Themed Mixtape Game Mk. 2

[Burkhard]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light
Great beginning! I don't listen to a lot of Power Metal and I don't know if I'd listen to an entire album, if the other songs all sounded very simliar to this one, but I really do enjoy this specific song a lot, especially the guitar work. 9/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
See: Unleash the Archers. 9/10

Picture - Battle For the Universe
Nice uptempo song with a beautiful solo. 8/10

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
Might be the first time I'm listening to Loudness. A very enjoyable song, just the chorus doesn't seem to fit very well for me. I really like the guitar work/solos. 8/10

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
Decent song. Sounds somewhat dated (perhaps because it is). A bit too ordinary for my taste, but still well played. 7/10

Candlemass - Copernicus
One of my favourite from a great comeback-album with Messiah on vocals, which I'd also put in my overall top 3 Candlemass-albums! Even though it's a long song, the different parts keep it interesting. Nice heavy sound. 9.5/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
Sounds pretty dated, considering the album is from last year and the sound is a bit "thin". Yes, the drumming is very simplistic, but the song still has a special charm for me, also because of the occasional 70ies-like organ parts, and I really like the solo part starting at 6:00. 8/10

Voivod - Planet Eaters
Even if wasn't already familiar with the song, I'd immediately recognize it as a Voivod-song. I love the bass sound. Lots of changes within the song. Doesn't get close to "Forgotten in Space" (which I would have rated 10/10), but still: 9/10

Agressor - Positonic Showering
One of the least original band names, but this is about the music. The faster parts remind me a bit of Spiritual Healing-era Death, but the music doesn't come close of the qualtiy-level of the latter. Overall, still a good song. 7/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
Music-wise, a very interesting song. While I generally liked the middle part better, it did become quite repetitive and the double bass and blast beats setting in at about 3:13 sounded out of place for me as did the rather random last minute of the song. I also would have prefered the entire song to feature the clean vocals used at some point in the middle. Even though I'm not a fan of extremely low vocals, they somehow were still bearable in this song. 6/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
I like the intro. Music-wise, perhaps the most original song in this playlist. Not too fond of the vocals (which aren't very original, either), so it's perhaps a good thing for me they are somewhat hidden in the background. The occasional generic blast beats also drag it down a bit. 7/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
Song was blocked for me, but found another clip on YT which wasn't. Interesting beginning. Some weird parts in the middle. Overall, I liked it more than I first expected, considering that this band is (also) labeled Viking Metal. 7.5/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
Nice intro. For the most part, the music is very enjoyable with some great guitar work, but the generic blast beats-parts thrown in don't do this song any favour. I'm also not too fond of the hoarse shrieking vocals. Therefore only 7/10

This might have been the most enjoyable mixtape for me so far, the lowest rating being 6/10.

 

[no country for old wainds]

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not relevant to the theme and there’s really no intelligent design or subtlety here. sounds far too robotic and phoned in for my tastes. 1/10

 

[challenge_everything]

@Slayed Necros which stragglers are we waiting on?

 

[RadicalThrasher]

@Slayed Necros which stragglers are we waiting on?

 

[Slayed Necros]

@Slayed Necros which stragglers are we waiting on?

@no country for old wainds @EspaDa @Opeth17 @Vegard Pompey

 

[CiG]

@no country for old wainds @EspaDa @Opeth17 @Vegard Pompey

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I'll rate within the next two days.

 

[arg]

It’s been long enough, let’s leave Espada in the dust again!

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Unleash the Archers - Faster than Light
Weird, thought this was a death metal band? I guess they got tired of that. This isn't bad for argcore, it's got some cool vocal melodies but it's a little more saccharine and sterile than I like my power metal and the chorus is bog-standard.
6.5/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
For people who want sprawling space-themed heavy metal in 2021 but don't have enough IQ to appreciate Starscape, this isn't a bad alternative. This has the sound of something that was in the works for years, cool flourishes and transitions all over this without ever sounding haphazard or cluttered. Nothing here really gives me the chills like the chorus/outro on the next song on the album "The Artifice" but this is pretty fucking close to formal mastery of USPM and I suspect I'll only like it more with time.
9/10

Picture - Battle for the Universe
I think this combination of sci-fi lyrics and a more straightforward NWOBHM-esque sound is really cool and unexpected, it's like the one song on a Saxon album that is actually about something interesting until they go back to singing about having sex with motorcycles or some shit. The solo is perfect in its simplicity too and really does evoke a combat scene. Another one for my spotify 'XCOM' mixtape.
9.5/10

LOUDNESS - Black Star Oblivion
I'm not gonna argue that it's not thematic but I don't like how it's just using some space motifs for a rah rah metal so loud fast fire etc. etc. song. Decently energetic track with good riffs and vocals but doesn't really evoke anything.
6.5/10

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
Everything I said above, but with worse riffs and a terrible mix.
4/10

Candlemass - Copernicus
Never got past Candlemass' first three albums or so so this is new territory to me. It's cool, a little structurally simple for epic doom but it's got some weighty riffs. Good lyrics & delivery, interesting take on the theme. Boring perfunctory solo. Overall solid, would like to hear more of this album.
7.5/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
The vocals are the big selling point here, but I was on board from the instrumental intro. I still remember when I first heard this song and I can point to the abrupt time signature change at 1:15 as the exact moment I fell in love with this album because it signaled that even though these guys are playing fairly technically simple heavy metal they aren't afraid to write sprawling songs with the occasional compositional curveball. Perfect opener to one of the most charmingly idiosyncratic heavy metal albums to come out since the 80's.
10/10

Voivod - Planet Eaters
Some real out-of-the-box thinking, submitting Voivod for a space mixtape.
8/10

Agressor - Positonic Showering
Like the sound of this but nothing about this song really sticks in my head after several listens.
6/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
I'm not too into the bludgeoning demilichery of the first half, but the second half is everything I love about Timeghoul without the shitty demo production. Definitely gotta hear this album.
8.5/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
Garbage one-dimensional growls. They're drowned enough in the mix that they're not really a dealbreaker, but I really wish this was entirely instrumental. Some cool leads and drumming, and non-jarring use of non-metal instrumentation (take note Vintersorg.)
6.5/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
The "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" to The Sham Mirrors' "Observe and Report".
2/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
Some real out-of-the-box thinking, submitting Vektor for a space mixtape.
7/10

 

[Krow]

That Picture song wishes it was a good Saxon song.

 

[EspaDa]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light -> Started in a promising manner, then it went to shit 3.5/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 5/10

Picture - Battle For the Universe okay, cool main riff 7/10

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7/10 these first four tracks seem very alike dontcha think

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light A classic Raven track but I agree with the sentiment that it sounds somewhat dated 6/10

Candlemass - Copernicus Really interesting, havent heard this Candlemass song before 8.5/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 7.5/10 I'd like to like it more, but it's a little disjointed and loses its momentum.

Voivod - Planet Eaters 8.5/10 Starting to love Voivod.

Agressor - Positonic Showering 7/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant the perfect DM song 10/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero interesting 7.5/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) I thought this was a black metal band 6/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex Godly Vektor 10/10


P.S. -> Fuck @arg!!!

 

[no country for old wainds]

Unleash the Argchers - Faster Than Light
this is solid enough but space shouldn't be this cheerful, you are completely insignificant, stop prancing about and start gazing melancholically into the great void contemplating your own insignificance. by the great void i mean space, not a whore's rectal passage. 6.5/10

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars
absolutely spinetingling from the very first seconds, opening melody alone is all-timer otherworldly space shit. then it kicks into some badass helstar riffage, then there's those warblings at the end of each verse line which i adore, so alien sounding. and the beat kicking in on the second line of that first verse after the holds the note, ahhhh so fucking good. chorus is quite beautiful and understated, the bass melody at the end of the first line gives it so much depth, and then the final time when they double the snare, they just know how to add little variations to intensify the drama. solo is cool too. high roller rarely miss (they didn't release this but they discovered them originally), can't trust anyone who doesn't love it. shame some of the other songs on the album are relatively mediocre. 10/10

Picture - Battle For the Universe
i don't think it's particularly rare to have cookie cutter NWOBHM-era stuff with space themes tbh, that shit was everywhere post-priest. nothing stands out about this to me. 5/10

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion
i was expecting this to be generic but the guitarwork gets stranger as it goes. thing has just the right amount of roughness and weirdness, they never try to do too much but they never settle either, lots of good spontaneous shit going on. quality solo. i just really like it in general, i should listen to more from these legendary japs but it's daunting 'cause they have about 173 albums. none of these songs sound anything like each other beyond being in the same basic genre btw. 8/10

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light
the verses are extremely cool and then the first half of the chorus kinda kills it dead unfortunately. pretty common problem in NWOBHM. everything else is good though. the mix isn't great but i don't really mind it, they went a bit too far into that raucous live band kinda sound, but it's not unlistenable. helps to give it some brocas helm kinda vibes for me actually. 6.5/10

Candlemass - Copernicus
intense. the 2000s stuff is when i mostly stopped paying attention to them, based on this it's still pretty good. 7/10

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars
i wish more metal had such vivid, emotive storytelling. i absolutely disappear into this shit like an eerie doom-laden sci-fi novel. even the spoken word bit is fantastic, always a sign of good songwriting if you can pull that off. 9.5/10

Voivod - Planet Eaters
my first exposure to anything off this album and i'm really liking it. they've changed quite a lot over the years but they've always possessed such a strong, distinctive voice. dunno if any metal band has more personality. the solo toward the end is actually very opethy, in a good way though! 8.5/10

Agressor - Positonic Showering
the rhythmic creativity keeps it exciting and i do think it captures the great lyrics pretty well, but i wish the riffs were a little more memorable. i've been playing starcom: nexus lately and this made me wanna go do that some more. 7/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant
good structure, pretty overwhelming by the end. i don't always get on with these guys over a full album, they're just too Muh Atmospheres for me i guess, but i remember really liking this track from first listen. 8/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero
feels like disparate parts glued together rather than a natural progression, like they're trying to fuck around with some cool vibes rather than actually write a song. not my thing regardless, undeniably very thematic though. 4/10

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator)
lol what the fuck is going on here? kind of endearing for how shamelessly corny and retarded it is. would i be so forgiving if i was forced to listen to a full album? we'll never know. 5/10

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex
tbh i think if you're gonna deduct for this you have to deduct for voivod as well, granted it's at least non-canon voivod. but yes, i will deduct if they're chosen again any time soon 'cause in the previous thread they were getting picked too often. anyways, really like parts of this, the first few minutes is pretty much all great in fact. they're still too relentless and helter skelter for my tastes though. i'm a slut for tension and release who thinks hell awaits is the be-all end-all of thrash so take what you will from that. never liked this style of vocals either although that's a pretty minor complaint. 7.5/10

 

[SonOfNun]

Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light - 4/10 - That chorus is just too gay.

Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars - 5.5/10

Picture - Battle For the Universe - 7.5/10 - First song with some oomph to it.

Loudness - Black Star Oblivion - 6.5/10 - Not bad, but none of these songs sound even remotely spacey.

Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light - 6/10

Candlemass - Copernicus - 9/10 - Great album

Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars - 8/10 Pretty cool song that experiments and it works.

Voivod - Planet Eaters - 6/10 - I agree with @challenge_everything but I appreciate the pick for this theme.

Agressor - Positonic Showering - 7.5/10

Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant - 7/10

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero - 7.5/10 - Not a big black metal listener, but there is probably a ton of spacey black metal like this that would fit the theme. I like the slower, atmospheric parts more than the metal parts.

Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) - 10/10 - Weird and experimental but melodic with spurts of aggression. Steve DiGiorgio on bass. Fits the theme sonically as well as lyrically.

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex - 6.5/10

 

[CiG]

Also the bass playing is awesome.

Steve DiGiorgio on bass.

Oh shit, it all makes sense now!

 

[Slayed Necros]

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 8.4 @Baroque
Agressor - Positonic Showering 7.86 @RadicalThrasher
Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 7.72 @EspaDa
Candlemass - Copernicus 7.62 @Burkhard
Voivod - Planet Eaters 7.40 @CiG
Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7.3 @Sirjack
Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero 7.27 @challenge_everything
Picture - Battle For the Universe 7.21 @Bloopy
Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 7.17 @no country for old wainds
Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 6.75 @Vegard Pompey
Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 6.54 @zerostatic
Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) 6.5 @Opeth17
Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light 6.17 @arg

@Baroque wins!

 

[challenge_everything]

Agressor really flew under the radar, lots of consistent ratings i guess.

 

[SonOfNun]

Oh shit, it all makes sense now!

I'm honestly surprised how little Vintersorg is known on this forum, but it's a less black/folk oriented forum than others so I guess it makes sense. His music has honestly never been very black despite some associations with that scene. His first two albums are rather highly regarded Viking/Folk with more uncleans and bass clean vocals. On the third album he went with more English language lyrics, a more midrange vocal tone, and moved away from some of the Viking elements. On the following two albums, he went very progressive with spacey/science/astronomy themes, more clean vocals, and a higher-pitched vocal tone that seems to be more of an acquired taste with some people. I've enjoyed all his projects to varying degrees.

 

[Slayed Necros]

Till fjälls is a cool album, only thing I've ever heard though

 

[Baroque]

Vektor - Cosmic Cortex 8.4 @Baroque
Agressor - Positonic Showering 7.86 @RadicalThrasher
Blood Incantation - The Giza Power Plant 7.72 @EspaDa
Candlemass - Copernicus 7.62 @Burkhard
Voivod - Planet Eaters 7.40 @CiG
Loudness - Black Star Oblivion 7.3 @Sirjack
Progenie Terrestre Pura - Pianeta Zero 7.27 @challenge_everything
Picture - Battle For the Universe 7.21 @Bloopy
Seven Sisters - Beyond the Black Stars 7.17 @no country for old wainds
Starscape - Pilgrims of the Stars 6.75 @Vegard Pompey
Raven - Faster Than the Speed of Light 6.54 @zerostatic
Vintersorg - E.S.P. Mirage (Visions from the Spiral Generator) 6.5 @Opeth17
Unleash the Archers - Faster Than Light 6.17 @arg

@Baroque wins!

A bit hungover and I’ve got 3 more days of parties this weekend lol, 4th of July and birthdays. Cool, I won. I’ll most likely be able to post the playlist on July 6th. In honor of this time of year I thought about picking fireworks but that topic might be too narrow. So let’s go with:

FIRE

Send me your fire

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Reminder that we already did this theme way back, so maybe don't submit any of these:

HELL - PLAGUE AND FYRE
OGRE - WOMAN ON FIRE
DEEP PURPLE - BURN
FLAMES OF HELL - FIRE AND STEEL
ATHEIST - FIRE
IMMOLATION - CLOSE TO A WORLD BELOW
DARK ANGEL - PERISH IN FLAMES
DEATHHAMMER - SEDUCED BY THE FLAMES
BRUCE DICKINSON - THE ALCHEMIST
BATHORY - ENTER THE ETERNAL FIRE
SAVAGE GRACE - INTO THE FIRE
POSSESSED - BURNING IN HELL
EXMORTUS - IN HATRED'S FLAME