Albums currently kicking your ass

Black Death Horizon is easily one of my favourite albums of 2013. I definitely need to spend more time with the new one, but after two listens I don’t like it anywhere near as much. It’s just nowhere near as distinctive or memorable. That first track on BDH was instant love the first time I heard it. Just churning, disgusting, morbid and foreboding. Basically everything I want out of this kind of death metal. Nothing from Centotaph Obscure compares yet.

But then I’m not a big fan of the debut or Nekropsalms actually.
 
I think "Eldritch Summoning" can stand against anything from Black Death Horizon, but overall it's a slight step down from said album. I still think Nekropsalms is their best album myself but honestly their last 3 albums are all pretty evenly matched to me.

This new album seems more straightforwardly aggressive, while Black Death Horizon is perhaps a little less direct and a bit more playful, some of their Magma influences had this effect perhaps?
 
Black Death Horizon has better production. It showcases the band's aggressiveness and strange, ferocious, and at the same time incredibly rewarding riffs. It's more primitive so to speak. Cenotaph Obscure, as Phylactery said, is not that memorable from the very beginning. I fell in love with Black Death Horizon from the very first listen, and their latest one hasn't entirely clicked with me yet. Just not as many memorable riffs as on BDH, where every riff seemed to crush your skull. However, I agree that Eldritch Summoning is one of the best songs they've ever written. I hate to say that but Cenotaph Obscure looks pretty bland beside Black Death Horizon and Nekropsalms.
 
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Black Death Horizon had immediate appeal, but often I find the best albums are the ones that open up slowly with each listen. I don't really see how you're justifying saying this new album's production is too modern and inferior to the last's. I just don't really hear it myself, I think this new album's production is killer and it's not surprising since they handled it themselves as usual.

I also think you two are overrating Black Death Horizon somewhat. You're acting as if the difference between Cenotaph Obscure and Black Death Horizon is night and day.
 
Black Death Horizon has better production. It showcases the band's aggressiveness and strange, ferocious, and at the same time incredibly rewarding riffs. It's more primitive so to speak. Cenotaph Obscure, as Phylactery said, is not that memorable from the very beginning. I fell in love with Black Death Horizon from the very first listen, and their latest one hasn't entirely clicked with me yet. Just not as many memorable riffs as on BDH, where every riff seemed to crush your skull. However, I agree that Eldritch Summoning is one of the best songs they've ever written. I hate to say that but Cenotaph Obscure looks pretty bland beside Black Death Horizon and Nekropsalms.
Wow, after reading this post I decided to listen to BDH for the first time. Absolute fucking masterpiece!! Where the hell has this album been all my life?
 
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Just blasted my way through the opening tracks and am still listening to it. Hey ho! What can I say? Both albums are fucking golden. Definitely no steps backwards in the musicality department on CO. Eldritch Summoning is my favourite track so far. Both albums exceed expectations.

I can hear the differences in production you guys were talking about, whilst the newest release has a bit more of a compressed sound to it, it's still light years away from sounding like a mainstream metal release from 2018. Takes a bit of getting used to.
 
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Detestation Rite is fighting pretty hard for that honour though right about now. What a band!
 
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Massively underrated too. Going to have to buy some of their releases when I get the chance. They deserve the support.
 
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Solitude Aeternus - Beyond the Crimson Horizon

Like being hit repeatedly over the head with a tonne of bricks. Some of these riffs are absolutely crushing and the drums add to the weightyness.
The vocals too. Seeds of the Desolate and It Came Upon One Night are some of Lowe's finest moments. And I love how Beyond predicts the even thicker doom sound on Through the Darkest Hour.

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Indeed. Those are two of my favourite doom songs in general. I’m actually only properly familiar with the first two SA, which I’ve been a fan of for years. I’ve heard their later albums but only once I think and I don’t remember much about them. Given that I prefer Beyond the Crimson Horizon to the debut, is Through the Darkest Hour the one I should look into next?
 
Indeed. Those are two of my favourite doom songs in general. I’m actually only properly familiar with the first two SA, which I’ve been a fan of for years. I’ve heard their later albums but only once I think and I don’t remember much about them. Given that I prefer Beyond the Crimson Horizon to the debut, is Through the Darkest Hour the one I should look into next?
Couldn't go wrong with either Through the Darkest Hour or Adagio, though the former is my personal favorite of theirs and, in my opinion, a crucial doom title. I'd say the biggest difference between it and the first two albums is that the power metal influence from the first two are downplayed. The overall sound remains epic and huge but also thicker and weightier.



One of the finest examples of the art form.