Abigor - Kingdom of Darkness

Frostbitten guitars, raspy harsh screams and appropriate blasts. I dig it.

Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon

30 years old this past week - just getting to playing it now... this album is really like the pure essence of what BM is. Raw, insane ritualistic chaos...

Arcturus - Master of Disguise

Pure insanity. I love it.

I get what you mean when you say "charm". The situation is similar with Darkthrone or the very self-aware prog rock band The Tangent (always humorous, paying tribute to classic bands that influenced them, writing various songs about progressive rock and so on). They do whatever they want to do, and you either like it or you don't, but, personally, I go for doom metal for its serious tone and a crushing atmosphere. For me, doom metal without that tone is like thrash without aggression: the defining aspect is missing. If it's missing, I don't get drawn into that world but stay outside, and long, slow, repetitive songs between eight and nearly 30 minutes can become tedious if you're not involved…

Now playing: The first part in the series "Listening to King Diamond's offspring":

Attic – The Invocation
Attic – Sanctimonious

On "The Invocation" the singer does a good job at impersonating the King but everything else is rather nondescript and stylistically not even that similar to King Diamond or Mercyful Fate but more contemporary with more speed and fewer neoclassical and progressive elements (6/10). The songwriting on "Sanctimonious" is much better and more varied, to the extent that even the album as a whole has a solid suspense curve climaxing two times: at the end of the first half and at the end of the second (8/10). Recommended!

Savatage: Streets: A Rock Opera

One of those albums that has clearly gotten better through numerous listens. Savatage especially tends to do that. Great, diverse band. This album has good balance between heavy metal and calmer moments.

Iron Maiden Sea of madness

A fan of that superb song

Sabbat - Dreamweaver

I love thrash that had an actual sense of ambition and scope - this is wildly complex stuff and the amount of things going on all the time makes it such a unique work. Lyrically brilliant, too.

Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

Haven't played this in a while - just great twists and turns all over, captivating, pulsating songwriting that never goes the easy route. Brilliant lyrics as well.

Insania - Life After Life

This stuff doesn't really hold up like it did when I was 16 - the riffs and songwriting are pretty middle of the road - but there's still an appeal to the bright candified catchiness... an energy to it for sure.

Jag Panzer - The Hallowed

Growing on me, it feels like one of those albums that gets better with time, as you familiarize yourself more and more with it thanks to how anthemic it is.

Vothana - Chôn Cất Theo Nghi Lễ Quân Đội

Great and epic!

Just finished:
Baptism - Morbid Wings of Sathanas

Nothing fancy but they keep it interesting with a variety of riffs.

NP:

Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

Just amazing stuff. So varied and captivating. Beautiful at times.

Heavy Load - Riders of the Ancient Storm

Sounds killer. Just endless cool riffs and jams.

Signum Regis - Undivided

Their best work, the song writing, structure and flow on this album are perfect. This new singer Jota Fortinho is their best vocalist yet and he sounds better on this album than the last.

Thorium - Extraordinary Adventures Part 1

Energetic power metal with bells and whistles but not overblown. A cool album.

Soledriver - Return me to the Light

Journey style with Matthew Sweet.

At The Gates - Gardens of Grief demo

Well, that was a superb demo tape, simply tasty little charm!

Depeche Mode Never let me down

Live 101

Epic

Asphyx - Last One on Earth

Love the tone and atmosphere on this one. Absolutely krushing.

Pharaoh - After the Fire

This has been my least played of all their albums, but even on this one you can see they were bound to be just a great fucking band, all the elements were already so pro and polished.

Uriah Heep - 'Chaos & Colour"
One of my fav albums of '23. This band's last 20 years' output has been nearly as good as their classic early 70s material.

Living the Dream and said album are both killer. Just got to wonder how they can be this great so late in their career. There are not many who can do that.

Ulthar - Anthronomicon

Both the albums they released this year are great but I give this one the slight edge.

Suffocation - Hymns From the Aprocrypha

What a stellar entry into Suffo's discography, all the more impressive given how long they've been around. It's very rare for a classic band to still be releasing music this damn good. Nice chunky riffs, memorable songwriting and great performances from the entire band. Brutal as fuck too.

Heavy Load - Singing Swords

Starting to make sense of them. A weird old relic that has become timeless. Strong fuckin riffs.

This was probably a tie with Saturday Night for my favorite song from Stronger Than Evil. I always thought that it was so cool that Phil Lynott played bass on a Heavy Load song.

I've only played it twice now but I can dig it. They sort of just exist in their own little weird space and were doing what they wanted. The new album is so good that I'm actually really interested to go back and play the old ones more. I did like them before but that new one - fuck, so great. It is cool Phil did some stuff with them.

Immolation- The Distorting Light

I just know for a fact that Vigna is constantly doing his guitar swings when I'm listening to this lmao, great stuff.

Visions of Atlantis - Melancholy Angel

It seems they're recording a new album. "Pirates" was a hell of a good time - if the next one's as fun as this one, I'm down.

Death - Evil Dead

SBG is on massive repeat these days, can't get enough of that fat noisy buzzsaw sound!

"Listening to King Diamond's offspring, Parts 2, 3 and 4":

In Solitude – In Solitude
In Solitude – The World, the Flesh, the Devil
In Solitude – Sister

Despite other influences (NWOBHM), the closest comparison is (early, demo stage) Mercyful Fate. After two solid albums they completely abandoned that style on the goth rock / death rock-influenced "Sister", which accommodated the singer's limited range. A perfect fit and, in my view, their best record.

Candle – The Keeper's Secret

Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, US power metal in the vein of Helstar etc. Solid instrumental work, good riffs e.g. in "Dancing Lights" (Savatage vibe?) and "Vengeance". Cons: The horror concept story (murdered guy tries to cope with his new existence as a ghost) is a bit too simple, and most of the vocal lines are far-fetched and the opposite of catchy. Mostly mediocre (5-6/10) with a few short highs (7-8/10).

Dark Night – Son of the Moon
Dark Night – The House of Horror

Brazilian attempt at a carbon copy of King Diamond's solo existence (at times utilising the same melodies already used by the King), presumably recorded a) in the kitchen, b) in the staircase, c) on the loo, depending on the part of the song. These guys have ten albums under their belts and enough passion and talent to write the kind of King Diamond album you could play as a party joke but, sadly, the amateurish mixing / mastering / production jobs seem to range between passable and abysmal. They were added to the Archives more than ten years ago but there are still no reviews. I wonder why.

Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

Absolute doom classic. Love everything about this album, great stuff.

"Listening to King Diamond's offspring, Part 5":

A Tortured Soul – On this Evil Night

They use Mercyful Fate as a starting point but when they take off you can hear all sorts of influences from US pm, prog metal and even thrash (some loose associations I had: Meliah Rage, Sanctuary, Nasty Savage, Psychotic Waltz for two seconds, Crimson Glory for one and a half seconds, Sacred Reich for one second and so on). Everything here is pretty rough but epic and technical at the same time, and when it rocks, it rocks like no tomorrow, especially the fanciful lead work. Let me repeat that: the fanciful lead work! Is simply a joy to listen to. The singer may be a bit monotonous and an acquired taste (a mixture of Butch Balich and Phil Rind) but most vocalists who leave a lasting impression are difficult. A modern underground gem. 8.5/10

Smoulder - Path of Witchery

It's really something how intense this is. The guitars are so intricate and even folky at times, but they hit hard, and the rhythms from the drums are just a fucking relentless barrage. Just no holds fucking barred. A hugely bad ass album.

The Swedish bands at the time were kind of like that, Overdrive "Swords and Axes", Proud "Fire Breaks the Dawn" and Gotham City "The Unknown" all have that feel to me.

Threshold - Critical Mass

Such a solid band. Every album is a whole experience.

Purtenance To Rot with us

Another solid album by legend band from Finland….

"Listening to King Diamond's offspring, Part 6":

King Diamond Projekt – The Family Photo

A fan fiction sequel to the low-to-no budget story told on "Them" and "Conspiracy". Songs, instrumentals, field recordings, there's even a piano in there somewhere – quite ambitious for a (homerecorded?) fun project. It works, for the most part, but I think the falsettos are weak. I hope King doesn't mind that THEY…, err, that they even copied the artwork.

Heavy Load - We Rock the World

A slow, groovy song. Rocks like hell.

"Listening to King Diamond's offspring, Parts 7 and 8":

Them – Sweet Hollow

While King Diamond is rooted in the NWOBHM, this is contemporary, polished, accessible, theatrical and full of overblown metal opera tropes like a King Diamond album written by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's neighbour (who's a fan of post-groove metal thrash). Not for me though.

Evil – Book of Evil

Listening to this because of Mercyful Fate's "Similar Artists" tab but, apart from the band name and the fact that they're Danish "legends", there aren't many similarities. Nevertheless, it's a good, if inconsistent, album, classic heavy metal with power metal elements and a modern bluesy streak that runs through the songs like on an album by Jorn or Black Label Society or Richie Faulkner's Elegant Weapons. Highlight: the re-recorded title track of their '84 EP "Evil's Message".

Trouble - Psalm 9
Scanner - Hypertrace

Trouble is almost a clinic for how to write metal. What a stunning, thundering work - guitars just slam the fuck out of you while the vocals are this sort of otherworldly incantation...

Scanner, man, it's been a long time since I played this. Really good. The melodicism and catchy choruses help enhance the coked out speed and energy - just the best of both worlds.

Thanatos - Undead. Unholy. Divine.
Thanatos - Angelic Encounters

Thanatos are without doubt one of the best death/thrash bands to grace my ears. Awesome riffs, sick vocals and top notch songwriting that never gets boring.

Falconer - Stand in Veneration

How dare they break up? Rude.
One of the coolest PM bands.

Cirith Ungol - Sailor on the Seas of Fate

Love this album. It may be better than Forever Black but its close. Elric themed songs always appeal to me.