Entry 1359 - DJ Cutsman - Wii U Grooves

Style: video game music, remix

Primary Emotions/Themes: Wii U music set to simplistic beats

Thoughts: By all accounts the Wii U was a failed console. Nintendo sold woefully few and it required them to rethink their entire console strategy. We did get some kickin' tunes from the menus though.

In a lot of ways this album makes sense. The music didn't have beats in the system menus so it's only natural for someone to add them. As with Sounds of the Wii this isn't something that I pull out very often to listen to, and when I do it's mostly for a trip down memory lane. Still have quite a few fond memories of the Wii U despite its lack of success. 

Entry 1358 - Sounds of the Wii

Style: video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: the music that you got when you owned a Wii in vinyl form

Thoughts: Put this one on the list of albums I never thought would get a vinyl release... I mean who comes up with this stuff? Even less expected was how this thing blew up right around the time of release. 

There really isn't much to say about this release. If you owned a Nintendo Wii then you know exactly what's on here. The music is nostalgic in a lot of ways, especially since I have fond memories of this system and playing it with my friends. 

This isn't something I spin very often, but it's also something I don't want to give up. The music is fun to spin once every other year or so just for a trip down memory lane. 

Entry 1357 - White Ward - Love Exchange Failure

Style: Black metal, jazz

Primary Emotions/Themes: An expansion of the sounds found on Futility Report

Thoughts: What if we took jazz and mixed it with black metal... but we also made the tracks twice as long...? That's Love Exchange Failure.

In all seriousness, Love Exchange Failure is the logical follow up to Futility Report in just about every way possible. The songs are longer, the jazz sections are more pronounced, the black metal is more intense, and there are more instances of the styles overlapping. It's everything I wanted in a follow up album.

White Ward has cemented themselves as one of the more interesting black metal bands in recent years. Their three albums all show what the genre is capable of when creative minds put together well crafted music. The inclusion of the saxophone is not a truly novel idea, but the fact that they use it so liberally and incorporate large sections of jazz influence is what puts them ahead of the game. It all works perfectly together, and the more I listen the more I get out of the music. This kind of stuff is why I listen to metal.

Entry 1356 - White Ward - Futility Report

Style: Jazz influenced black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: black metal with a saxophone

Thoughts: I love black metal, I love jazz, why wouldn't I love a combination of both? 

White Ward has introduced both jazz song structures along with extensive use of a saxophone to their core black metal sound on Futility Report. This was an instant hit with me. Just adding the sax would have been enough but the fact that they have extended periods where only the drums bass and sax essentially play jazz is what puts this album over the top for me. 

The black metal when present is also well executed, in fact sometimes it's even heavy. There aren't many sections of the album where the jazz and metal overlap, it's one or the other most of the time. Where it does overlap though make for some of the coolest moments on the album. A sax solo over blast beats is always a welcome thing in my book. 

Metal is such a diverse genre. You can fuse it with just about anything and it will still sound good in the right hands. White Ward is really on to something with this sound, and they would only develop it further on the forthcoming albums.

Entry 1355 - Whitechapel - The Valley

Style: death metal, southern rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Deep seeded anger towards one's past

Thoughts: I sometimes wondered what would happen if one of the deathcore groups tried to go full on death metal. I've gotten that answer a few times, primarily with Job for a Cowboy and The Faceless. On The Valley, Whitechapel gave their own interpretation of the genre.

I've been following Whitechapel for quite a few years at this point. I got into them with their third album and was impressed with their intense version of deathcore. Over time though they started releasing albums that were less to my liking, less death metal and more core. Not really my thing, with The Valley that all changed. 

The Valley has the band dropping nearly all of the core influences, there's hardly any breakdowns on here. In their place we have pretty intense death metal with Phil's vocals being a huge step up from the past few albums (including some well done cleans). This resulted in the bands most diverse album to date with the opening track being perhaps the most representative of the album as a whole. 

There are a couple of stinkers on here, but really the quality of the rest of the album more than makes up for it. It's easily their best in my eyes and is a fantastic starting place for someone looking to get into the band.

Entry 1354 - waterfront dining & t i m e シェア 94 - Couples Resort

Style: vaporwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: The one instance of classic vaporwave in my collection

Thoughts: I maintain that I need to have one record of every style I've tried to get into over the years in my collection. This is the survivor from the vaporwave days. 

I'm not sure why this one is the one that's left. It could be that it was the last one that I forgot to sell at one point or another, but here we are. Couples Resort is a split release and to be completely honest I can't really tell the difference between the two sides. Both utilize slowed down 70's and 80's pop songs to give that classic vaporwave sound. Nothing more, nothing less.

This isn't terrible music, but it's also incredibly indicative of the early vaporwave style. Whenever I get the urge to listen to classic vaporwave I supposed this one is one of the less offensive versions of the genre. It's not horrible, but also it's not entirely good. It just is, and it will forever be the remaining classic vaporwave record in my collection. 

Entry 1353 - Watch Out for Snakes - Scars

Style: synthwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: A surprisingly competent entry into the synthwave genre intermixed with healthy doses of video game references and music

Thoughts: There was a point in my musical journey that I was picking up just about every synthwave album I could find. I came across Watch Out for Snakes through a random recommendation on bandcamp, and I picked up Scars without even listening to it. When I finally did get around to putting this on the turntable for the first time I was pleasantly surprised. 

The way that Scars' approaches the music in it is by fusing synthwave with video game music... specifically chip tunes... Sega Genesis (Megadrive) chip tunes. So you get synthwave drums and melodies, but those melodies are played with instruments that sound like they are lifted straight off a Sega sound chip... and the music is even better than that description makes it sound.

It's gritty, it's menacing, and it's really damn good. I am still shocked at how much I like this album. More than once I've thought about selling it, so I'll put it on the turntable and I'm blown away by how good it is. So next time I think about selling this album, I can read back to this entry and stop myself even before I start.

Entry 1352 - Watain - Lawless Darkness

Style: melodic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: the defining statement of Watain's sound, the perfection of melodic black metal

Thoughts: Sometimes I wonder where an album comes from. Greatness comes from a completely unexpected place. Prior to Lawless Darkness I did not care for any of Watain's music. I found it to be boring and uninspired black metal. So when this album released I thought nothing of it. I only gave it a listen because one of the people who's opinion I trust on music compared this album to Dissection.

While I'm not sure on the Dissection comparisons, Lawless Darkness certainly is an album that demands respect and attention. The melodies here are among some of the absolute best I've heard in black metal. The songs are long and are filled with enough outstanding riffs and melodies to justify their run time. In fact just about everything in this album is more than enough to justify the album's run time. 

Watain has never repeated the success of this album to my ears. but that just makes my job easier. I only need one album from the band and this is undoubtedly it. As close as you can get to perfection in the melodic black metal genre. 

Entry 1351 - Warcraft 2

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: zug zug, work complete

Thoughts: Before Blizzard became the mega game corp that it is today. Before they became a profit seeking public traded company with a toxic work culture, they were a small studio that just so happened to release some of the finest strategy games that the world has ever seen. 

Warcraft 2 was my first exposure to Blizzard games. This game drove me insane, trying to figure out the best way of winning each scenario with the resources given. Not an easy task. I didn't know of the fabled cheat codes on my first playthrough so I had to do this the way the game was intended to play... and they intended you to do a lot of trial and error.

As I forayed my way through all these scenarios I found myself captivated by the music. This was a CD based game so I would often take the CD out and listen to it on my own after skipping the first track. These songs were stuck in my head with their epic keyboard melodies, as my orcs and humans marched down the fields to battle each other.

This was also the first bootleg record that I ever owned. I traded one of my now good friends for this and even though I don't listen to it as often as I should, it has a permanent place in my collection.

Entry 1350 - Tom Waits - Alice

Style: experimental, lounge, various other genres

Primary Emotions/Themes: A wonderful combination of Tom's older lounge style with his newer experimental style

Thoughts: The title track of Alice is like stepping into the way back machine. It reminds me so much of his 70's material, full orchestra and all. It's a glorious reminder that he can still write calm and endearing music when he wants to.

The second track of Alice is entitled Everything You Can Think. This track consists of a guitar playing random notes, chimes in the background, violins playing random repeating notes, and Tom screaming at the top of his lungs, all before a train takes the music into another realm. This is more of what expected from this album, and I'm pleased with it's inclusion.

The rest of Alice is a curious mix between these two styles. Sometimes we get the experimental side of Tom, other times we get the lullaby version of his music. The first time I heard Alice I had no idea what to expect, the album kept throwing me for loop after loop. Now, years later I find this to be one of my favorite albums/soundtracks from Mr. Waits. It's a fantastic starting point for anyone looking to understand the entirety of his discography. 

Entry 1349 - Tom Waits - Blue Valentine

Style: lounge music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Tom uses his deep voice to grace our ears with a host of beautiful arrangements

Thoughts: Before Tom Waits became the experimental genius that he currently is, he released a series of comparatively normal albums in the 1970's. The biggest change in this period was his vocal shift that happened on Small Change. He went from a higher clean voice to the lower gruff voice that we all know and love now. 

Blue Valentine is essentially the last "early" style Tom Waits album in his discography. After this he would start experimenting to various degrees. So what does early Tom Waits sound like? Well it's largely lounge based music, that talks about the human condition and common life occurrences. 

There's plenty of piano, orchestra, and even some semi rock and roll tracks on here. Quite diverse, yet nothing like his later works. All of these songs sound like they should be played in a smoke filled bar where the vocalist is standing up with a half lit cigarette in their mouth and a piano as accompaniment. They just don't make music like this anymore.

Entry 1348 - Voyage Futur - Virtual Moonlight

Style: ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: It builds layer upon layer of simple melodies that end up evolving into something beautiful

Thoughts: It starts with a single drop of rain. Shortly after two more join in. Before you know it the sky is unleashing its most recent drizzle upon the earth. This is the way of Virtual Moonlight.

These songs start off incredibly light, with minimal instruments. As the song builds though so does the amount of complexity. The layers grow and grow until the proverbial rainstorm has arrived to shower us with it's music. 

The approach on Virtual Moonlight is quite different than the past two albums from this project. While still simplistic in nature, when all the layers are added together the minimalism of the previous efforts is washed away. In some regards I'm saddened that the excellent minimalism has left us, yet I am still glad that Voyage Futur is not content to repeat themselves. It will be interesting to see where the project goes from here.

Entry 1347 - Voyage Futur - Secret Earth

Style: ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: stuck somewhere between the waking world and the land of dreams, floating through the ether

Thoughts: On Secret Earth, Voyage Futur has created an album that embodies the experience of weightlessness. The slow melodies mixed along side somewhat trippy soundscapes makes me feel like I'm being drifting away into some ethereal void. 

The music has more to do with 1990's new age music than it does modern ambient, the two give off such a similar sound. Secret Earth could easily be used as a guided meditation background music, slowly easing the listener into a state of mindfulness. Even without a spoken guide the music lures me into a state of calm and relaxation that most music can't. 

Secret Earth is luring me into the land of dreams. Every time I put it on my eyelids get heavy, yet I want to stay awake to partake in the music and the waking world still. The end result is this semi awake, semi asleep state that lets my mind wander and body rest. My mind is still.

Entry 1346 - Volkor X - This Means War

Style: metal influenced synthwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: Synthwave mixed with metal never sounded so good

Thoughts: I'm a simpleton. I prefer to have my genres segregated, especially when it comes to synthwave and metal. Projects like Ultraboss ended up doing nothing for me, so I was skeptical about Volkor X from the very beginning. Fortunately the end result here is much better than I ever could have imagined. 

First things first, this is a synthwave record. There is metal on here, but a vast majority of the music here is synthwave. The synthwave may very well have metal tendencies when the guitar is not involved, but that's more of an afterthought than the definition of This Means War. The synthwave that is here is expertly done. It's varied, the melodies and instruments are exceptionally well done, and most importantly the album is good from front to back. The band knows what they are doing, even on their debut record.

Man I wish all synthwave was this good, if it was it may very well be one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately there's so much junk out there that it's hard to justify having much in my collection. Fortunately there are bands like Volker X which take creating a good synthwave album seriously, and in doing so have created an outstanding album.

Entry 1345 - Void of Silence - The Sky Over

Style: doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: What an incredibly massive album, overwhelmingly powerful

Thoughts: I've been following Void of Silence for many years. I first got into them with Human Antithesis because of A.A. Nemtheanga's involvement in the project. I stayed curious in the band with Grave of Civilization but that album did not get me nearly as excited as Human Antithesis did. Many years later I heard that The Sky Over had released. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this.

The Sky Over is anything but a normal album. The songs are long and incredibly epic. The melodies are massive continue to grow in intensity over the songs sometimes 15+ minute run times. The vocals are the other added layer that were never such a large factor previously. They soar above the massive riffs like The Sky Over a massive ocean. Between them and the melodies that permeate every moment you have the makings of an extraordinary album. 

The thing that I love so much about Void of Silence at this point. They just don't know when to stop escalating a song. A lot of times when a band don't know when to quit they end up ruining the song, not so here. These songs are continuously improved by the layer upon layer of riffs, melodies and vocals. Incredible album, easily the bands best.

Entry 1344 - Venom - At War With Satan

Style: 1st wave black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A bit more refined, but still a chaotic mess of an album

Thoughts: I bought this album in the early 90's from a local record store. It's one of the few albums I have left from back then. I wish I had more, but this is the ones I have. Do I like this album? Not really, but I also don't want to get rid of it because of the history we share together. It's the definition of nostalgia.

The highlight here is the 21 minute title track. This is the best thing that Venom ever wrote and I don't know where they got the inspiration for it. Over the course of the epic the band goes through many twists and turns and yet it still is as chaotic as the band's history would imply. The rest of the songs retain the shorter shock rock/metal feel that they had for the first two albums.

Is At War With Satan an inherently special album? No it's not. I don't think I would go out of my way these days to pick up a copy of it. Is THIS copy of At War With Satan special? You bet your ass it is.

Entry 1342 - Venom - Welcome to Hell

Style: 1st wave black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A noisy, thrashy, fun romp of an album

Thoughts: Venom. The originators of black metal. The original bad boys that sung about Satan. This is the album that started it all.

I'll be honest here, the only reason I still have this album is for pure nostalgia. The music that's on here is not generally to my liking, but it's Venom so I keep it. This is essentially NWOBHM on steroids with a huge distorted bass and the band playing as fast as they can. It's sloppy. It's messy.. and it's not very good. 

That said this does have a place in black metal history that no other band can claim: the originators. Are they the ones who started the current black metal sound? Of course not. But they are the ones that set the stage for what would become my favorite genre. For that they deserve a spot in the collection.

Entry 1342 - Vargrav - Reign in Supreme Darkness

Style: symphonic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Keyboard driven black metal that pays tribute to the second wave

Thoughts: Everything about this album screams old school. The cover resembles the best works of Necrolord. The music is drenched in reverb and layer upon layer of keybaords. The vocals even have the same distance to them that a lot of the early second wave albums do. The riffs are simple minor key variants yet they work so incredibly well. It's the whole package.

If this album was paying tribute to anything it would be early Emperor, specifically In the Nightside Eclipse. Many of these tracks sound like they could have been lifted straight off of there. V-KhaoZ's vocals even sound a bit like Ihsahn during that time period. For all intents and purposes Reign in Supreme Darkness is a tribute album to Nightisde. 

With that many similarities, it's easy to cast this aside as a knock off project. I don't think that's the case here. V-KhaoZ has enough projects going that I know this is all intentional. The song writing here is top notch, and while not the most creative they fill a void that not many modern bands can. A perfect album for when I want a modern take on the 90's black metal style.

Entry 1341 - Vanishing Amulet - Nocturnal Heritage

Style: classic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: the very essence of what dungeon synth is about.

Thoughts: Within the first five notes of Nocturnal Heritage I knew I was going to love it. The production here is so incredibly befitting of the dungeon synth genre, that I can think of almost no other album that has as good of a sound as this one. 

There are only five songs on here, and my god I wish I had more. Each one of these things is a treasure. The slight vibrato on all of the instruments gives it a cheesy old school horror movie sound to it. That paired with simple yet incredibly effective melodies makes this just about the perfect dungeon synth album. 

Everyone looking to get into dungeon synth needs to use this EP as a litmus test. If you like this then you are good to go with the genre, if you do not then maybe you need to look elsewhere. In all honesty though, if you don't like this I'm not sure if you like good music in general.

Entry 1340 - Van1sh - Everlasting

Style: ambient, witch house

Primary Emotions/Themes: a slow and somber take on the ambient genre

Thoughts: Ambient music sure is diverse. Sometimes it sounds like the depths of hell, other times it can sound like heaven coming down. Other times still it sounds like were stuck inside a dream, much like Everlasting.

Everlasting feels like it's an album moving in slow motion. The instruments take their sweet time to get anywhere, yet the music is fluid. The drums flow naturally yet they are lethargic. The melodies are there, yet they are drawn out and spaced separately in ways that are still understandable, but they feel like they are moving under water. 

Despite how slow the album is, it's not frustrating. It's something that takes time to acclimate to, but once your brain has adjusted there is a lot to enjoy here. These slow moving currents of songs are the perfect counter balance to a fast paced life. They meet it head on and force you to slow down.

Entry 1339 - Jason Van Wyk - Threads

Style: ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: a singular light throughout the darkness, is it hope or the end?

Thoughts: Ambient music has become one of my favorite genres over the past few years. I have always had a couple of albums in my collection, but ever since the pandemic I've started getting more into the genre. 

Jason Van Wyk is one of the first artists I branched out into. The cover of Threads was striking to me and it drew my curiosity for the album. When I finally did give it a listen, what greeted me was a drone oriented album that had brief moments of melody throughout. 

In many ways it felt like the album was a chronicle of a space craft floating through the universe, passing by clusters of stars and planets. Those small clusters would be the melody, and the vastness of space represented by the greater droning portions of the album. It's quite the journey, and one that I do believe I will partake in again.

Entry 1338 - Jason Van Wyk - Descendants

Style: Ambient, minimalist

Primary Emotions/Themes: slowly evolving beat driven ambient, immense atmospheres

Thoughts: Descendants is a hard album for me to get through. The music is so emotionally intense that I sometimes have to stop the record and gather myself. Especially on tracks like Undoing.

What makes this album so profound? It's the way the album uses minimalism, it does so much with so little. Let's go back to Undoing for a moment. This track is essentially two instruments the whole time: a keyboard playing a full chord soundscape and a piano. That's all it has... that's all it needs. 

The way that the piano plays the melodies is just soul crushing. The single notes that decay into nothingness before the next one comes, it hits me hard every single time I listen to it. The rest of the album utilizes minimalism in a similar fashion. Just enough to get the job done, and never anything more. 

Entry 1337 - Vempyr

Style: video game music, modern classical

Primary Emotions/Themes: the delicate balance between life and death, survival and destruction

Thoughts: What a unique concept for a game. A doctor who has sworn to help the citizens of a town who also suffers from vampirism. The constant struggle to balance these two opposing forces is what drives the game, and the music reflects this constant conflict expertly.

The soundtrack is mostly based around the cello, an outstanding choice to convey the myriad of emotions present in this soundtrack. It's capable of great sorrow, sweeping joy, immense internal dissention... all of the emotions required for the game. When the cello is not in the lead role the music is largely ambient, creepy, and full of subterfuge. A fantastic contrast to the more overt cello pieces. 

If you couldn't tell I really like this soundtrack. It works well on it's own and it also helps recall the struggles from the game. It's both a fantastic album as well as soundtrack. As with many things lately I had forgotten how this album sounded and even that I had it. Once again underscoring the importance of my musical journey through my collection.

Entry 1336 - Unfound - Horizon

Style: synthwave, chillwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: driving off into the sunset, the synths guiding my way

Thoughts: Like so many albums lately, I forgot that I had this one and what it sounded like. I had a vague notion of what to expect when I put it on the turntable, but in all honesty I really didn't know what to expect. What I got was one of the most chill albums that I've heard in a while.

The instant I put this on I wanted to go for a drive. The music feels like a warm summers night with the breeze in your face. It's warm and inviting. The music feels like it wraps all around you and keeps you comfortable as the world passes by. It's beautiful. 

I don't have too many albums like this anymore, so I'm glad I rediscovered this one. I've been keeping pretty detailed notes on what albums do what for me these days. This one is squarely going into the "chill out music" pile - a style that is sorely unrepresented in my collection.

Entry 1335 - Ulver - Flowers of Evil

Style: electronic pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Essentially the same album as Julius Cesar but not nearly as good.

Thoughts: I never expected this. Ulver released the same album twice. Never in the history of the band have they released two albums back to back where they are the same genre. Never.

Is this album catchy? Yes, but it seems hollow. Is it groovy? Yes... but again the drums seem uninspired. Are the songs good? I really don't know. 

There's something about Flowers of Evil that falls flat. The music feels uninspired, phoned in. Creating an album for the sake of making an album. This is where I really start to fall off with the band. This album started to show the cracks in their discography. The albums after this really have no interest for me and I ended up selling this album shortly after listening here. It's a damn shame, I hope the band gets their sense of adventure back... the musical world is lesser whenever Ulver does not create good music.

Entry 1334 - Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Cesar

Style: electronic pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: pop songs that have a distinct dark edge to them

Thoughts: I did not expect this. I did not expect Ulver to go full on pop. They had hinted at this a few times in the past, but never for a full album. I also never expected it to be this good.

This is super catchy, super digestible, super inoffensive music. This stuff could easily be played on the radio, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was. The melodies are infectious, played by all sorts of synths. The grooves are the kind that grab hold of you and never let go. A completely danceable album. Garm's vocals are a beautiful mix of falsetto and his lower register voice. They are mixed with female vocals from time to time to a magnificent effect.

This thing has been on my turntable for eons. I can't take it off. The whole thing is so infectious that I should get vaccinated. Probably not one of Ulver's best, but god damn it certainly is their catchiest album. 

Entry 1333 - Ulver - Riverhead

Style: ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: A string oriented ambient album

Thoughts: How long has it been since Ulver made a movie soundtrack...? 13 years between Svidd Neger and this? I didn't even know this existed until a few years ago, and when I found out I went out and got it right away. The Ulver soundtracks are some of the best music in their discography.

When I dropped the needle for the first time I heard what sounded like an orchestra tuning up, this was going to be another interesting ride into Ulver's instrumental insanity. Riverhead is largely a drone ambient album with moments of melody scattered throughout. Most of this drone is handled by violins, but there are extended periods where it's only tones and keyboards. I quite like how it turned out and I've had this album on repeat for more than one session.

I've missed this part of Ulver, especially lately. I feel like the band has settled into a groove with the pop sound that they pioneered shortly after this album came out. This may not be their best album, but it certainly contains the spirit of adventure that their best works have.

Entry 1332 - Ulver - Shadows of the Sun

Style: Ambient pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Slow, morass songs that tear away at the sympathies of the soul

Thoughts: Sit down. Pour yourself a drink. We're going to be here a while. 

The songs that Ulver produced on Shadows of the Sun are some of the most downtrodden, hopeless, and dejected songs I've heard. They are slow, they sound like they are being performed by someone who just heard devastating news: a lost loved one, a life altering financial loss, an irreversible change. It's the kind of music that makes you sigh... take a deep breath and reconsider things before moving on with life. 

It's the kind of music that makes me want to slow down with life, cherish what I have instead of what I want. It's the kind of music that moves in slow motion and will force you to do the same. It demands that you respect it, and it will not take no for an answer.

I heard from multiple people that they consider this Ulver's finest moment. While I don't agree with that I can certainly see the case for this album being Ulver's best. For me it falls into top three to top five for the band, and it certainly is the most emotionally taxing. This album is highly recommended, but listen with caution and be ready for heartbreak.

Entry 1331 - Ulver - Bergtatt

Style: Folk black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Even at this stage Ulver was making music against the grain

Thoughts: A drum roll, double bass and a black metal riff start out the album. All rather typical for the genre... that is until the vocals come in. Instead of the typical black metal sheik we have Garm giving an angelic voice over the music. These near falsetto vocals are part of the defining moments of Bergtatt. 

The following tracks will go between more typical black metal and these higher pitched clean vocals. It's unlike any other album I've ever heard in the genre. Mix this will a healthy dose of folk instruments and you have something that was incredibly unique in 1995. There are flaws though, but those can be overlooked. because of the greatness of the rest of the album. For those that are into black metal this is an essential album. 

Entry 1330 - Ulver - Vargnatt

Style: black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Black metal with heavy folk influence

Thoughts: The one and only demo from a young Norwegian band that would end up becoming one of the most influential in all extreme music, and my personal favorite band. 

Vargnatt is a mix of primitive black metal with a healthy dose of acoustic guitar and folk music. The six songs vary in quality, with my favorite being Trollskogen due to it's all acoustic nature. The songs really don't flow very well and they also are a bit disjointed within the riffs themselves. Garm does not sound very good, and the whole thing is a bit of a mess... but it's still a fantastic listen every now and then.

This may not be the best representation of Ulver, but it shows where the band came from. For historical reasons this is a great artifact to hear where the band came from before the band went on to become what they currently are. 

Entry 1329 - Ulver - Teachings in Silence

Style: Ambient, noise

Primary Emotions/Themes: The professor is in, the class is to remain silent

Thoughts: This was my reintroduction to Ulver. I had listened to the first three albums quite a bit in my youth and then wasn't able to find William Blake anywhere so I dropped off with the band. I had heard that they changed styles significantly, but a million years could not have prepared me for this.

Starting with Silencing the Signing was perhaps not the wisest move, but I didn't know any better. The music here is minimalistic at best. What little music is here revolves around repeating melodies, repeating static, repeating drums. Everything repeats, over and over in different cadences. It's an EP that demands your patience and doesn't always reward you for it. 

Silence Teaches you How To Sing is a bit more varied in it's approach. The static, repetition and repetition (I know I said this twice) are still there but they come in shorter bursts. The whole twenty minute song is more of a journey than anything on Silencing the Signing. 

Of the two EP's I prefer Silencing the Singing, but listening to these two and a half decades later gives me a different perspective than when I first heard them. These are fascinating studies in sound design and are some of the most experimental that Ulver ever got. I oftentimes wish the band would come back to this period... at least in terms of experimental creativity. But alas, we are getting pop songs these days.

Entry 1328 - Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis

Style: Experimental death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A maturation and collimation of the path that Ulcerate has been walking for over a decade at this point.

Thoughts: Ulcerate has become the master of their craft. The music they generate is entirely unique, instantly recognizable and a continuous force to be reckoned with. 

Shrines of Paralysis is one of the best examples of their sound. They have managed to overcome the shortcomings of Vermis and create an album that is perhaps the finest representation of the Ulcerate experience as a whole. It has the chaos of the first two albums, the expansiveness of Destroyers, and the unmistakable sound that is Ulcerate teeming through every moment of this album. 

The guitars mix so well with Jamie's drumming that they seem to be one and the same for most of the album. I honestly don't think that I can recall a better duo that Michael's guitars mixed with Jamie's drumming. It's that potent. The dissonance of the guitars and Paul's bass mix perfectly with the off beat musings of the drum kit. Throughout all of this the vocals seem almost like a distant afterthought. A constant bellow into the void, while fitting is not nearly as interesting as the instrumentals. 

Ulcerate has become one of my favorite bands in metal the past few decades. After my first experience with Everything is Fire, they simply kept releasing excellence after excellence. There is no other band in the death metal sphere that is even close to these guys.

Entry 1327 - Ulcerate - Destroyers of All

Style: experimental death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Open and expansive riffs, like musical explosions that take forever to settle

Thoughts: Everything is Fire is one of the finest death metal... no, one of the finest metal... no, one of the finest albums ever created. How do you follow up an album like that? In a lot of ways you can't... and it seems like Ulcerate knew this and decided to change up their sound.

Destroyers of All is a massive album. The songs are long, they are complex, and they are inaccessible - but not in the way that Everything is Fire was. In comparison to the previous album Destroyers is easy to digest. Compared to the typical death metal album it's a doctoral dissertation. 

The riffs, while complex allow for enough time to digest them before proceeding to the next. They share the same chaotic feel as before, however the guitars now work in conjunction with each other and will often have breaks before proceeding to the next complex riff. This gives the album a huge and open feel instead of beating my head in over and over. 

One of the strengths of Ulcerate is that they don't sound like any other band, they have forged a sound that is uniquely their own. Every album they come out with now is an event, and Destroyers of All is a huge part in forging their legacy.

Entry 1326 - Twelve Doors - A Tribute to Noriyuki Iwadare

Style: modern classical

Primary Emotions/Themes: piano and violin playing classic video game songs

Thoughts: I do not listen to Twelve Doors because I am a huge fan of Noriyuki Iwadare. Sure his soundtracks are incredible and they have heightened my enjoyment of the early Ys' games as well as the Lunar and Grandia... but again that is not why I listen to Twelve Doors.

I listen to Twelve Doors because the arrangements of these classic songs give them a new dimension and I find myself enjoying the simplicity of this music way more than I ever would have admitted to myself before picking up this album. The way the violin carries the melody while the piano backs it up makes makes me close my eyes and enjoy their beauty. These two instruments are designed to be played together, and they are utilized to their fullest on these two records.

As with some other records I've listened to recently there is no full recording of this available online - once again decrying the importance of physical media. Sure it's not as convenient but I'll be remised if I ever give this up and with it my ability to partake in this beautiful music.

Entry 1325 - Turquoisdeath - Se Bueno

Style: breakcore, ambient, vaporwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: Come with me on this journey as we explore human life and the joys that come with it

Thoughts: Hope. Some albums teem with hope. This is one of them.

Turquoisedeath combines upbeat samples, instruments, melodies, vocals... you name it, with drums that are straight out of 90's jungle. This is the very definition of breakcore.... but much happier than normal. It's like the happy hardcore version of it's own genre.

Out of all the albums in my collection, this one reminds me very much of Porter Robinson's Worlds. That's not to say that this is a carbon copy of that album - Worlds is the better album by far - but the two share many of the same writing styles. They both tell a story with audio that can be pieced together as the album progresses. They both use a variety of styles to get this story across, and the further you get into the album the more it sucks you in. 

Se Bueno is a deceptively simple album. The first few tracks made me think that this was going to be a standard breakcore album. This couldn't be further from the truth. There's a depth to this album that is not found in my of it's peers. It's that depth that makes me come back to it over and over again.

Entry 1324 - Tsuki No Wa - Ninth Elegy

Style: jazz, experimental

Primary Emotions/Themes: What starts as a normal jazz album devolves into a litany of experimental tracks that always seem to come back to those jazz beginnings

Thoughts: Japanese artists are among some of the strangest yet creative in all of music. Tsuki No Wa's Ninth Elegy is a collection of nine songs that start off as piano driven jazz but end up in very different places along the way. 

There are tracks in here that sound like they could easily belong on a Silent Hill soundtrack. There are others that sound like bossa nova complete with wailed vocals. There are others still that move into utterly bizarre territory with unknown sounds and tone. 

Regardless of the style of music the album has an enchanting feel to it. Like someone sitting down with you to share a home cooked meal or visiting an old friend over beers. It has a welcoming feel to it, but with a tiny bit of caution thrown in. Not an accessible album, but an ultimately rewarding one to those who take up the challenge. 

Entry 1323 - Tribes of Neurot - Grace

Style: noise, ambient, experimental

Primary Emotions/Themes: a sister album to one of the greatest metal albums ever recorded

Thoughts: Two albums, designed to be played simultaneously. I remember the band saying that they had designed this and Times of Grace to be sister albums. Albums that can be played individually yet also be played simultaneously. I have always strived for playing them at the same time, but I have never truly sat down with Grace by itself, without the Neurosis album at the same time.

Grace is a sparse album. It does not pretend to be extravagant, grandiose or anything other than what is intended: an ambient/experimental album that easily put the listener into a trance. For those familiar with Times of Grace the songs here will have the exact same length... and to some extent the same structure. The two albums are designed to compliment each other after all.

What Grace does though that the Neurosis album does not is exude a consistently serene yet tense atmosphere. The music played is calm, yet there is an undercurrent of anxiety and uncertainty that is in every moment of the album. It's this tension that makes the album a compelling listen on its own. 

This is my first time exploring this album in this manner, yet after spending some time with it here, I can say with certainty that this will not be my last time doing so.

Entry 1322 - Tower of the Sun - Reset

Style: electronic music

Primary Emotions/Themes: a curious mix of genres that gives me the feeling as if I'm under water

Thoughts: It's interesting how things change over time. This was one of the first albums that I reviewed on my original blog. I found it fascinating then and I still find the album fascinating now. 

I haven't listened to this thing in several years, after I was done with the original review I was a bit burnt out on it. For the longest time I had no desire to listen anymore, and that feeling persisted for several years. Now though as I'm going through my collection I find that I have forgotten a lot of what this album sounds like, even though I spent so much time with it in my past. 

I find that this album is a lot like swimming in shallow water. There are melodies that resemble currents, atmospheres that resemble beams of light, and it's all within the context of being underneath the water. The production in and of itself is a major part of this, there is a waviness to it that many other albums do not have. It helps define the album wither it's in a state of high melody or its in one of the more droning ambient sections - they both sound like they belong on the same album. 

Reset is a diverse album, with music ranging from the aforementioned ambient moments to melodies that resemble video game soundtracks. It does all of these styles with a consistency and grace that few other albums do. It has been some time since I listened to this album from my initial run, but I do know that it will not be nearly as long before I revisit it again.

Entry 1321 - Totengott - Doppleganger

Style: doom metal, extreme metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: noisy, feedback driven doom with massive riffs

Thoughts: I've got to get this out of the way. This album could very well be mistaken for a Tryptikon album. The way the songs are written and produced are nearly identical to Tom Warrior and crew. I mean... the band is even named after a Celtic Frost song.

The songs have the same structure as the band they are emulating: long, slow, feedback laden songs with a gruff grunting voice driving the music forward. As much as I would normally decry music that is this blatantly ripped off from another artists, there are exactly two bands in the world playing this style currently: Totengott and Tryptikon.. and the latter of those hasn't released a new album in quite a few years. 

With that in mind, it seems like Totengott has taken up the banner that Tom and his band have left on the ground. I am a big fan of this kind of music and I'm glad that someone, somewhere is producing music in this style.

Entry 1320 - Toonorth - aftersome

Style: instrumental hip hop

Primary Emotions/Themes: guitar driven instrumentals with lofi beats

Thoughts: There's a lot of lofi hip hop out there. A vast majority of the genre is uninspired and quite frankly lazy. I have had one experience with Toonorth before, and I didn't care too much for his album. Aftersome though is a different animal all together. 

Starting with an acoustic guitar on nearly every track, the music is built around this central piece. I can't help but feel that the acoustic work isn't sampled the way that the music flows... it's too natural. Going along with that is a variety of hip hop beats that tend to lean more towards the lofi end of the spectrum. Throw in some great keyboard work as a complimentary piece and you have the workings of an above average album.

Is Toonorth going to change the world with this album? Probably not, but you know that's fine. Not every album needs to be a world changer. Sometimes you need something to just put on at the end of a long day... aftersome accomplishes that perfectly. 

Entry 1319 - Tonebox - Cloud Highway

Style: Synthwave, darksynth

Primary Emotions/Themes: a deep rhythmic driven foray into darksynth

Thoughts: Tonebox really knocked it out of the park with this one. Most of their other work I don't care too much for, but this one right here they really were on to something.

The main difference here is the relentless emphasis on the bass. It's not just in the drums, but in the synths... they are designed to vibrate you to the very core. When these songs get going there's nothing else like it in my collection. They are relentless. 

It's not on every song that Cloud Highway tries to hit me with a brown note. In between the deep synth driven tracks there's some more standard synthwave that is in line with Tonebox's discography. Those songs are fine for what they are, but they essentially are a palate cleanser between the big nasty tracks. Exceptional stuff.

Entry 1318 - Tomorrow the Rain Will Fall Upwards - Wreck His Days

Style: Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Uplifting music that brings a spark of joy into life

Thoughts: With an album title like Wreck His Days I would have expected this album to be dark, or deal with subjects of vengeance or cruelty. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Wreck His Days is undoubtedly an ambient album. The melodies are slow, sometimes aloof, and repeat over slow modulations that take minutes to complete. Where the hope and uplifting portion comes in is the way the instruments are used. They have a sparkle to them... a sheen... like looking at a freshly waxed car or a clean room. It's music that sounds like it took work to get here but now that we are here, we are done and it is good.

This is one of those records that I can't find any sort of digital version of. There's maybe one song on the internet that I was able to find easily, and this just goes to show the importance of physical media. Without this record I would no longer have access to this music... emphasizing one of the most important reasons for my collection.

Entry 1317 - Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance

Style: old school death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Fun, sci-fi themed death metal that kicks all sorts of ass

Thoughts: Four words: kick ass death metal.

Go. Listen. That is all.

Entry 1316 - Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms

Style: old school death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: These guys are just having fun playing some old timey death metal

Thoughts: Who says that all death metal has to be serious? Who says that you can't enjoy what you do when you play this style of music? Who says you can't have fun listening to old school death metal? I know some people will try to say that, but Tomb Mold will politely give those people a large middle finger.

When I listen to Manor of Infinite Forms I hear death metal played the right way. So much of the genre is lost in technicality or trying to do too much. Tomb Mold just plays man. They write crazy riffs and they don't overthink it, they don't overcomplicate it... they just write plain good death metal. A seemingly lost art these days.

I gotta listen to this stuff more man. I feel like I've lost touch with death metal too much. Too many bands do nothing for me anymore, but Tomb Mold... Tomb Mold does. I feel like they keep me engaged the whole album... I need more death like that. I really do.