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HeavenDuff
Metal freak

Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:35 pm
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Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:15 am 
 

Gravetemplar wrote:
Honest question to all, do you watch movies 10 times before deciding if you like them or not?


Of course. And if you pause it or look away from the screen once during the movie, it doesn't count as a play because you didn't watch the movie properly.

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APaleShadow
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2020 5:29 am
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 1:21 pm 
 

Velzath wrote:
APaleShadow wrote:
HOLD THE FUCK UP, we were allowed to vote for Old Nick's A New Generation of Vampiric Conspiracies? B-b-b-but it a remake compilation!


I had no idea this was the case. Just went and looked it up. It's true that some of the songs are remakes, but more than half are new material. Calling it a remake compilation is a stretch. Loads of bands remake songs from EPs and demos to put on full-lengths.


Ahh, well I prefer to play things safe and opted for the EP(s). Vampiric Conspiracies is definitely the top release from me them since it's basically a grab bag of their greatest material plus some new stuff.

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Gravetemplar
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 2:22 pm 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
Gravetemplar wrote:
Honest question to all, do you watch movies 10 times before deciding if you like them or not?


Of course. And if you pause it or look away from the screen once during the movie, it doesn't count as a play because you didn't watch the movie properly.

This is the way.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 6:38 am
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 2:29 pm 
 

LOL
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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 2:37 pm 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
Gravetemplar wrote:
Honest question to all, do you watch movies 10 times before deciding if you like them or not?


Of course. And if you pause it or look away from the screen once during the movie, it doesn't count as a play because you didn't watch the movie properly.


Both views are obviously at the extremes, but I do think there is something to be said about paying more attention during listening sessions. I don't know how to solve it, because I'm as if not more guilty of it as anyone else. But I do suspect that lots of people do quite a bit of their listening while doing other things, whether driving, house maintenance, surfing the internet, posting here (doh!), etc. There's probably a broader extratopical conversation about how busy and fragmented our lives can be in the perceived desire to multitask and be more productive and such. But something is lost when you're not actively paying attention, and the music is more of a soundtrack to other activities. I don't think the answer is to not listen to music if you're not 100% focused on it, but I do think at the margins trying to listen more actively when possible is a good idea to glean more value from listening. Watching music videos for songs or live performances can be a good intermediate stage, and I've done more of that in the last few years than I used to. It's also part of the joy of vinyl, where there's greater aesthetic pleasure from holding and looking at artwork, liner notes, and the platter spinning than there is for smaller CD/cassette/digital art.

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Lagartija
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:27 am
Posts: 2042
Location: Catalunya
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:15 pm 
 

Does anyone have a link to last year's results? I just listened to Cirith Ungol's 'Forever black' and I'd be interested to see if it made it on there, I think it's a phenomenal album.

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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 5:00 pm 
 

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=130205

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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
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Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:49 pm 
 

Lagartija wrote:
Does anyone have a link to last year's results? I just listened to Cirith Ungol's 'Forever black' and I'd be interested to see if it made it on there, I think it's a phenomenal album.


The bottom of the OP actually contains the top ten of all previous years we've done along with links to those respective threads in the Hall of Fame spoiler. It can actually be really fun going back to look at the old threads to see which albums scored highly but have since fallen into irrelevance. Also just how few votes we used to get compared to nowadays!
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HeavenDuff
Metal freak

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 6:55 pm 
 

LithoJazzoSphere wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
Gravetemplar wrote:
Honest question to all, do you watch movies 10 times before deciding if you like them or not?


Of course. And if you pause it or look away from the screen once during the movie, it doesn't count as a play because you didn't watch the movie properly.


Both views are obviously at the extremes, but I do think there is something to be said about paying more attention during listening sessions. I don't know how to solve it, because I'm as if not more guilty of it as anyone else. But I do suspect that lots of people do quite a bit of their listening while doing other things, whether driving, house maintenance, surfing the internet, posting here (doh!), etc. There's probably a broader extratopical conversation about how busy and fragmented our lives can be in the perceived desire to multitask and be more productive and such. But something is lost when you're not actively paying attention, and the music is more of a soundtrack to other activities. I don't think the answer is to not listen to music if you're not 100% focused on it, but I do think at the margins trying to listen more actively when possible is a good idea to glean more value from listening. Watching music videos for songs or live performances can be a good intermediate stage, and I've done more of that in the last few years than I used to. It's also part of the joy of vinyl, where there's greater aesthetic pleasure from holding and looking at artwork, liner notes, and the platter spinning than there is for smaller CD/cassette/digital art.


I was poking fun at the most extreme answers I've read so far, as one of the guys was basically saying that if you do anything at all at the same time you're listening to an album, you're not doing it right and you're obviously not absorbing it right and can't possibly claim to fully appreciate the record afterward.

I also do think that there are better ways and worse ways to listen to an album. Obviously if you listen to something as background noise while talking with friends during the whole thing, you're not appreciating it and really immersing in it enough to pretend to have really fully appreciated the album.

So while I don't think there is only one way to properly listen to music, it doesn't mean that I don't think there are better and worse ways to listen to music. However, I do know that, having ADHD myself, it's harder for me to just sit there listening to music and not do something else at the same time. There is a range of things I do, of course, and my attention might be more or less splitted between things depending on the activity I am doing while listening to music. Like right now, I'm revisiting Cynic's demos, while I'm writing this post, and I know for a fact that my attention is actually on both things, and I don't need to focus more on the music to appreciate it, as I've already listened to it quite a few times before. If I feel that I need to be more focused on the music, what I will do is play a puzzle game on my phone lying in bed with the music playing, or do a Rubik's cube a few times while focusing my attention on the music as my hands basically know all the algorythms of the cube anyway. Sometimes I will also cook at the same time, or play turn by turn games like Civilization 6. I'm a bit like kids playing with fidgets, it actually helps me to listen to the music better to have something to do with my hands while I'm listening to the music.

I really like your example of watching a live show on your laptop to have a different appreciation of the music. I personnally like to watch it on the TV as I tend to be better able to focus on just wathing the screen and listening to the music that way. I actually bought tickets to Leprous online live performance of Bilateral last year, and it was a very enjoyable experience.

Talking about live shows also makes me think of attending like shows, mosh pits, dancing, singing along with friends or other fans, etc., and this make me think about the range of different ways to appreciate music, and I can't help but think that putting on a pedestal the good, proper, almost scholarly and intellectual way of listening to music that is sitting alone, listening to it with complete focus and attention to every single detail, is taking away the fun, more social and unifying aspects of music. As much as it is important to listen to music and fully immerse into it, I found out that one of the most fulfilling ways to listen to music like Gojira was during live sets, appreciating the almost machine like precision of every musician, the stage presence of the band, and exhausting myself in the pit, and sharing one of the greatest feeling of "camaraderie" with fellow metalheads. There is something to be said about being able to appreciate music in different contexts that I find equally valid.

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CannibalCorpse
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:55 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:16 am 
 

Lagartija wrote:
I just listened to Cirith Ungol's 'Forever black' and I'd be interested to see if it made it on there, I think it's a phenomenal album.


Just another statement that solidifies my stance that 2020 had much stronger highlights than this past year.

I feel like we had a good year in terms of quality stuff overall, but I could not find a single album deserving of a 90+ rating.
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Lagartija
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:27 am
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:22 pm 
 

Thanks for the link and the info on where to find last year's list guys! :thumbsup:
Ah yes, Havukruunu, Eternal Champion, Cirith and Vader. Great stuff.

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vernichtung
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:28 am
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:33 am 
 

Can someone who has held Spectral Wound in high regard please explain what have they found particularly enthralling in the latest SW release, compared to e.g. Finnish black? I've heard people saying that it's second wave worship done right. In this very thread, someone referred to latest SW as meat and potatoes black. I don't get it, as silly as that may sound to you. What's so enjoyable about SW, in the aforementioned context of the slew of 2021 Finnish releases? Pick your poison: Kirottu, Malum, Vritrahn-Werwolf, Warmoon Lord, Marras, Helwetti, Korpituli, Deceiver Legion, Chamber of Unlight. Aran, Förgjord, Morgal, Olio Tähtien Takana, Sacrificium Carmen. Warloghe. Does none of them hit the right spot for you, in the way that Spectral Wound does? Personally, I think that people looking for contemporary second wave output should look no further than Finland.

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Dungeon_Vic
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:00 am
Posts: 1576
Location: Greece
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:58 am 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
I was poking fun at the most extreme answers I've read so far, as one of the guys was basically saying that if you do anything at all at the same time you're listening to an album, you're not doing it right and you're obviously not absorbing it right and can't possibly claim to fully appreciate the record afterward.


I hope this does not refer to me, because that's not what I said, it's like a hyperbolic caricature representation at best.

Plus, everyone keeps ignoring the main point that a. you cannot possibly digest more than say, 150 (200? OK, let's say 300 for the dedicated) new albums of music, not *really* b. getting the album immediately is very possible. It's the other way around that concerns me. "It's OK", on to the next one, I don't have all day, I know what I like and there are 500 albums out there that I just have to listen. After all the discussion, I think the main problem is this desire to "not miss out"... similar to the social media research findings.

In any case, I am actually quite impressed with the movie analogy. Not only movies and music are very, very different arts and comparing their consumption baffles me, [the visual element is the main difference not even going at the obvious factor that humans are visual beings] but I would love to meet the people who text, talk and play games while watching a fucking movie, so I can tell them they are not watching it properly either. Also, yeah, there are some movies, not Marvel obviously, that I needed to rewatch (Lynch is one example, Tarkovsky another) and I had a different reaction.

This would have made a proper thread, it's a shame that it has been buried amongst the AOTY discussion (and hijacking it too, so apologies for starting all that).
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Jiggleslinky
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:22 am
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:03 am 
 

Cool list, I always forget to branch out and end up listening to the same stuff all year but here are the albums I've had on repeat in 2021 in no particular order:

Insania - V (198) - Great return from this band. Nothing crazy just solid power metal all the way through. Last Hymn to Life is a fantastic track.
Helloween - s/t (7) - Production was... off but otherwise they knocked this one out of the park. Skyfall was my favorite track, loved all 3 vocalists.
Archspire - Bleed the Future (8) - Not as good as Relentless Mutation but still slaps. More of the same, which is always great to me.
Pharaoh - The Powers that Be (9) - That first track blows me away. Pharaoh has been a band that I've grown fond of over time after not thinking much initially.
First Fragment - Gloire Eternelle (48) - Most anticipated album this year and did not disappoint. Absolutely insane compositions. Phil Tougas is a force of nature at this point.
Demiser - Through the Gate Eternal (89) - Saw these guys live at my local venue and fell in love. Really great show and some great music.
Eternity's End - Embers of War (63) - Also not as good as the previous release but that's a hard bar to reach. Another great fun power metal album. Wish DragonForce still made music like this.
Illusion Force - Illusion Paradise (rando) - Catchy JP power metal from an up and coming band
403 - Heroes Part 2 (rando) - I remember when this band was a meme. They've come a long way. This album is fantastic. And that re-recorded version of Southern Cross is *chef's kiss* amazing.
PrimalFrost - Lost Elegies (rando) - Well it was released on Dec. 28th so it wasn't eligible for the list but I was anticipating this as I've been following this project for a long time. Dean Arnold continues to impress with his guitar work.

Special shoutout to Persuader - Necromancy, released at the end of 2020. Lost count of how many times I've repeated the intro riff to Reign in Darkness and the riff at 3:40 in Scars.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:06 am 
 

Jiggleslinky wrote:
Cool list, I always forget to branch out and end up listening to the same stuff all year but here are the albums I've had on repeat in 2021 in no particular order:

Insania - V (198) - Great return from this band. Nothing crazy just solid power metal all the way through. Last Hymn to Life is a fantastic track.


What? Damn - completely missed that. I always liked them.
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Jiggleslinky
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:22 am
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:38 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Jiggleslinky wrote:
Cool list, I always forget to branch out and end up listening to the same stuff all year but here are the albums I've had on repeat in 2021 in no particular order:

Insania - V (198) - Great return from this band. Nothing crazy just solid power metal all the way through. Last Hymn to Life is a fantastic track.


What? Damn - completely missed that. I always liked them.


Yeah I was surprised it wasn't on your list because I know in the past you've been a huge advocate for them. Check it out, it's good!

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:48 am 
 

They didn't really age very well for me but they still are pretty fun. I'll have to do that later.
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Lagartija
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:53 am 
 

vernichtung wrote:
Spectral Wound.

I'm a huge fan of Finnish black metal and dig pretty much everything I hear from there, but apart from the fact that I don't actually know half the bands you list (I've made a note to remedy this straight away), the new SW album really resonates with me in every sense: riffs, atmosphere, vocals, 'rockier' parts here and there that break up the flow... It doesn't have any weak points for me and I find myself drawn to it very regularly.
Another one of my favourite BM albums this year, Gorgon's 'Traditio Satanae' is let down by occasional subpar riffs and awkward transitions (but when it works they fucking nail it), but the SW record just flows perfectly through its entire duration.
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Jiggleslinky
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:56 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
They didn't really age very well for me but they still are pretty fun. I'll have to do that later.


Haha I feel that. I found them relatively early in my metal listening career so I definitely had more than a few moments of "oh so that's where they got that from" listening to older, more influential records.

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HeavenDuff
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Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:35 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 12:11 pm 
 

vernichtung wrote:
Can someone who has held Spectral Wound in high regard please explain what have they found particularly enthralling in the latest SW release, compared to e.g. Finnish black? I've heard people saying that it's second wave worship done right. In this very thread, someone referred to latest SW as meat and potatoes black. I don't get it, as silly as that may sound to you. What's so enjoyable about SW, in the aforementioned context of the slew of 2021 Finnish releases? Pick your poison: Kirottu, Malum, Vritrahn-Werwolf, Warmoon Lord, Marras, Helwetti, Korpituli, Deceiver Legion, Chamber of Unlight. Aran, Förgjord, Morgal, Olio Tähtien Takana, Sacrificium Carmen. Warloghe. Does none of them hit the right spot for you, in the way that Spectral Wound does? Personally, I think that people looking for contemporary second wave output should look no further than Finland.


It's hard to convince someone to like something more then they did. When people call Spectral Wound's newest meat and potatoes black metal, I find it's a very fitting description. It's not flashy, avant-garde, experimental or anything, it's just a very good, well-crafted black metal album that covers all the basis. It has solid riffing, high energy and checks all the boxes for me, and obviously for quite a few others. It takes a good chunk of it's influence from Finnish black metal, yes, but also has memorable ear-worm type riffing à la Mgla or Forteresse, and delivers the goods in a great, old fashioned black metal way.

But I mean, it might not work for you, like I'm not really getting in on the hype surrounding the newest album by The Ruins of Beverast, but I can see why people like it.

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
I was poking fun at the most extreme answers I've read so far, as one of the guys was basically saying that if you do anything at all at the same time you're listening to an album, you're not doing it right and you're obviously not absorbing it right and can't possibly claim to fully appreciate the record afterward.


I hope this does not refer to me, because that's not what I said, it's like a hyperbolic caricature representation at best.

Plus, everyone keeps ignoring the main point that a. you cannot possibly digest more than say, 150 (200? OK, let's say 300 for the dedicated) new albums of music, not *really* b. getting the album immediately is very possible. It's the other way around that concerns me. "It's OK", on to the next one, I don't have all day, I know what I like and there are 500 albums out there that I just have to listen. After all the discussion, I think the main problem is this desire to "not miss out"... similar to the social media research findings.

In any case, I am actually quite impressed with the movie analogy. Not only movies and music are very, very different arts and comparing their consumption baffles me, [the visual element is the main difference not even going at the obvious factor that humans are visual beings] but I would love to meet the people who text, talk and play games while watching a fucking movie, so I can tell them they are not watching it properly either. Also, yeah, there are some movies, not Marvel obviously, that I needed to rewatch (Lynch is one example, Tarkovsky another) and I had a different reaction.

This would have made a proper thread, it's a shame that it has been buried amongst the AOTY discussion (and hijacking it too, so apologies for starting all that).


I do not remember exactly who said what, and I really don't mind as I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone, just throwing my hat in on the whole "proper way" to listen to music discussion.

And I agree with you that I find it hard to believe that someone can listen to so many new albums in a year and really be able to "digest" them all properly. I know that at some point it becomes almost obsessive for some to listen to as many new albums as possible, and I can't imagine myself doing that, as I know I wouldn't be able to properly appreciate that much new music. I also tend to focus my attention more when listening to new music as I want to make sure I'm really taking it all in properly.

I actually liked the movie analogy, it gave me a good laugh. Obviously music and cinema are two different art forms, and of course if someone is on their phone during an entire movie, I'd argue they aren't watching the movie properly. I still stand by what I said earlier though. Anyone telling me I can't appreciate music properly if I'm doing something else at the same time is ultimately wrong and doesn't understand that there are many different good ways to listen to music. I'm not saying all of them are as good, or that there aren't bad ways to listen to music, at least if you're trying to have a comprehensive, more thorough listening.

I don't think this is a bad thread to talk about it either. The pace has been a bit slower in here for the last few days, and talking about how we listen to music to make end year lists seems like a fitting discussion to have in poll thread.

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Wilytank
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 12:14 pm 
 

Spectral Wound might be "meat and potatoes" black metal, but that's a weird argument to make when you go on to list a bunch of other Sargeist and Satanic Warmaster clones.

Spectral Wound at least has the advantage of not being signed to Werewolf Records.
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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:43 pm 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
Plus, everyone keeps ignoring the main point that a. you cannot possibly digest more than say, 150 (200? OK, let's say 300 for the dedicated) new albums of music, not *really* b. getting the album immediately is very possible. It's the other way around that concerns me. "It's OK", on to the next one, I don't have all day, I know what I like and there are 500 albums out there that I just have to listen.


I don't think those of us who listen to lots of new music are saying we've even come close to digesting all of those albums after a single listen. It's more of a "search broadly to listen deeply" strategy. I try and have a wide radar so that I can give myself a better chance of finding gems that I might otherwise overlook or never have even heard of. But once something catches my attention, I make note of it and then spend a lot more time with it later. Not even necessarily that year, there's no rule that you have to stop listening to it when it's no longer "new." A lot of my current favorite music took a lot of meandering to stumble upon, and wouldn't have happened if I'd only stuck to what I already knew. Everyone has a different level of calibration, and even individually it's a constant vacillation between periods of exploration, familiarization, and reminiscence.

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
After all the discussion, I think the main problem is this desire to "not miss out"... similar to the social media research findings.


While I think this is certainly true to an extent, I don't believe it's necessarily completely negative if you can keep it reined in. Part of the driving force for me starting to post more again on forums like this one a month into the pandemic is that I realized that music discovery and analysis had been more of a solo endeavor for the prior decade. That had its own charms and advantages, but I kind of missed the communal aspect and getting feedback on ideas. We're social beings, and even those of us like myself who are pretty introverted can't completely go without it. Also, the FOMO idea is hardly unique to social media. I remember one of my early epiphanies that has stuck with me over the decades was the notion that there was music out there that I'd never heard before, but that I'd like more than anything else I'd already heard so far. This concept has catalyzed music exploration since then, but I was probably 13 or so when I had it, and the internet was still in its infancy then, and I had barely used it at that point.

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Gravetemplar
Metal freak

Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:08 am
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:41 pm 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
I was poking fun at the most extreme answers I've read so far, as one of the guys was basically saying that if you do anything at all at the same time you're listening to an album, you're not doing it right and you're obviously not absorbing it right and can't possibly claim to fully appreciate the record afterward.


I hope this does not refer to me, because that's not what I said, it's like a hyperbolic caricature representation at best.

Plus, everyone keeps ignoring the main point that a. you cannot possibly digest more than say, 150 (200? OK, let's say 300 for the dedicated) new albums of music, not *really* b. getting the album immediately is very possible. It's the other way around that concerns me. "It's OK", on to the next one, I don't have all day, I know what I like and there are 500 albums out there that I just have to listen. After all the discussion, I think the main problem is this desire to "not miss out"... similar to the social media research findings.

In any case, I am actually quite impressed with the movie analogy. Not only movies and music are very, very different arts and comparing their consumption baffles me, [the visual element is the main difference not even going at the obvious factor that humans are visual beings] but I would love to meet the people who text, talk and play games while watching a fucking movie, so I can tell them they are not watching it properly either. Also, yeah, there are some movies, not Marvel obviously, that I needed to rewatch (Lynch is one example, Tarkovsky another) and I had a different reaction.

This would have made a proper thread, it's a shame that it has been buried amongst the AOTY discussion (and hijacking it too, so apologies for starting all that).

To be honest, I don't need to rewatch Lost Highway to know it sucks, just once is enough thank you. My point being why force yourself to listen to stuff you disliked more than once?

You are correct the movie analogy isn't a very good one. Films are much more complex than albums so you should need less time with an album to fully appreciate it, yet for some reason people here believe you need to listen to albums 20 times and just rewatch movies once or twice to fully appreciate them. What about the soundtrack? Wouldn't you need to watch a movie at least 20 times just to be able to value the soundtrack?

I'm obviously just bein facetious to point out how little sense it makes this whole "you really need to listen to an album an infinite number times until you know it by heart to appreciate it" side. Different people enjoy art in different ways.

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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:04 pm 
 

As somebody who does listen to hundreds of album yearly, here's how I go about it:

-My first listen is cursory, usually just to figure out if the album is worth absorbing further. A good majority of albums are ones I only listen to once and I'll freely concede that I don't have the best impression as somebody who has ventured deeper

-My second to fourth listens are usually when I'm listening with the specific intent of reviewing something. I'll also listen to whatever else a band has released for proper context and to get a better sense of their sound and overall trajectory.

-Fifth listen onward is stuff that enters what I consider regular rotation. If I'm looking for any new insights at that point, it's just looking for fresh perspectives on something that I already love or revisiting something that I haven't heard in a while for the sake of a listening prompt.

I should also note that I do a majority of my music listening for reviewing purposes while I'm working my desk job and that my "fun listening" tends to be while I'm doing chores, going on a walk, driving somewhere, or laying in bed and don't feel like watching anything on YouTube.
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Curious_dead
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:03 pm 
 

LithoJazzoSphere wrote:

I don't think those of us who listen to lots of new music are saying we've even come close to digesting all of those albums after a single listen. It's more of a "search broadly to listen deeply" strategy. I try and have a wide radar so that I can give myself a better chance of finding gems that I might otherwise overlook or never have even heard of. But once something catches my attention, I make note of it and then spend a lot more time with it later. Not even necessarily that year, there's no rule that you have to stop listening to it when it's no longer "new." A lot of my current favorite music took a lot of meandering to stumble upon, and wouldn't have happened if I'd only stuck to what I already knew. Everyone has a different level of calibration, and even individually it's a constant vacillation between periods of exploration, familiarization, and reminiscence.



How I personally do it is, if I see something that I haven't heard, I put it on a playlist. Then, when I get around to listen to it, either I'll delete it if it's really not my thing, or I'll leave it in the "To listen to" playlist if I feel I didn't give it enough attention or wasn't just in the mood; or I'll place it in one of my discoveries playlist if it immediately grabbed my attention. Around 40-80 albums end up in one of these (and most of these get a regular listen), a few are perenially in the "To listen to" because I haven't revisited them or I am just not convince either way.

Many albums that are deleted are then later listened to again if I see them pop up somewhere, like on this forum, or in a metal magazine, etc.

That's a pretty wide net, I feel, and it worked for me so far. I listen to a mix of albums that immediately caught my attention, and others who just initially got my curiosity, as well as a select few who I started disliking but have given a second chance and have grown to like. My all-time favorite band is something I disliked a lot initially, until it "clicked"' but this is rare.

I could probably listen to fewer albums to "better digest them", but I like finding new stuff, and it's not like I just churn through new material. I don't think I'd derive more enjoyment from music if I listened more intently to the same album multiple times. If I like something, I also tend to moderate it; I've been burned on some albums or bands before because I listent ot them too often.

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ObservationSlave
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:00 pm 
 

Jiggleslinky wrote:
PrimalFrost - Lost Elegies (rando) - Well it was released on Dec. 28th so it wasn't eligible for the list


Any album released in 2021 was eligible for the poll, although it's tough to do well in albums of the year lists when the release date is so late in the year. I held off submitting my top 10 specifically for this album, and I listened to it a couple times each day for the last few days of the year before ultimately deciding to include it in my list.

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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:41 am 
 

ObservationSlave wrote:
Jiggleslinky wrote:
PrimalFrost - Lost Elegies (rando) - Well it was released on Dec. 28th so it wasn't eligible for the list


Any album released in 2021 was eligible for the poll, although it's tough to do well in albums of the year lists when the release date is so late in the year. I held off submitting my top 10 specifically for this album, and I listened to it a couple times each day for the last few days of the year before ultimately deciding to include it in my list.


Yeah, December albums are perfectly eligible but tend to underperform simply due to timing. Not always, to be sure. Persuader was my #1 last year and that came out in December (extra exciting because I really didn't expect it to be so great after The Fiction Maze was kind of a letdown) and I think it placed somewhere in the 50s, and most notably there was a year that Sulphur Aeon released an album in mid December that wound up in the top 20, the very same year we had one guy whining all month that we need to extend the deadline because the Nortt album he already decided was going to be his #1 wasn't coming out until the 28th.

I recall Dark Descent mentioning that he tends to avoid December releases specifically for this reason, because you can get a notable boost in sales if there's enough hype behind something that lands on a year-end list, and most mags and websites seem to publish said lists way earlier than we do. I think most "major" metal labels tend to agree because the majority of December releases seem to be either independent self releases or small bands on a bigger label's roster, while all the biggest stuff seems to come out between March and September.
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jackies_eclaire
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:29 am 
 

I'll never shut up about how underrated that Bizarrekult full-length is
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Shad_
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:15 pm 
 

Late to do my recap but wanted to chime in.

Interesting to see Mystras do so well this year. In 2020 I gave him 2nd place in the poll and a last second bump to 1st in my final list. I didn't feel the 2021 follow-up nearly as much but loved the new Spectral Lore by the same artist.

I tend to spend a lot of January checking out the artists in this thread. So far the bands I've been jamming most as a consequence of this are Old Nick, Bloody Keep (same label, didn't place), and Stormkeep.

Here's what I ended up finalizing minus one post-hardcore and one dungeon synth album that don't fit the requirements:

1. The Ruins of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires (1)
2. Spectral Lore - Ετερόφωτος (93)
3. Trhä - endlhëtonëg (rando)
4. Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman (27)
5. Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (16)
6. Mechina - Siege (rando)
7. Kvadrat - Ψυχική Αποσύνθεση (183)
8. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst (2)
9. Alkerdeel - Slonk (rando)
10. Koldovstvo - Ни царя, ни бога (165)
------------------
11. Portal - Avow (230)
12. Veilburner - Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull (101)
13. Trhä - inagape (n/a)
14. Non Serviam - Le Cœur Bat (n/a)
15. Trhä - lhum jolhduc (n/a)
16. Lamp of Murmuur - Submission and Slavery (164)
17. Conjureth - Majestic Dissolve (312)
18. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm (17)
19. Boris - No World Tour In Your Head 2021 (n/a)
20. 1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet (15)
21. Urdôl Ur - Seven Portals to the Arcane Realms (rando)
22. Mystras - Empires Vanquished and Dismantled (69)
23. Panopticon - ...And Again Into The Light (23)

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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 2:30 am 
 

I'm listening to Ad Nauseam's Imperative Imperceptible Impulse again, and it's such an amazing record! To be honest, I didn't know Ad Nauseam before this year, and so I decided to revisit our 2010's poll and, unless I made a mistake when searching through the results, Ad Nauseam's 2015 release Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est got absolutely zero support. I didn't even make the rando corner.

I'm curious as to how you guys actually heard of Imperative Imperceptible Impulse for the first time. I personally ended up giving it a listen because of the overwhelming positive feedback, namely here on MA, and I loved it right away, so I decided to include it on my top 10 at the last moment. I placed it 10th, but I've been listening to it a lot since, and I would probably end up moving it up a few spots, at least to 9th or 8th place.

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~Guest 285196
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:44 am 
 

^I'll check it out!

The Carcass album was pretty kickass. It's the first album from them I'm checking out in full. In my mind they were just this total brutal death metal band. I saw them live a few years ago at Inferno Festival in Norway, and I had to leave because it was so goddamn loud I couldn't discern anything. But the newest album has plenty of thrash riffs, dual lead melodies and several grooving riffs that sound like Celtic Frost. Very pleasant surprise.

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Gravetemplar
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:46 am 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
I'm listening to Ad Nauseam's Imperative Imperceptible Impulse again, and it's such an amazing record! To be honest, I didn't know Ad Nauseam before this year, and so I decided to revisit our 2010's poll and, unless I made a mistake when searching through the results, Ad Nauseam's 2015 release Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est got absolutely zero support. I didn't even make the rando corner.

I'm curious as to how you guys actually heard of Imperative Imperceptible Impulse for the first time. I personally ended up giving it a listen because of the overwhelming positive feedback, namely here on MA, and I loved it right away, so I decided to include it on my top 10 at the last moment. I placed it 10th, but I've been listening to it a lot since, and I would probably end up moving it up a few spots, at least to 9th or 8th place.

I discovered the band a few years back (maybe 2-3 years), their first LP is really cool but not as mind-blowing as Imperative Imperceptible Impulse. It was actually one of my most awaited albums of 2021 since the first one is great and the first single from the album blew my mind.

This is the song that got me hooked up:


The artwork for their first album is awesome.

Spoiler: show
Image

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joppek
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:50 am 
 

raumr wrote:
The Carcass album was pretty kickass. It's the first album from them I'm checking out in full. In my mind they were just this total brutal death metal band. I saw them live a few years ago at Inferno Festival in Norway, and I had to leave because it was so goddamn loud I couldn't discern anything. But the newest album has plenty of thrash riffs, dual lead melodies and several grooving riffs that sound like Celtic Frost. Very pleasant surprise.


the first two albums are noisier grind, necroticism is death metal, heartwork and the reunion albums are melodic death, and swansong is more death'n'rolly stuff

personally i like the first three the most, but if you're into more melodic stuff, you're gonna love heartwork
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Sick6Six
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:33 pm 
 

^Necroticism and Heartwork are two essential classics no matter what type of metal you like most IMO. I thought Surgical Steel was more Hearwork-ish than Torn Arteries, but I only made it through 3 songs on the new one, so maybe I need to give it a better chance.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:50 pm 
 

As someone who loves Heartwork and thought Surgical Steel was just okay, Torn Arteries was a massive and welcome surprise for me. By far my most listened to album this past year.
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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:56 am 
 

raumr wrote:
^I'll check it out!

The Carcass album was pretty kickass. It's the first album from them I'm checking out in full. In my mind they were just this total brutal death metal band. I saw them live a few years ago at Inferno Festival in Norway, and I had to leave because it was so goddamn loud I couldn't discern anything. But the newest album has plenty of thrash riffs, dual lead melodies and several grooving riffs that sound like Celtic Frost. Very pleasant surprise.


Well, Carcass were once a grindcore band, and basically the first goregrind band, and their first two releases are pretty brutal and heavy, but I still recommand them. Reek of Putrefaction is very badly produced, so it might not be the best one to start with, and I personnally enjoy Symphonies Of Sickness better out of the two.

Their sound evolved quite a bit over the years, and the following record in their discography, Necroticism, is probably my all time favorite by theirs, and it's a more death metal effort then previous two records, but it's a truly unique records. I don't think there is anything out there that sounds anything like Necroticism, and this had to be due at least in part ot Bill Steer's truly unique riffing.

Following record Heartwork was another big stylistic change as it saw the band go into melodic death metal, but again, in a unique way that didn't really follow the big trends of the swedish mdm scene and just did it's own thing. This is where they really started experimenting with the death 'n' roll sound, but it works quite well here, while it didn't work for me on the following record Swansong, which is basically the only Carcass album I truly can't stand.

The band splitted for a while after this, and following their reunion they have been working on more melodic death metal albums in the vein of Heartwork, but modernizing the sound. Surgical Steel and the newest album Torn Arteries build up on previous efforts by the band and further explore that sound, and Torn Arteries incorporates more thrash-inspired riffing then previous efforts, and it really works wonders for me.

Some people say that Carcass are just recycling a formula at this point, but I don't think that's the case. Sure they aren't doing massive stylistic shift from one record to the next like they used to in the late 80's and 90's, but that's kind of beside the point, in my opinion. Nobody expects any other band to change their style completely from one record to the next, so I really don't see why some think of this as a good criticism of post-reunion Carcass. IMHO, they are still one hell of a kickass band, and I just had to include Torn Arteries in my top 10 for 2021.

Gravetemplar wrote:
I discovered the band a few years back (maybe 2-3 years), their first LP is really cool but not as mind-blowing as Imperative Imperceptible Impulse. It was actually one of my most awaited albums of 2021 since the first one is great and the first single from the album blew my mind.

This is the song that got me hooked up:


The artwork for their first album is awesome.

Spoiler: show
Image


Thanks for the input! It's really appreciated. The artwork does look killer :)

Sick6Six wrote:
^Necroticism and Heartwork are two essential classics no matter what type of metal you like most IMO. I thought Surgical Steel was more Hearwork-ish than Torn Arteries, but I only made it through 3 songs on the new one, so maybe I need to give it a better chance.


I strongly agree with the idea that Necroticism and Heartwork are essential classics. When we eventually do the poll for best albums of the 90's, I'm pretty sure Necroticism will end up in my top 10, somewhere in between ...for Victory and Human. It's one hell of an album. Heartwork is also truly unique and absolutely amazing for very different reasons.

I do recommand revisiting Torn Arteries. It personally took my a few listens to really get into it, but I ended up including it in my top 10 after all. It's a solid album!

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joppek
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:59 am 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
Following record Heartwork was another big stylistic change as it saw the band go into melodic death metal, but again, in a unique way that didn't really follow the big trends of the swedish mdm scene and just did it's own thing.


obviously it didn't follow swedish mdm trends, because no such thing existed yet
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Forever Underground
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:59 am 
 

1 Carcass-Torn Arteries (#6)
2 Tyrannic-Mortuus Decadence (#123)
3 Spectral Lore-Ετερόφωτος (#93)
4 Carnal Offerings-From Visceral Plaguelands... (Rando)
5 Ungfell-Es Grauet (#88)
6 Hesperia-Roma, Vol. II (Rando)
7 Necromantia-To the Depths We Descend... (#161)
8 Helloween-Helloween (#7)
9 Stabat Mater-Treason By Son Of Man (Rando)
10 Midnight Odyssey-Biolume Part 2 - The Golden Orb (#254)

thebloodfeaster wrote:
1. Tyrannic - Mortuus Decadence [123]
I'm really glad that this one did not turn out to be a rando. This album has so many "Fuck yes!" moments. Rocking black metal of the doomy variety. This is what I wanted from Darkthrone's lastest offering but didn't get. Kudos to the other person who voted for this, and I hope that many of you give this a chance.


I couldn't have described it better, a great album and I hope more people give it a chance.
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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:09 pm 
 

joppek wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
Following record Heartwork was another big stylistic change as it saw the band go into melodic death metal, but again, in a unique way that didn't really follow the big trends of the swedish mdm scene and just did it's own thing.


obviously it didn't follow swedish mdm trends, because no such thing existed yet


I love how people on the Internet will ignore an entire post you made and jump on the slightest little mistake to point it out. It reminds me of the Cunningham's Law.

I meant that the contribution of Carcass to melodic death metal is quite unique and standouts from a trend that was in it's infancy at the time of release of Heartwork. Dark Tranquility and In Flames were both around in 1993, releasing demos and picking up on the influence of bands like Entombed to incorporate more melodic elements to the Swedish death metal sound. At the Gates even had released an album in 1992, and another in 1993, which can be considered proto melodic death or, arguably, the first mdm records. Now, I actually personnally consider Heartwork to be the first distinctively melodic death metal record, but that was obviously not the point I was trying to make in my previous post.

Now my wording may have been a little confusing, but like... did you really not understand the point I was making...?

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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:15 pm 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
joppek wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
Following record Heartwork was another big stylistic change as it saw the band go into melodic death metal, but again, in a unique way that didn't really follow the big trends of the swedish mdm scene and just did it's own thing.


obviously it didn't follow swedish mdm trends, because no such thing existed yet


I love how people on the Internet will ignore an entire post you made and jump on the slightest little mistake to point it out. It reminds me of the Cunningham's Law.

I meant that the contribution of Carcass to melodic death metal is quite unique and standouts from a trend that was in it's infancy at the time of release of Heartwork. Dark Tranquility and In Flames and were both around in 1993, releasing demos and picking up on the influence of bands like Entombed to incorporate more melodic elements to the Swedish death metal sound. At the Gates even had released an album in 1992, and another in 1993, which can be considered proto melodic death or, arguably, the first mdm records. Now, I actually personnally consider Heartwork to be the first distinctively melodic death metal record, but that was obviously not the point I was trying to make in previous post.

Now my wording may have been a little confusing, but like... did you really not understand the point I was making...?


Eh, Dark Tranquility beat Carcass to the punch by a couple of months with Skydancer, which was released at the end of August (Heartwork came out in October IIRC). This isn't even getting into bands like Sentenced who released North From Here back in June or bands like Unanimated and Dissection that straddled the line between melodic death and black metal and released records the same year. Carcass and the Swedish bands just developed in parallel, almost like the musical equivalent of convergent evolution. I remember Bill Steer and Jeff Walker saying in an interview that he didn't think any of the Gothenburg bands were ever influenced by what Carcass was doing and that they just had all hit upon a similar idea of mixing death metal with influences from NWOBHM and thrash. The Gothenburg bands were also influenced a lot by Swedish (or more broadly, Nordic) folk music whereas Carcass weren't.


Anyway, I agree with you about Carcass's career trajectory. I like both Surgical Steel and Torn Arteries and I never expected them to go back to their early grindcore/goregrind sound. I don't mind them iterating on the Heartwork sound since they always try and throw in some new elements here and there.

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