As some of you know over the last year or so I've been working on listening to my complete music collection in as close to chronological order as I can get it, reviewing stuff along the way and generally refreshing myself when it comes to what I've got, what's hot, and what I can safely get rid of. Well, I've completed that project so now I'm ready to once again go forth and acquire new stuff. (Yes, this does mean the pace at which I do new reviews here will slow down a bit - sorry guys.)

I've already got some ideas about things I want to track down, but any suggestions of cool metal stuff to listen to would be appreciated. If you haven't read my reviews you can get a quick snapshot of what I do and don't like by just glancing at the five-star albums listed on my reviewer profile here:

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/Warthur%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/Warthur(member).aspx?reviews=all

Recommendations from all genres are appreciated but it'd be great to be able to explore some of the genres where I've not listened to much stuff - particularly folk metal, sludge metal, gothic and industrial metal (and grindcore, since I don't think I've ever listened to any) - since when it comes to genres where I've listened to a lot of things I tend to have a better handle on what I want to explore next.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/brutal-truth--need-to-control.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/brutal-truth--need-to-control.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/agoraphobic-nosebleed--agorapocalypse.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/agoraphobic-nosebleed--agorapocalypse.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/pig-destroyer--terrifyer.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/pig-destroyer--terrifyer.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/repulsion--horrified.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/repulsion--horrified.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/napalm-death--utilitarian.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/napalm-death--utilitarian.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/type-o-negative.aspx?ac=type" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/type-o-negative.aspx?ac=type o

 

I always found that they were more doom than goth, but goth is definitely one of the most prominent stylistic elements in their music.

 

I second that. One of the most important extreme metal acts. Personally I�m not too fond of the first two albums, but it�s probably an aquired taste. They are definitely what you�d call authentic though.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/d�dheimsgard--666-international.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/d�dheimsgard--666-international.aspx

and this one too:

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/d�dheimsgard--supervillain-outcast.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/d�dheimsgard--supervillain-outcast.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/saviour-machine--saviour-machine-i.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/saviour-machine--saviour-machine-i.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/saviour-machine--saviour-machine-ii.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/saviour-machine--saviour-machine-ii.aspx

 

...in the same sentence this one might be interesting to you: http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/shrinebuilder.aspx?ac=shrinebu" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/shrinebuilder.aspx?ac=shrinebu

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/minsk--the-ritual-fires-of-abandonment.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/minsk--the-ritual-fires-of-abandonment.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/baroness--blue-record.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/baroness--blue-record.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/kylesa--spiral-shadow.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/kylesa--spiral-shadow.aspx

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/rwake--rest.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/rwake--rest.aspx

 

I�m not an expert in sludge but I�ve reviewed these albums within the last couple of years and enjoyed them all.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/cruachan.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/cruachan.aspx  - The first and most recent album are folk/black metal. The rest are just folk metal of the celtic type. If you prefer folk/raw black metal, start with Tuatha Na Gael. If you rather more polished folk/black metal, start with Blood on the Black Robe. If you rather no or minimal black metal, start with Folk-Lore.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/arkona%28russia%29.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/arkona(russia).aspx  - So called 'Pagan' folk metal. Start with anything from the third album onwards, they're all top notch. Just make sure you're okay with non-English lyrics, it's all in Russian.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/wolfchant.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/wolfchant.aspx  - more guitar driven folk melodies than actual folk instrumentation here. A Pagan Storm is the best pure folk metal album but I slightly prefer Call of the Black Winds, which covers a range of styles.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/elvenking.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/elvenking.aspx  - power folk metal. Start with the first two albums or if you want something not really metal, try Two Tragedy Poets, their semi-acoustic album, it's actually one of their best.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/sig-ar-tyr.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/sig-ar-tyr.aspx  - more of a unique sound here, sort of acoustic driven atmospheric folk metal which draws on ambient music and black metal. Beyond the North Winds is the best album IMO.

Abigor- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/abigor.aspx?ac=abigor" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/abigor.aspx?ac=abigor -the fascinating thing about these guys is how much writing they put into the music.  Listen to any song by them and count how many individual non repeated riffs there are.

Lunar Aurora- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/lunar-aurora.aspx?ac=lunar%20aurora" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/lunar-aurora.aspx?ac=lunar%20aurora -they've got three eras to their music, the first is awesome symphonic black metal with their best album IMO being the amazing Weltenganger.  Eventually, they change it up to a more atmospheric depressive black metal tone.  Still great.

Blut aus Nord- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/blut-aus-nord.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/blut-aus-nord.aspx -one of the best atmospheric black metal bands ever.  They go from a pagan, wintery atmosphere in their first two albums to a more nightmarish sound later on.

Nokturnal Mortum- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/nokturnal-mortum.aspx?ac=nokturnal" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/nokturnal-mortum.aspx?ac=nokturnal -pagan black metal at its finest.  Very epic sounding.  Their early stuff is more symphonic black metal influenced, but they started to use folk instruments in NeChrist along with the keys.  The two albums that came after that one are even better.

Borknagar- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/borknagar.aspx?ac=borknagar" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/borknagar.aspx?ac=borknagar -first three are black metal.  The Olden Domain is one of the best albums of the genre.  Later they switched to a more progressive metal sound.

Leviathan- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/leviathan.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/leviathan.aspx -awesome US based black metal.  One of the most well presented cases of a hateful atmosphere.  He's released five albums (one of them non-metal), but check out his splits and compilations too.  They've got some awesome tracks that don't appear on his full-lengths.

Paysage d'Hiver- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/paysage-dhiver.aspx?ac=paysage" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/paysage-dhiver.aspx?ac=paysage -a little out of season, but this is awesome winter themed black metal.  Steineiche and Schattengang are my favorite albums, but you should also check out the self titled and Winterkalte as well as the two ambient albums.

Darkspace- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/darkspace.aspx?ac=darkspace" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/darkspace.aspx?ac=darkspace -the man behind Paysage d'Hiver plays in this band.  They're a very awesome space themed atmospheric black metal band.  They sound a good bit like Paysage d'Hiver except for the better production and even more extreme sounding drum programming.

 

Yeah precisely. It�s an important journey.

Wow, a great response, thanks guys!

That sounds like an awesome mix of sounds, and with you and UMUR both recommending them I'll definitely make them a priority.

UMUR - Wow, a pile of recommendations! Thanks. I'd already put Type O Negative on my "really ought to check these guys out" list but you've inspired me to move them up. (For what it's worth: Christian lyrics don't necessarily bother me - I mean, sometimes they can, but sometimes any lyrical subject matter can. On the other hand, I'm really not cool with NSBM.)

adg211288 wrote: You want folk eh?

And you've given me a ton, thanks. :)

Wilytank wrote: Here's some black metal you missed

I knew I could count on you to deliver! I'll have to ponder Nokturnal Mortum because I know that on NeChrist and elsewhere they veered into NSBM turf, but I'll definitely give all your recommendations consideration.

Great album. This is the most folk of the ones I've heard, but you'll find folk in moderation in most of their albums so definitely worth checking out on the folk metal front. 

I've never let NSBM lyrics bother me.  I just pay attention to the music because that's what I think actually matters.  I just hope you don't do any reviews saying "The music is all good and awesome, but I don't like NSBM themes so I'm giving this a zero."  I've seen people do that before, and it's very lame.

Other than that, have at the black metal.  I'm getting bored of the top 12 BM albums being virtually controlled by me. 

On a side note, since when was Carcass prog death?

 

Nope, I meant the Swedish one. A favorite of mine.

Swedish Shining-formed in '96.

Norwegian Shining-formed in '99.

Swedish Shining = the true Shining. 

To be honest I'd rather shun them altogether. Oxygen of publicity and all that.

Then again I understand NM weren't into the whole NS deal when they did Goat Horns, which I see is very highly rated, so I might give that a spin. I mean, I'm cool with listening to Burzum mainly because Varg's political ideas don't really factor into his lyrics.

You kidding me?

The lyrics to Goat Horns were never published, but if they're anything like the similarly themed To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire's lyrics, they're probably not NS themed.  I've actually heard in places that newer editions of NeChrist have NS bits taken out of the English lyrics (but not the Ukrainian ones) and the Celtic cross on the cover was removed.  I've read in an interview with Varggoth (found it here:  http://www.myspace.com/nokturnalmortumband/blog/454766044" rel="nofollow - http://www.myspace.com/nokturnalmortumband/blog/454766044 ) that he doesn't want Nokturnal Mortum to be a political band, but rather religious.  The interview was around the time Weltanschauung was released.

I really don't buy the "apolitical" claim when bands make it. The way I see it, your political ideas - if you genuinely, sincerely believe in them - are going to reflect your worldview, and any competent artistic expression is going to reflect and be an expression of the artist's worldview. I think it's quite hard to build that sort of firewall between your personal ideology and your lyrics; I think post-prison Burzum accomplishes it mainly through drawing lyrical inspiration from age-old poems rather than Varg writing his own stuff. Simply saying "we aren't political" isn't enough, especially when there are plenty of bands who make the apolitical claim who go on to say things in their lyrics which clearly reflect their political and social philosophy and worldview.

I mean, in that interview Varggoth talks about how it's a tragedy that cultures are mixing and so forth and puts it in very religious terms. When someone believes that to the core it's incredibly hard for it not to come out in their work, especially since so far as I can see Nokturnal Mortem are still banging the nationalism/traditionalism drum to a certain extent. They're only "apolitical" in the sense that they're not advocating any specific party, and as for them being a religious project - well, Varggoth's political views and religious views clearly overlap to an extent to where they can't really be separated.

In any case, it isn't really Varggoth's choice any more whether or not the band is political: NeChrist happened, and was pretty undeniably NS-oriented, and anything the band does in relation to that album and that material is inherently going to be a political act no matter how much he says "Apolitical! Apolitical!" Continuing to make the album available and play the political songs on it is a political statement, withdrawing it is a political statement, condemning it is a political statement. Saying on the one hand that you don't want to push a political agenda but on the other hand saying that cultural mixing is tantamount to the end of the world is a political statement.

In particular, censoring the English version of NeChrist but not the Ukrainian one is a political statement, and a ridiculously weaselly one - it says to me that the band aren't sorry that they said those things, they're just sorry that they got in trouble for saying them, and they're hoping that by trimming the English lyrics they'll fly under the radar.

It's about as progressive as Entombed's first two albums.

 

Whatever it is, it�s highly recommedable and an extremely influential death metal album. Actually all their albums up until "Heartwork"  were extremely influential on various extreme metal genres and that�s what makes them such an important act in the history of extreme metal wether it be goregrind, extreme cover artworks, splatter lyrics, the low growling vs high pitched sneering vocal style, melodic guitar solos in death metal and of course their impact on the Swedish melodeath scene.

If you are interested:

The big (and popular) guns:

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/nightwish.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/nightwish.aspx  (symphonic power)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/within-temptation.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/within-temptation.aspx  (started as gothic doom metal)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/epica.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/epica.aspx  (prog symphonic)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/tarja.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/tarja.aspx  (symphonic metal/rock)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/turisas.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/turisas.aspx  (only Stand Up and Fight is mainly symphonic metal, the rest is folk metal)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/after-forever.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/after-forever.aspx  (prog symphonic)

Lesser known acts:

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/whyzdom.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/whyzdom.aspx  (prog symphonic)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/xandria.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/xandria.aspx  (symphonic gothic (early)/symphonic power (current))

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/amberian-dawn.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/amberian-dawn.aspx  (symphonic metal/neoclassical metal)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/battlelore.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/battlelore.aspx  (some folk influences)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/pythia.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/pythia.aspx  (symphonic power)

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/diabulus-in-musica.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/diabulus-in-musica.aspx  (influences of power, death and gothic metal and folk music)

Still, you've given enough examples there to convince me that there might be other bands in the genre who are more likely to push my buttons so I'll see about giving them a try.

*ahem*

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/therion.aspx?ac=therio" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/therion.aspx?ac=therio

But didn't Weltanschauung have lyrics such as "We remember your feat a soldier of white race no matter either you were German or Slav"?

Whatever, doesn't matter either way, I used to be all uptight about the whole Nazi thing, but I later decided that it's the music that really matters, and I've never let NS themes bother me since from listening to brilliant bands like Nokturnal Mortum, Fanisk, Dub Buk , etc.

Also if you like gothic metal, try Dreadful Shadows and Yearning.