Various Artists - Peaceville: New Dark Classics
Peaceville Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
This was a well done collection with a nice mixture of sorrowful, melodic metal and black metal. It also had a few promising surprises and made me even want to go check out entire albums themselves - Novembre’s track was so well done and pretty I now have the undeniable urge to listen to the whole Materia album.
The bands themselves are not only the most popular ones, but demonstrate the variety of the label and some of the stronger, perhaps slightly lesser known bands they contain. The first few songs in particular caught my attention because of the aforementioned material by Novembre as well as female fronted bands Madder Mortem and The Providence. As the compilation progresses we move on to material from black metal bands, and I start losing attention somewhat. The placing order of the tracks, however, with bands that catch your interest at the start of the album is a more than splendid way of making a compilation. Overall, the songs range from mediocre to good, with no particularly stellar tracks, but very few poor ones either. It serves as a excellent introduction to what Peaceville has to offer.
I would highly recommend checking New Dark Classics out for some new material from a lot of the slightly less talked about bands, as well as stuff from the likes of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and Darkthrone. Certainly worth listening to if you’re new to the aforementioned bands - Peaceville has always had a solid roster, and the material on display here certainly proves some of the best.
Peaceville Records Website
Peaceville Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
This was a well done collection with a nice mixture of sorrowful, melodic metal and black metal. It also had a few promising surprises and made me even want to go check out entire albums themselves - Novembre’s track was so well done and pretty I now have the undeniable urge to listen to the whole Materia album.
The bands themselves are not only the most popular ones, but demonstrate the variety of the label and some of the stronger, perhaps slightly lesser known bands they contain. The first few songs in particular caught my attention because of the aforementioned material by Novembre as well as female fronted bands Madder Mortem and The Providence. As the compilation progresses we move on to material from black metal bands, and I start losing attention somewhat. The placing order of the tracks, however, with bands that catch your interest at the start of the album is a more than splendid way of making a compilation. Overall, the songs range from mediocre to good, with no particularly stellar tracks, but very few poor ones either. It serves as a excellent introduction to what Peaceville has to offer.
I would highly recommend checking New Dark Classics out for some new material from a lot of the slightly less talked about bands, as well as stuff from the likes of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and Darkthrone. Certainly worth listening to if you’re new to the aforementioned bands - Peaceville has always had a solid roster, and the material on display here certainly proves some of the best.
Peaceville Records Website
