A la Sombra de mi Sombra from (2001) Extrechinato y Tu - Poesía Básica (Basic Poetry).
Truly it's (poetry)!

Akitsa - Les Opposants Brûleront

Bout to throw on Slayer - Christ Illusion

It's been a while. I downloaded the bonus track "The Final Six" too. Should make for a cool closer.

Orden Ogan - Easton Hope

So far it's not hitting me as hard as 'Vale' and 'To the End' did. Maybe it'll grow on me.

"Seasons" -
CityCop.

I can't imagine how much it would be to see these guys live.

Slayer - Spill The Blood

I always thought this song was fuckin' underrated. Off an underrated album too (I know the MA reviews say otherwise lol).


Slayer - Blood Red

Love these bouncy riffs. So bright and cheery for a song on Communism.

Exorcist - Nightmare Theatre

CANDY TO MY EARS!

"Container Ships" -
Kowloon Walled City

Two songs in and this is already my second contender for album of the year.

In fairness, I have yet to fully discover the older Behemoth albums you mentioned. It probably also helps that I saw Hate with Neuraxis and Sepultura which was a fantastic show. Hate just killed it...esp. with Resurrection Machine. It was my first listen of them and they just really caught my attention in that live setting. I know the newer few Hate albums well, but for the most part the back-catalog of both bands I've yet to listen to start to finish. Sounds like a good plan.

Heavens Gate - The Sentinel (Judas Priest cover), off..... I'm not entirely sure

Interrupted my Reverend Bizarre listening session due to this little cover. These guys seem good, considering that they covered one of Priest's best tunes and managed to not only not fuck it up, but also did a damn fine job, plus gave it a bit of a rocking edge that isn't present in the original, which has more of an epic quality to it. I'll check them out, if only out of curiosity. Maybe they'll surprise me again, who knows?

NP: Of the Wand and the Moon - Nighttime Nightrhymes

Don't be mad Tony, I'll get back to it in a moment

Lago - The Tyranny of Man

Hour of Penance - Hierarchy of the Fools

Satanica marks the band's shift towards a more death metal oriented sound, that's pretty much where their started getting "bigger". Pre-Anaclasis Hate isn't bad but it is extremely predictable and by the book. If you like Deicide circa Once Upon The Cross/Serpents Of The Light or mid period Krisiun then you'll enjoy them, it's pretty much their template.

Testament - Practice What You Preach

I'm going through the process of relistening to some of the albums I don't have from some of the bands I love. At the moment it's not going well since this is really boring and uninspired thrash. Testament did so much better than this...

Testament's pure thrash releases I find to be, for the most part, insipid and boring (save for Souls of Black, which is rather fun), and Practice What You Preach is the worst offender in that sense. Low and The Gathering are by far their best output, if you ask me.

Archetype - Hands of Time, off Dawning

Surprising to hear Greg Wagner sing this way. He's nowhere near the furious ball of blasphemous rage that I see him as in Shatter Messiah here, opting for more of a traditional prog approach to singing (and reminds strongly me of Warrel Dane, if much less schizo). The music is quite good too, though it doesn't drive me crazy.

Revolting - In Grisly Rapture

What do you think of this album? I thought it was great when it came out, and I still do, but I think Paradogma and Sedition have pushed Hour of Penance to a new level.

Isis - Oceanic

I prefer Panopticon for my Isis fix, but this is a great album, too. I am a big fan of the three-peat of tracks 5-7, making it one nice, long instrumental piece with some female vocals spliced in there. Really fantastic stuff.

Sonata Arctica - Only the Broken Hearts Make You Beautiful

Probably in the top 5 catchiest songs I've ever heard.

Emperor - Into the Infinity of Thoughts

Probably Emperor's best song.

Ripping Corpse - Dreaming With the Dead 

Death - Leprosy

Obscure Infinity - Dawn Of Winte

Pallbearer - The Legend

Some really tasty doom...!

Cephalic Carnage - Exploiting dysfunction

Terrorama - Omnipotence

Artillery - By Interheritance

Place of Skulls - The Black Is Never Far

The album is a masterpiece.

Need a new POS album, been 2 years. I hope Griffin is gearing up and will enter the studio soon.

The show was about as prone to lunacy as I was expecting - after three opening acts - one dire, one acceptable, and one very good, Anaal Nathrakh came on, and by the time the first song was finished, people were swinging from the buildings low rafters by their arms and legs, to the point that the security gave up. About half-way through a female fan presented Dave Hunt with a pair of underpants which read "Marry me Dave", which he wore around his neck for a couple of songs. All in all, a tightly-played, highly enjoyable and cheerfully insane gigs I've been to.

NP: Anaal Nathrakh - Forging Towards the Sunset - re-living it, I guess, it's always fun, the first listen to a studio track after hearing it live.

...And Destroyer 666 tonight, to ensure I can't fully recover...

You're talking to the preacher mate, I know my Testament pretty well. While The Gathering is cool I do prefer their old form, and while SOB is an album I dig very much I still feel that the first two are their best. Alex's guitar style was highly influential to me and I still have him as one of my favourite guitar players. The mix of technique and melody you know? Low is OK but I don't know if it's the kind of album I'd put in a regular rotation.

Hail Spirit Noir - Pneuma

Talk about a good soundtrack for waking up. Gentle and melodic, clean and crude, psychedelic and dark. Marvellous album!

Primordial - Redemption At The Puritans Hand

Mithotyn - Lord of the iron hand

Flayed Disciple - Death Hammer

Revolting - Hymns Of Ghastly Horror

Leviathan - The Bitter Emblem of Dissolve

Astral Sleep - Visions

Violent Force - Sign Of Evil

Ah yes, Skolnick. Dude's been the band's trump card since day one (though Murphy was no slouch either as his replacement, me thinks), and still is. I have never been a big fan of his riffing though, as it always seemed to lack..... I don't know, something. He's an awesome lead player though, no doubt about that. As for Low; I don't know, I just find that album's more eclectic and quirky nature to be extremely convincing and interesting. Plus, Dog Faced Gods =

Heavens Gate - Livin' in Hysteria, off the album of the same name

This is nice. Rocking, overtly 80's sounding German heavy/power metal.

Blind Guardian - Majesty

Some of the later stuff Blind Guardian came up with is good, but is still their most consistent and best release. Hansi's vocals sound a bit raw but are by no means bad and fit perfectly for music here.

Ataraxy - Revelations Of The Ethereal