE AI ART AND YOU ARE HORRIBLE FOR
QUESTIONING MY USE OF IT AAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!@!!!!!!!
good riffs tho |
This Gift Is A Curse All Hail The Swinelord |
this is like Time to Burn meets Deathspell Omega, but not quite as great as that could sound |
Thorns Thorns |
Throwing Snow Mosaic |
Toxic Ruin Subterranean Terror |
Trauma (PL) Imperfect Like A God |
Triumvirate From Beyond the Grave |
Unto Others Strength |
Strong, strong opening half. Strangely, when they hit the block of the album that sounds
more like Mana, that's when Strength begins to lose steam. They aren't necessarily bad
tracks, just that that style was done better on Mana and the heavier tracks at the front
of this album outshine them handily |
Vader Solitude in Madness |
Venom Prison Samsara |
Vinterland Welcome My Last Chapter |
VVOVNDS Descending Flesh |
Wildernessking Mystical Future |
Windfaerer Alma |
better than good but ultimately not excellent folk leaning black metal |
Woe Hope Attrition |
standard woe fair. is good! but is not great but is definitely good! |
Wolfheart Shadow World |
this album just shows that amon amarth is a band that could have one member and still work |
Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven |
3.0 good |
Abbath Abbath |
Abbath Dread Reaver |
a perfectly fine bm release but never really elevates itself above 'dumb but fun' |
Abigail Williams In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns |
Abigail Williams The Accuser |
Abilgail Williams strip back their sound a bit on this album, but what we're left with is a highly middle of the road black metal record. They may have been more cheesy and hate-able on previous releases, but in doing away with their symphonic elements over time, they have slowly become a totally unremarkable black metal band. |
Allegaeon Apoptosis |
Antre Dark Spectrum |
Architect All Is Not Lost |
Avenged Sevenfold City Of Evil |
Ayr The Dark |
Basalte Vertige |
Bersarin Quartett III |
Carnal Forge Testify for My Victims |
Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas |
Children of Bodom Are You Dead Yet? |
Cradle of Filth Midian |
Daath The Hinderers |
Darkest Hour Godless Prophets and the Migrant Flora |
Dawn Ray'd Behold Sedition Plainsong |
Deserted Fear Drowned by Humanity |
kinda dull but kinda fun. for every memorable riff there's at least another dozen that could have been pulled from any other hundred melodeath bands in the last 20 years |
Divine Heresy Bleed the Fifth |
DragonForce Extreme Power Metal |
Enforced Kill Grid |
Firtan Okeanos |
Ghost Bath Self Loather |
a remarkable improvement upon their last. the addition of actual lyrics (not just screamed
nonsense) and a general cleaning up of the jarring melodic transitions leaves Ghost Bath
with a serviceable black metal record that is definitely all their own, but still not
necessarily great |
Glass Casket Desperate Man's Diary |
Gojira From Mars to Sirius |
Graveland/Nokturnal Mortum The Spirit Never Dies |
graveland's side is kind of embarassing, but the mortum tracks rule |
Grimes Art Angels |
Heaven Shall Burn Deaf to Our Prayers |
Heaven Shall Burn Antigone |
Ibaraki Rashomon |
interesting drumming and guitarwork weighed down by uninteresting vocal work and an overly long runtime |
In Flames Come Clarity |
In Flames Soundtrack to Your Escape |
In Flames Clayman |
In This Moment Beautiful Tragedy |
In Vain (NO) Currents |
Katatonia Viva Emptiness |
Krallice Ygg Huur |
Krallice Loüm |
so they're just entirely giving up on pretending they put a lot of time into their compositions, huh? |
Lamb of God Sacrament |
Lords of the Trident Frostburn |
Macabre Dahmer |
Malakhim Theion |
Manegarm Vargstenen |
Meshuggah obZen |
Mindless Self Indulgence Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy |
Myrkgrav Takk Og Farvel; Tida Er Blitt Ei Annen |
Nails/Full of Hell Split |
Full of Hell kind of weak on here. Nails track is a Nails track. |
Nokturnal Mortum Verity |
Obsidian Kingdom A Year With No Summer |
Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles |
Sunless Rise Promo |
Svrm Розпад |
Sylosis Cycle of Suffering |
System of a Down Mezmerize |
System of a Down Steal This Album! |
The Birthday Massacre Walking With Strangers |
The Black Dahlia Murder Deflorate |
The Crown Royal Destroyer |
The Defaced Anomaly |
The Ocean Aeolian |
The Red Chord Clients |
The Zenith Passage Solipsist |
Through the Eyes of the Dead Bloodlust |
Tomarum Ash in Realms of Stone Icons |
longwinded, bloated, and lacking in dynamics that make the length of the tracks justifiable. cool moments scattered about, but largely averages out to a lot of blast beats |
Tribulation The Children Of The Night |
Trna Istok |
track with gaerea vocals is the best by far, band should just get a vocalist |
Usurpress Interregnum |
Vanir Sagas |
this is about as blatant of amon amarth worship as you could get
also who tf tagged this as black metal |
Vitriol (USA) Suffer & Become |
overwhelmingly loud and noisy. if you can listen to this and hear anything besides the constant trigger of the bass drum, then there is proficient, interesting death metal to be found |
Withered Folie Circulaire |