Satyricon - Nemesis Divina (album)

Passion and immortality are sovereign.

Nile - Hittite Dung Incantation

The riffage dear lord the riffage. Sanders is a fucking maniac, he writes the craziest shit musically. How he combines emotional melodic leads, heavy heavy brutal grooves and all these small catchy technical riffs that fly all over the place in one song, so masterfully, is just nothing short of incredible. It's insane to think he's 55 and still pumping out this shit. I absolutely need to see them live once before he calls it a day. Hopefully he's got another few years left with Nile in him.

Carach Angren - La Malediction de la Dame Blanche

Awesome finish to an awesome album "Lammendam."

Bilskirnir - As This World Ends

For some reason, this song has a Swallow The Sun feeling to it...
Good stuff.

Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun

One of my favorite 90s bm records. Frigid, dark and epic. Love the melodies used here. "Blood shall be spilled!".

King Diamond - The Invisible Guests

Just great, amazing and fucking good.
KD KD KD

Firewalker - s/t (2017)
https://firewalkerhc.bandcamp.com/album/firewalker

I love the female-led punk/HC stuff that is coming out lately like Krimewatch, I.C.E., Leather Daddy, etc. Firewalker sticks out amongst the rest to me because of the growly DM vocal style. Very gritty production and the tunes are really catchy.

Witchrist - Haruspex

Love the subtle melody on this one. Still massive sounding though.

The Gathering - Shrink

I actually think I prefer "Nighttime Birds" over "Mandylion", when it comes to their metal era. It's a bit less heavy, sure, but I just love the atmosphere it's got.

Blind Guardian - Imaginations Through the Looking Glass (DVD)

Pretty kick ass set. Probably the best time to make a DVD, though one album earlier would have been my pick.

Battle Beast- Far From Heaven

The vocal melodies perfectly scratch the itch, it's just a shame the album kinda fell apart before here.

My Dying Bride - Two Winters Only

possibly the saddest music they ever wrote

Sleep - Marijuanaut's Theme

Latest album is great!
They already have a new Ep out, need to get that.

Yngwie Malmsteen - Fire and Ice

Haven't cried in six years or so - since my uncle died -, but this song is so fucking good...

Manilla Road - The Blessed Curse

This is a lot better than most of what they did since Voyager. Sounds super energized and like their 80s stuff in a lot of places. Plus the second disc is fucking amazing.

Primal Fear - Hounds of Justice

First listen of the new Primal Fear album and this absolutely rules so far. The two singles (Hounds of Justice and King of Madness) both took a lot of getting used to with the choruses being so weird, but the rest of the album has been great the first time around. Looking forward to the 8-minute epic coming up shortly!

Enjoy!








I do agree.

(1995) The Gathering - Mandylion.

.

Alda - In the Wake of an Iron Wind

Beautiful stuff...!

Therion - Secret of the Runes

One of my favourite bands and this album proves why: the heaviness in the rhythm section, the wonderful blend of opera vocals and crunching guitars, the melodies portraying the Nine Realms perfectly. The two bonus tracks are great in their own right as well: not part of the whole lyrically but no dramatic change in style either.

My son gimme this for Father's Day:

Hara Kiri for the Sky
good stuff, a bit grungy, but wtf.

Koda Kumi - ETERNITY ~Love & Songs

For those familiar with j-pop, as you might know, Koda Kumi is known for her "sex appeal image" in her songs and videos, but this album is more about actual love songs and ballads, which her voice actually suits very well. So for those of you who don't like Koda Kumi's usual stuff, i recommend you to check out this album of her.

Icon - Under My Gun! A molten slab of 80's Speed Metal. Shame how Icon turned out.

"I pull the trigger, you begin to flash
Your body's gone, there's nothing but tracks, in sight
You're gonna get burned tonight"

Manilla Road - Sands of Time

Spiral Castle is like a fucking wave just washing over you. Some of the most spellbinding, otherworldly songcraft they did. Every song is like its own little world.

Stained fucking Class! Just because this album rules harder than most things in general!

Stained Class is ridiculously awesome.

Arsames - Persepolis

Not bad. It's always cool to hear metal from countries where it's very taboo or sometimes, as in Iran's case, downright illegal. I like the fact they can float between death, heavy and thrash with Eastern influences. But I feel they're lacking a certain "oomph". Still, an interesting listen with a lot of potential and huge props for keeping metal truly underground and alive in such hostile environments \m/

Immolation - Epiphany

Trying to get into this band a bit since I'm seeing them in a month. I have CtaWB but something about them just doesn't work for me. Was kind of meh when I saw them open for someone a year or so ago.

This song is OK.

Not sure if Koda Kumi's vocals work for ballads...she's got that Gwen Stefani style that's tough on my ears. I kinda like her few jazzy forays though, and "Butterfly" is quite the PV.

For mellower stuff, as far as 21st century J-divas are concerned, nothing beats Mika Nakashima for me, especially her numerous jazz numbers (I like her rockier stuff too). Her tone is so smooth and rich, plus she's technically gifted.

NP: Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods
I like the first song a lot. But the open E-chord abuse for the following song, and the next, and the next etc...
It gets on my nerves after awhile. I didn't care as much back in the day, but now I kind of need some variety in the chord progressions or I find it becomes an eventual chore.

Cradle of Filth - "Beneath the Howling Stars"

The standout track from 'Cruelty and the Beast'. This translated so well in the live setting when I saw CoF this past May.

Vintersorg - "A Dialogue With The Stars"

First time I heard Vintersorg I was struck how cheery and uplifting his music was. I was calling it a 'power metal-black metal' hybrid which is almost impossible to fathom.

Pantera - "Domination"

How I wish Pantera stuck with the musical direction they took on 'Cowboys From Hell' and didn't go the hardcore tough guy route. Phil was still pulling off his Halford-esque screams on this one.

Death Worship - 'Extermination Mass'

Members of Revenge/Blasphemy/Conqueror. Definitely my favorite offshoot of Blasphemy members. New album coming later this year with Erik from Watain handling art duties.

Black Death - Black Death

Bought this LP already some time ago, but it's been waiting for the right moment. Lethal riffs and over the top singer. Fucking crazy shit.

Ground Zero System - Unordnung

Some really energetic Industrial Groove Metal right here. Pretty underrated band!

One of the best dirty and heavy USPM/heavy metal records ever. The opening track is a BURNER!

Warfare - Pure Filth

Top-notch metal-punk/NWOBHM/speed metal!

Yes, Black Death rips, it seems! Some calmer/melodic songs too, which are equally great.

Yeah - that Black Death album is a great mix of calmer/melodic songs and absolute heavy burners/riff monsters.

Cannibal Corpse - Rancid Amputation

When that grooving riff kicks in at :23 its like a desire to smash an elbow into someones face takes over. I shouldn't listen to this at work...

I know it seems hard to believe at first, considering how her songs usually are, but trust me, she can pull off ballads well. Check out the Eternity Love & Songs album of her. Although I believe they're covers.

One of her most famous ballads is "Brave" from her well-known JAPONESQUE album.

Ah Mika Nakashima is good, yes. Do you like Hitomi? I think she's good as well.

But the best j-pop songs I've found so far have been from the 80s. Fortunately vaporwave artists have helped make some of those women more well known.

For those of you interested in 80s jpop check out the likes of Junko Ohashi, Wada Kanako, Meiko Nakahara(VERY UNDERRATED) and Shiizuka Kudo(she still sings).

Manilla Road - Forbidden Zone

Still on a huge Manilla kick after the passing of the almighty Shark. R.I.P. man, your music has inspired me for years! This is probably the best track from The Circus Maximus album with some awesome changes and great lead playing. What happened to the bassist Andrew Coss anyways? MA doesn't list him as doing anything else but his bass playing is full out virtuoso level on this album, this particular track has a great bass solo sandwiched in there too. It'd be weird if he didn't do anything in another genre given the noticeably different approach of the songs he wrote/sang on this album.