Entry 994 - Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness

Style: Progressive metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Reflecting on life's changes and how they affect humans on a fundamental level.

Thoughts: Albums like this always make me wonder how they will translate to vinyl. Songs that are longer than 20ish minutes normally will not fit on one side of a record, so it's interesting to see what the band and audio engineer decide to do to tackle the challenge of splitting up a song that was never recorded with such a split in mind.

This made me hesitant to get this record, even though I love the song on it. I was afraid of just arbitrary cuts in the song and then it picking up mid note on the next side. Breaking the flow like that is enough for me to move on from a record. Despite this reservation I picked up the record and was pleasantly surprised at the results. 

Light of Day, Day of Darkness is what many people consider Green Carnations magnum opus. I'm still undecided if it is this record or the debut that I like more. This one is by far the more cohesive effort, and has some incredible moments... but the debut has a quirkiness and fun experimentation that is not found anywhere else in their discography. 

The song is long, in fact it's so long that it's easy to forget that its meant to be a singular composition. The way that the song flows however and revisits leitmotifs bring back subtle reminders that this is indeed one. long. song. 

It takes a while to get going to. It's nearly five minutes in before the first real riff takes over the song. Prior to this its mostly ambience and a slow build before the guitars come in and remind us that this is indeed a metal album.... song.

The album progresses through many twists and turns, all with a tinge of gothic darkness, and all with a distinct dedication to heaviness. Much more so than the band showed on their debut. That is until about 30 minutes in, when the song takes the first major unexpected turn. 

It's here that the ambience fills in about ten minutes of the run time. Experimental noodling on the guitars and other instruments as well as the odd female vocal shriek make this section the most similar to the debut, but in a less focused way than it was presented there. It's an interesting addition, but I'm still conflicted if I enjoy this part of the song or not.

When the guitars return the song goes full blast again, with a renewed focus on the guitars and the monstrous tone they bring. The vocals as well (delivered by the fantastic voice of Kjetil Nordhus) have an urgency to them throughout the album that was one of the lacking parts of the debut. The vocals if nothing else are superior on this sophomore release than anything the band had done previously.

I'm finding it hard to go into details about specific parts of the song. Everything flows so seamlessly from one point to another. The record breaks up the song in the best ways possible, at logical points in transitions so that when the needle drops on the next side that it's not overly jarring. 

Light of Day, Day of Darkness is a mature release from a young band. It's less experimental than the debut, but it's highly experimental in it's own rite. It's not something I listen to often, but once or twice a year I'll have the urge to listen to this monster and I always feel like I have made the correct decision after it finishes.

Entry 993 - Gravenchalice - Samael

Style: Religious black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Praise be. Praise be to he who will bring us unto the light.

Thoughts: God. Man. Satan. Heaven. Earth. Hell. 

Melody. Dissonance. Chaos. Atmosphere. Religion. Violence.

Gravenchalice's album Samael is an album that came out of no where for me and completely blew me off my feet. The music that is etched into these grooves is not only competent black metal, it takes my favorite parts of the genre and fuses them together to create one of the better entries into the realm of religious black metal that I've been exposed to in quite some time.

A majority of Samael is slower in pace. It lets a deep hatred for the divine fester and bide its time before waiting for the exact moment to strike. In these more measured moments the band does not relax... in fact they consistently sound like they are holding back. Holding back from a torrent of abhorrence flowing from their instruments towards an unseen foe. 

Consisting largely of guitars, bass, drums and vocals the band creates an atmosphere with these simple tools that rivals the very best that I have heard. The guitars utilize both distortion and clean versions to weave complex melodies interspersed with dissonance. This interaction between order and chaos is part of what lends the music an air of restraint. At any moment the dissonance could take over, however it does not... they hold back.

The vocals are delivered in a slow rhythmic cadence... much like one would recite a chant or prayer. They have a near demonic tone to them, speaking clearly but coming from a source that is utterly infernal. The words that this mouth spews is mockery of all that is holy and sacred within the christian codex. It calls into question that which so much of this world calls holy, and offers an alternative perspective from that of the fallen angel.

The band has mastered the art of creating deeply moving atmospheric black metal. In these seven songs they cover every range of emotion that is akin to that of hatred. Abhorrence. Malevolence. This is exactly why black metal is my favorite genre, bands like Gravenchalice.

Entry 992 - Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust

Style: Technical death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A thirty minute trip into madness

Thoughts: What if Gorguts - the band that has one of the craziest discographies in all of metal - decided to make a thirty three minute long song? Well wonder no more, Pleiades' Dust is exactly that.

As one may expect from a band like Gorguts, this album is ambitious... incredibly so. It's not just a bunch of riffs thrown together, it's a full blown classical piece written in the death metal genre. It flows from movement to movement like little else can - especially in the metal genre. 

There are extended periods of ambience as well as violence. The way that these two opposing forces balance during the entirety of the album is a fascinating thing to observe on it's own merit. The fact that they are intertwined into a collection of fantastic riffs and moods is all the better. 

Compared to the chaos that Gorguts has done in their past, Pleiades' Dust is downright tame in terms of the riffs used. There are multiple sections where full on melodic portions are heard. This is intermixed with the more typical anti-music riffing that Luc and company have created over time... albeit much more subdued that anything found on Obscura or From Wisdom to Hate. 

This is easily one of the best releases that the band has put out. I find it to be a much better comeback than the lackluster Colored Sands. This one lives up to the legacy of the classic albums while still growing the bands sound in ways that were unexplored before this. The ambient sections in particular are a highlight for me as silence is as big of an instrument as the guitars are during portions of the composition. 

Masterpiece? No not quite, but it is something that I will come back to more frequently than an album like Obscura. That alone is worth something.

Entry 991 - Gorguts - Obscura

Style: Technical/avant-garde death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Everything you have ever known about music is wrong, this is unlike any other album that has ever been recorded

Thoughts: What is happening? What are those notes? My brain is not equipped to handle this. I've never heard anything like this before. Is this even good? Is this bad? I don't know. 

All this and more has been going through my head for two decades plus revolving Gorguts' third album. Obscura is one of the most complex and challenging metal albums to ever be written, and even now twenty five plus years later it still has never been duplicated by anyone... not even the band themselves.

What makes Obscura so... obscure? It starts and ends with the riffs. From the very first instant of the album we hear that the band is exploring a completely different wavelength of music. The riff involves notes that do. not. belong. together. It's painful to listen to, it sounds like nails on a chalk board... but the board is the guitars frets instead. 

The title track sounds like some child picked up a guitar and dropped it repeatedly and that was the riff. It sounds poorly constructed and completely chaotic at first glance, but upon deeper inspection its the exact opposite. The riffs are so meticulously designed that it must have taken ages to create. 

Every song on here feels off on a fundamental level. A visceral reaction that something is wrong. The notes clash with each other in such a way that it feels alien. This does not fit into music theory... this is anti-music theory. Not in the goregrind/power violence way either... this is taking music an deconstructing all of the rules and carefully rebuilding those rules into something completely different. 

Normally I would try to compare this to something else as a reference, but here I don't have that option. There is nothing else that sounds like this. Nothing that I'm aware of at least. This is technically death metal, but in reality its deep into the realm of the avant-garde. This has more in common with John Cage's or John Zorn's music than it does most metal. Much like the releases from those other musical geniuses, I don't know if I like this or hate it... but I do respect the hell out of it.

Entry 990 - Gore - 禅​​​の​​​庭

Style: Barber beats, vaporwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: Chilled out tunes to groove to

Thoughts: I think Gore may be my favorite barber beats artist. For the longest time it was Haircuts for Men, then Macroblank and then I was content to just have that for a long period of time. I don't know what got me back into barber beats, but something did... and it made me explore a lot of artists. I found Gore amongst those new creators.

What makes Gore different? To put it simply, Gore expands beyond the expectations of the genre. On 禅​​​の​​​庭 specifically they manage to create an atmosphere that is not only as chill as one would expect from barber beats, but it is so full and welcoming that I have a hard time thinking of another album in the genre that feels as complete as this.

Not only does 禅​​​の​​​庭 groove, it washes over me like a warm blanket. It feels like I'm bathing in the warmth brought on by a natural hot spring in the middle of winter. A place of comfort in a harsh environment. A place of solace, a place of peace.

This is accomplished through several different mechanisms. The first and foremost is the time and effort spent on creating a wall of sound with each of the instruments. There is a liberal amount of reverb used on each and every song and it does wonders for an album such as this. 

It's not just the reverb though, its the careful selection of what samples to put together and how to arrange them that helps elevate this beyond it's peers. Be that a tasteful vocal sample, or a melody from an unexpected instrument or even an orchestral backing form time to time... Gore never lets the wall of sound dissipate, even when it's only one or two instruments going at once. Minimalism that does not sound minimal as it were.

禅​​​の​​​庭 always surprises me when I put it on. I always remember that I like the album, but I always forget just how much I do. Listening to it again now, I'm reminded just how special this album is. Part of me hopes that I'll forget the joy that this album brings me once again. Just so I can go back and be surprised for yet one more time.

Entry 989 - Golden Eye

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Soundtrack to a classic game that I lost years of my life to.

Thoughts: I remember playing this game in college for what seemed like eons. The pvp was the very best I had ever played and I honestly don't think I had more fun in death match than I did here. There are so many fond memories of the multiplayer in the game that the single player seems almost like an afterthought. 

The one thing I did not remember was the music. I've always loved the Golden Eye movie and it's music, but the games music eluded me for some reason. Going back to it here, I can see why. While there are a couple of tracks on here that are absolutely fantastic, a majority of the release is forgettable - which is a damn shame. 

Maybe it's because most of my attachment here is to the multiplayer and not the single player. Maybe it's something else that I'm not aware of, but as it stands I have a hard time finishing the record whenever I put it on.

Of course there are incredible tracks like the pause screen music, but that is immediately followed up by a forgettable track. As much as it pains me, I think I'm going to have to part ways with the record, as I don't know when the next time it will hit my turntable. 

Entry 988 - Godspeed You Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.

Style: Post rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: The perfection of the ebb and flow that encapsulates the post rock genre

Thoughts: Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The sounds of Rockets Falling on Rocket Falls. 

Yanqui U.X.O. was to be the final Godspeed album. This is probably the most "band" focused album that the group has... the most rock oriented. These lengthy instrumentals sees Godspeed working together in ways that they have not in the past. Instead of the music sounding more like classical arrangements, the music sounds more like it was written for guitar.

That does not mean that the guitar is always the lead instrument, but rather that the music was written for a lead instrument and for many backing instruments in an ensemble... a band. Sometimes a violin will take on the lead instrument, other times the lead will be a guitar... other times still the cello will take the lead. Whoever has the lead isn't really the important thing here though. What is important is that this album represents a fundamental shift in the way that the music is created.

Instead of a bunch of complimentary instruments playing their own thing then coming together for a huge climax, the music now has a more streamlined approach. The music has a more singular approach. The ambience of the previous album has been toned down as well. Not so much that it's been eliminated, but it certainly plays a lesser role. 

What Yanqui U.X.O. lacks from the previous releases, it makes up for in the visual aspect of the sound. This is highly cinematic in the way the band creates the music. The aforementioned thumps on Rocket Falls is a primary example. The last five minutes of that song is the band building a slow march through guitar chords and pizzicato on the string instruments to create an absolutely overwhelming conclusion of the song.

All things must evolve, and evolve Godspeed does. None of their albums are the same, yet they retain a nearly instantly recognizable sound. The music is another chapter in their exceptional discography, and for the longest time was one hell of a swansong.

Entry 987 - Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Style: Post Rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Four epics that explore the modern nuance of human life

Thoughts: I think this album was specifically designed for the vinyl format. Four songs, each just about twenty minutes in length, each perfect for the side of a vinyl record.

Each of the four tracks takes the foundation that Godspeed had build upon and expands upon it in expected an unexpected directions. Some of the album sounds like vintage Godspeed, with slow builds and musical explosions that shake the foundations of the earth. Much of the album though is more subtle, more nuanced than the band has ever been before. Long periods of the album explore a more ambient side of the band than has ever come across before.

While this album is not my favorite of the band, it's this exploration of modern classical ambient that makes the album stand out to me. This quiet contemplation in the midst of the rise and fall of the music is so wonderful that it makes me want to go back to the music over and over. 

As I'm writing this the album has been on my turntable for the better part of three days. I don't remember every note that the band has played, but I do remember vividly the emotions I've felt during this period. It's a feeling of contentment, peace, and finally letting go that which I can't control. I need this album, if nothing else but for these simple reasons.

Entry 986 - Godspeed You Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada

Style: Post-rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Building a musical structure from nothing and having the world cheer as it is completed and declares its triumphant completion to the masses

Thoughts: It's always amusing what some artists consider an EP and what other artists consider a full length album. Sometimes a full length album will span less than 20 minutes, other times an EP will go nearly an hour long. I have long since stopped trying to make sense of what is what, and just go with whatever the artist recommends at this point.

Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada is an EP by Godspeed You Black Emperor. The record consists of two tracks and totals about thirty minutes in length. The first of these two epics is an appetizer, a preview of the main course so to speak. It consists of the band slowly weaving in and out of powerful climaxes and near silence. 

Moya not only introduces us to what the band's basic structure is, it also incorporates all of the elements that the band intends to explore during this release. Silence. Followed by intense moments of guitars, drums, violins, and chaos all enraptured in a dramatic explosion of sound before the silence takes ahold of our ears once again. It does this in such a profound and calculated way that the music leaves me stunned.

All this though is only the beginning, BBF3 is the main star of the show here. These eighteen minutes of music is perhaps the strongest and most powerful composition that Godspeed ever created... maybe even the best song that post-rock has ever created as a whole.

It follows the same structure as Moya, however there are a few major differences. The first being the ramblings of Blaise Baily Finnegan III and his views on the justice system in the United States of America. The legend has it that the band met this gentleman at some point and asked him to recite his poem to them. 

The poem as it turns out is largely lifted from the lyrics to Virus, which featured Blaise Baily on vocals. I highly doubt that this is the gentleman's real name, but it is amusing to see Iron Maiden lyrics recited in a Godspeed song. Regardless, the inclusion of the ramble lends the song a different air than Moya. It makes things seem a bit more desperate, we are living in a dying world and this is the musical chronicle of it.

The instrumentation also has taken a step up from Moya. Instead of several smaller climaxes, the band builds and builds and builds for the entirety of the first fifteen minutes of the song. It finally erupts into a musical volcano that I have yet to hear the peer of. This is the strongest representation of what post-rock is capable of. The ebb and the flow are perfected here. 

Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada is short in terms of a Godspeed album. Here though, it's not the quantity of the music, but rather the quality of it that makes this my favorite release from the band. This is the album that made me take post-rock seriously.

Entry 985 - God Dethroned - Under the Sign of the Iron Cross

Style: Melodic death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A brutal retelling of World War 1

Thoughts: "Human Sacrifice, On enemy soil, In the grip of rage, On the brink of death" 

"The shelling remains relentless, Human remains hanging in the tree branches, Fighting in the fortified graveyards, All must die - the killing is faceless"

"The guns ahead fall silent, Defenders have been finished off, The ground littered with corpses, Chaos reigns at dawn"

"Masses of men collide, In a fight over dead land, The puppets on the front line, Their ignorance is used for a lost cause"

Brutal. A word that is often used to describe music in the heavier spectrum. It's affixed to many different genres but most typically death metal. Most often this is used to describe music, but sometimes it is more apt for the lyrics of the music. This is absolutely the case of God Dethroned's Under the Sign of the Iron Cross. 

The music is very much a continuation of Passiondale, if maybe a bit more intense. The "return to the roots" mentality served the band well in the previous album, and the follow up is just as much the beneficiary of the rejuvenation. 

The riffs go hard, so much so that the music is likely classified as "death metal with melody" rather than "melodic death metal." That's a very important distinction in my vernacular - it means that the music is inherently death metal that has a melodic edge rather than Iron Maiden with harsh vocals.

The music's intensity is matched by the intensity of the lyrics, the two come together to create one of the better entries into the death metal with melody field in quite some time. As good as Passiondale was, Under the Sign of the Iron Cross ups the ante in every way. The blasting is more focused, the riffs exude more violence, the vocals are deeper and are dripping with vitriol, the melodic portions are no less intense than the death metal parts, it's a complete package.

God Dethroned lost me for a long time, but with these two albums they brought me right back. These pick up exactly where the early albums left off and carry that battle standard like few bands ever have. 

Entry 984 - God Dethroned - Passiondale

Style: Melodic death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The horrors of World War I

Thoughts: There was a time in human history where the world was at war, The Great War they called it. A time when the technology of the weaponry had outgrown the tactics. A time when people were sent like lamb to the slaughter in the face of machine gun fire. Wave after wave of humans murdered as they were sent out of the trench and into no mans land. 

Passiondale is God Dethroned's return to their early sound, but not lyrically. This album brings back the absolute ferocity that Bloody Blasphemy and The Grand Grimoire had. The band lost me for quite a few albums. I found that their intensity had waned over time and they never really recaptured the magic of the early albums... that was until this album. 

Right out of the bat the band blasts out of the gate with Under a Darkening Sky with blast beats, intense riffs, and Henri sounding more ferocious than he has in many years. It's a hell of an opener and it's just a hint of what is to come.

The band has many surprises, including the return of acoustic guitars, longer melodic passages and even some clean vocals. All of these things were staples of the early works and the band has successfully recaptured them here. Returning to the roots is one thing, but doing so with such vigor and genuine energy as God Dethroned has is something else entirely.

Passiondale was the boost that the band needed, at least the one for me to get back into them. The band somehow managed to bring me back in after four mediocre albums. It's like welcoming an old friend home.

Entry 983 - Ghoul - Fiend

Style: Instrumental trip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Music that encapsulates the darkness in mans heart but also the beauty that can be found in that darkness. Noir at it's best

Thoughts: There is a darkness inside of me that threatens to consume me. A little voice in me that threatens to end it all. It beckons me to join it in the void and remove myself from this mortal existence. It is a constant, gentle calling. It begs me to sleep.

Fiend may as well be a soundtrack to film noir. It is dark, it is subdued and most of all it is insidious in the way that it works its way into my mind. It's a slow shadow that begins spreading, it's slow creep is almost unnoticeable. Much like a frog that is in a pot of slowly boiling water, by the time the danger is known it is too late.

The execution of this is done through largely ambient sound pads with minimalist percussion. Hidden deep within this mix is sparse melodies played on various instruments, but primarily the piano. The overall effect is haunting at very least and diabolical at its darkest moments. 

Fiend is an apt name. It encapsulates the atmosphere and nature of the album perfectly and evokes such a strong image that it can recall nothing else. A fiend of an album written by a Ghoul. 

Entry 982 - Gjendød - Skygger fra dødsrike

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Boring and uninspired black metal, nothing to see here... move along

Thoughts: No. Just no.

Entry 981 - Ghost Cauldron - Invent Modest Fires

Style: Too many to count

Primary Emotions/Themes: A melting pot of styles that should never have worked but somehow end up creating an excellent album

Thoughts: Bargain bins can be an amazing thing. I bought this album for two United States dollary doos. The cover looked cool, that was good enough for me. I had no idea what was on these two discs, but I don't think any amount of preparation could have made me ready for the contents of Invent Modest Fires.

Ghost Cauldron is many things. It is a collection of dark, yet catchy, groove infected songs that span several genres. These genres range from trip-hop to gangsta rap to ambient to drum and  bass (or jungle if you prefer) to new age to straight up rock.  

Rather than try and break every single genre/song down (nearly impossible), I'm focusing on the overall feelings that the album leaves me with. First off the album is dark, not in an absolute absence of light type way but rather in a more realistic, the world is going to fuck you up kind of way. A sense that the odds are stacked against you and there is little you can do to fight it. You can either embrace the darkness or try to fight it, but that is a futile battle. Invent Modest Fires fully embraces the darkness.

It explores this darkness in various ways. Some more overt than others. For instance the opening track Fire Walk With Me is largely instrumental and sets the dark tone for the album straight off the bat. This is propagated throughout the remaining tracks, and I love every second of it. The whole thing works so well when in reality it should just be a garbled mess of songs.

Ghost Cauldron is the reason why I go through bargain bins. 95% of the time I only find trash, but sometimes you strike gold. You find that obscure album that no one has ever heard of, but now its in your collection and it's made better for being there.

Entry 980 - Darkspace - II

Style: Cosmic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The absence of all light, the depths of space and the cold nothingness that resides there

Thoughts: The depth of space is so vast and so open that I don't think that me as a singular person can fully comprehend how vast and how empty it is. The fact that there is on average 5.9 atoms per cubic meter in space just boggles my mind. For reference there is approximately 10x10^145 atoms per cubic meter on earth. That is a difference so large that even with the numbers staring me in the face I can't even begin to fathom it.

Space is so empty we call it a vacuum, a place where essentially nothing exists. It is the very definition of isolated, cold, and unforgiving. Any living thing acclimated to this planet would instantly die from a myriad of ailments in the depths of space. It is intolerant of all life, and it will consume all that enter into it... and it is everywhere. We living here on this blue/green little ball are so insignificant and meaningless that we can't even grasp it on our own. We are nothing, we will return to nothing, everything is meaningless. 

This is the message that Darkspace channel on their second album. The deep, abyssal, uncompromising truth that is the dark of space. These songs are long, difficult to dissect, and most of all inaccessible. The three songs that are on here span just over an hour in length, and in that hour we are taken on a journey that will ultimately result in an existential crisis.

The music is meant to destroy sanity, it is meant to break down our pre-conceived notions of what we consider "good" or "evil." The only truth is nothingness, the great void, everything else is temporary. Everything else is a fools folly. 

The music is as brutal as the message it portrays. Unlike the first album, this one thrives in different tempos and levels of ambience. The ferocious violence of a supernova is captured just as well as the utter emptiness of deep space. Dark 2.8 in particular is one of the best representations of the bands sound ranging between near nothing coming through my speakers to a wall of sound so thick it's hard to pick out the individual instruments without close inspection.

Darkspace are a rare band. They have taken the darkness of space and created an instantly recognizable sound with it. Darkspace II is my favorite from the band, it is where they took the promise of the first album and added in the dynamics that it so desperately needed. Essential black metal.

Entry 979 - Aristarchos - Martyr of Star and Fire

Style: Epic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Power, arrogance, isolation, strength

Thoughts: Sometimes a band will come out of no where and smack me upside the head with something I did not expect. Martyr of Star and Fire had this exact effect on me. The debut from Aristarchos was fine for what it was, but didn't leave a lasting impression on me. On the second album that has changed, the band has branded their sound into my brain and I'm left reeling from the experience. 

Marty of Star and Fire has four songs on it, ranging from four to ten minutes in length. The first track - Atrium - Marty of Star and Fire - starts off with an insidious riff that sneaks up on me. The silence is so loud at the start of the track that it almost always lures me into turning up my volume... right before the band bludgeons me over the head with the full force of their power.

Aristarchos hasn't just improved their sound on this record, they have tuned it into a finely honed blade, a weapon that is meant to cut through the minds of their listeners. This first riff in the album is the perfect reflection of that. The lead guitar plays an ascending scale of notes that skirt the line of dissonance and melody expertly. The rhythm guitar adds a layer of depth that not only adds atmosphere, but it adds depth, strength and most of all power to the music. 

It's with the utmost urgency that the band executes this early riff and that is hardly the end of their campaign. The music is expertly crafted to match the ebb and flow that longer songs require, often reaching deep into ambient sections to contrast the devilish black metal. It's in these quieter moments that the band finds peace, peace through isolation and solitude. 

Martyr of Star and Fire is a journey, these four tracks are among some of the best that I have heard in recent memory. It's amazing how much the band has improved in just one album. This thing is incredible, it's atmospheric, it's powerful, and it kicks all sorts of ass. Really looking forward to where they are going from here.

Entry 978 - Ernte - Weltenzerstorer

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes:

Thoughts: I did not like this album the first time I heard it. I thought it was simple and boring. The riffs are slow, repeat way more than they needed to and the vocals sounded like they were forcing the air through a broken tunnel. 

For some reason I came back to the album. On second listen, there were a few minor differences from the first listen. The riffs, while repetitive have a unique quality to them. They are often drawn out and allowed to fully decay, almost to the point of feedback. The vocals do indeed sound strained, but that gives them a  unique quality that I haven't found much throughout my collection. 

The more I listened the more I realized that I didn't have an album that sounded like this in my collection, at least not in the same manner that Ernte had created. The more I got into it the more I started identifying more and more aspects that I enjoyed, and eventually I enjoyed it enough to buy the vinyl outright.

Those riffs that sounded boring and repetitive now sound like a slow stalking beats, waiting for it's prey to make a mistake before pouncing. And pounce it does, the music will remain in these stagnant patterns for some time, but when it comes time the band picks up and absolutely tears me to shreds. The blasting is often short lived and won't turn any heads with its technicality... but it is such a stark contrast to a majority of the album that it creates a ferocious contrast.

Ernte is one of those bands that I love to discover. They initially are off putting, but the more time I spend with them the more I appreciate the music. I don't always go back to a band after a negative first impression, but in this case I'm very glad I did.

Entry 977 - Frostguard - Last Letter of Winter

Style: Wintersynth, dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Embracing the cold of the winter that is ever present

Thoughts: These winters are cold. Last year half of the village died because the harvest was not enough. This year looks to be no better. My beloved I write to you this night not knowing if I will see the morning. I have run out of wood for the fire, and the cold has begun creeping in through the windows. The touch of winter is upon my skin and I feel myself go numb. I write to you now with what little I have left so that you may know that I love you, let it be known that with my final strength, my final thoughts, I put them to you my beloved. Farewell....

Frostguard is an appropriate name for this project. The music is cold, yet majestic. It embodies the chill of winter, yet also glorifies the beauty that the snow and wind can bring. There is nothing more beautiful than looking up at the starry sky at night during the winter time. Sometimes the stars greet me, other times the aurora borealis illuminate my path. Last Letter of Winter channels all of this wonder for winter in their music.

The music itself is simple, never needing more than a few instruments. It's in this simplicity though that the music truly comes to life. A single note played in a leasurly manner exemplifies the lack or urgency in the music. It has no need for hurry or for trivial things, the folly of man is none of it's concern. This is the way of the Last Letter of Winter.

Frostguard has created a beautiful album that balances both the brutality of the winters cold with the joy that comes with the season. While I do have some wintersynth in my collection, this is another fine addition to that roster. The perfect album to put on at night, turn off the lights, make a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, and close my eyes and take it in.

Entry 976 - Cimerion - Vers la Montagne Noire

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: The glory of the night sky and the curse of humanity

Thoughts: I've been venturing rather deep into dungeon synth lately. I've been exploring bands that I never knew existed before, and I'm discovering wonderful entries into the genre. It has quickly become one of my favorite genres (again) after taking several decades off. Honestly I don't think that there is a better time in history than now to be a dungeon synth fan.

Cimerion is one such project that I've looked into lately. The debut album Vers la Montagne Noire is simply incredible. Immagine with me if you will, going back to a time when humanity was not at the apex of the planet, where nature was in balance with the world and everything had it's place. A time when progress was not the driving force for humanity, but survival was paramount on their minds.

In these times one could look up at the night sky and take in the wonder and beauty of the cosmos. The night contained many horrors,  yet it also contained unknown beauty. It's this sense of mystery and the unknown that makes this world so compelling, and that is the very feeling that Cimerion has created in this album. 

Vers la Montagne Noire is essentially a forty five minute excursion into the night. But not just any night... this is the nights of old. These tracks capture the majesty of the night sky, the revel in the unknown and the possibilities that lay out there. They are ignorant of modern science and embrace the veil of the concealed. It lets wonder take over knowledge, imagination overrule logic, and fiction rule the night.

Entry 975 - Elffor - Arkaik

Style: Epic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Grand sweeping orchestrations that bring about the best of the dungeon synth genre

Thoughts: God dammit. God fucking dammit. I knew this would happen. I knew I would find an album that blew me out of the water and would make everything else sound like a disappointment in comparison. Elffor has done just that. God. Dammit.

Imagine sitting on a great steed overlooking a great landscape. Everything in front of you is yours, no one else has claim to this land, nothing happens in these unsoiled lands without your blessing. This is thine fiefdom. These forest, these valleys, these rivers, these mountains, all bow to thine command. This is the world of Elffor's Arkaik.

The music slowly swirls around me like a mist that is trying to engulf me. The notes are drawn out like a longbowman slowly taking aim at a distant prey. The atmosphere is heavy and dark like a night falling before shelter has been found. The compositions are epic and relentless like the great depths of the unknown. 

I've known Elffor in the past for their black metal, but have never delved into the dungeon synth side of the project. That is going to change greatly with hearing Arkaik. This album is incredible. It has everything I want in dungeon synth and has quickly become one of my favorite albums in the genre. I will certainly be getting more of Elffor's efforts in the near future.

Entry 974 - Alkilith - Dracolich of the Gray Waste

Style: Ambient, dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A glimpse into a dark and distant past

Thoughts: Some music I turn the volume up because I want to feel its power. Other music I will listen to near maximum volume because that is the only way that I can fully discern what is going on with in the depths of the records grooves. Dracolich of the Gray Waste is a prime example of the latter.

Hidden deep within these grooves is some of the most subtle and intriguing sounds that I have heard within the dungeon synth genre. The music is so soft and so subtle that it feels like it is barely there. Much like an explorer hearing something distant deep within a cave, it is barely audible, yet the reverberations throughout the cave reveal the truth. There is something magical hidden in these depths.

The music itself is about a minimal as you can get and still be music. It's notes that are faded in and out of existence a few moments at a time. The allegory of the cave above is apt in the description of the processing put on these notes as well. The notes feel like they are droplets of water hitting a still pond. They disturb the surface slightly before the still returns; the sound reverberates for a few moments before it returns to silence.

This is the kind of album that I look for when I do deep dives into a genre. Something that I have not heard before and music that cannot be replicated in other genres. Alkilith has created a beautiful and fragile album that has graced my turn table. I look forward to the day when it returns, for I long to dive into its depths once more.

Entry 973 - Dragonwynd - Amulet ov Ages

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A lone fire burns in a cave, the only thing keeping you warm is the fire and the sounds of the bard playing the lonely tunes in this record

Thoughts: Oh man I love music like this. It's the essence of dungeon synth. It feels like some dude in a hooded cloak sitting over a keyboard playing these songs in one take - mistakes be damned. 

The sound design? About as synthesized as you can get. Think that old school Casio keyboard your family got one year because they were  all the rage in the eighties. This entire album was recorded with one of those or the equivalent. 

The music is simple yet feels genuine and enriching at the same time. Multiple instruments are used to create a beautiful atmosphere that ranges from resembling a simple party resting by a fire to a great band of warriors preparing for war.

The music has a truly honest feeling to it. There are multiple moments where you can hear Dragonwynd make a mistake and correct it, almost as if the music was played live and then slapped on to the record as is. Unpolished? Hell yeah it is. Does it matter? No, in fact I think it helps the music maintain its grounded nature. If it was too polished I think the album would lost a lot of its luster and appeal. 

Amulet ov Ages is a relic of a bygone era, one where no one told you that you couldn't do something because it sucked or was too unpolished. This comes from a place where no fucks are given about what other people think, this is Dragonwynd, take it or leave it. I for one will take this with arms open.

Entry 972 - Elric - The Eternal Champion

Style: Dungeon synth in the style of PC speaker

Primary Emotions/Themes: A trip down memory lane, the simplest of times, the best of times

Thoughts: When I first heard Elric's music I despised it. I hated the stupid synths that they used, I hated the repetitive melodies that created the songs. I despised the short and unchanging nature of the songs, I loathed every single bit of the music. I couldn't bring myself to finish it...

But then I started listening to it again. Why? Who knows. I sure don't. But the second time I listened to it, it wasn't nearly as bad. I remember thinking that this is a different style of dungeon synth, one that I haven't really explored that much. The more I thought about it, the more I found myself seeking it out, and after a while I had those same stupid melodies played on the stupid synths stuck in my head. Maybe they weren't so stupid after all.

Elric's music is deceptive in how simple it is. Any one of these songs could easily fit into an early computer RPG played through a PC speaker. Only one to two instruments playing at any given moment, no real sense of depth, only a melody and counter melody playing on some of the simplest synths that I've ever heard. That's all you get... for forty minutes, and it's exactly what I want for the duration of the record.

This record is actually the combination of all the music of three separate albums released under the Elric project: Elric of Melnibone, Stormbringer, and Antihero. Each one of those albums has their own artwork reminiscent of the old Conan books from ages ago, and honestly this music would fit perfectly in the old world fantasy setting. Despite my initial reserverations about Elric and their music, this has turned out to be a fantastic addition to my collection.

Entry 971 - Convulsing - Errata

Style: Dissonant black/death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A deep connection with the primal rage that forged the earth

Thoughts: Jesus. Fucking. Christ. 

Errata is massive. Errata is the fulfilment of years of potential shown for a genre that has bordered on irrelevant for me. Errata is indeed a reassessment of the dissonant metal genre for me.

Dissonant metal is a genre I fell deeply in love with a few years ago. I tried to seek out as much as I could, and went to great lengths to get into music that was intentionally difficult to crack. It was like a game, could I get past the obvious hurdles that the band put in place to prevent me from immediately liking it? 

As time goes on though so do musical tastes. The more I listened to the genre the more I heard the same tropes be repeated time and again. The same chords were used, and things that were once challenging to listen to became commonplace. The genre had lost its luster. 

That was the general opinion I had of the dissonant black and death metal genres for a bit over a year now. In that time I have not purchased anything new or barely listened to anything that would be considered "dissonant" by most metal standards. That was until Errata. 

Errata cracked me back open. It made me appreciate the genre like I hadn't in years. It had that "it" factor that I had been missing. It zigged when I expected it to zag. It used silence in a way that few bands outside of Deathspell Omega ever have. It was the album I needed to appreciate the music for what it was again.

Dissonant metal is still a genre that requires an extra ordinary album for me to truly appreciate it. The part where I pick up every single release that comes out is long past. I am at a saturation point, but that does not mean that there aren't still good albums out there. Errata has indeed lived up to its name.

Entry 970 - Aeternus - Shadows of Old

Style: Epic blackened death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The last truly great Aeternus album

Thoughts: Aeternus' early works are some of my favorite metal ever created. Starting with Dark Sorcery and moving through Shadows of Old the band was completely unique and utterly unstoppable. Until now, the only way to get Shadows of Old on vinyl was the original pressing back in 1999. While I considered getting it plenty of times it's a picture disc from the 90's... those don't have a great reputation for sounding good, and I already had a decent sounding CD copy so I waited for a proper pressing.

That time finally came. After twenty something years Soulseller Records finally put out an actual pressing of the third Aeternus album, what a day to be a metal head. We truly live in a golden age right now.

Shadows of Old sees the band starting to shift. They are moving beyond the epic black metal that they so expertly crafted from their very beginnings. They are starting to add in some death metal to the sound at this point, but it's not overt nor is it distracting... but it is a sign of things to come.

The overwhelming majority of Shadows of Old continues the legacy that ...And So The Night Became started. These songs are involved, complex and most of all incredibly epic. The atmosphere here is massive and crushing all at once. Ares' voice is huge and fits with the music perfectly. 

Each of the songs twist and turn much like they are telling a story musically as much as they are through the lyrics. Different riffs give different moods and atmospheres. Anything from massive blasting sections to points where the band pulls back so only a clean guitar can play, only to return to metal with a wall of sound riff so massive that the tectonic plates are impressed.

Shadows of Old is probably my least favorite Aeternus album from the early works... but that's like saying that I don't like chocolate ice cream as much as I do cookie dough ice cream. They are both amazing and would eat either on site, I just prefer cookie dough if given the choice. The same thing here, Shadows of Old is still an album that is going to be spun a lot, just not as much as Dark Rage, Beyond the Wandering Moon, or especially ...And So the Night Became.

Still, essential listening.

Entry 969 - Hallmark '87 - Atrium

Style: Ambient, drone, dark mallsoft

Primary Emotions/Themes: Lost in an abandoned building, forever seeking the exit

Thoughts: I have never understood mallsoft - a subgenre of vaporwave that is supposed to make you feel like you are in an abandoned mall. I tried several times with some giants in the genre - Catsys Crops Palm Mall and Palm Mall Mars being the main ones. For the life of me I could not get into the genre. After hearing Atrium's Hallmark 87 I think I was looking in the wrong place.

The music in Hallmark is distant... in the literal sense. It feels like I am listening to music coming out of a dying speaker somewhere at the other end of a large room... or gathering center.... or behind a wall. Whatever the effect is, the music sounds like it is meant for someone else and I just happened to stumble in on the broadcast.

The music is slow, it is repetitive, it is also incredibly alien. This sense that I am listening to something that was meant for someone else other than me is pervasive throughout the entirety of the album. At no point does the music feel like I am the intended person to be listening. 

Be that the slow beats of the opener Looking Up or  the creepy piano led Portman, none of these songs f e e l like they are meant to be listened to by me. They are relics of a forgotten time and place (maybe a mall?) that just forgot to turn off its music before it went extinct. 

Hallmark '87 changed my mind of the mallsoft genre. This is an absolutely intriguing album. It's repetitive nature and entirely otherworldly feel make this something unique in my collection. Maybe I need to take a second look into this genre after all.

Entry 968 - Frostpunk

Style: Orchestral video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Crushing my soul with every pull of the cellos string

Thoughts: I don't think I know of a soundtrack that captures the brutality of winter more so than Frost Punk. The music contained in this album is so incredibly sad, so incredibly in tune with the profound sense of loss that the game creates that it's hard for me to make it all the way through in one sitting. The music has such a deeply profound effect on me that I have to take breaks.

The instrument of choice here is the cello. It is backed by a small selection of stringed instruments and together they create an atmosphere that is the very definition of soul crushing. Whoever they got to play out the music that Piotr Musial created are so in tune with their instruments that they have essentially become an extension of their body. It's rare to hear music played with this much passion. 

The brutality of the game is channeled effortlessly into the cold notes of the soundtrack to Frostpunk. This is humanities last stand, and we are not going to make it. Join me now around this final fire of mankind as we prepare for the end together.

Entry 967 - Front 242 - Front by Front

Style: EBM

Primary Emotions/Themes: Primitive and visceral EBM

Thoughts: Front 242 were one of the main bands in the 80's EBM (electronic body music) scene. They helped create both the auditory and visual styles that are now synonymous with the genre with their uncompromising visions.

Front by Front is a no frills EBM album. There are not thousands of layers and complex drum beats that drive the listener to dig deep into the mix to find all the small details. No... this is vocals, a flat drum track and bleeps and bloops for the melody. That's it... maybe three to four things going on at once, and it's utterly glorious. 

The sound design is really what draws me to this album. The instruments are so obviously created from artificial means that it creates a stark inhuman element to the music. It's dry, it's cold and it feels like it was created as an example of what music can be without a human component. 

Front by Front is the kind of album I put on when I want something as straight forward as possible. The album glorifies simplicity, it extols repetition, and it abhors complexity. It's exceedingly difficult to do all of that and still create an album as catchy and solid as Front 242 have here.

Entry 966 - Fen - Epoch

Style: Atmospheric black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The hypnotizing wonder that nature brings when it envelops me

Thoughts: The rain starts with a few small drops. Pitter patter, pitter patter. I look up to see that the sky has darkened and the imminent threat of a downpour is real. I struggle to find shelter as the rain continues to build, now it has truly started to come down in earnest. That's when I hear it: thunder. I need to find shelter quickly. The storm grows and grows as I start to fear for my safety. Then, as quickly as it came the storm leaves.... the rain has stopped and I am left standing wet and soaked.

The above recollection is the way that the title track feels. A slow build into a dramatic climax only to fade out as quickly as it came. This is also the main component to Fen's music on Epoch... the slow and powerful build using both atmospheric keyboards and black metal to create a wall of sound approach that few band's can do as well as it is executed here.

Ebb and flow, this is the essence of the nine songs found on this hour of music. Sometimes the music flows stronger than the mightiest river flooding, other times it is softer than the morning dew. It's these dynamics that really make Epoch stand apart from a lot of other black metal bands that work in post-rock elements. 

The music is minimalist when it's needed. The music is overwhelming when needed. It is exactly what it needs to be when the moment arises. Fen mastered it on this release and never quite was able to get back to the level of songwriting prowess as shown on Epoch. As much as I wish they had matched this, in a lot of ways I'm also glad that they never did. It would perhaps have diluted the importance of Epoch in my collection and it solidifies its place as a unique take on atmospheric black metal.

Entry 965 - F0x3r - Neon Rain

Style: Droning ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Lost in a dream on a neon drenched city street

Thoughts: Where am I? Am I dreaming? Am I awake? Am I floating or am I on the ground? What is this place? All of my senses are saturated, yet I feel nothing. Everything is overwhelming yet I am at peace. 

Fox's Neon Rain is an album that is near and dear to my heart. I was fortunate enough to work with Underwater Computing and Fox during the release to promote the record. This removes any sort of unbiassed opinion I have of this record, and ya know what? That's ok.

Neon Rain is an album that thrives on saturation. It saturates my audio senses with slowly progressing droning melodies. It saturates my imagination with the small details hidden in the mix and the vocal samples hidden there. It saturates my entire house when I listen to it with its wall of sound approach to the music creation. It's a special album.

The album is a clinic in how to create music that goes well beyond the confines of the individual components. The individual sounds and melodies are not particularly notable on their own... but the way they are combined and woven together makes them far greater than the sum of the parts.

Lets take a few moments and look Electric Birth... the first moments that we share with Fox on this record. Three notes start playing; subtly and softly they gain my attention. As these notes continue throughout the entirety of the song they are joined by sounds and ambient pads that fill out the sound stage until I am completely enveloped in its grasp. And that is the blueprint for the entire album.

Subtlety is the main actor in Neon Rain. This is not overt music by any means. It is meant for quiet contemplation and reflection. It brings me to a place of peace and stills my mind when I listen to it. I find so much to enjoy from this album, and I feel honored to have it in my collection.

Entry 964 - Flughand - Foremmi

Style: Instrumental hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Reflections on a world gone mad and coming to terms that life can still be worth living

Thoughts: Life sucks. That is a scientifically proven fact. No matter how good I feel life always comes back to remind me that no, it is only content when I am fully aware of the suffering that life brings. Life truly sucks. 

As much as I hate that fact, I have to accept it. There is nothing that I personally can do about the state of the world or the hardships it brings. The only thing that I can control is myself, and my reactions to this world. 

Fortunately there is music like Flughand that reminds me to take joy in the smaller things in life. These twenty songs spread out over thirty minutes are small windows into life where people are content and truly happy with their lot - regardless of the fact that life sucks.

These small compositions are some of my favorite things about instrumental hip hop. These short little excursions into a concept for a minute or two before moving on to the next idea. It's a concept that I rarely see in many genres, but it seems to be the very DNA of Flughand's music... and for that I am exceptionally grateful.

Written September 19th 2024