I absolutely love Darkness Descends. Top 5 thrash albums ever for me. But I'll also admit it was the only good thing Dark Angel ever put out.

Arch Enemy- I Will Live Again

I'm tired of hearing the whole Anthrax sucks thing dude! They don't really do anything that deserves disdain in my eyes. If Spreading the Disease, Among the Living (!!), State of Euphoria, and Persistence of Time are shitty then what isn't shitty? Why do so many people have to shit on the catchier thrash metal? Anthrax were the masters of catchy, head-banging thrash riffs and they had a kickass and humorous vibe that no other thrash band really embodied. That said, yes, the new album completely rules.

oh and how the heck is it not thrash?



My biggest problem with Darkness Descends is the musicianship. It has speed, it has fury, it's got everything but good riffs and memorability to me.

Belladonna = High fructose corn syrup

It's not really a problem, but rather a preference. I like my thrash to be aggressive and violent, two things which Anthrax aren't. Nothing wrong with liking that kind of thrash though. I don't think it's very difficult to define "pure thrash" though.

Farseer - Luck of the Joker

A Power Metal band I discovered recently

"The First Stage" -
Infernal

The Brazilian band, mind you. This is some seriously under-produced, thrashy Death Metal.

Anthrax and Belladonna rule.

Kalmah - Deadfall

The chorus is really catchy.

Helstar - Baptized In Blood

A total classic. I never understood this when I was younger but it probably really is their best album. The songwriting, performances, etc are just the best they ever got. My favorite personally is still Remnants of War, but Nosferatu is so great.

Opeth - Morningrise

Been a long time since I listened to this love the melodies on it

Grave Digger - King Pest.

I can't understand when people say this is their least liked song from the album. It's short and sweet with insanely fun riffing.

Motorhead - Red Raw


Listening to more "obscure" Motorhead releases lately.

Visigoth - Iron Brotherhood

Oh my lord this album is ridiculously awesome!

I like Darkness Descends; it's not one of my top thrash albums, not even close, but it's enjoyable enough. I tried to listen to Leave Scars the other day though, and I think I got through Side 1 before switching it out. I just couldn't get into it.



That's my absolute favourite album to come out in years, and in my top 5 of all time! Perfectly executed, thundering, epic heavy metal.

Cirith Ungol - Frost and Fire

While not as ambitious as King of the Dead, this album is weird, catchy, and fun as hell.

Gloryhammer - Space 1992

So stupid and so awesome.

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

fuck yeahh man sleep
but seriously this is damn near my favorite metal album

That is a fuckin' fantastic album! Dopesmoker is great and all, but I still prefer Holy Mountain.

Howlin' Wolf - I'm Leavin' You

Some blues as I work my way through the night.

Blind Guardian - A Night at the Opera

Listening to this one all the way through for the first time in ages. I'm liking it a lot more than I remember - and some tracks ("Under the Ice" especially) have gone way up in my hierarchy of favorite Blind Guardian songs. I don't think it's quite in the range of their top three albums (Somewhere Far Beyond through Nightfall in Middle-Earth IMO), but it's damn close.

I didn't know this track, thank you. Hammered is a Motörhead's album I don't know well.

Dark Funeral - Where Shadows Forever Reign

Kind of amazing how Sacramentum/Dissection-y this album is.

Disagree on both counts. The intro to the title track was totally gronked by Metallica for One, and it has very catchy choruses IMO. Not to mention it's memorable because of its speed and fury.

In Flames- Ordinary Story

Not sure if I'm getting soft in old age or old In Flames, which I've never liked, is starting to grow on me.

I'll definitely give you the intro, Darkness Descends has a really wicked intro and I love that descending hammer on/pull off riff in the intro. However, that is the only riff I remember from the entire album. I like my thrash with a little more variation; DD never really did that for me. I'm not the type to say it sucks though, the album is a total spork wielding cunt ripper, but it never resonated with me.

THE冠 - Best of THE冠 『肉』

This album is nothing but big dumb fun... and I don't understand a goddamn word.

I like all of my metal with more variation, but I respect when a band brings their "one-dimension" the hardest. Also, that is not a a Darkness Descends review.

Ariana Grande- Problem (Metal version)

https://soundcloud.com/doug_darrell/ariana-grande-problem-ft-iggy-azalea_metal-cover-remix

This fucking owns.

Overkill - SHRED

Got a nasty habit...

Holy shit Dia I was JUST listening to that a minute ago.

@TrooperEd yeah, I didn't put that there. It was the feds!!

Did the feds make you review all those Buckethead albums too? Jesus! I mean I love Maiden and all but I think I still only have one review written (partially because of my own laziness).

Black Sabbath- When Death Calls

That wasn't even my review though, and I actually wasn't joking, my post got edited by a mod.

I did all the Buckethead reviews because I'm a genuine Buckethead fanatic, I have been since I was like 10 or 11. Also, who else is going to tackle the Buckethead? You'd be surprised at how much kickass stuff he has put out that nobody even knows about. He covers a lot of different genres, but his metal material alone ranges from pretty good to completely amazing. I'm going to eventually review all of his work, in fact, I'm only a few albums away from having heard every single Buckethead release.

Oh I wasn't knocking him (or you), I was just saying that's a LOT of ground to cover.

Yeah, it seriously is. I enjoy every second of it though. I have my own playground of Buckethead albums to run around like a child in! As long as I actually do a decent job on those reviews, I don't think I'm pissing anybody off. If you're ever curious, don't rule out checking out some of the 90%+ albums from him, unless you despise instrumental stuff, you won't be disappointed.

Verdi - Vedi! Le Fosche from Il Trovatore

So, so catchy.

Skeletonwitch - Breathing The Fire

This band is impressive, and that's an understatement.

Now on Dopesmoker and good fucking god this is a lot better than i remember it. maybe im just in the right state of mind for it now but this is ripping my face

Destruction - Sentence of Death/Infernal Overkill

First foray into these guys. Not sure how I feel about the vocals and the drums sound weird to me for some reason. There are some pretty great riffs here and there.

Carcass - Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System

I had to revisit this since Napalm Satan joined the ranks of LeMis (you're in such fine company) in trashing this album. Point not made. This rocks!!

Been watching several Alice In Chains live shows on Youtube recently, mostly from festivals. This is a really good one, the band sound so powerful and heavy on it, I think the recording quality helps a lot, as does the audience's enthusiasm.

Music starts about 3-4 minutes in after the presenters introduction:

Verdi is the master of opera in my opinion. I've been to several of his operas over the years and they're just so good on an emotional and musical level. Apparently he did get criticised for writing opera that was too 'tuneful' back in the day but I never get that. A great performance of something like Simon Boccanegra or La Traviata is just fantastic, one of the best things you'll ever see on stage.

Dolentia - Supremo Desígnio

Great portugisian BM!

I don't get the bashing, one of the better comeback albums for sure. To be fair it's one big "Heartwork" tribute but it still rocks. Really catchy stuff.

I also think that album is lame. Very boring stuff. The vanilla of metal - no character or personality of its own.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Sad Waters

This album has really been growing on me - a real sleeper hit. Equal parts tranquil goth rock and smashing noisy chaos. Cave is fucking terrifying at his best while also being soothing and kind of beautiful.

Stormwarrior - Nighte of the Storme

One of the few cases where a bonus track at the end of an album doesn't feel out of place. Awesome song that blends in well to the end of the album.