Virgin Steele - "Guardians Of the Flames"
While their mid 90's - early 00's "epic" period remains their high-water mark, the early stuff kicks ass in its own way. There's a "youthful innocence" emitted in quite a lot of early 80s metal...kinda refreshing.

Goose Lord AKA Big Goose here. I'll be sharing my opinions and first impressions here, mostly about albums but sometimes about individual songs. The quality of my observations will vary wildly.

Recently been spinning: Worm, Tomb Mold, Witch Vomit, Spectral Voice, dISEMBOWELMENT.

Special shout out to Witch Vomit and their newest album, Funeral Sanctum. Unpolished in the best of ways but razor sharp when it counts. Fuzzed-out riffs that draw inspiration from Black Sabbath, black metal and who knows what else, played with utmost precision but never sterile. It's a cavernous death metal album but it's not even remotely inaccessible, rather excessively musical.

Their label, 20 Buck Spin, is putting out some of the best modern metal from what I can tell. Worm, Witch Vomit, Tomb Mold... incredible.

Count Raven – Storm Warning

Pure Ozzy-Sabbath worship. A bit stiff but what else can you expect from a dark Count?

Jimi Hendrix – The Cry of Love

The first posthumous release. Rock, funk, blues, reveries and humour – and quite possibly my second favourite Hendrix album (after the debut).

Unto Others - Butterfly

New single. It's very catchy and good, naturally.

The opening track's chorus is always fun to sing along to in public.

My Dying Bride - For You

Lovely doom! The verses are really beautiful, and Aaron voice is so soothing.

Seasons of the Wolf - Orna Verum

Vocals aren't really as out front as they used to be, nor are the vocal hooks as catchy or solid at times, but the guitars are absolutely gorgeous, dark bliss... and the keyboards are maybe the best they've ever been for this band. The whole thing is unified - creates this really enchanting, addictive mood. Singer still sounds pretty cool, especially when he gets more intense. The whole thing lapses into more atmospheric, bluesy rock as it goes on and I think it's an intriguing flow for everything.

Manowar - “Warriors Of the World”
The last truly great Manowar album (and I suspect most wouldn’t consider this great). It’s the ultimate manifestation of what they strove to achieve beginning with “Fighting the World”: quasi-epic metal that’s hook-laden and as accessible as 80s Priest, and that’s over the top in its grandiose pomposity and utterly “victorious”.

Hand of Doom - Manowar. OMG! What a fantastic tune! Makes me want to buy a horse and a battle axe!

Mdou Moctar - Oh France

This shit is insane. Completely ripping, intense but beautiful guitars. Really incisive and vital sounding - just everything completely fucking on fire.

Hail and Kill!

I personally embrace the sheer over the topness of Manowar. And that song is about as simple as it can be, but as you say its grandiose and utterly victorious. Poseurs are defeated, their homes razed, their servants slain, and their womenfolk....

Melechesh - Djinn

This is miles ahead of the debut, much more interesting and the sound feels more like their own. Love the relentless guitars infused with pure heavy metal. The drumming still doesn't convince me, and Proscriptor being the drummer this time around might mean I don't like the approach they're trying to take on this rythm section. Although it's not a work that has driven me crazy, it has really made me feel like digging further into their discography.

Countess - Het woud der verdoemden

Love the epic guitars!

Vader - The Final Massacre

My favorite Vader cut, off Litany. Just pure intensity and brutality. I love Doc's playing on this! This album is when the blast finally clicked for me.

Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Black Sabbath - 13

One of these is a real Black Sabbath album and it's not the one that says Black Sabbath on it.

Iommi and Butler... how did their standards fall so drastically over the course of a few years? It just doesn't work like that, not for the greatest guitar-bass duo in all of metal, two men who spent 40 years turning the simplest of music into pure magic at will.

They had no real intention of doing something in a musical sense when they reunited with Ozzy to make 13. None whatsoever. The album is easily the worst in the Sabbath/H&H catalogue, worse than Forbidden, Seventh Star, the awful live albums, everything.

What you have with 13 is a re-hashing of their 70s material. That's it, that's the album. "Remember Black Sabbath with Ozzy?" That's the whole thing. They rip themselves off but the performances are laughably bad. Geezer didn't come up with any songs or lyrics, Tony couldn't be bothered to play his guitar, and Ozzy... Ozzy actually puts in the best performance on the album. That's when you know it's bad, because Ozzy is meant to be the lovable weakest link but here he's the only one who actually gives a shit. This is a cash grab and an embarrassment.

That is exactly what Rubin told them to make, he said so. Try to make a 1972 or so Black Sabbath album.

Rick Rubin should have willed a signable contract for Bill Ward. I like Brad Wilk but he had no business being on that album.

At that point it was the 4th version of that song, previously on the Necrolust demo '89, Morbid Reich demo '90 and The Ultimate Incantation '92 so they should have had it nailed by Litany.

NP: Septic Tank - Rotting Civilisation

Been a while since I last gave this a spin. Fuckin cool album that's got its own flavour due to the distinctive vocals of Lee Dorian and the riffmaster general Gaz Jennings brings a variety of influences to some mighty riffage, doesn't hurt that Scott (Repulsion!) Carlson is on bass too. I'm a lucky metla coz Ive got the Japan version with the ep attached to make it even cooler.

Black Sabbath Killing yourself to live

ABC of heavy metal

Paradise Lost - Forever Failure

My least favorite from the album but still easily a 7.5/10.

Black Sabbath - The Writ

What a trip this is and one of the best Ozzy vocals ever put down.He manages to sound triumphant as well as pissed off as he mocks,points the finger and ultimately succeeds in delivering this well deserved musical kick in the balls.Love it.

Enslaved - Fires in the Dark

Good as always from Enslaved.

Mercyful Fate 9

A great album

Arkona - The Bitter Tears of the Nectar of Eternity

Full on blasting black metal from Poland.It's a worthy follow up to the Imperium album which i've been listening to since it's release so this purchase is long overdue.Says on the archives it was released in 2001 which is correct but the info i have here says it was recorded 1995-1996 which is demo era for the band but this sounds like the fully finished article.

Hexx "Under the spell" - I don't like all of theirs but this one and the Wrath of the reaper

Destruction - Curse the Gods

Seeing as the subsequent cd releases after the first press had this unwanted gap introduced between the intro and the main riff to the song, (including a cymbal count in) High Roller have seen fit to faithfully restore it back to the original as intended.Seamless without the gap.
The label have re introduced shipping to the UK which is a major pain in the ass with customs compared to before,but if the attention to detail here is this good it's totally worth it.Sound is spot on of course.

Therion - Powerdance

I think "Symphony Masses" is my favorite album from their death metal period. It's got a nice atmosphere to it.

Suffocation "Hymns from the apocrypha" - I'm trying hard to get into this, and I'm balanced, music is good, a good one for Suffo I mean, then I don't know, something like "doing too much" which is modern approach of singing with forced "grrrrr" and stuff, this is where I'm a bit bored by this one, like a superficial approach to a deep art, making it flat overall

Marduk Into Utter Madness

That melodic tremolo!!!!

Vomitory - All Heads Are Gonna Roll.

Released last year, first foray into this group. Pretty good DM, decent riffs and vocals. Not too over the top.

High on Fire - Burning Down

A lumbering,heavy as fuck groove with a perfect vocal that sits just right with the main riff.I've been spinning this one so much the past few days it's getting up there as one of the best they've ever done.
HoF albums of late have always had that one track or two that never quite hits the spot,at least for me and so far this album has none of that.

One of the band's best tunes, IMO.

King Crimson - Red
Hammers of Misfortune - The August Engine

Kinda similar vibes, really. I was watching "Mandy" earlier - which was how I got into this KC album. Hammers has a similarly weird, esoteric mood and it fits. Both such weird, evocative pieces.

^Mandy was fuckin awesome.

NP: Graveyard Rodeo - Sowing Discord in the Haunts of Man

There's a lot going on in these songs. A myriad of influences but it all feels cohesive. Gonna take a few listens to absorb it all this sweet riffage and baddass vocals.
First heard them on a cassette comp from Terrorizer mag back in 94. Always wanted to check out their album's, here I am 30 years later finally doing just that. The search never ends.

Holy fuck The Truth Is in the Gas Chamber kicks ass.

Grave - You'll Never See... Heaven!!!

Crushing, grooving and brutally blunt, Grave's first 3 album's and EP are essential.

Wolf - Feeding the Machine

Wolf sound tired and bored here, the fire had gone, dare I say there's a cold emptiness to it all. Hollow. Nothing to get excited about on Feeding The Machine at all, even when a song like The Raven or Black Widow catches the attention, it's fleeting and feels like a fluke. The whole thing kinda feels like a contractual obligation or I don't really feel like it but we haven't done an album for a while so better do one anyway. After this and Devil Seed, Wolf were pretty much dead to me...

...but wait...is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe.

Everything Dies - Type O

wish i knew what the unintelligible intro to this song was, but this and everyone i love is dead made world coming down one of my favorite albums. R.I.P peter steele, controversial figure but i think i've learned to appreciate his story.. great music helped too

^ Ah I liked Feeding the Machine pretty well.

Morgana Lefay - Victim of the Inquisition

Them and Tad Morose, you never know who'll be an heir to Crimson Glory, but they fucking did it for several albums each from the 90s to the early '00s. Got to respect the hustle. This groove, the powerful choruses, I love it.

Currently trying to come to terms with Cathedral chronologically (I'm now at "Supernatural Birth Machine"). In the 90s I listened to a track in a record shop but the vocals were a major turn-off. At the moment I just tell myself: "It's like Paradise Lost and Nick Holmes: a growler tries to sing, get over it." And it works, more or less. The vocals can be even seen as a feature (instead of a bug) in the sense that they evoke a death metal background lying dormant in the, er, background, which adds some kind of menace to what's actually there.

The vocals are definitely unique and your suggestion is appropriate.

np:
Valkyrja - Contamination
Melodic blackened metal akin to Watain that's similarly well-produced.