iTunes Roulette, part I.

In an idea loosely based on The Living Doorway's iPod roulette but with different consequences, I'm going to post a few things (I'm loathe to say 'series' because of the failure of my past series) in which I make an 8tracks playlist of the first few things which come up on my iTunes on shuffle. It will help me to rediscover or discover music, and you to find oddities I might not have otherwise posted. Note that this is likely to be mostly metal as my metal collection is much larger than any other, due to better online resources and the fact that I've been into it for longer than other genres. Here goes:

1) Dimmu Borgir - The Sinister Awakening (off In Sorte Diaboli, 2007)

Well, this is a bad start. I'm sure I liked this back in the seemingly primitive climes of 2007 but it's just a little too clean for me now.

2) System Of A Down - Vicinity Of Obscenity (off Hypnotize, 2005)

Another gateway band. Well known, everyone has an opinion. Next!

3) Charles Bronson - Obligatory Jock Slaughter Song (off Complete Discocrappy, 2000)

This is more like it. Charles Bronson is a good band to check out for those just getting into powerviolence. Fast and angry.

4) Fist - One Percenter (1%) (off Turn The Hell On, 1980)

Actually, Xylem posted this album a while back. I haven't got around to giving it a proper listen yet but this seems like reasonable NWOBHM.

5) Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Untitled (off Doom Mantra, 2009)

Drone, noisy, apparently hipster but I don't give a fuck, BSBC rule.

6) Drug Problem - Your Dad's Cumming (off Drug Problem, 2007)

I'm sure none of us want that image, but this is the last track off a decent underground powerviolence record. Never bothered to find out much about them though.

7) Proclamation - Tyrants Of Desolation (off Messiah Of Darkness And Impurity, 2008)

Decent, but not top-end, bestial black metal that's fairly well known by those into the scene.

8) The Ruins Of Beverast - The Restless Mills (off Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite, 2009)

Personally I think the Ruins are a little bit overrated but Foulest... is a good album of unorthodox black metal nonetheless.

9) Cradle Of Filth - Dusk And Her Embrace (off Dusk... And Her Embrace, 1996)

I'll warn you in advance of any further weeks that I have mp3s of all the Cradle releases; the later ones more out of morbid curiosity admittedly. This album is their best and is quite stunning.

10) Root - Casilda's Song (off The Temple In The Underworld, 1992)

Everyone who knows black metal knows that the former Czechoslovakia produced some of the best in the style, and this Root album is one of the best Czech albums.

11) Noothgrush - Stasis (off Erode The Person, 2006)

Criminally underrated sludge that really should be seen on the same tier as the likes of Grief and Eyehategod.

12) Deicide - Mephistopheles (off Deicide, 1990)

Nothing much needs to be said about Deicide's debut - it's rightly seen as a death metal classic.

13) Anaal Nathrakh - Atavism (off When Fire Rains Down From The Sky, Mankind Shall Reap As It Has Sown, 2003)

Coming pre-Domine Non Es Dignus, this is fairly raw for Anaal Nathrakh, but everything they've released is great in my opinion.

14) Death In June - Hail The White Grain (off Brown Book, 2000)

These neofolk legends simply don't have any bad material.

15) Attitude Adjustment - No Way Back (off No Way Back, 2011)

This album was surprisingly strong for a reunion album and easily matches up to more recent material of their peers.

Listen here

Government Alpha & Brianvdp - The Oranda Nippon Conspiracy [2012]

Released on J. Randall (of Agoraphobic Nosebleed fame)'s already legendary Grindcore Karaoke label, this collaborative work between Japanese harsh noise maestro Yasutoshi Mashida and Dutch graphic designer Brianvdp is a well-structured work of nicely textured noise. It's also comparatively accessible compared to much other noise and indeed most of Government Alpha's body of work, mainly because it is restricted to 42 minutes in length and thus doesn't quite have the same monolithic feel to it as even slightly longer works like Spontaneous Combustion (which clocks in at just eight minutes longer), but also because it is a little more varied in its approach than much noise, and therefore is borderline memorable in parts. Still completely amelodic, chances are if you come to this blog for metal you wouldn't enjoy this. Keep an open mind.

320 kbps (FLAC available from the bandcamp)

Bandcamp
Mediafire
Zippyshare
Glumbouploads
iFolder

Re-upload: Assück - Misery Index [1996]

Assück's second and final album is a classic of grindcore - this blends in some death metal influence as well, like Napalm Death did on 'Harmony Corruption'. It also gave Misery Index their name (obviously!).

Re-upload notes: I really cannot recommend this highly enough to anyone remotely interested in the grindcore genre. Although Napalm Death will always be my favourite band of the style and indeed in general, Assück are undeniably legends for good reason.

128 kbps

Mediafire
Zippyshare
Glumbouploads (new host with good speeds)
Depositfiles
iFolder

We Sleep In This Machine - EP [2012]

We Sleep In This Machine is a local band - the guitarist is a friend of mine, but I try not to be biased - who play a fairly standard brand of melodic post-hardcore (if any of the metalheads who follow the blog think that means Enter Shikari then no, you're some distance off). But hey, originality went with the turn of the millenium anyway. What is important is their strong songwriting and cathartic feeling, which is present in every song on this 7-track EP. I believe the track titles refer to the month in which the track was written - which, despite being somewhat original, is not a method by which I feel tracks ought to be named. Recommended for fans of The Carrier, Life Long Tragedy and to a lesser extent Modern Life Is War. Available as a sliding-scale download from their bandcamp.

Bandcamp

Anti-Cimex - Anarkist Attack EP [1982]

Anti Cimex are, quite simply, legendary. They are THE band of Swedish crust punk, and considering the strength of the Swedish crust scene over the years, with the likes of Shitlickers, Driller Killer and Bombanfall, that is saying quite a lot! This is their first EP to my knowledge - although information on them is not too clear - and although the crust element here isn't too developed, largely due to the date of release, it remains a very solid piece of hardcore punk - some records are worshipped more for their legacy than their actual quality (cough cough Master Of Puppets cough cough), but this is the real deal. The brevity of the EP only adds to the sheer ferocity of it - each of the four tracks on offer here has something uniquely Swedish, nay, uniquely Anti-Cimexian about it, and yet manages to still fit squarely within the hardcore punk genre. Classic.

128 kbps

Mediafire
Zippyshare
Glumbouploads (new hoster which seems decent - only downside is lack of parallel downloads)
Depositfiles
iFolder

Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 1-4 OST (1999-2004)

The first few games of the Silent Hill series are considered some of the best horror games around, and the soundtracks are considered some of the best in gaming, period. To match the hellish world of the games, sound designer for the first seven Silent Hill games Akira Yamaoka created a mostly ambient industrial soundtrack, broken up with some extremely emotional rock songs. These four official soundtracks (for Silent Hill 1 through 4) focus mainly on the more melodic side of the games' music, which can usually be found in cutscenes and the like.

However, Silent Hill mega-fan Fungo has created complete soundtracks for the first three games which focus more on the in-game tracks, and as such are much more ambient (and in the case of Silent Hill 3, much better than the official soundtrack). I've uploaded the first four official soundtracks here, but I haven't uploaded the complete soundtracks as you can download them for free from Fungo's website: Silent Hill Media (because he's put a ton of work into them and you should totally check it out).

Silent Hill 1 OST:

42 tracks, 1:06:49, 68.34 MB

Mediafire (Mp3, 128 kbps)

Silent Hill 2 OST:

30 tracks, 1:13:05, 106.02 MB

Mediafire (Mp3, 192 kbps)

Silent Hill 3 OST:

26 tracks, 1:16:19, 75.21 MB

Mediafire (Mp3, 128 kbps)

Silent Hill 4 OST:

20 tracks, 1:13:40, 137.16 MB

Mediafire (Mp3, 320 kbps)

Re-upload: Syphilitic Vaginas - Complete Studio Collection [2008]

All the craziest music seems to come from Japan, and this is no exception. Steaming black/thrash with some eccentric moments, in the vein of Abigail or the Japanese Sabbat, this is not one to miss; and they get extra marks for their name!

Re-upload notes: The reason why uploads are coming fairly slowly at the moment is that I think my laptop's still slightly fucked and I'm in the middle of exam season.

128 kbps

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Depositfiles
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