I just got this album today.

I can not begin to say how much of an improvement this CD is over Naat.

Definitly a must by for anyone looking for something weird and new. Everyone should at least check out this album.

Overkill - Horroscope

Those of you who know me know my affinity for Overkill. This was the album that truly cemented their standing with me as an elite band. I waver between TYoD and this album as my favorite, with Taking Over right up there too.

I first bought this album on CD when it was released and dubbed it to tape to use in my car (CD players in cars were still not commonplace) and I spent a lot of time listening to side "B". The title track is a bludgeoning song that I have never grown tired of listening. It's certainly not a classic Thrash song, but the heavy riff combined with the blistering vocals of apocalypse really make it memorable.

Where this album really shines is the final three tracks. Live Young, Die Free is one of Overkill's finest moments in my opinion and it's not even my favorite song on the album. That honor belongs to "Nice Day...For a Funeral". This song is a doomy, atmospheric slab of thrash and the type of song that suits Blitz's vocal styling perfectly. It's when Overkill plays a song like this that they really set themselves apart from other bands. I liken it to their closer on W.F.O - Gasoline Dreams. Dark lyrics, Blitz's snarling vocals, great riffs...this, as I am ready to finally declare, is Overkill's shining moment.

been listening to that nightbringer mentioned in the first post, really solid stuff, i'm liking it. i get the same trance inducing vibe that i get when i listen to darkspace.

I got that album based on that description. Thank you. It really, honestly does.

Sunn O))) - Black One
I've listened to this quite a bit over the last week, as I have heard many people remark on how good this band is, and that Black One is their most accessible album. After four listens, I have concluded that this album is a perfect "okay". I do not like it or not dislike it. I find it boring yet interesting at the same time. Thus I am not sure how I really feel about it. This was my first drone album. I will say that Wrest and Malefic were good additions, and it is pretty heavy, but is the heaviness good or bad?

I hope this post was satisfactory.

I think that it takes more than four listens to Sunn O))) for someone who is not knowledgeable about drone to "get" it. It took me a long time to be able to enjoy Sunn O))) and that album in particular. It is a boring album when I am not in the mood for it. When I am in the mood for something droney, I can enjoy it to the fullest. Regardless, I would still say that your opinion of it is similar to most people's opinions of the album who are not so into the drone style.

I think that the collaboration with Boris on the Altars album is a more accessible entrance to the style of both bands. Maybe a few listens to Altars would help you enjoy Black One.

Thanks, I will check that album out shortly.

Weed might put a different perspective on this one. If you really dig into it, it's a freaky album.

I wasn't going to contribute this week, but better late than never.

SAXON - WHEELS OF STEEL - Although I know this one quite well, I just picked up a pristine clean vinyl copy via Ebay ($10.00 total, good find me thinks) and listened to the vinyl over the weekend. I think that this album, STRONG ARM and DENIM AND LEATHER fall into a classic trilogy and all pretty much are from the same cut and stock. All in all those albums all rule and could be a 3 record set. I feel that these are some of the best albums out of the NWOBHM scene. My favorite tracks from this one are "Motorcycle Man", "Stand Up And Be Counted", "Wheels Of Steel", "Street Fighting Man" and "Machine Gun". Somehow, these albums always reminded me of a cross between AC/DC and Deep Purple.

Anyway, great album.

Krallice. I can't stop listening to it. It has all the good things about Mick Barr but more coherent and less the metal equivalent of a Terry Riley album (which is great but somewhat wearying).

Horrorscope is Overkill's best album in my opinion. The first time I listened to the title track, "Blood Money", and "Nice Day... for a Funeral" I was addicted. Horrorscope has some of my favorite bass lines and guitar riffs of any album.

Antigama - Resonance (2007)

This is a very neat album. It's been getting a lot of play time in my stereo lately, and there's good reason for that. Every song simply has some really good riffs, and they're good to tap your foot to, which isn't normal for grind. While bands like Pig Destroyer work on intensity, Antigama work on creating catchy songs with riffs that stick in your brain for longer than 4 seconds, and unconventional song structures (for example, the use of the smaller toms in the drum solo in "No"). A worthy album for any fan of death metal or grindcore.

Fleurety- A Darker Shade Of Evil (EP)

Fleurety are a second wave, Norwegian, black metal band that I discovered as a result of them being mentioned in the "best black metal scream/screams" thread. There, it was claimed that the vocalist permanently damaged his voice on this EP, by producing high pitched, bat like vocals. Intrigued by this claim, I promptly download it and gave it a listen. Well, the album certainly delivers high pitched, bat like vocals of voice damaging proportions, that's for sure. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide much else. There are some well constructed riffs and melodies on this album, but they, ultimately, don't do anything for me. There is nothing here that makes me want to headbang, there is nothing here that creates an atmosphere or sounds evil, sick, perverted, heavy or anything that you look for in metal. The music is not actively bad, it's just that its presence doesn't obtain any great response from the listener. There are some worthwhile moments sprinkled throughout the 11 minutes of music, but not enough.

I would only recommend this EP to people to hear the vocals, which are truly unlike anything you've heard before; that's a guarantee. It's actually quite interesting to find that by utilising vocals so unique, the band has inadvertently created a novelty album.

I think if you are listening to Fleurety with the intention of headbanging, you are listening to the wrong band. I don't really think that is the purpose of their music. Though I haven't listened to their earlier work and I am most familiar with Department of Apocalyptic Affairs, their early work seems to take a more laid back style to it.

I think this will be my album to listen to tonight. I will give my record player a workout. Sadly, The best song on the album is the bonus track that isn't on the normal cd-version entitled, "Her Lips Were Wet With Venom (Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas)". It is on the limited run of the cd so if you can check that out, I would.

One of the best parts of the overall album is that it really contains a brigade of guest musicians including half of Earth - Dylan and Adrienne. The combinations and styles of instrumentation on the album are incredible as well with upright bass, gongs, bizarre synth instruments and other eclectic mixes of everything noisy. Overall, a really fascinating album and one that WILL take multiple listens to hear all the subtleties and nuances.

Yeah, yeah. I was just pointing out that there is nothing on there that gets a reaction from me. It's not bad, but it doesn't really achieve much. In the lack of headbanging riffs, you expect a band to create an atmosphere for the listener to be absorbed in. Or to do something. I don't get headbanging riffs, I don't get atmosphere. I don't really get anything. And it should be noted that "Department of Apocalyptic Affairs" is there newest album and one that represents them under there newer tag of "Progressive / Avant-garde metal". So, they are going to be understandably more mellow. I've only heard "A Darker Shade Of Evil" and can't comment on there other work, from any personal experience, however.

Yeah, I am aware of their current state as an avant-garde outfit. I'm not trying to be defensive in regards to them being awesome or anything but I thought that trying to find something to headbang to or atmosphere in their recordings was maybe the wrong way of trying to get what they were doing at the time. My fault.

I understand. Basically, when I try to evaluate an albums worth, I look at what kind of response it gets from me. That reaction doesn't have to be headbanging, but there has to be something. It is usually an emotional response, sadness/depression in the case of a lot of black metal. Or, the reaction can merely be the complete immersion in an atmosphere created by the band. Wolves In The Throne Room is a notable example of this latter point.

So, no, I didn't exclusively look for headbanging, just used it as an example of how the EP is lacking in these "response qualities". I hope that clears things up a bit.

Sure does.

I like your sig.

"Pull the Plug" is from Leprosy. I have Spiritual Healing and the few times I listened to it, I couldn't get into it. This was a while back, though.

Hazzah! That's three people now. Although, it was immortalshadow666 who said it first, so it's only fair that he gets the spot in the sig.

Master - Slaves to Society

Crudely drawn mutant blowjobs. The album cover probably sums up the contents of this disc more succinctly than I could ever manage. I picked this up out of the used bin at a local record store that wouldn't even stock new Master because they have no idea about classic metal. I saw the release date on this and was genuinely skeptical as to whether the album would even be worth the six dollar price tag. I decided to take the leap of faith on this one. Upon inserting the cd into my car stereo, I was ambushed by the opening riff. It was a nice, frantically tremolo picked piece, that instantly made me mouth the words "Oh shit" in that way you do when you know you're about to experience something. This album does not sound old school, but it does sound like an old school band playing the shit they love, no holds barred. The album really won me over with the second song's main riff. This is what modern thrash, or more specifically "death/thrash" should aim to be. This is massive, driving, headbanging...this sounds like Motorhead playing death metal. I hope this marks a new era for Master and they continue to churn out these "no bullshit" death metal albums. If you're like me and completely glossed over mid-era Master, give this one a shot and see if it doesn't rekindle the flame between you and mister Speckmann.


Slugathor - Circle of Death

When I first heard "Unleashing the Slugathron" I knew I was going to be a Slugathor fan, that much was obvious. This is completely different though. Its as if they went through and stripped the song writing of absolutely EVERYTHING that wasn't facilitating maximum heaviness. This is oppressively heavy and infectiously catchy. Slugathor have clearly studied the greats like Bolt Thrower and Asphyx, and they have come to claim their throne. With Bolt Thrower placing themselves in musical time-out, and Asphyx trying to get the dirt off, I think they might actually be able to usurp the crown for a few years. If you like heavy fucking death metal, and you don't like this album...well I just don't believe you.

Macabre - Dahmer

This is probably one of the more unique albums i have ever listened to. The vocal style is unique and the songs are amazing. Basically this is a concept album about the serial kill Jeffery Dahmer and the album tells his life story in chronological order. Most of the songs are covers but are easily the best covers i have ever listened to. No matter what song was playing it kept the feel of the albums topic perfectly. It was a unique and brutal album and i reccomend this to anyone.

I sampled that Master album on the web and was blown away by what little chunks I heard.
When the holidays are over I plan on picking it up for sure, should be very refreshing.

I downloaded that Master album a few weeks ago when someone in the death metal help thread recc'd it to me. Killer album.

Odious - Mirrors of Vibrations

Incredible album. It honestly takes middle eastern folk inspired metal to whole new level (imo). While Melechesh, Absu, and Nile etc. have achieved their trademark sound by the oriental melodies/riffs incorporated into their music, Odious has shown that even middle east folk instruments can have a PROMINENT role in the music.

My favorite part for the majority of the album is the involvement of the oud (arabic) guitar. Nothing like going into traditional bm blastbeats straight into a chorus with harmonizing oud leads. The folk interludes are also priceless.

It almost sounds like a middle eastern Nokturnal Mortum (though I don't want to compare the two because they are obviously different in their own way). Keyboards are used to a folky role. Though this instrument is not exclusive to middle eastern music, it is typically used in middle eastern music and thus lives up to its supposed role.

Recommended.

I have only heard one song off that EP: "Profanations Beneath the Bleeding Stars." I saw someone had it on Soulseek and I said to myself, "What's this? An EP from 1994 that I haven't heard of?" So I just randomly chose one song to download. I was quite impressed, but I cannot speak for the rest of the EP.

Megadeth- So Far, So Good... So What!

This is my favorite Megadeth album of all time. For me, it epitomizes Megadeth's (or Dave's) aggressive style. Every track has its own identity with lyrical themes ranging from drunk driving to destroying the world to witches. None of the riffs get repetitive, and just about every song has a nice high tempo. The downfall is probably the Sex Pistol's cover, but who listens to covers anyways?

The album really comes into its own with tracks like Hook in Mouth, Set the World Afire, and 502. Each of the songs has blazing solos, and aggressive riffs. I never get tired of this album, no matter how much I play it. I think this album, along with Peace Sells... but Who's Buying is where Megadeth is at its best. It may not have the power or speed of Peace Sells... but Who's Buying or Rust in Peace, but in my opinion, this album is definitive of Megadeth's style.

Can't believe I missed this post. I wholeheartedly agree on how it is a much bigger improvement over Naat. It's still getting a lot of plays. I'm glad someone else loves this band.

While it's not actively bad, it's not all that good. As I said, I don't really feel anything as a result of listening to that EP. When compared to other music and other black metal specifically, there are much better albums you could listen to. To give some sort of scope, I would rate "Transilvanian Hunger" as about a 95% and this a 50-55%. A Darker Shade Of Evil is nothing special, in my opinion.

As far as I care, it still Sunday.

Virgin Black - Elegant... And Dying: This album has sat on my shelf for a long time without getting a serious listen. It took a heaping load of traffic coming home from last minute Christmas shopping and the luck of having it in my car to give it the listen which, as I now know, it deserves. When I first bought this album, I bought it for the "And The Kiss Of God's Mouth" pairing of songs which I felt at the time conveyed an incredible sense of melody and emotion. I now realize that the whole album exudes these qualities. Currently, "Velvet Tongue" is what I would consider the best song the band has ever written. Their more recent material is good as well though I think that this release captured the band at its most creative and unique level. The arrangements on the album are complex though purposeful and showcase their ability to play with dynamics. The best gothic styled release I have ever heard.

Hail Of Bullets - Of Frost and War: After hearing "The Lake Ladoga Massacre" on the Zero Tolerance Sampler 009 compilation, I needed to hear the full scale onslaught of this album. I have not been let down. The album sports one of the best production jobs I have ever heard with a sound that sounds truly live. I mean up close, in the kick drum, live. The drums are absolutely phenomenal from start to finish. "General Winter" is the standout track for me. Definitely one of the best oldschool Death Metal releases of the year. Absolutely killer. The riffs are monstrous, the drums are monstrous and Martin Van Drunen's vocals are tortured and vintage, belting out severely ballsy lyrics about war torn landscapes and shrapnel injuries.

Other Crap I listened Too

Unleashed - Hammer Battalion: After hearing nothing but praise for their newest album I got myself to check it out. With a ton of sick riffs and masterfully uncompromising vocals, Hedlund shows he is still at his peak. A bit too much Watain styled black metal at spots for my taste though tracks like "Your Children Will Burn", "I Want You Dead" and "Carved In Stone" destroy any notions of this being anything more than a modern blast of death metal fury.

Deathspell Omega - Kenose: Still an album I find myself having a hard time getting into and enjoying. I think that the songs lose themselves in complexity at times. There are a ton of ideas that I feel could have been stripped down and simplified to make this much better than it is.

Judas Priest - Defenders of The Faith: Though not one of their best releases, tracks like "Freewheel Burning", "Rock Hard Ride Free" and "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" make for a great listen pretty much straight through. At times though, the disk is laughable. See "Love Bites" and "Eat Me Alive" for an example of this.

AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheep: This is probably the best party album of all time. The songs are simple and fun in classic AC/DC form. Everyone should hear this for "Big Balls" and "Problem Child."

Nachtmystium - Worldfall EP: This EP is a perfect example why I was so frightened after Instinct: Decay which I knew was to be their last good album. the new tracks, "Worldfall" and "Depravity" are completely lacking the metal that the band had on earlier releases. The re-recording of "Solitary Voyage" is also a kick to my balls.

I agree, it was my first Death album and still probably my favorite (first death metal album as well, for that matter). Let's not forget James Murphy's great lead guitar either! I've read it got panned at the time by many death metal fans due to (apparently) a production that was too clean; it's cleaner certainly, but I definitely wouldn't call it too clean, it's still very heavy and the songwriting itself certainly isn't cleaned up. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I really feel Spiritual Healing reaches artistic heights not seen by their other albums; it's also interesting to take a look at the lyrics, which start to focus on more "social" issues like later Death, but still have a gore/death-theme at the same time. "Altering the Future", for example, a pro-abortion, pro-death penalty song is simultaneously political and morbid..."The giving and taking of life will always be!" Certainly a relief from whiny liberal lyrics usually prevalent in metal (not to mention some of the bleeding heart stuff from later Death). The rest portray raw hatred toward all sorts of groups, often calling for their deaths; don't worry, I'm not going to say the cliche "IT'S SO NICE TO SEE A DEATH METAL BAND WRITING MATURE, MEANINGFUL LYRICS, RATHER THAN THAT LAME GORE STUFF," because there's nothing wrong with gore lyrics and people calling them immature are missing the point. Instead, I'll say it's nice to see a death metal band doing something different with appropriate subject matter, without abandoning the core subgenre themes altogether.

Failsafe, you should be a fucking carpenter because you hit the nail on the head every time.

The Chasm - The Spell of Retribution

This is one hell of an album. Death Metal perfection, as far as I'm concerned, right up there with Incantation's Mortal Throne of Nazarene. This album flows like a living, breathing beast, with all of the songs, despite having their own identities, coming together as one to form this unholy, grooving, riffing, atmospheric beast that will just take your breath away. This is not an album that will be understood on one listen, as I'm still discovering new things about it. There's no shortage to the great moments on this thing, and it's so long that you'll be satisfied every time, whether you want to be or not.

It's is Sundays that we usually post here, right?

Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven & Hell: Part I

This really is proving to be a long-term favourite. Although songs like 'Blood & Gasoline', 'Weeping of the Spirits' and 'I Will Come For You' form part of my regular weekly if not daily rotation (does that even make sense with an Ipod?) this week I've found myself paying more attention to songs that I often neglect in favour of the aforementioned more obviously brilliant songs. Stuff like 'Self Crucifixion' and 'Trail of Tears'. 'Self Crucifixion' best demonstrates the reasons why I really love listening to this album either really late at night or first thing in the morning. It's emotionally heavy, brooding and interestingly enough Defeis says he gets his best ideas after heavy, dreamy sleep and so he writes first thing in morning... so perhaps that's why I feel parts like the acoustic section of 'Weeping of the Spirits' suit my angry, hazy mornings so well.

Also of note is what I'd call the typical Marriage solo which has all these signature and similar phrases that Edward Pursino does all over this album. Often it involves what I think are artificial harmonics and massive legato runs which are both technically impressive and moving.

Dolorian - Voidwards

This is some damn inaccessible metal and yet it's not that extreme at all. A band like Wormphlegm is inaccessible due to the extreme nature of it, but such is not the case with Dolorian. The thing with Dolorian is, you won't find any catchy choruses, riffs or melodies. There are no upbeat parts to be found and no singing whatsoever (there are vocals however). And yet words cannot describe just how fuckin' awesome this is. This is an alienating, spiritual journey. The beauty about Voidwards is that it manages to create such an amazing atmosphere, while still being heavy metal to the bone. This outclasses many ambient/post-rock projects whose main goal is to create such an atmosphere, but could never reach the same heights as Dolorian does. Let it be known that this is criminally underrated.

Arghoslent- Incorrigible Bigotry

As stated in the Now Playing thread, the last few (very) negative reviews sparked genuine interest in this band for the first time, so I decided to check this one out.

I just found nothing extraordinarily special about this album. It lacks the aggression I was expecting to find (which may be my own fault), the vocals are sub-par, the drums are weak, and the guitar tone lacks the sharpness that such riffs really do demand. The riffs weren't even that special. Sure, on almost all the songs there are a few moments where the strings stand out a bit, but in between all those moments is about 2-3 minutes of muddled, filler picking.

I tapped my foot to a few songs, and actually really like the structure of the closer, but I couldn't see myself giving this album more than a 40%.

Rainbow - Rising

I had been planning to get Blackmore and Dio's 1976 classic for a while, but it wasn't until this week that I went through with it. I had heard "A Light In The Black" (what a riff!) before, as well as "Stargazer" and "Starstruck", but what I wasn't counting on was the other songs on the album. As funny as Dio sounds singing "Do You Close Your Eyes", it's also good. It seems like somewhere along the line, somebody in the band said to somebody else, "Look, Ritchie, if we're only gonna have six songs on this album they'd all better be timeless classics, okay?"

Tiles - Presents Of Mind

I'm not finished listening to it yet, but my initial impression is that of an extremely strong heavy prog rock album with some influences from Dream Theater, and a lot of Rush. If you're familiar with A.C.T. or Enchant, this sounds somewhat similar to those bands. Paul Rarick is a great vocalist who borrows a bit from James LaBrie, but on the whole has an original sound. It's interesting that a band can be so derivative ("Moving Pictures, I'd like you to meet my friend, Awake. Awake, Moving Pictures.") and yet so original.

I'll check in next week with opinions on my other four purchases.

Exodus - Bonded By Blood

Man, how did I miss this? It's one of Metal's defining statements, full of pride and aggression and attitude galore. Right from the start, there is no bullshit in it. There is, however, a lot of metallic, pummeling Thrash riffs that will wring your neck dry by the time "Another Lesson in Violence" rolls around - and that's only the third song! What you see here is what you get, and what you get is nine stirring, rocking Metal anthems for the ages. Get it, get it now.

Evildead - Annihilation of Civilization

This isn't quite as cool as I remember it being back from the old Visions of Doom days in '06, but it's still a lot of fun. Think Metallica without any of the progressive elements and with shorter, more succinct songs. Melodic, riffy and fun as Hell, Evildead's Annihilation of Civilization provides a rip-roaring good time for the whole family.

Nothing about it makes sense either. The sound doesn't fit the album. Outside of the obvious fact that "Megadeth is political," I think the intricacy of most of Megadeth's work is the opposite of what the Sex Pistols stood for, musically.

Looking into it now I guess Steve Jones played on the song too. Weird.