The Fallen

My thoughts on some tracks:

My Dying Bride – “A Kiss To Remember” (from “Like Gods Of The Sun”, 1996)

4.5/5. This mournful song of captivating grief is a playlist beginning to remember, especially since it will be the last Fallen playlist with my submissions (including this one), an unforgettable elegy of ethereal doom atmosphere, sounding close to the previous album with doomy lyrical balladry and being 7 and a half minutes long, the longest song of this album. Yeah, the songs in this album are in slightly more radio-friendly lengths, as opposed to the 10-minute monoliths from earlier albums.

Theatre Of Tragedy – “Forever Is The World” (from “Forever Is The World”, 2009)

5/5. I remember this to be the final song uploaded in my previous account (the one before SirZP) before my initial departure from my earlier epic melodic metal taste, so this was the sign that my time submitting Fallen playlist suggestions is over. And yes, it's the beautiful end to Theatre of Tragedy's journey, the title finale of their last album and the conclusion of their final concert performed exactly 17 years after their 1993 formation. Oh the memories from 5 years before the present! Those good poetic lyrics fit well for the end of that era, like an everlasting illusion of reality. This band's lead singer Nell Sigland can sing far better than a popstar like Miley Cyrus, whether back then or now. I nearly cried when those touching lyrics hit me again, though they may sound slightly flat. And yeah this is actual gothic metal, as opposed to my Theatre of Tragedy submission for last month that was basically an orchestral ballad, not sure what I was thinking. I miss this band, they may be gone, but forever is the world....

Saint Vitus – “Saint Vitus” (from “Saint Vitus”, 1984)

4/5. Well with my departure from Fallen playlist submissions that would indicate the possibility of leaving The Fallen, I definitely wouldn't plan on going to the beginning of a traditional doom band's career. This one sounds a bit punky for a doom song though, but that's probably because of the band sharing the scene with Misfits and Black Flag.

Paradise Lost – “The Last Time” (from “Draconian Times”, 1995)

5/5. This is the last song from Paradise Lost for me to submit to a Fallen playlist, this is..."The Last Time". Yet another excellent track, sounding similar to Metallica at the time, this time mixed with Depeche Mode the industrial drumming of Godflesh. As awesome as All That Remains' "The Last Time"!

Anathema – “A Dying Wish” (from “The Silent Enigma”, 1995)

4.5/5. Here's one more 90s death-doom song in the last Fallen playlist with my submissions, though this one isn't my own. Great one, Ben! This one continues the majestic fashion of the earlier parts of its album, retaining some aggression and adding thunderous upbeat riff-wrath similar to the prog-death style of Opeth at that time. Everything in the song from mellow and heavy is a great summary of the album style.

Draconian – “Stellar Tombs” (from “Sovran”, 2015)

5/5. I seemed to peak in early on my possible future departure from The Fallen when I severed my listening connection to this band and a few others besides my death metal departure in April. This is one of only a few Draconian songs I still love, being absolutely epic with tremendous melody, like h*lla f***ing deep! Wonderful...

Cult Of Luna – “O R O” (from “Vertikal II” E.P., 2013)

4.5/5. OK, just a heads-up, if I really do make my Fallen departure, sludge metal would probably be the one Fallen genre I'll still keep, because conventional sludge has some hardcore roots that would also form a genre I still enjoy, metalcore, and post-sludge is, more often than not, closer to the first part of its name. This one can almost act as a bridge between Eternal Kingdom and Vertikal, a standout to blow me the f*** away!

And finally, while I won't be doing anymore Fallen playlist submissions, I'll still be commenting on later Fallen playlists until I decide that my Fallen time is up. Enjoy my submissions while they're still here!

Here's my review. It was written many years ago, but I doubt I'd feel very different about it today.

It’s always difficult to write a review for a favourite album. Expressing how much music means to you in words can be a daunting prospect, as the thought of not doing an album justice weighs heavily on the mind whenever attempting it. Brave Murder Day is such an album for me and I hope that I manage to convey my adoration for it over the next few paragraphs. These Swedes had already impressed me greatly by the time I came across this treasure, with their debut full length album Dance of December Souls and the following For Funerals to Come EP both containing hauntingly atmospheric death doom metal, with fantastic melodies and passion-filled vocals. However, as much as I found their music to be moving and entertaining, there’s no doubt that it displayed some signs of immaturity, with less than tight musicianship on occasion and room for improvement in the way their tracks were structured. Taking all this into account, I figured Katatonia would be all the better for the experience, and that their next album would in all likelihood overcome these awkward moments and deliver something very special indeed. Little did I know that this next album would come very close to never eventuating at all, and how dramatically different it would be once it finally did.

After the success of Dance of December Souls, Renkse and Blackheim were not only struggling to find a stable line-up, but they were also finding it difficult to decide exactly where to take their sound. They had toyed with the idea of performing gothic rock with the Scarlet Heavens recording (eventually appearing on a split vinyl with Primordial) before ditching the idea and reverting back to their original sound. This indecision appears to have come to a head after the For Funerals to Come session in 1994, which led to these long term friends putting Katatonia on hold for an indefinite period of time. Blackheim used the sabbatical to explore other genres of metal, putting his energy into the black metal carnival that is Diabolical Masquerade (creating the amazing Ravendusk in My Heart in the process), and also taking part in a thrash metal band called Bewitched. Renkse on the other hand combined with Fredrik Norrman to form October Tide, recording Rain Without End before the end of 1995. It has to be said that October Tide’s debut album, which wouldn’t be officially released until 1997, is where the Brave Murder Day sound was really established, and one has to wonder whether Katatonia would have gone down this path at all had this short hiatus not taken place.

In early 1996, the duo reformed Katatonia and significantly brought Norrman into the fold. There was however one more issue they needed to deal with before getting down to business. Jonas could no longer perform the harsh vocals he was known for due to the extensive damage it was doing to his throat. They’d have to find a replacement vocalist and what better place to look than amongst your own country mates. In steps Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth fame. While the man may receive criticism from a growing number of Opeth bashers (as is the case with anything popular it seems), there’s just no doubt in my mind that Mikael is one of the finest vocalists in metal. His performance on Brave Murder Day may not demonstrate the extent of his capabilities, but the controlled anger and melancholy he brings suits the musical themes perfectly. Blackheim and Fredrik produce multitudes of sumptuous melodies throughout, but the other technique that they utilise to achieve their goal is repetition. These tracks have such a calming, hypnotic effect on the listener, despite the extreme despondency that this sound conveys. The album has influenced so many other bands (not least of all Finnish band Rapture) and changed the perception of what doom death metal is capable of. After all, there’s nothing romantic or gothic about Brave Murder Day. It’s mid paced, droning and raw!

Brave Murder Day’s title is taken directly from the first three tracks on the album, but there are six tracks in all totalling just over forty minutes. The first of these (Brave obviously) is the best of the lot in my opinion, being a ten minute classic built around constant rhythmic riffs and Mikael’s grief-stricken vocals. Murder, Rainroom and closer Endtime come awfully close to matching Brave and are all brilliant, but their lesser running times don’t quite allow them the room to outshine it. 12 stands out as having a slightly different structure to the rest, which isn’t surprising considering it’s actually a reworking of an earlier Katatonia track called Black Erotica, originally recorded for the W.A.R. Compilation Volume 1 for Wrong Again Records in 1995. There’s no question that it’s third track Day that causes the most controversy amongst fans of the band. This depressing little “ballad” was the first track to contain entirely clean vocals from Renkse and many consider his performance here to be a bit weak, despite the fact that he would take over full time clean vocals on all albums from this point onwards. While I agree that he would go from strength to strength with each subsequent album, I still think this track gives the album a much needed shift in intensity and his emotional, vulnerable style only adds to the melancholy.

One of the other things of note when discussing Brave Murder Day is that the album was originally released completely un-mastered. Why this happened is anyone’s guess (perhaps the band felt no need to tinker with the result) but it wasn’t until 2006 that Peaceville would re-release the album in mastered form for the very first time. I haven’t heard this updated version, but to be honest, I see no need to. The production on the original has nothing of note that needs adjusting and the organic sound of the instruments works in its favour rather than against it. The thing that does make the Peaceville release appealing is that it also includes the fantastic EP Sounds of Decay. This three track EP contains the only other material recorded with this line-up and therefore sits perfectly alongside Brave Murder Day, unlike the For Funerals to Come EP which is included on the Century Media version. That being said, both of these EPs can be found on the Brave Yester Days compilation (along with stacks of other rare and unreleased material), so there’s no real reason in my mind to upgrade from the original pressing of this classic album. In the end, Brave Murder Day is an album that all fans of depressive metal should own, regardless of which version you choose. It’s an album I can never get sick of and is thoroughly deserving of five stars.

5/5

My thoughts on some tracks:

Theatre Of Tragedy – “…A Distance There Is…” (from “Theatre Of Tragedy”, 1995)

4.5/5. Interesting how I felt like submitting a song that's more orchestral, but it still has the despair that can be found in gothic doom albums like this one. So beautiful yet depressive, with poetic lyrics from medieval English. Theatre of Tragedy was one of my favorite gothic metal bands from my earlier epic metal taste 5 years ago (and one of only few back then), and the lovely vocals of Liv Kristine are never to be dismissed. Her singing stirs up a scenario of a fairy held captive in a cage, hopelessly begging to be set free. Simply excellent, and could be a good song for when I'm dying in my bed. This is actual awesome gothic beauty, unlike the less serious emo sh*t. Her amazing voice can lead a wonderful choir! A beautiful soft song of enchantment...

Katatonia – “Relention” (from “Discouraged Ones”, 1998)

5/5. An incredible track with simple lyrics of emphasized despair ("I’m returning from something, to something"), as part of the lyrical theme of a lost search for hope. Worth listening to after checking out this month's Fallen featured release (the album before this one).

Saturnus – “Lost My Way” (from “Martyre”, 2000)

5/5. An awesome song of atmospheric death-doom! Enough said...

Sentenced – “Crumbling Down (Give Up Hope)” (from “Down”, 1996)

4.5/5. I've already given up on this band recently because of their earlier death metal sound, but I still revisit their gothic metal material. This is one of my favorite songs from its album Down, more nicely depressive than their previous transition album Amok. The vocals fit greatly for this band when moving to a more melodic sound. This is a d*mn amazing tune, and sadly, any possible chance of hearing more from this band is lost with the passing of founding guitarist Miika Tenkula. RIP... I'm still thankful for this song to love, probably more than Metallica.

Darkthrone – “Lost Arcane City of Uppakra” (from “Eternal Hails......”, 2021)

4/5. Oh it's that band, Darkthrone, part of black metal's second wave in Norway... The riff in the intro sounds so bad-a** like its from an alt-rock/metal band. It's good, but they seem to focus on raw brutality in the music and cover art more than actual production. A very nice banger, but anyone having listening to their previous album Old Star would be wondering what the f*** just happened. Very good, but some parts are a bit cr*ppy, and I'm still not into black metal, OK?!

Isis – “Hand Of Doom” (from “Sawblade” E.P., 1999)

4.5/5. This is from back when Isis had a more doomy sludge sound than their later post-sludge. This cover of a Black Sabbath classic is quite a doomy headbanger to please both fans of Isis and Sabbath. Horns up!

Bethlehem – “Allegoria” (from “Mein Weg”, 2004)

3.5/5. Not really one of the best songs in the playlist, but it's pretty great, I guess...

Septic Flesh – “Έσοπτρον” (from Έσοπτρον”, 1995)

4/5. Again with Septicflesh! Esoptron is one of the band's more doomy albums, while still having the usual symphonic death metal sound I've moved away from, along with programmed drums. Still a great song!

My Dying Bride – “The Forever People” (from “As The Flower Withers”, 1992)

4.5/5. This is more of an example of fast death metal with no gothic elements with fast tempo and wicked growls for a sinister mood. Good song but there they emphasize the death in death-doom. It's all just destructive death metal territory with nothing delicate. And yet it still fits well with this playlist's death-doom section....

I actually took sometime out to explore The Fallen playlist this month and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Great to see Wolvennest on there who are one my current preferred bands but also really enjoyed listening to some ISIS again.  The Melvins, COC, Bongzilla and Witchfinder General all worked for me to and I am liking The Body the more I listen to them.

I really didn't get on with The Gathering, just sounded weird like to styles of music mashed together and sounded terrible.  Beyond Dawn wasn't for me either.  I have experience of Big Brave before and I find them okay without the vocals.

Winning track was that Candlemass one though.  Must play that album later today.

If I am honest this release did at first have me more than a little torn. It is not that I do not enjoy Obliviosus, more that it takes such a monumental amount of effort to even begin to digest it that I do find myself somewhat fatigued by it after each listen. This draining effect I can put down to two factors. Number one, it is so emotionally wrought that you cannot fail to be engaged by the sorrow in this tragedy-soaked release. Secondly, it is such a vast record in terms of its influences that you do find the very fabric of its existence to be a much more detailed tapestry than the tags that get put against the release initially suggest.

Were an alien to land tomorrow and I played them his release I would probably describe it to them as follows. An album written on the scale of an atmospheric black metal album with a cacophony of sludge/post-sludge influences all over it, interspersed with some clear funeral doom (a la Bell Witch) in places – especially the opening track. I am not one usually too hot on the concept of genres/sub-genres but to describe this album without referencing thus would be a travesty.

Now, my individual take on this album (knowing its subject matter) is that the turgid nature of the tracks is a perfect representation of the artists personal battle with grief. Never having gone through a tragedy of the nature of what is described here I may well be quite far off the mark here; however, I do pick up a distinct sense of each track representing a differing stage of grief. Opening track O Brother is an angry yet confused sounding affair that cries out the soul of a person coming to terms with a loss they cannot quite process. In the complexity of this period of trying to process the situation anger takes the driving seat and what you get is a very personal insight into the human psyche during one of life’s true tests of a person’s resilience.

Second track Funus, sounds like a reversal of the opening statement and comes across as the artist trying to seek the positives from the life that is lost or to simply dwell (albeit temporarily) in a positive space. Assuming this to be a (Latin?) translation meaning funeral, the track feels like an attempt to give someone who has caused such obvious disruption to your life the best possible send-off still.

By the time track three rolls around we are back to the unenviable task of trying to process again, only this time the anger gives way to a more desolate and hopeless sound, like the inevitability of the situation simply cannot be challenged. This is one of the more draining tracks here. As an individual track it just comes across as so lost and bereft of hope it sticks with me perhaps more than its astray structure suggests it should do when balanced in the sum of all parts.

The final track here is probably one of the best closing tracks I have heard in a long time. It carries through the lost direction of the previous track initially but then slowly consolidates the emotion and energy back into the angry space the album began in, only this time taking that anger even further and giving it focus to what is a perfect culmination to the record. It incorporates so many elements during the opening ten minutes that it sounds like all the conflicting emotions and fathomless darkness are being positioned finally and to some degree accepted.

The reference to Neurosis that Daniel makes is perhaps the nearest comparator for the whole release I can think of. Whilst not identifiable as such consistently in the sound, the elements of Neurosis are present in the heart and soul that has been put into the record in terms of the writing and the delivery of this very personal and draining release.

5/5

So Phyllomedusa aren't the only frog-loving metalheads out there. They have some competition from a one-man, toad-licking stoner from Bristol in England known only as Froglord. His debut EP, The Froglord Cometh, was released in May of 2020, quickly followed by a full-length entitled Amphibian Ascending, released in November on Oakland's The Swamp Records.

Another EP followed in February of 2021, this one entitled Save the Frogs, it actually has a serious ecological message with tracks like Ecocide and Take Action and, of course, Save The Frogs with it's thought-provoking lyrics

"So we stand on the razors edge, here at the brink of collapse,
Balancing upon the precipice, let not your judgment lapse.
200 species have all gone extinct,
In the last 40 years, lost before you even blinked.

We should consider that frogs are indicators of,
The health of the ecosystem, the land they dwell upon.
So much more than a conservation tool, but also integral too,
A way of life and survival, without them we shall fall.

Now here in July, Froglord has unleashed his second full-length, The Mystic Toad. It's not as serious lyrically as Save the Frogs, being a concept album telling the story of an invasion by an alien race who launch their attack by trying to burn The Amazon forest. The Amazon however, is where The Froglord lives and he fights back by summoning the Lovecraftian Ancient One's from across The Void to defeat the invaders. Finally he retakes his place on his throne and warns the Human Race that they too must take heed of his powers and leave his home free or perish. The Mystic Toad is a groovy, sludgy hunk of stomping stoner metal that is not merely a gimmick release. Sure it has some fun samples and doesn't take itself too seriously as far as subject matter goes, but this is still a solid chunk of metal that should appeal to the less poe-faced metalhead looking for something fun to listen to.

I've never listened to this album before and in all honesty, I'm not even sure if it is really a release that belongs in The Fallen. Sure there are the occasional nods to gothic and doom metal but this strikes me as far more of a progressive metal album and not exactly what I would look for in a Fallen release. In fact, especially in light of the vocals, I personally think this sounds like a heavier version of neo-prog outfits like Mostly Autumn and Magenta (both of who I am a fan of). That aside though, I really did enjoy this and it is more my idea of progressive metal than the Dream Theater-type technical stuff that seems to prevail within that genre. The vocals are fantastic, the songwriting is intelligent and interesting and the instrumentation and production are great. Despite what may seem apparent from comments I have made in the past, I do genuinely love progressive music, especially 1970's prog rock, and this has far more in common with those albums than, say, My Dying Bride or Tiamat. A resounding 4/5 from me.

So, finally managed to get some time to sit down with this month's Fallen playlist.

Some very brief thoughts:

01. Solitude Aeturnus – “It Came Upon One Night”
4/5 - Epic. I like these guys - surprised they aren't more popular.

02. Crowbar – “Existence Is Punishment”
3/5 - A little bit too alt. metal for my taste.

03. Sleep – “The Druid”
3.5/5 - OK, but not my favourite from Holy Mountain.

04. Moonspell – “The Hermit Saints”
2/5 - I've never liked Moonspell and this hasn't changed that.

05. Divide & Dissolve – “We Are Really Worried About You”
3.5/5 - OK, my interest is piqued. Will have to check out more.

06. KYPCK – “2017”
1.5/5 - No no no

07. Lake Of Tears – “The End Of This World”
2.5/5 - A gothic metal James Bond movie theme song.

08. Apostle Of Solitude – “Sincerest Misery (1,000 Days)”
5/5 - The best song from one of doom's great underrated bands. This is a fucking monster!

09. My Dying Bride – “It Will Come”
4/5 - Not heard this album - will have to check it out on the strength of this track.

10. Black Sheep Wall – “Ren”
3.5/5 Interesting - bit of a head-fuck. Gonna check out this album for sure.

11. Cult Of Luna – “Leave Me Here”
4/5 - A quality track as almost always from Cult of Luna.

12. Officium Triste – “Roses On My Grave”
4/5 - I actually rather enjoyed this despite it's gothic leanings.

13. Paradise Lost – “Medusa”
3.5/5 - I,ve never been that impressed with Paradise Lost. This is OK - nowt special

14. The Ruins Of Beverast – “Malefica”

4/5 - Great, despite the echoey beginning that was starting to do my head in just before it ended.

15. Sepulcros – “Magno Caos”

4/5 - Desperate and destructive sludge that flows like magma.

16. Esoteric – “Dissident”

5/5 - It's Esoteric. That should be recommendation enough for anyone!

GM were definitely doom metal on their first couple of releases, but moved away from doom to a trad metal sound certainly by the time of 2008's Iron Will album.

I really, really enjoyed this. I've found that I like the Gothic style of sound on the whole, but the way that certain bands choose to use it doesn't always hit me quite right. Dolorian is exactly how I've always wanted a slightly more Gothic inspired metal album to sound; it has a fantastic atmosphere that doesn't need to be absurdly heavy to leave an impact. Like Ben said it's a pretty nuanced album, with most of it sounding pretty similar in the end, but I never got tired of the repetition. I'll have to check out Voidwards because I'm definitely going to be coming back to this one. 

4.5/5

My thoughts on some tracks (including my suggested ones):

Tiamat – “Divided” (from “Prey”, 2003)

5/5. So here I am in a new world without any of that music from a brutal murderous Hell (you know which metal genre I'm referring to), which includes bands like the first two albums of Tiamat along with Hypocrisy and Samael (the latter being more of an industrial black metal band). I still remember this song from the band's later gothic metal era, and it has placed a sad yet pleasant touch into my heart whenever one of my relatives passed away or if I hear about a relationship breaking up, the latter being what this song is about, and kind of a fitting metaphor for my breakup from death metal. Those melodies truly feasted on my soul with the impressive deep vocals in this work of art that is one of my favorites from Tiamat. It's so perfectly expressive, yet I'm already turning away! Moments like the keyboard fiddling and climatic final chorus during the last couple minutes made me wanna reconsider my move out of death metal (which the band was for their first two albums) even though it's too late for mind-changing. The divorce theme fits great in this sad yet remarkable song. That's the gothic metal I like that I can find in other bands, though I miss the gothic metal of Tiamat. A super excellent song to play on both piano and guitar. I'll keep you in my memories, gothic Tiamat....

The Gathering – “Nighttime Birds” (from “Nighttime Birds”, 1997)

4.5/5. Now this is an atmospheric way to close off the metal part of The Gathering's discography, featuring Indian flute especially in that sample in the middle, followed by a slow soloing march. That's the last bit of heaviness you would ever hear from The Gathering.

Corrosion Of Conformity – “Psychic Vampire” (from “Corrosion Of Conformity”, 2012)

4/5. Normally, I'm not into stoner Southern sludge metal, but this song has some good points. Mike Dean's vocals are so underrated! Y'know, if we ever do include Southern Metal as one of the main metal genres but The Fallen having 6 genres is too much and we end up moving Southern Metal along with Sludge Metal and Stoner Metal into a new clan titled The South, Corrosion of Conformity would be a prime example of that clan. We'll see when we get to that bridge, but for now that's not really my style to hold...

Theatre Of Tragedy – “Storm” (from “Storm”, 2006)

4.5/5. This is a great gothic metal song to listen to. The male vocals are wonderful and the female singing is pretty, the latter being good inspiration for Delain whose debut came sometime after this Theatre of Tragedy album. I might be able to sing the male parts if I can ask one of my female friends in the outside world to sing the female parts.

My Dying Bride – “A Secret Kiss” (from “Macabre Cabaret” E.P., 2020)

5/5. I'm glad to submit this song as well, the usual death-doom can help you remember the band's great earlier era. I just realized I haven't done a review to the Macabre Cabaret EP, I should do that soon...

Isis – “Constructing Towers” (from “SGNL>05” E.P., 2001)

4/5. Interesting sequel to "Deconstructing Towers" from the Celestial album. Enough said!

What a great playlist this month guys, possibly my favourite to date. Some fantastic stuff on here, the only drop-off being tracks 6 to 8 and even those weren't too bad - I've always loved Christina Scabbia's voice, despite not being Lacuna Coil's biggest fan and even the Within Temptation track was OK. I was already familiar with a lot of the material, but the tracks by Corrosion of Conformity and Paradise Lost are new to me and require further exploration. I've also never listened to Sunn O)))'s Black One but the track Báthory Erzsébet is dark as f**k and I will now definitely be checking that album out. I will certainly keep this list saved on Spotify and will probably spin it up from time to time because it's just so good. Nice one!!

I've listened to quite a bit of Within Temptation thanks to stumbling upon them quite a few years ago thanks to my love of Nightwish at the time, but I never decided to go back and check out any of their albums prior to The Silent Force. In terms of female-fronted Symphonic Metal bands they've always seemed to have taken a backseat to their peers, especially since they weren't as operatic or theatrical as early Nightwish or as extreme and dense as Epica, opting for simple but effective songs that use symphonic elements as a backdrop rather than pushing them into the forefront. This is especially apparent with their debut release which is much more in line with Gothic and Doom Metal compared to any of their more modern albums with its moody piano, strings, and somber vocal performance from Sharon den Adel. Since Within Tempation have gone completely off the deep end with 2019 release Resist, Enter was honestly a breath of fresh air that gave me a nice perspective into a mediocre but interesting group that doesn't necessarily deserve to be brushed aside when talking about 2000's Symphonic Metal. 

Overall I enjoyed this album. Even though it's a bit draggy and plodding, I definitely prefer the Gothic Within Temptation compared to pretty much anything else they've done, save for a couple standout songs on The Silent Force. The harsh vocals are admittedly a bit much; guitarist Robert Westerholt doesn't exactly have the most compelling technique in the world, but they work well enough within the brooding atmosphere of the album and provided a nice contrast to Adel's vocals. Her vocals are a bit shaky throughout though, partially due to poor writing on certain occasions, but also due to it being a bit too sing-songy for how Gothic this album sounds. Even though nothing really stands out about this album, I still think it's a solid piece of symphonic-heavy Gothic Metal with a nice atmosphere and some decent replayability. It also really helped to paint the full picture about the evolution of Within Tempation's sound leading up to The Silent Force and eventually into the downfalls of Hydra and Resist. 

And hey, I think "Blooded" is a fine instrumental transition between "Grace" and "Candles". 

3.5/5

Happy 30th anniversary to the very first release of one of the true masters of death-doom! I still don't think The Horde clan is suitable for this release though, see this thread: https://metal.academy/forum/28/thread/689

I can't place exactly why, but I didn't care for this. After the 3rd listen it didn't even feel like one of those albums where I understand why I "should" enjoy it; there's just something about it that rubs me the wrong way. I think Daniel saying "For fans of Atlantean Kodex" is the best explanation I can give, because that band makes me feel the exact same way. There's something about the incessant, soaring lead vocals that just ruins the sound for me, even though the doomy chugs and softer acoustic sections are well written. I can't really say much more than that because I don't quite get why this is bouncing off of me so hard, but it just is. The back half of the album from "Blackthorne" on keeps me much more interested than the front half, although it's still kind of hard to sit through the 15-minute closer. I'll have to come back to this one in a few weeks or months to see if I'm still just clueless on what to think about this one. 

3/5

My thoughts on some tracks (including my suggested ones):

Tiamat – “Whatever That Hurts” (from “Wildhoney”, 1994)

4/5. This psychedelic gothic doom track starts off with strong guitar riffing that may be noticeable by Black Sabbath fans. Then it tones down to the calm without losing its punch. Great suggestion, Ben!

My Dying Bride – “For You” (from “Like Gods Of The Sun”, 1996)

4.5/5. Quite a more optimistically upbeat composition while still having the somber balladry My Dying Bride usually has. It remains another outstanding song with the help of the emotional vocals of Aaron. I don't know if I love this song or HIM's "For You" more. They're both great songs, though this MDB song is slower and that HIM song is more rock-ish with a bit of experimentation.

Paradise Lost – “Victim Of The Past” (from “The Plague Within”, 2015)

4/5. The guitar playing is in impressive aggressive territory, especially in the apocalyptic chorus with some of the fastest tapping and most furious growling ever by the band. That gives the song its own distinct identity compared to the others.

Katatonia – “Velvet Thorns (Of DrynWhyl)” (from “Dance Of December Souls”, 1993)

4.5/5. This is a 13-minute epic that marks the longest song ever made by Katatonia. Guitars slide back and forth through harmonies in uninterrupted hypnotic ambiance. Soon they pick up the pace with a small section of furious energy that's worth great headbanging, sounding a bit like old-school black metal. Then it's back to the slow death-doom, before ending with one of the most mystical keyboard-infused outros I've ever heard.

Cult Of Luna – “Wave After Wave” (from “The Raging River” E.P., 2021)

5/5. Another epic, doing exactly what the title says; hit you with wave after wave of massive flowing transcendence. An epic climax of weaving instrumentation fills up the last few minutes, keeping up the band's lucky album-ending streak.

In response to your enquiry Sonny, my original intention was to spread our feature releases around amongst every subgenre included in the clans but I decided that this approach wasn't working after putting out several features that received very little engagement (goregrind & Celtic metal for example). It also made no sense to be putting out as many niche subgenre releases as the more classic ones (e.g. gorenoise vs death metal). In regards to The Fallen, I got through all of the subgenres with the exception of funeral doom metal which was next on the list when I decided to rethink my approach. It's worth noting though that I didn't differentiate gothic death doom from your regular death/doom or epic doom from your garden variety of doom though. I actually never thought there was much reason to differentiate those until you recently raised the topic & it explained why I didn't get the expected engagement from you on one or two of the past features.

The next approach I tried was purely to encourage the discovery of new music. I was picking highly-regarded releases that hadn't been rated by any of our regular contributors (with the possible exception of Ben & I) & this saw engagement picking up with people investigating bands & releases outside of their usual comfort zones. I wasn't really paying all that much attention to which subgenre these releases were from though as long as the members were discovering new high quality music. I ended up abandoning this methodology once I saw that people like yourself & Xephyr who are so comprehensive in your ratings for particular subgenres were causing me to skip those altogether though.

Over the last couple of months I've changed it up again & are focusing on a) highly regarded & interesting current releases & b) a mixture of old classics & unheralded gems. I haven't been focusing on the subgenres of these releases all that much or whether they've been rated before or not. It's been more about presenting quality options for everyone to enjoy & I often choose releases that I haven't personally rated as I'm committed to rating all nine of the features each month. My own musical preferences aren't taken into account at all though (as seen by the recent power metal features).

As you can see, it's a very fluid process of improvement. I'm obviously open to everyone's feedback (as seen in the changes we've been regularly implementing in that regard) so if you'd like me to focus on particular areas then feel free to let me know (like you appear to have here).

I decided to check out a few of these this month after misplacing my flash drive that I use to listen to music at work. 

Bands I need to check out from this: 

More Draconian, great track. 

Old The Ocean, I only know their more modern stuff and they sound way better on this 2010 album from what I'm used to. 

That Warning album seems essential for Doom Metal, need to get around to it. 

Need to go back to last month's feature and check out Rosetta, impressive stuff. 

Isis' "The Mosquito Control" E.P. is one of the most underrated metal releases I've ever heard & is actually my favourite Isis record which is really saying something.

Interesting thoughts saxy. I actually think the idea of playing the two releases over the top of each other is a huge wank &, after careful consideration, I chose to rate the album on the individual disks alone as they totally blow me away without ever needing to layer them & that's the way the release comes on Spotify. I honestly can't remember what the layered version sounds like to tell you the truth but I completely agree with you that if the album was genuinely meant to be listened to in that fashion then surely it would have been released that way to begin with.

They are indeed sludge classics, but Mastodon has been within my knowledge the longest, not just in my playlist, but also when I heard a song from the Leviathan album, "Island" in a quick scene from the Pixar movie Monsters University that I watched when it first came out. Besides that, Leviathan is what I believe to be one of the most innovative albums in both progressive and sludge metal. So yeah, Mastodon for me! I'll add my vote along with yours, Daniel:

Leviathan - 1

Panopticon - 1

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Officium Triste – “Your Eyes” (from “Giving Yourself Away”, 2007)

10/10. Perfect start to this playlist and the album this song was in! Officium Triste is one of a few death-doom bands I really love, and this song is a great awesome one of that genre. I don't have to find the meaning of the lyrics, the band tells it all! Some stories you don't have to see but hear, almost like a depressive demonic fairytale. This is the kind of death-doom, Anathema and My Dying Bride had in the early 90s but altered it in different directions. Well done, Officium Triste!

The Ocean – “Rhyacian / Untimely Meditations” (from “Precambrian”, 2007)

11/10 (not exaggerating). Another one of the greatest Fallen tracks ever! The vocals never detract and are instead dark and subversive enough to immerse you in. The bells, piano, and clean guitars stay comfy in the softer parts. Then the heavier parts with riffs and screams help organize the heavier side of progressive sludge. Shortly after the 6-minute mark, most of the atmosphere is decimated by what might be the f***ing heaviest moment in progressive metal, more chaotic than early BTBAM, who also released an amazing masterpiece album that same year. By the grace of The Ocean!!

Anathema – “Far Away” (from “Eternity”, 1996)

8/10. From Anathema's last metal album. Apparently, this stunning song is about letting go of fallen loved ones. Anathema was one of the earliest bands I've enjoyed to have at least a couple death-doom albums. I still can't believe they're now in a mix of prog/indie/electronic/classic rock. The heavier memories are now far away...

After Forever – “Beyond Me” (from “Prison Of Desire”, 2000)

9/10. Two of the most beautiful female symphonic metal vocalists unite early on in their careers! Sharon Den Adel's nice voice adds dark gloom. The beautiful melody tries to avert the darkness but falls into glorious defeat.

Moonspell – “Nocturna” (from “Darkness & Hope”, 2001)

7/10. Just a poppy song with good drive. OK, but not enough to discuss more.

My Dying Bride – “The Return To The Beautiful” (from “The Dreadful Hours”, 2001)

10/10. Another perfect song to end this playlist and the album this song was in! Re-recorded from As the Flower Withers, the epic is extended to over 14 minutes, but you know how the parts go. First part "The Silence" has the usual death-doom. In the second part "The Sadness", it soon descends into a sad funeral doom-ish dirge. Third part "The Lust" switches to a quick groove before slowing down back to the death-doom. Then in the fourth part "The Battle", the instrumentation collapses into the screaming sounds of war before starting a death metal battle. Fifth part "The Return" returns to that dirge and groove with Aaron narrating his last lines.

I do not object to the playlist order in any way, but if I could make a small change to the order, I would probably make the Witchfinder General and Saint Vitus tracks 5 and 6 and the Anathema and After Forever tracks 8 and 9 to fit in The Perfect Metal Album Storm (https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/442).

As I come off my review of Incantation's Diabolical Conquest, we now find ourselves back in the more traditional form of death doom metal with My Dying Bride. And truth be told, I've never really cared all that much for My Dying Bride. There music has been tolerable and I don't mind at all if it comes up in a playlist or if it gets recommended to me, but something about them just doesn't stick with me.

And with The Dreadful Hours, I think I finally figured out what that Achilles heel was: the synths. I've heard a lot of synths used on metal albums in power metal and gothic doom over the last year, and the albums that does resonate with me are the ones with the inauthentic synthesizers. I know they are called "synths" for a reason, but the strings and choral arrangements don't match with... anything.

Which is a damn shame because the basic fundamental "doom metal" portions are really good. Take for example "My Hope, The Destroyer" as well as  "Le Figlie Della Tempesta". The rhythm and guitar work is solid, and truly spectacular during the dual melodic harmonies. These passages also allow for some adequate bass lines to be pronounced in the mix. It's very simplistic, but I can let it slide given the stylings we are dealing with.

But those synths...they take me out of the experience. One minute this album can be transcendent and I can be soaring amongst the clouds, forgetting everything quibble in the world. But as soon as those choirs hit, I'm immediately brought back to reality. I mean the craftsmanship on display is commendable and is worth hearing just for that, but for me, when I think of early 2000s gothic metal, with complimentary synths, I am going to have to stick with Green Carnation.

7/10

I very much enjoyed this one Daniel. I already knew that the Solitude Aeturnus, Draconian and Evoken tracks are amazing (I selected them for that reason), but the Cult of Luna track is just as incredible! I've not checked out the Julie Christmas collaboration album, but I sure will now. Monolord was pretty enjoyable too.

Probably the only tracks that didn't float my boat were Robots Of The Ancient World (have we heard enough bands with this Sabbath-cloning sound?) and Neptunian Maximalism (which just isn't my thing). Still, I'm happy to know what these bands are about now.

Good stuff!

OK so I’m gonna have to thank saxy profusely for leading me down this path because “Eons” has quite simply left me with my jaw lying on the ground over the last few days & has single-handedly proven the validity of the push to include some more modern feature releases. It’s an indescribably beautiful & gloriously intimidating 128-minute triple album that truly defies categorization. The most common labels attributed to it seem to be avant-garde jazz & drone metal but neither is a terribly good fit in my opinion. It’s easy enough to see why people want to go down those paths but this is a long way from a jazz release even though it consistently draws upon shared tools. It’s also not a metal release when taken holistically but a good portion of the material seems to borrow from that niche subgenre’s intimidating grandeur & there are certainly a few tracks that are a good fit for that tag. I’d throw in ritual ambient & traditional drone as equally strong components of Neptunian Maximalism's sound, particularly due to the consistent pulse that binds their noise-laden soundscapes & the extensive layering of Eastern-influenced sounds on offer, both of which see me often being reminded of Dead Can Dance although the link is more in the aesthetic than the overall sound. There are hints at krautrock in the celebration of experimentation here too. The more drone metal inspired works on the third record are where things come together in their purest & most gripping realization & I’d suggest that the four tracks it contains are very close to perfect. The more jazz inspired pieces don’t have quite the same effect but are just as intriguing from an artistic point of view.

"Eons" is a dark, brooding, cerebral & spiritually enlightening experience that seems custom-made for someone like me that likes to be challenged both artistically & emotionally by my music. It's interesting that the cover art is a pretty good graphical indication of what you can expect to find contained within actually. You’ll rarely find an album that more successfully takes the listener outside of their comfort zone & into an entirely new world. Just don’t expect that world to be as immediately welcoming as you might hope because the sheer breadth of this musical undertaking is not for the faint of heart. Neptunian Maximalism have conjured up a release that sounds very much like the soundtrack to a ritualistic human sacrifice. It will undoubtedly have you questioning whether you want to watch such an atrocity however you’ll struggle to look away as the process seems to hint at a spiritual transcendence that only exists in our dreams & fantasies. 

4.5/5

Track by track commentary:

01.    Melvins – “Hag Me” (from “Houdini”, 1993)
I am seemingly one of the few who thinks that sometimes Melvins are extremely overrated. When they are good they are very good, however and this track is a pretty damn fine slab of sludgy, stoner-influenced doom metal. 8/10

02.    Funeral – “This Barren Skin” (from “From These Wounds”, 2006)
Gothic-led death doom that I’m sure appeals to the vast hordes of My Dying Bride fans, but I find most of this stuff outside a few of the more classy acts, insipid and bland, this included. 4.5/10

03.    Theatre Of Tragedy – “Venus” (from “Aegis”, 1998)
See above, add cheesy synths and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast-style vocals, then divide by ten - awful. The metal version of Jim Steinman. Luckily, Spotify played an ad after this and that was preferable! 1/10

04.    Katatonia – “Saw You Drown” (from “Discouraged Ones”, 1998)
..and so to the “mighty” Katatonia. I appreciate they are one of the darlings of the doom scene and indeed they do have their moments, but I really don’t rate them as all that. This would be a good track if the singer didn’t sound so fucking uninterested. 6/10

05.    Tiamat – “Cain” (from “Prey”, 2003)
Is this an outtake from Sisters of Mercy’s Vision Thing album? I’m sorry, but you’re losing me here, in fact I’m beginning to question if I’m actually listening to a metal playlist at all because most of this, up to this point, sounds like bands who would rather be playing anything but metal. 5/10

06.    Cult Of Luna – “Ghost Trail” (from “Eternal Kingdom”, 2008)
I like Cult of Luna very much and this is a nice builder of a track from an album I am unfamiliar with. 8/10

07.    Down – “Ghosts Along The Mississippi” (from “Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow…”, 2002)
Loo-sianna-swamp-mud-thick grooves of southern fried stoner metal from the guy who used to be in that Pantera. 8/10

08.    Elder – “Release” (from “Spires Burn/Release” E.P., 2012)
A lengthy stoner jam from one of the great exponents of the form. 8/10

09.    Reverend Bizarre – “The Devil Rides Out” (from “II: Crush The Insects”, 2005) [Submitted by Sonny92]
I guess I’m biased as this is one of mine and I love Rev Biz anyway, but this is classic heavy metal-based trad doom with goofy Hammer-style horror lyrics. 9/10

10.    Saint Vitus – “Born Too Late” (from “Born Too Late”, 1986) [Submitted by Daniel]
Shit, I fuckin’ love that Wino guitar tone. A molasses-thick, crawling riff and Wino’s whiskey-soaked vocals that hints at smoky back rooms in seedy back alley bars. Outsider lyrics that hark back to a time when metal was still an outlaw brand of music instead of the corporate whore it sometimes appears to be nowadays.10/10

11.    Gore – “Extirpation” (from “Hart Gore”, 1986)
A band I must confess to being completely ignorant of prior to this, but this I like. 8/10

12.    Winter – “Servants Of The Warsmen” (from “Into Darkness”, 1990) [Submitted by Sonny92]
Now this is what I really call death doom, classic old-school shit that has more than a passing relationship with death metal. A true classic of death doom and an album every metalhead should own. 10/10

13.    My Dying Bride – “Catherine Blake” (from “Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light”, 2004)
Classic-sounding MDB from one of their most popular albums, with a nod to gothic horror tales. 8/10

14.    Couch Slut – “I’m 14” (from “Take A Chance On Rock ‘n’ Roll”, 2020)
Genuine hardcore-derived sludge that shows it’s punk origins as much as it’s metal roots. 7/10

15.    Void Of Silence – “Opus II: With No Half-Measure” (from “Criteria ov 666” (2002) [Submitted by Ben]
More gothic metal-influenced doom, but at least this sounds a bit less polished being based on black metal rather than death metal and as such feels rawer and more vital than that tired old path. 7/10

16.    Boris – “Blackout” (Pink”, 2005) [Submitted by Daniel]
As a more recent convert to Boris I am probably still in a honeymoon phase with the band, but that said this is still a fantastic short droney crawl showcasing their own particular brand of noise metal.

17.    Esoteric – “Rotting In Dereliction” (from “A Pyrrhic Existence”, 2019) [Submitted by Sonny92]
The masters of funeral doom hit it out of the park with last year’s A Pyrrhic Existence and this is that album’s second best track. Bleak, hopeless, savage and anguished, it combines funeral and death doom in a crushing heavyweight of a track that strips away any pretentions and leaves a raw and exposed soul. 9/10

18.    Cult Leader – “Sympathetic” (from “Lightless Walk”, 2015)
Another band I’m unfamiliar with, but I like their angry-sounding, hardcore-derived sludge if this is typical of them. 7/10

Came close to binning this playlist by track five, to be honest. Fortunately it improved steeply after that point and I found a couple of new gems to explore.

When I first came across Swallow The Sun I really, really enjoyed them, and they put on a great live show when I saw them in 2019, but as time as passed they started to drift to the wayside as I found other Doom and Death Doom bands that grabbed my attention. They still have a very unique sound even to this day though, with their Death Doom style leaning way to the Doom side and creating creepy and haunting atmospheres rather than suffocating and crushing ones. Their songs always had so much more depth thanks to the background strings and other slightly progressive elements and their confidence to really slow down their compositions with cleaner, melodic parts before transitioning back into the heavy stuff. 

The biggest problem I've found I have with Swallow The Sun is the sheer length of their albums and ideas, with most of their albums being a massive undertaking to slog through since their style, as refined as it can be, doesn't change a whole lot. They always seem to find new, little ways to add to their creepy atmosphere, but their Death Doom formula has pretty much remained the same old stuff. In this case, the same old same old turns into plodding monotony that I've seldom had the motivation to go back to. So, what does that mean for the 1 hour "EP" Plague of Butterflies?

The title track is obviously the focus, and it does a fantastic job of boiling down Swallow The Sun's style into one extended piece that touches on pretty much everything that lets them stand out. The transitions in and out of the more Death focused riffs are great, the overall atmosphere is haunting and mysterious, and the track progression through all its different movements is impressive, even though I didn't think it was very cohesive on my first listen. "Plague of Butterflies" is definitely a grower in my eyes, since there's so much song to get through. Even though it's technically broken up into three separate parts, it's not as clear-cut in where these begin and end, leaving the listener fully responsible for piecing this 35 minute mammoth together. Although their style can be incredible to listen to whenever it all comes together, Swallow The Sun have always been slightly wonky to me, with their harsh vocals not quite hitting the mark it feels like they should, and the clean vocals being extremely hit or miss, especially on this one. I've gone back and forth as to how much I truly enjoy this track, and I think I'm settling on a higher score than I initially thought just due to the amazing use of the strings and choir elements throughout, since it's so easy to have these elements come off as corny in Doom Metal like this. 

I do think that this 35-minute track is quintessential Swallow The Sun and probably their greatest release. It's a more succinct package that shows what Swallow The Sun does best rather than their other, even more extended works. The rest of the songs are so-so, pretty much just B-sides or maybe songs that didn't make the cut for New Moon at the time. 

4/5

Thoughts (Part Two):

12. Acid Bath – “Dr. Seuss Is Dead”

Another sludge band I can usually take or leave. I'll take this one - I especially like the thrashy tempo change. 7/10

13. 16 – “Candy In Spanish”

Angry-sounding sludge as a father hopes for a better life for his young daughter than the one he's had to endure himself. So actually quite a positive message, albeit tinged with regret and some bitterness, despite the aggressive tone of the track. 8/10

14. Tristania – “Beyond The Veil”

Sorry, but I truly cannot stand this symphonic shit, just sounds like Disney-metal to me. 2/10

15. The Ruins Of Beverast – “Surtur Barbaar Maritime”

Oh man, did I need this after that Tristania track! Proper doom metal that doesn't make me think of anthropomorphised, animated rodents! Blackened doom with an almost ritualistic slant. Superb stuff. 10/10

16. Colosseum – “Towards The Infinite”

I know I'm biased and this was one of my choices, but this shit is what I live for. What a sublime downer of an ending to the playlist. 10/10

All in all an enjoyable playlist - a couple of bands I will be exploring further, a couple of surprises, only one dud and some stone-cold classy tunes.

This is the album that fulfills all the hysterical paranoia of late twentieth century parent's fears of drugs influencing their offspring's minds and causing them to turn to more drugs, sex, satanism, even more drugs and insanity - Reefer Madness brought to life. I'm sure it gives Jus Osborne a warm feeling inside to think what a record like this must do to the sensibilities of the so-called moral arbiters of the world as he feeds on their hypocritical outrage like some kind of mental vampire.
Musically it takes the original template for stoner doom laid down by Sleep, slows it down, makes it exponentially heavier and lyrically more outrageous to produce the standard against which other stoner doom albums are measured. Funeralopolis, Weird Tales, Dopethrone and I, The Witchfinder are the very epitome of what stoner metal is all about. It's been a long, long time since I last got stoned, but all I have to do is put on a pair of headphones, turn out the lights and crank this up to take me back there again.

Once more, great playlist Daniel. That DJing experience is really coming in handy! Although I must admit the ending had me a bit flummoxed.

Anyway here's a few random thoughts on the tracks:

01. Cult of Luna – “Finland” (from “Somewhere Along the Highway”, 2006)
Atmo-sludge, post-metal, whatever you wish to call it is still a relatively new musical discovery for me apart from Isis, but with this and last month's offering from Pelican I am finding myself drawn to it more and more. Properly atmospheric.

02. Sleep – “Dragonaut” (from “Sleep’s Holy Mountain”, 1992)
The stoner doom pioneers wreathe Master of Reality / Vol.4 Sabbathian riffs in dopesmoke and force them straight to the mid-brain.

03. Cathedral – “Schizoid Puppeteer” (from “Serpent’s Gold”, 2004)
Originally only available on the 1996 Rise Above sampler Dark Passages II, this is one of Cathedral's great unknown tracks. Stoner metal songwriting ambition that Lee Dorrian excels at.

04. Boris – “Introduction” (from “Akuma No Uta”, 2005)
Wall of sound drone as Boris seem to do better than almost everyone else. Like it.

05. Pallbearer – “Foreigner” (from “Sorrow & Extinction”, 2012)
After a gentle strummed intro Pallbearer kick in with a crushing riff for ten minutes of ultra-heavy "pure" doom metal that the band have never bettered.

06. Trees Of Eternity – “Gallows Bird” (from “Hour Of The Nightingale”, 2016)
Despite not being a big fan of this album I actually really like this when heard in the context of the playlist, particularly after the cataclysmic heaviness of Pallbearer.

07. Draconian – “The Apostasy Canticle” (from “Arcane Rain Fell”, 2005)
As I've said before, I'm not a big fan of Gothic Doom, but this I like and will certainly be giving this album a spin.

08. My Dying Bride – “She Is The Dark” (from “The Light At the End Of The World”, 1999)
See above, although in light of the last couple of tracks, maybe I'm better disposed to gothic doom than I suspected!

09. Shape Of Despair – “Reaching The Innermost” (from “Monotony Fields”, 2015)
Funeral doom is one of my absolute favourite genres and this is one of the (many) reasons why. Bleak and claustrophobic as layer upon layer of melancholic atmosphere are built up to envelop the listener in a lightless blanket of doom.

10. Pig Destroyer – “Natasha” (from “Natasha” EP, 2008)
OK, I'll have to get back to you on this one!?

Consider me a fan of the playlists, I enjoyed listening to this even more than I expected. A couple of old favourites and plenty of really good stuff I hadn't heard before. Nicely done, Daniel.

Some thoughts on the actual tracks themselves:

1. Boris - "EVOL" (from "LφVE & EVφL", 2019)
8/10. I love Feedbacker, but aren't super-familiar with Boris other than that.
Love this - will check the album out soon.

2. Pelican - "Last Day Of Winter" (from “The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw”, 2005)
10/10. Never heard these guys before. This is great - right up my alley!

4. Paradise Lost – “Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us” (from “Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us”, 2009)
6/10. I'm no big fan of PL and I don't feel this changing my mind.

5. Crowbar – “Planets Collide” (from “Odd Fellows Rest”, 1998)
7/10. Another band I'm unfamiliar with. Not bad at all, it's sludge has a kind of grungy vibe to it.
Great guitar tone.

6. Om – “Bedouin’s Vigil” (from “Bedouin’s Vigil/Assyrian Blood” split single with Six Organs Of Admittance, 2006)
6/5. I like Pilgrimage. This is OK, but sounds a bit weak and just sort of peters out at the end.

7. Domovoyd – “Domovoyage” (from ”Domovoyd”, 2015)
8/10. Gets off to a slow start but builds nicely. Has a rocket-fuelled space rock vibe to it that I'm quite keen on.

8. Candlemass – “Mirror Mirror” (from “Ancient Dreams”, 1988)
8/10. From my least favoured of Candlemass' first four albums, this is possibly it's best track.

9. Graveworm – “Scars Of Sorrow” (from “Collateral Defect”, 2007)
5/10. Sorry, not my sort of thing at all.

10. Skumring – “De glemte tider” (from “De glemte tider”, 2005)
9/10. Love this album. Love this track - ethereal and melancholy.

11. Saturnus – “Starres” (from “For The Loveless Lonely Nights” EP, 1998)
8/10. I like Saturnus' brand of death doom, but haven't heard this before. Like it.

12. Corrupted – “Inactive” (from “Northgrush/Corrupted” split, 1997)
7/10. Another band I'm totally unfamiliar with, but this is some seriously ultra-heavy shit. Pity the production is also shit, but I'll definitely be checking these guys out further.

As is the trend with me, I really didn't like Leviathan when I first heard it. I was really early into discovering Metal and I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, and the vocalist really rubbed me the wrong way. After becoming more initiated I went back to it and ended up agreeing with all of you that it's a fantastic themed record that has a ton going for it. The drum fills throughout the album are absolutely wicked, with each measure seeming to have some sort of fill stuck in there somewhere. The twists and turns that the album takes are effortlessly integrated, like the strange but endearing guitar lick in the middle of "Megalodon" before it absolutely explodes into a massive chugfest. It's an easily approachable and digested slab of chaos that doesn't cut corners but manages to stay on the less extreme side of things, even though the guitar tone and some of the vocals would lead you to believe otherwise. 

Crack The Skye is Mastodon's most complete album, but Leviathan shows them mastering the sludgy but complex style in really creative ways. Comparing Leviathan to Emperor of Sand, like Saxy was alluding to, this earlier Mastodon record simply has more interesting riffs that lean into being difficult to fully understand but never being overly pretentious. As Mastodon have latched onto a more straightforward sound over the years, a lot of the excitement and rawness that this album had just faded away a bit. 

4/5

Weighing Souls With Sand is a heavy album. Heavy in emotion, heavy in distortion, heavy in feel and style. Even though it feels like I'm echoing Daniel's exact thoughts here, it's definitely a one-trick album with a solid premise but not that much exploration. It appeals to a very niche audience that can milk its style for all its worth, finding some sort of deeper meaning and, in the process, evoking some sort of crushing primal emotion. I'm not one of those people either, so this record falls pretty flat after the first track. It's beautiful, it's certainly unique in the way that it uses abrasively loud distortion to layer in other sounds to create something admittedly beautiful, but it all just sounds the same after the first ten minutes. Even the more minimalist percussion sections get played out by the end, despite sounding amazingly echo-y and vast. This is just one of those albums where I can admit that I see why some think it's a masterpiece, but I certainly think it's overrated as well. 

3.5/5

I must disagree Xephyr,  I only very rarely find that gothic metal sounds sincere (and this ain't it). I do agree about the Idle Hands album, though - I just found it boring. However, I've just looked back at my RYM list for last year and I gave it 3/5. Wow, I must have really been in a good mood that day! It was still only #376 on my year list, though.

Inspired by Chris Van Ettan splitting hairs over which genre an album from a different clan has (thrash or speed metal, death metal or grindcore, power metal or trad metal and sludge vs. stoner vs. doom), I decided to continue the DIS vs DAT activity with an interesting twist; instead of voting on which album has the greater edge, we do it with genres from one of the clans instead. Single-genre clans (like The Gateway and The Sphere) would be divided into hidden subgenres that some of us have heard of but are never listed in the site (for example, alternative metal vs nu metal, industrial metal vs neue Deutsche härte). This should be a nice interesting challenge for Chris and other members of the site. Got two or three albums from a different genre in the same clan and same release year but can't decide which one has the greater edge? Share them here!

Let's starts off with two Fallen albums released in 2005, one of which I've already listened to myself. If you have been following my journey through The Fallen Modern Era Clan Challenge, you probably know which one I like better, but I won't tell you until I get at least one or a few responses. Which one of these albums with a different genre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Doom metal:

Gothic metal:

I posted a review of Monotheist a while back, so I won't regurgitate it here, other than to say that I have to admit to having come to the album a little late. The reason is that by the time of it's release I had given up on the band. I loved their first three releases and they are still some of my favourite albums of all time, but since Into the Pandemonium the band seemed hell-bent on self destructing. Cold Lake, Vanity / Nemesis and then the reformed band's Prototype demo were pretty much crap, not merely sub-standard with the band unable to put together a stable line-up.

So when Monotheist was originally released in 2006 my reaction was "so what?" Well more fool me, as Tom and the guys totally killed it with the slowing of their original thrash riffing to a more doom metal pace is absolutely right up my street. One of the great albums of the 2000s, and the springboard to Tom G. Warrior's next project Triptykon.

To Mega Therion will always remain my favourite CF album, as it means so much to me on a personal level, but this is a damn close second.

For my first time listening to this behemoth, I can safely say that this was a test of patience more than anything else. Normally when bands release an hour long song or jam session it's divided into different parts that house different ideas and qualities, but in Sleep's case "Dopesmoker" legitimately revolves around a single riff. And most of the time that riff is a single note or small chord progression repeated over, and over, and over. That being said, this album is easily the most Stoner of any Stoner Metal album I've heard, beating out Electric Wizard's Dopethrone in terms of faithfulness to the genre itself. It's slow, almost trance-like, and drowned in distortion in a cleaner but just as heavy way. The solos are also really impressive, since they really dip into the psychedelic aspects of Stoner Metal, which are probably my favorite parts of the genre. 

This album, well song, isn't something that can be properly dissected after one listen though. At around the 25 minute mark I had just about enough and wanted to take a break, but by the 45 minute mark the song had reeled me back in somehow, which is pretty impressive. However I can't give it a very high score due to the sheer monotony of the composition and especially the monotony of the vocals, but this sits directly below Dopethrone in terms of Stoner Metal for me, and I can see it climbing even higher if I spend time giving it a few more spins. 

4/5

I find this one a very difficult proposition to be honest. Neither record have made a particularly big impression on my life despite the fact that I find them both to be pretty enjoyable. Witchfinder General have the advantage in the riffs department of course however they do sound like a poor man's Black Sabbath most of the time. I love the challenging early 70’s progressive & psychedelic rock elements in Pagan Altar's sound as well as the more epic feel. The more expansive musicianship (particularly the guitar work of Alan Jones) gives Pagan Altar an edge over the much sloppier Witchfinder General sound too but interestingly it's the repetitive vocals on "Pagan Altar" that I struggle with rather than Zeeb's on "Death Penalty". Terry Jones sometimes sounds like he’s just singing the same phrase over & over again.

I think "Death Penalty" is the more consistent record however it doesn't have quite as many highlights as "Pagan Altar". Some of the remaining Pagan Altar material lacks the hooks that "Death Penalty" has though & the songs sometimes have a tendency to go past without leaving much of an impression even though I generally like what I’m hearing. The doomier moments on "Pagan Altar" are amazing for the time but there really isn’t a song which fully harnesses that sound without diluting it with more bouncy up-tempo material which is a real shame in my opinion. So I'm gonna go with "Death Penalty" by the barest of margins. Mainly due to the Pagan Altar record finishing with a nearly nine minute track that I find to be a bit disappointing.

Death Penalty  1 - Pagan Altar 1

I remember randomly checking Panopticon out without knowing what it was or why it is such an important album and just glazing over it with a resounding "Meh, it's okay I guess". Now that I'm a bit more acquainted with atmospheric sludge/post-metal I think this is an extremely beautiful record but I still don't necessarily find it that...interesting. The type of progressive and atmospheric songwriting is top notch and obviously shows how it influenced so many other bands like Saxy mentioned, Cult of Luna being the biggest one for me. However I can't find many other strong opinions about this record past it sounds pretty and being incredibly written and accessible stuff that still dips its toes into Metal enough to please both ends of the spectrum. I think bands like Cult of Luna as well as Agalloch took this type of formula and created, at least to me, much more interesting sounding music than Isis did with Panopticon. I still rated it highly because it's still a fantastic album but not necessarily better than the later projects it ended up influencing. 

4/5

I...didn't get anything out of this. It's definitely one of the more interesting Drone experiences I've heard, but it just went one in ear and out the other. Need to revisit it, since I can tell there's something cool in here that I must have missed. Since I listened to this a week or so ago I can't really give anything more than that, it was that forgettable to me. 

I finally got around to giving "Wildhoney" a revisit over the last couple of days & I have to say that I still fucking love it. It's just so classy & may be my favourite gothic metal release overall. I'd actually suggest that less the half of the runtime is actually metal with a variety of interesting influences (The Cure, Dead Can Dance, Pink Floyd, etc.) being utilized to create something genuinely original & thoroughly captivating. The guitar solos are the clear highlight. That lead tone is utterly sensational & the execution is quite stunning too.

4.5/5

Echoing Sonny's sentiments of 2019, here's 10 from me:

1. Inter Arma – Sulphur English

2. Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear 

3. Runemagick – Into Desolate Realms

4. Weeping Sores – False Confession 

5. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard – Yn Ol I Annwn 

6. Troll – Legend Master 

7. Esoteric – A Pyrrhic Existence 

8. Lord Vicar – The Black Powder 

9. Waste of Space Orchestra – Syntheosis 

10. Asphodelus – Stygian Dreams

I think the appreciation of this EP (and Paul Chain as a whole) really depends on how you approach him. I look on this as an early-ish doom metal demo and Mr. Chain himself as an innovative ingenue who's ideas sometimes outreach his abilities to deliver them. Personally I love this record, Chain's vision of the early doom sound, particularly of Witchfinder General and Pentagram, expanded on with all manner of synths and effects has the hallmark of a true mad genius reaching for the stars. The lo-fi production quality and his sometime questionable vocal performance, coupled with his killer riffs,  only increase the charm of this record for me. Then again, I have always been a sucker for lo-fi demos and feeling over technicality, but if your taste tends more to well-produced and technically adept metal, then this probably isn't going to be the record for you. Personally, I was made up that Daniel chose this as the first feature release of The Fallen - great choice, my man!

My brother who is usually a rock fan, at one point was listening to gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. I was still in my epic metal taste (power/progressive/folk), and didn't intend to make my music interest go goth. But then I found out that band's female vocalist Cristina Scabbia was in one of my favorite albums at the time, progressive metal opera album The Theory of Everything by Ayreon, and that's what made me interested in Lacuna Coil. Other gothic metal bands that entered my epic metal arsenal included The Gathering, Anathema, and Theatre of Tragedy (including those bands' post-1998 industrial/alt-prog rock material for the sake of completion). After my grand switch to a heavier modern side of metal, I guess you can say I regained my Fallen virginity, then lost it again when I became interested in Tiamat and a few other gothic metal bands later. The gothic part of my metal taste is kinda off-and-on, which is why The Fallen isn't one of my top 3 clans. I'm pretty much more interested in being a metalhead than a goth...