Kayo Dot Marathon, entry #4

Songs ranking:

Void In Virgo (The Nature Of Science)
Spectrum Of One Color
The Necklace
Brethren Of The Cross
The Knight Errant
Get Out Of The Tower
Epipsychidion

Now this is much more like it. As far as "consistency" goes with this band, this is probably my favorite sound I have heard from them.

So, just like Plastic House was their take on Synthwave, this is their take on doom metal. There are so many elements of Doom here. First of all, and the most ... read more

Coheed and Cambria marathon, entry 11/11

Songs ranking

The Hard Sell
Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry The Defiant
Number City
Iron Fist
Gravity's Union
The Dark Side Of Me
Pretelethal
2's My Favorite 1
Away We Go

This album met pretty much every expectation the previous one set up, and I mean that in the best of ways.

In a way, I'm thinking both afterman albums should be less seen as two separate releases. Instead, they seem way more like two discs of the same album. They are ... read more

Yet another incredible obscure find.

I had never heard of this band before. And though I definitely think the prog metal market is too overloaded with the, as I like to call it, pop-djent movement. This was distinctive enough to stand out and grab me.

If you're curious, I refer to pop-djent as the melding of really heavy downtuned elements with very soft and catchy vocals. Think Haken, Leprous, Caligula's Horse, The Contortionist, the list goes on and on. It's a movement that I ... read more

Leprous marathon, entry 8/8

Songs ranking:

From The Flame
Stuck
Bonneville
Illuminate
Leashes
Mirage
Captive
Coma
The Last Milestone
The Weight Of Disaster
Malina

If there ever was a face for transition albums, this would be it.

At this point, I'm incredibly familiar with both sides of this band. The wild and heavy Leprous, and the incredibly soft and experimental Leprous. Both are equally as progressive if you ask me, and though there have been very clear signs of their modern super ... read more

Coheed and Cambria marathon, entry 10/11

Songs ranking:

Key Entity Extraction II: Holly Wood The Cracked
Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute
Goodnight, Fair Lady
Key Entity Extraction IV: Evagria The Faithful
Key Entity Extraction III: Vic The Butcher
Mothers Of Men
The Afterman
The Hollow
Substraction

Where did this come from? Like, seriously. Where do these guys get the gall to drop a bomb as big as this out of nowhere?

Let's get something straight. We all know how most ... read more

Leprous marathon, entry 7/8

Songs ranking:

Down
The Flood
Rewind
The Price
Triumphant
Within My Fence
Moon
Third Law
Red
Slave
Lower

All right, everyone who said Leprous is trash nowadays. I understand them to a very light degree now. Because it is absolutely ridiculous how amazing the run of albums from Bilateral to this album is. This is yet another completely different, yet somehow equally as consistent album in which they've decided to chose a very specific sonic soundscape and ... read more

Coheed And Cambria marathon, entry 9/11

Songs ranking:

No World For Tomorrow
Feathers
the Running Free
Mother Superior
Gravemakers & Gunslingers
II - Radio Bye Bye
The Hound (of Blood and Rank)
Justice In Murder
III - The End Complete
The Reaping
IV - The Road And The Damned
V - On The Brink
I - The Fall Of House Atlantic

We've been in a bit of a slow streak for a while. So I was really needing an album like this to kick things back into gear. This was the last album of their near ... read more

Kayo Dot marathon, entry #3

Songs ranking:

The Manifold Curiosity
A Pitcher Of Summer
The Antique
Wayfarer
Marathon

You have to be careful with your expectations with a band like this. Sometimes, dare I say most times, albums like these are much more interesting and respectable than enjoyable. There is absolutely a limit as to how "experimental" something can be. And to expect an avant-garde masterpiece will leave you disappointed most times.

However, there are these rare times ... read more

We are plunging incredibly deep from the very beginning.

This was unlike anything I've listened to... ever? I'm not sure. It's incredibly hard to describe, and you better believe it took quite a few listens to even be able to digest it in a pleasant way. But once it started to click, there was something about that I just couldn't stop coming back to.

The album is very clearly split into two sections. The first is the absolutely haunting and disturbing heavy tracks, which ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #9

Songs ranking:

March Of The Fire Ants
Crusher Destroyer
Elephant Man
Where Strides The Behemoth
Ol'e Nessie
Mother Puncher
Workhorse
Trilobite
Burning Man
Trainwreck
Trampled Under Hoof

So, we come to the end of this marathon. With a debut no less!

Now. We all know debuts are usually the roughest part of a band's discography. There are some miracle works that come out the gate like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Haken. But this time... Yeah, this album pretty ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #8

Songs ranking:

Blood And Thunder
Megalodon
Seabeast
Iron Tusk
I Am Ahab
Naked Burn
Hearts Alive
Aqua Dementia
Island
Joseph Merrick

We've finally made it to be big boy. The whale, the myth, the legend.

When it comes to progressive metal, I think there are very few albums that reach the praise this album gets. In my experience, this album has been hailed as one of the biggest things to happen to this niche of metal, ever.

I had actually listened to this ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #7

Songs ranking:

The Wolf Is Loose
Capillarian Crest
Colony Of Birchmen
Sleeping Giant
This Mortal Soil
Circle of Cysquatch
Crystal Skull
Hunters Of The Sky
Siberian Divide
Hand Of Stone
Pendulous Skin
Bladecatcher

When it comes to Mastodon, the first thing you hear is how incredible their run in the 00s was. Crack The Skye was incredible, and Leviathan, from the little I remember from it, is absolutely insane. So I expected something in the middle of the two for ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #6

Songs ranking:

Eyes Of Serpents
Had It All
Teardrinker
Gobblers Of Dregs
Gigantium
Sickle And Peace
Pain With An Anchor
Skeleton Of Splendor
Savage Lands
Peace And Tranquility
More Than I Could Chew
The Beast
Dagger
The Crux
Pushing The Tides

Wow... I have no idea how to even start with this album.

Here is the thing with most bands, it is a natural law that all must follow. After the peak years of one's career, one will likely not produce anything as good or ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #5

Songs ranking:

Slickleg
Call of the Mastodon
Shadows That Move
Battle at Sea
We Built This Come Death
Hail To Fire
Welcoming War
Deep Sea Creature
Thank You For This

WELL, this is a mighty difference from the modern albums.

First off, this is not technically an album in the truest sense of the word. Like Haken's Restoration EP, this is a collection of songs written before their first record released. So it's pretty much the band at their smallest ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #4

Songs ranking:

Bedazzled Fingernails
All The Heavy Lifting
Curl Of The Burl
Thickening
The Hunter
Stargasm
Spectrelight
Dry Bone Valley
Black Tongue
The Sparrow
Octopus Has No Friends
Blasteroid
Creature Lives

We have finally come across a Mastodon album that I can say I didn't fully enjoy. While this was not terrible, I'd say not even bad, it was definitely a bit of a disappointment.

Let's see. This was right in between Crack The Skye and Once ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #3

Songs ranking:

Jaguar God
Ancient Kingdom
Show Yourself
Steambreather
Clandestiny
Word To The Wise
Roots Remain
Sultan's Curse
Andromeda
Precious Stones
Scorpion Breath

We're three for three now. They can't keep getting away with this.

I think I've listened to enough from Mastodon to know what my pattern with the band is. I spin a new album and it does NOT click with me for the first listen, maybe even the first couple listens. But I need to ... read more

Mastodon marathon, entry #2

Songs ranking:

High Road
Tread Lightly
Ember City
The Motherload
Halloween
Chimes At Midnight
Once More ‘Round the Sun
Asleep In The Deep
Diamond in the Witch House
Aunt Lisa

Wow, I did not expect this turn.

So it seems Mastodon is one of the many bands that have become softer as they go on in their career. Now, this does not have to be a bad thing. Some bands can pull it off, some can’t. Mastodon? Uhh yeah this was kind of incredible.

I am ... read more

Mastodon marathon #1

Songs ranking:

The Last Baron
Oblivion
Divinations
The Czar
Ghost Of Karelia
Crack The Skye
Divinations

I did not really know what to expect with this band, since the only material from them in the past I've listened to is Leviathan and Emperor Of Sand, Leviathan I am pretty familiar with, and Emperor Of Sand only a few songs. But both could not be more different. One was a roaring scream of pure heaviness and the other was... basically pop? So I was really excited ... read more

Coheed and Cambria marathon, entry #8

Songs ranking:

Old Flames
The Unheavenly Creatures
It Walks Amongst Us
The Gutter
The Dark Sentencer
Love Protocol
All On Fire
Queen Of The Dark
Lucky Stars
True Ugly
Night-Time Walkers
The Pavillion (A Long Way Back)
Black Sunday
Toys
Prologue

All right, all right. I knew it was impossible for a band to keep the amazing standards Coheed has without any significant drop in quality at SOME point. This time it came later in the marathon.

I'll come ... read more

Leprous marathon, entry #6

Songs ranking:

Forced Entry
Bilateral
Acquired Taste
Painful Detour
Mb. Indifferentia
Restless
Thorn
Cryptogenic Desires
Waste Of Air
Mediocrity Wins

This is by far the most talked about and praised album from Leprous. This, combined with the fact that Coal was already a mind blowing experience, had my expectations so high. And oh my goodness, this absolutely met them.

This album is incredible, plain and simple. It is chock full of banger after banger after ... read more