Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn (2013)

Genre: Atmospheric/Epic Black/Folk Metal
Quality: MP3@128MBPS
About: Apologies for being away so long and thank you to all who continue to follow me! Here is the album we've all been waiting for, for seven years. Unfortunately the quality is not perfect, but what do you expect a full MONTH before release. I WILL be buying this on Vinyl. And I recommend you do the same.

Buy
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Toby Hitchcock - Mercury's Down (320kbps MP3)

Genre: Melodic Rock, Hard Rock, AOR
Quality: 320kbps MP3
About: The most amazing Melodic Rock album I've heard since W.E.T. in 2008. Mind blowing vocals and amazing music. Lyrical content is as expected: The love of his life is gone and he can never get her back.

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Buy Toby Hitchcock - Mercury's Down on CD

Haut&Court. - La Vie (2012)

Genre: Hardcore, Punk, Crust, Math Metal
Quality: WAV @ 1411kbps (As provided to me by the band in a comment)
About: In the mood for a completely unknown band!? "Haut & Court is a three piece band from Strasbourg, France who formed in June of 2012. Haut & Court play an angular and technically proficient style of music that incorporates elements hardcore, punk, crust, and math metal within their sound." - last.fm
Note that this artist tag is based on their official bandcamp and facebook pages, where the name is listed as "Haut&Court." (including the period and lack of spaces). However, their band logo is "HautEtCourt". And the more popular tag on last.fm is "Haut & Court" (spaces, no period). So I'm not sure!
Finally, MIND BLOWING album cover!

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Buy - BandCamp

*RE-UPLOAD* A Very Strange Christmas (by hurricane_mario)

This playlist I made last December is so great, I had to share it with you! If you want any other re-uploads, comment on this post.

***************************************************



About:
It's the week before Christmas
and all through the house
Everyone is stirring and saying
"wtf are you listening to?"

This compilation consists entirely of bizarre versions of the classic christmas songs you know and love (or hate), as well as a lot of original christmas songs you've never heard. And if you have any sense at all, will never hear them again. But if you're weird like me, you will love them a lot better than that garbage they play on the radio every year (And you are inevitably very tired of by this point).

As with all my playlists, a good number of them are heavy metal, but not all of them.

Track List:
1. King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas [Original, but includes I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus] (Thrash/Heavy Metal)
2. Psychostick - Red Snow [original] (Humor / Hardcore)
3. Dio - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen [classic] (Heavy/Doom Metal)
4. I Fight Dragons - Alien for Christmas [original] (Rock / Chiptune)
5. Steve Vai - Christmas Time is here [classic] (Guitar Virtuoso / Instrumental)
6. Jordan Rudess - Andelusion [original] (Piano Virtuoso / Instrumental)
7. Halford - Get Into the Spirit [original] (Power / Thrash Metal)
8. Abney Park - Little Drummer Boy [classic] (Steampunk / Darkwave / Gothic / Industrial)
9. Alice Cooper - Santa Claus is Coming To Town [classic] (Heavy/Shock Metal)
10. Keith Emerson - Troika [classic] (Keyboard / Fusion / Instrumental)
11. Austrian Death Machine - Jingle Bells [classic] (Humor / Metalcore)
12. South Park - Woodland Critter Christmas (5 second interlude)
13. Spinal Tap - Christmas With the Devil [original] (Satire / Classic Rock)
14. Tankard - Fuck Christmas [original] (Thrash Metal)
15. HeimatAerde - Veni Veni Emmanuel [classic - Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel] (Darkwave)
16. Afroman - I Wish You Would Roll A New Blunt [classic - I Wish You A Merry Christmas] (Humor / Hip Hop)
17. Jingle Cats - What Child Is This?/hava Nagila [classic] (Uhh... I'm not sure. Here's the top 3 tags on last.fm: motherfucking christmas cats, psychedelic, death metal)
18. NanowaR Of Steel - Christmas with Nanowar [original] (Satire / Power Metal / Ballad)


As usual, a .m3u file is enclosed so click an option such as "import playlist" in your music player of choice, then select the file. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll try to get back to posting albums regularly.

For those wondering about the image. Sort of picked it at random. But "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan", and given track 13 it seemed appropriate.

Merry Christmas! ;D

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Oui Oui - Formidable (1991)

Genre: French Pop
Quality: MP3, 192 KBPS
About: I really don't know a lot about it. Just filling a request. Enjoy :)
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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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A FAREWELL NOTE

MY MEDIAFIRE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED MEANING ALL OF MY FILES ARE GONE FOREVER. I HAD MULTIPLE DISCLAIMERS DECLARING THAT THESE FILES ARE PROVIDED FOR PREVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS I'VE PROVIDED ALBUM PURCHASE LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY POST AND ENCOURAGED PEOPLE TO BUY THESE ALBUMS IF THEY LIKE THEM, OR DELETE THEM IF THEY DON'T. IT'S NOT MY FAULT IF PEOPLE DID NOT FOLLOW THAT.

GUESS WHAT MEDIAFIRE I USED TO THINK YOU WERE THE BEST FILE HOSTING SERVICE AND NOW I'M NEVER USING MEDIAFIRE AGAIN AND ACTIVELY TELLING OTHER PEOPLE TO AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.

RATHER THAN REDO 4 YEARS OF WORK, I WILL CHERISH MY TIME WITH THIS BLOG AS A MEMORY. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS TIME WITH ME. PLEASE CONTINUE TO READ MY ALBUM REVIEWS AND ENJOY THE PICTURES.

(For myself and my loyal fans, I am preparing a playlist full of loss, hatred, despair, and beauty. Comment on this entry and I'll be more likely to make a final upload)

- MetalHurricane 

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.

The Sins of Thy Beloved - Lake of Sorrow (1998)

(Had to censor the cover because I think I said this blog was safe for work... LOL! Original Image (NSFW))


Genre: Doom Metal / Gothic Metal
Quality: MP3 @ 192 KBPS
About: As far as I know, this is the only album where a violinist named Pete Johansen is featured prominently. Why do I go straight to the violinist? Because holy mother of jesus, it is amazing. Pete does not play the violin, he makes sweet passionate love with it.

That aside, this is a simply perfect doom-gothic metal album. In every song, there is a trade off between the terrific male growls of Glenn Morten Nordbø, and the light and beautiful female vocals of Anita Auglend. He is so harsh, whereas she sounds so vulnerable.

An interesting component of this album is that while the violin is very prominent in the first three tracks, it almost completely drops off later in the album. The album as a whole seems to get a brighter feeling towards the end. For example, the three minute violin intro to track 3 "Worthy of You" nearly makes me break out in tears, but the violin chorus in track 4 "Lake of Sorrow" is (ironically) a happy little folk tune.

The feeling I get from this album is difficult to describe, but I will try. Even when you are drowning in a lake of sorrow, there is always hope.


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Buy on iTunes

Lunar Aurora - Hoagascht (2012)

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Quality: mp3 280KBPS VBR
About: Here is the long awaited new album from my favorite band, and kings of german black metal. Before I even start I want to say that this is not actually Lunar Aurora, but a Trist album with the singer of Lunar Aurora on guest vocals. See below line ups from their official website.

"Andacht" (recorded 2006)

Aran: Guitars, Voice
Sindar: Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Voice, Programming
Skoarth: Guitars

"Hoagascht" (recorded 2011)

1. Im Gartn
2. Nachteule
3. Sterna
4. Beagliachda
5. Håbergoaß
6. Wedaleichtn
7. Geisterwoid
8. Reng

Aran: Guitars, Voice, Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Programming
Whyrhd: Voice

Recorded: September 2011
Format: CD, Digipak CD, 12" LP
Label: Cold Dimensions

Though, What i describe as the "true" lineup of Lunar Aurora has not been seen since 2005.

"Mond" (2005)

Aran: Guitars, Voice
Whyrhd: Guitars, Voice
Sindar: Keyboards, Bass-guitar, Voice
Profanatitas: Drums



Anyway...
If you are expecting an "Andacht 2" you will certainly not find it here. This album is self-described by the band as stylistically falling somewhere between Elixir of Sorrow (2001) and Zyklus (2002). A more experimental and atmospheric album, with some ambient sections, but not overriden by them.

"Sterna" is the first legitimate black metal ballad I've heard. "Beagliachda" has a recurring keyboard solo. The title track "Håbergoaß" (note that this album is sung in a different dialect of German) is the only song reminiscent of pre-2001 Lunar Aurora, with a driving beat. The first time I heard "Geisterwoid" I thought the album had ended and I had gone to an early demo - It's raw and brilliant. "Reng" is the best closer of any Lunar Aurora album.

Definitely this is a grower album. The first time I listened, I thought it was a joke. Now it's my 100th listen and I'm absolutely hooked. This is not a Lunar Aurora album, this is not a Trist album, this is a beast all of it's own.


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Buy (Unfortunately a somewhat dated website... go there, click "English" at the top, then search by "Lunar Aurora". The vinyl cost 30USD including shipping which took about 2 weeks. So worth it.)

W.E.T. - W.E.T. (2009) (feat. Jeff Scott Soto of Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Axel Rudi Pell, Trans Siberian Orchestra)

Genre: Melodic Rock / AOR
Quality: 192kbps MP3
About: I have no idea why this isn't on my blog. Quite simply the greatest Melodic Rock album ever. It features a lot of things not in most melodic rock, such as a great atmosphere, powerful vocals and great guitar solos resembling those found in heavy metal. Rather than me talk your face off, you should just give it a try! I hope they make a W.E.T. 2 (or perhaps W.E.T.T.E.R.) soon!

In-depth track-by-track review.

W.E.T. is a supergroup featuring:
Robert Sall (Work of Art)
Erik Martensson (Eclipse)
Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman, and: Yngwie Malmsteen, Axel Rudi Pell, Takara, solo, Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Finally, here is a music video of "One Love" i just found. I actually dig the 90s-esque green screen and kaleidoscope effects.



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You owe it to yourself to buy this on vinyl; Digital media doesn't do it justice.
Buy Picture LP from Inner Wound Recordings (Pictured above, limited to 299 copies (because I have one of them :D))
Buy CD from Frontiers Records
Buy MP3s on iTunes

A Very Strange Christmas (by hurricane_mario)

About:
It's the week before Christmas
and all through the house
Everyone is stirring and saying
"wtf are you listening to?"

This compilation consists entirely of bizarre versions of the classic christmas songs you know and love (or hate), as well as a lot of original christmas songs you've never heard. And if you have any sense at all, will never hear them again. But if you're weird like me, you will love them a lot better than that garbage they play on the radio every year (And you are inevitably very tired of by this point).

As with all my playlists, a good number of them are heavy metal, but not all of them.

Track List:
1. King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas [Original, but includes I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus] (Thrash/Heavy Metal)
2. Psychostick - Red Snow [original] (Humor / Hardcore)
3. Dio - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen [classic] (Heavy/Doom Metal)
4. I Fight Dragons - Alien for Christmas [original] (Rock / Chiptune)
5. Steve Vai - Christmas Time is here [classic] (Guitar Virtuoso / Instrumental)
6. Jordan Rudess - Andelusion [original] (Piano Virtuoso / Instrumental)
7. Halford - Get Into the Spirit [original] (Power / Thrash Metal)
8. Abney Park - Little Drummer Boy [classic] (Steampunk / Darkwave / Gothic / Industrial)
9. Alice Cooper - Santa Claus is Coming To Town [classic] (Heavy/Shock Metal)
10. Keith Emerson - Troika [classic] (Keyboard / Fusion / Instrumental)
11. Austrian Death Machine - Jingle Bells [classic] (Humor / Metalcore)
12. South Park - Woodland Critter Christmas (5 second interlude)
13. Spinal Tap - Christmas With the Devil [original] (Satire / Classic Rock)
14. Tankard - Fuck Christmas [original] (Thrash Metal)
15. HeimatAerde - Veni Veni Emmanuel [classic - Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel] (Darkwave)
16. Afroman - I Wish You Would Roll A New Blunt [classic - I Wish You A Merry Christmas] (Humor / Hip Hop)
17. Jingle Cats - What Child Is This?/hava Nagila [classic] (Uhh... I'm not sure. Here's the top 3 tags on last.fm: motherfucking christmas cats, psychedelic, death metal)
18. NanowaR Of Steel - Christmas with Nanowar [original] (Satire / Power Metal / Ballad)


As usual, a .m3u file is enclosed so click an option such as "import playlist" in your music player of choice, then select the file. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll try to get back to posting albums regularly.

For those wondering about the image. Sort of picked it at random. But "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan", and given track 13 it seemed appropriate.

Merry Christmas! ;D

*REUPLOAD* 4shared Download

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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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2011-06-23 Shuffle (by hurricane_mario)

About: Let's play a game.
1. Turn shuffle (of your entire music library) on
2. Start by playing a song of your choice
3. Save every song that plays onto a playlist, until you reach sub-74 minutes (If the next song puts it over 74 it's not part of the playlist)
4. Upload (link in comments or on your own blog)

That's what I did here. It was my old library on my desktop which has not been touched since March 30th. It has 94,510 songs totalling nearly 600GB and 287 days of playtime. It worked out pretty well. For some reason all of the songs seemed to have a dark and mysterious feeling. I guess I just like that kind of music.

Track List:
1. Yngwie Malmsteen - As Above, So Below
Well this was vocalist Jeff Scott Soto's debut, who has since gone on to sing in bands such as Talisman, W.E.T., and the most well-known being Trans-siberian orchestra. He started when Malmsteen was equally unknown (And arguably still is... he was not even on Rolling Stone's top 100 guitarists... I hate that magazine). It's the only song with vocals on this album, Rising Force. The vocals are just so amazing as well as the guitar solos.

2. Nocternity - Onyx
Never really listened to this band. It's some brutal, raw black metal but theres some nice melodies to be found.

3. The Meads of Asphodel - Weeping Tears of Angel Light
It starts with an 8-bit sounding melody and goes into some decidedly solid melodic black metal.

4. Finch - Mad World (Acoustic Cover)
An emo band with a really nice acoustic cover of this song.

5. Paolo Nutini - Million Faces
Some indie artist I had no idea I had, but I like it alot.

6. Beatallica - Ce So Precisa Sangue (Portuguese)
So this a band I've followed from near their beginnings. They gained popularity due to the fact they do Beatles covers in the style of metallica. They are so good, even Lars Ulrich of metallica encouraged them to continue. This is the song "All You Need is Love" and as you know, Beatles had all kinds of different languages in their song. So Beatallica released a mega-single with the song in about 15 different languages. :) I don't know which metallica song they are spoofing off-hand, though...

7. Ian Stuart And Rough Justice - Having A Good Time
This shuffle continued to get more obscure. Here's an unknown white power rock band. Not sure what more to say.

8. Ring of Fire - You were there
I'm glad itunes picked another one of my favorite vocalists. Unfortunately I had this album in really low quality, but whatever. This is a nice ballad. Mark Boals was ironically also in Yngwie Malmsteen, for three albums I believe. As well as Avantasia, Revolution Renaissance, way too many others to list.

9. Devin Townsend - Life
So itunes crashed here. I hate this program but it remains the best music organizer. I love how it automatically organizes it into subfolders when I add it. Anyway, this is the album it had picked, I'm not sure about the song. But I skimmed through the whole album and I loved this song instantly. Devin Townsend made way better albums when he was on drugs...

10. The Beloved - The Sun Rising
I got this from some compilation. Techincally called "Synthpop" it's just really chill and relaxed.

11. Blutengel - Schmerz 1 - Liebe
German darkwave band, but this song serves more as an interlude than a song. But I like it.

12. Senmuth - Indriyas
Unknown solo artist who primarily makes egyptian and ambient music. Well, that's what this is. Yet another dark, ambient, chillout type song.

13. Johansson - Fading away
I swear the itunes shuffle algorithm is alot smarter than you'd think. This is the solo project of a keyboardist who is best known for Stratovarius, but was in Yngwie Malmsteen's band from 1983 to 1989 and was in fact on track 1 of this playlist. And it's yet another ballad.

14. Vader - Nomad
Here's a well known death metal band. From a live album. I never really got into them but I should.

15. Joe Jackson - Fools in Love
He's best known for songs like "Stepping Out" and "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" but this song more resembles Ska. But again I like it.

16. Talisman - System Of Power
Hey guess who sings here. JEFF SCOTT SOTO. Out of nearly 100,000 songs here's the third song (out of 15, not counting track 1) in this playlist with a member of Malmsteen's band in it. Coincidence? I think not. I think Apple programmed iTunes with a human brain and are preparing to take over the world. >:D

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Symfonia - In Paradisum (2011)

Genre: Neoclassical Power Metal
Quality: 320kbps MP3
About: It is my day off, I choose to spend part of it sharing the awesome stuff I have found in the past few months. First is Symfonia. This is the ultimate supergroup of ex-power metal band members.

* André Matos (ex-Angra, ex-Shaman, ex-Viper) - Vocals
* Timo Tolkki (ex-Stratovarius, ex-Revolution Renaissance) - Guitar , Producer , Mixer
* Jari Kainulainen (ex-Stratovarius, ex-Evergrey) - Bass
* Mikko Härkin (ex-Sonata Arctica, ex-Kotipelto, ex-Solution .45) - Keyboards
* Uli Kusch (ex-Holy Moses, ex-Helloween, ex-Gamma Ray, ex-Masterplan) - Drums

Style-wise, Tolkki continues right where he left off after 2010's fantastic album "Trinity" by Revolution Renaissance. It's power metal, but more deep than classic power "cheese" metal such as Stratovarius's "Episode" or Kamelot's "The Fourth Legacy". So, it's not just "Stratovarius with the old Angra singer". You will hear a lot of power chords held for 3 seconds while there is a power metal beat and soaring vocals. You will also hear slow and introspective parts. My favorite from first listen would have to be the final track.

Still, there are times where you think you've heard it before. Worse off, it doesnt sound like Stratovarius. The beginning of Forevermore sounds like System of a Down's "BYOB". Pilgrim Road sounds like Helloween's "Future World".

As a side-note, look at the flowery-looking thing above the logo.

It first appeared in Stratovarius - "Visions" when they switched from their darker and slower sound they had since Fright Night, to their mainstream power metal sound. When stratovarius peaked.


And every album since.



It increased in importance, as if it was a symbol for the strength of the band. It was featured predominantly on the Elements CD's which I own both of.


Then they broke up after this album.


Then got back together.


Then Tolkki left.


Where's the flower? Here it is.



Changed the logo here, not sure why. This album was great but did have a much grittier sound than all these other albums. Maybe that's why the change.


But it's back again.


Now you have earned your download. LOL.

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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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A Metal Hurricane, Vol. 4

Genre: Varies, see description and track listing.
Quality: Mostly over 192kbps MP3, one is AAC.
About: I believe this is my best playlist to date. If you're here, likely you already have bands like Alcest (Track 8), Angra (10), Revolution Renaissance (14), and Grey Waters (9). But you probably don't have Yearning (1), Far Beyond (3), Enter My Silence (7), Pay No Respect (12), or Shadow Gallery (15). These are all great and very underrated metal bands! I won't say more specific things about the aforementioned bands, you should experience them for yourself.

Because of bands like Alcest, Austere and all related bands, I've been getting more into shoegaze. It is called that because founding artists generally stared straight down during live performances. I used last.fm shoegaze radio to find bands like The Depreciation Guild (5), who became an instant favorite. This song has such a great beat and I wish I was in a band because it would be such a nice candidate for a power metal cover!

I've always been into very melodic music, whether it's rock or metal or anything else. I was randomly browsing a blog, and I usually hate when music is played on music-blogs because people are probably already listening to music while browsing! But in this case it was a very good thing because I heard another instant favorite - Brother Firetribe (2). This is melodic rock but it is somewhat heavy at times, and it is interesting because it was actually founded by the guitarist/composer from nightwish! Annette is even in one song (not this one). The singer here is absolutely incredible, he is like a combination of Mark Boals and Michael Kiske which are my two favorite living singers. Powerful yet clean.

Kymera (6) is another unknown amazing melodic rock band, with another vocalist who reminds me of Kiske.

Glen Hansard (4) is an amazing singer-songwriter and the best decision he ever made was to release a movie called Once in 2006. This is direct from the movie and I'm not sure why but just seemed to fit very well in that spot in the playlist.

Serj Tankian (11) is of course the singer from System of A Down. I consider their first album a metal album, but since then the band and the recent solo projects have shifted more to a mainstream alternative sound. Here, he experiments which I really like. The album as a whole is too slow and uneventful, but this track grabbed me. I guess the disco-type beat.

Billionaires Boys Club (13) is the epitome of unknown hard rock. It features Mark Boals on vocals, and had some really enjoyable songs such as this one. It's just one of those bands that remained unknown for some reason. Lack of promotion and touring. This band would have done really well today now that we have internet to find all this great music!


Track List (1:13:22 total time):
1. Yearning - Bleak (Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal / Clean Vocals)
2. Brother Firetribe - I'm on Fire (Melodic Hard Rock / AOR)
3. Far Beyond - My Way Of Endless Grief (Melodic Power Metal)
4. Glen Hansard - Say it to Me Now (Acoustic / Singer-Songwriter)
5. The Depreciation Guild - Crucify You (Shoegaze / Chiptune / 8bit)
6. Khymera - No sacrifice (Melodic Rock / AOR)
7. Enter My Silence - Thin Red Line (Melodic Death Metal)
8. Alcest - Tir Nan Og (Atmospheric/Acoustic Black Metal / Shoegaze)
9. Grey Waters - The Truth is in Your Eyes (Depressive Black Rock/Metal / Shoegaze / Emo)
10. Angra - Lease of Life (Power Metal / Ballad)
11. Serj Tankian - Deserving? (Symphonic/Alternative Rock/Pop)
12. Pay No Respect - Only the Brave (Hardcore / Beatdown)
13. Billionaires Boys Club - Send Your Fat Friend Home (Hard Rock / Glam Metal / AOR)
14. Revolution Renaissance - Crossing the Rubicon (Power Metal)
15. Shadow Gallery - Colors (Melodic Metal / Ballad)

Mediafire Download

*As usual, the music files are included as well as a .m3u file. If you have problems, let me know.*

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(In this case, click the donate button on the top right and I will be more likely to continue exposing you to these bands. :D)

Yearning - Frore Meadow (2001)

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal / Shoegaze / Doom Metal
Quality: mp3 @ 192 kbps

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Dexter Freebish - Shine On (2010) (mp3 @ V0, 100% .log, .cue)

Genre: Alternative Rock / Electro-pop
Quality: mp3 @ V0 with .log and .cue
About: In the long awaited followup for a small group of dedicated fans (it has been 6 years since their last LP), Dexter Freebish moves in more of an electro-pop direction while still retaining their unique rock sound. I was upset they changed their style at first, but upon many listens it just sort of "clicked" and I found the songs running through my head. As you progress through the album they use the Pop-beat less (and not at all) which is good because it makes for variety. The best ones are "Everybody Knows Somebody", a more hard-rock sounding "Shine On", and the final track "Come Down" is completely acoustic.

Mediafire Download

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Buy ($10 - CD, $9 - MP3 or FLAC or ...)

The Depreciation Guild - Spirit Youth (2010)

Genre: Shoegaze, Chiptune
Quality: VBR mp3 @ 256ish (maybe v0?)
About: I have been getting really interested in shoegaze thanks to bands like Alcest, Les Discrets, the new Drudkh album.... So I put on shoegaze tag radio on last.fm. Of everything I heard I liked this the best. I have been getting progressively more addicted to this album. Every song will have something you like. The best songs are "Dream about me" and "crucify you".

Side-note: Sorry for lack of updates. Really busy with school and stuff. This may be my last update until the semester is over, mid-december.

Second side-note: Switching back to mediafire, I haven't gotten a broken RAR from them in a long time so maybe they FINALLY fixed it!

Mediafire Download

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Buy (Amazon - CD, MP3, or Vinyl)

A Gothic Hurricane (by hurricane_mario)

Genre: Melodic Death/Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Symphonic metal, related genres.
Quality: Varied
About: I had a few of these songs going through my head the other day so I decided to make a playlist. I tried to steer away from non real gothic bands that idiots tag as gothic just because there's a female singer. But a few crept in towards the end when I ran out of ideas. I don't listen to gothic much, but when I do it's songs like these.

1. The Old Dead Tree - Start the Fire
2. Ava Inferi - Colours Of The Dark
3. To/Die/For - Guilt Ridden State
4. Flowing Tears - Godless
5. Moonspell - Everything Invaded
6. Rapture - (About) Leaving
7. Krypteria - My Fatal Kiss
8. Lacrimas Profundere - A Pearl
9. Theatre Of Tragedy - Silence
10. Aesma Daeva - The Camp of Souls
11. Xandria - Now & Forever
12. The Sins of Thy Beloved - My Love
13. HIM - Your Sweet Six Six Six
14. Sirenia - The Last Call
15. Within Temptation - What Have You Done (Feat. Keith Caputo)

Same as last time. The songs and a .m3u file. Hope it works right. Definitely will work in VLC though.


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A Metal Hurricane, Vol. 3

Genre: Various... see each song
Quality: Various, sorry can't be helped. 
Length: 72:25 minutes  
About: This is even more a conglomeration of genres than my first two. But it just shows how varied my taste is and I hope there's something in here for everyone. This is basically the soundtrack to my summer, with the blanks filled in with some stuff that was running through my head one night and some stuff I haven't heard in a couple years.

There's a few songs in here I know most people have so I tried to pick a less known version. There's also some completely unknown stuff that everyone needs to hear. So, yeah hope someone enjoys it! If not, I know at least I will.

Note: I created a .m3u and threw all the files in one folder with it this time to try it (it should be easier). Any media player should have an import playlist option. iTunes's is (stupidly placed, as usual) File, Library, Import Playlist.
(Edit: After experimenting I found if m3u's work is completely dependent on the player you use. With my original upload, VLC worked, Windows media player missed like half the songs, itunes misses Beer Mosh. Removing the accent in "Prision" made it work. Seriously? Well if you have problems I'm sorry and you'll have to add them to the playlist manually, but I do not want to retag all my music like I did with the first two all my previous compilations.)

Track Commentaries:

(These descriptions were written at 4am so apologies for poor grammar and such.)

Kalmah - One of Fail (Melodic Death Metal)

Well this band proves they can do no wrong, as it is their 6^th album and they continue to get consistently more amazing. Take low growling aggressive vocals, combine it with guitars which are equally aggressive but make beautiful melodies during the choruses, then keyboards to complement with insane countermelodies, and the drums drive the song forward so you can’t not listen. One of those songs you quite literally cannot get tired of.

Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle - What Cost War (Heavy / Thrash(?) Metal)

Ever since Dio’s untimely passing I have been working towards getting every guest recording he ever did (since I already have all of the projects he was a permanent member in… I promise I will share it someday! It’s on my to do list, way down on it). Well here we have quite possibly his most impressive vocal performance of his life. Ridiculous screams and just downright aggressive vocals. Most people, even really hardcore fans probably don’t know about it so, here it is. I’m like having chills and shaking a little by the end of this song.

Sarah Brightman - Here with me (Chillout, Classical, Pop)

So after that we need a chill down song. Probably everyone breathing has heard this. Quite simply Dido is one of my favorite female vocalists and songwriters. But I am presenting the version off one of my favorite albums of all time, from one of the few vocalists I like better than Dido. The album is “La Luna” (2000). Even though it is primarily (or entirely) cover songs it has this magical yet melancholic atmosphere about it.

Wildfire - Summer Lightning (Traditional Heavy Metal / Hard Rock)

I cannot get enough of unknown 80’s traditional heavy metal/hard rock. It’s like, 1000 of these bands formed in mid 80s, whipped out an album then broke up after making 2 dollars profit. But they are all so awesome and I keep finding them, on vinyl in perfect condition for 1 dollar at record stores. And I’m so glad I do. Perhaps these bands were before their time? This genre is so awesomedfjask;glf.

Led Zeppelin - Good Times, Bad Times (Classic Rock)

I’m not a hardcore Zeppelin fan and in fact my favorite song is “When The Levee Breaks” by them. But this song was running through my head and actually is what inspired to make this playlist. What more needs to be said about them that hasn’t been said in the past 40 years? It’s short, simple, and sweet. I looked for a live version but there honestly isn’t one. Do they not like this song? Well I sure do… sorry if you have it already.

Black Sabbath - War Pigs (Classic Rock / Heavy Metal)

And here’s another classic everyone knows. It was made one year after and in fact was the next song that came to mind for this playlist. But I don’t want to provide the Ozzy version everyone and their grandmother have in their library already. I thought about the Dio live version, but I honestly think the band goes way overkill… both Dio with his random shouting of words and the band for extending the song by like 5 minutes with random riffs. So here’s the 1983 live version during the short time former Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan was in this band. He does love the sound of his voice, lol. It’s somewhat cheesy but I find this particular version more enjoyable than the original.

Lee DeWyze & Crystal Bowersox - Falling Slowly (Acoustic, Pop, Rock)

Well my two favorite contestants from American Idol Season 9 (the first season I have ever watched by the way) were #1 and #2 and they had a duet together. How perfect can you get.  Honestly the live version was more passionate but I can’t find it. I just… speechless. It’s from the 2006 movie “Once” which I have been meaning to watch ever since I heard this song, just hasn’t happened yet. I was hoping I could get a girlfriend to watch it with as it seems like that kinda movie. But anyway, next song.

Jeff Scott Soto - Our Song (Melodic Hard Rock)

Honestly do not like a lot of his solo stuff as it’s too poppy and wanna be mainstream and lame. But this song is a straight up hard rock affair and man it rocks.

Heaven’s Guardian - Slaves of Reality (Heavy / Power Metal)

Quite literally the most unknown heavy metal band of all time for how awesome it is. The singer Carlos Zema is my #3 favorite singer ever as he can have a beautiful clean voice or the most insane screams you can ever hear, or a low growling voice which is more what is in this song.

W.E.T. - One Love (Melodic Rock)

The cover art does describe it as well as anything, it’s like standing out in the heavy rain but amidst the water you hear this beautiful music. Too cheesy of a description maybe. Well this is actually Jeff Scott Soto singing, but it’s hard to tell as he sings a lot higher range that in most of his other stuff. It sounds like he’s straining a little through the whole album but it makes it sound more passionate and genuine.

Eric Martin - Fly (Melodic Hard Rock)

Here’s IMO the greatest solo song from the Mr. Big singer. Better than much of what Mr. Big has done and that’s saying a lot.

Space Odyssey - Despair and Pain (Heavy / Power Metal)

Well I’m not sure how well known this is but every power/fantasy metal fan must hear this song. This particular composer has done so much amazing music but has gone MIA since about 2006 and me and much of the community is upset. Anyway, this is as great of a power metal song as you could hope for but makes it stand out is the vocals. Nils Patrik Johannson, also an unknown singer but he is my #4 favorite for sure. He has the most beautiful clean voice I have ever heard, but unfortunately he rarely uses it as he sings metal. Still he has the greatest growling voice that can effortlessly go to a ear piercing scream. Often he sounds like a dog barking though especially in recent years, but not in this album! Well that was an unexpected rant.

Pretty Maids - Old Enough to Know (Melodic Heavy Metal / Power Metal Ballad)

Melodic acoustic heavy metal power ballad. Jakslfjsfgdfsk;l I am a sucker for a good power ballad and this is the best one I’ve heard in many moons. This band is like 20 some years old and they still sound so fresh and relevant. Ironically this song is about how they’re old and all the stuff they’ve learned.

Beer Mosh - Muero (Thrash Metal)

Downloaded this band blindly for the name. So glad I did. I had never understood true thrash metal before this song and afterwards I can’t get enough of it. This is just plain a kicka** heavy as f*** song that every metalhead needs to hear.  They are unknown though so I bet no one reading this has this. Amazing bass solo and disturbing guitar solos towards the end.

Slumber - Rapture (Epic Doom/Death Metal)

As if it’s not obvious enough this band ripped off the Finnish band Rapture just by listening, they had the nerve to title a song Rapture. But I believe they take this style of music to a whole new level of atmosphere and immersion. It’s like, floating on a dark sea in a storm.

Like a Storm - Change Tomorrow (Acoustic Hard Rock Ballad)

I have this full album on my blog, but I just re-found it so I want to put it here. Completely acoustic ballad and these great Michael Kiske-esque vocals.  Kinda the same vocal style as Kiske but somewhat deeper voice. I dunno, time for bed. :)


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Alex Band - We've all been there (2010) (v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue)

Genre: Alternative/Pop Rock
Quality: v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue
About: It's kind of a long story how I came to own a signed copy of this album. A while back I heard The Calling's "Wherever You Will Go" on the radio and I was like, oh crap I remember this, I love this song and this guy's voice makes me melt into butter. That doesn't make sense but who cares. So I got both of The Calling's albums but found out they broke up in 2005. But I found out the vocalist, Alex Band was doing a solo album so I followed him on twitter. I didn't give it much attention even until one day I saw "Get a signed copy of my album now..." on my twitter feed. So I listened to the album, loved it, and thought it was good enough to deserve my hard earned money. I got a signed copy off his official website, since the collector in me needed it.

Since I got it I have listened 100 more times. I thought it was worthwhile to go through the PITA process of setting up EAC for V0. While I'm not a music quality elitist, I appreciate that v0 is the best trade off between quality and compact file sizes. I don't honestly know what to do with a .cue (something about burning it back to CD, not that you'd do that anyway *AHEM AHEM*) but I provided it anyway in case someone might want it. And let me know if it does work as I'm curious.

Enough techno babble, on to the album. It's alternative rock at it's core but not like the majority of alternative rock on the radio where people are like "I'M GROWLING CAUSE IM SO HARDCOREEEE" and generic riffs. Here we have really melodic guitar and vocal lines, tons of unique ideas all over the place. At the same time it seems like one coherent thought process and all the songs fit together like a puzzle to make a great album. It's difficult to listen to just one song cause I always end up listening to the whole album.

Stand outs are "We've All Been There" "Euphoria" "Never Let You Go" "Start Over Again".

I also included "Cruel One (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk & Emmy Rossum)" which is not v0 because it is an iTunes-only bonus track (why??????). Enjoy, let me know what you think, and let Alex know by buying it!

4shared Download - removed by request 8/9/10. But you can preview at the iTunes link below!

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy signed album (CD) - 14.99
Buy iTunes - 7.99