I'm listening to the first track of this album.

They are playing too much with different styles, in my opinion.  It's Black Metal - no, it's Power Metal with symphonic overtones - Black Metal again - NO, now it's post-hardcore Darkthrone-wannabe Blackened Death Thrash.

BLEEDING CHRIST, IT'S IN 5/4!  "PROG"!

That came to absolutely nothing, and now it's slightly "Old School", in my opinion.  Not too bad at the

Shit, it just cut out to replace some alright Black Metal with some palm muting and Classical music.

That, too, came to nothing.  There was absolutely no point for that short-lived meander through bollocks.  Back to the "Old School" style.

And, after a short Beherit-style flangéd cybervoice bridge, they're back to the beginning, which, coincidentally, happens to be the end.

Certainly not a wasted four minutes and eight seconds, but if you're going to try out different styles, do it on an EP, not a full album.  Too much going on with too few logical links between the different ideas.

I have to say, I wouldn't have expected this style of music to be on the new album.

I listened to approximately one minute of any of the albums on this list of which I could find songs on the internet.

Evidently, 2008 was a bad year for Metal.

Correct me if i'm wrong but it never really seemed to pick up in Germany. Sure there was the odd good band like Absurd or Moonblood? but there is little common ground between these bands and the establishment of a unique German style. of course there has been some great works come out of Norway and later Poland, France, Greece.. there are even a lot of interesting American bands. surely this must be a part of the German psyche too, unless some other reason?

What about Nargaroth?  That was the whole basis of the German scene, back in the early '90s.

Lol.

You are absolutely right. Even though Im new to this forum, I see you (Death metal Black metal) are quite headstrong in your views on the diminishing status of the extreme metal scene, and I commend you for it. It really is a bad time for this genre of music. Although I was not present at the start of the scene in the early 90's, I joined as soon as I was able, and even on my later "exposure" to the scene I have noticed how the scene has slowly grown and diluted. I have spent a considerable amount of time in my schooling career researching and writing about the scene through a sociological viewpoint and it is quite apparent that the scene is being completely taken over by "repeat" "carbon copies" of original bands. The forefathers of the scene, on the other hand, are resorting to more and more experimental avenues in order to keep some form of transgression continuing. The scene itself was found on ideas of rebellion to the norms and paradigms of society and the best way to rebel against these set ideas is through transgressive practices which challenge the structure these ideas are set upon. Now, the concept of transgression has become to turn to experimental, to change it up, add new elements in order to put out something different. This of course, leads the spearheaders of the scene to change the sounds of the scene, and leave the original sounds to be diluted by bands who are all "attempt" carbon copies of the originators. This of course leads to a completely diluted scene, lacking in power, ideologies, and purity, which in turn leads to faulty structures and an eventual collapse (lets hope not). I have no suggestions as to where the scene is heading or how to prevent it, Im simply stating what I notice is going on. As the scene grows, it actually nears its end (quite ironic). What you think?

Me think you make good point, personally, but you use the word "scene" too much.  Are you insinuating something...?

... is to kill an immense number of people, by any means necessary, as soon as possible.

The fundamental problem with the modern world, as I see it, is overpopulation, and, on average, an idiotic population.  By removing those with lesser intelligences, lesser physical abilties, less creativity, etc, we will not only come to a point where we will no longer waste our resources on those unfit to receive such benefits of our currently liberal society, we will also come to a point where there are few enough humans alive that the planet itself need not suffer any longer, thus assuring the possibility of the continued existence of humans.

This is an unrealistic goal, of course.  It will never happen, for the sole reason that those who do not fall into the category of "intelligent, physically fit, and creative" will never be defeated by the disparate groups of those who do fall into such capacities.  As with any movement, political or otherwise, which may end up actually working, and contributing to society, the individuals described above are too intentionally at ends with each other to provide a stronger front.

I am beginning to see four distinct possibilities:

1.  The greatest of humans band together to fix the overpopulation problem (not likely);

2.  The greatest of humans all decide to do the above, but fight each other about it, and are eventually driven out, sucked up, or killed, by the average man (somewhat more likely);

3.  A crisis of some sort causes a change in perspective in the majority of people.  An ideal is formed, and the fires of our civilisation are rekindled;

4.  Nothing is ever done of any considerable weight or volume.  Our society peters out into nothing, ready to give birth to the next, wherever that may come from.

The last is very interesting to me: in the past, new societies have come from other peoples.  Rome is the only example of this I can come up with right at this moment, as it is probably far too late for me to be thinking coherently anyway.  Perhaps Egypt and Greece count, as well, and the different Dynasties and Empires of mainland Eastern Asia, the acquisition of India by the British Empire (well, not a new society for the world, but new for the area), and other such cases...

Quote from: Godkiller on January 27, 2009, 12:58:06 AM

Quote from: roshan on January 26, 2009, 11:11:39 PM

Should I stop listening to Gehenna, Necromantia and Mysticum because they cant compare to Burzum, Emperor and Graveland?

I hope to God that this question is rhetorical/sarcastic.

It was rhetorical, meant to make the following point: "if it is acceptable listen to third rate second wave bands, then I dont see any problem with listening to third wave bands that have produced works of greater quality"

As far as I can remember, Gehenna are just about 2nd wave, if rather late.  Certainly fantastic music, regardless.

All of this "3rd wave" nonsense aggravates me.  it wasn't a wave at all, it was a petering out of the creative forces behind the 2nd wave.  There was no point at which, suddenly, new bands started to create shit Black Metal.  It was far more gradual than that, although I will accept the suggestion that "suddenly, at some point, Black Metal started becoming cool".

"Dusk and Her Embrace" is a good album.  Cradle of Filth turned down the "Metal" and turned up the "music".  However, it wasn't popular enough, so in subsequent releases they appear to have, annoyingly, changed direction significantly - fully reversed, in fact.

I own all of their albums and DVDs, through my own purchase (the earlier albums) or as gifts from well meaning family and friends (the later garbage), and of all of the music they have ever created, they were never so good as when they were not trying to play Metal, and were simply creating music (read: "Vempire" and "Dusk...").

I agree with Mr. Woods, in that the "elaborate victorian and romantic æsthetic" was, by far, the most interesting and captivating aspect of their music.  "Dusk", especially, has an undefinable feeling to it, especially when considering the entire package - the music, cover, and booklet, and the images used in the last two, create a definably "English" atmosphere, which is not present in any other British Black Metal.  On the back of the booklet, to be precise, there is a picture of a Graveyard, which is so picturesque, especially after its photo manipulation, as to seem to be the inspiration for every good bit of music in the entire album.

But that's enough about Cradle of Filth.  There was a trend, recently, for despising them purely because of their recent music - the trend, now, is to like them for their early output.  Being not a follower of trends, I can merely assert that I have always liked their early work, and will always like it, even when it becomes unfashinable.

Praeteritio over.  Hipsters can suck a cock.