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[Jward]

Emit – The Dark Bleeding

Mental black metal/noise from Sweden

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

This was a YouTube recommendation last night. Epic doom with fairly great gothic style vocals. Not all that great at the beginning, but a lot of worthwhile stuff in it. Metal Archives tells me it's a one-man project:
https://youtu.be/7C8Cq1H6lb8?si=qU1mDv9jA9ILKGTB

[Carnage]

It's not bad, very MDB-influenced.

[Thorn]

Trouble - The Skull 9/10
Invariably when I listen to Trouble I'm put in mind of an old mate who was a huge fan of the band. One time at a show abroad he ran into Eric in a bar and they hung out. Cool says I. Not really says he.
Turns out our Eric was much more interested in hitting on my mate's girlfriend AND sister than anything else. Never meet your idols eh?


Cult Of Luna with Julie Christmas - Mariner 8.5/10
Quality as usual from the band but personally I prefer my Cult of Luna without the overwrought ,demented babydoll vocals. Doesn't stop me enjoying the album but it does take away from the gravitas of the Cult of Luna sound for me and even puts me in mind of angsty, early 00's groups like Defenestration or Manhole .Ugh.

Vader - The Empire 7.5/10
33 minutes of Vader is just about right for me, providing that short sharp kick in the bollocks with their trademark razorsharp riff attack. Of course, stick Tom Araya over this and you've damn near got Slayer.

Candlemass - From The 13th Sun  7/10
The oddball in the Candlemass discography with its Sabbath in Space vibes. Just picked up the vinyl at last and discovered the story behind that curious cover art.
"A photo of an old bum with angel wings. It didn't come out very good I'm afraid and I don't think I've ever met anyone who's seen what it is."
Think I preferred it when I thought it a bit more esoteric than that Leif!

Avulsed - Cryptobiosis 7/10
Brand new one from Dave Rotten and his rejigged line up and it's a surprisingly polished sounding affair from the Spanish veterans though still replete with their insidiously catchy Death Metal. Picked this up on cassette from Dave himself at Xtreem Records. Good album, I'm digging it.

Am I Blood - Am I Blood 6/10
Dropping down the tiers to the Finns self titled Xentrix/Metallica lite debut album which is probably most remarkable for the fact you could probably fool your mate into believing that's a young Hetfield on vocals.

[StoutAndAle]

The Overmold - "The Overmold"

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-overmold

A collab between Tim Wyskida of Khanate/late-period Blind Idiot God and Mick Barr of Orthrelm/Krallice.

For those that like it fairly sparse and bleak.

[Carnage]

Candlemass - From The 13th Sun  7/10
The oddball in the Candlemass discography with its Sabbath in Space vibes. Just picked up the vinyl at last and discovered the story behind that curious cover art.
"A photo of an old bum with angel wings. It didn't come out very good I'm afraid and I don't think I've ever met anyone who's seen what it is."
Think I preferred it when I thought it a bit more esoteric than that Leif!

Great album though, Droid was on an old Terrorizer CD and I couldn't wait to hear the rest of the album. Not what I was expecting but still great, doesn't deserve to be forgotten in the way it has been IMO.

Re: the cover - it reminds me of the cover for PL's Gothic, it's an upside down, zoomed in shot of a belt buckle or something similar.

[Thorn]

Yeah, Droid is far and away the standout track on it for me. Never knew that regarding the Gothic cover art, again, maybe more mystery in not knowing it!

[Mithrandir]

Chemical Wedding is great. It wouldn't be as good as Maiden's 80's stuff but I'd definitely put it above the later Maiden albums in terms of quality.

Surely not above brave new world? That's if by latter you mean post Blaze of course.

I'm not sure if I'd consider any of Bruce's solo stuff essential to be honest.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

It's not bad, very MDB-influenced.

Yeah, definitely. I'll be giving it another listen tonight anyway and that'll decide whether or not I forget all about it or work it into my doom rotation.

[Anvil]

Sanhedrin - Heat Lightning
Trouble - Psalm 9
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden - Killers
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
iron Maiden - Piece of Mind

[Maggot Colony]

Chemical Wedding is great. It wouldn't be as good as Maiden's 80's stuff but I'd definitely put it above the later Maiden albums in terms of quality.

Surely not above brave new world? That's if by latter you mean post Blaze of course.

I'm not sure if I'd consider any of Bruce's solo stuff essential to be honest.

I prefer it to Brave New World, but I'm not a huge fan of that album. A Matter of Life and Death would be my personal favourite of the newer stuff. ..I'm going to retract my earlier statement, and say that Chemical Wedding is better than most later Maiden albums, but not A Matter of Life and Death.

[Maggot Colony]

Whiplash - Power and Pain
Metallica - ...And Justice for All

2 very different thrash albums. Power and Pain is feral thrash that rips from start to finish. It's like Reign in Blood but a lot sloppier.

Justice is a bit bloated, but it's still a classic. Pity they didn't split up after it. There was no way they could top this album.

[Ducky]

Bar Powerslave and Seventh Son, I'd put The Chemical Wedding ahead of everything Maiden have ever released.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Bar you we will!

[Sworntothecans]

I'd put The Chemical Wedding ahead of everything Maiden have ever released since Brave New World. 😜