Themed Mixtape Game Mk. 2

[challenge_everything]

Nine submissions so far. Anyone else want in?

@TechnicalBarbarity @Sirjack @Krow @EspaDa @challenge_everything @Opeth17

I will try to get something in by tomorrow.

 

[SonOfNun]

Same.

 

[Sirjack]

Love to mate, give us til Saturday night your time?

 

[Slayed Necros]

Space Mixtape

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light
Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
Picture - Battle For the Universe
Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
Candlemass - Copernicus
Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
Voivod - Planet Eaters
Agressor - Positonic Showering
Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
Vektor - Cosmic Cortex

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Wow playlist looks nothing like i imagined

 

[arg]

 

[CiG]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light 5/10
Pretty gay but also kinda epic and uplifting. Nothing I really wanna hear ever again though.

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 7/10
Very nice and playful. I've heard these guys before but never properly I suppose.

Picture - Battle for the Universe 7.5/10
Hell yeah finally something with a bit of grit and guts! I gotta go check this album out now, obviously a legendary underground band but I don't think I've never heard a single album.

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7/10
Another cool track of gritty heavy metal. Don't listen to these guys enough, I have this on tape somewhere.

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 7/10
Well, that was a fun little self-contained old school heavy metal trilogy. Raven fucking kicks arse.

Candlemass - Copernicus 9/10
Cheers to @Opeth17 for reminding me this underrated album and amazing tune exists. Such a fucking immense parting gift from Messiah.

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 7/10
This guy singing is fucking hilarious. It's like they dragged some cunt in from the streets to do heavy metal karaoke, but he's just drunk and passionate enough that it ends up working. Definitely an overall cool charming sound.

Voivod - Planet Eaters 8/10
Album is really growing on me albeit slowly. This tune is so dissonant and catchy.

Agressor - Positonic Showering 9/10
Dunno if I've ever heard these guys before... Man what a heavy riff-fest!

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 8.5/10
A newer album that I loved but haven't revisited as much as I should or might like. The final track on the album was my song of the year in 2019. Yeah fuck this song is a beast too.

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero 5/10
Didn't really do much for me. Don't like the drum sound, the vocals are shouty/throaty, and the way it's produced has the riffs mostly drowned out. The less heavy moments are cool though.

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) 7.5/10
Interesting mixture of stuff. High energy, playful, bit weird, bit extreme, all over the place but it has a fluidity to it. Also the bass playing is awesome. Need to look into this band.

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 9/10
Awesome way to end the playlist. Obviously an immensely devastating mixture of influences that keeps things insanely exciting. Get a Voivody bit then a Destruction bit then some Rush or Emperor then into a schizo Sadus part then Pink Floyd then Watchtower as the vocalist screeches like Schuldiner on crack. Mindblowing track.

 

[Bloopy]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light 5/10
Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 6/10
Picture - Battle For the Universe 9/10
Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7/10
Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 4/10
Candlemass - Copernicus 6/10
Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 3/10
Voivod - Planet Eaters 5/10
Agressor - Positonic Showering 9/10
Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 8/10
Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero 7/10
Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) 6/10
Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 8/10

Space is the place of annoying vocals apparently. Raven is one band I grew out of fast but I still listen to them occasionally.

 

[Baroque]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light
6/10 I like the guitars in the intro. Not a fan of this kind of feel-good power rock (metal questionable) but it's sort of listenable. This song reminds me of the game "The Artful Escape" which I also wasn't a fan of but I can't knock either of them too harshly because they're unoffensive. Everything is just sort of ok, and feels corporate like this was commissioned by Wizards of the Coast or something.

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
8/10 This is like the "cooler daniel" version of the previous track. There's actual drama to it, so it's metal. Guitars are better, vocals are more interesting. I can support this even if it's slightly outside my usual tastes.

Picture - Battle For the Universe
7/10 Slightly more metal than other stuff I've heard by Picture, getting Priest vibes. It's not very spacey considering the lyrical theme. Battle for the Universe could definitely be a more epic song than this, could benefit from more progression.

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
7.2/10 Another of the B-side classic heavy metal bands? This has more progression than the previous track as evidenced by the solo sections around 2 mins in. Still just hangs out around the same Priest formula without really evoking Space musically, only lyrically.

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
7.1/10 Wtf lol. This is not what I was expecting the Space mixtape to be, I guess we are going with retro 70's sci-fi feels or something. The energy of this has a bit more balls than the previous two but still feels very derivative of the big names at the time like Priest and Maiden. Still not very spacey.

Candlemass - Copernicus
8.8/10 Finally some real fucking heaviness. For whatever reason I could never get into Epicus so haven't listened to much Candlemass (but I did like Nightfall and Ancient Dreams). Whenever I hear Messiah on vocals I'm blown away by the vocal talent, and legit Tony Iommi-esque riffs backing him. I should probably check out more Candlemass. +.5 for that satisfying solo and riff change just before 5 mins. Only complaint, it's a bit too long.

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
3.5/10 Really slick album cover, would wear this t-shirt, hope it's good music. Galloping tremolo on repeat, yuck. Not a fan of the rhythm guitarist's choice of riffs. The vocals sound stupid, and it's like 1/4 note 1/4 note 1/4 note most basic rhythm imaginable. Yeah I don't like this. These dudes need some music lessons.

Voivod - Planet Eaters
8.7/10 Spaciest track so far. Definitely not the best i've heard from Voivod though. The vocalist never sits quite right with me. Still outdoes the majority of this playlist in terms of riffing and progression musically. Thematic. +.5 for the intentional gradual tempo change starting around 3:15

Agressor - Positonic Showering
8.1/10 Pretty cool thrash/osdm from '92. Docked a bit for monotone vocals. Nice complexity rhythmically. Sounds like flying through a chaotic asteroid belt.

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
6.7/10 I've checked out this album before and just not my style, but more power to people who can dig this. I respect it it's just not for me. Too much crammed on the low end with blast beats growls and chugga riffs/bass. The guitarist is impressive at least when he goes off.

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
8.9/10 Dope intro. Not usually a fan of mixes with vocals just being hidden in the background. Appreciate the additon of non-traditional metal instruments. Very lack-of-atmospheric as if floating without gravity. Then re-entry starts around 4:30. Ok this might be the best Space song on the playlist so far. Think I'll check out more by these guys.

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
6.5/10 This just sounds silly, not sure if intentional. I just can't take this seriously, sounds ridiculous even if some of the riffs are interesting.

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
9.7/10 The greatest sci-fi band that currently exists, and this is one of their masterpieces. It's the Forests of Legend of their 2nd studio album in a lot of ways. Very cool lyrical concept of a spherical borg-like cosmic brain. Besides the song just kicks ass the way the riffs all fit together and pull you forward. The listener is on a spaceship, but they're not in control of the ship, just being dragged along for the ride through a galactic wasteland.

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light 5.5/10 didn't hate it, but didn't really like it either. Bumped it up a half a notch for the female vocals

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 6/10 on par with the first track, slightly better

Picture - Battle For the Universe 7.5/10 good song. The albums I've heard from these guys vary a lot in quality. Dig this though

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7/10 pretty alright

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 7/10 same as above

Candlemass - Copernicus 8.5/10 tend to neglect these guys, need to remedy that

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 8/10 enjoyed this quite a bit, will investigate more

Voivod - Planet Eaters 8/10 slacking big time on newer Voivod stuff. What i have heard is hit or miss for me, liked this though

Agressor - Positonic Showering 9/10 kind of agree with baroquey, a few drawn out shrieks or something would have gone a long way. Whatever though, still rips

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 8/10 like everything I've heard from these guys

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero 7.5/10 was doing a few things while this was playing and had to keep checking if it was the same song. Probably not something I'd seek out on my own but makes pretty good background music

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) 6.5/10 sill thinking about the track before this

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 9/10 need to buy these guys albums....always dig 'em when i hear them

 

[Sirjack]

.
.
Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light - Hmm sweet clean geetar skills on board all over this. I like it. Strong vox, some atmosphere with a wicked mix. Nothing I'd buy but that's because l have impeccable taste and I'm also broke. 8/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars - Ah yeah some killer riffs here. Cool vox vox man. Don't like the delay on the leads but that's a very petty gripe with something obviously so fuckin manly and orc killing as this track. 8/10

Picture - Battle For the Universe - Heard this album before. And when l heard it then it didn't sound like this. Sounds very different. Probably not this then. Yeah this is pretty cool. I get the Priest vibe too. But only because the guy on the cover is KK 7/10

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion - Akira Takasaki = 10/10 looks wise for me. I'd smash him. On the musical front, this band has been on constant rotation for me since about 87. No joke. I know it's cheesy 80's glammy shred rock but l love that shit!

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light - Fuckin Raven!! Legends!! One of their best tunes ever! In fact it really is one of their very best songs, and it's HM Bliss with a capital B(j) 9/10

Candlemass - Copernicus - Had not heard this Candlemass album before but this is terrific. Messiah!! ..Leif Edling is another who's name will long be bantered around metal circles because of his massive contribution to the riff and metal. The guy is a legend. 10/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars - Oh yeah this is wicked. That riff at 1:15 and the rhythm behind it.. really like the production on this. Interesting vox and Electric organ. Killer changes, awesome tones. Great OS vibe. This is gold. 9/10

Voivod - Planet Eaters - Never got into Voivod. I think they seemed too intelligent for me when l was discovering early thrash etc in the mi-late 80's. I was probably intimidated and scared of them. Yeah probably. Of course today l can see the appeal and kinda regret not taking the time to listen to them. I'm sure I've missed out on a great first discovery band but I'm not so sure I'm really worse-off for it. If this is typical Voivod then I appear to have saved some money 6.5/10 OMG tho the solo! Is that Piggy?

Agressor - Positonic Showering - Weird mix of thrash and DM. but its plenty brutal. 92? Wow yeah that logo looks familiar. Harp in there? No this is safely DM all the way. Love some of the tremlo riffs.. 1:29! MA nod for sure what a riff this rules 10/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant - I gave this album a listen one dark cold stormy night long ago in a land far.. well, that's where it has taken me tonight folks and I am right there by the pilots side. This is epic. I must have been even more stoned than l am now when l listened to this album that dark cold stormy night long ago in a.. yeah this rips! very agreeable sonic sensations waning with my mid section. Cool. ..not so sure about the prolonged fucking middle section there tho. What was that? That wasn't space, that just a sweaty day. I think that's what stopped my purchase finger from smashing that buy button. Just lose the middle boys and we'd get along swell. 7/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero - 2017 Avant-garde music? At least that's what it says.. and yeah this is pretty far from the rest of tonight's PL. Very cool. Very dramatic. Another slightly too long middle but not too painful. Starting to lose interest. Oh spicy blasts. Oh some spicy drums. It's dragging.. 6/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) - (Expecting BM) God damn this is so disgusting and shitty. I'm not sure whether to laugh or puke. (Realising it's just Viking Folk) ..AaarRGGGG, fetch me a pint wench!, and make it snappy! 6/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex - I know this tune and album inside out. Nothing to add. MASTERPIECE/10

Sweet PL peps! I gave waayy too many high scores but who cares? It's always a blast playing these games
.
.

 

[CiG]

Never got into Voivod.

 

[EspaDa]

gimme some time for this pls, last time you didnt and i still feel offended......

 

[EspaDa]

I am on a business trip in Serbia and currently I'm listening to this. Zdravo, Srbijo! To hell with NATO

 

[challenge_everything]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light

Cool opening riff, real fret attack. It’s a pity, they seem to have some talent but throw it away with this awful pop chorus that’s basically arg-core. 4/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars

Inoffensive. 6/10


Picture - Battle for the Universe

It has a good riff but the whole package is super repetitive. 6/10


Loudness - Black Star Oblivion

Never heard of these guys but this was cool, especially the solo which ruled. 7.5/10


Raven - Faster than the Speed of Light

Pretty rough recording. Enjoy the energy of this, the chorus not so much. Better than Picture, not as good as Loudness, so let’s say 7/10


Candlemass - Copernicus

The upward trend of the playlist continues. Never been a big Candlemass fan but this is a welcome change from all the 80s stuff. Really well constructed song, except for the weirdly abrupt ending. 8/10


Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars

Love the instrumental intro and middle section. The guitar work is quite complex and stands in contrast to the almost wilfully sloppy drumming but somehow that makes it charming. The vocalist is enthusiastic but frankly sucks. Nevertheless I would be interested to check out more by these guys. 8/10


Voivod - Planet Eaters

This kind of dissonant riffing really isn’t for me. The vocals are annoying too. 5/10


Agressor - Positonic Showering

Took a few listens to grow on me. The drummer is excellent; the fills and rhythm changes keep me interested. 7.5/10


Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant

An album that never fully grabbed me, but maybe it deserves some more investment. The dissonant squeaks early on don’t do it for me, similar to the Gorguts track from the previous list. I always find that a bit of lazy method to call attention to the technicality of the song without actually writing something memorable. I do enjoy this when it slows down though, it morphs and grows really well without calling attention to itself. 7.5/10


Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero

One of the few tracks here that truly evokes space without just singing about it. I appreciate the dynamicism and although some sections work better than others, I’d prefer that to a Darkspace borefest. The outro riff is particularly cool, and I love the way the drums drop out on the final few bars just to leave that riff hanging in the air (or, rather, vacuum). 9/10


Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)

I’m only familiar with Vintersorg’s stuff with Borknagar. I have conflicting feelings about his voice - technically it’s good but is often allowed to become overpowering and that’s also the case here - the chorus becomes annoying and done to death after a while. The jazzy bass is cool. I’m not giving it a great rating but appreciate this left field stuff being thrown in. 6.5/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex

Look, this is comfortably the best track on this playlist. But is there another band these days that springs to mind so readily when thinking of space? It’s like picking Arghoslent if the theme was ‘dumb racist cunts’. I’m deducting points but it will probably win anyway. 7/10

 

[Krow]

I was never able to settle on a track to post so if you dont want to count my ratings thats fine but I wanted to give it a go for fun. Really wanted to do a track by Mithras but oh well.

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light
7.5/10. This is a pretty competent power metal track. Still pretty gay but full of energy and at least not awful for an arg pick.

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
5/10. Pretty uninteresting. I guess it's okay background music. Bland.

Picture - Battle For the Universe
5/10. This sounds like early Helstar if I didnt like early Helstar as much. Not horrible but average as fuck and the only reason anyone cares about this band is because they're old as fuck.

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
6.5/10. Good energy.

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
8/10. Goofy space noises. Good energy and riffs. Best song so far amid some mediocrity

Candlemass - Copernicus
4/10. You guys serious rating this so highly? I know its Candlemass and all but this is not a good track at all from them. Painfully middle of the road. Maybe its because the first half of the list is a bit limp.

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
3/10. The drunk retard singing absolutely ruins this.This reminds of a Slough Feg cover from their sci-fi era done by the mentally handicapped.

Voivod - Planet Eaters
8.5/10. I really love the dissonant thrash melded into prog era Mastodon sound.

Agressor - Positonic Showering
8/10. Gritty old school thrash with big riffs. This was another band I was looking at tracks to post.

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
9/10. Perfect on topic and feel. (This is deleted from the playlist in my area. had to look it up)

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
8/10. Feels spacy. The first half of this playlist has no spacy feel aside from lyrics. This delivers on that front.

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
7.5/10. Fits the theme and feel nicely. Not sure I knew the band had clean vocals.

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
8/10. Okay so I'm gonna deduct a point for this being like the most obvious band for the topic but lets be honest this rules and it fits the theme and the sci fi feel so much better than most of the music here it deserves a top spot.


A lot of traditional metal that has no spacy/sci-fi/alien/anything feel at all in this one. Extreme metal rules space for a reason.

 

[zerostatic]

Unleash the Archers - Faster than Light 6/10 - sounds like something I would expect to be paired with an uplifting montage sequence for an animated movie.

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 7/10

Picture - Battle for the Universe 8/10

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7/10

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 8/10 - First time hearing this studio version with that intro about Einstein being wrong

Candlemass - Copernicus 8/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 6/10

Voivod - Planet Eaters 10/10

Agressor - 8/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 8/10

Progenie Terresta Pura - Pianeta Zero 9/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage 8/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 10/10 - Maybe an obvious choice, but also a great choice!

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Ended up listening to that whole album from Starscape.....pretty good i thought. Weird enough to be a little different probably mostly do to the vocals. That track pilgrims of the stars was the best track imo. There's a good instrumental track and some other songs come close but whoever picked that song made the right choice, because pretty much any song on that album would probably fit the theme. Ended up buying the cd, so thanks to whoever picked that song, got me to buy the album

 

[arg]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light
10 fuck yea let's go on a space adventure

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
9 exploring unknown regions of the galaxy sounds fun

Picture - Battle For the Universe
7 ok but dated-sounding like a dollar store motorhead

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
7 fine but run-of-the-mill

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
5 just noisy and clangy and fuzzy production

Candlemass - Copernicus
3 did not give a feeling of space but rather being sat on by a loudmouth fatass

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
4 repetitive and the singing sucks balls

Voivod - Planet Eaters
4 the riffs had no direction and the vocalist sounds like an old dick

Agressor - Positonic Showering
7 glad we got some growls but quite average

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
6 some cool moments should have been 4 minutes with just those

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
9 sounds like a brutal spaceship battle against technologically superior aliens

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
6 i dunno about this proggy shit sometimes it's interesting sometimes it's cringe

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
9 we're being sucked into a black hole, thrusters at maximum, oh shit we're fucked

 

[CiG]

Candlemass - Copernicus
3 did not give a feeling of space but rather being sat on by a loudmouth fatass