So, that latest Stormblast review had me laughing out loud. How anybody can defend 80%+ scores for that band's first two records boggles my mind.

No, I don't do "whatever I want" without thinking like "so many people do". I would never try to hurt someone because I'm simply mad at him or her. I wouldn't risk my health or life for the sake of having fun like driving when I'm drunk or something like that. I have never taken any drugs in my life for example, I have never even smoked a single cigarette. But I decided not to do these things because I think it doesn't give me anything, because I don't like the smell and because I think it's bad for my health. My parents both smoke and several of my friends do and I really don't judge them for that at all. If they asked me if I wanted to smoke, I would politely refuse and I wouldn't make a scene like so many people do by saying: "You should quit smoking. It's bad, it stinks, get away from me..." It's not because a community is transmitting an ideal to me or because it's written in a sacral piece of literature that I don't do drugs, don't drive while I am drunk or don't insult or knock people down that I don't like. I am religious but I am because I really believe in most of it, not because I need it to guide me in my everyday life. I have a conscience, I have my convictions and I care about others but I don't need a religion, a law code or a philosophy to be my conscience.

There are gothic metal bands who express that they don't like any form of religion because its manipulating people. I wouldn't agree but in my opinion, that's not a radical statement. Some of these bands actually have very emotional lyrics that make you think about important things in life such as loss or suicide, no matter what your religion is. I have lost family members, I have known people that have committed suicide and these things are for real, you can't get away from them. I also like some pagan metal bands because I'm interested in traditional pagan beliefs from a historical and mythological point of view. It's not because these people sing about Odin that they are actually worshipping him and against Christianity and so on.

The only lyrics I like a little bit less are extremely nihilistic stuff and racist far right positions. Personally, I try to judge people on what they are doing and not that much on what they are saying (as long as they are not transmitting extremely hateful message such as the national socialist black metal scene). I would actually rather stop listening to a band whose singer had injured and almost killed people while he was drunk (like Böhse Onkelz) than to a band that has occult lyrics but whose members didn't do any harm to anyone.

I actually met a couple of black metal bands and musicians (I have been living in Quebec for five years now and the Metal Noir Québécois is quite a big thing here) and none of them is actually agressive, crazy, satanic or call it what you will. Most of the time, these people are surprisingly nice and have a positive attitude in life. Some people are actually sometimes portraying something they are not on stage. Most of the time, it's as with actors. It's not because Jack Nicholson often plays completely insane characters that he is actually a dangerous murderer.

At a certain point it's also important to accept other people and their opinions. I don't like Clint Eastwood's political points of view and some movies are slightly influenced by his vision of things in life. I didn't like "Letters from Iwo Jima" at all for example. Still, he is one of my very favourite actors and I adore most of the movies he has made. I would have missed out on a lot of truly amazing movies if I had judged him on his political point of views and a couple of more political movies.

So, I would suggest you to actually try out a few gothic or pagan metal bands with less radical lyrics, you might be positively surprised.

Another thing is: even power metal bands sing about occult things such as witches, sorcerers, dragons and so on. And seriously, these people are definitely not anti-religious at all! You can still find such a topic intriguing and being religious at the same time.

Sorry, I already wrote the answer before BastardHead posted this...

anyway, what are your opinions on the new In Flames' review by Kritik?

Well, I was looking at the recent reviews and found one that surprised me. LeMis gave a positive review to Among the Living. I'm not certain why, but I had him in my head as the Noktorn-type on thrash. The only thing that irked me was one of the last statements. I didn't get the need to bring up the big 4 idea; they didn't earn it through quality it was album sales.

It's emotional... And just about 30% metal, so expect it to be emotional.

So happy to see Empyreal give Paragon's "Force of Destruction" a 93%. That was one of the best albums of 2012.

He should note that Pat from Iron Savior stole the "Gods of Thunder" riff for the newest Iron Savior album too.

I never got around to hearing that new Iron Savior, actually. I mentioned em in the review but I just meant The Landing, really.

It sounds a lot like Iron Savior because Piet Sielck produced it. He has a very signature sound. I like this a lot except the vocalist can get annoying because his part Boltendahl, part Sheepers tone sounds forced at times. It's not enough to ruin the album for me. The guitar work is just amazing. Solid riffs and good solos.

Oh yeah, it looks like Sielck did produce that Paragon album too - well he improved since the old days and Force of Destruction doesn't just sound like a carbon copy of Law of the Blade/Condition Red/any Primal Fear album like a lot of those bands were starting to sound similar in the old days...FoD has a heavier, darker sort of sound that I think sets it apart a bit.

Okay, while I'm at it, why so much fellating of the new HammerFall disaster? Are they listening to the same album? Three songs do not make for a return to form in any way. Will anyone else give this thing an honest review?

Haven't heard it yet, but your post makes me want to give it another positive review even if I hate it. Is there some indication that the other ones aren't honest just because they have differing opinions?

I could care less if they like this album, I don't and that is fine if their opinion differs. I'm saying that lauding this as a return to form is disingenuous at the very least. Using words like "new found energy" or "bringing back the old magic" are also disingenuous. If someone likes it, they should say they like but be honest about it. Don't try to justify liking it for reasons that do not exist.

I like the new review of Rabid Death's Curse by dismember_marcin, calling it a 'very riff-based album' is very astute and points to what sets it apart, it doesn't rely solely on its (awesome) atmosphere.

I also enjoyed that latest review of the Cult of Fire album that NausikaDalazBlindaz wrote. Personally I'm not sure if I'm really on board with the whole Ravi Shankar hippy black metal sound, it was a novelty for a short while but that wore off quickly. However I appreciate NDB's point about transformation being integral to black metal, whether through destruction or not, and it being a logical ideological journey from simply rejecting Abrahamic dogma. I tried to get at a similiar idea when reviewing Schammasch, though I think NDB expresses his theory better.

Somebody trolled a Jugulator review, giving it a near perfect score. I almost banged my face through my table if I hadn't the suspicion that the whole thing was written as a joke.

^ Either he's joking, or he has very, very odd taste.

I, For one, pretty much like this Trash metal album named jugulator, but, it's not heavy metal at all and it's easy for me to understand how this album was received.

Excuse me, but I felt the band did return, in part, to capture their youthful energy. Calling it disingenuous? Whatever man. It's obvious you don't like the album (as your review made it very clear), but just because you don't like something doesn't mean that other people should feel the same. Was "(r)Evolution" more energetic than "Infected"? That question pretty much answers itself.

So my response is that I was honest about liking this album. It's not a classic, but it's so much better than "Infected". I took the band's turn back towards their signature sound as a good thing and, yes, despite you not feeling it, I found that the entire band seemed to have a renewed sense of energy.

It is heavy metal. The problem is that most of it isn't good heavy metal.

You are right, they did a partial return to form as much as three songs is a partial return. Hector's Hymn, Origins, and Bushido were the only stand outs on the album. The rest was just filler material compared to those three songs. Was it better than infected? Yeah, it was...I even said so. Infected had no good songs on it so that's no real feat. Look, I'm a HUGE HammerFall fan boy and I want to like it, but it seems lazy and phoned in. It just makes me feel like they tried real hard to write two huge songs and a good song but then add filler and stir. That's lazy rock star shit.

There's no magic left compared to not only the earlier stuff but even the later good albums by the band up to and including Threshold. No Sacrifice, No Victory started this downturn and Infected was even worse. (r)Evoltion was a step in the right direction but not nearly enough. So yeah, I did say disingenuous because I feel that this album is just that, disingenuous.

So you think HammerFall are 'just in it for the money' or something along those lines?

Got it mjollnir. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Surprisingly, one of the songs you list as one of the standouts, Bushido, I felt was one of the most phoned in. At least we're both sane enough to agree it's better than Infected.

I think they don't try as hard because their album is going to sell anyway because they are HammerFall.

Bushido reminded me of Templars of Steel from Renegade so yeah, I liked it. When I said two huge songs and one good one, Bushido is the one good one. Hell, Hector's Hymn alone was better than all of the last two albums combined.

It's nice to see the new Abigor didn't fly under everyone's radar. Nice review, sushiman.

I just gave it a listen and he really sums the album up nicely. There's a lot going on here on this album. I'll give this a few more listens.

So?

^ It's a review discussion thread. I commented on something I had noticed with a review.

It's not worth it. Talking to him is like clapping with one hand.

Cheers mjollnir and Wilytank, I am surprised it had no prompt coverage here actually considering it is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year. I really have to recommend that album emphatically, reckon I'll definitely be after one of those sweet-ass looking A5 digis as well as the promo I got sent.

Cheers dude. This is possibly the best black metal release of this year. There are so many layers to these songs. As I keep being disappointed by bands and their so called return to forms, this album was a breath of fresh air. I'm in the process of reviewing it now.

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For me it is beaten only by Draconis Infernum's The Sacrilegious Eradication and the Capax Infiniti split album by Hetroertzen and Dødsengel, though Nightbringer's fourth album is coming so let's see.

It is indeed layered and as you also pointed out in your review has so much controlled chaos in that finale, funnily enough they seem to have truly achieved that esoteric and experimental thing they were going for in other recent works on an album which some would think of as a return to more conventional black metal (though again, minimal familiarity with those albums so no opinion yet on how well 'Excessus' ultimately stacks up to their other weird shit).

I'm not sure of their recent work because I only have their first two and this new one. I can't remember if I heard the more recent stuff or not. All the same, it is great release and I hope they continue on this path.

...huh. Now that you mention it, this year has been kinda bland as far as black metal goes. Last year we saw great stuff from Paysage d'Hiver, Battle Dagorath, Cosmic Church, Cultes des Ghoules, Gris, and Oranssi Pazuzu. This year we've had Darkspace and Abigor and that's it. I'm still hyped about the upcoming Blut aus Nord though.

Blood Red Fog, Sargeist, Entartung, Spectral Lore not doing anything for you?

Was listening to a little of Abigor's newest. First off I dig the fact that Silenius does vocals but the album itself just seemed like a typical blast of evil. Not that it wasn't good, but I thought it was pretty standard stuff. I dunno, maybe I'll give it more listens but the last Marduk album got more out of me than this thing.

I'm not sure how Wily feels but Spectral Lore is an album that just didn't grab me upon first listen. Maybe I'll revisit it. Sargeist didn't do that much for me. To me, this Abigor album along with Kampfar, Skogen, Iskald, Hoth, and Vinterbris are in the running when it comes to black metal releases for this year. Oh, if you consider Halberd black metal at all then that album too.

Great work, Empyreal. As I've always said, fuck those people who don't like what I do, their reasons can only be superficial and laughable.

Give Akrotheism a crack, nice and riffy BM, nothing hugely new but good amounts of variation and solid pacing shifts.