Apocrypha - Penance (Keep The Faith)
odd mixture of tech thrash and muscular heavy metal. neat tension in this, superduper basslines, guitar maelstroms, even a nice RIDE THE LIGHTNING style bass drum in places. if i was gonna nitpick i guess the verses (or whatever that is at e.g. 1:40) are a bit too familiar. crappy youtube btw, had to go to spotify for this one. 8/10
CAULDRON BORN - Crusader
this is true heavy metal, fuck possers! i hadn't heard the demo version but i think i prefer it too. 9/10
Sadus - Oracle of Obmission
can someone pls confirm this meets the thematic requirements for abmission 8/10
Messiah - The Choice
/m\ LOWER THE HORNS 7/10
Forsaken - Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross)
too flowery for my tastes and that's to sugarcoat an underlying blandness i think. the lyrics might be worse than messiah's lol. i had no idea these guys were maltese, that's weird. 4/10
Manilla Road - Divine Victim
a top 10 'road song, maybe top 5. simple but emotive. point off for obviousness. 8/10
Trouble - Run to the Light
bit too much happy rocky shit going on here but the stuff in between is great. i probably haven't given this album enough attention. someone should insert wagner's vocals over a bieber tune to prove my theory that he could make literally anything sound good. 7/10
October 31 - The Verdict
i vaguely recall references to this outfit from king fowley interviews i've read, didn't know jim hunter was involved as well. not really my preferred style but it's fine. 6/10
Saracen - Horsemen of the apocalypse
a majestic '70s-styled NWOBHM epic, building to a spinetingling climax. 10/10
Icecross - Jesus Freaks
proto-metal at best but i don't give a shit, they fit here and clearly influenced some metal bands i.e. heavy load. they do border on novelty with their wackiness at times, but this song showcases them at their best. helps that they knew how to fucking produce albums in the '70s, this is a godly mix. vocalist is incredible as well, but the drummer is the clear MVP. 9/10
Tristitia - Christianic Indulgence
god, this label is/was fucking weird. among other things they released supuration's THE CUBE, a lot of elend albums, stille volk albums, gloomy grim's LIFE?, MYSTIC PLACES OF DAWN, orphaned land stuff, frozen shadows stuff etc. as for tristitia, this is a song containing the word "christianic", on an album called "crucidiction", and the guy is also in a band called "gardeniathan", so it's fair to assume he's a massive tosspot. the song itself is pretty heavy and understated as far as peacevilly gothic doom goes, i like the weird and intense leads. 7/10
Tourniquet - Ruminating Virulence
first 2 and a half minutes are pretty damn good, then the extremely shit solo kicks in and it all gets rather tryhard and mastubatory from then on. 5/10
W.A.S.P. - Babylon's Burning
the surprise of the list for me, had no idea they were putting out songs of this quality in '09! 7/10
Immolation - Nailed to Gold
i guess to be consistent i should take a point off for obviousness here too. 9/10
the lack of black metal here was disappointing (i originally submitted 'blood of christians on my sword' after cig's post but changed my mind lol) but i enjoyed the playlist. in conclusion, fuck arg's chink dad.
