GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1996

[no country for old wainds]

from memory i'd substitute 'bleak' for the title track which i was never too fond of, but yeah i always found 'dirge...' underrated and 'the funeral portrait' to be one of the band's low points.

 

[Phylactery]

Bleak's good too, but Steven Wilson's whiny vocals have always annoyed me.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Deathcult and FAFtS are far more moving than any Opeth.

While Blackwater Park and Still Life may have more coherent structure, they have the issue of having much weaker and forgettable songs. Harvest, The Funeral Portrait, Serenity Painted Death, White Cluster, Benighted etc are all quite weak.

I think Dirge for November is one of their most emotive pieces and a highlight of BWP (The Leper Affinity and the title track being the other best tracks). Of course, a lot of Opeth fans being idiots consider it to be a low point of the band.

I've never heard this before. Weakest of the first 5, but the first five are also clearly their best.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i think he meant 'dirge for november', not the album

unless you did too

shit

no i think you didn't phew

 

[Phylactery]

Yeah, I was talking about the song "Dirge for November" being considered one of their weakest tracks, not Blackwater Park as an album.

Thank god someone else agrees that "The Funeral Portrait" is a shitty song.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Fuck man, "The Funeral Portrait" slays.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

OK I think I've settled on my list. This year is ridiculously deep, especially in black metal.

1. Neurosis- Through Silver in Blood
2. Opeth- Morningrise
3. Burzum- Filosofem
4. Cryptopsy- None So Vile
5. Ildjarn- Strength and Anger
6. Summoning- Dol Goldur
7. Immolation- Here in After
8. Arcturus- Aspera Heims Symphonia
9. Bethlehem- Dicticus te necare
10. Theatre of Tragedy- Velvet Darkness They Fear

Honorable Mentions:
Adramelech- Psychostasia
Blut Aus Nord- Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age
Brenoritvrezorkre- Vasagraèbe éakr vatrè brenoritvrezorkre
Katatonia- Brave Murder Day
Countess- The Book of the Heretic
Gorgoroth- Antichrist
Satyricon- Nemesis Devina
Mayhem- Live in Liepzig
Forgotten Woods- The Curse of Mankind
Dimmu Borgir- Stormblast

I gave Far Away From the Sun another listen today and have to say it's better than I remember on the whole. I'll give it another listen tomorrow, but it's hard to see it breaking in on a list this strong.

 

[Phylactery]

I gave Far Away From the Sun another listen today and have to say it's better than I remember on the whole. I'll give it another listen tomorrow, but it's hard to see it breaking in on a list this strong.

Focus on tracks 2, 5, 6 and 7. These songs peak higher than almost any other in the genre imo. Of course the whole album is amazing and there isn't a weak track, but these are the best.

Despite what many would have you believe, Dissection is NOT the first reference point for this album - it does not feature the death, thrash and heavy metal inflections of something like SotLB. Instead, the weird and emotionally impacting melodies remind me far more of the first At the Gates and even Pure Holocaust. So I'd listen to it with those in mind.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Psychostasia is definitely a top 5(if not top 3) Finnish DM album. Lacks heaviness, darkness and atmosphere? What in the fuckin' world where you listening to? Trumps Far Away From the Sun in just about every one of those departments.

 

[EspaDa]

1. Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
2. Burzum - Filosofem
3. Cryptopsy - None So Vile
4. Immolation - Here in After
5. Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics
6. Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter
7. In Flames - The Jester Race
8. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
9. Sacramentum - Far Away From the Sun
10. Eyehategod - Dopesick

Honorable mention:
Scald - Will of Gods is a Great Power
Hypocrisy - Abducted
Monstrosity - Millennium
Limbonic Art - Moon in the Scorpio
Gates of Ishtar - A Bloodred Path
Angelcorpse - Hammer of Gods

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Also, I thought you weren't a big fan of Far Away from the Sun?

I am and I'm not; it's damn gorgeously emotional sometimes (lyrics help a lot too) but still steeped in a black metal sound that alienates me. The biggest problem I have with it are the blast beats; I hate 'em in general unless used in very short bursts, they don't even sound rhythmic to me, any time they come on in FAftS all I hear is SNARESNARESNARESNARE and it just sounds completely retarded. And it's especially distracting in such an otherwise elegantly flowing album as that. I guess this isn't a problem BM-heads have, but I never was one.

 

[Phylactery]

Psychostasia is definitely a top 5(if not top 3) Finnish DM album. Lacks heaviness, darkness and atmosphere? What in the fuckin' world where you listening to? Trumps Far Away From the Sun in just about every one of those departments.

I said it lacks the darkness, heaviness and atmosphere of Slumber of Sullen Eyes, which I don't think is an arguable point really. But FAftS is definitely darker and more atmospheric than Psychostasia. Obviously Psychostasia wins on heaviness, black metal isn't really known for being heavy, nor does most of it try to be.

I am and I'm not; it's damn gorgeously emotional sometimes (lyrics help a lot too) but still steeped in a black metal sound that alienates me. The biggest problem I have with it are the blast beats; I hate 'em in general unless used in very short bursts, they don't even sound rhythmic to me, any time they come on in FAftS all I hear is SNARESNARESNARESNARE and it just sounds completely retarded. And it's especially distracting in such an otherwise elegantly flowing album as that. I guess this isn't a problem BM-heads have, but I never was one.

I love the drumming on FAFtS, but yeah there is a tonne of blasting on that record so I can why you'd take issue with that. The blasts are quite varied, though. When I first started listening to it I thought there was too much blasting, but it provides the perfect background to the let the gorgeous melodies wash over you. Black metal is definitely the genre that best gets away with blast beat abuse imo.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

I said it lacks the darkness, heaviness and atmosphere of Slumber of Sullen Eyes

You think Slumber is darker or has more atmosphere than Psychostasia?

 

[Master_Yoda77]

He's right though. Slumber of Sullen Eyes is the Finnish DM album I routinely go back to. I can't tell you the last time I wanted to listen to Psychostasia

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Listening to Psychostasia for the first time right now, I'm two minutes deep into the title track right now and speaking from an obviously highly informed standpoint, I'd have to say this blows away Slumber in all three respects mentioned. Slumber is just standard Northern Euro death with occasional moments of weirdness or atmosphere, never got the appeal outside of a few songs on that one.

Far Away... is obviously melodic fruitcake metal even on its own merits, let alone compared to this.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

oh shit, yoderp has spoken. He's right about what? You should know by know that your measly opinions don't mean much to me. Anyone that thinks Slumber has more atmosphere or is darker than Psychostasia needs to have a CT scan to make sure they're okay.

Darkness and especially atmosphere are the fucking defining aspects of that album.

 

[Phylactery]

Darkness and especially atmosphere are the fucking defining aspects of that album.

And they aren't the defining aspects of Slumber? As well as its bassy rhythmic heaviness.

I don't consider much death metal to be dark, and Psychostsia is definitely not an an example of dark death metal imo. Slumber has this mystical atmosphere and aura about it that I just don't hear in the Adramelech album. That album to me just sounds like a collection of really cool riffs, hence why Burgerboy likes it.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I just finished listening to it and the riffing is consistently weirder throughout it. On first pass, there was nothing as conservative on the Adramelech album as, say, songs like Dead Soul or The Forlorn, which rely mostly on chunky power chord riffs and grooves that could have come out of Florida circa 1988.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

And they aren't the defining aspects of Slumber? As well as its bassy rhythmic heaviness.

I don't consider much death metal to be dark, and Psychostsia is definitely not an an example of dark death metal imo. Slumber has this mystical atmosphere and aura about it that I just don't hear in the Adramelech album. That album to me just sounds like a collection of really cool riffs, hence why Burgerboy likes it.

No, they are not the defining aspects of Slumber,that would be more of its more accessible chainsaw riffage mated with a tad bit of melody. Don't get me wrong, i love Slumber ... but more atmosphere than Psychostasia? Not even fucking close.

 

[Phylactery]

I just finished listening to it and the riffing is consistently weirder throughout it. On first pass, there was nothing as conservative on the Adramelech album as, say, songs like Dead Soul or The Forlorn, which rely mostly on chunky power chord riffs and grooves that could have come out of Florida circa 1988.

Obviously it's weirder, that's why it's also compared to Demilich a lot. It's like a middle ground between Demigod and Demilich, but it has never done as much for me as either of those two.