Themed Mixtape Game

[Slayed Necros]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers 7/10

Speedy, ultra cheesy, solid stuff.

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism 8/10

Mortem get death metal. Classic.

Hypocrisy - Abducted 5/10

I knew this would make the playlist. I have no regrets about selling this album 10+ years ago.

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord 7.5/10

Good song. Love the atmosphere and the production rules.

Megadeth - Hangar 18 7/10

Can't stand Mustaine's voice, but the music is solid. Last half absolutely saves the song.

Scanner - Not Alone 5/10

The debut is better.

Deceased - The Triangle 8.5/10

Deceased rules. This song is no exception. Best song so far.

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species 7/10

I really like the otherworldly atmosphere here, and the programmed drums actually work to its advantage. I've put off listening to Oxiplegatz for years and years, so I'm glad someone (could never guess who!) submitted this.

Vektor - Outer Isolation 6/10

Impressive musicianship. Undoubtedly fits the theme very well. It's honestly fairly annoying music, though, and the song is about five minutes too long.

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth 2/10

This is the opposite of good. As if the music wasn't lacking enough it's jam packed with annoying samples. Bad.

Darkspace - Dark 1.1 9/10

Great atmosphere, monstrous riffs, fitting production. It's good listening to this again, it's been ages. This was always my favourite Darkspace album too.

Ecocide - Alien Intervention 6/10

Unimaginative old school death metal. Decent riffs. Not much else to say.

Voivod - We Are Not Alone 8/10

I'm a big fan of The Outer Limits. I actually had this in mind but figured it or something else by Voivod would be picked. I'm glad it was this song.

The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Vargr Theme/Confrontation 9/10

This was my initial pick. There's great storytelling and strong imagery all throughout Traveller. Human! Vargr! Wretched! Doctor!

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide 8/10

Best Inquisition album since Magnificent Glorification... imo. Good stuff. I should listen to it more.

Much better playlist this time around. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Good work GMD!

 

[CiG]

Well, depends on how you define Satan and where you think hell is etc. He certainly isn't thought of as being an earthling and so I think a 'definitely not earthling' Satan conquering the galaxy is actually the most interesting version of this theme presented. @Master_Yoda77

Edit: always had trouble with people calling the first Voivod album "thrash metal" because to me it has way more rock'n'roll riffs and Motorhead worship than it does anything I'd associate with thrash metal.

Third album onwards is when they enter pure mastery zones though.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Blind Guardian – Tommyknockers

By-the-book Blind Guardian riffing with a dumb chorus. Always one of my least favorites from the album. 4/10.

Mortem – Moon of Cannibalism

Sounds like a Leprosy-era Death clone with really rigid drumming. Not bad, aside from that snare the sound is pretty nice and all, but whatevs. 6/10.

Hypocrisy – Abducted

Hypocrisy was one of those bands I knew about for a long time but never thought about much until I thought about how much I never thought about them, so I’ve intentionally avoided listening to them to keep things that way. Somehow I still knew what this was going to sound like. I’ll give props for being short and that one riff about 2 minutes in, but I dunno. I know that they’re like the official aliencore band though so I’m not disrespecting the inclusion. 4/10.

Pagan Altar – The Time Lord

Thankfully the leads are really good, because otherwise this is like an eight minute boogie rock song. 6/10.

Megadeth – Hangar 18

Classic, after a thousand listens I think the last minute or so of guitar solos are a waste of time though. 9/10 mostly for everything else and nostalgia though.

Scanner – We Are Not Alone

Always one of my favorites from the album, great melodies all the way through. 8/10.

Deceased – The Triangle

The only exciting part was that riff about two and a half minutes in, and it was also the shortest part. These guys never have grabbed me; the fusion of death metal, hardcore punk riffs/d-beats, and Maiden melodies doesn’t work for me at all. 4/10.

Oxiplegatz – Battle of Species

Yeah I know everyone loves Alf and his “choral” riffs and all, but this sounds like that stripped down to a concept more than song. Drum machine doesn’t help. 5/10.

Vektor – Outer Isolation

Some good moments, but most of the songs on this album have been shrinking on me because they recycle a lot of ideas. This song, being one of the longer on the album as well, gives me a feeling of a band that got too aware of their own niche too early. Also, I hate all these modern tech-thrash bands that think playing generic thrash beats in 4/4 is tech. It’s boring. 6/10 for the few minutes of quality material present though.

Evergrey – The Shocking Truth

This is the only Evergrey album I listen to and my favorite song from it. I actually liked it less when I paid attention to the lyrics, but something about how cheesy and poppy and the keys are has always appealed to me. 7/10.

Darkspace – Dark 1.1

A couple minutes of pretty generic dark ambient, a minute of generic black metal, two minutes of generic chugging quasi-thrash, wow. I heard of these guys and figured they’d at least be some kind of cohesive mixture of black metal and ambient, but this was shit. 1/10.

Ecocide – Alien Intervention

Chugga chugga snore. 4/10.

Voivod – We Are Not Alone

Great song, love the punky aggression contrasted with the very shiny/pretty guitar work, especially the chorus (HEY!). 8/10.

Slough Feg – Vargr Theme/Confrontation

I love this album, and the build-up in the second half of this song is one of my favorite moments on it. 9/10.

Inquisition – Infinite Interstellar Genocide

Individual riffs have some good ideas but I absolutely hate this kind of composition. Take good core riff unit  repeat up or down a step or going down the scale instead of upwards or whatever  repeat back and forth three more times  next good core riff unit  etc. This is exactly why Manilla Road and 90s Death are almost unlistenable to me. 3/10.

 

[Baroque]

It's kind of fun to see just how subjective musical taste is. Even among people who I align with pretty closely musically like HBB or TB. Also I think I actually have a shot at winning this time. Probably finish in the top 3.

Vektor for some reason always makes me think of The Lone Gunmen on the X-Files. i think it'd be that blonde guy's favorite band and he'd wear their shirt if the X-Files and Vektor were around at the same time.

Not to derail this thread but holy shit:

The Lone Gunmen, Episode 1. March 4, 2001.
The Lone Gunmen find themselves unravelling a government conspiracy concerning an attempt to fly a commercial aircraft into the Twin Towers, with increased arms sales for the United States as an intended result.

 

[unknown]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers
Admittedly better than I was expecting for some reason. That being said...6/10

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism
Started off pretty "meh" but then the riffs kicked in. Good stuff 7.5/10

Hypocrisy - Abducted
I'm not super familiar with Hypocrisy, especially their earlier material. This is okay. 5/10

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord
I just realized Pagan Altar's logo looks like the Ice King from Adventure Time. 9/10

Megadeth - Hanger 18
Man I haven't listened to this since high school 7/10

Scanner - Not Alone
Good stuff. 7.5/10

Deceased - The Triangle
6/10...I'm running out of energy to write a fucking essay for each song

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species
4/10

Vektor - Outer Isolation
8.5/10

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth
3/10...god this is awful

Darkspace - Dark 1.1
Admittedly, one of my favorite groups 9.5/10

Ecocide - Alien Intervention
5/10

Voivod - We Are Not Alone
I had considered choosing this one as my submission...7.5/10

Slough Feg - Vargr Theme/Confrontation
Slough Feg is always a good call. 9/10

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide
8/10

 

[unknown]

FWIW... Ice King and Pagan Altar

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers
Really good musicianship here. I haven't really listened to Blind Guardian much but this wasn't bad. It was actually better than I thought it would be. I don't really like the chorus though, it's a little too cheesy for my taste. I'd give it a 6/10.

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism
I really am digging the old school sound it's doing so far. Cool solo in about a minute in. I want to like this more but the drums sound like "pitter-patter". Overall, not bad cool atmosphere. The drum set-up they have has got to go though because everything else overpowers it. 6/10

Hypocrisy - Abducted
I didn't like this. Sounded really rushed and muddled, but not in a good way. 3/10

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord
I love this track. So bluesy. I love the vocals and just everything about this track. Super catchy, and awesome to put on in whatever mood. 9/10

Megadeth - Hangar 18
I hear this every time I go to a metal bar here in the city. I still like this track though. Really catchy even dancy too, tbh. 8/10
The riffing at 2:57 is fun as fuck. And that "dundundundundunDANDANDAN!" is also fun.


Scanner - Not Alone
First time hearing this band. I enjoyed this a lot. I really like the vocals. Dude has some pipes on him. 7/10

Deceased - The Triangle
First time hearing this band as well. I don't like the way it began. I'm not exactly sure what is it. I don't think I like the vocals, but it's a little more than that. There's some interesting ideas here but it's not executed in the best way imo. 4/10

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species
The beginning definitely intrigued me. But I don't like the drums here at all, either because they sound super weak. The sound is interesting, but I'm a little bored as it hasn't gone anywhere. The best part are the vocals. 3/10

Vektor - Outer Isolation
The beginning is cool. This track is only 8 minutes but feels so much longer. I'm not sure if I'm getting tired but I definitely did get bored. I guess technically this song is good. But I'm not much into technicality all the time. They have cool ideas, but... 5/10

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth
Nope. I don't like the "pain ridden" vocals. The music... Just... no. 2/10

Darkspace - Dark 1.1
Fucking incredible. Solid choice! 10/10

Ecocide - Alien Intervention
Meh. Not much to say. Kinda boring, not really my type of thing. 4/10

Voivod - We Are Not Alone
Another band I need to check out more. Really catchy. I really enjoyed this! 8/10

Slough Feg - Vargr
Love this track. I love signing along to the lyrics. 8/10

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide
Very interesting choice. I've never paid that close attention to the lyrics on this album. This rules. 9/10


Edit: That was really fun GMD! Now, im going to stop being a degenerate and take my self to bed. Really enjoyable playlist.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

I already now who picked what on half of this list, lol.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

@Slayed Necros my first pick was that Slough Feg song as well. I wonder who go to it first.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Cool list. I can already tell I will be docking points from 3-5 songs for not really fitting the theme, though.

 

[EspaDa]

Blind Guardian - Great one. One of the best songs of theirs I actually heard. 7.5/10

Mortem - Nice death metal. I liked it, going to dig this in the future. 7/10

Hypocrisy - I'm actually fond of that album but I guess Roswell 47 would be much better choice. The production is weird and the only thing I like about this song are the drums. 5/10

Pagan Altar - Too lengthy but I found myself shaking a leg. 5.5/10

Megadeth - A classic. I'm ashamed I didn't even think of choosing this song to this game. I'll go against the grain because I have to admit I like Mustaine's vocals here. 9.5/10

Scanner - My first meeting with this band and I have to say I'm pleased. Solid 8/10.

Deceased - That mid song riff is sweet. However, it could be shorter. 7/10

Oxiplegatz - The beginning was really interesting but as someone noticed that earlier, the drums sound very unremarkably and are blank. Vocals are the obvious highlight here. 6/10

Vektor - Great musicianship and that's what I value them for. Easy 9/10.

Evergrey - It's a bit cheesy but not entirely horrible. I can see the similarity to Queensryche. 4.5/10

Darkspace - Great song, I certainly prefer this to their extremely long ones. I still have to decide if I like Paysage d'Hiver more than Darkspace. 8/10

Ecocide - Pretty generic. 5/10

Voivod - My fav Voivod album. Great track too. 8.5/10

Slough Feg - It's always a good day to listen to Slough Feg. 7.5/10

Inquisition - Not their best album but still good track. 7/10

 

[requiem]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers

A main riff of frenetic intensity is mercifully tempered by melodious interjections birthing colour to an otherwise drab palette. Hansi’s vocals are engaging despite a knuckleheaded chorus, and drums are laboured by sonic anachronism. Improves upon repeated listening but ultimately handicapped by its own immaturity. 7/10

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism

Initial tones and atmosphere conjure interplanetary deities from aeons of desolate anti-cosmic regions. Preposterous title decidedly less awkward than the ill-fitting fast moments reminiscent of an adolescent in an ill-fitting suit on prom night. Slower passages spawn dark dreams of imperious necrology. 7/10

Hypocrisy - Abducted

Triumphing through will-exertion the wish that this was Roswell 47, the bemused listener ruminates on how Tagtgren made a career from production. A largely formless morass of six-string verbiage devoid of extraterrestrial connotation of even the third kind. 5/10

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord

A universally forgettable homage to a (space) time when this might have been relevant to someone, somewhere. 4/10

Megadeth - Hangar 18

Artistic, atmospheric and enervating, this haunting alien techno-political dissertation is majestically performed and artfully composed. Transposes atavistic fears of the unknown to post-industrial possibilities of alien life-forms and omni-oppressive governments. Timeless. Profound. 9/10

Scanner - Not Alone

Pubescent competence in musicianship is unable to remedy the bargain-basement aura of power-cheese. Vocalist puts the ‘false’ back into falsetto. 4/10

Deceased - The Triangle

Highlights include Tomas Lindberg’s aborted clone on vocals and comical album art. Redundant. 3/10

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species

A confident aural exposition marries successfully with the theme, projecting the listener upon a journey to witness cosmic battles of inexhaustible magnitude in space/time pockets. Limited in places but the grandiose ambition gifts ample reward. 8/10

Vektor - Outer Isolation

A song whose length rivals that of the time light takes to reach earth from the sun, a disorienting progressive excursion into animated time-charts is competent but largely soulless. One imagines this is better suited to the stage. Derivative of its forebears. 6/10

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth

Cheesy abduction soundbites offset a competent atmospheric aura with lush piano accompaniment complementing the acceptable vocals. Limited by its infantile subject matter and offering less in the long-term than an alien impregnation. Its crowning achievement is that it fits the brief. 6/10

Darkspace - Dark 1.1

Chromosome missing title-creator aside, this song’s development is arrested awkwardly between its worship of superior bands and its own ambition. Production becomes unlistenable by the fifth minute, an unfortunate reality that Mars an otherwise interesting prospect. As disabled as the user comments on its youtube page. 5/10

Ecocide - Alien Intervention

Donald Trump style logician opens the song discussing Sumerian gods in the middle east before meaningless riffage stumbles into territory where it dies due to a lack of interest from any species. 4/10

Voivod - We Are Not Alone

Thinner than cosmic spaghetti. Little appeal for visitors from dimensions the bar-room yet holding some fleeting moments of engaging chorus. 5/10

Slough Feg - Traveller

By now the banality of these riffs and ubiquity of thin production values merge and coalesce with the forgettable songs before it, creating an anti-pantheon of homogenous rockers evidently immensely appealing to acolytes of denim but of little worth to anyone else. This has no redeeming features to any well-travelled cosmic visitor. 4/10

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide

Yet more idiotic tomfoolery in the tautologically titled track name. Some compositional artistry is evident in the scope and trajectory, and this engages with greater proficiency than previous bar-stool style tracks. Abbath short of air vocals aside, this has presence and geological majesty that invites planetary excursion and possible colonisation. 7/10

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers 6/10

Below par for Blind Guardian, still pretty solid. I agree with Baroque; the crucial thing this song is missing is a good chorus.

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism 4/10

Loving this track but where's the aliens?

Hypocrisy - Abducted 4/10

Not my kind of death metal, also this youtube sucks ass. Also the "I must have fainted" line totally sounds like "I masturbated".

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord 5/10

Love Pagan Altar, but this is a bit repetitive.

Megadeth - Hangar 18 6/10

A classic and possibly my favorite Megadeth song. I will however dock a few points for unoriginality and for being only tangentially related to the theme.

Scanner - Not Alone 8/10

Not a huge fan of Helloween-esque power metal, but this is great. Loving the chorus (and segue into).

Deceased - The Triangle 9/10

This is really interesting and eerie and paranoid and fearful and shit. Last minute is fantastic. This is what that Hypocrisy song wishes it was.

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species 9/10

One of my favorite genres is alien-themed action/horror where humans fight for desperate survival against technologically/numerically/biologically superior aliens (Cameron's Aliens/XCOM/Gantz/etc.) This is the song on the playlist that best captures that vibe. Shame the youtube is shit.

Vektor - Outer Isolation 6/10

Seems more space-themed than alien-themed. I guess there's some ambiguity in the lyrics though. Good song, would give it a higher rating if it had a more tangible connection to extraterrestrials.

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth 1/10

wtf.

Darkspace - Dark 1.1 3/10

Yeah I'm with Burgerboy on this one.

Ecocide - Alien Intervention 4/10

Boring.

Voivod - We Are Not Alone 5/10

I've never been able to get into post-Nothingface Voivod. This song's ok.

Slough Feg - Vargr Theme/Confrontation 9/10

Holy shit this owns, why have I never listened to Slough Feg?

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide 7/10

I thought Satan lived underground. But I guess he's a space warlord living in a black hole or something.

 

[CiG]

@requiem is banned (from earth) for being a pretentious faggot.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Blind Guardian - Tommyknockers

A main riff of frenetic intensity is mercifully tempered by melodious interjections birthing colour to an otherwise drab palette. Hansi’s vocals are engaging despite a knuckleheaded chorus, and drums are laboured by sonic anachronism. Improves upon repeated listening but ultimately handicapped by its own immaturity. 7/10

Mortem - Moon of Cannibalism

Initial tones and atmosphere conjure interplanetary deities from aeons of desolate anti-cosmic regions. Preposterous title decidedly less awkward than the ill-fitting fast moments reminiscent of an adolescent in an ill-fitting suit on prom night. Slower passages spawn dark dreams of imperious necrology. 7/10

Hypocrisy - Abducted

Triumphing through will-exertion the wish that this was Roswell 47, the bemused listener ruminates on how Tagtgren made a career from production. A largely formless morass of six-string verbiage devoid of extraterrestrial connotation of even the third kind. 5/10

Pagan Altar - The Time Lord

A universally forgettable homage to a (space) time when this might have been relevant to someone, somewhere. 4/10

Megadeth - Hangar 18

Artistic, atmospheric and enervating, this haunting alien techno-political dissertation is majestically performed and artfully composed. Transposes atavistic fears of the unknown to post-industrial possibilities of alien life-forms and omni-oppressive governments. Timeless. Profound. 9/10

Scanner - Not Alone

Pubescent competence in musicianship is unable to remedy the bargain-basement aura of power-cheese. Vocalist puts the ‘false’ back into falsetto. 4/10

Deceased - The Triangle

Highlights include Tomas Lindberg’s aborted clone on vocals and comical album art. Redundant. 3/10

Oxiplegatz - Battle of Species

A confident aural exposition marries successfully with the theme, projecting the listener upon a journey to witness cosmic battles of inexhaustible magnitude in space/time pockets. Limited in places but the grandiose ambition gifts ample reward. 8/10

Vektor - Outer Isolation

A song whose length rivals that of the time light takes to reach earth from the sun, a disorienting progressive excursion into animated time-charts is competent but largely soulless. One imagines this is better suited to the stage. Derivative of its forebears. 6/10

Evergrey - The Shocking Truth

Cheesy abduction soundbites offset a competent atmospheric aura with lush piano accompaniment complementing the acceptable vocals. Limited by its infantile subject matter and offering less in the long-term than an alien impregnation. Its crowning achievement is that it fits the brief. 6/10

Darkspace - Dark 1.1

Chromosome missing title-creator aside, this song’s development is arrested awkwardly between its worship of superior bands and its own ambition. Production becomes unlistenable by the fifth minute, an unfortunate reality that Mars an otherwise interesting prospect. As disabled as the user comments on its youtube page. 5/10

Ecocide - Alien Intervention

Donald Trump style logician opens the song discussing Sumerian gods in the middle east before meaningless riffage stumbles into territory where it dies due to a lack of interest from any species. 4/10

Voivod - We Are Not Alone

Thinner than cosmic spaghetti. Little appeal for visitors from dimensions the bar-room yet holding some fleeting moments of engaging chorus. 5/10

Slough Feg - Traveller

By now the banality of these riffs and ubiquity of thin production values merge and coalesce with the forgettable songs before it, creating an anti-pantheon of homogenous rockers evidently immensely appealing to acolytes of denim but of little worth to anyone else. This has no redeeming features to any well-travelled cosmic visitor. 4/10

Inquisition - Infinite Interstellar Genocide

Yet more idiotic tomfoolery in the tautologically titled track name. Some compositional artistry is evident in the scope and trajectory, and this engages with greater proficiency than previous bar-stool style tracks. Abbath short of air vocals aside, this has presence and geological majesty that invites planetary excursion and possible colonisation. 7/10

alright calm down spinoza ray prozak

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Yeah, how the fuck is Pagan Altar "universally forgettable?"

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

@no country for old wainds @CASSETTEISGOD @Master_Yoda77

Oh shit did he not rate your songs high enough? fuckin' toddlers.

 

[Slayed Necros]

They're commenting on his verbose reviewing style you gigantic ass.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

bitch ....

They're commenting on his verbose reviewing style you gigantic ass.

Yeah, how the fuck is Pagan Altar "universally forgettable?"

 

[no country for old wainds]

i'm glad we've established that only schmidt is a toddler.