AOTY 2023

Best of 2023

Recent Ratings

Recent Reviews

Iron Maiden - Virtual XI
77
Under 3-minute tracks have been completely absent from Iron Maiden’s discography since the sophomore Killers, and never appeared again henceforth, but this album opens with one in “Futureal” and makes me think the band should have done a lot more like this. The song is full of energy, great guitarwork, and every second is filled with that classic Maiden sound, albeit on a bit of a speed rush. The following song, at almost 10 minutes, is the polar opposite; there aren’t ... read more
Grip Inc. - Power of Inner Strength
86
So this is where Dave Lombardo went after leaving Slayer, huh? It certainly shows, as the drumming here is bar none the best I’ve heard on anything that could be called Groove Metal. Dave is still thrashing like a maniac here and thankfully it ensures the album is always in the energetic, aggressive realm of Grove even when it does slow down, and never stuck in dull, one-note repetitive rhythms.

The amount of Thrash riffage on this album is another pleasant surprise, with Polish ... read more

Gorguts - Obscura
35
This album is a core influence upon much of what I can’t stand in modern trends of extreme Metal, so it’s no surprise I don’t like it very much. While a few Tech Death bands were already verging into what I call “Too-Progressive Metal” for the sake of pushing the skill envelope and showing off musical prowess, Gorguts took it a step further and created Dissonant Death Metal, which sacrificed all form of songwriting, riffing and memorable performance for the sole ... read more
Fear Factory - Obsolete
53
I was a fan of Fear factory’s Death Metal influenced, aggressive brand of Industrial Metal prior to this album. But here is where they really decided the guitars were never going to do anything interesting again. They become relegated to a third rhythm instrument, and without much in the way of keys or atmospherics, the album is left very one note. Overly reliant on chugs and near-Djenting drumming and guitar syncopation. Both harsh vocals and clean vocals are sub par, the former moving ... read more
Falkenbach - ...Magni blandinn ok megintiri...
64
I’m just gonna come out and say it: it sounds too goofy. The flute and folky medieval instruments are playing melodies that sound akin to a festival or something. The atmosphere that’s built here is disjointed, as the heavier and darker, blackened aspects of the music do not agree with the more jovial folky stuff. It’s epic and uplifting sure, but not in a cool way. Vocals and instrumental ability are good, I’m just not always a fan of the melodies crated here.

However, ... read more

Shoutbox

1mo
yesss, Kanna is great!

actually, if it's not too much trouble, i was curious if you could recommend some good death metal, non-boris drone metal, and some japanese metal?
1mo
thanks! :D I really apprieciate it,have to check these out espiacilly the doom metal lol,have a great day
1mo
hi silent scream,i was wondering if you can give me metal recomendations,as you might have seen on my page i like thrash,death metal and metalcore, but ill listen too anything basicly, thanks!(:
1mo
love your page and i gotta say your ratings and reviews have been a huge resource to me for getting more into metal over the past few months, even if you do seem to hate a lot of albums i like lmao
also that kanna pfp is AMAZING i love it
2mo
Cool, while I don’t personally think it’s a masterpiece it does have some great songs and is slowly growing on me so I might rate it higher in the future, anyway thanks for answering, love your reviews, hope your doing great :)
2mo
Hey I saw on your page that you gave slayers “world painted blood” a 10/10, since there’s no review of it, im actually genuinely curious why you think so highly of that album and if I should relisten too it more, especially after most people think that era was after there hay day in the 80’s and early 90’s
3mo
Alright no problem.
3mo
Alight I see what you mean thanks I appreciate it a lot I use to go into metal project looking for good riffs, blast beats, and a overall good atmosphere or technical presence but now I'll just try to enjoy the music for what it is now instead of looking at the technical side of it you really opened my eyes to what it means to listen to metal now and I thank you for that a lot.
3mo
Hey I seen your ratings on your page and saw that most of them are metal and it seems like you also know a lot about the entire genre of metal so I just wanted to ask you how do you differentiate good metal from bad metal since I’m currently trying to get into more metal?
5mo
i like how you're so much into metal and your reviews are interesting to read lol.
since you seem to like babymetal i wonder what you would think about yuyoyuppe's latest ep, take it as a recommendation (? it's industrial metalcore with vocaloid, but it's very well made, like the voice sounds very natural comparing it with more generally known vocaloid music. it's my favorite release of the year personally

About

I am Lycopene, fusing New Age instrumentation and sensibilities with Metal, Rock, and Punk instrumentation and aggression to create Post-Age music.

Bandcamp: https://lycopene.bandcamp.com/releases

Around the Web

Rating Distribution

90-99
 
267

80-89
 
571

70-79
 
563

60-69
 
445

50-59
 
332

40-49
 
322

30-39
 
235

20-29
 
181

10-19
 
78

0-9
 
72

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Member since February 22, 2018

November Playlist