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16
Audiofile / Re: Ceremony
« on: November 05, 2012, 05:32:12 PM »
Ceremony - Tyranny from Above (1993, Mediafire)
High bitrate rip.
High bitrate rip.
17
Chasm / Re: Re-issues are d-bag
« on: November 05, 2012, 05:27:33 PM »
Supposedly, Century Media is reissuing Far Away from the Sun, but I guarantee that it will suck. Those two-for-one reissues of Runemagick's first three and Sacramentum's second and third full-lengths had one of the worst "remasterings" I've ever heard, actually physically painful to listen to. Luckily, I have the originals of all those albums now (including Sacramentum's debut EP and first full-length).
Dark Descent always does a great job with their reissues, but they're about the only one I trust consistently. Their Timeghoul digipack is legendary, and their Uncanny reissue did it properly by allowing the original album to stand on its own and putting the demos (which are also excellent) on a separate disc.
Dark Descent always does a great job with their reissues, but they're about the only one I trust consistently. Their Timeghoul digipack is legendary, and their Uncanny reissue did it properly by allowing the original album to stand on its own and putting the demos (which are also excellent) on a separate disc.
18
Audiofile / Decollation
« on: October 26, 2012, 06:17:10 PM »
Decollation: Blogspot, Mediafire, Rapidshare
Decollation
Kristian Wåhlin's final death metal project before he went solely with the album artwork route. I would describe the music as building on his Liers in Wait work by slowing the songs down, lengthening their narratives considerably, and adding quite a bit of Nocturnus-esque keyboard use, but overall keeping the same vibe of RRRAARRRGGHHH, just a bit less frenetic. The vocals are more of a mix between Barney Greenway's Utopia Banished roar and a Suffer-style hoarse shout than a proper death growl, which might turn some people off, but the music itself is quite excellent.
Decollation - Cursed Lands (1992, Mediafire)
Decollation
Kristian Wåhlin's final death metal project before he went solely with the album artwork route. I would describe the music as building on his Liers in Wait work by slowing the songs down, lengthening their narratives considerably, and adding quite a bit of Nocturnus-esque keyboard use, but overall keeping the same vibe of RRRAARRRGGHHH, just a bit less frenetic. The vocals are more of a mix between Barney Greenway's Utopia Banished roar and a Suffer-style hoarse shout than a proper death growl, which might turn some people off, but the music itself is quite excellent.
Decollation - Cursed Lands (1992, Mediafire)
19
Decameron: Blogspot, Mediafire, Rapidshare
Decameron
One of the more interesting bands to come out of the whole Gothenburg "melodic" scene back in the mid '90s, Decameron honestly don't have much in common with that scene outside of surface-level aesthetics. I would compare their musical philosophy to the best of Dissection's first album, newer Deceased, Vektor, or Absu's Tara: complex stuff that takes a lot of unexpected turns and chances while straddling multiple generations of metal music. The mixture of styles coupled with their desire to write dense and intricate music (often at the expense of immediate clarity) threatens to pull the whole thing apart, but they generally manage to pull themselves out of the hole with their powers of heavy metal songwriting.
Decameron - My Shadow... (1996, Mediafire)
Decameron
One of the more interesting bands to come out of the whole Gothenburg "melodic" scene back in the mid '90s, Decameron honestly don't have much in common with that scene outside of surface-level aesthetics. I would compare their musical philosophy to the best of Dissection's first album, newer Deceased, Vektor, or Absu's Tara: complex stuff that takes a lot of unexpected turns and chances while straddling multiple generations of metal music. The mixture of styles coupled with their desire to write dense and intricate music (often at the expense of immediate clarity) threatens to pull the whole thing apart, but they generally manage to pull themselves out of the hole with their powers of heavy metal songwriting.
Decameron - My Shadow... (1996, Mediafire)
20
Metal / Re: WTF happened to Amorphis?
« on: October 21, 2012, 02:54:03 AM »
Don't know what you guys are talking about. Amorphis died in that same bush crash as Sentenced back in 1994. Scandinavian mass transit should really hold their drivers to higher standards.
But seriously, I am hoping that Tomi Koivusaari has a retro-death project of at least Vallenfyre quality level in him somewhere. Otherwise, the continued existence of this band is rather sad. Gotta love that porno sax, though.
But seriously, I am hoping that Tomi Koivusaari has a retro-death project of at least Vallenfyre quality level in him somewhere. Otherwise, the continued existence of this band is rather sad. Gotta love that porno sax, though.
21
Metal / Re: Death metal riff types
« on: October 21, 2012, 02:51:26 AM »
That pedal tone riff is interesting. I think of sections like this one from Slayer as a more advanced version of it, where you have one melody made up of lower tones centered around the root interacting with a completely melody using the same scale but higher up. At the Gates did this a lot on their first two albums (particularly the second), but I can't think of any specifics right now. It's very baroque. I don't know what to call it, but it's one of my favorite of death metal's bag-o-tricks. Here's a particularly strange take on it from Morbid Angel.
The power-chord-to-tremolo phrase thing is OLDER THAN TIME ITSELF (to quote Dark Angel). Early Napalm Death used it a ton, and I'm pretty sure they got it from the more alienated fringe of hardcore. It's probably been around even longer than that. It's one of the most natural things to do on a guitar when you're writing riffs, or at least it is for me.
The power-chord-to-tremolo phrase thing is OLDER THAN TIME ITSELF (to quote Dark Angel). Early Napalm Death used it a ton, and I'm pretty sure they got it from the more alienated fringe of hardcore. It's probably been around even longer than that. It's one of the most natural things to do on a guitar when you're writing riffs, or at least it is for me.
22
Metal / Re: Generic bands that have had one quality composition.
« on: October 20, 2012, 06:48:37 PM »My apologies, Chapel. I attended public school and comprehend the qualifier "outside of" but I obviously wasn't reading very carefully -- probably had a cock in my eye -- and must of interpreted your statement to mean "most of Swedish death metal including ATG and Dismember". Whoops.No problem. I usually classify Sacramentum, Dawn, Mörk Gryning, Unanimated and the second Dissection album as black metal rather than death metal, but I guess Sacramentum's early stuff is a bit more death metal-y. Dissection's first album sounds like total death metal to me, just with more arpeggios and acoustic guitar stuff going on. There are some other decent bands that came out of the Swedish death metal style like Gorement and Utumno, but something about that style's popularity really bugs me. I don't think that your music should be considered awesome just because of its guitar tone and "heaviness." It sounds more like ear candy.
I by and large agree with your assessment. However, you're forgetting Sacramentum's EP -- a fine example of Swedish death metal.
While not original, bands like Moonblood, Maniac Butcher, Nargaroth, Watain and the likes can have a few good tracks. If you got time to waste to search them.I agree with your assessment of most of those bands, but I have to say that Moonblood is quality music undeserving of the scorn it gets from the anti-kvlt backlash. Blut & Krieg, Dusk Woerot, and their 12th rehearsal are A-list material in my opinion. I see them as one of the natural continuations of Absurd's legendary stuff, together with Urfaust and Akitsa at their best. Nargaroth is definitely a patchy band at best, though. Amarok and Herbstleyd have a lot of cool stuff, but it's often buried under repetition (to the point of tedium) and extra-musical intro/outro bullshit that doesn't add anything to the music. Nargaroth is at its best when they either go into Klaus Schulze with black metal guitars territory or improve on the Dark Medieval Times formula by adding a shit-ton of Graveland to it. This band really shot themselves in the foot when they went for the hype. Maniac Butcher seems decent but not spectacular from what I remember. At their best, they remind one of early Immortal or Graveland. Watain has always been shit.
Some of the Polish bands like Fullmoon, Sunwheel, Thunderbolt, and Kataxu that put out awesome demos but went populist for their full-lengths (or in the case of Fullmoon, simply broke up) might fit into the category of one-hit wonders. Maybe Rob Darken and his spiked maces kept them honest during the '90s.
This song strikes me as something of a diamond in the black, liquid turd that is retro-metal-era Darkthrone, in that it actually captures some of the magic of '80s metal like Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol rather than just sounding like mid-life crisis stuff.
23
Metal / Re: Generic bands that have had one quality composition.
« on: October 18, 2012, 10:59:34 PM »Dissection and Entombed are forgettable, sure, but ATG and Dismember? Do you by chance listen to Like an Everflowing Stream and The Red in the Sky is Ours with cocks in your ears?Guess they didn't teach you reading comprehension at public school, huh? I clearly said "most of Swedish death metal outside of Dismember, At the Gates, and Dissection kind of sucks," meaning that Swedish death metal falling outside the scope of those categories (i.e., everything that isn't Dismember, At the Gates, or Dissection) is terrible. Physician, remove the cock from thine own ass.
24
Metal / Re: Generic bands that have had one quality composition.
« on: October 16, 2012, 01:13:47 AM »Definitely Marduk. Whilst Opus Nocturne is an above average album the rest of their discography is simply terrible. A one off fluke for sure.I think Those of the Unlight is about as good as Opus Nocturne; it's just slower and less Gothenburgy with more old Bathory mixed in. Even their best stuff feels like they never really "got" black metal, though. It's more like black metal as made by death metal people. According to Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal book, they originally started out as a Master tribute band of all things.
I'm sure Behemoth put out at least one solid album. I just don't know what it is.I would say they were pretty solid '93-'94. That would be their two famous demos and the And the Forests Dream Eternally EP. Their first two albums are pretty decent as well, but certainly not on the same level as Graveland or Veles. After that, they got in trouble with the cops and had to start making populist "death metal."
It's easier to think of "one album wonders," I think, especially with European death metal. Think of all the bands like Disgrace, Dominus, and Belial that put out good early shit but then succumbed to the death'n'roll plague which stems from Entombed and Xysma's stylistic make-overs. Pyogenesis put some solid doom/death on Ignis Creatio before turning goth, death'n'roll, and pop punk in that order. Demigod released a couple of legendary demos and one seriously awesome full-length before collapsing into carnival music of the latter-day Absu type with their reunion albums.
From a more heavy metal standpoint, the early Twisted Tower Dire stuff is pretty great. It's a lot like Arghoslent: power-metally ingredients prepared by death metal chefs that tend towards complex songwriting instead of verse/chorus/bridge stuff. A more modern example of this style would be the Cromlech tracks on the new Into Oblivion split. I would say their first two demos and their first full-length are worth a listen for fans of Manilla Road and The Chasm, but after that, they got a bit too "normal."
25
Metal / Re: Generic bands that have had one quality composition.
« on: October 15, 2012, 06:23:29 PM »
As far as the topic of the thread goes, I'm at a bit of a loss as far as one-hit wonder bands go. I'm definitely a "whole album" type of listener, so pretty much every band I listen to on a regular basis managed to put out at least one overall "good" album.
The closest thing to what the OP is asking for that I can think of is Exumer. Their first album is definitely solid second-tier German speed metal that distinguishes itself from its countrymen by importing influences from Exodus, Slayer, and other American bands, as well as a lot of "crossover" thrash mixed into longer epic song structures, but their second album is pretty generic and boring, apart from some admittedly decent S.O.D.-esque segments.
My favorite of their discography, however, is the demo they did right before breaking up at the end of the '80s. Every review I've read of it has been negative, mostly because the majority of listeners seem to go into the demo with a Municipal Waste Retro Thrash Pizza Ninja Turtles mentality and are then confronted with an exciting slab of progressive (as in progressive rock; there's definitely some King Crimson shit going on) technical speed metal with a more-than-adequate vocal performance from an early '80s NWOBHM band that never made it past the demo stage. If you like Voivod, Coroner, Deathrow, or even the first Meshuggah album (pre-AIDS), you owe it to yourself to check this demo out. It's one of the few examples of speed metal legitimately leaving rock behind and approaching narrative song structures. It actually reminds me a lot of the "story-telling" approach of bands like Absu and Sabbat (the UK one), in execution rather than aesthetics (aesthetically, it's closest to Nothingface).
I guess this is the band's "three-hit wonder," even though their first album is also worth a listen. I would recommend picking up the new digipack reissues of both albums, since the the reissue of the second contains the demo in the most pristine sound you're going to get.
The closest thing to what the OP is asking for that I can think of is Exumer. Their first album is definitely solid second-tier German speed metal that distinguishes itself from its countrymen by importing influences from Exodus, Slayer, and other American bands, as well as a lot of "crossover" thrash mixed into longer epic song structures, but their second album is pretty generic and boring, apart from some admittedly decent S.O.D.-esque segments.
My favorite of their discography, however, is the demo they did right before breaking up at the end of the '80s. Every review I've read of it has been negative, mostly because the majority of listeners seem to go into the demo with a Municipal Waste Retro Thrash Pizza Ninja Turtles mentality and are then confronted with an exciting slab of progressive (as in progressive rock; there's definitely some King Crimson shit going on) technical speed metal with a more-than-adequate vocal performance from an early '80s NWOBHM band that never made it past the demo stage. If you like Voivod, Coroner, Deathrow, or even the first Meshuggah album (pre-AIDS), you owe it to yourself to check this demo out. It's one of the few examples of speed metal legitimately leaving rock behind and approaching narrative song structures. It actually reminds me a lot of the "story-telling" approach of bands like Absu and Sabbat (the UK one), in execution rather than aesthetics (aesthetically, it's closest to Nothingface).
I guess this is the band's "three-hit wonder," even though their first album is also worth a listen. I would recommend picking up the new digipack reissues of both albums, since the the reissue of the second contains the demo in the most pristine sound you're going to get.
26
Metal / Re: Generic bands that have had one quality composition.
« on: October 15, 2012, 05:23:31 PM »
Not if you're thinking of the title track from Left Hand Path, they don't. The slower part that everyone loves so much is just the theme from Phantasm with a little bit of clichéd '80s metal soloing over the top of it.
Seriously, Entombed (and most of Swedish death metal outside of Dismember, Grotesque/At the Gates, and Dissection) kind of sucks. I'm not surprised that the Swedish style is the one facet of the Old School Death Metal™ sound that has caught on with the kids these days; it's very simple, instant gratification stuff. Plug in the right combination of distortion pedals, play some of the more atonal KISS riffs, and you're good to go!
I would recommend bands like this one, this one, or this one in place of the majority of Swedish bands for those who want to delve deeper in '90s death metal.
Seriously, Entombed (and most of Swedish death metal outside of Dismember, Grotesque/At the Gates, and Dissection) kind of sucks. I'm not surprised that the Swedish style is the one facet of the Old School Death Metal™ sound that has caught on with the kids these days; it's very simple, instant gratification stuff. Plug in the right combination of distortion pedals, play some of the more atonal KISS riffs, and you're good to go!
I would recommend bands like this one, this one, or this one in place of the majority of Swedish bands for those who want to delve deeper in '90s death metal.
27
Audiofile / Re: Behemoth
« on: October 14, 2012, 06:27:32 PM »
Behemoth - The Return of the Northern Moon (1993, Mediafire)
Behemoth - ...from the Pagan Vastlands (1994, Mediafire)
Behemoth - And the Forests Dream Eternally (1994, Mediafire)
Includes 1997's Bewitching the Pomerania EP.
Behemoth - Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic) (1995, Mediafire)
Behemoth - Grom (1996, Mediafire)
Behemoth - Pandemonic Incantations (1998, Mediafire)
28
Audiofile / Sacrilegium
« on: October 14, 2012, 06:03:43 PM »
Sacrilegium: Rapidshare, Blogspot, Mediafire
Sacrilegium
Epic and melodic black metal band with lyrical themes based on ancient Slavic epic poetry. Probably the most professional-sounding of the early Polish bands.
Sacrilegium - Wicher (1996, Mediafire)
Sacrilegium
Epic and melodic black metal band with lyrical themes based on ancient Slavic epic poetry. Probably the most professional-sounding of the early Polish bands.
Sacrilegium - Wicher (1996, Mediafire)
29
Arkona: Rapidshare, Blogspot, Mediafire
Arkona
Not to be confused with the Russian folk "metal" band, this was one of the early Polish black metal acts. Essentially the more normal "day job" of the guys from Mussorgski, I would recommend them to anyone looking for a band capable of injecting the atmospheric/calm of side of early Nordic black metal ala Gehenna's first EP and the second Dimmu Borgir album with the hatefulness and ferocity of Carpathian Wolves.
Arkona - Imperium (1996, Mediafire)
Arkona
Not to be confused with the Russian folk "metal" band, this was one of the early Polish black metal acts. Essentially the more normal "day job" of the guys from Mussorgski, I would recommend them to anyone looking for a band capable of injecting the atmospheric/calm of side of early Nordic black metal ala Gehenna's first EP and the second Dimmu Borgir album with the hatefulness and ferocity of Carpathian Wolves.
Arkona - Imperium (1996, Mediafire)
30
Audiofile / Re: Mussorgski
« on: October 13, 2012, 10:43:53 PM »
Mussorgski - In Harmony with the Universe (1995, Mediafire)
Reuploaded. I would recommend checking it out if you haven't yet. Seems to be a Polish take on the second Beherit album with a bit of early Bethlehem mixed in.