Entry 1486 - Sizable

Style: video game music, ambient, piano

Primary Emotions/Themes: a small collection of piano driven tracks that channel peace and comfort

Thoughts: I got this off of a clearance sale. I didn't even know that this soundtrack existed prior to the sale. I heard about five minutes of the music prior to grabbing it and now after listening to the whole thing I'm really glad I did.

Sizable is a collection of short venerable songs played almost exclusively by piano. These tracks are soft, fragile and are played with the utmost care. It's the musical equivalent of handling fine china - every action taken is deliberate and careful.

The notes are never hurried and are all delivered with the utmost intention. Combine this with a healthy dose of the sustain pedal on the piano and you have quite an atmospheric collection of minimalist songs. 

There's really not much else to say about this album. It's short, it's beautiful, and it's a joy to listen to. It's the kind of album to put on for a lazy Sunday afternoon. The birds singing, sun shining, and life being simply beautiful.  

Entry 1485 - Shire Oak - Uncommon Botany

Style: dungeon synth, comfy synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: nature, gardens, flowers, botanicals 

Thoughts: Shire Oak released one of the better comfy synth album's I've heard with The Cardinal a while back. That release managed to put the peace of a nature walk into musical form better than most albums in my collection. I got Uncommon Botany with that in mind, and what I got was something rather different all together. 

Uncommon Botany is more a collection of thoughts put into song form than a holistic album. The songs vary greatly from track to track with some being a direct continuation of The Cardinal's natural and atmospheric sound. Others though have taken a bizarre turn of events. 

The opening two tracks on the album sound nothing like anything I've heard from this project before. The opening track starts off with a rather awkward beat that ends up sounding nearly as if its a march. The musical accompaniment also has rather bizarre note progressions. It's almost as if the comfy part of the comfy synth is gone... at least from this track.

The second track continues with the strangeness, sounding like a video game intro track where a character is running through obstacles. It's a bizarre choice to start the album.

After these two tracks though the album shifts course back to what I would expect from the previous album: calmer, more collected, minimalist in it's approach. This is the Shire Oak that I truly enjoy. 

Uncommon Botany is just that... uncommon in its approach. It's not all to my liking, but I do like seeing artists branch out and try different things. There is a lot to like on this release, I just don't see myself listening to this one as much as The Cardinal in the long run. 

Entry 1484 - GODSPEED 音 - 苦​​​し​​​み​​​に​​​対​​​す​​​る​​​主​​​権

Style: vaporwave, barber beats

Primary Emotions/Themes: take a seat, have a drink, let the barber do what they will

Thoughts: I think if there was one artist to show people what barber beats is all about and you don't want to recommend Macroblank or Haircuts for Men then Godspeed may very well be the next artist up. I can't think of anyone who creates such consistent music yet within the genre. 

Consistency is a bit of a double edged sword in Godspeed's case. On one end you know that every release will be solid and an easy listen from front to back. On the other you know exactly what you are getting, no deviations, no surprises.  苦​​​し​​​み​​​に​​​対​​​す​​​る​​​主​​​権 is exactly that - no deviations from the chilled out barber beats, no surprises, just chill laid back music to put on a lazy afternoon.

苦​​​し​​​み​​​に​​​対​​​す​​​る​​​主​​​権 is a long album. 16 songs to be exact. Ranging from a few minutes to nearly ten minutes for the longer tracks. Listening to the whole thing through is a bit much, rather I prefer to approach releases like this one LP at a time. By getting two single LP's it helps me appreciate the album more rather than trying to take the whole thing in at once, it's just too much.

What we do get on these two records is exactly what you would expect from barber beats. Slow, chill, repetitive lounge music that is drenched in reverb and accompanied by silky smooth drums and production.  If I'm in the mood for that sort of thing then Godspeed is absolutely at the top of my list for go to artists. That said I have to be in a very specific mood.

Godspeed is great at what they do. The music is consistent as all get out and retains a high quality not only through this release but throughout their entire discography. The other side of the coin is that there isn't much variety and the music ends up becoming more of a passive experience rather than an active listening activity - which again is fine for what it is. I just have to be in the mood for it.

Entry 1483 - Colossus

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: a tribute to one of the greatest PlayStation 2 games ever created

Thoughts: Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games. Not just of the PS2 era, but of the entire lexicon of video game history. The scope, the puzzle solving, the mystery of the world... and especially the music... they are all top tier. 

Dungeon synth paired with the Shadow of the Colossus is not something that I had on my bingo card - for this year or any other. With a storied history like that game has I guess it's not too big of a surprise that someone would want to pay tribute to it. I'm just not certain dungeon synth is the medium to do so... at least not in this capacity.

The scope of the game is so incredibly epic, so vast, and so grand that the only word that can truly describe it is massive. The Colossus dungeon synth album however is simple, repetitive, and has minimal melodies throughout the run time. It's in direct conflict with the source material. 

I think therein lies the root of my qualms with this release. If it was not tied to Shadow of the Colossus I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But by tying the album to a game that is held so near and dear to my heart it automatically raises expectations... and those expectations are hard to meet. 

On its own Colossus is a fine bit of dungeon synth. It has a beautiful analog feel to it and the melodies are well executed in a highly minimalist soundscape. It works really well within its own confines, it just does not work within the context of the Shadow of the Colossus. 

Maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to divorce this release from the game, but as it stands I cannot currently. It's a shame because there's some great music here. Every time I put this record on though I simply want to listen to the Shadow of the Colossus music instead.  

Entry 1482 - Dawn Ray'd - Behold Sedition Plainsong

Style: Folk black metal 

Primary Emotions/Themes: Anarchy, lawlessness, anti-fascism 

Thoughts: Folk black metal is a... tough genre for me to get into most of the time. It's filled with so many different entries that most of them end up being generic black metal with a violin and tin flute playing over it. I've heard that many times and there isn't enough differentiation between them for me to care anymore. 

That's what makes Dawn Ray'd a bit peculiar. They fall into nearly every description of the genre perfectly... yet somehow it ends up sounding way better and memorable than 99% of their contemporaries. 

The riffs are melodic and fast. They channel a fervor that not many bands have these days. There is a passion here that is hard to deny. Combine that with a tasteful smattering of a violin from time to time and you have an album that easily stands above the average entry into the folk black metal field.

The folk and the black metal are in equilibrium. They are not competing with each other, rather they compliment each other. Sometimes the guitars will take the lead and the violin will compliment in the background. Other times the violin has the lead and the guitars play the compliment. In nearly all circumstances this combination works, and works well. 

There are too many black metal bands for me to listen to. There are too many generic bands for me to waste my time on. Dawn Ray'd is neither of these. They have shown that they are masters of their craft and are able to create music that is neither derivative nor boring. 

Entry 1481 - Königreichssaal - Witnessing the Dearth

Style: slow brooding black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: suffering, life is suffering

Thoughts: Black metal is such a peculiar genre. It's hard to think of a sub genre that is more diverse within metal itself. It ranges from blistering speeds to near catchy melodies, even sometimes touching on nearly "happy" and uplifting atmospheres. Witnessing the Dearth is none of those however, this is a cold, dark, slow and brooding take on the genre.

This is also where the paradox of Königreichssaal comes into play. All of these elements; the cold, the darkness, the brooding... all of this should be a boon to the music, but it is not. The cold ends up feeling nearly lifeless. The darkness obscures any direction that the music could be going in. The brooding ends up being more like a meandering than anything.

Every opportunity that the band has with their sound they squander.  The elements of a good album are here, but they simply cannot apply them in a way that the music draws me in. The riffs go on for way too long, and don't have any sort of hypnotic quality to them. The atmosphere can be decent at times, but again things dwell and stagnate for far too long and any effect that the music would have on me is lost. 

There is the makings of a good album in Witnessing the Dearth, but as it is the music does nearly nothing for me. If the band had been a bit more willing to edit their tracks of some of the repetition, trim the run times down just a little - maybe there would be something here. As it is though the album ends up being a boring take on black metal. 

Entry 1480 - Blood Red Fog - Thanatotic Supremacy

Style: black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: sorrow, loss, horrors that should not be

Thoughts: Black metal is many things... but the thing that runs through nearly all of the genre is hatred. What the focus of that hate is differs from band to band, but it is central and some may argue essential to the genre. Blood Red Fog channels this emotion in some of the purest ways that I have heard in a long while.

It's not that I haven't heard music like this before, quite the contrary. On its surface Thanatotic Supremacy is nothing more than a typical black metal album. It has the rough production, it has the tremolo riffs, it has fast drums, and howling vocals. It's all here. What makes this album stand out - at least for me - is the delivery.

Blood Red Fog takes these basic elements and combines them in ways that I seldom hear. The conviction and consistency that the music has is rare in the genre. This is a band that is obviously not just going through the motions... there is a deep seeded hatred or even longing for something unspoken. 

These emotions bleed through in every note, every word howled, every drum beat. The music is steeped in it. Passage after passage will grab my attention in ways that typical black metal rarely does. There is something more going on here than simply writing black metal by the numbers. This music encapsulates everything that makes the genre stand out amongst the multitude of metal sub genres. 

Blood Red Fog remains a hit and miss project for me. Most of their albums do absolutely nothing for me, however there are a few that stand out - Thanatotic Supremacy is amongst those. It takes typical songwriting and infuses it with such deep rooted emotions that it's impossible for me to ignore. Great stuff. 

Entry 1479 - Ershetu - Yomi

Style: black metal with traditional Japanese instrumentation

Primary Emotions/Themes: The demons of Japanese lore

Thoughts: I'm a sucker for traditional Japanese music and instruments. Having them combined with various genres is almost an instant boon to my ear, especially when they are integrated well. On Yomi Ershetu has done exactly that.

Combining black metal with the pan flue and shamisen has seems like an obvious move for a band to try... and to be honest I'm not sure why it hasn't happened more within the genre of metal. Ershetu has managed to combine these two seemingly opposing forces effortlessly. 

The metal instruments will more often than not create the majority of the music. With the guitar and drums playing well executed but largely unremarkable riffs. What makes the music come alive though is the aforementioned Japanese inclusions. 

There are ambient passages where only a flute will play over the sounds of running water... or the shamisen (Japanese guitar) will play over near silence. It's in these moments that the music is at it's purest form. Simple melodies in near silence only to be completely shattered by the violence that the black metal brings.

The black metal mixed with the melodies of the flute and guitar are where the music truly shines though. The more traditional black metal is elevated by the far eastern instruments and melodies. They work together so well that I don't believe that this album would be anywhere near as good without their inclusion. They are not a gimmick, they are a central part to the albums theme and sound.

I wasn't too fond of Ershetu's first album that focused on Aztec themes. However, the band really seems to have hit their stride with this sophomore album. It has me very interested to see where the band is going from here. Hopefully wherever the band decides to go the music will retain the quality of this release.

Entry 1478 - Micromecha - Hagakure 葉隠

Style: Japanese inspired barber beats, vaporwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: the way of the samurai

Thoughts: Every so often I come across an album that makes me wonder: why hasn't this been done before? Some genres go together so naturally that their marriage seems like a it was a foregone conclusion.... yet no one has done it. On Hagakure, Micromecha has done just that.

Micromecha has combined the vaporwave sub genre of barber beats with traditional Japanese instrumentation. Why these two elements have never been combined (to my knowledge) before this release is beyond me. They flow together like a stream through a peaceful forest.

To hear a saxophone interacting with a Japanese guitar and pan flute come natural to Micromecha. The music takes these two normally foreign instruments and genres and combines them expertly. Not only do they not clash with each other, the music is constructed in such a way that they feel natural to be together. This in combination with well constructed beats makes this easily one of my favorite barber beats releases to date.

One of my good friends is prone to say "this is a vibe," when listening to an album they like. In the spirit of that friend I must indeed concur... this album is indeed a vibe. It takes the peace and introspection that comes from traditional Japanese music and combines it with the flow and chill atmosphere of barber beats. In a genre that is saturated with music that sounds largely the same, Micromecha has raised the bar substantially.

Entry 1477 - Aiiro No Kisetsu - The Season of the Color of Love

Style: vocal jazz, city pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Love, romance

Thoughts: There's something incredibly nostalgic about old sounding Japanese music. Maybe it's the fact that I grew up watching some early anime. Maybe it's an inherit quality to the music. Either way I'm not sure, but man it sure makes me long for something that I've never experienced. 

I know nothing about this album. Don't know who released it, don't know who performs on it, nor do I know when it was released. None of that matters. This is one of the purest examples of owning an album simply for the music that I have in my collection.

The music is simple, almost to the point where it sounds innocent. There are a lot of instruments at play here: violins, guitars, various percussive instruments, flutes and so many more. Despite how many instruments there are the music never feels overwhelming. Everything is so neat and compact that it all falls together nearly perfectly.

The vocals vary between male and female and are almost all upbeat. On a rare occasion they will fall into a slightly softer tone... almost like the singer is home sick. The music matches suit. These songs seem to be about love, happy times, friends, really anything that sparks joy. 

The Season of the Color of Love is a unique entry into my collection. I don't think I'll ever find anything like this again unless I happen across it randomly. Regardless the music is fantastic and remains a bright spot in my typically darker music collection. 

Entry 1476 - Mahpiya Luta - Woohitke

Style: raw black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The Lakota tribe

Thoughts: What a pleasant surprise. Of all the themes that I thought black metal would tackle, Native Americans were not one of them.... and I never expected it to be done this well.

The themes of the Wild West and black metal have been done before - to various degrees of success, and not very often.  Maȟpíya Lúta offers us Woohitke as their first foray into this largely unexplored combination of theme and genre. 

The first thing that stands out is the production. This is raw. RAW. It's hard to hear everything going on, yet somehow it is clear as day. The drums sound distant and like the drummer is hitting a tin can. I recently mused how poor drum production ruined an album for me, that is not the case here. The drums are nearly perfect and it's all because of the production.

The guitars, oh man the guitars. This is where the album really shines. These riffs are nothing less than epic, inspirational even. These riffs are written with a sense of purpose and the music benefits greatly from it.  

For most of the album it's straight forward black metal with a twin guitar attack. They dual with each other and create melodies and atmospheres that only this genre can. Sometimes though they reach into the source material and start showing a bit of that distinctive Wild West theme. A small melody here, an acoustic break there. A small note progression somewhere else. They are dotted all over the album and they are what elevates this album way above a typical raw black metal album.  

The album only has three songs and is around thirty minutes long. During those thirty minutes I can think of maybe one or two riffs that didn't do it for me. When there are likely over a hundred riffs on this album that is quite a feat. This is easily one of the best raw black metal albums I've heard in some time and it sets the standard for western themed black metal. 

Entry 1475 - Cat Lady

Style: video game music, jazz, dark ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: the cycle of death and life

Thoughts: Now this is something else. I go in between loving and hating this soundtrack. Some of the tracks are so good, while others completely destroy any love I have for it.

The opening track Don't Follow The Light is the perfect microcosm of the album. The opening riff is so... odd and unwelcoming that I can't listen it very often. As the song progresses though this same bass driven riff remains but it's complimented by other instruments to the point where it turns into a near jazz track by the end of it. I love the jazz portions, but it's hard for me to get past that initial disgust with the track.

From there the album goes every which way but loose. Dark ambient, more jazz, noise, you name it it's probably around somewhere on this creepy exploration of death and the afterlife. Some of it is very good, excellent even. There are other moments though where the album is not as good and completely takes me out of the flow. 

This is the classic example of music that is good in the context of the game may not be good on its own. It's almost there but it doesn't quite make it. There is enough here that I really want to like this album, but the negative aspects just keep drawing me out of it.  It's a damn shame.

Entry 1474 - Acathexis - Immerse

Style: atmospheric black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: raw intense emotions

Thoughts: Acathexis debut album is something of a hidden gem. It was four tracks of intense black metal that I had never heard anyone talk about before and I found for a very reasonable price in a bargain bin. It impressed me so much that I picked up the second album - Immerse - without listening to it.

Immerse picks right up where the self titled album left off. Four more tracks of highly intense atmospheric black metal with hints of melody. This very well could be the second LP of the first album, they are that similar. Sometimes it's hard to believe that there are six years separating these two efforts.

The core of Immerse is it's atmosphere and riffs. The atmosphere throughout the entire album is so thick that you can cut it with a knife. It drapes over the music in such a way that a complete "wall of sound" effect is achieved in nearly every moment of the album. The riffs play a central part to this.

There are two guitars at play in nearly every riff. The way that they play off of each other works so well for the music in a couple of ways. The first being that they are the primary agent of the atmosphere. The second is the intensity. These riffs are ready to rip your face off with the speed and ferocity that they are played with. They simply have no regard for human life and are content to live in their violence irregardless of the consequences. 

The rest of the music matches the intensity of the guitars. The drums blast with a speed a precision not often seen. They match the intensity of the guitar riffs nearly perfectly; knowing when to pull back slightly and when to ramp up the speed to further the violence of the guitars. 

The vocals are - you guessed it - intense. They again fit the scope of the music to near perfection. For a majority of the album they are a mid ranged howl/growl that has a huge sense of longing and a deep sense of loss in the delivery. To compliment the mids there are some high screeches and low growls to accent particularly fervent moments of t he music. 

Immerse is exactly what I wanted out of this band. A direct continuation of their debut record... and they delivered in spades. I don't have many bands that sound like this in my collection so I anticipate that I'll be revisiting this when I need some black metal that breeds violence.

Entry 1473 - Blood Stronghold - Spectres of Bloodshed

Style: raw black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: wolves and their kin

Thoughts: I wish I could get into this album. All of the ingredients are there: strong riffs, great song structure, vocals that tie it all together. There is one thing though that just ruins this album for me though: the drums.

Are they well played? Yes, from what I can tell. Do they fit the music? Yes they do, quite well in fact. Why then? It's the god damn production. 

It's not only fact that the bass drum sounds like a card board box, or that the snare sounds like a black metal take on St. Anger... it's not only that - it's the fact that they are pushed so far up in the mix that they become impossible to ignore. 

God I wish I could get into this album. The riffs are great, the music itself is great - but the drums just destroy it for me. It's not only that they are poorly produced... it's that they are forced on the listener so strongly. If they were pushed back further in the mix I think I would truly enjoy this album, but as it is I'm done. I can't, and there is too much good music out there for me to force myself to like this. 

Entry 1482 - yv55ii - Fragile Heart Clicker

Style: atmospheric drum n bass, breakbeat

Primary Emotions/Themes: self discovery, romance, anime

Thoughts: Drum 'n bass, especially the anime themed variety is such an acquired taste for me. 95% of the time when I listen to it, it does absolutely nothing for me and I end up turning it off after a few minutes... but there is that remaining 5%.

I'm not sure what drew me to Fragile Heart Clicker. The cover certainly wasn't it. Based solely on that this album is an easy pass. It may have been the design of the record itself. The physical presentation in that aspect is top notch. Maybe that was it.

Ultimately though it does not matter, yu55ii's Fragile Heart Clicker somehow caught my attention long enough for me to put on a youtube stream of the album. Oh boy am I glad I did... these 25 minutes are pretty intense.  

The atmosphere is front and center during every song here. It is the glue that binds everything together. The blanket that not only covers every iota of the music, but also the fabric that permeates every orifice that comes with it. It's all encompassing and completely unavoidable. 

This is drum 'n bass though, so the atmosphere is not the only thing that it has going on. The beats... oh the beats are great.  They are produced front and center and when present are the obvious focus of the album. Not every song has them, nor does every song need them... but when present they are the driving force of the album. 

The beats are creative, and not just the standard fare that I've come to expect from the genre. The interplay between the snare and the bass drum is the real star here. They will playfully intertwine with each other in constant harmony, or they will clash with each other in unpredictable ways. I never know what they are going to do, but it never sounds forced and never sounds bad. It just flows.

When the drums are not flowing the atmosphere takes over completely. These ambient tracks are a wonderful break to the intensity of the percussion driven tracks. They aren't very long but they are well done and give the album a more complete feel. 

Even though Fragile Heart Clicker is only 25 minutes long, it's exactly what I want out of this genre. It's intense, it doesn't overstay its welcome, it keeps things interesting, and the album works... it just works. I haven't checked out the other releases from yv55ii but I feel like I'm a bit more inclined now that I've properly digested this one. 

Entry 1471 - Dark Tranquillity - Projector

Style: melodic death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: self reflection, reinventing oneself, relationships

Thoughts: Coming from The Gallery and The Mind's I, I had high hopes for this album. I didn't know anything about it when I first put the album on and when I was greeted by a piano I was not entirely sure what to think... and by the time Freecard had concluded I remember turning the album off.

My original CD of this I sold to a buddy for a few bucks and then never thought about it again. Dark Tranquillity was dead to me. I wanted nothing to do with them. The riffs sucked. Where was the speed? What was up with those horrible clean vocals? I had their back catalog and that was good enough for me... this new direction and I were not compatible. Young me was an idiot.

Early Dark Tranquillity is some of the best melodic death metal that Sweden ever produced... but the band had enough of that style. I remember reading an interview at some point where the band was saying they wanted to move beyond the confines of melodic death metal and create music that was more in line with what the band wanted to hear. Projector was the result of that.

The fact that the music slowed down and became less technical is not a bad thing. In fact it lets the riffs breathe more than they ever did on the early albums. It allows the atmosphere to be a stronger focus than anything beyond a few fleeting moments in the bands early works. The fact that keyboards became a central part of their sound was a foreshadowing of where the band would ultimately end up.  

Projector is arguably a transition album... but a transition to what? The sound on this album is very consistent and the albums that followed were not in a similar style... so rather than a transition album I feel its more appropriate to call this a stand alone experiment. 

Despite the fact that young me was an idiot. I'm glad that older me decided to revisit this unique entry into Dark Tranquillity's long and storied career. In retrospect this is one of the better albums that the band put out. At minimum we got a glimpse into what they truly wanted to do at the time... something that I can't say they have always done in their later career. 

Entry 1470 - The Ghost Gardener - Chaos Natura

Style: black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: romance, love, loss

Thoughts: There are multiple albums that I have gotten over the years which I will never understand why they ended up in my collection. Chaos Natura is going to end up being one of those. 

This is seventeen minutes of black metal. Black metal played in a lo-fi recording with blast beats and distant vocals. I've heard this exact album more times than I can count, yet somehow it still ended up in my collection. 

If there is anything redeeming about Chaos Natura it's the fact that the music has a bit of warmth to it - something that not a lot of black metal can channel. This alone though is not enough for me to want to seek the album out, and if it weren't for the fact that I have committed to chronicling every record that is in my collection I would never had put this one on the turntable again. 

Entry 1469 - Dkharmakhaoz - Proclamation ov the Black Suns

Style: blackened death  metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Chaos and darkness 

Thoughts: I'm not entirely sure how I came across Dkharmakhaoz. It may have been a clearance event at a store, or I may have thought it looked cool. Either way it's in my collection now. 

Proclamation ov the Black Suns combines classic black metal melodies with a strong sense of dissonance. Below this dissonance is a heaviness that is not normally found in this style of music... almost a death metal level of brutality. To wrap it all together are vocals not only filled with venom, but a good dose of disdain for humanity as well. 

The music is played at various paces - ranging from near doom metal to typical black metal speeds. The black metal dominates most of the record and it's fine for what it is. The band sounds more comfortable though in the slower more doomier sections of the album. The dissonance mixed in with the heaviness and those absolutely hatred filled vocals, it's excellent.

I'm curious to see where Dkharmakhaoz decides to take their music in the future. At the moment, this album seems like it has a lot of good ideas but they don't all gel together as well as I think they can. When the band is doing the more doom oriented side of their music they truly showcase what they can accomplish. If they somehow got that to show up in the black metal side, or if they found a way to merge the two more consistently then the band could quite possibly release something special. 

Entry 1468 - Thangorodrim - Taur Nu Fuin

Style: Classic dungeon synth, dark dungeon music

Primary Emotions/Themes: An epic for the ages

Thoughts: Perhaps once per generation does an album such as this grace a genre. Once in the eons of time. Throughout history there are legendary albums in every genre... albums that not only find themselves being of the utmost quality. Nay, there are those who find themselves calling others in the genre to aspire to the heights that they themselves so achieved. 

Thangorodrim.  The mighty volcanoes raided by none other than Morgoth himself. Serving as the foundation for his ancient fortress of Angband. This is a place of great evil, untold magic, and powers that no mortal can comprehend. It only be fitting that some of the finest dungeon synth created in the renaissance of the genre take on the same name.

Taur Nu Fuin contains four epic compositions... nay journeys. These tracks are not merely music, but rather a recollection of events to an epic tale.  Consisting of nothing more than simply a keyboard and layers upon layers of synthesized instruments combined with drums... drums in the deep.

Words do not pay tribute enough to the greatness that is on this album. Simply put, these four epics contain foundational work for the genre. Coming some twenty years after the grim birth of dark dungeon music, Thangorodrim elevates the genre by taking the principles explored by the Norwegians and adds a cohesive structure to the songs that were not present before. 

An example is needed, yes. None Stirred the Listening Leaves offers itself as tribute for the ears of the weary observer.  Starting with nothing more than a timpani calling the song forward the song quietly adds what will become the backbone of the entire twelve minute epic. A gentle piano plays a meager melody... and so the foundation is laid.

This humble beginning is built on by horns calling in the distance, beckoning the listener to heed the call of Thangorodrim. As the epic grows, the basis of the piano melody is never truly forgotten. It resurfaces time and time again... each rendition being more powerful than the last. Each rendition reminding the listener that this is indeed the same epic that started off with such humble beginnings. By the end of the twelve minutes the same melody is once again played, reminding us - the denizens of Thangorodrim - where we came from and where we ended up. It is absolutely phenomenal. 

These four epics are some of the finest music to ever come out of the modern (or even early) dungeon synth lexicon. It's an album for the ages and one that stands the test of time like few can. 

Entry 1467 - Seer - Glimpsing Into Oblivion

Style: vocally driven ambient, modern classical

Primary Emotions/Themes: A bizarre and moribund look into the realm between life and death

Thoughts: Albums such as this are rare, at least from the swath of music that has crossed my path over the years. This is a vocal driven ambient/neo classical album that has a strong focus on atmosphere and Christophers powerful vocals. There is not much in the form of melody outside of the voice, however there doesn't need to be. The music creates an atmosphere where melody is largely obsolete.

This is primal music. Music that resonates with the base human mind... the higher functions need not apply. The kind of music that when the record is over you may not remember every detail of what happened, but you most certainly will remember the emotions that it swelled up within you. 

This kind of music has crossed my path before. Artists like Dead can Dance, Diamanda Galas, and the like are the contemporaries of Seer. This is powerful music, the kind that is listened to with intention. It does not take kindly to those who go into a casual listen and as such it requires a caution to those who would approach it. To those who would engage, and engage well: Seer will be an absolutely rewarding experience that speaks to parts of the human psyche that is often overlooked in modern music.

Entry 1466 - GORE - 起​​​源​​​不​​​明

Style: vaporwave, barber beats

Primary Emotions/Themes: relaxed beats to wind down the day with

Thoughts: Of all the new wave of barber beats artists GORE is certainly one of my favorites, if not my favorite. That said, with the amount of output that some of these vapor guys do, you gotta have a dud now and then.

起​​​源​​​不​​​明 is one of those duds unfortunately. There is a weird sense of experimentation in the album that makes it want to sound like lounge music mixed with big band jazz mixed with the six o'clock news. That sounds like a rather novel combination in theory, however in practice... at least here... it's not very well executed.

The songs are all over the place, with some sounding like typical barber beats or mallsoft. Others sound like they belong in in a news broadcast or morning talk show. They sound completely out of place and the transitions are very jarring. 

Overall the album has too many ideas in too little of a space. It's some good ideas interspersed with some bad ones and the lack of consistency simply drags the whole system down. 

Entry 1465 - Type O Negative - October Rust

Style: gothic metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Romance, lust, death, life, fall, the beauty of nature

Thoughts: This is gonna be a tough one to tackle. I remember going into a local supermarket decades ago and picking this up along with a couple of Pantera CD's. I had no idea what on earth it was, but it was on Roadrunner Records and that was a good thing.

Well I put on the CD and I was greeted with... static. This was their music? What's going on here. Before I knew it the band was laughing at me with their practical joke. After a brief introduction they then started the album proper... and this is when my taste in music was immutably changed.

Gothic music was not something that I new of. I had been into brutal bands, I had been into atmospheric bands... but not like this. I had never heard music that was so beautifully depressed, so horrifically uplifting, so incredibly downtrodden. 

That was nearly thirty years ago... a literal lifetime ago. I am now nearly three times that age, and yet this album remains in my collection. Why?

I've never heard an album like this. Either pre-October Rust or post-October Rust... this is utterly unique. Even within the whole Type O Negative discography. Sure there are moments where they revisit the brilliance of this album, but never again would the band be so focused on this utterly crushing depressive beauty.

The album weeps. The guitar riffs channel the souls of loved ones lost. The drums accent the beat of a dying heart. The keyboards lay a finality over the music like a closing coffin. The vocals are the mournful string that tie it all together. October Rust is a celebration of death, life, sex, and all things that are human. It is a standing monument to what it means to be mortal and partake in the pleasures of life... only for those pleasures to ultimately end.

Outside of the first two tracks the typical tongue in cheek humor that the band has in so many of their songs is completely absent on the record. The music is uniformly slow or mid paced, no punk influence can be heard on any of the tracks. It's as if the band fully accepted that this was their sound in 1996 and just went with it. The result is a gothic metal masterpiece... something that the genre would never get to again.

I feel like I either have to end this reflection here or I'll go on for another few thousand words. Simply put October Rust is one of the best representations of gothic metal, and potentially metal as a whole. The sound is commercially accessible however still channels the core tenants of the genre it helped create. A once in a life time album.

Entry 1464 - Midnight Betrothed - Bewitched by Destiny's Gaze

Style: keyboard laden black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Loss, beauty in death, lost love

Thoughts: Midnight Betrothed is an interesting project. It's like someone thought "hmm, I wonder how black metal would sound if I used piano as the primary instrument." It's an incredibly simple concept, and it's an incredibly simple execution as well.

The music is exactly what I expected if I read above. It's a piano playing for a majority of the demo's length and then some quiet black metal playing in the background. Neither the piano nor the black metal is of particularly high quality, it's simply content to be. Additionally, this is not a case of the sum being greater than the parts... this is just, kind of there. 

Midnight Betrothed may evolve into something a bit more interesting in the future but on Bewitched by Destiny's Gaze they are not something that I find myself revisiting. 

Entry 1463 - Tristania - Widow's Weeds

Style: melodic doom/death metal with female vocals, "beauty and the beast"

Primary Emotions/Themes: loss, sorrow, the dramatic and dynamic role that death plays in life

Thoughts: Well now, this was a surprise. I got this album on CD when it first released, it was then misplaced or stolen or given away to someone. I honestly don't remember, but when I wanted to listen to it one day it was gone... and that was my last memory of Tristania's debut album for nearly two decades.

When I saw the album at one of my go to distributors/storefronts I grabbed it without a second thought. I remembered the album having a lot of great moments with the last few songs being true stand outs. Now having listened a few times I can confirm that those memories were correct.

Firstly, the guitar tone is quite unique on this record. It sounds like a light buzzing, almost like a bee's wings fluttering mixed with a typical guitar distortion. It's still very much a metal tone, but I found it to be quite unique and fitting for the overall tone of the album. A lighter more mellow tone to a brutal genre.

The vocals are the real stand out here though. The male vocals play the lead for most of the album, either clean sung or growled. Both are well executed, and drive the album forward in a reasonable fashion. Where the album really shines though is the accented female vocals. They are not the primary focus by any means, but they are the real star of the show.

They are used in a lead capacity from time to time, however when they are used in a choir format in combination of the male vocals is when the band is truly at their best. Keyboards, a lead guitar, a male grunting vocalist complimented with a chorus of female vocals... that's the albums absolute strength and they know it. It's utilized time after time to excellent effect.

That's not the only tricks that Tristania has up their sleeve though. They have employed the services of Pete Johansen - a violinist. He is used sparingly throughout the album, but when he is used the music is elevated even higher. 

Fittingly the last two real songs on the album are the highlight for me. My Lost Lenore has a timeless melody and utilizes the violin to the maximum capacity. Wasteland's Caress take everything that the band has built over the course of the album and works it into an epic closing track.

Widow's Weeds is an album that I lament that I lost track of. That said, I finally have it in my collection again and I am able to enjoy Tristania's debut once again. This version in particular comes with nearly twenty minutes of bonus tracks to boot. One of those albums I didn't know I needed in my collection but I'm glad that I was reminded of its existence. 

Entry 1462 - Schemer Heer - The Dragon, His Angels and the Exlatation

Style: dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: dramatic compositions that sound like they could be a video game soundtrack

Thoughts: There are some things in this life that we do not mesh with. Sometimes an album and I are at completely different ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately Schemer Heer's The Dragon, His Angels and the Exaltation is one of those albums. 

The music present on this album is technically excellent. I've heard stuff like this in multiple video game soundtracks. It sounds like a dramatic boss fight or epic dungeon music throughout its run time. The keyboards used to play the music are also well produced, everything is executed to near perfection. I can see the care and love that went into this album and it pains me that I can't garner enjoyment out of it.

What really irks me about my inability to get into this album is that it draws heavily from my favorite RPG soundtrack: Final Fantasy VI. There are so many moments here where I'm whisked back to playing that game, yet I still can't get into the album. The music simply does. not. click.

This is part of the joy yet also part of the pain of listening to music: it's entirely subjective. While I can appreciate this music for what it is, I cannot enjoy this music for what it is. I've listened probably a dozen times at the point of this writing and the album and I simply are not compatible. Fortunately for me there are enough albums out there that I can enjoy to not let this be too much of a detriment.