The Initial Impressions Thread

AchrisK said:
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk

As with way too many of my CDs, I have had this a while and never really familiarized myself with it. I recognize a melody or two, but mostly it is unfamiliar to me.

This is an odd album. There is a lot going on besides black metal. It is very dense and seems like it will take some effort to digest. I definitely hear some good stuff, but also a lot of stuff I am not so sure about. I am wondering how this will end up on the balances.
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I still think it's their best, even over Nightside, though it's really very close. Anthems kinda sounds like nothing else ever has, though. Was a glorious mindfuck beyond all else in its time. I'm guilty of forgetting about Emperor in recent years because I'm less and less interested in symphonic black metal, but I should remember to put those on more often.
 
Skyforger - Thunderforge

Just comes off as goofy and not the good kind like Finntroll. The album as a whole seems to lack any memorable melodies, entrancing droney parts, or anything remotely redeeming. "Oh Fog, Oh Dew" is decent enough, and I'll keep it on the computer, but the album as a whole is definitely not solid enough to go out and buy.
 
AchrisK said:
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk

As with way too many of my CDs, I have had this a while and never really familiarized myself with it. I recognize a melody or two, but mostly it is unfamiliar to me.

This is an odd album. There is a lot going on besides black metal. It is very dense and seems like it will take some effort to digest. I definitely hear some good stuff, but also a lot of stuff I am not so sure about. I am wondering how this will end up on the balances.
Click to expand...

That album fucking kills. I didn't like it at first myself... I was like "what the hell is this?" Eventually I woke up to how awesome it was. First three Emperor albums all slay.
 
I was the opposite, I initially liked Anthems more and then switched to the Nightside is better camp. I have not listened to Anthems in years though. Should put it on some time.
 
There are many things I dislike with Anthems. Trym creates drum inflation by playing so damn over the top all the time, after a while you're just numb to everything he plays. The songs have a very forced feel overall, it's like they've tried to duplicate the unorthodox melodies and chord structures from Nightside, but whereas the songs on Nightside have a natural feeling as if they've always been there and Emperor has only brought them to light, the songs on Anthems feel crammed with strange ideas just for the sake of it.
The production has a very plastic feel to it also.
 
Plastic? Anthems? I'd agree with that about IX Equilibrium and Prometheus, but Anthems still sounds amazing to me -- I don't know quite how to word it, but it sounds like it's echoing through halls of gold. Yes, it shifts from Nightside's revelatory trancelike clarity into an overwhelming blur, but to pleasing effect in my opinion. It's all very bombastic, one might even say pretentious, but I think it works. How could Emperor NOT be pompously overwrought? That's what defined them. And "With Strength I Burn" is especially glorious.
 
Dead Congregation-'Graves Of The Archangels': Well, I've pretty much been anti-death metal for the last 6 months. Unless it's ridiculously slammy which serves as better "I don't know what else to listen to and don't feel like listening to something with much though" stuff, old-school shit, or Ignivomous, I haven't liked it. I can barely even listen to old-school dm anymore, honestly. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The production is suffocating...not for the instruments, but for the listener. It's very much like a grave. The riffs are original, inventive, catchy without faggotry, the vocals are the perfect gurgle-without-inhaling. The drumming is machine like in precision, but not in creativity. Everything about this album is just right, just evil enough, just dark enough, just interesting enough. This would have been on my top 10 had I heard it last year, which is saying a lot, because I REALLY haven't cared for death metal recently. Fucking great album.
 
Xorv said:
^Is that album very similar to heathenreel or are they still releasing cheese like the winter wake?

Listening to esoteric for the first time. Starting with metamorphogenesis. Not much to say....I'm just really in a "wtf" mood right now trying to understand what is going on.
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That's honestly how your suppose to feel through the first listens. Well that and feeling like your suffocating. Kick ass band that does no wrong IMO.
 
divine_torture said:
Dead Congregation-'Graves Of The Archangels': Well, I've pretty much been anti-death metal for the last 6 months. Unless it's ridiculously slammy which serves as better "I don't know what else to listen to and don't feel like listening to something with much though" stuff, old-school shit, or Ignivomous, I haven't liked it. I can barely even listen to old-school dm anymore, honestly. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The production is suffocating...not for the instruments, but for the listener. It's very much like a grave. The riffs are original, inventive, catchy without faggotry, the vocals are the perfect gurgle-without-inhaling. The drumming is machine like in precision, but not in creativity. Everything about this album is just right, just evil enough, just dark enough, just interesting enough. This would have been on my top 10 had I heard it last year, which is saying a lot, because I REALLY haven't cared for death metal recently. Fucking great album.
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Really the only death metal I come back to right now (and their EP). Everything else is flawed in some way.
 
Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Wow, these vocals are just awful. More because they're out of place than anything else, but seriously...anyhow, not as atmospheric as Ashes Against The Grain (the only other one I've heard from them) and they're not interesting as a metal band, so this is probably not going to get a lot of play. But if they didn't have another album that did the exact same thing but better, I could see throwing this on now and again. Some good stuff. I really enjoy their lyrical style. The lyrics are pretentious and vapid, no doubt, but I like the phrasing and imagery a lot. They say nothing, but they say it with style.
 
agalloch > everything else waif listens to tbqfh.

Listening to joy division for the first time, decent. Sounds really plain so far, but something that I might probably like in the future. Although I don't know how long it will, if at all, last.
 
I honestly wouldn't mind if Agalloch gave up metal and went further in the direction of the White EP. They have some good to great metal tunes, I just value acoustic music I actually like more because, unlike metal, I can't just go find any decent band and enjoy them.
 
The White reminds me a lot of the mid-'90s apocalyptic folk-era Death in June (+ Wicker Man clips and references). So you might want to try some of those albums.
 
Reminds me a bit of the folky parts of Ulver..but yea I can't get enough of it, so I'll check that out.
 
I just finished an interview with Haughm that will be published in issue 1 of The Heretic's Torch. I just completed editing everything for it, so at least the writing portion of the process is done.
 
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