Mid-month Metal Masterpiece
Mid-month Metal Masterpiece 34: Necros Christos – Black Mass Desecration
Despite my continued protestations that I’m not all that into death metal anymore, I’m actually pretty ok with bands that play “old school death metal” (OSDM) like today’s band. Sure, the brilliantly named Necros Christos might kind of sound the same from demo to demo (and album to album), but damned if it’s not a…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 33: Varathron – His Majesty at the Swamp
Sometimes “black metal” is a difficult genre to pin down. While 90% of black metal pretty much either sounds like Emperor or Immortal, there is quite a lot of diversity to be found in the other 10%. Sure, it’s mostly all metal, and probably indistinguishable from more typical black metal to the casual listener, but…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 32: Valkyrie – Deeds of Prowess
The older I get, the more my tastes in metal have relaxed. Back in the day (late 90s) I would have scoffed at even a hint of clean singing in my metal. An album like the Dutch band Valkyrie’s 1986 masterpiece Deeds of Prowess might not have made me run screaming from the room, but…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 31: Kreator – Pleasure to Kill
I try to split these MMMM posts evenly between black, death and thrash metal bands. And, for those keeping track at home, today should obviously be a death metal day. However, as Chet in Jock Blog and Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire are so fond of saying, “on account of because” tomorrow I’m going…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 30: Xibalba – Ah Dzam Poop Ek
One of my favorite things about black metal is how each region of the world has their own take on the style. Russia loves flutes and lots of em. Poland loves having Rob Darken write the keyboard intros for every band that has ever released a demo. France loves shitty productions. Spain loves worse productions.…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 29: Iron Maiden – Somewhere in Time
The most common question one asks when it comes to Iron Maiden is not whether or not they are a great band, but rather, whether or not they are the greatest band. No other band had quite dominated the 1980s with so many brilliant albums as Iron Maiden did. How great is Iron Maiden? Well,…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 28: Infester – To the Depths (In Degradation)
Seattle death metal band Infester only had one release, but damn if it wasn’t an instant classic. 1994’s To the Depths (In Degradation) (featuring one of my favorite song title naming conventions (that is, of course, parentheses)) kind of plays like a doomier version of Suffocation, which is to say, incredibly brutal, but with slower…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 27: Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
As the years have passed and my taste in black metal has narrowed further and further, one album has consistently remained atop my “all time greatest black metal albums of all time” list. That album is Burzum’s 1994 masterpiece, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (If the Light Takes Us). No matter how brilliant new discoveries like Paysage…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 26: Oz – III Warning
Back in the day, when even a hint of clean singing in my metal was enough for me to roll my eyes and cry “not kvlt,” I probably would have hated New Wave of Finnish HeavyMetaler’s Oz. Cut to 10 years later, when I’ve discovered a boundless appreciation for a much wider array of old…
Read MoreMid-month Metal Masterpiece 25: Old Funeral – Devoured Carcass
If there is one thing I thought I knew about black metal bands, it was that they couldn’t write death metal for shit (thankfully most of the Norwegian guys must have realized this and quickly switched to black metal in the early 90s). Darkthrone’s Soulside Journey is ok, but I challenge anyone to get through…
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