December, 2002
OK, I hit a dry spell and started listening to MP3s. The last band I tracked down was Vintersorg, since I loved his vocals in Borknagar. No album to list for Dec...
November, 2002
OPETH - Deliverance
ANOTHER OPETH! YAY!!! I actually got this early and couldn't stop playing it since! It's pretty much along the lines of Blackwater Park, but darker. The death vocals are a little more beefed up in sections and the screams are harder and higher-pitched. The melodic vocals are as beautiful as ever. This is part 1 of a 2-part album, the second to come out in 2003 with all acoustic stuff. Can't wait.
And if you don't already know the site.. go see OPETH!
Favorite track: 2 - Deliverance
October, 2002
IDUNNO! Don't have one this month...
September, 2002
ANATHEMA - Judgement
Finally something mellow, huh? This album is so peaceful and uh, non-evil. :P My sister was very ill and I was home with my family a lot, listening to this album. I was pretty depressed all of August and found the mood here to be similar to mine. Anyway, I like the mix of acoustic guitars and groove-type rhythms with the emotional styled vocals. Not upbeat, but still classifies as Metal.
Check them out online: ANATHEMA
Favorite track: One Last Goodbye (because at the time I was listening to this album a lot was right when I lost my sister and this song related) and Wings of God - I like when the vocals get a little raspy.
August, 2002
DIMMU BORGIR - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Ever get that peaceful and serene feeling while listening to an album, but you don't understand the relation of your feelings to the evil that flows from the album? This album was sent to me by a friend...and I lagged on putting it in. I put in a bunch of stuff he sent me, and I keep repeating it everytime it rotates to another album. I guess this is where Dimmu's fans got pissed cuz it won an award so they became "sellouts", but I think this is an excellent piece of work. A perfect combination of fast and groove and the vocals RULE!
...and if you don't remember the link from last time they were featured here, DIMMU BORGIR
Favorite track: 8 - Master of Disharmony
July, 2002
HYPOCRISY - self-titled
I just saw Hypocrisy live last month, and had to finally put an album here. I couldn't take the self-titled out of my car until now (and just put it back in). I love how their albums trade back & forth between fast & slow songs. The bass is so grindy (distortion)!! The music is so emotional, and I love the guitar harmonies and chunky riffing. Let us not forget that they were really good live!! Go check em out. HYPOCRISY
Favorite track: 6 - Until The End
June, 2002
I thought I was gonna try to write more about Thrash and less about Black Metal, but my kick has not ended! I keep getting new stuff (thanks to Dames!) and it's sticking in my CD player. Anyway, Prometheus is purely EVIL! The first track caught my ear and didn't let go for about 3 weeks, then I finally started playing the rest of the album. I can't stop listening. The guitar work is kinda weird, there's one guitar that does the rhythms, and another guitar typically does some kind of "noodling", for lack of a better word, over it. It's really cool and unique. Not your standard guitar harmonies, but something totally off from one-another. The vocals mix between well-executed melodic singing and lots of Black-style screaming. This album always picks me up when I need it. Take a gander. EMPEROR
Favorite track: 1 - The Eruption
May, 2002
IMMORTAL - Damned in Black
I guess I'm on a Black Metal kick lately. I still don't know how to classify it really, but Mike loaned me this album and said "people like this cuz it sounds like true Black Metal and not overproduced." so naturally I thought I'd end up hating it. I can't take it out of my player. There's one track that makes the whole album RULE. The guitar riffs aren't too over-the-top. I also have Emperor in right now and the guitars go a little crazy & hard to keep track of. Anyway, go check out IMMORTAL
Favorite track: 5 - The Darkness That Embrace Me
April, 2002
DIMMU BORGIR - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
Dimmu Borgir is probably one of the more Thrashy "Black Metal" bands. I don't listen to much Black Metal, so I don't know how to classify them exactly. Anyway, the production on this album is excellent! The songs have speed and groove, along with a mixture of vocal styles. Always keeping my brain stimulated. A few Batman-esque sounding keyboard parts I could live without, but when I saw them live last month there were people out there going nuts for those parts, sooo.. :) Anyway, as good on CD as they were live, and vice-versa! Enjoy!
Favorite track: 3 - Indoctrination
March, 2002
MONSTROSITY - Enslaving the Masses
This live disc (disc 2) kicks SO MUCH ASS!! This band is brutal, yet intelligently technical! Their riffs rule. Best of all on this disc, they do the coolest rendition of Angel of Death. I like it better than the original. Their studio albums are good too, don't get me wrong. Just that this one hasn't left my player in 2 months. 2 horns up to Monstrosity.
Favorite track: The cover of Angel of Death!! Still undecided on original, I have a few.
December, 2001 - February, 2002 I was kinda out of commission.
After Chuck passed away, I took a couple months to let this site pay rememberance to him. I've erased what was written and probably can't replicate it. I'll leave the quote I had up, that should summarize his influence on me & the way I felt when we lost him. "I close my eyes and sink within myself. Relive the gift of precious memories..." Chuck and his work will never be forgotten. He did a lot with the short life he had, and left us with 8 (or 12) great pieces of work.
Support the Schuldiner family & friends of Chuck
Speaking of rememberance, my thoughts are with Paul Baloff's bandmates, friends and family as we lost him as well. A weird connection, we lost him on my birthday, and Chuck on my best friend's birthday.
November, 2001
At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
OH YES! This album kicks so much ass! Typical rad Swedish technical "melodic Death Metal" as we call it here. So many genres of music, so many good types that need seperate definitions. Awesome riffage here, and the vocals are so throat-scratching evil. One of those must-have albums.
Favorite track: Title-track, Slaughter of the Soul
October, 2001
OPETH - My Arms, Your Hearse
This album is so eeeev-illl! In a cool way, of course. The music on here is so emotional and arghghh just get the damn album. Mikael & Peter work so well together with their geeters! I saw them live earlier 3x this year, and was in heaven all 3 nights.
Official site below (April, 2001), this is just a cool OPETH site.
Favorite track: 2 - April Ethereal
September, 2001
CARCASS - Necroticism
This was the first Carcass album that caught my attention for reasons other than cool song titles ("Carbonized Eyesockets"! hehe!). There's actually melody and groove on this one, and then there's Heartwork which came next & is a staple part of any Metalhead's collection. Obviously like most of the better bands from the 90's, they're not around anymore (but check out Mike Amott's current band Arch Enemy)!
Favorite track: 1 - Inpropagation
August, 2001
ARCH ENEMY - Wages of Sin
I got this album waayyyy in advance, and I'm so lucky I did, oh joy! One of the few bands with a girl in it who's credible and impressive. Her vocals are rad, and the music suddenly seems so much more.. catchy? Maybe it's just cuz the older stuff had such monotonous vocals, cuz I know I listen to the older albums and dig on the riffs a lot. Track 8 on Wages of Sin is to thrash about for! hehe. Since I posted this mini-view, I've seen them live. What energy. The Amott brothers rule as always. Oh yeah, and just cuz Angela's a hottie doesn't mean she doesn't have talent!
Favorite track: 8 - The First Deadly Sin
July, 2001
DEATH - Symbolic
Death!!!! \m/ Ah, what a rad band. Not only is this my dog's favorite album, it's just a cool ass album overall. My favorite Death album is a different album all the time, but I've had a hard time taking this out of my player all summer. The groove! The depth! Oh yes!
Favorite track: 7 - Crystal Mountain
June, 2001
NEVERMORE - Dreaming Neon Black
This has to be Nevermore's best album. Maybe I'm biased cuz Tim Calvert is on here, and he has been my favorite guitarist since Forbidden - Twisted Into Form, but he added such darkness to this album musically. I think the writing here was almost 50/50 him and Loomis. Great mixture. They worked so well together. The vocals here seem much better planned than on the previous album, as well.
Favorite track: 3 - Death of Passion
May, 2001
FLOTSAM & JETSAM - No Place For Disgrace
This is another one of those albums that never grew old on me. The vocals are excellent here - I'm not much of a fan of higher ranged vocals, but A.K. has a voice that makes an exception. The theme here is nice & dark too, asskicking. I don't know if they even have a website now, and now that I've made the archive page here, F&J has broken up.
Favorite track: Title-track - No Place For Disgrace
April, 2001
OPETH - Still Life
This album is so...balanced. It has the perfect blend of evil, discordance, harmony, melody and feeling. You can experience every human emotion if you sit and give this one a spin all the way through. Nuff said, I love this one.
Favorite track: 6 - Serenity Painted Death
March, 2001
FORBIDDEN - Twisted Into Form
This album has the best guitar work!!! Even though it was released over 10 years ago, it's still my favorite album in the world! It's probably way before its time musically, and I'm sure it's a huge stepping stone for a lot of modern technical players. I can't find an official website, since they broke up a few years ago...so go search for yourself (or just buy this album and listen to it until your ears bleed)!
Favorite track: 8 - Tossed Away