Execrate the human whore of beast. Rise from the blackened soil
If I had made mention that I am sick, or feeling like I’m coming down with something, for every week an update comes around, we could look back and see that I have been plagued with some affliction for the better part of the winter. What a frosty joy it has been. Kids at daycare and sub zero temperatures I guess will do that to you. BUT, this hasn’t defeated my spirit and desire to keep digging into those promos to hear what the next morsel of music has in store for my infected ass. I’m not really fishing for sympathy here, just sitting down to do an intro with what’s on my mind, and yes, snot, congestion and incessant coughing has been on my mind for days.
Now that current events are out of the way, Jim and myself have been pleased with the level of interaction these past few weeks. Many thanks to all of you! It’s great to see you all chatting and actively introducing each other to new sounds you may not have heard before. It is the reason why we are here. To keep the community side of this often misanthropic music alive in our own way, on our own little corner of the net.
Weekly topic, along with your playlists, how do you feel about the influential element of nostalgia in the music we listen to? Having given Astrophobos a glowing review this week, something that wouldn’t have likely happened a decade ago, in spite of their tested and once incredibly tired style, it got me wondering if maybe we are sometimes too forgiving for such an obvious lack of individuality? Granted… we like what we like and sometimes shit is too good not to give the nod of appreciation, but to what level does this element drive our musical quest? As a longstanding writer, I tend to applaud originality, yet find my own listening habits to revolve around old titles I connected with ages ago, or things that are not that challenging. We all want something new and special, yet gravitate towards what we know….
That’s it for this week. I seriously need to catch up with last weeks discussions. See you in 7. -Marty
Marty Rytkonen Playlist
Astrophobos – Remnants of Forgotten Horrors
In Flames – Jester Race (Moonshield!! Haven’t spun this in over a decade. Still enjoyable)
In Flames – Whoracle (Has not held up well over the years. I remember liking this when it came out, but now it sounds too commercial. In fact, when the best track on your album turns out to be a Petshop Boys cover, you have indeed gone astray)
Sulphur Aeon – Swallowed by the Oceans Tide
Masochist – History 2CD
Sinister – Cross the Styx (never gets old to me)
Squash Bowels – Grindcoholism
Thergothon – Streams from the Heavens
A Canorous Quintet – Silence of the World Beyond
Enslaved – Eld
Jim Clifton Playlist
Nechochwen – Oto
Behemoth – Zos Kia Cultus / Pandemic Incantations / Grom
Xasthur – Nocturnal Poisoning
Manes – Under ein Blodraud Maane
Infera Bruo – Desolate Unknown
Melencolia Estatica – Hel
Graveland – The Celtic Winter
Massacra – Final Holocaust
Panopticon / Vestiges split LP
Gorgoroth – Pentagram / Under the Sign of Hell
Worm Gear 
Finally, its been a while since the Worm has reviewed something decent enough to buy! Wink-Wink (insert passive-aggressive happy face emoticon here)
JIm – Skelthal Demo- one of my faves for 2012 or 13? I don’t know. I didn’t know another label released the cassette again, and as a split. Awesome demo. Love it.
Bought the Satanic Dystopia. Fun and raw shiz! Here is a perfect example of how ones preferences/attitudes– more so I think than nostalgia –would overshadow ones normal reasoning faculties; e.g., I am much more forgiving towards this lack-of-newness on this cassette than I would be the LVTHN you reviewed. I really have little patience for predictable Black Metal. Originality and new approaches are always at the top for me, however, I am personally most forgiving towards things like Finnish DM and the Cavernous DM styles. But tastes change. On the flip, I always sense Worm is overly forgiving towards Black Metal bands that, in my mind, tend to be influenced by 2nd wave Norwegian stuff. Stop that. It hurts my feelings! hehehe.
Yeah Patrick…. I’m a sucker for the Norwegian BM aesthetic. I won’t deny it. Love it.
Glad to see some tapes floating around this week 😉
Forgotten Woods – The Curse of Mankind
Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Teenage Panzerkorps – Games For Slaves + Selected Singles
Current 93 – An Introduction To Suffering
Current 93 – All The Pretty Little Horses
Nature And Organisation – A dozen Summers against the World
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
Belial – Wisdom of Darkness
Benoît Pioulard – Lasted
Mirrorring – Foreign Body
I hear ya Marty. We all have our special poison! Regarding awesome BLack Metal, do you guys ever get promos from Kunstaunch Russia? He has some great BM like Krahnholm, Astral Silence, etc…Love their packaging and all that.
Playlist:
Irkallian Oracle – Grave Ekstasis
Reverend Bizarre – So Long Suckers
Northwinds – Winter
Drawn and Quatered – To Kill is Human
Swallowed – S/T ep – Samael Worship Him meets Incanation Doomier parts = AGRRGHGH
Encoffincaiton – Seventh Temple of Laodicean Scripture
Cryptopsy – None So Vile
Converge Rivers of Hell Split
Astral Silence – Open Cold Dark Matter
Neige et Noirceur – Solstice Hivernal (the only brilliant thing his guy has done that doesn’t sound copied. Truly inspiring!)
Just heard a preview of the new Morbus Chron album Sweven. I am very pleased to see they are taking a Tribulation type route. It sounds quite original and different and now I may just like this band. Good example of the topic at hand this week for me!
I heard a track from the new Morbus Chron over at Decibel earlier in the week and found it pretty interesting. I would like to check out the album. Where did you find a preview of it at?
Nostalgia is a powerful force (as you can see in some of my listening this week) and music always brings up the most powerful sense of nostalgia in me. Especially when I listen to the punk albums I was into as a youth. I’ve only really been into metal for 5 years now but I’m starting to get that way with some of those albums now too.
Immortal – Sons of Northern Darkness
Graveborne – Through the Window of Night
Kriegsmaschine – Enemy of Man
Horde – Hellig Usvart
Obsidian Kingdom – Mantiis
Thundarwar – The Birth of Thunder
Lake of Blood – Omnipotens Tyrannus
Nocturnal Graves – From the Bloodline of Cain
Marblebog – Forestheart
Kreator – Terrible Certainty
Murmur – Murmur
Ulver – Nattens Madrigal
Ered Wethrin – Tides of War
Cloud Rat – Blind River
Jumalhämärä – Resignaatio
Emyn Muil – Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga
Heretoir – Substanz
Dawn – Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)
Marduk – Heaven Shall Burn… When We Are Gathered
The Descendents – Everything Sucks
Red City Radio – Titles
Kevin – I am in love with the Murmur S/T lp! Its incredible.
Shawn – youtube. Search for Sweven and you’ll find a few tracks. I think they sound awesome. I came across it via a bad review on Voices From the Darkside. He spoke of it as so contrary to their roots (old school) that it instantly sparked my interest. Glad I checked it out cause it sounds very good. It doesn’t sound the new Tribulation style, but it seems they have also decided to become more a pioneering band than a traditionalist one. Whether it works remains totally to be seen, but i much rather see that just reinventing the same ol fucking wheel the time.
Zahler – LIstening to Fortifications of the Pale Architect for 1st time now on 12″ via HHB. Sounds good man! Digging it!
Patrick,
Thanks…yeah I should have figured it would be on youtube. I will give it a listen when I get some time. Decibel spoke pretty favorably of the album as well, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Nostalgia is definitely a powerful factor when it comes to listening to music. I’m finding this to be increasingly more true as I get older, time passes, and the world I once knew disappears into a distant memory. Nostalgia’s power has been shown time and time again to have great influence on many aspects of peoples’ lives outside of music as well. Quite frankly the most important music in my life is the stuff that got me into metal. That being said, it is important for me to stay relevant with today’s musical world and continue to discover new sounds and new ideas. I do no want to become this fossil that just sits around and talks about the good ol’ days.
It does become a challenge for me though to decide how much time to devote to listening to new music and how much to enjoy the masters of years past. Especially as time goes on our musical back catalogues continue to grow and yet there is an ever increasing amount of instantly accessible new metal music on the internet. While I embrace new music on a regular basis, I also restrain myself from listening to too much new music at once as I can become overwhelmed with it. I find as I get older my brain has a harder time absorbing large quantities of new music in short periods of time. When I feel burned out on new releases I usually retreat to the comfort of the classics for a break. For me it is important achieving that balance of new and old, but it is becoming more difficult.
When listening to new music nostalgia can play a factor, but generally it is not a deciding factor on how much I will end up liking the album. To me it comes down to the quality of the song writing, be it completely nostalgic or pioneering in sound and devoid of nostalgia. I do tend to like bands that have some sound that is rooted in the old school, yet can put a new spin on it so it doesn’t sound rehashed and tired. Two examples for me would be Fyrnask and Infera Bruo. Both bands have some Emperor influence, yet they both sound new and relevant IMO. Bands like Trench Rot and Thunderwar are definitely influenced heavily by the old school and are not creating anything new or groundbreaking, but for whatever they able to still sound fresh to me. One thing I do not like are retro bands that do nothing but plagiarize the masters and cater striclty to peoples’ nostalgia. Sometimes there is a fine line retro bands and bands influenced by the old school.
Brimstone Coven – S/T and II
Thunderwar – The Birth of Thunder
Infera Bruo – Desolate Unknown
Hate Forest – Purity
Agent Steel – Unstoppable Force
Death – Leprosy
Incantation – Vanquished In Vengeance
Judas Priest – Point of Entry
Behemoth – The Satantist
Very well stated Shawn! You hit it right on the head!
Nice coincidences: I was just going to bring up having heard (of) MORBUS CHRON for the first time on Tuesday (their first album Sleepers in the Rift). I had no idea they were releasing a new disc on Century Media very soon, nor did I expect random chatter about them here, but it works!
My point: I hated what I heard, despite it being an entirely nostalgic, indulgent and seemingly accurate take on what I consider one of the best albums of all time. The problem is it tries to mimic Mental Funeral so fully it ends up missing the forest for the trees and looks all the sillier and more amateurish for it.
That’s the basic failure of assuming nostalgia is a necessary or sufficient creative force. Music über alles — this from a guy who knows he’s stuck in the past, mostly just because he thinks the music was great. 🙂
Thanks to you guys though, I will now check out the new MORBUS CHRON tracks. So much the better for everybody if they’ve outgrown their cover-band mentality.
Cheers
Morbus chronic’s debut lp… i bought it, was underwhelmed, keep putting it on the trade pile only to kerp digging it back out. I guess im going to hold onto it and see if it eventually grows on me, but it stuck me as pretty bland and genre derivative.
We aren’t talking the debut my Morbus Chron. That was bland as all hell and waayy overhyped. We are talking about the new one. It has a totally different sound and direction.
I realize that, which is why I said I had never heard them before Tuesday and would check out the new samples now that I know they differ. It was a convenient example about how nostalgia rings hollow.
ah sorry Neil, I was replying to Marty. You all good in the Deathly hood.
Agree w/ Shawn’s sentiments overall.
I’ve grown less tolerant of ‘generic’ bands over the years and more interested in unique bands. That said, every now and then a new band hits the retro nail on the head just right. One example for me is Stormwarrior and their brand of ‘Walls of Jericho’-esque German speed metal. It’s just early Running WIld, Gamma Ray, and Helloween all over again…. but man they do it well 🙂
But yes, sometimes you gotta go back to the classics that brought you here.
I do like that Astrosphobos song- Shades of the Light’s Bane! \m/
Past 2-Wks Playlist
New York Dolls – s/t
Cynic- Kindly Bent to Free Us
Sex Pistols- Never Mind the Bollocks
Gates of Slumber- Hymns of Blood & Thunder
Iron Maiden- Live After Death
Green Day- American Idiot
Stone Dagger- Siege of Jerusalem demo (really good new release)
–got some singles from late 70s/early 80s bands (yet another band called Sabre and the more uniquely monikered Jumbalayh and Axis Power).
Hopefully that list is sufficiently eclectic to earn me my badly needed dose of retro hipster wannabe street cred 😉
Nostalgia … the sounds/bands that inhabited my formative years, and overall development of my deep-seeded preferences, always hold great power over what I hear and/or discover next. When I find myself in the nostalgia ‘pit’, I tend to swim rather than drown. The things that I love the most never get old. That said, the albums I tend to be nostalgic about are usually brimming with a plethora of unique charms, and that ‘collective greatness’ is what gives it such staying power. For example, I will not necessarily like a new death metal band that comes out simply because it has that awesome, old-school production that I love. There are so many other things that must come into play.
I’ll pull out the old Sacrilegium card. Wicher is an album that I absolutely cherish. The atmosphere, vocals, riffs, nuances, production … today it simply screams ‘nostalgia’ for me. When I heard Wedrujacy Wiatr for the first time, it brought Sacrilegium to mind immediately. Not because they sound exactly the same, because they don’t; but they both exhibit the same kind of ‘strength gathering’. It is just put together with such genuine intention and powerful emotion. I guess I could easily label it ‘sublime, old-school, Polish mysticism’. Ha! Wedrujacy Wiatr did not truly come up with anything NEW, but most certainly used their own palette on a familiar canvas.
I would not say that ‘nostalgia’ dictates my future discoveries/preferences; but rather, helps guide me toward the same kind of quality, only in newer, more modern incarnations.
Playlist today:
Algaion – Demos (HELL YES! Talk about nostalgia.)
Ectovoid – Fractured in the Timeless Abyss
Eoront – Neverending Journey (looking forward to the new ep this coming summer)
Licht Erlischt – The Narrow Path (The Offshore Oaks)
Litany – Aphesis
Witchmaster – Violence and Blasphemy (Antichrist!)
Thanks as always, guys, you all rule! Hails!
A coincidence— I got Sacrilegium in the mail today off of your recommendation. Very solid stuff, though a couple more beat changes would’ve been cool (and a clearer solo on the 12 minute song at the end would’ve been better). I wonder if Occulta Mors (Moonblood / Nachtfalke) heard this/took infleucne, since the Doomed to Die album aesthetic is really similar—as are a couple of the keyboard melodies…
Feel free to recommend more along these lines. This was worth getting and keeping, and probably the best thing I’ve gotten in this style since Midnight Odyssey’s strong (but plump) Firmament.
Zahler, I picked up Behemoth’s The Satanist earlier this week based on the good things you had to say about it. I have to admit I as not as blown away as you were on my first listen, but my expectations may have been too high. However, I am finding that I am liking it more and more with every listen. I think it might be a little bit of a grower for me, which is definitely not a bad thing. You were right about how varied the song writing is on this album. I have not heard anything by them since Demigod, so this is quite a bit different than their mid-period stuff. The guitars are not nearly as bottom heavy as their mid-period stuff. I liked the slow beginning to the album on Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel, which was a little unexpected. Anyway I’ll be curious to see how this album stands with me after giving it some more listening time.
So related to this week’s topic on nostalgia, I had a total nostalgia trip yesterday as I went back and listened to Borknagar’s first two albums. For some reason those albums make me feel nostalgic for the mid-late 90’s and really take me back when I listen to them, especially The Olden Domain. I think part of the reason is that I do not listen to those albums very often, so I have a stronger association with that time period. The last thing I picked up and heard from Borknagar was Quintessence, so I haven’t heard anything new by them in well over a decade. However I decided to go preview Urd on youtube after checking listening to the early stuff, just to see what they sound like nowadays. I found it to be fairly decent and I am a little more intrigues to check their stuff since Quintessence. Can anyone enlighten me on their stuff since Quintessence and tell me if some of it is worth investigating? Also do you guys have any specific albums that make you nostalgic for a certain period in your life?
Marty, I agree with your sentiments on the In Flames albums. I too liked Whoracle when that first came out, but I found that album grew old with me real quick as the inconsistent and more polished songwriting became more apparent with every listen. I sold that album off quite a few years ago. Dark Tranquility’s The Mind’s I came out around the same time and I found that album to be better written album that had more staying power. Although both bands went downhill quickly after those albums. The Jester Race still holds up well today and was definitely In Flames at their peak. You can just tell the huge difference in songwriting between that and Whoracle.
Re: Behemoth ‘The Satanist’- I have listened to this album several times. On a side note, I thought it was quite funny certain blog-boys on the internet were complaining about how compressed the horns sounded. Hah! I think some peeps are trying to find their irrelevance ‘more relevant’ with such insipid comments. Alas, maybe the whole album is too compressed, I don’t know, nor care really. What bothered me was the variance in song writing (as Shawn noted) , i.e. one or two songs were reminiscent of Aosoth ‘IV’ (not copying, just similar and not as good), the next songs like Bathory ‘Hammerheart/Blood Fire Death ‘. That didn’t sit well, and my ears interpreted that as a band trying something different but not really defining or delineating the ‘difference’ so to speak. For such an old band, that seems quite amateurish and obviously inconsistent. ‘The Satanist’ isn’t bad by any means, but just after several intense listening sessions I decided to walk away from it. In any case, I have never heard Behemoth before. That was my first album, so I was coming in with no anticipation, which I believe makes my take on it all that much more valid.
Scarlet P,
Glad you are enjoying Fortifications.
Scarlet P and Shawn,
The things with Behemoth is that their performances have always elevated their material and a lot of their music is about the power and conviction of the presentation more than great riffs. I’d say the same thing about Bolt Thrower, who are my favorite death metal band. These Behemoth songs build, have vocals with real conviction, big crescendos and in a genre where drums can be as important as singing, the very best death metal drum parts ever for more than a decade. There aren’t riffs on here that compare to the best Immortal or Emperor or Megadeth or Sabbath licks—which is why in general Behemoth albums are all growers for me—but this one does have better riffs than usual and the sum is bigger. The variety is a plus for me, but again, I think all of the songs deliver.
Good to hear, Zahler. It was my pleasure to be of some assistance. Enjoy!
It goes without saying, if you haven’t already done so, snatch up a copy of their other titles as well. Sleeptime, the split with North, their demo, etc. I have the individual releases from way back, of course; but if I am not mistaken, I think someone (Odium seems to come to mind initially) released a compilation that corralled most of their minor works. I’ll pay attention to what I am spinning over the next few weeks and be sure to share things from my collection/hunting which invokes the same ‘spirit’.
Back at Marty and some of the others … man, did I used to rock out to The Jester Race. I loved that album, and still find it super enjoyable. I always liked Whoracle as well, but I, admittedly, have not spun it in years. It will be interesting to see how it has held up for me personally. I’ll utter the old cliche once more … what a ‘train-wreck’ after that album. Ugh.
And here is an extra tid-bit of personal nostalgia that I pulled out just last night due to the general topic.
Cirith Ungol. How freakin’ cool! I still LOVE those albums, even after all these years. I suspect there might be a couple others out there that enjoy them as well. That bass sound just kills, in my opinion.
I’m planning to dig out my old Ved Buens Ende material next … they were favorites of mine as a kid too. While I am at it, I might as well yank out the demos and early releases from Gorgoroth and the like (when Gorgoroth was still recognizable as “Gorgoroth” to me … they pretty much fell off my radar after Under the Sign of Hell). It seems like I might be happily stuck in a 2nd wave vortex for the remainder of the weekend.
Fortifications is awesome! The writing is all about restraint. Its what is not being done that makes it so powerful. A very interesting style and infectious and very memorable. Now to get the 1st one!
Unearth—
Thanks. I’ll look into Sleeptime.
On Cirith Ungol…
I am in the minority–and actually disagreed very politely with drummer Rob Garven over this on myspace a while back—who believes that Paradise Lost is the masterpiece from Cirith Ungol, a top fifty album of all time for me. Join the Legion, Fallen Idols, Paradise Lost, and Chaos Rising…few albums ever made have songs as good as these four tunes. Before the Lash is a great simpler song ever by them, Troll’s intricately riffs are great, and Heaven Help Us is essentially a Dio song with a totally different vocal approach for Cirith Ungol. Although people dump on this GREAT album, decrying it as “past their prime” or the “studio project album,” it’s my favorite by a mile— riff by riff, chorus by chorus, it is as good as the greatest hits from their other albums. Though to be clear—King of the Dead and One Foot in Hell are both very good and recommended as well. And the collection Servants of Sin has a lot of good stuff too.
On In Flames
Jester Race is good, their most adventurous arrangements by far (eg. Lord Hypnos) and Whoracle I still dig. Although it is poppier, the rhythms are interesting enough underneath some of the more standard ideas as are the changes to clean guitars and the vocal performance, which is very heartfelt for this genre. That’s about it for them, though Clayman has a few good tracks, I only put on Jester & Whoracle on occasion. Gothenburg style isn’t really my thing, though I do like Gardenian’s Soulburner quite a bit.
Scarlet P,
I’m glad you’re digging the second Realmbuilder album.
Somebody just posted stuff from that LP on youtube, so any interested folks can check one tune out here:
Nostalgia sometimes completely rules my listening (Marty, I’m sure you know this from FB), but I have a really hard time accepting a “nostalgic” sound from new bands. I tend to balk at that kind of unoriginality.
Anyway:
new Mass Infection
Hooded Menace – Labyrinth of Carrion Breeze EP
Coffinworm – IV.I.VIII
Indian – From All Purity
Irkallian Oracle – Grave Ekstasis
IXXI – Skulls N Dust
Morbus Chron – Sweven
Fallen Christ – Abduction Ritual
GGUW – Gegen Gravitation und Willensfreiheit
Hetroertzen – Dødsengel – Capax Infiniti split
Nortt – all
Septic Flesh – Mystic Places of Dawn
Sarcolytic – Thee Arcane Progeny
UA – What do you think of the new Morbus Chron?
Zahler,
I totally agree with you about the conviction Behemoth still displays with their music, which many bands cannot do when they have been around as long as Behemoth. The drum work on the album is unquestionably top notch. I do like the album but I would say there are 2 things that are preventing me from enjoying it further: 1) The production is a little small sounding, especially for a band like Behemoth whose production usually sounds pretty dynamic and crushing. 2) Stylistically I have no problem with their songs and enjoy them as I listen to them, however I find after I am done listening to the album there isn’t much that really sticks with me. I don’t find the songwriting to be particularly memorable, which is an important factor in how much I end up enjoying an album. Even Zos Kia Cultus was more memorable to me in comparison. Not a bad album, I’m just not sure it is year end top ten material for me.
@Shawn: love it, although it kind of fades for me about 20% on the last few songs…still, I’ve been listening to it over and over so it must mean something to me. 🙂 I think it’s definitely one of the best metal albums released in the past few months…
UA – Good to hear. I was going to check it out anyway, but that reinforces my desire to do so.