Bathory "Nordland I" (2002)

Another epic journey concludes as we embark on Quorthon's final works, essentially a double album that rekindles the flames of old, having lost his footing through the nineties. Sadly we may never know where he would venture on from this high point, his untimely demise coming just over a year on from the release of Nordland II. Supposedly linked to heart conditions it is often speculated that Bathory never toured for this reason. At this stage of his career though, he was truly a one man band, not only writing but performing all the music that makes up these records. Both are of the same studio session with little distinction between its two halves. It made sense to write about them together in one single post, so that will come next and for now we will focus the journey this infamous artist has taken us on to get here.

Starting out in the mid 80s, the early records are gritty, edgy and ambitious, pushing boundaries which seem tame and cheesy by today's standards. That is precisely the legacy though! With The Return, many ideas emerge that would become staples of the Norwegian scene in the 90s. Its not until Under The Sign Of The Black Mark that something special sparks. Still hammering out the extremes, his songwriting elevates, outlasting the gimmicks and giving us a glimpse of whats to come in the next few years. The introduction of synth on Enter The Eternal Fire also a remarkable idea, a clear traceable linage to the many Symphonic Black Metal bands yet to come.

Blood Fire Death marks a true stride of genius. Clearly growing as an artist, the Nordic inspiration of his heritage and Viking roots brings fresh, original ideas to Metal. It all flourishes with a pivot to focus on this spirit alone with the mighty Hammerheat, putting Quorthon at the heart of two big musical movements set to evolve over the next decades with him practically checking out and pivoting to Thrash Metal during its decline. It is this era that highlights something forgivable in the early days, sound production. Whatever the reasons, the harsh abominable aesthetics hinder much of the output moving through the 90s. Its been a stain on much of the music, with Blood On Ice providing just a little relief along the way.

 Fortunately the Nordland saga is finely produced. Still a little harshness lingers but the two have a fair aesthetic for music we will talk about in the next post. One thing is for sure, early Bathory is essential listening for fans of Black Metal and Viking Metal, those first five records plant the seeds of so much music to come. On a personal level, it was really fun to get back to these records, rediscovering some fascinations from my youth and getting a much fuller picture of a patchy career with ups and downs, ultimately ending on a high note!

Rating: 8/10

Bathory "Destroyer Of Worlds" (2001)

With a notable five year break between records, Bathory returns to the new millenium with Quorthon as the sole performer of all instruments. It had always been his band, his music but from here on out he is without company. Destroyer Of Worlds is a record that stagnates on former glories and failures too. Attempting to unite the Viking Metal and Thrash Metal sounds of the 90s, it ends up being a mash up with one or two songs making the crossover and the rest standing in stark contrast to one another.

It is the Thrash sound that makes up the bulk of this lengthy sixty five minute slog. Lake Of Fire opens things up with memorable anthemic glory. Reverb soaked drums, heathen choral chants and Quorthon's authentic yet tarnished singing. Ode and the closing Day Of Wrath sustains the atmospheric Viking sound. The albums title track handles the crossover well, a chugging guitar and bass rumble offering up a dirty driving march for its gloomy tone. Pestilence offers up chunky groove riffs that only pivot to the Viking identity with punched in choral chants and acoustic guitar overlays.

The rest resides strictly in the Thrash realm. In doing so, the production value takes a hit. The insistence on a stark temperament rattles the composure with many of the songs feeling like a big step back to Requiem and Octagon territory. Semi social-political themes and anti-war topics manifest into hollow lyrics again, offering little to ponder over. Most of the riffs and compositions reek of creatively challenged mediocrity, nothing in the way of a memorable impression is achieved at all.

Jumping between a couple of tracks, one can hear what seems like multiple sessions brought together, with different aesthetics at play. Overall it feels like a hashed up attempt to unite two different sets of songs, maybe leftovers from the years gone by. One thing that is for certain, Quorthon knows how to do the Viking Metal sound he pioneered best. Its pretty fantastic and up to scratch in two or three of the songs here, the rest simply drags the record down.

Rating: 4/10

Bathory "Blood On Ice" (1996)

 

Relinquishing the failed detours of Requiem and Octagon, this ninth installment, supposedly compromised of mostly unreleased material from the era post Blood Fire Death, it marks a return to the much adored Viking Metal sound Quorthon pioneered. Although similar in overall length, its eleven tracks feel clunky, alternating in temperament that breaks up its flow. This falls inline with a statement that forty percent of material was was reworked for this release. The swan songs Man Of Iron and The Ravens, One Eyed Old Mans Motorhead energy, the galloping pace of Gods Of Thunder And Of Rain and the Progressive riffing of The Stallion stick out with a keen shift away from the established sound of heathen cultural inspiration.

The rest of the record however carries over much of what was heard on Twilight Of The Gods with far more gusto in its meaty distortion guitars and epic drums lavished in reverb, with exception to the tom drums which are claustrophobic on some tracks, as if recorded in a cupboard. Choirs of human voices with a rural burden return and Quorthon mostly delivers his cleaner style blemished in authenticity as he tangles with notes just beyond his grasp. Its mostly charming, at least I've heard him do worse with this unfiltered approach.

After many spins Blood On Ice still plays like a fractured record with a shared vision. The Lake takes merit as a stand out track, its dragging discordant guitar chords provide an epic drone for gloomy voice to be counteracted by frays of glossy acoustic chords plucked slowly. Its an epic with a guitar solo to match, which bring me to another point, his lead guitar work on this one isn't as sharp. The record was shelved unfinished in 1989 and its resurrection doesn't make it feel anymore complete.

Rating: 6/10

Bathory "Octagon" (1995)

 

 

 Our lengthy Bathory journey now embarks to the eighth installment, hence the Octagon title, supposedly the low point. Following on from the polarizing Requiem, Quorthon's DIY spin on Thrash Metal takes another nose dive into a pale abrasion the ears do somehow adjust too. The snare rattles and bites, piercing at all times among the clatter of symbols and smothering of bass pedals. Distortion guitars make headway with a narrow band of fuzzy mud, just fractions shy of masking the tight riffage at work. He tones down his vocals to a more manageable degree of horror and again we have a disastrous formula you can't just outright dismiss.

For the year it would seem that influences from the emerging Groove Metal scene make subtle marks on the swing and bounce present in some compositions. Most remarkable is track two, Born To Die. Smelly angsty acoustic guitars open up what retroactive ears can only describe as a prototypical Nu Metal song. Getting past its initial thrashy opener, the music pivots to a syncopated sway of Drop D styled riffing an atypically generic trait. The delivery of anger fulled snarls and shouts are just the icing on the cake of this forecasting, bizarre oddity.

 

 Glimmers of this moment teeter throughout but from this point its a downward trend. With exception to its keenest power chord arrangements and the blazing lead fretwork, the quality gives off local band vibes. Especially the lyrics, a lot of which caught my ear for sounding smart but often not saying a lot, just blasting phrases and social political words. Quorthon is a talented musician but the production is dreadful, stripping out anything inviting the songs offer. Its a bit like St. Anger, you're not sure what part is actually awful about this because it can produce some enjoyable moments. Despite confusion, in this eternal form it is a stinker.

 

 Rating: 2/10

Anna Von Hausswolff "All Thoughts Fly" (2020)

 

Her previous ambition, Dead Magic, was a riveting record upon discovery. Since then its been a frequent return, always delivering its beautiful sorrow and engulfing esoteric spookiness. I brought All Thoughts Fly in the blink of an eye, not knowing it was not a typical release. Devoid of her captivating voice, the record is an instrumental piece, recorded entirely on a pipe organ. The initial disappointment soured my first few listens as I yearned for the music to give way to other elements. Having now grown accustom to its dimension, I hear the foundational building blocks of her "normal" music being deeply explored in the various moody temperaments this record offers.

Three to four of these seven songs explore a cold, glum macabreness. Funeral sadness and crushing sorrow permeates the room in the rich bellowing fog of a dense, burdensome organ tone. Its dark, lonely and tearful in its most penetrating moments. Sacro Bosco acts a bridge between halves. Initially mysterious, Anna uses stereo panned low notes over ambiguous fuzzy noise to build the song into a magical realm. Its quite impressive how this was done with just the pipe organ, however one can imagine reverberations, loop pedals and other processing tools may have come into play to forge such a layered and dense sound the music wanders into often.

This magical, esoteric side is better explored in the opening number. Whirling sounds of sparkles flutter by prodding instruments, bursts of notation climbing from rumbling lows to spectral highs in a cyclical nature. Its ambiguous and entrancing, yet its later spells, including the lengthy title track, tend to lull into a drone as its swirling, looping nature becomes jaded in its own shadow. It may move through phases but the unrelenting spiral of notes ends up becoming a heavy wash of background radiation.

There is an impressive quality to this record with knowledge of how all the mysterious, atmospheric and ambiguous sounds that emanate, came from a lone instrument. It sparks my curiosity. How many layers and plugins where used for each song? The depressive church organ songs clearly used less yet in some of the musics build ups there is a lot going on to digest. All Thoughts Fly possess some spellbinding compositions yet in its duration frequently becomes dull and droning in its final stretch. One can clearly hear the foundations of her unique music, the scope of which is greatly elevated by her voice and accompanying instruments. There is of course no reason not to pursue an ambition like this, however it didn't feel like it could yield anything being the normative scope.

Rating: 6/10

Bathory "Requiem" (1994)

 

Having provided immense inspiration for a then blossoming Black Metal scene and moving on to pioneer his own Viking Metal sound, on this seventh outing Bathory pivot to a sound that would of been influential on his own... Thrash Metal! I had to stick with this one for a while because the initial shock of its bare and bestial tone was work for my ears to adjust. A hammered clanking bassline punches through with slabs of low end sound alongside the rattle of a biting drum kit dominated by its vicious snare tone. The distortion guitar may be the one instrument to prevail as Quorthon's throaty snarling shouts wade in a shrill harshness that's rarely persuasive.

Despite its aesthetic obnoxiousness, one does adjust and with that comes an undeniable arsenal of blackened thrash riffs, delivering marching pace and snappy aggression in the spirit of a scene past its prime. With his excellent lead guitar, the songs tend to propel through stomping riffs and battering drum patterns in simple song structures to then be illuminated in blazes of sparkling high end fretwork. Its all paced at a similar intensity, the occasional touch of groove emerges but this is strictly thrash with a darker aesthetic, its solo's delivering a hint of classic Heavy Metal.

 With only nine songs of the shorter variety, its thirty three minutes have led to many a spin but despite its obvious merits I cannot get past its rattle and clank. The guitars have a superb engulfing tone but everything around it is a little frazzled causing to much friction. Released a decade earlier Requiem might of been some relic of Thrash Metal but the reality is once the book is written its hard to rewrite those pages. I've given this one a real try, its got quality in writing but lacks a solid execution.

Rating: 5/10

Bathory "Twilight Of The Gods" (1991)

Twilight Of The Gods represents some truly new territory as a part of my nostalgic journey. Bar a couple songs, most of the record was fresh and thus had a challenge in the face of all the praise I heaped on Hammerheart. Its temperament is similar, more of this heathen viking Metal but with a duller edge. Its title track and Song Of Blood have a gloomy tone. They make up twenty one minutes of the record as the pair steady the ship for slower tempos. It shifts focus from guitar to its choral voices that conjure rural life of this inspired era of history. In a few rare moments of gusto, the guitars feel held back by the production which doesn't give them enough punch. Its very much an atmospheric affair and that gloomy feel does subside in parts but mostly these two have a burdensome vibe that drags on.

That temperament is felt throughout, however the middle tracks get to embellish their themes and stories with rocking riffs and choruses that bring some much needed excitement. The tone is dominating though, even Quorthon's excited explosions of lead guitar seem dulled. If its composition or production, I can't get away from this moody tinge, its almost indulging but mostly for me lurches in the shadows of the mythic, heritage charged music that came before it. This time around the vision of culture lost to time is distinct but lacking an enticing energy.

Blood And Iron gets a nod for its stunning glossy acoustic guitars that ring out metallic chords. Its a gorgeous compliment to the driving song beneath, breathing much needed colour into the icy, cold and stiff production that I'll say again feels a fraction away from being an endearing quality. The album ends on a high though, the Hammerheart song an anthemic out poor of triumphant singing that works in some of Gustav Holst's timeless music from The Planets. Its an epic conclusion to an otherwise disappointing record that is a little to self indulged in its droning tone and off-key singing, which again feels a fraction away from something great in its pursuit of authenticity. The bellowing call of the hard life of vikings resonates with that same hardship. A flawed record which has Its moments, I am doubtful it will grow on me.

Rating: 6/10

Bathory "Hammerheart" (1990)

Ones body will be scared by age but so shall the mind! It seems almost criminal that the brilliance of Hammerheart has faded in reputation. Diving back into the Bathory records of youthful years I had somehow lost memory of this masterpiece. Thinking I was on the cusp of unearthing a new glory to enjoy, every track rang echos of a decade past by. Songs unearthed with their etchings still eternal under the dust.

This was the moment Quorthon embraced his heritage and forged a new, remarkable path. Somehow, I remembered this record as a drop off point but in fact these are all spirited songs keenly remembered, including the mighty One Rode To Asa Bay, the only Bathory song to ever be made into a music video if I recall correctly.

Leaving the ferocity of Blood Death Fire behind, slower tempos, brooding atmospheres and heathen choirs accompany a tamer Quorthon who channels his energy into roaring battle cries and off key singing. He conjures the viking spirit with this hard pressed voice that should turn the nose up in theory, yet the genuine passion in his voice pushes the Nordic spirit of the music into a vision coming to life.

Its the final piece solidifying this inspired music of mythic heritage fit to conjure candle lit halls and mighty landscapes of rural natural beauty. Although now a common thing to experience in Viking Metal, this must of been something special at the time of its release. The album opens up with two lengthy epics, Valhalla crashing with lightning strikes into a mountainous passage of drawn out power chords and thunderous drum pounding that sounds practically lifted from Call Of The Cthulhu.

Its a recurring section that elevates the music but also feeds into claims of plagiarism against the band. Something I had yet to touch on but much of the early material is akin to Venom yet Quorthon often claims to have not been influenced by them. It is however a moment of power from the percussive battery and throughout the album tumbling strikes of tom drums help propel these epic and heathen calls to the gods.

Moving into Fire And Ice and Father To Son, sections of dense distortion guitar singularly erupt with a keen parallel to Groove Metal, a genre yet to unfold at this point in time. Its not often the riffs are thrusted forth to the light as they mostly meld with synths to conjure the distinct atmospheres. That measure of fretwork is often subtle but a keen feature throughout. The surprise is these eruptions of meaty groove.

This is a pivotal album for Bathory, being at the forefront of one movement and in one stride to the next, forging and mastering an entirely new sound for the Metal umbrella of sub-genres. Where his last two albums showed flashes of this genius and reveled in a little diversity, Hammerheart is a very unified sound from stand to end that is near impossible to deny as a classic. I am so glad to have found my way back to it!

Rating: 9/10

Bathory "Blood Fire Death" (1988)

 

 And now for the album where it all started for me... One of my first Black Metal records, Emperor's almighty and majestic In The Nightside Eclipse. It concluded with a bonus track, a cover of A Fine Day To Die, a mind blowing Bathory song, a true anthem of epic wonderment, embroiled in blood and darkness, thrust forth from a clash in the heavens above. Blood Fire Death is where it takes place, however not much of the record is inline with the soaring songwriting of its mesmerizing start. 

Opening with Odens Ride Over Nordland, the cries of majestic horses are lost to the echos of mist descend upon the listener. A spooky, chilling and mythic tone is set as the sound of creeping fog and archaic choirs forge a masterful soundscape of aftermath. Unlike previous attempts with ambience, Quorthorn envisions a stunning atmosphere to compliment the albums cover. Its as if souls are falling from the heavens above where the battle rages on beyond the mortal realm.

It gives way to the sombre acoustic intro, lined with whispering vocals and plucked strings echoing through the temple. The suspense for whats to come is palpable, an eruption of might and power. The power chords roar, the screams bellow and a sequence of unforgettable riffs lead us into battle. A couple splashes of blazing lead guitar fretwork set of sparks from the coming onslaught of guitar solos, Quorthorn seemingly mastering every aspect of his craft on this number. A break back to acoustic guitars and choral synths may lead you in the wrong direction as the musical beautifully groans its way right back into the heart of the fire with an unleashing of sonic guitar that shreds to the heavens and back with an astonishing sense of tune.

Its simply unforgettable. An eleven out of ten track that in my opinion elevates the spectacle of this album as the music pivots back into Under The Sign territory from The Golden Walls Of Heaven to Dies Irae. With excellent execution, stunning sprawls of shrill lead guitar noise and sharp potent riffing, Quorthorn nails down the fast paced, full pelt assault of ferocious proto Black Metal that Massacre achieved before it. Its clear his songwriting is in a stride as the songs provide memorable hooks and riffs alike as the listener is barraged with an unrelenting ferocity.

That pace is rested a fraction with the half paced stomp of All Those Who Died but it too has intensity in droves, another fantastic unleashing of evil aggression. Its this block of songs though that highlight a flaw in the record, Its production. The guitars are admittedly a little sloppy, its rugged punchy snare sounds like a drum machine for much of the record. All too often does the feeling in the musics writing outpace the quality as the songs here don't rely on low fidelity gimmicks to sell themselves.

It is only with the opening and closing title track that Quorthorn fully embraces a new spirit in his music, the history and heritage of his Swedish ancestry, Vikings! Where the last record started to experiment with this angle, this time the songs are fully realized and embellished in his roots. The beginning of Viking Metal to come! Despite the knowledge of whats to follow next, these songs really do define themselves with the simple use of male choral backings and ancient sounding synths. Of course the songwriting is key and less intense vocals contribute as well.

Its interesting going back over these old records of youth with an intention to understand them better. I'd still consider this his finest hour, however its become more obvious how fractured this and the last album are. Different music ideals emerge and experimentation is more obvious. The songwriting at this stage though is utterly remarkable. A definite peak although whats to come is an era I am less accustomed with. I find myself very excited to visit albums that once disappointed a naive younger me, for simply not being like the records that came before it!

 Rating: 10/10

Bathory "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" (1987)

 Continuing another adventure into the music of my youth, Bathory's third effort was one less acquainted with. It had however solidified a memory as being remarkably decent for the time. Well this has been an absolute treat to get back into! Its been so long the experience was practically fresh to my ears! Coming of the back of the overly ambitious The Return..... It sounds like the moment where the stars align. The group shed their prototype skin and bathe in the blasphemy of self actualized Black Metal! Under The Sign Of The Black Mark is where everything they were trying to do works.

We will however start with the negatives. Not everything is exceptional, although the bulk is. The intro and outro tracks seem utterly pointless as their dusky ambience fails to ignite any atmosphere to lead in the satanic metallic onslaught. The final two proper tracks, 13 Candles and Of Doom, both feel a little lacking with the pile of brilliance before it. They do have there moments with musical shifts but the offerings feel like soft rehashes of the genius in the songs heard beforehand.

They stand in the shadow of brilliant songwriting, which is quite diverse and distinct. The record kicks off with Massacre, a thrashing juggernaut of vicious hate, lashing out from the mark as we are plunged into blast beats and vile screams. Its a straightforward but well executed idea. The following Woman Of Dark Desires is unsuspecting until it lunges into an unusually catchy chorus as Quorthorn cries out with throaty strained screams the name of Elizabeth Bathory. The inclusion of evil organs towards the end, foreshadows more brilliance yet to come our way.

Call From The Grave steadies the pace, a mid tempo track with soaring riff work, toying with some dissonance. The approach to this dark music is expanded as the haunting throaty screams roar with menace over the grave atmosphere conjured. Equilmanthorn hails back to the records opening, another plunge into ruthless pummeling that shifts to a half step riff, then slamming in with another catchy hook in the chorus as Quorthon cries out the title track over and over  in memorable fashion.

The song has an incredible guitar solo to see it end on a thrilling climax, which bring me to a point, the lead guitar work which seems to frequent every track is phenomenal. Either creating a Slayer alike barrage of noise or delivering a blaze of evil melodies, everything that was tried before feels mastered here. That includes the screams, the most aggressive and shrill to date yet the temperament and texture is just perfect for what these extremities can achieve in the context of Black Metal.

Enter The Eternal Fire is the last of these incredible songs but for entirely different reasons. An incorporation of atmospheric synth tones and epic mid-tempo setting foreshadows the heritage influenced Bathory sound to come. All in all the record is a stunning maturity in songwriting. The haphazard ideas and sloppy performances of its predecessor blown out of the water. The inclusion of synths lay down foundations for the popular Symphonic element to come in the 90s. I also adore the inclusion of the Funeral Macrbe melody on Call From The Grave. Possibly my favorite moment of many fantastic ones on this truly remarkable and pioneering album.

 Rating: 9/10

Bathory "The Return......" (1985)

The Return...... Of Darkness And Evil, as its full title goes, is a fitting title for Bathory's sophomore record. I always remembered this as the "smelly" one. Listening to it again over fifteen years later a much more nuanced and interesting opinion is formed. Quorthorn makes a keen stride to embellish a more sinister tone, many abrasive ideas that would eventually become hallmarks in Black Metal. The strike of demonic gongs, deep command roars steeped in reverberations, shrill howls furthering ugly throaty textures and plenty of shadow echos to wrap them up in.

Despite issuing some key ideas for the scene to come, its all fractionally mismatched with the guitar tone that still has a warmer Heavy Metal charm about it, even with the low fidelity. These ideas that aim to dive deeper into the "evil" theme are currently pungent in inception. The whole thing is somewhat akin to early Graveland records. Its fair to say bar one or two songs the music is lacking a magnetism that came before it.

Perhaps in attempt to embrace the dark and foul, performances from the band become fair at best and seem intentionally sloppy in moments of lost synchronicity or attempted "edge". Tempos stutter, and drums loose there groove. It rarely aids the music or its intended theme, that needs to come from good songwriting and Quorthorn's riffs are baked stale for half of the record.

In the latter half of the album a darker guitar tone grinds power chords effectively and in two songs lays a much foundation for the evolution of the genre. Its guitar solos still seem lost in the Heavy Metal cliche tho, breaking the mood. These moments and the intro of dark scenic ambience give the record some needed merit because despite being early, raw and influential, its embryonic experimentation is ugly, not in the aesthetic and rewarding sense but that of a mostly haphazard record.

Favorite Tracks: The Rite Of Darkness, Reap Of Evil

Rating: 6/10

Bathory "Bathory" (1984)

I was listening to Scandinavian Metal Attack, a compilation of Heavy Metal released earlier the same year that the Swedish one man band Bathory featured on, when I realized its been well over a decade since Id last dived into these classic records that influenced the shape of Black Metal to come. Venom coined the name two years earlier but Quorthorn took the cheese out of the equation, sharpening the axe of evil with an aggression, keenly influenced by Motorhead. This self titled debut pushed the pummeling sound further whilst taking the occult seriously, laying foundations for a whole new musical scene to arise, inspired by the taboos of evil.

 With a brittle angular distortion guitar tone and shrieking howls, this dusky record and its simply awful audio fidelity presents an initial challenge. Much of the tone is pushed into the mid to high range with the low ranges being a muddy mess of bass resonance. All instruments have there sloppy moments with riffs falling off beat, drum strikes inconsistent and collisions of noise. Despite this the music overcomes the technical aspects, Quorthorn's throaty shouts and groans are sufficiently menacing for his evil themes of all things occult and taboo to have a sense of seriousness.

For a primitive and somewhat embryonic record the songs hold up well all these years later. The punkish riffing slogging power chords and melody interwoven picking rhythms stand on their own two feet. Without chasing the gimmicks of speed and extremity for extremities sake, Quorthorn uses his guitar to forge a genuine direction often illuminated by the shrill eruptions of lead guitar that dazzle the songs with speedy tapping arriving through a difficult to decipher whirl of low fidelity sound.

Its Intro and Outro songs make light use of thematic soundscapes to embellish the tone. I can't comment much on the origins of such integration in Metal but its almost no surprise to hear it here as many pioneering ideas have roots in Bathory. Another being the abrupt ending of tracks on two songs, something Darkthrone would get a lot of credit for later. Not all the songs are great, a couple drone with repetition but it has its moments. Many year from my last dive into this world, its clear the songwriting prevails and so its aesthetic elements fall into place given the uncomfortable topicality. The influence is obvious, the nostalgia magical but the best is yet to come!

Favorite Track: Raise The Dead

Rating: 7/10

Meshugah "I" (2004)

Part of the excitement leading to Catch Thirtythree was the build up in the Nuclear Blast magazine, the Swedish bands lable. Before its arrival the band would release another one song project, an EP with a lone twenty one minute song known as I. Rougher around the edges and with its drum machine identifications showing, I serves as the bridge between sounds. This was the Nothing and Chaosphere era of the band manifesting into a meaty riff fest of pummeling brutality with shades of the masterclass to come, however this was an exercise in sheer intensity.

Giving it a listen again for some time I find myself enamored by its coarse abrasion and flabbergasted as to how my memory of its genius faded. Perhaps that grinding intro of Bleed like guitar chugging meant I'd skip it over? How could I forget such magic? As the song grows it flexes some alien melodic guitar lines in the background, swelling groove and aggression in a hateful pot. Then comes the real axe grind, meaty poly chugs allure us into an absolute maelstrom of deafening blast beat madness... and then that solo! My word is it a blisteringly fast, finger bleeding assault on the strings baron of any melodic sense, it just starts, full on, then ends... I love it!

The song falls into a lull of discordant acoustics and then its returning riffs echo much of a Meshuggah in years to come with riffs conceptually liking to its predecessor. Pummeling its way on with simplistic grooves and far simpler slabs of head banging groove, a stretched elasticity starts to build suspension, unleashing more measures of hypnotic swaying. Those Catch Thirtythree shimmering tremolo guitars make an arrival in the background and I'm fondly loving the journey through this old treasure.

Listening again, one can really hear the transition play out as a progressive journey through the song. More elements of whats to come persuade the song as its birth through incessant brutality gives way to an arsenal of carefully crafted riffs that are just simply a delight to endure. Turning this song on to churn out some thoughts I am stunned again as to how much brilliance this band posses in their conceptual approach to ideas. These "one song" concepts steered the band from structural norms and in it the freedom to move births so many fantastical ideas. Its a real treat!

Rating: 8/10

Meshuggah "Catch Thirtythree" (2005)

Ah Meshuggah... one of a rare few bands that pull me in like a magnet. Its been around eighteen years since I discovered the Swedish magicians, pioneers of Djent and masters of primordial rhythmic elasticity. Too this day a track popping up on shuffle will have me relenting into a binge, after another one today I felt very inspired to talk of their best work. Its release was in the prime of my musical infatuation, festivals and gigs galore with friends, it felt monumental, a new form to worship.

As an album it succeeds in executing a vision as a whole. Conceptually its one unrelenting forty seven minute song with a few sections of respite. Even its clunky track splitting can't separate a prevalent wholeness as the lengthy In Death Is Death feels like it could equally be split into ten shorter tracks. Catch Thirtythree is a continually unraveling of the bands finest hypnotic riff work to date.

Leaving the constraints of structured song writing behind, the band find a slender liquidity that strikes at the core of their rhythmic magic. An unending unraveling of elastic groove, swaying with bounce, twisting with cryptic intervals, the dancing never ends it seems. A key feature is the inclusion of tremolo picking guitars creating this layer of modal ambience that holds the dizzying jolts of mechanical fret board dexterity to a grounded anchor. Its a missing link barely if at all utilized again since this one.

Mind's Mirror marks a memorable moment as Jens's monochromatic bleak howls get flipped sideways. His spoken words morphed through melodic waves over the top of sparse collapsing guitar noise creates a beautiful and totally unexpected moment to builds up suspense for an entourage of the bands bounciest riffs. The pair of Death songs delve deep into the arsenal of progressive riffs, toying with all sorts of ploymeter arrangement and counter intuitive notation. Its nothing but pure gold.

The record's production is stellar. Crisp, bright and beaming with tone its a sound ingrained in my mind for all the binges I've taken on it. Fifteen years later it still lights a fire in my mind, persuading me fully to its tribal polyrhythmic dance. With so many great moments its hard to pick any favorites. Perhaps that empithizes why the album experience prevails this time around. Its best enjoyed whole and if you make it to Sum, then unleashed are beautiful sways of melody to peak the bands primal brilliance.

Rating: 10/10

Opeth "In Cauda Venenum" (2019)

I've spent a healthy helping of time getting to know this record and the indulgence won't stop anytime soon. The gravitas of Opeth has not sucked me in quite like this in a long time! I wanted to get deep into this album and the time invested suggests this may just belong alongside the best of their works like Damnation and Deliverance. A bold statement but in this post Death Metal era for the band they seemed to of finally channeled the vigor and sheer power of brutality into swells of luscious Progressive Rock successfully. It swoons in its own glory, the style and voice of the band feeling rooted as their heaviness arrives in its powerful layers of instrumentation that may be a bit much to those unfamiliar with Metals bombast. This has both might and delicacy.

With surges of strings, synths, empowered basslines and the soaring of Akerfeldt's clean voice, the percussion batters out the groove and momentum once propelled by distortion guitars and guttural screams. Its a beautifully executed pivot where the swoon of songs yield over and over as the music gushes from its gentle acoustic build ups into these upheavals of beautiful emotional out pour that reign supreme. It carries what made this band wonderful forward while also opening up new avenues with strings and pianos playing an enthusiastic role. The song Lovelorn Crime is a keen example of King Crimson alike influences taking hold the soft expressive side emerges, shimmering in the truly delicate and sublime, a moving presence.

The songwriting is wonderful, the themes are explored in true progressive nature as the bleeding cries of Pink Floyd alike guitar solos climax the lengthy epics. With most the songs being six to seven minutes there is never a dull moment, things don't get drawn out and the melodies speak to the soul, lingering in the mind. Beyond the music, its aesthetics hold up well too. The strings are especially gorgeous and there mixing with the vocals are just awe inspiring. It feels like a lot of craft and care went into getting their chemistry right as one can revel in even the simplest of moments given the utter luxurious tone they muster together. On both fronts it excels, bridging the new and old alike, Opeth have finally landed their ambitions.

Rating: 9/10

Örnatorpet "The Heathen Kingdom" (2020)

In the mood for a moody Dungeon Synth adventure, I picked up this pairing of fifteen minute treks through gloomy forests and stoic castles of fantasy, music steeped in heuristic mystery. Its a departure from the icy, snow swept minimalist atmospheres of Hymner Från Snökulla. The Heaven Kingdom has a more traditional sound, drifting through its moulded layers of Casio or Korg keyboard instrumentation, shrouded in a mystery thanks to its nostalgic production utilizing low fidelity aesthetics.

The songs themselves aren't particularly remarkable. They find a few passages that sparkle as layers of synth, culminate, often arising with glistening bells delivering spell bounding melodies. Its a friendly affair that doesn't drift into the available darkness. The air of gloom and grief taints the second track, it grows to quite the scenic song, its rich airy strings holding a sense of grandeur that never settles on steady ground. It may have a hint of menace of foreboding presence but doesn't delve into that avenue.

So both these songs establish mood and tone well. The Dungeon Synth sound is one I know all to well by now. Its a fun listen but little felt remarkable in the sense of rising up, grabbing ones attention or finding a climatic moment. The shifts in instrument pallet were common and well executed, the variety on hand decent but beyond background music it didn't accomplish much which may be more of a testament to my familiarity with the sound, which this record doesn't inch away from with any creativity. Solid, but somewhat predictable, lengthy winding songs that end up meandering on a theme.

Rating: 6/10

Fever Ray "Plunge Remix" (2019)

My disapproval and contempt for this record mainly stems from my own impulsive purchase of what often lands a loss in the hit or miss equation of the contentious remix album. On the whims of pure excitement, the promise of a new Fever Ray record had my handing over my cash without thought, not even a quick stream to see what this Remix of 2017's exceptional Plunge album would be like. As you might guess, I am not impressed. The bar is set low as these ninety six minutes seem to have little in the way of a quality threshold. A whole host of names, none of which I know, jump on board to tear apart the instrumentals, with Fever's voice held together to form mere semblances of the original material. She is the highlight, her singing holds up to some of the monstrosities on here. It feels like a dumping ground for half baked beats and b-sides that have been lumped together, making little of interest to find new avenues through old roads. Its a wasted opertunity.

For the majority of songs, melody or song structure seems to be of little importance. Much of these remixes play like experimental exercises in rhythmic noise, abstractions of Dance and Club music. Electronic percussion patters around aimlessly maligning the samples and vocals snippets of the source material with uninspiring results. The energy is dull and with its reasonable songs squished into the first few numbers, its a long and painful ride. I can empathize that this isn't my preferred style of music, these sub par tracks may offer some intrigue to fans but Id be hard pressed to believe anyone would enjoy such stinking lows as Rip Me's "rework" of Idk About You. Its stark baselines, minimal whirl Trance synths and desolate deployment of harsh kicks is an absolute calamity of anti ideals assaulting the listener.

There is unfortunately a couple of equally bad songs that test my tolerance. I hope this serves me as a remind that Remix albums can be foul. This might be one of the worst in recent memory, perhaps it could rival Meow The Jewels. The take away is that this is a novel record, maybe not even for the die hard fans. I'd like a refund but the music economy doesn't work that way. I'm joking... or am I?

Rating: 2/10

Ghost "Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic" (2019)

My ignorance in the absence of information has birthed an amazement of these seven minutes. Ghost are one of my favorite bands and between records they tend to divvy out EPs with cover tracks that give quite the insight into their influences. The title is either a topically suggestive or a co-incidental pun on the format or length. This stemmed from my astonishment of the lyrical crudeness on Kiss The Go-Goat. That song and Mary On A Cross both sounded like the blueprint to this bands sound. You see I had purchased the record in a surge of excitement. Its only now that Ive dug deeper in preparation for this post that I learn these are originals! What a derp, what an assumption, here I was thinking I was about to discover some hidden gems from the 60s singing what would of been utter filth for the time.

The two tracks sound even better now. Ghost have mastered the principles of Rock and Pop music from years gone by, reviving them in service of their playful satanic exterior. The result is a luscious and gorgeous wash of harmony and color that's deeply infectious and swooning. Melody is ripe and Tobias Forge relishes in the moment his hired guns have crafted so stunningly. Its so Ghost and still everything I want to hear. The thing is, if these are B-Sides, what on earth do they have in store for us next? These might be two of the best from their catalog to date! Maybe I am still a little dazzled from the excitement of new songs to internalize. Absolutely fantastic none the less, a stellar seven minutes you can spin over and over.

Rating: 4/10

Sabaton "The Great War" (2019)

And now for the mighty symphonic gleam of the one and only War inspired Power Metal outfit Sabaton! This album has been an absolute U-turn for me. I checked out Heros a few years back and despite always trying to open my heart to music, I was not swayed. It took my favorite war historian Indy Neidell teaming up with the band to win me over. The united to create a documentary Youtube channel that dives into the historical inspiration behind each song and It really brewed a connection. These guys are history nerds too and now the thematic nature of their music felt very genuine.

It took but two or three listens to engulf me. No longer did these cheesy lyrics act as a deterrent, I now understood that each song had a slice of the past inspiring it and that I could get behind! The wording does get somewhat literal and plain in places but I now find myself enjoying that aspect. "Lead the charge, our leader has entered the battlefield". There are plenty of un-poetic, descriptive wordings at play like this but when its lined with dates, names and locations you have to admire the dedication to keeping it accurate. Ive ended up singing along on many an occasion!

Joakim Broden's mighty and anthemic charge as a frontman is fantastic if not flawed. His deep voice in spoken sections can sound a fraction goofy but he knows how to deliver the energy. With power and conviction in his gruffly sung voice he constantly elevates alongside the music to create ear worm hooks that you just can't shake! Behind him the music is especially energetic and beaming with a triumphant might. Its Power Metal that leans on thicker guitar tones, classic Heavy Metal shredding and a delightful weight of symphonic keys that back with choral voicings and synths.

With the driving percussive force of Dahl, many of these songs move forward with a rocking tempo, cramming in a lot of sound. The rumble of textured bass lines creates a sturday foundation for tandem guitars to interchange colorful licks and variations over the top of power chord chugging riffs that batter in time with the drums. Its a big and bold sound always lined with a symphonic glow from the keys and just about every song encounters exciting breaks from the verse chorus structure.

Its mostly in the form of solos that shred classic wailing 80s Heavy Metal styling to give one goosebumps if your a fan of classic solos from the likes of Ozzy's guitarists. They are bright and beaming, colorful and played flawlessly. I also hear echos of Judas Priest in the solo's but I'm sure that's probably whats to be heard in a lot of Power Metal considering it developed from that sound. I also hear a now toned down Dimmu Borgir on the albums last Metal song. Its lavished in hysterical singing, horns and trumpets, the ramped up energy has some similarities to their Eonian.

The album bows out on an emotional note as a choir sings the memorial poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. The singing is simply gorgeous and ends the whole experience on a very humbling note. I absolutely love this record! I have had so much fun with it and will continue to spin it for weeks to come! I now feel rather incentivized to back track over Sabaton's discography. This album ticked so many boxes for me on things I like about Metal music, it seems almost mad I had dismissed them as not being for me. Its the same old lesson, gotta open up and learn to love cause hate and negativity means you miss out on fantastic records like this one.

Favorite Tracks: Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, 82nd All The Way, Great War, A Ghost In The Trenches, Fields Of Verdun, The End Of The War To End All Wars, In Flanders Fields
Rating: 8/10

Örnatorpet "Hymner Från Snökulla" (2019)

I've held off from this record a while. Blodbad Och Efterspel was a great listen but I couldn't say the same of other Örnatorpet releases. Once I did get around, I was quickly whipped up into the majestic world of chilly cold atmospheres gleaming in the magical warmth of daylight. Its unsurprisingly a Fantasy, Dungeon Synth hybrid and its tone is identifiable immediately. It leans into pleasantries of simple melody and steady notation akin to the medieval sovereignty of Fief. Its pallet of icy bells, prestigious plucked strings and soft synthesizer creates a welcoming atmosphere of natural beauty, mystery and charm all within a chilling, snow setting fondly fitted by the records cover. Snowy trees on a warm day with a clear sky, it is that beauty.

The first few spins were magical, the absence of this music in my audio habits made for a returning wonder that didn't stick around as much getting deeper into the record. Its pacing, tone and structure is very one dimensional. Instruments often operate at the same temperament and tempo, looping simple arrangements with little in the way of progression or event. It quickly becomes a linear journey, serving better in the background, casting a stellar mood and tone that seems plain on closer inspection.

The gorgeous pallet of instruments and whirling, windy synths that bustle in the background really props up the music that has little in the way of progression. Every song seems to end where it starts and although a couple peer into a more mysterious and distant angle, the music mostly resides in a safe and consistent setting. Only one song musters a little sorrow and darkness but it is the albums dullest. Buried in the fifty minutes are a couple of dazzling melodic arrangements but they too hide within the musics stiff arrangements. Its a really good listen but simplicity holds it back.

Rating: 6/10