Vale of Amonition are the truest representation of Progressive Doom, if any band ever managed to pull off such a contrived mix. I heard the full length, it is quite good. And you have to love the fact that they're African. There's a bit more folk influences too.

that Vale of Amonition song ruled! a bit too much but generally interesting!
HAIL EGYPT!

I see, so the Belphegor guy layers his vocals and he has a death vocal mode and a black vocal mode, basically. And he plays rhythm guitars (and perhaps is the sole or main songwriter). Well, that's good, but rather common, even standard, man. Not rare or impressive enough to be incredible, but he's very good at what he does, and makes great music (at least judging by that song), that's what I'm more interested in. Thanks again for posting that.

No problemo, if you want more Belphegor style black/death metal then you can always just shoot me a PM. Also, I know that the instrument/vocalist combo is common, but not everyone can do it well. Some lean more towards one as opposed to the other and some just plain suck. I do backing vocals and bass for my band, Goat Martyr, and, frankly, I suck ass, I am more of a bassist than a bassist/vocalist, but I've got a better death growl than anyone else in the band xD.

You disappoint me, LegendMaker!

First off, I genuinely do enjoy this particular song, and I feel no shame for it. I am sorry if I did disappoint you guys, though, as you're both cool dudes who know their shit and show it in often fun ways. Having said that, the ability to give total priority to the material over any other considerations is a value I hold dear, and just like a beloved fan-favorite or cult classic sounding like shit to my ears is not an issue for me, a widely loathed so-called "nu metal" album by a vastly shitty, commercial band is not enough to keep me away from the one great song I dig off of it.

I wouldn't call "Die (And Die Now)" melodic death metal, although it's not far off. The closest thing would probably be 'Chaos AD' meets (old school) death metal idiosyncrasies, so maybe death/groove (perhaps recent Soulfly is a bit like that?). Definitely not nu-metal, as some might assume from the labeling on the band's MA page; just like some might confuse that grunge song by Nevermore iAmDisturbed posted for, wait foooor iiiiit, "Groove/Progressive Metal", going by the same "criteria". This proves a point, at the risk of having (mildly) hurt some ears and/or feelings. I'll tell you what, I have two DD albums: the debut, which this is from, and the third one, which seems to be widely considered more tolerable (some even say "great") than their "nu-metal" debut (haven't listened to any of the others so far). This is the one song that stuck with me after giving both albums more than their respective fair listens multiple times. Actually, my sentiment towards most of their other songs is more or less word for word Crushed's review of that one. But that one is tight, short, to the point, choke-full of oomph and genuine, passionate, charmingly naive aggression. Sure, this comes across as stemming from a gross lack of knowledge in metal and other extreme forms of guitar-driven music; by this I mean that the boys are genuinely "pioneering" the type of groundbreaking bold escalation in aggressiveness that they're not aware Possessed or Sepultura already achieved two decades prior: we can laugh at them for their ignorance, but the "oh man, I can't believe we dared!" feeling is intact, even if it's not legitimate or historically relevant, and the song oozes the excitement and dedication they derive from it). Anyway, I stick to my guns on this: I really like that song, and it even makes it into my playlists now and again. It's simple and has exhilaratingly hilarious, childish lyrics even by extreme metal standards, but that's entirely part of its charm. Also, great riffs (a bit OSDM 101 for the verse and bridge, but I dig that). So, yeah. If I disappoint Necro with this, so be it. The song's worth it.

I'll catch them up as you post them, dude, there's no rush, but thanks. I think most metal bands with harsh vocals have a lead vocalist who also plays an instrument (or, more often than not, the other way around). The reason is obviously that, while truly great and/or unique harsh vocal performances are not that easy to come by, a far greater number of dudes can pull off decent harsh vocals than good singing voices, so there's rarely a real incentive to hire a dedicated member just for doing that. Especially with highly codified vocal styles, like standard death growls or BM rasps. I'm primarily a guitarist myself, and I always did my own harsh vocals, although I can't really sing. Doing two things at the same time takes practice and is more demanding than doing one thing at a time, but it's not like I was singing lead in an opera while also playing lead violin. At any rate, you admire this Belphegor dude, I respect that. I'm just not as impressed as you are or by the same things (like I said, both of his vocal styles are good, yet conventional, his guitar playing is excellent, but it's really, as always, the songwriting I'm most interested in).

And hey, a fine choice, there. I'm not reviewing that, though; no time, plus I think I already said a lot about them in the past, including in this thread I think. I much, MUCH prefer the debut to this one (I love the debut), but it's still a solid song.

No need to apologise mate not having a go at you. After so much classic, classy power/heavy/death metal it was just an eyebrow raiser is all

@Abominatrix: Like I said, the debut is really Witchery's magnum opus. It's all been downhill from there, even if 'Dead Hot & Ready' still has solid songs. But 'Restless & Dead' is just awesome through and through, can't get enough of it.

@Crushed: Thanks, dude. I aim to please, even if sometimes tastes are bound to differ on such or such.

I'm honestly glad you reviewed that even though you didn't enjoy it all that much. Truth is, this is a total obscurity I recently discovered thanks to a friend. I'm starting to think "interesting oddities" are indeed one of the best potentials of this thread here. GOrmenghast inspired bizarre Japanese doom from the 80s? Well I was pretty much sold instantly. But you can tell why this didn't exactly take off I guess. I do wish they had recorded more stuff. Anyway, the vocals are pretty much my favourite thing about the whole package, so I can totally understand why you would be annoyed or bored as you didnt' enjoy them. I certainly agree that that sudden outburst of speed/rocking is like a huge release of tension and is very welcome in its context. I like your "creekign door" analogy actually...if you've read Titus Groan/Gormenghast this will make perfect sense to you, but I must say I never thought of it.

By the way, according to mA the band only recorded this one demo, which means they only have four songs to their name. I was lucky to find the demo online and it is some creepy and weird stuff all right, with the last track being more like the rocking NWOBHM style.

Hah, well, fair enough, that kind of music isn't for everyone. I'm not a huge fan of avant-garde music myself, but with Aarni personally I think there is a kind of mad cogency to it. It's less free jazz and more Lovecraftian doom.

yeah, the vocals take away a bit from the power of that amazing riff. They lack the proper gravity I think and their slightly silly tone/delivery almost negates the darkness of hte melody he's singing. Still, good song...rather like the solo as well.

Yeah, I meant to mention the solo. It complimented the riff and song very well. Hell, it was a pretty rippin' solo.

you make some good points. When I was deciding on which song to pick, i somewhat settled on this as the majority of their songs I enjoy the most are too long for this (i.e., 10+ minutes). As far as reviews here go, I dunno if I'd label them as Avante-garde (more so just progressive) as they don't have anything too "weird", except their "Sequenzen einer Wanderung" album which has more electronica style in it. Their best album by far to me is Nektar - Part 2 which have some great songs like Atme, Und Pan spielt die Flöte or Anis.

Maybe I'll check out some of those other ones later, though they don't really sound like a band for me. Sorry about the grey little review up there...I'm not sure if it's just my mood or the track in question but I struggled to find anything much to say about it.

I actually thought it was a good/accurate review....and then i was questioning why i like the song myself..haha. I guess there are just other elements that I enjoy. If you are ever in the mood, check out one of the other songs