Theli, by Therion.

*****

Words are tricky things, and I’m finding it hard to summon the right ones to do sufficient justice to this album. Listening to Theli isn’t just an audio experience, it’s piece of art to be absorbed with your full attention. Grandiose choirs lilt and rise against a carefully woven architecture of majestic strings, stirring keyboard melodies and marvellous guitars that are highlighted just so with neoclassical tones to both contrast and blend with these beautiful arrangements, all underpinned with sterling rhythm work that keeps the metal quota of this record firmly in the foreground, never to be over-swamped by the orchestra or choir. Christofer Johnsson is the Mozart of metal, blending his keen love of classical music and heavy metal with careless ease, a master artisan sculpting a tour de force that after twelve years, even Therion themselves have yet to better, never mind the competition. A complex and demanding listen this no doubt is, but one that avoids alienating upon your first listen through the sheer quality of musicianship on display and the artful, catchy hooks that are littered throughout this towering giant of an album. Further listens lead you on a wondrous journey to discover all the intricacies of this paragon of symphonic metal. Rousing, heartfelt, beautiful and essential, praise is something this album could never get enough of.

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh - Morbid Angel

*****

I didn't know what to expect going into Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. Was I going to find a healthy progression from the atrocity that was Altars of Madness? Or was I going to find more of the same? Thankfully, I didn't have to clog my ears with cotton wool this time round. Formulas is a three-man effort by Morbid Angel, featuring new vocalist and bassist Steve Tucker, who brings a deep, aggressive vocal assault on the classic Morbid Angel formula of wild guitar solos, detuned riffs and blistering double bass. Formulas is a much more refined and clean record than Altars of Madness, while maintaining the speed and brutality, in essence showing the maturing writing style of Azagthoth, who writes well over half of the songs. The solos are, in typical Azagthoth fashion, chaotic, with a shedload of whammy abuse and two-handed tapping. Formulas is a very underrated album, but definately lives as one of Morbid Angel's classic albums and one worth checking out for the Death Metal connoisseur.

Must Download: "Heaving Earth", "Bill Ur-Sag"

On the Wings of Phoenix, by Symbyosis

*****

Technical, hook laden riffs.
Check.
Articulate, note perfect solos (No really, they are perfection!)
Check.
Beguiling, complementive bass lines.
Check.
Stylish, jazzy, impressive drum work.
Check.
Excellent definable death growls and understated, memorable keyboard and choral flourishes.
Double check.
Symbyosis are definitely ticking all the right boxes here and straight from the get go, the progressive touches of On the Wings of Phoenix set out to challenge you while remaining extremely listenable, producing a sonic medley of melodic death metal ingenuity that commands your full attention. If I was to mention nothing else, I simply must make note of Nikos Kevorkian and Franck Kobolt, a rather formidable guitar duo. While you can hear various influences in their fret work, they sound fresh, very much with a sound all their own, which is something to be commended in a market full of factory made melodic death. In fact every member of this band puts in a stunning, virtuoso performance. Whats more, this is a double album, with the second disc, titled Phoenix Ashes, containing some very entertaining covers, B Sides, remixes and most importantly the continuation of the “Crusades” saga, a masterpiece suite of songs started on their fist EP, The Fluid. This is nothing more or less than truly distinguished, absorbing metal of the highest order that while deceptively simple, remains hard for me to describe, leaving me with no more words to say except if you don’t check this out, you’re depriving yourself of something extraordinarily special.

In Sorte Diaboli by Dimmu Borgir

*****

In Sorte Diaboli by Dimmu Borgir

In Sorte Diaboli is by far the bands’ most powerful and epic debut to date. In Sorte takes the band to the next step after Death Cult Armageddon and features the same line up of talented musicians. More guitar driven than its predecessor lacking the use of full symphony but none the less epic and also is the bands first fully conceptual album, following the story of a priest who witnesses the unfair killing of innocent people and becomes “Antichrist” following him on his journey up to the point of his burning at the stake. The opener “The Serpentine Offering” starts up slow and then erupts into full fury taking the album to a powerful start. Shagrath’s vocals are in perfect form providing his best performance to date. Galder and Silenoz’s duo guitar work shows off epic writing while ICS Vortex holds the line down with powerful solid bass work and little bits of his operatic singing style. All the while the best drumming to date on a Dimmu album provided by none other than Hellhammer of Mayhem. This album begins hard and just gets heavier and more epic with the only stop being the haunting intermission track “The Fallen Arises”. However the tempo is immediately picked back up by the thundering “The Heretics Hammer”. I believe In Sorte Diaboli provides Dimmu Borgir’s most memorable songs since Stormblast. An absolute must have for any old Dimmu fans however I also recommend it to people who are not fans as I have heard many people say they do enjoy this album even if they are not typically Dimmu Borgir fans. Without a doubt this is an example of symphonic black metal at it’s best.

Must Listen: "The Serpentine Offering", "The Sacrilegious Scorn","The Foreshadowing Furnace"

Bathory, Self Titled

***

Bathory, Self titled

Bathory’s self titled debut is a solid blast of heavy thrash inspired early black metal much in the vein of Venom, and I can’t help but say is similar though much less complex than modern Skeletonwitch. Though the early touches of black metal are lyrically obvious I would venture to say that this album really has more in common with dark thrash than modern black metal. Vocally a early style of black growl is combined with more evil sounding thrash vocals to create a pretty good balance accompanied by simple yet effective thrash guitar riffs, and solid but standard drumming and bass make this album very enjoyable but not very life changing. Though I suspect it would have had a much greater effect when it was released than it does now.

Must Listen: Storm of Damnation, and Armageddon

Traces Of Nothingness - Svartsinn

****
Ever thought what about what the soundtrack of a troubled mind would sound like? Or sonic reflections about being in that state? How about musical soundscapes about the turmoil and tribulations in life? Well there's an artist known as Svartsinn who not only thought about this but actually succeeded in composing such soundscapes in the form dark ambient music. Traces of Nothingness is the grand morbid finale in the Svartsinn trilogy, the previous two releases being Devouring Consciousness and Of Darkness and Re-Creation respectively. Devouring Darkness deals mainly with troubled times in the life of the artist and Of Darkness and Re-Creation sees the artist contemplating those times of turmoil. With Traces of Nothingness Svartsinn gives a dark overview on the struggles of life in general, and one hell of view at that i might add.Traces of Nothingness for one thing breaks the cycle in the typical dark ambient cliche. The complexity and diversity in in the overall sound shows an achievement in sonic evolution and musical maturity in the genre of dark ambiance. The listener is immediatly transported to a world of desolation where feelings of loss, grief, loneliness, despair and depression create the atmosphere. One of the most remarkable aspects of this grim creation is it's ability to permeate the listener with these feelings; you feel what Svartsinn felt in this album. For almost one hour spanning eight tracks you will a captive in the dark realm that Traces of Nothingness takes you to. Highlights on this morbid masterpiece include Traces of Nothingness, Misanthropic Odyssey and Through Apathetic Eyes. I suggest that if bleak and dark ambient music is your desire, desperately seek out Traces of Nothingness and take a 'misanthropic odyssey' with Svartsinn.

Must Downloads - Traces of Nothingness, Misanthropic Odyssey

Voimasta Ja Kunniasta - Moonsorrow

*****

I've always heard the word 'epic' used frequently in music to describe a band or album but i never gave it much thought; that abruptly changed when i first heard Voimasta Ja Kunniasta by Moonsorrow. Personally i think the definition of epic does not even begin to describe the sheer greatness of this band's stellar blackened viking/folk metal release.
Voimasta Ja Kunniasta which basically means ' of strength and honor' starts off with a beautiful piano intro called 'Tyven', very short and sweet and instantly sets the mood of the album. Immediately after this is an immensely catchy battle hymn called 'Sankariha' which kicks off with perfectly executed raspy scream. Amazing guitars of great harsh vocals make this a most enjoyable listening experience. It should be noted however that this song is the template for the following songs, so if you don't like it you may not like the album at all. Now comes the more folk sounding 'Kylan Paassa', again great guitars and the signature scream. Following is 'Hidenpelto including Hapean Haijaiset Vedet' which one of my favorites on the album it is a much slower and darker piece than the previous tracks, here some good drumming and guitar work(some acoustic as well) augment perfectly with the harsh vocals and the background keyboard effect that adds a lot of the ambience throughout the entire album. Some great riffs can be found here, i especially like the one that starts at around 4.05. There's a nice instrumental interlude just before the end of the song. Awesome stuff! 'Aurinko ja Kuu' starts with an acoustic intro, the guitars and scream kick in at around 0.32. Nice chorus of deep clean vocals punctuate this one, superb instrumentation as well. Finally comes 'Sankaritarina' my other favorite and arguably the best track, as well as being the longest, being 13.50 in length. It starts off with the sound of wind and waves and within a few minutes of you hear how atmospheric and epic this track really is. One might comment about some of the repetitive aspects of the album. I'll admit that even though the basic formula of the songs are sort of repetitive, the music and overall feel is in no way boring, even though the songs are pretty long.
Veteran fans of viking/folk metal will love this, also highly recommended to those new to this genre and want an excellent album to start off with.
Must download - Hidenpelto, Sankaritarina