Top 15 Black Metal Bands

Greetings fellow lovers of BLACK FUCKING METAL! Or as they say in Nargarothian: RAAAAWR KRIEEEG BLACK FUCKING METAL IST KRIEEG RAAAAAAAWR! The winter is falling upon and the cold is taking over our very beings. So as part of December series on black metal I will be unveiling my personal top 15 black metal bands. There will be some common favorites and maybe a few unorthodox choices but these choices are my opinion. If you don't agree hey make your own list...in fact do it anyway. So without further ado I unveil the my favorite 15 black metal bands

15.Gorgoroth: This is definitely a band that has had a huge influence in the realm of black metal and a band that has released some awesome releases, the best of which being the legendary Pentagram with its unrelenting shrieks of evil and its icy cold riffs and its sheer satanic awesomeness. Another release that stands as a monolith of black fucking metal would be Under The Sign of hell with its unabashedly necro production and hyperspeed riffs. This band stands a defiant satanic force within the ranks of Norwegian black metal.

14. Venom- One could argue that Venom is not a black metal band at all, in fact they predated actual black metal by quite a few years. But they were no doubt a huge influence not just in naming the genre but for their lo-fi sound, ruff vocals and their satanic imagery. They even used evil sounding stage names. LAY DOWN YOUR SOUL TO THE GODS ROCK AND ROLL! Well do it, lay down your soul you puny fucking mortal!

13. Wolves in the Throne Room: One of the newer black metal bands around hailing from Olympia, Washington, these guys really know how to create an atmosphere, and while not nearly as evil as many older bands on this list, they are no less intense. Their albums create a thick natural atmosphere as if one is in the woods becoming one with nature, and while that may not sound very kvlt, trust me: IT FUCKING IS.

12. Borknagar: While this band morphed into more of a progressive viking metal band in later years, they released an epic piece of black metal mastery with their Sophomore release The Olden Domain one of the all time greatest black/viking metal albums to be released The Winterway will forever be my favorite Borknagar song of all time. Did I mention Garm delivers one of the greatest vocal performances on this album.

11. Dissection: They have their place here because of one legendary piece of cold, unrelenting melodic black metal, namely: Storm of the Lights Bane. Seriously this album fucking owns you, me and practically the entire universe. It creates a winter-like feeling but without the necro production and ridiculously simplistic riffs, opting rather to craft songs with a great deal of melody and yet intensity.

10. Satyricon: Taking us into the top 10 is none other than the Norwegian band Satyricon, laying claim to 3 all out masterpieces of cold, grim, necro etc...black metal. Dark Medieval Times, Nemesis Divina, and The Shadowthrone are some of landmark black metal albums that helped simultaneously define the sound while adding an array of new elements that had yet to be explored such as the use of folk sounding melodies. Within their ranks is drummer Frost who happens to be one of the all time greatest black metal drummers. This band rules.

9. Enslaved: While many other bands descended into the realms of mediocrity after releasing a few worthwhile releases Enslaved continued to release consistently awesome material, and is still doing so. While other bands opted for simplicity in their approach Enslaved pushed their technicality to the limits, releasing many progressive metal albums that still contained enough of the elements to still fall under the banner of black metal. Their latest full length offering is one hell of an album, perhaps their best yet. One of the cornerstones of the genre, and yet they show no signs of stopping.

8. Immortal: Yes folks, the kings of cheesy black metal videos and photos themselves Immortal. One of the early bands in the Norwegian black metal scene, the band helped to further define the sound that bands such as Darkthrone, Burzum, and Mayhem had pioneered. These men are obsessed with winter, frost, grimness and all things kvlt. Their riffing is some of the iciest, most true to the style riffing that you will find. They always play at hyperspeed, and there is not a song of theirs that doesn't include at least one of the following words: grim, icy, frostbitten, demon, winter, winterstorm, raven, darkness, north, blashrykh. How trve is that?

7. Ulver: While only two of their albums can be considered to be black metal, they are some of the strongest releases to be found in the whole of the genre. With Bergtatt they proved that they could be melancholic and dark, while at the same time maintaining a sense of enrapturing melody. Garm's vocals on this album are some of the most beautiful vocals to ever be recorded. With Nattens Madrigal however they proved that could also produce an album as raw and primitive sounding as any of the other kvlties of the day. These albums are some of the most important, influential and best black metal albums ever produced.

6.Drudkh: My personal favorite atmospheric black metal band, they took influence from Burzum and crafted two of the most brooding and melancholic black metal albums to ever be recorded. Autumn Aurora evokes such powerful imagery with its droning synths, its fuzzy and melancholic riffs, and the precise drum work it's almost surreal. The rest of their discography is nothing to snub your nose at either. While they aren't the most consistent band ever, they are no less important and skilled.

5. Mayhem: The kings of black metal controversy themselves Mayhem. They pretty much founded the second wave of black metal taking influences like Bathory and Celtic Frost and forging a sound that was more brutal then any of them. They also perfected the sound with their release entitled De Mysteriis Dom Sathanus, another of the undisputed Norwegian classics. Euronymous could arguably be called the father of the Norwegian black metal guitar style, his amazing tremolo riffs exuding evilness and all things dark, grim and frostbitten. While the band was plagued with suicides, the murder of their guitarist, and many controveries they are no doubt one of the classic black metal bands.

4. Emperor: What can be said that hasn't been already said. These guys are legendary in the realm of black metal, crafting some of the most complex and infectious melodies ever in the history of man. To think that they wrote and recorded In the Nightside Eclipse as teenagers is mindboggling. Their grandiose keyboard work so awe-inspiring and majestic that it begs you to listen to the album over and over. Their vocals are so piercing and passionate, and their lyrics so empowering that you have no choice but to be caught up in the nighttime atmosphere. PRAISE BE TO THEE O NIGHTSPIRIT! They would go on to record other classics each one becoming more progressive and genre-defying. Anthems to the Welkin at dusk being their last true masterpiece it is nonetheless one of the most complex and intense symphonic black metal experiences one can partake in. Their influence speaks for itself.

3. Bathory: It is said that one day Satan and Oden conspired together to create and individual so passionate for metal and pagan pride that he would literally pioneer two different movements in metal history. Thus Quorthon was spawned upon the earth and not only was he a pioneer of evil black fucking metal but also was the main pioneering force in the viking metal subgenre as well. His albums all setting the standard for what black metal would become. Unpolished production, shrieked vocals, trebled to the max riffs. Satanic and pagan imagery galore. What more could you fucking ask for people! THIS MAN IS A FUCKING LEGEND!

2. Darkthrone: Arguably the most influential band in all of black metal history is Darkthrone, and for you kvlt kiddies this band is a dream come true. Necro and filthy production adorned with thin trebled out guitars, playing simplistic tremolo riffs and drums that blast away in the background, this is what Darkthrone is about. Shrieked vocals shred through the blizzard of sound and caress your eardrums with pure black metal lyricism. Okay the hype aside this band pretty much defined the sound of black metal releasing landmark album after landmark album. The production is gritty, the guitars are grim, and grimey, the drums hypnotic, and the vocals ear-splitting. Two words TRVE KVLT.

1. Burzum: The man, the myth, the church-burning, bandmate murdering musical genius himself. Count Grishnack. While his actions are loathed by many, just as many people worship his musical offerings as canonical examples of how to play black metal. Every album creating the most dark, depressing most evil and hypnotic, trance-inducing atmosphere. He creates atmospheres that will consume your soul and spit you back out as a Paganized black metal maniac. In all seriousness though, his albums have such a captivating atmosphere that I can just get lost in the music. It induces an almost trance-like state of mind that bids you leave your earthly existence behind and become one with your true pagan self. His vocals pour forth sorrow, anger, hatred and longing. The production is grim, necro, kvlt or however else you choose to describe it. The riffs range from simple to ultra-simple. But this man creates albums that stand as timeless pieces of art, and some of the most important to the entire black metal scene. This is why Burzum stands at the height of my list as greatest black metal artist.

This has certainly been a blast for me to write, hope it has been a blast to read. As winter approaches throw on a couple black metal records and get in touch with your inner satanic/heathen self.

The Metallica Saga-Take a Look To The Sky Just Before You DIe!

While Kill 'Em All was definitely a great release, and fun as hell to listen to, it had its share of inconsistencies that hampered it from being a definite classic, namely a few songs that had a boring pace, and the fact the lyrics sometimes left a little something to be desired. The next year Metallica would go into the studio once again and this time the result is much more focused, a darker, more serious release and what I consider one of Metallica's twin classics in Ride The Lightning.

This album definitely has a much more serious tone to it then the previous one, with songs about plagues, nuclear warfare, death, depression etc. The riffing is much more precise and the production values are a lot better. James and Kirk have definitely stepped up their game as far as their guitar playing is concerned. James also sounds a lot better vocally. The bass is still thunderous and thick. Once again Lars is just kind of there, while the drums are excellent they aren't anything particularly special.

The best thing about this album is that every track is great, and the flow of the album is perfect. The compositions are extremely well written, there isn't a single throw-away riff to be found and all the leads and solos fit in extremely well into the song. It never feels disjointed and it never seems to lag. Every song is memorable and classic. Even the instrumental is great.

So all in all this album is a towering inferno of melodic thrash metal, a ferocious beast of an album that stands as a testament to how great Metallica once was, and also serves as the standard by which to judge their subsequent releases of the 90s. Anyone who only knows newer Metallica take a trip back to 80s and take a ride on this electric monster of an album. I'm off to headbang until I get whiplash. Until next time STAY METAL!

98/100

The Metallica Saga- Kill Em All- We Got the Metal Madness!

It was 1983, and there was something happening in the metal world, a movement was growing taking influence from early speed metal bands like Venom, Diamond Head and the like. They were there to put a fist in the face of glam metal, which they saw as the pussification of heavy metal. This new genre pushed the envelope of speed and aggression, playing at louder volumes and faster speeds than once thought possible. One of the most notable of these bands was Metallica, who in this very year would record a landmark album in the thrash metal genre. Originally dubbed "Metal Up Your Ass" but changed to "Kill "em All" due to pressure from the record company. Forget about Load, and Reload, toss that shit out the window, this was back when they had something furious inside them, they had what they called the metal madness, and it runs wild on this album.

The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.

The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.

The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track

As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.

86/100

The Metallica Saga- Symptoms of Decay- Black Album

Metallica is one of those household names when it comes to rock and metal music, one of the most successful and lauded bands to ever grace the music scene. At this point in their career they had released 4 landmark albums mostly of the thrash metal genre, and were becoming a musical force to be reckoned with. Releasing albums full of thrash injected with melody and emotion, searing riffs, blistering solos and bleak toned lyrics, even venturing towards progressive in their outing titled ...And Justice For All.

Enter Bob Rock, who suggests to them they should aim for higher commercial heights, that the way to reach their true potential was to strip their sound down and opt for a more accessible and radio friendly approach. Instead of continuing to progress their sound they stepped back, and did something a little more personal, a little more emotive, and a little bit subpar. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, however this was the first album that showed symptoms of them selling out. While this album has absolute classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiving, there is also moments of inconsistency and filler tracks.

The basic sound of this album is pretty much a hard rock sound with a more metallic edge to it. Midpaced, Wah laden guitars play many a palm muted riff, and there are also a great deal of very blues inspired pentatonic soloing. They added more of the softer toned ballads in such as The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, both of which are great in my opinion. The guitars have gotten less complex with this release and have more of a alternative/hard rock sound...lots of wah pedal. The drums are pretty much just there keeping the beat and not doing anything special and the bass is kind of just in the background doing some rhythm work.

James vocals have gotten a good deal deeper than previous releases and he utilizes more of a grungy singing style moreso than his usual thrash metal shout/singing. This is also the beginning of his use of the kind of cheesy vocal accents ( oooh aaaah YEEA HEAAh).

The album starts off on a very positive note with the extremely catchy and enjoyable track Enter Sandman, a midpaced riffy affair about nightmarish images and childhood fears. Sad But True is a bit more groovy and midpaced which also happens to deal with personal struggles. The Next track Holier Than Thou is the first filler track, it pretty much just plods along and doesn't really accomplish anything. Then we get to my two personal standout tracks on this...The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam, the two that accomplish the goal that was intended...to make more accessible music and still manage to be awesome musically. The rest of the album is kind of just there, tracks blend into one another and the whole affair gets very tedious. Nothing Else Matters brings a more positive note showing that Metallica knows how to do emotional songwriting and do it well, but the last couple of tracks are just right back to that samey filler vibe. So while this album has its definite high points I think it ultimately fails at being what it was supposed to be i.e Metallica reaching their full potential on a record. It's a step down from classics like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.

Final Score 66/100

Insanity Squared ( Unexpect- Fables of the Sleepless Empire)

Out there, odd, strange, schizophrenic, weird, batshit crazy: these are all words that can be used to describe the sound of this band. If you've heard the band before you know what to expect, and you know that they are aptly named, because honestly you never know what to expect from them. The song structures are ever changing, and I mean that to the fullest extent that that term can be used. It's Avant-Garde in one of its most pure forms.

To describe the sound of this band, think of totally chaotic riffs, in odd time signatures and they are constantly changing, weaving, and getting more odd.

its like
for instance
Ifyoujust DEcI ded onedayto
neglect
every single Grammar and writing rulE
and just wrote
HOWEVER THE FUCK YOU FEEL.


Get the picture? One thing I really enjoyed about this release is the bass. It's constantly present to the exact right degree. Its extremely technical and adds great depth and character to the music, and its something that lots of metal bands have lost touch with. The guitars are chaotic and riffy, there's a lot of use of piano and violins and out of character stuff like that. The vocals range from a black metal type of throaty mid pitched shriek trading off with female clean vocals and the occasional clean male vocals. The drums are nothing stunningly mind-blowing but they do a damn good job considering the amount of transitions, tempo shifts and stuff that's going on with the music.

The production is clear without being overly polished and refined, and you can hear each of the many elements that this album has, which is good because a bad production job could really ruin an album like this and make it like a wall of chaotic brown noise. At times things do get a tiny bit cluttered because of the enormous amount of things going on, but that's not a huge gripe and these moments are made less detracting by the production job that I mentioned.

The lyrics are as you would UN expect: very strange and out there, they even have a song about pumpkin vigilantes overthrowing the rule of man, excellent concept if you ask me. The only real gripe I have with this album is that it's a tad too long, and some people will have trouble listening to a whole album that's this schizophrenic. Also if you aren't already a fan of avant-garde music I wouldn't start with this release, and if you like clearly defined song structure STAY AWAY. All in all a great release, and a truly insane experience.

89/100

Best And Worst So Far ( 2011 )

It almost the end of the year, so I feel it is appropriate to make a list of the best and worst so far. I have heard many different albums this year, some have been stellar some have been great, and some have been just horrible. Here is the list of albums and descriptions of why they are the best or worst.

Best of 2011 so far

1.Mastodon- The Hunter: This album was absolutely killer, and although it had a few stylistic changes that some people may not be comfortable with, it's still good ol Mastodon, and they still rock. This album is my current pick for album of the year

2.Perpetuate: This album is absolutely stellar, its very short and its really an EP but it is awesome from start to finish, relatively unknown band, but they've released a bombshell of an album that makes me happy on the inside.

3. Wolves in The Throne Room- Celestial Lineage: This album has such a beautiful natural atmosphere to it, and it even borders on drone at times. Would be album of the year right now if two other albums had not surpassed it. Its use of female vocals and synths to compliment the atmosphere are perfect

4. Autopsy- Macabre Eternal: A brilliant triumphant return for Autopsy. It sounds like it came right out of the old school death metal era. Its brutal its ugly, its pulverizing, even doomy at times but it is daaamn good.

5.Symphony X- Iconoclast: I'm really digging this album, it has an awesome concept, it has complex rhythms and structures, shredding solos, soaring vocals and it keeps my attention surprisingly well for 2 disc release. Very strong, solid progressive metal release

There has only been one album this year that has been a huge disappointment for me and that's Morbid Angel's Illud Divinum Insanus. If they had done industrial the right way this could have been an insanely good release, but they failed terribly. It's not as if there aren't decent moments but this is still a bummer of a release for me.

Mastodon- The Hunter

Its that time of year, time for a new Mastodon release, time for one of the most well known and well respected progressive metal bands to drop their latest musical offering, and with the hype this band got with Crack the Skye, and the consistently great quality of all their past releases is it possible to live up to the hype, to craft an album that continues to garner them respect and critical acclaim, or would this album fall into the usual trap of bands that have just released what many consider the apex of their career? I must admit I was a little apprehensive about this album, especially with the more whimsical song titles, and the new album artwork...then I heard Black Tongue. Well this could be the one gem amidst a turd of an album. I then heard Curl of the Burl, different for them yes, but still daaaamn good. The whole album lives up to my high expectations, and somehow even kind of exceeds them.

This an album that takes the core elements of the Mastodon sound from all the past releases, throws in some off the wall new elements to create a sound that is totally unique in the Mastodon catalog and yet somehow awesomely familiar. The sound on this album is more stripped down compared to Crack the Skye, you won't find the super long songs, and the all out proggy songwriting and flash that you saw with the last album, but it keeps some glimmers of that sound, mixes it with the sound found on albums such as Leviathan and Remission and adds in some new more lighthearted sounds and vocal stylings to create an entirely new sound for them yet again.

One of the things that sets this song apart from most other Mastodon releases is the fact that it doesn't have an overarching concept, and it doesn't have that same continuity as past albums, one track will sound different than the next, they don't keep to the same formula throughout, and to some this may be off putting, I really enjoy it. I think there's something for fans of all eras of Mastodons career thus far.

The guitars are awesome in this release, they range from really heavy chaotic riffing, to really laid back haunting melodies, to even some really happy sounding stuff on The Creature Lives. One addition I really love is the even more southern sounding riffing on the song Curl of The Burl. I also really love that they use more synth and synthesized weird noises and sounds. The solos on this album continue to be awesome just as on any other Mastodon release. Brann continues to use his usual over-the-top spastic drumming style as always, but now he seems to be able to rein himself in and be reserved when the time is right. Troys bass work is very well done and pretty clear in the production. The vocals on this album are also well done, and they have really upped their game when it comes to vocal harmonies. Much like the previous album the vocals are mostly clean singing.

I find myself at a loss to fully be able to describe the sound on this album, as it is so varied, and just at times very odd. Mastodon has once again broken from the barriers of a constant samey type of sound to craft an album that is a strong contender for album of the year. So has this topped Crack the Skye, and exceeded the greatness we heard on that album, well yes and no, yes in that it has expanded upon that sound. And no in that there are a very few moments on this album that are so off the wall I can't fully fully embrace them.

To summarize, this an album that successfully blends a variety of new styles and sounds and yet holds true to their signature sound that they crafted on Leviathan, and Remission. It is proof that a band can experiment with their sound radically and succeed and craft a great album. This is an exciting release and a great cap on the month of September, making this possibly my favorite month in metal for this year.

Score: 96/100

Perpetuate Self Titled EP - Classic and Highly Underrated

Perpetuate is relatively little known band hailing from Canada, who play in a progressive style, with glimmers of power metal and Gothic metal, and I had the pleasure of stumbling upon this band while me and a friend were searching for new and interesting metal releases. Upon first listen I knew this would be something special, and something that I would be coming back to time and time again.

This album is truly a refreshing experience, it's the sound of a band that loves to play, and the energy they bring to the table is absolutely astounding. That is the main thing I love about this release is every song exudes emotion and raw passion for music, Something that many big name bands tend to lose with time.

The sound here is a pretty much very Maiden-inspired prog metal, with glimmers of the gothic style on occasion. Think soaring riffs, galloping bass at times, bombastic drum beats, and blistering solos, all of these are to be found in this 6 track EP. The keyboards accentuate the atmosphere of the album very well. They vocalist/keyboardist Kim McInnis is very competent at what she does, the vocals are high energy operatic style vocals that are very appropriately placed in the production, not overpowering the music, but not buried beneath the guitars to where you can't hear them. The bass is not as high in the mix as I'd like but its very well done, and as I stated before the guitars are very very well done. The riffs are power metal inspired and at times very complex and progressive. The solos on this are very well written and very much what you would expect from a prog metal band.

My favorite track on here is Medusa, its orchestral, and very dark, but it has an atmosphere that I love. The lyrics are very well written and the structure of the song weaves along with the story. I love the soft part right before a build-up to an explosive climax, and it leads right into their tribute to Iron Maiden in the form a cover of The Trooper. This is an extremely well done cover and an appropriate end to a stellar effort

All in all I feel that this is a strong contender for album of the year, its a high energy slab of proggy power and gothic metal that will keep any fan of prog and Iron Maiden. On a final note I feel that this band really deserves more exposure. This is a fantastic release and I look forward to hearing more from this band.

96/100

Top 10 songs by the Big Four of Thrash.

This is a challenge laid out by my friend Turr. Picking Ten has been insanely difficult but I will try to judge it as best I can.

10. Anthrax- Caught in a Mosh- This song is just generally a fun thrash song, the riffs are fast, the lyrics have a whimsical tinge to them, and the chorus is quite singable, not to mention it has a killer solo. In a list of great songs by the Big Four, this one is essential.

9. Anthrax- Metal Thrashing Mad- A lot of people would say that this song is inferior to everything on Among The Living, and as an album Among The Living is indeed better than Fistful of Metal, but this song is a pure thrash anthem, and I find it to be just slightly better than Caught in a Mosh. As you can tell I have a thing for thrash songs that are about thrashing, and the whole thrash attitude.

8. Slayer-Blood Red- This song is short but sweet, and I always find myself headbanging and singing along with it. It's theme is one that you find often in thrash metal, one of war and death, the massacre of innocent people if you will. It has an instantly recognizable riff, and the solo is quite awesome as well.

7. Slayer- Raining Blood- It's a little cliche to say mention this song, and I was tempted to place Angel of Death here instead, but something about this song just grabs me, that main riff is a monstrosity and it sounds so fucking heavy and sinister, and the screams of RAINING BLOOD FROM A LACERATED SKY, it just gets me. The end of it just goes into a chaotic onslaught of lead guitar that would make any Slayer fan happy.

6. Megadeth- Peace Sells: This song is definitely a favorite not just out of the big four, but in all of thrash metal in general. That bass line comes in and immediately you know you're in for something good, then you hear that lead guitar line and the vocals come in. It's one of the best things you can do in thrash metal, to sarcastically take stabs at "the system" and his vocals are perfect for it. This song is littered with awesome leads everywhere not to mention infectious riffs, and of course a fucking beast of a solo. What more ya asking for huh?

5. Megadeth- Tornado of Souls: For this spot in the list it came down to this song, or Hangar 18, and the deciding factor was the highly amazing solo right in the middle of this song, not necessarily better from a purely speed/technicality standpoint, but the choice of notes and rhythm for this solo were perfect, not to mention the song itself is wonderful. Definitely a classic.

4. Metallica-For Whom The Bell Tolls: This song is one that I've loved for quite awhile, and was instrumental in bridging the gap in my musical tastes, from nu metal type stuff into more extreme forms of metal. But all that aside, its a fucking awesome song. Another song about war, and it covers the topic well, the lyrics are great, the guitar part conveys the lyrical content well. This is one of my favorite Metallica songs, and although it doesn't have the hallmarks of your average thrash song its still one amazing song. "take a look to the sky just before you die...ITS THE LAST TIME YOU WILL!"

3. Metallica- Hit the Lights: I've been in love with this song from the first time I ever heard it, and I consider it the quintessential pure thrash song. This song is a thrash song about thrash, and the attitude and the feeling surrounding it, the thrill of being there live and banging your fucking head and the whole rush of it all. its chock full of awesome guitar leads, the drums are nothing special really, but I still consider it a classic. I've had the metal madness for years, and let me tell you, once you start to rock you'll never be able to quit.

2. Megadeath- Holy Wars: This song is about exactly what it sounds like its about, holy wars and the punishment that is due. This song is a work of musical genius, and it's structured perfectly, not just using verse chorus bridge solo, as you will see lots, but they also don't just change it just for the hell of it, and when the structure changes it goes with the lyrics at that particular section. It has some classic solos in it, and even a nice acoustic piece right before the first tempo change. A master work of thrash metal.

1. Metallica- Master of Puppets: I almost didn't want to put this here, because it's become such a cliche over the years, but I really do love this song, and I find it to be one of the best thrash songs ever written, and definitely the best by the big four of thrash. It has everything you could ever want in great thrash song, the choppy palm muted riffs, the perfect lyrical subject matter for a thrash song, a nice bass guitar presence, and the nice legato guitar soloing. Now take all that and right in the middle add a good healthy dose of melody and put in it a really emotive solo, and what do you have? You've got a masterpiece of a song, one for the ages if you like. Many may disagree, but this song has stood the test of time, and I think its awesome.

Top Metal Vocalists, Clean and Harsh

My Top 5 clean vocalists and top 5 harsh vocalists.

Clean

1.Rob Halford- The quintessential heavy metal vocalist in my opinion, his falsettos are out of this world, and the power he had behind his vocals is unrivaled. Songs with particularly awesome vocal performance by him would be, The Sentinel, Dreamer Deceiver, and Painkiller.

2.Ronnie James Dio- Let me just stress this close, VERY CLOSE second. I love Dio, he has the power vocally to get you into any song he's vocalist for. I haven't heard a single bad vocal performance by him. He was an inspiring talent, and a vocal legend, his operatic style was not quite as high of a range as Halford, but nonetheless he was just as powerful.

3.Bruce Dickinson- This man has some power in his pipes, and quite a lot of emotion to boot. His performance in songs like Run To The Hills and Number of The Beast are insanely good. Even in 2010 on The Final Frontier he still had the majority of his vocal power intact, he can't quite hit the high notes as well, but he's still kickin.

4. Geoff Tate- He's the perfect prog metal vocalist. He has the range similar to Dio but not quite the same power behind it. His talent really shines through on songs such as Eyes of A Stranger and Don't Believe in Love. Not much else to say, Geoff rules.

5. Garm- He does clean and harsh vocals but I chose him for the clean category because my god he has such versatility. He can go from the middle low register all the way upward to almost Halford-like highs. He can be powerful, or quiet and soothing. His work with Ulver and Arcturus are particularly awesome.

Harsh

1. Lord Worm- Purely for his strength, this man's screams are something that you would hear coming from an open pit that leads to hell. There's a scream in the song Open Face Surgery that makes my blood curdle.

2. Dani Filth- A lot of people would disagree, but I am saying this on the basis of his past work, he had quite a range on him. He could do deep demonic bellows all the way to nails on a chalkboard break squealing shrieks. He's my favorite harsh vocalist, but for talent, Lord Worm takes the cake.

3. Varg Vikernes- what kind of noises would you expect to hear coming from a torture chamber from medieval times, well probably the sounds that come from this mans vocal cords. He has the ability to convey every torturous hateful emotion ever through his voice and he does it with such power, Vikernes is by far the greatest black metal vocalist of all time.

4. Chuck Schuldiner- One of the first actual death metal vocalists, and no doubt one of the best ever. If you need any other reasons why he's on this list, just listen to the songs. Get ahold of Symbolic, Scream Bloody Gore, or Human, and prepare to be amazed.

5. Antti Boman- Vocalist of Demilich these vocals are like the low pitched gurgle from a demon, if demons could growl that low. I fucking love how its so unlike the majority of death metal vocals, and he did this with no sound effects added. Amazing.

P.S I had an extremely hard time choosing who should be on here, and am already thinking many that I possibly should have included

Honorable Mentions: Ihsahn, Serj Tankian, Tarja, Maynard James Keenan, Dax Riggs, Mike Patton and the rest of the extremely talented metal vocalists who I failed to mention you all rule.

Cheesiest metal vocalist: Shagrath ( on newer releases)

worst metal vocal perfomances: Hetfield on St. Anger and Vincent on Illiud Divinum Insanus

Lunar Aurora: Andacht

Its been too long since I posted and shared my joy of good metal albums with the rest of you who love it also. If you don't know about this album and you are into atmospheric black metal, get this, if you can't afford or find a regular copy, then download it because ( to use a less formal than review quality phrase) its fucking awesome. Basically what they do is use very atmospheric black metal riffing, and add in some very atmospheric touches, such as the addition of clean vocals, and even some gregorian chant parts to make it even more atmospheric.

What I love about this album is how it uses the atmospheric touches to enhance the dark, sometime mournful atmosphere given by the shrieked vocals and riffing to create an album that has a hypnotic, if not someone "floaty" quality for lack of better words. The greatest example of this is in Gluck the first track. It has clean vocals layered over top of all the black metal sounds, such to give it a dark, but still very gorgeous atmospheric sound. Fans of only raw black metal should stay away from this one, as the production value is pretty high quality for black metal, not overly polished mind you.

The songs are all pretty long, all of them clocking in somewhere between 8 and 11 minutes. And they tend you use that to add to whole mind encompassing atmosphere. The keyboard parts on this album, while not overly present or complex, are there for one reason, atmosphere, and they do the job well. Sometimes its what really makes the album. The guitar parts very from simplistic midpaced riffs, the more dark sounding tremolo riffs. This album is like no other atmospheric black metal album I've ever heard so describing it for you has kind of been a difficult task. All that I can say further is if you like atmospheric black metal GET THIS its one of the best atmospheric albums I have ever encountered, and no one does it quite like them.

standout tracks: all, but I find Gluck, and Dunkler Mann to be a cut above the rest slightly

100/100

Legendary Black Metal Albums # 1

Mayhem- De Mysteriis Dom Sathanus

This album is legendary within the second wave of black metal for a number of reasons, obviously one of them being the incredible controversy surrounding the murder of Euronymous, their famed guitarist, often credited with creating the black metal tremolo guitar style. This album had his very murderer playing the bass parts. But to me this album is legendary for other reasons, mainly the fact of it basically being a template for the black metal sound. It's as genre defining as Bathory's early albums, and as evil sounding as any black metal album has ever been.

Obviously the guitar riffs on this album are very awesome, sometimes I find this album boring simply because some of the songs tend to bleed into each other because the tremolo riffing is used so extensively, but on days when I'm in the mood for some sinister sounding guitar I can always turn this album on and enjoy Euronymous' tremendously influential guitar style. Euronymous' playing on this album is yet another reason I consider it legendary, because this style was as I said hugely influential for the entire genre.

Hellhammer's drumming is as always pretty stellar, the weak point being overusing blast beats, but he redeems himself with his awesome use of some almost inhuman drum fills and patterns. Yet another reason for this album to be called legendary.

Far from being my favorite black metal album, still it deserves legendary status for its sheer amount of influence within the genre, and the fact that the sound on this album is a sound that pretty much defined, and still defines the genre of black metal today.

Autopsy- Severed Survival- A Brutal Piece of Death Metal History

Burning from the inside out
Bloody foam spews from your mouth
Smell the putrid stench of flesh
As it burns you to your death

These words start off one of the most brutal albums I've heard in my experience with death metal. This album is a insane, the riffs range from slow and crushing to fast tremolo riffs and even those mid-paced headbangable ones. The structures of the songs are ever changing and the whole album has a great bass presence. I also feel like the production is perfect, not overly polished, but not terrible every instrument has its place. The vocals are your typical old school death metal growls and sometimes the occasional higher pitched scream. The solos on this album sound like they were pulled straight off of a thrash metal album, those squeedily fast legato phrases that I love so much. The drumming also has a good bit of variation, he isn't just using blast beats the whole time. Maybe my favorite aspect of this album is the lyrics, which are nice and brutal, my possible favorite being the title track about being stranded and having to eat his own limbs to survive. I'm also fond of the story about the cannibal mortician in Service for a Vacant Coffin. This album has everything an old school death metal album should have, headbanging riffs, thick basslines, fast solos, and brutal lyrics.

Final Rating 98%

Moonsorrow-Kivenkantaja my thoughts

I decided for this album not to do a formal review but instead to just write about how much I love this album. Moonsorrow is one of those bands I discovered by looking at random metal reviews and surfing on the metal archives. I saw that this album was highly loved by almost everyone who reviewed it so I decided to give it a listen. It has become one of my favorites. It has this massive sound to it because of all the instruments that are used. Moonsorrow create some of the greatest triumphant pagan atmospheres of any folk metal band I've heard, their mesh of folk and black metal is flawless. They have a perfect blend of all the instruments they use and this gives it a really (should I say it, yeah, I should) epic feel, this epic feeling permeates the entire album until things finally come to a tranquil close with the last track Matkan Lapussa, which is just a really peaceful sounding song, almost like a lullaby. I have heard other Moonsorrow albums and I like them all, but something about this album just stands a cut above the rest. If this were a formal review 98% would be my rating.

Darkness has been Enthroned

Dimmu Borgir is one of those bands that catches a lot heat for being too commercial, and thus shunned by the majority of the black metal community, and with the last release I heard Death Cult Armageddon I can see why, they delved into cheesy electronic vocal effects and riffs that just don't go anywhere. But before they went off into uttery cheesy black metal they released some pretty good albums this one being one of them. Enthrone Darkness Triumphant falls short of being called a masterpiece, but nonetheless it is a great album. The album starts off with a bang, with furious guitar riffs accented by majestic keyboard work. The first 3 tracks are top notch they have perfect infectious black metal riffs, and keyboards that add a ton melodic atmosphere. But around the fourth track and onward things get a bit lackluster. The riffs seem to be monotonous and not in the good hypnotic way either. The biggest example of this is in Tormentor of Christian Souls, the main riff bores me, and the lyrics seem like they're trying to hard to be evil. Entrance is where the album pics back up, the keyboards play this really otherworldly riff and the whole song has an atmosphere of dark beauty. The rest of the songs are pretty great too. Summarizing, this is a great album despite its flaws.

final rating 78/100

So Pure...So Cold

Abysmal production, repetitive riffs, and drumming that hardly varies from track to track, sounds like one of the worst albums known to man, or does it? Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger is hardly the type of music you would think of when the word masterpiece is spoken, but that's exactly what they've managed to achieve with this offering, and its nothing short of astounding.

To be quite honest upon first listen, I hated this album, its everything that makes a shitty album, the production is so bad its almost unbelievable, there are probably demo tapes out there with better production. Secondly the guitar riffs are sparse, with maybe 2-4 riffs a track. The drums are pretty much the same throughout the entire album, and the bass pretty much mirrors the guitar. So why then have I called this album a masterpiece. Its very simple, despite the shitty production, despite the lack of variation, and musical technicality, this album simply creates one of the darkest, hypnotizing and evil atmospheres of any black metal album. The riffs may not be varied or very technical and mind-blowing but they are incredibly infectious and the way they are produced with that very thin fuzzy sound makes it just sound so dark and evil. The repetition actually works in favor of the albums atmosphere because it produces a sort of hypnotic effect where the listener gets drawn in. Even the terrible production works in favor of the atmosphere, making the album sound like it was recorded right in the middle of a winter snow storm.

The reason this album works is because it captures the essence of true black metal, it sounds genuinely cold, dark, evil, and menacing. Its rough and unpolished, and has all the trappings of a shitty album and yet it winds up being one the greatest black metal albums ever released, how they accomplished this I will never know, all I can say is there are no substitutes for the real deal when it comes to raw black metal, this is Darkthrone in their purest, coldest form. If you are new to raw black metal, I would advise giving this album ample time before chucking it aside as just a terribly produced bore, and take some time to let the atmosphere soak in.

Final Rating 95 %

That Metal Blog

Let this serve as sort of an introduction. The purpose of this blog is to rant, review, and discuss my opinions about anything metal related. Hopefully someone can use this to enrich their own experience of heavy metal or to lead them to another great band or album. For this first post let me tell you a bit about my tastes. I am a pretty eclectic metal head. I enjoy the old school metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest and the like. I also really enjoy extreme metal, particularly black metal, and some extreme gothic metal. Some of my favorite bands besides the obvious, are Burzum, Bathory, Atheist, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Moonsorrow, Ulver, Mastodon, Intronaut, and Cradle of Filth. Looking forward to reviewilng many albums and hearing your comments.

JAB