Heaven forbid I stray from the CITA norm for too long - this is one of the few technical death metal albums I really like, possibly due to the fact that it's more than simply shredding upon shredding upon other forms of fretboard wankery.
I didn't mention in my last post, aside from in the labels, that Mozart (the child prodigy, not his less successful father or sister) was a major player (obviously) in the classical era of what is now known as classical music (before that, it was essentially just 'music' in the western world).
Despite enjoying classical music a fair bit, I'm not at all knowledgeable about it. I have lost the name of the performer, and indeed date of performance, for this one, but it's a flawless rendition as far as I can tell.
Wold are often underappreciated, and this is a good album - though I haven't listened to it in a while, I recall it being a mix of black metal, noise and ritual ambient. Their black metal element has slowly dimished over the years, and this is therefore not advised for fans of recent Immortal.
Opeth are a band who certainly know how to divide a fanbase. There are people such as myself, who listen to it because they like the progressive nature. Then there are people such as Joe, who listen to it because they enjoy the death metal nature. I for one love the band, and here's my favourite album of theirs.
N.B. This is a guest post from HeySharpshooter.
This is not just an extreme music blog, and Radiohead are a band who I take great pleasure in listening to. This is a collection of great songs, and is not to be dismissed, despite the lower quality of their later material.
Jeff Beck is perhaps the least-known of the famous three Yardbirds guitarists (not without reason; the other two are Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton), but in my opinion the music he made after leaving that band blows Page and Clapton out of the water.
Much like the previously posted 'Sad Wings Of Destiny', this is an album that there isn't really anything new to say about. This essentially started the industrial metal genre (I'm aware that there existed pure industrial before), and has stood the test of time well.
N.B. This is a guest post from HeySharpshooter.
Summoning are a band who are one of a kind. Their mixture of folk and black metal has been aped by many, but none have reached the lofty heights of any of their back catalogue. Also incorporating some electronic elements at times, Summoning are a band not to miss.
When you see an album with the Middlesborough bruisers' moniker on it, you know it's going to be a headfuck. And it truly is - although TAoP have perhaps moved a little closer stylistically to their French contemporaries, it's an individual, fantastic album nonetheless.
N.B. This is a guest post from HeySharpshooter.
N.B. This is the first of a series of guest posts from HeySharpshooter.
King Crimson are no strangers to variation and experimentation, and although this (the last album of their "classic" period) had a similar sound to their previous album ("Starless and Bible Black"), it would prove to be a very different listening experience, containing layered guitar overdubs, and only one live recording.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Swans are legendary, simply put. They are one of the few bands with a discography the size of theirs to have never released a dud, this one from last year included. Although this lets up on the crushing emotion in some ways, it adds more in others, ensuring the continuation of Swans' wonderful record.
Having gotten that little diatribe out of the way, it's nice to return to some music. Terror Of Dynamite Attack are an Indonesian grindcore band who combine raw aggression with some hilarious, endearing Engrish ('Movie And Cinema All Shit', 'Fight For Woman Rights').
I'm not really in the mood for posting today, but I'll post this gem just to keep the blog ticking over. This is black metal from a band who used to play thrash, but it's got very little of that left in it. Odd vocals merely add to the album's mystique.
The final part of Court In The Act's Thrash Series (for now), this is based on newer albums (not necessarily bands) which have particularly impressed, although the only qualifier was to be released post-2000 (and, obviously, to play thrash).
Although Luciferion missed the heyday of death metal by a couple of years, this album of theirs is right up there with the masters. Taking elements from Swedeath and thrash (this album contains a cover of Sodom's 'Blasphemer'), they do their job excellently.
This is part 4 of Court In The Act's thrash series, and it's focused on highlighting some of the quality within the lesser-known areas of thrash metal. It ranges in style, from that which is barely aggressive enough to be thrash (Manilla Road), to the brutal (Ripping Corpse, Sextrash).
This is a little known EP, and it's quite good, although it wouldn't quite fit into my 'quality' band. Although the horror film cliche artwork suggests that this will be heavily gothic, the goth elements tend to take a backstage role to a pervading punk sensibility, if I remember correctly (on this EP at least).
Disfear are yet another excellent Swedish hardcore band - their own style is a mixture of crust and d-beat (and it certainly owes a lot to the gods Discharge). Probably in the middle of the spectrum in terms of hardcore aggression (i.e. somewhere between the Dead Kennedys and Napalm Death).
Part 3 of Court In The Act's thrash series, this is predominantly those who got to the scene too late to truly influence extreme metal (predominantly, there's some spillover from 'Precursors...', but played extreme forms of thrash nonetheless.
Having just posted a song of theirs as part of the thrash series, I figured I'd post this album. It's truly great, one of the lost gems of thrash metal, although it's more on the chromatic side and will not necessarily appease those for whom 'thrash' means ...And Justice For All.
This is the second part of the thrash compilation series, and it largely focuses on thrash bands who were either influential on or in extreme metal scenes. The reason for Slayer's lack of inclusion is that they were in 'Legends Of Thrash'.
Despite my horrific attempt at artwork, I will be uploading a series of compilations based on thrash metal over the next few days. These are aimed to both introduce people to the genre, and to give veterans a chance of finding something new (although this probably isn't going to reveal anything for longtime thrash fans).
Lawnmower Deth, like Metal Duck, never expected to be taken seriously. A true comedy band, the only difference between them and many others of that ilk is that their music had some quality to it (although it was never exceptional). Listen to this, and enter to the church of the apocalyptic lawnmower.
The reason why this is tagged with 'legal' is that the copyright of a sound recording expires 50 years after initial publication, so the copyright for this expired in 2008.
N.B. This is the first submission we have received - to see a similar treatment for your own music, look to the right.Médiocre Fin is a French project which creates an interesting mixture of drone and noise – the drone part being the repetition, and the noise part being the way in which musical ideas are expressed. This, to my knowledge, is one of only two demos released thus far, but its quality has certainly piqued my interest, and I shall be hugely interested in future releases (if I've understood correctly, they have a concept album based around a magical village called Thiers coming).
Despite this, I must admit I was a little apprehensive upon learning that this demo consisted of one 23-minute track – when done poorly, long drone pieces can be frankly nauseating, and not in a good way. Thankfully, this was not the case. Although the main motif around which the piece is based is, by definition, monotonous, it is created in such a way that it has a hypnotic quality to it rather than one which is boredom-inducing, much like the way that the repetition of riffs in Burzum’s music is endearing, rather than annoying.
Throughout the duration, said motif changes subtly from time to time, and although it is still obvious as the track approaches its midway mark to hear that it is the same piece – mainly due to the general styles employed – this motif has changed substantially, although the piece culminates with a full circle to something very similar to the original motif (which happens to sound surprisingly like modern iterations of Doctor Who’s tardis). These changes give a progressive feeling to the piece – not, however, progressive like the pretentious frolics of Genesis and their ilk.
Swirling around this, creating a veritable maelstrom of… well, noise, are simplistic bass frequencies and the odd bit of feedback – the only real melody to be found in the piece is a subtle one found within these bass frequencies. This melody is slow moving, and at times difficult to pick out, certainly without concentration, but its chromatic approach is similar to the way that Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, has approached digital noise in the past, although, being done in a drone style, is far less percussive than the ways of the Japanese genius. This is not to the detriment of the music; it is merely different, and variation is everything within the noise genre which has become so saturated with the proliferation of the internet.
Indeed, the only percussive element to be found in the piece comes from the motif, which easily blends into either the background or the foreground over time like the ticking of a clock, as the bass takes on a ‘wall of sound’ attribute, and is omnipresent without ever being overly relentless – the oppressive, claustrophobic nature that already exists in the demo might overwhelm the listener if the bass were to become any more pronounced.
The demo is not without its flaws – it would be a spectacular achievement if it were – for one, the whole thing is far too quietly produced; although this might be easily fixed by fiddling with a few dials, it would be far more pleasing if the thing were roughly at the volume of a normal recording. That said, it is best heard, I have found, at a moderate level, to allow the expansive soundscapes to wash over you.
Speaking of the soundscapes, however, the almost euphoric, dreamlike existence which can be afforded to the listener at times during the piece is frequently broken by transitions which are all too awkwardly done – there is actually a break in the sound at around 13:30, which certainly serves as an unwanted wakeup call. Although this breaks the monotony, to me, the point of listening to drone is to allow the music to carry you through dreams and pictures painted by the dynamics (however gruesome those pictures may be), and the hoppy movement between sections, particularly across larger changes in the motif, is akin to being woken up from a pleasant dream with a bucket of cold water and a slap across the face.
Thankfully, these two are the only major problems, and together do not detract too much from the overall quality of the piece. If you would like to be transported to another world for 23 minutes (including the starting silence to crescendo and ending diminuendo, back to silence – a nice roundabout touch), then you can certainly do far worse than this. A well-constructed effort, and I look forward to listening to their second demo, somewhat predictably titled Acte Second.
Download here (Mediafire).
Check out their official blogspot here (written in French).
I know that my fellow contributors JohnRCC and Demigod don't quite rate this album as highly as the rest of Dream Theater's discography, but to me, it's right up there with 'Images And Words'. A splendid proggy metal album that doesn't forget the need for songs.
This is the sort of brutal death metal that I am most likely to enjoy. It is not slamming, rather, it is rather technical, and very melodic for BDM. There are also *hooks* in the songs, and even some repeated motifs that could be called choruses. Nonetheless, it's a quality album, although it's far from my favourite.
This is the epitome of sludge. A bluesy, drunken rockout from New Orleans, this is not only an essential album to any aspiring drunken lout, but is also essential to fans of metal, particularly those who are also fond of gravelly voices and the blues.
Blue Cheer are somewhat unconventional, perhaps, for this blog, but they were instrumental in the development of metal; their proto-metal interpretation of 'Summertime Blues' herein was probably the heaviest thing around for its time, aside, of course, for the rest of this album.
I think the thing I like about Clutch is that they're a man's band, and acknowledge that in everything they do. Just listening to the hard, bluesy riffs of this album (full title: "Blast Tyrant's Atlas Of The Invisible World Including Illustrations of Strange Beasts and Phantoms") makes me feel like I could grow a humongous beard at any moment.
Did I mention I love Tool? Anyway. "10,000 Days" is the most recent album from them (even though it was released five years ago). This piece of work further continues Tool's trend of becoming more progressive, with the overall sound of this album showing influences from Maynard Keenan's side-project: A Perfect Circle.
I LOVE Tool. If you're even remotely in to prog metal, you'll have heard of "Lateralus", if not just for the frankly hilarious amount of conspiracies surrounding it. Get past all that though, and what you end up with it an amazingly constructed, surprisingly tight piece of progressive metal.
I love Tool. And "Ænima" is by far my favourite album of theirs. Much like its predecessor, this album provides solid heavy tracks combined with longer pieces (now showing clear evidence of progressive influences, mainly of King Crimson (another discography for another time)). Also interesting to note is the more 'industrial' sound of this album, from the screeching guitars on "Hooker With A Penis" to the metallic scraping on "Die Eier Von Satan".
