Themed Mixtape Game

[EspaDa]

I'll tell my father but he's likely to rate it all 0/10 as he does not like metal but he likes Nothing Else Matters haha.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

1. Leviticus - Deborah and Barak 8/10

A cool '80s metal song. The singer sounds so much like Glenn Danzig, but it works.

2. Stormwitch - Jonathan's Diary 7/10

I've never heard Stormwitch. This was a good song. I'll check out some of their music.

3. Revocation - Opus Madness

4/10

I thought that this was bad.

4. Triptykon - In the Sleep of Death

7/10

This was better than I expected. I guess Tom G. Warrior still has some life left in him.

5. Ahab - The Hunt

5/10

I found this to be very boring.

6. Fates Warning - Giant's Lore

9/10

This song is just too good. Fates Warning rules.

7. Sabbat - A Cautionary Tale

7.5/10

I haven't heard this band before. I liked it. Cool to see a '90s black metal musician commenting on this video.

8. Summoning - Mirkwood

7/10

I like Summoning. You can't really go wrong with them in a theme like this.

9. Eternal Champion - Retaliator

8/10

That was awesome. I have to check them out further.

10. Jag Panzer - Tragedy of Macbeth

6/10

I don't think it has the staying power of their best music, but that voice!

11. Blind Guardian - Imaginations of the Other Side

6/10

I'm not really big on this band. This was decent enough.

12. Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land

7.5/10

A classic, but one that I think is somewhat overrated.

 

[EspaDa]

What book is In the Sleep of Death based upon? Great song from great album.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

What book is In the Sleep of Death based upon? Great song from great album.

It's an ode to author Emily Brontë, who wrote Wuthering Heights.

 

[Sirjack]

Leviticus - the more l hear this, yeah this is cool. l could have this on while doing the dishes (my dishwasher broke) or whilst working on my guitars, in other words like any other time l get to listen to music. cool trad metal with a shitty solo..7/10

Stormwitch - the only thing this song has going for it is the initial minor key change. its perfectly passable old school gallop heavy metal but it doesn't do a great deal for me 5/10

Revocation - You could pick the shit out of this for every DM cliche but l like that geetar tone and lm a sucker for a pinch harmonic. some shitty riffs tho 6/10

Triptykon - Melana Chasmata' a cool album from a legend. This rules 8/10

Ahad - zzzz at the intro then a nice long zzzzzzz waiting, waiting zzzzzzzz l could easily see a mood id really be into this but it ain't now 3/10

Fates Warning - ive only ever owned Parallels on tape so this is a bit of an education. l can see where they came from more through this tho and Fates should have been huge. sweet 8/10

Sabbat - A better version would do it justice as Walkers vocals all over this album are genius. His delivery and lyrics are some of the finest in metal l reckon. Bell, book and Candle, Candle Book Bell fuck yeah 10/10

Summoning - Ah l know l own 2 Summoning discs but l haven't given them any attention yet...judging by this it may still take a while til l bother....this is boring BM And then change! ...more keyboards...more beehive.. lame drums...drum machine?...oh yeah this is a bloke sitting in his room with a geetar a keyboard and a drum program. nothing wrong with that but...3/10

Eternal Champion - See l wouldn't buy this but id never say turn it off. Its unoffensive non challenging well executed metal. 6/10

Jag Panzer - One of those clean intros that l actually (l hate using that word) like. Heard of this band for years but never really heard them...this sounds pretty good, strong vocal and decent geetar sound/mix l would probably want to adventure more but the riffs aint exactly going places....ah yeah l knew the geetarist would be hot you can tell this guy can shred when he wants...l like that snare as well...oh yeah more shred! 7/10

Blind Guardian - Another band lve never spent time with...this is ok....not a great version by the sounds of it...lm sure this should sound a better mix no? geetars sound buried under a muddy mix or was it mixed like that? l can see some cool instrumentation. pros 7/10

Iron Maiden - l consider this one of my fav Maiden songs. But lm not a HUGE fan of the band. l like Maiden a lot and own 7-8 vinyls but l dont often put them on. Still, if they come on or somebody suggests them l never object....a band to rely on 8/10

Long may these games continue! Another good trip down memory lane and beyond cheers folks

 

[no country for old wainds]

enjoying reading these. as per usual you can expect mine on friday.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

@CASSETTEISGOD I do plan on getting the Summoning Sauron's Eye as a tattoo at some point.

 

[dwellerINTHEdark]

@CASSETTEISGOD I do plan on getting the Summoning Sauron's Eye as a tattoo at some point.

Stop it.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

You got a problem with that?

 

[CiG]

Hella yeah man do it.

 

[dwellerINTHEdark]

You got a problem with that?

Actually I just checked it out and it's pretty badass. I now approve.

 

[Vilden]

You just bashed it out of habit?

 

[dwellerINTHEdark]

It's Summoning so it's a lot cooler than a regular Sauron's eye based on that aspect alone.

 

[CiG]

The books of J.R.R. Tolkien are cool enough on their own.

 

[CiG]

Definitely, some of the most epic tales ever penned, certainly epic enough for Led Zeppelin, Gorgoroth, and others to venerate them to the degree where they make it an artistic motif.

Those bands never did Tolkien justice.

 

[CiG]

Nah, but we got some cool Tolkien worship out of it. Rush is another great band that worships his stuff.

Now that is a band I think can do Tolkien justice.

 

[The Ozzman]

Without a doubt, if anyone has it's them.

 

[Phylactery]

1. Leviticus - Deborah and Barack 7.510
Very cool high energy heavy metals to start this playlist. Love the riffs and guitar tone. Vocals are serviceable but hardly a highlight for me.

2. Stormwitch - Jonathan's Diary 8/10
For whatever reason, I thought Walpurgis Night was the only worthy material from this band. Well, I'll have to check out this album now because this is good. The last quarter or so is nuts.

3. Revocation - Opus Madness 4.5/10
I'm immediately turned by the production on this one and the stop start chugging is annoying. The clean break was probably the best part of the song for me, and some of the riffs are okay. There actually is some sense of atmosphere in the slower sections.

4. Triptykon - In the Sleep of Death 7.5/10
Genuine sense of foreboding here created by the crushing riffing. It would benefit from a grittier production I think, and I could so without some of the whinier vocals, but I appreciate the dynamics of this song.

5. Ahab - The Hunt 6.5/10
Haunting and harrowing intro before the heavy riffing. I think the ridiculously guttural vocals fit this very well, even if I'm typically not a big fan of them. The keyboards add an extra layer of intrigue to this piece which would otherwise be quite monotonous. Perhaps a shade too long.

6. Fates Warning - Giant's Lore 9/10
Man, early Fates Warning is so fucking good. I can see why Arch's vocals wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I've always liked them. Expert riffcraft and songwriting on display here. I still do prefer their previous record.

7. Sabbat - A Cautionary Tale 8/10
I'm only really familiar with Dreamweaver from this band. This is some pretty great headbanging thrash with a totally fucking awesome vocal delivery. I actually never majorly got into Dreamweaver but this sounds more to my liking so I'll have to look into this record.

8. Summoning - Mirkwood 10/10
The first 3 minutes or so are indescribably beautiful. Chills every time the part at 1:54 comes in. The atmosphere and textures of this piece completely envelop me and I am lost in my own thoughts. Epic in every sense of the word. The vocals rule, too.

9. Eternal Champion - Retaliator 8/10
Pretty much everything about this rules. Great vocals and riffs. This playlist has been good for trad metal.

10. Jag Panzer - Tragedy of Macbeth 6.5/10
I love Ample Destruction, but I've never heard anything else by them. The vocals are, of course, amazing. Really liked the intro. Some of the individual parts are interesting, although overall I find this a bit overly dramatic. Maybe it will grow on me if I listen to it within the context of the album.

11. Blind Guardian - Imaginations of the Other Side 7/10
This is quite ambitious and epic. I don't love it, but it's pretty good.

12. Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land 8.5/10
One of the best Iron Maiden albums imo. Not much to say about this, it's obviously great.

Phew, this playlist was exhausting. I'm expecting to see "riffless" from HamburgerBoy at least 3 times in his reviews.

 

[no country for old wainds]

1. Leviticus - Borat and Obama
pretty much the platonic form of heavy metal right here. on a basic level this is somewhere between motorhead and manowar, kinda like an even better version of tyrant (US) for lack of a better comparison right now. the verses are obviously vast and thunderous but it's the chorus that really makes it, it's incredible in an indescribable way that'll probably seem stilted to some. 9/10

2. Stormwitch - Jonathan's Diarrhoea
theatrical and tense and emotive, stormwitch’s best song evokes its narrative perfectly. like a european helstar, they're essentially distilling the essence of 'phantom of the opera' in a somewhat more germanic way. you could argue that not all the parts cohere into a single entity, but most bands go full careers without having passages as good as several in this song alone. 9.5/10

3. Revocation - Opus Badness
ozz is the new arg. 2/10

4. Triptykon - In the Sleep of Death
it's a tribute to emily bronte, i'm gonna allow it as a creative pick. it's kinda lame though, or, as one of my RYM friends put it, "Has been nonsense from a sour old Swiss douche". i try to avoid using the word 'pretentious', but honestly it was invented for a purpose and that purpose is nowadays tom g. warrior. he's aight (if not generally particularly interesting) when he's just sludging out, but every time he starts trying to be experimental (which usually involves sprinkling reductions of other genres on top of his sludging out) it just comes across as kinda tacky and embarrassing to me, partly 'cause of how seriously he's taking himself. that said, this isn't one of the worst offenders. the spoken vocals are laugh out loud funny and the post-rock squealing+acoustic passages are pretty old hat and no different from the likes of opeth, but for the most part he's just, yknow, sludging out. which is tolerable, if monotonous. 5/10

5. Ahab - The Cunt
i'm picky when it comes to funeral doom and this doesn't really cut it. i just feel like i've heard the same basic song many times before - there isn't a surprising moment in the whole ten minutes, there isn't much nuance to the textures or originality in atmosphere. it never does anything actively annoying either and it sets a basic mood, just never grabs me. 5/10

6. Fates Warning - Giant's Lore
the third of AWAKEN THE GUARDIAN’s holy trinity that also features 'fata morgana' and 'guardian'. exceptionally vivid and beautiful music with some of the best soloing in the history of the universe. i don't have a lot more to say given that we only just did the song survivor. learn to love it gayheads, it should be a nailed on 10. 10/10

7. Sabbat - A Cautionary Tale
this is a shit youtube which makes it sound as bad as DREAMWEAVER does, but it’s actually one of the better songs off their superior album. where sometimes this brand of relentlessness equates to a lack of dynamics or direction, here the song progresses as a narrative and gathers momentum, with every transition carrying dramatic weight, especially the one from “to burn in Hell for all my days...” into the song’s best riff. walkyier’s vocal performance is varied and suitably unhinged, and obviously he’s pretty much the most eloquent thrash lyricist out there for what that’s worth. 7.5/10

8. Summoning - Mirkwood
a quality song from ‘97, their finest era to my mind although i do hope to revisit all their more recent stuff sometime. i’m not as fond of the part beginning 1:54 as phylactery but i adore everything up to that and the part beginning 3:50. it’s just an overwhelming soundscape pure ‘n simple. i struggle to listen to full albums of theirs these days, so these mixtapes are the perfect context for a revisit. 8.5/10

9. Eternal Champion – Retaliator
like the playlist's opener, this IS heavy fucking metal. the sweet vocals glide across the huge physicality of the guitars most satisfyingly. 8.5/10

10. Jag Panzer - Tragedy of Macbeth
ah man, the initial duet chorus gives me shivers. it isn’t super interesting when it gets heavier though, too bombastic and kinda generic. by one of the board’s biggest AMPLE DESTRUCTION fanboys this can only be viewed as a disappointment. 6/10

11. Blind Guardian - Imaginations of the Other Side
the only blind guardian album i’m intimately familiar with is NIGHTFALL... (my first ever power metal album haha) but pompey linked me to a really good BG song a while back (from their sophomore i think) which got me excited for more, and yet... i’m not sure there’s been a single one i’ve much liked in this mixtape game yet. so yeah i should probably get on that album. 5/10

12. Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land
i’ve only just noticed how much this sounds like adramelch in places haha. 9/10

 

[The Ozzman]

ozz is the new arg.

Triggered