Average Rating: 3.36 Rating Variance: 1.41 Objectivity Score: 81% (Well Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicBurzum Hvis Lyset Tar OssThis is the pinnacle of Burzum's creativity and Varg's best musical offering. While the successor is also a very good album, it is this one that strikes a really decent balance between raw black metal and ambient sounds. The opening and ending tracks are for the most part ambient tracks while the two shorter tracks are within the confines of black metal, more traditional and primitive, with the guitar and blast beat drumming taking the spotlight. It is the black metal tracks that shine the most while the ambient tracks tend to be a bit too long. The opener is a bit more interesting due to its mellow, epic beginning which slowly transcends into a more menacing section. A classic this one is too and pretty much proclaimed the beginning of atmospheric black metal.Devin Townsend PhysicistAs expected, this album is underrated here as well. I can bet a barrel of wine that about 80% of the people who rated this lower than 3 essentially never listened this album and pretty much took for granted Devin's own impression about it. It is no secret that Devin considers this one of his weakest albums for some reason. But fans take it for granted as Devin considers it lackluster due to his perfectionist tendencies as a musician. Not because it is an album executed in a half-assed manner. This album could've been recorded for SYL, the entire line-up is present here and it is certainly an odd-ball, as except Deconstruction, this is the heaviest solo album he made. And boy it is terrific. It contains some of the best tracks ever written by DT, namely Namaste, Victim, Material, Planet Rain, Jupiter and The Complex. Kingdom is also good, but gets improved on Epicloud. No filler material here, with perhaps the middle section, tracks 5-6 and Irish Maiden being a bit inferior. However inferior in the context of Physicist is like the value difference between platinum and gold. My advice for both old and new fans is to shut out all preconceived opinions about this record. Devin's opinions, while it should be taken into account, it should always be heard with a grain of salt. After all, the man does have some questionable musical tastes (liking Sevendust for example). This is a masterpiece of progressive thrash metal.Excel Split ImageOverlooked, underrated. I don't usually use these words when it comes to rating albums, but in this case, I have to. It is just baffling how unnoticed this band was even back in the heydays of thrash and hardcore punk, not to mention today. Even more baffling is how the dimwitted people that rate albums here can't recognize the superiority of this record, over the crap that is their 3rd record. Split Image essentially wraps up everything good about crossover thrash 10 exceptionally good tracks. It is extremely rate to find albums with not a single flawed track on sight. Every song here is a highlight, with just the 7th and last track being just a bit inferior (a tiny bit though). It takes a few listens for this one to sink, although even on the first listen you will like what you hear. This is how really heavy music should be done. The songwriting and the production are perfect. This is as perfect crossover thrash as it gets.Exodus Bonded by BloodThe crowning jewel of tritonus-based thrash metal and maybe on of the best metal albums ever made with a legion of subsequent bands trying to replicate, clone or rip-off material from it, few of them managing to actually improve or even be on par with the overall songwriting quality of this record. Exodus, unlike Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and many other thrash bands had their act together and knew what they were doing right from the get-go. They are among a select few who released a terrific debut. But unlike Metallica for example, they went on a downward spiral. Their subsequent albums never managed into reach the quality of the debut and this was due to the band hiring Souza and shying away from the tritonus playing style. With the exception of track 2, which is slightly sub-par compared to the other songs, this album encapsulates thrash perfection. Don't get the remastered version. It is shit.Ludichrist PowertripEven better than its predecessor, yet sadly even more overlooked. The curse of this band was that it was too punky for the metal crowd, and too metal for the punky crowd. Furthermore, they had a knack for experimentation, for straying away from the usual thrash, crossover, hardcore punk formula which might have put off many fans back in the day. This is even more experimental than the debut. I am amazed how technically proficient the musicians composing this band were. With this release they almost completely embraced thrash metal as the songs are overall heavier and the band continues to impress and surprise you with grindcore-like drum beats, some acoustic sections and weird choice of riffs. Just when you expect the music to go down a predictable flow, they surprise you with something new and totally unexpected which is exactly how music should be. And one of the few bands intelligent enough to write great lyrics. Ain't that interested in lyrics when it comes to music, but theirs are really funny and worth checking out. No fillers on this album either, but if I had to pick the best songs those would be 1, 3. 6. 7, 9 and 10.M.O.D. U.S.A for M.O.D.This album should have been the real successor to S.O.D.'s debut masterpiece Speak English or Die. All of the riffs composed for this nice piece of crossover thrash should have been released under S.O.D.'s name but for some reason it wasn't meant to be. Those of you, new fans who have started listening to S.O.D., turn to this album if you want to hear a great continuation of that splendid debut album. The one released in 90s is mediocre at best. This album contains a very strong first half, but essentially none of the songs here are fillers or even close to mediocre material. Main highlights: 1-3, 6, 12, 15, 17. Other great songs: 7, 14, 18. The rest are solid. The production for this album is rather unique as well.Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom SathanasAs the rating says, a classic, but not an easy listen particularly because of the vocals, which even for me was not easy to get accustomed with. This is one relentless piece of black metal assault, which does not fail in building a dark atmospheric sound which gives you chills on your skin. This album is addictive in a way. Tracks like Funeral Fog, Freezing Moon. Life Eternal, the title track and Buried by Time and Dust are easily some of the best compositions ever produced by classic BM standards. This is also one of those albums that is very hard to reproduce. Many have tried, none of them reached the quality of this album. Despite the fact that some of the members of this band became notorious for non-musical reasons and they seem to have met in a mental asylum, the music here is good. Too bad it gets to be known and hailed because of extra-musical events.Metallica Master of PuppetsMetallica's creativity peak and its most flawless work up until now. Although in terms of songwriting they would fare well for another album, Master of Puppets represents the time when the band fully matured not just as musicians, but as adults as well. The songwriting here is not vastly different or better than on the previous album, but you get the sense that the guys are finally out of their teenage period and now they are walking the path towards maturity, most exemplified in Hetfield's voice, which is the only improvement over the previous records. While on KEA and RTL he sounded exactly like a teenager, on this one his voice got wider, deeper, giving more depth to the music and that necessary punch to really get things moving. Not a shred of filler or inferior moments on this record though my personal favorites are Battery, the title track, Disposable Heroes and the glorious Orion. If there was an album that came close to perfection when it comes to thrash, this one is. Everything about it is flawless. Production, performance (some of the best guitar solos on a metal album), originality and especially songwriting.Metallica Ride the LightningIt is rather baffling how ahead of its time this album was and the band. While most of their peers were still trying to figure out the ins-and-outs of thrash metal, Metallica releases this album which proved to be even more complex, even more energetic and even more engaging than the debut. And this time, the production is even better. Unlike on KEA, Metallica no longer delves into blues-based riffery but tackles chromatic scales and tritonus. Although barely out of their teens, Hetfield still sounds like a teenager on this one. His voice will mature and reach its full potential on the next 2 albums, before he started ruining it with R'n'R 'yeah-yeah' buffoonery. The songwriting is stellar, no fillers at all, just 2 tracks that are a bit inferior to the other ones but still very good (masterpieces compared to every post-1988 album). Main highlights: 1, 2, 4, 6-8. Very good: 3 and 5.Siebenburgen DelictumIncredibly overlooked band here. But it is no surprise, somehow these guys managed to go under the radar even in the heyday of melodic/symphonic black metal so it is no wonder that these guys have just 1 single rating here. Siebenburgen plays a mix of melodic black metal with gothic undertones and among their peers, they play it best on this album. Everything on this one is sublime. The songwriting, the production, the vocal delivery (particularly the female vocals), the overall atmosphere. It was as if all the planets aligned one rainy, foggy day and 6 guys in Sweden managed to put this opus out. The real highlight on this record if Kicki Höijertz vocals which adds an extra ominous layer to the overall atmosphere of this album. Highlights: Storms, As of Sin, Levande Bergravd, Thy Sister Thee Crimson Wed, A Dream of Scarlet Nights. Solid: Majestie Infernal, Thou Blessed Be By Night, Opacitas. There is also a hidden song in track 10 which is very good, a cover song actually. I won't spoiler which one is it so if you are curious, listen to this album until the end. You wont be disappointed.Strapping Young Lad CityFor those of you who don't know, this album was originally titled "Heavier Than The Last One". Just to make my point clear. While City is not necessarily heavier than the debut album, it is better produced, the drums are even better as Gene Hoglan plays them, the wall of sound is even more present and improved here and it is less chaotic and more cohesive than the debut. It also trims by half the number of uneven tracks as compared to the debut album. Together with Grip Inc's Nemesis, this is the best thrash album of the 90s. And the best progressive metal album of the 90s. Every song here, with the exception of songs 3 and 5 are pure classic thrash/industrial songs. And even the more uneven ones, from a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is weakest, they get a 3.5. That's how solid they are and how excellent this album. All Hail the New Flesh with its intro, Detox, AAA, Spirituality and the underrated but equally excellent Underneath the Wave make up the blunt of this timeless classic. 100 years from today, this album will be viewed the same as Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. That's how epic, well executed and well written this album is. Whoever was looking for an 80s thrash band to release a landmark record in the 90s looked where it shouldn't. This here is the real deal.4.5 superbBurzum FilosofemJust when you thought that Varg could not pull a better album than Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, this one came up. This album represents the perfected formula which most of the future atmo-BM band would emulate or refine from. And this is how you make proper use of dungeon synth, by mixing it with a valid musical genre, not playing it standalone like a stoned bloke. This may be the only really ambient-like album that I like, probably because it was among the first. Usually those who actually kickstart a new musical movement are the best at it. Sort of like how Korn is for nu-metal, the only good nu-metal band, from a songwriting perspective. The 25 minute ambient track is a bit more difficult to listen, but surprisingly not a chore as his later ambient-only albums. It is the first 3 tracks that actually provide the best quality out of this album. A classic in its own right.Burzum BurzumBurzum's eponymous debut is ranked up there with the black metal classics at the beginning of the 1990s. Even though it came out in a period when black metal was at its inception, there are clear signs here of experimentation with ambient soundscapes, which would only get more prevalent in subsequent Burzum works. To understand how this came to be, one must look at the bands (metal and non-metal) that Varg gave as sources of inspiration in his early days. Iron Maiden, Bathory, Das Ich and Dead Can Dance and even The Cure are among them. The songwriting influences of these bands are evident on this album. Tracks 2 and 7 make use of a rhythm and drum pattern reminiscent of Iron Maiden. The instrumental tracks, which are more introspective, show clear influences from Das Ich and Dead Can Dance while Bathory influences are evident in songs such as War. All in all, this is a very consistent record, albeit kinda hindered by its production. Now I know sound purists would say that this sewer production is beneficial for a BM record, and for the most part I agree with them, but when there in section where a lot of shit is going on, the music turns chaotic. You can no longer discern between instruments. In a way, this is the most accessible Burzum album. What he will do later strays from the 2nd wave BM formula even more.Cradle of Filth MidianThis album is considered by many black metal fans, or non-black metal fans or any hipster essentially as Cradle of Filth's venture into more accessible black metal territory. After more than 15 years since I have heard it and after exploring their first 3 and subsequent albums, I still don't get why this album gets the sell-out stamp. Some of the stuff here is as heavy as the material on their first 3 records. There are a few hints to a more accessible black metal style, most present on song 8 (the album highlight) and song 10. The record is less black metallian, implements more gothic undertones, but it is still firmly planted in extreme metal territory. And Dani doesn't yet go over the top with his vocal delivery, which is a great thing. His voice, if used the wrong way is really annoying. The absolute album highlight is track 8. Also very strong: 2, 4, 5 and 11. Tracks 3, 6 and 10 are solid. Track 6 in particular has a killer guitar solo, one of the best in this genre. If you are a CoF fan that has not yet bought into the inherent elitism surrounding this band, do yourself a favor and continue listening to this band after their first 3 records. In the mind of a black metal elitist, becoming more accessible means sell-out. Regardless of the fact that the songs on this record might be as good as the ones before the supposed sell-out.Cro-Mags Alpha OmegaAlpha Omega, unlike what Parris Mayhew thinks, is the very peak of Cro-Mags musical inspiration. I have read a lot of Parris's opinions about this album, but it mostly came down at nit-picking unrelated things, anything unimportant except the music, which is terrific. Alpha Omega sees the band transgressing completely from a hardcore punk act to a polished melodic thrash metal, with a very good production and mixing quality. Yes, this started on Best Wishes, but on that one the songwriting was much weaker than even the debut. This record shows how much potential this band had if they were not shaken by various fights and scandals, particularly between Harley and John Joseph. The highlights here are 1,2 and 4 but the rest are very good as well, no fillers. Apocalypse Now in particular is a marvel of crossover thrash, particularly its gargantuan middle section.Excel The Joke's on YouSame as the debut, underrated and forgotten. It is just amazing how these guys managed to put up songs of such quality and go unnoticed back in the 80s. And still remain unknown to this day. Even when it became plain obvious that Metallica stole a riff from this album to create "Enter Sandman" the notoriety of this band did not flinch. Like on the debut, no inferior material here either. The album is a bit more accessible as it is less metal (less aggressive) and more hardcore punk. Highlights: 1, 2, 7, 8, 11. Also good: 3-5. The rest is solid. You can ignore the third album which is basically a turd. Their guitarist, the main songwriter left the band and the replacement was not inspired.Exodus Pleasures of the FleshThis album marked the transition between the heavy tritonus riffing on the brilliant debut to more happy-sounding blues-based thrash riffs which on the long term pretty much lowered the songwriting quality of subsequent Exodus thrash albums. Still, the riffs used here are great and the what makes this album much better than the subsequent two is that Souza was not comfortable enough to use his screechy vocals as these songs were written with Baloff's singing in mind. His voice adds nothing to the music, but at least it ain't annoying. Terrific solos all the way on this album as well, probably one of the best thrash albums when it comes to excellent usage of guitar solos. Many thrash based played them randomly, to give a break to the vocalist. Highlights: 1-4, 6, 9 and 10.Ludichrist Immaculate DeceptionIf I had to make a list of overlooked/underrated bands, Ludichrist would easily be in the top 10, if not top 5. If not the top spot. The fact that these guys went unobserved back in the 80s and they still go unnoticed today clearly showed that music fans haven't really changed in the past 40 years. It is true that in the past they were a bit more interested in music rather than in non-musical aspects (due to hipsters not being the overall majority yet), but they still showed reluctance to embrace something that strays from a certain formula. Ludichrist play essentially a metallized version of hardcore punk, not really crossover jazz influence and even an early implementation of rap vocals. The band is also quite quirky, in the sense that they employ irregular song structures and shift from one mood to another. Simply check track 8, in which they start playing extremely fast only to end up with a rap section. Many highlights: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 18-20, but essentially all tracks are well above average, no filler material. Very good vocals, some of the best in NYHC.Mayhem Wolf's Lair AbyssFilling the shoes of an innovator is a tough job. Many fans consider Mayhem should have ended with the death of Euronymous. I am not one of them. While Euronymous is pretty much responsible for all the material recorded until his death, this EP proves that the other band members pretty much had an idea or two on how to refine and build up on the legacy left by Euronymous. Blasphemer may not be an innovator, but he certainly is a better guitar player that Euronymous, at least in terms of technique. Wolf's Lair Abyss is the missing link between the traditional, atmospheric debut LP and GDoW. It strikes a balance between the music in DMDS and the experimental GDoW. The first 2 tracks are a bit of a let-down, but the other 3 are flawless. Particularly Fall of Seraphs with its main riff. You can't get more inspired than that. A must have for any fan of black metal in general. And ignore the prattling of the vocal but small Mayhem audience who tell you that everything past DMDS is dross. They need an ear-fix.Mayhem Ordo ad ChaoOne of the most difficult albums I have been listening to. It took me a few spins to grasp the concept and the overall songwriting behind this album. This is clearly an attempt to stray from the original formula of black metal, to innovate and refine. Of course, without the versatile and highly dynamic voice of Attila Csihar, this album wouldn't have been made. While Maniac is a good vocalist, his voice was not really suitable for this kind of avant-garde music, despite the fact that Mayhem did delve into experimental territory in previous works with varying degrees of success. Attila, with his usual bizarre vocals, gave a new dimension to the music and probably a new source of inspiration and creativity for Blasphemer. The main highlights are Wall of Water, Deconsecrate, the majestic Illuminate Eliminate, which is also the longest track on the record and Key to the Storms. Anti is also coming close, a solid song. The production, while it helps in building the oppressive, murky atmosphere of the album, doesn't do much favor to tracks such as A Wise Birthgiver or Psychic Horns, but it nevertheless somehow works in bringing the full potential out of the other tracks. Impressive work, something that can hardly be emulated. Even the members themselves could not make a similar album, Esoteric Warfare being more akin to Deathspell Omega than this one is.Metallica Kill 'Em AllIgnore the incessant prattling of Drunken Viking. He is clearly a clueless drunkard who mistook Metallica with one of those sword-waving power metal clown bands that infest and degrade the metal scene overall these days. The production value of this album is quite good, considering that this was like the stone age when it comes to the advent of extreme metal. The songwriting quality is superb, no fillers at all, the guitar solos are impressive, the production quality strikes a certain between fresh guitar-driven rawness and a clean sound, the riffs are for the most part blues-based but not the kind of blues the band would tackle on Load/Reload (of crap), Hetfield vocalizes like a teenager whom he really was back then. Every thrash fans that respects himself and the music he/she listens should include this album on their lists. Excluding it is like reading the Bible without the Genesis chapter. Plenty of highlights: Hit the Lights, No Remorse, Phantom Lord, The Four Horsemen, Whiplash and Jump in the Fire. The other material is also terrific, with only Metal Militia and the bass solo track being a bit sub-par.Ministry Filth PigHow do you recognize people who profess to be great heavy metal fans and yet are afraid of heavy metal? By giving them this album to listen to. Severely underrated by Ministry standards, this album is considered by both fans and non-Ministry fans as a failed experiment. You see, the music is slow, sludgy slow. And people wanted another Psalm 69. That's this album's greatest sin. However, those who care less about these 'sins' and gives a few more spins to this album will notice an exceptional songwriting talent in it. Al was good at both thrashy, speedy industrial metal and at playing slower industrial metal. Despite the music being slow, it evokes a lot of power, the wall of sound is just astounding and plenty of tracks that are as catchy as any Ministry classics. Absolute highlights: 1-3, 6, 8 and 9. Also terrific: 8 and 10. The only average ones are in the middle.Slayer Reign in BloodSlayer's Reign in Blood ranks as one of the best thrash albums for many thrash-heads and for good reason. This was the heaviest Slayer record made until now, one of the heaviest available in the 80s and it pretty much helped spawn a new generation of even heavier metal bands. It is also the first Slayer record that has a good production quality. The first 2 Slayer albums, although very good, were made uneven by the very bad production choices. It is almost as if a pop producer used production qualities intended for pop artists for a fast and furious thrash band. The result was that the guitar and drum sound was weak on the previous 2 albums. Not on this one though. The problem with RiB is that the band has ditched pretty much any effort of properly structuring a cohesive album with tracks that stand alone individually. This feels as if there is one long track filling in the entire album with little variation. The exceptions are the opening and ending tracks, easily the band's best tracks. However, there are very good segments in the other tracks as well such as Necrophobic and Jesus Saves. Still, a very well executed album, one that deserves all the praises and appreciations.Trees of Eternity Hour of the NightingaleI have heard of this project long before it even released the brilliant demo EP containing 4 very good doom laden gothic tracks. This was the brainchild of Juha Raivio and Aleah Stanbridge. While the first is known as a member of Swallow the Sun, little was known of Aleah. She hadn't contributed much, except for guest vocals on a few albums here and there and a few non-metal side projects. However, I came to notice her voice from her guest session in Amorphis and I was instantly mesmerized. This album saw the moonlight after he untimely death and it only made it difficult to listen especially difficult to properly asses. There is an aura of grief and death surrounding this record more-so than most other such projects and the overall atmosphere puts even more pressure on the songs. Had Aleah died after this album was released, it would have been far easier to listen and asses. If nothing else, it would have at least been faster. It is sentimentality that makes me rate this so high. There are truly stellar moments on this record, masterpieces of gothic doom. The 4 tracks from the demo are the highlight (4, 7-9), the last track with Nick Holmes as guest vocalist, and tracks 1 and 2. Only the title track and The Passage are a bit underwhelming. Although Hallatar explores Aleah's legacy, it does come about as an inferior version of this band due to the rather unwise selection of the Amorphis vocalist as the lead singer. Tomi Joutsen is a great vocalist, but not ideal for this type of music.Vintersea IlluminatedThis album is a quantum leap forward compared to the debut. And the debut album was a very good one at that. The music is a lot heavier and more complex. This can no longer be labeled as plain old soft melodeath, this is an extreme form of progressive metal with black and death metal elements. Just take the opening track. When it starts, you are under the impression that you listen to a black metal album. You only realize that this is more than that when you reach the the short, slow keyboard part. Avienne Low is a terrific vocalist. Her clean vocals are good, reminiscent of Aleah Starbridge (particularly her lower range) but her harsh vocals are the real highlight. Avienne is like Tatiana from Jinjer on steroids. No filler tracks at all on this record. The highlights are the opening track, Crack of Light, Old Ones and Befallen. The other two are solid.4.0 excellentAmorphis TuonelaProgressive metal played safe with some middle-eastern folk influences thrown in for a good measure. This is how I would characterize Tuonela and Amorphis at this stage. It was clear from the release of Elegy that the band lost interest in innovating and refining their trademark sound established on their second album. But unlike in Elegy, where the spotlight was taken by catchy riffs and inspired, safe but good melodies, here the riffing takes a step back in favor of atmosphere. There are even some faint psychedelic moments. As you could expect, the heaviest track is also the best. "Greed" steals the spotlight by far. Other good tracks are 1, 4, 6, 7 and 10. The weakest is track 9, with its random insertion of flute.Biohazard BiohazardOne of the very few great hardcore punk bands from the 3rd generation. These guys sound so fresh, inspired and energetic when they burst into the hardcore punk scene, it was hard for you to not notice them. I do remember the early 90s when these guys were playing for very small crowds as if they were headlining a tour on a stadium full of fans. This album is a bit dated. I don't like it as much as I liked it 20 years ago for example. But the material is still extremely strong and retains a dose of vitality you rarely find in today's hardcore punk bands that can only emulate the oldies. The absolute highlight is track 12, "There and Back". Other highlights: 1-3, 5, 6, 10 and 11. No fillers. My only complaint about this album is that the guitar sound is a bit too thin, and a bit too in the background. There is a slight mixing problem on it. The guitar is not crunchy enough to pack that last punch for the KO.Blut Aus Nord HallucinogenA hard album to asses and to rate. I had to give it half a dozen spins to sink in. My first impression of it was that this is definitely not the usual dissonant traditional black metal this band played on the previous 2 records and that in style, it tends to be more similar with the material they released on the 777 trilogy. The other impression is that, although the style resembles that of the trilogy, the songs are much softer and accessible. The vocals are scarce and usually buried in the mixed. Only the impeccable choirs get a more prominent role. Instrumentals dominate. Unlike the 777 trilogy, there are no tracks that standout here. The album flows seamlessly, shifting from more catchy melodies to dull moments. The strongest tracks are 1, 3, 4 and 5, but the rest also have their moments. This is not a masterpiece, but a solid album with no filler songs, only filler sections in all songs.Burzum FallenFallen sees Varg trying to stray a bit from the original formula that made his original works known and appreciated. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on his fanbase. Those who enshrined his 90s works as the epitome of perfection will surely have a beef with this record, as can be seen with the ratings here. I am not in that category though, and I can appreciate a bit of experimentation provided that it is good. Unlike Belus, this record strays from the songwriting of his 90s works but goes back to using a more lo-fi production. Also, the atmosphere on this record is not triggered by ambient sound but by a more folksy approach. At times this seems to be a folk metal album. There are also, dare I say, catchy moments on this record, something not really common on a Burzum record. Plenty of highlights too, tracks 2-4, particularly track 2 Jeg faller has a damn catchy melody and track 7, which is almost progressive for Burzum standards. Bottom line, there is less black metal here than on his previous records (excluding the prison-albums) and this pretty much shows that Varg started to gradually move away from black metal. This is his best post-prion work.Cro-Mags The Age of QuarrelThe Cro-Mags debut album is their only purely hardcore punk release. The band started moving to a more thrash metal/crossover sound with their subsequent releases. The production on this record is quite ok, albeit a bit raw to give that street cred to the songs. There are very few mediocre tracks on this album and the band wasn't too crazy about writing the usual fast songs as most hardcore punk bands did during the day. It is their slower tracks, or sections that are the best actually. However, the album is a bit dated. The best tracks 1-3, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 14.Death Angel Frolic Through the ParkDeath Angel has the bad luck of having their best album cited as their weakest among those released in their early phase. Thrash fans were quick to lambaste this album for whatever reason, other than the music it seems. Or it was that time of the month for time. Unlike the debut, this album has a better production value and more varied songwriting. Unlike the next album, it is not overproduced, sterile, commercialized thrash-lite drivel. I guess much of the disappointment with this album comes from the fact that Death Angel took a less trve approach with thrash than the full-blown aggression on the debut. In other words, fans expected a TUV clone. Best tracks are Bored, Confused, Open Up, Mind Rape and Why You Do This. Guilty of Innocence and 3rd Floor are good as well while Road Mutants is solid. Cold Gin and Shores of Sin are average. Devil's Metal is a bit atypical, seems to be an older recording and would have fitted better on the debut album. It is a tad too primitive and doesn't really mingle well with the other songs on this album.Deep Purple BurnThis is actually the best album Deep Purple has released in their first phase as a band. Unlike most heavy metal nit-pickers, I don't like labeling this band's eras based on their line-up changes. I consider their first phase being until their break-up and second phase since they reunited onwards. This is also the only record they've made that can truly be labeled as heavy metal. The sound is much heavier here than on anything they released before or after it. There 3 stunning tracks on it, namely the title track, You Fool No One and the psychedelic tinged A 200. Tracks 2-4 are decent as well, pretty solid material. However, unlike most DP fans, I consider Mistreated as their worst song from their early phase. I don't consider a bland blues ballad with Coverdale bitch gasping on it as the epitome of artistic expression. Which brings me to say that, although Coverdale as a vocalist is better than Gillan, his voice is uncannily annoying when he sings in this manner, particularly on bluesy songs.Ex Deo The Immortal WarsIt is just puzzling how people can shower the debut, which is clearly inferior to this record with better ratings than this one. The debut album was like a warm-up phase for this band compared to the material on The Immortal Wars. This is how symphonic metal should be played. With a decent degree of variation, with focus on war-like melody (helped tremendously by the well-picked symphonic samples) a great guitar tone and a predilection to writing impressive slow, but groovy tunes. Don't get me wrong, the band sometimes ups the tempo and does it will like on track 5, however the best parts are the more slow, mid-paced one as displayed on the opening track. The production is just phenomenal, which helps elevating even the more inferior 3 last tracks. Highlights: 1-5, the rest is average to passable. The album works better as a whole rather than separated on individual tracks.Hallatar No Stars Upon the BridgeA worthy successor, but with some flaws, this is how I would describe the follow-up to Hour of the Nightingale, the first and last album released under the Trees of Eternity moniker. The music is even more meditative, dark and atmospheric, there are some slient, ambient moment that only serve to amplify the pressure and the overall feeling of loneliness, loss and grief (this is how you should use ambient sounds, not as a mean to an end, but part of a valid musical genre, otherwise it is sheer monotony). There is that constant feeling that something, or better yet someone is missing, accentuating the loss of Aleah, who is the lait-motif of the album. The uninspired choices are 1) Tomi Joutsen (while a great vocalist, this sort of music fits a female vocalist more than a male one, Heike should have sung on this from the start) 2) Lack of creative melodies and riffs (Juha admitted that he released it the way he recorded it during his grieving period, thus not remembering much of it; some songs feel underdeveloped) 3) For what it offers, it is a bit overlong. HotN had a knack to keep you in suspense. This one does not. Still, some bloody good tracks: 1, 4, 7, 8 and especially 9 where Aleah sings.Hanzel Und Gretyl Black Forest MetalThis music is not made for hipsters. The founding members behind this band are so extremely unpretentious, that they got mocked and ridiculed by the way too serious black metal fanbase. The shtick is that they like this genre actually, but in HUG (sic!) fashion they make a mockery of its own baloney imagery. Lets face it, much of what black metal is all about is more style than substance. Brainless shock value and adults acting as kids while taking this way too serious. And that is what pisses black metal hipsters the most. A band of unpretentious great musicians making fun of their plaything. This is literally the second best album made by this band, not far behind Uber Alles. Highlights are 2-4, 8 and 10, but the rest have great moments as well, a thoroughly consistent album with extremely few weak moments. Play this to your hipster friends to annoy them.Immortal All Shall FallA return to form, and finally with a good production. The reason why this album gets some undeserved bad reviews and ratings pretty much everywhere is not due to bad songwriting. 4 very good tracks on this record, the opener, Rise of Darkness, Arctic Swarm and the gargantuan ending track. It is due to the rather clean production. Finally we have an Immortal album with a decent production quality (not a flat one though and not overtly clean) and the hipsters, of course, are put off by it. Another proof that hipsters essentially do not care about the music. They want it to sound as bad as possible to give it more street cred. Good production is for plebs. This album is much better than over half of the material this band has released in their perceived prime.Lyriel Paranoid CircusCohesiveness, great song arrangements, great instrumental arrangements and very good female vocals. These are the main strenghts of Lyriel, a folk metal band with a profound folk rock flavor as well which merges both elements in a very balanced fashion, giving a whole new dimension to this music. Aside from the folk aspects of the music, there is a classical vibe to it, mostly enhanced by the various cello and violin arrangements. Jessica Thierjung is one of the most underrated female metal vocalists, particularly in a genre such as folk metal where female vocalists are more prominent. Highlights: Tracks 3, 5, 6, 9, 11 and 12. Ok songs: 2, 4, 8 and 14.Mayhem ChimeraAlthough I stressed in my review of GDoW that that album was underrated for reasons having to do with tone-deafness and narrow-mindedness, it seems that Mayhem did take some flak over it from the fans. 4 years later, they mostly ditched the avant-garde experimentation that made GDoW a unique offering, preferring a more straightforward, traditional take on black metal, but played in a very technical manner. It is as if they invented a new sub-sub-genre, technical black metal. The production is good, the songwriting is pretty inspired here as well showing that Blasphemer can do good in a more traditional environment as well and Maniac seems to be doing much better in the vocal department. Tracks such as My Death, Dark Night of the Soul, Slaughter of Dreams and the title track are among the highlights with Rape Humanity with Pride being solid. No filler tracks here either. A very good record, but not a classic.Mayhem Esoteric WarfareBlasphemer's departure from the band made myself and probably many others wonder if the band will become just a live outfit or call it quits for good. Certainly, the 7 years wait pretty much convinced a lot of people that these guys have had enough with studio recordings and would become a live act only. It was a surprise when they announced the release of this record. Listening to it a few times, I wondered whether Blasphemer was really the main songwriter on Ordo ad Chao, as this one picks up where that one left, albeit with slight modifications. The production is better, much less murky, but the overall feeling of the songs is similar with those in the previous album. The very dissonant, penetrating riffs, the tensed atmosphere that won't let go and the clever use of silence to further underline the chaos present on this record. First 5 tracks are flawless, the second part is a bit weaker, but the album ends in a high note with Posthuman and Aion Suntalia. Not a classic like their debut, and slightly inferior to their offering (due to its mid section) but this is a must have for any Mayhem fan, and BM fan. The band maintains the tradition of never repeating the same album.Megadeth Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!Speed and aggression cannot supplement good songwriting and decent production values. The original recording of this album was plagued with poor production value which helped ruining several tracks with potential. But it is no wonder. The band back in 1985, although bent on being Metallica's main rival, was more preoccupied with snorting glue rather than writing proper songs and provide a decent production value. Thrash metal has to sound a certain way in order for it to not descend into senseless cacophonous noise. The awful production does not ruin all songs though. The title track, Looking Down the Cross and Chosen Ones are as good as any classic Megadeth song. The opener is not bad either, and it gets improved on the remastered versions. In fact the reason I give this is a 4 is due to the remastered version which slightly improves the overall value of the songs. Not all of them are excellent though. Some of them are fillers (Rattlehead, Mechanix and These Boots) and no production improvement could have made it better. Particularly the Nancy Sinatra cover. Nothing ever made by this awful nepotist was musically good so it is mystifying what Mustaine saw good in this song. But that is what happens when drugs cloud your brain. You make bad musical decisions. Same as those jet-set buffoons from Metallica would make when they hire not one but two dilettantes to sing/play on their records. Out of the moronically titled Big 4, only Metallica managed to release a good debut. All the others weren't up there yet, musically speaking.My Dying Bride 34.788%... CompleteAt a time when most of the original death/doom, early gothic metal scene was either selling out (Paradise Lost) or exploring new musical ventures (Anathema, Katatona), My Dying Bride was the only bride who kept the torch up high for this genre and scene. This album represents the only time when the band experimented with new sounds and strayed from their trademark sound, this being the reason why this is rated even lower that For Lies I Sire, hands down their worst album to date. The band experiments with psychedelic sounds here, thus giving an aura or quirkiness to the songs. No filler songs here at all, with the highlights being tracks 1, 4 and 5. The other ones are good or solid. This album requires more than one spin to sink in.Razor DecibelsDon't be bothered by the overall rating. Metalheads couldn't get this more wrong. Many of them got scared about the very polished production of this record, a novelty for a Razor record who historically has been plagued by very bad produced albums. Some fans prefer their thrash albums as raw-sounding as possible. If you have people bashing this album, yet liking drivel such as "Morbid Visions", you know the opposite is the real deal. Decibels is well written, relentlessly fast and well produced, quite a fun album to listen to. Had this album been released in 1992 when thrash was still relevant, the rating would have been much higher. But 1997 was not a good year for metal in general, much less thrash metal. There is some very faint industrial experimentation on this album, mostly related to the vocals as well. First 6 tracks are stellar, with the opener ranking as one of the best Razor songs ever released. The last 4 tracks are weaker with maybe the exception of Ninedead.Siebenburgen Plagued Be Thy AngelPlagued Be Thy Angel is a worthy successor to the excellent Delictum, who is one of the best melodic black metal albums ever made. It is largely built upon the qualities of its predecessor, but with a few shortcomings that hinders it from being a standalone great album itself. The first flaw is the production, which is cleaner than on the previous record. Delictum was well produced as well, but it had the reverb and recorded-in-a-cave kinda feeling that enhanced the atmosphere present on the record. The second flaw is that Kicki is less prominent on this one, and rather than using the same fairy-like voice as on Delictum, she actually decides to sing on a few occasions. On tracks 10 and 12 her singing is decent, but on the first half of the album it mostly sounds weak. The third flaw is a lack of catchy tunes. Delictum was catchy as hell, but here it is more uneven, with a strong first half and a weaker second half. Nevertheless, there are some highlights, tracks 2-5, 9 and 12. Track 6 is very good as well. The rest is either solid or average. This is the last album with Kicki as female vocalist. The band will also split up for a few years.Sirenia The Seventh Life PathIt is mystifying how this album gets a 2.7 overall rating here when the predecessor gets a 3.7, despite the fact that these albums are essentially clones, with very little variation between them. Production is the same, songwriting is the same, even the way they structured the songs is almost the same. Even so, there are some improvements to this album compared to the previous one. It is less glossy than the typical saccharine Sirenia album, Veland's vocal delivery is more prominent here which makes the music more dynamic and heavier and the melodies used are catchier and inspired. This album also shows further vocal improvements on Ailyn's side. This album delves into the extreme side of gothic metal, particularly on tracks such as Sons of the North and Contemptuous Quietus. The major highlight is Elixir, which features Joakim Næss again. The only major complaint I have is that the album feels stretched and some songs unnecessarily long. Take for example Once My Light and The Silver Eye. They could have been trimmed around 5 minutes and improved. And of course, the production is the same like in the previous album.Strapping Young Lad Heavy as a Really Heavy ThingDevin Townsend when he was inspired, has always been with a few steps ahead compared to his peers. When this album was released, pretty much everyone that was looking at the 80s thrash bands for innovation and heavyness got terrified of it. After all, the title of the album promises really heavy music. Some moments on this album feels as if the songs can descend into chaos, but they actually have a flow and are constructed in progressive, innovative manner. This is how you make progressive extreme metal. Even more amazing is that Devin actually wrote this entire album by himself as he did not have a proper band at that point. Because this album was so ahead of its time, it usually gets underrated, although the music here is not really far behind that on City. Highlights are tracks 1, 2, 5-7. Drizzlehell is solid as well. The other ones are kind of weak and monotonous, particularly the 4th track. The bonus track are weak as well, with maybe the exception of Japan.Testament The RitualHad this album been released before they made their attempt to sell-out, it would have been received differently, which proves that sometimes timing is more important that the quality of your music when it comes to fan appreciation. It is quite clear that the core fanbase of this band were ready to slam them for their 2 previously crap albums. It is ashame though that this album got the bashing and not the previous two. This is still soft-thrash or thrash-lite, pretty much trending at the time, but it is far better executed and contains better songwriting. In a way, Testament pulled a Megadeth here, as Megadeth released their first thrash-lite album, Countdown to Extinction. Plenty of highlights on this album, some being terrific such as Electric Crown, As the Seasons Grey or Agony. The Sermon and Let Go Of My World are good too and The Ritual and So Many Lies are solid. Track 10 is the crappiest, the rest is filler. Pick this one up instead of PWYP and SoB.3.5 greatAnnihilator Alice in HellAs great as this album was when it came out, 30 years later it hasn't properly stood the test of time. Now don't get me wrong, a lot of tunes here are still fresh and sound great, the production was very good back in the day and it is still good today as well, it is just that, as time passes by, this album became less and less memorable. 30 years ago I thought it was a masterpiece, on par with other thrash classics. Now I find it a bit lackluster. The album remains very technical, Waters being an exceptionally good vocalist and on this album, and the subsequent one he avoids the wankery. Randy Rampage is the main con of this album. His voice is screechy (cringy) and on the classic Alice in Hell tune he even attempts to be operatic in a power metallic way, which is almost comical. Nevertheless, the A side is stronger (track 1-4), with the B side being more pedestrian, with the exception of Schizos. Still a noteworthy thrash/heavy metal record with impressive guitar sound and solos.Burzum Det Som Engang VarVarg's transition to a more ambient sound, although slightly present on the debut album, can actually be traced in a more conclusive form on this album. Most of the music here is slow-paced, many of them not being rooted in metal at all. However, Varg was not there yet in his attempts to blend ambient with black metal. He did not find that middle ground yet. As a result, the strong material present on this album are the more straightforward BM tracks, such as tracks 2, 3, 4 and 6. The rest are forgettable or even outright crap that he would explore in his prison albums. Still, this album is worth going through, even just for actually understanding how did Varg progress to his truly stellar gems that are his next 2 albums.Cro-Mags Best WishesThe successor to the brilliant Age of Quarrel debut is even better produced, with an even more pronounced thrash sound (this is basically crossover thrash). If you've only heard the debut album from this band and expect that Best Wishes to be more of the same or a slight variation, you are in for a surprise. They've gone from a raw open-chord hardcore punk to polished, and melodic crossover thrash, whereby it's more thrash than hardcore punk. The only thing unusual, or a slight put-off about this is Harley's unconventional vocals who are different from John Joseph's. But other than that, plenty of highlights here as well: 1, 2, 4, 8. Only Fugitive is mediocre, the rest is solid.Deicide Overtures of BlasphemyI was starting to give up on Deicide emerging from its rather long period of mediocre material. Glenn Benton seemed to be contempt to dish out the same album over and over again until he could lay down the chainsaw and become a pensioner. This album was a pleasant surprise, as unlike the previous couple of albums, it has 2 great tracks and 3-4 solid ones. In addition, it was a rather inspired choice to trim up the length by keeping the songs short (none of them go beyond the 4 minute mark) and straight to the point. The highlights are tracks 1 and 6 with tracks 2, 4, 9 and 11 being solid. Good guitar sound and impressive production quality. This is how you do a modern death metal record.Ex Deo CaligvlaAn improvement over the rather lackluster debut album, which was almost like a warm-up for them. While the overall style has not changed, the band still playing their own symphonic take on groovy death metal, there is a visible increase in the songwriting quality. Unlike the debut which contained one highlight and one solid song, this one has 3 highlights, namely tracks 3, 8 and the bonus track with its gargantuan middle section and 3-4 more solid tracks, 2, 4, 5 and 9. The guest musicians on this album definitely helped enhancing the quality of a few songs, namely 3 to 5, where they contribute.Faith No More We Care a LotI take it as a personal insult when this album is so severely underrated while that pile of turd they released recently (won't even bother naming it) is considered a good output. How the hell can you rate that lazy, sterile and boring collection of turds on their latest offerings a 7 (i.e. a good album overall) and this one a 6 point something (i.e. average album)? If you are gonna rate shit so high, then at least make sure decent outputs get a better rating (i.e. at least an 8). Some people need to clean up their ears, particularly Patton fanboys who still believe that this guy, well passed his prime, can still turn shit into gold. Ever since 2004 he hasn't released anything noteworthy. This album, same like its successor, is maltreated by Patton fanboys simply because Patton was not part of them. They know that the music here is good, but they won't ever admit that FNM was a good band even before Patton joined it. Enough with the rant. The songs here are weaker than on the sophomore album, but by no means shit. There is a good amount of filler songs, scattered mostly in the middle section of the record. The band was in its diaper phase here. The vocals are very solid, the songwriting is a bit uneven. They did not yet have a clue about their musical direction. Hints of greatness are present, particularly on tracks 1, 3, 8 and 9. Track 5 is also pretty solid. All in all, this is not really FNM's oddball record.Kreator Pleasure to KillMille and Ventor back when they were youths were more interested in playing their own version of thrash as fast and brutal as possible. Which is what Pleasure to Kill is. It sounds more professional, the remastered version improved the overall experience, but like I said many times, speed and aggression cannot replace good songwriting and a good performance. There are touches of amateurism here, timing problems and a rather pitiful drum performance that cannot keep up with the fast rhythm section. The opening prologue is amateur crap. The good points, Mille and Ventor sharing vocal duties is rather refreshing. It help break the blast-beat monotony. All the songs after the into essentially compete one against each other, who sound more brutal and fast than the other, however, ironically, he slower parts is when the band truly shines. This might've been original and even a novelty when it came out, but time hasn't been kind to it. Also, Mille didn't get some basic guitar lessons on how to write guitar solos, which honestly are rather unnecessary. It is hard to play guitar solos on a record where your plan is to break a world record in terms of speed and brutality. Hard to pinpoint any real highlights, as almost all songs sounds the same. There are good section on each of them.M.O.D. Gross MisconductThe successor of the excellent debut album of MOD is brilliant as well, although not as good. The main complaint I have against it is that the band somewhat diluted their thrash playing with a few corny melodies and softened the overall approach to their unique blend of crossover thrash. Although this is more thrash than crossover by now. The band went for a more melodic path so some tracks give you the feeling that they lack the final punch. Nevertheless, many highlights on this one as well: 1-4, 7, 8, 10 and 14. This was a time when even hardcore punk band were keen to experiment with various sounds and do everything they can to not sound all the same, to overuse the formula. Unfortunately, none of today's hardcore punk bands sound as good as this. Or even remotely close.Mayhem Grand Declaration of WarSeverely bashed for its tendency to step into unknown grands, GDoW is a whole different monster, different than what Mayhem released in the past. It is nothing like the primitive, amateurish stuff released in the 80s, nothing like DMDS, and different than WLA. The production is good for a black metal album, the songwriting is also very experimental, but somehow this is one of those albums that you could never make it reach its full potential in studio recording. GDoW shines the most in a live setting. I remember seeing live footage from Mayhem concerts with Maniac back in the 2000s when they were playing tracks from this album. It was as if the studio and live recordings were different songs. This album is quite unique among the black metal scene. Nothing like it has ever been replicated, not even by the same band. There are elements of spoken word, noise, drone and electronic bits mixed with traditional black metal, giving this record it own distinct personality. The guitars are the highlight on this record. No fillers here at all. If the studio record had the power and dynamics of the live renditions of these tracks, I would have given this a 4.5 rating. But since it doesn't, 3.5 will suffice.Ministry RelapseAl's heaviest album since Houses of the Mole which to this day remains his thrashiest record. One terrific track, Relapse (despite having stupid lyrics), Ghouldiggers, Al's personal experience with record labels, Freefall (Al's autobiography about drug consumption), Double Tap and the S.O.D. cover being decent to very good tracks. Some filler material here but hey, the fact that Al could pull this off in his early 50s is impressive. This is how industrial metal should be done.Mordred Fool's GameMordred was a novelty and a new entry in many way during the late 80s thrash metal scene. Already the big names of this movement started to soften their sound by the time this album was released and most of the late-comers were mere copy-cats, bent on copying their idols without providing an ounce of inspiration to their music. Not Mordred though. The production of this album is squeaky clean, albeit a bit dated and the band itself is very professional in regards to the way they approach their music. Still, the very clean production and the focus on soft, very melodic thrash prevented the band from packing a punch, of providing a truly outstanding effort. Fans of F&J in particular will like this album. One terrific track, State of Mind and 4 very good ones, Spectacle of Fear, The Artist, Shatter and Numb. The rest are solid, even the funky, record-scratching 3rd track is decent. Deftones gets credited for introducing this new 'instrument' in metal music but it is actually Mordred who first did this infamous deed.Slaughter (CAN) StrappadoDigging up some old-school thrash records that for some reason were forgotten by time, I somehow managed to find this rather obscure, back-in-the-day thrash band. While most old-school thrash bands that were forgotten in the 80s and 90s deserve to be forgotten (they suck basically), these guys do not. Part of the reason they were forgotten was because they never really went beyond their Canadian confines and this album was hard to find back in the 80s. Anyway, this is a very primitive form of death-tinged thrash record with some hardcore punk influences. They play their music even more raw than Razor, early Voivod or Sacrifice did, which is an extraordinary feat. You can hear from this record a bunch of big thrasheads having fun with the music they love. They are like a textbook example of a raw, primitive thrash band. Highlights are tracks 1, 5, 6 and 9 with the rest being solid material, no real filler, just a few weak segments in a few songs. Get the remastered edition.Vintersea The Gravity of FallUntil 3 days ago I had no idea this band existed and it took me just that, 3 days and a few spins to actually get into them. Above all else, this is progressive metal music with a clear death metal influence. Whoever labeled this alternative rock is clearly tone-deaf. Just because they have some slower parts that tend to be more on the acoustic side that doesn't make them alternative rock. The chick singing, forgot her name is similar with the one from Jinjer in terms of vocal delivery. She can do both screams, growls and very good clean singing thus allowing the band members to explore different chromatic sounds. Plenty of highlights on this album, tracks 2, 3, 4, the epic gargantuan Crevasee, a real progressive jewel which I haven't heard in a long time and last 2 tracks. A few fillers here and there but overall a very solid debut album. Kudos to the band members for not introducing too much instrumental wankery, which is the major con of most progressive bands. They tend to show-off their instrumental skills too much and forget the songwriting aspect of their music. Not here though. And unlike other progressive metal bands, the guitarists did not get the bad idea of cramming too many riffs in the music.3.0 goodAsagraum Potestas Magicum DiaboliStill listening to this so rating might change. After 2 spins I realized that these ladies can play black metal really well and their incessant coverage in metal magazines for the past few weeks is not pointless. Although I am quite sure that the reason they were so well promoted is not due to the music, but due to the fact that an all-woman band plays black metal, a male dominated genre. These ladies combine the orthodox black metal elements from the 90s with occasional dissonant riffing, inspired by Deathspell Omega and the like. There is a high degree of interesting melodies lingering on this record, not just relentless blast-beat primitve black metal. So far the second half of the album is better, particularly tracks 5, 6 and 8. The first half is a bit lackluster, with plenty of fillers and only the 4th track sticking out as the main highlight with its very melodic riff in the middle section. This band has the potential to improve even further.Asagraum Dawn of Infinite FireI expected the second album to be better, to show some songwriting progress, but it seems that this band is content to recycle the second-wave black metal cliches and formulaic songwriting with very little novelty. Whatever novelty they bring are influences borrowed from the more dissonant black metal, popularized by Deathspell Omega and that is present here too. The band should probably learn that relentless blast-beasts can be good if used more moderately. Turning your music into sport is not exactly a good idea, from a songwriting point of view. In addition, if you plan to play your music as fast as possible, make sure you hire a better drummer. There are moments in some songs when the drummer can't keep up with the rhythm. It would also be a good idea to keep the vocals buried in the mix as this kind of sore-throat Orc vocals is detrimental to the music if pushed too much in the front. A few highlights, tracks 1, 2, 8 and 9. There are other bits and pieces that sound good, but it is mostly when the band slows done the tempo. Whenever they speed up and overuse blast-beats, they are boring and monotonous. And what's the problem if the vocalist hates immigrants and likes white nationalists? What does this has to do with music?Assassin Interstellar ExperienceAn improvement over the overrated and the not-so-obscured-as-it-deserves debut album. But not by much. In essence the band sounds better. The performance is more tight, less off-key off-tune moments, the production has improved, but it is clear that there was no talented songwriter in this band to actually make this album go beyond the average-passable impression. The band wanted to clone Reign in Blood in essence. Look at the album length and the focus on being as fast and brutal as possible. As a result, with the exception of the first 2 tracks, all the songs sound the same. There is almost no variety but not so many bad/awful moments either. One cannot blame you if this band went over your radar in the 80s. Or even if it goes under the radar now. This is essentially a 3rd tier thrash band.Burzum AskeNot much happening on this EP. Stylistically speaking it is an off-shoot of the band's debut LP. It features a terrific track, the opener Stemmen fra tårnet, one of the more aggressive tracks composed during Burzum's early days, the second track is unremarkable, an instrumental track which gives way to the true highlight, a re-recorded version A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit. which is superior to the original version as it has a better production quality, it is played faster and features better mixing. However, Aske doesn't make for a good standalone record, even for an EP. Get it with the debut.Burzum UmskiptarUmskiptar pretty much ends a string of 3 albums (excluding the compilation) which exhibit the core 3 post-prion black metal releases of Burzum. Everything Varg made after this is plinka-plonka ambient dross. Like the predecessor, Fallen, Umskiptar as its own beast. It builds upon the new territories explored on Fallen, but it also ventures into even more bizarre territories. However, unlike in Fallen, Varg had the very bad idea of breaking this album in half, drum-wise. Half of the album is with drums, half is devoid of it. The drum-less songs are uneven, but the songs with drums truly shine. If Varg decides in the future to actually re-record the entire record with drums, this one would be as good as Belus and Fallen. Without them, Umskiptar will remain a noteworthy but inferior work. Still it is worth to check this one out.Dark Angel Time Does Not HealLess is more. Don't believe Malmsteen fans that more is more. In this case, less is more. And somebody should have told the band this. It is never a good idea to cram up 246 riffs into your music if you have no idea how to properly structure them to make a cohesive album. As a result, some sections of this album can be labeled riff salads. Because that is what they are. Disjointed sections glued together by unrelated riff melodies. Nevertheless, there are a few notable tracks, such as the opener, tracks 3-5 and track 8. The singer was a poor choice, but then again I can't blame him, the music is so over the place sometimes that it is hard to hit the notes. However this goofy vocalist would have been more suitable for power metal bands, not for a technical thrash band. The vocalist on DD would have been more appropriate for this music. I've seen these guys live back in the early 1990s and they had more tuning and synch problems than 100 early black metal bands combined. Every band member was playing their own song in their own concert, despite being on the same stage. Ridiculous.Exodus Fabulous DisasterExodus is one of those bands that many thrash-heads moan that they are unjustly not included in the Big 4 corporate malarkey. While I do agree that they should be mentioned in one breath with other thrash classics, there are several reasons why they never made it there and the most important one was hiring Souza. It is his screechy vocals that ruin half of these songs and one of the primary reasons why Exodus never really got the attention it deserved and broke out a few years later. But that is not the only reason. Throwing away the tritonus based evil riffs that made Bonded By Blood a classic was also a huge mistake. On this album we have Exodus playing happy blues-based thrash riffs. Well not all over it, but you get the idea. The third was bad management decisions. Anyway, there are a few worthy tracks on this record, tracks 1-4. Track 4 is the best. The last track is solid as well. The rest is pedestrian, made even worse by Souza's nail-to-the-wall screech vocals. And while I don't give 2 cents on lyrics, I can't notice the obvious cretinous leftarded lyrics in some of the songs such as 'the prison system, inherently unjust and inhumane'. This is something leftist hipsters spewed back then and spewed today as well, although much more vocally now. God have mercy on us when thrash bands go all political. Particularly when their political views are as infantile as those of a teenybopper.Kreator Endless PainThere is a nostalgic aura revolving around this album, as I never really understood why it gets so praised when it is quite clear from the get-go that half of this album is amateur-hour. The band was way too young to play proper thrash tunes at this point, as such, this album seems to have been released a few years too early. Half of the time the timing is off, the guitar and drum parts are off-synch most of the time and the riffs are weak, particularly when played fast they sound like a mess. The production doesn't help this album either. There are a few good tunes that could be improved if re-recorded such as tracks 1-3 and 5 and improved with a better production (although not the squeaky-clean Kreator production used today), but suffice to say that what we have here is a bunch of kids signed to a major underground label that did not really got to learn how to play their instruments, how to play tight as a band and how to properly compose tunes. They rely much of riffs borrowed from the likes of Exodus and Slayer. Nevertheless, for a bunch of teenagers this is an extraordinary feat.Mayhem Dawn of the Black HeartsNot a bad live album. Much of its notorious reputation comes from the original cover of the album depicting the vocalist when he shot his brains out. Nevertheless, musically speaking this live album contains some of the band's early classics. The demo tracks are more audible and discernible here than on the 1985 demo which gives us a better chance at hearing and appreciating those tracks. However, if you want to hear a better live album soundwise than this one from Mayhem's early days pick up Live in Leipzig. That one is the best sounding live album of Mayhem's pre DMDS years. Well best sounding according to early BM standards that is.Ministry From Beer to EternityAl Jourgenssen has been past his prime for some years before the eked another record, supposedly his last. However, this guy has one of the most impressive discographies released by an industrial metal artist ever. Brilliant in the 90s, very good in the 2000s, Al released some landmark albums for this genre, but for extreme metal overall as well. The Last Sucker was his major failure and I was happy that he came back to release Relapse, which was a return to form. FBtE is a tribute album, dedicated to the late Mike Scaccia who died of heart disease related complications and it is swansong of sort, but not a classic, far away from Ministry's high standard. Still, there are 2 very good tracks, Punch in the Face and Permawar with Change of Luck being quite solid as well. The rest is average to forgettable. If you are a Ministry fan, it is safe for you stop here. The next album is a turd.Razor Open HostilityRazor is one of the weirdest thrash bands in existence. It is almost as if the members had moods, or bipolar personalities. They released much of their catalog in less than a decade, yet never before have I seen a band with so much lottery-like randomness when it comes to song-writing and production quality. It is like flipping a coin. Good album - bad album. Well produced - badly produced. Open Hostility is somewhere in between. It has a decent production (much better than Shotgun Justice, weaker than Decibels) but the songwriting is rather uneven. This is textbook thrash metal with 0 experimentation. Just relentless, fast-paced thrash but with few noteworthy tracks. Not much filler material either, it is just that bland and good parts are scattered throughout most of the tracks with In Protest, Sucker for Punishment and Free Lunch sticking out of the bunch.Sepultura Chaos A.D.For any other band, this album would be below average. But in the case of Sepultura, this album is elevated by two oustanding, perfect songs, namely Amen and Territory. It is pity that such good tracks have no other equals on this album, pretty much all the other tracks being forgettable compared to these two. There are a few more solid ones such as the opener, Biotech is Godzilla and Slave New World, but overall this was the last decent effort this band could provide. Pretty much everything they released afterwards was inferior in quality. If this album would have been released as an EP containing only the aforementioned tracks it would have been the single greatest Sepultura release. They have their good and solid albums, but they never really put out something outstanding.Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young LadThe successor of City, although hyped and very highly regarded today is nonetheless the least impressive SYL album. There are a number of reasons why this album was bound to be a step down from City. Devin admitted in several interviews that he was far more interested in Accelerated Evolution (one of his solo albums) rather than recording this album. Although he composed 95% of the material here, he allowed Jed Simon and Gene Hoglan to write some songs and to handle the production. As a result, with the exception of 2 tracks, everything else is pedestrian and this album has the least impressive production quality of all 5 SYL albums. Still, Relentless and Aftermath are head and shoulders classics, on par with the best tracks on the debut and City. Particularly Aftermath with its gargantuan long fast-thrash part in the second half, one of the best moments not only in SYL's catalog, but in metal overall.Theatres Des Vampires CandylandTdV has always been a band stuck in the 'guilty pleasure' and for good reason. Their music is so corny, so cliche, so full of gimmicks and sometimes outright stupid shenanigans that you always have to take them with a grain of salt. This did not help them throughout their career to reach at least half of the level of popularity Cradle of Filth enjoys, despite the fact that both bands share many things in common. However, Dani Filth at least had a more realistic vision and a tad bit more talent at finding musicians to enhance his vision from a musical point of view. TdV was not blessed with this, as such they never really released a great album. Suicide Vampire came closest. Even Sonya's stage antics and skimpy outfits did not help the band become more notorious which kinda shows that even among the more fetish-oriented metalheads, fan-service is not enough to sell your music. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean they can't be catchy while being simplistic. On this album they play a mix of gothic metal with industrial and symphonic elements which is very unpretentious. The highlights tracks 2, 6, 8 and 10. Tracks 2 and 7 are solid while the rest are filler material or outright shit (tracks 3 and 4). If you are looking for something light to listen to, unpretentious, with a good production and slightly weird vocals, then give this one a go.2.5 averageBurzum BelusMost people complain about this album being too repetitive as if repetitiveness has not been the main trait of Burzum since it began. How can you like the classic 90s albums who are repetitive, but not like this one due to repetitiveness? There is a glimmer of truth though. The early Burzum albums had a knack to find some good melodies and repeat them as much as possible, like squeezing an orange out of all of its juice. Belus has little inspired melodies to squeeze juice from. And there aren't many melodies in it anyway. Varg had a knack in the past to find a hypnotic melody and use and reuse it over and over again. This was the reason why his minimalist music didn't feel a chore to listen to. But in this case, he wasn't inspired enough. The middle section is better with the rest being totally forgettable. This should have been released as an EP.Death Angel The Dream Calls for BloodDeath Angel has never been 1st tier thrash band back when this sub-genre musically mattered so when I heard that they were reuniting I expected essentially nothing and I got nothing, for the most part. The previous 3 albums since their reunion were extremely weak and boring, happy soft-thrash by the numbers. It was clear that the reason they reunited was not because they still had some hidden stash of interesting riffs from the first 2 album recording session, but because they needed to pay some bills. This album constitutes a slight improvement. There are 4 solid tracks, 4, 5, 9 and 10 and a great Sabbath cover as a bonus track while the rest is the same old boring formulaic thrash that we all heard of. What prevents this album to be above average is the gradual deterioration of Osegueda's vocals who starts sounding more like Zetro.Devin Townsend EmpathWhenever DT goes the extra mile to pointlessly praise an album before its release, you know something fishy is going to happen. And it happened. This is DT literally venturing into Disney music (the metal variety). He came close on previous albums to this sound/songwriting, but he was inspired enough to pull more creative tunes, not these mostly boring, cringy tunes. No terrific tracks, 3 decent ones (Borderlands, Requiem and Adrift) and a totally worthless bonus disk which contains the hands-down worst DT track ever released, This is Your Life. The fact that DT has run out of ideas on this record is proven by the incessant need to rehash material from the Deconstruction album, which wasn't particularly great either but much better than 80% of the material here. A lot of stuff is also rehashed from Sky Blue/Dark Matters. How the hell can you transgress from a SYL/Deconstruction track such as Hear Me to a Disney/Broadway track like Why? Only DT knows. I rest my case.Galneryus Into the PurgatoryGalneryus seems like a more metallized version of X Japan minus the Barry Manilow kind of ballad drudgery this band has been playing. Remain Behind is the only thing that comes close to the X Japan ballads and it obviously stinks. Sometimes fun to listen to, sometimes awfully cheesy, sometimes boring and too samey. Not for the lactose intolerant mind you. The singer emulates the X Japan vocalist perfectly though, even when he tries to sing in English which gets very comical. Not too impressed of power metal versions of AC/DC, keen on dishing out the same album after album to please their fan-base. Stuck in a rut bands are not my taste, I like my metal more varied. You heard one Galneryus record, you kinda heard them all. So far, after 2 spins, the only song that somehow sticks out is the 4th one with an interesting section emerging from minute 18:00 to about 20:00. although I get a deja vu feeling about it. There are a few more entertaining sections in some other sections, but most of them emerge when the wankery is not present. And the obvious awful moments, such as in track 6. Had I been a guitar fetishist I probably would have rated this album even higher. Since I am not, and care more about songwriting and song structuring, this is mostly pedestrian music for me. Fun to listen to sometimes, gets old after a few songs and you start using the forward button, and very few memorable sections.Mayhem DeathcrushCompared to their demo, this EP is a quantum leap in terms of musicianship and production. But from here to being considered a classic, it is a long way to go.rThere is still some amateur work festering in this short EP. Its biggest advantage is that it is short. But other that there is little musical quality here, even by 1st wave BM standards. This is a very primitive thrash/death record. It would take a few more years until Euronymous and the gang make the blueprint for BM.rEven so, for a bunch of guys barely out of their teens, this is decent.Summoning With Doom We ComeSummoning has been on a downward spiral ever since releasing Oath Bound in 2006, which can be considered the last great album they've made. Already the album preceding this one, while still having some memorable tunes, showed signs of a lack of creativity. This album felt like dropping into the abyss in Khazad-dum. The production is atrocious, the songwriting is almost completely devoid of inspiration, most of the tracks feel as if they were leftovers from the previous album recordings meshed up together into an incoherent cacophony. Silvertine and Night Fell Behind are the only decent tunes. Mirklands and the title track had potential, as they contained a few good sections but due to their unnecessary long length they are a chore to listen to. Which pretty much shows that making your songs so long without having anything interesting to show does not make the songs more epic. Maybe in another 10 years the boys can come up with more decent material. God knows who will wait until then.2.0 poorDeath Angel HumanicideSigning with Nuclear Blast seems to have been a bad business and musical choice for Death Angel. Trying to play old-school thrash with this modern, very plastic production quality is a recipe for failure. But then again Death Angel, ever since reuniting in 2001 has only been preoccupied with dishing one average/crap album after another with no real intention to actually stray from this formula or even attempt to make something a bit more creative. Another AC/DC of thrash metal. The Evil Inside showed that if they try, they can release 2-3 decent tunes, but on Humanicide there is little to offer in terms of musical quality. On top of that the album is plagued by mixing issues too. Thrash metal is a young man's game. Expecting these old fogies who have always been a 2nd tier thrash band to become relevant now when they are slowly reaching (or have reached, dunno) their 50s is like pulling a lottery win ticket.Ex Deo RomulusAmazing how the weakest of all 3 Ex Deo releases has a better rating here than the excellent 3rd record. You can hear in this record the recipe for greatness that would peak on the subsequent two releases, but there is something lacking here. Catchy, well written tunes. You can dress this up how much you want with a bombastic sound and a terrific production, but at the end of the day the riffs are simply dull and uninteresting, making this a chore to listen to. There is one highlight though, which is track 2 and a decent moment on track 9 but that's it. It is quite clear that the band did not yet know what to do with their trademark death metal sound and how to blend it with bombastic orchestral arrangements.Forbidden Twisted into FormFor many years, if not decades, I have given this album many chances, trying to understand why it gets at least half of the praises it unworthily gets and I still can't find a reason why this album is so praised as a sort of thrash classic. Forbidden has always been a 3rd tier 80s thrash band who set for itself great ambitions but they did not have the chops to achieve them. Simply put, they had no good sense for catchy melodies, they have a tendency to go into technical wankery, they tend to cram mutually exclusive riffs in some songs, creating literally a riff salad and the songs, particularly on this album, lack the energy of even more melodic thrash bands. Apparently, the last Dark Angel album was influenced by this album so now I understand why their last album was so atonal. Only highlights are tracks 6 and 8, but they are merely solid tracks, nothing great about them. The rest is pretty much forgettable. Get the 3rd album. Despite the rating, it has 4 good to great tracks.Razor Executioner's SongThis was Razor in its edgelord phase. A period characterized by band members not knowing well their musical direction and what kind of music they want to compose. Coupled with amateurish decision in choosing production quality and mixing and here you have Executioner's Yawn, pardon, got confused, Executioner's Song. Due to the very, very bad production, a typical pop production that pushes the vocals to the front while burying the guitar in the mix, whatever potential these songs may have is forsaken. There is a reason why thrash metal started in the 80s and not in the 70s or 60s. The technology wasn't there yet. And even when it was, there were few people who knew how to properly use it, thus explaining why so many thrash bands had production difficulties in their early days. Razor is a rather schizophrenic band in a sense, which I explained in my Open Hostility review. They recorded brilliant stuff and mediocre or outright crap stuff in a very short amount of time (less than 10 years). Their debut LP falls into the mostly crap stuff. The song with some potential that somehow sticks out is the opener, but even that one has its potential limited by the awful production. It is nothing short of a miracle how this band in one year and a half jumped from poorly written/produced dross such as the debut EP and this LP, to the excellently done Evil Invaders, a true thrash classic. Were they abducted by aliens and lobotomized after before releasing Evil Invaders?1.5 very poorAssassin The Upcoming TerrorThis 'forgotten thrash gem' is forgotten and underrated for a reason. This is an early attempt by some clueless teens to figure out how to play this thrash-thing when they clearly had no basic grasp of musical instruments. But in a way, they are pretty much in line with most of the German thrash scene. When thrash started becoming popular overseas, German record companies had to hire young thrash bands as there were no established, professional thrash acts in the mid 1980s in Germany. The timing is off on the entire album, the vocalist is off-key, the solos are random and uninteresting and the production is horrendous as well. No highlights here. Avoid.Burzum HlidskjalfThis is what happens when some people are bored in prison. They start promoting crap ambient albums as musical projects. And of course, Burzum fans praise this as the epitome of musical bliss simply because a criminal misfit that has a somewhat legendary status (mostly for negative non-musical aspects) has released it. If people actually made an effort to clean up their ears before listening to this, this album would have gotten proper treatment. A one way ticket to the garbage dump. But since we live in the age of hipsterdom, this stuff is recognized as music. No, this is amateur hour. Some bored prison convict playing with the keyboard and releasing his noise as music. Laughable.Burzum From the Depths of DarknessGet the original. The three new tracks on this one has nothing to offer. The compilation as a whole mostly ruins the tracks. The production is cleaner, which ruins the unique mood of the original songs and the re-recorded vocals are much weaker than on the originals, a testament to Varg's declining ability to screech like a Gundabad Orc. No wonder he went full-blown folksy on later works with clean vocals. The guy can barely handle harsh vocals anymore. I don't know what Varg was thinking when he released this. It reeks of dollar signs, but from whom? Make his old work accessible to a new audience? If he thought he could squeeze more money from his loyal fanbase he thought wrong. There is no way anyone who appreciates his early work would even spend a dime for this collection of rehashed turds.Cro-Mags RevengeThe reunion of Parris Mayhew and Harley Flanagan was much talked of and the release of this album was very anticipated back in the day. Parris Mayhew has gone on record multiple times that this album, in his opinion, is the best offering under the Cro-Mags moniker. That couldn't be more wrong, as pretty much everything here is subpar, songwriting wise. Yes, the production is good, the performance tight, but the track arrangements and the songwriting is nowhere near the first 3 albums. If anything, the quality on this record is similar with the 4th Cro-Mags record which Mayhew hates. Deciding to play pop-punk wouldn't be a problem if only the band had the wisdom to separate the pop-punk tracks from the hardcore punk ones, rather then having one following the other. It makes the album even harder to listen to knowing that after a passable hardcore punk track you get a pop-punk one.Exumer Possessed by FireFor millennials, this album may be energetic and well written, but for those of us who actually caught a few glimpses of how thrash started, we know that this was actually a forgettable album. And the band a total hack. The tracks that are played fast have a timing issue. Furthermore, a lot of the riffs that many have the impression thay are inspired, creative and fresh are actually borrowed from the likes of Slayer, Exodus and Kreator. Wait, let me reformulate, not borrowed but stolen actually. There is not a smidgen of inspiration in this album, only stuff blatantly stolen from other more prolific and creative thrash bands. Now, I have nothing against stealing a few ideas from an established band provided that you are capable of building up on it and create something, if not original, at least decent sounding. Turns out that Exumed had no songwriting talent, only thief-talent in their ranks. This may sound good to those that have not listened a lot of thrash albums, or for youngsters, but once you know how this thrash thing works and listened the more relevant bands, you will notice how sloppy this record is.Ministry AmeriKKKantOne decent song here: Twilight Zone. The rest is either filler or outright crap. There is a serious lack of heavyness in this record. If this were Within Temptation or whatever soft metal band, I wouldn't have complained, but this is frigging Ministry. With the exception of his 80s stuff, pretty much everything he has released was rooted in a form of extreme metal. This is pure fluff, a clear point that Al is getting old for this. Metal is young man's game, and the fact that this old fart could pull it off into his 50s is nothing less than an achievement. However, FBtE should have been his real last album. As for the reason this album is bashed to such a high degree, it has nothing to do with the music, but with the message. Back in the mid 2000s it was acceptable and praise-worthy to be a mindless leftist Antifa -loving NPC. Today it isn't. The younger generation that is slowly eking its head is more conservative than the millennials, thus more weary of such message. They've seen and experienced the intolerance of the left far too many times to be fooled anymore. And it is not like Al changed. He has been the same for over 30 years already, writing the same old leftist-inspired Castro-worshiping lyrics, despite being Cuban-born.Possessed Revelations of OblivionI went into this expecting nothing and what do you know? Nothing I got. Chances for this band to have made some at least worthy of being put together with their classics were almost 0 since Mike Torrao, the principle songwriter on the 80s stuff is not part of the band. The only good thing about this album is the production quality. The songwriting is mediocre all across the board. The vocals, while still good, are inferior to the vocal quality Becerra provided in the 80s. Becerra was so proud of his band contributing to the development of death metal yet they now devolved into a thrash band. So, 3 more albums and they will play what? Power metal? There is a good section in one of the songs, forgot which one, but overall this album is mediocre, even outright shit on some occasions. The current Possessed has no songwriter in their ranks who can elevate their music beyond boredomness.Profanatica Rotting Incarnation of GodAnother black metal band that relies more on style over substance. As mentioned in another review, speed and aggression cannot supplement good songwriting quality. Gimmicks such as shoddy album covers, satanic lyrics and the overall evil aura that surrounds this band is not enough to impress me or any listener that actually seeks some actual musical quality. This album has a mixing problem, not really a production problem, the production seems to be decent. But the mixing sounds as if a pop producer mixed this. The guitar tone is weak and buried in the mix which is a travesty for any form of extreme metal. The Orc vocals, who seems like he caught a cold, is pushed in the front, together with the relentless blast beats that are way too overused, thus turning the music monotonous. As such, all songs sound the same. The song structuring is also formulaic, with the exception of one song in the second half of the album, which is least annoying one (forgot which). Almost all songs start with blast beats, move to a slower middle section and end with more blast beats. Had I been a teen or in my early 20s I might have liked this. But since I ain't anymore, this kind of music is pedestrian. Kids, best avoid. Even for black metal, this is fairly weak. I am willing to reward anyone who can actually tell apart one song from the other.Rammstein UntitledEasily the worst Rammstein album. The only listenable track is the one that put off many hipsters, Deutchland, even though this track is stricken with PC-like lyrics and awkward backing vocals. However the rest is extremely dull, even outright crap. This album makes the singer's solo project seem like pinnacle of musical experience. Rammstein has put out a few good records and the occasional bad one but with 1-2 hits that still saved it. This one barely has one listenable track, but even that one is a recycled one (its extended version contains a section taken from Sonne). You think that spending 10 years until releasing the next album would reinvigorate their musical creativity after a very good record... my ass!1.0 awfulBurzum Daudi BaldrsLook, I can understand if this is trolling and I can imagine Varg trolling his hipster audience with such minimalist amateur hour ambient drivel, however, to my surprise, I can find this dross in frigging vinyl format!! Which begs the question, who is so tone-deaf to actually find some glimmer of musical quality in this record? The answer is hipsters! If it weren't for hipsters, who essentially do not listen to an album because of the music, but because of Varg's 'legendary' shenanigans, Burzum would have been a forgotten project by now. I can understand the interest for Varg's early 90s output. There is musical quality there and some effort put in actually making good music. But here? This is cringe-worthy only. And labeling it as dungeon synth is a travesty. This is HACK noise packaged as some serious musical record. Avoid.Burzum Sol austan, Mani vestanMore ambient drivel from a guy that has clearly lost it. And yet another ambient album that is provided in vinyl format, showing that there is interest in this travesty. Do hipsters listen to albums with their ears or with their asses? Or penises? Do they get boners when they are assaulted with this collection of boring one-dimensional noises? In an utopian world, hipsters will surely be the first people who would volunteer to have chips implanted into their bodies, just because they perceive it as a new trend. Same as in music. The more drivel sounding an ambient album is, the more hipsters are attracted to it like shit is attracted to flies. Good thing Varg finally quit making music overall. Or at least under the Burzum moniker. Those early works have already been buried under a huge pile of crap albums. This is not music, this is mockery.Burzum The Ways of YoreMore ambient dross. This kind of music is just awful, even a lazy-ass man or woman can pull out something more musical our of their asses than Varg can from his idiotic ambient sounds. The guy may have had a glimmer of talent in combining skillfully ambient with black metal, but he clearly sucks at making a purely ambient album. And I can't blame him, ambient music is an oxymoron. This record reeks of amateurism and it is like Varg was under the assumption that his fanatical fanbase would pretty much buy even his recordings of farts and label them as the epitome of musical expression. There is no music here, just pointless drivel going on and on for tens of minutes until it is finally over. It is as if you force the entire world to endure 1 hour of Apocalypse only to return back to their normal lives. Utter garbage.Lingua Ignota ALL BITCHES DIELike the new album Caligula, there is virtually no redeeming quality here. This is the kind of music only hipsters would like (or force themselves to like and never come back to it) and then show off in front of their hipster friends, bragging how they out-hipped them. But unlike Caligula, which I could finish, this one is even more tedious to listen and overlong (well Caligula was overlong as well). Ambient samples with shoddy vocals is not really my idea of good musical quality. Because it never is. And no wonder Diamanda Gallas or whatever her name is, is mentioned as an influence. This is basically a carbon copy of her, but even more hollow. And Diamanda's music itself is crap. When I listened to the first track I thought this is a parody of something as it sounded as if someone was hitting pots and pans. Was this a parody of housewives? Then the hysterical Orcish vocals kicked in and that was the icing on the cake. It did put a smirk on my face though. Great feat. Pretty much everything about this music screams of an incessant need to attract attention. And it succeeded at that. This is the ideal music to torture ISIS terrorists in Guantanamo during their interrogation.Lingua Ignota CaligulaAwful stuff. Just noise with random screams/humming on stolen samples.rSeen some people saying something about RYM going crazy over this. Well that is partly because of my review there. Which even the artist got news of and got pissed.rThis is nothing more than hipster fodder. We all know that hipsters care nothing about music in general and are more interested in non-musical aspects.rLingua Ignota is like the perfect shit that attracts flies. Here you have a woman with a past full of domestic abuse, playing her role as a victim thus attracting many people who sympathize with her, disregarding the fact that there is no music.rWhen your story sells more and is the focus of attention rather than your music, then there is no music, or at least no good music to back up your notoriety.rAs I said on RYM, had it been a healthy young man making this shit, The Guardian or Pitchfork wouldn't have noticed this. But since it is a woman with a sad story to tell, this noise became the epitome of musical expression.Mayhem Pure Fucking ArmageddonLook, I get why this is appreciated. Mayhem has a legendary status, but does anyone actually listens to the music on this demo?rThe stuff here is barely audible. This is not even the typical sewer production of an early 2nd wave black metal album. This is just pure inaudible. Whatever frigging musical quality this might have had it all goes down the drain because the production is in shambles.rI respect Mayhem for what it would represent later on, but this demo pretty much shows some guys in their late teens having no clue about playing an instrument and no clue about studio recording. Amateur work.Sodom Obsessed by CrueltyDo people actually listen music with their ears or with their asses? How can this spastic, atonal, off-tune, primitive crap have a 3.6 average? I tell you why, hipsters and edgelords. This album and especially the early phase of Sodom in general is hyped as precursor to black metal and thus this album and the previously released EP get undeserved attention. But even so, had fans actually listened to this album with their ears, rather than their asses, they would have notice that more than half the time the band members are off-synched. It is as if everybody is playing randomly, incoherently, fast primitive thrash riffs and on top of that, with a very bad production quality. How the hell this band recorded Persecution Mania just 1 year after releasing this pile of dung is beyond me. It is as if two different bands played on this record. Nothing here stands out, mostly because of the extremely bad songwriting, sewer production quality and most likely, a lack of proper instrumental handling. The Sodom guys were still young and they seem as if they did not yet master their instruments, a thing noticeable on the works preceding this album. Avoid. Whatever stylistic significance this album may have to future sub-genres, the fact remains that there is no songwriting quality to be found here. Except for hipsters and edgelords.
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
