The final run of Emperor's career are often the most forgotten and relatively disliked. While I don't think anyone (outside of black metal purists) actually dislikes either of their final two albums, the general consensus is that this new direction they went in just doesn't feel like the Emperor we all know and love. And while that isn't an inherently bad thing, the end result is still a fairly awkward project all things considered.

Now I'm going to be honest here, I don't really have any ... read more

One of the best follow-ups in all of black metal. Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk is one of those rare sophomore albums that are often argued whether or not they're actually better than their predecessor. While I personally think that Nightside is far above this album in most ways, it is simply impossible to claim that this is at all an unsuccessful return after the band completely falling apart, as it is a really good album in its own right and absolutely deserving of its status as one of the ... read more

@Dabzilla, what have you brought unto this cursed land?!

I'll give this album one thing; its ability to make 66 minutes feel like 666 minutes is unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I mean, I've fucking listened to a 24 hour long album before, and it was shorter than this shit. I was genuinely surprised when I felt like I had already spent half the fucking day listening to this shit only to realize I was only two minutes into the fucking album.

Shaffer's ability to be one of the ... read more

Diamanda Galás' "lost album." The album that has never once been reissued and cannot be found on streaming services, and one that has quite a few different versions floating around the web. Honestly, though, if you're into harsher and much more extreme music, then goddamn, this album is definitely one that you should go out of your way to find.

On her self-titled release, Galás goes full out power electronics, and it makes for what is by far her most punishing, raw, ... read more

After Nightside Eclipse dropped, Emperor was all but dead. With Samoth being sentenced to sixteen months for his role in the church burnings along with Varg Vikernes, and Faust being sentenced to fourteen years for murdering a homosexual man, the whole band's career came to a halt then and there, which would have definitely resulted in one of the shortest lived successes in all of metal. But after Samoth's release and them getting a new drummer in Trym, they get back in the studio and pump out ... read more

Emperor's first full length LP is what really kicked off their career. They may have had a few decent outings that predated this album by a couple years, but it's In The Nightside Eclipse that put them on the map, making them one of the most talked about black metal bands out there and definitely the band that you'd use as a gateway into such a historically inaccessible subgenre of an already fairly inaccessible genre.

Pretty much creating the symphonic black metal subgenre, what Emperor ... read more

Pike #282

Another shrug-worthy Pike. It certainly isn't bad by any means, and I can actually see this one becoming one of his more popular among fans from his 2020 output. But again, it's another one that is very generic for him. He's done this kind of album a hundred times before, and these riffs don't even sound original at all. It's just a very basic metal album for him. The live song was pretty fun, though.

I'm gonna be honest here, I didn't have too high expectations going into this. Sure, I mostly agreed with everyone that the singles were by far some of their best material since they had returned, but in all honesty that didn't really tell me much at all. As each single dropped, I found myself less and less interested in any potential album. I even stopped reviewing the Song Machine EPs because it was getting harder and harder to actually justify myself actually adding anything to the ... read more

Diamanda Galás is an artist whose work has fascinated me since I found out about it only a few weeks ago. Already I'm finding myself diving deeper and deeper into her discography, and yet I still am unable to really find any words to explain my feelings on anything she's done. I mean, sure, there are hundreds of words I could use to describe these songs and these albums, but this is one of the few times where, regardless of how many times I listen to an album, I cannot express my ... read more

A short ten minute long EP that honestly serves as nothing more than filler. Consisting of three re-recordings of songs from Wrath Of The Tyrant recorded during the sessions for their self-titled EP, there is definitely nothing bad here, but very little of actual note either. This just seems like one huge missed opportunity of them just combining their self-titled EP and this to get a solid full-length LP which probably would have worked better than as they are currently. I can definitely see ... read more

[Insert comment of surprise here]

Y’know, I have a hell of a lot more respect for Poppy now that she’s made this. While I had respected her quite a bit before, seeing as she’s one of the few Youtubers-turned-musicians who have genuinely pushed themselves past the “Youtuber music” label almost all of them are automatically stamped with and has actually managed to make a critically acclaimed album as well as a couple admittedly good records now, seeing her delve ... read more

Emperor's first official EP definitely shows them taking steps in the right direction. Although it is admittedly pretty damn similar to their Wrath Of The Tyrant demo album, with a couple of these songs being re-recordings of tracks that had shown up on that record, and still a surprising far cry from the symphonic black metal that they would somehow experiment with and perfect only the following year, their self-titled EP shows them really perfecting the black metal genre so early on. Maybe ... read more

Emperor - a name that certainly needs no introduction for any black metal enthusiast. These guys have made many of the most highly praised albums in the entire genre, and are one of the few classic second wave black metal artists who even get love from those who despise the genre. But just because their main four albums, and in particular their first two LPs, are metal classics doesn't necessarily mean that everything they ever did was as great or even noteworthy. Take for example their demo ... read more

As someone who is probably a bit more familiar with Anna von Hausswolff's discography than most people here, being that I've listened to all of her albums multiple times instead of just listening to Dead Magic two or three times and basing my entire opinion on her output on that, I can't say that I was expecting an instrumental drone/ambient album from her, nor was it exactly something that I was all that excited to listen to. I was even less interested once I found out that it was solely ... read more

Pre-Swans Michael Gira. Honestly, when I found out that Gira had actually been in a no wave band before Swans, I became really excited to hear what he had in store for me. I mean, I love no wave era Swans. Perhaps even more so than most people ever will. Hell, no wave in general just seems to be a genre that I really need to dive deeper into, as even the most accessible records I've heard from it have been off-kilter enough for me to love them. So finding out that Circus Mort exists, I had some ... read more

Pike #281

One of those inoffensive Pikes that I really have no issue with outside of it simply being redundant and unnecessary. The Sea Remembers Its Own gets off to a good start with Reflection Of The Clouds being an energetic banger, and a much needed pick-up after a couple of less interesting albums. After that, though, we go straight back to what we expect from Buckethead, with the remaining four songs being the same as pretty much every other song he's released this year. There's good ... read more

David Bowie revisited part 27/27

The perfect ending to a discography spanning decades. David Bowie's final gift to the world sticks out as by far one of his greatest achievements, not only hitting you hard with the context, but just being some really great, unique, innovative music in general, proving yet again that Bowie was always that guy who always looked further ahead, even in death.

Blackstar is simply a modern classic. Fifty years from now, we're going to be looking back on this album ... read more

A pretty good debut mixtape from Alkaline Pink. I found myself enjoying this record a lot, with quite a few of the tracks on here easily being some of the best he's released to date.

I will say that I don't think that NUCLEAR OTACON is the most consistent thing out there, with a couple of the track admittedly not impressing me as much as others, but the highs on here are undeniably good. The opener and single for the album, DIGITAL MEAT, really sets the tone for the rest of the record, as ... read more

David Bowie revisited bonus part

Figured I'd do a bonus re-review just before getting to the stunning Blackstar. Honestly, I was neither expecting nor wanting to revisit Buddha Of Suburbia when I was planning this series, which is why this review is coming at such an awkward time. But after listening to this album in context with the rest of the discography for the first time, that being after Black Tie White Noise whereas every other listen I've given it was just me coming to it on its own, I ... read more

David Bowie revisited part 26/27

After a decade long break from making music, leading everyone to believe that Reality was Bowie's final statement to the music word, the madman surprise releases The Next Day, an album that is hands-down his best comeback to date. Out of all his supposed comebacks, some of which I actually like a hell of a lot, The Next Day is the one that honestly feels the most like a comeback. It's a grand return to that sound that he perfected way back in the '70s, that ... read more