The best releases of 2008

Witchkiller · Post by **Witchkiller** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:42 am

stormspell wrote: It is a cool album. I got to listen to a lot of good stuff around the current site update recently. BATTLEROAR and ETRUSGRAVE left excellent impression. However, my favorite is HEATHENDOM - what an awesome King Diamondnesque masterpiece! Superior to Portrait in my opinion.

Although it's not the stuff i like i am almost certaijn that this album will become an instant classic to every fan of this particular style.One doesn't have to e a fan to see that the songwriting is astonishing.....Let alone the vocals,really top notch and high pitched the right way!YOU SHOULD CHECK HEATHENDOM OUT!

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:42 pm

I like the Heathendom although the production is a bit too 'modern' for me. The Litany record just keeps climbing and climbing... a good year for greek Heavy Metal I guess!

mordred · Post by **mordred** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:59 pm

I love "Finis Mundi" off the new Battleroar album and a couple others too. Seems like their best effort so far. Though, most of the newer bands worshippng at the altar of Manowar, Warlord etc sounds a little too slick and machine like to my ears. I can enjoy it, but I can see why if someone who is not entirely hooked on the whole epic metal thing would refer to it as crap. The only bands in this ballpark that has really blown me away in recent years are Doomsword, Atlantean Kodex and Isen Torr.

Dragonforce ... I am actually not entirely hostile towards the flower power metal genre, but Dragonforce I can't stand.

MassOfKthulu · Post by **MassOfKthulu** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:19 am

i guess that would have to do with bathory epic metal fans vis a vis manowar epic metal fans
us southies definitely prefer our epic metal manowar,bathory epic stinks of 1993 black metal suddenly becoming true metal out of nowhere.

mordred · Post by **mordred** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:02 am

MassOfKthulu wrote:i guess that would have to do with bathory epic metal fans vis a vis manowar epic metal fans
us southies definitely prefer our epic metal manowar,bathory epic stinks of 1993 black metal suddenly becoming true metal out of nowhere.

I love viking era Bathory, but not half as much as I love Manowar. The thing is though, Manowar were hard, heavy, loud and savage. I hear much more of the Manowar spirit in Atlantean Kodex or Doomsword than I do in, say, Battleroar or Holy Martyr.

'pataphysicien · Post by **'pataphysicien** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:28 pm

MassOfKthulu wrote:us southies definitely prefer our epic metal manowar

mordred wrote:I hear much more of the Manowar spirit in Atlantean Kodex or Doomsword than I do in, say, Battleroar or Holy Martyr.

oh no you di'nt!

I would also like to include the Procession EP on my list, but as that didn't happen in 08 I'll just take the demo instead.

voidghast · Post by **voidghast** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:01 pm

Albums that impressed me in 2008:
*Cosmic Atrophy-Codex Incubo
*Averse Sefira-Advent Parallax

Albums that I really enjoyed and will be listening to for a long time:
*Arghoslent-Hornets of the Pogrom
*Pharaoh-Be Gone(recently ordered the vinyl version)
*Canvas Solaris-The Atomized Dream(though a bit more progressive than
metal)
I think Skepticism's latest album can be added here but I haven't heard enough of it yet.

Still haven't really heard Portrait's album and I might be kicking myself for that? It's apparently great.

MassOfKthulu · Post by **MassOfKthulu** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:22 pm

i would dissect this down to three things
a) Musicianship - manowar being able to come up with solid 'music' riffs instead of bathory's monotonous tsanga tsanga that was the blueprint for 90s black metal which was again -tainted with some blind guardian-the bluprint for mithotyn falkenbach and whatever which in name is epic metal to some,but not to 'US epic' metallers,there's a huge division there
b) Lyrics /attitude -Battleroar and holy martyr and that lot isn;t limited to singing about the Asa stories /there's more to life and metal than Tiu and Loki
and c) 'Savageness' is conceived in a million ways by a million people,i realise what you mean by doomsword/atlantean kodex being closer to gloves of metal than the new wave of epic metal,however it is obvious to me that there's a chasm in soundscapes ,eurobathorian epic is defined by bathory and early manowar alone mostly ,give or take some candlemass or summat,whereas more 'normal' epic starts from manowar,defies bathory,and goes to manilla road and the more direct us epic metal.
sorry to expound too much.
And Quorthon swearing to gods and demons he never heard a note of Manowar is is kinda bemusing i think.

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:15 am

I can understand your point of view for one and I can see how people of similar tastes to yours would be skeptical of those that like it the other way calling it epic metal but at least for the epic feeling is more inclusive. To see the alter apars I personally could never stomach Manowar mostly because I always found them too austere (I actually don't mind their image or subject matter almost at all, at least in the early records), so I am dismayed a bit that every time I say I like epic metal to someone the first word on their lips is Manowar! I am put in the awkward position to - whereas I wanted to talk about things I like - I have to explain why I dislike the things I dislike.

There's equal amounts of epic feeling for me in Rotting Christ - Passage To Arcturo or In The Woods... - HEart of the Ages for that matter as in a given Manowar record.

mordred · Post by **mordred** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:07 pm

MassOfKthulu, first off I don't know where you heard Quorthon denied he had ever heard Manowar, he was a big Manowar fan and happy to admit it. I think what you might be thinking of is how he, in the early 80's, denied he had ever heard Venom... which might be bemusing too, but is off topic.

Furthermore, you don't have to sell Manowar over Bathory to me, I already like Manowar more than Bathory. I like Bathory way more than Holy Martyr though ... and I would probably say there's more Manowar to a record like Hammerheart than to the last Holy Martyr, which is just too weak sounding. The thing is Manowar (and Bathory too, though musically different, the same goes for Manilla Road by the way) slammed out their epicness with aggression and covered in mud from the battlefield whereas Holy Martyr sounds like their finger nails never saw anything even remotely close to dirt. Doomsword and Atlantean Kodex sound "Manowar dirty" though and are therefore more Manowar like to me, even if Holy Martyr might structure their riffs more Manowar like or whatever, without balls you don't get near Manowar.

For the most part I see what you mean and surely you are free to enjoy whatever appeals more to you. I don't get the lyrics part though. Holy Martyr just put out an albums worth of lyrics about (sigh) the battle of Thermopylae. I don't exactly view that as lyrically more varied than, say, Doomsword.

rictusgrin666 · Post by **rictusgrin666** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:45 am

Rick wrote:Well, if you think they were not nazi, I suggest you read the following, from "In its original mid-90s incarnation, Demoniac..." onwards (it's around the middle of the page). If you're up to it, read the whole article. I found it long but well worth the read!

http://www.lotfp.com/content.php?editorialid=57

Yes those lyrics are dodgy, but I think the author of the article may be reading a bit too much into them. I suspect it was more of an ill-judged attempt to incite controversy and an example of their "tomfoolery". Though in NZ as anywhere there are groups of skinheads who would make up a small section of Demoniac's audience to whom such lyics would obviously appeal. Bizarrely the original drummer of Demoniac played in a much better and more experimental band called Head Like A Hole - who enjoyed a couple of mainstreamish hits in NZ including a cover of Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire! They were also renowned for playing completely naked.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:38 am

I remember Demoniac's CD back in 94 with the pictures of the topless girls. I found that cool in a dumb, juvenile sort of way (although not as cool as Skulldom's Femondoetus' meat bra, much later). But who am I to pass judgment! I've been on stage with a girl sticking a crucifix up her twat, and I still think that was awesome!

Naked guys in Metal I could do without (that Profanatica cover, for example!).

Sorry about the offtopic!

rictusgrin666 · Post by **rictusgrin666** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:12 am

Rick wrote:I remember Demoniac's CD back in 94 with the pictures of the topless girls. I found that cool in a dumb, juvenile sort of way (although not as cool as Skulldom's Femondoetus' meat bra, much later). But who am I to pass judgment! I've been on stage with a girl sticking a crucifix up her twat, and I still think that was awesome!

Naked guys in Metal I could do without (that Profanatica cover, for example!).

Sorry about the offtopic!

I flatted with a guy who went out with one of those girls around that time.

But yeah, enough off-topic chatter from me too, sorry - couldn't resist mentioning that trivia

ShadowGallery · Post by **ShadowGallery** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:10 pm

Some of the best releases in 2008 are in my opinion ETRUSGRAVE, ENFORCER, THE LAMP OF THOTH, MEMORY GARDEN, HEXEN, HAIL OF BULLETS, HELSTAR, MINDWARP CHAMBER & BLOOD OF THE SUN

Noisenik · Post by **Noisenik** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:28 am

A real surprise and perhaps the best release of 2008:

OBTEST - Gyvybes Medis !!!

Superb Pagan Metal. Forces PRIMORDIAL in hiding!