Below rests restlessly a list of records. It will be amended often because I haven't made up my mind completely.
Updated Jan 2. 2011
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The 3rd and the Mortal - Painting on Glass
A
Absu - Tara
Agnes Vein - of Chaos & Law
Anacrusis - Manic Impressions
Anathema - Pentecost III (did 'Serenades' instead)
Annihilator - Never Neverland
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Atrox - Contentum
Autopsy - Mental Funeral (this one's out)
B
Bethlehem - Dictius Te Necare
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
Bolt Thrower - For Those Once Loyal
Brocas Helm - Into Battle
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Carnivore - Carnivore
Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
Confessor - Unravelled
Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
Deaf Dealer - Journey into Fear
Deathrow - Deception Ignored
Demilich - Nespithe
Depressive Age - First Depression
dISEMBOWELMENT - Transcendence into the Peripheral
Esoteric - Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum
Evereve - Seasons
Forsaken - Dominaeon
Fleurety - Min tid Skal Komme
Fates Warning - Spectre Within
Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
Gorguts - Obscura
Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance
Helloween - Walls of Jericho / Helloween EP
Horrified - In the Garden of the Unearthly Delights
In the Woods... - HEart of the Ages
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Jag Panzer - The Fourth Judgment
Jester's March - Beyond
John Arch - A Twist of Fate
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Kinetic Dissent - I Will Fight No More Forever
Kingsbane - Kingsbane
Kruiz - Kruiz
Legend - From the Fjords
Litany - Aphesis: The Sapience of Dying
Lordian Guard - Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
Master's Hammer - Ritual
Maudlin of the Well - Bath / Leaving Your Body Map
Mayfair - Behind
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Mekong Delta - Dances of Death
Memory Garden - Tides
Mercury Rising - Building Rome
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Moahni Moahna - Why
Morbid Angel - Blessed are the Sick
Morgion - Solinari
Mortuary Drape - Into the Drape
Motorhead - Bomber
My Dying Bride - Trinity
Negura Bunget - Om
Neurosis - Times of Grace
Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstasy
Nigro Mantia - Poetry of Subculture
O.S.I. - Office of Strategic Influence
Obituary - Cause of Death
Omen - Battlecry
Orphaned Land - Mabool
Paradise Lost - Icon
Pik - The Heritage of Past Gods
Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
Psychotic Waltz - A Social Grace
Queensryche - Rage for Order
Riot - Thundersteel
Rosicrucian - No Cause for Celebration
Rotting Christ - Passage to Arcturo
Sabbat - Dreamweaver
Sacrosanct - Tragic Intense
Sanctuary - Into the Mirror Black
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Saviour Machine - I
Scald - Will of the Gods is Great Power
Secrecy - Raging Romance
Septic Flesh - Esoptron
Shadow Gallery - Carved in Stone
Sieges Even - Life Cycles
Skepticism - Lead & Aether
Slauter Xstroyes - Winter Kill
Spiral Architect - A Skeptic's Universe
Tiamat - Astral Sleep
Titan Force - Titan Force
Tyrant - Too Late to Pray
Unholy - Second Ring of Power
Varathron - Genesis of Apocryphal Desire
Virgin Steele - Invictus
The Vision Bleak - Carpathia
Voivod - Nothingface
Warlord - Deliver Us
Warning - From a Distance
Watchtower - Control and Resistance
Windham Hell - Reflective Depths Imbibe
Xerxes - Falling Leaves
Zephyrous - A Caress of War & Wisdom
Zen - Gaze Into the Light
Quite interesting list. I counted 73 albums I am familiar with and while it's not your ultimate goal to convince other people to get into them all perhaps it happens occationally as an healthy byproduct of analysing these albums not just with strict methods of musicology but by heart. Such writing is very inspiring and makes people look more into the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteHeh I was thinking about the 'I am not a tastemaker' claim in the PAQ I posted below and if it's in conflict with people reading my blog posts and then hunting down the music. I hope it's not hypocritical that I do want other people to listen to the music I like and engage me in a discussion about it perhaps, but I do not want them to like it because I, a wordy and self-serious person on the internet, likes it.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to disentangle my thoughts on this more later.
Nothing exists in a vacuum and your writing will influence preconceptations about the music you "review". At best it means providing some new (at least for the readers) angels to the music at hand. We don't have to take your word for everything but if we disagree or have something to add then hopefully discussion will follow and through it a better understanding about the music.
ReplyDelete"I do not want them to like it because I, a wordy and self-serious person on the internet, likes it."
I think it's out of your hand. As long as the individual journey is encouraged and held high instead of wearing the tastemaker-mask I don't see huge contradictions. Would you rather not write at all and endorse the silence?
Obviously not, I just have to work a bit on how to encourage dialogue in the case of dissent. I write very long and involved on the subject and the reader might feel - if they disagree with me - either that they must be wrong and I right, or the most comment that all I'm worth to be told is a random insult for being wrong. Effectively sniping. I've been insulted online by a lot of metalheads and if it didn't come to that, I'd otherwise love to hear what they have to say on the subject of the disagreement.
ReplyDeleteI know and understand the significance of or like most of these, but I find Bethlehem an odd inclusion, if only because I've never seen it really mentioned much anywhere ever. I understand it fits pretty early into... modern black metal trends but otherwise I'm not sure, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
ReplyDeleteDictus Necare has an unfortunate cultural footprint because the first song of it was featured in the movie by Harmonie Korine, "Gummo" during that person's brief infatuation with music-with-screaming-in-it. I suppose he considered that stuff abrasive to the point of social statement, like hardcore punk, whereas the screaming vocals in black metal really aren't about society at all. Korine flattered Burzum enough to secure the rights of one of his songs as well. The hipsterism turns off a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore Bethlehem eventually turned to some sort of goth rock outfit and have a wider fanbase because of it, also one that doesn't prefer their earlier material. To make things even worse, they've made some bad decisions as of late with the singer of Shining overdubbing his vocals over old material that didn't need it and other such senselessness. It all adds up to their metal years being regarded as a bit of a gimmick by metalheads not particulariy enamoured by their style of music.
And their style of music is profoundly ugly and sickening. Listening to 2 minutes of Bethlehem would compound reservations, I think. Yet there is beauty and romance there too but the listener has to work for it. There's much to recommend the record for if you have a strong constitution.
Very interesting list. Subscribing and looking forward to read your thoughts.
ReplyDeletePS: Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal (-For)
Love this album to bits myself.
Bit of a late post. To be fair, I procrastinate on everything, and if I finally chose to get a Google account it was so that I might participate in whatever way I can in the discussion on this site. I find what you're doing to be fascinating, especially since I approach music from a different reference frame than you (being myself attuned less to the romantic and more to the visceral). I find it healthy to expose oneself to opinions different than one's own, especially when it's done eloquently and without any sense of superiority. This list has also inspired me to both check out albums I haven't yet heard and revisit ones I might have heard once but shrugged off. In summary, I'd like to thank you for what you're doing here, and I do take something away from it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this is so, Alex.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting list. I have enough new material to listen to for quite some time now!! I especially want to thank you for introducing me to Dark Quarterer's Gates of Hell song.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that there are some albums post 1999 that make the cut, particularly Negura Bunget and Primordial. It would be interesting to read your take on these, particularly the former. It is one of the few black metal albums that struck me strongly on the very first listen itself as compared to black metal standards like Gorgoroth's Antichrist or the Mayhem album.
Then there are some bands that I just cannot like, among others the following - Queensryche, Anathema and Litany. Somehow I just found the immediacy of feeling that drew me to metal (through Megadeth and Metallica's works) to be missing, they sounded sterile and I am not talking the Manic Impressions-esque sterility. I prefer a band like Sepultura or Dismember's Like a Everflowing Stream.
While I find it hard to put my thoughts on paper when it comes to music, I shall endeavor to comment on this blog about the albums that strike me, as and when I think I have found something worthwhile to talk about.