I�ve actually written a review of Si Monumentum for PA: http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=212649. I�ll take a few more listens and see if I get a new perspective of things before posting it here on MMA. I thought it was a very good album but there were flaws that I didn�t enjoy. Things tend to change the more you listen and I�m pretty stuborn when I hear something I find intriguing even though it might not be instantly likable.

I�m listening to this one right now.: Deathspell Omega - K�n�se It�s quite a demanding release but I�m really impressed. I�ve reviewed most of their earlier material and I didn�t care much for it, but this is where it starts to get really interesting IMO.

UMUR wrote: That�s kind of a broad search. Which bands do you normally prefer?   There�s no use in steering you towards the symphonic side of the genre if you�re more interested in the raw old school sound.

^Good call

^I guess it depends on what your poison is. The first two albums are pretty raw old school black/ thrash metal and don�t interest me much. 666 International is a really twisted experimental black metal album with industrial elements. Rather progressive actually. I love that one and consider it a masterpiece. Supervillain Outcast is much more polished and varies from blasting industrial black/ death metal to what I would call goth influenced metal ( there�s a song that�s close to Manson on that one). I love that one too, but if you�re mostly an old school black metal guy I�m not sure if you�ll enjoy Supervillain Outcast much.

I mostly like the twisted experimental stuff like D�dheimsgard, Ved Buens Ende and their ilk.

There are certain gems in the depressive / suicidal area of black metal that are really good, otherwise I don't really care about it, especially right now there are millions of worthless bands trying to imitate bands like Shining, Lifelover etc. It's getting ridiculous. Basically every 15 year old black metal fan (sorry my generalization) has its own "depressive black metal" myspace project with a drum machine in the background and then some lazy guitar picking on top. That's how the trends always go, I guess.

Hypothermia is one of the only bands I really dig in this certain style, although from my perspective it's a bit different, in that it creates a void of emotions, a void of everything. It is as stale and pale as music can get, and in that it's somehow beautiful and sick the same time. (I'm particularly referring to the album "K�ld" and generally all the material from those years, the newer material is leaning towards more melodic post-rockish stuff which isn't totally bad either.)



Edited by Vehemency - 09 May 2010 at 10:32am

Forgive my ignorance, but why would you want to listen to music that makes you want to kill yourself? 

Stephen wrote: guys i'm about to explore Enslaved, my friend told me that I can go with Ruun first, but judging from this site's review, looks like Isa is a better starter, now I'm curious about how is the description of this band's music because I read somewhere that it has progressive metal element. Can someone enlighten me a bit? :)

With Enslaved, it really depends on your background. Isa, from what I can tell (from your tastes) would be your safest/best start. This one is close to half half, progressive to black metal influences. If you were interested in a classic Norwegian slant, I'd head straight for Vikingligr Veldi, but I don't think that will work for you.

I really don't enjoy vanilla black metal, I find it boring and derrivative. However I do enjoy metal bands that blend black influences or styles, like Agalloch, Alcest and the likes.