Feels a bit weird to be re-stanning for stuff I praised in last year's rolling metal thread, sometimes repeatedly, but copying and pasting would be a total cop-out, so… lemme just name-check two black metal faves again and throw in a recent discovery:
Turia – Degen van licht
Cream o' the crop of the current Dutch scene, Turia trades in a sophisticated brand of atmoblack. A nearly imperceptible medieval lilt carries the guitar work, courtesy of the great Omar K, while (female) vocalist T strikes just the right balance between ardour and restraint. Surefire drumming and characteristically tasteful ambient interludes round it all off. To me, they are the least adolescent and most 'poetic' (whatever that means) BM band working today, and Degen van licht exhibits these qualities in spades.
Armagedda – Svindeldjup Ättestup
File under: Swedish mid-tempo dancing plague ballads that occasionally leap into overdrive. There is nothing forward-looking about this music but it is executed exactly to my tastes, and I am especially taken with Graav's demented vocal delivery. The closer sidesteps into longer and slightly more progressive territory, to climactic effect, all the more so if you yield to the album's trance from beginning to end.
Montuln – Arquetipo
Inexplicably obscure pagan prog BM from Chile with mid-tier production values (trve raw bullshit this is not) and song sequences marked by mild folk inflections that put me in mind of Negură Bunget, although the synth touches are far more subdued here. This is a very attractive record, melodically speaking (with a bit of a groove to it, even), solid playing and soloing throughout, and a non-dogmatic approach to other metal subgenres, starting with DM. I haven't heard their 2012 debut, but I like this one a lot – these guys deserve to be better known.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 02:51 (three years ago) link
*with a bit of a groove to it, even (scratch those confusing parentheses)
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 02:55 (three years ago) link
buuuuump
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:37 (three years ago) link
bmp
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 13:53 (three years ago) link
On the death metal front, aside from excellent albums that probably don't need my help to place (Undeath, Undergang, Faceless Burial, Chaotian), these three are well worth your time:
Angel Morgue – In the Morgue of Angels
Plague – Portraits of Mind
Dira Mortis – Ancient Breath of Forgotten Misanthropy
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 16:04 (three years ago) link
Bonus name-your-price brutal/slamming DM LP that is by far the best thing to have come out of that subgenre last year in my admittedly myopic estimation:
Putrescent Seepage – Dead and Demented
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 16:05 (three years ago) link
Old Nick - The Night Of The Ambush And The Pillage By The Queen Ann Styl'd Furniture, Animated By One Of The Dozen Or So Spells That Thee Eastern Vampyre Has Studied (T.N.O.T.A.A.T.P.B.T.Q.A.S.F.A.B.O.O.T.D.O.S.S.T.T.E.V.H.S)
I really didn't think there would be anything else left for me to discover from 2020, but then (thanks to the peeps at Angry Metal Guy) I came upon this entrancing and deeply charming of dungeon synth, black metal, and some other stuff. Also yes it does appear to be a concept album about evil furniture. The keyboards are wonderful. The mood is peculiar. The sonics are jagged but pleasing. Imagine Sigh as a basement act and you're almost there. I kinda love it!
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 14 January 2021 16:26 (three years ago) link
a concept album about evil furniture
Sold!
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 16:27 (three years ago) link
Ok this is fun.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 14 January 2021 16:49 (three years ago) link
Bumper.
― pomenitul, Friday, 22 January 2021 14:16 (three years ago) link
https://tbeartravels.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/35-dodo-the-famous-extinct.jpg
― pomenitul, Sunday, 24 January 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
https://limalla.bandcamp.com/album/k-futuro-directo
Limalla, ¿Ké Futuro? Directo - Cuban punk, played live, during a pandemic. It's raw and hungry and it's Name Your Price, so why not?
― Iannis Xenakis double fisting Cutty Sark (Tom Violence), Sunday, 24 January 2021 19:37 (three years ago) link
I thought Imago was going to have something to say about the Victory Over the Sun LP, but check that one out too. Microtonal black metal, but not as "I'm a Giant Brain"y as Jute Gyte.
https://votsband.bandcamp.com/album/a-tessitura-of-transfiguration
― Iannis Xenakis double fisting Cutty Sark (Tom Violence), Sunday, 24 January 2021 19:40 (three years ago) link
https://bernelius.bandcamp.com/album/grave-dancer
Bernelius, Grave Dancer. Heavy rock one-man act with a great sense of humor. He had a Kickstarter to press this album to vinyl and it didn't make it, which makes me sad.
― Iannis Xenakis double fisting Cutty Sark (Tom Violence), Sunday, 24 January 2021 19:42 (three years ago) link
Thanks, Tom. Keep 'em coming, all, lest this poll go the way of [see above].
― pomenitul, Sunday, 24 January 2021 19:53 (three years ago) link
The VOTS LP is amazing yeah. Jute Gyte is an acknowledged inspiration of hers
― imago, Sunday, 24 January 2021 19:58 (three years ago) link
Thirded re: Victory Over the Sun! That album is a lot of mad fun.
I'm also really enjoying Simon's Melted Bodies rec.
― tangenttangent, Sunday, 24 January 2021 21:19 (three years ago) link
b
u
m
p
― pomenitul, Thursday, 4 February 2021 13:24 (three years ago) link
Is it too late for a nom? If not, can we add Dropped 'Dropdead 2020'?
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 15:23 (three years ago) link
Dropdead rather
nominations open til voting starts
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 4 February 2021 15:24 (three years ago) link
Added.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 4 February 2021 15:26 (three years ago) link
Can we add Autonoesis 'Autonoesis' too, please?
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 16:51 (three years ago) link
and Mongrel's Cross 'Arcana, Scrying and Revelation' too, please ?
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 16:52 (three years ago) link
Done.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 4 February 2021 16:54 (three years ago) link
Can we add White Stones 'Kuarahy' - please?
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 17:15 (three years ago) link
How about Ainsoph 'Ω - V' added too, please? Along with White Stones 'Kuarahy' - pretty please?
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:31 (three years ago) link
Sorry - a couple more please: Hexer - 'Realm of the Feathered Serpent' and Omegavortex 'Black Abomination Spawn' - Thanks!
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:34 (three years ago) link
can you put all noms here please?
2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:38 (three years ago) link
noms will be open til saturday or sunday i think
oh snap you're providing food?
― he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:39 (three years ago) link
only for thought
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:40 (three years ago) link
Added those noms.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 4 February 2021 19:41 (three years ago) link
I assume most of my top picks will do pretty well on their own so I'll add a few recs:
Aara - En Ergo Enaihttps://aara.bandcamp.com/album/en-ergo-einai
andEtoile Filante - Magnum Opus Caelestishttps://etoilefilante-northernsilence.bandcamp.com/
Couple of fiddeent flavours of atmoblack, both quite epic without being too over the top, Aara have some nifty neoclassical-inspired riffing, Etoile Filante wuth some rather nice proggy keys.
Herxheim - Incised Arrivalhttps://herxheim.bandcamp.com/album/incised-arrival-lp
Nastier black metal from ex-Howls of Ebb frontman, unrefined and crude but has an edge of weirdness that makes it notable.
SouphL - CommérageShttps://souphl.bandcamp.com/album/comm-rages
Chaotic multi-bass mathcore collective from Canada. On the more experimental end of mathcore, doesn't always hang tghether too well but it's engagingly bizarre.
Ivan - Silver Screenshttps://solitudeproductions.bandcamp.com/album/silver-screens
Dreamlike and exploratory death-doom.
― your passion oozzes from the (ultros ultros-ghali), Saturday, 6 February 2021 16:25 (three years ago) link
One more for now
Edenic Past - Red Amacordhttps://edenicpast.bandcamp.com/album/red-amarcord
Three quarters of Krallice and an enraged pig go Br0000tally technical
― your passion oozzes from the (ultros ultros-ghali), Saturday, 6 February 2021 16:27 (three years ago) link
Thx, uug!
I liked Aara's first album even more but their second is quite good as well. They've got another one coming up btw – should be out in March.
The SouphL, while indeed disjointed, is definitely among the more unique metal LPs I heard last year.
Herxheim very good as well, although I preferred Cultivating Throne of Fur.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 6 February 2021 16:31 (three years ago) link
Regarding the last point, so did I tbh.
― your passion oozzes from the (ultros ultros-ghali), Saturday, 6 February 2021 16:34 (three years ago) link
Also I made a mistake with Edenic Past, Lev Weinstein isn't involved, I assumed he was despite noting the programmed drums last year!
― your passion oozzes from the (ultros ultros-ghali), Saturday, 6 February 2021 16:38 (three years ago) link
lol, never assume anything with metal poll
― Oor Neechy, Saturday, 6 February 2021 18:27 (three years ago) link
Gonna campaign a bit for a release I re-listened to today - Draghkar's 'At the Crossroads of Infinity' - really dug a lot of the solos - exploding trad melodic metal flair, and there's a nice marriage of European riffy black metal with an American Death Metal atmosphere/song construction. On re-listens from 2020 releases, this is one I know I'll come back to a lot. The band's 'Eternal Abyss' comp from 2019 is pretty good too.
― BlackIronPrison, Sunday, 7 February 2021 22:18 (three years ago) link
Onwards!
2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until February 19)
― pomenitul, Monday, 8 February 2021 04:06 (three years ago) link