Author Topic: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #1: I'm Not Sorry For That At All  (Read 30650 times)

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Online Zantera

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #22: Back to the Past
« Reply #245 on: June 01, 2016, 03:23:08 AM »
Haven't heard either but felt obligated to at least comment since you're a pretty cool guy so...  ;)

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #246 on: June 01, 2016, 09:03:30 AM »
#21: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I



I think what I like most about this album is the potential on display here. I can easily tell that these guys are capable of making a truly great album. But I don't think they quite nailed it here. That being said - this is still a great album.

More than anything, it suffers from, surprise, being too long. There's some 10-15 minutes here that could easily be stripped back for a more concise and consistent album. Some of Tapestry of the Starless Abstract, some bits of Xenoflux, probably a bit of Of the Leper Butterflies, a few of the dozens of passages in And Plague Flowers, probably a decent chunk of Of Petrichor, all could be tightened and refined down to their best moments and all would come out stronger for it. That being said, none of the songs is even close to entirely disposable, every track here has a decent number of killer moments.

The star of the show here isn't hard to point out; it's the violin. Of course it's the violin. Pretty much the biggest aspect of every song on the album, and easily the most interesting. There's a ton of ghostly, wailing leads throughout the more intense parts of the tracks, and there's a nice number of beautiful solos during the quieter moments. This comes to a climax in Forget Not, which is just dominated by the violin, and is easily the best song on the album, or even the band's discography, one of the best songs I heard last year for certain. Probably my second favorite violin moment is the solo at the end of Of the Leper Butterflies, really climactic ending to the song. There's even a few moments of pizzicato violin playing that are pretty neat too; again, the intro of Of the Leper Butterflies has a great moment of this.

The other thing I really love about their sound is how they mix clean vocals and harsh vocals together to create a more intense sound than either would be able to achieve on their own. Forget Not, again, has the best usage of this, with the harsh vocals doubling the cleans quite a bit, and both stealing the show near the end of the track, the last minute gives me chills. Tapestry of the Starless Abstract also has a cool vocal moment like this near its end, and there's moments scattered throughout the album. It helps that both the cleans and harsh vocals are pretty good just by themselves, too.

Personally, I think this album hits its best moments the more straightforward it is. The songs I like the least are the most disjointed ones; Tapestry with is sudden break in the middle, And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope, which goes through a ton of ideas in a short amount of time without really having any sense of direction, and of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise, which has a clean intro and long outro that the heavier main bulk of the song awkwardly transitions into and out of. Xenoflux is the middle ground here, two halves of the song that are pretty different but there's a solid transition between the two. And the remaining three are all much more straightforward, constant-time and steady tracks, but all the better for it.

The rest of the band certainly doesn't slack off; there's a fair number of cool guitar riffs throughout. The riff that comes in at 2:50 of Xenoflux is quite sinister, the first heavy riff of Forget Not is fantastic, as is the riff under the all-growls section, a groovy riff in the middle of And Plague Flowers, the first heavy riff of As Icicles Fall is awesome, and there's a riff at 4:40 in Of Petrichor that's also pretty great. On top of that, there's a ton of lovely quieter moments; The break of Tapestry is gorgeous and driven by a classical guitar sound, the clean melody that drives the second half of Xenoflux is nice, the clean guitar lines in the first half of Forget Not are great, the salsa vibe at the start of And Plague Flowers is driven primarily by a great guitar line, and the somber guitar line that bookends Of Petrichor is nice too. There's, on top of that, a decent number of solid guitar solos, nothing mindblowing but still pretty good. Of the Leper Butterflies, Forget Not, and As Icicles Fall probably have the best of these solos.

The bass on this album definitely pulls its weight, too; it's mixed to be audible enough and tends to do a lot more than just double the guitar, though there aren't a huge amount of moments where it can really shine. The basslines in the softer parts of the album especially tend to be great; the first quiet break of Tapestry, the first quarter of Of the Leper Butterflies, the first half of Forget Not and a solo later on, and another solo at 8:15 in And Plague Flowers. But really throughout the bass is great. The only instrument here that I feel is a bit underutilized is the drums, which doesn't really have any moments to shine and is doing pretty standard double-bass or blastbeat stuff throughout most of the heavier moments, though there are some quiet spots with decent drum work.

Really, at the end of the day, this is a pretty easy album to sit through despite its length, heaviness, and complexities. I quite like it a lot. There are a bit too many moments that don't really stand out much and a few too many songwriting gripes for me to give it highest recommendations, but on the whole it's still a great metal album with a really strong selling point in its violin work. I just kind of wish they'd focus a bit less on the metal and a bit more on the melodic parts, since on the whole the quieter moments of this album are the better moments. But yeah, regardless, definitely an album worth checking out.

Favorite Tracks: Forget Not, As Icicles Fall, Of the Leper Butterflies
Least Favorite Track: Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise

8/10

DTF Addendum: Oh hey it that one album with Forget Not and the other ones on it. But no I dig this album a fair bit, just never found it to be "mindblowing" or "the best debut album ever" or anything along those lines.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #247 on: June 01, 2016, 09:23:42 AM »
I agree with most of what you say. I like Ne Obliviscaris, both their albums are great (7.5 or maybe 8/10) but they're still playing in a league below the best metal bands. If the A-league is bands like Opeth and Agalloch, Ne Obliviscaris plays in the B-league.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #248 on: June 01, 2016, 09:26:06 AM »
as someone who's never been a huge fan of Opeth (Ghost Reveries is fantastic and there are scattered songs on other albums I dig but generally never been huge on them) and someone who hasn't been a huge fan of Agalloch thus far (The Mantle is good but gets old kinda quick, Ashes is also good but not really mindblowing either) I'd say they're all about on par  :corn

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #249 on: June 01, 2016, 09:50:50 AM »
Just dropping by to say that the thread title is :lolpalm: in a cringeworthy way.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #250 on: June 01, 2016, 09:58:17 AM »
as someone who's never been a huge fan of Opeth (Ghost Reveries is fantastic and there are scattered songs on other albums I dig but generally never been huge on them) and someone who hasn't been a huge fan of Agalloch thus far (The Mantle is good but gets old kinda quick, Ashes is also good but not really mindblowing either) I'd say they're all about on par  :corn

Is there any good metal you like?!

j/k  :lol

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #251 on: June 01, 2016, 10:22:51 AM »
@evermind that's the idea
@zantera yes, and it's in the top 20

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #252 on: June 01, 2016, 10:23:05 AM »
Parama only likes weird metal :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #253 on: June 01, 2016, 10:24:04 AM »
basicslly, this is why thy catafalque has been my recent obsession

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #254 on: June 01, 2016, 10:29:53 AM »
Yeah you seem to have been getting deep into avant-garde black metal and similar as of late. A friend of mine is quite into that stuff but way more obsessed - I could recommend you some of his favorite albums :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #21: Extreme Violinse
« Reply #255 on: June 01, 2016, 10:30:48 AM »
please pm me

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #256 on: June 01, 2016, 08:31:40 PM »
#20: Baroness - Green



Yellow as an album is generally pretty straightforward, and carries the same melancholy mood pretty much all the way through, letting the songs stand out on the basis of songwriting alone. Green, on the other hand, is all over the place mood-wise, with the bright tracks (Green Theme, Board Up the House,  If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry), the melancholy tracks (Mtns., Stretchmarker, The Line Between), and the outright dark ones (Foolsong, Collapse).

The variety of moods gives the album a lot of emotional potency, as a result; Foolsong is downright chilling, especially its vocal-only outro, and If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry is beautiful in the simplest of ways. Mtns. is quite good at instilling its melancholy mood, with a bit of a brighter resolution to it, and Collapse is really good at keeping you on edge without ever needing to break that tension with a resolution. And The Line Between is just pure intensity, save for its ominous intro.

As well, each track save for The Line Between has its own really unique flavor to it. There's the pure triumph of Green Theme, the bright, catchy Board Up the House, the clash of melancholic melodies and electronic groove on Mtns., the absolute bleakness of Foolsong, the tension and uneasiness of Collapse, the awkwardness of Psalms Alive (which is not really a positive trait, but...), the weightlessness of Stretchmarker (in a good way, mind you), and the nostalgia of If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry. The power of each track here is heightened by their standalone nature.

Even as individual songs, they all work well, but the album order is pretty interesting too. Emotionally, the front and back of the album are the brightest, with Mtns. and Stretchmarker being the most melancholy, and the two darkest tracks right in the middle. Psalms Alive is a bit of a weird case, since I really can't get a read on its mood at all.

Speaking of Psalms Alive. If I don't get this out of the way here, I'll just end up taking shots at it all review long. The first half of this track is pretty bad. None of the music elements work well on their own, and none of them feel like they belong together either. On top of that, for as emotionally charged as this album is, there's just no emotive presence on this track. The heavier parts of the track are totally fine, though, there's a lot of power behind them, it's really only about half the track here that I don't care for, about 2 minutes on the entire disc I dislike. The only minor gripe I have with this album outside of that is the rather anticlimactic ending of Collapse, but that's really just a nitpick, and it fits the song well.

As on Yellow, there's a strong focus on powerful choruses here, and they're more effective than ever. The Line Between's chorus, and mood in general, is just really intense and powerful, easily Baizley's shining moment on this album. But the chorus of Mtns. is a close second, probably the catchiest chorus on either Yellow or Green, and really gorgeous on top of that. Board Up the House and Collapse have pretty solid choruses too, the former's is quite catchy.

Instrumentally, there's a lot more twists and unique flavors to these tracks. The bass again has a lot of moments to shine; the main line of Board Up the House, the reluctant groove of Collapse, and the driving rhythm of The Line Between come to mind especially. But every instrument gets its time to shine here; there's a lot of great guitar lines, the leads in Green Theme, the vaguely proggy groove near the end of Board Up the House, the brighter last minute of Mtns., the sinister main melody of Foolsong, the spacey and somber atmosphere of Collapse, the guitar interplay on Stretchmarker and If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry, and a the mix of more metal and psychedelic vibes on The Line Between, as well as another great guitar lead. The drums, as well, get plenty of moments; again in the proggy groove of Board Up the House, Mtns. with a strong groove driven primarily by drums, and some pretty intense moments in the heavier parts of Psalms Alive and The Line Between.

Really, a lot of these songs speak for themselves better than I could ever speak for them. With Yellow, Baroness proved they could lighten their sound without sacrificing anything, and with Green, they prove that not only are they not sacrificing anything, but they've actually been able to expand their sound even further by stripping it down just a bit. It's even more effective than Yellow was at showing the band can write great songs regardless of the genre and I'm glad they had the guts to go down this route.

Favorite Tracks: The Line Between, If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry, Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor), Foolsong, Green Theme, Stretchmaker
Least Favorite Track: Psalms Alive

8.25/10

DTF Addendum: Whoops I forgot to add one of these earlier. Yeah all the Baroness albums are pretty clustered together aren't they, but that's probably 'cause the band is both really consistent and not really ever "amazing", just "pretty good". The best songs on this album are fantastic though, really.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2016, 10:47:19 PM by Parama »

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #258 on: June 01, 2016, 10:51:52 PM »
i'm not going to post this rule when i start my next roulette, but consider it official:

every use of  :corn in thread results in a one-point loss

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #259 on: June 01, 2016, 10:54:45 PM »
Is that valid on this thread or on your future roulette one? :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #260 on: June 01, 2016, 11:02:03 PM »
yes

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #261 on: June 01, 2016, 11:10:42 PM »
Something tells me you're a programmer *popcorn gif*

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #20: Leaf Celery
« Reply #262 on: June 01, 2016, 11:11:34 PM »
yes, i am.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #263 on: June 02, 2016, 01:19:45 AM »
#19: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites



I think I got this album at just the right time to really get into it, but I probably would've gotten into it regardless as it's just a damn good post-metal album, one of the best I've heard easily. Never mind that it comes bundled with a pretty solid ambient/drone disc and that the two discs can be combined to make the first disc just sound even more atmospheric and dense.

Which is a pretty cool idea, really, the two discs are vastly different enough that they don't clash and there are some moments where they play off each other pretty nicely. I will say that the difference isn't massive or anything, it's primarily the first disc with the second only taking the forefront at a few select moments while mostly staying in the background, but it's pretty much unnecessary to ever listen to the first disc normally when you can just listen to them both at once.

The ambient disc, though, there's definitely some merit to listening on its own. It's the kind of album that you'd probably have to be in the right mood to really get, and it's far from perfect, as well; I definitely wouldn't have tracked any of the vocals to this disc like they do in Beta Aquilae and parts of the last two tracks, they sort of feel out of place here, but ehh. It's not just a pure, soothing album at its core anyways; there's a lot of distorted noise going on throughout the tracks that creates an unsettling vibe, but I think it works, it'd be a bit dull if it was just constantly pleasant.

Onto the meat of the album, though. This album is pretty dang intense. The way the songs flow and explode can be pretty damn captivating, especially. Départe opts for a more laidback feel, driven by a hypnotic bassline that plays throughout the entire track, exploding at a few moments throughout the song into a pretty heavy but lumbering atmosphere. Europa is vaguely progressive in nature, starting out with a locked 7/8 groove driven by the drums and guitar, calming down at around 4 minutes only to build up into an even more intense mood, dropping out again at 6:40 for a quieter break driven by a frantic drum line that builds up into an even more intense climax, the song speeding up and getting overwhelmingly heavy by the time it ends. Absent starts off quiet and uneasy, exploding into a really driving riff, the drumming staying pretty crazy the whole way through, even when the song quiets down just to build up towards its middle, calming down again just for another massive, absolutely visceral buildup peaking in a massive accelerando with crushing guitars and manic drums. Itinérant is the only real break from the intensity of the album, the first few minutes being really dreamy and melodic, a brief moment of heaviness before switching to a long, hypnotic build, reaching its peak intensity about halfway through the track, and at around 10 minutes fading out for a long, droning, noisy outro. Au Pays Natal starts out with a laidback groove, getting heavy for a bit and breaking in the middle, with the last 5 minutes being a sluggish wall of noise that peaks in some really frantic drumming and increasingly strained vocals by the end, maybe the least "unique" of the songs here but it's still pretty effective.

The vocals on the album are... pretty standard post-metal, really, no cleans at all, just the low growling you'd expect to hear on a post-metal album, and that's fine, they're used well enough here. The bass gets most of its work done in the first track with that locked groove, but there are other moments where it shines through, a bass lead in the first break of Europa, the bass providing the grounding for the gorgeous first few minutes of Itinérant, the straight groove of the intro of Au Pays Natal. It's definitely plenty present throughout, as well, even if it's rarely given the spotlight.

The guitar work on the album is pretty diverse, ranging from some nice cleaner moments during pretty much any quieter stretch of the album, though especially the intros of Absent and Itinérant, some solid riffing throughout, most notably the 7/8 groove of Europa, the chugging of Absent, and the first heavier riff of Au Pays Natal. There's a lot of dense, wall-of-sound moments too; pretty much every track has one, though the last 5 minutes of Au Pays Natal are probably the most drawn-out example of this, and there's a lot of lighter atmospheric moments; especially the long build in the middle of Itinérant. There's also some nice guitar leads in the middle of Absent, a bit of a strange moment for the album but one that ends up working pretty well.

As far as the drumming, well, there's a lot to like. The crazy and visceral speed ups at the end of Europa, Absent, and Au Pays Natal especially, of course, though the vast majority of Absent has pretty frantic drumming, even in its quieter moments. There's a good bit of intense drum work throughout though, the 7/8 groove and second quieter break of Europa both have a lot going on, and the long build in the middle of Itinérant has constantly escalating drums. There's also a good number of moments of more laidback grooves; the quieter moments of Départe, the intro of Absent, the line that comes in near the end of Itinérant and carries over into the first few minutes of Au Pays Natal. I think the drums are my favorite instrument here overall, they pull a lot of weight and drive the mood the most out of everything.

I'd be remiss not to mention some of the keyboard work and other miscellaneous things. Of course, there's the gorgeous piano and strings in the intro of Itinérant, such a weird and kind of out-of-place moment for the album that works so well. There's also the soundscapes at the end of the song that get pretty unsettling, really. The synths have a minor presence throughout the rest of the first disc, but they pretty well dominate the second disc, obviously. There's a lot of warmer sounds on Deneb and Sol especially, and the last few minutes of Ross 128 have a nice soothing sound as well, but there's just as many if not more weird distorted effects that really help create the atmosphere of the disc.

Odds are I'll probably keep spinning the combined disc over either disc separately, maybe play around with the volume of each of the two discs as I'm not quite satisfied with how it is now; by default it feels like the second disc ends up being crushed by the first quite a lot, especially Absent / Beta Aquilae, where the vocals barely come through the way I have them mixed. That's the cool thing, you can mix these however you want to create the experience that appeals to you the most. The whole "combine two songs/albums to make one super-album" thing isn't a unique concept or anything but I doubt anyone else has done it this well because of how different the discs are.

It's just a damn solid album overall, though; probably as intense as I'd ever want my post-metal to be, not overwhelmingly heavy all the time but with enough pretty crushing moments mixed with enough more laidback breaks and a good sense of buildup to keep things from ever getting boring. And of course the atmosphere is great, especially on the combined disc. I don't really think this sounds like the contemporaries of post-metal, either; this is way more intense than any of Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Pelican, whoever else; sure, they all get pretty heavy and crushing but I don't think any of them have ever come close to something like the ending of Absent, for example. Definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre, though, and really, worth checking out for any fan of metal in general.

Favorite Tracks: Absent, Europa, Départe, Itinérant
Least Favorite Track: Beta Aquilae

8.25/10

DTF Addendum: I think I'd like this album a lot more if the last track wasn't a fairly meh way to end the album, sure it's alright enough but after the intensity of the first three tracks and the atmosphere of the previous it just... has nowhere left to go. That being said it's still great, totally worth checking out. Panopticon is still my favorite post-metal release but I'd probably but this at #2, for now.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #264 on: June 02, 2016, 02:17:23 AM »
yes, i am.

Parama's life slowly unfolds to those who follow him closely.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #265 on: June 02, 2016, 02:53:56 AM »
Yes, that album is awesome. About Baroness, I think I prefer Yellow to Green but both are good.
BTW, what programming language you work in? :D
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I wave but they don't slow down...

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #266 on: June 02, 2016, 06:55:26 AM »
He's developing one of his own, called Paramacore++ :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #267 on: June 02, 2016, 08:54:34 AM »
Yes, that album is awesome. About Baroness, I think I prefer Yellow to Green but both are good.
BTW, what programming language you work in? :D
Psalms Alive is the weakest song between the two discs but the best tracks on green crush the best ones on yellow imo
also, java mostly

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #268 on: June 02, 2016, 08:57:31 AM »
#18: múm - Finally We Are No One



The comparisons to Sigur Rós are almost inevitable, but really I think that ends at them both being Icelandic bands that create low-key music. múm certainly do have a lot of nice soundscapes in their music, but there's no traces of post-rock anywhere; very little guitar and bass, and I'm pretty sure all the drums are electronic, but on top of that there's no bombastic builds or climaxes here; just subtle, pleasant, relaxing and soothing music.

There's a lot of different elements that go into creating the soundscapes and textures on this album. Just from what I can pick out, there's a lot of synths a good bit of piano and electronic percussion, a few moments of guitar and bass, a fair bit of strings, some accordion, a bit of brass, some xylophone, and the high, breathy vocals of the band's singer. Though, a good chunk of this is instrumental; only four of the 11 tracks have vocals and they're not especially prominent even in the tracks that do have them, which is probably for the better; their singer is no Jónsi, his voice isn't as pretty and the breathy sound isn't that appealing, but it does match the mood of the music well.

And what is the mood of the music? Well, it varies. The first five tracks of the album are pretty bright and playful, especially tracks 4 and 5 which are outright bouncy and cute in an endearing way. It's the kind of music you can't help but be happy listening to. K/Half Noise takes a more melancholic mood that carries over into the somber now There's That Fear Again, Faraway Swimmingpool briefly returning to the cuteness of the early parts of the album. Tracks 9 and 10 are generally bright with traces of melancholy, and the closer is a lot more somber and downbeat. The consistent thread, though, is that the music is just gorgeous. There's really no denying that. Even in its sadder moments it's still very pretty and it's far from bleak.

Tracks like K/Half Noise and The Land Between Solar Systems are the kind of long, drawn out tracks I really like to get lost in, but the majority of the album is tracks in the 5-6 range that come and go a lot quicker but leave just as much of an impact. Green Grass of Tunnel feels really iconic, Don't Be Afraid is really catchy and memorable, and I Can't Feel My Hand Any More is probably the most gorgeous and textured track of the entire bunch. I can't really say any two tracks sound that much alike, even with the cohesive sound running throughout the album.

It's more about the flow of the album than anything, turning the album on and getting lost in a dreamworld for 56 minutes. In fact, I've listened to this album while sleeping quite a number of times, to the point where the first few tracks are ingrained in my memory and the rest are still quite familiar. But I can still appreciate the music fully conscious as well; it's just gorgeous enough to work effectively for either scenario.

There's really not much more to say, I could describe the album in detail but I don't think there's a point to doing so, it's the kind of music you'd really have to listen to and judge for yourself. It's definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I find myself enjoying it every time I listen to it and always coming away from it in a better mood than I started. Even the first time I listened to it, I was pretty impressed by just how pleasant it is. It's hard to fault it for anything, really, since the band clearly knows what they want to do and they do it well. Maybe a few of the tracks feel a bit too stretched out or unnecessary, but honestly I wouldn't change a single second of the album given the chance.

Favorite Tracks: I Can't Feel My Hand Any More, It's Alright, Sleep Still, K/Half Noise, Now There's That Fear Again, Green Grass of Tunnel, The Land Between Solar Systems, We Have a Map of the Piano
Least Favorite Tracks: Finally We Are No One

8.25/10

DTF Addendum: Gonna be honest, this album feel so disconnected from this list that I could've put it 10 places higher or 10 places lower and been happy with its placement. It's really hard to even judge an album like this, but it's definitely quite good, I know that for sure.

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #19: Ground Control to Major Tom
« Reply #269 on: June 02, 2016, 09:13:23 AM »
Yes, that album is awesome. About Baroness, I think I prefer Yellow to Green but both are good.
BTW, what programming language you work in? :D
Psalms Alive is the weakest song between the two discs but the best tracks on green crush the best ones on yellow imo
also, java mostly
I'll spin them both today or tomorrow, it's been a while.
Java master race :D but as I'm learning Python I'm seeing how inconvenient Java can be :/
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Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #270 on: June 02, 2016, 09:19:21 AM »
python is pretty rad but i haven't used it in a while

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #271 on: June 02, 2016, 09:21:26 AM »
python is pretty rad but i haven't used it in a while
I'm just starting with it on Scripting Languages class and I already like it. Sorry for off-topic but I can't comment on múm :P
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I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #272 on: June 02, 2016, 09:25:39 AM »
I really want to learn Phyton but as next year I'll change of careers, I don't know if they'll use another language.

I loved the múm song the ninja sent in my roulette, will definitely check this album sometime soon :P

Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #273 on: June 02, 2016, 10:29:53 AM »
This is an amazing album. Also I'm like 90% sure the singer is a woman.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 10:57:28 AM by Shadow Ninja 2.0 »

Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #274 on: June 02, 2016, 10:38:21 AM »
tbh I have no clue so  :lol

Online twosuitsluke

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #275 on: June 02, 2016, 02:20:02 PM »
This thread is starting to get really good now IMO. especially with Ne Obliviscaris, Thank You, Scientist and ALL THE BARONESS!! expecting The Blue Record to show up real soon as it seems as though you explored their whole back catalogue last year, good call  :hat

Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #276 on: June 02, 2016, 02:24:37 PM »
actually I just got blue record last month, all the baroness for 2015 is gone now sorry

Online twosuitsluke

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #277 on: June 02, 2016, 02:32:37 PM »
actually I just got blue record last month, all the baroness for 2015 is gone now sorry

It's funny, I went completely in reverse. I got the Blue Record about 6 years ago then only actually went through the rest of their back catalogue over the last year and a half. Yellow/Green is easily my favourite with Blue probably 2nd

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #18: A Good Beginning
« Reply #278 on: June 02, 2016, 04:44:00 PM »
When we're at Baroness, I think Purple is actually my favorite. Few years ago when I heard Yellow & Green I didn't try too hard to get into first two because I wasn't fan of genre (and Y&G are different). I'd probably like them more now I love that sludgy sound.
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #279 on: June 02, 2016, 07:15:11 PM »
#17: Obsidian Kingdom - Mantiis



Here we have the hardest kind of album to review. Ooh boy. See, while this album is 14 tracks, they all flow together as one long suite and you could make a solid case for it being one long song. And just like any long song, it has its highs and its lows... but they're sparse here. There's a select few weaker moments and a few really shining moments, but at least 90% of this album is just riding along at a high standard to begin with, which leaves little room for towering highs to overshadow the rest.

One thing this album has really got down is its flow; obviously, since it's one long suite/song, but it's the rare case where an album designed like this can really hold the claim to it. The first four tracks are a constant buildup, starting with the empty and somber Not Yet Five and reaching an intense peak by Cinnamon Balls. The next three tracks follow a similar pattern, starting soft with The Nurse and building up to the intensity of Last of the Light. The album breaks from this pattern for its next stretch, with Genteel to Mention being another quieter track, the following two tracks toeing with heaviness but balancing it out with lighter stuff too, until the unrelenting assault of Endless Wall comes in. The next two tracks are both pretty weird, Fingers in Anguish being a quiet track sitting between two of the most intense on the album, and Ball-Room is far more upbeat than the rest of the album, while pretty consistently heavy. And Then it Was brings things to an end pretty satisfyingly, a more crushing climax that fades into droning ambience.

The album's sound is also really consistent throughout, which is probably what gives it its claim to cohesion; Haunts of the Underworld in particular is practically the embodiment of the album's sound, having a lot of melancholic atmosphere, a strong bass groove behind the track, and some crushing heavy moments, the only thing it's really missing is the spacey keyboards prevalent throughout a lot of the album. They do quite a lot with the sound though, some tracks fit pretty comfortably into it but just as many do their own thing without feeling too out of place. There's the unsettling atmosphere of Not Yet Five, the calming synths of The Nurse, the jazzy middle of Last of the Light, the ethereal genteel to Mention, the crushing Endless Wall, the bleak and depressing Fingers in Anguish, and the mockingly playful Ball-Room.

It's really hard to classify this as any specific genre, too. Progressive metal? Maybe a little, but it does't have a lot of "prog" tendencies. Black metal? Honestly, I'm not really sure any of this quite qualifies. Death metal? Yeah, to some degree, but not nearly as intense. Post-rock? Maybe in a few places, but it's not that prevalent. The Avant-Garde metal tag is the only one that really feels like it could apply here, but it's also really not -that- weird. It's a very self-contained sound that they're free to do a lot with while not really sounding like any other band or album out there.

The range of vocals on this album is pretty solid, too; two different clean vocalists as far as I can tell and presumably one or both of them handling the harsh vocals as well. The harsh vocals are, as they usually are for me, pretty much just "there"; don't mind them, but they don't add a lot for me, though they do accentuate a number of really intense moments on the album quite well. The clean vocals do a lot, too; there's the restrained build of Oncoming Dark, some layers of ethereal vocals on Answers Revealing and Genteel to Mention, the tired and weak-sounding vocals at the end of Awake Until Dawn, the broken-sounding Fingers in Anguish, and the rough-edged climax of And Then it Was. A good chunk of the album is instrumental but there's plenty of vocal presence regardless.

The keyboards on this album tend to add a lot of atmosphere, as well. There's the droning noise of Not Yet Five, a spacey xylophone-esque sound on Oncoming Dark and Through the Glass, the warm sounds of The Nurse, some more spacey atmosphere near the end of Answers Revealing, an unsettling siren-like synth buried under the heavier moments of Last of the Light, the somber piano of Genteel to Mention, a choir-esque wall of synths in Genteel to Mention, Haunts of the Underworld, and Ball-Room, the really electronic synths at the end of Awake Until Dawn, subtle piano in Haunts of the Underworld, the subtle unsettling synths of Endless Wall and And Then it Was, and the constant drone of Fingers in Anguish. Really every track has some degree of keyboard presence, some more than others, but it's generally used as an atmospheric device and works quite well as one.

Really, a good chunk of this album is about atmosphere. The grooves are atmospheric, the riffs are atmospheric, the softer moments are atmospheric. There's only a few solos throughout; some shreddier guitar on Cinnamon Balls and Haunts of the Underworld, jazzy guitar and trumpet solos on Last of the Light, both quite gorgeous, and the wah-drenched guitar solo of And Then it Was.

Beyond that, this is not a very show-offy album, but all the instrumentation instead works together to create a lot of solid moments. Through the Glass is basically 2 and a half minutes of guitar riffing that's just diverse enough to stay interesting throughout, and the drums do a lot to support the guitar. The more intense moments of Cinnamon Balls and Last of the Light wouldn't work nearly as well if the drums and guitar weren't competing for intensity with the vocals as a third contender. The sinister groove of Ball-Room is a group effort between the bass, guitar, and especially drums, and the harsh vocals even have a mocking tone to them to match. Fingers in Anguish would be much less effective if the bass wasn't backed up by some subtle guitars and crash cymbal rolls adding to the droning atmosphere. And the soundscapes of The Nurse, Answers Revealing, and Genteel to Mention are all just very lush and gorgeous, and every instrument as well as the vocals are adding their own layers to the atmospheres here. This album basically sounds like a band who knows exactly what they're doing and they're doing it well.

The lyrics are supposedly really dark and screwed up, though I haven't really looked too deeply into the meaning of them. The music fits that mood though, there's not really any bright spot on this album, the "brightest" moments all have undertones of melancholy, and the darkest moments are bleak and hopeless, sometimes crushing.

It's really hard to point out any faults in this album. I don't consider a lack of high points a fault when the album's going to be as consistent as it is. I guess, the crushing sludginess of Endless Wall may drag on for a bit too long, but really only in comparison to how fast the rest of the album moves. The only really compelling solos are on Last of the Light, but the other solos are still plenty solid and don't go on too long. I'm having trouble coming up with more nitpicks, and each one I've come up with has a pretty basic counterargument for it.

It's just a really solid album and a really unique one. There's... not a lot else to say. If you like metal in general and can handle a fair bit of darkness, definitely check it out.

Favorite Tracks: Last of the Light, Haunts of the Underworld, Ball-Room, Through the Glass, Cinnamon Balls
Least Favorite Track: Endless Wall

8.5/10

DTF Addendum: In the top 20 alone there are 8 different artists that were sent in my roulette, this being the second of them. Of those 8, half of them were artists I didn't know about before my roulette. This makes Obsidian Kingdom the third best thing I didn't know I needed until DTF showed me the way. Shame their new album is kind of mediocre though.