The Metal Observer Forums

Anyone else checking out Equilibrium's new album? If you're interested, they're streaming the entire thing on their Myspace until the 18th of June.

GRAND MAGUS "Hammer Of The North" sooooo good...
Got the new NEVERMORE as well, pretty good, I mean it's NEVERMORE so actually it's pretty badass, but I was listening to "This Godless Endeavor" the other day and that one might be my personal favorite from them, but I've yet to hear anything bad come from NEVERMORE...
but DANZIG's new one though "Deth Red Sabaoth"... This one is the one for me, DL'd it when I found out about it a week before it's release, pre-ordered it immediately from Amazon and carry a burned copy with me to work, can't stop listening to it... really picked me up from out of the dumps this summer... Also just pre-ordered my copy of Final Frontier... Soooooo Stoked, comes out a week before my Birthday...

In no order:

Misery Index - Heirs to Thievery
Aeon - Path of Fire
Grand Magus - Hammer of the North
Witchery - Witchkrieg
Ayurveda - H. Luminous
Entrails - Tales from the Morgue
Leng Tch'e - Hypomanic
Sotajumala - Kuolemanpalvelus
Welkin - Traces

Listens I keep putting off...

Syn:Drom - With Flesh Unbound
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones
Soreption - Deterioration of Minds
The Ocean - Heliocentric
Necronomicon - Return of the Witch
Hooded Menace - Never Cross the Dead
High on Fire - Snakes of the Divine
Grave - Burial Ground

So far:

Kvelertak - "Kvelertak", awesome debut from Norwegian west coast, so freaking energetic, melodic, yet pretty raw and dirty. The guys do not invent anything, just utilize several heavy genres. But the way they do it!

Burzum - "Belus", the only thing that could be improved here is the artwork

Alcest - "Écailles de Lune", atmospheric, moody, beautiful and at the same time without any trace of pretentiousness at all

Furia - "Halny", one of Poland's most interesting acts nowadays, moving from black metal towards some more experimental territories. Listening to this 20-minutes long EP one might get a feeling as if the band was improvising. Psychedelic motifs, some memorable riffs, restless atmosphere.

Right now looking forward to Enslaved and Drudkh.

James Labrie "Static Impulse"
Dimmu Borgir "Abrahadabra"
Halford "Made Of Metal"
Soilwork "Panic Broadcast"
Accept "Blood of Nations"

All of this has been pretty darn good stuff... So far a good year in metal I would say.

Oh and the new DEATH ANGEL Relentless Retribution is killer from start to finish as well...

And the new Enslaved has been already out for a couple of days.

For me - definitely one of the best albums of the year, more progressive, with more clean vocals, though still not without powerful black metal elements. I have seen the guys live last weekend - their performance was really good and some of the new tracks they presented are great to hear live (though during a live performance the progressive parts, especially the clean vocals, may somehow disappear a bit, but that's a minor thing).

Anyway, has anybody heard "Axioma Ethica Odini"? You like it? Praise it? Or think it's cheesy and worthless?

Their "Gateways" clip put me really off. I mean not the clip itself, as a video, it is about the music, which unfortunately is artificial, soulless, polished to the maximum, without any power. And these guys have been working with an orchestra - it might have been such a strong release.

But how is the rest of the album songs?

I haven't heard the album, but the only review I have read stressed that "Gateways" was not representative of the album's sound.

It's definitely hitting harder than their last album which I have and enjoy... Great riffs as expected from Galder and Silenoz, and I'm starting to respect Shagrath a bit more as the perfectionist he's proving himself to be... I kinda thought this would backfire on him seeing that he fired the bassist and the keyboardist (I liked the ICS Vortex clean singing solos, they always gave the songs a unique touch). Listened to it about three times all the way through and it's a solid album though... Pissed though that mine didn't include the Deep Purple cover "Perfect Strangers" as it's a cool song as well, had to download that... Solid album from a solid band, but their Meisterwerk still remains to be Death Cult Armageddon...

And BTW, anyone heard the new HALFORD "Made of Metal"??? It's a killer Heavy Metal album from start to finish!! Just got that last week...

On a different note, just found out there's a new SODOM album coming out... But DAMMIT it said the other day on Amazon in November... now it's JANUARY!!!!! ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! SODOM rules!!! Waiting doesn't... I'm sure it'll be worth it though...

(oh, November 22 in Europe and January 11 stateside... What Gives!!!! Oh well, that means downloadable in November... Still on pre-order though from Amazon!!)

Enslaved and Helheim added to my list.

In no particular order:

Acid Witch – Stoned: I love this band. Psychedelic Metal is something that I am really into, and this one kills.
Aeternam – Disciples Of The Unseen: Brilliant, heavy Death Metal with a Middle Eastern touch.
Bran Barr – Sidh: Excellent Folk/Black Metal from France
Cough / The Wounded Kings (Split) – An Introduction To The Black Arts: One of the best splits I have ever heard.
Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini: In my humble opinion, this is their best album ever.
Folk Stone – Damnati Ad Metalla: Great Folk Metal album.
Furor Gallico – s/t: One of the best Folk Metal albums of the year. This unsigned band delivered something special with their debut.
Heathen – The Evolution Of Chaos: Great Thrash album, but I thought “A Hero’s Welcome” was more than a bit cliché.
Helfahrt – Drifa: Excellent combination of old-school Progressive with Melodic Black Metal. The organ sequences on this one set it apart.
Hooded Menace – Never Cross The Dead: Just got my vinyl copy. Great Death/Doom from this young band.
Llvme – Fogeira De Suenos: Hard to classify, but a infinitely pleasing listen.
Negură Bunget – Vîrstele Pămîntului: Wasn’t familiar with their stuff before hearing this. I quickly became a fan.
Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR: Think that producing a follow-up to Mabool that is worthy of its predecessor was an impossible task? Think again.
The Wounded Kings – The Shadow Over Atlantis: Another psychedelic Doom release that really appealed to me. In some ways similar to Electric Wizard, but these guys are still their own band.

I have heard a lot of good things about Atlantean Kodex – The Golden Bough. Just received my vinyl copy in the mail, so this may make the list here shortly as well.

Still want to hear (Don’t have enough money to keep up with everything):
Agalloch – Marrow Of The Spirit
Apostle Of Solitude – Last Sunrise
Cauldron Black Ram – Slubberdegullion
Electric Wizard – Black Masses
Funeral – To Mourn Is A Virtue
Heidevolk – Uit Oude Grond
High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine
Nomad Son – The Eternal Return
Odroerir – Götterleider II
Swashbuckle – Crime Always Pays (How much longer before a U.S. release!??)

Good call on Acid Witch and Hooded Menace.

Atlantean Kodex is one of the biggest surprises for me ever! "The Golden Bough" is a fantastic debut. I wrote a long review that is up on the main site.

I have been hunting for "Damnati Ad Metalla", but it seems impossible to get hold of here in Sweden, even through ordering it. I guess I'll have to have it shipped from somewhere, but it costs so damn much.

Heidevolk's album follows up where their last album left off. Maybe this one is a bit more even, though it lacks a smash-hit like "Saksenland". The overall quality is high and the melodymaking has eveolved a bit in my opinion. The pure folk parts and interludes are more interesting this time.

I really liked Heathen's album. I am usually not that into Thrash, but this one was great. I also think that "A Hero's Welcome" is a bit silly, but I still like the epic touch of the song.

I did not enjoy Orphaned Land's album so much. It felt cunorganized and only in the opener, the band seemed to have any idea of where they were going.

Still have yet to listen to the Atlantean Kodex, but plan to tonight. I read your review, as well as one on Doommantia, and both of them really praised this release. I'm looking forward to it.

Damnati Ad Metalla is a bit hard to get hold of. I acquired mine directly from Richard at Fuel Records. The shipping is expensive, but he'll get it to you. He also hooked me up to do an e-mail interview with the band, which I still need to get submitted.

Otherwise, I have seen it available as download from a few legitimate sites. Not sure about iTunes, but eMusic is carrying it. I think you can also get the dwonload version via the band's website.

Thanks! I will probably try some of those ways.

I reviewed their demo "Briganti Di Montagna" and it was good and quite different from the Folk Metal mainstream with its extensive use of the medieval sounding Bergamo bagpipe.


I congratulate you to your evening with "The Golden Bough"!


As a sidenote, I have discovered that my top 5 this year will probably lack growls altoghether and that has not happened since I started doing these lists. Last year, all albums on my top 5 included growls. Has the Extreme Metal scene fallen asleep or have I gone weak?