Entry 558 - An Abstract Illusion - Woe

Style: Progressive Death Metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Long expansive explorations of musical themes, the depths of despair, the heights of joy, peace

Thoughts: I feel like I should enjoy this album more than I do. All of the ingredients are there for a top ten entry. The songs are long and intricate, the atmosphere is great, and the music is well written. Somehow though Woe does not click with me. 

An Abstract Illusion play progressive death metal in the vein of early Opeth or Wilderun. The songs are long and go through many progressions before coming to their ultimate conclusion. Like many of the albums in this field,  the music feels more like a journey than individual songs. Everything is meticulously crafted and laid out towards a dramatic conclusion. 

Right from the start though Woe does not sit right with me. The introduction is promising enough but the true opener Slaves feels a bit off. The the outright focus on heaviness and some chugging riffs did not work well with the sophistication of the leads and song structures.

As the album progressed things started falling into place, and by the time I got to the epic "In the Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster" I started to get into the music. This track goes through peaks and valleys of all sorts of emotions. The incredible rage towards the end of the song, the deep longing and peace during the acoustic lull around half through. It all works.

The album ends on a similar high note, with a complex and emotionally satisfying track. Those two tracks consist of the entirety of the second disc... is that enough for me to enjoy the album as a whole? I don't know the answer to that question yet. I need to let this one sit for a bit and come back to it. At very least the album has a shaky start, an unremarkable middle and a strong ending.

Written September 7th 2021

Entry 557 - Fear Factory - Mechanize

 

Style: Industrial metal, death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Man vs. machine, fear, the decline of mankind

Thoughts: Let me tell you of the story of those who came before. The heralds of the warning against the machines. They called themselves Fear Factory - little did they know how accurate that title would be after the worlds demise. 

They were prophets of the war against the machines, those that would now rule this land. They saw the dangers before anyone else and warned us all... but we we're all fools. We embraced the robots and AI as only imbeciles would, we gave them everything - and now we lie here in the wastes. Humanity in shambles... extinct.

The Factory of Fear offered guidance and warning against the great enemy. The mighty Oxidizer was spoken of before the world was lit ablaze. They warned of the Fear Campaigns and their insatiable lust for power and domination over mankind. They warned of the Powershifter and its incredible precision when it came to the dealing of death. We we're all fools, for we did not listen.  

~Anno 2153, The Nameless Chronicler 

Mechanize was a big deal for me when it released. Dino was back, Byron was still on bass and they got fucking Gene Hoglan on drums. This may have been the best lineup that the band ever had (no offense to Raymond, but Gene is an objectively better drummer). 

I remember when I first put the album in my CD player, when the bass drop hit at the beginning of the title track I knew that the band had returned to form. The previous album had been less than stellar, and I was hoping that the renewed lineup would be a welcome change. It was.

Not only is the music tighter than it ever has been, Burton's vocals sound in top form (at least in the studio). Better than Obsolete, his previous high water mark. He has this weight and power to his voice that comes through in places like the end of Oxidizer or the title track. He has p o w e r coming from his growls... and I do feel confident in calling them growls on this album. They are not the controlled shouts that he had previously, this is almost back to Soul of a New Machine. 

At this point it's been long enough that I can call Mechanize my favorite Fear Factory album. Demanufacture will still be a special album for me, but this one is the best. 

Written September 7th 2023

Entry 556 - Concilium - Sky Bvrial

 

Style: Cavernous/Atmospheric Death Metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Expanding sounds, vast open riffs, huge atmospheres

Thoughts: Death metal used to be my favorite genre. Over time black metal took that throne, and it remains my genre of choice. This shift left me with a lack of death metal in my collection. The acquisition of Concilium's sophomore album is an attempt to correct the balance a bit.

As I've grown older I know what types of death metal I enjoy and what types I pass on. Anything that declares that it is heavy for the sake of heaviness and brutal for the sake of brutality is normally a pass for me. Anything that revolves around slams is almost certainly a no go. These parts of death metal are palatable in small doses, but they are not what I seek out for long term satisfaction.

Sky Bvrial has a different take on death metal. It approaches the genre with a grander sense of atmosphere than many of their contemporaries. The riffs are expansive, and are given an adequate amount of time to grow. By this approach the album begins to take on a more massive form than it would if the riffs were more in line with the rest of the genre.

In some respects, by keeping the riffs in this longer form the music begins to take on a different form of heaviness. Rather than the start/stop, slam you into the ground brutality of many bands, Concilium has allowed the music to let the weight of continents crush the listener instead. With these kinds of riffs the music breathes and has life, it is a vicious killer that slowly stalks its prey and eventually suffocates it a constrictive coil - much like an anaconda would snuff the life out of it's next meal.

Will Concilium make my best of the year list? Probably not, but they do fit into a very specific need that was in my collection. By adding Sky Bvrial to my archives I now have a record I can go to when I feel like being crushed by the momentous weight of a cavern collapsing in on me. 

Written September 5th 2023

Entry 555 - Aoratos - Gods Without Name

 

Style: Black metal, dark ambient  

Primary Emotions/Themes: Sleep terror, unknown horrors, lingering fear

Thoughts: I find it fascinating how perception of albums can change over time. I've been highly impressed by an album only to come back to it a few years later and find that it's not nearly as good as I thought initially. This has happened to me several times over the course of revisiting albums, and the latest entry into this list is Gods Without Name.

Aoratos blew me away the first time I heard them. I thought this was one of the most evil and cruel albums that I had ever heard. Listening again I can see some hints of what I thought before, but the album does not have that deep impact on me that it initially did. 

The first three tracks may as well be an extended introduction to the album. They meander in and out of dark ambience and black metal for their duration. For the black metal, the chords used here are rather unique to this album. They give it a bit of character that many other bands lack. The band's melodies and chords will often take a different direction than I'm expecting, usually ending up in me being pleasantly surprised in the end result.

The problem with these first few tracks is that they feel directionless. There is no progression in the songs or anything that creates tension - an emotion that the band seem to be going for. I can see that the band is trying to build up to something through what they are doing: the slow dark ambient moments, the short bursts of speed before slowing down again, the strange notes and melodies. The thing is, that each one of these attempts remains just that. None of it succeeds for me... that is until the title track.

The title track is cut of a different cloth than the first few tracks. The band attempts to create the same tension that was in the intro, but here we are actually rewarded by a blisteringly fast black metal section afterwards. This track finally fulfills the potential they flirted with earlier. 

The following song is Thresher which sees the band continue to tap into this same potential. The harnessing the horror in their sound - a fear of the unknown and the paralyzing states that brings. The ambience within Thresher also heightens this.  Instead of meandering about the it feels pointed and piercing. The song feels like sleep paralysis made into an audio form. Excellent song.

The rest of the album continues to attempt to harness the energy of the title track and Thresher. While it is much better than the first three tracks, these two songs are the undisputed highlight of the album. 

There is a lot to like about Aoratos, but they also feel like a band who has yet to tap into their true potential. Once they figure out how to harness that incredible energy found within the two star tracks then I think the band could release something truly astounding. Until then this is a solid debut despite its short comings.

Written September 11th 2023

Entry 554 - Super Mario 64

 

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: The joy of discovery, open paths, freedom of choice, rescuing loved ones

Thoughts: I used to listen to video game music on a near daily basis. A large portion of my collection was acquired so that I could listen to a different soundtrack every day if I wanted to. 

This is not the case anymore. I listen to one or two VGM soundtracks a month, sometimes more, sometimes less - but the days of daily listening are far behind me. Every now and then the urge hits to revisit one of the classics and Super Mario 64 is indeed a soundtrack of that caliber. Along with that, the recent announcement that Charles Martinet was stepping away from the character made this selection all the more appropriate for listening.

This game is special. Of course I played the first four Mario games, but there was something a bit different about 64. Maybe it was the freedom that it provided. After the start of the game, it opens up and you are free to get the stars in practically any order you want. Maybe it was the first time that I saw the need for an analog stick. I never realized how well they could be used prior to the Mario 64 implementation. The one thing I do know though is that the music brings me back in a wave of nostalgia. 

Every stage in Mario 64 has an iconic theme to it. Every stage has that melody that takes me back to the first time I played it. Getting stuck in Tiny Giant Island, or the first time I figured out the platforms in Tick Tock Clock. Or the way that I had to throw Bowser off the ledge into bombs with his menacing boss music playing in the background. This record brings it all back.

I wasn't sure that I should spin this when I first put it on, but I'm glad I did. I got to share stories with my family about the adventures we all had when we first played the game at different stages in our lives. I don't know of games like that anymore, but I am happy for the memories I do have of these kind of games in the past.

Written September 5th 2023

Entry 553 - The Postal Service - Give Up

 

Style: Electro Pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Solitude, hopelessness, crying out for help, drowning in ones own sorrow, relationships lost

Thoughts: Having conflicting messages and themes in music is nothing new. Many artists will project a particular message or set of emotions through the music, only to have the lyrics be in stark contrast. The Postal Service's debut album is a fine example of these conflicting forces within their music.

The music on Give Up is among some of the happiest and peppiest I have in my archives. The synths are bright and sparkly, often reminding me of chip tunes or other similarly nostalgic electronics. The beats match the music with their animated percussion. The music - taken by itself - points to a wonderful sunny day in the middle of summer, or a blissful walk down a country road with a loved one.

The lyrics tell an entirely different story though. They tell tales about loss, failed relationships, the end of all life, and longing for things that can no longer be. The difference between the two is akin to night and day, fire and water. They simply do not belong together, yet that is exactly what Give Up is.

The one exception to this is the heart wrenching song, This Place Is a Prison. The music is slow, contemplative, and reflective. A downtrodden melody plays as Benjamin sings about how no one is your friend and how life is a prison - the only escape being alcohol. What does it take, to get a drink in this place? How long must I wait? He asks the faceless listener, no one knows the answer.

Considering how soul-crushing the lyrics are, it's quite curious to me that this album is certified platinum in the US and has sold well all over the globe. Regardless, I am thrilled that it got reissued and I finally have a copy of this paradox in my collection.

Written September 2nd 2023

Entry 552 - Anticreation - Form the Dust of Embers

 

Style: Death Metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Violence unimmagined, a vortex of chaos, impending doom

Thoughts: Anticreation have created a mighty aggressive album for their first offering. After a brief intro the album rips into my speakers with a set of riffs that are designed for one thing: the absolute devastation of my ears. A balance of dissonance with black metal's atmosphere are combined with the ferocious intensity of death metal. A balance that is rarely achieved.

Outside of the immediate assault on there ears there is quite a bit more going on. There is a desperation to the music. A seeking need, a deep longing need to destroy... to obliterate. It creates quite the chaotic structure with the music changing speeds in an instant. 

The band is at their best when they reign in the chaos just a little bit and in it's place layer on copious amounts of atmosphere. These moments are rare and due to the violent nature of the album this is likely for the best. It allows the slower, more reflective moments to stand out and adds brief moments of respite for the listener. 

From the Dust of Embers is a fine debut. I have heard music like this before, but these guys execute this style with such ease and finesse that it's hard to ignore.

Written September 1st 2023

Entry 551 - Aphotic - Abyssgazer

 

Style: Atmospheric death metal with a touch of doom

Primary Emotions/Themes: Staring into voids, cool ass death metal

Thoughts: "This is how I like my death metal," was spoken of this album when shared with a friend. I tend to agree. The older I get the less I like the brutal for brutalities sake version of death metal. I prefer the more contemplative and atmospheric take on the genre and Abyssgazer fits that role well.

Aphotic is a new band that specializes in atmospheric death/doom. The atmosphere itself is conducive  to reflecting on life's events and challenges. The dark and somewhat dissonant tones give the music a bit of a nihilistic take on these subjects, but considering the state of the world that's not too far off.

What helps the music gain it's contemplative edge are the riffs. They are allowed to expand beyond themselves - they feel like they are never cut short. There is no stop/start riffing, the riffs are fully developed and are allowed to breathe. Of course there are faster sections where the riffs are a bit more contained than a whole note chord, but for the most part the music has an expansive tone to it.

The doom isn't something that's shoved into the mix just to have slower sections. It's woven into the DNA of every riff. Even when the music is blasting away the essence of a doom riff with all its heavy mournful glory is in there. When the music does slow down, the doom takes full hold and the music oozes sorrow and a deep longing. 

As good as the music is there are a few points where the riffs don't quite work, where the atmosphere suffers a bit, where the vocals or one of the instruments feels just a bit off. These moments are rare but they are there and they take me out of the flow of the album. Thankfully they are brief when they happen and I'm right back into being swept up in the album within a riff or two.

Missteps aside, when these guys hit they hit hard. Abyssgazer is a strong debut and a promising start to a young band. I look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future.

Written September 1st 2023

Entry 550 - Red Strings Club

 

Style: Video game music, chilled out synthwave, ambient, cyber punk

Primary Emotions/Themes: Good times with friends, mystery

Thoughts: This was one of the first video game soundtracks that entered into my collection. I ended up trading for it and after listening for about a week straight I shelved it. I had forgotten what it sounded like, so it was time to play the tunes from the Red Strings Club once again.

The music contained in these two discs is exceptionally chill. It combines retro-futuristic sounds in the context of a lounge atmosphere on a rainy night. 

The album's start is the perfect encapsulation of everything that is to come. Rain pours down onto the side walk as a piano slowly fades in from the club. Walking into the club the music takes over as the rain fades. While the music is clear there is still an obscurity to it. Sounding close yet distant at the same time, clear but slightly opaque as well. Maybe just a bit of reverb and a bit of a lo-fi filter accomplish this, but I prefer to let the music take me away instead.

While most of the soundtrack is slower and more chill in pace there are sections where it does become darker and a bit more mysterious. The enigmatic Consultant Engineer is a fine example of a deviation from the norm. It's guitar driven, though not like a typical guitar track. The instrument has several effects put on it to blur the notes. The end result is much like the guitar is being played under water. Alongside the guitar we have the ever present piano as well as some deep synth pads that lean deeply into the sci-fi side of the soundtrack. Consultant Engineer ends up sounding rather peculiar by the end of the track. It acts as a nice change of pace from the typical lounge atmosphere. 

No matter the song the music always has a deep sense of direction. The flow of the album is immaculate, and leads the listener down a musical journey like only the best soundtracks do. I need to make a point to listen to this album before another few years pass, it deserves to be spun more than it has.

Written September 5th 2023

Entry 549 - .starmentz - Night Child

 

Style: Instrumental hip hop, triphop, beats

Primary Emotions/Themes: Nightlife, noir, vintage soundscapes

Thoughts: Instrumental hip hop is something that I generally enjoy quite a bit. Especially when it's done with a darker take with the samples used. However, the genre can also be highly derivative leading to a quick pass from me. Night Child, as an album, is the tale of two sides. One side is dark, compelling, and filled with mystery. The other side is confused, repetitive, and largely uninteresting.

I really struggled with side B of this release. I basically forced myself to listen to it enough to be able to write a solid opinion on it. I don't like forcing myself to listen to music, I have too much already and it feels like a poor use of my time. 

The music on the second side of the record tries too hard. It tries to be dark, but ends up falling flat. It tries to add in effects to make the music sound more obscure and mysterious. In the end those just disengage me from the music further. The beats seem lazily pasted onto music that was already struggling to hold my attention, resulting in music that I have a very difficult time listening to.

Side A on the other hand is completely different. This music actually succeeds in being interesting. The liberal use of string samples and clever use of noir detective sounds actually has the album succeeding in keeping the music engaging and holding my attention. It could easily

I can't stress enough how different these two sides are. Where one seems lost, the other is focused. Where one seems like it's copy/paste, the other has clever use of samples. Where one uses boring percussion, the other one uses dynamic beats befitting of the music. It's like I'm listening to two separate artists.

Even after editing this summary three to four times I'm still not happy with it. I don't think it conveys my thoughts completely, but I have to call it a day sometimes. The album is imperfect, but I do highly enjoy the better of the two sides. How long will it be before this one hits my turntable again? I'm not sure, but I do know that I'm not going to force myself to listen to something that I don't like from here on out. If I don't like it, I have hundreds of other records to put on instead that I do enjoy.

Written September 4th 2023

Entry 548 - Warrel Dane - Shadow Work

Style: United States power metal, extreme groove metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Personal freedom, religion, power

Thoughts: Warrel Dane has a conflicted past with me. Some of the early Nevermore output is among my favorite music of the 90's. Yet, some of the later Nevermore albums I dislike so much that I swore the band off completely. Immature? Probably, but I disliked Enemies of Reality that much. 

A few years and a couple unremarkable records later they disband and the members go their separate ways. Mr. Dane released another unremarkable album and I pretty much gave up on hearing anything from him that I would enjoy again. 

All this extraneous information is to put into context how surprised I was with Shadow Work. Not only does the album surpass any expectations I had (which were zero), it brought me back to a point where I wanted to hear more material from Nevermore in the vein of this album. 

Shadow Work is vicious, it is venomous, it is violent, it is phenomenal. All of the spite and hate that Warrel had on Politics of Ecstasy is back, be it a bit more mature. The music also matches the potent vocals with equally powerful riffs and structures. 

Disconnection System is one of the better examples of how potent and diverse the album can be. The main riff is a dissonant mess that works with the off key vocals. The rhythm section batters the listener down with pummeling start/stop riffs to accompany the dissonant lead. After a couple of minutes of the onslaught the band shifts gears, slows down and graces the listener with a sweeping melodic section. The conflict between the two sides of the song continue until its very end as it fades out into a dark ambient mess that would fit easily into a horror movie. 

The rest of the album has a delicate balance between heaviness, dissonance, and melody. This is how I like my power metal... if this is even power metal. Be it a blast beat driven 7 string riff like the intro to Madame Satan, or a powerful swell of melody such as the chorus of As Fast as the Others. The cover of The Cure's The Hanging Garden is one of the best cover's I've ever heard. Everything on the album is above average to damn near perfect. It's a true shame that this will be the last that we will ever hear from this prolific vocalist. Rest in Power.

Written September 4th 2023

Entry 547 - Abigor - Time is the Sulphur in the Veins of the Saint - An Excursion on Satan's Fragmenting Principle

 

Style: Experimental black metal with industrial and electronic moments

Primary Emotions/Themes: Metaphysics, biblical theology, literal satanism

Thoughts: There is no band like Abigor. They are entirely unique within the world of not only black metal, but music as a whole. No other band that I'm aware of has stayed within one genre so faithfully, yet reinvented themselves so completely every release. None of Abigor's albums sound alike.

On this particular album Abigor explore long form black metal intermixed with spoken word and electronic passages. Each side of the record is taken up by twenty minutes of Abigor's art.

As per normal with Abigor the music is entirely unique. Nothing sounds quite like this in my collection. That does provide a novel challenge in describing the music. In many ways it sounds like the musical embodiment of a philosophical argument. While looking into the lyrics, the first thing that is written is a thesis statement. I'm inclined to believe that the linear and ever growing nature of the music is a reflection of the arguments formed inside these lyrics. 

That said, the music alters between lengthy spoken passages with minimal musical accompaniment. Dark ambient passages that build over time, and experimental electronic portions that seemingly come out of no where and leave as quickly as they arrived. This is all overtop the basis of an already eccentric black metal record.

Abigor's riffs have always been the focal point of any album, and this one is no different. The guitars layer themselves in a way where it is difficult to differentiate them from one another. With this approach the band obscures the music within itself, something they have done multiple times in the past. This time though, the riffs are further obscured by the inclusion of electronica. To pull out the individual pieces of the music is quite the mental effort, and often led me to give up and take the music in as a whole.

The songs themselves come across as multiple shorter songs that were stitched together to create the with no regard for the listener or the fluidity of the song. The band's transitions between sections is often intense and jarring. Like so many things in Abigor's catalogue, this too is something that one becomes accustomed to with repeated listens. 

Abigor have always created what Abigor wanted on their own terms, no one else's. Time is the Sulphur... merely continues this line of thought that has permeated every record they have ever created.

Written September 5th 2023