DarkNoctus
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Reviews 46
Approval 91%

Soundoffs 309
News Articles 50
Band Edits + Tags 9
Album Edits 105

Album Ratings 2122
Objectivity 86%

Last Active 01-24-22 10:46 am
Joined 02-09-10

Review Comments 12,202

Average Rating: 3.36
Rating Variance: 0.89
Objectivity Score: 86%
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5.0 classic
40 Watt Sun The Inside Room
This is essentially a more grown up version of Watching From A Distance, and I mean that in the most flattering way possible.
40 Watt Sun Wider than the Sky
there aren't many things wider than that
A Forest of Stars Opportunistic Thieves of Spring
A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Agalloch Pale Folklore
Agalloch Ashes Against the Grain
Agalloch Marrow of the Spirit
Ahab The Divinity of Oceans
Alcest Kodama
Altar of Plagues Teethed Glory and Injury
sorry for doubting you, altar of plagues. album of the year so far. :]
Amia Venera Landscape The Long Procession
Amorphis Silent Waters
Amorphis Skyforger
Anathema Judgement
heh changed my mind, anathema's best for sure and one of my favourite albums ever without a doubt. :]
Anathema Distant Satellites
way better than weather systems, not as good as some of their best albums but this album is everything i wanted it to be. welcome back, anathema!
Antimatter Black Market Enlightenment
makes the anathema album from this year look like absolute shite - this is how emotional, atmospheric rock is done. diverse, emotionally pulverising and unrelenting. so, so good.
Asylum Party Borderline
Ataraxie L'être et la Nausée
album of the year
Bell Witch Longing
Bell Witch Four Phantoms
Bell Witch Mirror Reaper
absorbing, crushing and unusually accessible for an 84 minute single-track funeral doom metal album. flawlessly executed and so easy to get lost in. i was absolutely paralysed for its runtime and all i wanted to do after it ended was sit in silence before putting it on again. repeated listens show a frankly brilliant display of songwriting simplicity yet meticulous attention to detail, and the sheer weight of its cathartic emotional power coupled with masterful restraint are what make its 84 minutes feel half that. 'mirror reaper' is a standard setter for the genre and a standalone masterpiece.
Black Wreath A Pyre Of Lost Dreams
my favorite funeral doom album. listen to this now. :]
Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars
Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music For Airports
Colosseum (Fin) Chapter I: Delirium
Corrupted El Mundo Frio
Crippled Black Phoenix Ellengaest
Cult of Luna A Dawn to Fear
lights on the hill. 'nuff said.
Darkspace Dark Space III
Dead Can Dance Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
Depeche Mode Violator
Draconian Turning Season Within
Draconian Sovran
this seriously is a grower. easily their best record since arcane rain fell, perhaps the best they've ever done.
Draconian Under a Godless Veil
every other gothic doom band can give up now
Earthside A Dream In Static
this makes me :]
Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Empyrium Songs of Moors and Misty Fields
Emuul Crawling Across The Rafters
about as good as electronic/drone/ambient can get. minimalistic, atmospheric brilliance. couldn't recommend this enough.
Envy The Fallen Crimson
this is the penultimate envy record. come at me. redit: you are correct, meant best, i dum
Esoteric The Pernicious Enigma
Esoteric Epistemological Despondency
Esoteric The Maniacal Vale
Esoteric A Pyrrhic Existence
5'd on first listen, esoteric's crowning achievement
Estatic Fear A Sombre Dance
Estatic Fear Somnium Obmutum
Fen Carrion Skies
Fen Winter
Flowing Tears Jade
Fluisteraars Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking
is it me or is this like, flawless
Ghost Brigade IV - One with the Storm
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Yanqui U.X.O.
Hammock Oblivion Hymns
Hanging Garden Skeleton Lake
In Flames The Jester Race
Irreversible Surface
ISON Aurora
one of a kind and flawless record - jaw dropping drone/shoegaze. it's true that the vibe is similar from track to track but each vocalist brings something different - and each one tastefully used. ISON understood the strengths of each one and utilised them perfectly. the music is dense, as delicate as it is heavy and all-enveloping.
Jakob Solace
Jakob Dominion
Jesu Silver
Johnnytwentythree JXXIII
For those who will take the usual response of "another instrumental post-rock band with train samples? I'll stick with Godspeed", you might want to take a second look at Johnnytwentythree. Not only is this executed to perfection, it's profound, brilliant and damn near flawless - and this is only a debut. You'd be an idiot to pass this up.
Kate Bush Hounds of Love
Kauan Kaiho
kauan's ability to tell a story with their music and set the subconscious of the listener alive is unparalleled. that and their way of being able to dynamically balance the huge, striking moments in their music with the subtle, gentle moments without ever resembling the crescendo-core post-rock bands they're often lumped with is a real enigma. that on top of the absolutely immaculate recording, the stirring, beautiful melodies that only kauan could write and just enough blanks in the story for every listen to be truly unique and let your imagination do the rest. three breathtaking albums in a row, kauan show no sign of stopping being a force to be reckoned with.
Kayo Dot Choirs of the Eye
Krallice Years Past Matter
it's another krallice album - disorientating, pummelling and ferocious in all the right ways but with better production and tighter execution. for those that claim it's more of the same yeah, of course, krallice sounds like krallice, why is that a surprise for any band to sound like themselves? there are differences that are very evident if you actually listen.
Limbonic Art Moon In The Scorpio
Mar De Grises Draining The Waterheart
Max Richter Sleep
Mono You Are There
Moonsorrow Verisäkeet
Moonsorrow Viides luku - Hävitetty
Moonsorrow Jumalten aika
viomasta ja kunniasta meets verisakeet
Mournful Congregation The Monad of Creation
Mourning Beloveth The Sullen Sulcus
Mourning Beloveth Dust
Mustan Kuun Lapset Viimeinen Laulu Kuolemasta
Brilliant CD. It's criminal that this isn't better known.
My Dying Bride The Dreadful Hours
My Dying Bride Turn Loose the Swans
My Dying Bride A Map of All Our Failures
their best album in years and years. despite stripping down the sound even more bare, they accentuate every aspect that they do really well. it feels far more subtle and natural than any of their more recent outputs, and with improvements all across the board (especially aaron's vocals which have made a huge step forward), this album serves as a glorious return to form for my dying bride. :]
Nadja Radiance of Shadows
Ophis Spew Forth Odium
no one is talking about this but it's a masterpiece. i've span this hundreds of times now and it hasn't lost its appeal. masterful stuff.
Pink Floyd Animals
Rosetta Wake/Lift
Shape of Despair Angels of Distress
Shape of Despair Monotony Fields
Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline
Summoning Oath Bound
Summoning Dol Guldur
Summoning Old Mornings Dawn
this just gets better and better the more you listen to it, absolutely fucking glorious album
Swallow the Sun The Morning Never Came
The Angelic Process Weighing Souls With Sand
Trees of Eternity Hour of the Nightingale
'a million tears' is right - as triumphant as it is heartbreaking. what a record.
Trespassers William Different Stars
Un Sentiment
Virgin Black Requiem - Mezzo Forte
Warning Watching from a Distance
Warning Watching from a Distance - Live at Roadburn
this is arguably better than the original. fucking incredible performance
Weakling Dead as Dreams
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops I
Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars
Woods of Desolation Torn Beyond Reason
one of the best albums this year so far, great stuff
Years Of Rice and Salt Nothing of Cities

4.5 superb
40 Watt Sun Perfect Light
A Forest of Stars Beware the Sword You Cannot See
A Swarm of the Sun The Woods
a-ha Scoundrel Days
Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark
the culmination of a sound they've been trying to perfect since 2012's 'becoming'.
Aetherian The Untamed Wilderness
Agalloch The Mantle
Agalloch The Compendium Archive
Agalloch Whitedivisiongrey
Ahab The Boats of the Glen Carrig
Ahab The Coral Tombs
early listens give me mixed feelings. adore the mixing/production, they sound huge and cavernous here. some truly stunning moments. bogged down by the fact most of the songs have the same quiet/loud/quiet/loud structure that they've already done to death. previous ahab albums become more rewarding over time and i'm sure this is no different. gonna spend more time with it.

edit: okay, yep, this album is wonderful. it feels like the true follow up stylistically to the first two records with little flourishes of new things and all of it works. the samey structures don't bother me now i'm deeper into the intricacies of the record. 2023 is off to an amazing start.
Akelei De Zwaarte van het Doorstane
Alcest Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde
Good, but inconsistant. It just doesn't go anywhere, and the best of the album is heard in the first track.
Altar of Plagues Tides
Love it, a much grittier sound than White Tomb, and though it doesn't quite meet that standard, I think it's fucking awesome nonetheless. They sound like some really great live songs that are well composed and put together.
Amorphis Tales from the Thousand Lakes
Amorphis Under the Red Cloud
Anathema Hindsight
Anathema We're Here Because We're Here
anathema really do know how to deliver, that's for sure. their first effort in 7 years is just as strong as their last album, along with being a distinct and welcome change in atmosphere, this album is varied and covers many different emotions and soundscapes that anathema have covered over the past two decades under a new veil of light. there are a few missteps here and there, the formulaic dreaming light and the quite frankly awful get off get out but for every 1 bad track there's 4 great ones (literally). really excited to see where they go next because even after 2 decades, i still think this band have a LOT to offer. :]
Aoria The Constant
Astronoid Air
Astronoid Astronoid
Atoma Skylight
Awooga Alpha
Bathory Hammerheart
Be'lakor Of Breath and Bone
Be'lakor Vessels
Benighted In Sodom Ocean
Biosphere Substrata
Black Boned Angel Verdun
Black Boned Angel Christ Send Light
Black Boned Angel Eternal Love / Eternal Hunger
bought this lp blindly. best 10 pounds ever spent.
Blut Aus Nord Ultima Thulee
Blut Aus Nord 777 - Cosmosophy
this is the best album in the 777 series - the increased emphasis on atmosphere and flow, a big flaw of the previous albums, has much improved and made much more of a believable atmosphere and enjoyable album runtime from start to finish. though this is far from a black metal album, the clean vocals and sparse to mid-paced tempo and beats dominating much of its runtime, the sinister and disorienting blut aus nord atmosphere remains. flaws remain such as the clean vocals not quite being up to scratch but this is a very fitting end to the 777 trilogy and a marked improvement. :]
Bohren und der Club of Gore Sunset Mission
Bohren und der Club of Gore Black Earth
Boris Flood
Borknagar True North
Bossk .1
Brian Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Burial Street Halo
Burning Witch Crippled Lucifer
Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Caelestra Black Widow Nebula
you're high, this is massive.
Caladan Brood Echoes Of Battle
aoty so far, fantastic stuff. the world needs more summoning ripoffs [:
Celestial Grave Secular Flesh
Celtic Frost Monotheist
Chthonic Seediq Bale
Corrupted Garten Der Unbewusstheit
Countless Skies Glow
Cradle of Filth Existence Is Futile
Crippled Black Phoenix Great Escape
holy shit this album is something special
Cryptopsy None So Vile
Dan Swano Moontower
Dark Tranquillity Fiction
Dark Tranquillity Construct
Darkspace Dark Space III I
i'm actually excited that the sputnik hype train is finally going to like an album that's actually good
Deathspell Omega Mass Grave Aesthetics
best release they've put out to date imo, brilliant ep.
Deathspell Omega Diabolus Absconditus
pales in comparison to their other releases, this EP is just generally very uninteresting and drags like crazy. for completionists only. :]redit: nvm it grew on me [:
Deftones White Pony
Desolate Shrine The Heart of the Netherworld
Devin Townsend Ocean Machine: Biomech
Devin Townsend Project Transcendence
Dirge (FR) Lost Empyrean
Dodsrit Mortal Coil
Dool The Shape of Fluidity
Doom VS Earthless
Downfall of Gaia Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes
Downfall of Gaia Ethic of Radical Finitude
Dream Unending Tide Turns Eternal
Dystopia Human = Garbage (CD)
Ensiferum From Afar
Enslaved RIITIIR
touche, enslaved. :]
Enslaved In Times
Equilibrium Sagas
Ereb Altor Nattramn
Esoteric Metamorphogenesis
Esoteric Paragon of Dissonance
Fall of the Leafe Vantage
Fen Monuments to Absence
Fester Silence
Fires in the Distance Echoes From Deep November
Fluke Risotto
Ghast Terrible Cemetery
Black metal and doom metal are two of my favorite genres these days, but despite my love for both of them, there's an almost alarming lack of people combining the two together well. Perhaps it's because aesthetically they have some key differences that don't seem to marry well into each other. Sometimes people attempt to make doom with the thinner, black metal guitar sounds and it just doesn't work and grows incredibly monotonous before the song is out. Or they use the thicker, deeper sound in a fast, up-tempo black metal context and it soon becomes too overwhelming to sit through or a complete and utter mess. In terms of lyrical content that most black metal and doom metal takes up, the two should go together perfectly, but it often isn't the case. Luckily though, Ghast shows us that there are some bands that can do it right, having the perfect balance between each side and coming out with an EP that accentuates every aspect of the album the band chooses. To add to that, at just under 30 minutes it's the perfect length to not grow too tiring but not disappear before you'd like it to. Recommended. :]
God Is an Astronaut All Is Violent, All Is Bright
God Is an Astronaut Epitaph
the gorgeous artwork has me so, so stoked for this redit: god is an astronaut are back. this album is their best all is violent, all is bright.
Godflesh Streetcleaner
Gorguts Colored Sands
everything about this album has been said in other soundoffs. the only thing i'd add is that serious props go to colin marston for the production. not only is this the best death metal release so far this year but it's also the best production job in death metal i've heard in years.
Hammock Departure Songs
Hammock Floating World
Hammock Silencia
Hammock Undercurrents
Hammock Elsewhere
their best since 'oblivion hymns' - magic
Hanging Garden At Every Door
Hanging Garden Into that Good Night
if anyone's still sad that ghost brigade haven't put out an album in years, give this a spin.
Hanging Garden The Garden
this band can do no wrong.
Hangman's Chair A Loner
Harakiri for the Sky Arson
just when you think this band are done bringing the excellent riffs another one rips you a new one in a unique display of bombast for a post-black metal band to pull off and it makes it so ridiculously enjoyable and addictive. it doesn't attempt to bring the alcest-brand beauty or whimsy and it doesn't get stuck on many of the forced post-rock cliches of its contemporaries. instead harakiri for the sky forges the sounds into something far more aggressive, melancholic and infectious and though it isn't too far apart from what they've already been doing for a few albums now (albeit in a short amount of time), it streamlines the sound into their strongest set of tracks and production and despite the track lengths, more often than not it flies by thanks
to the fact they don't rely on repetition as much as they used to. can't ask for much more than that. cut out the occasionally cringe-worthy lyrics and we're on to a genre standard setter.
Heretoir The Circle
this makes their first album look like a sorry joke. if the first album didn't grab you, seriously, give this a shot. top tier post-black metal. intense and stirring.
Holy Fawn Death Spells
Hooded Menace Darkness Drips Forth
Hyperion (SWE) Seraphical Euphony
jeeesus fucking christ 2016 is starting off strong
Immolation Close to a World Below
Immortal At the Heart of Winter
In Flames Clayman
In the Woods... Heart of the Ages
Insomnium Shadows of the Dying Sun
ISIS Oceanic
ISIS Panopticon
ISIS Celestial
Isole The Calm Hunter
the fact barely anyone listened to this is fucking depressing
ISON Inner - Space
Izah Sistere
Jakob Cale:Drew
Jakob Sines
this is going to be the best album ever redit: oh
Jessie Ware What's Your Pleasure?
Jesu Heart Ache
Jesu Opiate Sun
Johnnytwentythree The Bridge
Kate Bush Aerial
Kate Bush The Dreaming
Kauan Pirut
Kauan Sorni Nai
Kauan Ice Fleet
kauan albums used to have a habit of losing steam as they went but this one genuinely gets better as it goes. 'ote' is a fucking stunner of a track and works so nicely with closing track 'hauta' - and is perhaps the best closing they've had in a record yet. though i think their last record is better, this is definitely at the same level as 'pirut' and 'sorni nai' - which is to say it's stunning.
Khemmis Desolation
Klone Here Comes The Sun
Krallice Diotima
Lantlos Melting Sun
Leech If We Get There One Day...
i know, right?! it's crazy!! :]
Leech For Better or For Worse
this album takes the best of their last masterpiece, trims the fat and emphasises the the electronica and it has only strengthened them. they've created such an addicting and curious post-rock record and it makes the 6 year wait thoroughly rewarding and i couldn't be more pleased with it. leech's sound is so immediately captivating that i cannot imagine anyone not enjoying it. so, so good.
Low The Curtain Hits the Cast
Low Hey What
hey
Ludicra The Tenant
this is fantastic, perhaps one of the better black metal records of 2010, listen to this :]
Maestus Deliquesce
Majesties Vast Reaches Unclaimed
Manetheren Time
well yeah of course something as phenomenal as this album goes completely unnoticed. that's just how it works, apparently. if you like post-black metal then this is essential in every sense of the word.
Mar De Grises Streams Inwards
Mare Cognitum Solar Paroxysm
Marianas Rest Fata Morgana
Mastodon Crack the Skye
maudlin of the Well Bath
maudlin of the Well Part the Second
Meniscus War of Currents
the best post-rock of 2011 probably, if not at least some of the best. get on this. for fans of jakob and sleepmakeswaves. :]
Meniscus Refractions
Mithras Behind the Shadows Lie Madness
Mithras On Strange Loops
Mitochondrion Parasignosis
Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Monolithe Monolithe III
if you can find any better doom than this from this year i'd like to hear it, this is amazing. intricate,infectious guitarwork, great dynamics, a perfectly executed spacey atmosphere, not to mention it has such a diverse palette of musical influences so seamlessly worked together into one monolithic masterpiece. you'd be an idiot to miss this one. album of the year.
Moonsorrow Kivenkantaja
Moonsorrow Voimasta ja kunniasta
Moonsorrow Tulimyrsky
Morgion Cloaked By Ages, Crowned In Earth
Moss Sub Templum
Moss Tombs of the Blind Drugged
Mountaineer Bloodletting
man this record is so lush and poignant. gorgeous. their best effort yet.
Mournful Congregation The Incubus of Karma
Mournful Congregation The Exuviae of Gods - Part II
Mourning Beloveth A Disease for the Ages
Mourning Beloveth Formless
My Dying Bride Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
My Dying Bride A Line of Deathless Kings
My Dying Bride A Mortal Binding
Nadja Thaumogenesis
Nadja Touched
Nadja The Bungled and the Botched
Nadja Touched (2007 reissue)
Nadja / Black Boned Angel Christ Send Light
Negative Plane Stained Glass Revelations
Nightingale Retribution
Nokturnal Mortum The Voice of Steel
Noumena Anima
production isn't muddy at all. last record sounded great too provided you have a good source. it just isn't loudness war mastered. turn it up and it sounds fantastic. sounds great, is great.
Obtained Enslavement Witchcraft
Omnium Gatherum Beyond
Omnium Gatherum The Burning Cold
Opeth My Arms, Your Hearse
Opeth Ghost Reveries
Opeth Watershed
Oromet Oromet
Orphaned Land Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs
Outlander (UK) The Valium Machine
Overmars Born Again
Overmars Affliction, Endocrine...Vertigo
Pallbearer Foundations of Burden
this is quite the fucking grower - excellent doom metal record, almost nothing bad to say about it at all. leagues above sorrow and extinction.
Panopticon .​.​.​And Again into the Light
Panopticon The Rime of Memory
Pantheist Pantheist
this grew on me a lot, really under-appreciated album
pg.lost Oscillate
your move, every other post-rock band
Primordial The Gathering Wilderness
Profetus ...to Open the Passages in Dusk
excellent funeral doom - cold, expansive, atmospheric. like someone crossed skepticism with mournful congregation and made it slower and sparser, which for me is a real treat. it's repetitious but it comes with the territory of the genre and it rarely gets tiring for those adept in the genre. a very enjoyable album - recommended. :]
Profetus The Sadness Of Time Passing
their best work. stunning piece of funeral doom metal. this band always delivers.
Pyrithe Monuments to Impermanence
Rosetta The Galilean Satellites
Rosetta A Determinism of Morality
Rosetta Terra Sola
Rosetta/Balboa Project Mercury
Rwake Rest
holy shit. this is how sludge/doom is done. highly, highly recommended!! :]r@riff: oh you silly little thing, you! [:
Saturnus Saturn in Ascension
Sentenced The Cold White Light
Shores of Null Beyond the Shores (On Death and Dying)
Sigur Ros ( )
Siskin Les (Cone Forest ) Универс
Skepticism Stormcrowfleet
sleepmakeswaves ...and so we destroyed everything
Slowdive Just for a Day
Slowdive Slowdive (LP)
Spectral Voice Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
Stars of the Lid Avec Laudenum
Stella Luna Stargazer
Steve Roach Structures from Silence
Sumerlands Dreamkiller
Summoning Stronghold
Sunlight Ascending All the Memories, All at Once
Amazing for a debut, potential has never been so promising - superb.
Sunlight Ascending You Don't Belong Here
Sunn O))) Black One
Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions
Sunn O))) Oracle
Svalbard When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Swallow the Sun Hope
Swallow the Sun Songs from the North I, II & III
Swans White Light From the Mouth of Infinity
Swans Swans Are Dead
Sylvaine Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone
Tanagra Meridiem
TesseracT War of Being
The Angelic Process Coma Waering
The Morningside Yellow
underrated as fuck. gorgeous melodic doom and definitely their best work.
The Necks Hanging Gardens
The Necks Aether
The Necks Drive By
The Ocean Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
The River A Hollow Full of Hope
The Ruins of Beverast Exuvia
The Ruins of Beverast The Thule Grimoires
The Seven Mile Journey The Journey Studies
The Slow Death Ark
Thou Summit
Thou Magus
Tides From Nebula From Voodoo to Zen
Triptykon Eparistera Daimones
Triptykon Melana Chasmata
these riffs are stabbing me in the back ralso, album of the year so far
Trist (GER) Hin-Fort
for goodness sake people, fucking listen to this. this is pretty much the best example of hypnotic/ambient black metal you will ever, ever hear. no excuse, listen now!! >:[
Ulcerate Stare Into Death and Be Still
Unto Others Mana
Usnea Usnea
Usnea Portals Into Futility
Vanishing Kids Heavy Dreamer
Vanum Ageless Fire
maaaan these guys have improved. fuck yeah.
Virgin Black Requiem - Pianissimo
VOLA Applause of a Distant Crowd
VOLA Witness
they deliver again. their best record. 'inside your fur' is such a jam, holy shit. they genuinely left the best four tracks for last.
Voyager Ghost Mile
Wake Thought Form Descent
We Lost the Sea Departure Songs
this sounds nothing like hammock redit: oh yeah right lol nvm i dum
Weeping Sores False Confession
good god this is addicting. riffs for days, beautifully produced, flawlessly performed, wonderfully layered violins with harmonies to die for with a surprising amount of bite when the death metal sections come in adding such a great contrast. this release really stands out and the runtime absolutely flies by - i've been listening to it on repeat since i snagged it. do not pass this one up. death/doom perfection.
Wintersun Wintersun
Wintersun Time I
this album is everything brilliant about the first album multiplied by 10 and i'm a sucker for this stuff. this guy could write epic in a coma
Wodensthrone Curse
huge improvement on loss in every aspect, where it still drags a little bit it's nowhere near as monotonous and is a much more diverse and surprising black metal album. superb stuff. :]
Wolves in the Throne Room Black Cascade
Wolves in the Throne Room Primordial Arcana
this is absolutely the most spacious and atmospheric wolves in the throne room have ever been. it's true that i miss the raw intensity of their first three records, but having the massive soundscapes more gracefully intertwined with the black metal makes this a wittr album many have been waiting for - absolutely no contrast between the visceral heavy black metal and the ambient soundscapes. they have truly become one on this album, and the result is the maturation of wittr's sound we've arguably been waiting a decade for.
Year of No Light Ausserwelt

4.0 excellent
...and Oceans Cosmic World Mother
Aarni Bathos
Abigor Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom)
Abstract Void Back to Reality
Abyssmal Sorrow Lament
Aequorea Dim
AFI AFI (The Blood Album)
Agalloch The White
Agalloch The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes
Agalloch The Demonstration Archive: 1996-1998
Agalloch Faustian Echoes
woah, okay. totally different than what i expected - perhaps better. i don't think agalloch will ever fail me, thank goodness. i was nervous about this ep but it's proven to me that the nervousness was all for nothing. the track flows better than just about anything else they've put out, constantly going in different directions, meandering (but in a good way) yet progressing at the same time. the production and instrumentation is a lot tighter than marrow. they do the theme justice - incredibly impressed. :]
Ahab The Giant
Akelei Een van ons
Alcest Les Voyages De L'Âme
it's another alcest album. some tracks fantastic, some not so, but it's certainly a more consistent effort than ecailles de lune. i can't imagine any alcest fans being disappointed. it's nothing but really pretty, but isn't that what alcest has always been? :]
All Pigs Must Die God Is War
Amia Venera Landscape Amia Venera Landscape
Amorphis Circle
An Autumn For Crippled Children Only The Ocean Knows
Anathema A Natural Disaster
a marked and huge improvement over the last album, this album creates a very unique atmosphere and sound and best of all is far more varied than the mid-era atmospheric rock albums from anathema (judgement etc.). the album lacks the immediacy and pure hard-hitting tones of those albums as a slight drawback, but this really was a breakthrough considering the last album really didn't deliver. the experimentation on this album is a lot more refined and works a lot better than their previous experimentations on albums like alternative 4 and feels far more like a cohesive unit than all their other atmospheric rock releases. highly recommended. :]
Anathema The Silent Enigma
what is perhaps one of their more underrated works, and perhaps one of the most underrated works of the british death/doom movement, the silent enigma delivers on nearly every front. it isn't heavy or crushing but for what it lacks in brutality it more than makes up for with the sheer beauty and control of the record. the riffs are great and the vocals hit just the right spot, and the record is far more varied than the mid-era atmospheric rock records these guys put out. if you're not one for doom metal don't let it scare you away, as far as doom goes this is a pretty tame album and is a perfect gateway into the genre if you're a fan of anathema's other work. superb stuff, especially for its time. :]
Anathema Pentecost III
Ancients (UK) Star Showers On The Euphrates
this album is really addicting and easy to get lost in. really special stuff, recommended.
Antediluvian Through the Cervix of Hawaah
Apocalypse Orchestra The End is Nigh
Apse Spirit
Arcana Coelestia Le Mirage de L’idéal
Arckanum ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ
Ash Borer The Irrepassable Gate
Astralia Solstice
ASVA Futurists Against the Ocean
ASVA What You Don't Know Is Frontier
ASVA Presences of Absences
i really, really love this. one of the better albums this year. :]
At the Gates Slaughter of the Soul
At the Gates To Drink from the Night Itself
Ataraxie Slow Transcending Agony
Ataraxie Résignés
Avathar Bûrgulu kû-ghâra
Averse Sefira Tetragrammatical Astygmata
Awooga Conduit
Ba'al Ellipsism
Baulta Any Fool Can Regret Yesterday
Baulta Another Second Chance
Be'lakor Stone's Reach
Be'lakor Coherence
Beastmilk Climax
Behemoth Demigod
Benighted In Sodom Reverse Baptism
Black Boned Angel Bliss and Void Inseparable
Black Boned Angel The Endless Coming to Life
Black Boned Angel The Witch Must Be Killed
Black Boned Angel The End
Black Clouds Everything Is Not Going To Be OK
Black Lotus (CAN) Harvest Of Seasons
Black Swan (USA-NY) Black Swan (In 8 Movements)
Black Swan (USA-NY) Aeterna
best black swan yet. aoty so far, probably. :] @sif: i said so far, which is true [:
Blaze of Perdition Conscious Darkness
Bohren und der Club of Gore Midnight Radio
Bohren und der Club of Gore Patchouli Blue
Bolzer Aura
Bolzer Hero
Borgne IV
Boris Dronevil -Final-
Bossk Audio Noir
Bound Haunts
Brian Eno Lux
Brutal Truth Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
Burial Burial
Burzum Belus
Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Carcass Surgical Steel
Caspian Tertia
Caspian Waking Season
Caspian Dust and Disquiet
Castevet Mounds of Ash
Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
Chat Pile God's Country
Code Nouveau Gloaming
Cold Body Radiation The Great White Emptiness
Collapse of Light Each Failing Step
Colosseum (Fin) Chapter 3: Parasomnia
Comatose Vigil Fuimus, Non Sumus...
Conan Horseback Battle Hammer
Corrupted Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos
Corrupted Paso Inferior
Counting Hours The Will
Cradle of Filth Cruelty and the Beast
Cradle of Filth Hammer of the Witches
Cradle of Filth Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay
Cranial Dark Towers, Bright Lights
Cruciamentum Charnel Passages
Cult of Luna Somewhere Along the Highway
Cult of Luna The Long Road North
i think what really sets this album apart is just how huge and thick the atmosphere is. they've created something truly otherworldly yet devastatingly heavy with no compromises. what a haunting album.
Dark Tranquillity Damage Done
Dark Tranquillity The Gallery
Darkspace Minus One
don't overlook this just because it's a re-recording of the first demo, it's ten times better than the original recording and absolutely essential if you're a darkspace fan. :]
Dead Can Dance Anastasis
Dead Swords Enders
Death in June But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?
Deathspell Omega Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
Deathspell Omega Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum
Decembre Noir The Renaissance Of Hope
Departe Failure, Subside
Desolate (DE) Celestial Light Beings
Desolate Shrine Deliverance from the Godless Void
diSEMBOWELMENT Transcendence into the Peripheral
Dodsrit Spirit Crusher
Draconian Arcane Rain Fell
Draconian Dark Oceans We Cry
Dream Unending Song of Salvation
Drottnar Monolith
Dwaal Never Enough
Ea Ea II
Ea Au Ellai
Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I
More of the same, but much better. 2011's off to quite a start.
Echo Tail A Brief Escape From Life
Ef Ceremonies
back to front this is easily ef's best album yet, recommended
Elffor Unblessed Woods
Eluvium Virga I
Embers Shadows
Emuul The Drawing of the Line
Emuul The Ghostwood Estates
Ensiferum Ensiferum
Enslaved Below the Lights
Entombed Left Hand Path
Envy Insomniac Doze
Envy Recitation
Equilibrium Erdentempel
Ereb Altor Vargtimman
Esoteric Subconscious Dissolution Into the...
Evoken Antithesis of Light
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Eyehategod Dopesick
Fairyland Of Wars in Osyrhia
Fairyland Score to a New Beginning
Fall of Efrafa Inle
Falls of Rauros Vigilance Perennial
Falls of Rauros Patterns in Mythology
Falls of Rauros Key to a Vanishing Future
i think this is their most emotional record. it feels that way to me, for sure. their last one was more focussed but you can really feel that this one has a strong emotional undercurrent. it feels spontaneous and visceral. instead of really analyzing this record i find myself resorting instead to how it makes me feel and that's a very good sign. i'm loving it.
FareWell Poetry Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite
Fauna Avifauna
woah, what an improvement in every single way. highly recommended, the best 'cascadian black metal' album (whatever that is) to come out in ages
Fires in the Distance Air Not Meant For Us
Fleurety Min Tid Skal Komme
Flourishing The Sum of All Fossils
Forest of Shadows Six Waves Of Woe
Foscor Els Sepulcres Blancs
Funeralium Deceived Idealism
really great and hateful funeral doom from the dudes in ataraxie - not as refined but it's more or less a stylistic choice to be rough around the edges and it works great. recommended, especially if you liked ataraxie's last album because the two albums work great together.
Gas Pop
Generation of Vipers Howl and Filth
Ghost (SWE) Prequelle
Giant Squid The Ichthyologist
Giant Squid Cenotes
God Is an Astronaut A Moment of Stillness
God Is an Astronaut God Is an Astronaut
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Gorement The Ending Quest
Gorgoroth Pentagram
Gorguts Obscura
Gorguts Pleiades' Dust
Grace Cathedral Park In The Evenings Of Regret
Grave Miasma Odori Sepulcrorum
Green Carnation Leaves Of Yesteryear
Gregor Samsa 55:12
Griftegard Psalm Bok
Grivo Omit
Hades Almighty Alone Walkyng
Haken Affinity
Hallatar No Stars Upon the Bridge
a solid and at times, superb doom metal record that is done somewhat of a disservice by occasionally overdramatic and distracting harsh vocals of tomi. it's definitely worth listening to for those who loved hour of the nightingale (dreams burn down sounds like a b-side from that album, frankly) and it's obvious this album really was a labour of love from all involved, as was hour of the nightingale. certainly worth your time.
Hammock Chasing After Shadows...Living with the Ghosts
Hammock The Sleepover Series, Volume 2
Hammock Mysterium
hammock really ruined this album by releasing a better version of it 4 years ago called 'oblivion hymns'.
Hammock Universalis
Hammock Into the Blank / Madi
Hangman's Chair Banlieue Triste
Hooded Menace Never Cross the Dead
Hooded Menace Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
Hooded Menace The Tritonus Bell
Hope Drone Void Lustre
Horrendous Anareta
Horrendous Idol
Hyatari The Light Carriers
Ihsahn Amr
Impure Wilhelmina Radiation
Impure Wilhelmina Antidote
i want to like this as much as much as 'radiation' but the vocal harmonies seem to be at constant odds with the music and just aren't as well performed. 'jasmines' is a great track though.
In the Woods... Pure
Insomnium Winter's Gate
Insomnium Heart Like a Grave
Intronaut Valley of Smoke
Inverloch Dusk|Subside
Inverloch Distance | Collapsed
IO Materioptikon
Iress Flaw
Iress Solace
ISIS Wavering Radiant
Jakob Jakob
Jesu Conqueror
Jesu Sun Down / Sun Rise
Jesu Heart Ache/Dethroned
Katatonia Brave Murder Day
Katatonia Dead End Kings
not terrible, what do you know? :]
Katatonia Sky Void of Stars
Kate Bush The Sensual World
Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
Kauan Kuu..
Kauan ATM Revised
Kayo Dot Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
Kayo Dot Hubardo
this album is fucking ridiculous
Kayo Dot Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike
Khorada Salt
covid makes this hit like a fucking brickwall
King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King
King Woman Celestial Blues
Klone Le Grand Voyage
Kontinuum No Need to Reason
my word. difficult to describe - gothic rock with touches not unlike katatonia and ghost brigade but with sounds unmistakably 80's in execution. ethereal and infectious with wonderful vocal hooks. not a single bad track here. really excellent record and leagues above their previous offering.
Krypts Cadaver Circulation
Lantlos .neon
Laura Twelve Hundred Times
Leech The Stolen View
Leprous Bilateral
Les Discrets Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées
better than Ecailles de lune :]
Lethian Dreams Red Silence Lodge
Locrian The Crystal World
Lone Wanderer The Majesty Of Loss
literally mournful congregation tbh
Longing For Dawn A Treacherous Ascension
Longing For Dawn Between Elation And Despair
Lotus Thief Oresteia
Low I Could Live in Hope
Ludicra Fex Urbis Lex Orbis
Lychgate Lychgate
Lychgate Also Sprach Futura
"Lychgate try combining modern djenty progressive metal with black metal" haaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Mael Mordha Gealtacht Mael Mórdha
Magnus Ostrom Thread Of Life
Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile to the Surface
Marsh Dweller The Weight of Sunlight
Marsh Dweller Wanderer
Masakari The Prophet Feeds
Mathias Grassow Alchemystery
maudlin of the Well Leaving Your Body Map
Mean Knowing
really great, a very subdued jakob-like style of post-rock with occasional electronica influences (though very subtle). a really meditative, personal listen that makes the wait for the new jakob not quite as unbearable.
Melencolia Estatica Letum
Melvins Houdini
Melvins Lysol
Menace Ruine The Die is Cast
Midnight Odyssey Ruins of a Celestial Fire
Midnight Odyssey Ashes From a Terrestrial Fall
Mithras Time Never Lasts
Mono Pilgrimage Of The Soul
Mono / World's End Girlfriend Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain
Moonsorrow Tämä ikuinen talvi
Moonspell Extinct
Morne Asylum
it's definitely a good album, sometimes really pushing on excellence but it really needs more meat, sometimes it just feels a little too empty without having much to stand on. better than the debut though, for sure. :]
Morne To the Night Unknown
Moss Cthonic Rites
Mountaineer Sirens & Slumber
Mournful Congregation The June Frost
Mournful Congregation The Book of Kings
Mournful Congregation The Exuviae of Gods - Part I
Murmuure Murmuure
Mustan Kuun Lapset Valo
this album is so unbelievably gorgeous

oh and if you're a long time fan, wait for the hidden track, it's a wonderful surprise
My Dying Bride The Angel and the Dark River
Nadja Skin Turns To Glass
Nadja Bliss Torn From Emptiness
Nadja Desire in Uneasiness
Nadja Bodycage
Nadja and Vampillia The Primitive World
Nails Unsilent Death
Nightbringer Apocalypse Sun
Nocturnus The Key
Nothing Tired of Tomorrow
Nothing The Great Dismal
Noumena Myrrys
Numenorean Adore
Oakenshield Gylfaginning
Obliteration Black Death Horizon
Obsidian Gate The Nightspectral Voyage
October Falls The Womb of Primordial Nature
October Falls A Collapse of Faith
Officium Triste The Death of Gaia
at first the really soft approach didn't really gel with me but then the gorgeous melodies and harmonies won me over. fans of pantheist will eat this up. aka me.
Old Graves Long Shadows
Olhava Ladoga
Olhava Frozen Bloom
Omit Repose
i could just listen to this on loop forever and ever until i died, it's so gorgeous. really laid back and reserved as far as doom goes but that isn't a problem for me. sleepytime doom - for relaxation! [:
Omnium Gatherum The Redshift
Omnium Gatherum Origin
it's interesting seeing OG make a denser, less flashy record and for the most part they pull it off by making a record that's greater than the sum of its parts. it's true that it doesn't have the highs of 'the burning cold' but it also has no low points - and though it's arguably very laid back for an OG record, it's definitely their most consistent outing since 'beyond'. a confident album of honed craft.
Opeth Deliverance
Oranssi Pazuzu Värähtelijä
Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi
so uhh, this is pretty fucking sick huh
Orphaned Land El Norra Alila
Oubliette (USA-TN) The Passage
Pallbearer Heartless
'a plea for understanding' is breathtaking. this may be their best effort yet.
Panopticon Roads to the North
Pantheist Seeking Infinity
Pantheist Closer to God
Pentemple O))) Presents... Pentemple
Primordial To the Nameless Dead
Procession (CL) The Cult of Disease
Prurient Rose Pillar
Psychonaut Violate Consensus Reality
Red Moon Architect Return of the Black Butterflies
Red Moon Architect Kuura
Red Moon Architect Emptiness Weighs the Most
Redshift Pilots Moonlight Synthesis
Ride Today Forever
Rome Flowers From Exile
Rorcal Vilagvege
went into this expecting it to be really overratedrbeing proven wrong is p. fucking sweet [:
Rosetta The Anaesthete
Rosetta Quintessential Ephemera
i'm in two minds about this record. there's some great compositions here, true, but i feel that instead of actually progressing they're just doing their best to hide the fact that they're not. they're condensing their tracks, yeah, but it's still the same basic formula over and over again - 5 minutes of noodling, power chords, end song. it gets a bit distracting.
Sadness Circle of Veins
Sailors With Wax Wings Sailors With Wax Wings
Saor Roots
"oh shit dude hahaha the guy from falloch made an album let me put on my helmet because this is going to suck okay here we g-HOLY FUCKING SHIT"
Saor Aura
i like how i claim an album is aoty and then another album comes along and takes that title away a few days later. this album is so, so fucking good
Saturnus Veronika Decides to Die
Saturnus Paradise Belongs to You
Sculptured The Spear Of The Lily Is Aureoled
Secrets of the Moon Black House
Sed Non Satiata Sed Non Satiata
Shape of Despair Shades Of...
Shape of Despair Illusion's Play
this is great but the filler here does make it their worst album, but still a worthwhile listen if you liked their other records since a few of the songs here are among their best (entwined in misery for one). :]
Shape of Despair Return to the Void
this is definitely their most stripped back, 'bare essentials' record. where it lacks the dynamism of monotony fields (at least, for a funeral doom record), it proves even with six rather similar songs in pace they remain compelling, sometimes gut wrenching. i'd be lying if i said i didn't want a bit more from this album but this band are top of the rung of funeral doom - the atmosphere and mood of this album is so tangible and it's such a consistent record front to back.
Shining (NOR) Blackjazz
Shining (SWE) V - Halmstad
Show Me A Dinosaur Plantgazer
imagine ghost bath if they were good p. much
Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun
Sigur Ros Valtari
Sigur Ros ÁTTA
Skeletonwitch Devouring Radiant Light
sleepmakeswaves In Today Already Walks Tomorrow
sleepmakeswaves Love of Cartography
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Grand Opening and Closing
Slowdive Pygmalion
Slumber Fallout
Soen Lotus
Soilwork The Living Infinite
Soilwork Verkligheten
2019 is starting off strong
Solefald Norron Livskunst
Solstice (UK) New Dark Age
Stormkeep Tales of Othertime
Suffocate For Fuck Sake Blazing Fires and Helicopters...
SuidAkrA Crogacht
Sulphur Aeon Swallowed by the Ocean's Tide
Summoning Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame
Summoning Nightshade Forests
Sun of the Blind Skullreader
Sunken Livslede
Sunn O))) Dømkirke
Sunn O))) ØØ Void
Sunn O))) and Boris Altar
Swallow the Sun Ghosts of Loss
Swallow the Sun When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light
easily their most sombre release, but very captivating and emotionally driven. far more consistent in quality than their last release. i really enjoyed this one.
Swallow the Sun Moonflowers
their best since 'hope'
Swans Filth
Swans The Great Annihilator
Swans Children of God
Swans Cop
Swans Omniscience
Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
Taake Hordalands Doedskvad
TesseracT Altered State
TesseracT Sonder
yeah this is fantastic you guys are on crack. every moment of these 37 minutes are used really effectively and the balance between the heavier moments and the atmospheric, sombre moments handled so well. plus when these guys decide to be heavy on this album it feels so much more pulverizing on this album than it did on polaris. of their more straightforward, less progressive songwriting style, this is their greatest iteration of it. such a well written album that flows in such an enjoyable way.
The Angelic Process Sigh
The Angelic Process We All Die Laughing
The Axis of Perdition Deleted Scenes From Transition Hospital
The Evpatoria Report Maar
The Halo Effect Days of the Lost
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble From the Stairwell
The Knife Silent Shout
The Morningside The Wind, The Trees And The Shadows...
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation Anthropomorphic
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation Egor
The Necks Chemist
The Necks Sex
The Night Flight Orchestra Aeromantic
The Ocean Precambrian
The Residents Duck Stab
The Residents Buster & Glen
The Residents Animal Lover
The River Vessels Into White Tides
The Seven Mile Journey The Metamorphosis Project
The Seven Mile Journey Notes for the Synthesis
The Slow Death Siege
The Water Witch The Heavens In Traction
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Horses in the Sky
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra This Is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather and Sing
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
This Will Destroy You This Will Destroy You
Thorr's Hammer Dommedagsnatt
Thou Peasant
Tiamat Wildhoney
Tool Fear Inoculum
Towards Darkness Barren
Trap Them Seizures In Barren Praise
Trap Them Filth Rations
Triosk The Headlight Serenade
Triptykon Requiem
Trna Earthcult
Trna Istok
Troum Grote Mandrenke
Type O Negative World Coming Down
Ulcerate Everything Is Fire
Ulcerate The Destroyers of All
Un The Tomb of All Things
this has really grown on me over the last year. really beautiful, vibe sorta record.
Unwound Fake Train
Urfaust Empty Space Meditation
Urza The Omnipresence Of Loss
Usnea Random Cosmic Violence
Vales Clarity
Vali Forlatt
Vallendusk Fortress of Primal Grace
Various Artists Whom The Moon A Nightsong Sings
Ved Buens Ende Written In Waters
Venom Prison Primeval
Venom Prison Erebos
i do feel like a bunch of the tracks reach natural conclusions before they actually end but there's so much about this album that straight up fucking kills. very easy to look over the minor imperfections when it comes to a record so brimming with personality and righteous anger. very excited about this one.
Vindensang Terminus: Rebirth in Eight Parts...
Vinterriket Lichtschleier
Vinterriket Der letzte Winter - Der Ewigkeit entgegen
Virgin Black Requiem - Fortissimo
Vit -
Vit The Dry Season
Vukari Aevum
Wake Confluence
Walk Through Fire Furthest From Heaven
Windir Arntor
Windir Likferd
Witherscape The Northern Sanctuary
Wode Burn in Many Mirrors
Woe Hope Attrition
Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestial Lineage
Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven
Woman Is The Earth Depths
Worm Ouroboros Worm Ouroboros
Wormphlegm In an Excruciating Way...
Worship Terranean Wake
colour me surprised - this is excellent.
Wreck and Reference Black Cassette
Year of No Light Consolamentum
return to form. really great stuff.
Yellow Eyes Immersion Trench Reverie
Yellow Eyes Rare Field Ceiling
Zuriaake Afterimage of Autumn

3.5 great
A Forest of Stars A Shadowplay for Yesterdays
despite my expectations being rather low, a forest of stars did a very good job. this album has virtually no filler, it's dense and intricate and well realized. the instrumentation is top notch, the atmospherics are well handled and most of all there really isn't another album like this, even by the band. great stuff. :]
A Forest of Stars Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes
A Swarm of the Sun The Rifts
A Winged Victory for the Sullen Atomos
A Winged Victory for the Sullen Invisible Cities
Abigail Williams Becoming
a lot better than anything else they've put out. :] zaruyache: well yeah maybe if the new wittr didn't suck i wouldn't like this as much, but it did so [:
Abigail Williams The Accuser
Abigor Time Is the Sulphur In the Veins of ...
Abyssmal Sorrow Abyssmal Sorrow
Adversarial/Antediluvian Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries
Aephanemer Prokopton
Aetherian At Storm's Edge
AFI Bodies
Agalloch The Grey
Agalloch From Which of This Oak
Agalloch Tomorrow Will Never Come
Agalloch and Nest Split
Alcest Spiritual Instinct
All Pigs Must Die All Pigs Must Die
Alrakis Alpha Eri
this would likely bore a lot of people who don't appreciate spacey music, the record is pretty uneventful. but for those that do (aka me), this is a really good record to get drawn into and lose yourself in the atmosphere of. very lovely stuff, a lot of potential here.
Altaar Dodsonske
Altar of Plagues White Tomb
Amber Tears Revelation of Renouncement
Amorphis The Beginning of Times
Amorphis Queen of Time
still digesting but holy shit can i just take a second to tell you how gorgeous "amongst stars" is
An Abstract Illusion Woe
An Autumn For Crippled Children Lost
Anathema Alternative 4
what is perhaps one of their more experimental albums shows some of the best and worst of their career. the awkward sounding tracks in the first half really drag it down, fragile dreams losing its way after the first couple of minutes and empty's awful ending. but after that showcases some of the band's best work, inner silence onwards being winner after winner. it's a mixed bag but it's certainly a great album thanks to the greater songs like feel and inner silence. :]
Anathema Serenades
Anathema Falling Deeper
really on the fence. first tracks are great, but some are awful, particularly Sunset of Age which is just far too busy and ambitious to have any kind of comparable atmosphere. Alone is just boring, as is J'ai Fait Une Promesse, or some just seem far too subdued to leave any kind of impression (We, the Gods).ri'd check out the first two or three tracks, though. :]
Ancestors Suspended in Reflections
Andrew W.K. You're Not Alone
Andrew W.K. God Is Partying
this album is dumb
Anilah Warrior
Antimatter A Profusion of Thought
Anton Belov Piano Works I
Aphonic Threnody First Funeral
Arckanum Fran Marder
Arcturus Arcturian
Ash Borer Ash Borer
Ash Borer Cold of Ages
i'm genuinely impressed, a lot better than the s/t. :]
Ashenspire Hostile Architecture
Asphyx Necroceros
Asylum Party Picture One
Atramentus Stygian
Avathar Where Light and Shadow Collide
Axis of Light By the Hands of the Consuming Fire
Ba'al In Gallows by Mass
Bauda Sporelights
Behemoth The Satanist
the second half of this album really picks up - really good album
Bell Witch Future's Shadow I: The Clandestine Gate
Benighted In Sodom Plateau: The Harrowing
Black Swan (USA-NY) The Quiet Divide
Black Swan (USA-NY) Heaven
it's a drone album, it drones, it drones in the same way as the other black swan albums with a very slightly different tone. what were you guys expecting, really?
Black Swan (USA-NY) Redemption
Black Swan (USA-NY) Tone Poetry
Black Swan (USA-NY) The Sentimental Drift
Blackbraid Blackbraid II
BleakHeart Dream Griever
Blueneck King Nine
Blueneck The Outpost
Blut Aus Nord The Work Which Transforms God
Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Ages
Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
Bohren und der Club of Gore Dolores
Bolt Thrower ...For Victory
Bolzer Soma
Boris Amplifier Worship
Boris Dronevil
Borknagar Winter Thrice
Botanist III: Doom in Bloom / Allies
Botanist IV: Mandragora
Brian Eno Reflection
BRUIT The Machine Is Burning...
Burial Untrue
Burial Kindred
Burial Truant/Rough Sleeper
Buried at Sea Ghost
Burzum Burzum/Aske
Burzum From the Depths of Darkness
Caspian On Circles
Celestiial Where Life Springs Eternal
Celtic Frost To Mega Therion
Chthonic Takasago Army
Chthonic Battlefields of Asura
Cirith Ungol Forever Black
Coldworld Melancholie²
Conan Monnos
Conan Blood Eagle
Cormorant Dwellings
Corrupted Llenandose De Gusanos
Cradle of Filth Dusk... and Her Embrace
Cult of Luna Vertikal
Current 93 Dawn
Dark Tranquillity Character
Dark Tranquillity Atoma
Darkspace Dark Space II
Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone Panzerfaust
Dawn of Solace Waves
Dead Can Dance The Serpent's Egg
Deafheaven Infinite Granite
Deathspell Omega Kenose
Deathspell Omega Si Monvmentvm Reqvires Circvmspice
Deathspell Omega Drought
paracletus in a desert. it's awesome but it makes me a little thirsty. :]
Decembre Noir Autumn Kings
Deftones Koi No Yokan
Deftones Gore
Deftones Ohms
Der Weg Einer Freiheit Noktvrn
Desolate Shrine Tenebrous Towers
Desolate Shrine The Sanctum of Human Darkness
i knew something would come up that would totally fuck up my top 10 of the year list.
Devin Townsend Project Addicted
Devin Townsend Project Ghost
Devin Townsend Project Epicloud
i liked it when devin wasn't doing metal covers of lazytown songs
Dimmu Borgir Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Dimmu Borgir Eonian
i actually enjoyed this, what do you know.
Dirge (FR) Elysian Magnetic Fields
Dirge (FR) Hyperion
Dispirit Rehearsal At Oboroten
Dodecahedron Dodecahedron
Dolorian Dolorian
Downfall of Gaia Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay
Downfall of Gaia Atrophy
Draconian A Rose for the Apocalypse
Drapsnatt Skelepht
Drawn Into Descent The Endless Endeavour
Dreamcar DREAMCAR
Driftless Perfect Blue
Drudkh Blood In Our Wells
Drudkh Autumn Aurora
Drudkh They Often See Dreams About The Spring
Ea A Etilla
Eagle Eyed Tiger Smile for the Camera
Earth Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version
Earth Hex: Or Printing In the Infernal Method
Earth The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
pretty much the best continuation of the last album that could have been made. if you liked the last one, you'll love this one. it has a distinctly colder feel, like a cool breeze, it perfectly compliments part 1. :]
Earth and Pillars Earth I
East of the Wall Ressentiment
Ef Give Me Beauty... Or Give Me Death!
Ef Mourning Golden Morning
Ef Delusions of Grandeur
everything that was great about ef before remains great now, and thanks to them focusing a little more on the vocals (which were always the strongpoint of ef's music), it really raises above much of the material on mourning golden morning. fans of this band and post-rock in general can't go far wrong with it. :]
Elffor Heriotz Sustraiak
Eluvium Talk Amongst the Trees
Eluvium Copia
Eluvium Static Nocturne
Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse
Emptiness Nothing but the Whole
Empyrium A Retrospective
Encircling Sea Hearken
Ennui (GA) Falsvs Anno Domini
Ensiferum Thalassic
cool, ensiferum remembered how to write songs and riffs for the first time in a decade.
Enslaved Vikingligr Veldi
Enslaved Axioma Ethica Odini
Enslaved E
Enslaved Utgard
Envy A Dead Sinking Story
Envy All the Footprints You've Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead
Ereb Altor By Honour
Ereb Altor The End
Ereb Altor Fire Meets Ice
Ereb Altor Blot · Ilt · Taut
Ereb Altor Järtecken
Eremit Carrier of Weight
Evoken Quietus
Evoken Shades of Night Descending
Existem Mantle
Faal The Clouds Are Burning
Fairyland The Fall of an Empire
Falkenbach Heralding - The Fireblade
Falkenbach ...Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri...
Fall of the Leafe Aerolithe
False Untitled EP
False Untitled
Fen The Dead Light
i think going for a more streamlined, spacious approach was a smart move for fen. i think there should be a mutual agreement that going denser and more ambitious than 'winter' was a fool's task. this really hearkens back to 'epoch' but with a far greater sense of tone and a feel for what they want to convey. though it doesn't top the last two records, i'm perfectly satisfied with it, and it does nothing to change my mind that fen are amongst the most underappreciated black metal bands going right now.
Finntroll Nattfodd
Fluisteraars Bloem
Forest of Frost Forest of Frost
Foscor Les Irreals Visions
Fuath I
Funeral Praesentialis in Aeternum
Fyrnask Eldir Nótt
Gaerea Limbo
Gallowbraid Ashen Eidolon
Gas Narkopop
Ghast May The Curse Bind
Ghost (SWE) Meliora
Ghost (SWE) Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic
Gnaw Their Tongues L'arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante
God Is an Astronaut The End of the Beginning
God Is an Astronaut Age of the Fifth Sun
God Is An Astronaut trade beautifully intricate post-rock climaxes and wonderful soundscapes for monotony and boredom. The result is their worst album yet.
God Is an Astronaut Helios/Erebus
i think calling this a copy of themselves isn't very fair. this album feels distinctly different from their last album, far more reminiscent of earlier records (the end of the beginning and a moment of stillness especially) but with some of the best ambient sections and textures they've ever done, as well as some of their heaviest moments. it's a decent album. somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5.
God Seed I Begin
Godflesh Decline and Fall
Godflesh A World Lit Only by Fire
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ [Vinyl]
Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Gorgoroth Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
Gorgoroth Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt
Green Carnation Light of Day, Day of Darkness
Grimes Visions
Grimes Art Angels
Grouper Wide
Grouper A I A
Grouper Violet Replacement
Haken Vector
Hammock Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo
Hammock Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow
Hammock The Sleep-Over Series (Volume 1)
Hammock Everything and Nothing
Hanging Garden Blackout Whiteout
Hanging Garden I Am Become
Harakiri for the Sky III: Trauma
Havukruunu Kelle Surut Soi
Heidevolk Walhalla Wacht
Heidevolk De Strijdlust Is Geboren
Hinayana Order Divine
Hjarnidaudi Pain:Noise:March
fuzzy
Holy Fawn Dimensional Bleed
Hooded Menace Fulfill the Curse
Hooded Menace Effigies of Evil
Hope Drone Hope Drone
Horrendous Ecdysis
Host IX
If These Trees Could Talk The Bones of a Dying World
Imber Luminis Imber Aeternus
Immortal Sons of Northern Darkness
Immortal All Shall Fall
Immortal Northern Chaos Gods
In Flames Reroute to Remain
In Flames Colony
In Flames Whoracle
In Vain (NO) Currents
Insomnium Above the Weeping World
Insomnium One for Sorrow
Insomnium Argent Moon
Inter Arma Paradise Gallows
Inter Arma Sulphur English
Iron Maiden Senjutsu
Irreversible Sins
Irreversible Ashes
ISIS In the Absence of Truth
Isole Anesidora
Jakob Subsets of Sets
Jakob Erfo
Jesu Jesu
Jesu Duchess/Veiled
veiled is jesu's best track in years, well worth a look. the duchess cover's okay i guess. regardless, this turned out far better than i was expecting.
Jesu Everyday I Get Closer to the Light from Which I Came
Jesu Terminus
Junius Junius
Junius The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist
Kardashev Liminal Rite
Katatonia Discouraged Ones
Kauan Aava Tuulen Maa
Kauan Tietäjän Laulu
Kayo Dot Stained Glass
Keep of Kalessin Epistemology
this was a lot better than i was expecting - really solid melodic black metal with a cosmic feel. i like this more than anything else they've released.
Kerretta Saansilo
Khemmis Hunted
Khemmis Deceiver
Klone Meanwhile
Krallice Dimensional Bleedthrough
Krallice Hyperion
Krallice Mass Cathexis
Kroda Schwarzpfad
folk metal bands, listen up - this is how it's done. complex song structures, wide atmospheres, authentic folk instruments and captivating melodies make this the best folk metal release of 2011 so far. :]
Lacrimas Profundere Bleeding the Stars
Lantlos Agape
there's far too many slow movements for such a small album, and the slow movements take up the majority of the album. just when you're getting into it you suddenly realize you're at the last track already. it's nice while it lasts but it's not enough. would have been a great EP, but there's just not enough meat here for it to stand on its own.rthe idea behind the sound and the direction is great, but it just feels lacking. it's certainly worth a listen though. :]redit: the bonus disc with 2 tracks really does improve this album, hence my score increase. if you're going to check this album out, get the bonus disc too. :]
Les Discrets/Alcest Split
Lethargy of Death Necrology
Lethian Dreams Season of Raven Words
Lethian Dreams A Shadow of Memories
Leviathan Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
Leviathan Scar Sighted
Like Rats II
Limbonic Art In Abhorrence Dementia
Locktender Kafka
Lone Wanderer The Faustian Winter
Long Distance Calling Avoid The Light
Low Ones and Sixes
Ludicra Another Great Love Song
Lurk Lurk
Lychgate An Antidote for the Glass Pill
Lychgate The Contagion in Nine Steps
Mael Mordha Manannán
Malokarpatan Nordkarpatenland
Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of God
Manegarm Vredens Tid
Manegarm Nattvasen
Marianas Rest Auer
Mathias Grassow and John Haughm Mosaic
maudlin of the Well My Fruit Psychobells... A Seed Combustible
Maybeshewill I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone
This is a good album but there's nothing spectacular about this and it all adds up into an unremarkable (though admittedly enjoyable) experience.
Maybeshewill Fair Youth
Maybeshewill No Feeling Is Final
Menace Ruine Cult of Ruins
Meniscus Absence of I
Midas Fall Evaporate
Midnight Odyssey Shards of Silver Fade
a marked improvement over the last album, but i hope he learns to condense his ideas a bit more effectively and has a bit less reliance on clean vocals next time
Mithras Worlds Beyond the Veil
Mitochondrial Sun Sju Pulsarer
Mol JORD
Monads IVIIV
Monolithe Monolithe II
Moonsorrow Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa
Business as usual for Moonsorrow as they proceed to make all other 'viking metal' bands look like a joke, even if it's not as varied as previous offerings. 2011's looking good.redit: TheSpirit/Brandon I bumped your sound off bro :]
Morne Engraved With Pain
Mountaineer Passages
Mountaineer Giving Up the Ghost
too god damn short
Mournful Congregation The Dawning of Mournful Hymns
Mournful Congregation Tears from a Grieving Heart
Mournful Congregation Concrescence of the Sophia
Mourning Beloveth Rust & Bone
a few very memorable moments in the vocal department doesn't make this record any less dull - very disappointing

edit: this grew and i was wrong gosh what a shocker
Mustan Kuun Lapset Kauniinhauta
Mustan Kuun Lapset Saatto
Mutilation Rites Demo 2010
My Dying Bride Like Gods of the Sun
My Dying Bride The Light at the End of the World
My Dying Bride For Lies I Sire
My Dying Bride Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
My Dying Bride The Ghost of Orion
Nadja Belle Bêtes
Nadja Queller
Nadja The Stone Is Not Hit By The Sun, Nor Carved With A
Nazgul De Expugnatione Elfmuth
Neurosis Through Silver in Blood
Nightwish Oceanborn
Nightwish Endless Forms Most Beautiful
i'm actually really liking this. their best since century child. glad the stupid theatrics from the last record are gone. really good symphonic metal, if a bit simplistic in structure.
Nivathe Enveloped in a Diseased Abyss
Njiqahdda Yrg Alms
Nothing Dance On The Blacktop
Novembers Doom The Pale Haunt Departure
Novembers Doom Nephilim Grove
Obsequiae Suspended in the Brume of Eos
October Falls Tuoni
October Falls Marras
October Falls The Streams Of The End
October Falls Sarastus
October Falls The Plague of a Coming Age
Odium (NOR) The Sad Realm of the Stars
Old Man Gloom Seminar III: Zozobra
Olhava Reborn
the pacing of this record just makes zero sense. mega simplistic shoegazy black metal with far too much reliance on aimless ambient.
Omit Medusa Truth - Part 1
Omnium Gatherum New World Shadows
Omnium Gatherum Grey Heavens
Opeth Still Life
Opeth Blackwater Park
Ophis The Dismal Circle
Orakle Tourments et perdition
Orphaned Land Mabool (The Story of the Three Sons...)
Panopticon Autumn Eternal
Pantheist O Solitude
Paradise Lost Medusa
Paysage d'Hiver Schattengang
Paysage d'Hiver Winterkälte
pg.lost Versus
Piah Mater The Wandering Daughter
Portal Swarth
Procession (CL) To Reap Heavens Apart
Profetus As All Seasons Die
Progenie Terrestre Pura U.M.A.
this could have been a really, really interesting album. unfortunately for U.M.A., the concept itself is far more interesting than the content. there's an absolutely massive melting pot of ideas beneath all the atmosphere but not a lot of it adds up to anything. nothing builds on top of each other, it's all just there and while it sounds pretty nice when it's playing, absolutely none of it resonates because it's basically an album of elements that distract from one another. it's been so scrubbed and processed that it's difficult to find a single compelling element amidst the mess of sounds. its busy without being overly technical and the highly produced sound just makes it all sound so artificial and scraped clean of personality with absolutely nothing complimenting each other. that's not to make out that the album is bad, however - it's far from it. it's an enjoyable ride from pretty much the beginning but it lacks a soul to make it human. or extra-terrestrial, whatever.
Prurient Cocaine Death
Rishloo Feathergun
Rivers of Nihil Where Owls Know My Name
Rorcal Heliogabalus
Rorcal Muladona
Rosetta/Restorations Rosetta/Restorations Split
Rwake Voices of Omens
Saturnus Martyre
Secede Tryshasla
Secrets of the Moon Seven Bells
Shape of Despair Written In My Scars
Great stuff, but the songs seem to end before they even get going. Too short.
Shattered Hope Waters Of Lethe
Shining (NOR) One One One
Shining (SWE) IV - The Eerie Cold
Show Me A Dinosaur Show Me A Dinosaur
Sigur Ros Brennisteinn
Sigur Ros Kveikur
Skepticism Alloy
Skepticism Aes
Skepticism Ordeal
Skepticism Companion
Sleep Sleep's Holy Mountain
Slowdive Souvlaki
Slowdive Everything is Alive
So Hideous Laurestine
Soilwork Overgivenheten
Solstafir Köld
Solstice (UK) Death's Crown Is Victory
SOM The Shape of Everything
Soulfallen Grave New World
Spectral Lore III
Spectral Voice Sparagmos
Spectral Wound Infernal Decadence
Stargazer (AUS) A Great Work of Ages
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Stellar Master Elite Hologram Temple
Summoning Lost Tales
Sun of the Sleepless To The Elements
Sunlight Ascending The Appointment
Sunn O))) The Grimmrobe Demos (Demo)
Sunn O))) White2
Sunn O))) Life Metal
Sunset In The 12th House Mozaic
Swallow the Sun New Moon
Swallowed Lunarterial
Swans Soundtracks for the Blind
Swans Love Will Tear Us Apart
TesseracT Polaris
The Ascent of Everest How Lonely Sits the City
The Atlas Moth An Ache for the Distance
better than the debut. fans rejoice. :]
The Dark Element Songs The Night Sings
The Decemberists The Hazards of Love
The Devin Townsend Band Accelerated Evolution
The Echelon Effect Mosaic
The Evpatoria Report Golevka
The Flight of Sleipnir Eventide
The Howling Void Shadows Over The Cosmos
great for zoning out to, and it has a very endearing atmosphere, but it's very basic in terms of composition so it's not really for close listens, more for a really enjoyable sound in the background. take it for what it is. :]
The Night Flight Orchestra Amber Galactic
The Night Flight Orchestra Sometimes The World Ain't Enough
The Ocean Pelagial
The Residents Commercial Album
The River Drawing Down the Sun
The River In Situ
The Sun Came Up Upon the Left And the Dreams so Rich in Color
The Wounded Kings In the Chapel of the Black Hand
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
This Will Destroy You Tunnel Blanket
Thou Tyrant
Thou Heathen
Tides From Nebula Safeheaven
Todtgelichter Angst
Tombs Path of Totality
Tool Lateralus
Tool 10,000 Days
Torture Chain Time is but a Doorway to the Incinerator
Towards Darkness Solemn
Trap Them Darker Handcraft
Trees of Eternity Black Ocean
Tribulation Down Below
Triptykon Shatter
Trist (GER) Willenskraft
Trist (GER) Tiefenrausch (Ein Abstieg in fünf Stufen)
Two People In A Room Two People In A Room
Type O Negative October Rust
Tyr Land
Tyr By the Light of the Northern Star
Tyr Hel
Tyranny Tides of Awakening
Tyranny Aeons in Tectonic Interment
Uada Cult of a Dying Sun
Ulcerate Of Fracture and Failure
Ulcerate Vermis
Ulver Kveldssanger
Unexpect Fables of the Sleepless Empire
Urfaust Der freiwillige Bettler
Urfaust The Constellatory Practice
Urfaust Teufelsgeist
URSA Abyss Between the Stars
Vainaja Kadotetut
Valkyrja Contamination
Vastum Carnal Law
Venom Prison Samsara
Vindensang Alpha
Vinterriket Winterschatten
VOLA Inmazes
Vukari Divination
Wake Devouring Ruin
Walknut Graveforests and Their Shadows
Wang Wen Invisible City
We Lost the Sea The Quietest Place on Earth
We Made God It's Getting Colder
Windhand Eternal Return
Windir 1184
Winter Dust Sense by Erosion
Woe Quietly, Undramatically
Wolves in the Throne Room Malevolent Grain
Wolvserpent Gathering Strengths
Woods of Ypres Against the Seasons
Worship Last Tape Before Doomsday
Worship Dooom
Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
Year of No Light Nord
Yellow Eyes Hammer of Night
Yellow Eyes Sick With Bloom
YOB Clearing The Path To Ascend

3.0 good
A Forest of Stars The Corpse of Rebirth
Abigail Williams In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns
Abstracter Cinereous Incarnate
Absu Abzu
fast riffs!! :] it thrashes haaardddd! [:
Across Tundras Old World Wanderer
Ad Nauseam Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
Aevangelist Omen Ex Simulacra
Agrimonia Rites of Separation
Ahab The Call of the Wretched Sea
Alcest Tristesse Hivernale (Demo)
Alcest Écailles De Lune
The first half is amazing, but it just falls apart towards the end.
Alcest Le Secret (2011 Version)
Algor Mortis Die Freiheit des Denkenden Geistes
Altar of Plagues Sol
Altar of Plagues Mammal
The problem with Mammal is the fact they made it sound so impersonal and sterile which makes it incredibly difficult to get sucked into, where their previous records sounded as if they put everything into it. Mammal is nearly faceless in comparison to their previous efforts. Not to mention the mind-numbingly boring drumming which makes the whole thing beyond tiring to get through.
Amorphis Halo
i found this album to be solid but very, very predictable and unexceptional by amorphis' standards. they can run rings around the material on this album.
Anathema Resonance
Anathema Resonance 2
Anathema Alternative Future
Anti The Insignificance of Life
Has potential but the band really have to have more of an eye on dyanamics and adding some complexity to their sound. They have the atmosphere down to a tee but they really need to put more effort into making their sound more diverse.
Aosoth III - Violence & Variation
Aosoth IV: An Arrow in Heart
Ard Take Up My Bones
Astronoid Stargazer
Astronoid Radiant Bloom
i unashamedly love 'air' and the s/t but man, this one is just kinda bland. it's the same record again but it's just nowhere near as anthemic or huge, nor varied - every track has such a similar vibe. i do enjoy my time with it when it's on but none of the tracks really stick with me past the runtime.
Asunder Works Will Come Undone
At the Gates At War with Reality
At the Gates The Nightmare of Being
Ataraxie Anhedonie
Baroness Purple
Be'lakor The Frail Tide
Behemoth Evangelion
Behold... The Arctopus Horrorscension
Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin Stygian Bough Volume 1
this is held back by the really flat production and 'heaven torn low (the passage)' but it has some wonderful moments. last track is killer. honestly can't help but feel it would have been better if it were just a single LP and tracks 2 and 3 were cut.
Between the Buried and Me The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
Beware Of Safety dogs
Black Swan (USA-NY) Travesty Waves
Blaze of Perdition The Harrowing of Hearts
Blood Incantation Timewave Zero
Blut Aus Nord The Mystical Beast of Rebellion
Bohren und der Club of Gore Geisterfaust
Bohren und der Club of Gore Beileid
Bongripper Satan Worshipping Doom
Boris Boris At Last -Feedbacker-
Bossk .2
Burial Ghost Hardware
Burial Rival Dealer
this is the record that finally made me feel like it's okay to like marrow of the spirit so much
Burzum Det Som Engang Var
Burzum Filosofem
Burzum Aske
Cairiss Fall
Carbonscape Artistry of Exhaustion II
Castevet Obsian
Chthonic Bu-Tik
Coldworld Autumn
Counting Hours The Wishing Tomb
Cradle of Filth Nymphetamine
Crippled Black Phoenix Banefyre
Cult of Luna Salvation
Cult of Luna Eternal Kingdom
Cult of Luna The Raging River
Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas Mariner
Cyclopian Cyclopian
Darkspace Dark Space I
Dead Can Dance Spleen and Ideal
Dead Congregation Graves of the Archangels
Deadhorse We Can Create Our Own World
Deathspell Omega Inquisitors of Satan
Deathspell Omega Paracletus
Deathwhite Grey Everlasting
Deep Mountains Deep Mountains
zuriaake is way better than this, and chinese too :]
Dimmu Borgir Death Cult Armageddon
Do Make Say Think You, You're a History in Rust
Dornenreich Flammentriebe
Draconian Where Lovers Mourn
Draconian The Burning Halo
Drudkh Microcosmos
Ea Ea Taesse
Ea Ea
never mind it grew on me, i think it's the weakest ea album but still good
Earthside Let The Truth Speak
Efrim Manuel Menuck Plays "High Gospel"
Electric Wizard Dopethrone
Eluveitie Spirit
Eluveitie Slania
Eluvium When I Live by the Garden and the Sea
Eluvium Similes
Eluvium Pianoworks
Empyrium A Wintersunset
Empyrium Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays
Empyrium Über den Sternen
this album really sounds like it could have come out at any point in empyrium's career and as of yet i'm trying to figure out whether that's a positive or a negative. that said, it's a much stronger album than the turn of the tides. edit: after several listens i'm pretty disappointed. it nails the instrumental palette but what it doesn't get right is what set empyrium apart - the incredible melancholic melodies and harmonies. it honestly make this sound like background music, the only one grabbing my attention being 'the wild swans'. it's pleasant, nothing more.
Encircling Sea A Forgotten Land
this is a good, well balanced, if a bit clean, minimalistic black metal album. i will say it's a little bit too simplistic and predictable for my taste, the riffs and structures being very, very simple and easy to follow but it's not always against the band's favour, and it's pretty much void of any kind of grit, production wise sounding much more like a post-rock album than a black metal one. it's a cut above the average wittr worship so it's worth hearing at least.
Enshine Origin
Enshine Singularity
Ensiferum Victory Songs
Enslaved Heimdal
Envy Atheist's Cornea
Equilibrium Turis Fratyr
Ereb Altor Gastrike
Ereb Altor Ulfven
Esoteric Esoteric Emotions - The Death of Ignorance
nothing compared to their next two albums but a worthy listen, lacks the refinement in atmosphere
Evoken A Caress of the Void
Evoken Embrace the Emptiness
Fairyland Osyrhianta
Falkenbach Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty
Falkenbach ...En Their Medh Riki Fara...
Falkenbach Asa
Falls of Rauros The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood
Fallujah Dreamless
Fallujah Undying Light
False Portent
Fauna The Hunt
an album with a lot of potential but overall comes across as a little bit dull and lifeless
Fell Voices Fell Voices
Fen Dustwalker
Finntroll Nifelvind
Gazpacho Soyuz
Ghost (SWE) Popestar
Ghost (SWE) Impera
as this record has settled it kinda feels like weird al parodying ghost. couple of good tracks. otherwise not great. hopefully just a misstep?
God Is an Astronaut Far from Refuge
Though it doesn't top their other efforts, it's still a good release.
God Is an Astronaut Origins
a lot better than i expected it to be, totally worth checking out even if you didn't like spiral code
God Is an Astronaut Ghost Tapes #10
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Luciferian Towers
Gris À L'Âme Enflammée, L'Âme Constellée...
Grouper Way Their Crept
Haarp Husks
Hamferd Evst
Hammock North West East South
Hammock Repeat/Texture
Hammock Love in the Void
i'm a bit conflicted on this album because as much as i think it's a really pretty record, i loved the more ambient/orchestral and more subtle direction they were taking their sound and this seems like a bit of a backtrack. i think the more post-rocky sound feels a bit dated on this album, truthfully.
Hanging Garden TEOTWAWKI
Hum Inlet
In the Woods... Cease the Day
Insomnium Across the Dark
Insomnium Anno 1696
ISON Stars & Embers
Jesu Pale Sketches
Katatonia Night Is the New Day
Kayo Dot Gamma Knife
Kayo Dot Coffins on Io
King Woman Doubt
Kontinuum Kyrr
Krallice Krallice
Krallice Crystalline Exhaustion
i definitely rate this above their recent work - it's good, the synths are a wonderful addition - but they used to write much more interesting riffs than this. listening to the likes of years past matter and diotima in comparison makes me long for that unmistakable style. their songwriting used to be so much more fluid, dynamic and engaging. if they were to mix the two together the results would be unbelievable. alas, this album's still good.
Kuolemanlaakso Tulijoutsen
Lantlos Lantlos
Les Discrets Ariettes Oubliees...
this really wore off me, and fast. shame it didn't have the lasting appeal of the first album. :[
Leucosis Leucosis
Lifelover Erotik
Light Bearer Lapsus
"This album is, in my eyes, possibly the best post-metal release ever. It is THAT good." oh come on.
Limbonic Art Epitome Of Illusions
Liturgy The Ark Work
it's awful in a way i can't help but enjoy
Long Distance Calling Boundless
Lunar Aurora Andacht
Lunar Aurora Hoagascht
Manegarm Vargstenen
Mar De Grises The Tatterdemalion Express
Mastodon Emperor of Sand
Mayhem Daemon
Merrimack The Acausal Mass
Mesarthim .- -​.​.​. .​.​. . -. -​.​-​. .
Mogwai Young Team
Monads Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem (demo)
Mono Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
Monolithe Monolithe I
Monolithe Monolithe IV
Monolithe Nebula Septem
Moonsorrow Suden uni
Moonsorrow Metsä
Moonspell 1755
Morne Untold Wait
Mourning Beloveth A Murderous Circus
My Dying Bride As the Flower Withers
My Dying Bride 34.788%... Complete
My Dying Bride Evinta
My Dying Bride The Manuscript
perhaps coming across as the lesser-quality offcuts of the last album, they're still really good songs and it's quite remarkable that a band can remain so productive over the 20+ years they've been together without much of a change in sound and still sound fresh. really enjoyable ep.
My Dying Bride Feel the Misery
i can't help but feel like this album is an unnecessary backtrack. for an album that is essentially turn loose the swans meets the dreadful hours it doesn't go to any effort to exceed those albums and outright abandons all of the progression they've made in their last 6 records.
My Dying Bride Macabre Cabaret
i wouldn't say this is essential listening unless you're a mega fan of MDB but it's nice enough. continues the more subdued feel of the last album.
Myrkgrav Trollskau, Skromt og Kolabrenning
Mysterium The Glowering Facades Of Night
Nadja Corrasion
Necrophobic Hrimthursum
Neurosis The Eye of Every Storm
Nightwish Century Child
Nightwish Wishmaster
Nokturnal Mortum Goat Horns
Nokturnal Mortum Verity
yeah it's not like you can change a rating based on subsequent listens right

edit: "Then why rate it at all if it's going to change?" hahaha how do you know whether it's going to change or not in the future? just rate what you feel. good lord, get off your righteous rating soapbox.
Novembers Doom The Novella Reservoir
Novembers Doom Into Night's Requiem Infernal
Numenorean Home
Obsequiae Aria of Vernal Tombs
Oceanus Sirens
October Falls A Fall of an Epoch
Officium Triste Mors Viri
Olafur Arnalds ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
Olhava Sacrifice
a nice listen but the fact it's the exact same album 4 times in a row at this point is growing distracting.
Omnium Gatherum Spirits And August Light
Opeth Morningrise
Opeth Damnation
Opeth In Cauda Venenum
Orphaned Land The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR
Oskoreien Oskoreien
Pain of Salvation In the Passing Light of Day
Panopticon Social Disservices
Paradise Lost Obsidian
Paysage d'Hiver Nacht
Paysage d'Hiver Paysage d'Hiver
Paysage d'Hiver Einsamkeit
Paysage d'Hiver Das Tor
Pelican Australasia
Pelican Forever Becoming
Petrychor Dryad
pg.lost Yes I Am EP
pg.lost It's Not Me, It's You!
Pillorian Obsidian Arc
some very good agalloch-reminiscent moments (the reprise at the tail end of 'the vestige of thorns' and 'a stygian pyre', the occasional embellishments in melodic leads and john's clean vocals) spaced out by serviceable black/death metal. i have no doubt at all that the last track was originally intended as an agalloch track. it's alright, worth a listen. i'm significantly more excited for khorada though.
Portal Outre
Portal Vexovoid
Remembrance Silencing The Moments
Rosetta Flies to Flame
Russian Circles Geneva
Russian Circles Memorial
Russian Circles Guidance
Sadhaka Terma
Samael Solar Soul
Samael Lux Mundi
Saor Guardians
Satyricon Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Serenity in Murder The Eclipse
Shining (SWE) VI - Klagopsalmer
Sigur Ros Sigur Ros Presents Liminal Sleep
Situs Magus Le Grand Oeuvre
deathspell's diabolus absconditus stretched out to album length - rather good, recommended for fans of that ep
Skepticism Ethere
Skyharbor Guiding Lights
sleepmakeswaves Made Of Breath Only
Solefald World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud
Somn The All-Devouring
hope drone meets downfall of gaia. i dig.
Stars of the Lid Per Aspera Ad Astra
SuidAkrA Eternal Defiance
Sumerlands Sumerlands
Summoning Minas Morgul
Sunn O))) Flight of the Behemoth
Sunn O))) White1
Swallow the Sun Emerald Forest and the Blackbird
Swans The Burning World
Sylvaine Wistful
Sylvaine Nova
i think i like the last record a bit better - but this is still great. 'i close my eyes so i can see' is a jam.
Terra Tenebrosa The Tunnels
TesseracT One
The Angelic Process ...And Your Blood Is Full Of Honey
The Angelic Process Solipsistic
The Atlas Moth A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky
The Axis of Perdition Urfe
The Axis of Perdition Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh)
The Butterfly Explosion Lost Trails
The Caretaker An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
The Fall of Every Season Amends
The Foreshadowing Second World
The Great Old Ones EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy
The Howling Void Megaliths of the Abyss
The Howling Void The Womb Beyond the World
far from the strongest doom of the year, arguably too simplistic and repetitive but for an easy to digest funeral doom album you can't do that much better for when the more challenging bands like evoken and esoteric don't seem to suit your mood [:
The Howling Void Runa
The Howling Void Into Darkness Ever More Profound
The Morningside TreeLogia (The Album As it is Not)
The Moth Gatherer A Bright Celestial Light
The Ocean Heliocentric
The Ruins of Beverast Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
The Vision Bleak Set Sail To Mystery
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Kollaps Tradixionales
This Will Destroy You Another Language
Thorngoth Leere
Toby Driver They Are the Shield
Torche Restarter
Trivium Silence in the Snow
Ulver Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler
Ulver Shadows of the Sun
Unexpect In a Flesh Aquarium
Unreqvited Stars Wept to the Sea
Unto Others Strength
Vallendusk Black Clouds Gathering
Velvet Cacoon P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33
Velvet Cacoon Atropine
this album is everything it was intended to be. monotonous, devoid of emotion and totally lifeless. i guess it succeeds in that respect. good to put on in the background when you're trying to sleep. :]
Versailles Noble
Vhol Vhol
Voyager Colours in the Sun
Wardruna Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga
Warning The Strength to Dream
Wayfarer World's Blood
Winterfylleth The Dark Hereafter
Wodensthrone Loss
Woe Withdrawal
Wolves in the Throne Room Demo
Wolves in the Throne Room Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge
Wolvhammer Black Marketeers of World War III
Wolvserpent Blood Seed
Wolvserpent Perigea Antahkarana
Xasthur Subliminal Genocide
Year of No Light Vampyr
i liked this a lot until the re-recordings of tracks from ausserwelt came in that simply weren't as good as the originals. shame, that. still, rest is pretty good.
Yndi Halda Under Summer
YOB The Illusion Of Motion

2.5 average
*shels Plains Of The Purple Buffalo
Abbath Abbath
Abigail Williams Legend
Abigail Williams In the Absence of Light
Ablaze In Hatred The Quietude Plains
Addaura Burning for the Ancient
Aevangelist Writhes in the Murk
Agalloch Of Stone, Wind and Pillor
Alcest Le Secret
Alcest Shelter
a fairly average if mostly pleasant shoegaze record that infuriatingly keeps holding itself back for absolutely no reason
Aldebaran Embracing the Lightless Depths
Alestorm Captain Morgan's Revenge
Alestorm Leviathan
Alrakis Echoes From Eta Carinae
Altars Of Grief Iris
i really wanted to like this more but constantly goes between having a lot of potential and cringe-worthily over-dramatic so quickly that it takes me out of the experience with no hesitation due to its issues with songwriting and tonal inconsistency. tracks like "broken hymns" and "becoming intangible" are so confused in tone, trying to do so many things at once and in doing so not pulling any of them off - for example had "becoming intangible" just cut off after the blastbeat at the 5 minute mark it would have been fine but instead it then tries to do melodic black metal, then doom metal, then repeats the lyrics earlier in the song for no real reason and none of it has any cohesion. every track suffers with these issues but that's where it's most obvious and where literally half of the track could have been completely discarded and nothing would have been lost. really is a shame.
Amenra Mass IIII
Amenra Mass VI
An Autumn For Crippled Children Everything
An Autumn For Crippled Children Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love
An Autumn For Crippled Children The Long Goodbye
Anathema Eternity
the emotional strength of this album can't be questioned but the majority of the tracks here just don't really cut it as far as anathema's other material goes. tracks like hope and the eternity tracks just don't resonate at all and sometime the guitar tone and production is really unpleasant and confused like they're having a difficult time deciding how they want things to sound. that's forgiveable though consider to all intents and purposes it's a transitional album. it's a good album, it just doesn't showcase the best of the band and i'd recommend you move to this one after you've heard some of the others. :]
Anathema Weather Systems
a tackier version of their last album
Anathema The Optimist
Arckanum Sviga Læ
Ba'al Reverence
Batushka Litourgiya
Batushka Hospodi
Batushka Panihida
Behemoth I Loved You at Your Darkest
Belzebubs Pantheon of the Nightside Gods
Blut Aus Nord Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination
Blut Aus Nord What Once Was... Liber I
Blut Aus Nord What Once Was... Liber II
Blut Aus Nord Memoria Vetusta III - Saturnian Poetry
Boris Präparat
Borknagar Fall
Burzum Burzum
Chelsea Wolfe Abyss
Cobalt Gin
Dark Tranquillity We Are the Void
Darkspace Dark Space -II
practically indistinguishable from previous works - it isn't so much 'ambient' as it is meandering and dull. everything presented here is covered ground compositionally and thematically.
Dead Can Dance Into the Labyrinth
Deafheaven New Bermuda
Deafheaven Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Deathwhite For a Black Tomorrow
Degraey Reveries
Desolate Shrine Fires of the Dying World
Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction
Dimmu Borgir Stormblåst
Dimmu Borgir Abrahadabra
Remember when Shagrath told us to enter the supreme unknown in their press release for the album? Well, it looks like he's possibly the biggest liar I've ever heard of. Where most bands with talent would emphasize on said talent and progress into a powerful force of a band, Dimmu Borgir have decided to just re-tread their same old style - but this time, slathered it in orchestral wankery, over-production, and over-complicated and tedious songwriting. No place like home, I guess.r@nomos: pfffft.
Doom VS Aeternum Vale
Downfall of Gaia Silhouettes Of Disgust
Drudkh Estrangement
Drudkh Eternal Turn of the Wheel
so drudkh make yet another album of the same damn atmosphere that's even more simplistic and basic than ever with nothing but a few cool basslines to hold it together and you guys still eat it up like i'd eat up a cock. goodness me. :[
Elffor Frostbitten Pain
Enslaved Frost
Enslaved Vertebrae
Equilibrium Rekreatur
Evoken Atra Mors
it's like every other evoken album but with really shitty distracting mastering. it's still pretty good but i hope to hell this grows on me or this could be one of the bigger disappointments of the year.rseriously guys, how come i'm like the only one to notice that the production here is so fucking god awful that it makes the album nigh-impossible to listen to?ralso if you want good funeral doom from this year give towards darkness - barren a spin
Explosions in the Sky All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone
Exxasens Polaris
It's a good album but it does come across as a bit unambitious and formulaic at times, which makes it seem a bit samey. They've
nailed the atmosphere they're trying to create with some great sound effects, but in places it sounds like they made a 2 minute
song and just copy and pasted the first 2 minutes onto the end of it to make a song. That's not a bad thing all the time, but
when it's every song, it does take away from the album.
Eye of Solitude Canto III
Falkenbach Tiurida
Though fans of Falkenbach's previous material will certainly appreciate this, it really is
just more of the same. Where it isn't bad, it really is just incredibly average and does
little to make it stand out from all the other viking metal bands out there, despite
Falkenbach being revered as one of the best in the trade.
Fallujah The Flesh Prevails
Fauna Rain
Fell Voices Regnum Saturni
wish i knew what people saw in this bland, boring band. pretty poor songwriting with awful production (i don't mean badly recorded, i mean the recording style just doesn't work with the album) that just goes on and on and on.
Fen The Malediction Fields
Fen Epoch
Slightly better, but still suffers from the same issues as the first one. Generally uninteresting, baffling production decisions (Yeah yeah production on a black metal album etc., but did they really have to plaster everything in an annoying reverb that takes the impact out of everything?) and just a very worn niche when compared to bands that do it a million times better.
Fleshgod Apocalypse King
Frostreich Join the Wind
God Is an Astronaut Somnia
there aren't really any substantive changes to the songs other than a bit of reverb so it's more of an ambient compilation than anything. seems a bit lazy.
Godthrymm Reflections
Gorgoroth Under the Sign of Hell
Grey Waters Below The Ever Setting Sun
Grimes Miss Anthropocene
Hamferd Támsins likam
as expressive and impressive as the vocals feel, the instrumentation just isn't as interesting or colourful and feel left behind by the vocals' calibre of quality. sadly they only feel like a rather bland backdrop to a very impressive vocal performance with a narrative that sadly i can't tap into due to the language barrier. this honestly wouldn't matter in the slightest if the instrumentation did more to express the emotion of the music, but, well, it doesn't. it's definitely worth a listen but as far as doom/death goes it's pretty inoffensive and i kept waiting for the instrumentation to crawl out of being a mere background drudge but it outright refused to. shame.
Hammock Kenotic
Harakiri for the Sky Maere
there are several tracks here they could have cut in half without losing anything. there is no reason this album has to be 84 minutes long. 'arson' was definitely a better and more focussed record - rating rounded up because i'm a sucker for their riffing style but i'm pretty disappointed in it. also, neige's feature on this was totally wasted.
Heidevolk Uit Oude Grond
Hellveto Zemsta
Heretoir Heretoir
Heretoir Nightsphere
'the circle' was definitely a fluke i guess. the most 'background music' black metal release i've heard in a while.
Hyatari They Will Surface
If These Trees Could Talk Above the Earth, Below the Sky
If These Trees Could Talk Red Forest
it's alright yea
Ihsahn The Adversary
Isole Dystopia
Jesu Lifeline EP
Jesu Christmas
Karg Traktat
Katatonia The Great Cold Distance
Katatonia Dethroned & Uncrowned
Katatonia City Burials
Kauan Lumikuuro
Kauan Muistumia
Keep of Kalessin Katharsis
Krallice Prelapsarian
Krallice Go Be Forgotten
Lake Of Blood The Burial Grounds Sessions
Lantlos Wildhund
i didn't like this as much as i was hoping to. shame.
Leprous Coal
Leprous The Congregation
Lethian Dreams Bleak Silver Streams
Leviathan True Traitor, True Whore
not feeling it at all but the last track is nice. :]

edit: well what do you know, it grew on me a bit! [:
Limbonic Art Legacy of Evil
Loth Loth
LowCityRain LowCityRain
Luminous Vault Animate The Emptiness
behind all the windowdressing this is an extremely bland and sluggish record. not for me.
Lycus Tempest
Lycus Chasms
Mamiffer Mare Decendrii
Manegarm Urminnes Havd - The Forest Sessions
Mastodon Once More 'Round the Sun
Mayhem De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Mesarthim Isolate
Mgla With Hearts Toward None
Mgla Exercises in Futility
Mgla Age of Excuse
Mogwai Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Mogwai Earth Division
Mol Diorama
Mono Under the Pipal Tree
Mono One Step More and You Die
Mono The Last Dawn
Mono Nowhere Now Here
Morgion Solinari
Morne Shadows
basically a less interesting asylum. yawn.
Mouth Of The Architect Dawning
Nachtmystium Resilient
Nadja Dagdrøm
Nattsol Stemning
Negura Bunget OM
Neurosis Souls at Zero
Nightwish Once
Nightwish HUMAN. :II: NATURE.
Novembers Doom Aphotic
O'Brother Disillusion
Pallbearer Fear and Fury
Pallbearer Forgotten Days
a terribly produced and forgettable collection of what feels like b-sides. it's really weird to hear pallbearer sing such emotional lyrics from such a detached place - it really takes me out of the experience. if i hear lines like "Who can I trust with tomorrow? I no longer know myself" and "Did part of me die while watching you go?" i expect some sense of conviction rather than total apathy but that's how this album feels, completely apathetic. riverbed's pretty good, nothing else sticks with me. pallbearer know how to sound absolutely massive but here they seem resigned to their most indifferent and comfortable.
Panopticon Collapse
Panopticon/Wheels Within Wheels II
Pelican Ataraxia/Taraxis
Petrychor Effigies and Epitaphs
pg.lost In Never Out
pg.lost Key
Portal Seepia
Portal ION
Primordial Redemption at the Puritan's Hand
this is a great album, which holds a pretty steady standard throughout (spare a few uninteresting moments that I wish were briefer). standout track is easily The Mouth of Judas, which could be one of the best tracks they've ever put out. it's not a disappointment, but it's not mindblowing either.ralso hawks do you have to bring up Marrow wherever you go? we're listening to Primordial ffs :T
Primordial Exile Amongst the Ruins
Prurient Bermuda Drain
a real mixed bag of great songs and horrendous ones. but the great ones really are great. it's a shame the others let them down. a very different and unique release in any case, never heard a mix like this before.
Raventale Morphine Dead Gardens
Red Sparowes Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red...
Red Sparowes The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein...
Rippikoulu Ulvaja
Rivers of Nihil The Work
the progression to this album makes sense. there's a lot of great elements in this album but i think it bites off more than it can chew in some aspects, and structurally it could have used more work. it feels like it has several endings rather than flowing, some of the experimentation doesn't work ('wait' is horrendous) and it's just a bit all over the place. when it's good, it's great. this feels more like a transitional record where they throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. most does - just hoping for something a touch more consistent next time.
Rosetta Utopioid
Russian Circles Blood Year
Secrets of the Sky To Sail Black Waters
Shores of Null The Loss of Beauty
the reliance on more mid-tempo songs and clean vocals that get very tedious after a point have made this band sound almost indistinguishable from bands like swallow the sun. a very disappointing follow-up to their last album.
Sigh Scenes from Hell
Skagos Anarchic
it's such a frustrating album because it's so hushed up, all of it is clearly from completely different recording sessions so the album has no consistencyrit's the ruined potential that frustrates me the most. if the dude sat down with the material he had and rerecorded it in a way that made sense it would have been a damn great album, but nope.
Skepticism Lead and Aether
Slow (BE) V - Oceans
So Hideous None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
Soen Imperial
this grew off me quite a lot.
Solstafir Svartir Sandar
oh dear oh dear oh dear... it's not like i needed another reason to earn the negative noctus title but oh no :[ranyway the songs don't progress, they just meander through a few similar ideas before going to the next track and doing the same thing again. the sound that solstafir inhabits just isn't interesting when they're not going balls out and crushing mountains and rthis whole album is just the total opposite of that.rit's barely atmospheric enough to suck you in, it's barely climactic enough to keep you interested and the way it's structured and put together just seems so aimless. kold already dragged on in places, but the lack of interesting songs here make that album look like a masterpiece.
Solstafir Otta
how far can you stretch one idea that isn't very good in the first place? i've no idea but solstafir seem to know.
Spectral Lore II
Spiritbox Eternal Blue
SubRosa (US) More Constant Than The Gods
SuidAkrA Book of Dowth
Summoning Lugburz
Summoning Upon The Viking Stallion
Sunn O))) Kannon
Svartsot Ravnenes Saga
Taake Kveld
Taake Noregs Vaapen
The Calm Blue Sea The Calm Blue Sea
The Elijah I Loved I Hated I Destroyed I Created
The Great Old Ones Tekeli-Li
The Howling Void Nightfall
more of the same but slightly improved - not for active listening, great to put on in the background and zone out to
The Last Days When The Tomorrow Is a Grey Day
The Morningside Moving Crosscurrent of Time
The Ocean Anthropocentric
Thy Light Suici.De.pression
Ulcerate Shrines of Paralysis
Vanum Realm of Sacrifice
Vaura Selenelion
Velvet Cacoon Genevieve
Velvet Cacoon Dextronaut
Velvet Cacoon Northsuite
VV (FIN) Neon Noir
We Lost the Sea Triumph and Disaster
Wedrujacy Wiatr Tam, Gdzie Miesiac Oplakuje Swit
White Ward False Light
Wolfheart Winterborn
Wolven Ancestry The Wrath Of Gaia
Wolves in the Throne Room Wolves in the Throne Room
Wolves in the Throne Room BBC Session 2011 Anno Domini
Woman Is The Earth This Place That Contains My Spirit
Woods of Desolation Toward the Depths
Woods of Desolation As the Stars
YOB The Unreal Never Lived
YOB The Great Cessation
YOB Our Raw Heart

2.0 poor
Aeonian Sorrow Into The Eternity A Moment We Are
didn't like this one. found it overwrought, cheesy and difficult to sit through.
65daysofstatic The Fall of Math
65daysofstatic One Time for All Time
65daysofstatic We Were Exploding Anyway
A Diadem of Dead Stars The Mist Bearer
A Storm Of Light As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us...
Agalloch The Serpent and the Sphere
Alda Tahoma
Alestorm Black Sails at Midnight
Amenra Mass V
Amesoeurs Amesoeurs
Anathema A Fine Day to Exit
Anathema The Crestfallen
Anathema Universal
Anathema Distant Satellites: Acoustic Sessions
Antimatter The Judas Table
budget mid-era anathema with a subpar vocalist and too much reliance on acoustic sections with no flavour at all. the lyrics aren't great either. the solos are awesome but that's about all it has going for it.
Apse Climb Up
Aquilus Griseus
a bloated, uneventful, meandering mess of opeth worship and annoying keyboard interludes. it's okay for a couple of tracks but after that you're just begging for it to end. the sounds here are well down, it just needs to be stripped down and be done with better riffs and ideas.
Ash Borer Bloodlands
Asunder A Clarion Call
Baring Teeth Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins
Baroness Blue Record
Baroness Gold and Grey
Blind Guardian A Twist in the Myth
Blut Aus Nord 777 - Sect(s)
it's great but it feels a bit lacking in places. that could be because there's 2 other albums similar to this one coming out this year, though. it's difficult to judge this without the rest of the apparent trilogy.
Blut Aus Nord 777 - The Desanctification
ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Blut Aus Nord Deus Salutis Meae
Bongripper Miserable
Bossk Migration
Burial Young Death/Nightmarket
Burzum Hlidskjalf
Cathedral The Guessing Game
Caves of Glass Caves of Glass
Cobalt Slow Forever
Cold Body Radiation Deer Twillight
Cold Body Radiation The Longest Shadows Ever Cast
Coldworld Isolation
Cradle of Filth Thornography
Cradle of Filth Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder
Crypt Sermon Out of the Garden
Dark Tranquillity Moment
Deafheaven Sunbather
well isn't this a pleasant surprise
Deathspell Omega Infernal Battles
Deathspell Omega The Synarchy of Molten Bones
Deathwhite Grave Image
Devin Townsend Lightwork
Devin Townsend Project Ki
Diablo Swing Orchestra The Butcher's Ballroom
Dimmu Borgir For All Tid
Dimmu Borgir Stormblåst MMV
Disma Towards the Megalith
Dolorian Voidwards
Drudkh A Furrow Cut Short
Elder (USA-MA) Omens
Eluveitie Ven
Eluveitie Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion
Eluvium Shuffle Drones
the several combinations of this album don't really lead to a meaningfully different experience. it's a fascinating idea but it doesn't really land.
Elysian Blaze Blood Geometry
REVERB EVERYTHING IT MAKES IT ATMOSPHERIC HONEST
Empyrium Weiland
Ensiferum Iron
Ensiferum Unsung Heroes
the execution is far more epic than the ideas that they started with, the whole album kind of falls flat and sounds like a mere immitation of what they achieved before. there are no bad moments here (apart from the opera singers in passion proof power) but there aren't very many good ones. :]
Ensiferum One Man Army
Enslaved The Sleeping Gods
pretty much exactly what I expected from this, but there are some really interesting moments here that make it exceed Axioma Ethica Odini for me like the track Synthesis and its electronic influences, though unfortunately that track drags beyond belief. that aside though, everything here (for the most part) is to a consistent standard that will keep every Enslaved fan satisfied and probably wanting more.
Equilibrium Waldschrein
Equilibrium Armageddon
Equilibrium Renegades
Ered Wethrin All Song Ceased
Evoken Hypnagogia
Exxasens Beyond the Universe
Fell Voices Untitled
Fleshgod Apocalypse Labyrinth
Ghost (SWE) Opus Eponymous
sit down and be quiet
Ghost (SWE) Phantomime
except for the genesis cover this is a pretty poor collection of songs that don't really suit the band. the tina turner one is okay too but the others just don't flatter the band or the original compositions at all.
Giles Corey Giles Corey
Godspeed You! Black Emperor All Lights Fucked On the Hairy Amp Drooling
Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress'
Godspeed You! Black Emperor G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
Gorement Within The Shadow Of Darkness
i love this band and the band's material but this package is dreadful. the remaster is horrible, all they did was brickwall it and give it an eq spike to the high and low end and they even managed to fuck that up up (you can hear a windows noise at 2:02 into their carcass live cover). the artwork doesn't at all fit the band, either. this band deserves a lot better than what they got.
Gorgoroth Incipit Satan
Gorgoroth Instinctus Bestialis
like most gorgoroth albums, it's just kind of 'there', outright refusing to do anything outside its own well-carved niche. honestly, they've never been the most essential band in the genre and seem to be riding on reputation more than anything. i'm unsure as to why anyone is paying much attention at this point as its been made 100% clear that they aren't throwing any curveballs.
Gris Il Était Une Forêt...
Hypno5e Shores of the Abstract Line
In Mourning The Bleeding Veil
Inter Arma Sky Burial
Iotunn Access All Worlds
Ixion To The Void
Jesu Why Are We Not Perfect?
Jesu Infinity
Jesu Ascension
Junius Reports From The Threshold of Death
at an attempt to go heavier Junius lost their charm and spark, as well as their sense of structuring songs properly, resorting to verse/chorus most of the time. the songs lack the subtlety of the last two albums, and where i think this album might be among their best for live performances, it doesn't transcend well to record. it's not bad, and in the right context i'm sure it's really enjoyable (that being a live show), but as an album it just doesn't deliver. it's too straight forward and predictable to be engaging. shame, but there are a few tracks worth taking from it. :]
Junius Days of the Fallen Sun
Katatonia Viva Emptiness
Katatonia The Fall of Hearts
Kayo Dot Blue Lambency Downward
Kayo Dot Coyote
Kayo Dot Plastic House on Base of Sky
Korpiklaani Karkelo
Krallice Ygg Huur
this is basically behold the arctopus meets colored sandsridk how i feel about that
Krallice Demonic Wealth
Kylesa Spiral Shadow
Light Bearer Silver Tongue
i can't get over how basic this is, almost nothing happens throughout the whole album, it's just one predictable build to another predictable build to another boring riff with a simple drum beat over and over and over for 80 fucking minutes
Liturgy Aesthethica
this is without a doubt one of the most irritating albums I've ever had to listen to.r@Hyperion1001: yeah it's secretly great!! ;]
Loss Life Without Hope... Death Without Reason
Loss Horizonless
Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu
Lycus Demo MMXI
Manegarm Legions of the North
it's like every other album they've made only without the prominence of the violin, which was the one saving grace of the band. the thing that set these guys apart was that the violin was a very integral part of the songwriting and here it just sounds tacked on as an afterthought to keep fans happy despite the violinist leaving. pity.
Mayhem Psywar
Mgla Groza
i don't think this album could be any blander if it tried, even if it tried to imitate stale crackers. which to be honest is probably what it's already doing. :]
Midnight Odyssey Funerals from the Astral Sphere
Midnight Odyssey Biolume Part 1 - In Tartarean Chains
i wish i liked his clean vocals cus practically every composition here hinges on them - alas, i do not.
Midnight Odyssey Biolume Part 2 - The Golden Orb
i find his clean vocals just excruciating and twice as loud as they should be. they ruin every track here.
Mono For My Parents
more of the same but less. tepid, linear and without what made what mono so formulaic before forgiveable. it does very little outside what your every day hollywood soundtrack would do. :[r""For My Parents" isn't going to change anyone's opinions on this band, but am I a sucker for dem climaxes." what climaxes? this album barely even utilizes any real or satisfying climaxes, which is one of my biggest issues with it. ]:
Mono Rays of Darkness
Mono Requiem For Hell
i find it hard to believe anyone is still interested in what this band are doing
Monolithe Epsilon Aurigae
Monolithe Zeta Reticuli
Moonspell Hermitage
the over-reliance on clean vocals makes this album feel really tepid. it's a decent hard rock album but nothing more - certainly doesn't feel like a moonspell record.
Moving Mountains Waves
eh they always sucked anyway, don't know why people are so disappointed
My Dying Bride The Barghest o’ Whitby
Myrkur Myrkur
Myrkur Mareridt
Nargaroth Jahreszeiten
Neurosis A Sun That Never Sets
Neurosis Times of Grace
Neurosis Given to the Rising
Nightwish Dark Passion Play
Novembers Doom Bled White
Oak (PT) Disintegrate
compositionally dull and perhaps the most annoying snare sound in recent memory.
Oak Pantheon The Void
Old Silver Key Tales of Wanderings
yawn :[ drudkh are bland and boring and neige sounds like he's singing in his sleep

but at least neige sounds like an angel as always despite sounding sleepy :]

edit: and Neige sounds like an angel as always.
Om Advaitic Songs
Opeth Orchid
Opeth Pale Communion
a bit better than heritage but that isn't saying much
Pallbearer Demo 2010
Pallbearer Sorrow And Extinction
Palms Palms
Panopticon Kentucky
Paradise Lost Gothic
Paradise Lost Draconian Times
Paysage d'Hiver Im Wald
Petrychor Makrokosmos
Portal Avow
Procession (CL) Destroyers Of The Faith
Progenie Terrestre Pura oltreLuna
Radiohead OK Computer
Rosetta/Junius Split
Russian Circles Empros
Sacred Son Sacred Son
fuck off.
Saor Forgotten Paths
Saor Origins
Saturnus The Storm Within
probably my biggest disappointment in recent memory.
Satyricon Satyricon
Sculptured The Liminal Phase
they could have at least edited out the really loud inhales from the vocal takes - not to mention everything sounding so muddy as if played in mono. 13 years and the mixing butchered this.
Secrets of the Moon Sun
Shining (SWE) VII: Fodd Forlorare
Shining (SWE) IX: Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, ends.
Sigh Imaginary Sonicscape
"it's weird therefore it is good!"
Skagos Ast
it's like wolves in the throne room but bland, boring and incipid
Sleep Token Take Me Back to Eden
Slint Spiderland
Sojourner Empires of Ash
Solstafir Berdreyminn
SubRosa (US) For This We Fought the Battle of Ages
Summoning With Doom We Come
worst summoning album since their debut - repeated atmospheres, unrewarding song structures and questionable mixing/mastering choices make this album the first effort from summoning in their spotless career since the incredible 'dol guldur' that genuinely feels like a struggle to sit through despite having its standout moments.
Sunlight Ascending Leaving My Waiting Room
really disappointed with this, what happened, guys?
Sunn O))) and Ulver Terrestrials
Svartsot Mulmets Viser
Swallow the Sun Lumina Aurea
2 listens later and i wasn't sure what this was trying to be - the instrumentation seems half the volume of what it should be for a funeral doom piece and the atmospherics seemed too pushed back for something ambient/drone leaning. i felt i was missing a lot as an english speaker from not understanding the spoken word and though the instrumental is included, it's too texturally barren for me to enjoy it as a standalone. i really wasn't into this.
Swans The Seer
this has grown off me a lot, sorry guys :[
Swans To Be Kind
Talons We All Know
The Fall of Every Season From Below
The Great Old Ones Al Azif
The Ocean Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
The Ocean Holocene
This Will Destroy You Moving on the Edges of Things
Thy Catafalque Rengeteg
Tortoise Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Trollfest Villanden
Trollfest Brakebein
Turisas Stand Up and Fight
Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Unreqvited Disquiet
Urfaust Verräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist
Vallendusk Heralds of Strife
was hoping they'd continue to pursue the melodic black metal direction of the last album. this is quite bland in comparison. what a shame.
Vanum Legend
ageless fire was a fluke then, i guess
Voyager Fearless in Love
this is the blandest this band has ever sounded - beginning to think ghost mile was just a fluke. so many of these tracks are just non-starters and sound like b-sides from the last two albums. the amount of deja vu from the vocal melodies makes this album sound so unimaginative by their standards, on top of the reliance of vocal repetition just makes it seem lazy.
Winterfylleth The Divination Of Antiquity
Wintersun The Forest Seasons
the only person alive that can take 5 god damn years to half-ass something and phone it in is jari. people actually paid 50 euros for this, and i feel genuinely sorry for them.
Within Temptation Mother Earth
Wolves in the Throne Room Celestite
the first and last tracks are a really great display of re-using their ideas in a constructive way but the middle tracks really lose me. not keen on the more 'bleep bloop' synths they use and they more often take me out of the experience than pull me in and none of the experimentation in the middle 3 tracks pay off in a significant way. it's okay, just rather average as far as ambient goes. will definitely re-visit the first and last tracks though. [:
Woods of Desolation The Falling Tide
Woods of Desolation Torn Beyond Reason (Remastered)
original master is way, way better. no clue why this remaster exists.
Woods of Ypres Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Light
Wythersake Antiquity
Xasthur All Reflections Drained
Xasthur Portal Of Sorrow
Year of No Light Tocsin
definitely not the album ausserwelt was/is
Yellowcard and Hammock A Hopeful Sign
Yndi Halda Enjoy Eternal Bliss
YOB Atma
i really hope this is a grower because right now this is really bad :[
Zeal and Ardor Zeal and Ardor

1.5 very poor
Alcest BBC Live Session
poorly performed and completely pointless
Alestorm Back Through Time
Behemoth A Forest
Behemoth Opvs Contra Natvram
Blut Aus Nord MoRT
Blut Aus Nord What Once Was...Liber III
scraping the barrel... liber iii
Blut Aus Nord Debemur MoRTi
if a smaller, nameless band released this absolutely no one would care about it
Burzum Daudi Baldrs
Burzum Fallen
Burzum Umskiptar
i like the concept of the album slowly and subtley dropping elements as the album progresses (or regresses, respectively) but none of the musical aspects are engaging enough to carry the momentum of the concept. this is the first time i've listened to a burzum album and genuinely not even remembered one riff, which was burzum's strongpoint. he's finally run himself dry.
Burzum Sol austan, Mani vestan
Chthonic Mirror Of Retribution
Clouds (INT) Doliu
Clouds (INT) Departe
Cold Body Radiation A Clear Path
tbh i don't think the path on the cover is very clear at all ]:
Coldworld The Stars Are Dead Now
Daniel Cavanagh Monochrome
Deafheaven Roads to Judah
"for once in a long time this is a metal release that sounds DIFFERENT.." hahahahahahahaahahahaaaaa oh man :]
Devin Townsend Empath
Drudkh Handful of Stars
Electric Wizard Black Masses
Eluveitie Everything Remains As It Never Was
Eluveitie Helvetios
Empyrium The Turn of the Tides
can't decide which is a bigger letdown - agalloch or this
Explosions in the Sky The Wilderness
Falloch Where Distant Spirits Remain
Falloch This Island, Our Funeral
Frigoris Wind
Ghost (SWE) Infestissumam
Ghost Bath Funeral
Ghost Bath Moonlover
Giles Corey Deconstructionist
over-elaborate bullshit
Hypothermia Rakbladsvalsen
Hypothermia Gråtoner
Hypothermia Svartkonst
Jesu Never
Kayo Dot Blasphemy
Korpiklaani Ukon Wacka
Les Discrets Virée Nocturne
Les Discrets Prédateurs
Lights and Motion Reanimation
Lights and Motion Save Your Heart
Limbonic Art Phantasmagoria
The lack of Morfeus ruined Limbonic Art's edge - their brilliant work of atmospherics, leaving an empty shell of boring black metal.
Loss Despond
small amounts of potential with the most distractingly awful things imaginable littered all over it. in fact it's so undepressing that it almost reaches its goal - almost. ultimately there's very little to salvage, it's too soft to be striking and it's too offensively bad to even be background music thanks to the vocals and dreary delivery of just about everything. the bits with potential are cookie cutter at best, the rest is just a cringe-worthy reverb-laiden mess.
Lustre (SWE) The Ashes of Light
Manegarm Ynglingaättens öde
Morbid Angel Illud Divinum Insanus
Moss Horrible Nights
really disappointing to see a band that had such a great, fairly unique atmosphere and sound go the way of every other stoner doom metal band these days

the clean vocals really aren't very good and get really, really tiring a few tracks in. it's saved from being a total disaster by the riffs and production but this really is weak in comparison to their last two albums
Moving Mountains Pneuma
My Dying Bride Bring Me Victory
Myrkur M
Ne Obliviscaris Urn
Neurosis Honor Found in Decay
Neurosis Fires Within Fires
Nightwish Walking in the Air: The Greatest Ballads
Nightwish Imaginaerum
I WANT MY TIME BAAAAAAAAAACK :] :] :]
Njiqahdda Nji. Njiijn. Njiiijn.
Opeth Heritage
noctus no like :[ the song structures just seem non-sensical in the fact they don't hold their own or build to anything so the album just seems disjointed, which would be okay if this album had its moments, but it just doesn't. it's just a bunch of boring moments from opeth's past all glued together. their worst yet.
Opeth Sorceress
Ov HELL The Underworld Regime
An awfully cliched mess of black metal, generic and underwhelming. It's evident Shagroth had nearly no input on the music, he was simply asked to sing. Further proof that King is evidently a one trick pony.
Ozzy Osbourne Ordinary Man
Periphery Periphery
Sigh In Somniphobia
another sigh album goes by and i ask myself yet again, what do people see in this band? :[
Soen Memorial
this new five finger death punch record is about what you'd expect
Solstafir Endless Twilight of Codependent Love
slstafir's overreliance on an annoying vocal approach, immensely simple rhythm sections and songs where absolutely nothing happens is wearing immensely thin. melodically bland to the point where it's so frustrating to listen to.
Striborg Embittered Darkness/Isle De Morts
Swashbuckle Back To The Noose
Tarja Turunen My Winter Storm
Tarja Turunen The Seer
The Antlers Hospice
The Howling Void The Triumph of Ruin
The Howling Void Bleak and Everlasting
fitting title. this dude has made zero compositional progress in like four records. he adds metaphorical bells and whistles sometimes but the core is always the same and so banal.
Turisas Battle Metal
Turisas The Varangian Way
Ulver Nattens Madrigal
Urfaust Geist Ist Teufel
Watain Lawless Darkness
blahhhhh been there done that. Honestly, after like 3 listens I can't find anything redeemable from this album at all. It just made me want to listen to bands who do it better.
Windrider A Warrior's Tale
repetitive, uncreative, unredeemable rubbish. it's like every folk metal band were stripped of everything that made them good in the first place. avoid.
Woods of Ypres Woods III: Deepest Roots and Darkest Blu

1.0 awful
Celtic Frost Cold Lake
Deathspell Omega The Long Defeat
Deuce The Two Thousand Eight EP
Deuce Call Me Big Deuce
Deuce Nine Lives
Dimmu Borgir In Sorte Diaboli
DoomThrone Skeleton Veiled in Flesh
Ensiferum Two Paths
Ghost Bath Starmourner
If I Could Kill Myself Ballad of the Broken
Lustre (SWE) Wonder
Lustre (SWE) Blossom
Lustre (SWE) Still Innocence
Marilyn Manson We Are Chaos
Nargaroth Black Metal Ist Krieg (A Dedication Monument)
Nightwish Made In Hong Kong
Nokturnal Mortum NeChrist
Paysage d'Hiver Geister
Peste Noire Peste Noire - Split - Peste Noire
Peste Noire Le Retour Des Pastoureaux
Silencer (SWE) Death - Pierce Me
Sleeping Peonies Rose Curl, Sea Swirl
Sleeping Peonies Ghosts, and Other Things
Imagine if you took Velvet Cacoon and put them in Disneyland, gave them a MIDI machine and told them to make an album out of what they saw out of the window. Not to mention giving them shrooms. Enter Sleeping Peonies. The sound-off could end right here, but for the sake of my own entertainment and yours, allow me to divulge.

Sleeping Peonies is a direct result of the existence of Alcest and similar bands, but they decide to take it into an even more whimsical and incoherent direction. Be it the horrible production, the bad performance of everything, the awful song structures with the least subtle transitions imaginable or the general sickening feeling you get listening to it; Ghosts, and Other Things fails on all fronts.

Much like eating an entire huge bar of chocolate, it makes you feel bad and unclean after having it all in one go. This record is pretty much that feeling. But on the plus side, if it keeps you away from sweets, it might be a neat weight loss scheme. :]
Sleeping Peonies s l o w l y d i s a p p e a r i n g
Slytherin When the Darkness Comes
Slytherin Tales of Hogsmeade Village
Sonic Syndicate We Rule the Night
Stalaggh Projekt Terror
i like the part where it's like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Striborg Blackwave
Striborg Leave the World Behind
Striborg An Existential Burden
The Hu The Gereg
Therion Beloved Antichrist
Uaral Sounds Of Pain...
"Sounds of Pain..." no fucking shit in the fact that this was painful to listen to. avoid unless you want to hear a grown man burp and cry like a baby to boring as hell instrumentation. :]
Unhappy Despair
Venom Black Metal
When Bitter Spring Sleeps When Bitter Spring Sleeps
Wintersun Warning
Wolfchant A Pagan Storm
Wolfchant Determined Damnation
Woods of Ypres Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth
Woods of Ypres Woods 4: The Green Album
Woods of Ypres Independent Nature 2002-2007
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