TheSpirit
Brandon Scott
Emeritus

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Last Active 10-04-22 3:24 pm
Joined 10-13-09

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09.21.22 Death and Dying In 2022 Pt.209.20.22 Death and Dying in 2022 Pt.1
09.09.22 Correct Metallica Ranking08.23.22 TheSpirit's 30k Comments Special ♦
08.11.22 Controversial? Carcass Ranking08.09.22 Were Children of Bodom melodeath?
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SPUTNIK, help me pick what to review! Please!

The last few months, I've had a burning desire to write but I've been super busy and didn't have that much time to review. Now that it's summer I'll have some more opportunities, but I can't decide on what to write about. There's just so much music out there. Since I'm incapable of choosing something myself, I NEED YOUR HELP. I'm going to list 10 albums from this year (hehe, minus the last one) I have a general interest in ... please have me decide which one to move forward with as a review!
1Malfet
The Snaking Path

Hands down the best dungeon synth album I've ever listened to. Hard 5/5.
2Dance Gavin Dance
Artificial Selection

For me, this one was a grower. There have already been a few reviews of this, so I'm wary to needlessly contribute another one. 4.5/5
3Judas Iscariot
An Ancient Starry Sky

Recorded in 1998 but shelved due to the release of Heaven in Flames, An Ancient Starry Sky exudes a certain mysticism in the way only a formerly unreleased album can. Judas Iscariot are so important to the story of USBM, so this album finally being unearthed feels special. Oh, and the songs kick butt too. 4/5
4Bleeding Through
Love Will Kill All

This is everything I've always wanted from a Bleeding Through album. I has the heart of early 2000's metalcore, the swag of melodeath, and the garb of black metal. The production is fantastic, Brandan sounds more ferocious than ever, and finally, it reminds me why I fell in love with metalcore in the first place. 4-4.5/5
5Necros Christos
Domedon Doxomedon

Domedon Doxomedon is a great album for Necros Christos to go out on; they've perfected their Celtic Frost for the 21st century sound to its most efficient, even if the record as a whole is a bit bogged down by the interludes. When I listen to this album, it fills me with that sense of wonder and excitement I felt listening to metal as a kid. 4/5
6Abyssal and Carcinoma
Apanthropinization

Abyssal has somehow evaded my radar until just this, but upon listening to "I Am the Alpha and the Omega" from Antikata(rest of album title here) I was absolutely floored at their ability to juxtapose black kind of blackened brutality with melody. It was pretty soon after that I discovered this release and while it doesn't capture that same phenomena, it's still a very impressive effort of modern black/death metal. Carcinoma is sonically pretty similar but no less impressive. 3.5/5
7Coast
Coast

I really don't know ANYTHING about jazz-fusion; i don't even really know if this is technically "good", I just know that I like it. The musicianship is awe-inspiring and only made better by the chemistry of the group itself. I know that jazz can be more collaborative, off-the-cuff, and free-flowing than the typical band paradigm, and that laid back sense here works wonders. Really beautiful stuff here. 4/5
8Old Tower
Stellary Wisdom

Old Tower has made a name for himself over the last few years with is particularly dusty and dingy form of dungeon synth, so when Stellary Wisdom was announced I found myself quite excited by the prospect of more material from "The Specter". Unfortunately, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The two songs here both have parts and sections that range from okay to good to downright mystifying, but the overall quality is spoiled by lack of cohesion. I can not state this enough; DUNGEON SYNTH IS ALL ABOUT IMMERSION! The jagged cuts between sections immediately remove you from that immersive quality that's so essential to enjoying this type of music. That being said, the final half of the title track does manage to pull it together and in the process is probably one of the effecting and haunting movements in dungeon synth that I've ever heard. 3-3.5/5
9Ellorsith
Orbhàis

I've never really thought about wintry death metal before, but Orbhàis exudes an atmosphere that has all the claustrophobia of great death metal production but the chilliness of black metal without really stepping into black metal territory musically. It's an interesting dichotomy that really keeps you coming back. 3.5/5
10Cradle of Filth
Midian

I think this may be my favorite Cradle of Filth album. It's just so quirky; Paul Allender rejoined the fold and brought this odd and off-kilter melodeath feel while Gian continued to contribute the gothic/symphonic black metal the band has been peddling since Dusk. Wrap it up in the cold atmospherics of Martin Powell, and BOOM! you have a blackened/death/gothic/symphonic metal album that thanks to a very muddy and gritty production has some weight to it. The more you listen to it, the more you notice the nuances of the all different influences, leading to the more this can be enjoyed. I love this record. 5/5
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