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The Great Collection Rediscovery

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 10:29am
Artist: Scar Symmetry
Album: Pitch Black Progress
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: When I want a bit of melodic death metal (not a mood that strikes me that often) I usually fall back on the better albums of Arch Enemy, but I also own an album or two from various other bands, including a couple from Scar Symmetry, who are probably band I should explore more, since Pitch Black Progress is a really great record. I also have the one after this, but I haven't played it as much, so that's going to be an interesting re-listen. This one is as strong as ever though, balancing deep growling vocals and melodic cleans that make it as catchy as any power metal record. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 8:50am
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: Stigmata
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: This is the only one of theirs I own with Johan Liiva on vocals. I don't mind him, but do consider his growl the weakest they've had, although reports of him being crap when Angela first joined were always greatly exaggerated. This is one of their best albums for me more through the quality of the tracks than the vocals though. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2021 at 6:09am
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: Wages of Sin
Old Rating: 4/5



Verdict: Wages of Sin, Arch Enemy's first album with Angela Gossow as vocalist, is not one I tend to play very often and I really don't know why, as this is surely one of the stronger records of theirs that I own. It's not quite the same ilk that resulted in records like Rise of the Tyrant and War Eternal, but some might find it better for it. So far though it's the only record I own from them where I'm changing my rating for the better.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2021 at 6:05am
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: Doomsday Machine
Old Rating: 3/5



Verdict: The first Arch Enemy album I bought and it's ironically the one I look back least fondly on out of those I've got. This re-listen actually went a little better than expected, but I generally still find this one of the weaker Arch Enemy records and since I've had it for so long it's going to take more one 'better than expected' re-listen to get me to up my rating on what it's been for years.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2021 at 6:02am
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: War Eternal
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Once upon a time I would have said that Arch Enemy was a band that, even though they had their ups along with their downs, would never be worthy of a five star rating. Then they released War Eternal. Back in 2014, this was the best melodic death metal record I'd ever heard and seven years later it still is. Exactly how they can be this good sometimes and then their next record I only gave a 3 to is surely one of metal's greatest mysteries. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 666sharon666 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2021 at 1:32pm
Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Alissa White-Gluz seems one dimensional.

She's really not though (she can actually sing for a start). But that doesn't mean Arch Enemy have made best use of what she can do. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2021 at 11:36am
Originally posted by Nightfly Nightfly wrote:

I agree, quite a frustrating band with a lack of consistency. Sometimes great, sometimes very average.

Agree too. And as much as everyone goes on about their female singers, I think that's one of the band's biggest weaknesses. Angela Gossow put in a couple of decent performances, but then began to sound same-y. And from what I have heard (admittedly not a lot) Alissa White-Gluz seems one dimensional.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2021 at 4:39am
I agree, quite a frustrating band with a lack of consistency. Sometimes great, sometimes very average.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2021 at 1:09pm
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: Rise of the Tyrant
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: My favourite Gossow era Arch Enemy album, Rise of the Tyrant shows off what the band can do when they are at their best. The album is packed full of melodic death metal anthems. Unfortunately they have never been able to maintain this level of consistency across consecutive releases. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2021 at 8:55am
Artist: Arch Enemy
Album: Anthems of Rebellion
Old Rating: 3.5/5



Verdict: Arch Enemy were among the first extreme metal bands I discovered all those years ago and it was the song Silent Wars from this album that I first heard from them, although the first album I actually bought by them was, I think, Doomsday Machine. Initially I was drawn to bands like them and Trivium, who were using harsh vocals (the local term among fledgling headbangers was 'guttural' - it was many years before I ever encountered the term death growl/grunt), through their guitar work. I found these bands through the magazine Total Guitar after all and TG had a real thing about these two bands - actually, for a magazine that was meant to focus on the guitar players they sure made a real big deal out of Arch Enemy having a female vocalist. I suppose in extreme metal that was less heard of back then, but they were still supposed to be a guitar magazine. One particularly cringeworthy article I recall being decorated with the tagline: A girl with balls. 

These days, I return to Arch Enemy much more often than Trivium, but I look back on them as a rather patchy band full of ups and downs. Anthems of Rebellion is, in my view, a pretty decent album, but I can never bring myself to change it's rating higher than it already is, because I know that when this band is at their best, they make an absolutely killer melodic death metal record. And that doesn't describe Anthems of Rebellion, although it's also far from their weakest record. 

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Edited by adg211288 - 14 Mar 2021 at 2:53pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 1:52pm
^ I really need to spend more time listening to them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 9:06am
Artist: Mare Cognitum
Album(s): The Sea Which Has Become Known, An Extraconscious Lucidity, Phobos Monolith & Luminiferous Aether
Old Rating(s): 4/5, 4.5/5, 5/5 & 5/5




Verdict: Since I binged all four of these in one go today I decided to write up a bulk entry, though I'll still do separate ones for the Mare Cognitum splits that I own. 

Mare Cognitum is among my favourite black metal acts. A big part of which that is is on the most recent two albums Phobos Monolith and Luminiferous Aether, which are both absolute beasts, along with the two splits with Spectral Lore. The first two records have the project more finding its feet but both are still really solid atmospheric black metal. It's very easy to listen to all four records in one go, as it only amounts to a total of 20 tracks totalling just over three hours. There are far worse ways to spend a morning, I assure you. 

I expect this won't be the only time these get spun this month in the build up to the release of fifth studio album Solar Paroxysm. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2021 at 8:31am
Originally posted by Bosh66 Bosh66 wrote:

That’s the first Symphony X album I bought, which is probably why it remains my favourite.

That's probably the same reason for me with Twilight in Olympus, although finally getting The Divine Wings of Tragedy recently has caused me to begin to favour that one. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2021 at 8:29am
Artist: Symphony X
Album: The Odyssey
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: I really dig this one from Symphony X. I haven't played it as much as Twilight in Olympus, partly through having it a shorter time, but I think The Odyssey is one of Symphony X's best albums. A record that goes up in my estimations with every spin.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bosh66 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2021 at 4:16am
That’s the first Symphony X album I bought, which is probably why it remains my favourite.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2021 at 3:49am
Artist: Symphony X
Album: V: The New Mythology Suite
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: A bit different in vibe to the previous two Symphony X albums and for me represents a slight step down (I still don't understand anyone who thinks Twilight in Olympus is a blip in their discography), but this is the golden age of Symphony X and that means this one is still pretty essential listening.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bosh66 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2021 at 1:08pm
^ it’s a pretty decent proggy rock record. I play it occasionally.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2021 at 9:53am
Artist: Anathema
Album: A Fine Day to Exit
Old Rating: 3/5



Verdict: While I was honestly expecting to come away from later Anathema putting them down as obvious ones not to keep, this one has proved a pleasant surprise. It's certainly not my usual sort of music, but I really liked this one! Very pleasant album. Not really MMA relevant if they didn't have death-doom stuff from earlier on, but it'll do me.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 8:43am
Artist: Lamb of God
Album: Ashes of the Wake
Old Rating: 4/5



Verdict: I was honestly expecting to hate this now. Lamb of God always seems to be to be the field leader in that kind of popular tough guy groove metal schtick that really doesn't fly with me the way it may have done 15 years ago. Only this is a damn solid album; absolutely packed with riffs that hit the spot that it actually ends up being a pleasant surprise. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 8:13am
Artist: Itnuveth
Album: The Way of the Berserker
Old Rating: 4/5



Verdict: An ebay pickup when I had a mad rush to add some pagan black metal to my collection - any pagan black metal I could get my hands on - and this is one of a few I ended up with. It's okay, just nothing too special. A keeper, but not something to drag out too often. 

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