Thoughts on my last batch...
Behemoth - And the Forests Dream Eternally - Hearing this makes me sad Nergal pushed them the brutal death metal route; they were a MUCH better black metal band! This EP/demo is everything good pagan mid-paced black metal should be: tons of meaty riffs to sink your teeth into, loads of great headbanging moments, the perfect blend of extremely screamed vocals and blasting drumming, all wrapped up in a clean yet raw-sounding production. Standout tracks: 'Transylvanian Forest,' 'Moonspell Rites,' 'Sventevith Storming Near the Baltic (both versions),' 'Hidden in the Fog' -
9.5/10
Behemoth - SVENTEVITH (Storming Near the Baltic) - Continuing in the same vein as their debut, this is more superb Eastern European black metal with melody (see? I didn't say melodic black metal). Nergal's gang used to just fucken rule! It's not quite as good as the better-focused 1st record, and it's slightly less valuable IMO b/c it shares/borrows a couple of the strongest tracks from it: 'Hidden in the Fog,' 'Transylvanian Forest'; also: 'Wolves Guard My Coffin' -
9/10
Kvist - For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike - Erik, you were dead on: I fucken loved this.
Good, lengthy, well-developed black metal tracks, with ample use of keyboards, but done tastefully and IMO, perfectly. Awesome melodies throughout the record, mostly thanks to the aforementioned keys + some seriously sick guitarwork. I don't know if the tr00-pers like this stuff, but it fucking ruled. Standout tracks: um, all of them? 'Ars Manifestia,' 'Forbannet Vaere Jorden Jeg Gar Pi,' 'Svartedal,' 'Min Lekam er Meg Blott en Byrde,' 'Vettenetter' -
9.5/10
Marduk - Heaven Shall Burn...When We Are Gathered - I fucking love Marduk, let me just get that out of the way. If there's a better Marduk album than this, point me in that direction (have to hear more Opus Nocturne still). Pretty much what Marduk is known for: furious blasting, layer upon layer of rapidfire guitar riffs and a shitload of aggression. Even some kick-ass mid-paced doomy stuff, as I guess they began to explore different ways of unleashing their Satanic message.
Standout tracks: 'Beyond the Grace of God,' Infernal Eternal,' Glorification of the Black God,' 'Darkness It Shall Be,' 'Dracul Va Domna Din Nou In Transylvania,' 'Legion' -
9.25/10
Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstasy - My god, without a doubt Nevermore's finest moment (haven't fully digested the new one). It's American power thrash the way it's meant to be played: aggressively and without any harness whatsoever. All at once Queensryche meeting Black Sabbath with a good hint of that Sanctuary-styled thrash. Brilliant record, and meaty too, clocking in at over 1 hour. Standout tracks: 'Seven Tongues of God,' 'This Sacrament,' 'Politics of Ecstasy,' 'Lost,' 'Tiananmen Man,' '42147,' but really, all of them -
9.5/10
