Feb 2024 - Albums I have listened to

This album—released last week—came up randomly in my recommendations earlier this week, so I decided to give it a listen on a whim.

I wasn't paying it too much mind at first, as the opening track is pretty straight-up death metal. That's fine, but the sub-genre tends not to do much for me other than as background music.

The album has some pretty interesting dynamics, though, and by the time I got to the third track ("Paradoxysm", appropriately enough), I found that was really into it. I have listened to the whole album a few times this week and it has grown on me each time.

This new Real Estate album is… fine?

I mean, I like it well enough but then, I always kind of like Real Estate albums well enough. I guess maybe that is the point, though; I think there should be a place for music that is fine.

And I should be clear that "it's fine" doesn't mean average or mediocre. This is a well made record and I enjoyed listening to it. It's just not anything that stands out to me in any way.

This band was a US-based shoegaze outfit that put out two albums (1994's Breadmaker, followed by Calidad in 1997) and then called it quits. Breadmaker is quite good and is worth checking out. Calidad seems to be quite hard to find and I have not been able to listen to it.

I forget where I came across this album and tracking down information about it was a bit of a challenge. Based on a Reddit thread I found, Difference Engine recorded Flex Lavender right after they released Breadmaker but it was never released for… reasons? They finally put it out themselves last year and it is currently only available via the usual streaming services.

If you're into shoegaze/dream pop at all, you will like this album. I'll basically never turn down this kind of stuff, so I was hooked about twenty seconds into the first track. After a full listen, I kind of think I like this album even better than Breadmaker.

I guess these guys are from Greece but I don't know much else about the band. I read a favorable review somewhere recently and threw this album—their only release—on my list of stuff to check out.

It is pretty straight-ahead metal with operatic vocals, some pretty great heavy riffs, and a few quieter, slower interludes as well.

There are parts of this album where things teeter on the edge of the ridiculous—"Cassandra", I'm looking at you here—but it always manages to pull back from the brink just in the nick of time. Overall, I found it to be an entertaining listen.

There are three tracks on this album, the shortest of which—and by a significant margin—runs nearly fourteen minutes, but none of them ever gets boring or feels like it overstays its welcome. It is epic, atmospheric black metal, with lyrics exploring loneliness, isolation, and finding human meaning in a harsh and alienating world.

This album got a lot of great reviews when it came out in 2021 and it deserved them. It's really good. If you are looking for classic violent and satanic black metal (not that there's anything wrong with that_, this is probably not the record for you. But I do appreciate a band that pushes the boundaries of what can tend to be a somewhat rigid genre to produce a creative, surprising, and exciting album like Trisagion.

Have you ever been listening to second wave black metal—Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, etc.—and found yourself wondering "Where did all the low end in these albums go?" Well, my friend, I have the answer for you. It clearly went to Bog Body.

It's hard to find much info on this band, but from what I can tell, they're a duo—a drummer and bass player—and US-based. This is their first album, but they have a few EPs leading up to it. All their stuff is quite good, but I find this album to be a real step up. It's a (dare I say) bog of deep and scummy sludge, but with a ton of atmosphere and I really like it.

I first listened to this album about a week ago and was not sure quite what to make of it at first.

It's in the general bucket of black metal but farther toward the ambient end of the spectrum than pretty much anything else I have ever heard. Imagine if William Basinski decided he wanted to make a black metal album and you'll have a pretty good idea of what's on the bill here.

Having now listened to it at least three more times since then, I can say that this album is excellent and definitely worth checking out.

This album is kind of grandiose and ridiculous (even by black metal standards) but I sort of love it.

There is no shortage of heavy riffs and blast beats here but Rats Of Black Death is also a very dynamic album with lots of layers of keyboards and other instrumentation. Against all odds, it somehow all manages to hold together.

I know black metal is not to all tastes but this one is worth checking out. Strong recommend!

One of my methods for finding new metal albums lately has been has been to visit the Metal genre section on Apple Music and checking the New Releases section every Friday morning. While browsing through the listings today, the cover art for this one caught my eye and I decided to check it out.

Based on that cover art, I went in expecting run-of-the-mill death/black metal, but brother, this album turned out to be totally not what I was expecting.

Clean vocals, vaguely prog-y beats, bass high in the mix, and even a little hints of ZZ Top-style boogie—this album has it all and I love it. I've never heard any of Transit Method's stuff before, but I am really, really enjoying this album. Do yourself a favor and check it out.