Iceni

Disillusion Ghost Ship Octavius Alkaloid Noneuclid Barren Earth

'Werben' by ASP.

'Vrain' by Hamferð. This is good melodic doom even if it does drag a bit. Vocals are by Jon Aldera (the guy who sings for Barren Earth) and they're great here too.

I definitely hear you on the Araya vocals, they bugged me too. The guy's vocals can be really cool, especially the sort of low-pitched half-growl thing he does that sounds like Andy Schmidt. If you liked a bit of that Noneuclid album then I'd definitely recommend Alkaloid as they were undeniably better. 'The Echo' by Demilich.

The 'Curse of the Red River' album by Barren Earth. I enjoy this more than their latest effort, actually. This is an odd band - it's rare that a group can actually be said to defy genre classification but these guys are the closest I've heard. Mostly they're sort of doom/death, as Metallum claims - but there's an extremely strong melodic sense to it that makes it feel kinda gothic at times. They definitely have significant prog influences which manifest as either jazz or techy melodies on occasion. It's either dark and heavy-ish, strongly and soaringly melodic, contemplative or occasionally airy - but there's always atmosphere. I'm getting the Amorphis influences here, to be sure; and I might go back to them after a kind of aural hiatus. For now, however, I am excited to continue this album. Quite a pleasant surprise.

My brother also bought me a nice set of headphones, which are broadcasting 'The Dragon Reborn' by Noble Beast loud and clear at the moment. God forbid anyone try to get my attention as I'm not gunna hear squat...

An awesome-ass Akame ga Kill shirt. I also wanna nab The Fiction Maze, but I really need to curb my spending.

'The Black Plague of the Soul' by Noneuclid. BLOODY HELL This album might be anti-religious but I can't actually find the lyrics anywhere, so I genuinely don't know. It doesn't seem specifically polemic, more just generally nihilist - which is great for me because it's a fantastic release. Even the inbetween jackoff kinda stuff is enjoyable enough. I'd also recommend this to FA as a strong, fairly gripping and surprisingly diverse DM outing with a fairly strong technical sense, dissonance and power.

'Cult of One' by Noneuclid. Lyrics sound quite interesting; music is also a big improvement over their debut.

'Howl' by Barren Earth.

'The Shepherd' by Chaos Divine. Lyrics a little stupid, but there's at least a little more energy and dynamism to this 'Colliding Skies' album now so I do like it overall. The Alkaloid album was great - about 75% of the way through it got a little less interesting (read: more straightforward technical DM) but the last track is pretty good and definitely a solid release overall.

I hear their latest sucked. I never really listened through Aphotic though, so maybe I should do that first. I didn't hate what I heard off Aphotic as much as you did.

Something tells me that now is the time and place to show you all this.

See, this is the main reason I'd be loth to go; Novembers Doom and Wormed are genuinely the only bands on there that I both know and like.

Don't let the presence of ex-Obscura members put you off, this band is a different animal. There's a lot more variety in the composition between and within songs. I'm enjoying Noneuclid and Wilderun at the moment as well. 'Dyson Sphere - II: Assembly' by Alkaloid.

'Painted with Grey' by Chaos Divine. See, this is better.

OK, Tribulation got boring really fast and I wasn't in the mood anyway. The Gentle Storm sounds nice; maybe I'll check it out when I'm less pissed off about the idiotically over-dramatic and completely unnecessary resolution to the album's concept story. Chaos Divine aren't bad, but I've gotten a bit tired of all this shoegaze nudging its way into prog. I was hoping for something a little more dynamic. Apparently Barren Earth's latest is awesome, so I might give that a try. Pantommind is nothing spectacular for now. Alkaloid still sounds awesome though, so 'Orgonism' by Alkaloid. FA, the cleans on here remind me strongly of yours.

'From a Hadron Machinist' by Alkaloid. I've discovered a handful of new albums to check out today...or maybe while I'm working during the week. I've been making my way through 'The Children of God' by Tribulation and will check out 'Colliding Skies' by Chaos Divine, 'Venereal Dawn' by Dark Fortress, 'The Diary' by The Gentle Storm and 'Searching for Eternity' by Pantommind.

'The Sleep of Restless Hours' by Disillusion.

That Ingres one is phenomenal, it looks like a French Renaissance painting with the choice of fabric - and the clarity of the lines around the eyes and the fingernails reminds me of da Vinci. His other work looks great as well.

'Heathen' by Persuader. This album actually gets better with each listen, I really do need to pick this up.

I dunno, I just get prickly whenever bands write about the Crusades. I can count on one hand the number of songs I've ever heard about bad things done by persons purporting to represent literally any other religious group.

'Poor Man's Crusade' by Demons and Wizards. The atmosphere is good, but the actual riffs seem kinda weak. Also, yippee, another song about the Crusades. Nobody's gunna top the IVth Crusade album by Bolt Thrower with regards to lyrics about the Crusades (since nobody wants to be anywhere near that nuanced and sympathetic) so it's galling that they keep trying. ...oh, bugger this- 'One Lifetime' by Persuader.

'Mask of Life' by Brainstorm.

Got some substantial praise from my big boss today for a book summary I turned in yesterday thanks to working overtime. This Berkley Center job is genuinely the only good thing about being in DC right now, and getting such pozitiv feedbakk from one of the higher-ups in the Center is especially gratifying.