Mid-month Metal Masterpiece
Mid-month Metal Masterpiece 44: Tormentor – Seventh Day of Doom (1987)
Hungarian band Tormentor is widely (and justly) recognized as a major influence on the second wave black metal bands. Partly due to their vocalist Attila Csihar’s brilliant performance on Mayhem’s classic De Mysteriis dom Sathanas, and partly because their second album/demo, 1988’s Anno Domini, was years ahead of its time in black metal terms. However,…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 43: Death – Leprosy (1988)
I’ve been going around for a while saying that I’m really not all that into death metal anymore. And, I don’t know, maybe some of that is me preferring melody in a largely atonal genre, and maybe some of that is just me trying to troll my more death metal focused friends, but one thing…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 42: Forgotten Woods – Sjel av Natten (1995)
Within the fetid halls of black metal, there exists a genre known as DSBM (not to be confused with NSBM, and also not to be confused with BDSM, both of which are very–well, slightly–different things). Short for “Depressive Suicidal Black Metal,” DSBM is a somewhat slower, more melancholic and depressing variation on a type of…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 41: Robespierre – Die You Heathen, Die! (1983)
Certain metalheads, myself included, consider the quest to find tr00ly KVLT metal to be one the most important tasks a member of the metal underground can undertake. KVLT (pronounced: “cult”) is a general term for anything that is incredibly obscure, possesses uncommonly poor production values, and, if you can convince yourself to buy into it…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 40: Sepultura – Morbid Visions (1986)
I’ve always been on the fence when it comes to Sepultura. Sure, I own 4 of their albums (6 before I sold off Chaos A.D. and Roots), and they have plenty of great riffs, and scattered moments of excellent atmosphere, but at the end of the day it’s tough for me to get through an…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 39: Zemial – Necrolatry
Everyone knows the Greek black metal big 3 (Varathron, Rotting Christ and Necromantia), but for some reason Zemial never seems to get their name dropped quite enough when casual fans discuss the Hellenic scene. Rather than use their excellent debut full length (the awesomely titled For the Glory of Ur) as evidence that Zemial deserves their place…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 38: Thor – Only the Strong
Bodybuilding champion, actor, director, screenwriter, rock opera composer, historian, singer with the voice of an angel, and vigorous yet attentive lover, Canada’s own Jon-Mikl Anger Thor is a man of many talents. As such, it was only a matter of time before his band Thor found its way into the hallowed halls of Mid-month Metal…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 37: Immolation – Failures for Gods
Immolation was always kind of an oddball band. They were somewhere in between brutal death metal and a more melodic style that focused on weird guitar harmonies and slower mid-paced sections. Gorguts would probably be the closest analog style-wise, but honestly Immolation really rests in a category by itself. And though they may have (arguably)…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 36: Graveland – Carpathian Wolves
National Socialist Black Metal is a touchy subject, even (especially) among black metal fans. And while I fall into the camp that an artist’s personal ideological beliefs should have no effect on your enjoyment of their art, I do understand if someone thinks listening to something like Buchenwald Oven’s demo is going a bit far.…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 35: Sodom – In the Sign of Evil
Sodom, even more so than Kreator (covered here a few months ago), was probably the most brutal of the early German thrash bands. Their music always towed the line between thrash and death metal (especially on their later albums which embraced death metal more whole heartedly), but the album I’d like to talk about today…
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