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Fair sailing, friend.

Yeah, right up until typical LA traffic madness turns what should have been the Black Winter Day exit into Weeper on the Shore.

'Bout damn time. Omnium Gatherum for me right now. Oh, and on our recent drive from California to Colorado we listened to the entire Amorphis discography (well, all but the live stuff and Disment/Privilege) in chronological order. CA to CO is Karelian through Circle.

Still have not listened enough to give it a fair comparison to the rest of the discography, but currently I'm thinking about it the way that I think about Silent Waters and about Under the Red Cloud the way I think about Skyforger. I think SW/QoT have absolutely amazing songs on them and I love...

The Spark interview with Jens where he talked about the Middle Eastern vibe that Amorphis has got me thinking about the Kingston Wall influence during Elegy-Am Universum and how that built the bridge for bringing in Bogren's Orphaned Land experience. Between that and Oppu... Think The Golden...

Second and third things from the first listen. I love the guitar tone Esa gets on his solos on this album, and the transparency and detail in Tomi J's vocals. Both of those elements sound very alive to me and have a lot of depth to them where past recordings sometimes sounded a bit more...

I would say that it's Bogren that is making the difference, but I think the real difference is that the band realized that they needed someone like Bogren to make the band work as well as it could. Amorphis needed someone who was biased and ambitious, but none of them could be that person and...

Kiitos. Some good insights in the section where you asked about Pekka Kainulainen. Definitely worth listening through for that.

It's the combination, really, for me. His atmospheric RABM is just melodic enough to keep me from tuning out and the roots Americana give it depth and identity.

I've known about Panopticon for a while, but none of their releases to-date had grabbed me hard enough to get my attention. Until now... Double album - one focused on atmospheric black metal, the other on American roots/folk music. Sort of a Deliverance/Damnation approach, but from a black...

The new Rivers of Nihil is pretty top-notch. They have set out into more jazz-prog experimentation that puts them in company with Ihsahn and Intronaut. Pretty good company to keep, if you ask me.

Video is epic. Makes me want to visit Lyngen, Norway. Song shares elements with the last three albums but adds enough new to keep sounding fresh.

Barren Earth - A Complex of Cages Like it better than On Lonely Towers, which, despite it's quality, never quite gelled for me. This one feels more relaxed (for lack of a better word). Think Jon has settled into his role.

I approve . It's got some interesting syncopation and the melody lines have some surprises in them.

More post-metal than metal, but still really cool:

Moonspell. Got The Great Silver Eye for cheap years ago at CM Distro and just did not click at the time. Giving it another chance what with them being on the Amo/Tranquillity tour. Liking them much better now that I'm approaching them from the direction of Fields of the Nephilim rather than...

We have three shows in the area here, but that's the week before college starts and I'm going to be hard pressed to make a weekday show when I have to prepare classes. Fortunately, the closest show is on a Sunday.

Planning on seeing the show at the Grove in Anaheim. Should be fantastic.

Nominated for Avant Garde/Experimental Metal AOY at Metal Storm Cool stuff.

Which new releases fought their way into your listening (and your regard) during the last year? I wouldn't call this a Critical Top Pics. Some of these I found a bit uneven, but all of them had something that got me listening and kept me coming back. Also, it's not all metal, though the...