Yearlist alltime:

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!
 
Nocte Obducta
Nektar - Teil 2: Seen, Flüsse, Tagebücher
Score: 10/10		⑭
 
⑮Anathema - 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
 
My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours
Score: 10/10
Usually when listening to a new My Dying Bride album first I hate it, then I have to listen to it some more, and then I get completely addicted to it. This album wasn't so, I think the style here is so similar to The Light... that there was nothing I had to get used to, I just liked it from the first time I heard it. I guess I'm also a bit disappointed by this, that there are no big surprises style-wise, just more of the same. Though after quite some listens I did discover more and more beautiful things in it. Well, the title track is just great, the "filie..." song is quite unlike anything they've ever done and after some months "The deepest of all hearts" also sounds better everytime I hear it. "Then return to the beautiful" is of course a remake of "The return of the beautiful" from their debut album. It sounds a bit different, not better nor worse, but I do think it's a shame they didn't make it differ more from the original, like the two "Sear Me" remakes. Ah well, still it's just another masterpiece of the gods of doom...		⑯
 
⑰Anathema - 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!		⑱
 
⑲Celestial 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 ...		⑳
 
21Moonsorrow
Verisäkeet
Score: 10/10
 
Amorphis - 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.		22
 
23Paradise 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.
 
Metallica
Master of Puppets
Score: 10/10		24
 
25Sarcófago - 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!!		26
 
27Type 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...		28
 
29Ancient - 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!		30
 
31Novembers Doom
The Knowing
Score: 10/10
 
Mourning Beloveth
The Sullen Sulcus
Score: 10/10		32
 
33Sadness - 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.
 
Novembers Doom
To Welcome the Fade
Score: 10/10		34
 
35The 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.
 
Abyssic Hate
Suicidal Emotions
Score: 10/10		36
 
37The Provenance
How Would You Like To Be Spat At
Score: 10/10
 
Fear 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.		38
 
39Darkside
Shadowfields
Score: 10/10
 
Summoning
Dol Guldur
Score: 10/10		40
 
41Metallica
...And Justice for All
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.		42
 
43Messiah - 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.		44
 
45In 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		46
 
47Paradise 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.		48
 
49Enslaved
Hordanes Land
Score: 10/10
 
Sear Bliss - Forsaken Symphony
Score: 10/10
Again there's been changes in the line-up of Sear Bliss since the last cd, but this time the original guitar player Csaba Csejtei is back in the band. I guess his influence in the band is pretty big because this album sounds a lot more like their debut Phantoms again. More black metal with a much rawer sound than their Grand Destiny album. I think this is the perfect sounding Sear Bliss album. Raw yet very melodic, with the nice brass instruments from Grand Destination. Also in addition to the usual great Kris Verwimp coverart, the inner booklet now looks even better due to Flynn's art.		50
 
51Moonspell - Lisboa Under the Spell
Score: 10/10
Already when this album was announced, it was clear that it would be yearlist material: Three full albums of one of my favourite bands ever played live back-to-back, how can you compete with that? That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with 'Lisboa Under the Spell', the problem here lies with singer Fernando: He talks. He talks a lot, between songs. Which would have been fine, except he talks in Portuguese. Which is great for the hundreds of people attending the concert, but for the thousands buying the live recording it gets kind of boring listening to him go on about Ronaldo and Portuguese custard tarts I imagine. Still very much recommended for the music in between the monologues though!
 
Sepultura
Chaos A.D.
Score: 10/10		52
 
53Moonspell - 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		54
 
55Sear 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.		56
 
57Deinonychus
Insomnia
Score: 10/10
 
Rage
Lingua Mortis (& Symphonic Orchestra Prague)
Score: 10/10		58
 
59Officium Triste / Ophis
Immersed
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.		60
 
61Sear 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		62
 
63Summoning
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...		64
 
65Agalloch
The Mantle
Score: 10/10
 
Rotting Christ
Khronos
Score: 10/10		66
 
67Gehenna
Malice
Score: 10/10
 
Cradle Of Filth - Trouble and Their Double Lives
Score: 10/10
I've been listening to Cradle Of Filth since the early nineties, so it's quite amazing that they haven't had a decent live album out until now. It consists of two new songs and a compilation of live recordings. I greatly prefer their first four albums, so was pleased to hear songs from Dusk and Cruelty, but their later releases always contains some good songs which are present on this album as well. Fully aware I'm not scoring scene-points by putting this at the top of my yearlist though ;)		68
 
69Opeth - 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.
 
Primordial - Gods to the Godless
Score: 10/10
In a way it's not fair, with a back catalogue as rich as Primordial it's almost easy to make a good live album. Still they amazed me by managing to chuck 82 minutes worth of excellent battle music on one cd. One minus: The title should of course have been "Where Greater Bands Have Fallen - Primordial Stands Guard at Bang Your Head Festival"		70
 
71Darkestrah
The Great Silk Road
Score: 10/10
 
Dark Lunacy
Devoid
Score: 10/10		72
 
73Crematory - 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.		74
 
75My 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.
 
Daylight Dies
No Reply
Score: 10/10		76
 
77Sear 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...
 
Moonspell - 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.		78
 
79Lunar Aurora
Hoagascht
Score: 10/10
 
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.		80
 
81My Dying Bride - The Voice of the Wretched
Score: 10/10
Yes, after the two greatest-hits albums this is the My Dying Bride live-album. A chance to hear how My Dying Bride sounds live for all the people who couldn't be at one of their concerts (and who don't have the live bonusdisc from the Angel and the Dark River). Personally I'm not too fond of live albums, but this one has good songs (old and new), a good sound quality, it has a very nice design, and what makes this album a little extra special for me is that I was at the concert where it was recorded. So I guess this is nice to have, but I'm also glad that the compilation and live albums are all done now so My Dying Bride can concentrate on making new albums again...
 
My 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...		82
 
83OLD
Lo Flux Tube
Score: 10/10
 
My Dying Bride - An Ode To Woe
Score: 10/10
I know I'm probably quite spoiled to be able to say I attended the concert where this was recorded as well. (the Paradiso is less than 10km from my house) - So for people who are not able to go to one of their concerts so easily this is a great option to see one of My Dying Bride's majestic live performances. Also this is a nice release to see the new member Lena in action. Despite all that, if you're keeping count this is the third live cd and third live dvd My Dying Bride have released, and with the previous live dvd released a mere three years ago, one can't help but get the feeling Peaceville is trying to sell as much compilations and live albums as possible. While the quality of the recordings are excellent, there's not much here we haven't seen before. If you're interested in a live dvd, I'd rather recommend getting Sinamorata or For Darkest Eyes. If you have those already, I think you can safely skip this one actually...		84
 
85Various - In Mordor Where The Shadows Are - Homage to Summoning
Score: 10/10
Tribute CDs are usually an uneven collection of hit-and-miss covers, ranging from 'improving upon the original' to 'how could you mess up such a great song?'. But when the band being tributed is as brilliant as Summoning, and the tribute consists of 3 full CDs, there's a whole lot of hit. Standout moments come from Caladan Brood, the Summoning-inspired band finally playing an actual Summoning cover, and the brilliant Kalmankantaja.
 
Messiah
Hymn to Abramelin
Score: 10/10		86
 
87Asgaroth
Red Shift
Score: 10/10
 
Manetheren
Time
Score: 10/10		88
 
89Secrets Of The Moon
Privilegivm
Score: 10/10
 
Emperor - 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!		90
 
91Summoning - With Doom We Come
Score: 10/10
While it's hard enough to be original in a metal scene where everything seems to have been done before, very few bands are so uniquely recognizable that they can claim their own metal genre. The mighty Summoning however does just that. Five years after their last album, With Doom We Come shows everyone how it's done.
 
Darkthrone
A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Score: 10/10		92
 
93Opera IX - The Black Opera: Symphoniae Mysteriorum in Laudem Tenebrarum
Score: 10/10
Opera IX is always pure enjoyment for me. Their typically melodic black style with the female grunts of Cadaveria sound as good as ever on this third cd. I think their sound and technique progressed since the last album, but on the down side, they haven't changed much other than that. It would be better if it was a little more original, but still it sounds great, and for me it's the best album this year so far...
 
Ancient - 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...		94
 
95Emperor
Live Inferno
Score: 10/10
 
Primordial
Spirit the Earth Aflame
Score: 10/10		96
 
97Covenant - 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.
 
Alastis
Unity
Score: 10/10		98
 
99Death
Human
Score: 10/10
 
Rapture - Futile
Score: 10/10
Mostly when I get to hear the debut cd of a new band I think "nice, but it's all done before much better" or "Maybe with some more practice and experience they'll get there", but every once in a while I get the pleasant surprise of a debutcd that immediately impresses me. "Futile" by Rapture is one of these gems. They play a melodic doom death a bit in the vein of old Katatonia / Opeth, but definitely have their own sound. The compositions and atmosphere on the album is amazing, with a sadness that appeals a lot to a doom metal fanatic like me. So another band I can add to my list of all-time favourites.		100


Stats generated at: 09/03/24

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