~~~ 2014 ILM METAL POLL TRACKS & ALBUMS COUNTDOWN! ~~~ (Tracks top 30 first then Albums)

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (849 of them)

14 Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance, 597 Points, 17 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/qqnXHuk.jpg

#8 Decibel, #6 PopMatters, #21 Stereogum, #7 Pitchfork, #25 Metal Hammer, #4 Terrorizer, #278 Pazz & Jop

http://youtu.be/Juthvm7QjuM
theneedledrop - http://youtu.be/3Ckbk-P7JxM
coverkillernation - http://youtu.be/7yxVv9QdYPw

The thing about Darkthrone some 25-plus years into their career is they don’t give a fuck. A lot of bands say that, but few say it as convincingly and have the fuckall in their approach to back it up that the long-running Norwegian duo seem to toss off on their records like so many squibbly riffs. Where that attitude has manifested itself over the course of their last several full-lengths as a raw, lo-fi punk aimed hard at the very roots of the black metal Darkthrone once pioneered on albums like A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992) and Transylvanian Hunger (1994), their newest full-length and 16th by my count, The Underground Resistance (Peaceville), finds them blending that rawness with a traditional metal approach manifesting many of the influences they’ve claimed since 2007′s N.W.O.B.H.M – New Wave of Black Heavy Metal single signaled their transition from the blackened material of 2006′s The Cult is Alive – actually it was kind of stagnant — to later 2007′s F.O.A.D. (Fuck off and Die), at once a declaration and defense of its own stylistic shift.

But at this point, having pushed that punkish sound as far as it could go or at least as far as they were interested in pushing it with 2010′s bored-seeming-but-still-effective Circle the Wagons (review here), I honestly think that praise heaped on The Underground Resistance and harsh criticism of it sound the same in the ears of multi-instrumentalist/vocalists Ted “Nocturno Culto” Skjellum and Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell: It’s all just noise. If that’s actually the case, I don’t know, but it’s at least the perception and that character has become as much a part of Darkthrone‘s sound as Fenriz‘s campaigning on behalf of classic underground metal, so fervent that band recommendations on the last couple albums have come on a per-track basis in the liner notes, with Darkthrone cited on occasion as influencing themselves. All this makes the duo a fascinating entity, but ultimately has little to do with the music, which on The Underground Resistance remains as confrontational as ever in this semi-novel aesthetic sphere. The sound of the album’s six tracks is fuller and occasionally grander than that of Circle the Wagons or 2008′s Dark Thrones and Black Flags before it — as heavy metal was when it emerged early in the ’80s to distinguish itself from punk — but raw enough in its production to be called consistent. That is, between Nocturno Culto‘s trademark gurgle and the speedy gallop of the riffing on the penultimate “Come Warfare, the Entire Doom,” there’s little doubt you’re listening to a Darkthrone record, whatever kind of shenanigans they might be getting up to this time around.

And while homage is paid throughout the album’s 41 minutes to the likes of Manilla Road, Pagan Altar, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate — Fenriz rounding out the album with some pretty mean King Diamond-style vocal drama on the 14-minute closer “Leave No Cross Unturned” — whatever sonic references they might be making are filtered through their own approach so that Darkthrone still sound like Darkthrone. I don’t know if I’d call The Underground Resistance re-energized as compares to Circle the Wagons, but as a band who’ve emerged as being pretty self-aware over the last decade or so, they probably could sense it was time for a change in their approach, even if it wasn’t a conscious decision between the two members as they wrote their individual parts. Three years is also the longest break between Darkthrone albums since 1996′s Goatlord and 1999′s Ravishing Grimness, and if the extra time was spent developing this material, I’d have to believe it. Even “Leave No Cross Unturned,” which seems to switch back and forth between Fenriz and Nocturno Culto parts, nonetheless winds up with one of the collection’s strongest hooks in its chorus with the oft-repeated title line. Finding earlier companionship on the album in “The Ones You Left Behind,” which works from a similar foundation musically, it’s all one could reasonably ask of a closer for an album like The Underground Resistance, which makes a weapon even of its most accessible moments.

An initial tradeoff between Nocturno Culto‘s “Dead Early,” which opens, and the subsequent “Valkyrie,” credited to Fenriz, introduces much of the album’s breadth. The two will often switch off between each other in a tracklisting and the effect is a more versatile-sounding whole on The Underground Resistance. As a general rule — so much as there are any — Nocturno Culto‘s material is darker, Fenriz‘s more classic. At very least, that holds true on “Dead Early” and “Valkyrie,” as the grittier riffing of the one leads to the grandiose intro stomp of the other, and Fenriz‘s vocals, which have grown braver and cleaner. He doesn’t quite soar, but he makes a style of the howls on “Valkyrie” and ultimately it works to the song’s favor, especially moving into “Lesser Men,” the chugging riff of which makes for a lethal groove when set to the half-time drums, a guitar solo echoing high in a break in the first half before Nocturno Culto comes in with the second verse. Fenriz once again takes the reins in the speedy “The Ones You Left Behind,” also the shortest cut at 4:16, and at 2:16 lets out a high-pitched wail that’s almost more righteous for its imperfection, makes a reappearance at the beginning of “Leave No Cross Unturned” and is bound to show up again should Darkthrone continue down this road (one never really knows, but it’s an easy guess). Another catchy chorus leads to the likely-collaborative “Come Warfare, the Entire Doom,” which is more complex part-wise than the ensuing closer, but still some five full minutes shorter.

It spends some time meandering, but even on “Come Warfare, the Entire Doom,” Darkthrone are fairly to the point, and the echoing, effected leads that pop up amidst the gallop make for intriguing landmarks along with the satisfyingly metallic thrust. When it comes to “Leave No Cross Unturned” — the most apparent collaboration (I’d dare to say for sure, but hey, digital promos) between Fenriz and Nocturno Culto on The Underground Resistance — the song is also invariably the album’s greatest triumph, moving smoothly between its verse and chorus, so predictable and still so engaging, and slamming headfirst into the dirtier Celtic Frost-style riff and grunt of its midsection. Classic even unto its titular wordplay, “Leave No Cross Unturned” shifts back to its verse and chorus, layering clean vocals with screams in the chorus before running through once more at top speed and finally ending with the slower, groovier progression that showed up earlier as contrast, presumably donated by Nocturno Culto. Ending there, Darkthrone make a final statement no less present in its volume than anything prior on The Underground Resistance, affirming this next stage in their evolution with a big rock finish that’s as much a middle finger to anyone who might’ve thought they knew what Darkthrone would do next as anything on F.O.A.D. ever was. As with any band who’ve ever managed to last as long as Darkthrone has, their fans will likely divide into factions loyal to one era or another, but in their latest work, Darkthrone show themselves not only to still be driving toward territory not yet covered over the course of their career, but doing so in a vital manner worthy of the influence their music and their attitude has had on the international underground. Whatever The Underground Resistance might lead to, the only safe presumption is that Darkthrone

won’t give a fuck what you think of it. - The Obelisk, http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2013/03/05/darkthrone-the-underground-resistance-review/#sthash.uaWlnpeF.dpuf

When you think of Darkthrone, you think of fun, right? If you scoffed, guffawed, or simply disagreed, don't worry-- you're safely in the majority. The Norwegian band are best known, of course, for what their 1999 album labeled "ravishing grimness"-- savage, belligerent, and unfiltered black metal, epitomized by a blitz of icy hot classics that started with 1992's A Blaze in the Northern Sky and end, depending upon your stance on Second Wave orthodoxy and eclecticism, sometime just before or after the turn of the millennium. They're the dudes that epitomized ghoulish corpsespaint covers, brandished the credo "True Norwegian Black Metal," and fended off Aryan allegations as Varg Vikernes headed to jail. So, no, maybe fun isn't the first adjective Darkthrone conjures.

But it's hard to imagine two middle-aged men having more fun than Fenriz and Nocturno Culto-- the band's lone multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, and singers for two decades now-- do on The Underground Resistance, their inescapably enthusiastic 16th studio album. Darkthrone long ago gave up on black metal, turning instead to an open-ended and unmitigated interest in recombining the metal they loved as kids: thrash and crust punk, high-flying British metal and blustery hardcore. Those influences were always tucked within Darkthrone's most famous albums, but lately they've given over to them entirely. The simple joy of these influences is the thread that ties together The Underground Resistance, an album about unfit enemies and deserved death that nevertheless delights in its own music-making élan. Darkthrone's already been involved in a movement that revolutionized heavy metal both sonically and stylistically; The Underground Resistance, then, is simply the latest and most propulsive homage to the bands that sparked that revolution for them.

In the early days of Darkthrone, Fenriz didn't give many interviews, or at least he didn't say much in them. These days, though, he writes liner notes in which he conveys his influences and intentions. And his Metal Band of the Week blog advocates for young acts he likes and older acts he thinks went overlooked. He's made up for that early media quiet by seemingly giving interviews to most anyone who has asked. In doing so, he's often surprised journalists with his forthrightness and humor. "Isn't it normal to want to communicate your life's work?” he asked That’s How Kids Die, questioning those surprised by his newfound verbosity. For a guy who once posed in corpsepaint, he sure uses a lot of emoticons and knows a lot about Pink Panther.

But Fenriz rightly insists that there's not a lot of humor in Darkthrone's new music. (With a song sporting a name like "Leave No Cross Unturned", though, there is certainly some.) Still, The Underground Resistance flaunts the sort of vigor you'd expect from old friends out to have a good time: "Dead Early" is a menacing five-minute race that suggests Motörhead loaded on piss and vinegar, while the relentless chug of "Lesser Men" pogoes from circle-pit invocations to head-down, horns-up headbanging. "Valkyrie" begins with a classic doom feint, craggy acoustic guitars introducing a riff that unfurls over cascading drums. They return to that slow burn for the coda, but the middle is all blustery thrash, with Fenriz chasing himself in circles behind the drums while his falsetto peaks above the din. The album's real clincher, "Come Warfare, the Entire Doom", is a series of swivels and sprints, once again teasing doom before harnessing the band’s death metal past in an eight-minute anthem. The aforementioned "Leave No Cross Unturned", the disc's 14-minute finale and the longest song ever in the Darkthrone catalog, confirms the band’s gumption to simply go for anything. They hint at Saxon and Maiden with operatic vocals and an incredibly sharp hook and then at punk with the blissfully simple but successful outro. What’s more, Fenriz and Nocturnal Culto even circle back toward their weighty black metal reputation with the blanket of serrated guitars near the song’s start. A few minutes later, Fenriz howls from some deep abyss. In turn, they leave no relevant idea unturned.

Fenriz and Nocturno Culto own one of the great unimpeachable brands in all of heavy metal, and they've protected it not by limiting it but by letting it expand and fluctuate as need be. Rather than retread what's made them famous, Darkthrone have continually confirmed their status by refusing to kowtow to old expectations. They don't play live, and they don't depend on this band for their income; therefore, they don’t need this band to sound like it did it 1993 so they can cash in on the past rather than risk their image on the present. Amid tides of ceaseless band reunions and reissues that more often than not repeat what we already knew, Darkthrone in 2013 find themselves in an extremely enviable position because they have done exactly what they've wanted. Legends encumbered by being legends, they stick true to the title of The Underground Resistance-- they are two veterans having fun by continuing to play like they're carefree teenage rebels. - Grayson Currin, Pitchfork, http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17642-darkthrone-the-underground-resistance/

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 18:13 (ten years ago) link

Maybe I didn't start too early. no buggers around later either! Glad we're not finishing today haha

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 18:25 (ten years ago) link

I was one of the 12 people called to be interviewed by judge and lawyers first. I simply expressed an opinion that Chiroprctors are quacks and I was one of the few not picked YAY. At lunch still supposed to report back to room after blah

Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 16 January 2014 18:26 (ten years ago) link

so hes avoided jury duty in the trial of the great chiropractor massacre of 2013

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 18:34 (ten years ago) link

sidenote : 'buggers' = my fave swearword, glad to see i'm not the only person who uses it ..

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 18:58 (ten years ago) link

13 Avatarium - Avatarium, 613 Points, 16 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/Eiz5XFS.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0op2YUh7a2Tr7mbiVBEY8i
spotify:album:0op2YUh7a2Tr7mbiVBEY8i
http://www.deezer.com/album/7086732
#39 Metal Hammer

http://albumstreams.com/s/avatarium/avatarium
"Boneflower" - http://youtu.be/PsGErp0xLnA
"Moonhorse" - http://youtu.be/GWuGTYiQs8U

Upon the release of Candlemass’s eleventh album, Leif Edling, came forth with a bitter announcement in regards to the future of the band. Psalms for the Dead would be their last studio album. I must admit, the news affected me greatly. I felt disappointment, but I understood the reasons behind this unexpected decision. Still, it wasn’t easy to accept it. The delicate nature of my character was the cause for my provisional grief. For some reasons, I use to rely my huge expectations and trust on older bands and I receive all the newcomers with skepticism and doubt. So when the news about Edling’s participation in a new project spread out, I took them with a grain of salt.

So, Leif closed the book on Candlemass, what is he up to now ? If your assumption is “more Epic Doom Metal”, then you estimated correctly. And it doesn’t come as huge surprise since this man has the style of Doom into his blood. For this album, Edling paid a long-awaited visit to his first years as a professional musician. He drew inspiration from the very first albums he wrote while he was on Candlemass and decided to re-define the powerful, Unholy sounds of Damnation. He aimed on bringing back the powerful tales of epic poetry of the first four Candlemass records. However, you must bear in mind that Avatarium’s debut is NOT another album from the said group. And that is a good thing, because with that direction, the project was bound to failure from the very first day of its conception. For his venture into this tour de force, Leif teamed up with a bunch of very talented musicians. Apart from Edling on his acquainted role, we’ve got percussionist Lars Skold (Tiamat), keyboardist Carl Westhom, (Candlemass), guitarist Marcus Jidell (Evergrey) and vocalist extraordinaire Jennie-Ann Smith.

The album itself can be analyzed as a mixture of good ol’ Epic Doom Metal with Classic Rock influences and varied references, from the Psychedelic music of the late 60’s to Rainbow and to Blue Oyster Cult. An explosive compound which is scoped and developed under the aegis of the Doom Metal genre. And what would be Doom Metal without riffs ? Edling knows that all too well and as an expert in this field, he deliver some of his best ideas. The result of his collaboration with Jidell is magnificent. At first I felt worried by the fact that there is no second guitarist in the band, an omission that could lead to inefficient results. You can’t have Doom Metal with feeble guitar work. After listening to the first three songs, I ruled these worries out. Heavier than a tombstone, the guitar annihilates everything in its path. For example, the introductory riffs of Moonhorse and Avatarium spread utter devastation. The density that comes out of the guitar is crushingly impeccable. The riffs have the size of an elephant. The solos on the other side are melodic and painful. But truly, what won my attention in the first place, was the combination of these monstrous riffs with the softer, acoustic parts and interludes. The above-mentioned influences are diffused among the tracks, forming a wall of medieval sounds that encircle the album completely. For example, Moonhorse features a haunting slide solo that may remind you of Blackmore’s work in Rising. Lady In The Lamp is one of the best closing ballads I have heard in a while, yet another reference on Blackmore’s group, as it may retell you the story of the ballad Rainbow Eyes. After the first couple of listens, it becomes clear that the band was aiming for an approach where emotion comes before technicality.

Further on, the album has two sides. One side that is heavy, and another side that is softer. If Edling and Jidell are responsible for the heavy parts, Jennie-Ann Smith is responsible for the soft side by bringing expressiveness and further emotion. Where the album surprises is not in the excellent work of the instruments, but in the presence of an amazing vocalist. Smith is the revelation of Avatarium. With her impulsive performance, Smith navigates perfectly the crushing sounds and brings the necessary equilibrium. If you need a detailed description of her voice, you will need a lot of adjectives. Emotional, fragile, powerful, seductive, divine are only some of the words I could use to describe her. Listeners should avoid the chance of looking for similarities between Smith and other famous female metal singers, for they'll find none. Smith doesn't possess the trademark operatic vocals, for which many female-fronted metal bands are known for and that's for a good reason. Edling wasn't looking for that sort of thing. He wanted a vocalist with a bluesy tone and the choice of recruiting Smith was spot on. There were times when Smith reminded me of Janis Joplin. “Outrageous”, some of you may say. But honestly, to me, it is as Joplin was reborn inside Smith’s body. She is the key that holds Avatarium's independence and the main reason the band doesn't sound as a caricature of Candlemass. When it comes to singing, Jennie-Ann Smith is quite simply the biggest newcomer of this year.

Leif Edling proved once again why he is considered one of the biggest figures in the Doom Metal community. As a fine example of a good working man, Edling’s creative and troubled mind couldn’t sit tight during his post-Candlemass era. He was quickly looking for a new field. But never in a million years had I expected him to make such triumphant return. It requires some special skills in order to take all the old tricks -the melancholic atmosphere, the riffs, the moods, the melodies- and re-introduce them in such a way to create something that sounds so refreshing and outstanding. Edling has simply outdone himself. Taking sides with a fantastic crew, Edling had a good chance to step out of the boundaries of Candlemass and further develop his ideas towards new directions. A magnificent debut, quite possibly his best work since Nightfall. - John Marinakis, Sputnik, http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/59656/Avatarium-Avatarium/

It’s impossible to listen to anything new that emanates from the darkness of Leif Edling’s cranium without a lingering prayer that it is going to be as earth-shatteringly awesome as his 1980s masterpieces. In 1984, Edling’s formative band Nemesis released the landmark ‘Day of Retribution’ EP, and he spent the next decade or so perfecting his art through Candlemass’ Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, Nightfall, etc. While Edling has never ventured a million miles from the doom metal framework that he was so instrumental in defining, during the intervening years the unassuming Swedish bass player has tried to push out the boat with varying degrees of success.

Alongside him in his latest venture’s line-up are guitarist Marcus Jidell (Evergrey), drummer Lars Skold (Tiamat), long-time collaborator Carl Westholm on keyboards and the relatively unheralded Jennie-Ann Smith behind the mic. We have to dispute the assertion that this is a kind of all-star doom supergroup. This is not some Scott Weinrich/Matt Pike/Bill Ward fantasy project; this is a real band and it’s trademark Edling through and through.

With Edling, Jidell and Skold delivering typically mid-weight doom with an easy confidence and precision, and Westholm lighting up the northern skies with his dazzling keyboard creativity, all eyes are on Smith to get the vocals right. She has a sweet, bluesy voice, but she sounds almost too fragile to express the emotional depth required of the genre. That said, it is a pleasure to listen to her sing, and there are times when she soars like Messiah Marcolin being fired out of (a very big) cannon.

Avatarium2

It is difficult to shake the sense that some of the tracks on Avatarium’s self-titled debut are simply discarded Candlemass demos that have been spun in a tombola. The opener ‘Moonhorse’ for example, is a pretty obvious latter-day Edling effort which suffers from a slightly jumbled stop-start arrangement. These problems show up elsewhere, too, such as on ‘Boneflower’, despite its Trouble-ish vibe and big chorus, and it’s strange that these were the tracks used to promote the album.

Strange because there are stronger songs elsewhere. ‘Bird of Prey’ is a cohesive and hugely enjoyable doom romp, safely within the Edling framework but no less pleasing for that fact. Likewise, the title track ‘Avatarium’ – which deploys standard spooky organ backing and swirling vocals – grows into a hypnotising carousel of a song, while ‘Pandora’s Egg’ (with its hilariously moreish “egg of evil” chorus) is a tasty lump of hard-boiled metal. Closing track ‘Lady In The Lamp’ provides a glimpse of what the band’s future might hold, featuring patient acoustic strumming and gentle keyboard caressing before finally unleashing a last-minute blast of Rainbow-coloured epicness that leaves you gasping for more.

Hopefully there will be lots more to come from Avatarium. Their debut album is strong and interesting, and it’s easy to imagine a hundred ways in which they develop and experiment further to concoct something even more magical. It sounds almost churlish to suggest, but perhaps Edling – now 50 – is rediscovering his youthful zest. Some of the lyrics on ‘Avatarium’ certainly hark back to childhood, and there are hints of older influences such as Blue Oyster Cult.

There is something exciting about seeing someone who has created so much great doom metal still searching for new pathways through the gloom. Is this as good as ‘Ancient Dreams’? Of course not, but maybe it’s time for some New Dreams. - DoomMetalHeaven, http://doommetalheaven.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/album-review-avatarium/

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:00 (ten years ago) link

excellent album by the main man in Candlemass (he writes all the Candlemass songs) surprised it's placed so high but well done ILM

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:01 (ten years ago) link

ok, beastmilk needs a uk release.

would buy.

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:09 (ten years ago) link

i think i should have listened more to inquisition, i liked it but it felt like a touch less awesome than 'ominous doctrines'. yet now and then 'obscure verses' gets to a point where you're like, fuck yeah holy shit.

j., Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:14 (ten years ago) link

god bless that fuckin robot toad

j., Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:17 (ten years ago) link

beastmilk!!!

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:23 (ten years ago) link

i realise this is a bad bad thing to say, but i would never have classed beastmilk as metal.

(and yes, that review explains why it is .. but still .. )

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:25 (ten years ago) link

12 Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess, 615 Points, 15 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/fzabyZt.jpg
http://www.deezer.com/album/6999365
#23 Terrorizer, #18 PopMatters, #34 Pitchfork

http://listen.20buckspin.com/album/the-white-goddess
http://youtu.be/3sq9oQivijg

I watched a drug deal unfold two feet away from me at a bus stop next to the del Norte Bay Area Rapid Transit station at 10:30am on a Friday morning. The act was recklessly flagrant – not even half-hidden behind the back – and it was openly observed by myself and three other strangers who had the unfortunate distinction of being in a public place at the wrong time. What really stuck with me, however, was the fact that it all went down while "Enthroned in Clouds and Fire (The Great Cleansing)" drifted into my ears through my headphones:

"When money turns to iron and our misery burns red
When two hundred gulden cannot buy a loaf of bread
When the heavy-handed lord arrives and skins his folk alive
When laws are made that none obey – the Great Cleansing is near."

Even if bedlam isn't happening directly outside your front door, all one need do is watch the national news for ten minutes in order to quickly become overwhelmed with frustrated feelings of "where the Hell have we all gone wrong?" At this point, I think I'd actually feel an odd sense of relief if some "great cleansing" were truly at hand. And a tune like "Enthroned in Clouds and Fire" that beautifully melds metal designs from Hammerheart era Bathory and Manowar's Into Glory Ride serves as an ideal accomplice to that end.

Now from the close of the Hippolytian "Heresiarch (Thousandfaced Moon)":

"Oh Thousandfaced Moon, oh doom of lost Atalant
Wading 'mid corpses - through cities of dust
Oh monarch of mayhem, oh mind-reaping messenger
Rise from the dirges and wailing of psalms
Oh pestilent force, burst forth from the tombs of space
To rave and to rape and to rip and to rend."

Another lengthy tune, this time heralding the arrival of "the unholy stalker among the lambs," and set to a blueprint of Spectre Within/Awaken the Guardian, but with a grimmer, doomier stance. Stretched, glassy, and crushingly majestic – it's a heretical conclusion that slowly consumes the listener over the course of its towering eleven minutes.

This is the general Atlantean Kodex design: to deliver extended, epic heavy doom metal that's stubbornly (and willingly) rooted in the past – both lyrically and musically. And boosting the ante even higher, the band delivers their brand in a decidedly intelligent style. Sure, it's satisfying to rely on our genre when we're struck with the mood to cruelly or evilly clout heads, but a cursory glance at the way the lyrics for The White Goddess flow makes a strong case for this being heavy metal's equivalent to an epic Greek poem. Mithraism, the roots of Europe, and the "White Goddess of birth, love and death" are also spun into the yarn. In this regard, Atlantean Kodex stands as the sort of band that spurns the digital age because the complete package is only fully realized with lyric sheet (and artwork) in hand. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if The White Goddess inspired some to research unfamiliar grounds further, and that's a rare beauty in music today.

Infectious choruses, heavy galloping, and sweeping leads (the midpoint of "Sol Invictus" and the 3-minute mark of "Twelve Stars and an Azure Gown": pant-soilingly epic) – The White Goddess is a masterful look at how to innovatively advance antediluvian metal principles into a modern work of epic grandeur. If we must begrudgingly take a front-row seat to the decaying "progression" of civilization, why not watch the curtain fall while listening to something that makes you feel as if you're soaring above the collapse.
A clear contender for album of the year. - Michael Wuensch, Last Rites, http://lastrit.es/reviews/7102/atlantean-kodex-the-white-goddess-(a-grammar-of-poetic-myth)#sthash.xSDnFz8V.dpuf

The White Goddess by Atlantean Kodex is one of those albums that comes around every so often which, thanks to label affiliation, press buzz or a combination of the two, reaches a wide audience of people who ordinarily wouldn’t listen to anything like it. Atlantean Kodex play German power metal, full stop. They’re also likely to find their way onto the year-end lists of plenty of people who can’t name two albums by Blind Guardian or Gamma Ray. (Likewise, the record will probably be ignored by many of the hordes of people who purchase Nightwish CDs.)

This broad reach isn’t Atlantean Kodex’s fault; nor is it the fault of 20 Buck Spin, their Stateside label. (Ván Records is handling the release in Europe.) In truth, it’s not even a problem. But the Internet has bred an increasingly contentious relationship between old-school heshers (who would have sought this album out and eaten it up regardless of its presence on the cool blogs) and younger fans with more extreme tastes. That relationship turns albums that should unite metalheads into battlefields, which, true to the hyperbole tossed around in such discussions, must make The White Goddess Gettysburg. In reality, Atlantean Kodex have just made an interesting record that is worth listening to, but also one that isn’t quite as good as its most ardent defenders would have you believe.

The first thing that leaps out about The White Goddess is the length of its songs. Interludes aside, its tracks weigh in at 10:55, 11:10, 7:44, 9:55 and 11:22, without much inflation from orchestral intros or ambient noodling. These are just long fucking songs — not because they comprise lots of parts, but because Markus Becker has a lot to sing about and Michael Koch and Manuel Trummer want to play a lot of guitar solos. That isn’t to say there’s fat which the band should’ve trimmed, as their songwriting instincts are impeccable. For those who don’t listen to a lot of music with high, clean male vocals, though, Becker’s incredibly earnest delivery of his fantasy-novel lyrics can grate when heard for over an hour.

Luckily, Becker’s earnestness is consistent with the entire Atlantean Kodex experience. The White Goddess doesn’t scan as cheese because it refuses to consider itself with anything less than total seriousness. This approach is most impressive on “Twelve Stars and an Azure Gown (An Anthem For Europe),” which recounts military exploits from Aeneas to Winston Churchill, all watched over by an unnamed war goddess on a white bull. Without the band fully buying in, the center wouldn’t hold, but thanks to the insistent tempo, Koch and Trummer’s elegantly constructed guitar parts, and Becker’s unique voice, the result is a mighty, melodic fusion of While Heaven Wept and Savatage. Other songs suffer from a lack of true hooks, a fatal shortcoming when every song lives and dies by its vocalist. (I couldn’t tell you what “Enthroned in Clouds and Fire (The Great Cleansing)” sounds like after a half dozen listens.) Still, the majority of the album works, and it’s at any rate a huge step up from the band’s fairly nondescript debut, The Golden Bough.

The length of the songs, the grandeur of the lyrics, and the triumphal tone of the guitars have resulted in a lot of listeners trying to sneak around the whole power metal thing by calling The White Goddess “epic heavy metal.” I suppose that’s apt, even if the last thing we need is one more officially agreed upon metal subgenre. I still can’t help but read the use of that euphemism as shame. Power metal is as uncool a genre as there is, so there’s an instinct to hide from it when it does something awesome. Maybe simply calling Atlantean Kodex what they are — an excellent German power metal band — will start to turn the tides, and we won’t have to act so shocked the next time an album like this comes along. - Invisible Oranges, http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2013/10/atlantean-kodex-the-white-goddess/

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:36 (ten years ago) link

Another terrific album.

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:36 (ten years ago) link

Beastmilk album basically (whisper it) like that Horrors album (but, overall, better)

ahahaha

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:41 (ten years ago) link

which horrors album ?

i have the garage/cramps one, and the simple minds one ..

...

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:42 (ten years ago) link

feel like Beastmilk's metal classification was sort of conceptually assisted by the trend of bands hybridizing metal with gothier post punk vibes

a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:44 (ten years ago) link

the second one xp

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:44 (ten years ago) link

xp

and being metal musicians releasing an album on a metal label. It was metal dudes go goth/post-punk while Vaura was more Post-punk/goths go metal.
(imago/djp did you check out that Vaura album that placed earlier?)

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:48 (ten years ago) link

I don't consider Beastmilk metal, but I also voted for it in the Pazz & Jop. Great, great record.

glenn mcdonald, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:49 (ten years ago) link

Beastmilk also helped by having some metal musicians in their ranks.

EZ Snappin, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:51 (ten years ago) link

I wouldn't consider Beastmilk metal either. Metal lists tend to be a little more inclusive than others, it seems, especially when things like Ulver and Earth end up on them. Works for me, there's a similar "heaviness" to that music, even if it's not metal.

Why metal-archives doesn't allow Dillinger Escape Plan is a mystery, however. But I digress.

Devilock, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:51 (ten years ago) link

I think it was Adrien who tipped me off about Beastmilk. Definitely an album that would appeal to non-metallers.

Glenn what did you think of Vaura?

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:52 (ten years ago) link

imago : ahh .. thats one i dont have. been on my list ever since. will get it at some point.

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:52 (ten years ago) link

xp AG and EZ yeah that kind of tribal classification seems to be all that really matters

fortunately it also feels heavier than basically any post punk revival stuff of the last decade

a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:53 (ten years ago) link

beastmilk muuuuuch better than vaura imo

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:54 (ten years ago) link

"Metal lists tend to be a little more inclusive than others, it seems, "

this is clearly the case.

given that i am anything but a metalhead, its weird for me to be enjoying stuff on the metal lists more than anything on any other lists.

3 of my fave 2013 albums were by 'metal' bands : uncle acid, qotsa, ghost.

have to say i am loving learning more.

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:55 (ten years ago) link

it's funny bc i also don't consider myself a metalhead but there's always a lot of crossover to stuff i love so i end up participating in ilx metal community (tho it seems these days like rolling stoner metal is more my speed than rolling promo metal)

Mordy , Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:56 (ten years ago) link

the days of metal fans only listening to metal are kinda gone though. yeah it exists for some but not like it was say pre-grunge. all the black metal fans i know love aphex twin.

I think heavy or extreme metal fans dig anything heavy or extreme not just heavy guitar stuff.

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:57 (ten years ago) link

hell , even back in the 90s Terrorizer gave a front cover to diamanda galas, swans and a bunch of industrial bands with no guitars. Not sure the readers warmed to Cubanate mind you hahaha

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:58 (ten years ago) link

I'm the opposite of imago. I think the Beastmilk is a sad retread of post-punk I didn't much like in the first place, and Vaura is an engaging hybrid.

EZ Snappin, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:00 (ten years ago) link

Last one for today coming up...

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:00 (ten years ago) link

also re Vaura, Hufnagel is a metal dude so they're not that different from Beastmilk

a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:07 (ten years ago) link

vaura also had toby driver on bass apparently, not that this made it any better. also lol where's hubardo on this countdown oh wait it's not very good. raise yr game driver

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:09 (ten years ago) link

and guess what's up next....

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:12 (ten years ago) link

at this rate and what is included ..

umm ..

arcade fire ?

mark e, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:14 (ten years ago) link

If it's something Hufnagel-related, I'm guessing it's my #1.

Devilock, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:18 (ten years ago) link

aw man I hope not, too low

a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link

will give vaura 1 more go

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:21 (ten years ago) link

11 Kylesa - Ultraviolet, 637 Points, 18 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/6Pf0k6O.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0Ulp47DaF34CcuiNXVUKx6
spotify:album:0Ulp47DaF34CcuiNXVUKx6
http://www.deezer.com/album/6369672

#22 Decibel, #28 Rock-A-Rolla, #15 Obelisk readers, #37 Captain Beyond Zen, #8 Stoner HiVe, #328 Pazz & Jop

http://seasonofmistcatalogue.bandcamp.com/album/ultraviolet
coverkillernation review - http://youtu.be/KhKT43JT67g

Kylesa have always been a moving target. Since their inception, the Savannah, Ga., group has translated instability into energy, outlasting membership changes and tragedies to create strange and compelling stylistic welds. During the last decade, they’ve shouldered themselves nominally somewhere between sludge metal and psychedelic rock, but those terms are simply outsider touchstones for Kylesa’s brilliant internal turbidity. Indeed, their music is a mix of hardcore force and pop approachability, narcotic textures and double-drummer thunder. They are less defined by any one of those elements than the way they treat them as critical components within a grand crucible, parts meant to be steadily whisked into an alchemic whole. To wit, when Brooklyn Vegan asked frontman Phillip Cope to list his favorite songs of the year in 2010, he named the usual suspects and stylistic peers (Torche, High on Fire) alongside dream-state indie rock (Beach House), insurgent post-punk garage rock (Abe Vigoda), and bands that, like Kylesa, still get dubbed metal because of heavy pedigrees and references (Alcest). This variety has long served Kylesa well, too, pushing them toward wider acceptance even as they’ve redoubled their strange syntheses.

After a string of LPs that have consistently found Kylesa fortifying these wayward genre aggregations, Ultraviolet-- their sixth album and second for Season of Mist-- is an unexpected misstep. At first, Ultraviolet might feel passive or polite, as though Kylesa is the metal band auditioning for a roster spot on Sub Pop or Merge. There’s a slow-burning ballad, a straightforward charge or two, and at least one tune that stretches shoegaze reverie over quickly flickering riffs. It’s as if they’ve tempered their approach, eliminating the exciting outliers of their toolkit to arrive at a hard rock album that sounds standard enough to be safe. Past Kylesa albums have felt alternately like bulldozers and magnets; Ultraviolet often feels only like another middling record.

But the problem is that Kylesa have actually let their genre pillaging overtake their actual songcraft-- that is, in trying to give the psychedelic, shoegaze and jam band aspects of their sound more room within the spotlight, they’ve created a mess that sometimes seems rudderless. The first three tracks, for instance, feel like a non-navigable maze with no steady vectors or outlined intentions: Opener “Exhale” shortchanges a great hook from Laura Pleasants with verses that don’t support the same weight and an instrumental breakdown that simply stalls the song. “Unspoken” hides behind an unnecessary 80-second introduction and subsequently plunges into an unremarkable and overly long solo, with Cope dancing around the impressive groove as though he’s ashamed of its simplicity. And during “Grounded”, Cope drowns many of his own vocals in effects, hiding them behind the wallop like coded messages. Likewise, Pleasants harmonizes the chorus with herself, singing in a round that distracts from the song’s sizzling riff. Time and again, from start to finish, Ultraviolet pauses to concede to such extraneous effects and rockpiled elements, as if Kylesa have finally made the mistake of brandishing their eccentricity rather than simply thriving on it. Ultraviolet rarely feels singular or confident; it’s the sound of a band attempting to underline its claims to distinction.But when Kylesa allows those extrinsic factors to emphasize their momentum rather than detract from it, they are unstoppable: “We’re Taking This”, for instance, is a monstrous flogging, with guitars that twist like rusty corkscrews, drums that push ahead like a cavalcade, and a refrain that feels like a battle cry. Thing is, all of Kylesa’s itinerant weirdness is here, too-- guitars that suddenly warp out of time, drums that pull back enough to give the textures space, and backmasked harmonies that swirl around Cope’s lead like vapor trails. The same holds for the two-minute bruiser “What Does it Take”, which gallops from the gates and doesn’t pull up until the next song begins. But Kylesa shoehorns a kaleidoscopic guitar solo into the tune and saturate the space between the drums and the vocals with guitar effects, not a central riff. “Low Tide,” the album’s best surprise, is a drifting, magnetic ballad; overactive bass, distant harmonies, and streaks of soft guitar noise create an impressionistic web for its starry-eyed hook. In all three instances, Kylesa’s disparate strains work together to create the same inexorable sense of euphoria that unites most of the band’s influences, if no longer their entire catalog. Kylesa albums once seemed cut instantly from whole cloth. Despite its highs, Ultraviolet is a patchwork of arduousness, with some seams still showing. - Brandon Stusoy, Pitchfork, http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18057-kylesa-ultraviolet/

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:22 (ten years ago) link

10-1 will be posted tomorrow. Will start later - around 4pm UK time

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:22 (ten years ago) link

Oh, them. I need to catch up with Kylesa. I have their first three but my enthusiasm sort of petered out a few years ago.

Devilock, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link

Album results (so far) playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27
spotify:user:pfunkboy:playlist:6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27

please subscribe

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link

xp well this sounds nothing like the first albums especially iirc

a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:24 (ten years ago) link

That review did not incline me to catch up with them after all.

Devilock, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:25 (ten years ago) link

fwiw i am enjoying Vaura a damn sight more the second time around

lovely cuddly fluffy dope (imago), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:26 (ten years ago) link

you cant judge albums after only 1 or 2 listens

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link

Trust my review then

it's good

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:28 (ten years ago) link

"This is not some Scott Weinrich/Matt Pike/Bill Ward fantasy project"

That would be fucking awesome.

Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:32 (ten years ago) link

Direct Link to poll recap & full results

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:34 (ten years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.