Entry 871 - Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery

Style: Melodic death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Beauty through technicality

Thoughts: Dark Tranquillity is one of the most important bands for my musical journey. One day my dad came home with the follow up to this album. He had recently been to Gothenburg and had asked the guys and Bengan's for some good new metal. They recommended The Mind's I, and that was then passed on to me. My life was forever changed. 

The Gallery was an album that I didn't hear for many years after The Mind's I. This was in the early days of the internet, and I couldn't just listen to an album at the drop of a hat. I couldn't even download it, Napster wasn't a thing yet. It remained this enigmatic album that I wanted to hear for ages but never could.

When I finally did year it in the early 2000's I was shocked at how different it was from their third album. The opening riff of Punish My Heaven was so technical and intense that I didn't believe that it was the same band until heard Mikeal's vocals come in. That's when I knew for sure this was the same band... what a change from one album to the next!

Whereas The Mind's I was straight forward and intense, The Gallery is more complex and in many ways introspective. This is not your typical melodic death metal, especially not for the time. There are so many emotions here. The aggression of Edenspring is counteracted by the mournful tones of Lethe. The complexity of  the title track is balanced out by the tranquility of Mine is the Grandeur... 

In short, this is a perfectly balanced album, one that has been crafted with the utmost care. Many of the transitions are a bit abrupt, but that's part of the charm. Going from acoustic to an explosion of distorted guitars is a common occurrence throughout the runtime of The Gallery. Blistering riffs that are hard to follow the first time through are around every corner. It's a treasure trove of gifts from Dark Tranquillity to us, the listeners.

The Gallery is likely one of my favorite melodic death metal albums. Every time it comes on I want to stop what I'm doing and listen to it all the way through. This time is no different. It holds up after twenty years, and likely will for another 20. 

Written July 21st 2024

Entry 870 - Dan Terminus - Last Call for All Passengers

Style: Darksynth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Darksynth with dynamic beats and atmospheres

Thoughts: Dan Terminus has always been a bit of a mixed bag for me. His previous albums I always thought showed a ton of potential, but I thought they dragged on too long. By the end of the album I usually was more than ready for the album to be over  That all changed with Last Call for All Passengers.

Something changed with this album. Instead of being too long I want more. Instead of the songs sounding too similar, the songs sound like they are all different parts of the whole. They all have their own character, but they are all drawn together by the aggressive production and excellent song writing. 

The way these synths sound is downright menacing. There is a distortion to be found here that is rare outside of the metal genre. Listen to the main riff of Requiem and you'll know what I mean. This thing is downright filthy with the way that the bass and synths work together. Tie that together with the aggressive and interesting percussion and you got yourself one hell of a song. 

It doesn't just end there though. Even the more traditional synthwave tracks like Ruins have an underlying darkness to them that gives them a deeper character than they would have if it were standard synthwave. 

I'm not sure what Dan was drinking while he made this album, but I'll have what he's having. This is by far his best album and it's the only one of his that remains in my collection to this day. It doesn't matter the track, they all kick ass. This album is unknowingly one of the reasons why I'm going through my entire collection. I forgot I had this thing, and now I have another kick ass darksynth album to go to when I'm in the mood.

Entry 869 - Daft Punk - Tron Legacy

Style: Orchestral Synthwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: Redefining what epic electronic music can be

Thoughts: I've never seen Tron: Legacy. I have no idea what it's about, and I don't really care. What I do care about is the music.

Daft Punk have created something of an enigma for me. I normally do not like synthwave, and now that I think about it, this album may very well have been my introduction to the modern version of the genre. 

The soundtrack to Tron: Legacy combines synthwave with an orchestral backing. This yields the monstrous opener Overture which showcases the orchestra in its full glory. On the other hand we have songs like The Son of Flynn which is fully synth driven and has that wonderful synthwave pulse that makes my brain go brrrrr.

Most songs will not fall too far into one extreme or the other. Most mix the orchestra with the synths to an elite level, and that's where the strength of the album lies. It's epic, it's smooth, it's engaging, and it's a great fucking listen. 

Daft Punk never did anything like this before in their career, and they didn't do anything like this again after. This is moment in time, lightning in a bottle. It remains one of my favorite soundtracks in my collection, and one of the finest moments in Daft Punk's storied career. 

Written July 21st 2024

Entry 868 - Sela - First

Style: Experimental ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Ever open your eyes and still feel like you are in a dream? This album is the musical equivalent.

Thoughts: The twenty one minutes of this release blur the line between reality and dream. There are moments where the music is as clear as day, everything lines up and there is nothing that sounds out of place. Within moments though that can all break down.

Take a listen to the first few moments of First for a perfect example of this. It's Always Her consists of a reverb laden piano playing what sounds like someone improvising a melody in the background. A woman softly speaks unintelligible words while a bass drop is happening that shakes my entire house. All the while an off speed beat is playing in the background seemingly off in it's own meandering realm. 

The very next song consists of several instruments that come in and out of existence at the drop of a hat. They line up perfectly with the beat and it all comes together in a rather groovy fashion. Twelve seconds is what separates these two tracks, and it blows my mind.

The entirety of this EP is filled with enigmatic twists and turns that give my mind a playground to extrapolate meaning from. Or I can sit back and take it all in and let it overwhelm me in it's repeated waves of strangeness and creativity. Either way this album is a trip.

Written July 21st 2024

Entry 867 - Örnatorpet - Evigt Främmande, Evigt Fjärran

Style: Classic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Staring up at the night sky, the feeling of being insignificant and being completely at peace with it.

Thoughts: Some albums make me unexpectedly nostalgic. I grew up in a place where the night sky was unobstructed by light pollution, a place where the northern lights could be seen on a regular basis. A place where nature was ever present and I felt like I was a guest rather than an invasive species. 

Life has taken me far away from that place now, and while I do love where I currently live I miss those times in my youth when I could stare up at the night sky and see countless stars. Every now and then I'm reminded of that time in my life from unexpected sources, Örnatorpet is one such occasion.

Evigt Främmande, Evigt Fjärran unlocked something in my brain. The way that these songs are laid out and the way that the synths are designed... it reminds me of staring up directly at the night sky and taking every single star in. It reminds me of the beauty if feeling insignificant. That the world does not revolve around me. That there is more out there than just my problems. In the grand scheme of things, I am nothing... and that is incredibly freeing.

These melodies are played at such a slow and deliberate pace, they are so simple and they repeat nearly the entirety of each song... it's the classic case of it should be horrible but it's not. In fact it's the opposite of horrible. I adore this album.

The music is much like my own experience looking at the stars. It doesn't care about anything, it simply is content to exist. Do you think its playing that part too long? That's too bad, it doesn't care. Do you think that the synths could be a bit clearer in the second half of the first track? Too bad, that's what they are - take it or leave it. 

In my case I choose to fully embrace the music that Örnatorpet has created here. I get the feeling of being swept away into that endless sea in the night sky regardless of what track is playing. It successfully channels the beautiful feeling through the elegance simplicity of classic dungeon synth. 

Written July 8th 2024

Entry 866 - Orkblut - Ghost Paths to Septentrion

Style: Keyboard laden black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: 

Thoughts: I've been eying this release for quite some time. I almost bought it at least three separate times. Something always held me back, but no longer. I finally have this great MLP in my collection.

Orkblut play an infectious style of black metal that draws it's sound back to early Satyricon and Sacramentum. Seriously, this album feels like it came out in 1994. 

The keyboards are in the background and compliment the riffs nearly perfectly. The vocals have a deep rhaspyness to them that only those early recordings have. The riffs have that wonderful simplicity that is so strikingly effective that the early black metal acts showcase. 

Orkblut isn't trying to impress anyone with the prowess of their playing, nor are they trying to turn heads with innovative riffs and whirling dervish arrangements. No. This is straight forward black metal that wears it's influence on it's sleeve. It does nothing new, but it does what it does so well that it's impossible to ignore.

Written July 21st 2024

Entry 865 - Duke Ellington - At Newport

Style: Live jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: Listening to one of the best to ever do it in a live setting 

Thoughts: It's 1956. Duke Ellington's big band is scheduled to appear that Newport Jazz Festival. What I wouldn't give to have been there to see this live - often considered one of the best performances of Ellington's career. I guess this record will have to do.

Ellington is known for his piano work, but for a long while he was the leader of a big band... and this live album showcases that band to the fullest. A full horn section, complimented by clarinet and saxophone. The rhythm section has both a bass and double upright bass along with the drums. In all there are eighteen musicians credited on the album.

The songs range from bombastic to gentle, subtle to overt, complex to simplistic. The variety here is phemoninal, and listening to the way that one instrument will take the lead then gracefully pass it on to the next is some of the best things that could be gracing my ears at any given moment.

The second track Blues To Be There is probably my favorite. Unsurprisingly it has a strong blues tone to it, led by Duke's piano noodling. He will play the main melody and then put his own flare into it only to pass it off to the horn section to do the same. They eventually volley the melody back to Duke and he then graciously passes it on for another musician to solo over. It's a perfect representation of how big band music is supposed to work and it's executed flawlessly... in a live setting no less.

When I was reading up on the history of this release I found that Duke Ellington didn't even have a record deal going into this concert. It was here that he got his Columbia deal that vaulted the rest of his career. I had no idea about all of this when I picked up the record. I just knew that I liked Duke's playing and wanted some more in my collection. What a wonderful record with a rich history behind it. I think I'm going to be adding some more Duke in the near future again.

Written July 3rd 2024

Entry 864 - Hillsfar - The Moonsea Saga

Style: Video game tribute dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Epic tales of far away lands through the lens of the Sega Genesis sound chip

Thoughts: Dungeon synth has become one of the main genres in my collection over the past few years. Ever since I first got back into it the style has grown in appeal with me in ever increasing fashion. The genre fills the void that was left by video game music when I decided to leave that community. 

So much of the music feels like it was composed for video games that never existed. Some albums are better at it than others, but every now and then you get one like Hillsfar and The Moonsea Saga that feels like it was made exactly for this purpose.

Raiders of the Moonsea and Jewel of the Moonsea remind me of an rpg for the Sega Genesis (Megadrive). As they are presented here the sound design and composition remind me greatly of that system's sound chip - in an uncompressed form. 

The Sega sound chip had this graveliness and grittiness to it that no other system had at the time, nor has replicated since. Hillsfar has created a set of two albums that take that style of synth to heart and in doing so has created two incredible dungeon synth albums.

Raiders of the Moonsea is the more active of the two, often reminding me of a soundtrack focused on revenge, violence, and discovery. Jewel of the Moonsea is the calmer and more contemplative of the two. It has tender melodies that caress my ears over the playtime and make me wonder what the land of the Moonsea was like in times of peace.

The Moonsea Saga is two incredible albums. The melodies channel the same feeling as the early 90's rpg's in an uncompressed form. It's albums like this why I love this genre so much. It has the same feel as VGM but at 1/3rd the cost of the records. The longer time goes on the more I'm drawn into the dungeon and it's various sub genres and further away from the actual soundtracks of yester year.

Written June 2nd 2024

Entry 863 - Oscar Peterson Trio with Milt Jackson - Very Tall

Style: Jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: Classic jazz compositions with a xylophone as the main focus

Thoughts: I've been listening to a lot of jazz lately, and in doing so I've added to my collection. Oscar Peterson's trio mixed with Milt Jackson may very well be the best addition I've had in this latest batch of acquisitions. 

The basis of this album takes the classic jazz trio of upright bass, drums, and piano and mixes it with the excellent xylophone work of Milt Jackson. This is the kind of music that I picture when someone says they enjoy jazz in a lounge setting. This is the kind of jazz that I want to listen to after a hard days work. This is the kind of jazz I want to listen to while sipping an old fashioned with some of my best friends. 

This is not experimental, this is not avant-garde, this is straight up no frills jazz played by some of the most talented musicians of the time. Every artist on Very Tall is in perfect harmony and they never conflict with each other. 

Wither its Oscar dueling Milt in various solos or the rhythm section holding it all together, there is not a single element missing from the recording. This is just four guys playing their hearts out in a smokey bar while the patrons enjoy the atmosphere.

I don't have much else to say about Very Tall. This is prototypical modal jazz. The kind of thing that you immediately picture when someone mentions the genre. I won't need many of these albums in my collection, but I do need some... and I can't think of a better start than this one.

Written July 2nd 2024

Entry 862 - Billy Strayhorn - The Peaceful Side

Style: Jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: A collection of ditties that remind me of walking through a park on a sunny afternoon

Thoughts: Billy Strayhorn is a name that I've heard multiple times, but never really looked into his work before this. I found that he worked closely with Duke Ellington - in fact all of his records outside of The Peaceful Side were done with Duke on piano. At least I know he keeps good company.

The Peaceful Side of Billy Stayhorn is a collection of piano pieces with minimal accompaniments. Sometimes there will be some vocals, other times an upright bass, but for a vast majority of the album the piano is the star of the show. 

Stayhorn's style is elegance derived from simplicity. It's as much about what he plays as what he does not play. He never truly goes off on a tour de force showcasing his extensive chops. He prefers to lay low and let the piano speak for itself. 

The notes chosen at any given moment fit so well with the overall theme of the album that it's hard not to get lost in them. I've read often that this is considered a melancholy piece (Passion Flower certainly is), but it has a different effect on me. To me it feels more like a collection of songs that are meant to evoke nostalgia, or peaceful memories. 

The opening song Lush Life gives me the feeling of walking through a sun filled park on a beautiful summer evening. This continues throughout the album in various degrees. Some songs feel like they belong in a lounge setting (Take the A Train), others feel a bit more direct and perhaps even a little ominous (Strange Feeling). 

No matter what direction Mr. Stayhorn takes the song, he's always in absolute control of the piano. He has clearly mastered the instrument and it does his utmost bidding. The recording on here feels dated, like it was recorded in the 40s or 50s, but that only adds to the charm. The recording being of limited quality along with the masterful performance put on by Billy makes this one that I'm going to have in my collection for ages.

Written July 1st 2024

Entry 861 - Cult of Extinction - Ritual in the Absolute Absence of Light

Style: Black metal, war metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The utter destruction of all things the light touches

Thoughts: War... war never changes... but the music about it does. War metal is a genre that I never really bothered to look into until a few years ago. I had always heard it was the black metal version of brutal death metal and that did not interest me in the slightest. It wasn't until I heard Archgoat that things took a slight shift. 

First I didn't know that Archgoat played war metal. In my mind they were blacking death/black metal... which wasn't too far off, but just slightly awry of the bullseye. One of my buddies told me that they were war metal and it piqued my interest. 

Turns out war metal is more than just "brutal death metal played in black metal." That's such a bad description that I find myself shying away from it actively now. War metal feels more like primitive black metal played in a cave... with a gorilla on vocals... and the top three strings missing off the guitars.

Cult of Extinction plays a modern take on the style. I picked up the album because it was ten bucks and the cover looked cool as hell. The music inside the album matches nearly to perfection. 

This is a chaotic mess played at maximum speed. The guitars are tuned low and have quite a bit of reverb on them. This gives them a huge and open feel as they play the mess of notes they call riffs. Really though, this is more like a collection of random notes most of the time rather than proper riffs... and that's a good thing. 

The music comes across as incredibly hard to follow and intentionally inaccessible. There are only a few moments during the whole album where there is any sort of melody or anything but the constant thumping of the guitars and drums. It's cool as hell.

Thirty minutes later everything is over and silence graces my speakers once again. Ritual in the Absolute Absence of Light is just about perfect in its play time. Anything more would overstay its welcome, anything less would have me wanting more. It's not going to be an album that I pull out very often, but when I feel like I want to be obliterated by my sound system, this is certainly on the short list of albums to go to.

Written July 2nd 2024

Entry 860 - Cthulhu

Style: Dark Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Beware the horrors that lie in the deep waters, in the silence and darkness there are monstrosities that our brains cannot comprehend

Thoughts: This was an album that I bought when the vinyl first came out, listened to it, forgot everything that was on it and put it on my shelf for years. It's been sitting here unlistened for forever, and honestly I have no idea what I'm in store for. 

With a name like Cthulhu I have some idea of what I would expect. At minimum this should be a dark ambient album, likely with a lot of horrific sounds and subtle yet incredibly disturbing auditory imagery. At least that is my hope. 

Lovecraft's horror is not one that is overt, it is insidious and slowly works itself into your brain. Fear, true fear. Specifically fear of the unknown. Fear of things we cannot comprehend. Fear of things that are beyond our control. That is the true horror of Lovecraft.

The first thing I noticed with Cthulhu was actually the silence. The lack of overtness stood out immediately. I almost expected a jump scare right out of the gate to be honest, but this silence was something even more frighting. What was going to come? What is awaiting me in these two records?

As the album continues the sounds begin to slowly amass. Nothing has yet made itself clear enough to ascertain what it is, but I now know that there is s o m e t h i n g there. I am not alone... and that is terrifying. 

Whatever is here with me does not seem to even care about my presence. The music does not care what I am or who I am or what I expect. It moves at its own pace, it moves in its own time, it's own will. This is what I was hoping for. 

Cthulhu is an excellent collection of dark ambience. This is one eighty minute long song that has been split into four parts for the sake of getting it on vinyl. It is deep, it is contemplative, and it invites the listener to pay the utmost attention to it. It does not care about anything that I do, it simply exists in it's own world, down there in the darkest depths. 

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 859 - Crypt of the Necrodancer

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: Slaying monsters to phat beats

Thoughts: Rhythm games have always been a curiosity of mine. I loved Dance Dance Revolution when I was younger. I still go to arcades to play rhythm games from time to time as well. They are a fun skill based challenge that creates some great gameplay.

Dungeon crawlers have always been a curiosity of mine. I loved the old Rouge games growing up as well as various copy cat games as the genre evolved. I still play them from time to time as well. They are a fun skill and RNG based challenge that creates some great gameplay.

I never thought I would be mixing the two of those together. Crypt of the Necrodancer takes the rhythm based timing elements of said genre and mixes them with a dungeon crawler rougelike. A dungeon filled with monsters where you have to swing your weapon in time... that's the essence of this game.

With a premise like that, you damn well better have a good soundtrack... and hot damn does Crypt have a good soundtrack. Every track on here is crazy good. They are all groovy to the point where you bob your head. From the first notes of Disco Decent to the final notes of The Wight to Remain this thing has you in its hypnotic trance. 

Based on the game play that is exactly what needs to happen to. Every action in the game relates to the beat, and the beat is strong here. While not all the music is dance, all of the music is good and it has a crazy strong identity and beat. It guides the players actions in game, just as it guides my head bobbing back and fourth listening to these records. 

Crypt is a super fun game that has one of the better electronic soundtracks in my collection. The tracks range from old school trance to drum n bass and everything in between. This thing absolutely stands on it's own and is a fantastic album outside of the scope of the game. It took me a long time to find this one, but it was worth every moment of waiting and searching.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 858 - Cowboy Bebop

Style: Anime soundtrack

Primary Emotions/Themes: Cowboys in space!

Thoughts: Listening to some soundtracks brings back a lot of memories. Others have no significance whatsoever. I've never seen Cowboy Bebop (I know, I know), so this soundtrack needs to live on the music alone for me to enjoy it. 

There is a lot going on here. Zainy melodies zigging and zaging every which way litter almost every song. If nothing else it's certainly lively. In fact the whole thing feels like a big band jazz ensemble playing some sort of greatest hits. None of this is a bad thing, in fact it's kept me intrigued to the point of wanting more. 

Then things start shifting, the harmonica comes in. I was not expecting this... not one bit. Not seeing the actual anime probably put me at a huge disadvantage here, but this feels like it came out of no where. Somehow though the music still fits the overall feel of the album. 

It all has a very western feel to it. Even the big band stuff feels like it could have come out of a cowboy movie from the 50's or 60's. The harmonica and other gentler tracks obviously fit with the cowboy theme as well... in short it just works. 

Cowboy Bebop is one of those anime that is on my list of "things to do before I die." I'll get to watching the adventures of Spike some day, but for now I've got this fascinating record of the music to give me a glimpse of what is contained in those  26 episodes. 

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 857 - Cotton - Fantastic Night Dreams

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: A fun soundtrack to ride a broom on

Thoughts: I'm going to be upfront here, the first time I heard this I did not like it. For whatever reason the instruments from the soundtrack and the melodies did not sit right with me. The owner of the label that put this out is one of my closet friends and I want to support him with every album he puts out so I still got it. 

I was afraid that it would be a slog fest going through this for my collection, but coming back to it a few months later has actually been a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure what happened between the initial listen and now but the music is much less offensive to my ears, even to the point of me enjoying quite a bit of this album. 

Cotton does not offer much in the way of variety. Almost all of the soundtrack is the same tempo: up beat, guitar driven video game music. The synths here are ooze PC Engine and immediately give it the old school VGM feel, even with only a few notes played. The guitar interacting with the old school synths is the heart and soul of this soundtrack and I'm not sure how I missed that the first time listening.

I've never played Cotton Fantastic Night Dreams, but watching some game play on Youtube shows me that this would be a game that I would enjoy. I love side scrolling shmups, and in that context all of the music, tempo and arrangement choices make sense. This is perfect shmup music. 

Sometimes after I initially dislike an album I'll shelve it for some time. When I come back to it I'll sometimes have the same opinion, but other times I'm able to see a different side. I'm glad I did that with Cotton Fantastic Night Dreams. I would have missed out on a fantastic soundtrack otherwise.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 856 - Corpsessed - Impetus of Death

Style: Cavernous death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Flattened, pulverized, mangled, squashed... any other synonyms you can think of to heavy as fuck

Thoughts: I remembered loving this album when I first heard it. That was years ago, and since then the band released Succumb to Rot, an album that was not to my taste. Was I remembering this album wrong? Have my tastes changed that much in just a few short years?

Corpsessed play old school death metal that have a wide open production. One may even put this into the cavernous death metal category based solely on the production. The music ranges in pace from doom/death speeds all the way up to furious blasting - with the band leaning more into the blasting part than the slower. 

When I first put this on I had a bit of trepidation, I had such a bad taste in my mouth from the follow up that I really thought I had made a mistake. Within two minutes I had my answer: there was no mistake, this album rules.

Impetus of Death is a heavy monster, it never lets up either. If I turn this up my entire living room shakes from the bass, not many albums do that. This one does it all the way through... holy fuck. These riffs are monstrous, gigantic, enormous, colossal, pretty much any other adjective you can give them to describe the weight of a thousand tons crashing down on you through your speakers. It's h e a v y.

I'm not sure what the band was thinking with the follow up, but they sure hit it out of the park with this one. Impetus of Death is one of the better death metal albums to come out in the last decade - yeah... it's that good. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to stop writing this and get back to head banging. 

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 855 - Converge - You Fail Me

Style: Extreme hardcore punk

Primary Emotions/Themes: Like being subjected to a thunderstorm where all the rain drops are made of razor blades

Thoughts: I picked this up as a blind buy from Tower Records. I had never heard of Converge before, it was in the metal section and the cover looked cool. Oh boy was I not ready for this.

I put it on and First Light graced my ears. I thought (and still think) it was a beautiful intro. The delayed guitars brought out a beauty that I hadn't really heard the electric guitar make before this. It had a sense of bitter sweet nostalgia to it. It remains one of my favorite introductions to an album.

Last Light was a different story. The instant Jacob screamed "I need you" I knew this was going to be a rough ride. I was with one of my high school friends at the time and we both looked at each other like "what the hell is this?" 

We made it through the album, but outside of a few select tracks we didn't really comprehend what was going on. It sat on my shelf for a long time before I came back to it after that. 

I finally did and much like Jane Doe, it took me a long time to fully get into this album. I new that there was something there that was worth my time, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what I liked. It wasn't until I started seeing the patterns and organization in all the chaos that the album started to click.

Once it clicked, oh man did it click. Instead of First Light sounding like some idiot screaming over random riffs, it was a pained wail asking for help from someone... anyone. Instead of Hope Street sounding like a garbled mess of vocals and noise the riffs shred my ears and I loved it.

Jacobs vocals in particular was something that took me quite some time to get into. I had listened to death and black metal in the past, but his vocals put all of that to shame. This was unlike anything I had heard before, and really wouldn't again until I had acclimated to Anaal Nathrakh as well. 

This album was instrumental in my appreciation for extreme music. Not just extreme metal, but extreme music in general. After I was accustomed to this the flood gates opened. Diamanda Galas, John Zorn, Merzbow... all of it was worth a shot now. It all began because I picked up a random album that looked cool at Tower Records.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 854 - Contra III: The Alien Wars

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: Grab your gun, lets go kick some alien ass!

Thoughts: This is it. This is the first ever video game soundtrack I ever owned. 

Contra 3 was one brutal game on the SNES. It kicked my ass so many times. Eventually I had to use a game genie to beat it. No thirty lives code existed for the game.

Before I even bought this album I still would hum the first levels music to myself every now and then. This soundtrack is so fucking good. 

This thing fully utilized the SNES sound chip. Every one of these songs are absolute bangers, and that's not just the nostalgia talking. This stuff holds up even today. The synth lead about a minute into the Neo Kobe Steel Factory, pure fire. The opening notes of Ground Zero, that'll get stuck in my head for weeks.

Every one of these tracks has strong memories of my guy screaming in agony as they die... resetting all of my guns to the default machine gun in the process. I'll miss you spread. Some of these levels were so brutally long that they needed the banger music to get me through it, anything less would have resulted in me throwing my controller.

Contra 3 is one of the hardest games I've ever played. Watching people speed run it these days and not take a single hit makes me feel like a less accomplished person, but they have practiced to the point to where the game is second nature to them. I never could do that. I beat it once and then it was over and done with. Now I'm content to relive those memories by listening to the record instead.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 853 - Clock Tower

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: It perfectly channels the terrible acting of b tier horror movies into a game

Thoughts: "It sounds crazy, but it looks like they were killed with a giant pair of scissors." "One after another the horrifying murders continue. Will they make it through this game of murder alive?"

With a poorly narrated intro like that you know you're going to be in for a fantastic soundtrack. Clock Tower is one of the infamous "tank control" horror games from the PS1 era. In it you play as a young woman trying to escape from a murderer with a huge pair of sheers looking to cut you in half. 

The acting is terrible. The story is ludicrous. The music is fantastic. 

The music is obviously going to be the focus here. The half an hour or so run time of the entire soundtrack contains mostly shorter songs that range from horror soundscapes, to lullabies, to mystery noir type tracks. You know, the normal PS1 horror game soundtrack stuff.

What Clock Tower does well is know when to lay on the horror motif thick and when to back off. So much of the soundtrack is actually melodic, whereas so many of the other games of the era really focus in on the noise aspect to terrify the player more. 

I find that the Clock Tower approach works better as an album for listening purposes. I'm not sure if it works well in terms of game play, but then again I haven't really played this game in over two decades so I can't really comment one way other other.

This was the first unofficial release that I ever got in the video game scene. It left a great impression on me as the music sounded great (still does), and it had one of those cool holograms that make the shape of the scissors on the A side when you shine a light on it. It may not be the best soundtrack in my collection but it certainly is one of the most important. It's a great listen, and one that ends up getting spun every few months just to remind me of the video game vinyl scene that I used to be part of if nothing else.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 852 - Gerry Mulligan Meets Stan Getz

Style: Jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: Two saxophones showing the world how jazz is done right

Thoughts: I've been listening to a bit more Jazz than normal lately. In doing so I added a few records to my collection, this being one of those. 

I'll be honest here, prior to picking up this album I had no idea who either of these artists were. This one came highly recommended by the local shop owner, especially if I liked dueling saxophones. I am happy say that the shop owner was correct in their assessment. This album is quite good, and I do love me some dueling saxophone soloists. 

Both Mr. Getz and Mr. Mulligan are masters at the instrument, and they interact supremely well with each other. This album not only oozes class, but it seems like all of the artists are genuinely having fun playing with each other. There is liveliness and more importantly playfulness in the music that I haven't heard much outside of this recording.

The way the instruments play off of each other feels like they have been doing this for years. Where one ends the other begins, and vice versa. My goodness it's a real treat to listen to. 

The music is fast for jazz, and that's a real part of the appeal here. That's exactly where the playfulness comes in. If this was slower the mood would completely change, but by keeping it up tempo all of the artists are sending the same message: they came here to play. 

I rarely do blind buys - this being the first in nearly a year. Most of the time they are duds, but not this time. This time it's something that I'll end up keeping in my collection a long time... probably forever. This fits a very specific need and fleshes out my jazz collection at the same time - both of those are the makings of an essential release. 

June 30th 2024

Entry 851 - Japanese Koto Orchestra

Style: Traditional Japanese

Primary Emotions/Themes: Drops of water falling to create beautiful natural music

Thoughts: Music and nature sometimes meet in unexpected ways. In the case of the Japanese koto I'm often reminded of raindrops falling into pools of water creating delicate music in doing so.

The way that the strings resonate reminds me of a singular drop of water falling from an unknown source. It lands with the grace of and elegance of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, only then to fade out of existence as it joins its brethren in a pool of water.

Now if you put five of these magnificent instruments together you get some truly incredible music. Pair that with the Japanese pan flute as well and you get something straight out of the Kamakura period. 

I can easily imagine sitting around a palace at night with the musicians playing in the background as a feast is taking place at the local samurai's residence. Each note plucked resembling the rain drops that fall outside. Pluck - another drop of rain falls. Pluck - yet another. They intermix so well that they become indistinguishable form each other.

Every collection needs some odd ball stuff in it, and this is one of those records for mine. Every now and then I have the urge to listen to some traditional Japanese music, and this is my vessel to do so. Just like rain drops falling on a quiet evening, this album brings peace like few things can.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 850 - ILUITEQ - Reflections from the Road

Style: Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes:  The album title is accurate

Thoughts: A few albums go beyond the music that is contained within. Some extend so seamlessly into the artwork and the album title that takes on a deeper meaning than initially thought. 

Reflections from the Road is exactly that. It's a collection of songs that are listened/observed during a rainy evening in the fall. We're walking down the road and looking at the world as we pass it by... or is it passing us by? That's a question that we are asked time and time again as the album progresses... and the answer is a deeply personal one to each listener as we embark on this journey.

For me I feel like I'm along for the ride. I don't know who is passing who by, but ILUITEQ has given me the soundtrack to listen to while time marches on its endless journey.  

The eight songs on the album all have a unique character to them. Some will have a laid back and reflective feel like New Reality. Others take on a more active and engaging nature as seen in Runaway. It's this diversity that makes the album feel like its scenes from a movie, or moments in time being collected in a collage. Each song represents a specific observation during the journey.

What binds them all together though is the excellent composition and production from ILUITEQ. While each song has it's own character, they all come from the same DNA. They all feel like the cover, a clear picture that has been obscured by the natural world going about it. Each one of the songs feels distinctly nocturnal, and at the same time there is this deep resonating peace or reassurance that is consistently in the background.

I've had this album spinning for about two hours at this point. I don't think that I can get enough of it. All of the songs are so well written, they balance that line of needing my attention and fading into the background perfectly. Like looking out a car window as a passenger, taking everything in at once... but never really fully allowing things to settle in. Reflections from the Road is well titled indeed.

Written June 30th 2024

Instagram 849 - Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess

Style: Orchestral jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: A clinic of musical ability put on by one of the true master's of the style.

Thoughts: When it comes to jazz, Miles Davis needs no introduction. He is undoubtedly one of the most influential and important figures in both jazz and the African American history. 

I'm not one to consider myself an expert on jazz in the slightest. I just know what I like and what I don't in the style. Jazz is rather unique tho, even the stuff I don't like I usually find some kind of redeeming quality in it. Not many other styles of music have that effect on me. 

Porgy and Bess is an adaption of George Gershwin's last Broadway musical with Mr. Davis leading the way with this emotive trumpet... and that is really the long and the short of it. This is a full on orchestral performance that has a solo trumpet as the main actor. 

It goes through all the twists and turns that you would expect a Broadway musical to go through. Some of the songs are filled with stacattoed notes, others showcase the drumming to the fullest extent, some feel more like traditional jazz trio arrangements, while others feature the full orchestra... but they all show off Miles' trumpet front and center. 

Regardless of where the album leads me I always find myself swept away by the depth of character shown by all the musicians. It's not just Miles at the top of his game here, it's every single musician on the album. They all know exactly what to do and when to do it.  This is a well oiled machine and the end result is nothing short of amazing.

Porgy and Bess is often considered one of the better entries into Mr. Davis' extensive catalog, and I can see why. This is a clinic in musicianship and blending of two vastly different styles. It works beautifully, and gives me yet a deeper appreciation for the art that he and those working with him was able to produce.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 848 - George Clanton - 100% Electronica

Style: Vaporwave with vocals

Primary Emotions/Themes: Channeling that child like feeling of innocence and freedom into audio form

Thoughts: I pulled this record out this morning and had completely forgotten what it sounded like. I dropped the needle and instantly I'm taken back to summer in high school. Carefree, no responsibilities, complete freedom. That's what George has captured in 100% Electronica.

Somehow Mr. Clanton has taken bleeps and bloops, put them through a vaporwave filter and churned out an album that makes me so incredibly nostalgic for something that has never existed. That's quite the achievement.

The music on 100% Electronica is essentially pop that has been slowed down, and somehow given a lazy feel. It's this every specific combination that gives this album it's charm. It's instantly digestible, and at the same time it feels like I'm halfway into a dream. The instruments and sound design itself is such that the music goes back to the early to mid eighties. Mash that all together and you have a somewhat surreal take on a music style that is long past but at the same time feels fresh.

The music is one half of the equation, George's voice is the other. To say that this is a well rehearsed and highly refined performance would be an outright lie. It's quite the opposite. This feels like it was thrown together at the last moment... like they had someone lined up and they bailed two hours before recording, and George decided to lay the tracks down himself. 

As crazy as that all sounds, it fits the music so perfectly. It makes the music so much more approachable, like someone made this for a back yard concert. This is one of those magical albums where nothing seems like it should work, but when you put everything together it does. This combined with the sequel album is some of the finest vaporwave to ever come out of the scene.

Written June 30th 2024

Entry 847 - C1PH3R - TH30RY

Style: Ambient Techno

Primary Emotions/Themes: Hypnotic beats woven with minimalist melodies and effects

Thoughts: I had no idea what this was when I picked it up. I found it used at a local store and saw that the label was Vill4in. I had never heard of the release before, but I recognized C1ph3r as the artist behind the 暗号零 album's so I picked it up as a blind buy. 

I only found out later that this was the first release from the label, one that doesn't even show up on their Bandcamp page. Quite the fascinating find. Outside of that it's hard to find any more information about this release, and honestly that's part of the appeal. I find myself drawn to music that is intentionally obscured, either by mystery regarding its release or the music obscuring itself. Either way I'm intrigued from the get go.

The music contained on Th30ry is two separate tracks, both mixing ambience and techno in a satisfying manner. The music could easily fit in with any science fiction film where cyberpunk is the main focus. 

It takes the four on the floor beat and mixes it with various ambient pads and atmospheres to create a sound that is both hypnotic and peculiar at the same time. I find myself being hypnotized by the drum beats, all the while digging into the ambience to see what secrets are hidden in the depths of the songs. 

I love albums like this. They are quick enough to put on for repeated listens and they offer enough depth to warrant those listens. The two tracks in Th30ry are best enjoyed at high volume or with headphones... there is a lot to uncover here. A rewarding listen.

Written June 25th 2024

Entry 846 - Ultha - The Inextricable Wandering

Style: Hypnotic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Long winding songs that lead to an extraplanar state of consciousness 

Thoughts: Some albums don't click at first. Some require time to marinate before they begin to show their true colors. Like a fine whiskey they show their complexities over time and the more time that they are allotted the more nuanced they become. Ultha has created one such album.

As one might have surmised, the first few listens of The Inextricable Wandering were not entirely positive. I had this sense that there was points that I enjoyed, but overall the music was not connecting with me. I left thinking that I needed more listens to fully form an opinion. 

That break ended up becoming days... then months... then almost a year. It wasn't until the album got a repress on Vendetta that I decided to come back to it. That's when I decided that I was going to spend some time with the album and truly form an opinion. 

I think most of my difficulty getting into the album had to do with the opening track. The Avarist (Eyes of a Tragedy) is likely one of the weaker tracks on the album. The track suffers from being overlong and not exploring enough ideas during that time. It tends to overstay its welcome by a few minutes.

The main melody is what sits wrong with me. It's first heard around 3 minutes into the track and while it's good at building tension it is not a riff that should be repeated as much as it is. The introduction is quite intense and works exceptionally well for the song. It's when the melody comes back time and time again that it wears out its welcome. Mix that with a fifteen minute song and you have the ingredients for something that makes quite the big ask for a new listener. 

Needless to say, even coming back to the album now the opening track is a bit long. It could use a few minutes trimmed off. But one lackluster song does not a bad album make. The album really opens up with the second song With Knives to the Throat and Hell in Your Heart.

This song ratchets up the intensity immediately with two interlocking riffs that have a rare ferocity. Mix that with a well executed blast beat and the howled vocals and you got something that immediately grabbed my attention. 

The track explores a lot of the same themes that the opener did, but its about five minutes shorter. A much better representation of what Ultha is all about. It also leads into the first major deviation of the album... and the point where I knew I was hooked

There is no Love, High Up in the Gallows (holy shit what a song title) is an ambient track that builds such an ominous atmosphere that it brought me goosebumps the first time I really listened to it. This track is where I knew that the album had gone from a good album to an outstanding one. This track is so good I wouldn't mind seeing Ultha explore an entirely ambient driven album at some point.

Without going into a track by track breakdown of the album, the second half of the album is significantly better than the first half. Cyanide Lips picks up the same intensity that the ambient track did but in metal form. We Only Speak in Darkness channels some eighty's goth rock with a black metal foundation, and the closer is eighteen minutes of the bands sound fully realized. 

The Inextricable Wandering is an album that will be in my collection for a long time. Being in LP form I have the option to skip side A which has the weakest track on it. What I'm left with is 50 minutes of some of the finest black metal I've heard in recent years. A fine wine indeed.

Written June 25th 2024

Entry 845 - Afsky - Om Hundrede Ar

Style: Atmospheric black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Deep loss and grief in musical form

Thoughts: Finally! Finally, there is an album by Afsky that I love. Every album before this (save for the acoustic EP) has had something - one element - that has held me back from fully embracing it. Be it an awkward riff, a strange chord progression... something always caused me to give up on Afsky's albums. No more though, Om Hundrade Ar has finally broken through!

I'm not even sure what the change was. This without a doubt sounds like the grief stricken black metal that is Afsky. It's laden with acoustic interludes and those horrifically pained vocals. The build ups and painful melodies are all here too... I really don't know what has changed.... except the song writing. 

While everything is very much Afsky, this feels like the full realization of the sound that has come on previous albums. Throughout the previous albums there would be small moments that would take me out of the majesty of the album. Sometimes a riff would start in a strange manner that seemed to go against all of the atmosphere that came before it. Other times the transitions will be jagged and again take me out of the flow of the album.

Normally these kinds of things are objections that I can overlook, but it's a different matter with atmospheric music. With this kind of music being swept away is part of what makes the albums so appealing. Losing that is losing part of the character of the music. So I was unable to fully embrace Afsky's albums.

With Om Hundrede Ar however that is no longer a concern. The songs move at a wonderful pace and transition smoothly from one concept to another. The acoustics blend well with the metal, the blast beats are used at opportune times, the slower sections hammer home the desolate nature of the music... it all works so wonderfully well. 

As I go through all the different parts of this album I'm finding it hard to find fault. It's a complete package, none of the songs feel out of place and nothing feels like it's wasting my time. It's finally the fulfillment of everything that I've wanted from this project. It's about damn time.

Written June 24th 2024

Entry 844 - Tangent - Presence Reverts to Absence

Style: Deeply reverbed ambience with beats

Primary Emotions/Themes: Looking at the world from under a pool of water, the ripples distort my vision of what is happening above the surface and the water obscures the sound

Thoughts: There are many different types of albums in my collection. Some evoke a specific feeling, others are feel good albums, others are there for nostalgia. Then there are albums like Presence Reverts to Absence... these albums paint such a vivid picture that their entire runtime is spent building it up.

Tangent has created a world filled with gloom, deep mystery, and a constant set of tension within the nine tracks of Presence Reverts to Absence. This is a dismal, home starved, and bleak world contained within the audio of this album. 

The music paints a vivid picture of a world obscured from my vision. The music often fades in and out of reality slowly, filed with reverb, and then vanishes from my ears without a trace. The resultant atmosphere is consistently tense, not knowing where anything is going. Sometimes this results in a peaceful release, other times it will double down and create a nearly oppressive atmosphere. 

Like so many other of my favorite ambient albums, this one hides its true identity behind a thick wall of audio fog. The music holds it's true intentions close to the vest, and only ever gives me glimpses of what is truly going on. It takes multiple listens to fully appreciate all of the layers and effects hidden underneath the deceptively simple surface.

This is the type of project I want to remain willfully ignorant about. The music speaks for itself, and the more I know about it the less mystical the entire thing becomes. As it stands Presence Reverts to Absence is an outstanding bit of beat driven ambient that I am thrilled to have in my collection.

Written June 24th 2024

Entry 843 - Bialywilk - Proznia

Style: Atmospheric Black Metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The cover summarizes it perfectly, falling through an endless void of stars into nothingness

Thoughts: One thing that I have grown fond of over the years is how varied metal is. Black metal in particular shows a versatility to grow and morph into nearly endless permutations as the years go on. Bialywilk is one in a growing number of fine examples of why black metal has become my favorite metal genre.

Proznia is a meditative journey. It's an album of self discovery, one where we as the listener are forced into circumstances beyond our control. We are placed into this meditative void where no other being - living or dead - is present. We are forced to come to terms with our thoughts, with ourselves. This is the reality that Proznia forces on us.

Lachesis and Our Shaded Fear open the album up in lively fashion. They move me forcefully from my state of comfort into an atmospheric black metal void. The music swirls around me in a hypnotic fashion. These are my thoughts, they are jumbled and uncontrolled. I am lost in this maelstrom. 

It's not until we get to part 1 of the title track that the music begins its self reflection. This track is peaceful ambience that urges me to fall into its warm embrace. It's here that I am able to truly face myself and the chaos that is within me. It gives me comfort as I face the beast within, it renews my strength and gives me the focus to move forward.

When the black metal returns its more focused. Will and Representation are exactly that. It's my will being forced upon myself and it's my true self seeking representation in this world that I have been pushed into. 

Throughout the entire album, Bialywilk's focus is unanimous. These six songs all represent the best that atmospheric black metal has to offer. They evoke deep feelings within me and encourage me to reflect on myself and my situations. In short, this is the kind of black metal album that helps move the genre forward.

Written June 21st 2024

Entry 842 - Oar - The Blood You Crave

Style: Post-black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A powerful ebb and flow of musical intensity

Thoughts: My personal history with this release is a bit comedic. I heard a lot of these songs in demo form before the album was even released. The drummer of the band and I met years ago in an online forum and formed a bit of a bond. The thing is that he never told me the name of his band.

It wasn't until a few years later that I asked him if his band was opening for Oar. That's when he threw the bombshell on me: his band was Oar! I had bought the record without knowing that it was his band. Looking back the whole affair is a bit comedic, if not a little embarrassing on my part.

History aside, the music on The Blood You Crave is much akin to waves crashing into a shore. There are periods of great calm, and periods of incredible violence throughout the forty five minute run time. The band has mastered the art of knowing when to blast at full speed and when to pull back the reigns just a bit to allow the music to marinate. 

While other bands have done this style in the past, many releases in this field lack consistency. Even classics such as Altar of Plagues White Tomb has points where I lose interest because of the direction the band takes the song. That is not the case with The Blood You Crave. 

This album is consistent from front to back, and it knows exactly when to shift gears. Nothing ever lasts too long, or too short. Just when I think that the music is due for a change, something does. A new guitar lead, an acoustic breakdown. A shift that drives the song in a completely new direction. The ebb and flow of the album is exceptional.

Oar's debut is an album that I enjoyed even before I knew that my buddy was in the band. Knowing that he's the one behind the skins makes this album that much more enjoyable. I am delighted to have this album in my collection and am eagerly looking forward to seeing where the band goes in the future.

Written June 21st 2024

Entry 841 - Cerebral Rot - Odious Decent into Decay

Style: Nasty ass death/doom

Primary Emotions/Themes: Like being thrown into a pool of putrid filth and sinking down into its fetid depths

Thoughts: As I get older I find it harder and harder to get into death metal. While it used to be my favorite genre, I've grown less fond of it over the years - prefering black metal or more experimental genres than the typically more primitive death metal style. Sometimes though one breaks through and hits that primitive brain just right. Cerebral Rot has done exactly that with their debut album.

Somehow the four dudes on this record have broken through every single issue I have with death metal and delivering a nasty ass slab of old school death metal with a huge helping of doom to boot. Odious Decent into Decay is about as perfect an album title as I can imagine. It describes the sound found on this album to near perfection. 

The music sounds like it's decaying. The riffs sound nasty and are reminiscent as if they were recorded in a putrid bog. The production is muddy, thick, and full of filth - in short it's perfect for this type of music. The nasty ass production mixed with the chaotic nature of the riffs - moving sporadically from the slower doom to blast beat driven noisy death metal - already makes this a cut above the competition.

Being able to create a dreary and dank atmosphere is one thing, but you also have to write good songs for that atmosphere to be truly effective. Again, Cerebral Rot answer the call. These riffs, these songs, everything here is excellent. The doom parts of the songs are ominous (listen to the start of Sardonic Repentance... damn that's good), the death metal parts are chaotic and vicious. The way that they two mix together though is where the band excels.

The way that the band transitions from doom to full on death metal is often jarring and violent. One moment the band will be going at slow speeds with deep growls and a funeral bell in the background. The very next instant the band will break out a blast beat and play almost random notes on the guitars. It shouldn't sound good, but god damn son it does. I can't fully describe it in words other than it simply works, and it works exceptionally well.

Cerebral Rot is the exception to nearly every rule I have. I don't normally like old school death metal, these guys rip that to shreds. I don't normally like doom metal, these guys obliterate that. I normally don't like music that has jarring transitions, Cerebral Rot forces them down my throat until I like them. They take everything that I hate and force me to like it, it's just that good.

Written June 21st 2024