The Fallen

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...