I tried Cruciform but they're not for me. ''Paradox'' is an excellent tune however.

NP: Helstar - Malediction

Love the gothic atmosphere not to mention this actually has a solid package of RIFFS that are just typical Helstar.

Agalloch - The White

Best thing they ever did imo

Opeth - Karma

My favorite song off My Arms, Your Hearse.

Vicious Rumors - Chasing The Priest


Really digging the new VR album. Sounds great.

Motorhead- Fast & Loose

No remorse!

Nile - Cast Down The Heretic

Heavy af

Coal Chamber - Chamber Music

Fuck everyone, I really like this album. Hell , I even got a t-shirt for this album

I really like it too. But the debut is way better


Now playing-

Slowdive - Spanish Air

holy shit that's an atmosphere

Okay, so a bunch of high profile albums just came out within the last week and I finally have some listening time, here's what I've gotten so far:

Running Wild - Rapid Foray
I just reviewed it, in all honesty it's decently solid but nothing more, but I like it a lot more than that simply because it's been so long since the band has done anything even remotely worthwhile.

Sabaton - The Last Stand
Emp's review pretty much nails this one. It's really hollow, plastic, zero-effort pop metal with one of the worst keyboard tones this side of Alestorm. Seriously, it sounds like a Fisher Price toy, and it's incessant. It's just BWAMP BWAAAAMP BWABAMP BWAAAAMP throughout every single second of the album and it's one of the most irritating things I've heard all year. I haven't bothered with any Sabaton past their first album and this is telling me that wasn't a bad idea. Though, for reasons I can't really explain, I think "Shiroyama" is a pretty decent track. I think it's purely the chorus, which is just as stupid as the rest of the album but manages to be catchy enough to break out of how terrible everything else is. When I hear people trash Battle Beast, this is the kind of album I imagine they're hearing instead.

Sodom - Decision Day
This is actually a lot better than I expected. Only ran through it twice so far and the first listen was just "eh", but I caught a few more standout moments on the second listen (like that massive break in "Who Is God?", the contrasting sides of "Belligerence", and just the overall feel of the title track and "Caligula"). It might keep growing on me, and it's a pleasant surprise since I thought Epitome of Torture was really bland on the whole and Tom's voice is so clearly shot. They could certainly do a whole lot worse for a clearly over-the-hill relic of 80s thrash.

Helstar - Vampiro
I was never all that huge on Helstar, though I do like Nosferatu, and like I alluded to with the Sodom entry, I get weary for most old bands who peaked thirty years ago trying to remain relevant nowadays, but positive word of mouth led me to giving this one a shot. I'm only a few tracks in but this seriously rips. Rivera clearly isn't the same man he was back in the mid 80s, but he's more than servicable, and the riffs are surprisingly intense. I'm liking this a lot too.

INXS - Night of Rebellion

This is 35% hard rock, 45% new wave, 20% undefinable stuff and 100% brilliant.

Also, this is like my third NP in a row for a disbanded Australian pop rock band. Ah well. They shit all over Sabaton.

Blood Incantation - Hidden Species (Vitrification of Blood Part 2)

This is growing on me. I'm not as smitten with it as other folks here, but it's certainly competent.

Blood Incantation rules. I'm quite smitten by it.

"Servants Of The Unlight" -
Demonical

Swedish Death Metal of the newer variety.

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness

This record just fucking rules

Saxon - Battering Ram

Battering ass! Love this album so much. That guitar tone is venomous.

Árstíðir lífsins - Norðsæta gætis, herforingja Ormsins langa

Great pagan/viking black metal with some well-employed folk instrumentation. Unfortunately, it's hard to get through a full album without your mind wandering since they're so long... but whenever my attention's there I dig this stuff. Mix is fantastic, too.

Hate Forest - Sorrow

Intense, bleak black metal.

Demon's Bell - Demon's Bell

Listening to this for the fourth time today, very well done heavy metal. King Diamond-esque vocals!

HammerFall — The Way of the Warrior

How can you not love this?

Halford - Resurrection

I had like zero recollection of this album. Only thing I registered before, was that the first song rocked hard. This just straight-up heavy metal with killer guitars, and drums. And vocals, naturally. The sounds are just about right, and the songs themselves are memorable too for the most part. Another plus for mr. Dickinson's entrance.

Liturgy - Veins Of God

melvins? is that you?

Vinterland — Our Dawn of Glory

Black metal...it's been a while

The Flood from (2015) Leprous - The Congregation.
Impressive live at Brutal Assault!
http://www.metal-archives.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=2656399#p2656399
What a monster of a singer!

Nice one mate! The only 100% non-cheesy pagan metal band in my book.

As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security

Fuck all emo posers! This is metalcore.

Architects - Hollow Crown

Heavy-ish metalcore. I like it.

Sonata Arctica - Closer To An Animal

Almost every new album they come out with always carries the risk with it that their experiments might not work for me this time. That's why it's so exciting. But I love Pariah's Child so much and their general musical textures and soundscapes that I can't wait. Very excited.

Mesarthim - .- -​.​.​. .​.​. . -. -​.​-​. .

This is a pretty sizable step up from Isolate, pretty good on the first listen.

Maximum Oversatan - Reap On Command

Holy shit this rules and their name is absolute genius.

Delain - Moonbathers

It is what it is and I adore it. I have nothing more to add.


Also, happy birthday BH! Hopefully you listen to something a bit less shite than that Sabaton today

Thanks! It's certainly a crappy album I have no plans to ever bother listening to the band at all after today.


Sarcoptes - The Veil of Disillusion
Haven't forgotten about this meaty slab of black metal. Certainly no flavor-of-the-week shit here.

It's BH's birthday and I didn't know? I would've brought beer!

Happy birthday, BH.

EDIT: I just read the review.

Brain Drill - Apocalyptic Feasting

Huh. I like this a lot.

Helstar - Awaken Unto Darkness

Killer riffing and ominous atmosphere.

Xaos - Labyrinth

New album in October... finally.

Skeletonwitch - The Apothic Gloom
When MoT posted about listening to this the other day, I assumed it was a track off Serpents Unleashed or something, since I never got into that album and only listened to it once or twice, I only just today realized that it's actually a new EP to show off the new vocalist. I didn't even know Chance Garnette left, though I did hear about them doing an instrumental tour because he blew his voice out. Musically it sounds just fine, Skeletonwitch is either incredible or sorta bland, and this seems to be the first one that sits somewhere in the middle. I don't like the new guy's voice as much though. He's deeper for sure but is otherwise kind of a standard sounding metal vocalist, whereas Chance had an incredibly distinct rasp. Still solid so far though.

Delain - Hands Of Gold

Cool so far. Nicely dense and ambitious sounding. Catchy and epic. Not a fan of the harsh singing though, shoulda had Marco Hietala in there instead.

"Decadent Delirium" -
Psychic Pawn

Way underground OSDM.

Ministry - Scare Crow

Bleaker than a large number of BM groups try to sound. Genius album. Al Jorgensen literally went crazy after this giant burst of creativity.

Incantation - Onward to Golgotha

My mind is being mangled by this album. That is not a bad thing.

This album taught me how to play guitar haha