Plaüsible Playlists

Some of the best tracks out there put together to form own theme album entities. I’ve been making compilations for myself for a long time and figured out that other folk must surely find some joy from playlists that consist of masterpieces!

Some really good shit – Converge, J.A. Mäki, Haraamo, Hebosagil, Liturqy, Mount Eerie, Oneothrix Point Never, Negură Bunget, Linkopii, Martolea

Good music that’s been on the block lately. Last weeks have had an influx of really memorable tracks from a diverse landscape of genres and sounds.

Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Coil (Bloodmoon I, 2021)

Chaotic hardcore group turned doom. Converge has flirted with doom on all their latest albums but now they did what some doom lovers dared to dream of, go all in. Coil is probably the most easily approachable track with astounding tension and soundworld.

On first listens of the beginning trinity of Bloodmoon I was almost on a fanatical religious zeal. Unfortunately the latter side of the album never reaches the aggressiveness of old Converge and lacks quite a lot of diversity. When Converge albums used to be fast paced with occasional slowness, now the album is about 90 % slowness and even the faster bits are mostly mid tempo. Good stuff nevertheless and hopefully a sign of things to come with more versatility abound on Bloodmoon II.

J.A. Mäki – Hauta meren äärellä (AAVAA, 2019)

J.A. Mäki is better known as the singer of the best Finnish live band and one of my all time favourites Radiopuhelimet. I can’t believe it took me over 2 years to check out his solo project. Hauta meren äärellä includes naturefeels and calm death atmospherics. Exquisitely gleaming humming background scenery and gripping lyrics. It is rare for a song to create such a nature experience.

Haraamo – Menettämisestä (Aikamatkustaja, 2021)

Sci-fi Finnish indiepoprock retrowave melancholics, with a bit of hardcore shouting. Didn’t realize someone could make stuff like this. This is no gimmick either, the album is a very strong debut.

Hebosagil – Tämä on nähty (2021)

Hang on with me for one more Finnish track. Hebosagil from the Finnish capital of noisy obscurerock, Oulu. What a killer track, Hebosagil is a master of all major trades, weirdness, heaviness and pop hooks. Can’t wait for them to release the new album Yössä (25.2.2022). I hope it will also have longer tracks and not just pop hook brilliance that Tämä on Nähty kindly provides.

Two copied recommendations from Hebosagil’s playlist

Liturqy – GOD OF LOVE (H.A.Q.Q., 2019)

Almost definitely one of the weirdest black metal bands you’ve heard. Chaotic, wall of sound, abrubt pauses, yet perky and melodic. Big kicks on first listen.

Mount Eerie – Waves (Ocean Roar, 2012)

Ever thought that rushing and roaring sound walls could sound incredibly beautiful? Well they can.

Oneothrix Point Never – Long Road Home (Magic Oneothrix Point Never, 2021)

Ever thought that glitching experimental electronic music can actually be quite pop and still good? Well it can. There is some magic in Oneothrix Point Never. No one else really crafts sounds like this and the cover art is at par with the music.

Negură Bunget – Toacă Din Cer (Zău, 2021)

Toacă (the Romanian version of a semantron, a percussion instrument often made of wood that is knocked on with hammers by Eastern Orthodox monks to summon others to prayer). Din Cer seems to mean “from the heaven” or “from the sky” (Google translated).

This posthumous Negură Bunget release is a fine eulogy. Their main man Negru passed already in 2017 but had recorded drum tracks and percussions for the third part of their “Transylvanian trilogy”. The tracks were otherwise completely unfinished but luckily rest of the band members finished this work some years later. Posthumous releases are often met with too much praise but in this case i feel Zău was met with too LITTLE praise. For me it’s their best release since Vîrstele pămîntului (2010), topping also the new Dordeduh release (Dordeduh consists of ex-Negură Bunget members).

Toacă Din Cer might be the best Negură Bunget track ever. It is grippingly emotive with chanting vocals, soul penetrating melodic riffs and angelic haunting backgrounds. I only wish the lyrics were available somewhere. The last piece from the heavens indeed.

Martolea – Răsăritul Lunii (Noaptea dihăniilor, 2010)

Martolea is a pretty unknown side project of a Negură Bunget. Much more stripped of instrumental layers. It has a lot of the same aesthetics present but executed almost solely with band instruments. Flute is one of the unexpected prime instruments. Pretty good.

Linkopii – 2005 (Lanteet, 2020)

Bare with me for one more Finnish rock track. Linkopii who I don’t know where they are from but considering I found them through Hebosagil their heart must be from the capital of Finnish obscurely gripping rock, Oulu. In all honesty, apparently Linkopii was formed in Helsinki and previously some of the members have lived in Jyväskylä.

At surface they may come off as one of your typical indie rock bands, but on further peek there’s much more. A lot of strong elements and a pretty original setup. Good songwriting, strong guitar lines with a bit of 70s aesthetics a la Jukka Nousiainen, suomirock, punk and some bursts of psychedelic rock and weirdness. Sure, sometimes they are annoyingly bright and positive, but when a band has multiple sides, not each of them has to be of your liking. 2005, which is my prime cut has strong lyrics too.

I didn’t even mention the touches that remind of Risto. The second track of the album Anniina could be the counterpart of Risto classic: Rakkaani, mennään Aasiaan.

The judging metalhead in me really tried to like them less but I can’t.

Like Summer 2018 Music to Your Ears playlist + Music Quickies

Like usual in the summertime I have not looked out for that much new music but focused on… Just summer I guess. I dunno where it went. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been new tracks on my playlist. Not all of the chosen music is summery, in fact most isn’t. Instead of idiotic hip summer music, the playlist has plain really fucking good tracks.

Metals of summer 2018

At The Gates published their new album To Drink From The Night Itself in 2018. It’s a pretty good effort with some memorable tracks (To Drink From The Night Itself, In Nameless Sleep, The Mirror Black) but most of all it made me retry their previous album At War With Reality (2014). Somehow I had skipped it altogether and it proved to be a mistake, it’s an extremely solid melodic death metal album that only loses a bit of punch by the end. And I don’t get excited about melodic death metal easily. Circular Ruins has a grandiose last half, great chorus, lovely guitar harmonies and fierce vocals (even the Crawling Chaos from H.P. Lovecraft gets a mention), what’s not to like.

Slugdge – Spectral Burrows. Esoteric Malacology is probably my favourite album of 2018 so far. Cosmic progressive death metal with a gimmicky lyric theme, that does not reflect to the overall quality of the music. How the hell a band that sings about snails makes lyrics and music this good.

Magoth – Requiem Deus (Anti Terrestrial Black Metal, 2017). So, there’s these rare songs that starts with a chorus. Really untypical but you find them sometimes. Requiem Deus is one of those but on top of that, the chorus is instrumental! That’s even rarer I guess! The basis is a strong as shit tremolo melody. I bet a lot of black metal bands could have composed this tremolo but how the track is arranged brings so much more power to it.

Craft‘s 2018 album White Noise and Black Metal does not seem to be as strong as Void (2011), but Void was ridiculously good. Cosmic Sphere Falls is right there among the best tracks of Craft’s career. Summer and black metal baby.

Asunojokei – Spring of Passion (Awakening, 2018). Combining black metal, post-hardcore and Japanese anime music melodies. How can it not fail? Asunojokei’s compositions sound so logical that on paper they sound much more weird than what they actually sound!

homeland

My Reflection – Homeland (single, 2018) Out of the blue My Reflection published the best song of their career. Extremely symphonic melodic metal with a graceful music video that was shot in a time span of one year to portray Finnish nature and the seasons. The track celebrates the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence. Homeland should satisfy the fans of bands like Wintersun and Nightwish. The 2 minute intro already cuts the mustard and it warms my heart that the soaring female vocals are paired with strongly grunted, black metallish rasp and some good ol’ blast beating sections. I also just published a short article about the track: https://likemusictoyourears.com/2018/08/10/my-reflection-homeland-epic-symphonic-melodic-metal/

Leprous – Stuck (Malina, 2017). Leprous gig in Tuska was among the best of the festival. The band looks like school boys and at best sounds like jazz musicians doing their impression of catchy progressive metal. The weird drumming style and lots of rhythmic hooks have drawn me quite in to their style. The last 1.5 minutes of rhythmics on Stuck are such a bliss.

doomed Doomed – Our Gifts (6 Anti-Odes to Life, 2018). Death/doom. Strong album that might lack a bit of high-points but the overall quality makes up for it. Especially The Doors and Our Gifts are high class atmospheric death-doom tracks. Strangely the tacit and slow instrumental Layers (Ode To Life) has been playing in my head after waking up, I guess it’s beautiful enough. As a satisfyingly logical detail, it is also the 7th track of the record!

Meshuggah – By The Ton (Violent Sleep of Reason, 2016). Another high point of Tuska 2018. The rhythmic majesty combined with the supreme light-show at times induced a catharsis. For example the title track of the record had a super satisfying effect of white lights going down on rhythm and speed with huge downward slides of one of the central riffs (first appearing at 0:34). By focusing on the lights they brought a completely new visual rhythm element to the show. By The Ton is still my favourite track of the record.

Electronics of summer 2018

Slipdrive – Nova Byzantium a Thousand Spires of Light (River of Heaven OST, 2014). A complete random find from a soundtrack of a pen an paper roleplaying game I’ve never played and probably never will. The soundtrack is lovely sci-fi-game music-chillout-electro. Nova Byzantium and The Coming Renunciation seem to launch the listener straight into space.

Vector Lovers – Monologue (iPhonica, 2013). Music that sounds like you were on drugs. Sounds that seem to come from an other dimension in surprising relaxing symmetry. Such weird sensations and damn if I like it!

Glanko – Orvot (single, 2018). Glanko’s progressive sci-fi IDM or what the heck it is always activates my synapses. Chillout electronic track with really strong astral spacey vibes. Ideal for watching a spacestation move slowly with a small beam drive, multicoloured star rings and nebulas shining around it.

Finnish music of summer 2018 (sad list)

Paperi T – Muutos (Kaikki on hyvin, 2018). My mainstream sin. The flow and sound of Paperi-T’s vocals and the cunning punning lyrics are a joy to listen. Even though his darker compositions and lyrics seem to be in the past, when Paperi-T is at his darkest that’s when I enjoy him the most. One of those lyricists that makes you want to google what the hell he is singing about but can also surprise with straight-forward lines and stories. New album is quite uneven but has a really good starting trinity.

Monumental metal 5 playlist

Once again some insanely good varied epic metal tracks packed into a one hour album-like entity.

1. Keep of Kalessin – Armada. One of my long time favourites from 2006. A perfect fusion of thrash metal, death metal and black metal really. The composer Arnt Obsidian shared a really interesting story about the creation of the track in his blog (https://arntobsidian.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-armada/):

The ARMADA title was decided on very early in the process and I had a vision of how the title track should sound. But when I was writing songs I always felt that “this is a cool song, but it’s not ARMADA!”. I remember thinking this for Crown of the kings, The Wealth of Darkness and The Black Uncharted. Until one special night at around 11pm, I took one chord and I felt goosebumps all over my body…..because in that moment, I knew that THIS was it. It was happening now! The best song I’ve ever written was about to manifest itself on my guitar! I then spent 8 hours writing the song. Without recording any of it. I just made the entire song in one go, with all the passes and details right there and then. And I remember calling my brother at 7am after I was finished, saying “I’ve done it! ARMADA is written!! And it’s fucking insane!!!”. Haha. I have never been more excited about a song and I remember this as something special because I’ve never written an entire song with all passes and details like that in one long session before or after. It was truly something unique and I also think that this song is something truly unique!

2.-3. Mountains Above the Sun by Vektor serves as an intro to Ultimate Artificer in their 2016 album Terminal Redux. I saw no reason not to do the same here. A monster of a theme, Progressive sci-fi thrash metal, lead to the biggest metal breakthrough album of 2016. What a headbanger Ultimate Artificer is. As the saying goes: Sci-fi or die!

4. When Anaal Nathrakh go doom, they go massive. When their usual chaotic tempos and vocals are matched with epic and heavy undertones, like in Drug-Fucking Abomination it creates a new kind of diversity. Just listen how epic as shit intro first transforms into screams of pain with a melancholic melody, and then into fierce ripping tempo. It’s almost funny how damn intense Anaal Nathrakh can get.

5. Murder, by Katatonia is part of their Brave Murder Day album (the track name is not Murder Day as is falsely tagged in Spotify). It’s almost comical how fitting it is for an album with that name to have three first tracks with the names, Brave, Murder and Day. Day is the most somber one and Murder a link between their old and new days. The first 13 seconds of repetive guitar chord are at first almost annoying, but after it becomes familiar, for me it is a promise that one of all time best melodic doom riffs is to follow.

Brave Murder Day (1996) is a great mixture of the rawness and doom of Dance of December Souls (1993) and their later clearer melancholic rock/metal sound. The main focus is still with the doom but the great lead melodies do not hurt at all. Also Mikael Åkerfeldt’s inspired vocal performance has to be taken into account. He was actually alerted to sing in the album in a really quick notice after Jonas Renkse lost his voice just before the recordings. And Åkerfeldt delivers!

6. One of the most underrated albums of 2016 Downfall of Gaia‘s Atrophy has a title track that deserves to go to metal history as a supreme accomplishment of melodic black metal. It is not often that a band from the backwoods of German black metal/sludge/hardcore scene comes to the fore with this much damn style. I mean this neverheard band has the guts to start with brilliant melody that leads to a fucking drum solo and to-die-for tremolo riff. And no, they aren’t progressive metal, just casually throwing a drum solo there. Blows my mind. If Downfall of Gaia manage to keep this strong base level up, they are bound to get a lot more notice in the next years.

And damn, that is not the only backwoods atmospheric German melodic black metal album in the masterclass of 2016. Ultha’s Converging Sings is also there.

7.-8. Downfall of Gaia shares some post-hardcore traits. Converge is a band that for many defines the mixture of hardcore punk, post-hardcore and metal. Precipe is an intro to All We Love We Leave Behind in their 2012 album. It sets the mood very well being a very atmospheric composition by nature.

All We Love We Leave Behind striked me first as a bit whiny even though the riffs and especially the rhythmics are really inspired. Later on I heard that the track is actually about the vocalist Jacob Bannon’s dogs. Sheesh, it transformed into heartbreaking at that very instant. The lines that I thought were such a fucking cliche actually started to work really well. Converge seems to keeps inventing the wheel again and again, their mixture of different genres is ever so fresh.

9. A bit before Hardcore punk band Converge mixed metal in, a hardcore band Neurosis abandoned hardcore punk and started playing slow weird music with hardcore elements. It could have been called post-hardcore (emo, anyone?) but instead it turned out post-metal. The second album of Neurosis from 1992, Souls At Zero is one of the first, if not the first post-metal albums of all time. Surprisingly it is arguably the best.

Souls at Zero is not as widely regarded a classic as most genre defining albums. It should be, post-metal has grown quite big in the 25 years since the making of Souls at Zero. I had heard a huge number of post-metal albums before I stumbled across Souls at Zero, but still Souls came on top of the whole pile. This very rarely happens to me, usually I find the genre defining albums to have been made better later (not a popular opinion I know). Souls at Zero is not a clinically clean album and has the hardcore rawness and energy being heavy and oppressive as shit at the same time. Sounding so damn inspired.

To Crawl Under One’s Skin starts with humming voice clips and obscure stuff turning into really memorable melodies and riffs. They may lack the later post-metal loudness war heaviness but have dynamics to die for. Bass booms in the front and a weird quite high-pitched but heavy riff chugs and meanders about. All the sudden at 2.47 the guitarist Scott Kelly or Steve van Till makes the guitars damn near cry with long bends. Followed by a drum-break and build up, I feel there is a term to it too. This kind of structural freeness defines a lot of post-metal. Free-flowing meandering compositions that wonder through different climaxes naturally, sometimes avoiding the peak and turning to different direction half-way.

Still, Souls at Zero is pretty damn different from any later post-metal albums. That might actually explain why it is not valued as high as I’d want, cause it’s still a part of a process but not the actual defining album. Why has no one else done post-metal like this? Damn. If someone has, feel obliged to send me that album’s name immediately.

10. Cult of Luna turned out to be arguably the biggest second wave post metal band (first album in 2001). Mainly because their discography is full of class. Though it also helps that they did not break up like Isis did. First albums of Cult of Luna are quite hardcore influenced as with so many of the biggest post-metal bands. Neurosis, Callisto, The Ocean and Isis for example.

Mariner from 2016 is listed as a collaboration in Metal-archives but it is actually a new album. 54 minutes and 5 tracks with a female singer Julie Christmas. A friend justly commented that he cannot imagine why Cult of Luna wouldn’t make this permanent. I agree, the female vocals complement the bit stale Cult of Luna signature male grunts so perfectly it adds A LOT to the music. The album Vertikal (2012) already grew a bit stale but this new element keeps the kettle boiling.

Julie Christmas is also not a pop singer. The hardcorish attitude vocals add a lot of scale especially when sometimes she sounds angelic, others like a 41 year old woman she is, but at times like a 14 year old teen. Boys, that is vocal talent.

The Wreck of S.S. Needle does not have play between female and male vocals that I feel they could try more in the future. It is a basic real quality, real atmospheric intro that leads into heavy riffing, electronic throbbing elements in the back, and later on a climax. Usually with post-metal the pinnacle of the track is a heavy as shit riff but here it’s the vocal performance of Julie Christmas. Cult of Luna hasn’t sounded so fresh since 2006.

Best music just now – Music quickies

Best music just now, Aether Realm (melodic death metal), Iglooghost (some crazy wonky electronic artist), Carpenter Brut (synthwave/retrowave), Radien (sludge metal) & Saimaa (Finnish progressive poprock for sportsmen).

Æther Realm – Tarot (2017)

a4166387068_10-500x500 My face when I was listening to a random rather praised American metal band that turns out sounding a lot like a mixture of Wintersun, Insomnium, Ensiferum and Kalmah. And they do this Finnish melodeath thing supremely fucking well. Every other year I lose my hope on ever finding really good melodeath anymore, then I am proven wrong…

The Fool is probably their most original and best track, but by no means the only great track in the album. Full review of the album has also been released in Like Music To Your Ears.

Iglooghost – Neō Wax Bloom (2017)

669158533299_T35318255470054 If you don’t like bright complex electronic music, you might still dig this crazy Irish guy. Must be a love it or hate it artist. As a very raw definition one could say Iglooghost combines IDM, trip-hop / wonky, breakcore, dubstep and bright and fucked up vocal sounds. It has also been called a maximalist album which fits really well as there’s a shit ton of stuff happening.

Once more I didn’t know music like this could exist and be so goddamn logical and mind-boggling at the same time.

I am almost ashmed on how much I dig Neo Wax Bloom, the album does not wear out with tens of listens. Bug Thief is the best electronic track of 2017, hands down. The background story is also worth a mention: “It’s a story about a void named “Mamu” and its destruction by two falling eyeballs. “… OK OK.

Radien – Maa (2016)

Radien-maa Finnish sludgepulverizing. Very hypnotic, mostly based on gigantic riffs, but Radien also flourishes in good spareful use of melodies. Even if you don’t speak Finnish, this is a supreme release. Also free to download from bandcamp!

Carpenter Brut – Leather Teeth (2018)

I am not as taken aback with Leather Teeth, as I’d like to. I expected it to be a full time heavy as shit electronic retrowave joyblast like Trilogy but… It is good but the ridiculously strong melodic themes are not as apparent as on Trilogy. On some tracks like the title track everything sticks together like it should. Bringing in two great vocalists in Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg and Beastmilk/Grave Pleasures Mat McNerney also helps the case.

Saimaa – Urheilu-Suomi (2018)

Finnish progressive poprock with full-on sports theme. A lot of 70s/80s resembling instrumental material infused with nostalgic clips from the past, and spoken word sections that somehow remind of electronic occult band Tähtiportti. The totality sums as a really competitive album. It is really not just a classic rock album, but nearly a big-band album too. There’s an array of wind and bowed string instruments and synths. I don’t think a mixture like this has ever been made.

There’s a lot of humour like the over of the top hero story Kuningas (footballer Jari Litmanen). 99 % of the album is really far from normal depressive Aki Kaurismäki like Finnish music tones. Yet out of the blue Saimaa crafts a supremely touching track in Suo Porkka ja Suksi. It tells the tragic story of cross-country skier Mika Myllylä like a Kalevala poem. If you want just instrumental goodness, I recommend the crazy bass leads of Pikataipale.

Even the first part of the double album is too long (77 minutes), hence I made a better 41 minute version of it to a Spotify playlist under this paragraph. You are welcome Saimaa, next time maybe hire me ;)?

Bandcamps:

https://aether-realm.bandcamp.com/album/tarot-2
https://iglooghost.bandcamp.com/album/ne-wax-bloom
https://carpenterbrut.bandcamp.com/album/leather-teeth
https://radien.bandcamp.com/album/maa

Sol Invictus 1990-1994 Best of Collection – Bootleg playlist

Sol Invictus is an English neofolk group, fronted by Tony Wakeford. As they have released a huge amount of quality albums since their formation in 1987, I decided to compile a bootleg best of collection as a Spotify playlist. Soon however, I realized that it would have to include about a quintillion tracks. A natural way to tackle this turned out to be dividing the collection into 4 parts by the release years. As always I wanted to make the collection like a “real” album entity.

The first of the four, 1990-1994 includes a few of my favourite releases: Trees In Winter (1990), King & Queen (1992) and Death of the West (1994). Almost every other full-length and live album between these years is also included!

A sharp-eyed lad may notice the absence of Lex Talionis (1993). That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, actually the opposite. I struggled hard in adding 3-4 tracks of industrial neofolk noise into an acoustic guitar driven collection and decided to make the more experimental Sol Invictus tracks into a separate collection. Also the lo-fi Against the Modern World (1988) will suffer the same fate! Nevertheless, I decided to include Angels Fall from Black Europe (1994) live album to make a cameo appearance.

Musings on some tracks

The starting track, The Man Next Door is Very Strange is my favourite rendition of Trees in Winter’s Sawney Bean. Many consider it a classic Sol Invictus song and I like to think this 1991 Killing Tide version is more definitive than 1990 Trees in Winter version. I do prefer the title Sawney Bean though. The track is chilling and has an extremely chilling backstory too: “Alexander “Sawney” Bean was said to be the head of a 48-member clan in Scotland anywhere between the 13th and 16th centuries, reportedly executed for the mass murder and cannibalisation of over 1,000 people.” There are old folk versions of this track but I cannot say whether the composition or lyrics have been influenced by any of them.

Talking about folk ballads the 6th track Sheath and Knife is one the Child ballads (folk songs collected by Francis Child during the second half of 19th century). A lot of musicians have made new renditions of these ballads, many extremely dark in nature. Sheath and Knife portrays a particularly tragic and a bit violent love story. And the ending… Sheesh.

Quite a few Sol Invictus listeners that found the band in 2000s came through the metal band Agalloch. They released a cover of Kneel to the Cross in their EP Of Stone, Wind, and Pillor (2001). This lead me to the unpolished version on Kneel to the Cross on Lex Talionis (1993) which I could not fathom at all. However I also found Death of the West (1994). It hit the mark almost instantly and is featured as the 9th track in this collection.

Tracklist

The Watching Moon sketch by Tor Lundvall (https://tonywakeford.wordpress.com)

1. The Man Next Door is Very Strange (The Killing Tide, 1991)
2. The Watching Moon (King & Queen, 1992) – one of the many occurences of nihilist pitch-black humouristic lyrics. Just some lovely piano-dibbling on the composition too!
3. Death of the West (Death of the West, 1994)
4. Media (Trees in Winter, 1990) – probably the most loved Sol Invictus track, straight to the point, melancholic and melodic.
5. Sheath and Knife (Death of the West, 1994)
6. Angels Fall (Black Europe, live, 1994; originally Against The Modern World, 1988)
7. Like a Sword (Let Us Prey, live, 1992; originally The Killing Tide, 1991)
8. Amongst the Ruins (Death of the West, 1994)
9. Kneel to the Cross (Death of the West, 1994)
10. The Return (King & Queen 1992)
11. Tears and Rain (King & Queen, 1992) – Seek out Tor Lundvall’s cover; it’s even more chilling.
12. English Murder (Trees in Winter, 1990)
13. Sun and Moon (King & Queen, 1992) – bonus track

The next collection will cover the years 1995-2000, it will be linked here when it’s ready!

Monumental Folkish & Folk metal playlist

1. Fleurety – Fragmenter av en Fortid disappeared from Spotify just a while ago, it will be added back when it comes back around. Full-length Min tid skal komme from 1995 is the real jewel of their discography. One of many “lost” metal releases that many consider a classic but most people have never heard about. It’s definitely a must checkup for fans of folkish metal.

1. Fleurety’s place was taken by Pillorian, the newly formed line-up of ex-Agalloch John Haughm. After Agalloch split into two pieces in 2016, the remaining three members went to form Khôrada that is due to release their first album. Pillorian‘s 2017 release Obsidian Arc starts with it’s brightest spots, By the Light of a Black Sun (+ Archaen Divinity) should sate most Agalloch fans.

2. Fen is not a band that I’ve tracked, even though it’s similarities to Agalloch have been known to me since their first full-length Malediction Fields in 2009. It is only lately that I gave a true chance to their unpolished first album and it unveiled a real jewel in Lashed by Storm. The weak clean vocals in the very end are it’s only grey spot. Fen’s 2017 release Winter materialized on my listening cycle; it does have some very atmospheric sections but its also really-frigging-long (75 minutes!). I would deem it very possible that a track from it appears to my playlists later on.

3.-4. As a humble praise, Wilderun‘s Sleep at the Edge of Earth might be my favourite metal release of past 5 years. It has a glorious quaternity Ash Memory (trinity has 3, quaternity 4, yeah i just looked it up from google…), from which 2 well fitting tracks were chosen. Hope and Shadow (II), and the The Faintest Echo (IV). The traces in the beginning of Hope and Shadow that clip in this collection are from the 1st track of the quaternity. Wilderun really took care to make it a logical entity which I then disturbed!

The Faintest Echo’s 3.20 monumental symphonic centerpiece and outro of the quaternity is a prime example why Wilderun’s output doesn’t pale in comparison with any symphonic and folk metal bands of today.

5. Tore Hund is by Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik’s Skuggsjá. It is a project by Enslaved and Wardruna veterans, which may run below radar cause of it’s eccentric name that sounds like artsy folk music. Well um, it is kind of that actually, in a lot of ways Skuggsja sounds more like folk with metal elements than the other way around. Though even the folkier tracks often have a heavy backbone that owes to metal and makes these two elements come together naturally.

6. In Zuriaake‘s Afterimage of Autumn‘s most stunning moment, the chorus of 歸兮 / Return Journey Zuriaake seamlessly adds a traditional sounding Chinese tremolo melody to a slow doomy basis. Unfortunately I could not pick the name of this guitar like string instrument as the booklet is all in Chinese (except track titles). Zuriaake’s black metal focuses on entwining natural atmospherics, ambience with very overdriven guitars and depressive black metal vibe. I also reviewed them in the past (https://likemusictoyourears.com/2016/01/26/zuriaake-afterimage-of-autumn).

7. October Falls is an interesting beast for their first promo was metal but three of the first four official releases were acoustic guitar driven material with a lot of natural ambience. Since then they’ve mostly strolled on the metallic grounds, always with quality but rarely with something that really catches my ears. A Collapse of Faith Part III, from 2010 A Collapse of Faith must be their best track to date. I must admit however that I have spent way too little time in adjusting to 2013, The Plague of a Coming Age. That ought to be my next listen.

8. The noise / drone wall of Sol Invictus‘ English Murder‘s intro make it a significantly difficult piece. But I am not making these collections for layman listeners quick fix. The controversy and paradox of a folk track being actually heavier and darker than the following metal track make it a juicy addon.

9. Logically following Sol Invictus is Agalloch, who have listed Sol Invictus as one of their big influences. Agalloch is one of the very first metal bands that I got into and surely the first folkish metal band. Yet in their sound progressive elements, post-rock and melancholia are also ever present. Limbs 10 minute brilliance is started by deliciously annoyingly long 10 second note after which it goes all post-rock. Climbing to mountains, descending into valleys and drifting among the transparent mist.

I do appreciate a well timed and set up grunt, John Haughm’s 6.35 effort is one of the prime examples! “These boughs were said to be lost! Torn, unearthed and broken – IYRRRRRRRRRRRR”. What the fuck is he even singing about? There must be something to it as it inspires genuine sing-along grunting from yours truly. When it comes to grunting, Haughm is right up there with Thomas Gabriel Fischer.

10. Skyclad‘s past two albums haven’t been nearly as notable as most of their 12 full-lengths before them (many of them are masterpieces after all). I would only rate A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol and No Daylights Not Heeltaps on level with the new albums. However, on In The… All Together from 2009 Skyclad formed possibly the best track of their career, The Well-Travelled Man. The vocalist Kevin Ridley is on fire, shouting half of the track. Lyrics and composition communicate perfectly into a folky, dramatic, upbeat, yet melancholic tune with a heart-wrenching ending. Wow.

Depression Overload – metal playlist

Funeral doom and depressive black metal is the bread and butter of this album (a playlist really, but I consider my playlists albums). It visits only a few other despairing terrains. This is no melancholy walk in the park as my previous playlists (Monumental funeral doom melancholy and Post-rock melancholia) but pure despair and depression. The darkness on the album is not sourced from incoherent extreme sewer sounds but tightly sounding bands that combine a great melodic sense with a feeling of hopelessness and misery.

1. It would not make sense to reveal all the cards in the beginning, so the beginning of the album is a light descent with some melodic funeral doom.

Shape of Despair is a band many of the melancholic melodic funeral doom bands model after. Their second album Angels of Distress (2001) is the biggest landmark yet strangely I seem to have picked tracks from their two newer ones in my playlists. Entwined in Misery is the best piece of their 2004 album Illusion’s play. It features hauntingly beautiful background keys that have lasted the touch of time extremely well. Pasi Koskinen’s growling kept getting deeper as Shape of Despair progressed in their career, peaking here. The new vocalist Henri Koivula (Throes of Dawn) does a tremendous job on their newest release, Monotony Fields (2015) as well.
All these years in absence
…forgiveness does not reveal itself…

…and emptiness falls before me…
And silences this life,

2. One of the best releases of 2015 Leviathan’s Scar Sighted is based on black metal but at it’s darkest it is pure nihilistic funeral doom. The title track is especially gloomy. The tortured screams and bright piano create a real contrast of depression and light.
Nil light reigns
Only tattered accusations
Paling to the comparison
Now utterly drained
And all wonder is banished
Life after life
Absorbing
Nothing

3. Evoken – Mournful Refusal. Evoken could be called a successor of nihilistic old school funeral bands like Esoteric, also having more in common with Thergothon and Skepticism than Shape of Despair. 2005 release Antithesis of Light (what a title!) benefits of its modern and crushingly heavy production. Hear also the dynamics, how beautifully Evoken has crafted a chorus with clean guitar and lovely bursty double bass drumming.
Waiting only prolongs the wanting
Living only prolongs the arriving
Death knows no regret of a mournful refusal

In sporadic tone, the composition of beauty
Turned grim and cold…

4. Lifelover (what a band name!), a lot of people loathe them and for a reason. Their sounds take some time to get used to, drum machine and quite amateuristic guitar sounds. Upon listening their masterpiece, Konkurs for the first time I thought: “Is this the masterpiece? Really?” But it’s a stunning grower with a soul that is very hard to find on any other release. The pitch-black humour in the depressive lyrics is the icing on the cake.

Stängt p.g.a Semester (closed because of semester) is an interlude unlike anything else on this album. A beautifully haunting acoustic track with despairing lyrics. One of the only instances were being forced to study ~8 years of Swedish in school has paid off.

På Svenska
Vem behöver glädjas åt sig själv
När vi kan skratta åt andra?
Vem behöver ha ett syfte
När det är urvattnat och saknar mening?
Vem behöver säga att “Jag mår bra”
När ändå ytan är det viktiga?Innan jag åkte, lämnade jag bomber,
Där ni känner er som mest trygga
Jag kommer inte tillbaka

English translation
Who needs to be happy about their selves
When we can laugh at others?
Who needs a purpose
When it’s all dried up and lacks meaning?
Who needs to say “I feel good”
When the surface is what counts?

Before I left, I planted bombs
Where you feel most secure
I won’t return

5. A lot of people thought it a dick move when a couple years ago Ghost Bath swindled in being a Chinese band, but turned out to be American. They said that was because they wanted to keep actual identities/location anonymous and for affection of Chinese culture.

Prejudice labelled aside Moonlover is a fine release but Happyhouse is the lethal injection Ghost Bath is at it’s best in prescribing. Happyhouse brings in mind the “Mental Central Dialog” themes of Lifelover. It’s bright melodies and incoherently painful screaming vocals clash together to create a feeling of an mental asylum. The melodies are a bit predictable but twisted a little obscure, perhaps wee bit out of tune and so fucking good, all this predictability is a strength. A downright shuddering tune.

6. Drudkh – Solitude. Yes it’s a great track and yes it’s pretty long with a lot of repetition, in the right mode Solitude becomes a very meditative track. Solitude is one of the only instances of more melancholic terrain than the rest of the tracks, it’s true potential lies in its slow and somber orchestral main melody.

Solitude’s lyrics are from a poem of an Ukrainian artist Taras Shevchenko (Thoughts of mine, О thoughts of mine, 1839). The familiar slavic dramatic melancholy is easy to discover.

Ukrainian
Журбою
Не накличу собі долі,
Коли так не маю.
Нехай злидні живуть три дні –
Я їх заховаю,
Заховаю змію люту
Коло свого серця,
Щоб вороги не бачили,
Як лихо сміється…
Нехай думка, як той ворон,
Літає та кряче,
А серденько соловейком
Щебече та плаче
Нишком – люди не побачать,
То й не засміються…
Не втирайте ж мої сльози,
Нехай собі ллються,
Чуже поле поливають
Щодня і щоночі,
Поки попи не засиплють
Чужим піском очі…

English translation
Never knew I joy, nor will it
Come to me if I
Grieve ’thout end…. Let grief be short-lived,
Let it snake-like lie
Coiled within my breast and hidden
From the evil sight
Of my foes…. And may its laughter
Reach them not…. By night
And by day my thoughts are ravens;
Let them croak while my
Heart, a songbird, trills and warbles,
While it softly sighs,
Sighs and moans with none to hear it
Or to taunt it … Pray,
Let me weep, and do not try to
Wipe my tears away.
Let them flow and flood the alien
Field till that a priest
Comes and covers me with alien
Earth…. Ah, me! No peace
Grief will bring me….

English translation by Irina Zheleznova taken from http://taras-shevchenko.infolike.net/t-shevchenko-tr-by-irina-zheleznova-poem-thoughts-of-mine-o-thoughts-of-mine.html) I cannot speak Ukrainian so the English and Ukrainian parts may not match exactly.

7. Moonsorrow – Kuolleiden Maa. Listen, Moonsorrow is not most known for their depressive black metal vibes. But on Kuolleiden Maa they are nothing else.

Finnish
Olen siellä mistä kaikki alkaa uudelleen
Missä valo ei värejä näytä
Kaikkialle levittäytyy tasainen niitty
Vain taivas ylläni vaalenee
Käy rauhaisena vierelläni tuuli
Itse silmäni suljen ja itken
Tänne jään, kaipuuta vailla
Rikotun henkeni veden virtaan annan

English translation
I am there where everything
starts and
Where the light shows no colours
An even meadow stretching everywhere
Only the sky above me growing lighter
A calm breeze is blowing beside me | I close my
eyes and weep | Here I
shall remain, without yearning | My broken spirit I shall give to the streaming
waters

Illustration from British Library free to use Flickr

Monumental metal 4 – Epixperimental playlist

Bring out the weird again, epic experimental tracks! This playlist features bands from experimental terrain that have a solid basis on metal.

1. Rudra‘s Illusory Enlightment is “Vedic” metal from Singapore. Vedic comes from their incorporation of Sanskrit Vedic literature, philosophy and ancient mantras (shlokas) to blackened death metal basis. They also encompass traditional Carnatic music to their compositions. Illusory Enlightment’s top moment is the compelling chanting chorus. See also the review of their album Brahmavidya: Immortal I here.

2. Jumalhämärä is one of the many bands in Finnish experimental black metal terrain that has gotten more attention in the past 10 years. Along with bands like Oranssi Pazuzu, Abyssion, Mörkö, Jumalhämärä is probably the weirdest of the bunch. The title track of their most accessible album Resignaatio is a rare catchy, almost punky, track and in their catalogue that makes it an abnormality. Its deep bass rumbling intro turns into naturally flowing structure, captivating Finnish lyrics with supremely hooking riffing and stylish use of upstrokes. You know what they released after Resignaatio? A drone pipe organ album. Really.

3. December Wolves is one of the many bands I found from Earache presents: Metal – A headbanger’s companion (2007). It is from the CD 2 – Grindcore, but especially CD 6 – Leftfield is a great listen (Cult of Luna, Callisto, Scorn, Godflesh, Akercocke, Crotchduster etc.). Desperately Seeking Satan could be called leftfield, though its roots are firmly in black metal. The heavy use of voice clips, nihilistic lyrics and programmed drums combining industrial with violent black metal guitars make their 2002 release Blasterpiece Theatre have a sound appearance unlike any other.

4. The Meads of Asphodel – Children of the Sunwheel Banner (part 2). You could say that Metatron, the vocalist of Meads of Asphodel takes making lyrics a bit seriously. Their webpage has about 100 pages of text per album about the lyrical themes. So you can imagine it surges pretty deep. It seems the web page is unfortunately down at the moment though.

Sunwheel banner obviously references to nazis. I am not even going into the stuff of them being “nazis” because they are a metal band that has an interest of the atrocities of the past + uses the word “jew”. Oh and one of the 10 labels that has released their music has apparently released an NSBM release, jeez.

Like in one of my previous playlists Monumental metal oddities, I placed “cousin” bands The Meads of Asphodel and Sigh after each other. They have enough eccentric material to use for a few playlists. Also, the keyboard solo in Children of the Sunwheel Banner is played by none else than the main man behind Sigh, Mirai Kawashima.

5. Sigh – A Messenger From Tomorrow (I. The Message – II. Foreboding – III. Doomsday). The most epic track in Sigh’s catalogue. Surprisingly also one of the lightest ones, based on strong orchestral melodies. The lesser amount of heavy distortion guitars does not mean the composition wouldn’t be huge though. A Messenger From Tomorrow only further proves the multifacetedness of Sigh as a monstrously diverse band.

6. Negură Bunget – Cunoașterea tăcută. Negura Bunget’s 2006 release Om is one of the highlights of 2000s black metal in both song-writing and originality. The introduction of Romanian traditional instruments, epic soundscapes, shamanistic repetitive passages, raw production and very oldschool black metal elements blew many a mind. Cunoașterea tăcută includes one of those clean melodies (at 3.00) that makes you wonder on what plane of being it was conceived. Oldschool black metal riffing accompanied with traditional instruments and high-flying folk singing with the catchiness of bubonic plague.

7. Ufomammut – Daemons. What a Monster riff to close up their 2015 release, Ecate. That is all that needs to be said really.

Monumental Funeral Doom Melancholy playlist

This compilation is based on the best bits of melancholic funeral doom bands with some more funeral bits of melodic death doom and traditional doomster(s) in the midst. The playlist continues in the vein of a previous Post-rock Melancholia playlist.

The concept of funeral doom has at least two different schools. The “original” sound with bands like Thergothon and Esoteric is very nihilistic and evil mass of sound. Skepticism has something in common with those bands but the themes often revolve around nature. The other newer school fronted by Shape of Despair is not at all about evil but of a weeping melancholy. Both schools are obviously shared by the supremely slow tempos.

This compilation has a lot of content from the melancholic funeral school which I am personally more fond of. Skepticism and Thergothon have never appealed to me even though I enjoy some bits by Evoken, who are a direct successor of the old school funeral.

1. Half Light by one man Swedish outfit Doom:VS is quite a hard-hitter but with a superbly memorable chorus and lyrics that are almost as melancholic melodic funeral doom as possible.

2. Frailty is from the doom legend Paradise Lost‘s more recent albums, Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us. A really memorable entirety. The track is perhaps a bit curious for a funeral doom collection but the weeping guitar lines in the end half are strongly reminiscent of many a track here.
I only realized the track’s true potential as I keep getting reminded of it in my work, the material I handle frequently has definitions of The Frailty Syndrome (Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome that embodies an elevated risk of catastrophic declines in health and function among older adults. Frailty is a condition associated with ageing, and it has been recognized for centuries.).

From the third track Lost & Catatonic the compilation slips into even deeper waters. It meanders effortlessly between very heavy, symphonic almost black metal bits and an extremely catchy and soft chorus. Lost & Catatonic was originally one of the tracks that triggered the biggest emotional response from Swallow The Sun‘s newest album Songs of the North 1. Later it was reported that in live setting a session guitarist would sometimes play the track instead of Juha Raivio. Understandable obviously given by the recent death of his spouse, the magnificently voiced vocalist Aleah Stanbridge.

4. Fragments by French band Remembrance is from their album Silencing the Moments (2008). Really some cliche melancholic funeral doom. It has all the basic elements from deep male growling to sparse hits, catatonic drummer, at times heavy at times extremely gentle guitars, background keyboards and angelic female vocals yet at their best they are tweaked so well it functions perfectly. Fragments is the song that has stayed with me most. I can’t think of any faults in it, its atmosphere is a real appealing slumbering mass. The hard & sparse hitting lamenting section at 5 minute mark is one of my favourites in any modern funeral doom band’s catalogue.

5. Shape of Despair is a band many of the more modern melancholic melodic funeral doom bands model after. Their second album Angels of Distress (2001) is the biggest landmark yet strangely I seem to have picked tracks from their two newer ones in my playlists. The Distant Dream of Life from Monotony Fields (2015) is nearly an absurdly short track for a funeral doom piece, clocking only 5.53 but its all tightly packed emotion. In the newest album Shape of Despair changed vocalist, and while I absolutely love Pasi Koskinen’s deep growling, the new vocalist Henri Koivula (Throes of Dawn) does a tremendous job as well.

6. Weighed Down With Sorrow by Insomnium is the best track they’ve ever made full stop. Never before or after have they gone this deep in doomish melancholy, the memorably sullen lyrics could be straight from the Finnish national epic Kalevala.

7. Her Withering Petals by The Fall of Every Season is 15 minutes long which may be a bit too much but its atmosphere stays intact and boy when the end comes, is it emotional or what. Machinae Supremacy sings about video game and action movie cliches in Player One “and in the end i’ll get the girl”. Translated into funeral doom, the same cliche is straight from the handbook of The Fall of Every Season:
This imagined warm touch was his relief.
Kneeling at her feet, ready for his sleep.
Had no longer wish to arise.
Put her arm around him, no more cries.
Slept there until the fierce cold awoke
to erase all tracks of life.

Venetian Snares Modern Classical Breakcore collection

Venetian Snares is Canadian Breakcore artist Aaron Funk who has released quite a few albums. This collection is based on the best bits of his modern classical works. At 53 minutes I had to leave a couple of songs out but I feel shorter length serves this kind of orchestral electronic clattering better.

Unlike many albums this collection does not go all in in the beginning, but is meant to collect steam along the way and in my opinion the last 4 tracks Room 379, Integraation, Senki Dala and Miss Balaton conclude as one of the strongest endings in the history of electronic music. I am humble, I know; but in actuality the strongness of the two whole tracks Integraation and Miss Balaton is to blame. That is not to say the beginning is weak, I love Frictional Nevada but its end chaos is a bit annoying.

What really brought Venetian Snares into my regular playing cycle is these tracks; the way he mixes complex electronic music with organic sounding classical orchestrations. Among his other albums Venetian Snares has released two full modern classical electronic breakcore albums Rossz Csillag Alatt Született (2005) and My Downfall (Original Soundtrack) (2007). This collection is based around those two albums which have many of his best works.

After these albums Aaron Funk incorporated modern classical as a more subtle part of his style, a track may not necessarily be a modern classical track or something else. One can only stand so much classical violin squeaking which is why bunch of tracks having other elements along with the classical have been included in this collection (from albums Hospitality (2006), Detrimentalist (2008), My-so-called-life (2010), My Love Is A Bulldozer (2014)).

I wanted to include Hajnal and Kétsarkú Mozgalom from Rossz Csillag Alatt Született too but for the sake of big picture, I had to turn them off.