What Are You Listening To Now - The Fallen Edition
Neurosis - "Times Of Grace" (1999)
Stunningly heavy post-metal from California. This one is my go-to Neurosis album these days.
4.5/5
Candlemass - "Nightfall" (1987)
My favourite Candlemass album these days.
4/5
Sleep - "Dopesmoker" (2003)
A total stoner/doom drone-fest featuring a 63 minute epic.
4/5
Thorr’s Hammer - DOMMEDAGSNATT (1996)
Members of Sunn O))) and Burning Witch. HEAVY!!!
Sunn O))) - "Black One" (2005)
This post is a prime example of why the "Metal Academy" website is a superior tool for finding new music that fits your unique personal tastes than our competition can boast of. I've always been a fan of the Sunn O))) material I've encountered but I doubt that I would ever have checked this album out if not for the high regard its held in by our own Revolution666 & Jon who both awarded it the full five stars. "Black One" doesn't receive anything like that sort of rating on the less targeted rating & review sites that allow their scoring to be diluted by less devoted listeners. This is one of the best albums I've ever heard in my life to be perfectly honest. Our clan system works like a muthafucka!
5/5
Boris - "Pink" (2005)
A classic noise rock record with a strong stoner component from a Japanese band who continue to reinvent themselves.
4.5/5
Weeping Sores - False Confession (2019)
As the year winds down this album came out of nowhere and blew me away with its varying and complex death-doom metal riffs contrasted by a sweetly evil sounding violin. Easily one of my favorite Death-Doom albums I've heard. Incredible atmosphere and work by the lead singer of Pyrrhon, I'm extremely glad he decided to create such an awesome side project considering I really disliked Pyrrhon's style of Death Metal.
Neurosis - "Souls At Zero" (1992)
An unmitigated classic & one of my all-time favourite records. Fuck I love this band.
5/5
Valkyrie - "Sunlight Shines" 2004: Love the trad metal leanings and weeping willow guitars. Jake and Pete Adams are underrated doom icons.
Neurosis - "A Sun That Never Sets" (2001)
An album that saw Neurosis heading further away from their classic sludge metal sound towards a much more introspective post-metal one with drawn out arrangements & a stronger focus on atmospherics. It's still fucking brilliant though. Particularly Scott Kelly's emotional vocal performance. He's comfortably one of my top five vocalists of all time to be honest. The highlights are nothing short of stupendous but the quality does drop a touch over the last few tracks which prevents any chance of a perfect score.
4.5/5
Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions (2019)
As I've been trying to round out my year end listening, I came across this Doom Metal album I skipped over. Despite the awful name, this despondent Doom release is top notch, keeping to a heavier more traditional style with plenty of crunchy riffs with a slightly monotone but effective vocalist that sounds suspiciously like Volbeat at times. I think the package works very well and delivers some powerful tracks with better than average lyrics.
Runemagick
Runemagick had one of my favorite 2019 releases with Into Desolate Realms, so I'm currently chipping away at their discography. They seem to release very regularly, about once a year, and their sound doesn't seem to change all too much, but I'm not complaining.
Candlemass - "Nightfall" (1987)
My favourite Candlemass album these days.
4/5
This, funnily enough. Raising my goblet to you, sir.
I was discussing Type O with some folk, and it surprised me that quite a few consider this album poor, or at least their weakest release. I know some view it as a “sell out”, but I’ve never understood that personally. I always saw it as stripping the Carnivore/debut album that cropped up on the preceding album (e.g. ‘Kill All The White People’), and doubling down on the gothic aesthetic, without ever neglecting a touch of black humour or some genuine and emotionally hard hitting themes amongst that. As was a common problem around this time, the album is maybe a touch long at 72 minutes, but I’d be hard pressed to pick tracks to drop (apart from maybe ‘Cinnamon Girl’ because it really doesn’t do much for me as a pretty faithful cover). So many strong tracks that are rarely talked about beyond the more well known tracks.
I have to admit that "October Rust" was a huge record for me & it's my clear favourite of their back catalogue. I always thought it sounded like a doom version of Duran Duran (who were my very first love as far as music went) & that's a huge positive as far as I'm concerned. The hooks stayed with me for weeks on end & I found myself listening to little else for a while there.
I also feel it's their best album by a fair margin.
My personal favourite is World Coming Down. I just love the dark atmosphere and the overarching theme of that record. It’s probably their most out-and-out doom material. It has some real genuine and emotional material there.
A personal favourite. Crusty sludge from Georgia with a twin drum attack. Nice concise songwriting really helps.
Yeah I don't mind "Static Tensions". In fact, I'd suggest that it's probably Kylesa's best work. I found some of their later albums like "Ultraviolet" to be a bit flat to be honest.
I’m not sure which album would be my favourite. I got on the Kylesa train fairly early with their sophomore album To Walk A Middle Course, and whilst I’m fairly nostalgic for the two preceding albums, I can see that they probably reached their potential with Static Tensions, so I can appreciate people’s affinity with that album. I do think some their latter day albums are underrated. All the cohesion and panache of Static Tensions. It’s a Shane they are no more.
The more I listen to this and get familiar with it, the more I really enjoy it. A bit of a sleeper for me. ‘Age of the Sea Scorpions’ and ‘Nascent’ are where it’s at.