I have not gotten there yet. I'll check it out.

Forced Gender Reassignment by Cattle Decapitation.

This is the song that got me into this band. Being a Cannibal Corpse fan, I thought I'd seen it all in terms of gore, horror, cruelty and sheer brutality. But this song takes the cake. I showed my wife the uncensored video - she's not into metal by the way - and she took off and asked me to never show her stuff like that ever again. Needless to say, I lol'd.

What a Coincidence, I too just purchased Beyond Acheron, and the new one Anthology of Horror.
Small world.
Cheers

Just finished my belated exploration of Cathedral's oeuvre, aka stuff that's old news to people, and am in the process of listening to everything again (Part I):

Cathedral – In Memoriam (Demo) ('90)
Cathedral – Forest of Equilibrium ('91)
Cathedral – Soul Sacrifice (EP) ('92)
Cathedral – The Ethereal Mirror ('93)
Cathedral – Statik Majik (EP) ('94)

Probably my favourite period, the time when the weighty doom of the beginning changes into the groovier and stoner-ish direction of some of their later albums. I think one of the key words that characterise the band is: unexpected. Pretty soon it gets clear that, in their version of doom, anything can happen and every style is welcome. Surprise, surprise. Many tracks feature unexpected twists and turns as well as unexpected additional layers of instrumentation or sound effects (I wouldn't be surprised if there's a kazoo somewhere…), and you never know how the next word will sound when it leaves Lee Dorrian's throat (and I never know whether my grammar is haunted by a demonic presence that – post-posting – changes words and letters into something that's out for assaulting your sense of language).

Dorrian's vocal style is so strange and one-of-a-kind that I can't put it in a box. The best description I can come up with is: Every word sounds like "Circle of the Tyrants" and "Mesmerized" at the same time, the whiney half-growl of a dying buffalo. Good examples are "Soul Sacrifice" and "Autumn Twilight" from the "Soul Sacrifice EP" before – on the same EP and on the subsequent albums – some similarities to "ay-yay---yay-yow-wowow" Cyco Miko Muir creep into the picture while the gibberish at the end of "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien" ("Statik Majik") is like Tom Waits after a bicycle accident.

Their whole catalogue is of an impressive compositional quality. They never made a bad album. Their centrepiece is always the combination of vocals and songwriting and the resulting entertainment value. You never ask yourself "Is it heavy?" or "Heavy enough?" but get swept along by the stream of ideas. Bottom line: 9/10 for the early stuff.

The Black Dahlia Murder - A Vulgar Picture

"Miasma" is one of my favorite melodeath albums of all time. I love how it perfectly rides the line between brutality and melody... and the riffs are insanely catchy.

Neurosis - Times of Grace
Tribes of Neurot - Grace

Both at the same time... really this huge hurricane of sound. What a thing - goddamn. Enthralled.

edit... this is fucking crazy and life-affirming. Genuine world-ending heavy, genuine beauty. Through Silver in Blood is a slightly better work but these two together is this immense, immense force. Wow.

TOOL - Pneuma

I've lived out in rural Quebec for most of my life. Cornfields as far as the eye can see, rolling hills and rolling rivers, run down towns with the nicest people. I speak French with an English accent so I've been an outsider my whole life, but I don't let it get me down. The winters get real cold so when the trees start budding and the flowers bloom we all breathe a collective sigh of relief in the same language. You learn to live for the summer around here, the scorching days and hazy nights. Sometimes you just gotta cruise with the windows down, the air whipping up a storm, bringing respite from it all. Turn up the sound for this one, trust me.

I really enjoyed reading this, such a great band that's been a firm favourite of mine since getting The Ethereal Mirror in '93. I miss them a lot. And what the fuck is Gaz (One of the coolest guitarists ever!) Jennings up to?

NP: Static Abyss - Labyrinth of Veins

Chris Reifert & Greg Wilkinson of Autopsy got together and produced this, something that sounds funnily enough a lot like Autopsy. I love Autopsy so a bit of a no-brainer really.


Good stuff and cheers to you too.

Rezn - Collapse

A new single, I was kind of surprised to see them follow up last year's magnificent "Solace" so quick with a new album (out on June 14th). This seems like a continuation of the ideas found on "Solace" with slightly heavier guitars which is fine by me.

Seconding how nice of a read this was. Have you ever thought about writing reviews on MA Coastliner? You have a great way with words and offer descriptions and points of view that are cool to read.
Quite agree with your opinions about Cathedral, I love them in their first stage and especially their EPs from 92 to 96, after that the 98-05 period I have little clue about, I can't get fully engaged with that period of the band. They got me hooked again with The Guessing Game, for me their apex in terms of creativity, it definitely has some of my favourite tracks of their whole career, I'd love to know what you think of that album.

NP: Melechesh - The Epigenesis

Their style is growing on me more and more, they just release pure uncut energy for an hour and always manage to be powerful, never become boring, never become excessive, every piece fits. I'm beginning to understand why they cause so much fascination among those who listen to them, it's hard not to feel captivated by such an overwhelming yet manageable style.

The Gathering - Mandylion
The Gathering - Nighttime Birds

This is another one of those innumerable gaping holes in my knowledge. I was previously familiar only with the excellent semi-acoustic live album Sleepy Buildings and somehow just hadn't listened to anything else. These two are great, and surprisingly heavy and rocking at times. By the way, who the fuck is Kevin?

Symphony X - Egypt

Umm, this album kinda rocks, hello?! Past Me, why did you hate this?!

Smashing Pumpkins - Jellybelly

Just finished watching Rick Beato's interview with Jimmy Chamberlin where he played the drum track solo so I had to spin the cut. A ripping track and drum performance. Such an amazing drummer with such great feel to his parts.

Nuclear Death - Corpse of Allegiance

Hadn't really given these guys (and gal) much of a listen before. Safe to say this is... intense. Trying to go further into death metal lately since that seems to be the form of extreme metal I like best, lol.


I don't know who Kevin is but his telescope must be pretty cool since that's my favorite song on "Nighttime Birds".

Carnophage - Deformed Future//Genetic Nightmare

Great brutal death metal with guitar solos and technical riffing.

Dio - "Sacred Heart"
Giving this a listen based on the recent posts regarding Dio's solo catalogue/career. Man, I still find this to be a very strong collection of songs. The hook in "Another Lie" is an earworm if ever there was one. "Rock N Roll Children" is a masterclass in catchy, perfectly executed metal. "Like the Beat Of A Heart" crushes all in its path! The album loses steam at the very end but everything up to that point is killer.

Necrot - Lifeless Birth

Maybe a little less ruthless than Mortal, but they instead added a little more melody and some actually catchy songs with more of a groove to them. Interesting album - their steamrolling, quick riffs just hit the spot and this might be a transition album to some even more unique sound. As long as they keep the pedal on the aggression I don't mind. It's a good, meaty, tour de force of death metal.

My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding

Regal but menacing - like walking around some sort of old mansion that's completely fallen to decay enough to be actively eerie. Massive, crunchy riffs laced with big sensitive melodicism. A really pleasing effect for how focused and direct it all is.

Perfume Genius - Describe

Languid but vivid atmosphere. The wistful quality it has makes for a heavy presence.

An echo in the canyon - can you describe it for me

Officium Triste - Losing Ground

Flawless doom/death mournful elegance. All the bells and whistles. I love it! All year playing Officium Triste, let's go!



Great description. Can't get over how well realized this album is.

Brocas Helm - Cry of the Banshee

Epic guitars!
Killer band.

Departure Chandelier - Satan Soldier Of Fortune

First play of the new one and liking it,maybe a bit more than the debut already.Vocals here are excellent and there seems to be more hooks in the guitar work compared to the keyboards this time.
The guitar tone is also a lot more ugly and abrasive than before.

Yeah - it's a pretty understated album in a lot of ways, but I got an appreciation for just how well this band knows what it is. It's very self-realized.

Hands of Goro - s/t

One of the other guys from Slough Feg - bassist Adrian Maestas - is in this, so I was curious... pretty cool overall. Though it reminded me less of Slough Feg and more of something else. Then I checked the lineup and saw the guitarist from Spirit Adrift is in it and went, oh yeah that's it... it sounds quite a bit like Spirit Adrift with the vague Western sound to the riffs and leads and the sort of waterfall-motion of the tempos, just cascading melodies. Adran's vocals are a punk-ish shout, sounds pretty good. It could be weirder maybe, but it all moves along at a quick clip and the leads sound killer.

Some of the later songs do sound more Slough Feg-ish actually. Got that sort of raucous rowdy bounce and thump to it all.

Baazlvaat - Ridiculed by the Common Soldiery

These guys have had three fucking albums now since the last time I heard them on The Higher Power, before they were even added to the archive... sounds good if not as good as that album. Weird, delightful underground climes. Some nice folky, fluid melodies, folky but in the roguish, propulsive way, not too cartoony or candied. Vocals are a scratchy rasp and the production sounds kinda weird, but it's charming.

That's an accurate description of MDB overall (not just limited to 'A Mortal Binding'). Regal but menacing.
Scores of metal bands are menacing, but few are regal. And I cant think of any others that are regal AND menacing.

Witch Vomit - Dead Veins

Love their newest album, but the previous one "Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave" is also full of killer tunes.

Yeah... they're a weird band. They have so many albums full of these long detailed songs - it's a lot to get used to. But I'm starting to get into the rhythm of their stuff. I really liked The Dreadful Hours too. Still some others I gotta try.

Mitch Hedberg - Strategic Grill Locations

He was so great. This one's got a fuzz of bass playing in the background. Not bad ambiance.

RAGE - Black In Mind

Just great pumping summery album. I never actually put some effort to actually listen to them, but Black in Mind is just superb slob of straight-forward power/speed metal without any bullshit.

Empire of the Clouds by Iron Maiden

It's been nearly 10 years since this album was released and I still feel this song would've been much much better without the odd middle section. Beautiful main theme though.

@ MetlaNZ & Forever Underground: Thanks, guys! As for writing some reviews: I don't know but probably not. I'm not a native speaker, my grammar's bad and sometimes it takes me ages to finish a sentence. Most of the reviews on MA are of a very high standard based on intimate knowledge of a band's catalogue and, I guess, hard work. So I don't think I'm up to the task. (But maybe, someday, I'll spot some unloved old favourite and throw caution to the wind to show some support. )



I'd agree that it's their most creative or adventurous album but it'll take a while until I can form an opinion. As of yet, it was only one listen…

Now playing: Cathedral (Part II):

Cathedral – The Carnival Bizarre ('95) 7.75/10
Cathedral – Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) (EP) ('96) 6.5/10
Cathedral – Supernatural Birth Machine ('96) 7.75/10
Cathedral – Caravan Beyond Redemption ('98) 8/10

This period is full-on non-generic stoner metal, accessible and contemporary without selling out in a world of grunge. The three full-lengths gradually move towards the conventional, slick and focused, with "Caravan" being the most mainstream-friendly and, in my view, the most well-balanced. I think the other two, while featuring great songs, lack the ebb-and-flow of a real album feel, an arc of suspense, e.g. "The Carnival Bizarre" is almost an album made up of openers fighting for the pole position. Maybe this impression will change but, at present, the sleek and almost beach-worthy "Caravan" seems to cut a finer figure as a coherent album.

For me, the only disappointment is the "Hopkins EP". Apart from the single, there's Arthur Brown's "Fire" (not again…), a short instrumental and "Purple Wonderland" which is like a remix of Faith no More's "Angel Dust" period. Just when you think the EP's certain doom is to perish on some witchfinder's pyre, the brass-driven epic "The Devil's Summit" comes along to save the day. It's a pandemonium of weird ideas and worth the price of admission. That was close!

All for the King - Light in the Dark

Was told this is kind of like a Christian themed Tony Martin era Sabbath with Glen Hughes on vocals. I can see the similarities. Nice riffs and vocals. I think I'll be tracking down a copy of this album.

That was my big issue. All the instrumental bits in the middle were nowhere near interesting enough to support the length of that song. I hit a point where I was thinking "this must be getting close to the end" only to realize I had several minutes more to go.

Attacker - Black Winds Calling

Further on into their discography now and things getting more heavier and thrashier as they powered on through the years.Really dig this with some tasty solo work peppered all over the album.Trying to get my hands on more records from this band but they are pricey and damned hard to find.

Excellent description right there. I love Cathedral's debut and Dorrian's vocals are a huge part of it.

NP: Christ Agony - Inceremonical (Prophetical Part 2)

Pounding mid-paced black metal that's reminiscent of Root's Hell Symphony (although we're dealing with four 10+ minute songs in this case). Good stuff.

Alkemyst - Meeting in the Mist
Pretty good early 2000s power/prog. Some real nice vocal hooks.

Inspired by some dialogue in the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, I've been on a Dio kick these past few days...

np:
Dio - Live In Fresno, 1983
This set was recorded during the Holy Diver tour...they really brought the energy to this gig. Razor sharp performances by what was clearly a hungry and motivated band.

Behemoth - Zos Kia Cultus

Véhémence - Un contre mille

Great stuff!

It's also an unusual song for Maiden, I mean it's piano-based and I don't think there's another piano song in their entire discography - not that I can remember - and the that middle section sorta feels like an afterthought, to me at least.

Necrophobic - Clavis Inferi

They're still quite adept at the whole Swedish meloblackdeath thing, one of the best to do it in fact (aside from Dissection themselves). Very nice riffs and melodies.

Virgin Steele - Life Among The Ruins

My neighbor looked at me weird when I was belting this out standing in the window.

You ARE A ROSE YOU ARE A BLADE!!!!

"Son you must be on drugs."

Aeternus - Sworn Revenge
(from the album Beyond the Wandering Moon)

This is some form of magick put to musick.


p.s. behold the kvlt-proof notation of magick, instantly giving me trillion edge-lord points.

Black Viper - Black Mass

So 5 years after the brilliant debut album and we were all expecting another full length but got this instead.One full song with vocals,2 instrumentals and this Warlord cover.Not bad actually,a pretty solid ep but ultimately leaves me wanting for more.