Blind_Justice
Universe builder
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Posts
- 3,179
Got a bunch of new records in today. New as in "freshly bought." Three have released within the past few weeks, one is a legend - the soundtrack to "Once Upon A Time In The West" (or "Spiel Mir Das Lied Vom Tod" in German), a movie Dani has a lot of fond memories of.
In no particular order:
Lik - Misanthropic Breed: "Lik" is Swedish for "corpse" and these guys live and breathe the rot-infested, putrid-smelling spirit of the early '90s Swedish Death Metal explosion. The guitars sound like Dismember's "Like An Everflowing Stream", the drummer knows how to tan the hides and the vocalist has exactly the voice befitting this style of music. The fascinating thing with Swedish Death Metal is their love for sudden melodic touches - guitar harmonies or outright beautiful guitar solos. Lik don't disappoint. Naysayers might complain that their stuff sounds generic, but in today's metal scene, obsessed with "harder, faster, louder" competitions, their blend of old school is a breath of fresh air. Or maybe it's my inner fourteen-year-old taking over. I wasn't much of a gourmand back then.
Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned: These guys play at the razor's edge of frenzy, brutality and strange beauty. Despite all their thunder and sulphur-spitting, they never forget to put in some haunting melodies. This time they seem to channel the spirit of the early '80s, when Sodom and Destruction (two of the metal pioneers in Germany) stopped being utterly rubbish Venom worshipers and began to play somewhat tight. There are odd timing changes and phrasings which make you sit up and scratch your head, in the "did they really leave that in?" kind of way, but when you go back and listen again, it seems to fit regardless. Fascinating stuff.
Enslaved - Utgard: Finally had some time to dig into this beast. It's a solid 45 minutes of massive music. Enslaved have found a cosmos all their own, going from frosty Norse chants to wonderfully warm multi-layered chorus passages, from frantic black metal blunt force to feather-light, warm, analogue-synth driven Pink Floyd tributes - and all without a single hiccup or misplaced transition. This album, to quote an oft-abused phrase, "flows" and the 45 minutes are over much quicker than I'd like. It's hard to pinpoint a standout moment, because every fricking song is more a soundscape than something with a distinct beginning or end, so I'll just pick the one with the most interesting sound mix - the aforementioned "Urjotun" Synthwave sequencer loop, Motörhead bassline, infernal vocals - and it all works wonderfully together.
https://youtu.be/pXzRjf7OMek
In no particular order:
Lik - Misanthropic Breed: "Lik" is Swedish for "corpse" and these guys live and breathe the rot-infested, putrid-smelling spirit of the early '90s Swedish Death Metal explosion. The guitars sound like Dismember's "Like An Everflowing Stream", the drummer knows how to tan the hides and the vocalist has exactly the voice befitting this style of music. The fascinating thing with Swedish Death Metal is their love for sudden melodic touches - guitar harmonies or outright beautiful guitar solos. Lik don't disappoint. Naysayers might complain that their stuff sounds generic, but in today's metal scene, obsessed with "harder, faster, louder" competitions, their blend of old school is a breath of fresh air. Or maybe it's my inner fourteen-year-old taking over. I wasn't much of a gourmand back then.
Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned: These guys play at the razor's edge of frenzy, brutality and strange beauty. Despite all their thunder and sulphur-spitting, they never forget to put in some haunting melodies. This time they seem to channel the spirit of the early '80s, when Sodom and Destruction (two of the metal pioneers in Germany) stopped being utterly rubbish Venom worshipers and began to play somewhat tight. There are odd timing changes and phrasings which make you sit up and scratch your head, in the "did they really leave that in?" kind of way, but when you go back and listen again, it seems to fit regardless. Fascinating stuff.
Enslaved - Utgard: Finally had some time to dig into this beast. It's a solid 45 minutes of massive music. Enslaved have found a cosmos all their own, going from frosty Norse chants to wonderfully warm multi-layered chorus passages, from frantic black metal blunt force to feather-light, warm, analogue-synth driven Pink Floyd tributes - and all without a single hiccup or misplaced transition. This album, to quote an oft-abused phrase, "flows" and the 45 minutes are over much quicker than I'd like. It's hard to pinpoint a standout moment, because every fricking song is more a soundscape than something with a distinct beginning or end, so I'll just pick the one with the most interesting sound mix - the aforementioned "Urjotun" Synthwave sequencer loop, Motörhead bassline, infernal vocals - and it all works wonderfully together.
https://youtu.be/pXzRjf7OMek
