Themed Mixtape Game

[Phylactery]

The riffs are completely different, it doesn't force-feed the listener "atmosphere" through 10+ minute songs, the drumming is more dynamic, and overall it doesn't sound anything like any other classic black metal album unless you want to point something out to me.

I think Burzum's S/T, early Darkthrone, and the first Immortal albums are good/great too btw.

First of all, I'm not trying to attack you or anything, I'm genuinely interested in your reasoning behind some of your opinions.

While I think all the early Norwegian bands had their own somewhat unique sound to some extent, I don't think that DMDS is significantly different enough from a lot of black metal to think it's great and the others are shitty. A song like "Pagan Fears" builds atmosphere through subtle manipulations of its main riff and repetition, a hallmark of lots of black metal.

"The riffs are completely different"

Some of them perhaps, but it's full of those tremolo melodies featured in a huge amount of black metal, many of which are directly influenced by this record (or more likely, earlier versions of songs that ended up on here). I find these riffs to mainly be vehicles for creating the dark and creepy atmosphere, again like a lot of what the genre aims for.

"it doesn't force-feed the listener "atmosphere" through 10+ minute songs"

Ok, so what? Plenty of black metal doesn't do this. You didn't initially mention Emperor, the songs on the Emperor EP, and ItNE have similar lengths to DMDS tracks. The first 3 Gorgoroth records are full of short, to the point tracks, but you think they're terrible.

"the drumming is more dynamic"

Compared to what? Transilvanian Hunger? I don't think this is valid, DMDS is still extremely heavy on the blasting. Hell, my 2 favourite tracks (the last 2) are pretty much just straight up blasting for the duration.

What do you think of the early Greek bands like Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Varathron. I'd consider them to be quite riffy black metal.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Hold on ... hyped? Fog of War? I dont remember anything like that. Not even remotely closed to being hyped.

Yeah, not as much as Diamond Plate or Mutant, but it seemed like a lot of people (a lot defined as more than, I dunno, 4) were rooting for them.

EDIT: I'll reply to the above in a few hours, at school right now waiting for a package to arrive.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

It's a real heavy load.

 

[Phylactery]

Pagan Altar 9/10
Production on this rules so much. Probably the best Pagan Altar album, although I like them all.

Carnivore 6/10
This band again? Why have they been on 3 of these playlists? Wtf at those moans towards the end. Intro riff was the best part.

Sortilege 8.5/10
This kicked my ass. Absolutely amazing vocals. Rating could go up as I become more familiar with it.

Gorgoroth 9.5/10
This band's first 3 albums are fantastic and this is one of my favourite songs from them. Pretty much everything I love about black metal is here.

Saint Vitus 9/10
More classic Vitus.

White Wizzard 7/10
Never heard anything by this band before. I enjoyed this quite a bit, not amazing but pretty solid heavy metal.

Aspid 8/10
Fuck, I've never heard this either. Riffs for days and great vocals.

Iron Maiden 7.5/10
Piece of Mind and Powerslave are my favouirte Maiden albums, but I can still appreciate this.

Skyclad 7.5/10
Need to look more into this band, I enjoyed this.

Pentagram 9/10
Another classic doom band, love this.

Fog of War 6/10
I didn't mind this. Vocals were probably the worst part. Failed to leave a lasting impression like a lot of thrash does with me.

Manowar 8.5/10
Fuck yeah, it's Manowar. Fun as Hell.

Nyktalgia 5.5/10
These vocals were kinda grating at times. I wouldn't mind this if it wasn't so long because it's not bad for the genre.

Angel Witch 9/10
Cult NWOBHM, awesome song.

Dream Death 9/10
Props to whoever submitted this, legendary album.

Dark Quarterer 9.5/10
My favourite on this list along with the Gorgoroth track. Epic.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i don't even think that sortilege song is necessarily the best on the s/t, and it's so good. i know some people would say mercyful fate, warlord, queensryche etc but i think that might be the best trad metal EP ever.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The Dungeons Are Calling tho.

 

[CiG]

Its like you're constantly trying to prove something by praising some of the shittiest artwork in all of metaldom. Like you're trying to rack up some kind of imaginary "uber_troo" points or something. Hilarious.

Honestly though, how in the fuck is this good?

I like what they were trying to do, only if they found someone who could have executed it properly. Instead they found a 10 year old trying to display his crayola skills. Easily one of the shittiest album covers in all of my disc collection.

I like it, it's cool.

 

[CiG]

When I like something I genuinely like it, I don't play games, don't give a fuck about "uber_troo" points and if anybody thinks I'm one of those types they're only making themselves look like fucking clowns.

 

[CiG]

Buy me dinner first, at least.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

i don't even think that sortilege song is necessarily the best on the s/t, and it's so good. i know some people would say mercyful fate, warlord, queensryche etc but i think that might be the best trad metal EP ever.

Dark Age.

 

[Phylactery]

You all need to go an rate the extreme version of this game for this round if you haven't. It's actually really good this time.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I looked at it, solid playlist but two mixtape games is enough for me.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Going out for drinks but I'll probably rate this on the train on my way back home. I've listened to most of it already and actually keep the playlist up on YouTube to relisten to songs. One of the best playlist so far

 

[Omni]

I rated the extreme mixtape first because I feel like I'm more likely to procrastinate on that one. I will probably get this one done tomorrow.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Dark Age.

This too. Their eponymous has a bit of that proto-Viking metal gait to it as well, while on that subject.

 

[Phylactery]

Vegard: I was actually going to submit "Tales of Medusa" for your theme before I settled on "Powerslave".

 

[HamburgerBoy]

First of all, I'm not trying to attack you or anything, I'm genuinely interested in your reasoning behind some of your opinions.

While I think all the early Norwegian bands had their own somewhat unique sound to some extent, I don't think that DMDS is significantly different enough from a lot of black metal to think it's great and the others are shitty. A song like "Pagan Fears" builds atmosphere through subtle manipulations of its main riff and repetition, a hallmark of lots of black metal.

Most of the black metal I've heard doesn't put in nearly the same effort to build a song, and even when more repetitious I can appreciate it in small doses. Pagan Fears also has a pretty busy, almost technical intro, and is just barely over six minutes long total.

"The riffs are completely different"
Some of them perhaps, but it's full of those tremolo melodies featured in a huge amount of black metal, many of which are directly influenced by this record (or more likely, earlier versions of songs that ended up on here). I find these riffs to mainly be vehicles for creating the dark and creepy atmosphere, again like a lot of what the genre aims for.

Mayhem definitely invented the fundamental second-wave riffing style, but I'd still say there's a lot more diversity here, and I give the more repetitive songs a pass partially just on the basis of how ground-breaking this stuff was in ~1990. Even so, the riffs seem more nuanced than most of what came after in the style. They almost never repeat a riff more than four times before changing at least something in the song. Compared to something like Gorgoth's Katharinas Bortgang where I'm listening to nearly the same thing the entire song aside from the chorus, it's night and day. Mayhem actually created textured and subtle music. Later second-wave black metal subverted that by creating boring verse/chorus music with very repetitive riffs, and calling it "minimalist" for suckers. Bands like Hate Forest would bring the style to a point of no return.

"it doesn't force-feed the listener "atmosphere" through 10+ minute songs"

Ok, so what? Plenty of black metal doesn't do this. You didn't initially mention Emperor, the songs on the Emperor EP, and ItNE have similar lengths to DMDS tracks. The first 3 Gorgoroth records are full of short, to the point tracks, but you think they're terrible.

I actually enjoy some of the Gorgoroth I've heard, mostly just the first album I think. Half of that is probably Hat's vocals but whatevs. The really short songs are often pretty bad; to the point, but their sense of melody development isn't remotely on par. The most repetitive song on DMDS blows away something like Drømmer Om Død with that garbage hoedown 8th note main riff, and then when they try a bit more melody in the inter-verse parts it just treads the same In the Nightside Eclipse ideas that were basically already established on Funeral Fog. Gorgoroth is kind of the quintessential second-tier band of the Norwegian scene to me, much like Heathen to Bay Area thrash or Massacre to Floridian death or something.

"the drumming is more dynamic"

Compared to what? Transilvanian Hunger? I don't think this is valid, DMDS is still extremely heavy on the blasting. Hell, my 2 favourite tracks (the last 2) are pretty much just straight up blasting for the duration.

What do you think of the early Greek bands like Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Varathron. I'd consider them to be quite riffy black metal.

Give me some examples similar drumming in black metal. I don't know any others where the double-bass plays as big of a role, for example; sure there's a lot of blasting, but any time it slows down a bit it's surprisingly involved. Even when it is blasting, Buried by Time and Dust is so damn intense in a way that most others can't match.

I consider Varathron to be pretty good, but I think of them more or less as a trad metal band with a black metal aesthetic. I haven't heard a Rotting Christ song I thought was even ok, but they're kind of a similar case from what I have heard, really bad trad/power melodies with amateur performance.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Pagan Altar - 10/10
This is one of my favorite songs by them and pretty much ever. So dark. The beginning is just amazingness. World's silliest voice ever (he sounds like a creepy old witch lady) but I've always loved it.

Carnivore 6/10
Lol at the lyrics. This is pretty average to me though.

Sortiledge 10/10
I loved the vocals. This was a really fun song. Thanks for the introduction to them!

Gorgoroth 9/10
The beginning is a little long but when it goes into that riff it's amazing after that. Classic Gorgoroth.


Saint Vitus 9/10
The main riff is groovy but it's simple. It made me realize how many bands were influenced by Vitus because I hear that riff often now. This is classic Vitus though and though the main riff is simple it's brilliant.

White Wizzard 4/10
I didn't think this was that good. Pretty boring. Nothing that really sold/ or pushed it.

Aspid 10/10
This rules. I need to check this band out more as I've heard songs here and there and always really liked them a lot.

Iron Maiden 9.5/10
I like this song a lot. It goes all the way back to the beginning but I liked the beginning a lot anyways, so I didn't mind it.

Skyclad 6/10
This got really repetitive. Like it was good until they decided to play that entire first part all over again in the second half and not really change.

Pentagram 8/10
I love this song. It's not their best song for me, but I still like it.

Fog of War 8/10
What brings them down are the vocals (a little too hardcore-y or punky for me) and I don't feel like the song is structured in a good cohesive way at all. However, they could play the shit out of their instruments. Those riffs and solos are amazing.

Manowar 8/10
This reminds me of an intro song to a family-style sitcom. I really need more Manowar, I've liked a lot of what I've heard.

Nyktalgia 6/10
I thought this would be a lot worse based on the reviews. I did like the part that went up to about 3 minutes and I thought it would be finished and then checked and realize I wasn't even anywhere near halfway through. It is a little long and it's not the best thing here but it's OK.

Angel Witch 8/10
This song is a bit overrated for Angel Witch. This always sounded like a metal version of Saved by the Bell to me. I like this and it gets stuck into your head really quickly. Also, Angel Witch is one of my favorite bands ever. I love his vocals, but this song never been its best for me. I think its the part before the solo like that clapping part then that awesome solo.


Dream Death 10/10
"Somebody get me out of this nightmare!" These lyrics always get stuck in my head.

Dark Quarterer 10/10
I like the vocals a lot. The mixing is a little weird, the vocals are much higher than everything else. However, this song rules.

I sorta listened to this out of order but I'm sure I got all of them written here.

 

[Omni]

Pagan Altar 10/10

I love this song. It sounds like it was recorded in a chamber used for secret occult rituals. The brief intro is fitting. Love live Terry Jones and Pagan Altar!

Carnivore 5/10

I haven't been too impressed with this band and I'm not sure why they keep getting submitted. They've been in more rounds than almost every other band despite being pretty average.

Sortilege 9/10

I love these guys. I almost submitted them in an earlier round. Excellent musicianship and vocals. I always feel like they aren't talked about as much as they should be.

Gorgoroth 8/10

It's a shame that Gorgoroth is often looked down upon. Their early music is absolutely classic black metal. I love the guitar work from Infernus on this one and the production rules.

Saint Vitus 10/10

If you're guilty of helping Wino Vitus get free wins early on, you'd better not be downrating the clearly superior Reagers Vitus! Anyway, this is one of Saint Vitus' best songs.

White Wizzard 4/10

I didn't really like this.

Aspid 6/10

I guess that I'm not really into this sort of thing, but it wasn't terrible.

Iron Maiden 8/10

A classic! Di'Anno Maiden rules although this is one of the weaker songs on the debut album in my opinion. The early EP version of it has more attitude.

Skyclad 7/10

I've honestly never really explores Skyclad. This was a pretty cool song with good melodies. I should listen to more of their music.

Pentagram 8/10

Bobby Liebling is my hero. I was hoping that this song would get in. I love this song and it gets stuck in my head forever every single time that I hear it!

Fog of War 6/10

I don't think that this was for me but I didn't hate it.

Manowar 8/10

Fuck posers who hate early Manowar. That's all.

Nyktalgia 7/10

I prefer the debut album, although the melodies on this album can be quite beautiful. This song is a bit overly long out of context.

Angel Witch 7.5/10

I've always felt that this one was a bit overrated, even though Angel Witch is amazing. This is still a great song.

Dream Death 9/10

I was hoping that this song would make it in. Dream Death is awesome and I think that this song is a perfect example of why. I love these guys!

Dark Quarterer 9.5/10

I love this track. My only gripe is that the vocals are mixed higher than they should be and they sometimes obscure the amazing music. It's a minor issue.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Angel Witch 8/10
This always sounded like a metal version of Saved by the Bell to me.

i lold.

i think 'angel of death' is the overrated song on that album. i used to like it a lot but it hasn't held up the way the first three and 'sorceress' have. i actually much prefer the outro which follows it.