the IHM metal thread

[William Hutson]

I've never really dug Slayer. Reign in blood is fine and all but I'm just not really enthused; maybe there's some old baggage or something. Same with Kreator and Megadeth and Nuclear Assault and Anthrax and Testament.

but you have albums by sodom and metallica on your list? i'd definitely take kreator and slayer in their places.

EDIT: btw, i saw mournful congregation play two nights ago. so good.

[Tanner]

I've never really dug Slayer. Reign in blood is fine and all but I'm just not really enthused; maybe there's some old baggage or something. Same with Kreator and Megadeth and Nuclear Assault and Anthrax and Testament.

but you have albums by sodom and metallica on your list? i'd definitely take kreator and slayer in their places.

EDIT: btw, i saw mournful congregation play two nights ago. so good.

yep, I'm definitely not saying it's logical. The Metallica is mostly a kind of nostalgia -- too many days sitting in basements with friends talking about chess and what have you. Btw, where's your list? Come on dudes.

[Tanner]

Ok, so I would probably add Nocturnus "the key" to my list. Maybe Emperor's "In the Nightside's eclipse." Eh. I left out too many.

Oh, and I've been revisting Slayer, and I'm digging it more than I realized. Not sure it's desert island material though, but again, these things are day to day.

An easier list, what's the best metal of '11? Some words about your favorites would always be nice.

[RJMyato]

I've been listening to a ton of metal lately, as someone just sold two big boxes of CDs to the records store I work at.

Dark Castle

this was 2 pages ago but i want to say that one of my first abortive attempts at putting on a gig was Dark Castle at the local punk co-operative in 2008. no one was there of course (entirely my own fault) but they were a TREMENDOUS live band and the nicest people. really inventive doom stuff. biggest drumset and most amps between only two people. still wear the shirt.

[dialectics of shit]

my 3 favorite metal albums of 2011 were

Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit
Ash Borer - Ash Borer
Krallice - Diotima

[Tanner]

I've been listening to a ton of metal lately, as someone just sold two big boxes of CDs to the records store I work at.

Dark Castle

this was 2 pages ago but i want to say that one of my first abortive attempts at putting on a gig was Dark Castle at the local punk co-operative in 2008. no one was there of course (entirely my own fault) but they were a TREMENDOUS live band and the nicest people. really inventive doom stuff. biggest drumset and most amps between only two people. still wear the shirt.

Cool. I'll have to check out their newish one. The first album doesn't do a lot for me. But I thought they had a ton of potential, and wouldn't pass on seeing them live.

my 3 favorite metal albums of 2011 were

Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit
Ash Borer - Ash Borer
Krallice - Diotima

I need to grab the new Corrupted. I checked out a few tracks on the CVLT Nation blog, under a pretty horribly hyperbolic "will turn your soul into silly putty, DUDEZ" review, but it sounded alright (it has a lot to live up to). But I need to hear more. Krallice still hasn't done much for me, but I'm willing to admit I haven't given it the time it probably deserves. Haven't heard the Ash Borer yet (although the heads seem to be talking about it).

I'm waiting on the new Teitanblood to arrive, as well as the REUERORUM IB MALACHT LP before I make a definitive list. But Disma, Negative Plane, SubRosa and Necros Christos would be included so far...

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

favorite metal of this year:

number 1:
Krallice - Diotima

numbers 2 in no order:
Mitochondrion - Parasignosis
Botanist - I & II
Liturgy - Aesthetica
Virus - The Agent That Shapes the Desert
Disma - Towards the megalith
Ulcerate - The destroyers of all


I also enjoyed the new Absu, Abzu, a lot - much much more than their previous album, which was a real disappointment -, as well as the new Wolves In The Throne Room.

I think I need to check Ygg and Ash Borer, haven't heard those.

[RJMyato]

the Ash Borer album is really great, and so is the Diocletian album released in 2010 mentioned upthread, thanks to those who recommended them.

[William Hutson]

here's a bunch of stuff i've liked in 2011. sorry for the super long list— i listened to a lot of metal this year.
Disma: Towards the Megalith
Loss: Despond
Entrails: The Tomb Awaits (really derivative of the '89-'92 Swedish style, but fun nonetheless)
Antichrist: Sacrament of Blood (does this even count as a 2011 release?)
Oranssi Pazuzu: Kosmonument (wasn't sure how I felt about this band for awhile, but I think I dig it)
Mitochondrion: Parasignosis
Mournful Congregation: Book of Kings
Indian: Guiltless
Ulcerate: The Destroyers of All
Botanist: I: The Suicide Tree / II: A Rose From the Dead
Autopsy: Macabre Eternal
Noisear: Subvert the Dominant Paradigm
Windhand: S/T
Acephalix: Interminable Night (prefer this just slightly over the Vastum)
Cianide: Gods of Death
Shadow of the Torturer: Marching Into Chaos (this a complete rerecording of an album they released four years ago)
Blasphemophagher: The III Command of the Absolute Chaos (Nothing special, but good, and the album art is spectacular)
Lake of Blood: As Time and Tide Erodes Stone

there's still a bunch of stuff I haven't heard that i've been meaning to check out.

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

Just stumbled upon Lykathea Aflame, a Czech band that made an album in 2000, Elvenefris, that has 15 rave reviews on Encyclopaedia Metallum. Really dense grind/technical DM with an experimental feel, melody, emotion. Not sure what to think of it, maybe it's brilliant, maybe it's just a gimmick, I'll have to hear the album in full, but that drummer is crazy from what I've heard on YT.

[William Hutson]

Just stumbled upon Lykathea Aflame, a Czech band that made an album in 2000, Elvenefris, that has 15 rave reviews on Encyclopaedia Metallum. Really dense grind/technical DM with an experimental feel, melody, emotion. Not sure what to think of it, maybe it's brilliant, maybe it's just a gimmick, I'll have to hear the album in full, but that drummer is crazy from what I've heard on YT.

That's a good album. Yeah, the Egyptian melodies thing is kind of gimmicky (like Nile) but who's ever really had a problem with gimmicks in DM? —Aren't all the goofy themes (cthulhu, zombies, serial killers, norse mythology, whatever) pretty gimmicky?

I have noticed Lykathea Aflame getting mentioned alongside bands like Gorguts and Demilich, but as far as I'm concerned, those latter two are freaking untouchable.

[fslmy]

i still have not heard a death metal album that tops this one:

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

That's a bold statement to make. Like William said, Gorguts' Obscura, just to name an album that tops it? They're a bit too 1 dimensional for my taste.

Anyone up to posting their 10 favorite death metal albums? I'm going to think about it a bit.

[D.D.]

I still have to hear anything better than Death's "Individual Thought Patterns". Other favorites include Atheist's "Unquestionable Presence", Death's "Sound of Perseverance", Anata's "The Conductor's Departure" and Gorod's "Leading Vision". I also find Decapitated good but rather formulaic.

[Tanner]

I've generally stayed away from Decapitated, as it's brutal dm right? I'm ok with Suffocation along those lines. I much prefer the bludgeoning force of an Autopsy or Death or Repulsion. Gorguts to me is the cream of the "tech" crop for me as well. Then again, I haven't really explored that area much either. I get squeamish when the fingertaps exceed the riffs.

Good lists William and Schik. Need to finally get that Antichrist lp among others. But I'm on music buying hiatus for at least a few months. New Weregoat, Cruciamentum, Antediluvian and many more are beckoning.

Anyway, apologies for my long list too, but here's some of my favorites of 2011 (some probably from 2010, but heard last year):

Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations
Mitochondrion - Paragnosis
Disma - Towards...
Grave Miasma - Exalted Emanation
Blut Aus Nord - 777 sect(s)
Witchrist - Beheaded ouroborous
High Spirits - Another Night
Necros Christos - Doom of the Occult
Brainoil - Death of the Dry Season(thanks for the recommendation, William)
Vastum- Carnal Law
SubRosa - No Help for the Mighty Ones
Legions of Astaroth - Rites of Somatic Death definitely from '10, but pretty overlooked righteous American black metal in the vein of Averse Sefira... most definitely not from Brooklyn)
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Reverorum Ib Malacht "Urkaos" on Ajna .. A long-winded note on this one: I'm still digesting this, but without hyperbole, I have to say that this album (like the Negative Plane) seems to sum up everything I'm interested in about black metal -- it's distant, muffled, cold, and filled with outsider brilliance that seemingly channels something completely unknowable but entirely human. If Liturgy and Krallice are all about a glistening spectralism than this is all dusty, dull and crumbling existential dread and fervor. Reflecting Lund's apparent Catholic mysticism, this is overtly occult, hermetic and christian, which is pretty fascinating, especially when compared with the boring Satan-fucking-the-football-team lyrical emphasis of Black Witchery or Bestial Raids or insert basically any NWN! band here. This is real Black Metal, as uncompromising, inchoate, and baffling as any of the old greats.
Grayceon "All we Destroy" (didn't like this at all the first five spins, but now I can't get enough of it)
Acid Witch - Stoned
Saturnalia Temple - Aion of Drakon
edit: forgot Furnereal Presence on ajna... best bm label?

[Tanner]

Spurned on by the tech metal discussion, I let my masochism get the better of me, and I've been arbitrarily dipping into Willowtips bandcamp. Most of this shit leaves me cold, other than Ulcerate, which is really fucking good, as many of you already know. But I suppose this is thee LABEL for this kind of thing. The magrudergrind is ok, but I haven't had the stomach for much grindcore lately either. Noisear is interesting.

I guess I dig my death metal a little more, um, deathy? All soiled undershirts and hightops, satan kickin' yr dick in (to crib Racebannon).Which is exactly what you get from Nuclear War Now! which I just found has a bandcamp, as well. So I can rock Bestial Raids and Abigail when I work on mind numbing GIS mapping. Fuckin' Necrofago. Jesus.

The new Embrace of Thorns is badass by the way. I still have yet to play my Teitanblood record. Great cover though:

[cleanzero]

Speaking of Willowtip, Desecravity - Implicit Obedience looks like an ultra technical grind tour de force. The production sounds amazing.




Also liking a lot The Book Of Kings by Mournful Congregation on 20 buck spin. Nice atmospheric, soul shattering doom.

[_duif]

Reverorum Ib Malacht "Urkaos" on Ajna .. A long-winded note on this one: I'm still digesting this, but without hyperbole, I have to say that this album (like the Negative Plane) seems to sum up everything I'm interested in about black metal -- it's distant, muffled, cold, and filled with outsider brilliance that seemingly channels something completely unknowable but entirely human. If Liturgy and Krallice are all about a glistening spectralism than this is all dusty, dull and crumbling existential dread and fervor. Reflecting Lund's apparent Catholic mysticism, this is overtly occult, hermetic and christian, which is pretty fascinating, especially when compared with the boring Satan-fucking-the-football-team lyrical emphasis of Black Witchery or Bestial Raids or insert basically any NWN! band here. This is real Black Metal, as uncompromising, inchoate, and baffling as any of the old greats.

checked this out on the strength of this recommendation, glad I did!
am I right though, that you can't buy this on CD unless you buy it on vinyl at the same time!? what kind of lame joke is that?

[Tanner]

Reverorum Ib Malacht "Urkaos" on Ajna .. A long-winded note on this one: I'm still digesting this, but without hyperbole, I have to say that this album (like the Negative Plane) seems to sum up everything I'm interested in about black metal -- it's distant, muffled, cold, and filled with outsider brilliance that seemingly channels something completely unknowable but entirely human. If Liturgy and Krallice are all about a glistening spectralism than this is all dusty, dull and crumbling existential dread and fervor. Reflecting Lund's apparent Catholic mysticism, this is overtly occult, hermetic and christian, which is pretty fascinating, especially when compared with the boring Satan-fucking-the-football-team lyrical emphasis of Black Witchery or Bestial Raids or insert basically any NWN! band here. This is real Black Metal, as uncompromising, inchoate, and baffling as any of the old greats.

checked this out on the strength of this recommendation, glad I did!
am I right though, that you can't buy this on CD unless you buy it on vinyl at the same time!? what kind of lame joke is that?

Unfortunately, yes. Apparently that's what the band insisted on... that said, it's a pretty nice production, with a really thick psalm book of lyrics, and the typically excellent double vinyl/gatefold presentation from Ajna... It's honestly one of the most singular metal releases in a while.

[dialectics of shit]

what's everyone think of the new kayo dot? certainly way more metal than i would've anticipated at this point in their career.