Daniel's Forum Threads
Rhythm & Sound - "The Versions" (2003)
This is a remixes collection of material taken from the above-mentioned "w/ the Artists" album & it's just as incredible too, even if it requires a little more patience again due to its repetitive nature & minimal construction. If pushed, I'd probably suggest that I slightly favour the original album as the vocals are incredible & "The Versions" is mostly instrumental but there's very little in it & both should be regarded as being essential dub releases from the important Berlin scene.
For fans of Deepchord, Deadbeat & Paul St. Hilaire.
4.5/5
Incantation - "Upon the Throne of Apocalypse" (1995)
While I really dug 1992's "Onward to Golgotha" debut album, it was New Jersey death metallers Incantation's 1994 sophomore full-length "Mortal Throne of Nazarene" that really made me into a full-blown worshipper, so much so that I bought 1995's "Upon the Throne of Apocalypse" CD blind upon release without realising that it was in fact a different mix of the same album. The band apparently hated the previously released mix of "Mortal Throne of Nazarene", preferring an earlier rough mix to the one that eventually saw the light of day. "Upon the Throne of Apocalypse" shows why & in no uncertain terms too because it's an absolute beast of a record, highlighted by one of the most punishing & cavernous bass-heavy sounds the metal world had heard to the time. The slower material is taken to another level here while the faster sections sometimes lack the intelligibility of its predecessor so I'd suggest that it's really just a matter of taste as to which version of the album you prefer. Personally, I've always preferred this one but both are genuine classics as far as I'm concerned with songs like "The Ibex Moon", "Iconoclasm of Catholicism", "Demonic Incarnate" & incredible opener & clear album highlight "Abolishment of Immaculate Serenity" sitting amongst Incantation's finest work.
The incredibly deep death growls of guitarist Craig Pillard (Disma/Methadrone/Evoken/Goreaphobia) are an absolute masterclass in monstrous atmosphere while Jim Roe's (Disciples of Mockery/Goreaphobia) battering yet precise drumming is also worth mentioning. Bassist Dan Kamp (Crucifier) & guitarist John McEntee (Funerus/Goreaphobia/Mortician/Revenant) chime in beautifully throughout too with some of the best down-tuned tremolo riffing you could ever wish for. If only it was possible to make out those more blasting sections where the percussion becomes a little over-powering... Oh well... you can still take solace in the fact that the doomier parts of the album are utterly mind-blowing. 1998's "Diabolical Conquest" may always be my favourite Incantation record but this one is a pretty close second & should be essential listening for all members of The Horde.
For fans of Immolation, Dead Congregation & Disma.
4.5/5
Misotheist - "De Pinte" (2025)
Four albums into their career and I finally discover Misotheist. Hailing from the traditional black metal heartland of Norway (Trondheim in fact), their sound reminds me a lot more of Icelandic bm stalwarts Sinmara or Svartidauði with dissonant elements of DSO thrown in there also for good measure. This is the kind of chaotic, deranged black metal that grabs my interest nowadays. Quickly finding a foundation in the netherworld, this album stays in that territory for its full duration. The combination of solid riffs and suffocating atmospheres are a killer combo here. Make no mistake about it, Misotheist are here to do damage, and it is a lasting damage designed to inflict maximum suffering. After a year of keeping up with black metal releases last year, and toning that effort down somewhat this year, my attention is intended to be devoted only to exceptional black metal albums this year. De Pinte (“The Tormented”), absolutely qualifies.
Crawling and claustrophobic melodies do little to temper the threat of blasting fury that the artist can unleash forth at any moment. A feeling of unease permeates the slower tempos on display whilst the more aggressive sections soon activate the overwhelming flight mechanism as nobody in the right mind would want to fight against this sound. Tormented is a perfect description of how those vocals sound. With agonising cries against a constant sense of threat and menace, this is not intended to be a comfortable listen. Yet the dissonant aspect to the sound does help provide some stark comfort to me. On the title track it acts like some cold and dense fog enveloping my being, wrapping in me in the track itself as it scores a multitude of etchings upon my skin.
This is probably the darkest thing I have heard so far this year. It is not dramatic or theatrical as you might expect. Instead, there is just a real confidence behind the performance that exhibits a clear belief in their own ability and an absolute steadfastness in their devotion to their chosen artform. The title track that closes the album goes on for over twenty-one-minutes, but I love every one of those minutes. It builds so well and maintains such a presence when it does establish itself as fully formed; this is clearly written by a master of the genre. Misotheist have absolutely no hairs and graces about them, they are simply dedicated beyond belief and are able to produce one of the most organic, natural sounding black metal albums of the year so far.
Vinyl ordered.
4.5/5
Agent Orange - "Bloodstains" E.P. (1980)
A short three-song affair that spans just five minutes in duration & represents the earliest proper releases from this California hardcore surf punk trio. I fucking love the title track which carries this record & is an absolute classic of the early hardcore scene in my opinion. The other two songs "America" & "Bored With You" are pretty decent too but sound noticeably different to the illustrious opener, often displaying more than a hint of Motorhead at times. This is a high-quality recording that should offer plenty of appeal to the punk crowd.
For fans of Black Flag, Germs & Circle Jerks.
4/5
combatwoundedveteran - "I Know a Girl Who Develops Crime Scene Photos" (1999)
The debut (& sole) full-length album from this Tampa, Florida five-piece is a nineteen-minute/nineteen-track beast of a record that combines the emoviolence sound of the screamo scene with genuine grindcore to great effect. I'm clearly more drawn to the latter though so the most enjoyable parts of the album are definitely when these guys simply let loose & fire out light-speed blast-beats on all cylinders with little regard for their own well-being. When they get a little more weird I find my attention drifting a touch but I can still appreciate this ultra-extreme release, even if I'd suggest that it might be one that I'll return to too often in the future given that it's pretty one-dimensional with the screamo vocals offering little in the way of depth or substance.
For fans of Bucket Full of Teeth, Diploid & Setsuko.
3.5/5
Motörhead - Another Perfect Day (1983)
It has got to be said - I have been far too hard on "Another Perfect Day" for far too many years. Motörhead were one of my absolute favourites in the late 70's, probably even more so than Sabbath, so when the 'classic' lineup split and Fast Eddie moved on, I wasn't really prepared for what came next. Sure, I quite liked "Robbo" when he was with Thin Lizzy, but Motörhead were a whole different kettle of fish. Consequently, the release of "Another Perfect Day" saw me turning away from Lemmy and the guys for the very first time. The situation was exacerbated by my discovery of thrash metal shortly after and for a very long time I didn't really give The 'Head much thought. Time has seen my attitude change and I have really dug on a few of the later albums, yet I stubbornly refused to give much eartime to "Another Perfect Day". So now, over the last few days whilst I have been compiling my favourites of '83 list, I have spent a fair bit of time with this misfit of a record and, you know what, I have really enjoyed the experience and I keep coming back to it for just one more spin. It is almost like I am hearing it for the first time. Brian Robertson's more expansive guitar style actually complements Lemmy's thundering basslines and gruff vocal delivery beautifully and his soaring soloing is a whole lot better and more expressive than I ever gave it credit for.
On the downside, I am not so sure that there are any real standouts like "Overkill", "Stone Dead Forever", "(We Are) the Roadcrew" or "(Don't Need) Religion", but there are some solid tracks here and the soloing on a track like "One Track Mind" give the band a fresh dimension and dynamic. I guess it is better late than never but I was a pig-headed little fucker when I was younger (what do you mean I still am?) and I guess I have missed out on some good stuff over the years because of it. Remember, though, that I couldn't just bang this on a streaming platform to allow me time to get into it, I would have had to shell out hard-earned cash for an LP and from what I had heard of it at the time I wasn't prepared to do so. I am glad I got there in the end though.
4/5 (up from probably a 2 in 1983).
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009)
Genres: Americana, Alt-Country, Chamber Folk, Country Folk, Singer/Songwriter
Bill Callahan is a name that's well-regarded in the Americana scene, but I rarely ever go on full-on Americana binges. They come out of the blue, mostly out of necessity to explore a scene, and usually I only get through a couple albums by an artist rather than a deep exploration, Callahan included. But due to his new album being well-received, and my disappointment with MEC's Sojourner, I decided I'd finally just get the guy's opus out of the blue.
Now my original intent was to check out a few of his other works before heading to the opus, but the other two works, while good, didn't grab me by the heart, so I disregarded him in place of other Americana artists. But I'm glad I up and chose to listen to this after the two-hour repetitive MEC album posing as a box set. See, most Americana albums... I tend not to be impressed with because there's a very common habit of Americana fans slapping multiple genre tags on an album where each genre is largely built for slow guitar and drum songs, and the emotional range is limited to sad or calming songs. This isn't creativity to me.
But with this album, it's different. You may find that the genre tags for this album are largely the same, but replacing post-rock with chamber folk. And this combination is balanced and unpredictable at the same time, adding various kinds of repeating instrumentations that one can't guess at all, much like a clever EDM album. This greatly helps with the autumn vibe expressed on the album cover. This can easily save many of the songs that drag on a minute or two longer than they otherwise need to. In fact, a part of me even fell in love with the seventh track, All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast. Easily an Americana favorite of mine. On this subject of the creativity, most of the repetition and drawn out behavior take place in the first half, but is not enough to drag the whole album down. It's largely absent in the second half, with the exception of the nine minute epic, Faith / Void, which, with its chorus, justifies the 50-something appearances of "what if" in the titular Creed song. The instrumentation still finds room for raw autumn beauty.
Now the internet is under the impression that this is Callahan's opus. I'm not QUITE sure I'd call it that, but it's close. I slightly prefered Dream River for its combination of prog folk and psych folk elements. Still, this is a very clever album that stays enjoyable while being slower than necessary. It's a good atmospheric folk piece that I recommend hearing at least once.
84
Time for the nerdy spreadsheet output for March's features. A tie for top spot this month with the psych-doom of Saturnalia Temple and the brutal core of Converge both getting 4.5 scores. I have abstained from voting for The Gateway, Sphere and Infinite releases as I just found them too alienating for my tastes.
I just finished watching the final season of "The Walking Dead" & it was a much better series than season 10 & a fitting ending for the show (even if there is about a thousand spin-off shows to consume if I ever feel the need). I got pretty emotional at times during the final episode which is always a good sign.
Heavensouls - Debut
Genres: Electronic, Experimental
What with heavensouls releasing a new jazz-funk album of all things, and considering its grand reception so far, I figured it was time to see just how eclectic this half of Sidepieces was. This is one of those kinds of albums that makes a point of showcasing creativity in almost pronographic display, yet it also becomes a very clever mixed back.
For example, track 1, 4.99 a Pound, was way too short, needing expansion for such a good direction. The second track was too long, but had a brilliant mix of radio bumpers, hip hop, Merzbow noise and raw chaos. I love it when electronic albums go all over the place. Track 3, named 0, gives us some ambience with a slight hint of noise and a careful dose of reverb, the kind of tape music sound that I was introduced to via acts like William Basinski and The Caretaker. When I heard this track, I realized, I kinda missed that sound, eventually becoming a house track. As well, it's so fitting to have this kind of track follow up such a whirlwind of sensory overload a la I Talk to the Wind from In the Court of the Crimson King. Now the middle house section is boring and dull at first, but the last third adds some backdrops which aren't so wild but deliver a proper dosage of character. At the end of the day, this was a proper EDM song IMO, boasting the careful shifts that were pioneered by early EDMers, notably The Future Sound of London in my head. Next comes a 2.5 minute track called Fallin Off, which I could only hope isn't too short like the opener. This one uses extra-dense sampling, atmosphere and two shifts in the middle to deliver a thick and active track which had more than enough to say in two minutes without overwhelming, and yet, left room for a quiet noise outro for the next 30 seconds. Another proper piece. The first half ends with Love You Down, which is a nice and soft piece with clear but low female pop vocals, which are nice to hear. They're justified not only by the unpredictability of the album, but by the ambient instrumentation which goes in hand with the first act of 0. But, it's a repetitive five minutes, so the general idea was a good one, but the delivery needed work.
The second half begins with the five minute Cold, which makes a point of repeating, glittery instrumentation and piano, like a remix of a Final Fantasy track. No complaints here. It's a very nice tune which puts images of ponds and fountains in my head, just the kind of thing that was missing from an album that seems to have everything already. And yes, the five minutes were repetitive, but more atmospheric and a little more creative than before. The prettiness and ambience return with stronger force on Manderan. I was beginning to miss the density, so I'd say that the return of it was pretty well times, especially when you have a good female singer and a deep voiced male duking it out at the same time to the ever-growing ambiance. It eventually returns practically everything we've heard so far in just a seven-minute runtime, and it even managed to do so on the four minute mark. It was all a jouryney, a proper journey through music's full capabilities. After four and a half minutes, we get the nature recordings of bird chirps and some actual jazz in the mix. In other words, Heavensouls is telling us...
I love jazz so much.
Next comes a cool jazz cover of What a Wonderful World, but recorded to sound like the music and a bunch of people in a building are both talking over the singer, as if this was a simple bootleg recording. Clever. Once again, Heavensouls proves that there's even more for this album to do. The final track, Often, makes a point of sparcity, creating a whole other mood for the album, one full of despondence, concern and empty apocalyptica. Honestly, from a compositional opinion, this was too sparse to really consider a proper big bang for the album.
This is an album of strong hits and near-misses that makes a point of having everything, and mostly rocks it while occasionally struggling with a consistent tone a la Thembi by Pharaoh Sanders. Still, the track Mandelan is one of the best experimental tracks I've ever heard. This was a very bold step for a debut and am now all the more interested in Heavensouls and his past and future ventures.
85/100
Slo Burn - "Amusing the Amazing" E.P. (1997)
Slo Burn was a short-lived four-piece project from former Kyuss frontman John Garcia (also of Hermano, Unida & Vista Chino) who I've always been a really big fan of. John doesn't let me down here either as "Amusing the Amazing" is another high-quality release from the highly publicized Palm Springs Scene. Slo Burn don't try to reinvent the wheel but they clearly display a great understanding of what their homeland was known for & you'll likely find yourself swaying along to the groovy, fuzzy stoner riffs & gurning away as you mouth the words to Garcia's invariably bad-assed vocal delivery. You've really gotta love this shit &, at just sixteen minutes in duration, this E.P. won't take up too much of your time either.
For fans of Unida, Kyuss & Queens of the Stone Age.
4/5
Excessive Force - "In Your Blood" (1995)
This week saw me breaking my cherry with this highly regarded Straight Edge metalcore outfit from California & it's been a reasonably worthwhile venture too as "In Your Blood" certainly hits the spot for some simple yet aggressive hardcore-inspired metal music. There's not a huge amount of variation across the ten tracks with most of the material taking a similar approach but there aren't too many failures here either with only a couple of flatter numbers (see "Vengeance" & "No Excuses") across the ten tracks on offer. Unfortunately, there aren't all that many highlight tracks that stand out from the rest here either though which has certainly played a role in my middling score. The title track is probably the only one that I can identify as being a cut above the others & some of that comes down to the very basic riff construction that's been used throughout the album, leaving the impression that the band members may have only just read "Baby's First Hardcore Riff" or "Metalcore For Dummies". Thankfully, the execution is really tight & the guitar tone is nice & chunky which gives the song-writing a bit of oomph but I could still do without the consistent use of gang vocals & bouncy metalcore breakdown riffs. I guess that's more of a taste thing though as those are obviously generic hardcore traits so you can't really blame a metalcore band for using them. Overall, "In Your Blood" isn't a bad record though & I think most fans of 90's hardcore/metalcore will get a fair bit out of it.
For fans of Reprisal, Chokehold & 7 Angels 7 Plagues.
3.5/5
Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Solid State Survivor" (1979)
The most highly celebrated of this Japanese synthpop outfits many studio albums is yet another one that fails to connect with me on any level due to its inherently cheesy approach to music production. A lot of this material sounds like a cheap early-80's video game soundtrack which I assume is a large part of the appeal for some people but which puts me off pretty majorly. I'd probably take "Solid State Survivor" over the first two Yellow Magic Orchestra records but it still never manages to ascend out of the garbage bin at the back of my home office & I think 1981's "BGM" follow-up was a good couple of steps up from here, even if I still have no time for that particular release either.
For fans of Telex, Kraftwerk & Ryuichi Sakamoto.
2/5
Scattered Remnants - "Inherent Perversion" E.P. (1995)
This week's revisit to the debut release from this Massachusetts-based brutal death metal outfit has reminded me of just how solid a band Scattered Remnants were. I picked "Inherent Perversion" up through the mid-90's tape trading scene & connected with it pretty much immediately which saw my dubbed cassette copy getting a whole bunch of replays that year. I'd even hazard to suggest that it may have had an effect on my song-writing for Neuropath given the similar sounds between the two acts. Scattered Remnants always maintain a thick layer of authenticity as they combine the exciting brutal death metal sound of Suffocation with a filthier graveyard death metal sound similar to Incantation. The vocals are excellent & tear strips off of the listener while the dirty production job is very well suited to this style of music & compliments the performances which never aim at perfection. I really love chunky shit like this & there are some excellent riffs on display here so "Inherent Perversion" comes highly recommended for all of our The Horde members.
For fans of Eternal Suffering, Pyrexia & Internal Bleeding.
4/5
Harold Budd - "The Pavilion of Dreams" (1978)
The second full-length from this Californian ambient legend is a pretty decent listen, if not as classic as it's often made out to be. It's four lengthy tracks sit in more of a new age space than an ambient one with a clear jazz & classical component appearing at times. It's perhaps not as exciting as I would like but there are no weak moments included. I don't think it's Budd's best work (not even close) but that hasn''t stopped it from playing a role in a couple of relaxing drives to & from work this week.
For fans of Brian Eno, Pharoah Sanders & Hiroshi Yoshimura.
3.5/5
Bohren & der Club of Gore - "Black Earth" (2002)
After my incredibly successful revisit to 2000's "Mission Sunset" album recently, I thought I'd pull out my old "Black Earth" CD too & have been rewarded to an equally mind-blowing extent. These guys are quite frankly playing on another level to the rest of the dark jazz scene & I now have to speak of them in terms of being one of my very favourite musical artists overall. "Black Earth" is even deeper, darker & more stripped back than "Mission Sunset" was & sits right up my alley from a stylistic point of view. I think I'd give its predecessor a slight edge over it in terms of overall consistency these days though but there's very little in it as both are pretty much perfect. I challenge any doom metal fan to tell me that this jazz is not their bag.
For fans of Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble & Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation.
5/5
Negură Bunget - "OM" (2006)
I first encountered Romanian black metallers Negură Bunget through the tape trading scene back in the mid-1990's with their 1996 "Zîrnindu-să" debut release not doing very much for me to tell you the truth. I wouldn't encounter them again until Ben introduced me to their fourth full-length "OM" upon my return to metal from a decade-long hiatus in 2009 & I have to admit that I initially found it to be a challenge for a few reasons. Time saw me warming to it though & I now find myself returning to "OM" semi-regularly, if not claiming it to be the masterpiece that many punters would have you believe it is.
"OM" possesses a very clear personality that's all its own with its array of different sounds & influences being presented in a fairly coherent way throughout & the main attraction being the full, lush synthesizer sounds of front man Hupogrammos (Dordeduh/Sunset in the 12th House) & fellow guitarist Sol Faur (Dordeduh/Sunset in the 12th House). Hupogrammos' vocal performance is passionate & authentic too which fits the requirement nicely. Unfortunately, all is not roses though with the thin rhythm guitar tone & weak snare sound leaving a little to be desired & not doing a very good job at masking the instrumentalist's obvious technical limitations. The six-string performances of both men are fairly sloppy at times while drummer Negru's blast beats are an absolute rabble that should never have been attempted on the evidence presented here. Thankfully though, the atmospherics on display throughout "OM" are generally quite stunning which allows the album to overcome those deficiencies reasonably comfortably. It certainly helps that the opening three tracks are nothing short of marvelous & it's a little disappointing that the quality dial never quite reaches those heights again for the remainder of this lengthy 67-minute release. Progressive folk metal number "Hora soarelui" is the only genuine disappointment included though with its bouncy folk melodies being a little too much for this battle-hardened extreme metalhead to cope with.
For all its failings, I find "OM" to be an endearing listen these days, as well as being the clear career high-point of Negură Bunget's inconsistent recording career overall.
For fans of Dordeduh, Marțolea & Darkestrah.
4/5
Ministry - "The Land of Rape and Honey" (1988)
I introduced Ben to these Chicago industrial metal legends through the more popular tracks from their classic 1992 fifth album "ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]" shortly after it was released & those experiences saw him racing out & purchasing the CD post haste. We both went pretty nuts for that record for a long while afterwards & Ben would subsequently go about picking up a handful of other Ministry CDs in the coming months, including 1988's excellent "The Land of Rape & Honey" third album which is the centre of this discussion. It was the first Ministry record to see mastermind Al Jourgensen's signature sound starting to take shape with songs like the brilliant high-octane industrial metal anthem "The Missing" & the very solid industrial rock/metal hybrid "Deity" being closest to the mark. "The Land of Rape & Honey" is very much a story of two halves though with the B side being dominated by more of an electro-industrial sound like we'd heard on a chunk of Ministry's more-than-decent 1986 sophomore album "Twitch". For this reason, I'm gonna suggest that "The Land of Rape & Honey" feels a little like a transition record as it hasn't quite committed to its sound as yet but is still full of high-quality industrial music. Thankfully, I'm more than down for some well-produced electro-industrial material, as evidenced by how nuts I've gone for the powerful dancefloor number "You Know What You Are" this week which I'm pretty devastated I never considered dropping into my club sets while DJing during the 2000's. The quality does fade a little over the last couple of tracks though with electro closer "Abortive" in particular sounding like a bit of a mess.
I'm sure there's probably a bit of a nostalgia factor with how much enjoyment I've gotten out of this release this week but I'm gonna suggest that it's a slightly better record than 1996's highly regarded sixth full-length "Filth Pig" or the previously mentioned "Twitch", even if it doesn't reach the upper echelons of Ministry's potential like the incredible trio of "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste", "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live)" & "ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]" did during their 1989-1992 heyday. Any Ministry fan worth their salt should definitely be well versed in "The Land of Rape & Honey" though because Al hasn't produced anything of this quality for well over three decades now.
For fans of Skinny Puppy, Front 242 & KMFDM.
4/5
Parnassus - "In doloriam gloria" (1995)
Ben picked this debut album up on CD back at around the time of release & seemed to like it quite a bit from memory. I traditionally used to struggle with it though so I haven't returned to it since but I thought I'd give it another chance to impress me this week. Parnassus was a one-man solo project from a Swedish gentleman going by the name of Fredrik Söderlund who you may also know as one half of martial industrial act Puissance. "In doloriam gloria" sees him presenting us with a clear musical direction that's built around some fairly unintimidating & positive sounding keyboards that have been consciously brought right to the front of the mix with the lightning-fast, tremolo-picked guitars & continuous bombardment of high-velocity (not to mention quite repetitive) drum-machine blast-beats being left at the back & sounding pretty thin for the most part. The atmosphere is undeniably centred around fantasy with that Lord of the Rings style feel being pretty easy to buy into. Personally, I find most of this to be far too high on lightweight melodies for my taste so I only really find myself enjoying a couple of the eight tracks on offer, namely the half-decent "Void of All Desires" & the hypnotic instrumental interlude "Cum trist issimo dolore". The rest of the tracklisting is more or less none of my business but I'd be overstating things to call it low quality. It's just designed for a fairly niche audience that I'm not associated with so, on this occasion, I'm gonna have to leave Ben to galivant around his bedroom in his Parnassus undies all on his lonesome (not that I'd ever consider joining him in that undertaking anyway because... let's face it... I don't have a plastic Viking sword & helmet worthy of the exercise). After my initial experiences with this debut, I steered well clear of Söderlund's 1997 sophomore album "Let the Stars Fall & the Kingdom Come" so I have no idea how it compares with "In doloriam gloria".
For fans of Dies Irae, Eldrig & Tartaros.
3/5
Gojira - "The Link" (2003)
I think the 2003 sophomore album from these Frenchmen is probably the least impressive release I've heard from them to tell you the truth (Note: I'm still yet to experience 2021's "Fortitude" album), although I was still very close to awarding it an additional half-star as Gojira are undoubtedly a class act. "The Link" just lacks the genuine highlights required to get it there & the tracklisting fades a bit over the last few tracks in my opinion. It's a highly complex record in terms of rhythm & is way more of a progressive metal album than it is a death metal one. In fact, I'm gonna suggest that a death metal primary is misguided here actually as the majority of "The Link" simply doesn't feel like death metal. The groove metal influence that Gojira are known for is definitely evident though. There's some very solid stuff on this record. I just don't think there's enough to make it essential listening.
For fans of Meshuggah, Mastodon & Strapping Young Lad.
3.5/5
Chelsea Wolfe - "Birth of Violence" (2019)
I've intended on exploring some of Wolfe's solo material in more detail for a long time now (ever since falling in love with her collaboration with Converge "Bloodmoon: I" back in 2020 actually) but haven't gotten around to it until now, although I have skipped through her 2015 "Abyss" record on occasion. "Birth of Violence" is Chelsea's ninth full-length & sees her combining gothic country & dark folk to brilliant effect. Her voice is incredibly powerful yet super-sweet at the same time & I have to admit that I've somewhat fallen in love with her talents over the past week. This record is dark & introspective yet still devastatingly emotive & dynamic & I can't help but feel that it's been heavily underrated as I consider it to be nothing short of classic.
For fans of Emma Ruth Rundle, Jay Jayle & Darkher.
4.5/5
Dark Tranquillity - "The Gallery" (1995)
I wasn't much of a fan of this Swedish melodeath pioneer's 1993 debut album "Skydancer" but was impressed enough by their follow-up "The Gallery" to purchase it on CD upon release. It's interesting that I thought it was pretty great at the time but haven't felt like giving it a revisit in decades which is telling really. It shows that I had perhaps overrated the album's appeal & that was proven this week as it can't compete with the most elite releases from the subgenre in my opinion. It's certainly very consistent in its quality with no week tracks included & the compositional & structural work is quite ambitious. It's just that I don't connect with the more overtly Iron Maiden-inspired melodeath as much as most extreme metal fans (at least not in modern times) & "The Gallery" is a prime example of that sound.
For fans of In Flames, At the Gates & Insomnium.
3.5/5
Here's my adjusted Top Ten Melodic Death Metal Releases of All Time list:
01. At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul” (1995)
02. Stortregn - "Finitude" (2023)
03. Carcass – “Heartwork” (1993)
04. Sentenced – “North From Here” (1993)
05. In Mourning – “The Weight Of Oceans” (2012)
06. The Breathing Process - “Odyssey (un)Dead” (2010)
07. Unanimated - "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" (1993)
08. Amorphis - "The Karelian Isthmus" (1992)
09. Amorphis - "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" (1994)
10. At The Gates - "Terminal Spirit Disease" (1994)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/147