Heavenly – Destiny

Top notch power metal!

Winds of Sorrow - Beneath a Sea of Tears


Atmospheric Black Metal from Mort (Exiled from Light) an album with the potential to be uplifting yet still be depressive, a bit like Xasthur but with more melody.

The Wounded Kings - The Silence

They have delivered the goods yet again. Consolamentum may not match the masterpiece that is The Shadow over Atlantis but it's damn solid.

Cradle of Filth - Of Mist and Midnight Skies

This might be the most underrated CoF song ever! I have never seen it mentioned anywhere. It's mostly mid-paced, with doomy, almost Celtic Frost-esqe riffs. Dani even throws in a manly(!) "OOHH" and a "yeahhh" in true Tom Warrior fashion. Listen around 5:20.

The lyrics are cheesy though

That night they came and took her away from me
I lost the woman I loved and I learned how to curse
And to spit in the face of their... Jesus FUCKING Christ

Koldscov - Koldscov


Really cool black metal EP

Sonata Arctica – Shamandalie

Cant tell if this is a song about losing a friend after being friendzoned or just losing one in general.

They have a lot of songs like that, I think San Sebastian is pretty similar in subject matter if I recall correctly.

Lunarsea - Next and Future

DAMN good ethereal melodic death.

Heresiarch - Carnivore

Heavy, uncompromising, one dimensional, devastating New Zealand madness.

Nadiwrath - Nihilistic Stench

Too punky for my tastes. I wish it had more Black Metal

Deafheaven - The Pecan Tree

There really is no other way to describe this other than "beautiful".

Destroy Destroy Destroy - Gods of war and Open sores
Goddamn I forgot how good this band was, then I looked them up on here and realized; A) no one here seems to like these guys- Children of Bodom clone? Total slander! more like a better version of 3 Inches of Blood. and B) they haven't released a damn thing since Battle Sluts 5 years ago but they're still active...

Armageddon - Well of Sadness, off Three

So, one of the Amott brothers pulling off a ballad in the vein of Alice in Chains, and a very good one at that. This stuff is "hear it to believe it".

I could NOT get into the album. That should NOT be called BM.

High Command from (1996) Pentastar - In the Style of Demons.
Some time since I last listened to this band!
P.D: We saw them not long ago (17 March 2012) and they were BORING but that's not what I feel when listening to the albums.

Mogwai 'Rave Tapes' - in my mind, Mogwai can do no wrong. I will admit that they've been relying on old tricks, but their old tricks are still awesome tunes. I love this band and their new album is awesome.

Bohren & Der Club of Gore 'Piano Nights' - I really love this band, but am more inclined to their older stuff - the Twin Peaks sounding stuff more so than the very doomish jazz. The new album is very doom and gloom - it's good but I still prefer their Twin Peaks sound.

Alcest 'Shelter' - I think their last album was the perfect blend of metal and shoegaze - I don't mind the new stuff but miss the metal they brought cause they did it really well. Still better than Deafheaven though.

Actress 'Ghettoville' - this guy is fucking awesome making weird electronic dance music that I find is similar to old Aphex Twin. New album is really good.

HMKids - Prospero
I really love this song.

Gotta admit I was pretty disappointed in the new album on the whole. The first three tracks I heard from it were by far the best ("Remurdered", "The Lord is Out of Control" and "Blues Hour" in that order) and I was totally pumped for it. However, the rest of the album mainly sounds like their soundtracky Les Revenants OST stuff shoehorned into a more explicitly song/album oriented approach and just wound up sounding both less immersive and atmospheric than the soundtrack stuff and less immediate and gripping than their better studio album material. Those three songs are really good though, especially "Blues Hour" which may be the best thing the band has done this millennium.

Currently listening to Mgła - With Hearts Toward None VII

Strange to hear a band straddle the line between atmospheric minimalism and raw power like these guys do, but it's definitely grand. I listened to this boatloads of times back when it was newer but naturally my listening has tapered off some since then, but it still holds up for sure. Maybe not quite as good as the debut album, but still great stuff.

It's funny you should mention that, because that's what I was expecting as well but don't hear that at all. I won't deny that they aren't going above and beyond anything they've done in the past, CODY being my favorite if I would had to choose one album, even though every album has some classic Mogwai songs. It's a good album though - anything they do is good, just not as good as what they used to do haha

Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe

From the Cross Purposes Live video. This song with anybody other than Bill Ward on drums just feels so ridiculously different.

Honestly my favorite MGLA song of all time, and after I heard the riffs and the power of that song I knew that the band would be played regularly for many years, indeed great stuff. I don't remember the exact part, since I havn't listened to that song for a while but I believe around the 3 minute mark there is a killer riff that is too infectious to let go.

NP; Metalucifer - Iron Fists (Japanese version) Metalucifer is great for raising the spirits, a glass of neat whiskey never hurt either! Been my go to combo after work, makes it all worth it.

Hathorious - Beneath the Shades of Hathor demo.

Another addition to the ever growing realm of oriental/middle-eastern extreme metal. It's really neat stuff, and it'd be cool to hear it on a full-length with a professional production.

Iron Monkey - Iron Monkey / Our Problem 2-disc set

It might not quite be the sweltering swamps of Louisiana, but the drug-fueled desperation that courses through their brief catalog has enough resemblance to both better known and unheralded sludge bands of the time to justify their cult-like reputation. What they lacked in song-to-song variety they made up for with unsettling dynamics and fat production to give each riff and instrument the heft necessary to bludgeon and bury at will. Grooves as nauseating as the scent of heroin wafting from your speakers.

Tarot - Crows Fly Black

I'm a big fan of Marco Heitala's aggressive vocal style, but I've only heard him in Nightwish. I finally decided to give this band a try, and I'm generally enjoying it. However, I'm over all not really too hooked yet. The music seems to be trying to get a sort of pseudo-epic sound with a thin guitar tone and very shitty synths. It's a nice groovy album though so far, but three songs in I think I already got the general idea of the album. Will continue listening though.

Zyklon-B - Warfare

Never get tired of this track after almost twenty years of listening to it...

Hail of Bullets - The Rommel Chronicles

Well-done old school grooviness never gets old. After early Pestilence, this band suits Van Drunen's vocals the most

Nocturnus - The Key

Finally getting around to listening to a lot of 'classic' albums, with this minor slump in new albums to listen to. This one makes me think I should give up on new albums.

Iced Earth - Attila

A fairly bland, stock Schaffer riff runs under Tim Owens singing lyrics that come off like reading a history textbook. If Iron Maiden's history lyrics put you right in the thick of the action, this song's lyrics seem somewhat dispassionate and removed from the source. And then out of nowhere comes this great call-and-response vocal tradeoff section with harsh vocals portraying the Huns and these cool Eric Clayton-style gang vocals as the Romans, and it just makes me look at the rest of the song and say "Why can't you be this inspired?"

Megadeth - Cryptic Writings

Been a while since I heard this one. For some reason, I heard it in my head. I dig Megadeth's rocking period.

--

Megadeth - Risk

Yes, this album now. Sue me and then lick my butt.

Belketre - "A Day Will Dawn"

About 6 months into my black metal self-education, I found this split with Vlad Tepes. Not sure why I like it, sometimes hard to believe that I do. Fucked up, "anti", noisy and non-produced, but at the same time totally considered, and refined in a way that only French people trying to make Norwegian BM could be. Want more like this.

Deicide - In the Minds of Evil

Decent as expected. Sounds like Deicide, no super-inspiring riffs, but the material presented is performed well, good production (for modern metal), and the leads are fun.

Armageddon - Blind Fury, off Embrace the Mystery

Very strong power metal with a singer who is clearly a big follower of Geoff Tate. Definitely recommended if you like PM.

Revisiting some older Amon Amarth today. The Crusher is seriously underrated, man this one rips like no other: Masters of War.

GTA 3 Main Theme

I'm serious. I love this damn song. Always have. I've had it on repeat for the last three hours as I write a damn story.

Which brings me to my question-- does anyone know anything similar?

Cranium - Speed Metal Sentence (album)

While yes they only had two albums and a EP I could honestly say, that Cranium is my favorite "retro" thrash band. To me they are the gold standard by which other modern bands, should emulate. Cranium plays with so much passion and charisma that it oozes out of every note of music they play. I even like the tongue and cheek lyrics personally finding the repetitiveness of war, death, satan, society, and etc lyrics stale and boring.

Young and In the Way - They Should Greet Me with Howls of Execration

Can't fucking wait for the new full-length. The best blackened crust stuff ever, if you ask me, and the new album sounds like it'll be a monument.

Pentacle - ... Rides the Moonstorm

I know this isn't a popular opinion but I enjoy Pentacle much more than Asphyx. They should be much bigger than they are

Judas Priest - Here Come the Tears

Sin After Sin is a totally underrated album. It sounds quite thin, but the songs in itself are great.

Marty Friedman - Steroidhead. The song off the upcoming album. Love the way it sounds - more Buckethead-ish, but with sensibilities. There's something to be said about pure enjoyment with such music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VloECYg6bWc

Melechesh - Annunaki's Golden Thrones

I remember the FFA discussion about them a while ago. Amazed that some people think this is gimmicky or trying too hard or anything. It's just pure molten steel riffing with an Egyptian melody style to it; it's not like they're filling the music with all kinds of exotic instruments and pretending they're the descendants of the pharaohs or some shit. Really good.

Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans

The song, and the record as a whole, really showcases a perfect medium between the cavernous beauty of the first record, and the more refined, clean atmosphere of the third. I tend to overlook it slightly, but when I do listen to it, it's a rewarding spin.

Who cares eh? I put Pentacle up there with Asphyx easily, and their Pentagram cover owns. That album and the Fifth Moon EP are great fucking stuff indeed. In fact...

Pentacle - Veil Of Sulfur

Deaththrashin' at it's unholy best. When the main rhythm riff locks in, shit gets real.