Circle of fire, my baptism of joy at an end it seems
Some difficulties in the WG camp as of late; apologies to all for the relative radio silence over the last few days. For this week, we have only one album discussion to proffer for your retinas, but it’s a doozy: Dead Congregation’s Profulgation of the Fall. Plans to fully ‘get back on the horse’ are in the works for us all for next week, with an overdue review of the latest from Agalloch (didn’t get ‘er finished in time, dammit!), as well as thoughts on Incantation’s Dirges of Elysium. For now, pad our place on the web with playlists of your own, for we shall return in force!
Jim Clifton Playlist:
Danzig – s/t
Celtic Frost – Monotheist
Triptykon – Epistera Daimones
Prosanctus Inferi – Nocatambulous Jaws Within Sempiternal Night
Dead Congregation – Graves of the Archangels
Black Sabbath – s/t
Sadhak – s/t
Incantation – Dirges of Elysium
JJ Grey – This River LP
Utstøtt – Legender Odin (demo)
Worm Gear 
I’ll have to check out Dead Congregation – yet another band that’s slipped under my radar till now but sounds rigth up my street. So much music, so little time….
Here’s what’s been tickling my poor suffering lug’oles of late:
Slough Feg – Atavism
Negative Plane – Stained Glass Revelations
Slough Feg – Traveller
Swans – To Be Kind
Sombres Forets – La Mort Du Soleil
Forteresse – Crepuscule d’Octobre
Anna von Hausswolff – Singing From The Grave
Swans – Feel Good Now
Anaal Nathrakh – When Fire Rains Down From The Sky, Mankind Will Reap As It Has Sown
Howls of Ebb – Vigils Of The Third Eye
Agalloch – The Mantle
Lisa Germano – Geek The Girl
Raventale – Transcendence
Ea – A Etilla
Lantern – Below
Primitive Graven Image – Psychedelic Episodes
Column Of Heaven – Soldiers Field
Ancient Ascendant – Echoes and Cinder
Great review Jim. You got me pumped about this DC release. Like Pete, I have yet to hear much of any Dead Congregation. I have consequently bought the 1st and this release. Lets see what happens.
Me playlist:
Triptykon – Melana Chasmata (love it like the 1st release, stunningly well done)
Cryptic Brood – Morbid Rite
Vilifier – Ritual Obscruation Demo
StormVold – First Storms Demo
Head of the Demon – S/T
Mefitic – Signing the Servants of God Demo
Rite – Lie in Wait for Blood/Se Menniskan, Hatet, hanet
Morbo –
Judas Priest – British Steel
Under the Church – Demo 2013
Yass-Waddah – Cities of the Red Night Demo
Teitanblood – Purging of Tongues
Cro-Mags – Age of Quarrel
HeavyDeath – Demo 1
Hope all the difficulties in the WG home are overcome!
High Spirits – You Are Here
Nasheim – Solens Vemod
Acrimomious – Sunyata
Ancient Necropsy – Sanctuary Beyond the Infinite
Goblin – Roller
Akitsa – Au Crepuscule…
Dysentery – Internal Devastation
Great review, Jim.
I’m not sure what is wrong with me, but I am just not feeling either of the Dead Congregation albums. There are so many boxes checked, but I just cannot seem to really latch onto them. Production is great, vocals kill, performance is there, etc. I guess it is just the particular style they play. Admittedly, I’ve never been anywhere near as enamored with American-styled DM as I am with Finnish/Swedish etc. It may simply be my mood and/or tendencies lately, so I’ll have to give them some attention later. As for now, they ‘sound great’; but fail to be memorable or enthralling for me personally. The riffs always seem good, but just shy of being anything truly special in my opinion.
Been perusing some of that Herbie Hancock, ScarPump. Pretty cool stuff. I always dig cool bass-lines and good percussion, so this isn’t as far out of reach for me as it might have first seemed when I saw ‘acid-jazz-funk’. Ha!
Spinning lately:
The Unholy – As Below So Above (anybody have their first album? CS only? Not sure if it made it to CD.)
Damnation – Reborn
Tempestuous Fall – The Stars Would Not Awake You
Elysian Blaze – Blood Geometry
Pentagram – Relentless
Arkona (Pol) – Imperium
Depresy – Sighting and A Grand Magnificence
Deaf Dealer – Keeper of the Flame/Journey Into Fear
…and eagerly awaiting both my Aspid and Thorns of the Carrion reissues to come in the mail!
And closing out tonight with:
unearth,
thanks for recommending scarab—- really enjoyable stuff. a more blue collar and less mystical angel witch.
Cheers Uaearh! Glad you are enjoying it.
You are most welcome, Zahler; I am glad you are enjoying it. I always loved the demo that I had, so was very happy when the compilation disc was released. Very cool stuff.
Just in case you might be interested …. Their vocalist also lent his pipes to Trappazat, who released at least one album … on the High Roller label, if I remember correctly. Their guitarist also went on to play with Nightblade, and released a couple albums. Those bands might be worth a quick glance for you.
Playlist now revised per new arrivals:
Vallenfyre – Splinters (arrrraahhhhh fucking crushing!)
Sacrificio – S/t demo -Very interesting!
Binah – Triad of Plagues 7″ – also fucking killer
Venus Torment – 3 demos – brilliant Death/Black Thrash done like the old masters Sodom, Sepultura and Destruction
oh and Dead Congregation – Grave of the Archangels. Man I was missing out on this one. A+ Death Metal.
Ok, I trust Jim and ScarPump. I just snagged the Dead Congregation albums, and look forward to delving into them with the proper attention.
Dug these guys out of one of my ‘to get to’ bins last night, and enjoyed it quite a bit:
Unaerth – The first time I heard Dead Congregation years back I wasn’t paying too much attention and wrote it off as boring DM. This time I really focused on the 1st album with headphones on and really listened intently. The song crafting and dynamics between guitarists really outstep the riffs themselves. Rather than search for great riffs, let the overall approach settle in and get lost in it. Maybe that’ll be the trick for ya. I listened to the first album 3 times in a row. It just flew by.
Scarlet Pumpernickel – Thanks for the tip. I suspect you are absolutely correct. I will admit to ‘riff-hunting’ while perusing some of their tracks earlier. Looking forward spinning their stuff once I get it in hand, with fresh ears/mind. Totally different sub-genre, but I remember feeling similar about Reverend Bizarre a good while back. I revisited them, and things finally clicked for me in a big way. I think I wore out their Cirith Ungol track. Ha!
Yes! I 100% agree with Reverend. They are one of my favorite bands now!
Oh yes, Rev Bizarre. Great band, I’ve just been spinning them again after a while, still sound fresh. Off-topic, but you denizens of this here corner of the interweb seem like a knowledgeable and courteous bunch and hopefully I won’t get flamed for this admission – despite my rather advanced years I’ve never listened to King Diamond or Mercyful Fate (yeah, I know, call myself a metalhead …) So any recommendations? Where to start?
Mercyful Fate – Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath! Classics and awesome eternally. Don’t know anything of King Diamond’s. Perhaps something i should look at myself. : )
No worries whatsoever, Pete. There are few well-know/respected ‘staple’ bands that I could say the same thing about mysel, even after all these years. A few of the posts above are indicative of the fact that not all things will ‘click’ at once, even for those of us that have been into this stuff since our early days. Never feel embarassed or tentative about questions. We are all here to share and learn.
There are oceans of music out there, and oftentimes a little help from other fine folks makes all the difference when navigating through it all.
I would certainly agree with Scarlet Pumpernickel regarding Mercyful Fate. As far as King Diamond … give Abigail a go. Hails!
Thanks for the tips. I missed out on a lot of canonical stuff in the 80s-90s. I grew up in the 70s with Budgie, Purple, BOC, Rainbow, Aerosmith, Rush… and on into NWOBHM but then it all seemed to go pearshaped for me – BOC lost their way, Dio left Rainbow, Dianno left Maiden (and, heresy of heresies, I can’t abide Bruce Dickinson’s voice). Come the 80s I was embarrassed to be a metal fan – MTV-metal did nothing for me at all, couldn’t stand Guns and Roses at any price. A brief flirtation with thrash (fond memory -seeing Metallica touring ‘Master of Puppets’ with Cliff Burton) and then I left metal behind for jazz, psychedelia, post-punk, no-wave …. Spent most of the 90s knee-deep in nappies, footballs and WWE action figures with little time for music or anything but family and didn’t come back to metal till the early 2000s when I realised it didn’t matter to me what was or wasn’t cool but that I should follow my ears. Once I’d got accustomed to the harsh vocals (courtesy of Opeth initially) I found a huge rich scene with such a dizzying variety of music that I’m still exploring now. I’m finding so much new music I enjoy that going back and listening to the classics is something I’ve not done as much as I should. Watched an interview with Dave Hunt of Anaal the other day where he praises King Diamond and I thought ‘Oh yeah, never got round to listening to him, and he’s revered by a lot of black metal guys’. So I’ll grab a CD or two and have a good listen (not via Youtube on my rubbish little PC speakers but properly).
Pete – It is always interesting to hear how other people experience music growing up. Thanks for sharing. I will admit to being in a similar boat with some of the ‘foundation’ bands, like I mentioned earlier. In my case, it is Venom. Sure, I know Venom and have heard several songs; but I’ve never really cared to dwell on them musically. They just weren’t, and still aren’t, something that truly draws me in. When ‘Welcome to Hell’ and ‘Black Metal’ were released in 1981/1982, I was more into stuff like UK Decay, Bauhaus, Rudimentary Peni, The Sisters of Mercy, etc. Once the metal bug bit, early second wave BM was my wheelhouse growing up. I will admit to not being overly keen on King/Mercyful Fate, Venom, Metallica, Sabbath, Ozzy, Maiden, etc. I would never discount the importance, skill, or gargantuan influence of those bands; but I have always been more naturally inclined toward their ‘spawn’. I was the kid running around with a Cirith Ungol or Bathory (especially the early viking era) t-shirt on instead of Maiden/Metallica. The sound of Aeternus, early Darthrone, early Satyricon, Mork Gryning etc speaks much more loudly to me than Venom or Hellhammer. Who knows, maybe I’ll go back to Venom etc one of these days, and it will click more profoundly. That’s the beauty of it; understanding and appreciating the time-line doesn’t necessarily dictate exactly when you most strongly connect to its various points. Enjoy!
Thanks to this conversation, I’ve been inspired to spin Bathory – Under the Sign of the Black Mark during dinner. Ha!