Champion - Promises Kept (2004)

Champion, a band that used to be. From the gloomy city of Seattle where everything grungy, droney and sucky spawns. Promises Kept however, is the exception. This is one of my favorite hardcore albums, partly due to the nostalgia of my hardcore youth straight edge days and partly because the energy on this album is infectious...like yawning, or gonorrhea.

Instrumentally it gravitates to fast paced, melodic hardcore brimming in positivity. The structure almost seems as if it were to be tailored for live shows. After all, hardcore is all about the strength and unity within the scene, a live set is like the ultimate hangout session for these dudes. A hangout filled with stage-dives, sing-a-longs, high jumps, head walks, jumping jacks, and hardcore pride!  And there isn't a fucking thing wrong with that.

Grab if you like: Bane, Have Heart, Verse

Champ

Land of Ice & Vikings

This Monday, me and three friends embark on a two week trip to Iceland. Arguably the coolest place on earth. Geysers spout, waterfalls topple, fjords weave, volcanoes erupt, mountains peek, obsidian's ridge...you get the idea. This place rules.

I'll be trekking along the same lands as the vikings had during the 8th century, so a plethora of viking/folk/power metal will be accompanying me on my 32 GB iPhone. Not Björk or Sigur Rós, fuck that.

Here, a list of albums I am most stoked to listen to whilst in the land of ice.

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Fortid - Voluspa Part III: Fall of the Ages

 
Folkodia - Forgotten Lore

Butterfly Temple - Earth

Empyrium - Weiland

Lemuria - Tales Ale & Fire

 

Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere

 

Heathen Foray - The Passage

Satanakozel - The Sun of the Dead

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

Neun Welten - Destrunken

Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

Avven - Kastalija

Borknagar - The Archaic Course

Crom - Vengeance

Wuthering Heights - Far From The Madding Crowd

 

Nàttsòl - Stemning

 

Wodensthrone - Loss

Wolfchant - A Pagan Storm

Svartby - Riv, Hugg Och Bit

Nydvind - Sworn To The Elders

Voluspaa - Åsa

Falchion - Chronicles Of The Dead

 Galar - Til Alle Heimsens Endar

Ásmegin - Hin Vordende Sod & Sø

Svartsot - Mulmets Viser

Geist - Galeere (2010)

Atmospheric black metal from Germany, with emphasis on long drawn out frigid atmospherics. I would like to reference Wolves In The Throne Room when describing the ambiance, but there is much more at play here. At times elements of Vreid, Ulver, and Lunar Aurora. These are ambitious song lengths, but with allowed time to grow, they are quite good.

Grab if you Like: Orlog, Wolves In The Throne Room, Lunar Aurora

Galeere

Low Places - Spirtual Treatment (2011)

Fast and furiously paced sludgy hardcore with a dash of doom thrown in for good measure. It sounds pissed.

Grab if you like: Gaza, Mind Eraser, Pulling Teeth

Skeleton