Entry 1240 - Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times

Style: Keyboard driven black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: One of the first bands to heavily introduce keyboards to black metal and this album remains one of the best to do it

Thoughts: In the early days of black metal there are two bands that I think set the standard for incorporating keyboards into black metal: Emperor and Satyricon. Both of them used keys as a crutial support tool to create their art, and both used it in very different ways. 

My thoughts on Emperor are chronicled elsewhere (Entry 006 and 940), but Satyricon's debut is another animal entirely. Here the focus is not on blasting as fast as possible, nor is it to decimate everything with violence. Instead we get a bit more contemplative album where the keys are used to fill out the sound, create folk like instruments, and compliment the guitars at every turn. 

Over the years many bands from the second wave would evolve their sound, perhaps none more so than Satyricon. But here, on this debut album they helped define the black metal genre through their innovative use of acoustic guitars, folk influences and keyboards. An absolutely essential album.

Entry 1239 - Saor - Guardians

Style: Atmospheric black/folk metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A beautiful and violent trip into the wonderful world of Saor

Thoughts: If there is one band who has mastered atmospheric black metal in the modern lexicon it's Saor. They have managed to create a consistent sound that fills my heart with joy and awe every time I listen to their discography.

Guardians is the continuation of the Saor legacy. The combination of black metal with folk instruments playing on top for long periods of time never gets old for me. These songs could go on for thirty minutes and the way they are constructed I would never get bored. Every time Guardians (or any other Saor record except for Origins) his the turntable it's stuck there for at least a few spins.

I love the music that Andrew Marshall creates. The fact that he keeps creating this style of music over the course of six albums now and that it hasn't worn out it's welcome with me shows just how enduring the style is. Saor sets the standard for folk/black metal.

Entry 1238 - Saor - Aura

Style: Atmospheric black/folk metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Journey with me as we traverse the fields of Scotland 

Thoughts: Every time I listen to Aura I find myself having to take a few deep breaths. The album has a tendency to take my breath away.

Everything that was started in Roots is improved in Aura. I won't go into detail on how much this album moves me, but do yourself a favor. Listen to the violin interlude on Children of the Mist and tell me that's not pure beauty. 

Of course I've heard music like this before, but what Aura does is craft the beauty in so well with the violence of the black metal that it's effectively seamless. Almost every album that Saor has put out is incredible, but for me, Aura is the one that stands above the rest.

Entry 1237 - Saor - Roots

Style: Atmospheric/folk black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: An epic journey though the beauty of nature

Thoughts: There was a time years ago where I was into a band called Askival. I thought their take on folk laced black metal was great and lamented the fact that they only created one album. Fast forward years later and I find out about a band called Saor. The music was excellent and oddly familiar. As I looked into the band some more I find that it's the same mastermind that was behind Askival... this is the continuation of that project. 

Saor is one of those band's who I feel like my collection is better for having them in it. These songs have a quality to them that is rare in metal... really in any genre. They reach beyond themselves to create a sense of grandeur that very few projects can. 

The way that the guitars interact with the folk instruments is exactly how folk black metal should be done. The guitars lay the basis, and then the melody is carried out by the folk instruments. Together they create such a complete atmosphere that it's really hard to ignore how potent it is. 

Every song on Roots is like that. Every one of them feels complete, nothing to be added nothing to be taken away. It's a fantastic record that belongs in every black metal fans collection.

Entry 1236 - Sangam - Soulless Other

Style: Ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Small repeating themes back dropped with falling rain and a mournful tone

Thoughts: For those that know Sangam know that he has an extremely consistent style as well as a prolific output in the ambient/dreampunk genre. His sound is essentially simple melodies that repeat for 3-4 minutes over full keyboard synths with little to no percussion most of the time.

Soulless Other is one of Sangam's longest running albums. Originally spread across two tapes the album translates exceptionally well to vinyl. Each tape was essentially a miniature album, and the whole package became a bit of a double release with the two sides acting as sister albums to each other. This is a huge boon to the record as 40 minutes of Sangam's music is just about right. It's enough to get me satiated but not too long to make me feel like the album is overstaying its welcome.

If there was to be one knock on Sangam's output it's that it's too similar. It's oftentimes difficult to tell one album from another and they can all blend together. That is what makes Soulless Other such a great album to have. While it sounds a lot like Sangam's other works the quality here is excellent. So much so that if there was only one Sangam album in my collection I would love for it to be Soulless Other.

Entry 1235 - Sangam and Kid Smpl - Brave Warrior

Style: Multiple

Primary Emotions/Themes: A complex and mind boggling mix of genres that seem to tell an auditory story

Thoughts: I did a review of this album about four or five years ago now. The album is so complex and so intertwined with different elements that I doubt I could do a better job now than what I did then, so I'll just link that review:

https://thesenightsareours.blogspot.com/2020/12/008-sangam-x-kid-smpl-brave-warrior.html

And for those truly interested here is the interview I did with Sangam and Kid Smpl:

https://thesenightsareours.blogspot.com/2020/12/0085-deep-dive-sangam-x-kid-smpl-notes.html

Entry 1234 - Samael - Solar Soul

Style: Industrial metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A true continuation of the style explored on Passage, industrial, powerful riffs, great keyboard work

Thoughts: Samael is one of the more interesting bands that started in the late 80's. With every album they changed their style significantly until they ended up with their fourth album: Passage. Here is where the band truly found what they wanted to do with their sound and made it the basis for essentially everything moving forward. 

For many of those future releases the band would not even get close to the prowess of Passage, that was until Solar Soul released 11 years later. This album has the same level of drive, diversity and kick ass riffs that Passage has. Vorph sounds older, but the music sounds just as fresh as I would expect from the legacy that the band set. 

The whole crux of the album is strong drum beats creating a backing with full and powerful riffs driving the music over it. The dynamic part comes in with the keyboards. These range from support instrumentations to the primary driver of the music. The whole affair is almost danceable in it's approach, it's got one hell of a groove. 

Samael continues to evolve with every album, but Solar Soul is where they rediscovered their mid period roots and did a proper follow up. They would go on to go back to their extreme roots after this with varying degrees of success, but Solar Soul remains one of my favorites of the band.

Entry 1233 - Sabled Sun - 2149

Style: Cinematic ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: The world is crumbling around my feet, there is nothing left but to accept the inevitable

Thoughts: The world is burning. I stare up at a flag that was once proud, now littered in ruins. The earth beneath my feet is tarnished with the blood and ashes of my brethren. There is only death and decay... I must move beyond this hell.

Sabled Sun is one of the many projects of Simon Heath. This particular project started as a droning ambient, but slowly became more expressive and cinematic as time went on. By the time 2149 was released the music produced a highly visual component along with the music. 

There still is not a lot of structure to the music, but there is some. Sometimes the music will have a discernable meter - other times it goes back to its droning roots. Regardless the music creates a striking visual. For me this visual is a barren landscape, littered with cities that once stood tall but have fallen to the will of time. The world has crumbled, yet I still stand. There is so little left, yet the human spirit endures with what little we do have... that is what 2149 speaks to me as.

Entry 1232 - Russian Subway Dogs

Style: video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Video game music about puppers with fur hats and accordions

Thoughts: I have never played this game, I only know that I really enjoy the music in it. The basics of the sound revolve around 8 and 16 bit music combined with Russian melodies and instruments... primarily the accordion. 

There is nothing overly complex about this album. It's simple melodies done in a minor key that resembles traditional Russian melodies... and I truly love it. Outside of Tetris I can't say that I've ever heard another soundtrack that resembles the Russian culture in such a playful way. Is it accurate? Probably not, but it's fun as hell.

This isn't an album I revisit a lot, but every time I put it on it's super fun to listen to. The kind of thing you put on to try and turn a crappy day around or have some playful music in the background while working. Either way it's a nice addition to the colleciton.

Entry 1231 - Runespell - Shores of Nastrond

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: This is how you do melodic black metal

Thoughts: I only recently discovered Runespell. I've known of them for quite some time but only decided to fully check out their discography last year. I am so pleased that I did.

There are few very bands that can write melodies like these guys do. Every single song off of this album absolutely slays. The melodies never stop, the riffs never lose focus, the drums and bass match everything perfectly. This is the definition of how to make good melodic black metal. 

This is one of those albums that hard to summarize in text, because everything is going to sound like typical black metal. Acoustic intro: check. Long melodic songs with a lot of blast beats: check. Atmospheric keyboards: check. It's not that the songs have these elements though, its how these elements are used. The music is more than just the individual parts, it's black metal that is done so well that it demands attention. 

I don't know how popular these guys are, but they sure as hell deserve more attention than they are getting. I look forward to seeing where they go from here, because the last few releases from them have been top shelf.

Entry 1230 - Runespell - Sentinels of Time

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Long and involved songs that have no weak moments in them

Thoughts: Where do I start with a band like Runespell? They have had quite the discography to this point, and Sentinels of Time represents one of the stronger entries into their lexicon. 

The band plays melodic black metal with a raw edge. It's not raw in and of itself but the way the riffs are written and played have a bit of liveliness to them that you only really hear in raw black metal. The riffs are potent and come one after the other. There's no real down time in the songs, no ambient sections (except at the very end of the tracks)... it's just a continuous barrage of melodies and riffs. It's fantastic.

Sentinels of time has three songs on it and an outro. Each of the songs is over ten minutes in length, and they absolutely deserve every moment of that run time. I can't overstate how well written these songs are, every riff feels like it belongs. Every transition feels like it's meant to be there, it's black metal done to near perfection.

Entry 1229 - Ruins of Beverast - The Thule Grimores

Style: Atmospheric black/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A continuation of the ritual that started on Exuvia

Thoughts: The Ruins of Beverast has always had a strong emphasis on atmosphere... in fact one can argue that this is the defining characteristic of the band. While the tone of that atmosphere has changed over the course of their six studio albums, the fact remains that the band is defined by having a deep and often prohibitively dark atmosphere. On The Thule Grimores the band has embraced the atmosphere to the point where much of the album is nearly ambient.

There are large, and I mean large, sections of the entire album where there is nothing but ambience. Little to no melody, no percussion, no vocals... just atmosphere... just wallowing in pure atmosphere. The band has done stuff like this in the past, but never for more than a few moments at a time. Here it's one of the main focuses.

In many ways it takes the ritual atmosphere of the previous album and expands on it. In a lot of ways it's better than Exuvia, but in others it's a bit lacking. I feel that between the two albums you have one of the better renditions of the band's style, but with the two albums it's just a little bit lacking and over drawn. Regardless the band is still elite and even with these sub par albums, they are head and shoulders above most black metal bands.

Entry 1228 - Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

Style: Atmospheric black/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A ritual to come into contact with the dark spirits of nature

Thoughts: I hated this album when it first released. The shaman chanting at the beginning was a huge turn off for me and I stopped the album almost immediately, shelved it and gave up on it for years. How could this possibly be the follow up to Blood Vaults? This tarnished the entire legacy of the band. 

It took me a long time before I was willing to revisit the album. I know that  it was an overreaction to the introduction, but man that really was not a good start for me. After finally getting the nerve back to listen I found that after the atrocious introduction there was actually a strong album hidden beneath. The hellish atmosphere that was in the previous albums was still here, just it had changed. This was the band's second huge shift in style.

Instead of songs focused on creating an impossibly evil soundscape, these were focused on creating a ritual type atmosphere. The songs were a tribal in nature, the rhythms created to induce a trance rather than fear. Once I learned to embrace this rather than fight it Exuvia became a much more enjoyable album. It's not nearly as good as the ones that came before it, but it still manages to live up to the standard the band set on the previous albums.

Entry 1227 - Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults

Style: Atmospheric black/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Look into the eyes of your creator, see how he weeps for you, see how your sins have burdened him... now burn for your sins

Thoughts: Heinrich Kramer, one of the most hateful and harmful individuals to ever walk the face of the earth. The author of Malleus Maleficarum - the Hammer of the Witches. It describes in detail how to identify a witch and how to dispose of them. His writings and preaching's were responsible for tens of thousands of people's deaths.... largely by burning at the steak. A despicable individual, that has made for the subject matter of The Ruins of Beverast's finest album.

As dark as the previous album was, Blood Vaults takes the band's sounds to new depths. Whenever someone asks me what I consider to be dark music, I play them the song Malefica. The combination of the slow clean guitar leads over impossibly heavy riffs with distorted Gregorian chants is completely unmatched in any genre... anywhere. Take the pipe organs into account and you have a song that is completely unmatched in atmosphere and it's ability to express the depth of human evil.

Blood Vaults is not merely an album, it's a testament to how dark metal can be as a genre. It offers unto the world what the genre can create... what other genre's cannot. This is the Ruins of Beverast gift unto the world: a chronicle of what humans are capable of in audio form. 

Entry 1226 - Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

Style: Atmospheric black/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: eight hymns that celebrate the destruction of all things

Thoughts: "I raised this stone as a ghastly memorial!" If there was a thesis to this entire album then that declaration is it. The entire album has been raised as a ghastly memorial.

There have been several major changes to the band's approach on this album. The first and most drastic is the production. Instead of the murky production of the first two albums, now every instrument is clear as day. The second is the increased role of keyboards in the music. 

Where the first two albums had keyboards added in for atmosphere, most of the time the guitars handled most of the melodies. Here the keyboards play a major part in not only the atmosphere but the melodic portion as well, especially when the music falls more into the doom territory.

While both of these changes feel like they should create a fundamental change in the music's atmosphere, I'm not convinced that it does. The music is still as evil and suffocating as it always was in the past, maybe even more so with the inclusion of the increased role of keyboards. Either way, the album marks the first major shift in the band's style, and I for one consider it a positive change. 

Entry 1225 - Ruins of Beverast - Unlock the Shrine

Style: atmospheric black/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Slow and crushing black metal that has a hellish atmosphere

Thoughts: Here we go. We are about to embark on a journey from which there is no return. The discography of The Ruins of Beverast is one of the strongest in the entire metal lexicon. The way that Alexander creates his compositions is among some of the best the genre has ever seen, his atmospheres are impossibly thick and the end result are albums that decimate me. This is the first of those chronicles. 

Unlock the Shrine is an impossibly dense collection of songs... scratch that, these aren't individual songs. Rather these are chapters to a larger theme. The entire album focuses so singularly on the slow and increasingly infernal soundscapes that the album goes from a sense of foreboding to an all out sense of the world crashing down by the end. The individual riffs don't matter, neither do the melodies, nor do the lyrics, nor do the percussion... none of it matters because it's the atmosphere that is the great ruination. 

The first two albums from The Ruins of Beverast have a distinctly obscure production to them. It's difficult to make out the individual instruments, and it's challenging to take everything in at once. To the trained ear the individual components are dissectible, however I don't think that's the point. I think the larger point here is the experience as a whole... the album as a whole. Unlock the Shrine is a phenomenal album, and in my humble estimation one of the better entries into the bands exquisite discography.

Entry 1224 - Rouge Legacy II

Style: video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Similar in sound to the first soundtrack, yet with an entirely new set of instruments

Thoughts: Everything about Rouge Legacy II was bigger. The levels are longer, there's more types of character tropes to choose from, the entire world is more interconnected, the progression tree is more complex, and the music is more modern.

My main joy of listening to the first game's soundtrack was because of the retro mixed with modern instrumentation. That is largely gone in the second games OST. In it's place we have nearly all modern instrumentation with almost all of the retro aspects have been removed. It's a shame and it kept me from enjoying this album to the fullest for a little while.

After some time though the games music started growing on me. It's not nearly as compelling as the first games music, but it still is well crafted and warrants a listen from time to time. I still enjoy the music for what it is, it just won't hit the turntable as much as the first game.

Entry 1223 - Rouge Legacy

Style: video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: a fantastic little soundtrack that sparks all kinds of joy

Thoughts: I don't understand why some soundtracks take off an others don't. This quirky little game has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a long while. Yet despite this the record has been siting in stock for years... I don't understand.

The music strikes a perfect balance of sounding like a video game soundtrack, yet still sounding good on its own. The instruments used sound like uncompressed 16 and 32 bit sound chips from the 90's, and that is one of my favorite things in modern gaming soundtracks. I love the sound of retro music, but if I can get that sound in crystal clear quality it's even better. Rouge Legacy does this expertly.

These melodies get stuck in my head for days a a time, the retro parts mixed with the more modern instrumentation give the soundtrack a unique feel and also remind me of my struggles getting through that ever changing castle. What a lovely little album.

Entry 1222 - Rotting Christ - Rituals

Style: black metal with tribal influence

Primary Emotions/Themes: Rotting Christ's version of melodic black metal with tribal drumming as a major aspect

Thoughts: Rotting Christ has such a strange discography. Their very early work is fantastic, and then they went off into a strange gothic metal direction that did nothing for me. Then they started to bring things back when they added the black metal back in. Then they decided to start adding in random aspects to their music. With Rituals that random aspect was a slower more tribal approach to the music. 

Rotting Christ's music has always relied heavily on atmosphere, and Rituals is no different. Regardless of the music's speed there is almost always a "wall of sound" approach. This helps the music have a more complete feel than it would otherwise, and in Rituals it's the defining characteristic that makes the album better than a lot of the other entries into the band's discography.

Rituals is aptly titled, as the whole album feels like an extended ritual. Some songs are a bit faster, but where the album really shines is when it slows things down and fully embraces the ritualistic atmosphere. It's here where Rotting Christ shows what they are truly capable. Unfortunately this is the last album that I've been truly able to get into from the band, but at least here they had one hell of a release. 

Entry 1221 - Dave Rodgers - Deja Vu

Style: Eurobeat

Primary Emotions/Themes: Strap on the racing gloves, kick it into high gear, were off racing!

Thoughts: I have a confession to make. I was addicted to Initial D when it first came out. It was one of the most exciting anime I had ever seen, and the way that it integrated eurobeat into the races high energy made them all that more exciting. Most of those tracks were created by this man here: the one, the only Dave Rodgers.

The fact that I'm listening to his best of on my record player right now is a bit of a surreal moment. I remember listening to these tracks when I was much younger driving down the road. They were fun back then and they still retain that same infectious energy listening years and years later. 

Almost all of my favorite songs from the series are here: Beat of the Rising Sun, Space Boy, The Race is Over are just a few that I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover. All said, I don't know if vinyl is the correct medium for me to listen to this on... it makes me want to hop in my car and drive at insanely fast speeds. It's hard to do that while spinning a record.

Entry 1220 - Risk of Rain II

Style: Video game music, ambient, progressive rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Everything that the first album did but better.

Thoughts: Wow, what an album. Everything that I loved about the first Risk of Rain is here and more. The tracks are longer, the transitions are smother, there is more diversity... everything is just better. Oh and it's a lot longer too. 

Much like the first game's soundtrack, this game excels in having it's music stand on it's own outside of the context of the game. The tracks are so well constructed that if you told me this was an instrumental album by an experimental band I would completely believe you. This level of craftsmanship is rarely seen in video games... no rarely seen in music. Between the attention to detail in the way the music intertwines with itself to the craftsmanship in the ordering of the songs, there is nearly no faults to be found in the two hours plus of this album.

While the Risk of Rain games are not generally to my liking, the music is beyond anything I could have expected. The second game in particular shows just how good video game music can be on it's own, and this album is a testament to that statement. 

Entry 1218 - Ranges - Cardinal Winds

Style: post rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: An instrumental, surprisingly heavy post rock exploration of melodies and atmospheres

Thoughts: To those familiar with modern post rock Ranges requires no introduction. To those that are not, Ranges explores a different path than the early bands of the genre do. Unlike bands such as Godspeed or Do Make Say Think, Ranges has more defined song structures, and relies less on instruments that are not guitar bass and drums.

The post rock come in though with the way Ranges approaches their instrumentals. The ebb and flow that is rampant in the genre is ever-present in their music. Full on distortion and huge riffs one moment only to have that fall back onto clean guitars and pianissimo drums and then back again. 

The way Ranges creates their music isn't anything I haven't heard before... but... the way they are able to get this range of emotion out of just a few instruments is what amazes me about the band. They can cover such a wide range using so little, something very few bands can do. Ultimately that is what keeps me coming back to this band and this album.

Entry 1219 - Risk of Rain

Style: video game music, ambient, progressive rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Slowly building melodies and atmospheres that fall in line with the gameplay

Thoughts: The concept of Risk of Rain is simple. There is a timer counting up and the longer you survive the harder things get. It's a challenging gameplay loop that requires a lot of strategy and some luck to survive. 

The music follows this exact same pattern. The tracks start slow and nearly ambient as the level starts off and then slowly builds as the amount of enemies mount. It's a gameplay and song cycle that is strangely addictive, especially as your skill in the game grows. You are rewarded with more tools and cooler music. 

The fantastic thing about the Risk of Rain soundtrack is that it works just as well as an instrumental progressive rock album as it does a video game soundtrack. I often will find myself listening to the album on its own without any desire to play the game. Very few soundtracks have that effect on me, and Risk of Rain is among the best.

Entry 1217 - Randall Collier-Ford - Advent

Style: dark ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Slow modulating tones that are counterbalanced by classical instrumentation

Thoughts: A low rumble beckons me forward. Standing at the doorway I know not what to do. This is the last moment of hesitation. In front of me the great unknown, behind me a life once lived. Safety, security... but ultimately nothingness. In front of me is endless possibilities, a new life that could ruin or exalt me into new realms. Depth of emotions and experiences that are beyond anything on this earth. The abyss stares at me and I return it's gaze... deep calleth unto deep. No more hesitation, I step forward into the darkness.

Advent is an apt name for this album. It brings forth a new moment in time for those who listen. It's slow glacial speed promotes reflection and contemplation in those who are brave enough to listen. It calls out to those who are willing to listen.

The music on advent is barely such. At any given moment there is little going on. A slow morass tone, some long drawn out violins, or perhaps merely silence. By themselves none of these things would be worth the listeners time. However, the way they are put together here create a foreboding atmosphere that demands the listeners attention... if the listener is willing. 

Advent is a fantastic dark ambient album. It takes the core of the genre and expands it into three distinct creations, all of which are subtle enough to demand a close listen yet overt enough to reward that listen. Highly recommended to fans of the droning dark ambient genre. 

Entry 1216 - Quest Master - The Twelve Temples

Style: Old school dungeon synth, dark dungeon music 

Primary Emotions/Themes: The sister album to one of the greatest modern dungeon synth albums

Thoughts: I'm so happy this album exists. I'm so happy that these two albums exist. They bring me so much joy. Where the Twelve Castles was more barebones and stripped down, the Twelve Temples fleshes out the sound a tad bit more, adds in a few more chords while still retaining the joy of the early dungeon synth albums.

This album sounds just a little bit more modern than it's sister album, like it came a few  years after. The sound design is just a little bit fuller, the synths sound like they have been developed a bit more. The melodies remain simple, but there are now a couple more things going on in the album. None of this is a bad thing, it's simply an evolution of the concepts found on The Twelve Castles. 

Quest Master has created two of my favorite dungeon synth albums. They compliment each other perfectly and act as a beautiful introduction to someone wondering what dungeon synth sounds like or can sound like. They are treasures and need to be protected.

Entry 1215 - Quest Master - The Twelve Castles

Style: old school dungeon synth, dark dungeon music

Primary Emotions/Themes: This album truly embraces the origins of the genre: one dude in a basement with a Casio keyboard

Thoughts: We need to protect Quest Master. His ability to create dungeon synth is rare these days. This sounds like it could have come straight out of the early 90's with the way this is composed and produced. It's a true gem of an album.

Anyone listening to this may think that it's too simple, or too childish. They could be forgiven for thinking that... in reality this is one of the greatest tributes to the origins of the genre, before it even had a name. This is Mortiis' dark dungeon music, neowave, Berlin school... all the phrases that were being used to describe dungeon synth before it was crowned with it's genre name.

This album needs to be enshrined and cherished forever. It so perfectly encapsulates the sound of yesteryear that I can't help but find myself wanting to listen to it for hours on end. Is it simple? Yes, of course it is. There's hardly anything going on besides basic melodies and counter melodies throughout the entire thing. The sound design is straight out of the 80's keyboards that so many of these early albums were written on... all of this is what makes this album a treasure.

Entry 1214 - Purzum - Felosofeline

Style: dungeon synth, comfy synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: a purrfect self aware album

Thoughts: We've come full circle. The cycle is now complete. What began with hate, now completes with nothing but comfiness and purring. 

All jokes aside, Purzum has actually created quite a good comfy synth album. The music has a lullaby quality to it that lulls me into a deep sense of security. Like curling up by a warm fire after a hard days work, the music's warmth covers me and allows me to rest.

The whole album is made up of soft tones that reverberate through my speakers. The melodies are hardly complex and they dance around each other in playful motions. There's never more than three or four things going on at any given time, making this sound an awful lot like tavern music... just with synths. 

I'm normally not too into comfy synth, but this one was too much to pass up. The self aware nature of the album title as well as the project name made me audibly laugh the first time I heard it. The fact that this got a vinyl pressing is just too much. Absolutely adore this one.

Entry 1213 - Project Lazerus - ждите Нас Звезды!

Style: synthwave, sovietwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: an analog journey through space.

Thoughts: There is some music that hits different. It's different than anything else in my collection. Project Lazerus is one such project.

The music here feels vintage. Like the music feels like it is from ages past. I had the pleasure to speak with Boris a few years ago about his recording process, and everything in his studio is analog. Reel to reel recorders, analog synths... the works. The resultant music is incredible.

The twenty (!!) songs on this album all have a similar quality to them thanks to the production. It's essentially two albums in one, as each record feels like a complete entry, yet they also work together. The real star here is the synths though. They feel like they are coming out of a speaker on the Jupiter 2 as it's Lost in Space. Everything feels so natural and pure and... analog. 

This is the kind of album that stays in my collection forever. It's unique amongst all my other records and has a specific time and place to be played. There are several moments a year where that happens, and I'm pleased that this is one of them.

Entry 1212 - PowerPCMe - Endless Summer

Style: Vaporwave, chillwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: A collection of songs that exemplifies what chilled out synthwave/vaporwave is capable of when done right

Thoughts: There are a ton of records that I forget I have when I'm not systematically going through my collection. Unfortunately for me, this is one of those. Every time I put Endless Summer on it makes me smile, but it's not a record I go out of my way to listen to very often.

Every time I put this record on I find myself relaxing near instantly. The music has this groove to it that lures the stress and anxiety out of my body. It's like I can see it floating away in the distance. The synths are so calm and touch all the right parts of my brain to achieve this.

The songs themselves are short and varied... yet all chill. Some sound a bit more like a sunset and other sound more like the sun rising, but they all sound like a bright sunny day. The melodies are bright, the tempos never accelerate past a nice bobbing head walking down the road level... the whole thing just works. 

I really need to listen to this album more. I enjoy the hell out of it every time it's on the table. I'm finding that I say that about a lot of the records in my collection as I'm going through them one by one. This one has been added to the list of great records I forgot about.

Entry 1211 - Portcullis/Maiden Hair - Towers of Albion

Style: dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A tale of two artists

Thoughts: When I bought this I had no idea it was a split. I should have figured with the multiple artists name on the side. It turns out that upon further inspection the two styles of dungeon synth present here are quite different. 

Portcullis' music is soothing and recalls a string quartet throughout most of their side. It reminds me of a movie soundtrack where a hero is staring out over a huge swath of land and we, the audience, are expected to take it all in. It's one of the better 20 minutes of dungeon synth in my collection if I'm honest about it. 

The Maiden Hair side is quite different. Instead of telling the tale of a land untouched we have music that feels like it should be played in a village square. Simple melodies played on flutes and lutes are what Maiden Hair brings to this split, and it works as a wonderful contrast to the other side of the record.

Towers of Albion is a fantastic split. Two types of dungeon synth all contained in one record, the two complimenting each other with both their styles and musicianship. I don't have many splits in my collection, but this certainly is among the best of them.

Entry 1210 - Portal - Avow

Style: Experimental death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: the most straight forward the band has ever been, defined riffs and moments are scattered throughout the album

Thoughts: I'm not sure which way is up, or witch way is down. I have lost myself in a vortex of... something. The void has taken me, destroyed my sanity and removed my conscious self from my body. They now function independently of one another and yet somehow one controls the other. Welcome to the paradox that is Portal.

Avow is without a doubt a Portal album. There is nothing else on this planet that could have created these sounds. It's a horror ambient album that's only desire is to see you suffer. It's an obscure death metal album who's only aim is to see the listener tormented. It is both of these things at once, yet it is neither. This is the Paradox of Avow.

On the six songs contained in this record they are simultaneously  an ambient album and an experimental death metal album in the style of Portal. They are both of these things yet none of these things. Sometimes the band will give us a riff that decays into ambience. Sometimes we get ambience that decays into a riff. Sometimes we have a riffing ambient or ambient riff or god knows what decaying into something else... the only thing that's real here is that there is audio happening and that it is in a constant state of decay. Nothing else is real, nothing else matters.