GMD Poll: Best song on Adramelech - Psychostasia

[Vegard Pompey]

Phylactery told me that I have to resume doing these polls or I'll never see my dog again. So here we go. As chosen by RNG, the album we're voting on today is...

Adramelech - Psychostasia
No soul could pass this three-headed dog...

Ranked #6 for the year 1996 with 77 points from 11 votes

1. Heroes in Godly Blaze
   
2. Psychostasia
   
3. Seance of Shamans
   
4. The Book of the Worm
   
5. Thoth (Lord of the Holy Words)
   
6. Mythic Descendant
   
7. As the Gods Succumbed
   
8. Across the Gray Waters

Vote for your favorite track! The poll will stay open for two weeks.

 

[Phylactery]

Thought this was going to be Here in After!

I may blast this one on my way to work tomorrow. As I probably said in the 1996 thread, I've never really 'got' this album. It's always been a collection of killer riffs and never anything more to me - I fail to hear the atmosphere others claim it has. It definitely does not sound as dark or as mystical as Slumber of Sullen Eyes to me. Demigod and Demilich this is most certainly not. But perhaps I'll have a revelatory experience with it tomorrow on my mundane drive!

DMDS which is much more popular than this hasn't had many votes thus far, so not sure how this will go.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Yeah I wonder if this will get enough votes too. I hope so, it seems to be a very respected album although it isn't discussed much. Like you I think it's terrific but not profound, it's got fantastic riffs and a lovely sepulchral sound but it's not an all-time favorite or anything. I will have to give it a few listens to figure out which song is my favorite.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Might have to think about this one.

 

[Onder]

This is a great album but I sort of always listened to it as a whole and I really can point at one track that is my favorite. But maybe if I relisten and analyze? I don't promise anything tho, I'm really busy lately.

 

[Onder]

This album is so epic. I can't decide between the first one and the last one, but 4 is also epic.
The opening riff of the album is like 80's Manilla Road and then it goes all Incantation in the second riff and finnish madness for the rest of the song. I just gotta vote for the first one.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Title track but the whole album is pretty consistent. Probably too consistent.

EDIT: Autism:

Psychostasia - 3.5/5 (very tight riffing)
As the Gods Succumbed - 3.5/5 (a lot of elements on this album are similar after the first song, but this one feels a little more weighty than most of the others, more oppressive)
The Book of the Worm - 3.5/5 (a bit more dissonant, and with some Nasty Savage style stiltedness)
Seance of Shamans - 3.5/5
Mythic Descendant - 3.5/5
Heroes of the Godly Blaze - 3/5 (has that "cool" Armoured Angel feel for the verses, could be a 3.5 if it went further with it)
Thoth (Lord of the Holy Words) - 3/5
Across the Grey Waters - 3/5

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Fuck this album was so refreshing after listening to so much Morbid Angel this week. I voted for The Book of the Worm, because the jazzy elements are killer, but a strong case can be made for Heroes in a Godly Blaze as well. Every track is good though.

 

[Phylactery]

Altars of Madness and Blessed are the Sick > Psychostasia.

What are your top 5-10 death metal albums? I’m just struggling to understand what you dislike so much about Morbid Angel’s brand of death metal.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Some of my favorites are:
At the Gates- The Red in the Sky is Ours
Incantation- The Mortal Throne of the Nazarene
Cryptopsy- None So Vile
Death- Leprosy
Demilich- Nesphite
Immolation- Here in After
Autopsy- Mental Funeral

I really want to know the opposite: what's so appealing about Morbid Angel? What makes them a special band in your eyes. It feels like death metal by the numbers, a little too dry and dispassionate. It's certainly not bad, but it is bland. I struggle to see what distinguishes it. I really do want to know, because I'm trying to give them a fair chance but I just don't see anything special about them.

 

[Phylactery]

I’ll post a proper response later, but your criticisms are actually exactly how I mostly feel about Death. I should love Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy, but I don’t. I find them to be just good. Even then, if I want old school, dirty death metal, I’m hardly ever reaching for Death. I just don’t find them to be all that memorable or exciting and I find them to be much more bland than Morbid Angel’s best works.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Blessed are the Sick is a generic bag of shit.

 

[Phylactery]

Shut your dirty mouth with this nonsense of Blessed are the Sick being generic. There’s nothing generic about it! It’s less by the numbers than stuff bands like Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse were releasing at a similar time.

I know you dislike the album, which is fine, but don’t make false claims about it to justify your distaste for it.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Next you'll tell me Practice What You Preach isn't generic because of what bands like Heathen and Evildead were releasing at a similar time.

 

[Phylactery]

Well unless you can tell me what death metal around a similar time sounds like the title track or Fall From Grace then I’m going to ignore your claims of it being generic. Morbid Angel were the leaders and not the followers.

Generic to me means standard and by the numbers. And it isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, if an albums pulls it off well. I still don’t think Blessed are the Sick is in anyway generic. You might find it boring, but that’s completely different.