The Bakerton Group - El Rojo [2009]

First up, I'd like to say hello everyone! It sure has been a while. All the well-known file hosts seemed to lock down on music uploads at roughly the same time I went to university, so I kinda crapped out and stopped uploading stuff for a while. But fear not! I'm back and starting off with an album that came out three years ago.

"Who are The Bakerton Group?" I hear you ask. Well, they may be better known for some of their other albums, including Blast Tyrant, the bluesy From Beale Street to Oblivion and of course the dark and brooding Ghost Reveries.

Wait, what? Yep, that's right. The Bakerton Group is essentially the US stoner rock band Clutch, with the help of former Opeth keyboard player Per Wiberg on the ivories. This, their second full-length, is a psychedelic blues-influenced instrumental album. In terms of a description of the album, I've said about all there is to say in that there last sentence. What I can add though is that this album has a pretty damn cool feel to it. It just feels like a bunch of dudes jamming in the spare room of their house, with a bit tighter production. So kick back like the constellation on the cover and give it a listen.

10 tracks, 47:15, 68.55MiB

Zippyshare (Mp3, 195kbps)

Angel Witch - Two bootlegs [1981, 2009]

I'm back, fuckers! I thought that this would be a delightful way to return - you all know how much I love Angel Witch; in my eyes, they're the best of the NWOBHM bunch (yes, including Maiden). It brings me 'great pleasure', therefore, to present these two little rarities, which I believe were originally sourced from Lockjaw or Strappado, but I can't be sure. Anyway, this archive includes both the 1981 bootleg 'Live At Norbreck Castle, Blackpool', and the 2009 bootleg 'Burn The White Witch - Live In London'. There is artwork attached to the files so you won't have to go through the hassle of locating bootleg artwork (I know all too well the pain associated with that), and they're both reasonable quality, possibly both soundboard recordings - I know the former of the two certainly is.

Both 320 kbps

Zippyshare
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Depositfiles

No Mediafire due to the file being bigger than 200MB. But seriously, Zippyshare is much better anyway.

The Cumshots - A Life Less Necessary [2009]

Download this now for your own sake! This is music at its best. Rock combined with metal with gallons of emotion poured in. Catchy, interesting, complex, amazing. I can't stress how amazing this album is. Hailing from Norway you'd think with their comic name The Cumshots' music would be the same but this is not the case, it is full of profound music. If you like any rock or metal you have to listen to this, no excuse.

220+ kbps VBR

Re-upload notes: Uploaded due to request but I really do encourage everyone to download, and then buy, this brilliant rock album.


Mediafire

Cruciamentum - Convocation Of Crawling Chaos demo [2009]

DEATH FUCKING METAL. Okay, so this isn't the most obscure demo ever, but it's fucking good. In the vein of all the NYDM giants, but from the UK, Cruciamentum are destined for big things... I think - my last pick for the 'bigtime' are still in the unsigned arena. Man, if I had a record label...

Re-upload notes: The band have now taken quite a different direction on the follow-up EP to this (Engulfed In Desolation), being much more influenced by their countrymen Bolt Thrower - it's still an awesome EP though, and one that will some time be posted here.

320 kbps

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Code - Discography [2002-2011]

Since I heard their stunning second full-length, Resplendent Grotesque in 2009, Code has been one of my favourite bands. From that album's incredible mixture of decidedly progressive black metal with pop (yes, you read correctly) influence, without ever sounding cheesy, to their demo and debut and the decidedly more depressive approach there. Although part of that will always be due to ex-vocalist (since 2010) Kvohst's outstanding vocals, the musicality is such that it rivals the classics of the black metal genre and those of their other influences in terms of sheer quality. Every song is a stunner.

N.B. I've also included Seasonal Code's Aortian Dialectus here, which is a collection of demos released under the Seasonal Code moniker and a few unreleased tracks from the Resplendent Grotesque sessions.

If I haven't given you enough enticement to now go and get the lot, you are hopeless.

Neurotransmissions: Amplified Thought Chemistry demo [2002]
Nouveau Gloaming [2005]
Resplendent Grotesque [2009]
Seasonal Code - Aortian Dialectus [2011]

Marduk - Wormwood [2009]

Well, I for one am fairly excited to hear a new Marduk album later this year, and this, their most recent, is a strong reason why. Marduk have proven a lot since Panzer Division Marduk that they do more than just blast away - this has some top notch riffs on it. Although this is fairly orthodox (not meaning lyrically - although it might be, I haven't bothered finding out), it still departs from much black metal in its heightened melodic sensibility and a production that is fairly clean, and very much so for the genre. Fortunately, Marduk have avoided the overuse of dissonance that plagues so many modern black metal albums (Deathspell Omega may be just about the only band who can fully get away with it), and so this is, as it was in 2009, quite refreshing to listen to.

320 kbps

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Re-upload: Dragged Into Sunlight - Hatred For Mankind [2009]

I was delighted when this lot were announced for Damnation Festival - dirty, filthy, sludgy, doomy death metal with truly claustrophobic vocals. The apparence of a certain group on the cover may dissuade certain people, but I urge you not to let it.

Re-upload notes: Yep, they were fucking fantastic. This album is simply unmatched in its awesome brutality. Get it now.

320 kbps

Mediafire

Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave [2009]

I'M FUCKING SEEING NAPALM DEATH TOMORROW!!! Sorry, just had to get that out of the way. Napalm Death are my favourite band, and despite a really weak middle era (from Utopia Banished to Words From The Exit Wound), they have really picked things up since the turn of the century. This album is one of their best since that - perhaps bested only by Order Of The Leech in that group. I think it would be best - every song is great - but it's a little long at over 50 minutes, which is tiring in a grindcore album. Still, long live Napalm Death, and look forward to their new one coming early next year.

~225 kbps VBR

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Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know [2009]

I'm adding the tag of 'Black Sabbath' to this one, for one reason - this essentially is Black Sabbath. Evidently not wanting to get caught up in legal wrangling upon the reunion of the other classic Sabbath line-up, this doesn't quite stand up to the level of Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules, but as modern heavy metal goes, it does a damn fine job. It was also, I believe, Ronnie James Dio's last studio output before his untimely demise, and a damn fine performance it is too.

192 kbps

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Converge - Axe To Fall [2009]

This isn't Converge's best, far from it, but it's still pretty good. Whilst maintaining the usual chaos, they've added a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan-esque mathy bits here, which is a little unpalatable for me. It's recommended to fans of that style and fans of Converge, but those looking for an introduction would do much better to start with Jane Doe or No Heroes.

192 kbps

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Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings [2009]

About a month ago, if I'd found myself uploading Dream Theater's most recent album, I would have asked myself just what exactly I was doing. But since then I've had a chance to listen to it properly a few more times (thank you cheap Amazon CD deals), and I must admit, it's grown on me.

Comprising of just six tracks, four longer, two shorter (the word "shorter" being used in a different context here - I mean less than 10 minutes), "BC&SL" is one of Dream Theater's darker albums, dealing with subjects such as car crashes, scary cannibalistic Italian royalty, and of course - now a staple of the 2000s Dream Theater Album - alcoholism. However, "The Shattered Fortress" deserves special mention as it is the final part of the so-called "Twelve Step Suite", and it's also the best track on the album. Full of little references to previous twelve-step songs, it brilliantly ends the saga, as well as Mike Portnoy's time in the band. As for the other songs, "A Nightmare To Remember" starts brilliantly but drags on, "A Rite Of Passage" is decent, "Wither" is the token Dream Theater ballad, "The Best Of Times" is a wank but well-meaning tribute to Portnoy's dad, and "The Count Of Tuscany" could have done with being about 5 minutes shorter. Still though, it's a good album and you can really enjoy it if you let it grow on you like I did.

M4a, ~320 kbps VBR

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2009 Re-Visted: Ascended - Temple Of Dark Offerings EP [2009]

To be completely honest, I have always been a "late to the party" kind of guy. Within my group of friends, I am seen as some kind of music visionary, but in truth compared with a lot of people I am way behind the curve when it comes to discovering new bands and artists. There are multiple reasons for this: I am a tireless researcher, hate risk, and above all hate wasting time and energy. Your "first on the scene" type person will scour the internet, find som random band and go "huh, never heard of them. Oh well, I will buy/download/purchase a digital copy anyway." That's how they get on the ground floor of a musical movement: the very thought of doing something like makes me ill.

So to be totally honest, even if I wasn't learning to play the banjo and listening to Willie Nelson back in 2009, there is a very good chance I would have missed Temple of Dark Offerings, from the now sadly defunct Ascended. And even if I had not been debating Joni Mitchel vs. Joan Baez with my folk friends and father(answer: JOAN BAEZ) and was still fully invested in Extreme Metal, I would still have probably just discovered this brilliant, brutal and dark Death/Doom EP this year.

Regardless, this one is a must listen for any fans of the Old-School Death Metal revival that is in full swing right now. Temple of Dark Offerings is filthy, dark and heavy: each of the 4 songs are loaded with skull crushing riffs, nasty bass work and thundering drums. There are also some cool disEMBOWELMENT type parts throughout the record, and the vocals are a high-point: the expected guttural growls are found throughout the record, but there are some vocal parts that remind me of Exhumed, and the use of a high shriek is always welcome(and too rare in modern Death/Doom in my opinion).

They say "better late than never." And after checking this EP out, I could not agree more. Hopefully the members of this band find a way to make music again, because Temple of Dark Offerings, despite its length, stands toe to toe with any OSDM Revival release made so far.

160+kbps

Mediafire

2009 Re-Visted: Vengeful- The Omnipresent Curse[2009]

Man. 2009 was a great year for me.
Bowerbirds released Upper Air.

Iron and Wine dropped the brilliant compilation album Around the Well.

Neko Case gave us the criminally under-rated Middle Cyclone.

Megafaun released the best album of the year in Gather, Form, Fly.

Bon Iver continued his evolution by handing us the Blood Bank EP.

Indie gods The Antlers released Hospice, of which my opinion is very well known(its the greatest thing ever.)

There is more( a lot more), but I listed off those fucking amazing albums to prove a point: in the year two-thousand and nine, I was flat out uninterested in Metal of any kind. I was fully absorbed in the glory and majesty of true American music: Folk and Country. I still love those styles of music with a burning passion. But early in 2010, I came back to my first, and true, love: Extreme Metal.

Sadly, 2009 was a lost year for me in terms of Extreme Metal. And it is only this year that I have begun to dig back in time and check out all those albums I miss. So for the next few days, my posts will focus on those brilliant 2009 releases I completely missed as I played my banjo and wrote folk songs with my dad(who was a folk musician who never took off.)

One of the first releases I checked out was Vengeful's The Omipresent Curse. A quick tl;dr version: Vengeful are a mix of Odious Mortem and Ulcerate. If that interests you, you can go ahead and stop reading. But as an internet blowhard, I feel obliged to give you a more complete write-up.

The first thing that stands out about this record is the sense of darkness: this is a heavy, heavy record, and is very, very dark. The band is capable of playing fast, but often focus on mid-paced and slower paced technical flourishes ala Ulcerate. But the albums guitar tone, general production and vocal attack sound a lot like Odious Mortem's Cryptic Implosion. Those are two pretty badass bands to be compared to, and for the most part the band lives up to it. This is a solid record, and one I am glad I was able to re-visit.

320 kbps

Mediafire

Merzbow - 13 Japanese Birds Volume 2: Fukurou [2009]

Both the name and the music of this, Merzbow's second instalment in the 13 Japanese Birds series are highly entertaining. The former in the provision of an immature giggle or two, the latter in that it provides a stellar piece of noise for one to listen to and take in.

~205 kbps VBR

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Merzbow - 13 Japanese Birds Volume 1: Suzume [2009]

Although they're not generally highly rated in the context of Merzbow's back catalogue, the 13 Japanese Birds series was my introduction to Merzbow, and as such, they hold a special place for me (even though it was only 3 or 4 months ago). Basically noise with an undercurrent of drumming.

~210 kbps VBR

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Abgott - Godfather In Black [2009]

Abgott are a UK based black metal band that draw members from Italy, Greece, The UK and South Africa. This eclectic mix of nationalities mirrors their music's dynamic sounds. As Previously stated they are a black metal band but there's no Gorgoroth rip-off bollocks here. Godfather In Black is what I would term 'technical black metal', in that it possesses the same eerie foulness that we all love but it delivers this through interesting music (something all too absent from a lot of black metal). Technical riffs throb through the veins of these songs, topped with snarled vocals and an appropiate amount of guitar wankery. The rabid torrent of riffs is broken up by interludes that I think provide a nice respite and add to the tension of the inevitable oncoming storm. A great album worth downloading (and buying) if only to experience how black metal, a stagnating genre, can still be innovative and interesting.

200+ kbps VBR

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Sonne Adam - Armed With Hammers EP [2009]

This is a nasty piece of old school (style) death metal from a band who have since been signed to Century Media Records, surprisingly, and released the fantastic Transformation (coming in a moment). As if my endorsement wasn't enough, this also includes a deathy version of DarkThrone's 'The Serpent's Harvest'.

Similar artists: Father Befouled, Hooded Menace, Grave Miasma

~220 kbps VBR

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The Ruins Of Beverast - Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite [2009]

Despite pushing the limit of a single CD (this is pretty much 80 minutes long), this never gets boring. A fascinating piece of black metal that's winding, claustrophobic and progressive at once. I don't think this would disappoint anyone.

320 kbps

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Mutant - Laserdrome EP [2009]

Mutant are one of the more promising acts from the UK axis of the new wave of retro-thrash. This is one of their two EP releases so far (I can't find the other despite my attempts to do so), and it's very good for a band that has not yet released their debut full-length.

256 kbps

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Wormrot - Abuse [2009]

Wormrot's debut full-length, and I won't hesitate to say that it's by far the best thing they've done. I'm wearing the t-shirt now. Features an interesting cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and beautiful Engrish like 'So Fierce For Fuck!?'.

256 kbps

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