I thought I'd start a new series on this 'ere blog. The idea will be to start a series of posts with no downloads, but including my initial thoughts on albums which I have heard for the very first (and possibly second and third times) in the preceding seven days. Let me know what you think of the idea.
Disease Process - Disease Process demo [2011]
This is good, solid grind. It's far from original, and the production is a bit lacking - but hey, it's a demo. It's also legally available on t'interwebs, but I forget where. Worth a listen or two, but don't worry if you never hear it, either. [7/10]
Enemy Soil - Ruin Of Eden [1997]
Despite these two coming up next to each other, I don't spend all my time listening to grindcore, honest! Ruin Of Eden is a classic of its genre, and to be honest, it's a little bit embarrassing that I've gone this far without listening to it before. That is something I shall be rectifying soon... with vigour! Ahem. Certainly a fantastic release. Recommended to anyone who likes their music fast, loud and simple. [9/10]
Gnaw Their Tongues - Dimlit Hate Cellar EP [2010]
This is one of GTT's less noisy, and thus more accessible releases, especially considering it's split into four tracks, each at around the five minute length. To be honest though, it's not particularly impressive, considering quite the amount of venom and hatred one can hear in their other releases, compared to which this is somewhat lacking. [5/10]
Gris - Il Était Une Forêt... [2007]
Although the DSBM subgenre may have got started back around the turn of the millenium, many of its most influential releases are more recent, this being one of them. I'm not the greatest fan of the genre, but I can recognize a quality album within it, and this is one of them. It's perhaps a little long, but that may just be me tiring of the style. [8/10]
Hades Archer - For The Diabolical Ages [2011]
I know that my fellow author HeySharpshooter is a great fan of this album, and I can see why - it's a great mixture of black and death metal, and it's done well. I don't treat it with quite the adulation that he does, but I can see it's an album which is well above average. Worth getting. [7/10]
Loudblast - Sensorial Treatment [1989]
Being pre-90s death metal, it could be guessed that for this to be a good album, it would probably be laden with hooks. And it is; although it's not quite on the same level as the Floridian scene of around the same time, the French have always hit well and hard within the metal spectrum, and this is no exception. [7/10]
Monks Of The Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery - Ritual Music Of Tibetan Buddhism And Tantric Hymns [1991]
This style of music is almost new to me - although I've enjoyed most of the ritual ambient I've heard, pure ritual music is something I have never in the past paid attention to. To be honest, I'm not going to much - I downloaded it on a whim after someone on a blog I follow (which one, I haven't a clue) compared it to drone. It's like bad drone, in that it bores me. [3/10]
Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls [1987]
I won't pretend that I went into this one without preconceptions; to do so would be to lie to myself and you. Considering I've been avoiding listening to them for years, this was very unsurprising to me - it's a piss-poor album, no two ways about it. But then, that could be applied to most of glam, and on the flipside this does end up on the better end of that genre. [2/10]
Nekrofilth - Worship Destruction [2011]
After being impressed by them on this year's split with Nunslaughter (whose half was weak in comparison), I sought out this, their full-length, if you can call it that at around the 20 minute mark. It is what it is; solid thrashy death metal, which is full of hooks (in other words, done right for the genre). Certainly punching above their weight; good things should come to them. [9/10]
Nightbringer - Hierophany Of The Open Grave [2011]
Up until now, Nightbringer have seemed to be treading water with their raging Deathspell-isms - even on their previous best, 2010's Apocalypse Sun, they seemed to essentially create a mixture of Deathspell's Kenose and Fas.... On this, however, they've truly developed their own style - although their dissonant approach to black metal is still highly reminiscent of the French axis, they now play in such a way that it would be difficult to truly draw parallels with any of the major players in that scene. [9/10]
Opeth - Heritage [2011]
Weak 70s style prog. Want to hear more? See my review. [2/10]
Skeletal Earth - Eulogy For A Dying Fetus [1991]
This is about as subtle as its title would suggest. Thrashy death in the Ripping Corpse style, except it doesn't quite have the charm of that (divisive) band. Short song lengths help the album, but it would here suggest that the band were worried about keeping the listener's attention for longer. [5/10]
Supreme NTM - J'appuie Sur La Gachette [1993]
French rap. Heh. This is the group who became infamous with the release of the song 'Fuck Tha Police' for the film La Haine, but honestly, I prefer this - it has less of a dependence on that most unlistenable of techniques, 'scratching'. Catchy, and although my French is nowhere near good enough to keep up with most of this, the 'gangsta' style lyrical themes should be made obvious by the song titles. [7/10]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out [1959]
When it comes to jazz, swing isn't exactly my favourite style, but this album is done so well, the pieces contained therein having such warmth to them, that I couldn't dislike it. Far from the usual extreme music posted and discussed on this blog, but very good nonetheless. [8/10]
Throbbing Gristle - D.O.A.: The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle [1978]
Although it took me ages to get around to listening to this, I now see why noise fans speak of it, and other 'old-school industrial', in such revered tones. At times, this is essentially Merzbow, although for most of it, it's somewhat more accessible, with recognizable vocal lines (of course, this is 1978, for fuck's sake!). I've got some catching up to do with this one. [8/10]
Warfare - Metal Anarchy [1985]
Very much similar to Motorhead in their approach to punked up NWOBHM, this is perhaps more to the d-beat end of the spectrum - indeed, they use that in most songs. Coupled with immensely catchy riffs and choruses to last a lifetime, I think I prefer this to Motorhead's classics. [10/10]
Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage [2011]
WITTR are often unfortunately lumped in with the 'hipster BM' lot. To be honest, I quite like a lot of this 'hipster black metal', and this, WITTR's final album, is exemplary both of the style, and of their work up to this point - and unfortunately they have deemed this their final release. A great mixture of the more -gazey elements of Two Hunters and the raw aggression of Diadem Of Twelve Stars. [9/10]
I really like this idea.
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