Sunday, September 11, 2011

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

Saturday, September 10, 2011

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



 

Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere


Heathen Foray - The Passage


Satanakozel - The Sun of the Dead


Neun Welten - Destrunken





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



Thursday, September 8, 2011

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

Sunday, September 4, 2011

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