well, those relistens were a waste of time tbh except i guess i like the chiodos one more. oh well
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Evidently this is one of this band's weaker albums? It's still like... pretty dang solid, then. I think one thing this album does that kind of doesn't work is that it can get quite repetitive within its songs, just hammering on one sound a bit too long. Necropolis is the worst in this regard except, it's the first half that I like less? The second half has a cool build to it. The other general issue I have with this is that the style of black metal it goes for is more based off the drums than it is huge walls of guitars like the black metal I tend to like the most. It still can sound pretty massive sometimes, absolutely, but it's not overwhelming in the way that really appeals to me? Ehh. I guess also it's maybe a bit samey. Now that I've voiced my nitpicks though I would still say, yeah, there's a lot to like here. As mentioned, this does get pretty intense quite often, but there's still a solid grasp on melody throughout, there's a lot, and I mean a LOT, of riffs. Maybe too many, since some of this definitely starts to blend together. I'd say the highlights are the two longest songs here which, well, yeah, that's not a bad thing. The second half of the closer in particular is really cool, really epic way to end the album off. I dunno. I again don't think I've fully "grasped" this album with how dense it is & how heavy it is as well but I've liked it all three listens so it's pretty safe here.
TAC with
Keep Of Kalessin – Epistomology, join the final countdown.
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So yeah as the writeup above says it's a foregone conclusion this one is eliminated. So obviously I hate it. Actually... well, I'm gonna be blunt. I am just outright not interested in this style. Nothing even really that wrong with it, can't say it's bad, just... this style of symphonic black metal just doesn't appeal to me, and it's pretty high on the cheese factor too. There's also some concept here about pirates or something (I was joking about that pirate metal comment I made, sheesh
) which is all fine and all that. I guess my biggest gripe is the guitar tone though. It sounds more like something that belongs on an industrial album, really crunchy and synthetic. I... don't like industrial rock/metal in general, lol. It's a guitar tone that consistently bothers me and makes the whole album sound really jagged instead of intense or atmospheric. It also feels like the orchestration pulls most if not all the melodic weight on this album while the guitars are mostly confined to riffing (and the vocals are all growled, even on the spoken word-type track). I will say there are occasional moments that do work for me pretty well - just coming off the end of a listen, the closer ends pretty satisfyingly, a haunting vibe going on there. It's hard for me to really be too hard on this because it's not bad at all? Probably like, a solid 6/10, but it just doesn't really work for me specifically & doesn't even compare to the other two albums in this round, unfortunately.
Evermind with
Carach Angren – Death Came Through a Phantom Ship, your ship has sailed for the last time.
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1. Chiodos - Devil
2. Keep Of Kalessin – Epistomology
3. Carach Angren – Death Came Through a Phantom Ship
oh btw nobody sent Morbus Chron i just put it in hangmeme for the lols. i'm probably getting that album though 'cause i remember it being pretty rad from the one listen i gave it
puppies you've commented on both keep of kalessin and smallman saying they have better albums, tell me which ones & i'll probably check them? same with solefald, i wanna at least try another one there