While this isn’t quite my AOTY (though it’s close), it IS my highest recommendation of the year so far bc I know so many users who’d love it. If there's one 2024 release among the 684 I’ve heard so far that AOTY users NEED to hear, it’s this. I’d have to spend way longer to fully do the album justice with a review, but just trust me on this one. Doxophobia has created something boundary-pushing, dynamic, engaging, and one THOUSAND percent worth your time.
This is a bit of a weird one... I'd be interested to see what other people think of this because it strikes me as the type of thing that AOTY may really like. It's like kind of black metal-ish but with some postmetal(?) and softened a lot. Parts of Strange Balance sounded like they actually succeeded at achieving the elusive "happy black metal" sound I was supposed to get from Sunbather but didn't. I thought it started out very strong but the second half wasn't as ... read more
My biggest takeaway after 1 listen — if you like 93696 or Umbra Omega, LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW. Good chance you’ll be glad you did.
I can see this taking me quite a few relistens to fully process, it’s aggressively experimental in a way that reminds me of Dødheimsgard. Also a bit reminiscent of Liturgy’s 93696 with the overarching album structure and glitch elements, though I actually think I liked the way they were used here a lot more. Not a fan of the vocals, ... read more
If this was cut down to just the best 25-30 mins or so of material, it would probably be a serious contender for my death metal AOTY. In particular, a bit of the middle feels like filler — the first two songs and tracks 7-9 are the best, with “Blasphemous Mausoleum of the Wicked,” “Horns Echo Over Chorazim,” and the title track being the biggest highlights for me. Love the snare in particular, it’s probably the most major advantage this album has over its ... read more
For how good people here are acting like this is, there’s REALLY not a lot separating this from Stigma by Wage War. Cringe ass lyrics? Check. Horrendous cleans? Check. Aiming to be generic pop metalcore that plays it as safe as possible? Check. Random electronic elements puked all over it? Check.
As an added bonus it tries to manufacture an unearned emotional conclusion through the most shallow means possible and it fell so flat for me that it was almost comical. Like they actually ... read more
Not a super groundbreaking album in concept or anything. I mean it's coming out less than a month after another album from the same genre by a band called "Primitive Warfare" ffs. However, it's executed very well and is pretty fun. Recommend for war metal fans.
STIGMA? More like STIGMA dick up yo ass lmaoooo
The sad thing is I think I’d rather relisten to this than the new ERRA album. I gave this a lower score because I DO consider it worse, but Wage War made something that’s at least bad enough to be entertaining. It’s so shit that it doesn’t even succeed at being bland. Lowlights include the cringeworthy lyrics, godawful cleans, random electronic shit for no reason, and a song that sounds like “Siren Head” by ... read more
Has some decent-ish (though pretty derivative) instrumental moments, but good LORD what are those vocals. This is probably up there with Angel Graveyard's "Heaven at Night" as one of my "Worst vocals of 2024" finalists
I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was for a release from a legacy band. I hadn't listened to much of Sabbat's previous music, so I was fully prepared for this to be something like Vulcano's "Epilogue" or Metallica's "72 Seasons" where it feels like they're out of ideas and just phoning it in, but no, not at all. I can honestly see this growing on me even more in the future. The vocals are... unique, but not bad? It almost reminds me of Dave ... read more
First impression: May just be me, but I liked this a lot more than Cherrri's previous album. I think there's a solid chance this will be my favorite AOTY user-created album of 2024 by the end of the year. I have a lot more thoughts about the album, but I'm going to come back and relisten to it in a couple days before going into more detail on them. Expect a pretty hefty edit to this review relatively soon. Great album!
The release of Knocked Loose’s album and the widespread positive response to it have actually helped me realize why I love this album so much. Listening to Opium Angel, I have basically the same experience as the people who loved “You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To” did listening to that album.
DISCLAIMER – this album is nowhere NEAR as accessible as YWGBYST is. I’m in no way trying to imply that if you liked that album you’ll enjoy this, ... read more
This pseudoreview is as much for my future self as it is for anyone else. Had a hard time evaluating this because it was pretty unremarkable for much of its runtime, but it also had some strong highlights, namely “Dreamless Burden” and “Forever Under.” I think I’m going to be a little generous with the rating because those two songs are the longest by far of the five on the album, combining for 2/3 of the album’s length, so they picked the right ones to make ... read more
[to the tune of “Tequila” by The Champs] dundundundundundundun– T E Q U I T L
If you think about it, Maquahuitl are actually being kind of innovative in a way. Normally you hear about NS bands having “alternatives” that admittedly sound slightly worse musically in exchange for often being easier to enjoy due to not being a vessel used to express the band’s shitty opinions. Maquahuitl flip that paradigm on its head by being extremely questionable politically ... read more
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard an album before where I can point to it and say “yep, that’s the best [element] I’ve ever heard in this genre and it’s not close,” but Spikes Through Eyes has the best synths I’ve ever heard in a black metal album and it’s not close. It’s relatively lacking in terms of overall atmosphere compared to the project’s future works (since honestly that’s what REALLY put Migdal Bavel over the top ... read more
Definitely a bit long-winded, though there are some excellent ideas here
I was fully expecting metal here, so I was a bit surprised when it never started and it was just instrumental electronic. It’s still pretty pleasant, and all things considered this may be the most powerful Doc Dank has ever been atmospherically. MT1 is also kind of exciting to me in concept because last year Serotonin Leakage dropped “Mescaline Power II (Part I),” and I can’t help but feel like this is him honing his synth skills for a future part II.
That closer ABSOLUTELY won me over because (1) Heat is one of my favorite movies of all time, and (2) holy shit is this influenced by Serotonin Leakage?? They're one of my favorite underground metal bands, and their style seemed too unique to NOT be influential... this is the first time I've heard one of the bigger players in the genre come out with anything that sounds like it could be inspired by them, and that's really cool to me.
Wtf happened? It wasn’t bad through the first three songs! Then Transhunter decided to give us the authentic tinnitus experience on “sad embryo” (which is 8 MINUTES LONG for some reason), and Ride for Revenge somehow followed it up with an even worse song by essentially recreating “Fish” by Beherit but extending it to nearly 5 minutes and putting some shitty sounding cartoon boinging over the entire thing?? They then close out the split by creating musical Chinese ... read more
Some solid sludge here, writing stood out a lot to me because the songs flow together well and have some great riffs. Personally I think it could really benefit from sounding less clean and polished (à la “Still The Wretched Linger” by Beldam). Also there’s no way in hell that slug on the cover is 10 tons lmao
EDIT: don’t believe me about the 10 tons thing? Well, here’s my justification:
The slug on the album cover appears to be modeled after a Leopard Slug ... read more
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Recent Review Comments
On ps_vita_enjoyer's review of Peste Noire - La Sanie des siècles - Panégyrique de la dégénérescence
"Bergtatt is the best black metal album for beginners imo"
On Anomander's review of Bríi - Último Ancestral Comum
"The production is what makes this work so well for me tbh"
On MickyT's review of Slayer - Reign in Blood
"If you liked this album you’ll probably like Spectrum of Death by Morbid Saint, it’s one of the highest regarded thrash albums in the metal community. They took a lot of inspiration from Reign in Blood but dialed up the brutality further"
On Damandatnevrwas's review of Аспид [Aspid] - Кровоизлияние [Extravasation]
"Epidemic of Violence and Tapping the Vein were in 92 so something good from 93 doesn’t seem THAT crazy to me, but at the same time I can’t think of much other thrash from 93 lol"
On aelexi's review of Chepang - Jhyappa
"I might’ve been a bit harsh with my score, but it REALLY pisses me off how generic and bland this was after how brilliant their last 2 albums were. Seriously, go listen to Chatta or Swatta, they’re amazing"
On Assemble The Chariots - Unyielding Night
"@deathcorelover yeah I know a lot of people on this site think that, and to me Assemble the Chariots did a better job accomplishing what it seemed like Lorna Shore were trying to on Pain Remains. I’m prob the wrong person to be judging deathcore (and I’ve tended to focus more on other metal genres since making this review) but to my relatively untrained ear it sounded like something Lorna Shore fans may love"
On Dropkick Murphys - Blackout
"Not gonna edit the review but idk wtf I meant by “social and societal,” and I think I meant “struck a chord” not “struck a nerve” lmao"
On DJTigez's review of Hello Kitty Suicide Club - ^_^
"@Anypsotis imagine if Triumph of the Will was trying to be cybergrind instead of black metal"
On PhobixTheGuy's review of Hierarchies - Hierarchies
"If you want to check out an album meant to confuse and disorient you that I thought worked way better than this, listen to "Ship of Theseus" by Jute Gyte. I think it's what this album was going for except black metal and better executed in every way."
On VVVase's review of Tougher Than Nails - Delusional Blasphemies Destroyed
"@Hekamusic I mean the video he featured Tougher Than Nails in was literally called “Worst Death Metal Band I've Ever Heard” so I’d say it’s like the opposite of a suggestion lmao"
On SotisGaze's review of Ahab - The Call of the Wretched Sea
"Check out the live version of this (“Live Prey”) if you get a chance! I liked it even more than the original, and I liked the original a lot"
On PhobixTheGuy's review of Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
"“If I had a nickel for every time a classic metal band had an album title starting with, “Master of…”, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice!”
Ah yes, this and Master of the Rings by Helloween"
On Grelle (Taz)'s review of Vetharn - Netherrack Barbarity
"I think I had the opposite opinion actually, thought it was cheesy but in an endearing way which was most of the appeal of the album for me."
On Dsnikles's review of Bull of Heaven - 299: Self-Traitor, I Do Bring the Spider Love
"Personally I’m partial to 344, but this is easily top 3"
On Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
"@knewnie Thank you! I’m always surprised when anyone else cares abt these bc I mainly just do them for myself, but I’m glad you like them!"
On Trisumun's review of Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal
"@Raskol124 ahhh, makes sense, I knew I was forgetting one!"
On Trisumun's review of Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal
"Interesting perspective, I actually like the back half of the album a lot more. Still incredible all around. Also idk if you’ve listened to other Bolt Thrower albums but that intro to Killchain is a recurring motif throughout some of their other songs (there may be more but ik it’s in Embers and Cenotaph off the top of my head). Kind of makes the song even cooler to me in a way bc it’s almost like they called their shot, it’s like a musical way of saying ahead of time “yeah this one’s enough of a banger we’re including it into this lineage” and then absolutely delivering"
On spaceashes's review of Deafheaven - Sunbather
"Ahahaha yes, join us on the dark side… we have good riffs! >:)
jk but yeah I didn’t get it at all either, none of it worked for me. Idk why ppl think this is better than Alcest"
On redsus's review of Trivium - Ascendancy
"If you liked this you may enjoy Mindtricks by Disarmonia Mundi, imo it’s a little closer to Soilwork’s sound than Trivium’s but it’s pretty well done and worth a listen if you’re into Gothenburg-sounding melodic metalcore"
On Maddy's review of Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
"How different is this from Sunbather stylistically? I didn’t like Sunbather at all but it might be worth giving them another chance if it’s different"
On CaptainSquirrel's review of Chat Pile - Cool World
"“The Healer” by Sumac is another sludge metal album from 2024 with a completely different approach (that I honestly liked way more tbh). It’s admittedly not the most approachable album at 76 mins for 4 songs, but it absolutely justifies it imo.
If that’s too slow for you I also really enjoyed “Murder Phobia” by Insect Corpse, which is one of the rawest albums I’ve ever heard."
On Doxophobia - Basic Intellect May Burn Out
"@DeathOfHumanMus also when it goes hard, it goes HARDDD. The other guy who reviewed this so far (sickriffsman) is the guy behind Defaced, who made Opium Angel, one of the heaviest albums I heard all year. For you to make something that he of all people considers "mind-blowingly intense" while being so multifaceted that it doesn't even feel like being as brutal as possible was a major focus is damn impressive to me at least."
On Doxophobia - Basic Intellect May Burn Out
"@DeathOfHumanMus it's an amazing album!! Sorry I meant to make an actual review for this at some point but haven't gotten around to it yet. I will say I'm pretty sure Magnets and Astronomy is somewhere in my top 3 songs of 2024, and I've listened to a TON of stuff this year. I LOVE how at times it sounds proggy but like almost 70's prog rock style proggy while still being metal, not regular "prog metal" prog if that makes any sense lol. What I liked most is just that the album is so versatile but everything fits together and still feels really cohesive."
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