Jag Panzer - Iron Shadows – pretty decent but the EP is definitely a couple steps below Ample Destruction (which isn’t a USPM masterpiece for me anyways), the Genghis Khan-y melodies and manly vibes are nice but the galloping is a bit too slow and basic for the song length, 5/10
Briton Rites - The Right Hand of Doom – two seconds deep and I’m already getting shitty vibes, vocals enter and it only gets worse, total butt-doom, 2/10
Taramis - Path to Aquilonia – not even in the upper half of the album for me but still amazing, easily among the most underrated trad/power albums out there, such a delicate and mystical build to a total anthem, 10/10
Eternal Champion - The Last King of Pictdom – what the fuck is with this mix? this sounds worse than most 80s demos I’ve heard, doesn’t help that the drummer is fairly poor, having vocal melodies follow the guitar line too closely is another pet peeve of mine and overall this is only better than the average retro-USPM band because of how bizarrely incompetent this sounds, 4/10
Cauldron Born - By This Axe I Rule – probably the definitive band that I should theoretically love but actually hate; yeah you can hear influence of many of the prog/power greats and they’re not unoriginal, but everything sounds so wrong, it’s an eight minute song but the arrangement is as rudimentary as anything, main riff almost like a basic speed metal riff but slowed down (maybe something straight from Night on Brocken actually) but then they sometimes throw in these little wank-guitar runs and time-signature changes and explorative Titan Force-y chords but it all sounds so pointless, he can do a serviceable Geoff Tate impersonation but then blows it by taking the melodrama too far, the drummer is just kick snare kickkick snare-ing his way through the whole duration, all this bullshit yet there is NO feeling of meaningful movement in this song, oh and the guitar tone is total ass, I despise this album, 0/10
Dream Death - The Elder Race – THIS is how you do dynamics, a basic Celtic Frost-y riff can go so far when you have a vocalist that oozes disgust and a drummer that isn’t afraid to play to the story, that middle section in particular is so damn turbulent and twisted, I always assumed this was some Lovecraft thing tbh although I knew the two had some correspondence, 10/10
Watchtower - Cimmerian Shadows – sheer mastery, 10/10
Crom - Earth Queen – I assumed this would be the American sludge band, pleasantly surprised, 7/10
Sinoath - Black River Acheron – nice and spooky, riffs aren’t that great but this is a case where the keyboards add to the atmosphere in earlier death metal, actually that climax at the end was really effective, 7.5/10
Rosae Crucis - Bran Mak Morn – I should have known better than to doubt a playlist with so many hard hitters, even the obscure stuff has been good, never heard of these guys but I’m liking this a lot, fast but tense, 7.5/10
The Gates of Slumber - Dark Valley Suite – first five minutes were alright for what they were, the middle section somehow didn’t overstay its welcome, but while I’m not exactly disappointed that it wasn’t a slow burn to a big climax like I expected, the end was a bit underwhelming, 5/10
Strong playlist after all, great stuff