If NAD gets a CD-R write up thread, then so do I damnit!

JayKeeley said:
Next album tonight after dinner, dim lights, headphones...Leviathan - Tentacles of Horror!

Stay tuned.
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That album inspired my Black Metal recommendations thread. I put 5 albums in my stereo with that one being last in line and fell asleep about 4 songs into the first album. By the time Leviathan came on I was in a nice little sleep, only for it to apparently scare the shit out of me enough to wake me up, and I'm a damn heavy sleeper too. It's one of those albums that makes you think your being chased by a dude with a bloody axe in a field or that your the guy with the axe yourself, whatever creams your twinkie. :loco:
 
Yeah, Leviathan is definitely next for me. Don't know why, I'm just in the mood for something Californian today. And besides, the Leviathan material on the split with Crebain I have is excellent.
 
OK Leviathan got pushed aside. I dunno, I guess I have to be in the mood. One or two songs in, and then it all becomes a blargu blur.

So I went for Magyar Posse.

BloodStainedWalls - where do you find this stuff? This is great. Low key label, very few reviews, etc. Anyway, all the tracks are untitled?

I'm a BIG fans of movie soundtrack composers, and have always loved the works of Ennio Morricone. There seems to be a 70's/80's Italian movie charm to this music. It is soundtrack'ish, but each track still maintains a structure of being an actual song, as opposed to snippets of music here or there.

More later once the album is over.
 
OK so where was I?

Right then, Estatic Fear is the greatest find since Prophecy Records.

Geasa - Angel's Cry. I started this, and then decided to leave it just because it wasn't clicking with me. I'll come back to it later on.

Nortt - Gudsforladt is really, really good. I'm not sure how to describe it really. It's very bleak, and yet epic at the same time. Just massive landscapes wrapping themselves around you, drowning you in shadows....this will take some time to really absorb, but thus far, a clear cut winner.
 
Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood

Quick first thought: Who is the bass player on this album? As prominent as the vocals and flute are, the bass playing is just beautiful. It really defines some moments (or even entire) songs.

Also, not that anyone here will care, but I just realized that Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian emulates Ian Anderson's vocal melodies quite a lot.
 
John Glascock, glad you like the album. Hunting Girl and Jack-on-the-Green are probably my favorites from that.

Jeffrey Hammond plays bass on Aqualung, the title track and Locomotive Breath are some of my favorite basslines ever.
 
Aerogramme - Sleep & Release.

Here are the notes I made on this whilst listening.... "SMASHING PUMPKINS meets new ANATHEMA" style rock band with big string / orchestral sections, splashes of hammond organ, multi-layered choruses, occasional screams. Quite moody & ambient giving it an off-beat movie soundtrack feel, in the way that MANES might have done at times on Vilosophe. Very interesting vibe - I'll definitely listen to this again, and I'm sure I'll keep hearing new elements with each listen.

Coming soon....some initial thoughts on Danzig III, Tiamat, Jethro Tull's Songs from the Wood, Anathema's Judgement, Pelican, and Dredg.
 
Ooh more initial thoughs on Songs from the Wood? Cool! :p

You know one I forgot to send your way was Jerry Cantrell, and I think I should've made you a NAD picks best of Danzig, although you'll probably dig III and parts of 777.
 
Erik said:
Heh, JayK, you must be drowning in CD-R's...
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About 60. It's a good problem though because they've all been selected with some thought put into it. It's not a random selection in other words, and I've already found some exceptional new albums as you can tell from this thread (and the Estatic Fear thread too). It's all quite educational, I must say.

How about the CD's I sent you? Were they ok?
 
Tiamat - The Astral Sleep.

This is quite different to what I was expecting, considering you can throw me into the group of people who only knew Wildhoney -- and truth be known, that album hasn't clicked with me yet -- but in anycase, this is rather interesting to say the least. First of all, the obvious attribute is the lack of anything remotely "blues based". There's perhaps one or two pentatonic scales on the entire album? Otherwise, all the riffs and leads have a very 'exotic/middle eastern' sound to it, and combined with the eerie effects and melodies, you get that notable MERCYFUL FATE meets SIGH kind of sound. Some of it is rather simplistic, but upon closer inspection, the real magic of TIAMAT is what's going on in the background, particularly in the supporting harmonies. With all that said, there are also elements of that early Swedish death metal sound to the album.

Interestingly enough, I think at times it still seems to lack something along the lines of mature songwriting (although I respect its release date and the fact that someone like SIGH came along afterwards)....

....but then comes Clouds....

This is much, much better IMO! Wow. The songs seem to be slightly more cohesive this time round, there is muchos atmospheros, and it has a death/doom vibe which is always cool in my book. Lots of dynamics, and I do prefer the vocals here too. Gotta love those middle-eastern acoustic guitars and the bass work is outstanding -- I notice that Johnny Hagel did not appear on The Astral Sleep, and it is noticeable.

I appreciate that The Astral Sleep may need a few more listens, but for now, Clouds is an album that gets added to my want list.
 
Erik said:
Haha, I just kind of mixed up the songs as you've noticed, so I hope you figure out which songs belong to which album.
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Gah, fuck, is it totally mixed? It doesn't sound like it is because the production on Clouds tracks seem undeniably 'brighter' so that at least points out those songs, but truth be known, I noticed a significant change at around track #12-#18 so I was wondering if the Clouds material emerges towards the end of the CD?

Maybe this means I should just add both to my want list and play it safe. :tickled:
 
Haha, I really did think it was sequential. It would be interesting to see what the hell tracks 12-18 are then, because those 6 just stood out for some reason, hehehe. I doubt if you would remember?

Looking at your note: "This has Clouds and most of Astral Sleep ALL MIXED UP"! Well, I laugh then at myself now, but like I said, will buy both! :)

Thank you for the links. I think this will be the third time I'm trying to buy the Tiamat albums. I seem to be jinxed getting this stuff.
 
Pelican - Australasia.

I like this, but for sure, Adrian will like it more! Have you heard this NADrian?

Ambient, melodic, drone doom. Notable tracks are the first, "NightEndDay", which is an instant fucking classic, and the last, "Australasia", where both songs have a similar bright vibe to them. Difficult to describe, but amidst all the doom and drone, these particular songs do have a 'clear blue sky' sound, almost joyous at times, and probably great to play first thing in the morning....where the other tracks are a bit darker, noisier, and overcast. Not bad, but not as immediately accessible, but I intend to listen to this a lot.

Of course, it's all instrumental - thankfully. Vocals over this would have been a nuisance. PELICAN seem to know what works and what doesn't, so at minimum, I admire their less is more approach.
 
No, I haven't heard them yet but have been meaning to check them out. I think the reason I haven't is because I think I read a comparison to Halo and those dudes suck.
 
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