Black Metal.

I'm really impressed by the new Panopticon, Kentucky. I think it's probably his best. The black metal tracks are really powerful and full of interesting twists and turns. There are also a bunch of straight up blue grass tracks, which are also really good. Sometimes the transitions between the two styles is a little odd and abrasive. I think he could of done a better job of blending the two elements, but that's really my only gripe with this recording.

i've been listening to Kentucky a lot lately, i love it. definitely gonna end up in my top 10 at the end of the year.
 
personally, I like Faustian Echoes far more than Marrow of the Spirit (except for Black Lake Nidstang). Plus, seeing them perform it live was unbelievable.

very excited about the Dordeduh cd finally being released. excited to see what Hupogrammos and Sol Faur have in store
 
Yea, Faustian Echoes is definitely one of the best things Agalloch's ever done. I really hope they continue with that more blackened, raw sound.
 
Big fan here as well, one of my favorite genres. It's probably the one genre of metal that I would consider one of the farther removed from traditional metal. Not in the sense that it isn't 'metal' or 'heavy' because it very much is, but mostly because of the structure, compositional style, and atmosphere of the genre. It is its own beast. That's for sure.

Anyway, I like a lot of bands from this genre particularly Borknagar, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir's first two albums, Celtic Frost, Arcturus, Ulver (when they were BM), Heresei, Woods of Ypres, and some other random bands I can't think of right now. But you get the idea.
 
personally, I like Faustian Echoes far more than Marrow of the Spirit (except for Black Lake Nidstang). Plus, seeing them perform it live was unbelievable.

very excited about the Dordeduh cd finally being released. excited to see what Hupogrammos and Sol Faur have in store

I prefer Agalloch's first three albums to their last one but I still like everything they've done. I do miss the goth influences of their first two albums though, the Fields of the Nephilim sound.

I just ordered Faustian Echoes. Figured I might as well buy it now before it costs me an arm and a leg a year from now.
 
I enjoy Faustian Echoes, but it doesn't blow me away like a number of other Agalloch albums.

Just heard the new Blut Aus Nord for the first time. Weird album. First song is great, but then there are some excessively electronic songs later on. There's some fairly weak clean vocals that are used throughout. I'll have to give it a few more listens, but not happy with it on first listen.
 
Just heard the new Blut Aus Nord for the first time. Weird album. First song is great, but then there are some excessively electronic songs later on. There's some fairly weak clean vocals that are used throughout. I'll have to give it a few more listens, but not happy with it on first listen.

I'll listen to it for myself of course but this sounds discouraging. :(
 
So, this isn't really black metal, but it also doesn't really sound like anything. They are touring with Primordial and While Heaven Wept. They are definitely interesting. I think fans of said bands and Obsequiae will enjoy them well enough.

http://cormorant.bandcamp.com/

Cormorant is pretty cool & definitely tough to catergorize. I have all of their stuff so far. I think their latest, Dwellings, Is my favorite. The artwork is fucking great.
 
Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing how they sound live. I also love how everything they do is self-released. That is difficult to finance regardless if you have a job or not, and based on the quality of their recordings and physical releases, I'd say they spend a pretty penny.
 
Ive been following Cormorant since the release of Metazoa, and imo they are one of the best (if not the best) up and coming progressive metal bands around. Metazoa was an excellent blend of progressive folk metal played like modern black metal, and I absolutely loved the nature aesthetic. The vocals were also very good and stylistically well varied, which seems to be a rarity in metal. Dwellings wasnt quite what I expected, but nevertheless I think it's even better than Metazoa. The progressive metal influences are a bit more prominent (which is typically a bad thing imo), but the good kind of progressive (reminds me a lot of Hammers of Misfortune at times), and the overall sound and content seems a bit more mature and cohesive. Id love to see them live, wish I had known about the tour a bit sooner.