Yearlist 90s:

Eighties //[Nineties] //90919293949596979899 //Nihils //00010203040506070809 //TwentyTens //10111213141516171819 //Twenties //2021222324 //All_Time
 
①The Gathering - Always...
Score: 10/10
I might be a bit prejudiced on this cd, because it's actually the first (metal) cd I ever bought, but I think it's also the best one I ever heard. The Gathering play a brilliant kind of doom / death metal on this album, it's almost hard to believe that it's their debut album. There are a lot of dreamy instrumental passages, and a lot of keyboards and female vocals are used. The male vocals are 'clear' and grunt, and both sound great. I think each of the songs are a masterpiece in itself and anyone who likes Doom or death metal at least should have heard this cd once.
 
My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans
Score: 10/10
Somehow the guys from My Dying Bride managed to make an even better cd than their "As the Flower Withers" with this one. The songs are still slow, long and melodic, but the biggest difference is that Aaron also uses a lot of clean vocals and that there's more keyboards and violins in the music. All this have made this cd one of the greatest doom metal releases ever I think.		②
 
③Anathema - The Silent Enigma
Score: 10/10
This is the first cd with Vincent Cavanagh on vocals, and he does quite a good job I think. The Silent Enigma turned out to be a brilliant cd, with a lot of instrumental parts and also a lot more keyboards than on their previous work. All this together with Vincent's desolate screams and the poetic lyrics makes it a real beautiful melancholic album
 
My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River
Score: 10/10
Again a lot has changed in My Dying Bride's sound. The songs are still long, slow and melodic but the sound is a lot clearer now. And so is the artwork... Aaron only sings with his normal voice now, only the digipack bonustrack is with grunt. Despite all this the general beautiful depressive feeling of My Dying Bride is still there. It's not as good as "Turn Loose the Swans" but still great.		④
 
⑤Paradise Lost - Shades of God
Score: 10/10
The problem with cds following brilliant cds is that they're usually not as brilliant. "Shades of God" also isn't as good as "Gothic", but it's still great. Paradise Lost changed the sound to a more death/trash metal, yet it's still very melodic. The only negative thing, and the biggest difference with "Gothic" I think is that the songs sound a little more alike. Yet still a great cd.
 
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Score: 10/10
I don't really know what makes this cd so good. It's still the typical Faith no More style, the heavy / funk metal with Mike Patton's typical vocals. I guess it's because every song is different and very recognizable. That's probably also why lots of them also have video clips. Apart from the great songwriting, the keyboards and the cool lyrics makes this the best uuuhh... non-black/death/doom metal album I have.		⑥
 
⑦Anathema - The Crestfallen E.P.
Score: 10/10
This is the first cd of this british doom band, and it's a great debut, I think. Everything about this cd is depressive (implied a bit by the title) - Darren's singing, the music, all is perfectly depressive for someone like me. Only setback is that sometimes it tend to get a bit monotonous, but never too much I think
 
My Dying Bride - As the Flower Withers
Score: 10/10
This is doom metal the way I like it: Long slow songs with good melodies, low grunts and violins. Even the lyrics are great, making this a very brilliant debut album for british doom band My Dying Bride. The only bad thing about this album is that sometimes it's so extremely slow it gets a slight bit boring. But there are enough fast parts to make up for them.		⑧
 
⑨Morgoth - Odium
Score: 10/10
With 'Odium' Morgoth changed their musical style somewhat. It's still very brutal death metal, but there are a lot of industrial influences in it now. And it's only made the music better I think. They sound a lot more mature and original now. Even the songs just seem better written now, as they don't sound alike very much anymore. Personally I think this album is one of the highlights of 1994.
 
Paradise Lost - Gothic
Score: 10/10
'Gothic' is one of the best albums ever. It is a big influence of the whole gothic doom metal scene and on most doom bands nowadays. Every song on it is great, each one having an own atmosphere, though they're all very melodic and melancholic. The only negative thing I can think of is that 'Gothic' isn't about twice as long. So everyone who doesn't know this album should be shot. Well, at least be kicked. Hard.		⑩
 
⑪Tiamat - Wildhoney
Score: 10/10
Wildhoney is one of the small group of excellent Doom Metal cds that I keep playing over and over again because it's just so damn brilliant. A perfect combination of louder metal with low grunts and softer acoustic music with whispered vocals. Actually there are only six complete songs on it (which are all brilliant) and four intro's, but it's just damn good (did I say that already?) so go and buy it.
 
Fear Factory - Demanufacture
Score: 10/10
Luckily Fear Factory returned to their industrial metal style after the last remix cd. The sound has changed a bit, though. It's now all less death metal, and a bit 'cleaner', but still very brutal. I think it's better than their first cd. The songs sound better and are more varied. Shame only that Burton's grunt is also a bit less 'death metal' now. But overall it's a great continuation of Fear Factory's own typical Industrial type of metal.		⑫
 
⑬Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
Score: 10/10
Of course it's a cool idea, to have one song that lasts for over 40 minutes, but you'd probably get a number of songs glued together, or one looong boooring song. But then Mighty Dan Swanö came along and made such a song with Edge of Sanity, and it fucking rules! It's not a glued collection of songs, and it's not boring. Just 40 minutes long Edge of Sanity at their best. I've heard enough people who disagree, but I like this very much!
 
Anathema - Pentecost III
Score: 10/10
It would become clear later that this is the last Anathema CD with Darren White on vocals. And he couldn't have left with a more worthy farewell, as this cd is truly brilliant. Songs that completely engulf you, each a work of art in itself. Only pity is that the cd isn't very long. Though too long to be called a mini cd I think. So everyone who likes doom metal should really get this one		⑭
 
⑮Anathema - Eternity
Score: 10/10
Finally, the new CD of Anathema. They have gone through quite some change since "The Silent Enigma". The most obvious one is that Vinny doesn't use his grunts / screams anymore, just his normal singing voice. The rest of the music has gotten a bit more relaxed too. Sometimes it even sounds a lot like Pink Floyd. But the music still has the atmosphere of Anathema, and after I listened to this cd a couple of times I found it's really quite good.
 
Cradle Of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace
Score: 10/10
This is one of the best black metal cds I ever heard! A lot of people I know don't like it as much as their other cds, saying that's it's softer, more commercial, blah blah. But I think it's brilliant. It's still fast black with keyboard & female vox, though a little less fast than their earlier work I admit. But the songs are better, the production is better, even the artwork is great. The worst thing about this cd I think is that there are 4 different versions of it, so you must spend a lot of money to get all the songs. Guess that's part of their marketing strategy... But despite the 'commercialness', this is a great Black Metal cd!		⑯
 
⑰Celestial Season - Solar Lovers
Score: 10/10
This is the second cd of Celestial Season, and it's truly a masterpiece. Even the first tones of the first song promise this. Melodic Doom as it should be... The sound of this album is also very special. The guitars and drums have a very low sound, and this together with violins and the grunt and normal (whispering) voice make this an excellent doom album. There is also a cover on it ('Vienna' by Ultrafox) which is even better than the original I think. Guess this is another proof that dutch doom bands are nothing less than the british ones... :)
 
Moonspell - Wolfheart
Score: 10/10
Whow. Some cds just remain important in the history of metal. This really is one of those, which is clear the first time you hear it. It's a very cool and unique style that lies somewhere between black and doom metal, with influences from many other styles. It is very varying, with soft and hard parts, with clear vocals and grunts, some female vocals and lots of keyboards. Still the second part of the cd is better than the first (though the first song rules too...). If the first songs were as good as the last, this cd would have been rated 9 maybe 9.5 ...		⑱
 
⑲Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes
Score: 10/10
I actually got this cd because I liked the front picture so much, but I'm lucky I did, because this belongs to the all-time best doom albums I think. There are a lot of folk melodies and clean vocals in the music, which gives it a quite unique style. Only problem I think is that with all the folk influences it sometimes gets just a bit too happy for good Doom metal. But except that, it's a great album.
 
Paradise Lost - Gothic EP
Score: 10/10
Also an EP that everyone should have. The two songs from 'Gothic' aren't really different from the originals, maybe a slight better sound quality. The two songs from 'Lost Paradise' are changed, and they're now even better than the originals. So again nothing negative I can say about this one.		⑳
 
21Sarcófago - The Laws of Scourge
Score: 10/10
Oh crap!!! This album is much fucking better than anything else Sarcofago has ever made, that it's hard to realize that it's the same band! On 'The Laws of Scourge' they play a brutal yet melodic kind of death metal with some roots in the old trash. Maybe not every song on this cd is brilliant, but there are so much masterpieces on it that anyone with a slight interest in metal should love this. I hope we can expect more of this from Sarcofago...
 
Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast
Score: 10/10
Finally the waiting is rewarded: The new Cradle of Filth! It looks great, it sounds great, and there only seems to be one version of it. (Crap! Four different versions already!!!) I don't think it's quite as good as "Dusk...", but actually I didn't expect it could be. The songs on this album have a little less variation, and the production is a bit vaguer (especially the drums), but despite this it's still one hell of an album, and the best I heard so far in this lame 1998! Go get this one!!		22
 
23Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
Score: 10/10
I don't know if I need to say anything about this cd, because everybody seems to know it. Anyways, if you don't know it already, you should. This album is so stuffed full of good songs there's something there to please anyone. The slower commercial successes like Christian Woman and Black No. 1, the faster songs like Kill all the White People and We Hate Everyone. Luckily for me I like all those songs. I'm glad Type O matured in their music since the last cd, but haven't lost their morbid sense of humour. I think it's a very good cd for everyone who likes metal, and to introduce people who don't to it.
 
Ulver - Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr I 5 Capitler
Score: 10/10
When there's so much black metal bands that hardly know how to play their instruments, it's quite a relief to hear a band like "Ulver". The calm pieces clearly show they can really play, but there are enough ultra fast parts to keep the interest. All of this combined with one of the best clean male singing I ever heard and a dirty black metal grunt just makes one of the best black metal albums around. The only weak point is the middle of the third song. I saw someone describe the sound heard there as 'chewing on the microphone'. I identified it as some guy walking through some kind of wood. But with only this audible it isn't very interesting... Ah well, every other minute of this album is pure enjoyment...		24
 
25Ancient - Svartalvheim
Score: 10/10
This is a bit vague but very cool black metal cd, with a very typical atmosphere. This is mainly because of the vague production, and because of the grunt. I think Grimm's grunt is one of the best I ever heard. There's not much stuff like keyboards or solos on the album, but it is very melodic. Speed varies from very slow to very fast, so it doesn't bore quick. Anyways, it promises a lot for the future...
 
Edge Of Sanity - The Spectral Sorrows
Score: 10/10
Actually I don't really need to say a lot about this album. Anyone who's only a little bit into Death Metal is bound to know Dan Swanö and Edge of Sanity. And The Spectral Sorrows I think is one of their best albums. 13 songs of good death metal with cool riffs, grunts and everything. And it's so varied that it never gets a bit boring. They even step away from the death metal sometimes, like "Blood of my Enemies" which is a Manowar cover, and "Sacrifice" which sounds more like an '80s gothic song. Conclusion: This rules!		26
 
27Sadness - Ames de Marbre
Score: 10/10
Well this sure isn't your average metalalbum. It's style is probably somewhere halfway between doom metal and gothic. And I don't mean 'gothic' like all the girlie metal bands but the darker kind. Singer Steff varies alot between clean singing, talking, whispering and growling, his lyrics sometimes english, sometimes french or german, but always dark. The guitars are also varied with distortion and clean / acoustic. With their minimalistic sound Sadness creates a dark atmosphere like no other and can't really be compared to any band I ever heard before.
 
The Blood Divine - Awaken
Score: 10/10
I don't think you should listen to my opinion about this cd, cause I'm a bit prejudiced... (Darren is God!!!) but I must say I think it's totally brilliant. Of course Darren used to be the singer of Anathema, and so this band also sounds a lot like Anathema. There are also some old members of Cradle of Filth in it, but those influences are less obvious I think. So if you like Anathema, you'll probably like this too. Britain (and Peaceville) now has another great doom band with The Blood Divine.		28
 
29Fear Factory - Soul of a New Machine
Score: 10/10
I believe the music Fear Factory plays is called Industrial Metal, which on this cd is actually death metal with lots of samples and complicated technical drums. It's very nice to hear a different kind of metal for a change I think. This cd is packed full of songs of which I find most really good, and some not so good, but overall this is a great album, and with a quite unique music style I think.
 
Darkside
Shadowfields
Score: 10/10		30
 
31Summoning
Dol Guldur
Score: 10/10
 
Sadness - Danteferno
Score: 10/10
When comparing this second album of Sadness to the first one the biggest difference is that there's more and louder guitars. The sound is much more Metal now, and that's not a bad thing at all... I think this cd is more in the doom / death genre, but with enough weird and experimental elements that always make Sadness quite unique. This does mean the music needs a little more time to really 'get into', but it's definitely worth the effort.		32
 
33Messiah - Rotten Perish
Score: 10/10
This album of Messiah is a lot more standard death metal than "Extreme Cold Weather", but that doesn't make it any less good. The production is great, the songs extreme brutal, and the voice a cool death grunt. So again Messiah delivers a brilliant death metal album, and again they don't get the credit they deserve.
 
Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst
Score: 10/10
This has got to be one of the best black metal releases ever. Dimmu Borgir play a real varied kind of melodic black. Some songs slow and orchestral, some fast and uncompromised. And Shagrath's grunt seems to change with every song. The first songs are real masterpieces, but at the end it gets a bit less varied and interesting, nevertheless the cd is a real black metal masterpiece.		34
 
35In The Woods... - Heart of the Ages
Score: 10/10
This is a very cool attempt to combine Black metal and Doom metal. The doom metal parts have lots of keyboards, clean guitars and normal singing vocals, and the black metal parts have high-pitched guitars and grunts, but it's a all a pretty cool combination.
 
Machine Head
Burn My Eyes
Score: 10/10		36
 
37Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise
Score: 10/10
Thre are a lot of good death metal albums at the time Lost Paradise is released. But Paradise Lost have given this album a different kind of sound. Most of the time it's pretty fast and brutal, but there's enough melody to keep it interesting. Especially the slower parts give it a doomy feeling. Personally I think it's one of the best doom death albums I know.
 
Visceral Evisceration - Incessant Desire for Palatable Flesh
Score: 10/10
Personally, I'd never heard of Visceral Evisceration before. But when I saw this cd it wasn't hard to guess what their main interest was... Damaged parts of the human anatomy. Flesh and blood. So I expected some kind of Carcass - alike grindcore. Quite a surprise when I heard their very typical style of doom / death metal. Lots of part are sung in a clear voice, there are keyboards, other vague instruments, even female vocals. All singing about stuff like eating genitals... It's very weird, but very cool.		38
 
39Enslaved
Hordanes Land
Score: 10/10
 
Sepultura
Chaos A.D.
Score: 10/10		40
 
41Moonspell - The Butterfly Effect
Score: 10/10
I didn't really know what to expect from this cd. I though the last one, Sin Pecado, sucked pretty hard. But then I saw then live and it was one of the best concerts I'd seen in years... But I didn't think The Butterfly Effect would be so good. It's still getting better every time I listen to it. It has a different style, a bit more in the direction of industrial, sometimes with a hint of Samael. But it works really well for them. The only bad thing is the last 'song' which is some minutes an instrumental song, then some minutes silence, and then irritating noise. But despite that it's one of the best albums of the year
 
In The Woods...
Strange in Stereo
Score: 10/10		42
 
43Sear Bliss - Phantoms
Score: 10/10
Last few years there have been a lot of bands that started playing melodic black not because they're good at it, but because it sells. Luckily Sear Bliss isn't one of them. The kind of melodic black they play is very good, and very different. Most striking is the use of trumpets, which sounds weird first, but actually fits in really good. The songs start long and slow, but during the end Sear Bliss picks up speed and get it a more 'black' sound. Though because of the trumpet it stays very different. I think it's an excellent album, and especially the first slow songs are brilliant masterpieces...
 
The Elysian Fields - We... the Enlightened
Score: 10/10
I first heard them on the "Wicked World" sampler with the song "Shall they come forth unto us" where they geniously combined fast black/death and beautiful violin. The rest of the album also has this varied style. Mainly it is fast melodic black/death, but some songs even remind me of Amorphis and Paradise Lost. I don't think the slower songs really suit them, but the fast songs are so fucking brilliant that The Elysian Fields deserve a lot more attention than they get.		44
 
45Rage
Lingua Mortis (& Symphonic Orchestra Prague)
Score: 10/10
 
The Gathering - Almost a Dance
Score: 10/10
Of course this second cd from The Gathering can't be as good as their first one, but it's still quite good. Their style has changed a lot, especially the vocals, which aren't grunts anymore. Further the music is slower and more relaxed. Because of the vocals it sometimes sound a bit like Faith No More. So if you don't hate FNM this is quite a good doom metal cd.		46
 
47Sear Bliss - The Haunting
Score: 10/10
After the Phantoms album this is the second real New Sear Bliss album. It still has the typical Sear Bliss sound, black / doom metal with trumpet and keyboard, but also a lot has changed I think. The songs have gotten more complicated, more difficult. This cd really had to grow on me since I kept discovering new things in it. At first I thought "nice, but nowhere near Phantoms" and now I think it's at least as good, maybe better. Sear Bliss developed in a good way, they discovered more of an own sound and it's quickly become one of my all-time favourite bands...
 
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day
Score: 10/10
Again Katatonia's music style is hard to define, though it has changed a lot since earlier releases. It's now some cool kind of mixture between Paradise Lost in the 'Gothic' days and Opeth. The reason it sometimes sounds a bit like Opeth of course is because the singer of Opeth sings on this album. Anyways, this is one of the best black doom albums I've heard lately		48
 
49Summoning
Stronghold
Score: 10/10
 
...And Oceans - The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts
Score: 10/10
The popularity of Black Metal had caused tons of crappy bands to start releasing crappy BM cds. But every once in a while there's a new band that really has talent. ...And Oceans shows this with this cd. The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts is an original bm album, it has very melodic parts which sometimes remind me a bit of Dimmu Borgir, but luckily it stays interesting with lots of very fast parts. I think it's one of the highlights of 1998...		50
 
51Gehenna
Malice
Score: 10/10
 
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Score: 10/10
I didn't really expect a lot of this album, to be honest. Morningrise was pretty cool, but not really convenient black metal, and most bands tend to step away even further from the black metal after an album like that. How mistaken I was, because My Arms Your Hearse only is faster and blacker than their previous albums. The songs are now more structured, they don't just go on and on, and personally I think this is the best album Opeth has yet made.		52
 
53Crematory - Transmigration
Score: 10/10
This german band is pretty cool. Ugly as hell (hehehe) but they play a cool kind of death / doom metal. Well, death metal with loads of keyboards. It is even a bit cheerful sometimes, maybe because the songs have got the tendency to stay in your head all day. Anyways, it's very cool, so the only they they have to do now is to Exclude the bandphotos...
 
Anathema - Serenades
Score: 10/10
The sound of this album is a bit less depressive and more melodic than on their debut The Crestfallen EP. Except that it sounds quite similar I think. The songs start out really brilliant, with even a remake of 'They Die'. (It's the same as the original, except that it has an orchestral end), but near the end the songs get to be a bit less interesting. The worst part is the 22 minute song 'Dreaming: The Romance' which is only some vague keyboard sounds without any structure at all. But overall, it's still a really cool full-length cd of Anathema.		54
 
55My Dying Bride - Like Gods of the Sun
Score: 10/10
The first time I heard this cd it was a big disappointment. My Dying Bride is one of my favourite bands, and this cd just wasn't of the quality I was used to. The songs are shorter and less individual. It's the first time I have trouble recognizing the different songs from the cd. But after I heard it some times I started to like it. The second half of the cd has some real great songs on it. Though it's not as good as their other work, it's still a good cd.
 
Sear Bliss - The Pagan Winter / In the Shadow of Another World
Score: 10/10
This isn't really a new Sear Bliss album. It's a re-release of their demotape on cd together with one new song 'In the Shadow of Another World'. Well, first the demo: Most irritating is the singing. Back then the drummer was still the singer, so that explaint the difference. The grunt isn't really a grunt but a scream. But when you get used to this (which took me a while) you'll notice the music is really good. Especially for a demotape. But when you compare it to the new song... 'In the Shadow of Another World' is a brilliant song. A masterpiece. I even think it's the best black metal song I ever heard. It's fast, melodic, has trumpets & keyboards, it's just fantastic. I can listen to this one song an entire day and it still doesn't bore me. But you'll have to hear it yourself...		56
 
57Moonspell - Irreligious
Score: 10/10
I think it's always difficult to judge a cd that is the followup to one of the greatest cds ever. Of course it's not as good as Wolfheart, but luckily Moonspell haven't tried to make this cd sound just the same. The sound moved even further away from the black metal, and now is a very clear sounding kind of metal, which maybe reminds me a bit of Type O Negative. There are hardly any grunts here, the songs are shorter, and even some drumcomputers are used. Still the Moonspell atmosphere is in it, and with this they made a great follow up to Wolfheart.
 
Hecate Enthroned - The Slaughter of Innocence, A Requiem for the Mighty
Score: 10/10
With this CD all expectations from "Upon Promeathean Shores" came out. It's a brilliant kind of Melodic Black metal, which puts Hecate Enthroned right in the top of the genre with Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and bands like that I think. The music is still a brilliant combination of extreme fast and slower parts, of very high and very low grunts, of keyboards and guitars. It's just a great cd, and especially the first few songs are masterpieces I think.		58
 
59My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World
Score: 10/10
Once again My Dying Bride managed to surprise me with their new album. With TLatEotW they took a big step back to the Turn Loose the Swans era. Aaron sings with grunts and the music has fast parts again. Yet the differences with Turn Loose... still is great. It probably has a lot to do with the shrunken line-up, because here I really miss the violin. Also the songs aren't varied enough to be as good as their old work. I think if they combined the melody and the variety of 34.788 0x1.03000012fd744p-1001nd the grunts and fast parts of The Light, that they would reach the heights of The Swans...
 
OLD
Lo Flux Tube
Score: 10/10		60
 
61Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Score: 10/10
Emperor of course is a legendary Black Metal band, and I think they just keep getting better. Anthems is a great album, from the impressive intro to the great Loss and Curse of Reverence until the cool bonus tracks on my cd. Anthems contains brutally fast black metal with keyboards and very melodic parts. Maybe the clean vocals parts are not attractive for the black metal purists, but I think it just adds to the brilliance and everyone should immediately buy this album!
 
Darkthrone
A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Score: 10/10		62
 
63Ancient - Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends
Score: 10/10
The first thing I noticed when I listened to Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends is the bad production. It's not vague like Svartalvheim was, but it has a clear sounds with very little bass. At first, this is irritating, but once you get used to it you have a very cool black metal album with very much songs. Again half of the line-up has changed, so it's quite different from The Cainian Chronicle. I think it has a bit more heavy-metal influences. But not too much, though. The only problem with this album is the same as with Cainian, that at the end the songs start to sound a bit alike. Maybe they put a bit too much songs on this album... huhuhu...
 
Covenant - In Times Before the Light
Score: 10/10
Because of the popularity of Melodic Black Metal bands, it's hard for a new band in this genre to really stand out. But after listening to this album once, it was already clear that Covenant have no trouble at all achieving this. This two-man band plays very mature, very melodic black in the vein of Dimmy Borgir, Emperor etc, but already with a very own sound. This debut cd places them directly in the top of the black metal scene I think.		64
 
65Death
Human
Score: 10/10
 
Runemagick
Enter the Realm of Death
Score: 10/10		66
 
67Morbid Angel - Domination
Score: 10/10
Yet again a masterpiece from Morbid Angel. Domination also contains very good death metal, a bit cleaner than Covenant. It's allmost as good, though I like it a bit less because Covenant had some real great songs and some I liked less, and on Domination I like them all, but none as good as the 'cool' Covenant songs. Still a very very nice death metal album...
 
Korn
Korn
Score: 10/10		68
 
69Novembre
Classica
Score: 10/10
 
Emperor / Enslaved
Split
Score: 10/10		70
 
71My Dying Bride - 34.788.. Complete
Score: 10/10
I wasn't sure if I should buy this new My Dying Bride, because I've never before heard such bad critics of one of their albums. But I got it anyways, and I don't regret it. I also think it's not as good as their others, but it's still a good cd. My Dying Bride changed their sound again a bit, most importantly the songs are their usual long-length again. They're also a bit less melodic and a bit more depressive now, and on the first song the vocals are even a bit grunt-like. So overall I think the first song alone is worth buying the album for, and the rest ain't bad either...
 
Godkiller - The End of the World
Score: 10/10
Every once in a while I get to listen to a cd I never heard of by a band I never heard of, and it turns out to be great. Godkiller definitely is one of those. It's a very unique style of metal, and for the people who heard the Godkiller song on the "In Decay we Trust" collection cd, it's also very different from that. This is a kind of Industrial black death metal, maybe a bit like a mix of Samael and Fear Factory. Very nice to hear something so different from this one-member band.		72
 
73Limbonic Art - Moon in the Scorpio
Score: 10/10
Hmmmm... what's not to like about Limbonic Art. It's very fast yet very melodic, songs that don't bore yet go on forever, I think this is how black metal was meant to be. And that it's all done by just two guys is even greater. Some people might have to get used to the drum computer, but even this is done so great that's not irritating at all...
 
Cryptal Darkness
They Whispered You Had Risen
Score: 10/10		74
 
75Aeternus
Beyond the Wandering Moon
Score: 10/10
 
Opera IX - Sacro Culto
Score: 10/10
It's nice to hear that Opera IX has released a new album. I liked the previous one very much, and the music hasn't changed much. It's still the strange black with the female grunt. The only thing that has changed is that the production is much clearer. But I'm not sure this is a good thing. It takes away some of the mysterious touch to the music. Nevertheless, still very cool and very different black.		76
 
77Hybernoid
The Last Day Begins?
Score: 10/10
 
Mactätus - Provenance of Cruelty
Score: 10/10
Since a few years a lot of black metal bands have arisen, some of them plain bad and some quite good. And very few really kick ass. Mactätus is one of those. As far as I know this is a debut cd, but they sound like they've got years of experience. Mactätus play melodic black metal, a bit in the style of early emperor, but with their own sound. Looking at the info I saw three well-known names, Noctuno Culto from Darkthrone has written some lyrics, Samoth from Emperor has co-produced the album, and of course my friend Tom Kvålsvoll from Paradigma has mastered it. So I guess with such help Mactätus are destined to belong to the black metal top.		78
 
79Sigh
Scorn Defeat
Score: 10/10
 
Cradle Of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Score: 10/10
Personally I've seen hundreds of people wearing Cradle shirts before I even heard some music of them. Guess they got their marketing strategy right. But I got quite curious about their music, and I must say I wasn't disappointed at all. This is a very cool kind of black metal. There are lots of keyboards & female vocals, but it's still very fast and brutal. The songs just sound great, and there's even a 'guest performance' of a great idol of mine, Darren White. I think this cd just rules, and even people who don't like Black Metal should give it a chance.		80
 
81Opera IX - The Call of the Wood
Score: 10/10
Very, very vague is this cd. A kind of black metal, only with lots of easy instrumental parts, a very vague producion and a female singer. It took me a while to figure this out, since she has a good black metal grunt. The songs sometimes tend to get a bit too long, but there are lots of very cool parts in them. Anyways, it's cool. The remastered version has a less vague production of course, and the bonustracks are quite good too. So since the original edition is quite hard to get nowadays I can very much recommend the rerelease...
 
Sigh
Scenario IV: Dread Dreams
Score: 10/10		82
 
83Hypocrisy - The Fourth Dimension
Score: 10/10
Hypocrisy once again proves that it's one of the best death metal bands ever. The Fourth Dimension is a bit slower than their previous cds, and the keyboards play a bigger part in it. This makes it lean towards doom metal sometimes which I think is very cool. Maybe if you only like fast death metal this album can be a disappointment, but I think it's one of the best they've made.
 
Opeth - Morningrise
Score: 10/10
What can I say about the legendary Opeth. It's one of the best doom / black mixes I've ever heard. Songs that go on and on, but never get boring, because of the the variation in them. Sometimes very easy and relaxed, sometimes fast and loud. The only negative thing that can be said about this cd is that the songs don't really have a clear structure, it's more like a lot of riffs put behind each other. But it's very nice to listen at.		84
 
85Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls
Score: 10/10
When I heard this cd for the first time, I didn't thought it was that much special yet. But after listening to it some times, it really began to grow on me. It has a nice atmosphere, I think it sounds a bit older than it really is, the sound is a bit trash but very melodic black / death metal, really hard to put a label on actually. Ah well, just listen to it and judge for yourself...
 
Cathedral
The Ethereal Mirror
Score: 10/10		86
 
87My Dying Bride - I am the Bloody Earth
Score: 10/10
This Minicd is in the same style as "Turn Loose the Swans". The first song is a really cool slow song. The second is a house remix (!) with some samples from "The Songless Bird", but except that the remix doesn't sound anything like this song. And the third song is a remix of "Crown of Sympathy" with the only difference that the snare drum is irritatingly loud. But overall, if you don't mind the house mix, it's a good minicd...
 
Absu
The Sun of Tiphareth
Score: 10/10		88
 
89Mayhem
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Score: 10/10
 
Demoniac
Prepare for War
Score: 10/10		90
 
91Pyogenesis
Pyogenesis
Score: 10/10
 
Cemetery Of Scream
Melancholy
Score: 10/10		92
 
93Agalloch
Pale Folklore
Score: 10/10
 
Theatre Of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear
Score: 10/10
I think "Velvet Darkness They Fear" is probably one of the best doom metal with female vox albums there is. Liv Kristine sings great again, the music is varied enough to stay interesting, and the lyrics brilliantly incomprehensible. Just a shame that the woman on the cover isn't in the band... ;-)		94
 
95Therion
Theli
Score: 10/10
 
Hecate Enthroned - Upon Promeathean Shores (Unscriptured Waters)
Score: 10/10
There's a few ex-Cradle of Filth bandmembers in Hecate so I've heard, but they don't sound very much like Cradle I think. Though you can hear some influences. It's just great melodic black metal, lots of cool relaxed parts varying with more even cooler fast parts. The vocals are both high black metal grunts and very low grunts, which is a very cool combination. Too bad it only lasts for half an hour, but this promises a LOT for future releases...		96
 
97Satyricon - The Shadowthrone
Score: 10/10
Satyricon is one of the more melodic bands from the 'true' norwegian black metal scene. This cd is quite similar to the previous one I think, which is very good melodic black. Especially the first song (just like the previous cd) is very cool. There's even a cool vikingmetal song on it. Anyways, Satyricon is such a legendary band that anyone who likes black metal should get this
 
Orphanage - By Time Alone
Score: 10/10
This next album of Orphanage is a bit better than the first. It's a bit more original, and the best change I think is the addition of the screaming vocals parts, which give it a bit more death metal sound. But the keyboards are also better on this album. Only the songs still get a bit boring after a while, and the choirs are a bit over the top. So, still a cool dutch doom cd		98
 
99Root
The Book
Score: 10/10
 
Deinonychus
Deinonychus
Score: 10/10		100


Stats generated at: 09/03/24

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