I thought Metal Church quit after they sold something like 65 copies of their last album in the first week.

*insert UltraBorisian hyperbolic raving here*

Take my money Kurdt!


If that "65 copies" thing is true then that's a disgrace because that album was excellent.

I was exaggerating a bit, so it seems. Wikipedia says it sold 920 copies in the first week but I think that number has gone up a bit since the band reported it when it was released.

I really like that album and think it was their best since the Mike Howe era.

Not sure if this band has been posted, but I really like them. Atmospheric bm
http://vukari.bandcamp.com/

Doro - Raise Your Fist
M-Pire Of Evil - Crucified




I've not bought much this year.


[Cockney Rejects - East End Babylon , not metal but a cracking good album.]

Carpe Noctem - In Terra Profugus

This is quite twisted Black Metal with tinges of dissonance and a lot of cavernous Doomy sections. They sound sort of like a cross between Deathspell Omega and Abyssal but with more Black Metal and less Death. The vocals are solid hollow growls which suits the music perfectly, the drums are thunderous, switching between blistering blasts and some slower stuff to prevent monotony. Its not the most riffy album but they switch between very aggressive tremolos and some calmer dissonance, so it never gets boring.
All in all its a brilliant album, five songs of top notch quality.

I really liked "Aetas Cineris" by Agrypnie (cascadian post-rock-ish black metal) and "Obsession Diabolique" by Ah Cama-Sotz (dark ambient/industrial/electro) so far

So, Vulture Industries' The Tower is running free. It's in the wild. It's... oh, you get the fucking point!

Has anyone else had the chance to listen to it already? To be perfectly honest, and without trying to influence anyone's expectations, the album sounds very much disappointing to me. I love the previous two albums but this one isn't touching the right spots to be honest. I think the best way to explain how I feel about it is to say that they pulled a "In Harmonia Universali" on me. The Tower is slow to mid-paced, plodding avant-prog with barely any black metal (or aggression for that matter). It reminds me a lot of Solefald's progression from their third to fourth album, in that they toned down to virtually zero in the heaviness department and went more into prog territory. The parallelism goes down to the absurd lack of variation and dynamics, be that it sounds very differently from their earliest efforts. It sounds similar all around, much like IHU, and the lack of snarls and shrieks in the vocal department aren't helping with that either.

Much like IHU I don't think the album is bad, it's actually pretty decent. The problem is that it's not at all what I wanted from them, or was expecting for that matter. It sounds good, well played and written, but it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth because I'm always expecting that they go "out there" and vary things up a bit. The emotional, almost epic, tone of the songs and Nielsen's voice is also partially lost, and is now part of a more "sterile" sounding concept. The vocal effects employed also aren't helping.

Meh... Anyone out there has heard this already and wants to pitch in?

For me this year (so far) has been great, there's a bast number of albums that I fell in love with:


Dragonauta-Omega Pentagram

Kvelertak-Meir

Magic Circle-Magic Circle

Enforcer-Death by Fire

Carcass-Surgical Steel

Darkthrone-The Underground Resistance

Tribulation- The Formulas of Death (my album of the year!)

Dead Lord-Goodbye Repentance

Cult of Luna-Vertikal

Portal-Vexovoid

Rotting Christ-Kata Ton Aaimona Eaytoy


And of course...Ghost

Meh, I was figuring as much based on what I heard. I LOVED Malefactor's Bloody Register, particularly the uber-catchy swing melodies and Nilsen's insane vocals. And as a huge Solefald fan I also agree with your assessment, especially because IHU did indeed grow on me after all. But the reason it grew on me is that the songs there still kept you hooked for the duration - So far all I've heard off The Tower just sort of plods along, save the title track, which I do rather like.

It seems to me they were really trying to take a "musical theater" approach on this album, but it just didn't work. Shame, because Malefactor's is one of my all-time favorite albums and I had been meaning to sing its praises here more often.

Oh hell yeah!

So far this year Exhumed is at the #1 for sure. Enjoying Dark Tranquillity, Gorguts, Vasaeleth, Wormed. I have a curiosity with the new Watain.

That song is terrible. Damn, what is it with people finding childish Asian voices as anything other than nauseatingly grating. Stupid music.

It's not the worst example of it, but yeah I know what you mean.

I listened to Necrowretch's Putrid Death Sorcery on Youtube last night, that was a pretty good listen! Despite my enjoyment of it, it somehow felt like it was a lot longer than 35 minutes... Not sure why or how.

That was... odd. Probably the most bizarre thing I've heard this year. Interesting approach, but the songs aren't that engaging. Good start and decent finisher though.

i liked their previous albom more... tho' the whole idea kinda gets old fairly fast

The vocals on that album...

LG confirmed for being a joyless gaunt.

Really though, it's a really specific niche you need to be into in order to eat shit like that up like I do, but if you like it, Japan is pretty much a neverending production line of cute, uppity pop metal.

That was actually pretty decent as far as music and catchiness goes, but yeah the vocals were a bit annoying. And like Gargoyle, it's just too hyperactive for me. I need a bit of a slower pace and more room for the music to breathe. I can see the appeal though.

"Venus" isn't really a representative Light Bringer song - its more or less a fun song to close the album off with. Hyperion or Resistance are probably better representations of their sound.

Yeah, I was expecting for them to put much more effort into The Tower. I also agree with your assessment, it would almost seem as if they went for some kind of modernized cabaret concept, but it just doesn't have the dynamics necessary to keep your attention.

I had high hopes for them because Nielsen has an amazing voice, they have a couple of great albums and their live show is pretty much superb. But as things are... big disappointment.

About halfway through this one, and I must say I'm really digging this.

Killer album.

new grave upheaval is streaming in its entirety here: http://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcam ... m/no-title

sounds just as i had anticipated; dark, cavernous and unbelievably crushing

I'm glad I find that new Grave Upheaval as good as I hoped it would be. The packaging for the die-hard version of the DLP is beautiful as well, NWN and the band did a great job with everything on this. Best way to jam that record is with big earmuff headphones that have good bass response. I have a new pair coming in the mail soon, definitely going to jam this album again and have it give me brain damage.

Broken Hope 'Omen of disease' is a solid brutal death effort, the classic way

Going to bring up Warlord's The Holy Empire album. Even though the sole review states that this album cannot be compared to anything else out there it sounds to me like Cage's Hell Destroyer (only album I have heard by cage) and Virgin Steele's The House of Atreus Act II (Only album I am familiar with by them) though there is so much variety between the compositions it is difficult to pin it down and has its own identity. Night of the Fury even has some Running Wild styled riffing. This is an excellent album of epic metal and the songs do feel like a story is being told about the Roman Empire through their compositions though there are no short filler interludes or anything like that, just a great sense of variety. It is too early for me to get a full grasp on this album but I will keep listening to it.

Did they use a drum machine for this or something? The drums during the verses seriously make me nervous. Cool song anyway, though. Sounds quite accesible - something that rather makes me think of their first 2 albums.

New Profanatica rules:

WOW! What a call on this one man, I'm on my second listen and all I can say is this stuff is awesome. It's been quite a while since I've heard something so unique yet good!

Is the rest of the discography this good as well?

Didn't strike me as all that unique actually, they pretty much sound like jangly post rock with some black metal parts with an instrument which isn't a guitar but is more or less produced to sound like one. I feel like the concept and tools on hand should have made something FAR weirder sounding, or at least far less in line with what is already well known... Maybe I just had my mind run away with the idea too much before I heard it.

I was expecting them to be a lot weirder than what they actually are as well, though for what it is it really isn't bad... sort of? I really am undecided when it comes to this band - I tried to give Botanist a decent shot a while back but they never clicked. However, I found some of the songs I listened to had some really promising moments, so I'm wondering whether it's a case of this being a band that takes a while to grow on you, and whether it's worth revisiting the most recent album or not. Hmm.

On another note - I've been listening to the newest Queensrÿche album (the one without Tate) lately, and I'm genuinely surprised at the quality of this. It isn't going to be my album of the year by any means, but for someone who isn't a huge fan of this style of metal in general, it's really a very decent album. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what this Queensrÿche does next, which I never thought I'd say.

Atlantean Kodex have laid down the album of the fuckin' year with The White Goddess, easy. It's a spiritual successor to Awaken the Guardian.

Totally unexpected, new Gigan sounds really good after first listen. New Mitochondrion is great, but man! it's so goddamn short!
And I wonder what the hell is with new Shroud of the Heretic album. They have released single quite long time ago, and since then no news...

It's a great album but I don't get the comparaison to AtG... It's a strong year and I have some difficulty choosing a top 10. The new Borrowed Time and Slough Feg are gonna be in it as well as I'm expecting great stuff from them

I guess that's my top 10 so far:
In Solitude - Sister
QOTSA -...like clockwork
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Alice in Chains - Dinosaurs
Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess
Kylesa - Ultraviolet
Magic Circle - self titled
Arsaidh - Roots
Nails - Abandon All Life
Black Oath - Ov Qliphoth and Darkness

It's not the only influence, and it's not even the main one as far as sound goes - it's very Solstice, Manilla Road, etc. But The White Goddess has this mysticism and atmosphere to it, plus the way the lyrics are delivered, that reminds me of ATG. "Heresiarch" and "Twelve Stars and an Azure Gown" are very John Arch-ish with their vocals and the way the songs unfold. Just the way it tells these stories and has such a thick atmosphere to it really reminds me of old Fates Warning.

New band called Solium Fatalis dropped their s/t last week. It pretty much came out of nowhere but it is fucking awesome. It's mainly Death metal in genre but the songs have a ton of variance. The riffs are superb, audible bass, awesome drumming, great vocals, and the varied song structures make sure you never know what to expect. Bonus for the album art which was created by Septicflesh frontman Spiros Antoniou.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1syV8nbgr7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hS99LhIE50

Akivehate - X-Synthesized (dark electro) very good album in a genre that has long been stagnant

As always, I'm slow as fuck getting on top of new releases, and I'm mostly checking out older stuff that I still have to catch up with as a young'un, so I can't really form a top 10 list yet. Also, I'm only putting albums on this list that I've heard in full - I'm sure there have been heaping fuckloads of albums that I heard one or two songs from and liked, but for all intents and purposes this list only counts albums that I can vouch for in full. That being said, here are my tentative top three (for metal, at least - Selena Gomez and Lorde would be polluting this list if I expanded it to all genres):

3. Craniotomy - Supply of Flesh Came Just in Time - the fourth album by a BDM band that somehow only seem to be grabbing attention with their latest album. Honestly, this sounds pretty refined, so I could believe that the band have been around for as long as they have. Their slams are fast, frantic, and punishing, and they mix in a fair bit of blasting to keep them interesting. Kind of crappy vocalist, but the guitar performance easily makes up for it in my mind.
2. Reptilian Death - The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence - a random tech-death band from India that I had never heard of, which ends up pretty high on my list basically by sounding a *lot* like A Million Dead Birds Laughing who I have an eternal boner for. Tech-death with a pinch of grind, and riffs that focus more on being quirky and abstract than outright mind-bendingly technical.
1. Coprocephalic - Gluttonous Chunks - I don't know why this works, but it just does. Super-clean, well-produced slammy BDM with tons of Suicide Silence-like deathcore breakdowns and slightly pretty, spacey leads, plus a vocalist who never shuts up ever (which is good). A huge sense of momentum, amazing songwriting and just a level of memorability that you can hardly ever find in slam nowadays. I can't recommend this highly enough.

This'll probably be my list by the end of the year until I get gifts for Christmas that'll force me to revise the list in retrospect. I've only heard one of the two songs on the new Epicardiectomy promo, but I've already ordered a copy so once I hear the other one I'm sure that'll place somewhere on this list. Shout-outs for runners-up/non-metal artists go to Pure Heroine and Stars Dance by the aforementioned Lorde and Selena Gomez respectively, Exodromos by Wormed, Abandon All Life by Nails, Grotesque Acts of Humanity by Extremely Rotten, Tattooed by a Blowtorch by Corpseflesh, and Stacked and Sodomized by Seminal Embalmment.

And a single moldy tomato for NY slam project Fugax for being one of the most hilariously incompetent death metal outfits ever.

What, no Mansion, even though you wanted to give it a perfect rating?