Mid-month Metal Masterpiece
Mid-month Metal Masterpiece 54: Arghoslent – Incorrigible Bigotry (2002)
One nice thing about the slowly growing infestation of really racist bands in the extreme music underground is that, by and large, they all pretty much objectively suck. I mean, even that Peste Noire album I covered last month, when it comes right down to it, really kind of blows. Thus, Arghoslent is the bane…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 53: Peste Noire – Ballade Cuntre lo Anemi Francor (2009)
One thing I love about black metal is how it takes on different characteristics based on its country of origin. While all black metal bands work with the same (narrow) set of influences, each black metal producing region has a distinct sound, and France is no exception. Not that there is any specific thing I…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 52: Glacier – Glacier (1985)
In the metal heyday of the mid-80s, with everyone energized by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, all kinds of new genres like power metal, thrash, even the beginnings of black metal were springing up across the world. In such metallically fruitful times, it was inevitable that many bands would get lost in the…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 51: Malevolent Creation – Retribution (1992)
Death metal has progressed a great deal over the years, adding new layers of sophistication to the compositions and performances. Of course, adding new layers of sophistication to the compositions and performances is a sure-fire way to make me turn up my nose and proclaim such a thing totally neither tr00 nor kvlt. Luckily there…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 50: Ulver – Nattens Madrigal (1997)
Welcome back to the final day of the Ulver holiday weekend! On Saturday I covered, their black metal masterpiece Bergtatt, on Sunday I covered their easy listenin’ acoustic album Kveldssanger, and today I’ll cover their final foray into black metal, the not quite as derivative sounding as it seems, Nattens madrigal – Aatte Hymne til Ulven…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 49: Ulver – Kveldssanger (1996)
Welcome to day 2 of my Mid-month Metal Masterpiece coverage of Ulver’s classic series of releases otherwise known as The Trilogie – Three Journeyes through the Norwegian Netherworlde. Yesterday we talked about their black metal masterpiece Bergtatt. Today I’ll take a look at Ulver’s entirely acoustic follow-up, Kveldssanger (Twilight Songs), an album that admittedly might be…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 48: Ulver – Bergtatt (1995)
Ulver is one of those rare bands that loves to change their style completely from album to album. Which is to say, I tend to dislike about 90% of their discography. However, before they got all arty, they put out one of the best black metal trilogies of all time with their first three full…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 47: High Spirits – Another Night (2011)
“Retro metal” has made a bit of a comeback in recent years. Bands like Black Trip (who graced my best metal albums of 2013 list) market that “classic” metal sound to a fan base that can’t seem to get enough of that old school metal vibe. And, while there are a lot of quality “retro”…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 46: Impetigo – Horror of Zombies (1992)
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with my taste in black metal that I rather love Impetigo’s Horror of the Zombies. It is a type of death metal that eschews technicality for good old fashioned nastily simple riffs. It’s the kind of simplistic stuff that I used to trash other bands for,…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 45: Summoning – Nightshade Forests (1997)
Summoning is a band both loved and ridiculed in black metal circles. While it is a fact that 98% of all black metal bands have taken their names from The Lord of the Rings, Summoning takes the Tolkien worship to the next level. Every single one of their songs is about one of Tolkien’s creations,…
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