01-12-2017, 09:36 AM
Awesome list man!
I wish I had more time to do this, but every year I end up with such a long playlist to listen to, I generally give up halfway through. I feel like I can't do a fair review until I have lived with those records for a few years. Well anyway, looking at the stuff I bought and released in 2016, here's a few in alphabetical order:
Cadaveric Fumes: Dimensions Obscure EP
I enjoyed the hell out of this EP. Old school thrash with a progressive edge. The first few EPs were more standard fare but this one looks like promising direction for the band.
Forteresse: Thèmes pour la rébellion
They took a more melodic and faster approach since the Légendes split EP and I quite like it. I wasn't much a fan of the band before, but this one is solid. It doesn't cover new
ground, it's just a well made and performed black metal album.
Gevurah: Hallelujah!
Montréal black metal band sounding very European in approach, very different from the rest of the Québec scene imo. Lots of cues from DSO and other French bands.
Grey Aura: Waerachtighe Beschryvinghe Van Drie Seylagien, Ter Werelt Noyt Soo Vreemt Ghehoort
A damn solid black metal album. Perhaps its own fault is that it is too ambitious for a debut? It just too damn long and I rarely have the time to listen to it as a whole. Still, a great effort.
Hammers of Misfoturne: Dead Revolution
Back with an album closer in style to Locust Years. In no way near the masterpiece of August Engine, but much better than the disappointing 17 Streets.
Heaven's Cry: Outcast
I'm quite new to the band, having discovered them only a few weeks ago. Excellent prog metal, kind of a cross between old Dream Theater without the pyrotechnics (similar sound but more song oriented, without flashy solos), a much heavier Pain of Salvaltion, and a bit of early 90's Voïvod thrown in.
Howls of Ebb: Cursus Impasse:The Pendlomic Vows
Absolutely stunning and inventive black/death metal with an old school sound.
King Crimson: Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)
The new 7-piece band (with 3 drummers at the front of the stage) performing rearrangements of old classics from almost every album, and new material as well. They even played In the Court of the Crimson King! I never thought in a million years they would play that again. Last time was 1972 maybe?
Moonsorrow: Jumalten Aika
What can I say? Another solid album. They are one of those band that rarely disappoints, a bit like Enslaved.
Rïcïnn: Lïan
I never thought I would enjoy this one that much. It's hard to define the sound on this one. Avantgarde/prog crossed with a post-rock/doom aesthetic? Electronic music influence is there but kept to a bare minimum. A make or break thing for me (some of you may know that I'm allergic to synth music). Her best performance for me is Orpheus. Her vocal range is simply stunning.
Setentia: Darkness Transcends
A complex album that needs a few spins to show its colors. Highly varied stuff here, it touches about every death metal subgenres there is without sounding incoherent. I've seen many comparisons with Ulcerate, and I honestly don't see the link between the two other than being from the same country. Setentia are much more varied, they toy with fast vs. slow tempos, dissonance vs. melodic, ambient vs. heavy parts. Very promising band.
Stangala: Klañv
Stoner/Doom with celtic influences, sung entirely in Breton. I wasn't much a fan of the debut (too derivative of Sabbath!) but this one adds a lot of other styles to their sound. Just listen to opener Bigoudened An Diaoul, a song that was on the debut but is completely transformed here. They switch style every minute, from stoner to jazz to doom to extreme metal, yet it all sounds coherent.
Vektor: Terminal Redux
Simply the best they ever made, and the previous two were awesome re-writings of the thrash bible. I really wonder what the next one will sound like since the whole band imploded...
Voïvod: Post Society EP
Proving that their return to progressive thrash was no fluke, they put out their best material in years. It's definitely up there with the holy trinity (Killing Technology, Dimension Hätross, Nothingface). They couldn't have picked a better replacement for Piggy than Daniel Mongrain. Can't wait for the new album.
Virvum: Illuminance
This one kinda reminds me of Irreversible Mechanism but with less Neo-Classical influence. A solid tech death album.
Zhrine: Unortheta
Simply the best death/black album this year imo.
DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Ihsahn: Arktis.
I'm afraid I prefer the first 4 to the last 2. The first three songs are excellent, but the rest is hit or miss for me. Not a fan of his mellower songs, and especially not of the two synth-based songs.
Mare Cognitum: Lumineferous Aether
Not bad but I expected so much more after Phobos Monolith. It seems to be lacking solid riffs and focusing way too much on atmosphere. Only the fourth track reminds me of old MC.
Opeth: Sorceress
Even this fanboy wanted to make a good review, but after Pale Communion this could only be weaker I guess? Shit, I even enjoyed Heritage way more than this one. It's not even the pre-release tracks that I disliked (which everyone seemed to hate). It just kinda drags here and there for reasons I do not grasp yet. Maybe the order of the songs? (there's a definite low point halfway through). I really don't know. There's some potential here, but I just don't feel like listening to it again and again.
Witherscape: The Northern Sanctuary
I wanted to like this one so much. I loved the debut, yet I just can't get into this one. I have a hard time to explain why. Some really good songs, but some are really average and feel predictable. Too much mid-paced songs maybe? Too much softer parts? I just don't feel the urge to listen to this one, whereas the debut was in constant rotation.
I wish I had more time to do this, but every year I end up with such a long playlist to listen to, I generally give up halfway through. I feel like I can't do a fair review until I have lived with those records for a few years. Well anyway, looking at the stuff I bought and released in 2016, here's a few in alphabetical order:
Cadaveric Fumes: Dimensions Obscure EP
I enjoyed the hell out of this EP. Old school thrash with a progressive edge. The first few EPs were more standard fare but this one looks like promising direction for the band.
Forteresse: Thèmes pour la rébellion
They took a more melodic and faster approach since the Légendes split EP and I quite like it. I wasn't much a fan of the band before, but this one is solid. It doesn't cover new
ground, it's just a well made and performed black metal album.
Gevurah: Hallelujah!
Montréal black metal band sounding very European in approach, very different from the rest of the Québec scene imo. Lots of cues from DSO and other French bands.
Grey Aura: Waerachtighe Beschryvinghe Van Drie Seylagien, Ter Werelt Noyt Soo Vreemt Ghehoort
A damn solid black metal album. Perhaps its own fault is that it is too ambitious for a debut? It just too damn long and I rarely have the time to listen to it as a whole. Still, a great effort.
Hammers of Misfoturne: Dead Revolution
Back with an album closer in style to Locust Years. In no way near the masterpiece of August Engine, but much better than the disappointing 17 Streets.
Heaven's Cry: Outcast
I'm quite new to the band, having discovered them only a few weeks ago. Excellent prog metal, kind of a cross between old Dream Theater without the pyrotechnics (similar sound but more song oriented, without flashy solos), a much heavier Pain of Salvaltion, and a bit of early 90's Voïvod thrown in.
Howls of Ebb: Cursus Impasse:The Pendlomic Vows
Absolutely stunning and inventive black/death metal with an old school sound.
King Crimson: Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)
The new 7-piece band (with 3 drummers at the front of the stage) performing rearrangements of old classics from almost every album, and new material as well. They even played In the Court of the Crimson King! I never thought in a million years they would play that again. Last time was 1972 maybe?
Moonsorrow: Jumalten Aika
What can I say? Another solid album. They are one of those band that rarely disappoints, a bit like Enslaved.
Rïcïnn: Lïan
I never thought I would enjoy this one that much. It's hard to define the sound on this one. Avantgarde/prog crossed with a post-rock/doom aesthetic? Electronic music influence is there but kept to a bare minimum. A make or break thing for me (some of you may know that I'm allergic to synth music). Her best performance for me is Orpheus. Her vocal range is simply stunning.
Setentia: Darkness Transcends
A complex album that needs a few spins to show its colors. Highly varied stuff here, it touches about every death metal subgenres there is without sounding incoherent. I've seen many comparisons with Ulcerate, and I honestly don't see the link between the two other than being from the same country. Setentia are much more varied, they toy with fast vs. slow tempos, dissonance vs. melodic, ambient vs. heavy parts. Very promising band.
Stangala: Klañv
Stoner/Doom with celtic influences, sung entirely in Breton. I wasn't much a fan of the debut (too derivative of Sabbath!) but this one adds a lot of other styles to their sound. Just listen to opener Bigoudened An Diaoul, a song that was on the debut but is completely transformed here. They switch style every minute, from stoner to jazz to doom to extreme metal, yet it all sounds coherent.
Vektor: Terminal Redux
Simply the best they ever made, and the previous two were awesome re-writings of the thrash bible. I really wonder what the next one will sound like since the whole band imploded...
Voïvod: Post Society EP
Proving that their return to progressive thrash was no fluke, they put out their best material in years. It's definitely up there with the holy trinity (Killing Technology, Dimension Hätross, Nothingface). They couldn't have picked a better replacement for Piggy than Daniel Mongrain. Can't wait for the new album.
Virvum: Illuminance
This one kinda reminds me of Irreversible Mechanism but with less Neo-Classical influence. A solid tech death album.
Zhrine: Unortheta
Simply the best death/black album this year imo.
DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Ihsahn: Arktis.
I'm afraid I prefer the first 4 to the last 2. The first three songs are excellent, but the rest is hit or miss for me. Not a fan of his mellower songs, and especially not of the two synth-based songs.
Mare Cognitum: Lumineferous Aether
Not bad but I expected so much more after Phobos Monolith. It seems to be lacking solid riffs and focusing way too much on atmosphere. Only the fourth track reminds me of old MC.
Opeth: Sorceress
Even this fanboy wanted to make a good review, but after Pale Communion this could only be weaker I guess? Shit, I even enjoyed Heritage way more than this one. It's not even the pre-release tracks that I disliked (which everyone seemed to hate). It just kinda drags here and there for reasons I do not grasp yet. Maybe the order of the songs? (there's a definite low point halfway through). I really don't know. There's some potential here, but I just don't feel like listening to it again and again.
Witherscape: The Northern Sanctuary
I wanted to like this one so much. I loved the debut, yet I just can't get into this one. I have a hard time to explain why. Some really good songs, but some are really average and feel predictable. Too much mid-paced songs maybe? Too much softer parts? I just don't feel the urge to listen to this one, whereas the debut was in constant rotation.