#rc:mediate

[albumswapping]

Între Două Lumi by Syn Ze Sase Tri [via mediate]

When you think of countries associated with black metal, instantly Norway, Sweden, perhaps Switzerland, and in more recent times, America and France, pop into your mind, but never Romania. It seems like such an odd place for a black metal band to hail from.

This album fits firmly in the modern symphonic black metal movement, with its melodic guitar passages, extensive use of (probably emulated) strings, piano, and chorus, lively drumming with a lot of double bass and blast beats, and shouted vocals. Sadly, to be a debut from 2011, I think it sounds very derivative and generic, although there are some good tracks, such as Ziua din Urmă and the instrumental Măreţia Întrupării. 

There really isn't much else to say. The album is decent, but unmemorable and generic. I have to admit though, the album cover is incredible.

» nil

[albumswapping]

Russkaja by Energia [via mediate]

I'm going to be real honest here, if you get something in a major key with a straight beat, moderately interesting bassline, and some kind of off-beat syncopation, and set it to a moderately fast tempo, I'll probably like it. I think. I don't want to test this theory of mine too hard, but given that this more or less describes this album and I think it's pretty cool, I suppose that's a good starting point.

Anyway, this is some kind of Russian ska thing? That's my best guess. mediate said it's like, folk rock? I'm almost positive this is ska. I don't speak Russian but there are occasionally things shouted in English that make about as much sense as most other things with random English phrases shouted. It's got an awful lot of energy behind it, which makes sense because the title of the album has an exclamation point behind it. Also powerchords and stuff. It's fun! You could probably throw this on while driving too fast or doing something destructive for cognitive dissonance. I love playing things with horns and stuff while blowing things up. One time I played the tank battle in Battlefield 3 while blasting fun.'s Aim and Ignite and it was pretty funny.

I really do appreciate the raw aggression offset by the inherent cheesiness of a full horn section. There's so much power here you can't let any of the songs go over three and a half minutes or someone in the band will pass out. I can't speak too much for the rhythmic complexity here, but these guys seem pretty good. Especially that drummer on the fast songs. I could barely keep up in my head on Autodrom but that dude was holding the beat nice and steady. I should note there are some slower songs too, but they've still got a lot of energy behind 'em.

If I'm in the middle of forgetting to brake for corners and this album comes on, I'm definitely not skipping it.

» xwd

[albumswapping]

Symbolic by Death [via mediate]

mediate rec'd this to me because of the presence of Cannibal Corpse in my last dot FM, but while Death and Cannibal Corpse are so heavily associated as two of the most classic death metal bands, in my eyes they operate on two completely different planes. Cannibal Corpse had and always will have a sense of humour, not only in their eww lyrics but about themselves and death metal in general; a fine example is that bass fill in Addicted to Vaginal Skin, which is so out of nowhere and stupidly fast to the point of hilarity (and awesomeness). Contrast this sensibility with "Symbolic", which has some of the fastest double bass I've ever heard (kudos to the drummer's calves) and decides to show it off under riffs that don't particularly pop, be it poor songwriting or unexciting production. Granted, 1,000 Eyes ends with a string of double bass that might implode your headphones, but when the lyrics of the song are considered (hint: the song is called 1,000 Eyes, you really needn't guess hard what the lyrics are) you know that Death is taking it much too seriously. Symbolic and Zero Tolerance piqued my curiosity with their ferocity, but the latter 40 minutes aren't very interesting. (Except in small bits. For instance: I recognize those Mastodon guitar harmonics in Crystal Mountain! What thieves!)

>> TommyWiseau

[albumswapping]

Lawless Darkness by Watain [via mediate]

Another album of clean, professional black metal. Feh. I appreciate this stuff, but I'm not sure I really like it. The problem is how monochrome it comes off, another big grey expanse of "emotional" that inspires no feeling in me. I don't mean to be too harsh, it's an okay album, one of the better of this sort probably, with the last track actually fairly interesting, but I just feel so little about it. I don't mind music that doesn't move me emotionally, but only if it seems like it's trying to do something beside that, and this definitely doesn't. Yawn. Next.

>> gloomp

[albumswapping]

Panzerfaust by Darkthrone [via mediate]

Sigh. What an utterly mediocre record. Can I just say that and be done with it?

No?

Well, fuck. Right then. Darkthrone. Classic black metal band, instrumental (har har) in developing the style. After an initial offering of death, they put out a trio of black LPs which are considered absolute essential listening for anyone interested in the style, and I've heard... none of them. I know, I know, I find it kind of inexplicable as well. The point I'm trying to convey is I went into this album being very familiar with Darkthrone's history, but not with their music. So, lucky me, my introduction to what they sound like is their first black metal album that isn't necessarily all that great, based upon my (light) reading.

My reading steered me well, because yeah, "Panzerfaust" isn't that great. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, really, but mostly it just didn't leave much of an impression. Seven tracks of scratchy black metal with nothing much to them beyond that. This might, of course, be a bit of an Elvis situation, but they're four albums in, they aren't getting extra points for originality anymore. Still, though, I don't want to sound too harsh. It's an okay black metal album. There's just not really much to it to distinguish it from the fifty million other "okay black metal album"s out there. This would be the part where I say it's not really my thing, but I really like black metal, so, yeah, no cop out for you, "Panzerfaust". You're mediocre and that's all there is to it.

>> gloomp