Entry 1612 - Fogweaver - Labyrinthine

Style: dungeon synth

Thoughts: Dungeon synth may very well be on its way to becoming my favorite genre - dethroning black metal. Honestly though aren't those two genres two sides of the same coin? Though the history of dungeon synth is a bit more nebulous than black metal, the two are closely intertwined. 

Where dungeon synth really has an advantage though is the near limitless directions the genre can be taken. You can have some projects paying tribute to the olden days. You can have fantasy synth galivanting around. You have dino synth for pre-historic folks. You can go in nearly any direction possible and there is a synth project that fits the scope of said subject.

Fogweaver finds themselves somewhere between fantasy synth and traditional dungeon synth on Labyrinthine. The music has this larger than life feel to it, yet it feels incredibly intimate and minute. It's like were witnessing tiny moments in a completely fantastical and alien world. The tidings of this place are not known to us, but they seem oddly familiar at the same time. It's a musical paradox.

The whole album revolves around hypnotic melodies that reverberate in unnatural ways. The melodies themselves are elegantly simple and will modulate over the course of the songs, but never too far from the original structure. 

In many ways the title of the album is very fitting. The music is indeed Labyrinthine. It sounds so similar yet it changes in the most subtle of ways. Have we been here before? What way should we turn next? The true ways of things are never fully known. 

Dungeon synth is an incredible genre. It explores so many different moods and atmospheres that it's nearly impossible to find all of them. Fogweaver has explored yet another facet of this genre with Labyrinthine and its wonderous melodies. Albums such as this make me want to delve further and deeper into the genre. I'm eager to see where those journeys lead.

Entry 1611 - Bergtatt - Labyrinthine Subterranean Passages

Style: ambient, dungeon synth

Thoughts: I wasn't sure what I thought of Labyrinthine Subterranean Passages the first time I heard it. Traversing Celestial Realms was an album that I immediately took to with its subtle melodies and deep reverence for the stars, however Bergtatt's album extoling the underworld was not so instantaneous with me. 

Labyrinthine Subterranean Passages is a subtle album. There are long stretches where there are little to no melodies taking place and we only have droning ambience. When the melodies do come, they are at the same slow monotonous pace as the droning soundscapes. It has the same tamber and tone as you would find in a dirge. 

Here's the thing about music: just because something does not immediately click upon first listen does not automatically make it a bad album. This is the case with the Subterranean opus from Bergtatt. Everything stated before is still true: the monotony, the dirgelike feeling, the large swaths with nothing of note happening. The difference is that those elements began to come together and make sense.

Silence. Silence is the driving factor of this album. It is so quiet, so subdued, so deep that no light can possibly breach these deep caves. Within this depth comes a strong reverberation of everything that takes place within them. The melodies echo off the walls until they decay into the depths. The soundscapes fill the endless corridors of this labyrinth. Everything is beholden to this reverberation, and ultimately this silence.

There is a resignation to the music, like this is the last moments of a persons life. They have accepted this fate and merely wait for the end. The melodies, when present, paint a dismal picture, a slow moving fate towards an inevitable doom. The melodies are sparse enough that this feeling of inevitability is not overwhelming, but it is ever present - even in the backing soundscapes and ambience.

The ambience itself paints a dark and painful picture of a land forsaken by all, and its inhabitants are forgotten to time. There is no hope here, no life, only a cruel end. Yet somehow, in all this gloom, death and dreariness there is beauty. There is a stillness that nothing can touch. There is peace here that is not present in the waking world. There is a sense of contentment that is not found elsewhere... a sense of finality and completeness. 

Labyrinthine Subterranean Passages is an album that took me quite a few listens to fully appreciate. It's a subtle album that requires a lot out of the listener and does not do well from casual listens. I find myself drawn back to it the more I listen to it, and every time I dwell within it's caverns I am welcomed by a dark yet peaceful calm.  

Entry 1610 - Cryptopsy

Style: technical death metal

Thoughts: It's hard to think of a band that has a more spotted and controversial history than Cryptopsy did to this point. Going from one of the most respected death metal bands on the planet to sounding like a technical hardcore band with And Then You'll Beg then back to a shadow of their selves with Once Was not, the band was inconsistent at best. Then came The Unspoken King.

While I did not mind the album the quality that had been in the band was severely lacking. The clean vocals were also not great, not horrible but not great. The real kicker though was the band's (specifically Flo's) response. Mocking fans that didn't like it, saying that this was the true Cryptopsy... reminded me quite a bit of Hypocrisy with Catch 22... not a good look.

Well it seems like the band learned from it, because everything changed after Unspoken King. Jon rejoined the band, Flo's drumming became tighter, even Matt learned how to properly do brutal vocals. Everything changed... for the better. 

Cryptopsy's self titled album is a love letter to long term fans. It's a back to the roots album in a way that few bands have ever pulled off. The real game changer here is getting Jon Levasseur back on guitar. The dude knows how to write incredibly complex riffs and he knows how to make them sound damn good at the same time.

What sets Cryptopsy apart further though is the incredible chaos that comes with these technical riffs. I never know where these songs are going. A jazz break here, a breakdown there, a xylophone elevator music interlude... you never ever know where the band is going to end up.

The other major factor that has changed from the Unspoken King is Matt's vocals. Instead of a hardcore shout the dude has adopted a proper growl that is all over the place in terms of delivery. The slurred nastiness of Lord Worm is to be heard sometimes. Other times he goes more traditional false chord screams, but he's always brutal and the clean vocals have been eliminated from the music entirely.

Cryptopsy's self titled feels like the band is trying to rebrand back to what made them a death metal staple in the first place. After listening to this album for over a decade I can confidently say that the band has succeeded. Not only is this an acceptable apology for the Unspoken King, it's also one of the finest albums in their discography... perhaps even their second best album.

It's wild to me that the band turned their sound around this much. There have been a lot of "return to the roots" albums out there, but this one feels like one of the most genuine ones. Sure it's missing a lot of the classic lineup, but damn it still kicks my ass every time I listen to it.

Entry 1609 - ll nothing ll - Ever So Distant/Higeki

Style: vaporwave

Thoughts: Higeki, tragedy. An event that is often so hurtful, so full of loss, so completely disparaging that it often becomes a life defining moment for those involved. This is the type of life event that ll nothing ll's Higeki captures through his sombre music.

Higeki is one of the first releases in nothing's discography where he started moving away from classic vaporwave. In it's place we have a more experimental, less defined musical narrative. Higeki itself still showcases a lot of the speed and reverb found within classic vaporwave, but the atmosphere and instrumentals are entirely different.

Instead of the nostalgia riddled releases of the past, Higeki reaches more for an internal narrative. One that encourages reflection, and a more melancholic look at life. The atmosphere is created between the interplay of sampled keyboards, slow percussion, and a distant trumpet. Those who know me and my taste will know that I'm a sucker for ambient music with a trumpet... that rings true here as well.

Though short, Higeki marks an important and fundamental change for nothing. This release sees the tragedy of life and it's aftermath. Instead of yearning for what once was, it yearns for that which we can no longer have. A hole that can never be filled. A tragedy that cannot be undone.

--------

Why? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we always seek out companionship from those who do not reciprocate? Why do we seek comfort in those that are Ever So Distant?

ll nothing ll's second EP on this record is one that flirts with vaporwave, much like Higeki did... but the feeling of the songs are completely different than classic vaporwave. This time the nostalgia is replaced with longing, loneliness, and ultimately hopelessness.

A slow and grinding beat drives the music ever forward, towards an inevitable end. Over top this beat is where the emotional toll of Ever So Distant begins to take hold. Brass instruments are used effectively throughout the release to slowly strip away hope and resilience. In their place we are left with a husk of emotions that simply exist but do not have purpose. The life that was once in us is gone, slowly eroded away by Ever So Distant's forlorn music.

The thing that makes Ever So Distant unique is it's ability to sway my mood away from any sort of joy I'm feeling in any given moment. It will almost certainly put me into a reflective or even somber mood by the end of the four songs. It's rare that music is able to do this, and nothing has achieved this with Ever So Distant. So this comes with a cautious recommendation, but please know what you are getting into... this music is not to be taken lightly.

Entry 1608 - Fief - V

Style: medieval dungeon synth

Thoughts: This is it. The final Fief album that I need for my collection. I now have all of the full lengths. Six chronicles of the medieval bard playing to his hearts content. This being the fifth such chronicle and what many thought being the final one is of equal quality to the standard set by the other albums in this legendary discography. Stay a while and listen.

Those who know Fief know what to expect with this release. Short little ditties that play around with dancing melodies using flutes, harpsichords, and lutes in keyboard form. This interplay is critical for the sound that Fief creates. It has a playful nature that no other artist in the dungeon synth field has. 

This playfulness turns into curiosity, curiosity into knowledge, knowledge into strength. The strength is what carries through from release to release, it's what makes Fief... Fief. Even though every release shares much in common, there is this compelling force to complete each album... often times in succession. The music is simply that good.  

Entry 1607 - Abigor - Demos

Style: raw black metal

Thoughts: There is a ton of stuff to cover with this release... instead of trying to cover every demo on it's own I'm going to go over thing in generalities and what impressed me about the early days of one of the finest black metal bands on the planet.

The most notable thing that I found was that the first few demos do not have Silenus as vocalist. For most of the bands early works Rune the one delivering the devilry behind the microphone. His vocals are incredibly high pitched and every now and then will give a ear piercing howl/shriek that will burst my ear drums if the music is too loud. 

The music itself is discernible as Abigor though in a primitive state. The riffs aren't nearly as complex as the later albums and the bass is audible (!) on the early demos even though the production is markedly worse than many of the full length albums. 

There is also this unrefined quality to these demos that their full lengths don't have (with maybe the exception of the debut). This raw creative energy shows the band throwing whatever the hell they want into the songs. Anything from a sample of slaves chanting to random guitar noodles over an ambient track to Rune screaming at the top of his lungs. There is simply things that the band were doing at this stage that was abandoned in later albums.

I love listening to a bands demos. It gives me a sense of where they came from and what formulated their early works. Abigor is no different. They had quite a few demo and rehearsals released before their debut album. This is a treasure trove for people interested in Abigor's early workings.  I find this fascinating, but at the same time I'm not sure how often I will listen to this album in its entirety. Regardless it's an indispensable part of black metal history that finally got a proper vinyl release.

Entry 1606 - Paradise Lost - Medusa

Style: doom/death metal

Thoughts: The circle is complete. The band has truly returned to their roots. The Plague Within reintroduced the growls along with some true death metal riffing, Medusa completes the metamorphosis back into a fully fledged doom/death band. 

The band has not been this heavy since Gothic; Medusa easily surpasses Shades of God and Icon in terms of brutality and heaviness. For those in doubt listen to the opening track: Fearless Sky. This track is slow, grinding, filled with the trademark leads that Greg puts into the Paradise Lost sound, and there is barely a clean vocal in sight. 

It's crazy to think just how much of a full circle this band has come in terms of their career. Changing significantly every album leading up to Host and then slowly regaining their previous regalia as they got heavier and heavier with each release. 

The thing is I think the band truly is making the music that they want to. They simply create whatever strikes them in the moment as writing good music. Greg was quoted years ago saying "you always have to think that your current music is the best you've done" and I believe that he still thinks that based on how these albums keep coming out. They never feel dull. 

A return to the roots album is often seen as a desperation move or a failed attempt to recapture failed glory from so many bands. I don't think that's the case here.  I think the band just wanted to create a heavy ass album and it just so happened to be created in a return to the roots style. The band has been trending this way for nearly a decade and this is just the logical conclusion. 

Medusa is not quite as good as the previous album or the one hereafter but it still stands as one of the better metal albums the band has created. So many of the albums that the band put out in their transition period were kind of lack luster with the band half committing to metal and half committing to the pop styles they were playing around with. There is nothing half hearted about this. This is pure straight up brutal doom/death, and I'm here for it. 

Entry 1605 - Hecate Enthroned - Upon Promethean Shores (Unscriptured Waters)

Style: keyboard driven black metal

Thoughts: One can't mention Hecate Enthroned's early works without also bringing up Cradle of Filth in the same breath. There are so many stories out there on who started this vocal style first. More than one account shows that Jon taught Danni how to do it and Danni is the one that ended up making it popular. Regardless of who ended up creating it first, the vocal performance by Jon on Hecate Enthroned's debut EP fits the music perfectly.

Honestly the vocals are really the point where the comparisons to Cradle stop. The guitar work here is quite different. These riffs focus more on full guitar chords played at fast speeds with keyboards often taking the lead role away from anything the guitars would do. The interplay between the two is much more defined than the dance they do in Cradle's early albums. 

While the song writing is indeed done in a linear style, the music takes on quite a different atmosphere and style than that of Cradle. Actually, I'm being unfair to Hecate here, this entire entry I've been comparing them to the shadow of Cradle of Filth. This band is their own entity. There are some indisputable similarities between the two but Hecate Enthroned deserves their own spotlight because this is damn good music. 

Hecate's debut album is essentially their demo with better production. It has the same track list and not much has changed in terms of the tracks or song writing. What this means though is we get a well defined and well rehearsed collection of songs.  These songs have excellent riffs, powerful vocals and a keyboard presence that is a perfect representation of what mid 90's black metal is all about. 

Upon Promethean Shores is a fine start for the band, the band has made a clear and powerful statement with this debut. They are here to write good music that helped put the UK black metal scene on the international stage. For those uninitiated, this is a great place to start with this band.

Entry 1604 - Sybreed - The Pulse of Awakening

Style: Technical groove metal, industrial, gothic metal

Thoughts: Some things are worth writing about, some things are not. This one is worth writing about.

"Look at the world, we got nothing to preserve." This definitive statement was written many years ago. Nihilism in a singular phrase. It rings as true today as the day it was penned. 

Waiting for the end, embracing it. Discounting the value of human life, the loss of the value of the individual. The violence of uncreation, the sanctity of the pacifist is no more. Man is obsolete, erased, extinct. Long live the machine.

Sybreed, short for synthetic breed, is a band that is comprised by humans that write about a post human world. The Pulse of Awakening is just that, the awakening of the robotic race that will replace us - the singularity. 

This concept of the post-human world is portrayed within the medium of metal. Specifically complex groove metal with a hefty dose of gothic and industrial elements. Songs will often start with a complex groove interaction of the excellent guitar work of Drop and the drums bringing to mind early Fear Factory on more than one occasion. Within this framework industrial elements and effects will be layered on top. 

The gothic component comes primarily from Tom's voice. HIs harsh vocals are standard fare fry screams, however his clean vocals ooze goth rock. This is not the half spoken half sung Sisters of Mercy variety, but rather the Robert Smith mournful singing. His voice glides on top of the music discussing the ills of man and the end of civilization. 

The gothic assertions continue with the cover of Killing Joke's Love Like Blood. It takes the original and makes it heavier with an even darker tone. Sybreed makes the song their own while paying tribute to the original. 

The Pulse of Awakening is an incredibly varied album. Doomsday Party is a danceable almost radio worth song. I Am Ultraviolence flirts with full on black metal, utilizing blast beats and open chord riffing. In the Cold Light is a near ballad that sounds like the final moments of consciousness before its extinguished. 

Sybreed has had a varied career. They have steadily improved with every album until they reached their apex with The Pulse of Awakening. The album is a fantastic testament to both what humans are capable of and a horrific glimpse of the world once we die out. 

Entry 1603 - Ossaert - Offerdier

Style: black metal

Thoughts: Some things are worth writing about, others are not. This one is not. Boring black metal with some ambient interludes. This one will not be long for the collection.

Entry 1602 - Pa Vesh En - Sesyi Rytualistycnyia

Style: raw black metal

Thoughts: Tortured vocals, black metal bordering on dark ambience, and an absolute hellish atmosphere. This is Pa Vesh En.

Sesyi Rytualistycnyia is the latest EP from this one man project and it consists of a singular song split up into six parts. The music is extreme in both style and execution. The music itself has not only the typical black metal atmosphere, there is an additional layer to it that recalls the scene of a murder, or a place where a great evil has taken place. 

The atmosphere is unwelcoming, harsh, and encourages disengagement from the music. It is a deterrent, instigator, and aggressor all in one. For those who do not heed the warning they are met with black metal that contains barely audible riffs, thunderous drums, and a howl that chills me to the bone. 

I've listened to this EP multiple times at this point and I still can't make out all that the instruments are doing. Rather than focus in a singular element the music washes over me and puts seeds of fear and doubt in my mind. The details ultimately don't matter but they are there to be found for those who would venture further into the nightmare that is Pa Vesh En.

Entry 1601 - Gimrick - Eisreich

Style: dungeon synth, winter synth

Thoughts: There is a place, deep in the mountains where no one roams. Snow falls here undisturbed for decades, the wind slowly corralling it into groves and crevices in the mountain range. The air whispers secrets that no man knows. The ground is frozen with the wisdom of generations. This is the realm of Eisreich.

I have another release from Gimrick and to say that the two releases are similar would be an outright lie. Die Mauem Der Nacht is dungeon synth sure, but it's so littered with synthwave that it feels almost like a completely different project. 

Eisreich is a quiet album with moments of glorious beauty. The melodies are soft, cold, and almost sound like a lullaby in some instances. They stir up the cold in me, the perfect music for a clear winter night. A night where the stars are visible for all to see in an endless light spectacle. These melodies reflect the purity of nature from a place of enteral cold, slow, brooding, eternal.

Eisreich is simple in its approach. The songs often only contain a few notes and silence. The silence can often span seconds at a time before another note comes in. I absolutely love this approach because it really drives home the bitter cold and calm that a deep perpetually frozen mountain range would have. 

Eisrech translates roughly to "ice rich." This is a prefect title for the music that Gimrick has created. Simple, to the point, and entirely accurate to the music contained within. Excellent, if short, dungeon synth of the highest order.

Entry 1600 - Oerheks - Landschapsanachronismen

Style: atmospheric black metal

Thoughts: Oerheks is a band that I only started listening to in the past year or so. Frequent readers will know that I'm very hard to please when it comes to new black metal. There is so much redundancy in the black metal genre that it's hard for me to find stuff that I truly enjoy anymore... at least that's new. Of course I'll always be able to go back to my favorite albums, but a new band... that's something pretty rare.

Landschapsanachronismen is a two song EP. Both songs are around twelve to thirteen minutes long and are veiled by a pretty obscure production. There are all sorts of black metal productions in this world. The one that graces this album sounds like the band recorded the music normally then took a loud speaker into a well. They played the album at the bottom of the well and placed a single microphone above the well to catch the audio. This is the context in which Landschapsanachronismen exists. 

For most of the album the guitars dominate. They create layer upon layer of murky notes and riffs that get muddled by the production. On top of this you have keyboards intertwining from time to time to create a truly dense sound. The drums and bass are obscured by the production so much that they are barely audible. The bass drums barely create a sound and the snare just sounds like a clap that happens from time to time. This would normally bother me but the fact that neither of these instruments is audible is not truly a concern with the album as the main focus is clearly the atmosphere.

Are the individual moments of this album memorable? Probably not as much as I would like them to be. The thing is though that this is again not the main focus. The primary concern of the band is to create an atmosphere, a deep, unsettling, yet somehow beautiful atmosphere. In this aspect Landschapsanachronismen succeeds immensely.

Oerheks has been a curiosity of mine for a while now. I'm still trying to figure out why I enjoy their music to the extent that I do. It's obviously the atmosphere that draws me in. The songs are like archeological digs that require patience and effort to uncover. Sometimes this happens and there is no reward, however with Oerheks the payoff is real. 

I believe there are few more releases from this band that I can add to my collection. I'm going to be investigating these to see if that is a possibility based on my experience with the band so far. 

Entry 1599 - Edge of Sanity - Crimson

Style: progressive death metal

Thoughts: I remember reading an old interview with Dan about how Crimson came to be. The band was in a bit of a rut and needed something for the new album. Dan had always been a fan of progressive rock and had suggested to the rest of the band to create a single track album ala Yes or Genesis. The band agreed, and Crimson was born.

Little did the band know at that point that they were going to create one of the finest death metal albums ever created. These forty minutes are not only the finest that Edge of Sanity recorded, the album is on my short list of top death metal albums ever... possibly best metal albums ever. Let me explain.

Crimson is song that revolves around several musical and lyrical themes. It tells the story of humanity and their inability to bear children anymore. The king and queen of the world are able to have a child and the princess becomes the focus of the entire civilization. The question that the album poses as its central thesis though is about this princess: is she human or is she a demon?

As the story progresses so does the instrumentation. The riffs vary between hyper blast driven mania to melodic interludes to straight up progressive rock played in a death metal style. The melodies and riffs have a way of coming back and being revisited by the band over and over again with slight variations. These moments are what brings the 40 minute song together, to actually sound like a singular song rather than a bunch of riffs and sections thrown together. 

There are several stand out moments on the album but none more so than the second acoustic break down around 30 minutes into the song. One of the major plot points has just taken place and the band is in a state of mourning with Dan's clean vocals expressing this to the utmost. When the metal finally does come back Mike from Opeth comes in with a growl so menacing that it still gives me goosebumps to this very day. I've listened to this album at least a hundred times and it still gets me, incredible.

Crimson is easily the highlight of Edge of Sanity's discography. There is no other album that they have that is any where near as ambitious, nor as potent as this. They created a masterpiece; an album that has no equal. Listen to this album, if it does not strike a chord with you at least on some level, metal is not the genre for you.

Entry 1598 - Cradle of Filth - Damnation and a Day

Style: orchestral extreme gothic metal

Thoughts: I can just imagine the producers of this album getting together: "Hey guys, what if we did everything that Cradle did on the last album... but with an orchestra!" 

I think that there was something in the water in the black metal scene during the late 90's and early 2000's. All of the major black metal bands were changing things up. Some went more mainstream, others included more instruments than ever before, others went is a completely bizarre direction. Cradle was one of the ones that went with adding more instruments than ever before.

Two major things have changed from Midian to Damnation and a Day. The first is obvious, we've added an orchestra. This is one of the single largest changes that Cradle ever did. The second major change is that we've lost a second guitarist. This is another major change as a core part of Cradle's sound are those wonderful Iron Maiden inspired melodies and harmonies. Combine the orchestra with a single guitar and merging that in with the typical Cradle sound and you get an inkling on what this album sounds like.

My biggest concern with the album would be the role of the keyboards with the inclusion of the orchestra. The keys are still present, but their role has been reduced to a minor role on the album. There are tracks like Hurt and Virtue where they are used prominently, but overall on the album they are not nearly as core part of the Cradle sound as they had been to this point. 

Despite all these changes the album works. It still sounds like Cradle, just with one guitar and an orchestra. It's that one guitar though that drags the album down. Cradle needs two guitars for their sound to be complete. By only having one guitar the keyboards and orchestra have to try and fill the role of the second guitar and it's just not the same. 

Cradle was trying to find themselves, and I feel like Damnation and a Day was the first attempt to reach out beyond their established roots. They would go on to try a more commercial sound after this to disastrous effects. 

In many ways Damnation and a Day can be argued to be the last of their truly classic albums. I would side on that being Midian, but I can see the argument for this album as well. For what it is Damnation and a Day is not bad, it simply does not match the quality of the previous four albums.  

Entry 1597 - Arms and Sleepers - The Organ Hearts

Style: Lots 

Thoughts: You ever find music that you think sounds great but have no idea what genre it is? Yeah, that's me with Arms and Sleeper's album The Organ Hearts. 

The Organ Hearts is a combination of a lot of different things. I hear ambient, I hear jazz, I hear IDM, I hear pop, I hear blues... I hear a lot of different things. The one thing that is omnipresent though is a chill vibe. 

The album also is not shy on  atmosphere and groove.  As with many things that are thick on atmosphere most of the songs on The Organ Hearts are drenched in reverb. This does a couple of things: it fleshes out the sound, and allows the music to utilize sustain and decay as a core part of the songs. 

Chords will play and be allowed to fully decay into nothingness. Sometimes this will be with other instruments playing along side the decay, other times it will just result in silence. In either case the effect is always welcome as I am a self proclaimed big fan of using silence as a counter point to music. 

The variety on The Organ Hearts is one of the albums greatest strengths. It's divided up into three movements and each one has an overarching theme. The first focuses more on standard song structures and utilizes limited vocals. The second brings in more jazz influences but somewhat in an IDM structure with loops and effects. The third movement sounds like it's more of a tribute to the past with a production that sounds like it was recorded on a radio from the 1960's. The songs also have a detective type feel to them, making it almost sound like it belongs in an film noir. 

Arms and Sleepers is not a project I'm very familiar with outside of this album. I've looked into some of the other albums and they don't have the appeal to me that this one does. I may find something else that I enjoy over time, but for the time being The Organ Hearts is a fine album to have in the collection. 

Entry 1596 - Dimmu Bongir - Huis Pipen Tar Oss

Style: keyboard driven black metal

Thoughts: Black metal is serious business. I can think of no other genre where people take themselves more seriously than this one. The idea of trve or untrve bands vs. specific styles not being part of the genre or not, it all runs deep down to the very core of the second wave. Arrogance, kvlt mentality, and a general hatred of all things are the core tenants of the black metal enjoyer. ... and then there is Dimmu Bongir.

What if Burzum smoked weed? What if Darkthrone did edibles? What if Satyricon ripped a bong before recording? These are the core tenants of Dimmu Bongir. The sounds of the olden days of black metal but through the fog of Mary Jane.

Dimmu Bongir is a parody band if that was not self evident. Their music is based in the keyboard driven bands of the early to mid nineties Their music is noticeably slower than most black metal in the second wave let alone modern day. The band rarely uses blast beats and is content to maintain a middling pace throughout the entire album.

The riffs are obviously black metal in execution but have more of a traditional metal feel to them than most bands of the time. What really defines them though is their use of keyboards. These keys add atmosphere, take the lead melody, and are the heart and soul of the entire album. They are what take the album from being just a boring black metal parody band and transform it into an album that truly feels like it is from the early 90's ala early Gehenna or Odium. 

Obviously the lyrical content is less than serious on this album. That said the music is quite good, not only for a parody band but for black metal in general. The lyrics may be a gimmick but they bring the music to back it up in full force. I hope that the two albums that we currently have are not the only two outings that the band will produce. I quite enjoy these guys walking their own (stoned) path.  

Entry 1595 - Dark Tranquillity - Endtime Signals

Style: melodic death metal

Thoughts: There are few bands that I have a longer relationship with than Dark Tranquillity. This band is the one that got me back into extreme metal after I was trending more towards the main stream sound. This is the band that taught me many things within the metal scene: evolution, melody with brutality, beauty in violence, just to name a few. 

For the longest time I had been dropping off with the band. All the original members left except Mikael of course. The music was becoming stale with album after album sounding similar - mid paced melodic death metal with no real speed changes or significant differences between songs. Both Atoma and Moment were pretty much the same album for me... the last album I truly enjoyed from front to back was Character.

When Endtime Signals came out I didn't think anything of it. The lead single was just more of the same Dark Tranquillity that we had seen for the past decade. Then I saw someone online say that this was the best album they had released in a long time. Ok fine, that's one person... but then another person said it, and another... and more. I finally started taking note.

One cloudy afternoon I sat down and put the album on, front to back, no breaks and took it all in. What I heard was way more varied than I thought. Of course there were songs that had the Atoma and Moment feel in them: that drudging same paced melodic death metal that is content to simply exist and not stir any emotion whatsoever. But there was more than just that.

There were songs on here that showed life! Even on some of the more mid-paced songs the band has more emotion and passion than they have had in a long time. There are some songs on here that display even more than that, Drowned Out Voices has a near death metal riff to open the song. The band is back to playing fast... and dare I say brutal as well. Hell, Unforgivable even features a blast beat at one point. Who would have thought that Dark Tranquillity in modern times would be using a blast beat?? Not me.

So is this a full return to form? No, but it certainly is a step or three in the right direction. The band is showing that they have life again, a passion for the music that was once so lifeless. It gives me hope, like seeing an old friend return after many years away. So yes... in many ways this is the best album they have created... likely since Fiction.

Entry 1594 - Ashes

Style: atmospheric black metal

Thoughts: I'll be honest here, I bought this record for the cover art. I love the minimalistic sketch in black and white of a desolate well in the middle of no where. It tells a powerful story of a place that was once a central place giving life to a community now abandoned. Why? We will never know, but something happened here that took this spring of life away from the people in this region.

This cover analogy is mirrored by the music. The majority of the record is slow, repetitive riffs that breed hopelessness and misery. With music like this it's of the utmost importance that the repetition is warranted. The best bands that dabble in this style will use the same riff for minutes on end to create a hypnotic effect that will suck me in and the world around me ceases to exist. 

Ashes is one such band. The songs are long, they contain hypnotic riffs and are varied enough with the drums and small interludes that the music draws me into alternate realities. In this instance that reality is harsh, barren, and does not have enough resources to support a sustainable life. It is desolate and forbearing. Destined for death.

Finding albums like this is rare. Most of the time a band attempting this style will falter and create boring music. Ashes has created something more than that, something that taps into the beauty of sorrow. It's a short but powerful entry into the atmospheric black metal field. 

Entry 1593 - Rotting Christ - Theogonia

Style: black metal with additional elements mixed in

Thoughts: There are few bands that have released as good of albums as Rotting Christ did during their run from 2000 to 2004. Each of those albums ranges from good to absolutely mind blowing in quality. They still have several good albums out of that time period, but they vary in quality. Theogonia is one such album.

To be the album to follow up Sanctus Diabolos is going to be hard. A masterpiece of that magnitude comes around maybe once every few years. The band wisely decided to evolve their sound further rather than try to replicate the sound found on the previous album with Theogonia. The results are a bit mixed, but overall the album is one of the better ones in their discography.

The band has settled in on a much more straight forward approach this time, stripping away many of the choirs and layers of orchestral arrangements that the previous album had. The band leans further into the melodic leads with a few elements sprinkled throughout the songs to flesh out the sound. 

The quality of the album as a whole is above average for the band, but some songs are quite excellent. Nemecic has an amazing use of a lead instrument that sounds like a cross between a flute and a bagpipe. I can't quite place what the instrument is but it certainly is used to excellent effect here. Phobos' Synagogue works in a great deep riff with some keyboards that mimic early second wave black metal. Helios Hyperion has a fantastic lead guitar melody with a galloping rhythm. 

While the guitars in general seem to be a bit more focused on the bottom end on this release the songs themselves seem to be less focused on a general theme. Rather they each have their own ideas that are contained within the song. This makes the album feel more like a collection of tracks rather than a full album. Not a good or a bad thing, but certainly different than the last few albums.

Theogonia is a bit of a transition album. The band would return to a more focused album with the follow up to this, but here they seem to be throwing every idea they had at the wall to see what would work. The end result is a solid album that has a few truly outstanding moments. 

Entry 1592 - Rapture - Futile

Style: melodic doom/death metal

Thoughts: Some albums are like time capsules. They manage to capture a sound that no modern band is able to, and in doing so generate instant nostalgia. Futile is one such album for me.

Rapture's debut album is a bit different than the two follow ups. The band is not yet into Katatonia worship mode, instead they are happy to tread mostly their own path. There are no clean vocals and the song writing is more dynamic than I would have expected coming from the later albums. 

The drums in particular have more life to them than the standard snare, bass combo that dominates the later albums. These riffs are full, the drums match them with standard yet varied patterns, it all comes together nicely.

The vocals are almost exclusively growled on this release. There are a few moments where spoken word is used, but they soon give way to Petri's mighty growl. What really gets me though is that Petri is the clean vocalist on the later albums, on this album he has no problems with growling - in fact he sounds magnificent. I wonder what happened.

Futile is easily the most diverse album that Rapture ever put out. The songs structures change, they use acoustic guitars more frequently, the vocals are a bit more emotive despite being only growled... it boggles my mind how much the band changed with the next album. It's not that either iteration of the band is better it's simply a huge change. Regardless, Futile remains a favorite in the genre for me and likely my favorite output from the band as well.

Entry 1591 - Rapture - Songs for the Withering

Style: melodic doom/death metal

Thoughts: I often wonder what would have happened if Katatonia had stayed on the path of Brave Murder Day and Discouraged Ones. I think that Rapture has answered that question for me with Songs for the Withering.

For those unaware Rapture is a Finnish doom/death band that incorporates quite a bit of melody. On Songs for the Withering they also included some clean vocals to the mix. While their inclusion is very welcome, the songs are separated in such a way that they focus on either harsh or clean vocals. There is no real interaction between the two vocalists and I feel like this is a missed opportunity for the band. 

Regardless of the utilization of the vocalists this album is fantastic. This truly sounds like the logical evolution of Katatnoia's mid period sound. Listen to Gallows, that's a direct extension of the type of riffing that is present on Brave Murder Day and Discouraged Ones. The drums match the style perfectly as well. The band wears their influences on their sleeve and it's a wonderful thing.

I had honestly forgotten this band existed until I was able to find their albums at a distro. All three of them are essentially the same style with some nuance thrown in. Songs for the Withering shows the band trying to expand their sound with clean vocals. On some fronts they succeed greatly; the clean vocals add an emotive element that the roaring growls just can't. The one nitpick is why did they need two vocalists? We'll never know. Other than that nitpick this is an outstanding album, especially for those who long for Katatonia's forgotten sound.

Entry 1590 - Macroblank - ごめんと言って

Style: vaporwave, barber beats

Thoughts: Macroblank has many faces, yet they all point back to the same source. Some of his creations are more focused on jazz, some on lounge, others even still on drum n bass. ごめんと言って is not really any of these, its more like a slow dance album... it's all about the groove.

The main instrument of each track will alternate. A guitar on one track, keyboards on another, even a bass will take the lead from time to time.... but the music always comes back to the core tenant: the beat and that all mighty groove. Each song has this sway to it that encourages my entire body to move in a slow steady way. 

I've heard a lot of Macro's music and I only really like to pick up the albums that stand out in one way or another from his "typical" sound. ごめんと言って is just that. It sounds like the soundtrack to an old 70's buddy cop movie or something that would require an incredible amount of swagger to the soundtrack.

There aren't many Macro albums that I need for my collection anymore. The dude has released so many albums and I own a handful. I have all my favorites more or less, so the collection is nearly complete. Time will tell if more get added or not.

Entry 1589 - Asagraum - Dawn of Infinite Fire

Style: black metal

Thoughts: There is a sect of thought that believes that female black metal bands are nothing but a gimmick. I think there may be something to that with some bands, but not with Asagraum. This is the real shit.

Dawn of Infinite Fire is a solid if a bit generic slice of black metal. The pace of the album is almost exclusively in the blast beat region with small breaks every now and then. In these breaks the band tends to go for a tad more atmospheric. Overall though the band is as cut throat as they come with razor sharp riffs, cutting vocals, and drums that show a bit of creativity every now and then in between the blasts.

Asagraum's music is not anything that stands out on it's own, but it is exceptionally well composed and arranged. The riffs and leads keep me coming back to the album even though I can't put a finger on why I enjoy it as much as I do. The album just flows really well and I find it hard to find a fault with it, outside of the lack of originality. 

Black metal is a curious genre. I often find myself moving away from it only to come back after an unspecified amount of time. It's the genre that I find the most comfort in, the one that feels most like my musical home. Asagraum's second album is probably not one that I would enjoy as much if I wasn't as into black metal as I am, but as it stands it's an album I enjoy quite thoroughly. 

Entry 1588 - Arthuros - Goddess

Style: dungeon synth, astral synth

Thoughts: The sun sets. The curtain of night falls upon the land. As the mortal realm falls into its slumber, the goddess of the night rises to watch over her domain.

Until recently I had never heard Arthuros' music. I saw their albums come up more than once but always passed because of one reason or another. Well the Black Friday itch struck yet again and I ended up picking up Goddess on the cheap... listening to it now I think I would have paid full price on it.

Goddess is an album written for the night, written for a star filled sky. These songs have a majesty to them that not much dungeon synth is capable of. The instruments sparkle like the light of a morning star. The melodies dance together like comets fading into the distance; fleeting and swift. 

This is the kind of album that I will revisit more than once when it comes to mind. The kind that once it hits the turntable will have a hard time moving off of it. The only regret that I have is that I did not explore the wonderful music of Arthuros sooner.

Entry 1587 - Witherfall - A Prelude to Sorrow

Style: progressive power metal

Thoughts: I have a lot of metal in my collection. According to my database statistics its 42.8% of the record stacks as of this writing. A vast majority of that is extreme metal, and a most of the extreme metal is black in color. 

Other forms of metal exist in the stacks, and most of the stuff that I have in there is classic albums that I grew up with. I am chronicling all of this for two very important reasons. Having power metal in my collection is one of the rarest of the rare genres for me to have. Having a new power metal band that I didn't grow up with is possibly the rarest condition for an album to be included in my collection... in fact I think Witherfall may be the only such band that currently resides there.

With that out of the way, what ultimately led to the conclusion that Witherfall was worthy?  A couple of things: the album was on clearance and had a cool cover. That was enough for me to take note and listen to the album a few times before pulling the trigger. What ultimately matters here though is that last part... the music. What did I hear? 

A Prelude to Sorrow is power metal at its core, but it also has a hefty dose of progressive metal along side it. Within this framework the dudes in Witherfall create some really nasty and chunky riffs that are essentially the antithesis of what power metal typically is. These guys bring the bottom end, yet also do not shy away from the neo-classical melodies and arpeggios that power metal is so well known for.  

The other main part of this is the song writing. These guys like long songs, with the first real song being over 11 minutes long before it finally fades out. It twists and turns like trying to navigate through a labyrinth before returning to the ever elusive chorus. It's exceptionally well written and an awesome way to start the album.

The remainder of the album follows suit: heavy riffs, great vocals, lots of aggression, and even a nod to extreme metal here and there through a vocal like or blast beat. This is easily one of the best prog/power metal albums I've heard in a long time, I'm glad that I decided to give it a listen. Now I need to take this as a launching point to check out their other albums.

Entry 1586 - Kalaido - Moonlit Tales

Style: lo-fi hip hop

Thoughts: I have been looking for this album for what seems like an age. I have ordered it on three separate occasions, each time it gets cancelled or delayed or lost in the mail. I never thought I would get this record into my collection, but strange things occur from time to time and one day it randomly showed up on my doorstep... no explanation, no return address, just a package with a record in it. 

I have a strained relationship with low fidelity hip hop. The music and I used to have a very close relationship when I first found it, but over time I found that many of the artists were merely writing the same songs over and over. It's like the whole scene was obsessed with creating the same song over and over again, and it eventually made me drop out of actively looking for the music. 

Of course there are stand outs, and the ones that do truly create exceptional music. Kalaido is one such artist. I think this comes from a fundamental difference in the way that they make their music compared to most of the scene.  

Rather than rely on sampling the works of other artists through plunderphonics, Kalaido is content to make their own music. This music is then woven together into a similar style to lo-fi hip hop... but it comes from a fundamentally different source: originality. The guitars are played and recorded, much of the instruments are also recorded. Other parts of the album are indeed sampled but in a way that it compliments the live instruments rather than the main focus of the music. 

This approach gives the music life that is so uncommon in the genre. Instead of falling asleep to hearing the same nearly AI generated song for the fifteenth time, Moonlit Tales has twists and turns in directions that I would not have expected based on the tropes of the genre. A jazz piano interlude here, or a clarinet there. Hell even a violin from time to time... all spice up the music to a degree that is gloriously uncommon.

Kalaido's Moonlit Tales is likely one of the better lofi albums in my collection. Of course there is better music in the genre, but as it stands this album is among the better entries thereof.  

Entry 1585 - Old Sorcery - Realms of Magickal Sorrow

Style: classic dungeon synth

Thoughts: Old Sorcery is the project that got me back into dungeon synth after decades. It reminded me of a genre that had no name when I first started listening to it and how much I enjoyed it years ago. The epic approach, the mystery behind the melodies, the splendor and grandeur. It all came rushing back to me.

Now once again Old Sorcery sits upon my turn table and I am graced with the music that brought me back into the fold. Realms of Magickal Sorrow is the debut recording of this fine minstrel and it is everything that I had ever wanted it to be. 

It consists of five epic tracks. Each one portrays a slightly different view of a realm of mystery and magick that is unbeknownst to modern humans. This is the realm where power rules the powerless. The place where the supernatural conquers the natural order of things. A realm where mythical beasts can reign upon those of lesser will. The realm of the Old Sorcery.

There is something special about the way that Old Sorcery writes their music. It's not just good dungeon synth, it's also damn good music in general. These compositions tell a story through these synths. They draw me in and make me wonder what on earth happened during the ages of yore and make me long to be part of it. To get away from this accursed modern life style.

Realms of Magickal Sorrow is just that: a magickal album that focuses on sorrow. The music sounds exactly like you think it would with a title like that. I am proud to own this album now, and consider myself fortunate to have it in my collection. 

Entry 1584 - Spectral Castle - I Remain...

Style: dungeon synth

Thoughts: I went through a lot to get this album. I tried to get it through a disto in my country only to be told it was out of stock. Tried to get it from the artist themselves only to be told that their distro in my country was no longer doing anything. Finally I found it at a distributor in Europe and imported it. Was it worth it? I would like to think so.

Spectral Castle's I Remain... is largely played by one type of synth. This synth is one that I have heard before but do not know what it is called. It has a distant sound to it, a lonely sound. It sounds like it was recorded many years ago, and we're merely hearing the distant memories of someone long passed.

Simple melodies are played on this synth. Simple melodies accompanied by full chord backing. In true dungeon synth style these melodies and chords are repeated many times before progressing. The whole affair is so simple, yet so entirely elegant that I can't help but love it.

I've heard music that is more complex than this. I've heard music that has way more depth to it than this. I have not heard much music that is as well done and as nice to listen to as this. Spectral Castle has tapped into elegance through simplicity. 

All this album is is notes played on a synth over and over again, yet somehow I can't bring myself to not like it. I finish the album and immediately flip it over to start again. The beauty of this album is in that simplicity. The gracefulness of the album is revealed to those who would listen with an open ear and open mind. Truly this is one of the finer dungeon synth albums in my collection.

Entry 1583 - Macroblank - Tales of the Cypher

Style: vaporwave, barber beats

Thoughts: One upon a time there was a singular artist who made this kind of vaporwave. We all know who it is. For the longest time this was the only representation of barber beats the world had... we didn't even know it was called barber beats back then. It wasn't until a second radiance entered into the field named Macroblank that the style truly started taking off and became the tour de force that it is today within the vaporwave realm.

I have a lot of Macro's albums. So many in fact that I don't know what to do with half of them. There are only a couple left that I would consider essential for the collection - Tales of the Cypher is one of those albums.

I talked with Macro when he first started out years ago, he said that he had hundreds upon hundreds of hours of music ready to go. At the time he had three or four albums, but the rate at which he put albums out showed that this was not a fabrication. 

Granted some of these albums were higher quality than others. Tales of the Cypher is one of the higher quality albums that Macro put out during his legendary run. It leans a bit more into the lounge part of the sound, a little bit less into the jazz side, and a little bit more into the groove side... maybe even a bit of bosa nova thrown into the mix.

The lead instrument on most of these songs is a keyboard. The kind that you would find playing in a smoke filled lounge with a lounge band keeping the patrons company. This keyboard bores its way into my head, takes hold and reverberates within ever crevice I have. 

The backing instruments are equally as fulfilling. Bongos, a bass guitar, and of course more keyboards all fill the air that this music is proclaiming. As simple as it sounds the way this is all put together, I would never have guessed that this is actually plunderphonics. It simply sounds like the individual instruments belong together. 

Macro has many more albums that this, but there are few that sound as good as this. There are a lot of ideas that have been floated by this prolific plunderer, but when it comes down to it his simpler works are often the ones that show the most heart. Tales of the Cypher is indeed simple in its execution, but the result is of the finest quality.  

Entry 1582 - Midnight Betrothed - Death... My Faithful Bride

Style: Raw black metal, dungeon synth, modern classical

Thoughts: The intro to this album is so good. It's a small classical piece that revolves around piano and accompanying instruments. It's beautifully composed and gave me so much hope for the album... then the actual album starts.

Death... My Faithful Bride is... not a good album. There are moments where it is good, such as the aforementioned intro, but when the metal is included everything just kind of falls apart. The chords used for the guitars are as basic as can be and all the song writing prowess of the intro is just thrown out the window. 

The piano repeats ad nauseam. The accompanying instruments don't have nearly the character that they could have from the standard set by the intro. The vocals are kind of half growled half howled but not in any way that has any sort of redeeming quality to it. I feel like this has been a bait and switch.

There is a good album in here somewhere. There are brief moments where things do come together and the music actually does well. Those moments are few and far between though. This is one of those projects where I feel like it would be so much better if the metal was dropped and the artist focused exclusively on modern classical/dungeon synth instead. That is clearly their song writing strength. 

Entry 1581 - Dauþuz - Monventvm

Style: black metal

Thoughts: I think I misjudged this band. My first exposure to them was their latest album Uranium. That album - while good - didn't do much in the way of making me want to listen to it more. I have since heard some of their earlier albums, and while they retain the style of the new album there is a life and a misery here that was lacking in in the newest offering. 

Monventum is another earlier album that maintains the quality that I have heard from other albums. This album much like their other early works fully harnesses the German language to portray a dismal look at life in the industrial revolution.

The riffs meet this lack of joy on an intimate level. They have a lot of energy to them, but it's a nervous energy - like something horrible is going to happen; like a mine collapsing on top of you. There is also a sorrow... no a resignation within these notes. They are played as if this is the entirety of someones existence, simply a cog in the machine of human existence. Fated to die an early death from the toxins found in the mines.

This is the kind of album that is difficult to quantify. On one end it's just black metal, with great vocals, good but mostly standard riffing, and decent enough song writing prowess. On the other hand there is this desperation and resignation in the music that makes it stand apart from the average black metal album. 

Dauþuz remains an enigma to me. This music shouldn't be as good as it is, especially on their first three albums, yet here I am enjoying this way more than I would have thought. It may not be something that I would spin as often as my black metal staples but man, they sure have impressed me more than I thought they would. 

Entry 1580 - Dauþuz - In Fenstrer Teufe

Style: Black metal

Thoughts: The mines are cold. The mines are dark. The mines are the graves of countless people. This place will be our tomb.

What is it about German black metal? What makes it so god damn menacing? Is it the language? I think to some degree yes that is part of it. When I listen to German black metal vocals the language lends itself to sounding more vicious than English, French or many other languages. 

There is another aspect all together though. These guys, specifically Dauþuz, have a way of writing music that sounds bleak, without hope, and out to end human life. Considering the bands subject matter this is hardly surprising. They write songs about the old coal mines that were used during the industrial revolution in Europe. These mines were known to have a large fatality rate, create black lung in the miners, and be one of the most exploitive professions in all of the industrialized world.

The music follows the lyrics well. These riffs, oh man these riffs, create some of the most hopeless atmospheres I've heard in a while. There is a nastiness a soullessness to them that only adds to the atmosphere. We are simply a cog in the machine. 

There are a few moments of hope in the form of acoustic interludes. I like to think that these are the workers coming out of the mine at the end of a long day. Able to see the sun light again for the first time in hours, coal covering every inch of their bodies. 

These moments of respite are brief and offer only the slightest hope as right on the next track were back to the hopeless black metal. This repeats for about forty five minutes before the album ends... the cycle in the life of a miner. 

I have found other albums from the band to be a bit less compelling than this one... but here the band has a spark. The music sounds very similar to what they had previously, but there is more life, more energy in this delivery than their later albums. That in and of itself will have this album spend more time on the turntable than the later ones in their discography, though all are competent albums. This one is just a tad bit more.