That depends on your opinion of Burzum or Tool. 
GREATEST METAL ALBUM CUP - Winner: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son!
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
How about Bruce Dickinson - Chemical Wedding then?That depends on your opinion of Burzum or Tool.
Magnus
Pica Serdica
FINALLY an idea actually worthy of considering.We could fill this game exclusively with great black metal albums.
Magnus
Pica Serdica
^
Could we please have a special Black Metal event on June 6th?
Like, those of us already into it pretend we're just discovering it on the web and know nothing about it, and those who aren't pretend they never cared about any other genre: bal masqué meets Halloween, kind of.
Would love to see Jer in the role of a BM apologist.
Could we please have a special Black Metal event on June 6th?
Like, those of us already into it pretend we're just discovering it on the web and know nothing about it, and those who aren't pretend they never cared about any other genre: bal masqué meets Halloween, kind of.
Would love to see Jer in the role of a BM apologist.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Your unrefined ears clearly can’t discern the 7 distinct shrieking timbres of black metal vocalists. Who needs “melody” and “harmony” when you can lose yourself in the multi-layered textures of pain itself?
Go ahead and run one.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
I've adopted a method of approaching previously unfamiliar albums in this game, I just give a spin to the first 15-20 minutes of the album, then listen to a random track from the remainder of the album if the first 15-20 minutes are interesting enough. Then the entire album if it passes through the first two steps. Will try to utilize this method for the rest of the game.
Bewitched - At the Gates of Hell vs. Deafhaven - New Bermuda
Checked out the first four tracks from At the Gates of Hell, and the words that come to mind are cookie-cutter and derivative. How many albums feature some of the exact same riffs, I wonder. New Bermuda impressed me enough that I listened to the entire album during its previous appearance and have since revisited it. Easy choice. I would've voted for Gorgoroth's Antichrist over Bewitched's At the Gates of Hell as well.
Ophelia - Sympathize with Your Phantasy vs. Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll
Checked out Hate Crew Deathroll first. It sounds like it could be made into a good record if executed differently. Some good melodies and riffs here and there, but there's far too much pointless wankery going on in the instrumental sections and I loathe Alexi Laiho's grating vocals. Ophelia's style drew my intrigue from the very first minute - very graceful. Fifteen minutes in, I was already sold. Lovely classical and folk influences - very atmospheric sound. I ended up listening to the entire thing, it's a tad overlong, but this'll go down as my second "discovery" from this game, next to the aforementioned New Bermuda.
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon vs. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Forgettable Ozzy album goes up against a black metal behemoth that features in my list of favorite records. I can completely understand why someone would dismiss Under a Funeral Moon. The lo-fi production, by design as it may be, is quite challenging. Same goes for the vocals. They're both fine by me, though. The visceral energy and the momentum of the record is great and the groovy "black 'n' roll" of the title track is one of black metal's greatest moments.
Riot - Fire Down Under vs. Persefone - Aathma
Almost polar opposites here. I wasn't enamored with either one. Fire Down Under is forgettable meat and potatoes heavy metal: Simple song structures and playing, simple lyrics, short length. Aathma is overwrought technical death metal: Skilled playing that doesn't deliver much in the way of memorability, philosophical lyrics, quite long. I'll give it to the former because it's less time consuming and it isn't overproduced like the latter.
Bewitched - At the Gates of Hell vs. Deafhaven - New Bermuda
Checked out the first four tracks from At the Gates of Hell, and the words that come to mind are cookie-cutter and derivative. How many albums feature some of the exact same riffs, I wonder. New Bermuda impressed me enough that I listened to the entire album during its previous appearance and have since revisited it. Easy choice. I would've voted for Gorgoroth's Antichrist over Bewitched's At the Gates of Hell as well.
Ophelia - Sympathize with Your Phantasy vs. Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll
Checked out Hate Crew Deathroll first. It sounds like it could be made into a good record if executed differently. Some good melodies and riffs here and there, but there's far too much pointless wankery going on in the instrumental sections and I loathe Alexi Laiho's grating vocals. Ophelia's style drew my intrigue from the very first minute - very graceful. Fifteen minutes in, I was already sold. Lovely classical and folk influences - very atmospheric sound. I ended up listening to the entire thing, it's a tad overlong, but this'll go down as my second "discovery" from this game, next to the aforementioned New Bermuda.
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon vs. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Forgettable Ozzy album goes up against a black metal behemoth that features in my list of favorite records. I can completely understand why someone would dismiss Under a Funeral Moon. The lo-fi production, by design as it may be, is quite challenging. Same goes for the vocals. They're both fine by me, though. The visceral energy and the momentum of the record is great and the groovy "black 'n' roll" of the title track is one of black metal's greatest moments.
Riot - Fire Down Under vs. Persefone - Aathma
Almost polar opposites here. I wasn't enamored with either one. Fire Down Under is forgettable meat and potatoes heavy metal: Simple song structures and playing, simple lyrics, short length. Aathma is overwrought technical death metal: Skilled playing that doesn't deliver much in the way of memorability, philosophical lyrics, quite long. I'll give it to the former because it's less time consuming and it isn't overproduced like the latter.
karljant
Ancient Mariner
And by reading your comments you did put it in action it's a pretty damn good method. Ah! One more thing:
As I said before it's easy to understand I really dislike that particular movement of BM. That being said people have to understand those traits were what made it peculiar and it was to a certain extent intended. A lot of those bands released albums with clean production and a "more accessible approach" (lacking of a better term) and released the so called lo-fi production with screeching vocals after. And regarding the vast majority of the cases: is it for lack of talent? No! It's purely a sound aesthetic choice. And it's beyond me why I get this (when I purely loathe Darkthrone) and so many people don't understand it.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
It was a part of that scene's ethos to be inaccessible to the mainstream audience - they adopted contrarianism as a virtue almost. The way they went about it differed, of course, at its worst it was nutcases like Euronymous and Varg Vikernes. It ended up creating its own aesthetic and the bands just went with it, whether contrarianism was a part of that decision or not.
I was just listening to that, so point taken. The neighbours were listening to it too, because I spent my entire working day plus two hours this evening listening to their radio.
Lucky neighbours.
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
Anything good?
Adverts and loud talking.
Darkthrone is challenging, but I feel it is all the more rewarding for it. If you're patient and allow yourself to get past the lo-fi production and scratchy vocals, this album has a lot to offer. It is really well performed and has some incredible riffing. The atmosphere is excellent (helped by the production in many ways) and the energy is immense.
I don't dislike No More Tears, in fact I think it is one of Ozzy's best achievements. A real comeback for him, another example of his resilience. Zakk Wylde comes into his own as a player and the songs are great. Mr Tinkertrain, the title track, Zombie Stomp, this is all some of the best work he's done. At the same time, it's a long album and has quite a bit of filler. Further, there isn't a lot of depth to it. Put up against other similar albums and it wins handily. Against Darkthrone, I have a hard time voting against an album that has more going for it in substance and vision.
I don't dislike No More Tears, in fact I think it is one of Ozzy's best achievements. A real comeback for him, another example of his resilience. Zakk Wylde comes into his own as a player and the songs are great. Mr Tinkertrain, the title track, Zombie Stomp, this is all some of the best work he's done. At the same time, it's a long album and has quite a bit of filler. Further, there isn't a lot of depth to it. Put up against other similar albums and it wins handily. Against Darkthrone, I have a hard time voting against an album that has more going for it in substance and vision.
I had to double-check the date stamp on Bewitched. Never heard of them, but they sound like an underfinanced, underskilled, also-ran relic from the British New Wave of Heavy Metal, with the right idea, but no chops. The vocals sounded less like affected ”I’m evil” metal vocals and more like a guy trying to cover the fact he can’t sing by yelling. Which actually made it easier for me to listen to.
Is it possible to say Deafhaven is both growing on me and growing tiresome at the same time? They are clearly more competent and more creative than the competition and their music kinda works for me despite the horrible voicing. They get my vote, even though I would just as soon not have to listen to them any more.
Is it possible to say Deafhaven is both growing on me and growing tiresome at the same time? They are clearly more competent and more creative than the competition and their music kinda works for me despite the horrible voicing. They get my vote, even though I would just as soon not have to listen to them any more.
The second matchup is bizarre.
I’m convinced I would like Children of Bodom if Rob Halford was singing for them. They have a textbook grasp of metal riffs, leads and rhythms and the songs provide enough of a melodic base to partially offset the awful vocals. Ophelia was very cool and weird. Was that video a mashup of their work, or does their work actually fade in and out of segments within the same “song”.
I am hard-pressed see how Ophelia is in a metal game, but since they obviously met the criteria, I have to say I would listen to them again over Bodom, despite Bodom’s obviously superior metal cred, so Ophelia it is.
I’m convinced I would like Children of Bodom if Rob Halford was singing for them. They have a textbook grasp of metal riffs, leads and rhythms and the songs provide enough of a melodic base to partially offset the awful vocals. Ophelia was very cool and weird. Was that video a mashup of their work, or does their work actually fade in and out of segments within the same “song”.
I am hard-pressed see how Ophelia is in a metal game, but since they obviously met the criteria, I have to say I would listen to them again over Bodom, despite Bodom’s obviously superior metal cred, so Ophelia it is.