I absolutely can't get into this one. I found the music to be really annoying, the vocals unfit for what they were trying to achieve, and the snare drum far too loud in the mix. A jumbled mess. However, good to see you're enjoying it!

The Slow Death - Ark

Very nice album. Plenty of mournful riffs. Loving the female vocals, too.

Are Steve Howe's fingers even bound by gravity?

I completely agree that the spoken word parts in "Captive Honour" are completely ineffective. Besides that, the song's lyrics are silly beyond belief. Then there are what, two or three riffs in the song, and by Mustaine's standards they're quite half-assed. Then again, Friedman's lead absolutely rules, and Mustaine's second one is quite killer so the song isn't an entire waste.

"Sweating Bullets" fits into a similar category since I can see why anyone might find the lyrics and vocals to be grating at the least, and most of the track's music is essentially paint by numbers. However, Mustaine's lead more than gets the job done, and the instrumental section after it gives a relatively rare glimpse of what Megadeth is truly capable of within Countdown so just like "Captive Honour," "Sweating Bullets" isn't a complete waste of a song.


...And the response above led me to "Hook in Mouth," "Devil's Island" and "Good Mourning/Black Friday." In a perfect world Megadeth would always be at this level of quality...

Pagan Altar - Volume 1

Sounds good. Got to try Mythical & Magical next. It's a well played album, but it didn't quite grab me before. It could've been a little heavier, IMO.

Paradise Lost - Until the Grave

They've done it again. I thought The Plague Within was good but this just incredible - not to mention far heavier and darker sounding. I'm not sure whether this track would be the best album closer but it's a good song anyway; hearing that chorus really gives me the idea the skies just turned a little darker...

Tyr - Lady of the Slain

Saw them for free yesterday.. and they slayed! Pure fun and lots of sing along moments in a language that probably only 10.000 people in the whole world know!

My love for them pretty much begins with Erik and ends with Land, but i'm considering a re-listen of the "new"albums because i had a lot of fun.. this song was clearly the highlight of the set

Tyr's sound from By the Light of the Northern Star onwards got a lot more straightforward and sing-songy, basically just becoming a slow power metal band. It's a really bizarre sellout that nobody seems to call them out on but I don't mind so much because I think their albums are all at least moderately enjoyable (though there's that one I just can't bring myself to care about... The Lay of Thrym I think it's called?).


Serpent Column - Ornuthi Thalassa
This is some cool stuff. It was rec'd to me as a sort of blend between DsO, The Chasm, and Arghoslent, which I don't know exactly how accurate that is since the only band of those three I'm intimately familiar with is Arghoslent and I'm not really hearing them here. Either way it's some ferocious black/death and I like it a lot on first listen. I think the guitarist must be the most brutally skilled palm muter in existence because I swear every fast riff sounds like a glitch.

The drumming here is just great.

Nothgard-Blackened Seed
Really great melodic death band. Catchy as fuck chorus and some great leads. The outro chorus is nice as well. Always liked these guys a lot. Very underrated band.

Blazon Stone - Return to Port Royal

Pure Running Wild worship!
Really awesome.

Opeth - "Reverie/Harlequin Forest"

Dark, Heavy & Hypnotic

Why did this song not click with me until last night?!

Yeah, it's quite incredible how simple in structure the songs have become... luckily their signature melodies are still there, probably this is a factor in the fact than no one is screaming sellout

I'm listening By The Light now and enjoying it more than the list time i've tried, even if i miss the clusterfucks of odd timed riffs and elaborate harmonies

Man this really started out blazing but at some point reached a zenith of monotony where it may as well be one song. That's not even a comment on the length, that second half or something like that is completely boring. It was so awesome early though, probably enough to make a solid single album, I'll come back just for that

Anthrax - Spreading the Disease

Hell yeah!

Exodus - Shudder To Think

I'm not the biggest Dukes fan, but a few songs on this record fucking KILL.

Vicious Rumors - Sense of Security

Bit of an unpopular opinion but Word of Mouth is my favorite VR album and this is a great uptempo track. There's just a lot of great textures and harmonies throughout this album and it really creates more of an atmosphere than the other classic era albums I feel, plus it contains likely my favorite Carl Albert vocal performance.

Converge - Jane Doe

"Hell yeah!" is right.


Kamelot - "When the Lights Are Down"

"In the silence of the darkness we unite."

Cattle Decapitation - Kingdom of Tyrants

Monolith of Inhumanity is so unbelievably excellent that it's legit kind of mind boggling. A band that for so long had put out stuff that never really surpassed "Eh, it's okay" suddenly became the best death metal band on the entire planet.

Nile - The inevitable degradation of flesh [instrumental]

Ulven - Void Worship

I think this sounds a bit unique. Best description I can think of is Watain + Temisto.

Edguy — We Don't Need a Hero

Hellfire Masterpeice

Excalion - Centenarian

Metal album of the year for me so far.

Isis - 'So Did We'

Sublime.

Antichrist - Sinful Birth

Top 10 AOTY right here. This crushes.

Ghoul - We Came for the Dead

Soon, they'll scream

Nargaroth - Amarok - Zorn des Lammes

Good old Nargaroth.

Shade Empire - Poetry of the Ill-Minded

It's interesting. Some wacky parts that I didn't expect among all the Melodic Death/Black. Very little Industrial stuff here too.

Satanic Warmaster - To the Legions

From the split with Clandestine Blaze.
I like their own songs better then the Collaboration tracks, I think.

Flesh Feast - Savage Lust

Really good, massive and totally obscure Canadian BDM with a few NYDM-isms here and there. Found it on the death metal recommendation thread, thanks Hayisforhorses.

Pagan Altar - Mythical & Magical

Been a while since my last spin, and fuck... it just keeps getting better and better. Such a huge album.

That lead guitar though. It's not an album; it's an occasion.


Trees of Eternity - 'Eye of the Night'

I have no words.

Enepsigos - Plague of Plagues

Doedsadmiral seems to be quite a busy fellow, with three of his bands having put out stuff so far this year. This one's probably my least favorite of the three, but it's not too shabby either I suppose.

After my own heart...

Pagan Altar - Armageddon

The guitars in this easily match any 1970s-era virtuoso... amazing shit.

Negator - Serpent's Court

Straightforward, venomous and furious black metal with some melodic breaks that made the hair on my arms stand a little it was that perfect.

The entire 'Gates to the Pantheon' album is a MUST LISTEN for any fan of blasting black metal with melodic and memorable riffs a la Dark Funeral and Endstille. Some death metal influences too which remind a bit of Belphegor.

Cavalera Conspiracy - Black Ark

I forgot how good that first album by them is. It's the best thing Max Cavalera's been involved in since the 90s.

Judas Priest - Eulogy

Awakening ha... remember now that Nostradamus has 14 songs and not 23. Intros are not really songs. I am technically listening to Lochness.

Neurosis - Given to the rising

This has always been my personal red headed step child in the Neurosis discography. I actually quite enjoy it everytime I remember it exists.

Hah, I love that album. It's a fun listen.

Carcass - Captive Bolt Pistol

Surgical Steel really was an incredible comeback album for this band. Most comebacks are decent attempts, but nothing great. This is the exception. It feels like the proper followup to Heartwork.

Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

Slowly getting ready for Brutal Assault... and what a fucking record this is, even after multiple listens. No idea why it's so strong, since it seems similar in execution to the stuff they've been doing since Eclipse, but it just sounds better.