Germ - Loss (2012)

Genre: Black Rock
About: I am so glad this album finally came out. Tim from Austere is my favorite vocalist of all time. I can not wait for the Vinyl release.
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Zero Mentality - Black Rock (2009)

Genre: Black Rock
About: For a friend on last.fm.
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Lantlôs - Agape (3 CD limited edition)

Genre: Post-black metal / Atmospheric / Shoegaze
Quality: MP3 @ VBR (v0 or better)
About: I don't think I've found an album that exemplifies what post-black metal is, better than this one. Every song starts off with complete noise, and yet it's muffled, as if someone is playing a black metal concert one mile away. Other than that, the songs are very dynamic and atmospheric. At times, it will be downtempo, just an simple melody with drums or a rhythm guitar in the background (or an entire track which sounds like an interlude on a jazz album). At other times, your face will be melted by a wall of guitar and noise. All of this, complimented by the fantastic screams of Niege, better known as Alcest.

An absolute MUST listen for fans of the genre or any related projects. This is the type of album that you must have it in great quality, have nice speakers or earbuds, and turn it up all the way to hear every little detail, because there are so many layers happening at any given point.

This version is the 3CD digipak edition, which includes the album, one cover, one bonus track, and demo versions of 4/5 album tracks and of the bonus track.

Disk 1 (Album)

1.	Intrauterin	09:49	Show lyrics
2.	Bliss	07:56	Show lyrics
3.	Bloody Lips and Paper Skin	04:47	Show lyrics
4.	You Feel Like Memories	04:31	instrumental
5.	Eribo - I Collect the Stars	08:20	Show lyrics
		35:23

Disc 2 (Bonus CD)
1. White Miasma (9:16)
2. Where have you gone my friend (Asylum Party cover) (5:06)

Disc 3 (instrumental demos)
1. Intrauterin (9:36)
2. Bliss (8:54)
3. You Feel Like Memories (4:36)
4. Eribo – I Collect The Stars (8:28)
5. White Miasma (9:09) 

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Buy CD/3CD/Vinyl - Fallen Empire Records
Buy Vinyl - Last Rights Records

I would like to note that the vinyl fans get completely screwed here. It's a nice enough package with the gatefold, but it's only on one vinyl, and only includes the album (CD1). There's physically plenty of space for the bonus tracks, but the label chose not to put them on. The other half of the gatefold could have had the instrumental album (CD3), but it has a poster of the cover art. But what makes the vinyl worth it is all of the other large artwork (pictured above), and of course the perfect analog audio.

A Black Metal Hurricane

Genre: (Atmospheric) Black Metal
Quality: Mostly 256 or 320kbps
About: I was up one night last week, feeling alone and slightly drunk. I decided to make a playlist for my girlfriend which I've been meaning to do for quite some time. Basically she used to listen to Black Metal but not enough to know bands by name. I also do not know what specific subgenres she listened to... I mainly listen to atmospheric/ambient/melancholic types of black metal, songs that make me FEEL.

So this playlist has songs that I feel are really easy to get into. It's aimed at people who have never tried the genre much or at all. Most of the songs are melodic, atmospheric, folk, and post-black metal... rather than raw, depressive, extreme, etc. If you're a fan of black metal you probably have all of these with the exception of Azeroth, an unknown Russian melodic black metal band (who you should definitely check out - I have the discography on this blog). Or, if you just want to hear a good playlist.

More actual albums coming soon hopefully! My life has been hectic lately. Just wanted to get this playlist on here cause... it's amazing :)


Track List:
1. Moonsorrow - Ukkosenjumalan Poika ... One of the first black metal songs i got into

2. Azeroth - Great Warriors Of Shadows ... This band was so amazing live, and the production is much better than on the studio albums! Also, this song's somewhat boring 3 minute intro is left out.

3. Woods of Desolation - Darker Days ... Current nominee for best song of 2011

4. Agalloch - Falling Snow ... Another band I got into when I first discovered black metal

5. Alcest - Ciel Errant ... Same as above, but it took me quite a while before I started to like this specific song, now it's my favorite by him.

6. Lunar Aurora - Die Quelle Im Wald ... Favorite BM band, really hard to pick a song, I picked it because of the clarinet solo.

7. Drudkh - When the Flame Turns to Ashes ... Again hard to pick a song but I picked this one because of, well the whole song sounds like flame gradually turning into ash!

8. Lantlôs - These Nights Were Ours ... One of the best songs of 2010 especially within this weird ill-defined post-blackened shoegaze genre.

9. Dimmu Borgir - Kings of the Carnival Creation ... I've tried their old stuff (its ok), their new stuff (its ok), but never thought to try the stuff in the middle before now. OH MY GOD.

10. Austere - Just for a moment... I was thinking for a long time that Black Metal and Emo would be complementary, then I found this. I'm not the typical emo/poser-hating metalhead; I listen on occasion. And the line between metal and metalcore is pretty blurry, as is the line between metalcore and posercore... So I just try not to think about it and listen to whatever I like.

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Songs From The Best Albums of 2010 (by hurricane_mario)

I have had this idea in my head to do this since about february. I realized that there were so many releases that come out every year that I needed a way to keep track. So, I kept this journal. I ended up making a top-20. 20 songs in this compilation are from the 20 albums there. Disk 1 contains songs 20-8, Disk 2 contains 7-1 interspersed with 7 other noteworthy songs. I will probably do a disk 3 "EP" later because SO MANY great songs came out in 2010.

On that note, I feel the need to discuss some major points music-wise this year.
- My year started with the frantic anticipation for Alcest and Les Discrets albums, due to the split album they put out in 2009. They both exceeded my expectations.
- Then, I found out the new Burzum album had been released, which was at the top of my chart for a month. Then came Kalmah which replaced that, then came Angra which replaced that and stayed there, because they are my favorite band.
- There were a lot of big-name bands that had released amazing albums a few years ago, but released really disappointing albums this year. Kamelot, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Astral Doors, Wuthering Heights, among others.
- At this point I was still playing Alcest and Les Discrets repeatedly and needed more of this genre - so I found Lantlos, Grey Waters, the new Drudkh album (Soliness also stood out but they did not release any material this year). I also tried a lot of regular shoegaze and of the dozens I tried, Depreciation Guild and Amusement Parks on Fire stood out. I still hope to find more.
- Also in here are just a lot of my favorite bands that cannot possibly make a bad album for my ears. Rhapsody, Joe Satriani, Sofa Surfers, Heimataerde, Stratovarius (Well, the composer of Stratovarius -- Revolution Renaissance), and finally the return of Mr. Big (technically released in 2011 but it leaked)!
- Shining I found completely by accident, I was looking for the Depressive Black Metal band, and instead I found this really unique and exciting journey of an album with the same band name.
- Tetsuo Sakurai is Jazz Fusion, if you don't know what that is, check it out! Basically speedy jazz fused with progressive rock. It features my favorite drummer, Dennis Chambers, and TS is a really great bassist virtuoso.
- Cee Lo Green gets my vote for the biggest surprise of the year, and only "mainstream" album I enjoyed this year. You may know him from "Gnarls Barkley" with their one-hit wonder "Crazy" a few years ago. This album starts with a nice intro, and each song is just captivating in it's own way, while at the same time feeling like a coherent album. Like, each song fits together in this order perfectly and it makes sense.
- Just wanted to note how clear and loud the Bass line is in Lantlos. Had it blasting one day and the guy upstairs complained that the floor was shaking, that it sounded like a vaccuum!
- Angra's song is not a "power ballad" in the traditional sense, I cannot explain it, but I guess that is why I like it so much.

Anyway, here is the track list below. The bitrate is mostly 256kbps and higher, except for (ironically) track 1-1 and track 2-13, which are 192kbps. They are all MP3 except track 1-7 and 2-2 which are AAC. The downloads are the songs themselves along with a m3u file. My interpretation of the genre of each song, which is somewhat subjective, are listed next to the song. I arranged them in the order that sounded best as a playlist, not in the order of my top 20.

As it turns out, completely by chance, Disk 1 is more chill and atmospheric and rock, and Disk 2 is more "metal." They are sub-74 minutes so they could easily be burned to CDs. As usual, I made these playlists for myself but figured someone else might enjoy them!


Disk 1 (Play time - 1:12:51)
1. Mr. Big - Undertow (Melodic / Hard Rock)
2. Pretty Maids - Cielo Drive (Thrashy Heavy Metal)
3. Analog Rebellion - Brain ≠ Heart (I Need To Know) (Downtempo / Indie / Rock)
4. The Depreciation Guild - Dream About Me (Downtempo / Shoegaze / Chiptune/8bit)
5. Heimataerde - Maarat An Numan (Darkwave / Electronic Body Music)
6. Tetsuo Sakurai - Another Kingdom (Jazz Fusion)
7. Sofa Surfers - Heavy Water (Progressive Rock-ish? / Trip-Hop? / Difficult to Categorize)
8. Mar de Grises - The Bell and the Solar Gust (Epic/Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal)
9. Les Discrets - Song For Mountains (Atmospheric / Blackened Shoegaze (Clean Vocals) / Post-Black Metal)
10. Lantlôs - Pulse/Surreal (Shoegazened Black Metal >:D (Black Vocals))
11. Alcest - Percées De Lumière (Shoegazened Black Metal)
12. Amusement Parks On Fire (Shoegaze)
13. Alex Band - Never Let You Go (Alternative Rock)
14. Dexter Freebish - Shine On (Alternative Rock / Electro)

Disk 2 (Play Time - 1:13:19)
1. Joe Satriani - Premonition (Instrumental Rock / Guitar Virtuoso)
2. Rhapsody of Fire - Sea of Fate (Power Metal)
3. The Last Days - Make The Change...Are Your Last Days (Atmospheric Instrumental / Blackened Shoegaze / Post-Black Metal)
4. Senmuth - Под знаменами Тэтишери (Symphonic Ethno Industrial Metal)
5. Shining - The Madness And The Damage Done, Pt. 1 (Progressive/Avant-Garde Rock with Black Metal, Electronic and Jazz influences)
6. Drudkh - Twilight Aureole (Post-Black Metal / Shoegazened Black Metal)
7. Kalmah - Godeye (Epic/Melodic Death Metal)
8. Cee Lo Green - Bright Lights Bigger City (Produced By Ben H. Allen Co-Produced By Graham Marsh) (Symphonic Hip-Hop / Melodic Vocals, not Rap)
9. Rage - Empty Hollow (Symphonic/Epic Power Metal)
10. Grey Waters - The Truth is in Your Eyes (Depressive Rock / Emo Vocals)
11. Arid - Custom Gold (Melodic/Progressive Rock)
12. Revolution Renaissance - Crossing the Rubicon
13. Angra - Lease of Life (my #1 song of 2010 / Power Metal "Ballad")

Mediafire Download (Disk 1)
Mediafire Download (Disk 2)

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Click donate in the top-right if you want more of these playlists!