Xephyr's Forum Replies

I really liked Glory and Perdition when it was featured on here, but I haven't gone back to another Sear Bliss album yet. Looks like this one will be the test to see how quickly I go back to their other ones, I have zero clue about their overall consistency given it seems like they bring in a ton of guests for their albums. Looking forward to it.

If we only have to go with one, just due to its track record alone Filosofem kind of has to make the cut. It's one of the album that everyone points to and always comes up in conversation no matter if you're just getting into Black Metal or were a diehard from day one. I was curious, and it may help to point out that, Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem are cited to have been recorded a mere 6 months apart and released 1 year and 8 months apart. While you could argue that's a decently long timeframe at the birth of subgenre, especially since Ulver and Blut Aus Nord released their debuts between that time and could have been (probably were) influenced by Hvis lyset tar oss among other Black Metal bands at the times, Filosofem has had a much larger impact in the long run. For completeness sake it might come down to adding both of them in the end. 

Agreed with Daniel on Ulver.

Agreed with Daniel on Paysage d'Hiver.

I'm not aware of how big Agalloch was at the time when Pale Folklore initially came out, since I'd consider The Mantle to be more "essential" in terms of the sound they popularized. I'd still be fine with Pale Folklore as I can believe what Daniel is saying where it was a true catalyst for folky stuff in Atmospheric Black Metal. 

I gotta go with Wolves in the Throne Room over Weakling as well. It's pretty shocking how often their name came up in music conversations with people who dabble in Black Metal, whereas I only learned about Weakling through this list and have never heard them mentioned or seen them attributed to anything I've come across. I'm sure the threads are there, but I'd have to trust someone who was more in touch with the scene on that one. 

A Summoning inclusion would make sense to me since there are plenty of higher fantasy, Dungeon Synth toting Black Metal bands that owe a lot to Summoning's 1990's material. Daniel's right where Summoning are still pretty unique in their sound, but they're very much the reason why I don't bat an eye when a random Atmospheric Black Metal release has goofy string synths in the background or a random fantasy interlude between songs. It's definitely a much narrower swathe of releases though, so I'd say most of these other albums are more important for the list, especially considering the incredible amount of important 1990's material for Atmospheric Black Metal? 

I don't feel like Drudkh were exactly a catalyst for that "warm" Black Metal sound, but I have nothing to back that up. I feel like the folk inclusions, while differently utilized, is already handled by an Agalloch release 2-4 years prior to Autumn Aurora. 

I wish I knew more about Blut Aus Nord's discography because they seem like too important and consistent of a band, even to this day, to skip out on, but I wouldn't know which one to champion. 

Panopticon is where things get weird for me. To me they're a no-brainer since I'm from the US and it's immediately interesting seeing American Folk being used in Black Metal, but that could be said about many other bands that use their more regional sounds in conjunction with Atmospheric Black Metal. This is a genre based on repetition, obviously atmosphere, and evoking something out of the listener through sometimes abstract concepts, so any region is going to have its own flair to it. To overly simplify, I'd imagine Scandinavian Atmospheric Black Metal sounds and feels cold and dark because it's fuckin' freezing out there. Panopticon is no different since it uses the American south as its backdrop rather than Gothenburg or Oslo. I'm only stuck on this because it feels like if Panopticon is included, what about the other bands that have done a fantastic job of incorporating their region's folk music like Saor or Kaatayra? There are other bands that have American Western or Southern influences like Untamed Land as well as Native American influence like Pan-Amerikan Native Front, but I can't see Panopticon being a massive, cornerstone influence on any of these. Everything in this category feels so separated; that's what makes it great, but not exactly useful for a list like this in my opinion.

Sorry to be behind the curve here but my quick 2 cents about Blackgaze:

It's definitely one of the smaller Black Metal subgenres that could be encapsulated by just Sunbather, but I think it deserves a bit more than that. I think the current resurgence of Shoegaze/Noise Rock in the indie spheres has been allowing Blackgaze to make some waves again, so limiting the subgenre to one example seems a bit harsh. I did some digging on early Blackgaze releases and of course Alcest and Deafheaven were the only ones to gain any notoriety, so I think we're covered on that. I'd agree that either Souvenirs d'un autre monde or Écailles de lune deserves a spot as Deafheaven doesn't end up where they are if Alcest wasn't a part of the equation. I couldn't find any specific interviews but as much as it's worth Wikipedia cites that Alcest was a pretty big collaborator and influence on Deafheaven before Sunbather released, so I think tracing back that path is worth it for the list. Then I think it's a question whether the list values the "prototype" (Souvenirs) or the stronger early example (Écailles) of Blackgaze. I'd personally go with Écailles if I was forced to choose, but I'm sure most people would see it both ways. 

I know pretty much nothing about Depressive Black Metal so I'll see myself out o7

I'll chime in with an extremely rough list so far, this past week had two releases that immediately jumped up to the top of my list, that being the newest Ulcerate and Crypt Sermon. I haven't worked through too much ordering yet so many of these are bound to fall off or increase as I go back to them. I had second thoughts about Sparagmos being so high but I decided to go back to it this morning and damn it still hits hard. 

The Inter Arma release was a bit of a letdown for me but I'm gonna go back to it to let it sink in some more. Maybe I'll get something different out of it after some time to think on it. 

1. Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter
2. Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God
3. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos
4. Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace
5. Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose
6. Thou - Umbilical
7. Theophonos - Ashes in the Huron River
8. Hoplites - Paramainomeni
9. Critical Defiance - The Search Won't Fall
10. Dark Oath - Ages of Man

Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose (2024)

I've been absolutely loving this new Crypt Sermon album as their sound continues to change shape ever so slightly with each release. Out In The Garden was a well performed mirroring of classic Epic Doom Metal production and songwriting, whereas the followup The Ruins of Fading Light brought more Heavy Metal influence to the table with a mix that feels more filled out and a larger scope in terms of atmosphere and song progression. I'm sure to some people's dismay, The Stygian Rose strays even farther from its Traditional Doom roots by bumping up tempos of tracks like "Down in the Hollow" and "Glimmers in the Underworld" and leaning into a more aggressive vocal delivery that leaves most of the brooding spoken word style behind. The rest of the album is their traditional Epic Doom fare, with "The Scrying Orb" acting as the ballad to break the album up a bit and the ultimate epic "The Stygian Rose" incorporates a ton of atmosphere without the need for interlude tracks. Sure, The Stygian Rose is far from a classic and despondent Doom Metal experience, but I'm personally loving all the Heavy Metal influence as they still manage to keep a ton of emotion and atmospheric storytelling intact without it feeling overwhelming. I think this is vocalist Brooks Wilson's strongest outing yet, but I'm definitely biased towards the more Heavy Metal style here. Solid work as always from this unlikely supergroup, which consists of members from Horrendous, Vektor, and now Obsequiae with the addition of their new keyboardist.

I really tried to like this one, giving it 4 or 5 full spins since it felt like a sort of classic I should enjoy given I like my Thrash on the more progressive and technical side. Obliveon seems like a Thrash band that was heavily influenced by the heavy-hitting Technical/Progressive Death Metal bands of the early 90's like Death or Atheist with their ever-changing and angular riffing structure behind haphazard vocals. Despite the frankly impressive guitar and bass work throughout the album I could never come to grips with the vocals and overall production and mixing enough for Nemesis to be something I'd want to come back to.

The vocals are the biggest issue for me, since it seems like Obliveon managed to find the exact combination where Stéphane Picard's vocal timbre, the way it's so pushed forward and completely takes over the mix, and the overall structure of the lyrics (especially some choruses like "Dynamo") is like nails on a chalkboard for me. I'm not sure if this is an original vs remaster issue, since it sounds like the 2023 remastered version on Spotify is the same as what I've been listening to except the overall volume has been boosted. The guitars end up lacking bite and the drums don't have much presence for me, even when I try to blast it through my headphones to make up for the subdued mixing. And, of course, that only makes the vocals more of a problem for me. Despite all the technical riffing on display none of it really sticks with me because of awkward rhythms between the vocals and instrumentation. Nemesis is at its best when it crushes you with riff after riff, strung together by creative and sharp transitions and interludes like during the majority of "Frosted Avowals", but still loses itself when it tries to use cleaner leads or bass solos to pop out of the mix. These parts, despite being musically interesting, lose any sort of energy that Obliveon has and grind sections to a halt, like the confusing bass parts towards the middle of "Estranging Abduction". All of these issues combined just leave me with a resounding feeling of "...meh." despite this album being able to hang with the greats in terms of complexity. I kind of wish they would have leaned into the more industrial sound at the beginning of "Nemesis" as I got more weight out that riff than the rest of the album. Definitely glad I checked this out as these guys are a more unknown wild card in the early 1990's Death Metal surge, but I can't say it's entirely for me.

3 / 5

Syncatto - Fiction (2024)

Syncatto's newest album dropped out of nowhere and I was honestly expecting a little bit more? The EP he released last year, more specifically the song "King", showed some serious promise, but I don't think that level of writing was realized on this short outing. It's a pleasant listen and I've enjoyed having it on in the background while I'm working, but it never really gets past that. Charlie Robbins must've been in a chill mood for this batch of recordings as the mood is very laid back and casual despite Fiction being full of his normal, intricate playing. Especially since "Dethrone" is quite literally a stripped down version of the aforementioned "King". There are a few interesting highlights, like the brooding strings in "Black Velvet", the soloing in "Just Breathe", or getting Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) to hang out for a bit on "Midnight Marss". Despite that the album still just comes and goes without making too much of an impression, even though I still love Syncatto's nods to Classical / Flamenco guitar playing and the bass work is sufficiently poppy and interesting. Maybe it's the destiny of all instrumental Progressive Metal guitarists to just run out of steam faster that it seems like they should but this one is a far cry from 2021's A Place To Breathe for me. 

Never heard of that genre so I thought it'd be interesting to look it up. 

From what I can tell the highly compressed drums need to stay just as a genre thing, but I'd probably give the atmospheric sections and buildups a bit more variety or melody rather than just modulating the initial loop, which seems to be the preferred writing? Try and give the sections outside of the pumping rave beats more texture like a KOAN Sound or Author and Punisher to keep it on the dark aggressive side, it would probably end up veering into Perturbator Darksynth territory. 

The only two albums I checked out to see what this was were Loudboxer by Speedy J and Inferno by Miss Djax, and I'd definitely stay on the Loudboxer side of sound design since Inferno seems to only have rave-style tracks that are meant to be overly-compressed festival songs. Without listening to the whole thing, the dynamics and overall feel/grooves of Loudboxer is way more interesting to me. 

How about Avant-Garde Metal? 

March

Wandering Oak - "To Lir They Fell" from Resilience (2024)

DGM - "The Secret Pt. 2" from The Passage (2016)

Protest the Hero - "Gardenias" from Palimpsest (2020)

March

Departure Chandelier - "Accipitridae" from Satan Soldier of Fortune (2024)

Theophonos - "Willing Power" from Ashes in the Huron River (2024)

Finntroll - "Fiskarens Fiende" from Nattfodd (2004)

I can agree with this being mostly Heavy Metal. The extremely quiet mixing on the lead guitar compared to the drums threw me a bit since the riff didn't sound poignant enough, but the energy is there. I need to get my head back in the game for all these 1970's songs since the riff structures immediately make my brain go to Hard Rock instead of Heavy Metal, maybe it's the repetitive swing-like feel?

Stormkeep's Lost Relics EP from last year is your classic background, atmospheric, triumphant, fantastical Dungeon Synth. Could work pretty well, I thought it was more interesting than most background Dungeon Synth.

Tales of the Sands, Legacy, and Shehili by Myrath have that Arabic desert feel although it's kinda close to Power Metal, could work depending on the crowd. 

Elder is always a nice pick for extended background tracks, has that spacey feel that blends into conversation, I'd probably recommend either Innate Passage or Reflections of a Floating World.

Lucid Planet's II is a very atmospheric / psychedelic focused album with some bite to it, could be cool. 

Maybe some straight up Folk like Wardruna's Kvitravn or any of their Runaljod albums. A lot of Folk / Viking Metal is pretty aggressive so it's hard to find a rec off the top of my head. 

Slough Feg too.

...but I still haven't read anything that tells me why we NEED to differentiate them in the database.

I believe the discussion boils down to this at the moment. It seems like we all agree that "Symphonic Power Metal" is a valid term that gets thrown around in discussions, but I think that the way that we have it currently with a "Symphonic Metal" tag and a "Power Metal" tag is a pretty catch-all setup. Examples that were brought up: 

• Therion - Theli, Vovin, and Secret of the Runes are all labeled Symphonic Metal primary with currently no subgenres, but probably could gain a Progressive or Death Metal one if people voted. No Power Metal, checks out. 
• Rhapsody - Dual Symphonic Metal and Power Metal primary genres. Checks out. 
• Nightwish - Early Nightwish has dual Symphonic/Power Metal primaries. Checks out. Starting at Imaginaerum it changes to a Symphonic primary and loses the Power Metal, checks out due to the even higher emphasis on orchestration. 
• Lacrimosa - I'm not familiar with this band but after putting on Echos for a bit it has a Symphonic primary and no Power Metal. Checks out. 
• Tristania - I'm not familiar with this band either but after listening to a little bit of Beyond the Veil I could see adding a Symphonic Metal primary alongside the Gothic Metal primary and maybe a Black Metal secondary? So it would be tagged as Symphonic Metal with no Power Metal, checks out.
• All of the bands listed as "Traditional Power Metal Bands" do not have the Symphonic Metal tag on them. Checks out. 

The point I'm trying to make is that apart from a few very niche exceptions, albums that are currently labeled as having Symphonic Metal and Power Metal primaries are what you are describing as Symphonic Power Metal. If the Symphonic Power Metal change were implemented, each album with both Symphonic and Power Metal primaries would gain this primary instead and lose the other two primaries. I could see this being an advantageous change for chart reasons so that Twilight Force wouldn't go toe-to-toe with Therion for Symphonic Metal, but they're still different forms of Symphonic Metal. While it might be nice to compare all your high-fantasy Rhapsody rip-offs under one tag, I think tagging that use of Symphonic Metal with a more traditional Tristania approach is still valid and has merit. Plus, the MA charts are only filterable by Clan at the moment, not genre.

I can agree with the point to want to differentiate old Nightwish (Once, Oceanborn) from Rhapsody, but I'm in the camp of people using their own reasoning from two broader primary genres rather than differentiating further. 

Random but serious question: Are all of these new subgenres coming from the basis of Electronic genres? 

I only ask because the label "Downtempo Deathcore" seems to only differentiate based on tempo, not actually what style of music is being played. I've only seen tempo be so monitored on certain Electronic genres, saying stuff like "140-150 bpm" acting like there are different categorizations for each subgenre based on beats per minute. Which I guess is a useful categorization but it seems absurd to me looking in from the outside? 

I'm aware that if you, say, slow down a Thrash riff to a certain BPM it eventually isn't a Thrash riff anymore, but I can't say I'm a fan of people (obviously not the folks here at MA) wanting "Fast" and "Slow" versions of the same genre.

I was able to give Convocation a shot yesterday and it's definitely a gem that I missed as far as Funeral Doom goes. I'm not sure I quite have the ear yet to know whether I think it's better / on par with something like Evoken's discography, but it gets pretty damn close from just one listen. I put in my rating to attempt to sway the charts in Sonny's favor. 

I gave Khanate an honest try but as Sonny alluded to in his review, I wasn't able to make it fully through. I would have gotten through the whole thing if I didn't run out of time at work yesterday, but I have zero interest in picking it back up or restarting it from the beginning to try and get the full experience. I can see why it would resonate with people as I saw what they were going for with the vocals, but man, really not something for me at the end of the day. So I'll refrain from rating that one, it's very far from my wheelhouse. 

I'll try and do my due diligence today as I've kind of been in my own listening bubble as of late. I've obviously gotten to a lot of 2023 releases but only through my own research, not a whole lot of recommendations, so it'd be interesting to round each of the clans out with some experimentation. 

I fully agree with the Oromet record Daniel, basically the same opinions and conclusions I came to. I don't think the atmosphere hooked me as much as I have it sitting at a 3.5/5 at the moment, but I'm normally not quick to recommend Funeral Doom and this album was an exception this year. I think it's a great example of how a new band can have slight tweaks to the common genre sound and have it make a huge difference. You don't have to do something absolutely crazy to stand out as long as your songwriting is solid enough to get what you're trying to do across. 

Updated Top 10 based on my final list on RYM that I haven't converted over yet, Great Falls isn't going to be on the 2023 list but I'll put it here. I'll update this once I'm finished listening to Sonny's picks as they're very different than mine. The Clan system is really working against me here as my Top 3 are 100% Fallen secondaries instead of primaries, but thems the breaks. Fallen icon shows up on 'em, so who am I to argue with the mighty MA. 

1. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
2. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
3. Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant For Us
4. Great Falls - Objects Without Pain
5. Godthrymm - Distortions
6. Oromet - Oromet
7. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction
8. Asphodelus - Sculpting From Time
9. Fange - Privation
10. Ahab - The Coral Tombs

I completely missed Great Falls in my 2023 listening; decided to fix that this morning. Chilling stuff, for sure. I went back and forth about the vocals, sometimes even within songs with them being suitably anguish-filled or right over the cusp of no longer enjoying them. This might be more of a mood album for me, as I can't see myself wanting to really sink my teeth into Objects Without Pain at any given moment. The pacing is well done though, with the more chaotic sections being few and far between massive sludge riffs so they really have an impact whenever they show up. I kind of prefer this darker and more despondent atmosphere compared to a more violent and aggressive one, even though this album definitely has sections conveying the latter. 

I think I would put this above Godthrymm in my list since this is way more adventurous, varied, and hard-hitting. I can see this one being a pretty big underground hit that people in the know will go back to, since my second listen was better than the first. 

4/5

Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace 

The sixth (6th) studio album from Australian progressive metal band Caligula's Horse releases today!

https://insideoutmusic.bandcamp.com/album/charcoal-grace-24-bit-hd

Got through 2 full listens today and so far I gotta say I'm impressed. I don't know if it's as good as Bloom or In Contact but I'm glad they worked out some of the kinks that Rise Radiant had. Feels like a true new Caligula's Horse album, not as phoned in even though there are still some mediocre sections here and there. 

I thought the same thing about Hellripper until I kept coming back to it dozens of times throughout the year. Stood the test of time, which is surprising given I agree with your "drunken party music" tag Daniel. Still in agreement that Demoniac edges it out.

The Cavelera albums are the only other close ones that I wish more people would try out, but I'm sure they'd get met with a bit of controversy as re-recordings always seem to be a spicy topic. 

Nospun's "Opus" doesn't come into play here? I thought it was really solid & would take it over the super-popular King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard & Liturgy records.

It sadly didn't for me, I gave it one listen and just didn't have the motivation to go back to it and really pick it apart. I'm not sure if I'm really growing out of the Dream Theater phase now but the wonky storytelling and pacing really didn't do a whole lot for me. I may eat my words if I go back to it, as the performances are very good, but it felt like a slog to get through. I think the lyrics and setup to the story are in the listener's face way too much in the beginning and it just made me tune out when they didn't really follow it up with anything interesting. Still, probably a great release for people looking for that classic Prog Metal fix that's so hard to come by nowadays. 

Ostraca - "Disaster" (2023)

I've got a new favourite for The Infinite title in the fourth full-length from this Virginia-based trio. Now, I'm not too sure what screamo is but this record sounds exactly like post-sludge metal to me. I mean, it's certainly a metal record so I'm surprised to see people tagging it with a label that sits outside of the metal space. It's also a very solid release indeed with every one of the six tracks possessing a vibrancy & vitality that sees me captivated for the entirety of its short 33 minute duration. The Neurosis & Isis comparisons are quite easy to draw upon but there's also a blackened edge to some of this material that sees it bordering upon neocrust at times. There are even some grindcore style blast beat sections which I feel add something to the mix. This album comes highly recommended.

4/5

Glad you liked this one, I have very much the same feelings as this sort of vocal production and overall style is normally way out of my comfort zone, but I have high praise for Ostraca. 

Nuclear Power Trio - "Wet Ass Plutonium" (2023)

This extraordinarily talented power trio/super group have produced a record that sits somewhere between the progressive metal of Dream Theater & the instrumental guitar shred of "Meltdown"-era Vinny Moore with a wide array of influences being utilized from funk to flamenco. The world-class bass playing of Nick Schendzielos (Cephalic Carnage/Havok/Job for a Cowboy) is absolutely astounding while guitarist Greg Burgess (Allegaeon/Cryogen) is no slouch either. In fact, the performances & production job are perhaps a touch too clinical which leaves things sounding a touch sterile at times. Perhaps I was never going to rate a record like this one higher than I have, despite the consistency of the tracklisting. It's possibly more about style than it is substance.

3.5/5

Easily my new favorite Prog instrumental group, it's awesome to hear more Classical/Flamenco guitar playing used in highly complex albums like this to add that extra unique touch. It worked for First Fragment with their Tech Death combo, so it's no surprise that it really fits in well with heavier instrumental Prog. I'm with you in that it takes a lot to really rate an instrumental album highly, as this is still sitting at a 3.5/5 for me as well despite having nothing but praise. Maybe if I keep coming back to it and it doesn't get boring it'll get the bump to a 4.

I've been giving this a few spins and I still think it's pretty damn good even without nostalgia goggles. Maybe it's the overall lack of straight up Heavy Metal these days, but Saxon continue to deliver material that, honestly, gets right to the point of the whole genre. I'm glad that Sonny had such a long and well thought out write-up because due to that same sort of simplicity that causes me to enjoy this album, it leaves me struggling for things to say. You kind of know what you're getting with Saxon these days and I don't think that Hell, Fire and Damnation is truly that different than Carpe Diem or Thunderbolt. That being said, this collection of songs hit me harder than Carpe Diem did, so that has to count for something. I can't really fault them for sticking to their guns though, since Saxon are one of the few bands I've seen from the early 1980's that have legitimately not taken a break since their inception. The longest period between a Saxon album was Thunderbolt (2018) to Carpe Diem (2022), most of the time being two years, and this is now their 25th album. It's kind of nuts, to be honest. The fact that they're able to consistently provide exciting material while never really straying from the roots of the genre is something to be commended, even if it isn't the greatest thing ever. 

3.5 / 5

Aloha, resident non-hater of Folk Metal here.

What makes it hard is that there are very few Folk Metal releases nowadays that stand alone as a Folk release, rather than being bundled with a Black / Progressive main genre. In all of my 2023 listening, I think the only actual Folk Metal release was Skálmöld's Ydalir, which I liked but wasn't anything to write to MA about unless you're really craving some Viking Metal. There was that Kostnatění release, Úpal that used Folk elements as the backbone of its songwriting but not in a Folk Metal way, so that was another win for wonky Black Metal rather than Folk Metal. I'm just waiting for the new Moonsorrow album. That's coming out, right guys? Any day now. 

I'll be giving Sagas another run here today, as I remember it being very good but very long.

I'm in full agreement here Sonny, this one kept creeping up my year-end list as it's just a solid collection of tracks through and through. I think it starts to get a bit redundant and monotonous if you really start to spin it consistently cover to cover, but it's still impressive nonetheless. I wasn't really aware of Cirith Ungol until Forever Black which then prompted me to do some digging and find their classic stuff. Like you said, Forever Black was good, but it felt like it treaded on simple pandering to the bygone Traditional Metal ideas and being nostalgic for the sake of it. I'm glad the band was able to take that energy and build on it as it feels like Dark Parade deserves some genuine praise for being a Heavy Metal experience that is both old and new at the same time. Sure, the ideas have been done to death, but since the crux of the genre is performed so well here, I think the band did a great job of creating a standout album 40+ years past its supposed prime-time.

I think this is the last one I have to do, I'll be putting actual, comprehensive lists together for each Clan but this is a good way to gather my thoughts. 

1. Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
2. Demoniac - Nube negra
3. Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
4. Cavalera Conspiracy - Morbid Visions
5. Cavalera Conspriacy - Bestial Devastation
6. Hoplites - 'Aντιτιμωρουμένη
7. Hellwitch - Annihilational Intercention
8. Drain - Living Proof
9. Trastorned - Into the Void
10. Pest Control - Don't Test the Pest
11. Angelus Apatrida - Aftermath

I'm strictly going off of what the Academy has for Clan labels, so Horrendous takes another win on this list haha. But seriously, Demoniac killed it with their much anticipated followup that was less progressive than what I would have expected, but it worked out all the same. Hellripper is a bit of a novelty but the album never lost steam throughout the entire year, so I have to commend it. The Cavalera brothers rerecording Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation wasn't on my (or anyone's?) radar, and rerecordings always have a sense of dread hanging around them, but this time it was worth it. It's impressive how well 30+ year old material can hold up with a new coat of paint and the two brothers bring the energy necessary to make it all work. Hellwitch also brought the heat with a more classic thrash experience that was good but not mind-blowing, then the rest are mostly forgettable. 

Black Metal continues to be the most interesting modern Metal subgenre to me, so this list is probably going to be pretty extensive before I trim it down. 

1. Panopticon - The Rime of Memory
2. Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
3. Vertebra Atlantis - A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime
4. RUÏM - Black Royal Spiritism - I.O sino da igreja
5. Victory Over the Sun - Dance You Monster to My Soft Song!
6. Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
7. Fen - Monuments to Absence
8. Theophonos - Nightmare Visions
9. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
10. Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another
11. Odz Manouk - Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)
12. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
13. Malokarpatan - Vertumnus Caesar
14. Spirit Possession - Of the Sign...
15. Kostnatění - Úpal
16. Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab
17. ...And Oceans - As in Gardens, So in Tombs
18. Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya
19. Turpitude - Une interprétation de la dissolution glaciale en quatre mouvements
20. Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
21. Miserere Luminis - Ordalie
22. Häxanu - Totenpass
23. Urfaust - Untergang
24. Goatmoon - What Once Was... Shall Be Again
25. Nameless Mist - Lifeless
26. Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare
27. Inherits the Void - The Impending Fall of the Stars
28. Imperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow Evermore
29. Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis
30. Hoplites - Ψευδομένη
31. The Gauntlet - Dark Steel and Fire
32. Spectral Lore - 11 Days
33. Hoplites - Τρωθησομένη 
34. Odz Manouk - Ծուռ (Tzurr) 
35. Heáfodbán - Heáfodbán
36. Bríi - Último ancestral comum
37. Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant
38. Liturgy (NY-USA) - 93696
39. Hasard - Malivore
40. Hoplites - 'Aντιτιμωρουμένη
41. Totenmesse - Fiktionlust
42. Skálmöld - Ýdalir
43. Sühnopfer - Nous sommes d'hier
44. Jute Gyte - Unus mundus patet 

This list is going to take some serious work, there were a ton of Black Metal albums that I enjoyed this year as the genre never fails to bring the variety. Moonlight Sorcery was a hilarious find this year though, as it perfectly fits within my tastes and will make Black Metal purists squirm a little bit. I'll have to trim this one down quite a bit, I only left the Jute Gyte album on there because I think others may really enjoy it, but it was a little too avant-garde and abrasive for me.

Basically nothing from me this year; Sphere releases seem to get fewer and farther between. Fange ran away with it as I just couldn't get into Godflesh's new offering. 

1. Fange - Privation
2. Godflesh - Purge
3. Mechina - Cenotaph

1. The Acacia Strain - Step Into the Light
2. END - The Sin of Human Frailty
3. Invent, Animate - Heavener
4. August Burns Red - Death Below
5. Graphic Nature - A Mind Waiting to Die
6. Fromjoy - Fromjoy
7. Currents - The Death We Seek
8. Soulkeeper - Holy Design
9. Jesus Piece - ...So Unknown
10. Drain - Living Proof
11. Mental Cruelty - Zwielicht
12. OLTH - Every Day Is Someone's Special Day
13. Pupil Slicer - Blossom
14. Unearth - The Wretched; The Ruinous
15. Storm{O} - Endocannibalismo
16. Dragoncorpse - The Drakketh Saga

I don't really go out of my way to check out much Alternative Metal so let's see how much I ended up listening to this year: 

1. Klone - Meanwhile
2. Narrow Head - Moments of Clarity
3. Graphic Nature - A Mind Waiting to Die
4. Soen - Memorial
5. Katatonia - A Sky Void of Stars

Wow, really not a whole lot. Klone is the real winner here, since Graphic Nature and Narrow Head only got one or two listens from me throughout the year and were overall forgettable at the end of the day.

Meanwhile is an extremely consistent and solid album that I've gone back to here and there for my fix of some powerful lead vocals and more airy, spacious riffing. 

Other than that, the new Soen and Katatonia albums were letdowns for me, but at this point, i wasn't expecting anything more or less.

I actually went back to Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean as well after you posted about it Sonny and I can definitely see why it received high marks from you, even though the relisten wasn't enough to sway my score away from a 3.5. Definitely one of the more memorable crushing and slow albums to come out this year. I'm actually opposite from you where I enjoyed their 2023 EP a bit more than the full album, which is kind of strange for me given how grimy the EP production is. Probably has to do with overall length, but I'll be interested to see where that project goes in the future. 

I wish I had more time to spend with Distortions this year as I think this proves Godthrymm to be an incredibly consistent modern Doom act.

Let's see here, this should be a pretty big list. Horrendous knocked it out of the park with way more staying power than Ne Obliviscaris, even though both are very good. I ended up going back to Ontological Mysterium way more often, so the choice is pretty clear there. I gotta move some of these out of here once I'm finished with the rest of the roundups since "Nahab" definitely doesn't belong here, even though it definitely deserves the Avant-Garde tag. I'll probably be posting quite a bit of discussion about a few of these as I work through everything.

1. Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium 
2. Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
3. Victory Over the Sun - Dance You Monster to My Soft Song!
4. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
5. Earthside - Let the Truth Speak
6. Thy Catafalque - Alföld
7. Blut Aus Nord - Nahab (Move to North, Avant-Garde Black Metal)
8. Sarmat - Determined to Strike
9. Periphery - Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre
10. Enslaved - Heimdal
11. Hypno5e - Sheol
12. Haken - Fauna
13. Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night: Part 1
14. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit
15. Fleshvessel - Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed
16. Lunar Chamber - Shambhallic Vibrations
17. Ostraca - Disaster
18. TesseracT - War of Being
19. Aviations - Luminaria
20. Invent, Animate - Heavener
21. Anubis Gate - Interference
22. Ok Goodnight - The Fox and the Bird
23. The Ocean - Holocene
24. Hasard - Malivore (Move to North, Avant-Garde Black Metal)
25. Krallice - Porous Resonance Abyss
26. Liturgy - 93696
27. Sermon - Of Golden Verse
28. Entropia - Total
29. Omnerod - The Amensal Rise
30. Gorod - The Orb

I thought the same thing Sonny.

Nothing wrong with it, enjoyed it for a listen, but I've had zero want to go back to it. It scratched the itch for some classic stoner tunes at the time but like you said, it feels hard to get truly excited about something like this. 3/5 as well from me, hence why it didn't make it onto The Fallen 2023 roundup list.

I'm going to have to do something different for my big list this year as I haven't had enough time / bandwidth to really put a ton of effort into it. So I'm thinking about doing individual lists for each clan then maybe a top 15 or 20 overall, just to split it up and make it easier to rank stuff. Might as well start here. Honestly, not a whole lot in terms of Fallen stuff for me this year, as I'd be inclined to take Sól án varma off the list as it's much more at home in The North. 

This will probably be getting updates from me as the year closes out, but I think this is close enough for now. I have a few other Fallen releases I've listened to but didn't feel like they made the list.  

1. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
2. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
3. Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant For Us
4. Godthrymm - Distortions
5. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction
6. Oromet - Oromet
7. Asphodelus - Sculpting From Time
8. Ahab - The Coral Tombs
9. Fange - Privation
10. The Acacia Strain - Failure Will Follow
11. Ocean of Grief - Pale Existence 
12. FVNERALS - Let The Earth Be Silent
13. Runemagick - Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind
14. Oozing Wound - We Cater To Cowards
15. Tribunal - The Weight Of Rememberance
16. Church Of Misery - Born Under a Mad Sign
17. Mansion - Second Death

Panopticon - The Rime of Memory (2023)

Even though I've gone through some Panopticon releases in the past, this is the first one that has really struck a certain chord with me. I can't exactly explain what's different since I enjoyed ...And Again Into The Light, but nowhere near this degree. I don't think there's a single thing I'd change about this one. Despite some sections feeling a bit too long, the overall pacing is handled with absolute perfection. Awesome stuff and I want to start being a bit more liberal with perfect scores, can always change 'em later if it ends up not holding up. Also, everyone seems to be talking about "Winter's Ghost" versus "The Blue Against the White", but as someone who didn't hear the single before the album, the ending of "Cedar Skeletons" is absolutely sublime in my opinion. 

5/5

"In The Time Of Job When Mammon Was A Yippie" - Hard Rock

"Lucifer's Friend" - Closer, but still Hard Rock

Onto Budgie, a band that I'm entirely unfamiliar with:

"Guts" - Can't call it Metal personally, but it's in the middle of so many things that it's hard to say.

"Everything In My Heart" - Folk

"The Author" - Hard Rock

"Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman" - I'm with Daniel, Hard Rock / Heavy Blues Rock

"Rape of the Locks" - Blues Rock

"All Night Petrol" - Agreed with Stoner Rock

"You and I" - Folk

"Homicidal Suicidal" - Blues / Stoner Rock, too swingy

Nothing doing for me on that Budgie album, even though I liked what I heard.

Onto another Black Sabbath:

"Sweet Leaf" - Agreed with Stoner Metal.

"After Forever" - Sabbath's overall sound and riff structure still put this into Heavy Metal for me.

"Embryo" - Interlude, doesn't count for much in my opinion, but not Metal.

"Children of the Grave" - Probably the most Metal out of the ones that have been posted so far. The repetitive chug riff into the ending squeals is just synonymous with Heavy Metal riffing.

Earthside - Let The Truth Speak (2023)

It's been a while since it felt like there was a Progressive Metal album to really sink my teeth into, but I think Earthside has finally delivered something for me. The sophomore album from this somewhat mysterious band from Connecticut comes eight years after their impressive debut and has a ton of featured artists attached to it, including some heavy hitters from bands like TesseracT. Most of the Progressive Metal I find myself listening to nowadays is on the heavier side with more extreme metal influences, so it's kind of a breath of fresh air to get back to my roots a bit with some gorgeous soundscapes and more melodic, technical structures. Earthside still have some chug in them like on "Tyranny", so it's been a nice balance so far. I think there are some ideas that don't exactly work in here, but it's the first time in a while where I'm far from satisfied with one or two listens with a Progressive Metal album. Let The Truth Speak has intrigued me in a positive way so far, so I'm excited to see how it holds up over the next week or so.

Both are Hard Rock / Heavy Psych to me.

December

TesseracT - "Of Reality - Eclipse" (from Altered State, 2013)

Aviations - "Legend" (from Luminaria, 2023)

Caligula's Horse - "Slow Violence" (from Rise Radiant, 2020)

Pomegranate Tiger - "The Cryptographer" (from All Input Is Error, 2023)

December

Vertebra Atlantis - "Drown in Aether, Sovereign of Withered Ardor" (from A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime", 2023)

Malokarpatan - "Mnohoraké Útrapy Milostpána Kelleyho" (from "Vertumnus Caesar", 2023)

Moonlight Sorcery - "In Coldest Embrace" (from "Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle", 2023)

Feel like it's pertinent to put this here rather than anywhere else, just found out that my old college radio station has moved away from music for the most part and is just another NPR station that spouts pre-recorded talking shows and such. Dunno how I feel really, other than sad. As someone who enjoys music and sharing it, I'm just glad that I was able to take advantage of that opportunity when I could. It really shaped how I look at music, and especially Metal music, when I was able to share it with so many people that would legitimately call in and cared about what they were listening to on some random college station in their hometown. As things move forward I can only see it getting worse for these kinds of stations, so I can only be thankful what what I was able to do in my 3 years there. 

Catching up again: 

"Kingdom Come" - Yeah this more in line with what Sabbath were doing, sinister vocals and all. Even though the production might not be all the way there for Metal, I'd be willing to throw Heavy or Doom Metal onto this. There's too many similarities to what Doom Metal or more Classic Heavy Metal is doing nowadays. 

"I Got A Woman" - Rock, I'd hesitate to even call this Hard Rock. 

"Hell Hound" - Daniel hits it outta the park, Zeppelin worship. If Zeppelin ain't Metal, then this ain't either. 

"Helium Head" - I think it's close in some places but I still have to say Hard Rock. 

"Ain't Got Hung On You" - More Bluesy Hard Rock. 

"Ride The Sky" - Heavy Metal easy. 

"Everybody's Clown" - I think this is too close to some Zeppelin or Rush in the sections that Daniel talks about for me to say Heavy Metal, the first track had a different energy about it. Hard Rock. 

"Keep Going" - Man...it's so close...I think I have to go Heavy Psych here. Begrudgingly. 

Now then, what have we here? This sole release from a mysterious & anonymous metal collective is the perfect example of a Metal Academy feature release in my opinion.

4.5/5

I'm a big fan of how I went from "Xephyr, why in the hell would you pick this as a Feature Release" to "Xephyr, this is exactly what I'm looking for in a Feature Release" this month hahaha

(Daniel's not wrong here for the record)

My fault, I'll add to the Playlist tonight. Getting back into the swing of things.

November 2023

1. Iced Earth - "Written on the Walls" from Iced Earth (1990)

2. Venator - "Creatures of the Sea" from Paradiser / Angel Blade (2020)

3. Sumerlands - "Edge of the Knife" from Dreamkiller (2022)

4. Black Sabbath - "Lord of This World" from Master of Reality (2014 Remaster)

5. Primal Fear - "Deep In The Night" from Code Red (2023)

6. Kobra and the Lotus - "Triggerpulse" from Prevail I (2017)

7. Sacred Outcry - "Symphony Of The Night" from Towers of Gold (2023)

8. Xandria - "Call of the Wind" from The Neverworld's End (2013)

9. Marko Hietala - "Stones" from Pyre of the Black Heart (2020)

10. Therion - "Black Sun" from Vovin (1998)

11. Ravenous E.H. - "Space and Time" from Eat the Fallen (2019)

12. Cirith Ungol - "Velocity (S.E.P.)" from Dark Parade (2023)

13. The Ferrymen - "Ferryman" from The Ferrymen (2017)

14. Iron Maiden - "Lost in a Lost World" from Senjutsu (2021)

15. Lost Horizon - "Think Not Forever" from A Flame To The Ground Below (2002)

16. Century - "Master Of Hell" from The Conquest Of Time (2023)

17. Traveler - "Street Machine" from Traveler (2019)

18. Malokarpatan - "Maharal A Golem" from Vertumnus Caesar (2023)

19. Falconer - "Lord of the Blacksmiths" from Falconer (2001)

20. Iron Savior - "Rising from Ashes" from Firestar (2023)

21. Saxon - "Atila the Hun" from The Inner Sanctum (2007)

As much as Djent gets meme'd on, Djent Is Not A Genre is proving to be a solid part of my year end list this year. It's definitely a taste thing with the way the clean vocals are used, especially with the length of the full album, but this is definitely my favorite Periphery album to date. Something about the hooks, songwriting, and riff choice really brought me to their side after the disappointment that was Hail Stan from 2019. 

Hope everything goes well Daniel, I had a 2.5-3 hour total commute for a little over a year so I feel your pain, it ain't easy. I got through a lot of podcasts to pass the time but not much else. 

Catching up: 

"Hard Rain Fallin'" - Hard Rock, no Metal. 

"Lady of Fire" - Daniel describes it perfectly here, no Metal. 

"Lake Isle of Innersfree" - In the context of the rest of the album, still Psych Rock / Prog Rock. No Metal.

"Pumped Up" - Still Hard Rock to me now that I'm getting more acclimated to the spread of albums around 1970. No Metal.

Hey so I passed that exam I've been dreading about for 1.5+ years now. Failed once in February, passed it this time. I'm done with pointless exams forever and I can't be happier. So (hopefully) I'm back in full force, I've been missing having the brain power to actually think about music, reviews, and posting thoughts and stuff.

Awesome news Daniel, glad to hear that you found something new, huge relief. 

As a glasses wearer since like...forever glad that the new pair is treating you well Rex. 

This is very testing for me as well, since I'm not the best at remembering stuff like that. Especially since I grew up with the start of ITunes and IPods, meaning I heard a lot of individual songs rather than full albums for the longest time. The ones that stick out to me as full albums are: 

1. Dream Theater - Octavarium
2. Avantasia - The Scarecrow
3. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
4. Tool - Lateralus
5. Opeth - Blackwater Park

I'm not entirely sure in what chronological order these were, but I'd say these are the ones that I distinctly remember sitting through the full album experience. Dream Theater was really my first foray into Metal and I want to say it was Octavarium before Scenes From a Memory Part II. I remember downloading a single song by Dream Theater, "Forsaken" from Systematic Chaos. And I fuckin' hated it. Somehow, someway, I kept on the Dream Theater train and dived deeper into their discography and Octavarium with its 24-minute closer along with "The Root of All Evil", "These Walls", and "Panic Attack" really hooked me. Nowadays the rose-tinted glasses have been thrown off my face as I have it rated a 3.5, but Dream Theater is truthfully what got me into the long, theatrical, and crazy side of Metal. 

Avantasia and Nightwish go hand in hand since, to be honest, I can't remember how I got into either band. It was most likely off of ITunes' recommended, but these are the two albums that I remember hearing from these bands first. Both bands had insane 10+ minute epics in "The Scarecrow" and "Dark Passion Play", which reinforced that original Dream Theater shtick of heavier and more intense music being this massive, complicated, and drawn out affair. I loved the strings and variety that both bands gave, but I was much more into Nightwish as a full-album band than Avantasia, even though I quickly got the entire Wicked Trilogy shortly after. 

I'm not entirely sure when I got into Tool in all this but I remember heading into FYE (a mall music store in the states) to find as many Tool albums as I could for my car, starting with Lateralus then moving onto 10,000 Days, Undertow, and eventually Aenima. I remember really enjoying Lateralus but it remains a singles album to me, much to most other Tool fan's despair. I found myself way more enthralled by 10,000 Day's interludes and overall album pacing, which is a hot take in some circles. Nevertheless, Lateralus seems like a pretty standard choice given my history, so the big elephant in the room is next. 

I hated Blackwater Park when I first heard it. I don't know how the entire album got on my Ipod, but I remember enjoying the instrumentals and songs like "Harvest" but couldn't understand the appeal in the vocals. Why does this dude sound like the Cookie Monster? What does this add? It's just grating and annoying, his clean vocals sound way better. Obviously, I eventually came around to it, but if you read my massive Blackwater Park review, the cleans were incredibly important in slowly wading me into the harsher stuff, which is kind of missed by a lot of bands nowadays. I think I'm sort of unique where I wasn't instantly hooked on this stuff; I constantly experimented and eventually came around to certain things. Pretty much every Metal subgenre was like that for me, except for maybe Progressive Metal. Death, Black, Industrial, etc. all needed their own sort of warmup before I could really handle what the deep cuts had in store for me. It's been a cool ride.

I was a pretty big fan of Draconian's 2020 album, but never made the jump back to their earlier stuff. Seems like I might have to remedy that as it looks like they're incredibly consistent straight from the start. I only have a few go-to Gothic Metal bands so it'd probably be worth branching out a bit.