| Heaume Mortal Solstices | 3.5 |
| ...and Oceans The Symmetry of I - The Circle of O | 3.5 |
| ...and Oceans Cosmic World Mother | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| ...and Oceans As in Gardens, So in Tombs | 3.5 |
| Pleasant symphonic black metal album, however it's definitely not as punchy as Cosmic World Mother was - and I kinda miss that. |
| 0 (Null) Entity | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| 0 (Null) Null & Void | 3.0 |
| 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.) |
| 1000MODS Repeated Exposure to... | 4.0 |
| This is how to write a diverse stoner metal/psychedelic rock album! Amazing textures, lovely warm sound, great singing, bluesy solos and of course thick riffs: what's not to love? |
| 1914 Where Fear and Weapons Meet | 3.0 |
| It's... okay, but didn't really impress me that much. |
| 200 Stab Wounds Slave to the Scalpel | 4.0 |
As the band's name indicates: their first LP is pure straight-forward fun. Who cares about technicality, if "less" is enough for the desired effect? Massively riff oriented work, and not a weak track on sight.
I'm impressed! |
| 200 Stab Wounds Piles of Festering Decomposition | 4.0 |
| This EP is mega filthy. 5 tracks of ultra nasty, borderline goregrind riffs - this band fucking slays. |
| 36 Music for Isolation | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| 36 and Zake Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance... | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| 77 Bright Gloom | 3.5 |
| A Compendium of Curiosities The Resting Place of Dreams | 3.5 |
| A very pleasant chiptune dungeon synth. I kinda sensed both old-school and neo-medieval elements in this album, which is a great thing. |
| A Compendium of Curiosities Heaven Feels Like Floating Around in a Golden City | 4.0 |
| Dreams embodied in marvelous synth music. |
| A Monumental Black Statue Aere perennius | 3.0 |
| A Swarm of the Sun The Woods | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| A Wandering Spirit Lost And Forgotten | 2.5 |
| Abandoned Places The Funereal Call | 3.5 |
| Abbath Abbath | 3.5 |
| Abbath Outstrider | 3.0 |
| Abbath Dread Reaver | 1.5 |
| It's hearbreaking to write this, but... Abbath, I think it's time to retire. This is not just bad, this is horrible! Feels like shockingly low-effort output, with horrible flow, disappointingly bad guitarwork... it's time to make peace with the others from Immortal, or stop beating this dead horse. I'm very-very disappointed. |
| Abduction (UK) Black Blood | 4.0 |
| Slapper. Prominent guitarwork (this leans towards the progressive branch of the genre, like Shining), great vocals (I've noticed Attila Csihar's style here and there), good production. The best thing about this release, that they focused on writing midtempo-centric songs, which is pretty much my favourite in black metal. |
| Abehrum Ineffable | 3.5 |
| Abhor (ITA) Occulta Religio | 4.5 |
| 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... |
| Abhor (ITA) I.gne N.atura R.enovatur I.ntegra | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Perfect atmosphere + I loved the drone ambient piece at the beginning, and I the Goblin cover songs. |
| Abhor (ITA) Sex Sex Sex (Ceremonia Daemonis Anticristi) | 2.5 |
| Sadly, it was disappointing. It was very samey, even though the synths/organs never sounded so good like in this one (Juuso Peltola from Old Sorcery/Warmoon Lord did an amazing job, as usual). |
| Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark | 2.5 |
| Abigor Taphonomia Aeternitatis - Gesänge im Leichenlicht | 4.5 |
| Very aggressive, uniquely interesting and the entire album sounds massive. My only issue with the album is the closer track... it feels totally all-over-the-place. But the rest... amazing work. |
| Abime Échos de Gloire | 3.5 |
| Absolute Hell Rememberance | 2.5 |
| Abul Mogard Above All Dreams | 3.5 |
| I love the minimalist conception, the great textures and the ethereal sound. |
| Abysa Searemony | 3.0 |
| Ethereal, calm and relaxing. I can't get enough from these aquatic-inspired droney releases! |
| Abyssic Hate Suicidal Emotions | 4.0 |
| That buzzsaw guitar sound in this is one of a kind... this atmosphere sends shivers down my spine~ |
| AC/DC Black Ice | 3.0 |
| AC/DC High Voltage | 3.5 |
| AC/DC Highway To Hell | 4.0 |
| AC/DC Live at River Plate | 3.5 |
| AC/DC Power Up | 3.0 |
| Acid Bath When the Kite String Pops | 4.5 |
| Acid Witch Rot Among Us | 2.5 |
| Death metal where? It's just heavier type of stoner/doom with hints of psychedelia within. On paper, I should dig this, and I kinda do: I love the guitar tone and the silly flutes and other stuff here and there. ...But this lacks variety, most songs sound waaaaay too samey, and around the 4th song I felt quite bored. |
| Act of Impalement Infernal Ordinance | 3.5 |
| Gritty death/thrash/crust filth... with some absolute hidden gems like Specters of Unlight. Nasty! |
| Ad Nauseam Imperative Imperceptible Impulse | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Adiaphora Nebra | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Adrasteia Hymnes de Glaciers | 4.0 |
| 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) | 4.0 |
| Aeberassath Sphaera Aquae | 4.0 |
| Aequorea Dim | 4.5 |
| DIM offers everything I carve for: the riffs, the atmosphere, the emotional tone; moreover it combines genres like doom metal, shoegaze, black metal and post-metal. All the four lenghty songs are exciting and have a dream-like flow, not to mention the album has a fascinatingly clean and dynamic production. |
| Aequorea Tellurian | 3.5 |
| Pretty good mostly instrumental-centric album. Tons of solid riffs, but "not quite there yet". |
| Aerekaer Avindskjold | 4.0 |
| Aerials 4 dead flies | 3.5 |
| I need more Castlevania C64...! |
| Aeternam Heir of the Rising Sun | 3.0 |
| Stronghold Crusader nostlgia, and way too much kitsch in... something which is definitely not melodeath. (Bit too power metal-ish, I guess?) I liked the concept and some moments in this, but otherwise it's meh. |
| Afsky Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død | 4.0 |
| Black metal with emotions. |
| Afsky I Stilhed | 3.5 |
| Afsky switched to "Kveldssanger-mode", but without vocals. Only acoustic guitar and the feels, so be ready for heavy melancholia. |
| Afsky Om Hundrede År | 3.0 |
| Acceptable, but far from my expectations. I miss the emotions, and this way it's just like a "Danish Taake" album (esp. the vocals sound very-very similar to Hoest's style). |
| Agalloch The Mantle | 2.5 |
| Ager Sonus Mithra | 4.0 |
| Agnes Obel Myopia | 3.0 |
| It's alright. |
| Agriculture Agriculture | 3.5 |
| Promosing start for a blackgaze project. Keep up the good work! (Just please don't follow the ultra cringe Liturgy path...) |
| Ahab The Call of the Wretched Sea | 4.0 |
| Ahab The Coral Tombs | 3.5 |
| Long and gigantic songs and... a super cool-looking cover. More seriously, The Coral Tombs is built from a quite a mixed bag of influences, varying and blending doom, sludge and post-metal. My biggest issue with it is the way too high ratio of cleaner/quieter sections, which makes it a bit hollow. Not bad, but I think they could have offered a bit more. |
| Ahriman Osko | 3.5 |
| Aindulmedir The Lunar Lexicon | 2.0 |
| I understand what was the main goal of this album, but the result is extremly boring. |
| Aindulmedir Star Lore | 2.5 |
| I understand this supposed to be relaxing, but damn, this is so uninteresting...! |
| Akercocke Words That Go Unspoken... | 3.0 |
| Akercocke Rape of the Bastard Nazerene | 2.0 |
| Akercocke Antichrist | 4.0 |
| Akercocke Renaissance in Extremis | 4.5 |
| Akerius Arcanum Hermeticum | 3.0 |
| It was nice, the album flows very nicely but I always had that certain feeling of "did I hear this somewhere before?". |
| Akhlys Melinoe | 4.0 |
| Alcest Spiritual Instinct | 4.0 |
| Alcest Kodama | 4.0 |
| Alcest Shelter | 3.0 |
| Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme | 4.0 |
| This is a lovely sonical hug for the soul. Best Alcest. |
| Alcest Écailles De Lune | 3.0 |
| Alcest got better later. |
| Alestorm Black Sails at Midnight | 3.0 |
| Alestorm Captain Morgan's Revenge | 4.6 |
| Alestorm No Grave But the Sea | 4.0 |
| Alestorm Sunset on the Golden Age | 3.0 |
| Alestorm Curse of the Crystal Coconut | 3.5 |
| 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!" |
| Alestorm Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum | 3.0 |
| ...Magyarország, Te olyan csodás vagy... Oh my... as a Hungarian, I have to confess they won my heart instantly with this chorus! Album is alright, it has some really uninspired songs (the Tortuga remake and Come To Brazil were really-really bad), but some really cool ones too like Under Blackened Banners and ofc Magyarország, but in the end due to the fun factor I still say it was a good one. |
| Alice Boman Dream On | 2.0 |
| She wasn't even trying to sound any original or interesting. |
| Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies | 4.0 |
| Alkilith The Shores of Evermeet | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Allegaeon Damnum | 2.5 |
| Alloch Nathir The Emerald Grotto | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Alluste Electric star | 3.5 |
| "Let's turn on the arpeggiator and hope for the best". Quite minimalistic, has a quite melancholic and bittersweet atmosphere, and perfectly avoids turning into purple-neon cheesiness - solid Berlin school release. |
| Almofar C'est la Peste! Sauve Qui Peut! | 2.5 |
| Alpha Chrome Yayo Spectral Hands | 3.5 |
| When retrowave, jazz, dark ambient, electronic, classical and dance music meet... the result is this album. |
| Alpha Drone Alpha Drone | 3.0 |
| Alphagohm Oneiros | 3.5 |
| This is not an easy listen. This is like an atmospheric horror soundtrack. Deep; very well done. |
| Amebix Arise! | 4.5 |
| Incredible! Despite it's "just" a crust punk release, this feels so progressive and complex...! Songs like "Largactyl", "Soils of Victory" or the title track... are all amazing. Heavy but playful riffs, groovy bass lines (+ that bass tone is really something!), simplistic punk drumming and finally: vocals which could really scratch and energize like battle roars - but not flawlessly consistent... like why ruin the first half of "The Darkest Hour" with those bad cleans? Anyway, still an amazing record. |
| Amiensus Restoration | 3.0 |
| Amn Lands of Intrigue | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Amn Shadows of Amn | 3.0 |
| Unusual and interesting dungeon synth album. The D&D inspired themes and the oddly new age-like sounds made it a definitely unique piece, yet, I'm not sure how much did I like it. It was nice, but I don't think if I'll return to it very often. |
| Among The Lights Sphere Of Solitude | 2.0 |
| Lifeless, blunt, shallow, plastic-sounding post-metal. |
| Amorphis Tuonela | 4.9 |
| Amorphis Tales from the Thousand Lakes | 4.5 |
| Maybe the album's production is a bit flat, but the quality under the gorgeous cover is beyond fantastic. A captivatingly atmospheric melo-death album, which also riffs incredibly hard. You won't forget this album. Also there is nothing wrong with the clean vocals, focus on the vibe instead! |
| Amorphis Queen of Time | 4.0 |
| Lengthy but rewarding listen. A super creative and exciting album, which is definitely requires several listens to fully digest, but not due to the heaviness! Adventurous, and you simply can't get enough of Tomi's brilliant vocal performance. |
| Amorphis Under the Red Cloud | 4.0 |
| Captivating and colorful - and the folk is especially strong in this one (= instant obsession). Fantastic album which will stuck in your ears for weeks. |
| Amorphis The Karelian Isthmus | 4.0 |
| A fairly balanced, somewhat standard, but excellently executed death metal album. This delivers exactly what it supposed to do: killer riffs. |
| Amorphis Halo | 3.5 |
| Under the Red Cloud 2.0, but less colorful and meant to be too "safe". |
| Amun Spectra and Obsession | 2.5 |
| If they wouldn't fuck up the whole thing with unnecessary glitchy nonsense (they could have go with more industrial stuff instead), and the stupidly repetitive Al Cisneros-alike chantings (from Sleep, y'know) combined with terribly overlong songs lengths... then it could have been a good recod. But it is as it is: I could truly enjoy like the 50% of it, the rest should have been cut out, straight to the bin. |
| Amystery Grim Satanic Blessing | 4.0 |
| An Old Sad Ghost Speertraeger - A Rotten Compilation | 3.0 |
| An Old Sad Ghost Fullmoon over Videna | 2.0 |
| I don't really get the hype around this... sometimes overly repetitive and generally has a bit amateurish feel. |
| Anachronism Meanders | 1.5 |
| This album has no flow at all. Incoherent guitar wanks and disso-chugs... what a waste of time... |
| Ancient Trolltaar | 3.5 |
| Ancient Det Glemte Riket | 3.0 |
| Ancient Eerily Howling Winds [Demo] | 3.5 |
| Ancient Svartalvheim | 3.5 |
| 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 Grim Ages | 3.0 |
| Ancient Boreal Forest Where Dragons Dream | 4.0 |
| 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 A Relic From The Sands of Time | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Ancient Boreal Forest/The Cold Domain In The Land Of High Fantasy | 4.0 |
| Ancient Empire Priest of Stygia | 3.0 |
| I have to agree with manosg here. Everything is given for a cool USPM release (I was lured by the Conan reference in the title, for example), but it's definitely not brave enough and follows the ancient formulas without adding anything noteworthy. It's nice, but wouldn't say it's great. |
| Ancient Mastery Chapter One: Across The Mountains Of ... | 4.0 |
| I like atmocheese. Perfectly balanced album, too bad it has only 4 songs in it. |
| Ancient Mastery The Chosen One | 3.0 |
| 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 :[ |
| Ancient Mastery Chapter Two: The Resistance | 2.5 |
| Phew, this was an interesting experience. So, this was an extra cheesy Dimmu Borgir if they'd turn into a half-power/half-black metal band, plus they'd have a second a female singer (who actually sings well), but her lines make everything very cringy. Too much power metal, too much female singing. |
| Ancient Sword Ars Antiqua | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| ANCST Zorn | 3.0 |
| Fairly standard modern black metal with a very little post-metal in it. (Not bad, but please remove the "raw black metal" tag from Bandcamp.) |
| Andariel The Coldtears of Monolith | 3.5 |
| Andavald Undir Skyggðarhaldi | 5.0 |
| Anfortas Far Below the City | 2.5 |
| Antestor The Forsaken | 4.8 |
| Oh well, I have to admit I love this album. Cheesy, riffs hard and they had Hellhammer behind the drumkit - the album speaks for itself. Unblack or not, this is definitely an outstanding 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 Omen | 4.0 |
| Anthene Long Formations +4 | 2.5 |
| Anti Beatam Mortem Exspectans | 4.5 |
| Kind of a "Best Of Anti", containing basically my favourites songs. With the less known song, "Beatam Mortem Exspectans", the final tracklist is one of the strongest DSBM packages. |
| Anti Anti | 4.0 |
| What a shame I've missed this out from 2021... Anyway, this is a sick straight-forward DSBM album with extra punchy riffs. [garas's seal of approval] |
| Anti The Insignificance of Life | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Antonin Dvorak Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, B. 178 | 4.5 |
| Anubi Kai pilnaties akis uzmerks Mirtis | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Anubis (Fr) Cradle of Civilization | 4.5 |
| Aodon Portraits | 3.0 |
| Quite alright blackgaze, but nothing extraordinary here. Stylistically, this is a good release... but it lacks that special emotional ingredient to reach at least the "noteworthy" level. It's a generous 3.0, because it's still a little bit better than the average. |
| Aornos The Great Scorn | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Apoxupon How the Garden Grows | 4.5 |
| Arapaima North | 3.5 |
| An interesting, noisy, haunting soundtrack of a nightmare. |
| Arcana Liturgia Follow the old path | 3.5 |
| 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 Cavern Sorcery of Chaos | 2.5 |
| Arcane Hand Hohe Bäume | 2.5 |
| Arcane Voidsplitter Voice of the Stars | 3.5 |
| Arcanist Poseidonis | 4.0 |
| Very good Berlin-school-inspired dungeon synth piece. It reminded me of the golden days of Jim Kirkwood, but with a different atmosphere (influenced by the American Weird Fiction movement). Very-well produced record, and if you're looking for gorgeous synth sounds - then it is for you. |
| Arch Enemy Deceivers | 2.5 |
| Not a painful record in any sense, but I didn't feel entertained or excited either. |
| Archgoat Black Mass XXX | 3.5 |
| 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 Eternal Damnation Of Christ | 3.5 |
| Short but sweet jam. A few more song could have been better, though... |
| Archgoat The Light-Devouring Darkness | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Archgoat The Luciferian Crown | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Archgoat Whore of Bethlehem | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Archgoat Heavenly Vulva (Christ's Last Rites) | 3.5 |
| The Archgoat EPs are slightly less fun compared to their full-lengths, but otherwise it is still a great jam. |
| Archgoat Worship the Eternal Darkness | 4.5 |
| Incredibly well-made release by the Finnish veterans. Only some minor changes (more synths, some doom or even grind and occasionally newer approach in vocals) were introduced to their original filthy black-death formula, and as a result, Worship the Eternal Darkness became the most mature Archgoat album to date. Turning to a more atmospheric approach had a great impact on the classic Archgoat formula: the album sounds brutal, menacing and evil. In Worship the Eternal Darkness the band showed clear signs of improvement and creativity in probably in 2021's best (old-school) black metal record. They aged just like fine wine. |
| Archgoat All Christianity Ends | 3.0 |
| "Let's travel back in time to when they have released The Light-Devouring Darkness!" A pretty fast and heavy riffing, and quite unnecessarily raw EP... It's good - for once. Their '21 LP was far-far better. |
| Archosaur One Million Years B.C. | 3.0 |
| This was an okay-ish concept-demo, but hey: more dino synth is always good. |
| Arcturus My Angel | 2.5 |
| Arcturus Constellation | 4.5 |
| 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! |
| Arcturus Aspera Hiems Symfonia | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Ard Take Up My Bones | 3.5 |
| A quite unique post-doom record which blends a huge amount of Ulver worship into its sound: very interestingly, you can hear some elements from both Kveldssanger AND Shadows of the Sun by Ulver here, which might be a bit risky thing, but I'm really digging it. Let's start with a 3.5, but I think it's a grower. |
| Argenthorns The Ravening | 2.5 |
| Disappointment of the year. Like I can't believe it's from Juuso Peltola... it's so lame. (Production is fine though!) |
| Argol Six Spells | 3.0 |
| Arkaeon Parasit | 3.5 |
| Very fast paced blackened death metal record, which probably requires several listens to fully get digested. So much stuff is going on, and they really haven't slowed down - okay, only once in the middle of "Evig Trods". This kind of music needs these slow moments, in my opinion, that's why I can't rate this higher than 3.5. |
| Arkham Hearse The Starry Wisdom | 3.0 |
| A dungeon synth LSD trip? It was a wild one, but pretty interesting. |
| Armagedda The Final War Approaching | 3.5 |
| Very strong debut filled with old-school lots midtempo riffs. It contains some bangers like "Skogens mörka djup", "Unholy Sacrifice", "Undergång". |
| Armagedda Only True Believers | 4.0 |
| Wow, this is massive! It's like the mixture of Craft and late (groovier) Gorgoroth. "Poetry from a Poisoned Mind" and "F.T.W" were my favourites. |
| Armus Valley of Shadows | 3.5 |
| Arnaut Pavle Arnaut Pavle | 4.0 |
| Arnaut Pavle Transylvanian Glare | 5.0 |
| Punkthrone lives!!! This is the way!! The riffs, the sound, the aesthetics, the black punk energy... it's perfection! This is one ultimate garascore album... a flawless black metal release. |
| Ars Magna Umbrae Throne Between Worlds | 3.0 |
| Not exactly that original, but it's still a good disso-black album with hints of psychedelia within. |
| Arthuros Ithildin | 3.0 |
| Arthuros Kosmos | 2.5 |
| This kinda bored me. Nice Depressive Silence aesthetics, but that's all. |
| Arthuros Goddess | 3.0 |
| It's nice, I guess. |
| Artificial Brain Artificial Brain | 3.0 |
| It's cool, I guess? But not definitely not best-metal-album-of-the-year-level-of-good... but ya'll vote for this anyway, I accept that. |
| Arvernien La Espada de Marak | 2.0 |
| Very-very repetitive and overused VST sounds. Nah. |
| Arvernien Plenilunio | 2.5 |
| Arxura Delving | 2.5 |
| Arxura The Sylvan Specter | 2.0 |
| Asagraum Dawn of Infinite Fire | 3.0 |
| Nice second wave worship, but forgettable. Each song stands very well on its own, but the overall package is very-very samey. |
| Asattarn An Old Beginning | 4.0 |
| Ashenspire Hostile Architecture | 3.5 |
| Impressive work, finally some good wild avant-garde. However, it was a bit too hardcore-ish for me sometimes, the vocals felt out of place at certain moments (like in "Apathy as Arsenic Lethargy as Lead") and the mix is a bit strange... I mean, it doesn't feel that "full". Also: for anyone how enjoyed this, please give a go to Dodheimsgard's A Umbra Omega from 2015. That's the hot stuff. (Btw, these guys definitely have learned a thing or two from DHG, that's for sure.) |
| Ashes (POL) Ashes | 4.0 |
| Ashmadai Symphonies for the Kings | 3.0 |
| Askeregn Brennende Åkres Grøde | 3.0 |
| Seemed awesome in the beginning, but by the end it went a bit flat. Not bad, but this kind of punkish black metal needs more catchy (Carpathian Forest-alike) riffs to remain interesting, like in the album's opener song. |
| Astral Tomb Degradation Of Human Consciousness | 1.5 |
| Well... this was horrible. Sloppy mishmash death-doom chaos with near zero entertainment factor. |
| Astrophobos Malice of Antiquity | 2.5 |
| At The Altar Of The Horned God Through Doors Of Moonlight | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Athame (HU) Hódító (Conqueror) | 3.5 |
| Atlantean Sword Realmwalker | 3.5 |
| Pleasant album. I expected something more epic (especially from a project named like this!), but I stayed for the melancholic and wintry vibes. I also noticed some Thangorodrim elements here and there, which was also nice. |
| Attila Chaos | 2.5 |
| Audn Audn | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Augie March Sunset Studies | 3.0 |
| Auld Ridge Folklore From Further Out | 2.5 |
| The acoustic parts are very lovely, the rest is just... boring. |
| Aura Noir Aura Noire | 2.5 |
| Aura Noir Black Thrash Attack | 4.0 |
| The title says it all. |
| Automatonus Among the Ruins of the Basilica of Saint Synthetic | 1.0 |
| Autopsy Morbidity Triumphant | 3.5 |
| Pleasant old-school death metal album with a little touch of some moldy doom. |
| Autumn Nostalgie Esse Est Percipi | 4.0 |
| Wonderful blackgaze album. Flows slowly like a dream, full of sweet melancholia. The entire album is what I say about the best blackgaze albums: feels like a warm noisy hug for your soul. Also I'm super happy to know the lyrics are in Hungarian, it means a lot. "Fallen Leaves" is a huge mood, I love it. |
| Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But a Dream... | 3.5 |
| This was instrumentally and conceptionally interesting, and personally I wholeheartedly welcomed this stylistic "shapeshift". Finally, they could step out from the "below mediocre" status with this quite unique record. I agree with everyone about the negative effect of the ...rather interesting... vocal performance, which is sometimes indeed not that good.. On the contrary, especially in the second half of the album, these vocals were quite fitting to the stylistic shift on the instrumental front. So all in all: the overall record feels surprisingly coherent, and it is a quite memorable experience (...and that something I've never thought I'd say about an Avenged Sevenfold release. Especially in a positive way.) Bold, and acceptable. |
| Avox Desolate Land | 4.5 |
| Awesome (real) old-school dungeon synth album. Something is truly magical in this one. |
| Axeman Arrive | 3.5 |
| Aylwin The Arch Holder | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Azaghal Omega | 4.0 |
| Azarath Diabolic Impious Evil | 3.5 |
| Azelisassath In Total Contempt of All Life | 4.0 |
| Azelisassath Evil Manifestations Against Mankind | 4.0 |
| Azusa Loop of Yesterdays | 3.0 |
| 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...) |
| B. Ashra Music For Growing | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Baazlvaat The Higher Power | 2.5 |
| Sadly, "The Higher Power" is an average release even if I feel less grumpy and more generous than otherwise. Where the album tried to turn towards the BMSS, Assassination or Edelweiss alike psychedelic-black-punk direction, the result was far more convincing than the rest and managed to offer some fairly enjoyable moments. However, the whole creation smells like cheap glue: it feels like a cheap copy version of the aforementioned bands and bit like Burzum at certain moments (the vocals really sound similar to young Varg here and there, I had to admit that). Moreover the recording quality is way-way too sloppier than it should be - I get it, recording on a half-rotten potato is "kvlt af", but after a while it gets really ridiculous and dampens the experience. (Even Judas Iscariot could record a better quality audio in the '90s...) |
| BABYMETAL Metal Galaxy | 1.5 |
| Bad Magick Superstition | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Baerdcyn Naegling | 3.5 |
| Lovely neo-folk stuff. Half improvised, half composed. It's really relaxing. If you dig Borg, you'll dig this too. |
| Baerdcyn The Bard's Fireside Tales | 3.5 |
| A really good instrumental neo-folk album, with strong medieval infulences. Colorful and immersive, 10/10 would jam this during D&D sessions. |
| Bagg Tussa баґґтусса | 3.5 |
| Balance Interruption Door 218 | 4.0 |
| Ball Ball | 4.0 |
| This some real sweet '70s psychedelic rock / heavy metal worship right there! Catchy riffs, hot solos... this is out and out rock'n'roll! |
| Ball Like You Are…I Once Was…Like I Am – You Will Never Be | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Balrog [FRA] The Dark Tower | 3.0 |
| Baptism V: The Devil's Fire | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Barad-Dur Druid's Grove | 3.0 |
| I expected something greatly different (because the project's name in the first place), but I liked this. A pretty neo-folkish ambient piece. |
| Barak Tor Silent Passages And Hidden Realms | 2.5 |
| Barbarian King Barbarian King | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Baroness Red Album | 4.0 |
| Barrowmound Undreamed Worlds | 4.0 |
| A truly excellent dungeon synth album. A rarely pleasent mixed bag (thanks to the diverse instrumentation), but the real strength of the album is the perfectly captured essence of winter synth and the additional old-schoolish elements. |
| Basalte Vertige | 3.5 |
| Basic Dungeon Perils in the slums scenario 1: the orcs commune | 4.0 |
| Basil Poledouris Conan The Barbarian | 4.5 |
| A really memorable soundtrack. Even though it is impossible to separate it from the overall experience, but still an excellent piece. |
| Basmu Infernal Circles of the Sabbat | 3.5 |
| Bathory Katalog | 4.0 |
| 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 Requiem | 2.0 |
| Bathory The Return of the Darkness and Evil | 4.0 |
| Bathory Blood Fire Death | 4.6 |
| Bathory Bathory | 3.5 |
| Bathory Under the Sign of the Black Mark | 4.9 |
| Bathory Octagon | 3.0 |
| Bathory Blood on Ice | 4.8 |
| Bathory Destroyer of Worlds | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Bathory Nordland I | 4.5 |
| Bathory Nordland II | 4.0 |
| Bathory Nordland I & II | 4.5 |
| Double albums means double effect. The Nordland I-II double LP stands as a perfect epitome of viking metal, which cannot be outmatched. |
| Bathory Twilight of the Gods | 3.5 |
| Bathory Hammerheart | 3.5 |
| Batushka Litourgiya | 3.5 |
| Batushka Panihida | 3.0 |
| Batushka Hospodi | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Batushka Raskol | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Bavingr Warrior Bard | 2.5 |
| Bavingr Bycirce | 2.5 |
| Baxaxaxa De Vermis Mysteriis | 2.5 |
| Be'lakor Stone's Reach | 4.5 |
| Finest melodeath album I've ever heard. |
| Beartooth Aggressive | 3.0 |
| Begging Palm Accursed Abnormal | 3.5 |
| Behemoth A Forest | 2.0 |
| Beherit Drawing Down the Moon | 4.0 |
| 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 Electric Doom Synthesis | 3.5 |
| Beherit H418ov21.C | 2.0 |
| Beherit Engram | 4.0 |
| Beherit Bardo Exist | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Beherit At The Devil's Studio 1990 | 3.5 |
| Filth. |
| Behexen Nightside Emanations | 4.5 |
| Very balanced and consistent black/death metal release (with a gentle amount of doom here and there). Nightside Emanations doesn't disappoint, the brutally heavy riffs are just keep coming supported by a tight rthythm section, and of course Hoath Torog's usual superb vocal performance adds a lot to the album's overall value. |
| Behexen The Poisonous Path | 4.0 |
| Rips you apart. |
| Behexen By the Blessing of Satan | 3.5 |
| Behexen Rituale Satanum | 4.0 |
| "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. |
| Behexen My Soul For His Glory | 3.0 |
| It has few weaker songs, but still a pretty solid black metal release. Closer track is mega good, though. |
| Beketh Nexehmu De Svarta Riterna | 4.0 |
| Beketh Nexehmu De Dunklas Sorgeakt (Ett Nordiskt Afvsked...) | 2.5 |
| This album has its moments, but generally feels very samey and I really-really hated the production, which pretty much ruined this experience for me. |
| Beleriand February | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Belliciste Deathsworn (demo) | 3.0 |
| Nothing extraordinary, it is just a trad. black metal demo (kinda copies Satanic Warmaster). Good for a listen. |
| Belong October Language | 4.0 |
| Beltaine Rockhill | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Beneath Ancient Branches Demo 1 | 3.0 |
| Beorn's Hall Estuary | 4.0 |
| Beorn's Hall In His Granite Realm | 2.0 |
| After Estuary, they went downhills with this. Huge disappointment. |
| Berdische Demo | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Berghof Fount of Life | 2.5 |
| Besatt Anticross | 2.5 |
| "Did I hear this before?" - this is not a bad album, but too boring to my taste. |
| Bespin Moons A Binding Force | 2.5 |
| I wanted to like it, but in the end I felt disappointed every time. It's not bad, but it's very far from being good too. |
| Besvarjelsen Frost | 3.5 |
| This is a pretty fun band. A female singer with strong soul elements combined with psychedelic doomy rock is a surprisingly great combination. Not bad-not bad, but I think they can do better too. |
| Bewitcher Cursed Be Thy Kingdom | 3.5 |
| Cursed Be Thy Kingdom is a quite pleasant record, it offers a slightly bluesier/playful take on the usual sound of black-speed metal. Great production, good riffs and solos and tons of fun. It really-really reminded me to Gehennah sometimes, which is a great bonus. |
| Bibio Phantom Brickworks | 3.0 |
| Pretty. The piano wasn't always a good addition though. |
| Big Black Songs About Fucking | 2.5 |
| Big|Brave A Gaze Among Them | 3.0 |
| Bill Fisher Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Bill Fisher Hallucinations of a Higher Truth | 3.0 |
| Interesting change after the heavier stoner metal album. Entirely psychedelic/soul focused work, where the piano and the vocals rule over everything. Next to some cool "covers" of Church Of The Cosmic Skull songs, this offers a handful of mega chill tracks, which I found quite relaxing. And that's quite the downhill as well, since I nearly fell asleep during the album, hah! Not exactly my territory, but I can totally see the appeal of this release. |
| Billie Eilish dont smile at me | 2.0 |
| Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? | 1.0 |
| Billy Odal ...and the search for Agartha - Part 1 | 4.0 |
| Lots of creative ideas can be found in this psychedelic/post-punk/gothic rock mixture release (I'm not sure if I could decribe Billy Odal's music very well this way), and honestly I'm in love with the atmosphere of this release. It's a bit spooky, but very-very groovy as well, with a pleasantly "rusty yet still clean" production. Bonus points for the harsh vocals, I think a bit more could have been better, but still: I'm satisfied. |
| Birdflesh Sickness in the North | 4.0 |
| This is a shockingly good grind album! I like how 'colorful' is it, as they blended other genres into some songs - my favourite is the very black metal-ish Mongolations of Desolation. Also I love the production on this a lot: beefy, full and perfectly balanced. Super fun, killer riffs, great runtime...! |
| Bitter Old Wizard Southern Grim | 2.0 |
| Black Altar Black Altar | 3.0 |
| Black Anvil As Was | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| 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 Anvil Regenesis | 3.0 |
| I really wanted to love this record, but I'm afraid their As Was greatness is the past now. I still do believe they should have kept their clean-singing focused style. (OK, we had songs like "NYC Nightmares" but that's not enough) The record feels a bit too "all-over-the-place", and I kinda miss some coherency here, despite it combines great kind of melodic black with other genres such us post-metal, industrial and I even daresay some sludge too - which normally would be a postivie trait (=diversity). It's not bad in any means though, I do believe many people will enjoy this record a lot, but at least for me, their previous LP remains their best output yet. |
| Black Breath Heavy Breathing | 3.5 |
| Black Brunswicker Hidden Amongst the Trees and Foothills | 2.5 |
| Black Curse Endless Wound | 4.0 |
| 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 Flag Damaged | 3.0 |
| Black Label Society Stronger Than Death | 2.5 |
| This gets very samey after a while... |
| Black Label Society Catacombs of the Black Vatican | 4.6 |
| Black Label Society Grimmest Hits | 4.0 |
| Black Label Society Doom Crew Inc. | 2.5 |
| Other than "Gospel Of Lies", this is a really soulless and very boring album. Real shame... Zakk is better than this. |
| Black Label Society Sonic Brew | 4.6 |
| Badass album with tons of huge, fuzzy riffs. Also everything comes with a hints of gospel too. "Born To Lose" was my favourite on it + the iconic album cover. |
| Black Label Society 1919 Eternal | 3.0 |
| This time Zakk went for a weird mix of thrash, groove and southern rock. Definitely not the shiniest gem in the discography, but the bluesy and ballad songs are pretty damn good. |
| Black Magick SS Rainbow Nights | 3.5 |
| Black Magick SS The Black Abyss | 3.5 |
| With a better production this could be easily another solid 4.0. |
| Black Magick SS Panzerwitch | 3.5 |
| Black Magick SS Kaleidoscope Dreams | 4.0 |
| Black Magick SS Burning Bridges | 3.0 |
| Not going to lie: it was really surprising. Not just the out of nowhere-feel of this release, but also the very significant change in the band's style. It's a lot less riff-oriented release (fortunately still tons of awesome guitar solos packed into this album), the synths and clean vocals are far more emphatic than before, plus the new sounds of synthwave and disco brought a totally new vibe for this band - and I'm not sure if I dig it. |
| Black Mysterium Demo I | 2.5 |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 4.7 |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Headless Cross | 4.0 |
| A damn fine heavy/power metal album. Catchy songs, and the typical great Iommi riffs. Tony Martin deserves zero criticism, his performance is great and fits to this album. |
| Black Sabbath Black Sabbath | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell | 4.8 |
| Black Sabbath Sabotage | 5.0 |
| One of the best outputs of Black Sabbath. |
| Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Vol. 4 | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Born Again | 4.0 |
| 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 Live Evil | 3.5 |
| 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 Sabbath Dehumanizer | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Black Sabbath Mob Rules | 4.0 |
| Technically, every Sabbath album having Dio means instant excellency. Not as stunning as Heaven and Hell, but behind the bloody and brutal artwork there is yet another very memorable heavy metal-doom record. |
| Black Sabbath Forbidden | 2.5 |
| Y'all are sheeps and deaf. Instead of slapping an instant 1.0 on it when you hear Ice-T, maybe try to actually listen to the record. Sure, it has bad songs, like "Shaking Off the Chains", but the entire package is not bad at all. Not the most interesting, so the right description is average. |
| Black Usurper Shadows Of The World | 3.5 |
| Black Wound To the Endless Depths (demo) | 3.0 |
| Filthy sounding death/doom, but they're still clearly in demo phase. This needs some polishing, as it is not "memorable enough" yet. This has some potential, though. |
| Black Wound Warping Structure | 2.5 |
| I don't hear any progression in this release compared to their first demo - and this makes me sid. Raw sludge/doom recorded in a cave? The interest-factor in this concept is not long-lasting. |
| Blackbraid Blackbraid II | 2.5 |
| "yep another modern bm attempt that doesnt really go anywhere" [2] Exactly. It's just not interesting enough to justify the hype around it. It sounds okay, but generally: very forgettable songs, boring lyrics, boring artwork etc. |
| Blackmage Baader-Meinhof | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Blasphemy Fallen Angel of Doom | 3.5 |
| FILTH. |
| Blaze of Perdition The Harrowing of Hearts | 2.5 |
| Bleach Birth Caesarean Tapestries | 4.0 |
| blink-182 California | 2.0 |
| blink-182 Dogs Eating Dogs | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Greatest Hits | 4.0 |
| blink-182 California (Deluxe Edition) | 3.0 |
| Blissful Stream Dead Religious | 3.5 |
| Block knight Block knight I | 1.5 |
| Blogmal Blogmal | 2.5 |
| Blood Ceremony The Old Ways Remain | 3.0 |
| Riffs and drum style taken from 'Sabbath classics, add female vocals and a few other instruments like violin or flute, synths or organs: and there you'll have The Old Ways Remain. It's an alright record, felt a bit overlong. |
| Blood Incantation Timewave Zero | 3.5 |
| Sci-fi vibe? Check. Good flow? Check. Drones and textures? Check. I really dig the quite "winter synth"-ish slow and somnolent flow. ("Ea: Third Movement" is especially great.) Good for relaxing, or just simply played in the background for mild activities. |
| Blood Incantation Hidden History of the Human Race | 3.0 |
| Blood Incantation Luminescent Bridge | 3.5 |
| More polished. Their music went through a level up here, both in death metal and ambient as well. |
| Blood Lord Unwelcome Guests | 3.5 |
| Blood Tower Clock Dreams | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Bloodbath The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn | 4.0 |
| Oh yes, the sound of the classic HM-2 pedal pleases my ears!! |
| Bloodbath Nightmares Made Flesh | 3.0 |
| It is tasty, but somehow the second half feels drastically better than the other half, which made me lower my overall rating. |
| Bloodbath Survival of the Sickest | 4.0 |
| Straight-forward death metal as expected. Survival of the Sickest has a less "chainsawy sound" and feels noteworthily dynamic, not to mention Nick's vocals sound actually great here, (at least his peformance is better than in The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn was). Excellent "everyday death metal" release, and if you don't expect anything revolutionary from this, you'll have great fun with it. Potential grower. |
| Bloodlord Serenaden der Wälder | 4.0 |
| What a forgotten gem! Very solid work, great riffs and eerie atmosphere. The song "She" is mega! |
| Blue Oyster Cult Agents of Fortune | 4.0 |
| Lot more than just "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". Other highlights: "E.T.I.", "Sinful Love" and "Morning Final". |
| Blue Oyster Cult Fire of Unknown Origin | 4.5 |
| "After Dark" was always a bit meh for me, but the rest is an album you gladly return back to - and you're going to do so. |
| Blue Oyster Cult The Symbol Remains | 4.0 |
| Lovely record. So many catchy melodies and fine production. I wonder why isn't it more popular... "Tainted Blood" and "Edge Of The World" are my favourites, absolute earworms! |
| Blue Oyster Cult Secret Treaties | 4.0 |
| A damn catchy album, full of great songs. Nothing crazy here, "just" a gorgeously smooth rock gems. I don't get why is it their top-rated album, though. |
| Blue Oyster Cult Mirrors | 4.0 |
| Severely underrated record. A super consistent lovely and catchy album. "In Thee" is however a massively outstanding song, I'm in love with those tunes. |
| Blue-Ghost Coral Sea | 2.5 |
| Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen | 4.6 |
| Inaccurate title aside (this is not psychedelic at all), this album is brilliant! This sticks out the Blut Aus Nord discography, since there were no hints in the past about stepping onto the path of cosmic black metal -- but who cares, if the result is this amazing! "Nomos Nebuleam" was definitely the pinnacle on this album (10/10 song), so that should have been the closer track, in my opinion. |
| Blut Aus Nord The Mystical Beast of Rebellion | 3.5 |
| Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses | 4.5 |
| Dissoblack riff vortex covered by thick layers of reverb, spiced with droney synths, distant vocals and Lovecraftian vibes. The atmosphere is definitely deep. Into The Woods really stood out for me, superb track. |
| Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium – Nahab | 4.5 |
| More nightmarish, more diabolical, more complex... the second chapter of Blut Aus Nord's Disharmonium is an absolute monster of a record. Frightening spirals of disharmonic flow, which will drag you to unknown realms of abysmal nightmares. (Good headphones are recommended!) |
| Blut Aus Nord The Work Which Transforms God | 4.0 |
| Excellent dissoblack release. I hoped for more stuff like "The Choir of the Dead" (which is absolutely phenomenal), but it's still an outstanding album in general. |
| Blut Aus Nord Triunity | 5.0 |
| Why wasting three masterpieces for a split release?? If they'd extend this material to a full-length, then it'd be the pinnacle of the Blut Aus Nord discography. Gorgeously polished dissonant (avant-garde) black metal with the best kind of death metal influences. Seriously, this is instane! Yeah, sex is good, but have you ever heard the song "Húbris" from this release?? |
| Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta III - Saturnian Poetry | 3.0 |
| Rather unexciting. |
| Blut Aus Nord Deus Salutis Meae | 3.0 |
| Surprisingly faceless and incoherent release. Experimentalism aside, they have made far-far-far better industro-black metal releases than this. |
| Blut Aus Nord Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination | 4.5 |
| What's wrong with everyone with these low ratings? This album is really massive, and delivers the typical "Blut Aus Nord oddity factor" along with some sick grooves and dark, spiralling riffs. One of the best pieces in the band's discography. Especially the song, "Odinist" amazed me the most... such a mystical and evil atmosphere! |
| Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars | 3.5 |
| Enjoyable melodic/prog black metal album. It's quite great, but surprisingly "inoffensive" and the mix is a bit too thin for my taste. |
| Blut Aus Nord 777 - Sect(s) | 3.0 |
| "Hi, it's Blut Aus Nord, and we will teach you, how to write an avant-garde/post-metal album." |
| Blut Aus Nord 777 - The Desanctification | 4.0 |
| "Hi, it's Blut Aus Nord, and we will teach you, how to write a post-industrial metal album." |
| Blut Aus Nord 777 - Cosmosophy | 4.5 |
| "Hi, it's Blut Aus Nord, and we will teach you, how to write a superb post-black metal album." |
| Blut Aus Nord Ultima Thulee | 2.5 |
| I don't care how early this is, or how historical is this release: it's not very good. Thin, often feels out of sync (not in the good "avant-garde way"). Certainly, this was just the beginning, and it's interesting to note how much this band has improved over time! |
| Blut Aus Nord MoRT | 4.9 |
| Here it goes: I'd consider this as a classic. This is such an extremly unforgiving, ruthless, madly chaotic (yet organized on certain levels, but one must sink really deep into this release to notice them) piece of art. This is not one of those albums that I or anyone would jam very frequently, but when one does 'feel it', then it becomes an undeniable masterpiece. I have no idea how could they write something so... mad! The production is gorgeous, you can feel every "scratch" and resonane on it. |
| Blut Aus Nord Debemur MoRTi | 3.0 |
| A rather "breathless" resurrection of the sound of the MoRT LP. It's a respectful gesture towards the label, though. |
| Blut Aus Nord Lovecraftian Echoes | 3.5 |
| Forget that nonsense which says this supposed to be the continuation of the experiment phase started with The Work Which Transforms God. Hell no. It's actually the "pre-"Disharmonium... release. Not quite there, but it gave a few hints what to expect from them later. |
| Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Ages | 4.0 |
| The only truly excellent melodic Blut Aus Nord album. In my opinion, the quality of the Memoria Vetusta series drops by 0.5 by each album -- and not just because this has the best production (which is still thin). |
| Blut Aus Nord/Aevangelist Codex Obscura Nomina | 4.5 |
| Sick industro-black / psychedelic split. I daresay: this is the peak of indsutrial-era Blut Aus Nord. |
| BLVCK CEILING THRONE | 3.0 |
| Bo Hansson Music Inspired by Lord Of The Rings | 3.5 |
| It was so relaxing I almost fell asleep. Interesting jazzy prog rock/electronic/ambient/whatever album. |
| Body Asphyxiation Science Gravitational Blood Art | 4.0 |
| I'm very surprised, in the most positive way. Very promisimg stuff, I dig this rusty and cavernous twist on techy death metal. The haunting vocals are fantastic: atypical for this style, I'd expect it from a black/death record instead - but it works here perfectly! |
| Bog Wizard From the Mire | 2.5 |
| Promising start, but very forgettable after midpoint... Real shame. |
| Bogwitch A Tale of Vengeance | 2.5 |
| Bone Awl An Obelisk Marks the Line | 3.5 |
| Bonobo Black Sands | 4.0 |
| Bonobo Fragments | 2.0 |
| This is very-very disappointing. I mean, it kinda does the job, but this is so BASIC (and...boring...uninspired...). |
| Borg The Triumph of Spring | 4.0 |
| Spring inspired folk music. Very rich in sounds, 100% medieval / renaissance music. You don't hear something like this very often. |
| Borg Woodland | 4.0 |
| 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 Ugglor i Mossen | 3.0 |
| The "darker" Borg was enjoyable as well, but it wasn't that captivating for me like the others. |
| Borg The Sacred Mound | 4.0 |
| Probably the best Borg album. Very well composed and more complex, with the typical lovely and magical aura. |
| Borg Medieval Dreams | 4.0 |
| An immersive medieval experience. Sometimes spooky, sometimes playful, sometimes idyllic. Grab yer sword and explore the sound of strange lands and times. |
| Borgne Y | 4.0 |
| This is super massive. Heavy riffing atmoblack with nicely placed industrial elements... I'm sold. |
| Borknagar True North | 2.5 |
| Boru Inertia | 3.5 |
| Boru Kyth Wylag Felleyn | 4.0 |
| "Kyth Wylag Felleyn" was an interesting experience, and I definitely enjoyed it. This album can be described as mix of the psych-black sound of Mystískaos with a bit doomy post-metal, which is quite an instant win for me. The album flows slowly and heavily and they built a dark and captivating atmosphere, and maybe they could have recorded one or two extra songs. Bonus points for the excellent studio work and for the great vocal performance. |
| Bosque Cleansing | 2.5 |
| 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 | 2.5 |
| Botanist VI: Flora | 4.5 |
| Botanist Ecosystem | 3.5 |
| BowelFuck Appetite Comes With Killing | 4.0 |
| Savage, excellent quality grindcore. This offers the two most important factors I love to hear in a grind record: massive riffs (very satisfying guitarwork) and perfect production (the guitars sound huge, both the vocals and the drums are not overly loud). A bit more variety could have been nice especially on the vocal front, but still excellent stuff as it is. |
| Brendan Wells Plant Music Music For People & Their Plants Vol 1 | 2.5 |
| Brendan Wells Plant Music The Right Side of the Grass | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Brian Eno Discreet Music | 2.5 |
| Shortly: I'm not really into this. While the first very long track was quite good meditative composition, the rest was more annoying than relaxing. |
| Brii Sem Propósito | 3.5 |
| When you want to listen to a minimal techno, a black metal and a psychedelic rock album at once. It doesn't make much sense, but actually it kinda does. |
| Bring Me the Horizon Amo | 2.0 |
| Bring Me the Horizon Music to Listen to... | 1.0 |
| Music to listen to... *pukes all over this* Great example of lifeless plaza pop music. *pukes again* |
| Brodequin Harbinger of Woe | 4.0 |
| Probably the biggest strength of this release is the production. Tight riffing with some reverb, organic and easily perceptible drums, and vocals just a little bit in the background (more screams like in "Suffocation In Ash" could have been a nice bonus, tho'). The result? A ferocious brutal death metal record which sounds absolutely enormous. |
| Brutus Greenshield Sharpened Buds Like Lances | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Budgie Impeckable | 3.5 |
| Black cat on the cover guarantees that I'll like it. It's a very pleasant, soft hard rock album with bits of 'Sabbath elements. |
| Burzum Balders Død (Dauði Baldrs demo) | 3.0 |
| Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss | 5.0 |
| Burzum Fallen | 3.5 |
| Burzum Det Som Engang Var | 4.9 |
| Burzum Daudi Baldrs | 3.5 |
| Burzum Belus | 4.5 |
| Burzum Hlidskjalf | 5.0 |
| Burzum The Ways of Yore | 4.5 |
| Burzum Sol austan, Mani vestan | 3.0 |
| Burzum Umskiptar | 4.0 |
| Burzum Aske | 4.7 |
| Burzum Burzum | 3.5 |
| Burzum From the Depths of Darkness | 3.0 |
| Burzum Burzum/Aske | 4.0 |
| Burzum Draugen - Rarities | 3.5 |
| Burzum Demo II | 4.0 |
| Burzum Thulêan Mysteries | 4.5 |
| 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... |
| Burzum Filosofem | 5.0 |
| Burzygory Burzygóry | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Cabaret Voltaire Micro-Phonies | 3.0 |
| This didn't revolutionized my music taste, but this is pretty nice. Those synths are tasty! |
| Cain [RUS] Notforgiven | 3.5 |
| Cain [RUS] Child of Cold | 4.0 |
| Cairdeas Fala Sons of the North | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Cal Tjader Fried Bananas | 4.0 |
| Cal Tjader Stretchin' Out | 4.0 |
| 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.) |
| Caladan Brood Echoes Of Battle | 4.7 |
| Calderum Calderum | 2.0 |
| Calderum The solace path | 3.5 |
| Pretty good punkish raw black metal / old-school dark ambient album. Great riffs, dense atmosphere. |
| Calderum Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands | 3.5 |
| Solid raw black metal / dungeon synth record. Truly old-school work, this will hit harder during winter! "The enchanted forest" is the best (Gothmog / Depressive Silence / nostlagic oldie RPG soundtrack vibes). |
| Camarde Camarde | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Candlekeep The Death of the Gatekeeper | 3.0 |
| It was lovely, but I think it wasn't that exciting to deserve a 3.5. Hopefully the next release shall have it! |
| Candlemass Tales of Creation | 4.5 |
| 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.) |
| Candlemass Candlemass | 3.5 |
| Less exciting than their first few, but alltogether this is HEAVY as fuck. Messiah was the best singer of Candlemass. |
| Candlemass Sweet Evil Sun | 1.5 |
| "if you don't like this album, then you don't like Candlemass" - Mats Bjorkman Sadly, this is not just uninspired as fuck, but the mix is also disgusting: no bass, weak guitars, plastic drums, way too loud vocals. Heartbreaking to say it, but this album shouldn't exist, it's embarrassing for the fans but even for themselves too. |
| Candlemass Nightfall | 4.8 |
| Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus | 4.8 |
| Candlemass Ancient Dreams | 3.5 |
| Candlemass The Door To Doom | 2.5 |
| Candlemass Death Magic Doom | 2.5 |
| Unlike its predecessor, Death Magic Doom doesn't have that spark what was expected. The whole album generally feels a bit flat, even Lowe's performance too. "The Bleeding Baroness" and "Clouds Of Dementia" are clearly the best songs in the entire thing, but I doubt I'll re-visit this album again. |
| Candlemass Green Valley | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Candlemass King of the Grey Islands | 4.0 |
| Noone could fully replace Messiah, but Robert Lowe did a pretty decent job. It has some really bad songs, but most of the time the album sounds excellent. The production could have been "fullier" but it's not bad this way either. |
| Candlemass Psalms For The Dead | 2.5 |
| This kinda riffs, but everything feels recycled. Boring album - real shame! |
| Cannabis Corpse Nug So Vile | 4.0 |
| This is so much fun, way better than what I expected! |
| Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific | 3.0 |
| It's exactly like the expected. Sounds good, consistent, no filler. |
| Captain's Lair Weird Travels | 3.0 |
| Like the half of the album is really interesting, while the other part is unexpectedly unspectacular. The old-school synths were still enough to satisfy me. |
| Cara Neir Portals to a Better, Dead World | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Carach Angren Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten | 3.5 |
| Carach Angren Franckensteina Strataemontanus | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Carbon Based Lifeforms Twentythree | 4.0 |
| Carcass Heartwork | 4.7 |
| Carcass Torn Arteries | 4.0 |
| Through "Torn Artieries" Carcass gave us a lesson, how to make an entertaining and colorful modern metal album. The groovy, thick base and the momentary "softness" (like the solos in "In God We Trust") forms an interesting synergy, but each song and section focuses around nothing but melodies. |
| Carcass Swansong | 4.0 |
| Such a weird, "go-as-you-please" death'n'rock album. It's great fun, and punchy too. |
| Carcass Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious | 4.6 |
| Carcass Reek of Putrefaction | 4.0 |
| Flawed, but essential release - great even, since we are speaking about a debut album, which actually aged quite well. (The full dynamic range edition really slays.) |
| Carcass Symphonies of Sickness | 4.0 |
| ...and this is the point where Carcass became an iconic band, and haven't released nothing but pure excellence. (= Everything after this is a 4.0 at least!) |
| Carcass Surgical Steel | 4.8 |
| Without "Thrasher's Abattoir" & "Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System", this would be one of the best death metal albums of all time. (Those two somehow doesn't fit in there.) How do we deserve something so good like "Noncompliance to Astm F899-12 Standard"??? |
| Carpathian Forest Black Shining Leather | 4.5 |
| Carpathian Forest Bloodlust And Perversion | 4.0 |
| Carpathian Forest Rehearsal 1992 | 3.5 |
| Carpathian Forest Fuck You All!!!! | 4.0 |
| Carpathian Forest We're Going to Hell for This - Over a Decade ... | 4.5 |
| Carpathian Forest Likeim | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Carpathian Forest Through Chasm, Caves And Titan Woods | 4.5 |
| Carpathian Forest Journey Through The Cold Moors Of Svarttjern | 4.7 |
| What a beautiful demo! I instantly fell in love with it: the atmopshere, the aesthetics, the melancholic melodies... simply perfect! |
| Carpathian Forest Strange Old Brew | 4.0 |
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. |
| Carpathian Forest Morbid Fascination of Death | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Carpathian Forest Defending the Throne of Evil | 4.9 |
| 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. |
| Carreghud Dungeon Tales | 1.5 |
| Casimir Liberski Cosmic Liberty | 3.5 |
| NES soundtracks meet some sweet jazz. Great stuff! |
| Castellan Demo I | 3.5 |
| A dungeon synth album which embodies exactly what I do love in dungeon synth. Very well done. |
| Castillo Castillo | 2.5 |
| Castle Ov Yester Echoes From Hobgoblin Ha' | 1.0 |
| Castle Zagyx Doors to the Battlefields of Ertbe | 4.0 |
| Howard Shore plays Mount & Blade: the album. |
| Castlesiege The Council of Trees | 3.5 |
| Lovely dungeon synth release, which could easily work as a soundtrack for an old-school videogame. (Do you guys remember to the Cultures games?). Playful, but not cheesy, and don't expect epic moments here: just the blissful aura of a magical forest. |
| Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas | 4.0 |
| Cauldron of the Sun The Passage Home | 2.5 |
| Caustic Wound Death Posture | 3.5 |
| 100% what Bedex said. Not far from a 4.0 though. |
| Caverna Passages of the Endless Quest | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Celebdil The Tower | 2.5 |
| Celestial Bloodshed Ω | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Celestial Bloodshed Cursed, Scarred and Forever Possessed | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Celestial Conjuration Demo I | 3.0 |
| Celestial Conjuration Demo II | 3.0 |
| It's alright. Nice lo-fi atmoblack, but too short and lacks some fantasy. Good for one listen, but that's all. |
| Celtic Frost Into the Pandemonium | 3.5 |
| Great riffs and all, but there is way too much filler on this album. |
| Celtic Frost Morbid Tales | 4.9 |
| Celtic Frost Emperor's Return | 4.0 |
| Celtic Frost Parched With Thirst Am I and Dying | 4.0 |
| Just great Celtic Frost songs thrown together. Isn't it all what matters? |
| Celtic Frost To Mega Therion | 5.0 |
| One of the most influental albums in metal. |
| Celtic Frost Vanity/Nemesis | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Celtic Frost Monotheist | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Celtic Frost Cold Lake | 2.0 |
| This kinda riffs, but sitting through the whole thing requires certain amount of patience. Why did I hurt myself this way? |
| Celtic Frost Tragic Serenades | 4.9 |
| Hello, mini To Mega Therion. |
| Celtic Frost Prototype | 2.5 |
| Actually, this is not that horrible. If you sit down and listen to this properly, you'll notice that this demo is indeed a prototype, the prototype of their final masterpiece, Monotheist and some Triptykon songs. You can hear many of the same lyrics and same melodies from the aforementioned examples - and from this aspect, I believe it's a fascinating experience having the opportunity to hear these early early versions of those songs. Plus, it's also very interesting to hear some of these rather unsuccesful experiments, because these were also part of their evolution. Not every experiment is a succesful one, and this release is not painful as most people said. (Not good, but not painful either.) |
| Cepheide Les Echappées | 3.5 |
| This is definitely among the better kind of blackgaze releases. Les Echappées is a quite colorful album with plenty of atmosphere. While it suffers from the typical post-metal-boringness a little bit, but fortunately the album balances that flaw with great dissonant chords (Mystískaos worship?), deep reverby production (also synths! and not to mention the very pleasant flow, and good drumming. The album closer, La Nausée, is an especially great blackgaze piece. |
| Cetati dacice din Munzii Orastiei The Seventh Obsidian Fortress... | 1.0 |
| Two kids made some extremly low-effort recording with a toy piano. And the whole process took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish. |
| Chainmail Chainmail | 3.0 |
| Pretty cool debut with a lovely old-schoolish atmosphere. |
| Chapel of Disease Echoes of Light | 2.5 |
Mom, can we have some Tribulation?
We have Tribulation at home.
Tribulation at home: |
| Chat Pile God's Country | 3.5 |
| Damn, this was filthy and very uneasy to listen to: I like it! No fillers, just the vortex of noisy rock with punchy industrial/sludge metal(?) and shockingly audible lyrical content. |
| Chaucerian Myth The Canterbury Tales | 3.5 |
| Chaucerian Myth The Book of Margery Kemp | 4.0 |
| Chaucerian Myth Troilus and Criseyde | 3.5 |
| Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part II | 3.5 |
| Chaucerian Myth The Faerie Queene | 3.5 |
| Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part I | 2.5 |
| Chaucerian Myth Chaucerian Legends: The Epic of Beileag, Part III | 4.0 |
| Chaucerian Myth Sir Orfeo | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Chaucerian Myth St. George and the Dragon | 3.5 |
| A bit back to the eariler style: more odd synths and neo-classical themes. I didn't like "The Dragon" that much as the other two compostions, but it was still a pleasant album. Good to see that Chaucerian Myth is still active! |
| Chelsea Wolfe Birth of Violence | 3.0 |
| Cherubs Immaculada High | 1.5 |
| Chihei Hatakeyama Minima Moralia | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Children's Book When Fate Was Fair | 3.0 |
| (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. |
| Cholosus Way Of Life | 3.5 |
| Church of the Cosmic Skull Is Satan Real? | 4.0 |
| Church of the Cosmic Skull Science Fiction | 4.0 |
| Church of the Cosmic Skull Everybody's Going to Die | 3.0 |
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. |
| Church of the Cosmic Skull There Is No Time | 3.0 |
| It was sooooo unbalanced! Far less exciting than their first two LPs, but fortunately it has its great moments too. The album's opener seemed like a great start, but it was quite a downslide... but the last three songs totally saved it from being a disappointment. Especially Last Words of a Dying God impressed me, with its elegantly omnious atmosphere (bit like if ABBA would meet early Ghost) (Oh that choir line could send down shivers down your spine..!) Generally not bad, but sadly far from their best outputs in terms of entertainment (...and grooviness. Give us more distorted guitars!) |
| Cimerion Contresort | 3.5 |
| Truly great dungeon synth album, which combines the old-school style with some light Berlin-school electronics. Excellent background music for reading, gaming and working. |
| Cineastre Auwald | 2.0 |
| This could have been a pretty good album: nice Kveldssanger vibes and sweet folk instrumentation, but the vocals and samples are terribly annoying... |
| Cirith Ungol Forever Black | 3.5 |
| 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!!! |
| Cirith Ungol Half Past Human | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Cirith Ungol Paradise Lost | 3.5 |
| Strong album, but it feels a bit weaker at the end. Don't get me wrong, this is a truly great album which is especially strong in the middle. The production could have been a bit more polished, though. |
| Cirith Ungol Dark Parade | 4.0 |
| One word: enormous. Brilliant studio work, mega riffs. This is real metal! |
| Cisza If It Is True What the Prophets Write | 3.0 |
| Civerous Decrepit Flesh Relic | 3.5 |
| This is like Gatecreeper and Spectral Voice combined: brutally slapping yet very atmospheric death/doom with hints of black metal in it! "Spiral of Eyes" is pure masterclass (the psychedelic vibe in the clean section with the string instruments is majestic af). These guys have lots of potential! |
| Civerous Maze Envy | 3.5 |
| Slapper, huge sound, nice synths. Great modern death metal album - and that's it, I guess(?) |
| Claire Cronin Big Dread Moon | 2.5 |
| Cloister Garth Memories from a portal | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Cloud Rat Threshold | 2.5 |
| Clown Core Toilet | 3.0 |
| Clown Core van | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Coffin Storm Arcana Rising | 4.0 |
| Super fun thrash/doom record. A funny-sounding Fenriz combined with a bunch of great old-school riffs gave this album a charming character. |
| Coldworld Melancholie² | 3.0 |
| Conan Live at Freak Valley | 4.0 |
| A perfectly executed live-album: sharp and huge sound. |
| Conan Monnos | 3.5 |
| Slow and really heavy. Conan's debut is a really slow sludge/doom record, which sometimes steps into drone metal territories too. Risky direction, as this might feel very boring for many listeners (and honestly in some moments it is kinda boring). Not perfect, but still an enjoyable album. |
| Conan Existential Void Guardian | 4.5 |
| This is a quite simple, yet very effective release: true caveman sludge/doom which will break your neck. The tempo changes, along with the super tight drumming and that sweet guitar tone are Conan's strength, and they brought the maximum out of it. "Eye To Eye To Eye" was especially fantastic. |
| Conan Blood Eagle | 3.5 |
| Conan Horseback Battle Hammer | 4.0 |
| CO)))NAN. Incredibly heavy thick and low-heavy distortion surrounds everything in this record. Generally just a bit faster than a Sunn O))), but when they strike out from the sound monolith stage, it hits brutally hard. High volume, headphones on: bring it on!! |
| Conan Evidence of Immortality | 4.0 |
| Heavy as expected, caveman doom intensifies. Potential grower, let's start with a 4.0! |
| Concubia Nocte Mohyly | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Coniferous Myst Forest Rehearsal 5.20.19 | 3.0 |
| Conjurer (UK) Mire | 3.0 |
| Conjurer (UK) Pathos | 2.5 |
| This is *yawns*, uh, boring. |
| Conqueror's Mourn No More for the Battletrance | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Converge Axe to Fall | 3.5 |
| Converge Bloodmoon: I | 2.5 |
| Damn, I really lost it at "Lord of Liars". This simply doesn't work... This is Converge AND Chelsea Wolfe - both sides are seemingly play and focus on their own stuff with minimal overlap. The result? A very all-over-the-place album, which constantly shifts between Converge's and Chelsea Wolfe's side, with just a few kinda good songs, and with more some really annoying/boring ones. |
| Convulsing Perdurance | 4.0 |
| Exciting disso-death album, delivering not just the riffs but a melancholic and eerie atmosphere as well. Pretty much you can feel the better kind of Ulcerate-ish vibes in this album, but the result is definitely less fierce -- and personally I find this direction more appealing. |
| Cornoctuan Beyond the Polaris | 2.5 |
| Long, steady tempo melodic riffing with mellow female singing. It's OK in the background for once, but it's too "light" for me. |
| Coroner Mental Vortex | 4.8 |
| 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. |
| Coroner R.I.P. | 3.5 |
| 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 Punishment for Decadence | 4.0 |
| Simply excellent. |
| Coroner No More Color | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Coroner Grin | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Corpus Hibernus As The Blood Freezes In My Veins | 3.0 |
| Corrupted Temple of Moss Demo I | 4.0 |
| Corrupted Temple of Moss Ancient Magicks Uttered by the Winds... | 4.0 |
| Cosmic Ground Cosmic Ground 5 | 4.0 |
| Cosmic Wheels Cosmic Wheels | 4.5 |
| Count Raven The Sixth Storm | 3.0 |
| While it has some really cool moments, most of the time The Sixth Storm fell way too often into the hard rock territory for my taste. Moreover, it had some songs which were simply really boring. |
| Count Shirintsu Welcome home, Count Shirintsu | 3.0 |
| Count Shirintsu Spirit of the Earth | 3.0 |
| Cowl Strange Divinity | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Cradle of Filth The Principle of Evil Made Flesh | 2.5 |
| Cradle of Filth Bitter Suites to Succubi | 2.5 |
| Cradle of Filth Cruelty and the Beast | 2.5 |
| Cradle of Filth Existence Is Futile | 2.5 |
| Just no. |
| Craft Void | 4.6 |
| 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. Pure of anger, and brilliant riffing. |
| Craft Terror Propaganda - Second Black Metal Attack | 4.0 |
| Craft Total Soul Rape | 4.5 |
| A pleasant total soul rape. An agressive, filthy black metal release fueled by hatred. While on paper this album offers literally nothing revolutionary, somehow this band clearly stands out from the army of similar artists through their very own style. I regularly spin this pure hate-flow on stressy days. |
| Craft White Noise and Black Metal | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Craft Fuck the Universe | 4.5 |
| Cream Disraeli Gears | 3.5 |
| 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.) |
| Crimson Tower Aeternal Abyss | 3.5 |
| A really great quality debut, with some shockingly fantastic songs. Especially I mean "Witching Me" and "Candelabrum" - the melodies, the riffs, that medieval folk section in the former and the super fun vocals...! It sounds a bit cobwebby and bit low-budget, but the album offers is pure FUN. Whenever they'll enter the studio, I'm sure their next creation slay - still, very-very promising debut. |
| Crippled Fox In The Name Of Thrash | 3.5 |
| This is some real fun crossover thrash. Perfectly straight-forward, spiced with weird samples, but most importantly: these guys riff hard! |
| Criptadel Extended I | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Excellent, excellent, excellent. Exciting underground fantasy based dungeon synth with strong percussions and with a very original style. |
| Criptadel The Goblin Market | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Criptadel Brutal Imperium | 3.0 |
| It was alright, I was really curious about this one, but it was a little bit disappointing. Still has some great ideas and atmosphere, but it felt too long and sometimes the vocals stood out from the mix in a negative way. |
| Criptadel / Toadlickers Tabernaculum | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Crowbar Zero And Below | 3.5 |
| At first this seemed to be a strong 4.0, but the second half of the album was less memorable as expected (except the closer track, that was great!). Alltogheter 'Zero And Below' offers a really strong package, it just comes with a few hit'n'miss tracks, but hey, this got the riffs! |
| Crusty Old Toad King Cryptid | 4.0 |
| This was shocking. Shockingly good! A very groovy mixture of heavy metal and black metal (sometimes even a bit post-black), with pretty solid raspy croaking vocals. The title-track is an especially outstanding track - earworm alert! Don't let the funny artwork scare you away, because this really delivers the riffs! |
| Crypt Master Reign of Decay | 3.5 |
| Crypt Sermon The Ruins of Fading Light | 2.5 |
| Cryptosis Bionic Swarm | 4.0 |
| 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!) |
| Cryptworm Spewing Mephitic Putridity | 2.5 |
| Behind a sick cover hides a very average album. Not essentially bad, but it's very uninteresting. |
| Cult of Frey By The Blood of Odin: Part 1 - Midgard | 3.0 |
| A traditional viking metal album with pleasant old-school vibes, but a little bit cheesy. |
| Cult of Luna A Dawn to Fear | 2.5 |
| Cult of Luna Cult of Luna | 3.5 |
| Curse Upon a Prayer Infidel | 4.0 |
| 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 The Three Woes | 3.5 |
| Modern black metal rarely sounds this good - but this "theatrical" sound convinced me. |
| Curse Upon a Prayer Rotten Tongues | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Curta'n Wall Siege Ubsessed! | 3.0 |
| It's actually quite... fun. Black metal played on medieval instruments? Gregorian chants? Medieval ambient tracks in the style of Fief? Some atmoblack stuff? In Siege Ubsessed!, you can enjoy these all at once! |
| Cyhyraeth (UK) Cyhyraeth | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Dahlia's Tear Through the Nightfall Grandeur | 3.5 |
| Damaar Triumph Through Spears Of Sacrilege | 3.5 |
| Filthy, unlimited anger. Listen to this instead of Revenge, dudes. |
| Daoine Sidhe Daoine Sidhe | 4.0 |
| Dark Ages Chronicle of the Plague | 3.0 |
| Dark Angel Darkness Descends | 4.0 |
| Excellent old-school thrash record. The production and the speed sold it to me. Banger! |
| Dark Cavern Dungeon Of Solitude | 3.5 |
| Dark Fortress Spectres from the Old World | 3.5 |
| Good stuff, the similarities to the Blasphemer-era Mayhem's and Mastodon's style are nice. Not bad! |
| Dark Funeral Attera Totus Sanctus | 3.0 |
| Slightly above average. Not great, but definitely not bad either. |
| Dark Funeral The Secrets of the Black Arts | 3.5 |
| Very consistent, "you get exactly what you wanted" type of meloblack. |
| Dark Funeral Vobiscum Satanas | 4.0 |
| Ultra fast, killer and very solid riffs. It's not overcomplicated at all, a very "simple" meloblack album, but a very well executed one. Sometimes that's all you need. |
| Dark Funeral In The Sign... | 4.0 |
| Another very balanced piece from the gravediggers. Their own stuff is great as well, but their Bathory covers are awesome!! |
| Dark Funeral Diabolis Interium | 3.0 |
| Tight, but gets very samey after a while. After the super consistent and sharp 'Vobiscum Satanas', this is a bit disappointing. Less variety, but at least it offers great bangers too. "Thus I Have Spoken" is awesome (and again, their cover songs are very fun too - see: bonus tracks). |
| Dark Funeral Angelus Exuro pro Eternus | 2.5 |
| "My Funeral" is really dope, but the rest was kinda meh... too safe, too sterile. |
| Dark Funeral Where Shadows Forever Reign | 3.5 |
| A well-executed Dark Funeral album, with some really good songs, such as "Unchain My Soul" or "Beast Above Man". Another proof that the "blue era" albums are better than the "red ones". |
| Dark Funeral We Are the Apocalypse | 3.0 |
| "Hey, I've seen this one!" Please greet "Where Shadows Forever Reign 2.0." - this is pretty much the continuation of their previous release, even the song structures seem very familiar. Nothing extraordinary here at all, just brutal drumming (I really don't want to be their drummer, that is a killer task!) some very casual tremolo-centric riffs and Heljarmadr's ultra-audible vocals (I mean, you can hear out every single word from the lyrics, that's quite rare in black metal). It's definitely not bad, but not great either. If you don't expect much from this, then good time guaranteed. |
| Dark Sanctuary Royaume Melancolique | 2.5 |
| Dark Sarah Grim | 1.0 |
| Dark Vestige Songs From Saint Andrews Chapel | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Darkeater Что помнит лес | 4.0 |
| Darkeater Иней чёрного рассвета | 4.0 |
| Darkspace Dark Space I | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Darkspace Dark Space II | 4.0 |
| Darkspace Dark Space III | 3.5 |
| Darkspace Dark Space III I | 4.0 |
| Heavy stuff. (Those Dodheimsgard-ish electronic beats were super cool addition to their sound.) |
| Darkspace Dark Space -II | 4.0 |
| This time Darkspace goes for a slower, quite ambient- and industrial-heavy sound, with lots of small sci-fi soundeffects thrown around for adding extra texture to this long-single-track album. I loved it, excellent record if you can catch the flow. |
| Darkthrone Plaguewielder | 4.5 |
| Darkthrone Circle the Wagons | 3.5 |
| Darkthrone The Cult Is Alive | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon | 4.7 |
| Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Panzerfaust | 4.8 |
| Darkthrone Arctic Thunder | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Hate Them | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone The Underground Resistance | 5.0 |
| Purest form of metal. Any rating on this under 4.0 is invalid. Sorry, I did not make the rules. |
| Darkthrone F.O.A.D. | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Goatlord | 2.0 |
| Darkthrone Soulside Journey | 4.5 |
| Darkthrone Total Death | 4.5 |
| Darkthrone Sempiternal Past - The Darkthrone Demos | 3.5 |
| Darkthrone Too Old, Too Cold | 5.0 |
| Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger | 3.5 |
| Darkthrone A New Dimension | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Sardonic Wrath | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Ravishing Grimness | 4.9 |
| Darkthrone Land of Frost | 3.0 |
| Darkthrone Dark Thrones and Black Flags | 3.0 |
| Darkthrone Old Star | 4.0 |
| This Old Star still shines brightly: the new doomy Darkthrone kicks ass. |
| Darkthrone Frostland Tapes | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Darkthrone NWOBHM | 3.0 |
| Darkthrone Cromlech | 3.0 |
| Darkthrone Thulcandra | 3.5 |
| Darkthrone Eternal Hails | 3.5 |
| Other than the expected "doomthrone" riffs, Eternal Hails turned out something really new. The Norwegian duo put together a very exciting old-school metal record, and induced some unexpected elements into their sound (bits of clean guitars and SYNTHS for example). But of course: riffs which will be remembered eternally. |
| Darkthrone Astral Fortress | 4.0 |
| Data Garden Quartet: Live at The Philadelphia Museum of Art | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| David Edren Music For Mimosa Pudica & Codariocalyx | 3.5 |
| Great plant-insipred electronic release! Greatly dinamic, a very enjoyable listen. |
| Dawn of Ouroboros Velvet Incandescence | 2.5 |
| Post-snoozefest. |
| Dead To A Dying World Elegy | 3.0 |
| Deadlife Monotonous Sounds of Sadness | 3.5 |
| Deadwood Picturing a Sense of Loss | 4.5 |
| Sunny vibes. This is probably the best blackgazey album I've heard since Deafheaven's stuff. |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 5.0 |
| Deafheaven New Bermuda | 4.9 |
| Deafheaven Roads to Judah | 4.6 |
| Deafheaven Ordinary Corrupt Human Love | 2.5 |
| Deafheaven Demo | 4.5 |
| Deafheaven 10 Years Gone | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Deafheaven Infinite Granite | 2.5 |
| The good: Great Mass Of Color, Villain, and the second part of Mombasa (RIP that climax, though. Nice try.) The bad: Everything else. The awful: Lament for Wasps. Final words: it is good once, but not surprised it was worse than Ordinary Boring Human Snoozefest. |
| Deafheaven/Bosse-de-Nage Split | 4.0 |
| Death Scream Bloody Gore | 3.5 |
| Death Infernal Death | 4.0 |
| Death Worship End Times | 2.5 |
| Deathfiend Beyond Life | 3.5 |
| Nasty, gritty crust/death/black mixture. A bit short, but that specific Hellhammer flavour is my Achilles-heel... 10/10 would break my neck if I could see 'em live. |
| Deathspell Omega Paracletus | 2.5 |
| Deathspell Omega The Furnaces of Palingenesia | 2.5 |
| Deathspell Omega The Long Defeat | 1.0 |
| Alright, that's it, I've heard enough. Not surprisingly: this album, and this band sucks... (they always did) |
| Deceiver Legion Varjoissa | 3.0 |
| The riffs are good, but the fillers aren't. The unnecessary noisy parts / weirdo vocal experiments really broke the flow of the album. Still, this riffs hard, so I can't say I didn't like it. |
| Deepforest Blackvalley | 3.0 |
| Defacing God The Resurrection of Lilith | 2.0 |
| More like: Facepalming God. Sterile, samey and uneventful below mediocre sympho-black-like stuff. Don't waste your time on this. |
| Deftones Ohms | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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 Epidemic of Violence | 4.9 |
| This is among the most violent records I've ever heard. Fucking desctruction with endless riffstorms. |
| Demolition Hammer Tortured Existence | 3.5 |
| It's a nice thrash album, but isn't that exciting as their masterpiece from '92. |
| Demolition Hammer Time Bomb | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Demonaz March of the Norse | 4.5 |
| Re-rated: This is an excellent viking metal album! It definitely bears some Bathory-esque traits and Demonaz's past in Immortal left a mark on this record too, but it's unique! Plus, even if we measure this album under the most strict "rules" of the viking metal categorization: this is it! This makes me want to grab an axe and fight my enemies! I daresay, songs like "Where Gods Once Rode" are genre classics! |
| Denever (HUN2) A Verivok Kronikai | 4.0 |
| Really good raw / melodic black metal from Hungary. Despite the very sawy sound, the whole record feels "full" (I'm very satisfied with the mix!), and it also took some bonus points for being Hungarian. Everyone who digs "vampyric black metal" will enjoy this one too, I'm sure. |
| Dengue Dengue Dengue Siete Raices | 3.5 |
| Deorc Weg The Sleepwalk Sessions | 3.0 |
| Deorc Weg The Chateau of Unrest | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Departure Chandelier Antichrist Rise to Power | 2.5 |
| Departure Chandelier Satan Soldier Of Fortune | 4.0 |
| Raw melodic black metal (think about the style of the Finnish scene here) meets mid-era Darkthrone, but with lyrics about Napoleon. Such a ripper album!! Raw but balanced (heyho Unholy Trinity?), and delivers the tastiest riffs with the raspiest vocals along with some old-school synth lines too. Awesome record, huge level-up for the band in terms of quality. |
| Depressive Silence Depressive Silence II | 5.0 |
| The absolute pinnacle of dungeon synth music: epic, melancholic and magical. The best album I've ever heard. |
| Depressive Silence The Darkened Empires | 4.9 |
| Depressive Silence Depressive Silence | 5.0 |
| Depressive Silence Twenty-Five Years | 4.9 |
| Depressive Silence Medieval Demons MMXIX | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Der Weg Einer Freiheit Noktvrn | 2.5 |
| Real shame that I only liked the song "Morgen" from this... next to that song, the rest was just the regular mega boring post-black with the typical "emotional tone". I'm not impressed. |
| Desolate Moon Phases As the Dark Empire Burns Around Them | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Desolate Moon Phases Heathenstones | 4.5 |
Best drone album this year (so far). Interesting, it feels sci-fi-esque and ancient in the
same time...very-very atmospheric. |
| Desolate Shrine Fires of the Dying World | 4.0 |
| Simplier, sometimes quite doomy death metal record, thickly covered by a hanuntingly evil atmosphere. Sometimes a gets a bit loose, but the overall quality is still at an excellent level. |
| Despondent Gaze Wish | 2.0 |
| Despondent Moon A Spectral Descent | 4.0 |
| Destroyer 666 Call of the Wild | 2.5 |
| Det Eviga Leendet Reverence | 3.0 |
| Definitely not bad, and I quite dig the blackgazey sections within, but generally the album just goes by, and doesn't really builds up cathartic moments I'd really want to hear. At least it's not boring, just the flow never gets there where I thought it'll go to. |
| Dethklok The Dethalbum | 4.0 |
| Dethklok Dethalbum II | 4.0 |
| Dethklok Dethalbum III | 3.5 |
| Dethklok The Doomstar Requiem | 3.0 |
| Deviants Legion | 3.5 |
| Quite fun album from Chile(!). The duo's attempt to resurrect the sound of a very early era of death metal was a quite challenging, aaaaand I think they actually succeeded. Very old-scool, and sounds cool. |
| Devil Master Manifestations | 4.5 |
| Devil Master Satan Spits On Children Of Light | 4.0 |
| Devil Master Ecstasies of Never Ending Night | 3.5 |
| Interesting to note their singles were the least interesting songs on the album. It's still fun, especially the last three songs were my favourites, but in my opinion the observable tendency of getting more and more "polished" isn't the right path for this band. I miss the gritty, cobwebby raw spook like what was in the Manifestations demo compilation. |
| Devilgroth Svyatogor | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Deviser Evil Summons Evil | 3.5 |
| At the doorstep of excellence. The Greek black metal veterans have finally presented something after a twelve years-long break with a very enjoyable modern melodic black metal release. The amazing catchy riffs are something really special (for example "When the Lights Went Out" is such an earworm like a Rotting Christ classic), but unfortunately the final product is not completely balanced. I'd say, especially the extra symphonic elements and choirs were absolutely unnecessay and discouraging... just like in the latest Dimmo Borgir releases: these elements are clearly not good and feel very kitschy. Unbalanced, but despite these flaws, it's a promising release. |
| Diablery Candles | 3.5 |
| Really diverse work from the Greek black metallers. Lots of influentes can be heard, organized into a very straight-forward meloblack attack. Bits of melodic bridges, bits of dissonant chords, bits of folkish chants, bits of solos and a somewhat great production. However, it's a bit too long as well (above the one hour runtime) so it felt tiring after "The Piercing Ice". |
| Diabolicum The Grandeur of Hell (Soli Satanae Gloriam) | 3.5 |
| Pretty good early industrial/black metal album, which gets more atmospheric (and better) towards the end. |
| Digre (SWE) Saint Moses the Black | 3.0 |
| DIM (CA) Compendium II | 4.0 |
| DIM (CA) Compendium I | 4.0 |
| Like a second Fief! Mellow medieval melodies, which can take you to an another world. Simply excellent. |
| DIM (CA) Compendium III | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Dimmu Borgir Eonian | 2.5 |
| Dimmu Borgir Inn I Evighetens Mørke | 4.0 |
| Dimmu Borgir Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia | 4.0 |
| Ultimate early 2000s style, but hey, it's great fun. Probably will slay even harder if the remaster comes out. |
| Dimmu Borgir Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (Remixed...) | 4.6 |
| Excellent album by default, but through the remix/remaster Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia finally sounds as it deserved it. Instead of the original stupidly dry sound, the album finally sounds meaty, as you can see its flesh and bones working and moving. It is still one of the peak performances in the entire Dimmu discography, and this is a great example of: production matters. |
| Dio The Collection | 4.5 |
| Dio Dream Evil | 3.5 |
| Dio Sacred Heart | 4.0 |
| Fine work, Sacred Heart is one of the catchiest Dio albums. One of those "just sit down and relax"-type of heavy metal albums. |
| Dio Holy Diver | 4.5 |
| Dio Lock up the Wolves | 3.5 |
| Dio Strange Highways | 1.0 |
| What the hell is this ugly garbage? Did they forget to tell Ronnie that they're recording a different album since the vocals do not match to the instruments at all? This made me feel very uncomfortable, and I don't want to touch this ever again. |
| Diocletian Doom Cult | 2.5 |
| Diplodocus Slow And Heavy | 4.0 |
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) | 4.0 |
| Disciple of Dagon Demo | 3.0 |
| Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless | 4.0 |
| Pure rage. |
| Disfear Live the Storm | 4.0 |
| Damn, I've never thought that D-beat can be this good. I love the death metal-ish guitars, and the super simple d-beat drumming with lots of great fills. This record is probably the best in its league. |
| Disgusting Cathedral Adventurers Despised and Rejected | 1.5 |
| "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. |
| Dismember Like an Ever Flowing Stream | 4.0 |
| Excellent "every-day-old-school-death-metal" album. |
| Dissvarth Between The Light And The Moon | 4.0 |
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...) |
| District Unknown [Anatomy of a 24 Hour Lifetime] | 3.0 |
| Dodheimsgard A Umbra Omega | 4.9 |
| Dodheimsgard 666 International | 5.0 |
| Dodheimsgard Satanic Art | 4.7 |
| Perfection. Truly evil, mysterious, grinding, unorthodox. Indeed, this is a piece of art, a really one of a kind release. Black metal which imitates the "mechanical" feel of industrial without truly relying on its elements. Listening to "Traces of Reality" and "Symptom" feels like zooming out of reality and gazing into a chaotically organized abyss. |
| Dodheimsgard Monumental Possession | 3.5 |
| Great album, but somehow I feel "less could have been more". |
| Dodheimsgard Kronet Til Konge | 3.0 |
| Dodheimsgard Supervillain Outcast | 4.0 |
| I had to re-rate this thing, since I've neglected it for so long. After some years, I still believe this is far from their best outputs, but still a damn fine work: especially speaking about riffs. The tech-black-thrash-industrial side of the album is amazing, fast and furious. Oh and don't forget to listen to the instrumental bonus songs too, those are all rippers. |
| Dodheimsgard Black Medium Current | 5.0 |
| Impetuous and rich in stimuli, yet gentle and minimal. An astonishing avant-garde metal record, an unforgettable experience. |
| Dodsferd Suicide And The Rest Of Your Kind Will Follow II | 2.5 |
| It has everythig what a regular DSBM album could offer, except that little extra what could make a band interesting. Very boring album. |
| Dohlmen Dohlmen | 3.5 |
| 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.) |
| Dolch Yggdrasil...Nature...Anthems | 3.5 |
| Donny Benet Mr. Experience | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Dopelord Reality Dagger | 3.5 |
| Dopelord Sign Of The Devil | 3.5 |
| Basically another fuzz-fueled stoner/doom jam, with some earthworm songs, like "Heathen". It's fun, nothing else. |
| Drachenfeuer Realm Of Light | 4.0 |
| Draconic Regicide Shadowrealm | 2.5 |
| Very uneventful dark ambient release. Very drone-orineted soundscapes, but the feel is quite hollow. |
| Dracula Black Wings Over Transylvania | 3.5 |
| Sweet heavy metal EP, sounds exactly like unreleased Mercyful Fate stuff. |
| Dragged Into Sunlight Terminal Aggressor II | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Dragon Tomes Roar From The Underground Temple | 3.0 |
| DS in the mixed style of Old Sorcery and (if you remember to) Anubis, but definitely not that cinematic. It was good. |
| Drastus La Croix de Sang | 4.0 |
| Draughash The Solar Order | 1.0 |
| One of the worst DS releases I've ever heard. Waste of time. |
| Dream Division The Devil Rides Out | 4.0 |
| Halloween hit us early this year... An exciting release with great variety within. Spooky atmospheres, great synths and textures and excellent production - perfect. |
| Dream Division Legend Of Lizard Lake | 3.5 |
| Your soundtrack for a casual dungeon-dwelling AD&D campaign is here. |
| Dream Unending Song of Salvation | 4.0 |
| This goes hard. Enjoyable and creative death/doom record with an extra strong psychedelic flavour. The production is pleasant too, so yeah... *slaps a 4.0 to it |
| Dream Unending Tide Turns Eternal | 3.0 |
| It's... alright. (-said by someone who listened to Songs of Salvation first) |
| Dream Unending/Worm Starpath | 4.0 |
| Really pleasant release, probably the best split in this year. Both sides are a bit different from what I expected beforehand. If you're seeking a great psychedelic album and don’t mind a bit of death/doom or black metal, then Starpath is something you should try. |
| Dream Widow Dream Widow | 3.0 |
| Other than the last two songs, this barely entertained me despite it's not bad at all. Maybe the movie will be more successful. |
| Driftloss Derealization | 3.5 |
| Sweet dark ambient album with richly textured sounds and noises. The more rhytmical sections were quite nice, and positively affected the album's flow. Definitely a great one. |
| Drowning the Light A Gleam in the Eye of Set | 3.5 |
| Druad Vast Beneath the Skies | 3.5 |
| Druadan Forest The Loremasters Time | 3.5 |
| Druadan Forest The Lost Dimension | 4.0 |
| Super fun and entertaining dungeon synth/atmoblack/folk album. Probably this genre combo wouldn't say much, so I think it's my duty to highlight: The Lost Dimension is definitely a super pleasant listen, and would serve as a great "entry" album for those who didn't like f.e. Summoning at first. |
| Druadan Forest Portals | 3.0 |
| A relaxing (but sometimes maybe a little bit spooky) dark ambient, ethereal drone album. The extra little noises and textures were enjoyable, but I preferred the short and repetitive melody structures like in the second half of "Paint My Demons Black" - maybe more of those could have been a nice addition. |
| Drudkh/Paysage d'Hiver Somewhere Sadness Wanders/Schnee (IV) | 4.0 |
| Essential winter-season black metal jam. |
| Dubioza Kolektiv Happy Machine | 3.5 |
| Dungeon Altar The Hunter | 3.0 |
| Quite good little EP - anyone who likes chiptune dungeon synth would enjoy this. |
| Dungeons of Irithyll The Dire Pass... | 2.0 |
| Boring. I get it, it is Dark Souls-inspired, but sadly the album couldn't offer anything more than that... |
| Dungeontroll Labyrinth of the Golden Princess | 4.0 |
| Enchanting, beautiful and relaxing. The clipping in the mix is a bit annoying, but still: I love it. |
| Dungeontroll Journey through the Forest of Uzohr | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Dungeontroll From the Shining Kingdom of Uzohr | 3.0 |
| Dunjon Magik Dunjon Magik | 4.5 |
| Brilliant. Exciting blend of modern dungeon synth and synth music from the '90s. The atmosphere is uniquely sinister and magical - true dungeon music! |
| Dunkelbot Angerbach | 2.5 |
| Dust Drinker Sky Burial | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Dvne Etemen Ænka | 3.0 |
| It's alright, I guess. |
| DVVAD MRKLB | 4.0 |
| Top notch post-black/death metal album from my hometown. Great flow, heavy riffages, immersingly dark atmosphere and great production = it's a win for me! |
| Dwalin Sorcery & Might | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Dying Fetus Make Them Beg for Death | 4.0 |
| Ballsy death metal with the tastiest grind flavours. Mandatory workout album. |
| Dystopian Present The Legend of Mr. Pumpkin | 1.5 |
| Eagle Twin The Feather Tipped the Serpent's Scale | 4.0 |
| Eagle Twin The Thundering Heard (Songs of Hoof and Horn) | 4.0 |
| Earth Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version | 4.0 |
| Earth Machine Clad in a Forest of Dark Fir | 3.0 |
| I definitely enjoyed this DS demo from the modern branch of the genre. The techno-ish elements are odd, but sounded nice. |
| Earthencloak Commune of the Gnomes | 3.5 |
| Ecclesiarch Beyond the Lychgate | 1.5 |
| Ridiculous. I don't mind minimalistic dungeon synth albums, but this is just pathetic work. |
| Ecdelegost Erebor | 3.0 |
| Quite good Tolkien-inspired release. Not really outstanding, but noteworthy. |
| Ecdelegost Old Souls | 2.5 |
| Edelweiss Nomen Est Omen | 2.5 |
| Edoras Doors of Moria | 3.0 |
| Edoras Lands of Shadows | 3.5 |
| It may seem very boring, but I really liked the minimalistic perspective of this album. |
| Eishalle Alone | 2.0 |
| Ekthelion Under A Mournful Moon | 3.0 |
| It is pretty and has an uniquely interesting atmosphere, but tends to be very boring after a while... |
| Ekud Tun Ekud Tun | 2.5 |
| Elador Drowned Dreams | 2.5 |
| Eldamar The Force of the Ancient Land | 3.0 |
| Elder (USA-MA) Omens | 3.5 |
| Elderflower Elderflower | 4.0 |
| Eldritch Archways Twilit Woods of Yore | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Eldur Siggja | 4.0 |
| Electric Wizard Dopethrone | 3.5 |
| Elffor Dra Sad | 4.0 |
| Elffor Unholy Throne Of Doom | 4.0 |
| Tradition. Elffor never disappoints. |
| Elffor Condemned to Wander | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Elffor Kaosaren Mendi Odoltsuetan | 3.0 |
| Not the most exciting Elffor release... I had the exactly the same thoughts about this as manosg: solid yet unspectacular. |
| Elffor The Black Sentinel | 3.5 |
| One of the better Elffor releases! Freezing cold riffs, and a pleasantly "dim" sound - like standing in a blizzard! |
| Elgra Forest Kingdom | 3.0 |
| Ellende Triebe | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Elyvilon Drums in the Deepwood | 3.5 |
| Good dungeon synth album with a strong focus on percussion. Soundwise, it's somewhere between Morttis and Criptadel, but perhaps a bit closer to Mortiis' neo-classical side. |
| Embryonic Slumber In Worship Our Blood Is Buried | 4.0 |
| 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!! |
| Emglev Noz Veil | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Eminem Kamikaze | 3.0 |
| Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou May Our Chambers Be Full | 2.5 |
| Dull sputcore stuff. |
| Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou The Helm of Sorrow | 2.0 |
| Not again... |
| Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse | 3.5 |
| Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk | 3.0 |
| Emperor Emperor | 3.0 |
| Emperor Wrath of the Tyrant | 4.0 |
| Emperor Call from the Grave | 2.0 |
| Emperor As the Shadows Rise | 3.5 |
| Empire of the Moon Έκλειψις | 3.0 |
| A "standard" black metal release, with slightly more exciting riffing. |
| Empty (ESP) Vacío | 2.0 |
| Empyreal Forest Divinations | 3.5 |
| The resemblances in style and in aesthetics to Depressive Silence made me like this instantly. Feels really old-school! |
| Empyrium Über den Sternen | 3.0 |
| I wasn't really my thing - however it had some potential. While the album had some *really* excellent moments, the overall package coulnd't impress me that much, despite all the key elements were given for my likings. Real shame, but it happens sometime. |
| Emyn Muil Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga | 3.5 |
| Emyn Muil Elenion Ancalima | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Enforced At The Walls | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Enforcer Nostalgia | 4.0 |
| Wasn't expecting this to be so fun. [2] What an awesome heavy metal album! The sound, the riffs, the vocals... all so much like in the '80s, and it's not gimmicky at all. Plus, the title track is one of the best songs of the year, a flawless heavy metal ballad! |
| Enid Enid | 3.0 |
| Enisum Forgotten Mountains | 2.5 |
| I'm not going to lie: this was pretty boring (and at certain points I felt it's not even on a decent level qualitywise), but the thing which made me 2.5 this was those... embarassing vocals. Man, those cleans were really bad. |
| Enslaved Nema | 2.5 |
| Enslaved Hordanes Land | 2.5 |
| Enslaved Yggdrasil | 3.5 |
| Enslaved Heimdal | 2.5 |
| Other than "The Eternal Sea", it wasn't my thing at all. I didn't get it, and I didn't like it. |
| Ente (MEX) Vida y Muerte | 3.0 |
| Eos (CAN) Les Corps S'Entrechoquent | 4.0 |
| A worthy new member to the Mystískaos family. Les Corps S'Entrechoquent excellently presents the most interesting black metal psychedelia combined with sweet melancholia. A cold and dissonant metamorphosis. |
| Epileptoids Epileptoids | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Epimetrius Mortal Feet had not Traversed... | 1.0 |
| Erang Kingdom Of Erang | 4.5 |
| 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!) |
| Erang Tome I | 3.5 |
| Erang Imagination Never Fails | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Erang A Blaze In Time | 3.5 |
| Erang's latest is a mix between dungeon synth and neoclassical, but the very "retro VHS" vibe and sound connects it all together. A personal/emotional concept album, which managed to capture the intended flow of feelings: starting from the upbeat dreamy and fantastical soundscapes, to arrive to deep melancholy (of course with lots of pianos). Might be a grower. |
| Erdstall Temple of Ancients | 2.5 |
| Erdstall Caverns of Endless | 3.0 |
| Ereb Altor Vargtimman | 3.0 |
| They just wish to be that good as Moonsorrow. The clean vocals are absolutely mood-killer, yet the instrumental side of this release is quite good (even though I hoped for more punch). |
| Erferis Hyena Queen | 2.5 |
| Eric Wagner In The Lonely Light Of Mourning | 4.0 |
| Let's have it at 4.0. The good: the instrumental side and the production is *phenomenal*, one of the best stuff I've heard in this year so far. Very best kind of old-school doom, so you can guess it: it comes with ultra thick riffs! The bad: some moments in Eric's performance. It really hurts to say, but I have to: he was sometimes out of sync... The conclusion: masterful songwriting and production, but not flawless. |
| Erik Wollo Infinite Moments | 4.5 |
| Creating layers of oddly harmonic feelings, Erik Wollo delivers top quality drone ambient using only electric guitar. |
| Erreth-Akbe A Lantern Swathed | 3.0 |
| It was a bit of a mixed bag (in terms of themes and mood), but generally it was a quite good very neoclassical-oriented dungeon synth release, which comes with an amazing cover art. |
| Erykah Badu New Amerykah Pt. One: 4th World War | 3.0 |
| Erythrite Throne / Seregost Black Order of Vampyric Blood | 2.5 |
| This is INCREDIBLY BORING. Side Erythrite Throne is flat and lifeless, but at least was side Seregost was better yet still not really captivating. |
| Erzebet La Ira del Infierno | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Eschatology Eschatology | 4.0 |
| This band has great potential, I'm very impressed by this EP. Of course everything was given just by the background of the members, but still, this is some very-well executed black metal. Sawy guitars, sometimes punky riffs and a moderately haunting atmosphere - I like it! |
| Esoctrilihum Pandaemorthium | 4.0 |
| Esoctrilihum The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods | 4.5 |
| Esoctrilihum Eternity Of Shaog | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Esoctrilihum Urionhsol (Seven Demons) | 4.0 |
| I don't know if these are "leftover" songs or what, but this little EP slaps. Like the most concise version of the band's overall sound, Urionhsol is a very straightforward riff storm, with the typical otherworldy atmosphere. My personal favourite is "Zi Dynh Gtir", which is the most synth-driven Esoctrilihum song so far. |
| Esoctrilihum Consecration of the Spiritus Flesh | 4.0 |
| Agressive, chaotic and savage - yet the album still contains semi-psychedelic and melodic moments, but it definitely puts more emphasis on the heaviness. Lots of death metal chugging here, but oh boy, it feels so gooooood! |
| Esoctrilihum Inhüma | 4.0 |
| Less weird and more melodic, still an extraordinary black metal album. |
| Esoctrilihum Luadimmerantia | 4.0 |
| An EP too in 2022?! Not as brutal as Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh was, this more of a mixture of the sound of Inhüma and Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath. It's more BM than DM, it has thunderous blast beats, otherworldy melody structures and demonic atmosphere. Especially "Lifeless" goes mega hard. |
| Esoctrilihum Saopth's | 4.5 |
| This surprise LP might be my most favourite Esoctrilihum after all. It's more melodic (like Inhüma, in the same weird-fashioned-way) and the album contains lots of synths, so Saopth's definitely deserves the "atmospheric" tag. The song "Furfhüth" is probably one of the best songs of the year too: cold, mysterious and alien. Saopth's is such a wonderful eldritch avant-garde atmo-black/death album... and all these genre tags make sense together!!! AOTY 2022 candidate. |
| Esoctrilihum Funeral | 4.0 |
| We couldn't have asked for a better start for 2023. Funeral is a special piece in the discography, since it comes with quite a lot of clean vocals and folk elements. It often evokes different atmospheres: Sometimes it feels bizarre and unsettling (twisted riffs, monstrous vocals and spooky synths); other times immersive and epic from being quite catchy (Funeral contains some surprisingly "light riffs) but, for example "Paithas" brings a very epic and "ancient" vibe into the picture as well (believe it or not: Celtic melodies played on nyckelharpa and kantele). Like other avant-garde metal albums, this requires a couple of spins. But if you're unsure, just try the aforementioned song, "Paithas". |
| Esoctrilihum Astraal Constellations of the Majickal Zodiac | 4.0 |
| Three monstrous pieces compressed into one: the Esoctrilihum Deluxe Experience™️ - with all its strengths and weaknesses. The runtime is tiring, still: this is another solid addition to the Esoctrilihum discography. |
| Esoteric A Pyrrhic Existence | 3.5 |
| Estve Az enyészet ajtaja | 3.5 |
| Nice raw black metal demo, especially the "passionate" vocals are somewhat extraordinary. Generally, this band has some potential! |
| Etchings Wound Demo I | 2.5 |
| Eternal Axe Endless Fantasy | 3.0 |
| Nice little demo. I liked the old-schoolish vibes and the atmosphere. |
| Eternal Axe Wizard odyssey | 3.0 |
| 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 Champion The Armor of Ire | 4.0 |
| I've slept on this for quite a long time, but I'm glad I finally I've given this a listen... because this is an exceptionally excellent power metal release! I instantly fell in love with this because it contains top class and epic riffs (the guitarwork really outshines everything) - the vocals are a bit odd at first, but in time it's easy to get used to it. Amazing debut. |
| Eternal Champion Ravening Iron | 3.5 |
| Fun, but far less energic than the previous LP. Still worths to give this a few spins, because the guitarwork is excellent (=tons of tasty riffs). |
| Eternal Fear Ancient Woods | 3.5 |
| Eternal Night Abandoned by Hope, Embraced by Night | 1.5 |
| Eternal Valley The Falling Light | 3.0 |
| Ethereal Shroud They Became the Falling Ash | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Ethereal Shroud Trisagion | 4.5 |
| Not much I can say here. The gentle flow, the atmosphere along with a perfect production are the traits of true professional's work. |
| Europe War of Kings | 3.5 |
| Evanescence The Bitter Truth | 2.5 |
| It was a quite painless encounter, but still very-very boring. |
| Evilfeast Elegies of the Stellar Wind | 5.0 |
| No atmospheric black metal album will ever get any better than this. Period. |
| Evilfeast Mysteries of the Nocturnal Forest | 4.0 |
| Evilfeast Lost Horizons of Wisdom | 4.0 |
| Evilfeast Funeral Sorcery | 3.5 |
| Evilfeast Wintermoon Enchantment | 4.8 |
| Elegies of the Stellar Wind v0.5. If the subsequent album wouldn't be so perfect, this could also take the atmoblack crown. Gorgeous synth work accompanied by grim and frostbitten riffs and atmosphere. |
| Evilfeast Isenheimen | 4.0 |
| Perfect balance between the ethereal synth pads and raw and wintry blackened riffs. |
| Evilfeast / Marblebog Isenheimen / Abyss Calls... | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Evilnox Songs Of Oblivion | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Evoking Winds Bald Mountain | 3.0 |
| Kitschy, "overly narrated" meloblack, with neoclassical elements. While the production is great on this record, but there is way too much frippery thrown into the mix... In the end: there is nothing sharp, and nothing to deliver a truly captivating atmosphere. Just kitsch, like a geh sympho-metal album. |
| Ex Eye Ex Eye | 3.0 |
| Excilibrius Haunted Lands | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Exhibito In Nobis | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Exhumed Gore Metal | 4.0 |
| This rips! Perfectly riff centered chaotic madness. I feel this is a grower, might bump up my rating later. |
| Exhumed Slaughtercult | 3.5 |
| Less fun than the debut, but still a damn solid goregrind album. The last songs slap really hard! |
| Exhumed Anatomy Is Destiny | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Exhumed Worming | 3.5 |
| That "Heartwork"-alike riff and guitar tone in the beginning... awesome! Fun little EP, but that's pretty much everything I could say about this. Go and make an LP instead! |
| Exhumed To The Dead | 3.5 |
| This goes very well with Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious by Carcass. Fun and riffs hard = strong 3.5. |
| Exhumed/Gruesome Twisted Horror | 3.5 |
| Eximperitus... Sahrartu | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Falaise A Place I Don't Belong To | 4.0 |
| Fall Of Man Between God & The Devil | 4.0 |
| Falls of Rauros Patterns in Mythology | 3.5 |
| Fallujah Undying Light | 2.0 |
| False Figure A Promised End | 3.5 |
| Fanebaerer Fra Hånd Til Jord | 3.0 |
| Fantavras Down Below | 2.5 |
| Fantomas Delìrium Còrdia | 3.0 |
| Faron These Woods Which Turn Flesh to Bone | 1.0 |
| This was awful... My disappointment is inmeasureable, and my day is ruined. Seriously, this is some really upsetting waste of time, a 4 yo kid could come up with something better than this. |
| Fattyu Az Alföld sötét szíve | 4.0 |
| 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 Ritu Paganorum | 3.5 |
| Fattyu Hagyaték | 4.0 |
| Faustian Pact Outojen Tornien Varjoissa | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Feminazgul No Dawn for Men | 2.5 |
| 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!) |
| Fen Walker The Totem Wilds Call Thy Name | 4.0 |
| Fen Walker Sojourns in the Realm of the Undermoon | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Fen Walker Fare Thee Well Battle Winds | 4.0 |
| Another excellent quality album by Fen Walker as expected. Lots of dynamism, vareity and creativity can be heard from every minute of it. Maybe not that atmospheric like the previous one, but still very finely crafted release, with a gorgeous instrumentation. I loved listening to this while gaming and reading. |
| Fen Walker / Scrying Glass Behold! Visions From the Scrying Pool! | 4.0 |
| Phenomenal Berlin school (prog) electronic / dungeon synth release, with hints of new age elements. I dig the Fen Walker side a bit more (it's more "dungeon spirited"), but side Scrying Glass was also brilliant, especially in And the Ztheradox Watches... because it runs on a very similar "sound-set" as my beloved album, Plantasia (by Mort Garson). Gorgeous and playful tracks and flawless production: [garas' seal of approval] |
| Feral Spectre Crepuscular Evil | 4.0 |
| Great old-school sounding raw black demo: primitve, harsh and evil. These guys surely love the early Darkthrone albums! |
| FesterDecay Reality Rotten to the Core | 4.0 |
| A Japanese goregrind release which delivers not just the heaviness, but some actually groovy riffs, moreover: it has surprisingly well-balanced production (very bass-heavy, and the guitars sound very good). Solid headbanging material. |
| Fief V | 3.5 |
| Fief II | 4.0 |
| Fief III | 4.5 |
| Fief I | 4.0 |
| Fief IV | 5.0 |
| Fief I-IV | 4.9 |
| 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. |
| Fiendish Imp Fiendish Imp | 4.5 |
| Fiendish Imp All Hallows Eve EP | 3.5 |
| Fimbulwinter Servants of Sorcery | 2.0 |
| Finsternis Kloster der Verwüstung | 2.0 |
| Fires in the Distance Air Not Meant For Us | 4.0 |
| Very well executed and super balanced melodeath release which often steps into doom/gothic metal territories as well. Six lengthier tracks, but the overall package feels very strong and punchy, yet this albums is pleasantly colorful and charmingly melancholic too. |
| Firienholt Beside the Roaring Sea | 4.0 |
| Very nice atmoblack/dungeon synth blend in a short EP, but a very high quality output. Nice Summoning and Caladan Brood vibes. |
| Firienholt The Crownless | 3.5 |
| Firienholt By the Waters of Awakening | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Firtan Marter | 3.5 |
| A better kind of modern black metal release. Fortunately Marter isn't one from the a post-metal-soaked-bullshit-type, so it was quite enjoyable. However, it felt a bit "hollow", so I rarely felt those outstanding moments when I could think "damn, this slays" (ofc there are some, like the second half of "Odem" or the closer track); but altogether it was still enjoyable since the riffs were cool, and the vocals reminded me to WitTR. |
| Flaekingur Fairy Tales | 2.5 |
| Flail Snail Spring Awakening | 3.5 |
| Flesh Consumed Mutilate, Eviscerate, Decapitate | 2.0 |
| Fleshgore Carnival of Flesh | 1.0 |
| Looks like making slam is not cruel enough, so guess what: recorded on the intercom and mixed in the cement mixer. |
| Fleurety A Darker Shade of Evil | 2.5 |
| Flughund Shimmering Figure Of The Black Lake | 2.5 |
| Fluisteraars Bloem | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Foal Denu of Wind | Tome of Old Winter | 2.5 |
| Foetus Nail | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Foetus Flow | 4.0 |
| Foglord Celestial | 3.0 |
| Fogweaver Fogweaver | 3.5 |
| Fogweaver Spellwind | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Folter The Aeon Of The Disembodied | 2.0 |
| Foolish Fire The Culture of Loss | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Forest Altar Contemplation | 3.5 |
| Forest of Orthanc Forest of Orthanc | 2.0 |
| Forest Shrine Forest Shrine | 3.5 |
| 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 Eternal Winter | 4.0 |
| Forest Silence Winter Circle | 4.7 |
| This the greatest example of black ambient. A dense, dark, and sinister atmospheric masterpiece. |
| Forest Silence The Third Winter | 3.5 |
| Forest Temple Twilight Within The Ancient Wood | 2.5 |
| Forest Temple Spectral Threads Of A Cosmic Dream | 2.0 |
| It has some good moments, but most of the time it was either annoying or had zero direction in flow. Shame. |
| Forest Wanderer A Tribute To Burzum | 3.5 |
| Forgjord Ilmestykset | 4.0 |
| Forgjord Laulu Kuolemasta | 3.0 |
| Forgjord Ruumissaarna pt. 2 | 3.5 |
| Since I have no idea what's the main concept of the album, I'll focus only on what can be heard here... But I really like it! Cold and savage, and you can never predict what comes next: that's what I like about Frgjord. Raw and more or less unorthodox. The haunting synths were exceptionally effective. |
| Forgotten Passage Demo | 2.5 |
| Forgotten Sword Funeral Castle | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Forgotten Woods The Curse of Mankind | 3.5 |
| Forlesen Hierophant Violent | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Forlorn Citadel Ashen Dirge of Kingslain | 3.0 |
| Forlorn Kingdom Distant Apparitions | 2.5 |
| Some good ideas, and I liked the lo-fi aesthetics, but every song gets very boring after a few minutes. |
| Fornicus Sulphuric Omnipotence | 3.0 |
| It's alright. Bonus point for the sick cover art. |
| Fortress Of The Pearl Fortress of the Pearl | 3.0 |
| Wow, this was a weird one. Odd synths, electronic noise loops and very reverby (kinda cosmic) atmoblack combined... not sure if I truly liked it, but it was, at least, a memorable experience for sure. |
| FossaDelRumore Tafari | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Fossilization Leprous Daylight | 2.5 |
| This is so booooooooooring. There are far more interesting death/doom albums out there. |
| Fostartaly Return of the Jani | 4.0 |
| Fraudort Dark Dungeon | 2.5 |
| Frayle The White Witch | 3.0 |
| Frederic Chopin Nocturnes, Op. 9 | 4.0 |
| Freshwater Serpent Demo MMXX | 2.0 |
| Frog Concert Slumbering Sounds of the Frog Fellowship | 2.0 |
| The garbage horror movie from 1972, the "Frogs", made more sense than this, which is sad. |
| Frost (HU) Voices From Beyond The Gates | 4.0 |
| Frost (HU) Deathtree Mystery | 3.5 |
| Frost-Rimed Iron The Fire of Conquest | 3.5 |
| This sounds exactly like the soundtrack of an old-school RPG. Each instrument brings back that special vibe of the early 2000s, and that's the only down-side of the release as well: it gets a bit samey after a while. (One extra note: some instruments sound a bit tweaked reaching higher octaves, which was weird.) |
| Frosten With Sigils and Infernal Signs | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Frozen Crown Winterbane | 3.0 |
| I expected something far-far-far-FAR worse, so it was a quite pleasant surprise. This... actually riffs (the cute lead guitarist chick is pretty good), and surprisingly this doesn't annoy me to death like most power metal bands do. They still have to kick out their singer, because her performance is extremly boring. |
| Frozen Shadows Dans les Bras des Immortels | 4.0 |
| This sounds like a "synthy Immortal" (and a bit like Emperor), therefore I enjoyed it a lot. Even though the mix could have seen some improvements (guitars shouldn't be this quiet), this is quality material. Frosty atmosphere and intense riffing - that's all I needed! |
| Frozen Winds Necromantic Arts | 3.5 |
| Fugitive Wizard Obscuri Æternum | 3.0 |
| Pretty solid EP/demo. The synthwork is especially noteworthy, while the black metal parts were inserted well. Interesting listen, but I don't think if I'd come back to this later. |
| Fulador The Realm of the Great River | 2.5 |
| Full of Hell Garden of Burning Apparitions | 2.0 |
| I don't get it. |
| Funeral Tears The World We Lost | 3.5 |
| Further Down The Zone Tapes | 4.0 |
| Fustilarian All This Promiscuous Decadence | 3.5 |
| The example for a well-executed modern-sounding black metal release. The riffs speak for themselves, while the production is very-very tight and clean. A very straight-forward work, so don't expect atmospheric passages or whatsoever. A noteworthy debut! |
| Gaahls Wyrd Bergen Nov '15 | 3.5 |
| Gaahls Wyrd GastiR - Ghosts Invited | 4.5 |
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? |
| Gaahls Wyrd The Humming Mountain | 3.0 |
| The Humming Mountain offer some really good moments, especially where Gaahls and Co. turned back to their exciting progressive black metal jams like what they presented in their debut LP. "The Dwell" and Awakening Remains - Before Leaving" are killer tracks, while the rest was a bit forgettable, chill Saruman-vocals aside. |
| Gabestok Én Gang Rådden, Altid Rådden | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Gaerea Mirage | 2.5 |
| Ugly ass cover on a typical boring post-black release. What are you chewing on this? |
| Gaerea Limbo | 2.5 |
| "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. |
| Galdur Age of Legends | 3.0 |
| Garadrak A Questing Knight | 2.5 |
| Garadrak Loremaster | 3.0 |
| Garadrak Cyclopean Sorrows | 3.0 |
| Light and melodic, but not charming enough for me. It's good for a listen, but I'm a bit disappointed. |
| Gargoyle (IT) Hail to the Necrodoom | 3.5 |
| Great blend of Devil Master, Mortuary Drape and Darkthrone. Bits of death rockish, bit punky black metal-kind-of-an-album. |
| Gatecreeper Sweltering Madness | 3.5 |
| Gatecreeper Sonoran Depravation | 4.0 |
| Gatecreeper Gatecreeper | 3.5 |
| Gatecreeper Deserted | 4.0 |
| Alright, this slaps. This band never disappoints. m/ |
| Gatecreeper An Unexpected Reality | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Gatewatcher Blind Eternities | 2.5 |
| Gavella Glan A Silent Vigil for Oncoming Plagues | 2.5 |
| It was just unexpectedly boring. |
| Gehenna First Spell | 4.0 |
| An atmospheric black metal hidden gem. A gloomy and mysterious mid-tempo riffer album (very groovy), which comes with gorgeous organ melodies and a surprisingly clear production. I love it. |
| Gehennah Hardrocker | 4.0 |
"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/ |
| Gehennah Too Loud to Live, Too Drunk to Die | 2.5 |
| Gelure The Candlelight Tomes | 3.5 |
| This is a fine dungeon synth album. I have heard better and worse, but the essential magical aura is present. I had a very odd feeling listening to this, like a constant deja vu, as it felt I've heard this previously but I certainly didn't. |
| Genesis Selling England by the Pound | 4.0 |
| Very-very pretty album. |
| Genocide Pact Genocide Pact | 3.0 |
| Not bad, but definitely not a very exciting record. |
| Germfood Night Of The Consumers - OST | 3.0 |
| 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) Popestar | 4.0 |
| Ghost (SWE) If You Have Ghost | 3.5 |
| Ghost (SWE) Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic | 3.0 |
| Ghost (SWE) Prequelle | 2.5 |
| Ghost (SWE) Meliora | 3.5 |
| Ghost (SWE) Infestissumam | 3.5 |
| Ghost (SWE) Opus Eponymous | 3.5 |
| Ghost (SWE) Impera | 3.5 |
| Let's start with a 3.5. Impera is a very two-faced album: it's either very good, or embarassing, but definitely the good side weighs more. When the '80s worship is in action (where you'll hear classic heavy metal, hard rock and pop rock) the album delivers ultra catchy melodies, and re-creates that sweet old-school vibe. But there is the bad side... other than "Call Me Little Sunshine", the singles are shit. For real, those songs are not great at all. Also there is "Darkness at the Heart of My Love" which is a shockingly cringe pop song and totally feels out of place. Not to mention, the James Bond soundtrack wannabe classical sections totally broke the flow as well. If this could have been an entirely "'80s magic worship" album by Ghost, then there'd be nothing to complain about. But when it's good, it's *very* good! |
| Ghost and Tape Vár | 4.0 |
| Calming drone/ambient with a minimalistic, yet effective approach. Meditative and ethereal. I needed this. |
| Ghost Veil Sleeping Garden | 3.5 |
| gift of gods receive | 4.0 |
| Gjallarhorn Ranarop – Call of the Sea Witch | 4.0 |
| Gjallarhorn Sjofn | 4.0 |
| Glass Sigils Self-Titled | 3.5 |
| Glemt Animus (demo) | 3.0 |
| Glistening #38 'Half Empty' | 3.5 |
| Glistening #37 'Dying' | 2.5 |
| Glistening #36 'Fragments' | 2.5 |
| Glorior Belli The Apostates | 4.0 |
| Glory In The Shadows Glory In The Shadows | 3.5 |
| Gloryhammer Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards | 3.5 |
| Gloryhammer Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terror. | 3.5 |
| Gnipahalan Vannalosa Urskepnader | 3.0 |
| Gnipahalan / Evilfeast Split | 3.5 |
| 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!) |
| Gnoll Music for Dungeons | 4.5 |
| Gnoll Zargo's Lords | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| Goatsnake Black Age Blues | 4.0 |
| Goatsnake Flower of Disease | 4.0 |
| Goatsnake Breakfast with the King b/w Deathwish | 3.0 |
| The 10/10 guitar tone. Pretty nice EP, I definitely enjoyed it, but it's barely more than nothing... |
| Goblin Profondo Rosso | 4.5 |
| Simply top notch spooky progressive rock. |
| Goblin Contamination | 3.0 |
| It was nice. But except a few songs, it wasn't really memorable. |
| Goblin Priest Dank Vision Sewer Crawl | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| God Disease Apocalyptic Doom | 2.5 |
| Other than the supermassive black hole track Futile Effort to Breathe, the rest was sadly quite forgettable. The production is heavenly, but something is missing here... perhaps the expected Finnish melodic approach. |
| God Seed I Begin | 4.5 |
| High quality progressive black metal album. The dark, spiralling riff orcane and Gaahl's performance instantly sells it. |
| Godflesh Purge | 2.5 |
| This was definitely something -- but not for me, I think. |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! | 2.5 |
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 |
| Gomorra Dealer of Souls | 2.5 |
| This literally does nothing and feels boring right after the second song. |
| Gondar Sword of Gondar | 2.5 |
| Gonemage Mystical Extraction | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Gordon Bok A Tune for November | 4.0 |
| Simple and humble - matches perfectly to my moody spirit. I need this on vinyl. |
| Gorgoroth A Sorcery Written in Blood | 3.0 |
| Gorgoroth Promo '94 | 4.0 |
| Gorgoroth Pentagram | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Gorgoroth Instinctus Bestialis | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Gorgoroth Incipit Satan | 3.5 |
| Braver attempt, but personally I totally dig this experimental / death metal blend in black metal. Gaahl's performance adds an extra spicy flavour to it. If only they'd have dared to make this weirder... |
| Gorgoroth Destroyer | 3.5 |
| Standing between 3.5 and 4.0, Destroyer... is a very standard black metal release, which combines pretty much all the stereotypical traits of black metal. Still an enjoyable release which sometimes gets really heavy through delivering some really solid riffs. |
| Gorgoroth Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt | 4.0 |
| Huge jam, even though it's absolutely not an extraordinary release. I was sold by the consistency within. |
| Gorillaz Humanz | 1.5 |
| Goropsy Drawing Pictures in the Dark because I Miss You | 3.0 |
| Gospel of the Horns A Call to Arms | 4.5 |
| 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! |
| Gospel of the Horns Eve of the Conqueror | 4.0 |
| Great fun blackened thrash EP from the more melodic branch of the genre. Nice flow (blink twice and it is over!) and catchy riffs. |
| Gospel of the Horns Realm of the Damned | 3.5 |
| Great LP, but interestingly I found the EPs more exciting and fun than this. Great jam, though. |
| Gothmog (GER) Medieval Journeys | 4.5 |
| A subessential dungeon synth piece from the past. Gorgeous old-school synths and great variety within. For the hardcore dwellers. |
| Grandeburgo XIV | 1.5 |
| Grandma's Catacombs Grandma's Catacombs | 1.0 |
| 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. |
| Grandma's Cottage Grandma's Cottage | 2.5 |
| Grausamkeit Christenschmähung | 3.0 |
| Grausamkeit Angeldestruction | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Grausamkeit Pink Green 666 | 5.0 |
| I'm not going to lie: this is amazing! Fantastic synth/piano-driven raw black metal (which is more ambient than metal in the first place). The sound-quality is definitely not horrible, sounds like a typical '90s tape demo. At first it sounded like another super raw BM demo, but as the blossomed out, it totally blew my mind. These majestic and mystical synth melodies are overwhelming! It feels like listening to a less melancholic Depressive Silence (German old-school dungeon synth legends), but with some guitars and with simple drums in the background. Brilliant. I literally stood in awe in the second half of "Krätze"! |
| Grave Into the Grave | 4.0 |
| *The* golden standard OSDM album from every aspect. |
| Gravebomb Rot In Putrid Filth | 3.5 |
| Graven The Shadows Eternal Call | 4.0 |
| Graven Perished and Forgotten | 3.5 |
| Gravetemple Ambient / Ruin (demo) | 3.0 |
| Green Druid At the Maw of Ruin | 4.0 |
| A real mixed bag, but this colorful sound palette was this album's strongest advantage. Sometimes heavier, sometimes sometimes they go full funeral etc.-etc. Fun record. |
| Green Lung Woodland Rites | 4.5 |
| Green Lung Black Harvest | 3.5 |
| Super fun stoner album, however it's not that great as their debut was since it feels a bit samey and personally I hoped for some experimentation. Black Harvest offers some great jams though, such as "Graveyard Sun", and the album's last two: "Doomsayer" and "Born to a Dying World". Tom Templar got some extra points from me, as his performance was simply excellent, I really liked his singing in this one. |
| Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens | 3.0 |
| It is good, but nothing really outstanding or noteworthy. A handful of chill ambient/electronic tracks about plants, but that's all. |
| Grelin Greenclan Grelin Greenclan | 2.5 |
| Grenadier Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory | 2.5 |
| Greta Van Fleet Anthem of the Peaceful Army | 1.0 |
| Grey Aura Zwart vierkant | 3.0 |
| Pretty okay avant-atmo-black-kind-of-thing. It had some cool Ddheimsgard-alike moments, but personally I felt the album really just flew by. It wasn't a bad one, but couldn't grab maintain interest that much. |
| Grieve (FIN) Grieve | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Grieve (FIN) Funeral | 2.5 |
| Very disappointing. After the very promising EP, they completely abandoned the atmospheric approach and turned towards a 100% pure second wave direction - which kinda riffs, but the result is very boring. |
| Grima Rotten Garden | 2.5 |
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* |
| Gris Il Était Une Forêt... | 3.5 |
| Grol the Goblin King of all Goblins | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Gronoc Sanctuary Chronicles vol. 1 | 2.5 |
| Grot Donker | 2.5 |
| Grouper Ruins | 4.0 |
| Gruesome Twisted Prayers | 3.5 |
| Gudsforladt Friendship, Love and War | 3.0 |
| It was a quite lovely upbeat black metal album. Not mind-blowing, and I'm not particularly satisfied with the production, but it was enjoyable. |
| Guild Of Lore Autumn Macabre | 3.5 |
| Guild Of Lore Winterstead | 3.5 |
| Guild Of Lore Storm Haven | 3.5 |
| Guild Of Lore Leaving Winterstead | 3.5 |
| Guild Of Lore Wandering Tales | 3.5 |
| 100% the typical Guild Of Lore quality. |
| Gullinbursti Mythical Metallurgy | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Gustav Holst The Planets, Op. 32 | 4.8 |
| Hades Almighty Alone Walkyng | 4.5 |
| Haemorrhage We Are the Gore | 2.5 |
| Hajduk Кръв | 3.0 |
| Hajduk Природа | 4.5 |
| 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* |
| Hajduk Свобода | 3.5 |
| Haken Vector | 2.0 |
| Halfling Rune Squire | 3.0 |
| Hallas Excerpts From a Future Past | 4.5 |
| 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 Hällas | 4.0 |
| Beautiful proto-heavy metal (is this a thing?). Super retro, super fun. |
| Hallas Conundrum | 4.5 |
| Another beautiful album by the Swede retro-band. Mesmerizing creation, exciting and adventurous! Wonderful album, and deserves lot more attention! Hällas rules m/ |
| Hallas Isle of Wisdom | 4.5 |
| Consistency is the key: another 4.5 worthy album by the Swede adventure rockers. As they've finished telling the fantastical stories of the fictional hero, Haellas (from whom they've choosen their band name as well), a new chapter has arrived, and Isle Of Wisdom is more than a promising start for a "new era". New favourite songs: "The Inner Chamber" and "Gallivants (Of Space)". |
| Halm The Emerald Disk of Eternity | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Hammerhedd Nonetheless | 2.5 |
| Sadly, I believe the cover art is more entertaining than the album. |
| Hammock Elsewhere | 4.0 |
| The sweet melancholy...the expected Hammock greatness and a bit more? Guitars, pianos and the strings are perfectly immersed into the very much ambient/drone focused atmosphere: and the result is magical. Perfect album to relax, think or just to slow down a bit and feel. |
| Harbinger (US) The Consecrated Barrow | 4.0 |
| Harbinger (US) The Convocation of Forgotten Gods | 4.0 |
| Harrod and Funck Live | 2.5 |
| Hasard Malivore | 4.0 |
| Very challenging listen, basically the combination of avant-garde black metal and (often dissonant) classical music. Absolutely diabolic work, an audible nightmare. I love it. |
| Hasperim Here Lies A Kingdom In Ruins | 3.5 |
| Hath Of Rot And Ruin | 2.5 |
| Haudh Through Forgotten Lands | 2.0 |
| Haunted Realm Kingdom of Ages Past | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Hauntologist Hollow | 3.5 |
| Pleasant (proggy) post-black album done by Mgla's "Darkside" and "The Fall". They cleverly avoided the curse of unoriginality via shepperding the album's style towards post-rock as well. This resulted in a rather slower flow and a pretty haunting and depressing atmosphere. You can absolutely feel this album was written by a drummer and a bassist, since the album is especially strong on the rhythm-front, which is really great. On the other hand, sometimes the record contains a few "gaps", which were put there to build atmosphere, but sometimes these moments felt rather hollow instead of thickly covered or embraced by the atmosphere they tried to evoke. Still great, but I this project hasn't reached its full potential. Yet. |
| Have Mercy (Thrash) Armageddon Descends | 3.5 |
| Havukruunu Kelle Surut Soi | 4.0 |
| How the fuck did I sleep on this so far?! These guys are outstanding, even from the extremly tight Finnish BM scene. |
| Havukruunu Uinuos Syömein Sota | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Havukruunu Kuu Erkylän Yllä | 3.5 |
| The old and new unites. "Kuu Erkylän Yllä" pretty much showed the entired Havukruunu's spectrum as in it they presented the band's earlier sound with additional elements which were introduced in ""Uinuos Syömein Sota"". Enjoyable release, but due to the possibly high expectations (yeah, ""Uinuos Syömein Sota"" was something really special) this might feel "a bit out of breath". However, this EP also contains some typical fiery Havukruunu riffs, so there is no reason to complain. |
| Hayley Williams Petals for Armor | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos | 1.5 |
| This is not just boring, this album is extremly lazy. "all instruments performed by Hayley" how is that any impressive? |
| Hedge Wizard More True Than Time Thought | 3.5 |
| Helheim Rignir | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Hellbastard Ripper Crust | 4.0 |
| Pretty much a hidden gem: a really crispy crust release. A killer no filler demo, and the quite lo-fi sound actually sounds sick here. The guitars sound very rusty and chainsawy, and I loved the simplistic rumbling bass, and the just as simplistic yet very clean-sounding drums (perhaps the cymbals are a bit quiet though). Altogether, this raw and "organic" sound was an instant click. Only the vocals are a bit meh, but at least those were kept at the bare minimum. If only there'd be harsh vocals in this...! |
| Helleruin War Upon Man | 3.5 |
| Finally, some good old-fashioned black metal. Simple setup, but the riffs speak for themselves. I can't highlight any specific element why is it so great - it's simply very-well made. Noteworthy debut, I hope we can hear more stuff like this in the future. |
| Hellhammer Satanic Rites | 4.0 |
| You can't go wrong with Swiss black metal, especially with first wave stuff. Simple yet effective. |
| Hellhammer Apocalyptic Raids | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Hellhammer Demon Entrails | 4.0 |
| Hellripper Black Arts and Alchemy | 4.0 |
| Sick. Second half of the EP is exceptionally good. |
| Hellripper Warlocks Grim and Withered Hags | 4.5 |
| Well, this is a ripper!! Fast, furious, fun, catchy and very balanced. There is no single weak or filler track here, only the focus on the style varies during the album (more emphasis on speed or thrash or black in a song/section), which makes this release very entertaining all the way through, perfectly solving the problem what bands like Midnight could never pass... it never gets samey, there is alway a little extra in the right time to shake up the listener (like: a bagpipe melody inserted into the layers of frenzy guitar riffs, or a Tom Araya-alike scream, or a Motrhead-style bass line, or a "slice" of acousitc guitar etc-etc.) Very cleverly written album with near infinite replay value + best black/speed album I've ever heard. |
| Hellvetic Frost Misanthropic Devotion | 4.8 |
| Hellvetic Frost Towards a Distant World | 3.0 |
| Herbie Hancock Head Hunters | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Herman Frank Two For A Lie | 2.5 |
| Even though this contains numerous good riffs, the overall result is a really tiring and unexciting hard rock/heavy metal album. It'd make good background music in a rock pub. |
| Hermit Knight Upon The Dawn of the Vermilion Glaive | 2.5 |
| Rather forgettable neoclassical / ambient mixture. Shame the cover art is better than the album itself. |
| Hermith Dernier souffle | 3.5 |
| Dungeon synth with an immersive atmosphere: I felt really inspired by this. Like soundtracks for deep catacombs or emotional scenes etc. |
| Hermodr Vinter | 4.0 |
| Hermodr The snow | 3.0 |
| Cute little melancho-BM EP, the second track was a bit letdown. |
| Hessian Crucible Morbidity Demo | 4.0 |
| This is still a tasty death metal demo, with some awesome riffs. It was more than great hearing this again after a few years... |
| Hexelwir Honey Moon And Blackened Stars | 3.5 |
| Great, strongly folk-medieval oriented dungeon synth album. A bit lengthy, but very-well composed work. |
| Hexengrab Schrei der Sirenen | 2.5 |
| Hexenwood Witchthrone | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| 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! |
| Hexenwood Bloodspring | 4.0 |
| Hiemal Best of Hiemal | 3.5 |
| Hiemal The Illusion of Permanence | 2.5 |
| Hiemal Winterscape | 4.0 |
| Hiemal Siberian Horizons | 2.5 |
| Hiemal Cathedral Rocks | 3.0 |
| Hiemal Haze of Old Valleys | 3.0 |
| Hiemal Afterglow | 3.5 |
| Hiemal Yukon | 3.0 |
| Hiemal Hyperborean Rituals | 2.0 |
| Hiemal Solivagant Ghost of Cimmerian Woods | 1.5 |
| Hiemal Wanderings Within Forests of Despondency | 3.0 |
| Hiemal Wanderings Within Forests of Despondency II | 3.5 |
| Hiemal The Long Road Back | 3.5 |
| Hiemal Empyreal Woods | 3.0 |
| Hiemal L'Exil | 2.5 |
| Hiemal Arcane Ruins Become Spruce and Moss | 3.5 |
| Hiemal Celestial Odyssey | 2.0 |
| Space ambient does not fit to this project at all... |
| High Command Eclipse of the Dual Moons | 3.5 |
| Riffs like Power Trip, which is nice. However, the production is a bit... thin/shallow. I hoped for a "fullier" sound, but altogether it's still pretty good! |
| High on Fire Bat Salad | 3.5 |
Title song is a huge jam, the covers are great fun. Alltogether very fun EP. (Plus I love this
artwork!) |
| High on Fire Death Is This Communion | 4.0 |
| High on Fire Surrounded By Thieves | 3.5 |
| High on Fire De Vermis Mysteriis | 4.0 |
| High on Fire Electric Messiah | 4.0 |
| High on Fire Snakes For The Divine | 4.0 |
| High on Fire Blessed Black Wings | 4.0 |
| Hell yes, this slaps hard! High On Fire never disappoints. |
| High on Fire Art of Self-Defense | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| High on Fire Luminiferous | 4.5 |
| The very best of High On Fire. Heavy, exciting and offers nice variety. The trio of "The Falconist" + "The Dark Side Of The Compass" + "The Cave" is a phenomenal experience. |
| Highland Spokesman Sounds | 3.0 |
| Pretty ethereal drones. |
| Hiidenhauta Noitia on Minun Sukuni | 3.5 |
| Hillsfar Jewel of the Moonsea | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Himmelriket Guds Trone I Himmelen | 1.0 |
| Okay, this is just lolbad, hahaha. Randomly hitting single notes and playing with the pitch button ain't any good... |
| Hiroshi Yoshimura Green | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Hirotaka Shirotsubaki slowdance,lowtide | 3.0 |
| It was pretty and relaxing, but that's all. So, here it comes yet another 3.0 rating~ |
| Hirsi These Foreign Shores | 3.5 |
| Hjelvik Welcome To Hel | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Hobbit Leaving the Shire (demo) | 2.0 |
| Hobbit Places In Middle Earth (demo) | 3.5 |
| Hole Dweller flies the coop | 3.0 |
| Hole Dweller Returns to Roost | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Hole Dweller With Dreams of Hereafter | 2.5 |
| Sounds more like a kitschy jRPG soundtrack than actual dungeon synth. I never understood the hype for this project. |
| Holokaust 2001 A Death Odyssey | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Holy Fawn The Black Moon | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Homselvareg Catastrofe | 3.0 |
| Hooded Menace The Tritonus Bell | 4.5 |
| This is some super easily digestible death-doom with hints of heavy metal. Sweet riffs and guitar tone, good production: I'm satisfied. Might be a grower. |
| Hope Drone Void Lustre | 3.5 |
| Hoplites Παραμαινομένη | 1.0 |
| Please try grindcore instead or disband immediately. |
| Hoppo Frogs & Diamonds | 2.5 |
| Horde Hellig Usvart | 4.0 |
| Horna Musta Kaipuu | 3.5 |
| Horna Hiidentorni (demo) | 3.0 |
| Horna Hengen tulet | 4.0 |
| 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 Askel Lähempänä Saatanaa | 3.5 |
| 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 Sanojesi Aarelle | 4.5 |
| 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 Sotahuuto | 4.0 |
| Another riff-fest. This album was very close to the early Darkthrone sound, and personally I really loved it! |
| Horna Pimeyden Hehku | 3.5 |
| Horna Kuolleiden Kuu | 4.0 |
| 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 Kun Synkkä Ikuisuus Avautuu | 2.0 |
| What the hell is this? It sounds like a totally different below average band... I'll pretend this never existed. |
| Horna Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Horna Perimä Vihassa Ja Verikostossa | 4.5 |
| 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 Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua | 4.0 |
| The perfect epitome how a second wave black metal album should sound. |
| Horna Haudankylmyyden Mailla | 3.0 |
| 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 Sudentaival | 4.0 |
| (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. |
| Horna Aania Yossa | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Horna Viha Ja Viikate | 3.0 |
| Horna Kuoleman Kirjo | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Horna / Peste Noire Horna / Peste Noire | 3.5 |
| Horna / Pure Split | 3.5 |
| Hornwood Fell Damno Lumina Nocte | 3.0 |
| Horrendous Idol | 2.5 |
| Horrendous Ontological Mysterium | 2.5 |
| Grumpy take: my interest was lost after "Chrysopoeia...". Why are these ratings so high? For example, "Exeg (en) esis" was so annoying! At least the runtime of this album was relatively short... yay. |
| Hostlov Perpetual Darkness | 3.5 |
| A bit samey, but it has some real banger songs! A pretty good early-Burzum clone. |
| Hostlov When Night Falls | 4.0 |
| Hostlov Til Sorg Tar Oss | 3.5 |
| Hour Of Thirteen Feast And Flame | 3.0 |
| Hour Of Thirteen A Knell Within The Crypt | 3.5 |
| Hovert Sol | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Howard Shore The Fellowship of the Ring | 5.0 |
| Howard Shore The Lord of the Rings: Complete Trilogy | 4.9 |
| Hulder Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry | 3.5 |
| Pretty cool black metal album, with some synths here and there and an overall demo-ish sound. Not enough clean singing though! |
| Human Tetris Memorabilia | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Hypothermia Självdestruktivitet född av monotona tankegångarIV | 4.0 |
| I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids Innocence | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| I Should've Been A Lighthouse Keeper You Will Be Forgotten | 3.0 |
| ian b. dead space demoes vol. 2 | 3.0 |
| I'm no expert in this type of music, but my dude Ian wrote some really nice beats (with ambient and techno vibes). Maybe some work on the vocals for fuller sound could help, but it is still good as it is! |
| Ibaraki Rashomon | 1.5 |
| Tagged as black metal and even death metal on bandcamp...? This was fucking embarassing. |
| Ice Golem Quest To The Ice Castle | 3.5 |
| Ignea Dreams Of Lands Unseen | 1.5 |
| Igorrr Savage Sinusoid | 3.0 |
| "So, what genre do you play guys?" ... Basically, YES. |
| Igorrr Spirituality and Distortion | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Ihsahn Ihsahn | 3.5 |
| Actually, it was pretty cool. Maybe a few times the flow was sacrificed for achieving "grander progressiveness" (=annoyance). But hey, since it happened just a few times, I can't complain because this is already better than how I feel about most of Ihsahn's solo albums. Oh and his clean singing was way better than his harsh vocals. |
| Ihsahn Ihsahn (Orchestral) | 4.0 |
| I daresay: this is the better version of the self-titled album. These themes worked much better this way. I believe Ihsahn should really consider writing film scores or something in the future, because this was really good! |
| Ikotka Порча | 4.0 |
| I was a bit sceptical at first, but after a few songs in it became clear: this slaps! Slumbery atmoblack with a quite post-black edge, and builds up a dark atmosphere. The 5. song was the album's absolute pinnacle, but generally it is enjoyable all the way through. A bit less reverb could have been good (I personally think it was a little bit too much from the "bathroom-effect"). Also this has the creepiest album cover of the year. |
| Illuminator In Ictu Oculi | 2.5 |
| Illusory Gates Dusk in the Old-Woods | 3.0 |
| Illyria The Carpathian Summit | 3.0 |
| Ilsa Corpse Fortress | 2.5 |
| Immolation Acts of God | 2.5 |
| This is pretty boring, ngl. I'm not familiar with the band at all, but this album didn't really impress me at all. Just some pretty regular death metal here that I will probably forget after a week. |
| Immortal Battles in the North | 4.0 |
| Immortal Pure Holocaust | 5.0 |
| Riffs cold as ice. |
| Immortal Sons of Northern Darkness | 4.8 |
| Immortal Blizzard Beasts | 3.5 |
| Immortal At the Heart of Winter | 4.9 |
| Immortal Damned In Black | 4.5 |
| Immortal Northern Chaos Gods | 4.0 |
| Slightly disappointed: half of the tracks are really great, and the others are just average. Not better than Abbath. |
| Immortal Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism | 4.0 |
| Immortal All Shall Fall | 4.0 |
| Immortal Immortal (Demo) | 2.0 |
| Immortal The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Immortal War Against All | 4.0 |
| A pretty consistent ("Wargod" is the only weak track here), energic riff-storm - just like expected. It's probably less melody-centric than Northern Chaos Gods was, but it feels more colorful and varied in return. The album starts with the classic late-Immortal styled fast riffages; then comes the mid-paced middle section with some outstandingly excellent songs (I'm thinking about the bit dissonant "No Sun", and the epic "Return To Cold" - the latter has synths in it!!!); and after a fully instrumental jam ("Nordlandhir"), the album delivers both some really energic fast songs ("Immortal"), or either epic, cold and "atmospheric" greatnesses ("Blashyrkh My Throne"). The production is well balanced, the guitars sound very beefy. And oh my God, we need more Immortal songs with synths!!! |
| Impaled Nazarene Latex Cult | 2.5 |
| 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 Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz | 4.0 |
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] | 4.0 |
| 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 Vigorous And Liberating Death | 3.5 |
| 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 Road to the Octagon | 3.0 |
| 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 Manifest | 2.0 |
| It has a very annoying production. Also, the lack of melodies and the overly repetitive vocals really killed the vibe pretty quickly. |
| Impaled Nazarene Suomi Finland Perkele | 4.0 |
| Impaled Nazarene Ugra-Karma | 3.5 |
| Impaled Nazarene Eight Headed Serpent | 3.5 |
| 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 Goat Of Mendes | 4.0 |
| Hyped. |
| Impaled Nazarene Rapture | 2.5 |
| Impaled Nazarene Nihil | 3.5 |
| 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... |
| Impaled Nazarene Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Impaled Nazarene All That You Fear | 3.0 |
| It's good for a listen. |
| Impaled Nazarene Pro Patria Finlandia | 2.5 |
| Impending Doom Baptized in Filth | 4.0 |
| Impending Doom Death Will Reign | 3.5 |
| Impending Doom Hellbent | 3.0 |
| Yeah, it was good. The second half was especially strong. |
| Imperium Dekadenz Into Sorrow Evermore | 3.5 |
| Willie said it all. Pretty good, but bit far from being excellent. |
| In Aphelion Moribund | 4.0 |
| Didn't hit that hard as some Necrophobic album do, but it's still a very a massively promising debut for the new band of two guitarists from the legendary blackened melodeath band. It's more of a black-heavy metal blend, but it does the trick: RIFFS. |
| In Autumnus Intrusiveless | 2.0 |
| Inferno (NO) Utter Hell | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Ingvarr The Hopeless Resistance Of Emberdrin's Army | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Howling Wind | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Winteridyll | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Till The Winter Comes Again | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Frozen Memories | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Bringer Of Cold Winter | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Dwelling In Frost | 2.5 |
| Inoriand The First Warm Day | 3.5 |
| Inoriand Wintermagick | 2.5 |
| Inoriand Touch Of Frost | 3.0 |
| Inoriand A World Frozen | 4.0 |
| Calm and ethereal - frosty dungeon drone just how I like it! Additionally, I think it is Inoriand's best so far. |
| Inquisition Veneration Of Medieval Mysticism And Cosmological | 1.0 |
| Just disband already. |
| Insomnium Anno 1696 | 3.5 |
| It's a very pleasant album, and sounded perfectly in the background while I was working. It doesn't have that much pinnacle points, the whole release feels really smoothly balanced all the way through, with just a few fillery points (but "The Unrest" acoustic song was definitely a filler, despite it sounds quite good). I liked "The Witch Hunt" the most, that song has an amazing flow. |
| Integrity/Krieg Split | 2.5 |
| Inter Arma Paradise Gallows | 3.5 |
| Alright, finally decided my rating. It's great but amazed me only a few times, so a rational 3.5 is what I feel fair. It was a nice rec-present from DDD, and I'll surely come back to this time to time. I especially loved when they went full Mastodon-mode! |
| Internal Rot Grieving Birth | 4.0 |
| Alright, this almost broke my neck... a very straight-forward massive riff-flow. Pure fury. |
| Internal Rot Mental Hygiene | 4.5 |
| Simply mad, super massive riff fest. Absolute grindcore [2] |
| Internazionale Elegy for the Victors | 4.0 |
| Irithyll The Foreshadowing | 3.5 |
| Irithyll Frozen in Time | 3.0 |
| It's a calm and easy listen, I found it particularly good whilst reading. |
| Iron Monkey 9-13 | 4.5 |
| Iron Monkey Spleen & Goad | 4.0 |
| Dirty ol' sludge for those days when you feel that you had enough. This is generally bit slower than their returning LP was (9-13), but the typical "Relapse effect" can be heard on the sound of this album too: it's massive and bity! |
| Iron Reagan The Tyranny Of Will | 4.5 |
| This is THE pinnacle of crossover thrash. Mega fun, mega riffs, mega energy. |
| Iron Reagan Crossover Ministry | 4.0 |
| Iron Reagan Worse Than Dead | 4.0 |
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! |
| Iron Reagan Dark Days Ahead | 3.5 |
| Iron Reagan/Gatecreeper Split | 3.5 |
| Isegrimm / Ornatorpet The Heathen Kingdom | 4.0 |
| 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 Høstmørke | 4.6 |
| Isengard Traditional Doom Cult | 3.5 |
| 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 Vinterskugge | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Isengard Vårjevndøgn | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Iskandr Vergezicht | 3.0 |
| When the folkier parts could shine, the album got that certain warm melancholic vibe as Ulver's Bergtatt does. However, the black metal parts didn't really offer that much excitement. It is still a pleasant album though! |
| Isole Anesidora | 2.5 |
| Izmor Лютовѣй | 3.5 |
| Jaaportit Kauan koskematon | 3.5 |
| Jackyl Jackyl | 3.5 |
| James Knott Tantamount | 3.0 |
| Jan Grunfeld Music for plants | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Jared Hart Past Lives & Pass Lines | 2.5 |
| Jess Williamson Sorceress | 2.0 |
| Jesus Piece ...So Unknown | 3.0 |
| It's OK. Didn't mind this "kick" next to my morning coffee, but this record couldn't really grab my attention on the long term. |
| Jim Hall and Pat Metheny Jim Hall & Pat Metheny | 4.0 |
| Jim Kirkwood Master of Dragons | 4.0 |
| Jim Kirkwood Where Shadows Lie | 4.0 |
| Jim Kirkwood Tower of Darkness | 4.0 |
| Jim Kirkwood Tenebrae-A Presence of Light | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Jinjer Micro | 2.0 |
| Jo Wandrini Governor Of The North | 3.5 |
| Joe Hisaishi Princess Mononoke | 4.8 |
| As Starchild2242 has already pointed out, it is impossible to entirely separate the movie and the soundtrack from each other, especially if we are talking about such a perfect creation. But this soundtrack is really special, as I felt an intense emotional touch from even the very-very beginning. Unforgettable experience. |
| Joe Hisaishi Pom Poko | 4.6 |
| Joe Hisaishi My Neighbor Totoro | 3.5 |
| Joe Hisaishi Spirited Away | 3.0 |
| Joe Hisaishi Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea | 3.0 |
| Joe Hisaishi Howl's Moving Castle | 3.5 |
| Joe Hisaishi The Wind Rises | 4.0 |
| Joe Hisaishi Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | 5.0 |
| The perfect sci-fi soundtrack. It was a really memorable and emotional, so I can't help myself and dropped a 5.0 on it, because I'M SO FUCKING BASIC, I KNOW. |
| Joe Hisaishi Kiki's Delivery Service | 2.5 |
| Joe Hisaishi Castle In The Sky | 2.5 |
| JOFI Lafcádio | 3.0 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 | 4.7 |
| John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton | 4.5 |
| John Williams Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back | 4.6 |
| John Williams Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope | 4.6 |
| John Williams Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi | 4.6 |
| Jon Hopkins Immunity | 4.0 |
| Jon Hopkins Music for Psychedelic Therapy | 3.5 |
| Lit and incense, lay/sit down and enjoy these frequencies. Jon Hopkins' latest offering is a very lovely, slow meditating album, building from excellent ethereal drones, vocals, pianos and samples. The title says it all. The only weaker part is the talk in "Sit Around The Fire", but that's just nitpicking from my side. |
| Jorvvik Jorvvik | 3.0 |
| Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 93 in D Major | 4.0 |
| Judas Iscariot Thy Dying Light | 4.6 |
| Judas Iscariot The Cold Earth Slept Below | 4.0 |
| Riffs cold as ice... |
| Judas Iscariot Heaven In Flames | 4.0 |
| Judas Iscariot To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding | 3.5 |
| Judas Iscariot Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotten | 4.0 |
| Judas Iscariot An Ancient Starry Sky | 3.0 |
| Judas Priest Invincible Shield | 3.0 |
| This was a pretty good one, but in the end I don't think it'll return to this one very often. It's good for a few listens, but it wasn't that fascinating for me. I admire their energy, and the fact that Judas Priest has released so many quality albums. Maybe a few pinnacles: "Gates of Hell" or "Escape From Reality" - I sensed some additional Ozzy and Europe "spices" in these songs, which is pretty cool, and these make them catchier. |
| Judas Priest Rocka Rolla | 4.0 |
| Vintage blues rock with bits of heavy metal - what's your problem? Oh boy, this album is so much fun! |
| Judas Priest Sad Wings of Destiny | 2.0 |
| Such an irritating album...! Without "Tyrant" and "Genocide" this would be just hot garbage. I don't care how influental it is. |
| Judas Priest Sin After Sin | 3.0 |
| Great and catchy Judas Priest album with some remnants of blues rock in their style. |
| Judas Priest Stained Class | 2.5 |
| Very samey, uninteresting album. The only thing I could remember that how much I hated that echo effect on Halford's vocals. |
| Judas Priest Killing Machine | 3.5 |
| So Judas Priest has learned a thing or two from Blue Öyster Cult, and it shows -- and it's a good thing!!! |
| Judas Priest British Steel | 3.5 |
| The biggest strength of this album is the catchiness. Simplier (slower) techniques, better guitar tone, no annoying high screams, etc. I don't mind the Queen-ish rock hymns like "United" too. |
| Jute Gyte Mitrealität | 2.0 |
| When you want to be experimental so badly, your music ends up as a barely listenable creation. At least it is better than Liturgy... |
| Kaleidoscope (UK) Tangerine Dream | 3.0 |
| Sweet psych pop/rock from '60s. Kinda "one-trick-pony" album with a handful of outstanding (brilliant, even!) songs. |
| Kalmah Kalmah | 3.5 |
| Great Finnish melodeath release, especially strong on vocals (...so powerful!). It felt a little bit long though, however that was quite counterbalanced with the perfect amount of folkish elements in it. Might be a grower? |
| Kalmankantaja Nostalgia I: Bones And Dust | 2.5 |
| Kalmankantaja Nostalgia II: My Kingdom | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Kanonenfieber Menschenmühle | 4.0 |
| Kaouenn On the Day of his Death... | 4.0 |
| Kaouenn Secrets of the Stone Circle | 4.0 |
| Karmiciel Wszy Torre Bert | 3.5 |
| Kasjchq / Siege Tower Split | 4.5 |
| Kataxu Hunger of Elements | 4.0 |
| Kataxu North | 4.5 |
| Extremly overlooked atmoblack greatness. Raw, very synth-dominant - that's how I like it. |
| Kate Bush Hounds of Love | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Kate Teague Kate Teague | 3.5 |
| Kathaaria The Complex Void of Negativity | 3.0 |
| 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! |
| Kathaaria To Be Shunned By All … As Centres Of Pestilence | 2.5 |
| Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the absolute mood-killer vocals on a black metal release. |
| Katie Shlon Play some songs to make the plants grow | 1.5 |
| Despite there is a great idea behind this, the album sounds terribly amateurish... |
| Kauan Ice Fleet | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Kawir Father Sun Mother Moon | 3.5 |
| Kawir Adrasteia | 3.5 |
| Kayo Dot Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike | 3.5 |
| When the vocals are not terribly annoying and totally out of place... it is actially a quite pleasant album. |
| Kekht Arakh Pale Swordsman | 4.6 |
| 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.rI'm really loving this. |
| Kekht Arakh Night & Love | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers | 2.0 |
| Kensington Vultures | 3.0 |
| Kensington Rivals | 3.0 |
| Kensington Control | 3.0 |
| Keygard Arboreal Swamp | 2.5 |
| Keygen Church ░█░█░░█░█░█░ | 4.0 |
| I guess ???????????? stands for "Chiptune Bach and industrial metal". This is amazing. |
| Keys of Orthanc Unfinished Conquests | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Keys of Orthanc Dush agh Golnauk | 4.0 |
| Keys of Orthanc A Battle in the Dark Lands of the Eye... | 4.0 |
| Keys of Orthanc Of The Lineage Of Kings | 1.5 |
| 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... |
| Khand The Sage of Witherthorn | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Khandra All Occupied by Sole Death | 2.5 |
| Another snoozefest post-black album. |
| Kharon (GR) Kharon | 2.5 |
| There is potential in this band, but we have to wait for it to bloom out. |
| Khemmis Deceiver | 4.0 |
| A dynamic and smoothly flowing heavy/doom record with occasional harsh vocals. A pleasant time guaranteed. |
| Khull Call to Arms | 3.5 |
| Pretty cool epic-ish dungeon synth album from the more neo-classical oriented vein of the genre. Not groundbreakingly good, but still delivers the desired vibe. |
| Kill Your Idols This Is Just the Beginning | 3.0 |
| This riffs. m/ The vocals kinda drags it down, though. |
| King Diamond The Dark Sides | 3.5 |
| King Diamond Abigail | 3.5 |
| King Diamond Fatal Portrait | 4.0 |
| Mega solid album. |
| King Diamond The Eye | 4.0 |
| A prodigious heavy metal album, with an interesting concept and fueled by excellent riffs and melodies. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Nonagon Infinity | 3.0 |
| 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? |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest | 3.5 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard L. W. | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava | 3.0 |
| It's OK. I mean, I could like this as background music when I'm out drinking with my friends; otherwise it's not that special. Cover art is sick though! |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Live in Sydney '21 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Butterfly 3000 | 2.5 |
| "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. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Live In Milwaukee ’19 | 4.0 |
| Very fun live recording! Great setlist, and the extra crispier sound of certain songs had a really good impact on the listening experience. Honestly, these guys sound actually better live. The thrash songs in the end were killerrrr, and generally all their older material became better in time. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Made in Timeland | 2.5 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard: The lo-fi dance / disco music album. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard K.G. | 3.0 |
| I had to re-rate and re-phrase my opinion about this... because it is actually quite good. It has some really forgettable/annoying tracks (*cough* Some of Us *cough*), but it has some excellent and clever compositions as well. Honey is especially interesting and surprisingly catchy. |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Omnium Gatherum | 4.0 |
| Connected by... the same weirdness. Omnium Gatherum is the Aussie chameleons' most diverse album so far, since there are no two songs in the same style after each other. Sometimes you can hear funky jams, sometimes their signature crazy garage-prog rock comes next, but in other times the album contains trip-hop(?) / weird '60s-'70s spirited psychedelic pop / (latin) jazz / rusty stoner-thrash metal songs too (Fuck yeah!). Interestingly, this massive diversity didn't hurt the album's flow at all, and even more interestingly: the almost one-and-a-half-hour-long runtime felt super light as well. Good time guaranteed, and a possible grower. (Give this a couple of spins, my dudes!) |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of... | 3.0 |
| Thrash metal for the lizardfolk? Hell yes, subscribed. (Turned out to be quite alright.) |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard The Silver Cord | 1.5 |
| Well. This is mostly just: EWWW. |
| Klaaromtesterven Psychological Pain | 2.0 |
| Klanen Coerced Into Desolate Eternity | 1.5 |
| Klanen Yours Is the Light by Which My Spirit Is | 3.5 |
| Finally a non-potato-kvlt release by this artist = basically the only listenable one, which is actually pretty cool. Sharp-sounding riffage, I wish more USBM bands could write something this potent. |
| Klanen I Command the Night to Fall | 2.0 |
| Klaneth Liberate The Moles | 2.5 |
| Klaus Schulze Moondawn | 3.5 |
| Klaus Schulze Trancefer | 4.0 |
| This is... wonderful! Complex, yet Trancefer has such a smooth and easy flow, and not to forget: the gorgeous sounds of a Yamaha CS-80 is your guide on this kosmische sonical voyage. Only one complaint: the runtime is too short! |
| Klyvr Dragon of King Evergreen | 1.5 |
| An improved dungeon synth session? No mastering? Tons of half assed tracks with shitty production? Get the f--- out of here... |
| Knell of Dawn We Are Made Of Stars | 3.5 |
| Knife Wizard Dark Mountain Peaks | 2.5 |
| Knight of Pluto Chamomile | 2.5 |
| Kobold (IT) The village in the frozen mountains | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Kommand (USA-WA) Savage Overkill | 2.5 |
| Korhadt demo 1 | 2.5 |
| Korhadt VTTCK | 4.5 |
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. |
| Kormorg Dungeon myths | 3.0 |
| Korog Mumus | 3.0 |
| Korpiklaani Jylhä | 2.0 |
| Quite literally unlistenable. |
| Korpituli The Ancient Spells Of The Past | 3.0 |
| Other than the title-track (which had really good riffs and notably great vocals), this album meant no more than just some mild entertainment. It is literally just "good" since it doesn't offer much excitement, but still riffs. |
| Kostnateni Oheň Hoří Tam, Kde Padl | 1.5 |
| This is not much better than what bullshitry a Liturgy release would contain. |
| Krallice Go Be Forgotten | 2.0 |
| Krallice Demonic Wealth | 3.0 |
| The only Krallice album I did not hate, which is: something. The synths are cool. |
| Krallice Crystalline Exhaustion | 2.5 |
| Not feeling this at all... Only the synths (=title track) saved it from a 2.0 rating. Terrible flow, doesn't feel coherent. |
| Krampusnacht Trinity : I - The Father | 2.0 |
| Krampusnacht Krampusnacht | 4.5 |
| Krampusnacht Superstar | 4.0 |
| Great album. But: not just Christmas songs - the self-titled was slightly better. |
| Krampusnacht Krampusferatu | 4.0 |
| Good to hear Krampus returned to the right path. Let us forget that awful trilogy, and enjoy the darkened Christmas melodies again. ("Coquito del Diablo" was really WTF track though. Latin music in DS?!) |
| Krampusnacht Trinity : II - The Son | 2.0 |
| Krampusnacht Trinity Part III : The Holy G.O.A.T | 2.0 |
| Kriegsmaschine Apocalypticists | 3.5 |
| The better Mgla and/or Deathspell Omega. At least this doesn't suck. |
| Krigere Wolf Infinite Cosmic Evocation | 3.5 |
| Kroda Навій схрон | 2.5 |
| Krolok Flying Above Ancient Ruins | 3.0 |
| Krolok Your Soul is Mine / Towards the Duskportals | 3.5 |
| Whenever I see Bla Lugosi on the cover = instant like. |
| Ksiezyc Ksiezyc | 4.0 |
| This could make a great soundtrack for a folk horror movie. Chilling, obscure and very original. |
| Kvelertak Meir | 4.8 |
| Kvelertak Kvelertak | 4.0 |
| Kvelertak Nattesferd | 2.5 |
| Kvelertak Splid | 3.0 |
| 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...). |
| Kvelertak Endling | 2.5 |
| It's definitely a Kvelertak album because the style is there, but the content is... just alright. I miss the anger and the edge from their music. "Fedrekult" was actually great, but bad songs like "Skoggangr" ruined it for me. |
| Kyvon Frozen Grimoire | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| L'Acephale L’Acephale | 3.5 |
Interesting album, but sometimes gets very boring. The last two songs are superb, I'd like to
hear more like those! |
| Labored Breath Dyspnea | 3.5 |
| Pretty good psychedelic black metal / drone mixture, in a Wormlust-alike style. The more melodic sections were really good additions to the overall soundscape, and it could elevate the listening experience. Pretty short work though, I'm curious what comes next. |
| Laetitia In Holocaust I Fall With the Saints | 3.5 |
| Great modern-sounding black metal EP. I really liked the overall sound the excellent riffs plus a pleasant production. Also bonus points for the stunning artwork. |
| Lamentation Grabens Symphonie | 4.0 |
| 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 Fullmoon Over Faerhaaven | 3.5 |
| Lamentation As Shadow Kingdom Comes To My Sight | 4.8 |
| Lamentation Eine Symphonie Der Nacht | 4.0 |
| Lamp of Murmuur Thunder Vigil and Ecstasy | 2.5 |
| Lamp of Murmuur Melancholy Howls in Ceremonial Penitence | 4.0 |
| You can find the full album here: http://mortuusinsomnis06.blogspot.com/2019/07/lamp-of-murmuur-melancholy-howls-in.html |
| Lamp of Murmuur Cursed Deambulations of the Nocturnal Entities | 3.5 |
| It was great, the artist behind LoM showed us he can write some really good dungeon synth if he wants to. |
| Lamp of Murmuur The Burning Spears Of Crimson Agony | 4.0 |
| One of the best BM releases I've heard this year. Great riffs, sweet production and a crispy overall sound. |
| Lamp of Murmuur Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Lamp of Murmuur Saturnian Bloodstorm | 3.5 |
| It's a very entertaining album, but not near as good as the main inspiration of this album was. But hey, I'll gladly jam any """tribute""" albums, if those can bring back the sound and the atmosphere of Battles In The North and At The Heart Of Winter! |
| Lana Del Rey Lust For Life | 1.5 |
| Lantlos .neon | 3.5 |
| This is cool. |
| Lantlos Lantlos | 3.0 |
| The first three songs didn't really impressed me, but 'Kalte Tage' and 'Ein' delivered exactly what I previously expected from this album. |
| Lares Towards Nothingness | 2.5 |
| Soundwise, this is the "most-2020-metal-album". The space theme is cool, otherwise this bored me. |
| Lathliss Demo II | 3.5 |
| Le Code White | 2.5 |
| Leander A Journey Lost to Time | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Legend of the Seagullmen Legend of the Seagullmen | 3.0 |
| Legion of the Damned The Poison Chalice | 4.0 |
| Bloody hell, this is MEGA! Absolute straight-forward thrash mixed with clear Vader-influences, and performed creatively! Not a single boring filler song, even! the song "Skulls Adorn the Traitor's Gate" is one of the best songs I've heard this year... feels like thrashy Immortal and the aforementioned Vader influences mixed into this banger thrash... I loved it! |
| LEM Twelve Who Stole The Rain | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Lichmagick Lichmagick | 3.5 |
| Licht des Urteils Demo 2019 | 4.0 |
| Life's Question A Tale of Sudden Love & Unforgettable Heartbreak | 4.0 |
| 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 Promo Rehearsal '95 | 3.0 |
| Limbonic Art Ad Noctum - Dynasty Of Death | 4.0 |
| Limp Bizkit Still Sucks | 3.5 |
| Guilty pleasure album of 2021? The first half is unironically pretty damn good, and the lyrics genuinelly made me laugh sometimes. All these + that certain nostalgia factor kinda sold it to me. |
| Linarian Sigil Promo 2020 | 2.5 |
| Lingua Ignota Caligula | 2.0 |
| Lingua Ignota SINNER GET READY | 1.5 |
| Hot garbage. Why'd you want to torture yourself with listening to this for 55 minutes? |
| Linkin Park Reanimation | 3.0 |
| Linkin Park Meteora | 4.0 |
| Linkin Park Hybrid Theory | 4.0 |
| Linkin Park One More Light | 1.5 |
| Liturgy Origin of the Alimonies | 1.0 |
| 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. | 1.0 |
| 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 | 1.0 |
| Liturgy Aesthethica | 1.0 |
| Liturgy As The Blood Of God Bursts The Veins Of Time | 1.0 |
| Living Colour Vivid | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Lobby Boxer Eugene's Preference | 3.0 |
| Loma Prieta Last | 1.5 |
| Disgustingly irritating on the vocal front, ruins the whole thing. Instrumentally I could vibe with it, but altogether... no thank you, I don't need this headache from this screamo bullshit. |
| Longsword Longsword | 3.0 |
| Longsword Longsword II | 2.0 |
| Longsword Longsword III | 1.0 |
| Lookfar Beyond the edge of the world | 1.5 |
| How the f*ck is this among the best selling dungeon synth albums? This was nonsense, barely enjoyable, disgustingly overrated. Pathetic attempt. |
| Lookfar Tales From The Disc | 2.5 |
| A very generous "average" on this one. Not that irritating as the previous one, but I can't understand why is it again a best-selling dungeon synth release... |
| Lord Bakartia The Final Boss | 4.0 |
| Very colorful release, which blends together the traits of the old-school and the modern era's style of dungeon synth, or even: sometimes it's more than dungeon synth!! (F.e.: electronic dance music influences and whatnot.) |
| Lord Einsamkeit A Most Certain Death | 3.0 |
| Lord Einsamkeit Ancient Oak | 2.5 |
| Lord Einsamkeit Intolerant Tyranny | 3.0 |
| Lord Einsamkeit Eternal Suffering | 3.0 |
| Lord Einsamkeit Ancient Oak Part II | 2.5 |
| Lord Lovidicus Autumnal Winds And Times Of Yore | 3.5 |
| Lord Mantis Death Mask | 3.5 |
| Ah~ this is filthy. Pretty heavy and unique, but I think it is not exactly my taste. I enjoyed it nonetheless. |
| Lord Moth Demo I | 2.5 |
| Lord Mountain The Oath | 3.5 |
| Pretty good debut, I enjoyed it! The groove is great, the mix is great (the bass sounds especially fantastic), the vocal style was also great (really similarly to Ozzy's style in the early Black Sabbath records, but lower). However, it was a bit short for my preferences and maybe some more experimental jams could have made this record more colorful (like "Planet Caravan" was back then). |
| Lord of Pagathorn Age of Curse | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Lord Orots Latzineko Erresumaren Itzulera | 3.0 |
| Lord Rashnak Castle Of The Nameless King | 2.0 |
| Lord Wolf Darklands Of Hate | 4.0 |
| Lore Liege A Break In A Harsh Storm | 2.0 |
| Lorgren Benirus Tome of Unlife | 4.0 |
| Lorna Shore Pain Remains | 2.0 |
| The concept of doing something as "sympho-blackened-deathcore" doesn't sound so bad, but holy shit, the production on this record is fucking disgusting! Especially this plastic drum sound makes me wanna puke. Not to mention, the record feels a bit one-dimensional. |
| Loth Apocryphe | 2.5 |
| Lothric Adversarial Light | 3.5 |
| Lothringen Penance and Spear | 1.5 |
| That's how do NOT make old-school dungeon synth. |
| Lovi Kirmukarmu | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Lucifer (DE) Lucifer V | 3.0 |
| Very well written and performed heavy/doom/hard rock album (yeah, all that once). Personally I wasn't that hooked by it, but I admit it's a good one. I think I have identified a few melodies which was inspired by Europe, which is nice. |
| Lugburz (ESP) Behind the Gates of Black Abyss | 4.0 |
| Magical, a forgotten gem. Behind the Gates of Black Abyss is an absolutely epic very early dungeon snyth/neoclassical album, outstandingly 'colorful' both in sound and themes. I really liked the well placed vocals on this release too, which is kinda like a mixture of Summoning's simplistic black metal shrieks and Windir's battle hymns (clean singing, obviously). |
| Lumiere Pieśni Miłosne i Żałobne | 3.0 |
| Lumiere Jaskółczy Niepokój | 4.0 |
| Calm and mellow, droney, and the field recordings are perfectly placed and aren't over-used. |
| Lunacy (US) Melancholic Invocations | 3.0 |
| Nice atmoblack/black album, this band has some potential. |
| Lunar Spells Demise of Heaven | 4.0 |
| Greetings, "Carelian Satanist Madness 2.0", haha! While it offers basically nothing new, it's still one marvelously well-written raw (melodic) black metal album. It as everything I need: infinite replay value, punkish energy and a mystical atmosphere. " Damnation of the Heavenly Sun" gives me the goosebumps on every listen! |
| Lunar Spells Where Silence Whispers | 4.0 |
| Super strong debut album from the "Greek Satanic Warmaster band". |
| Lunar Womb The Sleeping Green | 4.5 |
| Lurid Orb Folded Visions | 2.0 |
| Lustre (SWE) A Glimpse of Glory | 3.0 |
| Lycanthropic Depression On Wings of Bats | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Lycanthropus Lycanthropus | 4.0 |
| Lye The Imprisoned Plague Dance | 3.0 |
| Lykotonon Promethean Pathology | 4.0 |
| I'll try my best to summarize what to expect from this exceptionally diverse and weird (in the best way) record: Novices of Dodheimsgard (think of their trance-infused monster, 666 International) and Blut Aus Nord and Wormlust (for the slower kind of psychedelic black metal). Haunting riffs, odd time signatures, weird additional rhythmical elements which often include hard techno and industrial synth sequences, vibrating noises and whatsoever... oh, and oriental melody sections too here and there! Imagine these all at once! Potential grower. |
| Macabre Omen The Ancient Returns | 4.5 |
| Yes, this is EPIC! Riffs on fire, melody overdose, triumphant yet sinister atmosphere: this is an absolute win. This is like a viking-era Bathory mixed with Rotting Christ and Immortal, also with some early Burzum vocals. |
| Macabre Omen Gods Of War - At War | 3.5 |
| This is great stuff, but I enjoyed the debut lot-lot more. "Alexandros - Ode B" is one of the band's shiniest masterpieces, though. |
| Macabre Omen Anamneses | 4.0 |
| Excellent compilation, even though the demo songs in the middle are not that polished. However, the epic start and finish of this releases counterbalances them, and all-in-all: satisfactory guaranteed. This is epic! |
| Machine Head The Blackening | 2.0 |
| Madball Hardcore Lives | 3.5 |
| Madball Set It Off | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Magic Moss Volume 1 | 4.0 |
| 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 The Serpent Rings | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Magnum Lost on the Road to Eternity | 4.0 |
| Magusai Roy Bowers Servitor Magusai Roy Bowers Servitor | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Majestic Mass Savage Empire of Death | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Majesty of Oceans The Pelagic Eternal Light | 2.0 |
| Make a Change...Kill Yourself Make a Change...Kill Yourself | 3.5 |
| At first it seemed like a very standard DSBM album, but it has some extra elements here and there (like female vocals, good "phase out" synth sections etc.) which makes it a bit more memorable. The atmosphere is there, I feel terrible. |
| Make a Change...Kill Yourself Fri | 4.0 |
| Top-quality DSBM. Perfectly balanced: crushing and melancholic riffing, ghastly ambience, tortured vocals and fitting production. |
| Maladia Demo | 3.0 |
| Malauriu Morte | 3.5 |
| Strong release - from the beginning to the end. Sadly, it's way too short... |
| Maletum Reckless Age | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Malfet Alban Arthan | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Another fine piece of dungeon synth which should have been known for many. |
| Malfet The Way to Avalon | 4.0 |
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. |
| Malignant Altar Realms of Exquisite Morbidity | 3.0 |
| It's alright, some fairly good riffs, but the album's biggest strength was its murky and rusty atmosphere. Definitely not bad, yet it got pretty samey after a while despite the ambient sections were perfectly placed. |
| Malokarpatan Krupinské Ohne | 3.5 |
| 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). |
| Malokarpatan Vertumnus Caesar | 3.5 |
| Simply great fusion of heavy metal and (quite atmospheric) black metal. There were certain parts I really liked, but I don't think if I'd return to this very often. |
| Mammoth Grinder Cosmic Crypt | 3.0 |
| Manilla Road Crystal Logic | 4.0 |
| Mannveira Vitahringur | 4.0 |
| Jaws dropped. A really heavy and disturbing album, yet another excellent creation from Iceland. Generally this sounds like the faster sibling of Andavald's masterfully executed debut - but this is not as emotional and shocking. However Vitahringur is an excellent dissonant and wild sonical experience, and deserves some more recognition. |
| Manowar Highlights from the Revenge of Odysseus | 1.0 |
| Extremly blunt, forced and sloppy cinematic-want-to-be piece of crap. I want my 15 minutes back. |
| Marblebog Kietlen | 3.5 |
| Rather slow and melancholic, 'Kietlen' is a pretty good BM release with obvious early-Burzum influences. |
| Marblebog Csendhajnal | 2.5 |
| Marblebog Ermitus | 3.0 |
| 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... |
| Marduk Frontschwein | 4.0 |
| Marduk Dark Endless | 4.0 |
| A super massive BM/DM cross album. Fantastic sound and the finest riffs - a true gem from the early '90s. |
| Marduk Panzer Division Marduk | 4.0 |
| Blink twice and you'll miss half of the album. Truly a black metal album on speed. |
| Marduk World Funeral | 4.0 |
| This death metal production really suits Marduk's style. I can't help it, I always prefer mid-tempo slaying riffs over the ultra-fast second wave assaults. However, if a band can fuse these two together in a release: that's a winner combo. |
| Marduk Plague Angel | 3.0 |
| Especially good on vocal front (new vocalist, Mortuus) which sometimes gets really Aldrahn-ish here and there, which is quite an achievement. More slower, mid-tempo riffs are really great, but I kinda miss the death metal production from World Funeral. This could have been on the same level in quality or even better(?) |
| Marduk Rom 5:12 | 2.5 |
| Marduk Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered | 4.0 |
| (Purple album cover always indicates excellent material!) Fast, straight-forward, moderately melodic and invokes a certain evil atmosphere (...it even contains a Mussorgsky sample!). Delivers exactly what I'm always looking for in black metal. |
| Marduk Opus Nocturne | 4.0 |
| Very solid trve old-school black metal release with near infinite replay value. The fast paced songs pretty much sound like if they'd be taken from an early Immortal album - and I love that. Nothing to complain about here, this is a perfectly executed album. |
| Marduk Those of the Unlight | 4.9 |
| The classic Swedish black metal album. |
| Marduk Here's No Peace | 4.5 |
| Now, this is what I call a forgotten gem! Starts with an interesting intro with a really Filosofem-alike vibe, then two bangers from the Dark Endless LP, but with black metal production (I loved it). The two Bathory covers in the end are also great (even though "In Conspiracy With Satan" is quite meh song in general), especially "Woman Of Dark Desires", which sounds more agressive this way - really Mardukian! |
| Marduk Serpent Sermon | 3.0 |
| Not bad, but very-very unbalanced record. Like "Temple of Decay" or "World of Blades" feels soooooo much better than the rest of the album. |
| Marduk Memento Mori | 2.5 |
| Very mid. It's pretty much like a weaker descendant of Frontschwein. It bears the typical Mardukian traits, and has its moments - like the Sear Bliss-like brass in "Blood Of The Funeral", the slow and melodic part in "Charlatan", or the slower marching "As We Are". But the rest? Very uninteresting, uninspired, hollow. Same ol' riffs with super fast blast beats (ahem, Panzer Division Marduk) simply cannot satisfy me anymore. |
| Mare Cognitum Solar Paroxysm | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Marillion Fugazi | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Marilyn Manson Heaven Upside Down | 2.5 |
| Markarth Am Main Der Letzte Kreuzzug | 1.5 |
| Marrasmieli Between Land And Sky | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Marsyas Zskin Echo and Narcissus | 1.5 |
| There is a few good tracks in this one, but the most of it sounds just like some randomly sequenced nonsense. |
| Marthe Further In Evil | 2.0 |
| "D-beat, Bathory, Crust" - these tags on Bandcamp are fucking LIES. It's a mix of distorted heavy/doom riffs, post punk-ish (quite goth) drums, and very tiring and weak black metal shrieks. It's mixed quite well, but it's pretty boring. |
| Mary Lattimore Goodbye, Hotel Arkada | 3.5 |
| It was a great surprise for me, but I totally fell in love with the vibe of this release. It's a quite minimalistic, harp-driven ambient release with very gentle choruses in it (without any lyrics). Ethereal, dreamy and not really droney -- so it was quite good background music for me. |
| Massacre From Beyond | 4.0 |
| 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 Saints Dispelled | 2.5 |
| Sounds good, but bores me to death. |
| Master Boot Record C:\>DEFRAG | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Master's Hammer Jilemnický Okultista | 3.5 |
| 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 Cold Dark Place | 4.5 |
| Mastodon Emperor of Sand | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Once More 'Round the Sun | 3.5 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Medium Rarities | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Mastodon Hushed and Grim | 3.0 |
| Well, it is definitely a Mastodon album. Shame I found it only momentarily captivating, most of the songs just flew by. |
| Matt Elliott Farewell to All We Know | 2.5 |
| 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 Deathcrush | 4.8 |
| Mayhem Out from the Dark | 4.5 |
| Mayhem Live in Leipzig | 4.5 |
| Mayhem Grand Declaration of War | 4.8 |
| Mayhem Ordo ad Chao | 2.0 |
| Mayhem Chimera | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Wolf's Lair Abyss | 4.5 |
| Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Psywar | 3.5 |
| Mayhem European Legions | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Life Eternal | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Esoteric Warfare | 3.5 |
| Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Pure Fucking Armageddon | 3.0 |
| Mayhem Deathrehearsal | 2.5 |
| Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive | 4.5 |
| Mayhem Henhouse Recordings | 4.5 |
| Mayhem Daemon | 4.0 |
| Mayhem Live in Zeitz | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Mayhem Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando | 3.5 |
| It was pretty fun. The first part was a pretty logical continuation of Daemon, and the punk side brought more speed into the whole thing. It was gret to hear Maniac and Billy again, both of them sounded great! |
| Mayhem Daemonic Rites | 2.5 |
| Ever since De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive has been released, basically there is no point releasing a live album like this. Straight recording with a unpleasant dull sound, which makes it powerless/punchless. |
| Mayhemic Truth Cythraw | 4.0 |
| Savage, raw but melodic and enchanting: the first proper release by Mayhemic Truth (later: Morrigan) is a respectful nod towards the Bathory legacy. This feels like if the black metal and the viking era would be mixed together. So uh, it's "raw viking metal?" All I know is: I love it. |
| Mayhemic Truth In Memoriam | 3.5 |
| Two releases compiled to one: their demo from '96 with the Cythraw EP, and there is no surprise how it turned out: the demo materials are definitely not that good, even though they contain some cool Bathory-esque moments, but the EP side clearly outshines everything else. Shame they didn't re-wrote everything for a complete album. |
| Mayhemic Truth R.I.P. | 2.5 |
| Just a forgettable compilation of some moderately melodic raw black metal songs. Not much of Bathory-esque elements here. |
| Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell | 2.0 |
| Medieval Rites Attila the Hun | 2.5 |
| Medieval Rites Norse Mythology: A Viking Saga | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Medieval Rites Prologue | 4.0 |
| Fief fans, assemble! This fills me with great joy. Beautiful and relaxing medieval ambient release. |
| Medieval Rites Epic Viking Battle | 3.0 |
| Not that epic, but still a nice bunch of medieval-inspired "battle" tracks. |
| Medieval Rites The Celtic Tavern | 3.0 |
| I expected more positive vibes. Not really tavern music... |
| Medieval Steel The Dungeon Tapes | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Mefitis Offscourings | 2.5 |
| 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 Rust in Peace | 4.8 |
| Megadeth Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Countdown to Extinction | 4.0 |
| Megadeth So Far, So Good... So What! | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Dystopia | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Super Collider | 2.5 |
| Megadeth United Abominations | 2.5 |
| Megadeth Cryptic Writings | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Risk | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Megadeth Youthanasia | 4.0 |
| Megadeth The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! | 2.0 |
| This has no charm. Maybe just a few great songs here and there, but generally what I felt during listening: "man, do I really have to listen to this all the way through?" |
| Memoriam Rise to Power | 3.0 |
| OK-tier background-music death metal (lyrically ultra boring -- thanks to the tons or repetitive lines). I doubt if I'll ever return to this for just a handful of great riffs. |
| Men I Trust Oncle Jazz | 4.0 |
| Menace Ruine Cult of Ruins | 3.0 |
| Merciless The Awakening | 4.0 |
| 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"? |
| Mercury Rev Yerself Is Steam | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Mercyful Fate Don't Break the Oath | 4.0 |
| Mesarthim The Density Parameter | 3.0 |
| Meshuggah I | 3.5 |
| Meshuggah obZen | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah Immutable | 3.0 |
| Well, this was a Meshuggah album for sure, but to be honest: Milo's review is far more enjoyable than the album itself. Not bad, but I doubt if I ever want to give this a re-listen. Minus points for the disastrous album cover. |
| Metal Church Blessing in Disguise | 4.0 |
| Bangers after bangers...impressive!! Songs like "Of Unsound Mind" should be listed among the best heavy metal songs ever. (That particular one radiates totally a "Painkiller"-like energy, similar even, but released just a year earlier!) |
| Metallica The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited | 3.5 |
| Metallica S&M2 | 2.5 |
| Tbh, this sounds pretty good without Metallica. It's good for one listen, but it is the most unnecessary release of 2020. |
| Metallica Creeping Death | 4.0 |
| Metallica Six Feet Down Under Part II | 2.5 |
| Metallica Freeze 'Em All: Live in Antarctica | 2.0 |
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 ...And Justice for All | 3.5 |
| Metallica No Life 'til Leather | 4.5 |
| Metallica Beyond Magnetic | 3.0 |
| Metallica Some Kind of Monster | 2.0 |
| Metallica The Unnamed Feeling | 2.0 |
| Metallica Six Feet Down Under | 1.5 |
| Metallica Live at Grimey's | 2.5 |
| Metallica Garage Inc. | 4.0 |
| One of the few Metallica albums which actually matters. Great jamz. |
| Methadone Skies Different Layers of Fear | 4.0 |
| Mgla Exercises in Futility | 2.5 |
| Mgla Age of Excuse | 3.0 |
| Well, this is: ... ... ... ... ... standard black metal. |
| MHOR Vichr v haluzích | 3.0 |
| Midieval Midieval | 3.5 |
| Midnight Farewell to Hell | 3.0 |
| Heavy great riffs and all, but this is rather forgettable than revolutionary. |
| Midnight Odyssey Forest Mourners | 3.5 |
| Pretty good atmoblack release. More or less reminded me to Summoning and to the early Xasthur releases. |
| Midnight Odyssey Biolume Part 3 - A Fullmoon Madness | 4.5 |
| That's how you write a gigantic atmoblack album, everyone! It's not flawless though... sometimes the clean vocals were truly horrible... that's why you should skip the album opener "As Darkness Dims The Fire" entirely! (It's like Tom G. Warrior's lifetime mistake: Cold Lake.) The rest is beyond excellent! (Okay, "As One We Grow, As One We Fall" has some quite bad clean vocal sections too.) |
| Midnight Odyssey Echoes Of A Celestial Ruin | 2.5 |
| Midnight Odyssey / Aeon Winds Aeon Odyssey | 3.5 |
| Very nice split, both parts sound great! Perhaps I liked side Aeon Winds a bit more, especially their cover of "Journey Across the Stars" was my favourite. |
| Mightiest Whatever Ground We May Roam | 4.5 |
| This is probably the one of the best black metal demos I've ever heard. Diverse, heavy, epic. |
| Mightiest & Depressive Silence Recreation of the Shadowlands | 4.0 |
| Mimico It's Dead | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Minenwerfer Feuerwalze | 4.0 |
| This is crazy good. Super fast and agressive black metal (remember Panzer Division Marduk?), but also this comes with tons of screaming guitar solos (yes, I'd say very Slayer-ish). Despite the rather simple formula, this record feels pretty diverse, and uses just a small amount of samples. Feuerwalze slaps an insane amount of massive riffs into your face! |
| Minenwerfer Alpenpässe | 4.9 |
| Absolutely phenomenal record. 50-50% melodic post-black and ultra fast blast beat-fueled "Mardukian" warfare. I think they perfectly captured the feelings of both the glory, and the crushing terror of The Great War on this album, and created a flawlessly immersive experience. I can't say anything just praises: gorgeous production, perfect amount of samples, the artwork, and yeah: these riffs and bass lines are on fire! Meisterwerk. |
| Minneriket Gjennom Meg Går Ingen Til Hvile | 2.5 |
| I'm not really feeling this. It's cheesy but definitely not my favourite type. |
| Mirkwood (AUT) Demo | 4.0 |
| Mirthquell Return of the Ancients | 4.5 |
| I'm in tears of pure joy (I mean, literally). A dungeon synth greatness for sure, with a perfectly apt title. "Return of the Ancients" resurrects that specific epic and enchanting magic what Depressive Silence and Burzum conjured to this world in the '90s. By this wonderful creation, Mirthquell continued the tradition and blended just the necessary amount of modern elements into this album. And the results is a joyful and magical journey on the frequencies of high fantasy. |
| Miscreance Convergence | 3.0 |
| Quite alright. The instrumental side is pretty cool, sometimes I felt "lost" though since some technical parts broke the flow for me, but nothing serious, and I have wooden ears for tech. However, the vocals (oh damn) are soooo boring in a really mood-killer way!! Not a big fan, but at least the cover art is a solid 9/10. |
| Misertus Outland | 3.5 |
| Misotheist For the Glory of Your Redeemer | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Misthyrming Söngvar elds og óreiðu | 4.0 |
| This is good album. The riffs are fire, and the ambient interludes gave more depth to this creation. This deserves a better production, though. |
| Misthyrming Með hamri | 4.5 |
| Monstrous and evil. Misthyrming's dissoblack meets Mayhem's melodicity and Marduk's "martial" rhythmicity. Me hamri is pretty much the "dark horse" of the year. I believe it's amazing to witness the uprise of the Icelandic scene in the past few years, and Misthyrming has proved here that they are in their prime. |
| Mithridatum Harrowing | 3.5 |
| Finally some disso-black/death I can dig! It has great flow (=not annoyingly technical) and very consistent. Very impressive debut! |
| Mizmor Cairn | 3.5 |
| Moaning Shadows From The Darkest Heritage (EP) | 3.5 |
| Moaning Shadows Between the Lines | 3.5 |
| Mol Diorama | 3.0 |
| It is... enjoyable. At first I thought this is something like listening to Sunbather and New Bermuda together, but in the end the satisfaction factor was a bit dulled. Diorama is a really well-played blackgaze album without sounding the exact same way like most other bands do. It offers a good listen, but it didn't affect me so much. |
| Molder Engrossed in Decay | 3.0 |
| Strong old Obituary-esque death metal - which inherently would be a good thing, but to be honest this felt a bit overlong, and lacks some "kick" here and there. |
| Molis Sepulcrum Left For The Worms | 4.0 |
| Crushing and ultra thick-sounding OSDM. Impressive debut, and these guys slay live! |
| Mondfinsternis Lokabrenna | 4.0 |
| 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* |
| Monolord Your Time to Shine | 4.5 |
| Beautiful album, probably the finest stoner/doom record this year. The balance between the heaviness and the smooth melodies is true masterwork. |
| Monosymbiosis 1 | 3.5 |
| Slow, dense, deep and sinister. Very good horror drone! |
| Monster Magnet A Better Dystopia | 2.5 |
| This is not really good... It was a fun idea though. |
| Moon Panda What on Earth | 3.0 |
| Ultra chill, slow and groovy. 10/10 would jam this in a bar. |
| Mooncitadel Moon Calls to Wander the Winter's Majesty | 3.5 |
| Mooncitadel Night's Scarlet Symphonies | 4.5 |
| Meloblack done right. Fascinating riffages, epic and a little bit folkish atmosphere. Honestly I can barely find the words to describe this, since it's not revolutionary at all, simply just incredibly well-written. |
| Moongates Guardian Cold Waters Of Anduin | 2.5 |
| Moonless Nights In Old Chambers Of Castle Wewelsburg (Album) | 4.0 |
| Moonless Nights In Old Chambers Of Castle Wewelsburg | 3.5 |
| Moonless Nights Reaching for divinity | 3.0 |
| Moonlight Sorcery Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle | 4.7 |
| An extremly melodic sympho-black metal album, which runs on high tempo and delivers crazy solos (and so many of them!) and some proggy experiments (see the beginning of "Y?nsilm?", for example). This album is full of stimuli and shreds down your pants! Finnish meloblack meets power metal, and it feels good. One of the greatest surprises of the year. |
| Moonlight Sorcery Nightwind: The Conqueror From The Stars | 3.0 |
| Sick songwriting, but horrible drum sound. |
| Moonlight Sorcery Piercing Through the Frozen Eternity | 4.0 |
| Brilliant EP, excellent material all the way through. The synth intro is my personal favourite moment on it! |
| Moonsorrow Suden uni | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Moonsorrow Jumalten aika | 4.0 |
| Mora Prokaza By Chance | 2.5 |
| 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 December Moon | 4.6 |
| Morbid / Mayhem A Tribute To The Black Emperors | 4.0 |
| An essential compilation album which immortalizes Per Yngve Ohlin/Dead's works. Even though this is an extremly bootlegged release, it's still the most precise collection of this set of songs from the best and trvest vocalist in black metal. |
| Morbid Angel Altars of Madness | 2.5 |
| This really bores me. |
| Morbid Carnage Glory To Satan Soldiers | 3.5 |
| Morbid Saint Spectrum of Death | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Massive, groovy Finnish death metal - this album does not disappoint! |
| Morbific Squirm Beyond The Mortal Realm | 4.0 |
| Bloody hell, just go to a studio already! This screams for a re-recording, because it's one of the tastiest death metal albums I've heard all year. Groovy and punchy riffs, just as melodic as expected from a Finnish band, BUT this lo-fi production annoys me A LOT! I'm very curious what they'll deliver next time, because this band is very good. Such an underrated gem. |
| Morbus Chron Sweven | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Morcolac Drawbridge To Citadel Of No More Dawn | 3.5 |
| I wasn't entirely convinced at first, but when the cover of "The Chant Of Barbarian Wolves" arrived~ Solid atmoblack, but it feels very "digital" and overprocessed. |
| Morgal Nightmare Lord | 3.0 |
| It is a quite fun rippingly fast black metal album. The riffs are great, but the overall album lacks some "fantasy". It gets very samey after a few tracks. |
| Mork Eremittens Dal | 3.5 |
| Mork Katedralen | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Mork Dypet | 3.0 |
| It's good. I bet these song slay live, but I expected a bit more from these guys. |
| Morketsvind Forest Ride | 4.0 |
| Morketsvind Wandering to Nether World | 3.0 |
| Morketsvind Storhet av Morke | 3.5 |
| Super fun D-beat EP with a little touch of dungeon synth. 100% garascore. |
| Morrigan Anwynn | 4.0 |
| Tastiest viking-era Bathory worship I've heard quite a while. Epic, atmospheric, and every Bathory aesthetical factor is present (even the not-so-great-but-oddly-charming clean vocals too, lol). Impressive stuff, the riffs are especially strong, but I loved those diabolical harsh vocals, like what you can hear in "Blind Witch". |
| Morrigan Plague, Waste and Death | 3.5 |
| Behold Blood Fire Death 2.0. Like two siblings, really: harsh and aggressive black metal fused with escapist and epic viking metal compositions. Maybe copying the main riff of "A Fine Day To Die"'s was a bit bold move, but the second half of the album dispels all negative aspects of it. "Where The Angels Keep Silence" is a solid masterpiece! |
| Morrigan Enter the Sea of Flames | 2.5 |
| Disappointing, pretty "soulless" release without any pinnacles or memorable moments. + The production is ass. |
| Morrigan Celts | 4.0 |
| The entire album is a huuuge jam! Riffs after riffs, very cool on the vocal front (Beliar really nailed the shrieks, they sounded like they were taken from any of the early Bathory records). Highlight: "Through the Halls of Ice". It's so simple, yet so great song! |
| Morrigan Headcult | 5.0 |
| Flawless record: bombastic riffs surrounded by an epic, vitalizing and uplifting atmosphere. The grittier and "opalesque" production is not an issue here, since it perfectly serves its purpose: it's a black/viking metal after all. Hell, I daresay: this is on the same level with the best Bathory releases! This records makes me feel strong, triumphant - while it also evokes sometimes the "dark" essence of albums like Under the Sign of the Black Mark, but sometimes (mostly due to the clean vocals and choruses) it bears quite folk/post-black marks too - it's hard to describe. All in all: this is a shiny forgotten gem. |
| Morrigan The Damned | 3.0 |
| Far-far more in the vein of "classic" black metal than the viking line. It's not bad, but not great either. A good listen for one or two times, but it I could hardly maintain my attention while listening to this one. |
| Morrigan Welcome to Samhain | 2.5 |
| A 100% (quite raw) black metal album from Morrigan. I could just copy-and-paste my opinion on the R.I.P. compilation by their Mayhemic Truth era: it's a quite forgettable, somehow melodic release. Plus, the opener "We Are Possessed" was a quite painful experience. |
| Morrow (UK) The Quiet Earth | 2.5 |
| This was a very underwhelming and quite forgettable release... I pass. |
| Mors Certa The Ever-Turning Wheel | 3.0 |
| Mort Garson Mother Earth's Plantasia | 5.0 |
| Mortiis Blood And Thunder | 3.5 |
| Mortiis Spirit of Rebellion | 2.5 |
| High hopes - big disappointment. Come on Mortiis, that's all...? |
| Mortiis Født til å Herske | 4.0 |
| Mortiis The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost | 3.0 |
| Mortiis Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør | 4.0 |
| Mortiis The Stargate | 4.5 |
| Mortuary Drape All the Witches Dance | 3.0 |
| Moss Golem The Woods of Galdura | 1.5 |
| Serpent?s Sword Records nowadays just puts out the same stuff under different names...and gets away with it. Awful vocals also. |
| Motorpsycho The All Is One | 3.0 |
| Moukeprabbeli Bogs And Frogs And Nightly Fog | 3.5 |
| 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... | 3.5 |
| Moulderyawn / Robes of Snow When the Last Forest Has Died | 2.0 |
| "Let us maximalize the volume on the vocal channel and put everything in the background, people love lo-fi screams the most anyway." Especially I felt this way at Moulderyawn's half, as it was extremly annoying (and the paper thin production didn't help it either). Robes of Snow sounded generally better, but those two songs also suffered from the overuse of vocals. In addition, the whole split feels really uninspired and mostly unmemorable. The closer dungeon synth / medieval ambient song saved the release from being a total mess, but it can't compensate the bad impression. |
| Mountain Warlock Malefic Wizardy | 2.5 |
| Mournful Moon ...As Shadows Fall Over Zenitheaen | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Mr. Bungle California | 3.5 |
| Entertaining album, for sure. I get it why do people *love* it, but that's why I "just like it". Playful and exciting, but maybe it's a bit too much at once. I can totally see myself returning to this time to time, but it won't become a regular jam for me. |
| Muknal CN-22 | 3.0 |
| Pretty standard blackened death metal. |
| Mulla جن | 3.5 |
| I dig this exotic / Eastern take, and in general this album has an interesting atmosphere. Raw and angry and has surprisingly cool bass lines. The stunning artwork caught my interest, and I'm glad I stayed for a complete listen. |
| Mulla الاصابة | 4.0 |
| Oh yes, probably the best anti-islamic black metal release so far. It's raw (but far-far-far more polished than their previous album - I daresay, it has a quite post-black-alike sound), energic (agressive, straight-forward black metal), and still, pleasantly spiced with oriental melodies: yeah, this is definitely a Mulla record, and we need more stuff like this. |
| Mullbeck The Boy And The Demon | 3.0 |
| It was alright, but projects like Fiendish Imp are far better in this style of dungeon synth. |
| Municipal Waste Hazardous Mutation | 4.0 |
| Municipal Waste The Art of Partying | 3.5 |
| Municipal Waste Slime and Punishment | 3.5 |
| Municipal Waste The Last Rager | 4.0 |
| Municipal Waste Electrified Brain | 4.0 |
| The boys are back on top, hell yeah! This is easily on the same level with Hazardous Mutation (which is their very best, imo). The production is great (ultra balanced mixing), and Ryan's riffs will please even the old-schooler thrash maniacs too. |
| Murgrind Inheritor of the Forest Throne | 4.0 |
| Murgrind The Power of Yourself (EP) | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| Mutiilation Black Millenium (Grimly Reborn) | 4.0 |
| Mutiilation Vampires of Black Imperial Blood | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| This was pretty bad at the beginning, but it got drastically better from the second half of the album. |
| Mutiilation Majestas Leprosus | 2.5 |
| Mycologia Assorted Mushrooms of New England | 4.5 |
| 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 Juniper | 3.0 |
| Myrkur Mareridt | 3.5 |
| Myrkur M | 3.0 |
| Myrkur Folkesange | 4.5 |
| 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! |
| Myrkur Ragnarok (Original Soundtrack) | 3.5 |
| I'd be really curious how it'd match to that theater play it was written for, but half of the album (the metal songs, like the epic viking metal track "Krigersang") is great on its own. The ambient pieces felt more like unnecessary fillers if we rate this release as a standalone album, but if we focus on its strengths, then I'd say it's one of the best things Myrkur has ever released. Write more viking metal stuff, please!! |
| Myrkur Spine | 3.0 |
One of the ugliest artwork of the year... [*disgruntled noises*]
The album itself is actually pretty nice, however I think some songs are kinda like "fillers" to give it a longer runtime (e.g. "My Blood Is Gold"). It's a bit shame to admit: two of the already released singles were the pinnacles of the album ("Like Humans", and especially "Valkyriernes Sang") - but sadly, even these are not flawless...damn, why was it good to ruin certain parts with those loud and lame blast beats?! However, songs like "Blazing Sky" and "Devil in the Detail" are pretty convincing and really catchy. In the end, one thing is sure though: I still love her voice. |
| Mysticum In the Streams of Inferno | 4.5 |
| Mysticum Piss Off | 4.0 |
| Mysticum Wintermass | 3.0 |
| Mythmaker The Hero's Journey | 3.5 |
| 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). |
| N'Zwaa Maha Kali | 4.5 |
| Unexpectedly fantastic blackened death metal (with some psychedelic and drone elements). Horror vocals, killer riffs and the production is spot on. (4.7) |
| Nachtjaeger Night Hunters | 3.5 |
| A short, calm and melancholic dungeon synth release. Maybe if it'd be longer then I could give it a better rating. |
| Nahadoth The Trial of Oda Thahn / Dathonah's Prescription | 3.0 |
| Started really well, ended up pretty meh... shame. |
| Nameless Hero A Gothic Tale | 3.0 |
| Nameless Mist Nameless Mist II | 3.5 |
| This is some real good DSBM, which delivers the expected emotional tone along with great riffs and the sombre atmosphere. |
| Nanowar of Steel Stairway to Valhalla | 3.5 |
| Napalm Death From Enslavement to Obliteration | 4.5 |
| This slays. Brutal, savage, a napalm bomb of RIFFS. Also, this has a surprisingly great production (that bass tone is ultra thicc, not to mention the drums sound pretty tight as well). Definitely highest quality grind you can find. |
| Napalm Death The Best of Napalm Death | 4.0 |
| Napalm Death Utopia Banished | 4.0 |
| A brutally punishing, killer death metal album. They really nailed this one for sure! |
| Napalm Death Harmony Corruption | 3.5 |
| Nasty death-grind album, which falls most of the time to the territory of in-yo-face type of death metal. |
| Napalm Death Scum | 3.0 |
| Decent. I think that says a lot if I say "You Suffer" is the most essential part of it. |
| Napalm Death Apex Predator - Easy Meat | 3.5 |
| It's all over the place, but still riffs mega hard. |
| Napalm Death Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Napalm Death Resentment is Always Seismic... | 4.0 |
| The art of innovation; also a truly modern, truly progressive release. Other than Napalm Death's doing what they're known for, in this mini-album they expressed so much more, an absolute power play. Crushing, heavy and sometimes even: a t m o s p h e r i c ! The new noise, industrial, and the quite "liturgical" elements (the overall feel is really like Monotheist-era Celtic Frost was!) are very welcomed, and perfectly fit in. |
| Nargaroth Black Metal Ist Krieg (A Dedication Monument) | 3.5 |
| Nargaroth Era of Threnody | 4.0 |
| Nargaroth Geliebte des Regens | 3.5 |
| Nargaroth Rasluka Part I | 4.0 |
| Nargaroth Rasluka Part II | 3.0 |
| Nargaroth Semper Fidelis | 2.0 |
| Nargaroth Jahreszeiten | 2.5 |
| Nargaroth Herbstleyd | 4.0 |
| Excellent atmospheric black metal. Also, probably the strongest Nargaroth album ever. |
| Nargaroth Prosatanica Shooting Angels | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Nargaroth Amarok | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Nargaroth Spectral Visions of Mental Warfare | 4.0 |
| I've forgotten about this record for a long time, and I am truly shocked about how good it is. It's a very melancholic ad a rather slow black metal / record ambient record, where sad melancholies and moody atmospheres reign. Interestingly, this is not an independent release since it was made together with the Swiss ambient/black metal band, Nychts. So, collaboration album or not: this is probably the best music ever released under the 'Nargaroth' moniker. |
| Narsilion Nerbeleth | 4.5 |
| Natasakaa EP01 | 2.5 |
| It was alright, but it was too short and the lack of vocals did not work for me. |
| Nature Morte Messe Basse | 3.0 |
"Mom, can we have Sunbather by Deafheaven?"
"We have Sunbather at home."
Sunbather at home:
(not bad, but not great either) |
| Neckbeard Deathcamp White Nationalism is for Basement Dwelling Losers | 3.5 |
| I'm not even mad, but this surely has some cool riffs, and better than tons of lo-fi bm bands. |
| Necrodeath Fragments of Insanity | 4.0 |
| Massive riff-storm by the Italian black/thrashers. The production is very good, the album contains tons of heavy riffs. Slaps m/ |
| Necrom All Paths Are Left Here... | 4.0 |
| Nice straight-forward OSDM from Ukraine with a quite punkish edge. I really liked the production here, especially the guitar tone they have chosen for this record (do you remember to Dethklok?). The slower and mid-tempo riffs are their biggests strengths, but I really dug the solos too! For a debut LP, this is most impressive. |
| Necrophobic Slow Asphyxiation | 4.0 |
| Killer death/thrash/black metal demo! Straight-forward, massively riff-centric, and it has that magical early '90s metal underground vibe. |
| Necrophobic The Nocturnal Silence | 4.5 |
| Brilliant black/death album, a seemingly endless source of RIIIIIIFFS! |
| Necrophobic Darkside | 4.7 |
| Necrophobic Mark of the Necrogram | 3.5 |
| Entertaining, but significantly unbalanced release. The better moments on this album are on masterclass level, while the rest isn't bad, but far less memorable than the good parts. TSAAAR BOMBBBA!! |
| Necrophobic Hrimthursum | 4.0 |
| (Let's start with a 4.0 on this.) Amazing blackened melodeath release, with incredibly variety within! Solos, riffs, very audible harsh vocals, very balanced production... really, can't say anything bad about it. Perhaps the only thing is that I don't click with it instantly like I did with Darkside, however I still adore whatever Necrophobic has released. |
| Necrophobic Dawn of the Damned | 4.5 |
| One word: professionalism. Extremly precise, well-rounded supremely diverse blackened melodeath album. It's really awe inspiring as they cannot be challenged in their craft. |
| Necrophobic In The Twilight Grey | 2.5 |
| Shockingly boring and featureless album. It's not essentially bad, since the riffs and the solos are nice, but the overall package doesn't sound interesting. |
| Necrot Mortal | 3.0 |
| It was good, but did not became my all time favourite death metal album. A bit samey. |
| Necrowretch Swords of Dajjal | 4.0 |
| Crushing black/death metal, but the very sophisticated kind! It's totally like an early Necrophobic record, with bigger emphasis on black metal for achieving an absolutely devilish/hellish atmosphere. The production is spot on as well, tight, balanced... altogether really good! |
| Needless The Cosmic Cauldron | 3.5 |
| I'm not feeling this that much, since it's a rather technical death/thrash thing with just a small amount of BM inside. Perhaps it contains bit of metalcore elements too here and there, so it wasn't my thing after all. Definitely not bad album though, the last 3 songs were the best here. |
| Negativa (ESP) 04 | 4.0 |
| Devilish spiralling darkness: yep, this is definitely a Mystskaos release. If you dig the Icelandic scene's sound, then this will most definitely click with you. Grim atmosphere, slowly flowing dissonant chords with a DSBM-ish edge and heartbreaking shrieks: yup, that's what I'm talking about! |
| Nehemah Shadows from the Past... | 4.0 |
| Such an overlooked release (and band, shame they split up). Grimmest riffs, atmosphere, and outstanding vocal performance: I loved it. (Many huge AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHs, but especially the one on the Bathory cover is the best.) |
| Nekrohobbit Bastard Sword | 1.0 |
| Nemedian Chronicles The Savage Sword | 4.6 |
| What a bombastic album! The very best Conan, The Barbarian-inspired album I've ever heard. Epic and cinematic intros, some narrations and samples, lots of 🔥fiery🔥 riffs and solos, pleasant additional oriental melodies and instruments (see in "Black Lotus/The Curse of Thog"), and also: absolute professional mix and mastering. The entire release sounds huge, the balance between the vocals and the instruments is spot on, and of course: it's about Conan, which is epic by default. |
| Neptune Towers Caravans To Empire Algol | 4.0 |
| Neverlur / Sequestered Keep Under Nordljosets Straalar / Quests in the North | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| New Years Day Unbreakable | 1.0 |
| Nicatas Drumer Impure Grandeur | 4.0 |
| 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! | 4.0 |
| 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~ |
| Nifelheim Nifelheim | 2.5 |
| Nifheldhur Of Wolf and Battle | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Night of the Vampire Eternal Night | 3.5 |
| This demo really has some style. It's an ultra tasty mixture of black metal, post-punk, gothic and darkwave! Yes, for real, all that once! |
| Night Tapes Dream Forever In Glorious Stereo | 3.5 |
| Nightmare Puppy Canal | 4.0 |
| Nightmare Puppy Nara Nara Voltsong For Shower | 4.0 |
| Super entertaining album. Thank you for sharing this with us, and hats off Johnny! |
| Nightmarer Deformity Adrift | 3.0 |
| Smooth disso-death album, with a pleasantly thick sound. I like that the records often runs on a moderated tempo, plus the importance of the bass each song's structure. It's hard to wrap up why is it so good, since it's very consistent from the very beginning. |
| Nightwing Black Summer | 4.0 |
| Nimbifer Demo I | 3.5 |
| Nimbifer Demo II | 3.5 |
| 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.). |
| Nirvana Madrid 1992 | 2.0 |
| The Nirvana live album that noone asked for... shitty quality, and definitely not an outstanding performance. |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 4.0 |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 4.0 |
| Bleach contains probably Nirvana's greatest riffs, filled with desperate rage and darkness. This is heavy, so I love it. |
| Nirvana Live in Rio '93 | 1.5 |
| Not far from being completely unenjoyable. |
| Nite Voices of the Kronian Moon | 4.0 |
| Super fun blackened death metal which comes with great spacey production, tons of riffs and sweet solos (also the vocals sound exactly like Nocturno Culto's vocals covered with tons of reverb). |
| No Point in Living Last Promise | 3.5 |
| Great atmo-DSBM album with some original attributes. The additional string intruments and the groovier riffs blend together surprisingly well. |
| No... In an Illusion of Happiness | 2.5 |
| Nocternity Harps Of The Ancient Temples | 4.0 |
| Nocturnal Departure Cathartic Black Rituals | 3.0 |
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 Depression Four Seasons to a Depression | 2.5 |
| Nocturnal Effigy The Moonlit Branches of Powder | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Nodding God In A Foreign LandScape | 2.5 |
| NONE Life Has Gone On Long Enough | 3.5 |
| NONE Damp Chill of Life | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| NONE Inevitable | 3.0 |
| It's alright, very fuzzy and dense DSBM - but it comes with waaaaaay too much ambient fillers, and those totally broke the album's flow for me. I'm slightly disappointed. |
| Nordgeist Frostwinter | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Norma Jean Deathrattle Sing for Me | 2.0 |
| The whole record feels extremly samey: Slower or noisy start - breakdowns - slow down again - breakdowns; and don't forget to scream like someone who just broke a finger. Repeat. Generally, I don't like metalcore and this record couldn't brake the ice either. |
| Nostalghia (MEX) Au Milieu de l'Hiver | 4.0 |
| Very creative and a bit unorthodox (I mean, it is really jazzy sometimes) DSBM/atmoblack release. Great riffs, good flow, interesting ideas, but a slow grower. |
| Nostalghia (MEX) Duelo | 4.0 |
| This album found me in the right time... An excellent DSBM/post-black album which delivers the feels, and builds up an embracing and melancholic atmosphere; while it delivers some ice cold riffs as well. A bit stronger in the beginning and at the end (first two and last two songs), and maybe the album could have a bit more low end, but altogether it's still very-very demonstrative. Bonus points for the savage and tormented vocal performance, I totally felt every resonance in it. |
| Nostalghia (MEX) The Last Path | 3.0 |
| Inferior compared to Duelo, despite it's more experimental and steps out of the genre boundaries more often. |
| Nosy Arcade The Black Armor | 3.5 |
| Quite impressive debut, especially since the 8-bit influenced branch of the genre often falls into the "not-very-easy-to-listen-to" category of dungeon synth. (At least, for me.) The Black Armor contains numerous songs which could perfectly invoke an intended feeling (like the song "Black Aura Attack" definitely sounds uneasy - like what I'd expect from a song entitled like that), and the generally fast-paced flow, thanks to the blast beats-inspired drum instruments, were quite creative and I totally enjoyed these. However, I'd be very nice to have some lengthier tracks too, and I believe this lacks certain cathartic moments too. Still a very good chiptune release! |
| Nothing Dance On The Blacktop | 3.0 |
| Nothingness Supraliminal | 3.5 |
| Great and very balanced death metal album. It's punchy (f.e. "Temple of Broken Swords" is massive), but there is a more melody-centric side of this album too, like the quite death-doom-ish "Beacon of Loss". Even though it's not that savage and "sharp" as I expected: it's still a great record, though. |
| Novembre Annoluce | 4.0 |
| Nthng Shine | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Null (USA) Hiraeth | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Null (USA) Lore of a Sleeping Forest | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Null (USA) Origin | 4.0 |
| A smoothly flowing meloblack release. Exactly as AmbushReality has said it: it's not exactly like Hiraeth. Forget the mellow forest worship vibes, it's time to get into frosty riffs! Origin contains far less folk elements and focuses on delivering the tastiest meloblack riffs. (I'm still amazed everything was written by only one guy!) |
| Numenorean Adore | 2.5 |
| Obituary Obituary | 3.5 |
| Obituary Slowly We Rot | 4.9 |
| Heaviest and best death metal album written in standard tuning. |
| Obituary Frozen in Time | 3.5 |
| The album had an awesome start with "Redneck Stomp", but it becomes quite boring towards the end. |
| Obscura A Valediction | 4.0 |
| Real smooth. Obscura's latest is a truly virtuose and well-balanced release, with an exceptionally easy flow - despite the enormous amount of technicality. Really exciting, yet perfectly appreciable for any metal listener. |
| Obsequiae The Palms of Sorrowed Kings | 4.0 |
| Obtained Enslavement Soulblight | 4.0 |
| Woah, this is extremly cheesy - and I love it! Lots of melody (impressive guitarwork and synths), interesting classical music influences are inserted into a very grim atmosphere, which makes this band sound quite unique. |
| Octobeast / Synthosaurus Mega Clash of Creature Worlds | 4.0 |
| Holy shite, what a split! This is some really cinematic dino synth split, which sometimes kinda sounds like Fief... and hints of black metal. |
| Odd Person The flowers of arcadia | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Odium (NOR) The Sad Realm of the Stars | 4.0 |
| Very solid sympho-atmoblack. It delivers the riffs and evokes a mystical atmosphere too, just how I like it! |
| Odium Humani Generis Zarzewie | 4.0 |
| [garas's seal of approval] This is some pleasantly frosty Polish black metal, mixed with a bit of post-black to make it more interesting. The mix was...okay, but this band has great potential and I like this EP. |
| Odraza Rzeczom | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| OLD (US) Gross | 1.0 |
| OLD (US) Campsite | 2.0 |
| OLD (US) It's Called Murder | 2.5 |
| OLD (US) Modern Scum | 3.5 |
| Old Nick Flying Ointment | 3.0 |
| 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 Path Forgotten Stories | 2.0 |
| Old Sorcery Realms of Magickal Sorrow | 4.7 |
| Old Sorcery Dragon Citadel Elegies | 4.5 |
| How do we deserve Old Sorcery? I was already in love with the sound of this dungeon synth act, but this is on near flawless level. Huge portion of the true old-school epic dungeoneer spirit, brewed with the sweetest Berlin school electronics and neo-classical majesty. (And bits of neo-folk too!) My biggest problem with Dragon Citadel Elegies is: it's just f*cking 38 minutes long; how could my addicted spirit consume enough from this?! In the top3 of 2022, easy! |
| Old Sorcery The Path Lies Hidden | 4.0 |
| Old Sorcery Dreams of the Old Kingdom | 3.0 |
| Old Sorcery Strange and Eternal | 4.0 |
| Old Sorcery An Inkling of Void | 3.5 |
| A rather slow, dreamlike, and I think pretty winter synth-ish EP. A perfect choice for a gloomy day - a relaxing experience. |
| Old Sorcery Sorrowcrown | 3.5 |
| It contains more synths than black metal, but to be honest, I dig his Warmoon Lord project over this if we are speaking about metal. |
| Old Tower The Rise of the Specter | 3.5 |
| Old Tower Stellary Wisdom | 3.0 |
| Old Tower Seelenasche | 3.0 |
| 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 | 2.0 |
| "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. |
| Old Tower The Old King of Witches | 0.5 |
| "Old Tower resurrects the dying breed of dark ambient with '90s deep electronics to conceive of a new form of DARK MUSIC" What the fuck are you talking about? This is among the most basic, uninteresting, amateourish dark ambient releases I've ever heard. ZERO depth, ZERO exciting parts. This guy is helpless... Spare yourself the time and avoid this. Forever. |
| Old Wizard Old Wizard II | 3.5 |
| Medieval ambient and charming atmospheres: the second Old Wizard album delivered everything I needed. |
| Oldlands Source of Eternal Darkness | 4.0 |
| 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/ |
| Olgerd Dagor-Nuin-Giliath | 3.5 |
| Om Advaitic Songs | 4.5 |
| Om God Is Good | 4.5 |
| Om Pilgrimage | 3.0 |
| On Graves All Must Go | 4.0 |
| Ondal's Wisdom The Forbidden Lore of Arcane Magic | 2.5 |
| This is not going anywhere... I like the synth sounds, but I believe I miss something. *sad noises* |
| One with the Riverbed Absence | 3.0 |
| Some chill post-(atmo)black-kind-of-thing with lots of additional post-rock elements in it. Not exactly my type, but it was a rather enjoyable album, which served very well as background music for working. The closer song outshined the rest of the album through the more varied guitarwork in it, so I really dug that one. |
| Ontborg Following The Steps Of Damnation | 2.5 |
| The sweet tone of HM-2 is not enough, I'm afraid. Feels a bit basic, and that wouldn't be an issue if they'd have kept it shorter. And damn, at the end of the album I felt I'd pay to the vocalist just to shut up for a while - I want GUITARS not mid-decent howls all the time! |
| Ontrothon, Saga of the Ancient Glass Ontrothon, Saga of the Ancient Glass | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Oozing Wound We Cater To Cowards | 3.0 |
| Noisy, angry, mid-tempo driven...punk, with extra guitar droning and pulsating drum+bass patterns. Yeah, it was good. |
| Opeth Orchid | 4.0 |
| 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? |
| Ophidian I Desolate | 3.0 |
| It was... good. |
| Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Orkenblut Mysteria Arkana, Bd. I | 3.0 |
| Orkenblut Mysteria Arkana, Bd. II | 3.5 |
| Deep, dark and mysterious. Orkenblut's second release is a very interesting one with odd sounds and noises with an omnious atmosphere. |
| Ornatorpet Vid Ett Berg Uti En Dal | 3.0 |
| Ornatorpet Vid Himinsenda | 3.0 |
| Oromet Oromet | 4.0 |
| Brilliant and beautiful funeral doom debut. Huge sound, dreamy flow (the droney synths had a massively positive impact on that), and good metal:ambient ratio. (And the pretty cover art is a nice bonus for me.) |
| Orsartag Found Wisdom: Symphonic Tribute To Burzum | 4.5 |
| Excellent, but not quite perfect. The concept of reimaging many Burzum pieces to classical/folk compositions is brilliant, yet certain songs lost some of their magic (like I already knew without listening that Tomhet will remain better as it is); while in other cases, these covers could add something to the atmosphere of the originals. I became instantly addicted to the cover of Der Tod Woutans, since now it sounds like it's taken from Howard Shore's legendary soundtrack of The Lord Of The Rings... or this form of Moti Ragnarokum sounds like an outtake from the Witcher 1 soundtrack. I do love this, but I'm not entirely satisfied with all covers. |
| Ossa Coronata A Candle | 4.0 |
| Dark, melancholic, spooky and dreamy. I love the atmosphere the album creates. |
| Ossa Coronata One With Weariness | 4.0 |
| Ostrogoth Feelings of Fury | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Oublieth Arcanes | 4.0 |
| Ethereal, slow and magical. Not exactly dungeon synth, it's more of an ambient/electronic release in the vein of Klaus Schulze and Vangelis. But it's still brilliant!! Especially I'm in love with "La Frontire de la Nuit". |
| Oublieth À l'Ombre du Royaume en Cendres | 4.5 |
| Finally, this album delivers that specific feeling I fell in love with dungeon synth! The beautifully flowing, mystical soundscapes, eerie drones and an icy and cobwebby atmosphere...! I literally got the goosebumps. |
| Outer Heaven Realms of Eternal Decay | 2.5 |
| Outer Heaven Infinite Psychic Depths | 4.0 |
| Pleasant death metal riff salad. Varied in sound: sometimes techy, sometimes simple and straight-forward, sometimes bit slower -- nothing extraordinary, but it sounds like a well-written album. The production is great and balanced as well. I just a good all-around death metal experience. |
| Overkill Scorched | 1.0 |
| Man, this gave me an instant headache. Is this guy really a singer?! |
| Owlbear Chaos to the Realm | 3.5 |
| A correct heavy metal album centered around the Dungeons and Dragons universe. This delivers some truly tasty riffs! |
| Owls Woods Graves Citizenship of the Abyss | 4.0 |
Super tasty black metal/punk served raw. Maybe it's not the best, but surely one of the most fun
albums of the year. |
| Owls Woods Graves Secret Spies of the Horned Patrician | 3.5 |
| Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz | 3.5 |
| Ozzy Osbourne The Ultimate Sin | 3.0 |
| Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis | 4.0 |
| Ozzy Osbourne No More Tears | 4.0 |
| Ozzy Osbourne Ordinary Man | 3.0 |
| 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/ |
| Pafund Til rigets ende | 2.5 |
| Pagan Altar Mythical & Magical | 3.5 |
| Pagan Altar Pagan Altar | 4.0 |
| Pretty much the same case with Witchfinder General's debut, but with a different vocal style. Pure fun, good time guaranteed. |
| Pagan Spell Demo MMXIX | 2.5 |
| Pale Knight Heathen Kings | 2.5 |
| Pallid Bloom / Withering Presence Their Verdant Reclamation | 2.5 |
| Panopticon The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness | 2.5 |
| Panopticon The Rime of Memory | 3.0 |
| It was okayish, good for one or two listens but not much more. The intro was gorgeous, the actual black metal parts were OK, but nothing extra -- I kinda disliked the production too. Also severely overrated. |
| Panzerfaust The Suns of Perdition - Chapter I: War, Horrid War | 3.5 |
| Panzerwar Pale Whispers Of A Writhing Moon | 3.0 |
| The riffs are good, but the mix is too hollow, and I hear no bass here. But generally it's not bad, I particularly liked the early Satyricon-alike riffs and melodies. |
| Paramnesia Paramnesia | 3.0 |
| Path of Giants Path of Giants | 2.5 |
| Pathway Песни смерти | 3.5 |
| Pathworn Pilgrim Beauty Of The Bitter Coast | 3.0 |
| It's literally what the rating says: good. The production is superb, yet it kinda lacks that spark which could have grabbed my interest. Good for once, or essential for Elder Scroll fans (I'm not). |
| Paysage d'Hiver Schattengang | 5.0 |
| Best Paysage album. Period. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Im Wald | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 Paysage d'Hiver | 4.0 |
| Paysage d'Hiver Das Gletschertor/Das schwarze Metall-Eisen | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Steineiche | 3.0 |
| Paysage d'Hiver Die Festung | 2.0 |
| Paysage d'Hiver Geister | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Winterkälte | 4.5 |
| The lo-fi wintry black metal album. Everything is here: sinister riffs, pulsating blast-beats, lo-fi wind samples and ghostly but calming ambient sections. Meisterwerk. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Nacht | 3.0 |
| Quite uneventful Paysage album. Being unable to find any memorable highlight from a record is really annoying. However, it functioned as a quite OK background music, but I expected lot more. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Das Tor | 4.9 |
| "Ewig leuchten die Sterne" alone is one gorgeous creation. Cold, mysterious, menacing yet melancholic, and huge. |
| Paysage d'Hiver Einsamkeit | 3.5 |
| Pentagram Curious Volume | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Pentagram Last Rites | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 Pentagram | 4.5 |
| '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 First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection) | 5.0 |
| "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/ |
| Pentagram Day of Reckoning | 4.0 |
| Consistently massive old-school doom album. Pentagram rules m/ (A better production could have been nice though.) |
| Pentagram Be Forewarned | 4.5 |
| That's how one does make an outstanding doom album! Many bands could learn from this release. Simply awesome. |
| Pentagram When The Sreams Come | 3.0 |
| The bad recording quality really drags it down... |
| Pentagram (CL) The Malefice | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Pepper Proud Water | 2.5 |
| Perihelion (HU) Örvény | 4.0 |
| Perihelion (HU) Agg | 4.0 |
| '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! |
| Pest [FI] Hail the Black Metal Wolves of Belial | 4.5 |
| Judas Priest goes to black metal??? Seriously overlooked and forgotten. |
| Peste (IT) Peste | 3.5 |
| Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles | 4.5 |
| *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 Folkfuck Folie | 4.0 |
| French "sewer" black metal. Nice. |
| Peste Noire Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor | 4.5 |
| This is simply crazy good. |
| Peste Noire L'Ordure a l'etat Pur | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Peste Noire Le Retour Des Pastoureaux | 3.5 |
| Smells like Camembert cheese? Le Retour Des Pastoureaux is a wild ride, but that's the default option for a Peste Noire album. The result is a less black metal, but more post-punk-with-a-rooster-vocalist oriented release - which sounds KINDA thrash-ish or post-rock-ish or even shoegaze-ish in certain moments. I can honestly say I can't understand shit, but I still dig Famine's riffs. |
| Peste Noire Peste Noire - Split - Peste Noire | 3.0 |
| Side "Traditional" actually riffs hard. Side "Degenerate" though... I've heard worse, but not a big fan. |
| Peter Laws The Lonely Tower | 2.5 |
| Phantom (MEX) Handed to Execution | 4.0 |
| Ripper! Old-school thrash/speed metal from Mexico. These guys really feel how to make good ol' thrash. Fierce riffing and a superb vocalist - that's the way (in the style of old Sodom, of course). |
| Pierre Schaeffer Cinq études de bruits | 3.5 |
| This is amazing in a very weird way. Doing this stuff in '48 more than revolutionary! |
| Pig Destroyer Head Cage | 4.0 |
| Pig Destroyer Prowler in the Yard | 3.0 |
| Pig Destroyer Terrifyer | 4.0 |
| Oh yeah, this is heavy. Those riffs...! I especially liked the second half of the album, those songs are really punchy. |
| Pig Destroyer Natasha | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Pig Destroyer The Octagonal Stairway | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Pilori (FRA) Quand Bien Meme l'Enfer et le Deluge S'Abattraient | 2.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Wall | 4.0 |
| Piva Fragments of Nights | 3.0 |
| Interesting Depressive Silence-wannabe-styled dungeon synth combined with bits of Burzumish elements. The sampling wasn't entirely perfect, but hopefully in the upcoming release(s) that could be fixed. |
| Poems About The Forest Schwarzes Licht | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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!) |
| Poison Path *YOU'VE BEEN POISONED* | 1.5 |
| Poison Ruin Poison Ruin LP | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Poison Ruin Harvest | 2.5 |
| The synths sound, but still very uninteresting punk with especially irritating "grizzly" vocals - I feel disappointed yet again. |
| Pontifferasmus Husk the mountains | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Popol Vuh In den Garten Pharaos | 3.0 |
| It gets a bit tiring after a while, but it's still a good album. |
| Poppy I Disagree | 3.0 |
| Post Malone Hollywood's Bleeding | 3.0 |
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!! |
| Power Paladin With the Magic of Windfyre Steel | 2.5 |
| The band name, the cover (it's so bad, it's almost good), the title... yes, it is another power metal album. It's cheesy as fuck (not in a good way), it is unnecessarily fast sometimes, and yes, it has ballkicked screams as well... Talented bunch, but I don't see how would it be any interesting. |
| Power Trip Live in Seattle: 05.28.18 | 4.0 |
| E n o r m o u s sound from a live album! |
| Power Trip Nightmare Logic | 4.0 |
| Power Trip Opening Fire: 2008-2014 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Powerwolf The Sacrament of Sin | 2.0 |
| Praise the Plague The Obsidian Gate | 3.5 |
| Pretty good sludgy doom/post-black mixture. Nothing extraordinary, this just simply delivers numerous enormous riffs with cool tempo changes. |
| Precious (USA) He Has Abandoned Us | 3.5 |
| Primitive Man Immersion | 2.5 |
| *fuzz* *beat* AUHGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH [repeat] Sorry, but it was a nope for me. |
| Primordial How It Ends | 3.0 |
| This record is...alright. Sounds good (mix is very pleasant!), and worked well as background music, but it didn't really catch my attention. |
| Profanum Vulgaris 2009-2012 | 3.5 |
| Profecium Socialismo Satánico | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Prurient Frozen Niagara Falls | 4.0 |
| An exciting many-faced record, which navigates you through ethers and hell in a noisy dream. |
| Psychonaut Unfold the God Man | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Psyclopean The Outsider | 2.0 |
| Pulling Teeth Vicious Skin | 2.5 |
| Pumpkin Witch In the Frightful Gaze of the Pumpkin Witch | 1.5 |
| All the hype for this? I barely could enjoy a few songs. |
| Pumpkin Witch Hovel of the Pumpkin Witch | 3.0 |
| Pumpkin Witch Final Strike of the Pumpkin Witch | 2.0 |
| At least there are few decent songs next to the awfully bad ones... |
| Pumpkinlord Tricks 'N' Treats | 3.5 |
| Pupil Slicer Mirrors | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Pupil Slicer Blossom | 2.0 |
| Feels sablonic. Dissonant, a bit plastic, moody and very angry... I don't know, this is rather irritating (not to mention the overly loud vocals in the mix). "Language of the Stars" was nice, but because it was different and more ambient than everything else... what a waste of time! |
| Puritas Virginum Black Arts | 2.5 |
| Purl Form Is Emptiness | 4.0 |
| Beautiful drone/ambient album. This really represents my overall taste within the genre. |
| Pyre of Black Roses Demo I | 1.5 |
| 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? |
| Quantic Magnetica | 4.0 |
| Queen Greatest Hits | 4.0 |
| Queen Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest | 3.5 |
| Quest Master The Twelve Castles | 3.0 |
| Quin of the North True Might | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Qwalen Unohdan Sinut | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Rabor Боги и Герои / Gods and Heroes | 3.5 |
| Radioactive Mausoleum Radioactive Mausoleum | 3.0 |
| RaevJager Raevult! | 2.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine XX | 4.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 4.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles | 4.0 |
| Ramihrdus The Sorrow of the Evergreens | 3.0 |
| Pretty alright melancho-atmoblack album. Very-very similar to the Russian project, Darkeater, which was more than a welcomed surprise. |
| Rammstein Untitled | 4.0 |
| Ausländer, Sex & Puppe on repeat, rest is great, but Radio was a mistake. = Strong 4.0 |
| Rammstein Zeit | 2.5 |
| Nicht so gut... Zeit is not bad, but sadly it's far away from being good. The previous untitled album was better in every aspect, especially since it contained numerous grandiose songs, while Zeit... doesn't have any. Most songs are quite forgettable, or quite uninspired, maybe "Zick Zack" and "Giftig" were the best ones, but they're not flawless either. Und oh mein Gott, what the fuck were those autotuned vocals? (Fortunately not much, but those were questionable moments.) |
| Rannoch Conflagrations | 3.0 |
| Bit like Meshuggah, but more proggier and with clean singing. The closer track is fortunately not djenty, and absolutely overshines everything else here. Not bad, but in general: not the most exciting record. |
| Realm Endless War | 3.5 |
| Great album, perhaps it's not exactly my taste nor in thrash or power metal... but I can also admit: it's a pretty well-written album. |
| Realms in Exile Anghabar: Iron Delvings | 3.0 |
| Really enjoyable fantasy drone album. Deep drones and minimalistic percussions: perfect background music for working. |
| Reason (HU) The Divine Rest | 4.0 |
| Why I haven't heard about this earlier? Most pleasant mixture of gothic and progressive metal, which delivers not just super melodic riffs and that certain autumnal mood, but The Divine Rest offers fantastic vocal melodies as well. I hear a bit of Amorphis, a bit of Khemmis and bit of Mastodon here, and believe me: this feels good. |
| Red Fang Only Ghosts | 3.5 |
| Red Fang Murder the Mountains | 4.5 |
| Red Fang Whales and Leeches | 2.5 |
| Red Fang Red Fang | 4.5 |
| Red Fang Arrows | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Red Helen Trading Past For Pathways | 4.0 |
| Redhorn Gate Demo I-II-III | 4.0 |
| Nice compilation of 3 raw demos: old-school dungeon synth done right. |
| Redig Narrow Gate | 2.0 |
| Rem Poklade | 3.0 |
| Return to Forever Romantic Warrior | 4.0 |
| Revelation Images of Darkness | 4.0 |
| This was a hell of a demo!! The riffs are amazing, a real doom demo which almost sounds like what is later known as blackened doom. I feel like this technically predicted the sound of the modern Darkthrone albums. (Damn it Fenriz, how did you find this??) |
| Revenge (CAN) Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist | 2.0 |
| "My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined." |
| Revered and Reviled Above All Others Swinevoid | 3.0 |
| This was weird, but I kinda liked it. "Doomviolence" they say, and this is quite accurate: slow, stomping, noisy and disgusting. (The vocals are gooooooood.) Interesting experiment which is actually far more enjoyable than a regular powerviolence record, but it could have been "thicker" in my opinion - it still bears a demo-vibe. Only for those who hunger for really extreme stuff. |
| REZN Solace | 4.0 |
| The flow is so smooth that you'll reach the end of the record without even realizing it - and that's how a psychedelic doom album should work! These guys know how to craft a groovy record. |
| Rhandir Vagabond's Call | 4.0 |
| Rhapsody of Fire Power of the Dragonflame | 3.0 |
| Badass riffs and solos, overdone synths a cheesy vocals - yeah, it's definitely a power metal album. Not bad though. |
| Rhinocervs RH-08 | 2.5 |
| Richard Strauss Tone Poem: Also sprach Zarathustra | 5.0 |
| Ah, it is so good. The ever-changing flow of moods and atmopsheres make this a 5/5 classical piece (for me). |
| Rings of Saturn Gidim | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Rings of Saturn Ultu Ulla | 2.0 |
| Rings of Saturn Dingir | 3.5 |
| Rings of Saturn Lugal Ki En | 3.0 |
| Rings of Saturn Rings of Saturn | 2.0 |
| It's quite bad most of the time, but to be honest, I've found certain moments quite enjoyable. For example Mind Palace and Shinigami are quite fun because they lack the awful trap elements, so the synths and the guitars are kinda...fun on a such instrumental release (plus I always liked the intrumentals in this band). Don't get me wrong, it's not any close to their early works in terms of quality. Half-assed, but not terrible. |
| Rings of Saturn Dingir (Instrumental) | 3.5 |
| Tbh, I totally missed the fact that most of their albums exist in instrumental versions, but ngl, I really wanted to hear this one this way. Guilty pleasure or not, but I really dig it. |
| Riot City Electric Elite | 3.0 |
| Instrumentally quite good, but the whole package gets a bit tiring after a while. And oh lord, why so much screaming?? Since the singer has a pretty good voice though. |
| River Tiber Indigo | 3.5 |
| Rivers Ablaze Blood Canvas | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| It was some super cool noise / ambient album, with an interesting punkish attitude. Unique stuff. |
| Robin Goodfellow Elphame's Wood | 2.5 |
| Roly Porter Kistvaen | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Rota Fortunae Hinterland | 4.0 |
| Alright DungeonBoy, you gave me no other option, so I had to 4.0 this beauty. " Instrumental dark folk, done just right" - Sunny said it right! |
| Rothadas Kopár Hant... Az Alvilág Felé | 4.0 |
| Simply excellent. 40 minutes of pure death-doom delight. |
| Rothadas Rothadás | 4.0 |
| 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 Rituals | 2.0 |
| The unga-bunga Rotting Chirst album that you want to forget once and for all. |
| Rotting Christ The Heretics | 4.0 |
| Rotting Christ Genesis | 3.5 |
| Very solid record, but they were "not quite there yet". The more thrashier Sanctus Diavolos - alpha version. |
| Rotting Christ Triarchy of The Lost Lovers | 4.5 |
| Gothic-era Rotting Christ #1: Very-well balanced, melodic and delivers the riffs. Excellent album, maybe a bit weaker on the production side, but it counterbalances it with the quality within. |
| Rotting Christ Sleep of the Angels | 3.5 |
| Gothic-era Rotting Christ #3: This wasn't that solid like the others. Quite similar style on guitars like in Triarchy of The Lost Lovers, but the overall result isn't that strong. It has some amazing songs though! "Der perfekte Traum" is definitely a classic piece in their discography, for example. |
| Rotting Christ A Dead Poem | 4.9 |
| Gothic-era Rotting Christ #2: This takes the crown without a doubt. Fantastic riffs, not a weak song at sight, each one of them has its own flavour. I dig the production here as well, it really helped the guitars stand out. A flawless gothic/melodic black metal record. |
| Rotting Christ Sanctus Diavolos | 4.0 |
Brave, yet very rewarding experiment. In this album, the Greek duo managed to present a very atmosphere-centric release, richly spiced with numerous elements. The braver vocal approach (far-far more diverse than on a regular Rotting Christ album), often accompanied by choirs and opera-like singing was very impactful on the album, often pushing it towards a quite liturgical direction - at least that's how I felt. The daring mindset is clearly observable on the instrumental factors as well. For example horror sample-alike, ambient and classical sections can be heard in most of the songs, and the guitarwork definitely falls into the experimental side of the genre too. It's very proggy, and perhaps bits of industrial elements can be heard blended into their signature blackened-gothic sytle.
Not an easily digestable record, but for those who enjoy such unorthodox black metal albums it'll be a gourmet snack for their ears. |
| Rotting Christ Thy Mighty Contract | 4.0 |
| Took me a while to fully get understand the charm of this record... Such a grower! |
| Rotting Christ Khronos | 4.0 |
| Super solid "post-gothic" album. It has grown on me a lot, and now I'm really enjoying this release. Khronos bears a very autumnal atmosphere and delivers some of the best melodic riffs they have ever written. Gorgeous album. |
| Rotting Christ The Apocryphal Spells, Vol. I + Vol. II | 4.0 |
| It was totally unexpected release, a very good compilation of unreleased songs / rarities. Collected from almost all eras of their career, so it's a very diverse package as expected. High quality material, for sure. |
| Rowen Ashen Spirit | 2.5 |
| This is somehow terrible and somehow amazing at the same time... |
| Ruin Dweller Brasov | 3.5 |
| Runecaster The Sleeping Sword | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| runescape斯凱利 runescape.wav符文風景骨架 | 4.0 |
| runescape斯凱利 runescape.wav2戰利品的戰爭 | 4.0 |
| Runeshard Dreaming Spire | 3.5 |
| Running Wild Under Jolly Roger | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| This album is the perfect example of what "great" (3.5) means. |
| Ruohtta Reetessä | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| RuYYn RüYYn | 3.5 |
| A great black metal release with a clear modern edge (which falls close to being post-black without being post-black, got it, huh?). |
| Rvbbervvitch Mastvrbations Malveillantes | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
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. |
| Sacred Outcry Towers of Gold | 3.0 |
| I'm not very into power metal in general, but this is really good stuff. I could enjoy it more if the vocals wouldn't jump so high that often, though. Towers Of Gold was more like: This Song Is Made Of Gold - such a banger with ballsy riffs and solos! |
| Sacred Son Sacred Son | 3.0 |
| Sacrilege (UK1) Behind The Realms Of Madness (Reissue) | 3.0 |
| It was a fine experience, but nothing really stood out for me. But: the riffs were fine! |
| Sacrilegious Impalement III - Lux Infera | 4.5 |
| A shockingly overlooked and truly fantastic second wave-worship album. This riffs insanely great - constant rotation of classic arpeggios and killer thrash sections spiced with momentary psychedelia or DSBM-ish slowness (f.e. "For Sins of the Pigs" is really similar to the best Shining songs, and that's really something!). Also the production is very pleasing (I really love the guitar tone here), and not to mention: the vocal performance is really good, and quite diverse too. Most impressive work. |
| Sadistik Exekution The Magus | 4.5 |
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!!) |
| Sadistik Exekution We Are Death... Fukk You ! | 4.0 |
| Sadistik Exekution Fukk | 3.0 |
| Saidan Jigoku: Spiraling Chasms of Blackst Hell | 4.0 |
| Super strong riff-salad meloblack album with a melancholic edge. The production feels a bit blunt sometimes (let them guitars scream!), but they counterbalanced it with building up a sweet atmosphere (nice clean guitars). Also damn, the thrashier riffs really got me! |
| Saidan Onryo II: Her Spirit Eternal | 4.5 |
| These riffs are fire! Riffs like on a top tier Finnish meloblack release, with some extra blissful blackgazy vibes and also some punk energy too. Strengths: many excellent major chord riffs and creative songwriting. "Kissed by Lunar’s Silvery Gleam" is one of the best songs of the year already. |
| Saint Vitus Saint Vitus | 4.0 |
| Straight-forward and very simple doom record, but it does the trick! |
| Saint Vitus Born Too Late | 3.5 |
| This was reeeeeeally slow! Wino's singing was a cool change. I'll drop a 3.5 on this first, but I think it will grow on me later. |
| Sakis Tolis The Seven Seals of... (as χξς') | 3.5 |
| It was underwhelming, but still very enjoyable. Especially if I look how much more "riffier" Among The Fires Of Hell was, plus this feels a bit too "recycled" at certain parts. However, the choirs added a lot to this album's deep and mystical atmosphere! Quite liturgical, I'd say. |
| Sakis Tolis Among the Fires of Hell | 4.5 |
| Not really different from Rotting Christ, even numerous melody fragments sounded familiar - however, this is a very-well executed album! It's more gothic metal than black metal, but one thing is for sure: Sakis wrote tons of great riffs and catchy melodies, such as what you can hear in "Ad Astra" or "We the Fallen Angels". One of my most favourite releases of 2022. |
| Samael Blood Ritual | 4.5 |
| Underrated majesty. Samael's sophomore album is far more focused and well-planned than their other legendary album, Worhsip Him. With this album, they took a huge step forwarid in forging their unique groovy and doomy style. Definitely standing at the slowest end of black metal's spectrum, Blood Ritual delivers the finest riffs and salutes to the doom legends such as Candlemass or Celtic Frost. |
| Samael Ceremony Of Opposites | 5.0 |
| Samael Passage | 4.0 |
| "The Ones Who Came Before" is my jam. Shame their black metal phase is over, however this album could also deliver some mighty good riffs! |
| Samael Worship Him | 4.0 |
| Samael Rebellion | 4.8 |
| The epitome and quintessence of Samael's style. Rebellion contains and mixes all elements from both eras of their works: you can hear good old groovier black metal and heavily industrial-influenced metal (and electronic music) as well. Incredible EP, incredible sound! Meisterwerk. |
| Samael Eternal | 3.0 |
| This is a quite good 'electronics-driven industrial metal' album (is that correct?), but man... waaaaaaaaaaaaay toooooooooo loooooooooooong! |
| Samael Solar Soul | 3.5 |
| Very entertaining and groovy album. I especially enjoyed the additional oriental / Eastern melodies and instruments (for example in "Quasar Waves"). To be honest, I could like this album even more if they would have experimented more with the aforementioned elements, since I think it was a superb combination with their own style. |
| Samael Era One | 3.5 |
| Turns out, the black sheep in the Samael discography is actually... great! It's a very pleasant EDM/industrial/gothic album -- I was really surprised how much I liked it; even though is that one song which I really hate... ("Voyage"). Also one of my all time favourite album covers - idk why though, I just like it a lot. |
| Samael Exodus | 4.0 |
| This should have been extended to an LP, ffs! Pure excellence, where their black metal- and the industrial era could smoothly overlap. |
| Samael Lux Mundi | 4.0 |
| Damn, this one sounds angry! Absolutely crushing industrial-black metal stuff, especially the second half of the album feels outstandingly good, definitely their best one in the industrial era (along with Passage, of course). |
| Sanguine Eagle Storm Mysticism | 3.0 |
| Sanguine Moon What Shadows Once Hid... | 4.0 |
| Sanguisugabogg Homicidal Ecstasy | 2.5 |
| Sadly, I'm not really feeling any improvements compared to Tortured Whole. It's OK, I guess? |
| Sanguisugabogg Tortured Whole | 3.0 |
| Even though I love this kind of straight-forward nasty death metal, it was kinda boring after a while. But in small "doses", this band rips. |
| Saor Forgotten Paths | 3.5 |
| Saor Origins | 4.0 |
| Not enough flutes! More seriously: I really like the very instrumental-oriented structure, or even: I could totally see this work as a 100% instrumental album. It delivers the riffs, it has a positive and upbeat vibe. Perhaps I just really needed this, but felt really good. |
| Sarcofago I.N.R.I. | 2.5 |
| Sargeist Satanic Black Devotion | 2.5 |
| It was disappointing. |
| Sargeist The Rebirth of a Cursed Existence | 3.5 |
| Strong compilation, stronger than many solid full-length releases. It's a consistently good and quite standard black metal release, which works best as background music. |
| Sargeist Let The Devil In | 5.0 |
| The lineup contains 50% Behexen (or 75% if you look the other way), so it was a guaranteed success. Quite "standard", but a 100% perfect black metal record from the more melodic branch of the genre which is impressively consistent all the way through and comes with raspy but well-balanced production. In the end, I believe this deserves the 5.0, since basically this is a flawless record - even though it's not a revolutionary release in any sense, just perfectly executed. |
| Sarke Gastwerso | 4.0 |
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! |
| Sasquatch Fever Fantasy | 3.0 |
| Not the most diverse stoner metal album on the planet, but at least it kinda riffs. It was good for once, but I'm afraid that's all. |
| Satan Cruel Magic | 4.0 |
| Satan Earth Infernal | 3.5 |
| It offers plenty of great riffs and good ideas, but I feel less impressed by this compared to Cruel Magic. The reason behind this might come from the lengthier songs, shorter runtime for them could have been more fitting, in my opinion. Still a very entertaining NWOBH album though, and might be a grower too. |
| Satanic Warmaster Carelian Satanist Madness | 5.0 |
| Satanic Warmaster Strength & Honour | 4.5 |
| Satanic Warmaster Opferblut | 4.9 |
| Satanic Warmaster Nachzehrer | 4.0 |
| Satanic Warmaster Fimbulwinter | 4.5 |
| Much clearer production, killer riffs, some acoustic instruments, beautiful synths - the not raw Warmaster also rules. |
| Satanic Warmaster Black Metal Kommando | 4.5 |
| Satanic Warmaster Gas Chamber (Rehearsal Demo) | 2.0 |
| Satanic Warmaster ...of the Night | 3.0 |
| Satanic Warmaster Revelation | 3.5 |
| Satanic Warmaster Black Katharsis | 3.0 |
| Satanic Warmaster We Are The Worms That Crawl... | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Satanic Warmaster Luciferian Torches | 2.5 |
| Satanic Warmaster Revelation ...of the Night | 4.0 |
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 Aamongandr | 4.5 |
| Satanic Warmaster/Archgoat Lux Satanae | 4.0 |
| Saturne I | 4.0 |
| Satyricon Dark Medieval Times | 4.9 |
| Satyricon All Evil | 2.5 |
| Satyricon Now, Diabolical | 4.0 |
| Satyricon Volcano | 4.0 |
| Satyricon Deep Calleth Upon Deep | 3.5 |
| Satyricon The Age Of Nero | 3.5 |
| Satyricon The Forest Is My Throne | 3.5 |
| Satyricon The Shadowthrone | 3.5 |
| Satyricon My Skin Is Cold | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Satyricon Nemesis Divina | 4.8 |
| Satyricon Satyricon | 2.0 |
| 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... |
| Satyricon Megiddo - Mother North in the Dawn | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Satyricon Rebel Extravaganza | 4.0 |
| I had to re-rate this. To be honest, I never really got into this album, but today the realization just hit me: this is actually brilliant! These riffs are fire, the atmosphere is evil, and it is Satyricon! Especially good stuff when the synths kick in. |
| Satyricon Intermezzo II | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Fancyricon: The opera album. |
| Satyricon Satyricon & Munch | 2.5 |
| Seemed interesting at first, but in the end this is barely more than a regular dark ambient album decorated with occasional blunt riffs and some pretty classical instruments. The original idea is good, but the execution is very shallow. (The crown for being the best ex-black metaller ambient composer remains at Beherit.) |
| Savage Master Those Who Hunt At Night | 2.5 |
| While I think this is an instrumentally excellent album, but I can't give a better rating than a 2.5. They need a new vocalist if they want to earn their next level up. She's... annoying, definitely not a good singer and totally dampens the overall experience. |
| Scalp Black Tar | 3.5 |
| Good, slapper deathgrind. (Thank you for not filling this up with so much cringe samples.) (Is this really an LP?) |
| Scary Larry Scary Larry | 4.0 |
| Scary Larry Demo 2 | 3.5 |
| Scary Larry Sounds of Isolation | 3.0 |
| Scary Larry Demo 1 | 2.5 |
| Scath Na Deithe Virulent Providence | 2.5 |
| This sounds like if Ulcerate would be a black metal band - even the production is similar. Otherwise it's an OK background album without no concrete outstanding moments. |
| Schammasch Hearts of No Light | 2.5 |
| Schatten Des Monds Blady sen | 1.5 |
| *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. |
| Scorpions Rock Believer | 3.5 |
| These guys are ageless, especially Klaus Meine's vocie. Incredible! Steady rock'n'roll album with some really catchy songs and some less interesting ones too. If only the cover wouldn't be so damn ugly... lol. |
| Scorpions Love At First Sting | 3.0 |
| Scorpions Comeblack | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Scrying Glass Wyrmhole | 2.5 |
| I'm not vibing with this at all. I like Berlin-school, but the instrumentation of this release is real mood-killer. |
| Sear Bliss Letters From The Edge | 4.5 |
| Seax Speed Metal Mania | 4.0 |
| Secret Shame Dark Synthetics | 3.0 |
| Secret Stairways Enchantment of the Ring | 4.5 |
| "Reflections on the Lake" is one of the best dungeon synth songs ever made. The perfect background album for reading and just for regular relax. I have to admit it took some time to finally get the charm of it, but now I just can't have enough of it. |
| Secret Stairways Turning Point | 4.0 |
| Seeds of Iblis Anti Quran Rituals | 3.5 |
| Pretty simple yet enjoyable black metal release. It has a charming old-school vibe with a certain exotic aftertaste. Also bonus points for the classical piano sections. |
| Seep Hymns to the Gore | 3.5 |
| Fun, filthy "gore/doom"-like record, with additional samples and some synths here and there. This exactly that kind of death metal releases which yields nothing but pure entertainment and you'll catch yourself enjoying lot more than expected. (At least, this is how I felt.) |
| Selvhat Den Svarte Tid | 4.5 |
| Selvhat Gjennom mørket famlende | 3.5 |
| Sentio Ergo Sum For her frozen hands | 3.5 |
| Pretty solid death/doom EP. I especially liked their Black Sabbath cover! |
| Sequestered Keep The Vale of Ruined Towers | 3.5 |
| Sequestered Keep The Fortress in the Timeless Fog | 3.0 |
| Sequestered Keep Magic Amidst the Falling Leaves | 3.5 |
| Serment Chante, O Flamme de la Liberte | 3.5 |
| Great atmoblack release with great production and Cascadian-vibes (a bit). |
| Sermon of Flames I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive | 4.0 |
| Crushing black/death/noise beast, with lots of creative ideas within. I loved it from start to the end. Really heavy stuff, definitely not for everyone. |
| Serpent Column Ornuthi Thalassa | 4.0 |
| Serpent Column Mirror In Darkness | 3.5 |
| Serpent Column Invicta | 3.5 |
| Serpent Column Endless Detainment | 3.0 |
| Serpent Column Kathodos | 3.0 |
| 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 Column Katartisis | 3.0 |
| I still miss the "Ornuthi Thalassa" form of Serpent Column. It's not bad, but I doubt if I want to return to this in the future. |
| Serpent of Old Ensemble Under The Dark Sun | 4.0 |
| On paper, this is not that extra, but boy, it's very heavy! Insanely strong black/death debut album: endless waves of sick riffs (both melodic and dissonant), spiced up with some proggy flavours. The production is massive - hits like a bus! |
| Serpent's Isle Legends of The Ancient Bay | 3.0 |
| Serpent's Isle Tales of Frigid Waters | 3.5 |
| Serpent's Isle Archaic Oceans | 3.5 |
| Serpent's Isle The Quiet Lakes | 4.0 |
| Seth La Morsure du Christ | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Shahin Souri About This Time | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Shelter Ov Shadows Within the Halls of Oblivion | 2.5 |
| Shield Roar Single Combat | 3.5 |
| 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) V - Halmstad | 4.5 |
| Shining (SWE) Fiende | 4.0 |
| Shining (SWE) Submit to Selfdestruction | 2.5 |
| Shining (SWE) Redefining Darkness | 4.0 |
| Shining (SWE) X - Varg Utan Flock | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Shining (SWE) Shining | 2.5 |
| Shining - Yawning (Comes with a bloody -edgy- album cover.) |
| Shithammered Atomic Sodomizer | 3.5 |
| Sweet debut EP. Nothing extra, just a very-well executed black/speed storm with a good Bulldozer cover. This band has some potential, I can feel it! |
| Show Me A Dinosaur Plantgazer | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Sick Puppies Dressed Up as Life | 3.5 |
| Sickness (Finland) Nidus Diaboli | 3.0 |
| Sidereal Fortress Racconti Del Focolare | 3.0 |
| Sidereal Fortress Bogatyr | 2.5 |
| Sidereal Fortress Odissea | 2.5 |
"...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 The Hermit's Hole | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Sidereal Fortress Advanced Steel | 2.5 |
| It was simply boring and some track were really annoying. |
| Siege Tower Siege Tower | 3.0 |
| Sielunvihollinen Ruhonkantaja | 3.0 |
| Sign Of Evil Psychodelic Horror | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Silencer (SWE) Death - Pierce Me | 4.5 |
| Terrific. An unsettling piece of metal history, which is a quite challenging listen, but it's also very rewarding to fully dive into this suffocating vortex of dark riffs and agonizing screams... because it's something special. |
| Silent Thunder/Zmyrna Saeculum Mysticum | 2.0 |
| Shame on both sides for releasing something this bad. |
| Silvanthrone Forbidden Pathways to Ancient Wisdom | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Skaphe Skáphe³ | 4.0 |
| Wild, chaotic and gorgeously distorted: the Icelandic formation's third creation has a really dense and dark atmosphere which flows in a very unpredictable manner - and I love it. It has a bit Dodheimsgard-ish edge I can't really explain (maybe the vocals?), but I'm certainly hooked. |
| Skaphe Untitled | 4.0 |
| Spooky, evil demo. Not an easy listen, but very good. |
| Skaphe and Wormlust Kosmískur Hryllingur | 4.5 |
| A spiralling sonical nightmare - blunt, but I can't really describe better how does it feel listening to this release. "Kosmskur Hryllingur" is a madly chaotic creation, which captures the listener's interest by an oddly captivating charm - no matter how malformed actually it is. Most impressive. |
| Skarpseian Fragmenter Av Trolldom | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Skarpseian Tan Gil | 4.0 |
| Skarpseian Skygge Slottet | 4.0 |
| Skeleton Skeleton | 4.5 |
| 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/ |
| Skeleton Pyramid Of Skulls | 3.5 |
| Sick demo. It is more punkier and generally less exciting than their s/t LP, but also riffs hard. |
| Skhemty Sunrise on the Old Kingdom | 3.5 |
| I miss Anubis... But at least we have Skhemty! Sunrise on the Old Kingdom is also one interesting piece following the ancient Egypt-inpsired path within dungeon synth, so by default it deserves some attention due to its very exotic sound. Altogether, I believe if it'd be a bit more consistent (some songs were a bit less memorable), then I could love this record much-much more. |
| Skillet Unleashed | 3.0 |
| Skin Tension Machinic Impulses Of The Hyperreal | 2.5 |
| Skogsguud The Spirit of a Thousand Lakes | 2.5 |
| Slaegt Goddess | 2.0 |
| I wonder why did Century Media sign them... because this was shockingly flat. The production is ass, and it brutally dampened the listening experience. |
| Slayer Reign in Blood | 4.5 |
| "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 | 4.5 |
| Slayer South of Heaven | 4.5 |
| The very best of Slayer? |
| Slayer World Painted Blood | 4.0 |
| Slayer God Hates Us All | 3.5 |
| Slayer Hell Awaits | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Slayer Seasons in the Abyss | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Soundtrack for a good time. The perfect choice for casual Slayer jams. |
| Slayyyter Slayyyter | 1.0 |
| Sleep The Clarity | 4.5 |
| Sleep Dopesmoker | 4.0 |
| Sleep The Sciences | 4.0 |
| Slidhr The Futile Fires of Man | 3.0 |
| Slift Ummon | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Slime Golem The Short But Touching Tale Of Slime Golem | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind | 2.0 |
| Slytherin When the Darkness Comes | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Sodium Seconal 6677713 | 3.0 |
| Harmless little instrumental psychedelic rock album. Nothing really extra, and most of the songs are quite short, but I'm not going to lie: I was tempted by the cover, but I'm glad I gave this a listen. |
| Sodom In the Sign of Evil | 4.5 |
| Sodom Obsessed by Cruelty | 4.0 |
| Fun and nasty old-school thrash attack. |
| Sodom Bombenhagel | 3.0 |
| It's okay. Pretty harmless little EP. |
| Sodom In War and Pieces | 4.0 |
| Ripper straight-to-the-point thrash release. Full of energy and full of riffs, and sometimes that's all I need! |
| Sodom Better Off Dead | 3.5 |
| Very-very fun jam, lots of great riffs, solos and a quite enjoyable prodution. I sense a grower here, but based on my first impressions, this was a good "everyday thrash" record. Also it deserves some bonus point for the artwork, I really like it. |
| Soen Memorial | 3.0 |
| A rather inoffensive rock record which kinda fails to achieve being either "progressive" or "metal". It's pleasant as background music, though. |
| Sojourner The Shadowed Road | 2.5 |
| Sol Distorsion Sol Distorsion | 4.0 |
| Sol Kia Zos Ethos | 4.0 |
| What the hell is this, and what have I become? Seriously, this is nightmarishly shocking, yet I'm enjoying this wild ride. |
| Sol Peregrin The Inevitable | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Sol Tenebra The Inevitable | 3.0 |
| Solanum (GER) Spectral Poetry (Demo) | 4.0 |
| Exciting, and majestic album, just what I expected from B. S. (half of Depressive Silence). |
| Solanum (GER) Spheres of Time | 4.0 |
| Solefald The Linear Scaffold | 2.5 |
| Solitude Aeturnus Beyond the Crimson Horizon | 3.0 |
| I'm not sure if "power doom" is my thing... |
| Solstafir Í Blóði og Anda | 3.5 |
Pretty and unorthodox record, but it's hard to describe the true nature of it... Experimental (post-)atmoblack with lots of clean guitar melodies, perhaps? All I know: this record offers very-very cold and ethereal experience, which can bite you when "needed".
But the vocals though... |
| Solstafir Svartir Sandar | 4.5 |
| Very moody post-rock/metal record with some experiments in it. I love simply love the melancholic atmosphere, the slowly blooming songs, the "palpable" organic and "honest" sound of this album... "Fjara" and "Melrakkabls" were my favourites. |
| Soltri XV. Atra Mors | 3.5 |
| Soltri The Rising of the King Arthur | 3.5 |
| Solus Ritual Solus Ritual | 2.5 |
| Sombre Arcane Sombre Arcane (Demo) | 3.0 |
| Sombre Arcane Realmsong | 2.5 |
| I really wanted to like this (and not just because I'm a Dungeons and Dragons nerd), but it... didn't do the trick for me. It had some pretty good tracks like "Moon Sphere of The Dancing Court" or the closer, but the rest was either boring or really bad. |
| Sonnov Goqzo | 2.0 |
| Soraksan When tigers smoked pipes... | 3.5 |
| Sorcery (US) Sinister Soldiers | 3.5 |
| Interesting mixture of heavy metal and proto-doom with a pleasant psychedelic rock flavour. And the fact it is from '78 is crazy! |
| Sorcier Des Glaces Snowland MMXII | 2.5 |
| Sorry... Failure Years of Neglect Apathy | 2.5 |
| Sound of Orion Cuirasse de Sons | 3.5 |
| Not sure what is this exactly... Cosmic black metal combined with electronics and perhaps with bits of post-rock? I don't know!! All I know this kinda riffs, has a very weird spacey atmosphere, and makes me want to dance. |
| Source Vibrations Vibrational Growth for Plants | 2.0 |
| I somewhat doubt the efficiency of the intent behind this project, but one thing is for sure: this is very flat and boring. |
| Spectral Castle I've always been here, as far as I remember... | 3.5 |
| Spectral Lore 11 Days | 2.5 |
| I'm afraid, it was too one-dimensional for me. I don't think if I'll ever come back to this one, because it felt so boring. |
| Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine | 3.0 |
| 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 Lore and Mare Cognitum Sol | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Spectral Voice Eroded Corridors of Unbeing | 3.0 |
| Spectral Voice Sparagmos | 4.0 |
| Massive death/funeral doom record. Heavy riffs, great tempo changes, cavernous vocals...hell yeah, this is good stuff. |
| Spectral Wound A Diabolic Thirst | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Spire Temple of Khronos | 2.5 |
| Spirit Adrift Angel & Abyss Redux EP | 2.5 |
| It's alright, a chill little jam - however, it couldn't deliver much more... |
| Spirit Adrift Divided by Darkness | 4.0 |
| Oh hello doom-Mastodon, nice riffs you have there. |
| Spirit Of The Old Wood Spirit Of The Old Wood | 2.5 |
| Splendorius Norfaragell-Thul | 3.0 |
| Splendorius From the Ashes | 4.5 |
| Epic, majestic, exciting and very well composed. This album was a great surprise - the best kind. |
| Splendorius Tearful Misty Woods | 4.0 |
| Stahlijazhamur Storming At Sunset | 1.0 |
| Incredibly sloppy, awful potato-level lo-fi Satanic Warmaster-wannabe project from Sweden. |
| Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Stangarigel Na Severe Srdca | 2.5 |
| I don't see the point for starting yet another band by those Slovakians, if it'll sound almost identical to their other ones... Also the irritatingly blunt production really kills the mood as well. |
| Stara Rzeka Cień chmury nad ukrytym polem | 3.5 |
| Very mixed bag of experimental sounds, which somehow forms a coherent picture. It offers interesting electronics, post-rock and even bits of metal, so if you want to try something weird, Stara Rzeka is for you. |
| Steel Bearing Hand Slay In Hell | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Stellar Master Elite Hologram Temple | 4.5 |
| Sterbend Dwelling Lifeless | 4.0 |
| Stillbirth Homo Deus | 1.5 |
| Deathcore and slam and a disgustingly sterile sound... what could go wrong?! |
| Stillness My Snow Princess | 3.0 |
| Stirge Stirge | 3.5 |
| Stirge Stirge II | 3.5 |
| Stirge Malarian Winds | 1.5 |
| Stirge Stirge vs. Dungeon Altar | 4.0 |
| Stirge Stirge III | 3.0 |
| Stone Axe Stay of Execution | 3.5 |
| Easy to digest, lightweight but greatly entertaining hard rock release. You will hear some Sabbath, Lynrd Skynyrd, AC/DC here, so you can expect riffy, ballady, and bluesy stuff within and everything in between. Nothing extraordinary here though, just some careless fun. |
| Stone Garden Existential Futility | 3.0 |
| Stone Marrow Messiah, Deceiver | 3.5 |
| Storm Nordavind | 4.5 |
| Stormkeep Tales of Othertime | 4.0 |
| Another disciple who outshined its master, Emperor. An extremly well-balanced and finely written album lies behind the gorgeous artwork. Simply there is no reason to complain about - maybe it is not so "captivating" like other atmoblack acts like Evilfeast, Vargrav etc., but it is excellent work as it is! |
| Stormkeep Galdrum | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Strid Strid [7''] | 4.0 |
| Way too short, but awesome EP. |
| Strid End of Life | 4.0 |
| Good to know that the first ever DSBM recording was excellent quality material. |
| Striges Verum Veterum | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Sturmgeist Meister Mephisto | 2.5 |
| Stygian Ruin Sulfuric Vapour From the Depths | 4.0 |
| "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. |
| Stygian Ruin The Blackened Temple | 2.5 |
| Stygiofilia Barren Crops of Heavenly Deception | 2.5 |
| Suffering Hour The Cyclic Reckoning | 2.0 |
| This is lolbad. The hell are these ratings...? |
| Suhnopfer Nous sommes d'hier | 3.0 |
| It's a good, really fast black metal release with a few unorthodox ideas. Not that extra or fancy, to be honest. |
| Sulphosfurous Solitary Key | 3.5 |
| Great first-wave-ish black metal with strong stoner and black'n'roll influences. Great jam. |
| Sumerlands Sumerlands | 3.0 |
| Summoning Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame | 5.0 |
| Best Summoning; and a genre classic. |
| Summoning Dol Guldur | 4.0 |
| Summoning Minas Morgul | 3.0 |
| Summoning Lugburz | 4.0 |
| Summoning Stronghold | 4.0 |
| Summoning Oath Bound | 4.5 |
| Sundrugs Low | 4.0 |
| Sunken Grove Binding Branches | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Sunn O))) Pyroclasts | 4.0 |
| Sunn O))) Flight of the Behemoth | 4.0 |
| Huge and earthshaking guitar drones and exciting noise textures: a behemo)))th indeed. |
| Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions | 4.7 |
| Sunn O))) Kannon | 2.5 |
| Sunn O))) Solstitium Fulminate | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) Oracle | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) Black One | 3.0 |
| Sunn O))) ØØ Void | 4.0 |
| Sunn O))) Agharthi 09-10 | 4.0 |
| Sunn O))) (初心) GrimmRobes Live 101008 | 4.5 |
| Sunn O))) Dømkirke | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) The Grimmrobe Demos (Demo) | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) White2 | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) White1 | 3.0 |
| Sunn O))) Life Metal | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music... | 4.0 |
| The best Sunn O))) release since Monoliths and Dimensions, which is a really big thing. The album behind the terrible title is a truly gigantic slow-motion catharsis. Lots of experimentation, great guests (Anna von Hauswold should tour with them more often, and please invite Attila Csihar too). Prepare for a deep relax, and the usual high-volume brain-massage through the walls of drones and distortion. |
| Sunn O))) and Ulver Terrestrials | 3.5 |
| Sunn O))) Meets Nurse With Wound The Iron Soul of Nothing | 4.0 |
| Sunsunmoon Demons in Medieval Times | 3.5 |
| Super Snake Leap of Love | 3.0 |
| Svalbard The Weight of the Mask | 2.5 |
| Svaltvinter Hädangången | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Svart Solace A Night at the Spire | 2.0 |
| Snoozefest. |
| Svartar N/A | 2.5 |
| Svartheim Black Metal Finland | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| Svartidaudi Revelations of the Red Sword | 2.5 |
| Very forgettable disso-black album, which contains some melodies too. The production is okay, but in general it's not that interesting. |
| Sventovit Longing for the Past | 4.0 |
| Pretty little album, with a humbly magical atmosphere. Very relaxing! |
| Svrm Розпад | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Synth Bard Gold Box Renditions | 4.0 |
| Synth Bard Beyond the Crystal Cave | 4.5 |
| Synthosaurus Rise of the Synthosaurs | 3.5 |
| Synthosaurus Gigantic Throne | 4.0 |
| Taking dino synth to the next level, 'Gigantic Throne' is a super fun album. |
| Synthosaurus Reptical Wrath | 3.5 |
| Synthosaurus Secret of the Lost Land | 3.5 |
| Synthosaurus Dino War | 3.0 |
| Synthosaurus Metalosauric Crush | 3.5 |
| Synthosaurus Prehistoric Gods | 3.5 |
| System of a Down Hypnotize | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Protect The Land/Genocidal Humanoidz | 3.5 |
| 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) | 3.5 |
| Taake Hordalands Doedskvad | 4.0 |
| Taake Stridens hus | 4.5 |
| Taake Kong Vinter | 3.5 |
| Taake Noregs Vaapen | 4.0 |
| Taake Taake | 4.0 |
| Taake Kulde | 4.0 |
| Taake Manndaudsvinter | 2.0 |
| Taake Nattestid Ser Porten Vid | 4.0 |
| Super groovy, melodic and has a very enjoyable crispy production. Hoest is a trve riff master. |
| Taake Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik | 4.0 |
| Taake Avvik | 4.5 |
| Hoest has released this and pretty much nobody noticed it... but they should! I don't mind compilation albums if they are [this] good. I was especially sold by the fantastic acoustic version of "Nattestid ser porten vid I" which was gorgeous like any song from Ulver's Kveldssanger (minus the vocals). The cover songs were pretty damn solid as well, just as Hoest's own songs. |
| Taake Et hav av avstand | 4.0 |
| One of the "jammiest" Taake albums (along with Stridens hus, for example). Great flow, good riffs, weird samples, and a quite post-black-like vibe. Yeah, this is an excellent release. |
| Taake / Deathcult Jaertegn (Split) | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Taake/Whoredom Rife Pakt | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Takatoshi Naitoh In The Forest | 4.5 |
| This album masterfully blends together (old-school) uplifting, dreamy synths and field recordings into a dreamy and beautiful musical journey. |
| Talog Objava Sablasne Tiranije | 2.5 |
| Talog Vladavina Vampira | 1.5 |
| Talog Drakulin Sud | 2.5 |
| I guess this is an official soundtrack for a vampyric crypt. |
| Talog Ukleta Kotlina | 3.5 |
| Talog Ona Kojoj Tama Se Klanja | 2.5 |
| Tamas Madhyandina 1 | 2.5 |
| Tangorodrim Justus Ex Fide Vivit | 3.5 |
| Tanith Voyage | 2.0 |
| Huge hit'n'miss, and I particularly hated how it sounds. |
| Tar'Goraan Hollow Hearts | 3.5 |
| Tardigrada Widrstand | 3.5 |
| Some really fine DSBM. Interestingly enough, I liked the shorter tracks more, especially songs like "Leere" - where some ethereal synths can be heard in the background, giving the album a certain atmospheric depth. If it would be less reverby (why blunting the riffs this much?!), it'd be a solid 4.0 too. |
| Tarot (AUS) The Warrior's Spell | 4.0 |
| It was a very fun psychedelic / progressive rock album, with awesome guitar leads (+tone), Hammond organs and so on. |
| Tarot (AUS) Reflections | 4.0 |
| Taste Taste | 4.0 |
| Tau Cross A Pillar Of Fire | 2.5 |
| Taur Nu Fuin The Mountain Path | 3.0 |
| Tauregorath The High King of Azurreich | 2.0 |
| Taylor Swift Folklore | 2.0 |
| This is not folk? Dammit. At least she could have wrote the music by herself... |
| Teen Daze Four More Years | 3.5 |
| Teen Suicide Fucking Bliss | 1.5 |
| Telaestheticist Roter Tod | 2.5 |
| Telepathic Moon Astral Elegance | 3.0 |
| Tempte Urðr | 3.0 |
| Temple of the Fractured Light Psychadelic Witchcraft (And the Groovy Occult) | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Temple of Void The World That Was | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Tenhi Kauan | 4.0 |
| Not far from a 4.5 - maybe more synths could have done the trick, but it is still a marvelous dark folk album. "Hallavedet" and "Niin Auer Hiljaa Vie" were my most favourite songs. |
| Tentacult Lacerating Pattern | 3.5 |
| Crispy stuff. I always enjoy the more straight-forward approach in death metal, and this delivers exactly that with some extra features, like bits of disso-elements, or the very "atmospheric" doomier intro. |
| Terminal Nation Holocene Extinction | 3.0 |
| "Basically a hardcore band playing smooth brain caveman riffs for an entire album." [2] Some lines in these lyrics are...lol, but damn, this sounds really good! (I'd cut back on the vocals though... Man, let those riff stand out!) |
| Terrorizer World Downfall | 4.5 |
| Not much to say here. Ageless grindcore masterwork for darker days. Iconic. |
| Terrortron Orgy of the Vampires (Original Soundtrack Recordin | 2.5 |
| Terveet Kadet Kaikki kaikkia vastaan | 4.0 |
| This is a sick really heavy Finnish harcore punk record, with some extra flavours like D-beat and even metal (yeah for real, even black metal tremolos and galopping thrash riffs). And damn, this band is active for 40 years now??? |
| Thangorodrim Taur-nu-Fuin | 5.0 |
| The most magical Tolkien-inspired album ever existed. Charming, unforgettable and epic. |
| Thangorodrim Akallabêth | 3.0 |
| Thangorodrim Gil-Estel | 4.5 |
| Thangorodrim Dagor Bragalloch | 2.5 |
| Thangorodrim The Darkening of Valinor | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Thangorodrim Towers of the Teeth | 3.5 |
| Thangorodrim Prologue | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis | 2.5 |
| Incoherent and bleak. Without the drums, it'd have absolutely zero flow, just random riffs thrown together - I know it supposed to be avant-garde, but something feeling so random is a hard turn-off for me. |
| Tharmazegethuzan Revelations Of The Necroglyph | 2.5 |
| The 3rd Attempt Egocidal Path | 3.0 |
| The 69 Eyes Death Of Darkness | 2.0 |
| The Atlas Ghost Silent Hill | 2.5 |
| The Atomic Bitchwax Scorpio | 4.0 |
| 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 Audient Void Dying Flesh In Immortal Shape | 1.5 |
| 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. |
| The Avalanches Since I Left You | 4.0 |
| Bar background music: the album. |
| The Beatles Please Please Me | 3.0 |
| The Betrayed Kingdom On the Land of Myth | 4.5 |
| Oh sweet melancholy, embrace me. Outstanding Hungarian product, perfect choice for the gloomy days. |
| The Bloody Nun No Sleep 'til Walpurgis | 2.0 |
| The Cold Domain Barbaric Dark Ages | 4.0 |
| The Crevices Below Below the Crevices | 3.0 |
| 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 Crippled God Deadhouse | 3.0 |
| It was quite good. The album is a really mixed bag, as it mixes the sound of old-school video games with minimalistic ambient music (where the piano dominates the melodies). It is well written, however I wasn't entirely hooked by this. |
| The Cursed Cold One The Hag Of The Sea | 3.5 |
| Great diversity in a quite short release. Lots of very good ideas, and original sounds - especially the percussions. |
| The Darkness Easter Is Cancelled | 2.0 |
| The Devil and the Almighty Blues The Devil and the Almighty Blues | 4.5 |
| The Devil Wears Prada ZII | 3.0 |
| This takes me back. Pretty alright, but not that overwhelming I hoped for. It was good to hear some synths! |
| The Devil's Trade The Call of the Iron Peak | 3.5 |
| Gorgeous dark, gloomy, sometimes droney soundscapes combined with Dávid Makó's powerful and soulful singing (quite in a traditional Hungarian folk style)... it's really special. Hard to describe how unique it is. I gave it "only" a 3.5, since I've heard the singles from Vidékek Vannak Idebenn, and having a drummer + synths brought a huuuuuge level up. |
| The Devil's Trade Vidékek Vannak Idebenn | 4.0 |
| What an album!! Gorgeous, deep, pleasantly polished mix of neo-folk and post-metal (because sometimes it is quite metal). Plus I love that Dávid decided to write and sing some of his lyrics in Hungarian. |
| The Flamingo Jones The 5th Floor Of The Tree | 4.0 |
| 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 Future Sound of London Yage 2019 | 3.5 |
| The Gitas Garland | 4.0 |
| 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) | 4.0 |
| The House of Capricorn The Rivers and the Rain | 3.5 |
| The IXth Key Dungeon | 3.0 |
| The IXth Key Moon | 3.0 |
| The Knife Shaking the Habitual | 2.0 |
| I really don't like this one. |
| The Kovenant Nexus Polaris | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| The Mothers of Invention One Size Fits All | 3.5 |
| It was...quite fun. When it got prog, jazzy and bluesy I really liked it. The rest was...okay. |
| The Motion Mosaic Avant-Garbage | 2.5 |
| Dry. |
| The Necromancers Servants of the Salem Girl | 4.0 |
| The Night Eternal Fatale | 3.0 |
| This is pretty cool heavy metal, in which the band succesfully implemented the insertion gothic rock elements into their sound. But unfortunately, this is mixed pretty badly... the singer is way too loud so most of the time we can barely hear the instruments, which is real shame since the band itself is lot better than their singer. Just shut up man, let the others jam a little bit. |
| The Noisy Freaks Straight Life | 3.5 |
| The Noisy Freaks The Sixth Sense | 3.0 |
| The Obsessed Gilded Sorrow | 3.5 |
| Wino still has it! One ultimately fun stoner/doom album, with some incredible bombastic riffs in it. "Jailine" was the absolute pinnacle of the record... it's so massive and catchy! The last third of the album was clearly stronger than the rest, but it's great all the way through. Wino's voice is not that good as it used to be... still not bad, though. |
| The Obsessed Sacred | 3.5 |
| The Obsessed The Obsessed | 4.5 |
| Mighty gorgeous doom album. Full of charming and catchy melodies. Wino and co. put this together amazingly well. This is not a techincal record, but this has "soul". |
| The Obsessed The Church Within | 2.5 |
| It is a very forgettable release. Despite the cool guitar tone, the riffs etc. this feels really lifeless compared to their debut. |
| The Oscillation Droneweapon | 2.5 |
| The Police Reggatta de Blanc | 3.5 |
| ~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 Police Outlandos d'Amour | 3.0 |
| 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 Singles 1965-1967 | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties Request | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Aftermath | 3.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet | 2.5 |
| Damn, it was probably the worst Stones record I've ever heard. What's this average score...? |
| The Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon | 3.0 |
| This is good. |
| The Rolling Stones Blue and Lonesome | 3.5 |
| Back to their roots, and it sounded very good. If you got bored by this, then you have problems. |
| The Sisters of Mercy Vision Thing | 3.5 |
| Solid gothic jam. |
| The Skaldic Fungi Apparition Parallel Realm and Deeds of Ethereal Heroism | 2.5 |
| The Sorcerer (IT) Echoes of Distant Times | 3.0 |
| The Soviet Space Dog Project History of Radio | 3.5 |
| The Spirit Sounds from the Vortex | 4.0 |
| That kind of meloblack I really like. Reminded me a bit to Antestor: constantly flowing riffs, even some solos too. Solid output. |
| The Sway of Mountains All the Colour Stains the Light | 2.5 |
| Interesting decision to make a 100% instrumental death/prog(/post) metal album, and I'm not entirely convinced about it. This way, this is not much more than background noise, and the production is quite flat too. |
| The Sword Warp Riders | 4.0 |
| The Terrible Fates Pursuing Thaumaturges | 4.0 |
| Very diverse and exciting dungeon synth release. Tons of different styles and instruments can be heard through these 10 songs, each one tells a chapter from a tale. If you love the soundtracks of The Witcher, the Zelda games or many other RPGs: this album is for you. |
| The Trees Community Christ Tree | 3.5 |
| The True Werwolf Winternight - Demo VIII | 2.0 |
| The True Werwolf Devil Crisis | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| The True Werwolf / Druadan Forest Split | 3.5 |
| The Wonders Of Atomic Mutations Tunguska | 4.5 |
| Them The Angry Young Them | 2.0 |
| Theodor Die Prinzessin und der Troll | 2.5 |
| Theory of a Deadman Savages | 2.5 |
| This Gift Is A Curse A Throne of Ash | 2.0 |
| Thokkian Vortex Thy Throne Is Mine | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Thorgnyr Depths | 2.5 |
| Thorns Grymyrk | 4.5 |
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 Trøndertun | 4.0 |
| Thorns Thorns | 4.6 |
| Thorns Thorns vs Emperor (split w/ Emperor) | 4.5 |
| Thorns Stigma Diabolicum | 4.5 |
| Thornwing Solitary Madness in Crystalline Caverns | 3.5 |
| Thorr's Hammer Dommedagsnatt | 4.0 |
| Thorvroht Frostbound Reveries | 3.0 |
| Very-very chill dark ambient / winter synth release, which flows in a slow pace. (From this aspect, I dug this lot more than Aindulmedir, for example.) |
| Thos Aella Sempiternal Mobocracies | 4.0 |
| Oh man, this riffs so hard! It mostly sounds like a blackened heavy/thrash record, but it has some death and heavy metal in it as well. Definitely that agressive as the cover art would suggest, it's more of a super awesome jam with plenty of earworm riffs and elegantly executed solos. Absolutely a love at first sight record. The only problem is with this: the overall volume is unnecesarily low!! |
| Thou Heathen | 2.5 |
| 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 | 2.5 |
| Thousand Foot Krutch The End Is Where We Begin | 4.0 |
| Thousandth Cave Ancient Hearsay | 2.5 |
| A not really convincing Vindkaldr-wannabe project, despite the creator of this release (Colin Marston) is a really talented person. It's okay, but nothing really extra or noteworthy here. |
| Threshing Spirit Into The Light | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Throne of the Ice Goblin Descending Into Black Hypnosis Through the Ritual | 2.5 |
| Thulcandra Hail The Abyss | 2.0 |
| The same patterns and ideas over and over again... It's a damn' soulless album, nothing notable while showcasing all the necessary elements of a meloblack release. This band just as lame as late Dark Funeral. |
| Thule thule Under the spell of | 3.5 |
| Thunderbolt / Kataxu Beyond Christianity / North | 4.0 |
| Thy Catafalque Zápor | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Thy Catafalque Geometria | 4.8 |
| Thy Catafalque Roka Hasa Radio | 4.0 |
| Thy Catafalque Naiv | 4.0 |
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. |
| Thy Catafalque Vadak | 4.5 |
| The complexity and the variance within is same in Naiv, but this less folky and Vadak riffs much HARDER. Personally I got nice Geometria vibes from this, which is was a very positive surprise. "Ml" is one of the best Thy Catafalque songs ever, hands down. Congrats to Ktai Tams and Co., you make me a very proud Hungarian. |
| Thy Catafalque Mezolit - Live at Fekete Zaj | 4.0 |
| I wish I could've been there... However, this is easily the best live album of the year. Excellent tracklist, all excellent musicians and excellent recording-quality. |
| Thy Catafalque Alföld | 4.5 |
| My third favourite TC after Geometria and Vadak. Less experimental, but I still feel this is still very balanced and unique. The Hungarian Great Plain is my home as well, therefore some of these lyrics could touch a fragment of my soul - I can't describe this to y'all. You must live here to understand. |
| Thy Darkened Shade Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Thy Darkened Shade Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya | 3.0 |
| It's... OK. Feels too long, and while the basslines are amazing, the overall instrumentalization doesn't feel so synergic to me, and the vocals are definitely "too much". |
| Til Det Bergens Skyggene Til Det Bergens Skyggene | 4.0 |
| Timothy Fife Transcommunication | 4.0 |
| 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...! |
| Tiny Mouse The happiest mouse alive | 2.5 |
| Titan (US) I | 4.0 |
| Toad Sage The Long Forgotten Realm | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Toadeater Bexadde | 3.5 |
| Quite strong release, especially the more atmospheric black metal aspects of it are noteworthy. The more harcore-related elements of it were less interesting, more precisely: some vocal sections were definitely bad. But I felt the sweet nostalgia in the atmosphere they created, so altogether I liked it. Not perfect yet, but this band has potential. |
| Toby Driver and Nick Hudson Black Feather Under Your Tongue | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit | 2.5 |
| Tomb Mold plays faster Dream Unending. I'm not feeling this, it was a quite boring album. |
| Tomb of Annihilation End of Time | 4.0 |
| Dungeons and Dragons in my death metal? Hell yes! |
| Tomhet (SWE) Tomhet | 2.5 |
| Tomusz Escape | 4.0 |
| Tool Fear Inoculum | 2.5 |
| Torchlight Haunting Dreams for the Dying King | 3.0 |
| Torgeist Devoted To Satan | 3.0 |
| Torgeist Time Of Sabbath | 3.5 |
| Great raw black metal gem, one of the best outputs from the Les Légions Noires. Also, have I mentioned they one of the best logos? |
| Tormentor 7th Day Of Doom | 4.0 |
| Tormentor Anno Domini | 4.7 |
| How do we deserve Tormentor? |
| Tradvarelse There Were no Gods in Their Legends...Only Heroes | 1.5 |
| Treasure Seeker Quest for the Secrets Beyond Time | 4.0 |
| Very nice, I'm impressed. Great medieval ambient release, very playful and adventurous, with pleasant Fief-ish vibes. |
| Trelldom Til et Annet... | 2.0 |
| Trha Vat Gëlénva!!! | 1.5 |
| This was a really painful disappointment. Moe, I'll need a Forget-Me-Shot, immediately. |
| Tribulation Where the Gloom Becomes Sound | 4.0 |
| Catchy gothic black'n'roll? Yes, please! |
| Triptykon Eparistera Daimones | 4.7 |
| 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 [i]CF[i]. Basically this felt like a refreshed continuation of his musical path which deserves all the admiration. |
| Triptykon Shatter | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Triptykon Requiem | 4.5 |
| This is far-far-far better than what I expected! A superb classical AND metal co-production. This is a really colorful and vivid creation, but it also invokes the desired dark atmosphere. By having Safa Heraghi as co-lead singer, they managed to blend a quite gothic vibe into the whole thing, which was also very great. |
| Trist (GER) Willenskraft | 4.0 |
| Tristengrav II - Nychavgé | 4.0 |
| Triumph (RUS) Triumph | 4.0 |
| Troghetstillstand Winter Mist | 1.5 |
| Trouble The Skull | 4.0 |
| Trouble Trouble | 5.0 |
| Is this doom? Is this thrash? Is this heavy metal? Is this stoner? Trouble's (second) self-titled piece is a classy mix of all of these, a very easily-flowing and brilliant album. Good time guaranteed. |
| Trouble Trouble/Psalm 9 | 4.0 |
| Interesting and amazing album, a bridge between the Candlemass-alike epic doom's and the thrash metal's realms. For a debut, it is shockingly well executed, and contains tons of massive riffs. |
| Trvth Black Horse Plague | 3.0 |
| Trvth A Galvanizing Derivation | 3.5 |
| Trvth Inordinate and Surpassing | 4.0 |
| Trvth Process of Adaptation | 3.5 |
| Great black metal from the Captain, as usual. "Acceptance" is one of my most favourite Trvth track. |
| Tryglav The Ritual | 3.0 |
| It was alright. A quite good meloblack album, really reminded me to modern Dark Funeral both in its strengths and weaknesses: it's good, the production is OK too, but not very exciting. Works well in the background if I do very boring work. One more thing: a vocals are a bit too much, too much duplicated parts - I want to hear the riffs not the vocals! |
| Tsjuder Desert Northern Hell | 4.5 |
| Tsjuder Norwegian Apocalypse | 4.0 |
| Tsjuder Demonic Possession | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Tsjuder Throne of the Goat | 2.5 |
| Tsjuder Throne of the Goat (2018 Version) | 4.0 |
| Tsjuder Helvegr | 2.0 |
| In one ear - out the other. The production is lame as well. Really disappointing. |
| TSM aka This Soft Machine On & On / This Place Was Meant For Me | 3.5 |
| Turment Nocturn Sense Misericòrdia | 2.5 |
| Started well, ended up boring. |
| Uada Cult of a Dying Sun | 2.5 |
| Uada Djinn | 3.0 |
| It offers some noteworthy solos and bits of Immortal-alike fast riffs, otherwise Djinn is not a very memorable release. |
| Uada Crepuscule Natura | 3.0 |
| It's... alright, in the most positive way! Sounds good, and doesn't sound sterile "idea-wise" either. It's just... a very standard meloblack album. It's a good one though, especially because I dig the production a lot: it has an interesting stoner/death-infused black metal metal sound (if that makes any sense), and the mixing feels really pleasant as each instrument + the vocals are perfectly placed. No fillers here, just not that exciting I hoped for. |
| Uhtceare El Genocidio Primordial Llevará El Nombre Infinito | 3.0 |
| Ulaidh Provincial Kingdoms of Éire | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Ulcerate Stare Into Death and Be Still | 3.0 |
| (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 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Ulk Ulk (demo) | 4.0 |
| Ulthar Providence | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Ulvegr Arctogaia | 4.5 |
| Ulver Teachings In Silence | 4.6 |
| Ulver Silencing the Singing | 4.6 |
| Ulver Silence Teaches You How to Sing EP | 4.5 |
| Ulver Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler | 5.0 |
| Ulver Kveldssanger | 4.0 |
| Ulver Nattens Madrigal | 3.0 |
| Ulver Shadows of the Sun | 4.9 |
| Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar | 4.0 |
| Ulver Messe I.X-VI.X | 4.5 |
| Ulver Perdition City | 4.5 |
| Ulver Sic Transit Gloria Mundi | 4.0 |
| Ulver Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell | 4.0 |
| Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP | 4.7 |
| Ulver Blood Inside | 3.0 |
| Ulver Wars of the Roses | 3.5 |
| Ulver A Quick Fix of Melancholy | 3.0 |
| Ulver Drone Activity | 4.0 |
| 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 Metamorphosis | 4.5 |
| Ulver The Norwegian National Opera | 4.0 |
| Ulver Childhood's End | 4.0 |
| Ulver Lyckantropen Themes OST | 4.0 |
| Ulver Vargnatt | 4.0 |
| Ulver Rehearsal Room 1993 | 1.5 |
| Ulver Flowers of Evil | 3.0 |
| "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. |
| Ulver Hexahedron | 4.5 |
| Here it is ATGCLVLSSCAP 2.0. These "live" albums from Ulver are the real treat. Very relaxing, yet still very dinamic and easy flowing release, with surprisingly tight production. A real pleasure for the ears, seriously. |
| Ulver Scary Muzak | 4.0 |
| The Norwegian Wolves reimagined and modernized John Carpenter's iconic spookscapes from the '78 classic, moreover they've sprinkled some Ulver-esque studio magic onto the whole thing and dropped some of their own compositions as well into the cauldron. "Scary Muzak" perfectly blends the mysterious and pumpkin-spiced spook with their smooth and dancey synth-pop. |
| Umbria Follow the ghost hand | 4.0 |
| Umbria Demo | 3.5 |
| Umbria Farwalker | 3.0 |
| Umbria The Sleeping Wizard | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Un Sentiment | 2.5 |
| Started very well, but in the end it became very samey. They had an unique touch on funeral doom, but in my opinion this album needed far more variety - especially some additional tempo changes could have looked well. Not bad though, but was a bit too boring for my taste. |
| Undeath It's Time...To Rise From the Grave | 2.5 |
| Definitely not bad and has its moments... but it's a surprisingly boring album. |
| Unfurl Ascension | 2.0 |
| Ewwwww... incoherent hardcore-based sludgy wankery, which tries to be so bruahtahwl. Please, give back my lost minutes from my life. |
| Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect Order of the Rose Cross | 3.5 |
| Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect Canticle Bound In Spirit-Faith In Vampyric Blood | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Uniform and The Body Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back | 2.0 |
| Uppsalan Temple Shrine of the Elements | 2.0 |
| Uppstigning Heros (An ascension in 4 chapters) | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Upyr The Four Seasons | 3.0 |
| Ur Pale Sea Synth Ensemble | 3.5 |
| Ur Pale Water Tombs & Crimson Horizons | 3.5 |
| Ur Pale Crystal Waves Orchestra | 3.0 |
| Ur Pale New Dawn | 3.0 |
| Urfaust Empty Space Meditation | 4.0 |
| Thank you YouTube algorhytm for showing me this. This is insane...insanely good experimental metal release. Dark, emotional, wild and elegant. |
| Urfaust Untergang | 4.6 |
| It took me a few listens to fully digest this one; but I can feel this could still grow on me. Raw, sharp and both the "standard" and unorthodox ideas and elements of black metal could be work together in Untergang. I love the guitar tone a lot with the Burzum-ish and Peste Noire-ish sound. A dignified farewell. |
| Urfaust Trúbadóirí Ólta an Diabhail | 4.5 |
| Insanely good live album. Very trve, yet pleasantly odd -- just as expected from Urfaust. Side Two is especially great! |
| Urfaust The Constellatory Practice | 4.5 |
| Urfaust: the Ulver album. |
| Urfaust Drei Rituale Jenseits Des Kosmos | 2.5 |
| Urfaust Compilation Of Intoxications | 4.5 |
| Slow (quite like the mix of black metal and doom) experimental metal, which brings together the horrifying atmosphere of disharmonic riffs (pretty much like what Blut Aus Nord does in the Disharmonium series... and it existed years before BAN releases those Lovecrafitan nightmares) with crushing, (sludgy) black metal assaults. Also the whole thing is spiced up with strange synths and the whole released is soaked in a dark, ritualistic atmosphere. And of course this wouldn't be an Urfaust release without the the strange clean vocal chantings. |
| Urfaust Apparitions | 3.5 |
| Very ambient-focused EP/mini-album, with one definite highlight song: "The Healer". That one particular song carries the entire release on "its shoulders" in terms of quality and interest, as it evokes a deeply mystical and strange atmosphere via droning, doomy riffs, ritualistic chantings and odd synths... and all of that comes with a nice amount of oriental melodies. The rest of the EP is alright, not very interesting dark ambient experiments, but they didn't ruin the atmosphere after all. |
| Urfaust Teufelsgeist | 4.0 |
| This gets heavier by each track. An absolute oddity in the whole discography, which is not even metal most of the time. The album opener "Offerschaal der astrologische mengvormen" is one of sneaky grower, a weird and enchanting synth+drum... thing (song) which "mimicks" a slow and cheesy orchestral piece. I don't know why, but I truly love the eerie, mystical and twisted nature of this thing. It's some sort of dark magic, or I don't know...! One thing is for sure, the previously mentioned first track is a 5/5 masterpiece... the rest remains a challenge, even for me. |
| Urfaust Hoof Tar | 3.0 |
| It was a quite nice mega single, but their most interesting release. The "Spaced Out Mix" was quite terrible, but the song itself and the "Radio Edit 666" plus the synthwave-ish turbo "Lueur Verte Version" was really good, though. |
| Urn Iron Will of Power | 3.0 |
| Urne A Feast On Sorrow | 2.0 |
| Completely ruined by that lolbad hardcore vocalist. 'Just shut up, man, you're awful.' |
| Urrnil Killer of malevolence (demo) | 3.5 |
| Urrnil Fabularum | 3.5 |
| Urthrax Cantrips | 4.0 |
| Uruk-Hai / Burzum The Fighting Uruk-Hai / Wotans Verhängnis | 4.0 |
| Ururdhagaz När Mörkret Tog Över Makten | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Ushangvagush Mntu | 2.5 |
| Shut the fuck up. The constantly present really lame vocals pretty much killed my patience after the 6. song. No, noone likes it, that is not the key element of making an atmoblack album "emotional". I was struggling to sit this through, despite it had some good moments, but generally it is very tiring. |
| Usnea Bathed in Light | 2.5 |
| Disappointment. It's not any close to Portals Into Futility in terms of quality... |
| Usnea Portals Into Futility | 4.5 |
| Utred Tribute | 3.5 |
| Utred Forest | 3.5 |
| Utred Citadel | 3.5 |
| Utred Gothic | 3.0 |
| Uuntar Voorvaderverering | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Vaa Ur sägen och hävd | 4.7 |
| AOTY contender neoclassical / dungeon synth. I have no words to describe how beautiful is this... |
| Vader Thy Messenger | 4.0 |
| Vader Dark Age | 3.5 |
| Vaelastrasz Adventures of the Red Whelpling | 3.5 |
| Vaelastrasz Hope's End | 2.0 |
| Vaelastrasz The Faint Whispers of Sinister Squashlings | 2.0 |
| Vagtazo Halottkemek A semmi kapuin dorombolve | 3.5 |
| 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... |
| Vagtazo Halottkemek Eletzuhatag | 4.0 |
| Hard to describe this. It the Hungarian etnopunk, where punk and ancient shamanic music could co-exist. Weird lyrics, weird "live" sound, but this album has its own unique charm. Just give it a go after a long day and enjoy the Attila Granpierre's chantings and the flow of punk-and traditional folk melodies. |
| Valar The Arrival Of The Dragonlord | 2.5 |
| Valdrin Throne of the Lunar Soul | 4.0 |
| Moonlight Sorcery, but it's actually USBM. Very melodic atmoblack, and interestingly with a vocalist who sounds exactly like Johannes Andersson from Tribulation. |
| Vale Minstrel Warden Of The Vale | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Vali Forlatt | 4.0 |
| It takes me back, when little garas was learning the ways of acoustic guitar in the music school. Atmospheric and very-well executed (dark) folk album - the "dark" is a bit uncertain, as it's not so gloomy, and a some sort of hispanic impact can be heard in some songs. Excellent album, nonetheless. |
| Valtyr Töframaðurinn og Mærin | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Valtyr Draumar Baldurs | 2.5 |
| 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... |
| Vampirska Vermilion Apparitions Frozen in Chimera Twilight | 4.5 |
| This is a very-very good old-school meloblack release. Sounds like something straight out from the '90s, stylistically well-balanced (pleasantly groovy, melodic and straight-forward at once), and you can hear many resemblances to bands like Darkthrone, Satanic Warmaster, Judas Iscariot. Bonus points for the the a e s t h e t i c s. |
| Vampirska Torturous Omens of Blood and Candlewax | 3.5 |
| Feels like in the '90s. Raw black metal which manages to stay quite enjoyable. Going for such old-school recording style (directly to tape) was a bit of a risk, but in the end it turned out good. If you want to experience the re-discovering of a forgotten black metal tape from an untouched box from a long-closed record store's basement - then this album is for you. |
| Vampyric Desolation Wolf Howl, Blood and Nightfall | 4.0 |
| Exactly my taste in dungeon drone: mysterious and very atmospheric. I got those Amnesia vibes, perfectly spooky. |
| Vampyric Tyrant Das Schwert Der Sterne | 3.5 |
| 1: Second wave worship done right. 2: Black metal album cover done right. |
| Van Halen Van Halen | 4.0 |
| Vandalorum Flagellum Dei | 4.0 |
| Vangelis Antarctica | 4.0 |
| If the artic atmosphere could be emobdied in one album, this could be a strong contender for that role. Lovely soundscapes. |
| Vangelis The Dragon | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Vangelis L'Apocalypse Des Animaux | 4.0 |
| Amazing & beautiful. Fantastic ambient album with gorgeous instrumentation. |
| Vangelis Earth | 3.5 |
| Such a relaxing progressive rock / world fusion album! Only "Ritual" and "The City" were a bit meh, but everything else is very good. |
| Vanha Melancholia | 2.5 |
| Vanhelga Enfin Morte | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Vargrav (FIN) Netherstorm | 4.0 |
| Vargrav (FIN) Reign In Supreme Darkness | 4.0 |
| Vargrav (FIN) The Nighthold | 4.0 |
| Vargrav never disappoints. Consistent atmoblack with excellent synth melodies and epicness. |
| Various Artists Back in Black (Redux) | 4.0 |
| We must have been really good this year, otherwise I don't think we deserve this miracle. I never thought an entire album of AC/DC covers can be so much fun. This is about nothing but pure fun! Red Fang's take on "Hells Bells" the best cover ever. |
| Various Artists (Ambient) Healing Sounds II: A compilation for those in need | 3.5 |
| Varvitos Forbidden Lost Lore | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Vault Of Horror Chapter 1: Vintage Horror | 3.0 |
| Ved Buens Ende Written In Waters | 4.0 |
| Vehemence (FRA) Ordalies | 2.5 |
| This band isn't that good as the hype suggest it... Ordailes is an okay-ish album, but most of the time it really just bores me. |
| Veilburner Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull | 3.0 |
| It wasn't as wild as expected. It has a good flow though, but it rarely lured my interest to listen to it more actively. Sometimes it felt like it is Aldrahn behind the mic, because of a perfect imitation. It was good for once, but that's all for me. |
| Veligor Shadow of forgotten Realm | 4.0 |
| Velnias Scion of Aether | 3.5 |
| Album is a continous proggy doom riff-fest, with a small amount of black metal influences. Great jam! |
| Venom Storm The Gates | 2.0 |
| Horrible mix, horribly uninspired songwriting, horribly stupid lyrics. Time to retire. |
| Venom Hell | 2.0 |
| Hot garbage. I've heard worse, though. Amateurish, uninspired, sounds bad. |
| Venom Welcome to Hell | 3.0 |
| First half of the album is a pretty fun, while the second half of it kinda lacks some punch. It's a quite good, and historically very important heavy metal album which contrubuted a lot to the birth of thrash. The production quality is ass, but the bass sounds really nice! |
| Venom Black Metal | 3.0 |
| The icon, the ugly devil... Black Metal is a legendary release: but I'll agree with that mostly because of its historical importance. I say 'mostly', because the first half of the album doesn't really offer that much excitement. However, from the #7 song, "Sacrifice", things get quite interesting. The first hints of extremity will make their check-in, foreshadowing the birth and the sounds of first Bathory releases. (Come on Quorthon, you liar, you clearly were inspired by this album!) |
| Venom At War with Satan | 3.0 |
| Instrumentally, this is a big level-up -- yet, the guitar sound is paper thin... which is very irritating. On the vocal side, Cronos was pretty bad on this one, in my opinion and his vocals were way too loud in the mix. So, while their songwriting skills greatly improved, the bad production kinda counterbalanced it. |
| Venom Warhead | 4.0 |
| Huge single, and a very important one. Why am I saying this? Because the song, "Warhead", is basically birthed the "essence" (or quintessence?) of the sound of Bathory! |
| Venom Possessed | 2.5 |
| Not having "Nightmare" was a quite stupid decision. This album is really flat -- both in songwriting and production. Just quite faceless, really. |
| Venom Calm Before the Storm | 3.0 |
| Finally good production on a Venom record! Moreover, this contains bunch of mega catchy songs such as "Black Xmas" or the title track. The biggest downside are the clean vocals... but despite this flaw, this is a pretty good record! Not a "raw" heavy metal type, but it's still Venom with more melodies in it. |
| Venom Prime Evil | 4.0 |
| The "Demolition Years' had a great start with this release, which not just sounds really good, but also showcases the band's 'refreshment': braver and punchier songwriting (not to mention that Tony's lyrics are a lot better! Mega album! |
| Venom Temples of Ice | 3.5 |
| Pleasant, but this is not so consistent album like the first Demolition-era release was. It's a weird one, because I can't really put my finger on it what I do -, and what I don't like about this one... too all-over-the-place, perhaps? |
| Venom The Waste Lands | 4.0 |
| One of my favourites fromin their discography. I love the synths and the oriental-ish melodies here and there and the more "layered" structure of the songs presented here. The production is not as thick like on the first two Demolition-era albums, but it's still a very-very well-executed NWOBHM album! All songs starting with the letter "C" are one of their best songs! "Crucified" is my jam! |
| Venom Cast in Stone | 3.0 |
| Groovier and thrashier than ever. Instrumentally it's decent, but Cronos sounds a bit annoying after a while... It's good for a few listens, but on the long term, it's not very exciting. |
| Venom Resurrection | 3.5 |
| It was a huge surprise for me, and an absolutely positive one! It sounds drastically more agressive than any of their previous albums, since it bears a kinda industrial-feel here and there. Antton behind the drumkit killed it, but the best elements here is the Mantas' guitarwork! Generally I'm impressed by this album, but sadly it comes with numerous filler tracks too, so the overall result is flawed. But each song delivers some punch, and I like that. |
| Venom Metal Black | 1.5 |
| No surprise Mike "Mykus" Hickey didn't get a second chance after this release. The production is awful, the album is sterile and boring. This is just one big pile of shit. |
| Venom Fallen Angels | 2.5 |
| It's actually not that bad. Even though it contains tons of lame filler tracks, there are a few pretty decent songs here. "Sin", the very good acoustic track: "Lest We Forget", "Valley Of The Kings" etc. are pretty good -- so basically at the end it doesn't feel so bad, but most of the album is garbage. At least the production is good on this. |
| Venom From the Very Depths | 2.5 |
| It's not that bad, but very unbalanced record. It has outstandingly good songs ("Smoke", "Evil Law", "Mephistopheles"); but it offers some extremly dumb ones too ("The Death Of Rock N Roll", "Long Haired Punks", "Stigmata Satanas"). The rest of the songs feel numb too. Very thrash/speed fueled stuff with a quite death metal-ish production. Shame only a few songs were truly good. |
| Venom Inc. Avé | 4.0 |
| Venom Inc. There's Only Black | 3.5 |
| There's Only Black is actually lot heavier and far more colorful than what I expected. It's not "black" genre-wise (maybe the guitar tone?), since what Venom Inc. has put together here is a big pile of old-school thrash/speed metal riffs spiced up with various heavy metal melodies. Since it's a quite long release (53+ minutes), it might seem a bit tiring at first. However, as the faster and slower sections/songs are very carefully positioned all the way through, I'd say the overall package is very-very balanced and has great replay-value (=not boring at all!). Turns out these veterans still had some unseen tricks up their sleeves, so for me it's clear "which Venom is the better Venom." |
| Vermicide Violence The Praxis of Prophylaxis | 2.5 |
| Vetur Vist | 3.5 |
| A pretty black metal/folk release - but a hard riffing one! Iceland's output is super massive lately. |
| Vexing Grand Reproach | 3.0 |
| Not bad disso-death/sludge which often rolls on a doomy tempo. Highlights: The quite melodic "The Invisible Hand" and the dreamy interlude, "Howling". |
| Vile Haint Ol' Hatchie Haint | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Vindalv Æptir Pushende Ar demo | 3.0 |
| Vindicator Dog Beneath the Skin | 2.5 |
| 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 Enchantments Of Old Lore | 4.5 |
| Vindkaldr Sword Of Moss | 3.0 |
| Vindkaldr Their Ships Sail from the Moon | 3.0 |
| Vindkaldr Stone as Flesh | 2.5 |
| Vindland Hanter Savet | 4.0 |
| Vinterdvala Historien om de sju trollgubbarna | 4.0 |
| True to burzumish traditions. It's like the early Burzum meets the modern ambient albums, with some extra field recordings. Fantastic, what a gem! |
| Vintlechkeit Isete Skoger Frostskymring... | 1.5 |
| Lifeless Paysage copycat. |
| Violet Cold Empire of Love | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Vitamin X About To Crack | 4.0 |
| Vitamin X Age Of Paranoia | 3.5 |
| Very-well made hardcore release, not exactly that good as "About To Crack" was, but still, this is a heavy and fun album. |
| Vitriol (USA) Suffer & Become | 3.0 |
| Massive and ferocious modern death metal, but it could have been much-much better if it'd contain more instrumental/slower pieces or sections, like "Survival's Careening Inertia" (which was absolutely the best track on this album). The high "octane number" (intensity within) is convincing (poor drummer, this must be a killer task!), but it's a bit too much. |
| Vlad Tepes War Funeral March | 3.5 |
| Exactly what Scuro said. It is some more great and original raw BM. |
| Vlad Tepes / Belketre March To The Black Holocaust | 4.0 |
| Probably the best release from the Les Légions Noires, a definite icon in the raw black metal genre. These riffs are fire, and altogether the whole split feels very balanced, and bears all the characteristics of an outstanding black metal record from the early '90s. I daresay: in terms of quailty, this is in the same league with the Unholy Trinity. |
| Vlakolak Mekrevtrozmbreh | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Vltimas Something Wicked Marches In | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| VoidCeremony Threads of Unknowing | 2.5 |
| The guitar solos are insanely good (Philippe Tougas is a brilliant guitarist)... but the rest is brutally tiring. The old-school production is great, but man, this gave me a headache: soulless technicality. |
| Vomir Claustration | 3.0 |
| This is probably my weirdest rating I ever gave... |
| Von Satanic Blood (demo) | 1.5 |
| It is simply terrible. |
| Vonlaus Röð Slæmra Ákvarðana | 2.5 |
| Vorga Striving Toward Oblivion | 3.5 |
| Not bad, not bad! Very straight-forward Mardukian ultra-fast riffages, (so it kinda lacks peak moments), and this is a very-well balanced release. Maybe "Fool_s Paradise" stood out the most for me, that song is a mega banger. |
| Voronmrak Battles of Winter Winds | 3.0 |
| Voronmrak Glares | 2.5 |
| Voronmrak Silver of Winter | 3.0 |
| Voslaarum Spirits of Xavara | 4.0 |
| Voslaarum Forgotten Vale | 3.0 |
| Voslaarum Secrets from Darklight Tower | 3.5 |
| Voslaarum Immortal Blood | 3.5 |
| Voyages of the Old Oak Home | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Vreid Wild North West | 2.5 |
| A meloblack album in the style you probably have heard numerous times before... |
| Vrorsaath Moonlight's Wrath | 2.5 |
| Vulthum Shadowvoid | 3.5 |
| A surprisingly good album. It could be summarized as "the Brazilian Immortal", showing clear resemblances to Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism for example. |
| W.E.B. Colosseum | 3.0 |
| It's good for once, since it has some really immersive moments and pretty decent riffing. (If you can overlook their lyrics...). This is pretty much like a bit chuggier Dimmu Borgir and but more symphonic like Cradle Of Filth - which is still better than anything CoF ever made, lol. |
| Waeltaja Heremite | 2.5 |
| Bland, unoriginal, boring and sometimes badly mastered dungeon synth release, focusing on rather slow and relaxing soundscapes - but not in a very enchanting way... |
| Wake Devouring Ruin | 3.5 |
| Whatever is this: this is heavy. The different songs lengths are pretty odd, I feel some songs could have been shorter. |
| Wake Confluence | 4.0 |
| More of this please - whatever is it! Post-metal with some... uh, grind? Anyway, this EP with the weird Windows logo is great. |
| Wall Painted Black Ache | 3.0 |
| Wallachian Cobwebs Hearken to the Moon Whisper | 4.0 |
| Wallows Spring | 2.5 |
| Wampyric Rites Reflections Of A Frostbitten Moon | 4.0 |
| Wampyric Rites Demo II | 4.0 |
| Wampyric Rites ...In The Desolate Forest of Eternity | 4.0 |
| Wampyric Solitude Carpathian Melancholy | 3.5 |
| I'm a simple man, and I do really enjoy these kind of ethereal drone/ambient albums! |
| Warlock Triumph and Agony | 3.5 |
| Heavy metal bands with female vocalist tend to be terribly boring, but it's good to find some exceptions time-to-time. Quite entertaining hard rock/heavy metal mix, with some truly earworm melodies included. Not shockingly exciting, but I could totally dig this on occasional jams or as background music on a summery afternoon with beer in hand. |
| Warmoon Lord Burning Banners of the Funereal War | 4.5 |
| Warmoon Lord Battlespells | 4.0 |
| Warmoon Lord/Lord Vrajitor effortlessly made yet another atmoblack masterpiece, like it's nothing. Trve '90s worship both in style and in production. LOTS of synths and the finest riffs you can find... among the best atmoblack releases in this year. |
| Warmoon Lord / Vultyrium Pure Cold Impurity | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Wartoad Wrath of the Mighty Wartoad | 2.0 |
| Wasted Space exsanguination | 3.5 |
| Watain Trident Wolf Eclipse | 2.5 |
| Watain The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain | 2.0 |
| Way too much sloppy songs, and awful production. Listen to Marduk instead. |
| Wayfarer American Gothic | 2.5 |
| An okayish post-metal album in leather boots. |
| Weather Report Mysterious Traveller | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Weeping Sores False Confession | 3.0 |
| Wehmut Wehmut | 4.0 |
| Great DSBM album, which blend a little post-rock into the overall picture. |
| Werendia Småland | 3.5 |
| Werendia Werendia | 3.5 |
| Werendia Folkvandringen | 3.5 |
| 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! |
| West End Motel Don't Shiver, Your're A Winner | 3.0 |
| West End Motel Bad with Names, Good with Faces. | 4.0 |
| Whispering Mirrors The Stuff of Old Dreams | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| White Death White Death | 4.5 |
| White Stones Kuarahy | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue | 3.5 |
| The cheesiness and the catchiness of this album is fantastic - I liked it. |
| Wiegedood There's Always Blood at the End of the Road | 2.0 |
| While I liked the vocals quite a lot, the rest was way too repetitive and uninspired. Especially the drums... literally the same blast beat patterns all the way through. Ultra lame, utlra boring, ultra overrated. |
| Wilderun Epigone | 2.5 |
| I almost stopped it after the first two songs, they were horrible. I don't mind cheesy stuff, but it wasn't really good. Not big fan of the vocals here at all, and the smoothness doesn't go well with the heaviness, even if it tries to be catharctic, it becomes flatly predictable. Only the first three Distraction songs + the second half of Distracion Nulla hit my expectations, the rest was ultra meh. |
| Willie Colon Lo Mato | 4.0 |
| Wilson Tanner 69 | 4.5 |
| Wilsumnes Upon the Altar of Sacrificial Blood | 4.0 |
| Windir 1184 | 4.0 |
| Super solid, riff-centric meloblack release with just right amount of synths involved. |
| Windir Sogneriket | 4.0 |
| Windir Soknardalr | 3.5 |
| Rvhaugane!! Rest is pretty good as well, but Walfar's style yet had to be polished. |
| Windir Arntor | 3.5 |
| It was the least convincing Windir release for me, even though it is still a great release. |
| Windir Likferd | 4.0 |
| Very solid meloblack release, and soundwise the least "Windirish" album in the discography due to the more riff-centric compositions and the better production. Also a side note: I'm pretty sure Rune Eriksen's style influenced some riffs on this album, which is a great thing. (I could be wrong though, I just feel this way.) |
| Windir Det Gamle Riket | 4.0 |
| Short but ripper demo. Valfar's vocals were the most powerful in this demo in the entire discography. Moreover, it's quite pleasant to hear how the earliest versions of certain songs sounded like in a more raw and grim way. |
| Windir Valfar, Ein Windir | 4.0 |
| Very nice compilation which greatly summarized the Windir discography, and added some shockingly surprising fun into it. (Yes, I'm speaking about E-Head's cover of "Mørkets fyrste", haha.) |
| Windrikje ... Des Waldes Ruh | 3.0 |
| Windrikje Frostland | 4.8 |
| 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. |
| Wine Drinkers Warmth | 3.0 |
| Wintaar Deathentrance | 2.5 |
| Solid riffs, but unspectacular result. |
| Winter Into Darkness | 3.5 |
| Nasty sound, depressing aura. Funeral Hellhammer? |
| winter woods Bewitched In Black Moonlight | 4.0 |
| winter woods Forest Of Mysterious Evil | 3.0 |
| winter woods Mountain Of Unknown Gods | 4.0 |
| winter woods Cavern Of Obscure Sacrifice | 3.0 |
| winter woods Adirondack Evil | 3.5 |
| winter woods Adirondack Evil 2 | 3.5 |
| Winterblood (IT) Silenzio ghiacciato | 2.0 |
| Winterblood (IT) Foresta impenetrabile | 2.5 |
| Wintercry Swords and Magic | 3.0 |
| Winterfylleth The Reckoning Dawn | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Winterhearth (US) Beneath the Stars | 2.5 |
| 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. |
| Winterlandschaft L'obscurité | 4.0 |
| Wintermoon (FIN) Reh. Demo 1/1995 | 3.0 |
| Witan Alchemy | 3.5 |
| Very relaxing, minimalistic (and quite droney) generative ambient release, with bits of dungeon synth elements and aesthetics. This album "found me" in the right time, so I was a bit generous with my rating. If you'd like to have an ethereal, relaxative, yet not exactly monotonous ambient record to ease your nerves - then you can't go wrong with this one. |
| Witch Witch | 4.0 |
| Super fun stoner metal/droom record. Simply: a good time guaranteed. |
| Witch Claw Summoning of the Heksevin | 3.5 |
| Witch Haunt A Full Moon Shone On Hallows Eve | 3.5 |
| The best halloween dungeon synth album of the year award goes to Witch Haunt! |
| Witch Tomb Lord of Blizzards | 3.5 |
| Witch Tomb Witch Tomb | 4.0 |
| Witch Tomb Incantation | 4.0 |
| Witchfinder General Death Penalty | 3.5 |
| (Nice cover). Really fun blend of doom and NWOBHM, a good time guaranteed. |
| Witchfinder General Friends Of Hell | 4.0 |
| So much fun! |
| Witchfinder General Resurrected | 1.5 |
| Heaven forbid... no-no-no-no-NOOOOO. Don't listen to this, this will ruin your day, your year, your life...! Let's pretend this never happened, m'kay? Seriously though: instrumentally this is excellent, but those vocals... [spits]... those are nasty and awful. |
| Witchsteel Mountain of the Red Flame | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Wizards of Aldur Magician's Gambit | 3.5 |
| Wizards of the Ivory Library Return My Body to the Ocean | 2.0 |
| Wobbler Dwellers of the Deep | 4.0 |
| Wode Wode | 3.5 |
| Great mix of heavy metal and melodic black. Very pleasant listen, the guitars have some extra, making this band sound original. |
| Wolfbrigade Run With The Hunted | 3.0 |
| Wolfsschrei Rise Dead Ember | 3.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters | 3.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven | 4.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Malevolent Grain | 3.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars | 3.5 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Celestial Lineage | 4.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Celestite | 4.0 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Primordial Arcana | 4.0 |
| Best Wolves In The Throne Room release, without a doubt. They managed to mix their earlier sound and their more modern sound, which resulted in a synergy. This turned out to a bit folkish, bit heavier (the similarities to the punchiest Scandinavian riffs are very obvious), yet a very modern-sounding release (hats off for the great production). However, sometimes it felt they could have cut some of these songs shorter and add one or two other songs, because in my opinion there were some clear filler parts in songs like "Through Eternal Fields" and "Underworld Aurora", for example. And as the most positive thing: the song "Masters of Rain and Storm" near perfection! Probably their very best song too? Also, I'm happy they closed the album with an enchanting ambient piece. I'm satisfied. |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge | 4.0 |
| Excellent material, just as expected. Shame it is so short. "Beholden to Clan" is one of their best ones! |
| Wolvhammer The Monuments of Ash and Bone | 3.0 |
| Wongraven Fjelltronen | 4.0 |
| Wooden Memory The Lost Stories | 3.5 |
| Worm Bluenothing | 4.0 |
| Awesome atmo-death/black EP, with lots of solos and spacey atmosphere. |
| Wormrot Hiss | 4.0 |
| Super solid, consistent and very balanced grindcore release. The album has a certain terrifying atmosphere too (sometimes DSBM-ish as well, weird take I know), especially when the chaotic violins make an appearance. Lots of pinnacles: "Seizures", "Grieve", "Sea Of Disease" and "Glass Shards" are all fascinating. Might be a grower. |
| worms as blind as dirt worms as blind as dirt | 3.0 |
| Wormsblood Bounds Beaten | 4.5 |
| What a demo, a raw black metal greatness! I'm impressed. |
| Wraith (USA-IN) Absolute Power | 4.0 |
| Wretched Inferno Cacophony of Filth | 3.0 |
| Well, it was an album. A bit samey, but since we're speaking about goregrind here, this is actually okay. However, if we consider it was made by a bunch of teenagers, then I have to say: it's impressive! |
| Wretched Lament A Portrait of the Plague Age | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Wulkanaz Wulkanaz | 3.0 |
| Wurdulac Dungeon Lord (demo) | 3.0 |
| Wydraddear The Castle Above The Mist | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Wyldpfad 1931 | 2.5 |
| Wynter Myst Frore | 2.5 |
| Wyrmwoods No Sun nor Moon | 4.0 |
| Mind: blown. This is very hard to digest, some kind of mixture of modern jazz and extreme metal (mostly atmospheric black metal. A very complex, bizarre (schizophrenic even) release, which somehow manages to maintain an insanely smooth flow. Terrific, I've never heard anything like this before. (What a year for avant-garde!) |
| Xanthochroid Of Erthe and Axen: Act II | 2.5 |
| Xasthur Telepathic With The Deceased | 4.0 |
| Xasthur Suicide in Dark Serenity | 4.5 |
| Xasthur Nocturnal Poisoning | 4.0 |
| Xasthur A Darkened Winter | 4.0 |
| Mysterious and haunting. Very impressive for a first demo. |
| Xasthur Defective Epitaph | 2.5 |
| Xasthur Victims of the Times | 1.0 |
| An extremly amateurish album. The guitars sound really detuned, horrible mic placements for the recordings and terrible vocals. |
| Xasthur Inevitably Dark | 2.0 |
| Altogether, I think it doesn't deserve more than a 2.5. But some songs on this very lengthy release are actually really good! The good news: Xasthur play black metal again! Personally I dug these avant-garde compositions (some late Blut Aus Nord-alike stuff!) with odd guitar themes accompanied by haunting synths (f.e. "A Future To Fear II" and "Live Like A Broken Mirror"). The bad parts: this is a long 100% instrumental album, filled with some horrible (and a few not bad) dark folk songs, some "meh" death metal tracks and again, some soulless ambient tracks. This album is therefore contains songs from various styles, but I'm afraid: not for the better. |
| Xasthur To Violate the Oblivious | 4.0 |
| " Walker of Dissonant Worlds" could be part of the "soundtrack of my life" unpleasantly often... yet I feel connected to it. Outstanding DSBM release, and definitely one of the bests in the Xasthur discography. |
| Xasthur Xasthur | 3.0 |
| Not the most inspired Xasthur release, but still good for a few listens. |
| Xasthur Nightmares at Dawn | 3.0 |
| An acceptable compilation with some really good but previously never released songs... and also some dreadful ones too. |
| Xasthur Subliminal Genocide | 3.5 |
| I wish this had a better (=less gritty) production. Very haunting, very lethargic (and probably the slowest one?), and I dig the dissonant riff progressions and the bass lines too. A slumber, numb and dark "dreamscape" album. |
| Xathristis All Hope Has Vanished From This Heart | 3.0 |
| Xavlegbmaofffassssit.... Gore | 2.5 |
| Xibalba Años En Infierno | 3.5 |
| I was tempted by the sick cover, stayed for the riffs. |
| Xibalba Itzaes Ah dzam poop ek | 3.0 |
| Xuthal The Reclusive Dynasty | 2.5 |
| Yablonya Звёздный зверь | 2.5 |
| Okayish post-black EP. Bonus points for the gorgeous cover art - too bad, the EP itself wasn't that good. The second song, a cinematic dark ambient piece, was probs the better part of it. |
| Ye Banished Privateers Hostis Humani Generis | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Yellow Eyes Rare Field Ceiling | 3.5 |
| Yes Tales from Topographic Oceans | 2.5 |
| I wasn't a big fan of this. When the mellow very new age-ish synths could blossom I certainly enjoyed what I've heard; but most of the time the record felt really uninspired and "incoherent". |
| Ygg Ygg | 3.0 |
| Yith Passage | 3.5 |
| Imagine a slower, much doomier Paysage d'Hiver with hints of sludge, yet still operating with a similarly cold and grim atmosphere: this is that album. |
| YOB Our Raw Heart | 4.0 |
| Yoshihisa Hirano & Hideki Taniuchi Death Note Original Soundtrack | 3.0 |
| Some truly fantastic melodies, but as an album it's not that groundbreaking. However, it functioned perfectly as the soundtrack of the show. "L's Theme" is one of the best character-themes ever. |
| Yoshiko Sai Taiji no Yume | 4.0 |
| YRRE Luhlae x The Witch | 3.5 |
| Pretty good black ambient album with some extra sludge, and of course spiced with a really dark atmosphere. |
| Ysengrin Parergon | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Zaaar Magická Džungl’a | 2.0 |
| The Amnesia:The Dark Descent soundtrack with saxophones and tribal percussion. It has an atmopshere, but sadly it doesn't move anywhere, and feels painfully long. |
| Zabbeth Zabbeth | 4.0 |
| Sick Bathory-worship album, the highly similar riffs and sound immediately sold it for me. Malta's one-man band respectfully followed Quorthon's legacy and presented one of the most fun records in 2022. ONLY FIRST WAVE IS REAL! |
| Zake zakè (扎克) | 4.0 |
| 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! |
| Zakk Sabbath Vertigo | 3.5 |
| Exactly what manosg said. His take on 'The Wizard' is: a w e s o m e. |
| Zakk Wylde Book of Shadows | 5.0 |
| The very best rock ballad album ever. |
| ZAUM Eidolon | 3.0 |
| Zeke Hellbender | 3.0 |
| Zmyrna Zmyrna | 3.5 |
| Very cool debut EP. A trvely old-school sound, and cold atmosphere - I'm curious what comes next. |
| Zoltan Kodaly Summer Night & Concerto for Orchestra | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Zombi Shape Shift | 3.5 |
| Zombi ZOMBI & Friends, Volume 1 | 3.5 |
| Ultra chill collection of '70s pop/rock/soul covers. While they kept it very respectful to the originals, but the improvement in studio quality made a huuuuuuuge difference. |
| Zulu A New Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| Shockingly entertaining "mess". |
| Zyklon-B Blood Must Be Shed | 4.0 |
| 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. |
