Metal Reviews

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YES!!! KILLER!!!!
And they're coming to my hometown with Enslaved in March!!

Good to see that someone else knows Ulcus btw; what a bloody underrated band.

Great album, Black Metal with a twist, that's how I like it!

Nice album on first impression, not really outstanding though. Good melodies, though the folkish ones sound a little lacking originality. I usually have some problems with the acoustic parts on albums like thse, why does it always have to be boring and slow when switching to acoustic? This album does not have this problem (well maybe in songs like Empty), most of the acoustic breaks and intros are good. I usually like it when a the acoustic parts show the same structure as the rest, and the same good riffs and melodies. A good album: 70/100. (this may change as it gets to work on me)

By the way, I like the bass-sound too, but the rest of the production is not very good...

Nah.... I didnt like this.....

too much being around the bush right? at least that is my problem... + the sound is too commercial...

Now I've only heard samples of this and they really didnt move me one way or another. But your right, maybe this one would be more interesting with different kind of production. Or worse, hard to say.

I am a huge Windir fan, like you Alex.. you bet I will be picking this one up!

In fact I am ordering it right now..

I haven't heard Vreid, but from what I read in the review the production must be similar to Windir's Likferd and that isn't something I like very much. I'm of the idea that the modern production isn't very fitting for albums like Windir's Likferd because the guiatars could have created a great atmosphere with a more fitting tone and in general a better (raw) production. Also the keyboards sound very sharp and modern, I would have changed that. If Likferd had a more fitting (raw) production I would have liked it a lot more, I just don't love the way the guitars and the keyboards sound on the album, they sound very... sharp and modern.

Ow yes, and with not very good i mean ofcourse unfitting, thus too good. raw would have been better... :twisted:

Gast, Deathkvlt - you guys have to explain this to me. I am sure you will agree with that Valfar was great for black metal and produced great black metal. I have all Windir albums - from Soknardalr to Arntor to 1184 to Likferd. If raw production was so great then why woudl the mastermind and a talented composer/musician/producer constantly from album to album moving the production to become more and more modern? Is it something he didn't get that you guys understand, 'cause I for the life of me don't understand why raw means good. Valefor tried to explain to me invoking elitism, etc. but I still believe 1184 and Likferd sounded way better than Soknardalr and Arntor - no discussion about quality of riffs, music, melodies, etc.
Let's just take Tsjuder which didn't , by the way, get enough discussion. Production was frozen, but not raw and bassless on that as well, and I liked the sound. If that was lo-fi it would be unlistenable to me probably. Otherwise, the guitars are sharp and cut like a knife.
ANother case in point, Immortal. Per your saying you guys shoudl like SoND much less than Blizzard Beasts or Pure Holocaust.
Daniel, you mention your love of Dimmu's PEM so many times. I can hardly name another BM album that would have been so overproduced, yet you like it. So, it seems to me more of the issue "I like the music" not "I hate the production".
OK, I have said enough, educate me. Without going for a classic early Darkthrone or Ulver, I have it and I like it, name me a young black metal band, a couple of albums strong or so that does the raw production you consider a staple.

We do. SoND was a joke.

Now lo-fi doesn't mean low end production, high end production with loads of treble (especially in the guitars and vocals) is a good thing as well. Here is a list of albums:

Mystic Forest - Green Hell
Eikenkaden - The Black Laments Symphony
Eternal Majesty - None Shall Escape The Wrath
Noenum - Black Esoteric Evangelium
Baptism - Wisdom & Hate
Nachtmystium - Demise
Vlad Tepes - March To The Black Holocaust
Taake - Nattestid
Horna - Talismaani

I could go on like forever with this (Moonblood, Mütiilation etc. etc.) but this should do. I wrote some little descpriptions for the first three bands in the BM recommendations thread.

Here is a sample of the first album:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mysticforest/mysticforest/MysticForest-LegendOfTheGlade.mp3

Dear Alex,

First of all, it is important for you (and everyone) to understand that raw doesn't equal good or bad; raw production in an album is something extremely subjective. Instead of thinking of raw production as something good or bad, I think of it as fitting or non fitting; there are certain albums in which raw production is more fitting, and there are other albums in which crystal clear production is more fitting; I don't want people to believe I'm one of those cunts that won't listen to an album unless it's raw as fuck (I mean, I like Dimmu Borgir's PEM).

The Black Metal with a more modern twist to it sounds better with "good" production, for example: Imagine Satyricon's Rebel Extravaganza with raw production, that simply wouldn't work. Also think of the album you mentioned: Dimmu Borgir's Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropy, it is quite possibly one of the most overproduced albums in Metal history, but it fits the music quite well because Dimmu Borgir's music lacks that "arcaic" feeling that is very pressent in many Black Metal bands, one of them being Windir. PEM is modern Symphonic Extreme Metal that could be considered Black, and in which a clear production works really good because it has a very modern approach to it.

Now think the other way around, what would Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger be with crystal clear production? Nothing, absolutely nothing; Black Metal is the genre which most relys on production in order to enhance the music by creating a deeper atmosphere. In my opinion Windir's Likferd would be a lot better with raw production because: a) It has a lot of potential to create some great atmospheres and engulfing music if it only had a more fitting production, that made it sound more "far away". b) The music has a very "arcaic" feeling, thing that I like, but that I feel is contradicted and reduced by the production.

Anyway, Valfar (RIP) was without a doubt an excellent Black Metal artist, and I respect and honour his work. Now, that doesn't mean he couldn't slip once in a while, evryone does, it's like saying that because Schaffer from Iced Earth is a genius (he is considered as one by many people), he will never do a mistake, and let me tell you that I do consider The Glorious Burden a mistake. I don't know what Valfar was trying to do, and I'm sure he had a reason for it, but I just didn't like how Likferd turned out with the production it has. Just my 2 cents.

Also, I'm not bothered by Immortal's SoND and I actually like the album (and its production) quite a lot, but two things are sure: it isn't Black Metal and I would take Pure Holocaust before SoND any day.

So bottomline is that raw producton isn't good or bad, it's just that sometimes it fits the music, and sometimes it doesn't.

Gast, Daniel

I feel like I am talking to both of you at the same time, so there goes.
I understand your points of view perfectly. "Raw doesn't mean good, but but raw is good when it is fitting" - I understand it and I agree with it.
Here is where my original problem lied. One of you and I am too lazy to go back and search for the exact quote said "I don't like this BECAUSE of its production". Don't you think it contradicts what you said above? That you prejudged this album on the basis of how it is produced, not whether its production is fitting to the music. 'Cause let me tell you, don't know how much of this you have listened to, that it ain't "archaic" BM, but a more modern, and I agree with Gast, commercial, variety. So, modern production should be fitting then, right, Daniel? If you don't like modern commercial BM period you shouldn't be liking this, I understand, but if you like DImmu and its production with all its modernity, then modern nature of Kraft shoudl not stop you. OK, enough here.
Why Valfar (RIP) decided to be more modern on Likferd than before I don't know. I think the prod fits and the album sounds great, but it is just IMO.
SoND - a joke? I can line up 100 people who woudl disagree with this statement. GAst, you could probably line me up another 100 who woudl support your opinion, but don't you think calling it a joke you are taking it way too far. So, yes, "it is not BM" - quote Daniel, but the riffs on that album are MONSTROUS. It might be best riff work Abbath has ever turned out. Yeah it is slower, but if the riffs are so outstanding how can you call it a joke? Flimsy? Just because it is not "pure" BM? Give me a break.
I guess it boils down to what music we love. I love BM with modern edge, with melody, with death metal tinge, with clean production. You guys like more obscure, archaic atmoshpere, withdrawn sound. You call my style way too commercial for your liking, I call yours way too ineligible to decipher. And then we start making excuses for why we don't like the other side. Opinions, opinions, opinions ...

I thought the production wasn't fitting for this album, because it indeed has atmospheric potential. I didn't say I don't like it becuase of its production, I said I didn't like it, and I didn't like the production, which means I don't think it's fitting. I have the same problem with most commercial black metal (I like PEM as well) as you probably have with a lot of nu-metal bands: the need for money is spoiling the music, so calling this stupid would be more or less hypocritical, since I just take it into a more extreme form. I thought SoND a joke, because it is meant to me black metal, and not norsecore. This album was all about accessibility in stead of black metal. Maybe it's good for norsecore, but it's everything black metal is. The fact that I didn't like it was also due to the lack of good melodies. In black metal, melodies actually take a stronger place than in the mainstream black metal bands, with the exception of the groovy and more brutal bands ofcourse, last I rarely listen to. Did you download that song?

norsecore ? what the hell is that again ?... every time I think I'm back on the tracks you push me out ! :roll:

now plaing : Jon Oliva's Pain (not bad but nos as good as I expected)

EDIT :

in fact, I'd be very interested if you could list all BM styles existing and a few good albums for each genre... can you do that ?

Download what song? I don't understand the question.

Cool moments on SoND: drumming on In My Kingdom Cold, One by One and Demonium, monolitic Tyrants (probably my favorite song on the album), the end of Beyond the North Waves (no melody there, c'mon), melodic chorus on In My Kingdom Cold, choatic riffing on the opening of One by One, blasting aorund the 5 min mark on Within the Dark Mind, the closer Beyond the North Waves is an epic anthem.
Is norsecore the term you just invented, or is it "official"? Who else belongs in there? Everybody formerly BM who decides to make an accessible album?

I get it about Vreid. You weren't excited about the music or the prod either. The album is defintely accessible and production deifnitely makes it sound modern.

BTW, I think BM has the best melodies, most despondent and desperate, yet sometimes so triumphant.

this song :
Here is a sample of the first album:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mysticforest/my ... eGlade.mp3

focus, man, focus !

Norsecore is an official term, it's supposed to be commercial music dissguised as Black Metal (EG Dimmu Borgir).




I think Black Metal has the best everything..... anyway, you're right, Black Metal has the most melancholic, beautiful riffs and it can also be very violent and hate filled, or sometimes hypnotic and depressive, or sometimes deep and engulfing, or sometimes triumphant and epic.

Black Metal has it ALL 8) .

Black Metal is the best thing in this world; I don't now any art that (or anything) that is as passionate and honest (most of the times) as Black Metal.

:twisted: To quote Nargaroth: "I'm possesed by Black fucking Metal!!!!" :twisted: