The Great Collection Rediscovery

This is my favourite still, possibly because it's a bit under-developed. The albums after this are crisper and tighter, but I love the rough around the edges sound. In The Beginning is a collection of demos from before this album and is rougher still, but shows promise, and shows the roots of a lot of the songs here.

Album: Antichrist

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I sometimes legitimately forget that I own this. It was actually one of the first death metal records I purchased - something I also tend to forget when I think back through my journey through death metal. I also forget how good it is, since it's not an album I spin very often and I don't own anything else by them. These then tweed suit wearing extreme metallers have some odd elements in their music and are much more progressive than they've ever really been given credit for, notably being absent from PA despite them having accepted the likes of the decidedly un-prog Nightwish as a fully blown progressive metal band, long before Imaginaerum gave them a case. Just looking at some of the individual song tags on RYM should give you clue that they were no ordinary death metal act: Death Industrial, Electronic, Post-Punk, Dark Folk, Avant-Garde Metal, Neoclassical Darkwave, Rital Ambient and Gothic Metal, it's all there in at least one song. Their growls were among some of the most incomprehensible I've ever heard though. Akercocke later split after this album but reformed a few years ago and made a comeback, though I've never checked it out. According to RYM, they returned as even more of a prog act. Still not on PA though. Anyway, this is definitely an album I've neglected a lot. It's pretty fucking great. My review from years on this is likely very inaccurate now.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Album: Orchid

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: For some bands it takes a record or two to find their sound, but with Orchid Opeth already had their (original) sound. It would go on to receive refinement before morphing into the growl-free band they are today, but everything that made the extreme metal Opeth special was already present and correct here. A damn fine debut album.

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Omnivium

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Omnivium is an important album for me regarding the way my taste in metal developed. Although it was far from the first death metal album I owned it certainly was one which marked a turning point for me in listening to more death metal. Although to this day I still don't consider myself that well versed in death metal since it's a mood that tends to come and go for it (one I am very much in lately), this is one I tend to revisit fairly often at least with its best tracks if not as a whole. Beyond this I have not paid that much attention to Obscura and have not bought either of their subsequent albums, although I do also own their first one. They are a band I feel I could use getting to know better outside of Omnivium. 

New Rating: No Change.

Album: Black Seeds of Vengeance

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: It was great to listen to this one again. Like all my Nile albums I've really neglected it for a long time and when I was getting into them and buying records I had a real special fondness for this one, which is quickly revived on the revisit. I'm almost through all the Nile albums I own now and I've realised that I probably should have picked up their more recent releases too. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: In Their Darkened Shrines

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Historically I've struggled with this Nile album a bit, which is odd considering it's also held up as one of their best. But it's also one that a long time away has done wonders for. This time around it absolutely kicked my arse. And Unas Slayer of the Gods may just be the greatest thing they've ever recorded. Won't jump this up all the way to top tier on one listen, but it's going to 4.5 at least.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Album: Annihilation of the Wicked

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: This is one Nile album I have never played enough, which is odd considering it's often upheld as their best and I've always rated it a 4.5 at minimum myself. I don't think one revisit is enough to see if this can get up to a 5, but it's certainly one I must remember that I have more often and be able to get to know it in the same way as I know it's next two follow-ups. 

New Rating: No change for now. 

Album: Ithyphallic

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: My first Nile album, so it holds a special position in my esteem for the band. I've never understood why this one is sometimes singled out as a weaker offering from Nile or why for years RYM'ers have been insisting that unlike their other albums, this one is 'just' death metal, not tech or brutal. The first of many Nile to revisit.

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: The Aura

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Beyond Creation represents my kind of tech-death: progressively inclined with an ample helping of fretless bass work. While the individual songs tend to blur together a bit for me - a problem I have in death metal in general beyond some few very special exceptions, as a complete experience this band is pretty much tailor made for me, although they aren't a group I have returned to that often, this marking this one's first spin since 2016. It probably deserves to be played more though. 

New Rating: No Change.