What have you all been liking this year?

[Jim LotFP]

I think that you would do well to check out Atlantean Kodex and Minotauri from this year.

I have both Minotauri albums, they really don't do it for me for some reason. They seemed a lot more powerful (with the vocals commanding attention) live.

Add Blotted Science to my want list (as well as a non-promo copy of the Tholus album).

And Helm, the Moonspell thing I want is a re-recording of their pre-Wolfheart stuff. So it's written when they were good, and I'm morbidly curious to see if they're going to fuck it up or not. There's even a possibility that I'll be liking something Moonspell recorded in this century, which would be nice.

What's this Atlantean Kodex like?

 

[Helm]

Like Manowar. Epic metal. I know this might sound strange in the same breath these days.

Oh yes, Blotted Science!

 

[Occam's Razor]

The Moonspell is not fucked up, but I think a major appeal of Under THe Moonspell was the amateurish execution, which is gone on the re-recordings. However, you realize that these songs were actually really good and still are.

Atlantean Kodex is really incredible. There's that kind beauty on their release which is exactly what I am looking for in heavy metal. For the chroniclers: it's got Ross The Boss soloing on one song, and the guy from Upwards To Endtime sang on their debut-split with Vestal Claret. That vinyl is sold out and featured one song from the cd-release, of course with the different singer.

And yeah, Sacred Oath is a goodie as well. Same for Sleepytime (says the guy who had his first experience with the band through their crappy live album).

Nightingale: good as usual, tasty, catchy, but not exteraordinary. Swanö does not do the pretentious records anymore, as he does not allow any label or whatever to coerce him into it, so you hear it's an honest thing. That makes the lyrics good, which could be painful otherwise. Maybe the Ayreon syndrome?