Panphage - Jord (2018)

Sad to find out this is his last album but what an incredible way to bow out! So early in the new year and yet I wouldn't be surprised if this remains in my Best Albums list come year end - it's that good.

So many memorable and emotive riffs. It sounds cheesy as fuck* but listening to this just transports me to another realm. Listen to this!

* edit - I don't mean the music is cheesy but rather my saying lol

Vastum - "Empty Breast"

I didn't notice how funny this song title is until a friend pointed it out. But the music is top notch death metal with a certain cave echo-y effect to the vocals. I liked Vastum's 'Carnal Law' enough to get this here this latest and they are vastly improving each album.

Jack White - Connected By Love

Nice epic, fatalistic vibe and cool video... a bit formulaic of a song though. Fortunately the other single "Respect Commander" is batshit enough to make up for it. Intrigued about his new album, whenever it ends up coming out.

Power Trip - Executioner's Tax

Haven't heard this in a while. Very good for modern thrash - they really seem to have it down and know how the classic bands did it. Not my favorite style enough to be album of the year though.

Antichrist - Sinful Birth

The intensity!

Slayer- Expendable Youth

Borknagar - "Grimskalle Trell"

I don't know what the consensus on Borknagar is –I know that "Dauden" is somewhat of a staple in the band's setlist– but damn, this album is great. Not sure if I would call it a classic, as I've started listening to the album in full one or two weeks ago (it feels a bit inconsistent to be honest), but "Grimskalle Trell" is amazing! I can listen to the riff starting in 1:36 all day (thankfully it's being repeated many times)!

Abkehr - I

Ahhh the joys of the digital age, and the jewels that can be found while trawling through the miasmic, black depths of the underground. While I'm not completely jaded, it is getting harder and harder for me to find black metal that is worth my time these days, and over the last twenty odd years I have have drifted (slightly) away from the genre, as there is a plethora of amazing death metal acts out there for me to sink my teeth into... but every so often I come across something that infects my ears with a slow poison that is impossible to resist - and nor do I want to.

Germany's Abkehr slithered it's grimy, earth-stained claws out of the shadows, and whispered a cold, wrathful prayer into my ears, with enough conviction for me to buy the damn album. Absolutely nothing new offered here - it's primitive, harsh and raw black metal that hearkens back to the glory days, when Darkthrone's unholy trinity were a freshly rotting corpse in the basement, but the attention to detail within this grim offering is astounding, right down to the beautifully haunting, cavernous production values. Chilling and raw, that sends shivers up my spine with it's primitive majesty and power, and lingers long after the devilish racket has passed by, like a wraith leaving a frosty footprint.

Form - I Choose My Own

Kind of a Sabbat-style tone (the old thrash band) with, IDK, a Flotsam and Jetsam song-writing style(?), but a lot catchier. It's a 1995 album and it sounds like they were stuck right in that crossover from thrash to groove, but pulled it off well. I like it a lot.

Obscura - Hymn To A Nocturnal Visitor

This early version of Obscura already showed glimpses of their brilliant future. This track has a good mid-tempo pace with precision riffs and then is broken up by a slow, quiet interlude only to return to its mid-tempo glory.

Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale

...

Neter - Baptism of Fire

Some solid death metal. A band I will definitely be purchasing some music by.

The Clearing Path - Watershed Between Firmament and the Realm of Hyperborea

Anybody who talks to me outside of the forums knows that I haven't shut up about this album for the past ~48 hours, but it's insanely good. If you've heard the band Erraunt, I want to liken it to that. There's a general spacey aesthetic, but a lot more goes on than, say, Darkspace; there's a bit of DsO jangle, some strange time signatures, a sense of manic urgency, a lot of introspective clean guitar guitar, and so on. The guitars are pretty low-distortion à la Howls of Ebb, but the overall production is just ridiculously massive, which is a perfect combination in my mind. Highly recommended listening - shame it came out so late in the year because it definitely would've been on my top 10 list in the MA poll.

A stunning, stunning album. Still my favorite of the millennium. Shame there won't be another.

It's one of the best albums I've heard from this decade. If I could change my 2016 AOTY list this would go from 2 to 1. I love the album so much; it's so unbelievably beautiful.

Ustalost - IV

Side project from one of the members in Yellow Eyes.
Great stuff, some lovely bass work in this song.

Hail of Bullets - Nachthexen

High above Rodina
For the umpteenth raid
Female fighter aces
Send their bombs away


It's basically make a relatively okay song about nazis getting blown to pieces and I'm sold yes absolutely.

Aversio Humanitatis - Longing For the Untold

Amazing, heavy and harrowing Spanish black metal. It's I guess similar to Mgla, only better. Deep, powerful vocals cast a vast looming shadow over the brilliantly quasi-repetitive, churning maelstrom of guitars. Good enough for me to buy it. Top tier stuff.

Gevlerkt - Het boze oog

Great filthy BM from the Netherlands!

Fimbultyr - "Gudars Vedergällning" from Gryende Tidevarv

Can't get enough folky black metal lately. This is one that I took way to long to find myself a physical copy of.

Emperor- Funeral Fog

Stellar, atmospheric cover. Plus Atilla's (guest?) vocals really put the cherry on top.

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

Everyone that worked on the album apart from the audio engineer is dead.

Man, who thought a Motörhead album could be depressing?

Motörhead - Bomber

I'm currently listening to a rare or alternate version of Stone Dead Forever with Fast Eddie Clarke on vocals, pretty good.

Entrails - World Inferno (2017)

Swedeath that emulates the prototypical 'Sunlight buzz' of yesteryear. A fun trip down the Left Hand Path again

Protector - Golem

This might just be my ears, by it's funny how basically every German thrash band has something really odd in the way they write riffs. Anyway, this is a pretty damn brutal album, and for the most part, decently memorable.

Cattle Decapitation - Gristle Licker

Not the best track on Monolith of Inhumanity but definitely kicks ass.

Kalmankantaja - Musta mieli

Nice and moody when heavy cold wind rages outside.

Sexit - Modry amulet

These Slovak rockers can do no wrong.

Insomnium - Winter's Gate, pt. 4

This was recommended to me by Spotify. Have to say, I'm liking this so far.

Trees of Eternity- Black Ocean demo

This is incredible. Words don't even do it justice.

Have you heard Hallatar - No Stars Upon the Bridge? It's his writing in response to her death. Not as good obviously, but still good doom in a similar vein.

Feasting on Darkness - Souls of Chaos

Unlike the current dissonance craze in death metal, I love consonance in my music. And you can't get any more groovy, consonant chugging than Feasting on Darkness. Their last album, The Black Cloud, was a riff masterpiece. This one is even better. It's a little more complex, which makes the riffs stand out even more. Avoid if you're a chug or groovy death metal hater.

This is so good it's going to be hard to beat for my album of the year already.

listening to Dream Death someone here recomended. sounds good similar to Righteous Pigs but slower and tamer....good stuff

Voivod - "Tornado"

I picked up the 3 disc re-issues of Rrröööaaarrr, Killing Technology and Dimension Hatröss for cheap as chips today. I'd heard Voivod in bits and pieces here and there over the years (I even saw them live as headliners at a festival in 2015 and loved them), but figured it was time I finally time I really gave them a shot.

Holy shit it was well worth it! Proggy thrash with riffs out the ass coupled with an aesthetic and sound I can't get enough of. Will be spinning these a lot for sure.

Coffins - "Purgatorial Madness"

This track stomps on you with its heavy riffs and pummeling beats and there's no letting up until the last second.

Deicide - "To Be Dead"

A short but sweet little ditty from Deicide's 3rd album.

Samsara Blues Experiment - Flipside Apocalypse

First rate!

Grave - "Tremendous Pain"

Classic Swedish sickness!

Cradle Of Filth- Summer Dying Fast

The Principle version. I've been on a big Cradle kick lately.

Fates Warning - The Light and Shade of Things

I've had a very hard time getting into non-Arch Fates Warning, but I'm really enjoying this song. Ray Alder is a fantastic vocalist in his own right.

Misery Index - "Dead Shall Rise"

An excellent cover of the Terrorizer cover. Misery Index has grown to be one of my favorite bands these past few years.