Two Bible Stories for the Price of One

Yes, I know I'm the only one posting right now, but I haven't given up
hope yet. As evidence, I'm posting two albums about going through hard
times but emerging better than before. The alternate theme of this
theme-album post could be two albums I enjoy by bands from a country I
hate (Israel). They're also based on stories from the Bible, so how
about that?

Orphaned Land - Mabool

This isn't a surprise to most people involved in this blog. An album
which re-tells the story of the Great Flood, it's full of proggy
goodness and over-the-top metal stylings which are fun for the whole
family. Kind of long for my taste, and by long I do mean rather
repetitive and a little boring, it's still a very solid showing from
Orphaned Land. The band also tantalizes us with their signature
regional influence, bringing in the saz, bouzouki, and oud, and on top
of that their guitar is fantastic. They're not the be-all-end-all of
"oriental" metal as some may say, but they're a very good example of
what can be done with the genre.

Favorite Tracks: The Kiss of Babylon (The Sins), Norra El Norra
(Entering the Ark)


Enjoy!

Amaseffer - Slaves for Life

Now here's one I doubt any of you have heard. Amaseffer is also from
Israel, and they put out a hell of a metal album. This one's based on
the story of Moses and I would say the stronger of the two. First of
all, while it's longer by about ten minutes it feels much shorter. The
songs are also a little more distinct. On the other hand Slaves for
Life is also an airier album which uses clean vocals and soaring
guitar solos for almost the entire album. I'd consider them Israel's
answer to Symphony X in their general sound as well as song structure.
This is no surprise given the person that produced their album has
helped mix Kamelot and Evergrey among other power and prog metal
bands. Oh yeah, and their lead singer's from Therion.

Favorite tracks: Slaves for Life, Midian


Enjoy!

45 minutes of pure bliss

Well, not exactly, but it's damn close. For your delectation I present to you the album/song Dies Irae.

Devil Doll was an experimental rock band composed of members from Italy and Slovenia during the late 80's. One need only read the Wikipedia entry to understand how weird their history is, and I will not go on at length here. Suffice to say that the history of this band is as over-the-top as the music they produced.

Dies Irae is a hard album to describe. Most of it is Mr. Doctor playing the piano and singing, interspersed with orchestral interludes, violin, and operatic vocals. It uses the Day of Judgment as a metaphor for his descent into madness and regret, or something like that. This is one of my favorite albums ever, and I realized that when I found myself listening to it in its entirety multiple times in one night. I don't even remember how I found these guys, but here you go. If you like it I've got pretty much everything they've released.


Enjoy!

The 7 Samurai: The Ultimate Epic

I want everyone to know that Anarchon brought this on you all by declaring this concept album month. While I'm not sure I can, in good conscience, provide a months worth of concept albums, I can provide one so obscure, so ridiculous, and so pretentious, that it may kill the movement in its tracks; after all, isn't it the point of concept albums to be all of the above, and more so than others? In other words, I dare you to top this:

The 7 Samurai:The Ultimate Epic.

This, for the curious, is actually three prog epics, by three obscure prog bands, each one representing a 3rd of Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece The 7 Samurai. The album is (officially) divided into a ridiculous number of pieces which will now be listed for the humor value, and for entry fluff:

1.)"Alla Corte Degli Eroi (1550, Periodo Sengoku)" - By: CONSORZIO ACQUA POTABILE(aka: Cap)

1. Shimada Kambei
2. Kikuchiyo: Il Volo
3. Crepusculo - Parte Uno
4. Il Vecchio Mulino
5. Katayama Gorobei: Le Sete Spade
6. Fa Che Io Sia: Il Dono

2.) "The Farmers" - By: Tempano

1. Farewell To The Season
2. The Lone Samurai
3. Despair, Shout!
4. The Blind Crow

3.) "The Bandits" - By: Taproban

1. First Ride
2. Eagle's Peak Pyre
3. The Flaming Lady
4. Last Ride

So there it is. A huge, absurd prog epic, concept compilation album. To further drag this into absurdity I'll just point out that the bands are Italian (Cap, Taproban) and Venezuelan (Tempano).

As for the music itself, I'll say that at first I found it unremarkable, but after a couple listens I decided it was remarkable in that it is probably the purest contemporary example of 70's prog music. None of the three really stand out as better than the others in my opinion, but that said I'll list my highlights in this order:

3.) "Alla Corte Degli Eroi (1550, Periodo Sengoku)"
2.) "The Bandits"
1.) "The Farmers"

That is based on very little. As you may have noticed I don't have a whole lot of substance to say about this album, that is beacuase (while I do honestly enjoy it) I wasn't planning on posting it here. This is merely to one up the Anarchon. So then my friend, and anyone else brave enough to challenge me here: Bring it on.

Diabolical Masquerade – Death's Design

It looks like July's going to be concept album month for me. Diabolical Masquerade was a project created by Blakkheim (Anders Nyström) of the doomy Katatonia after he left that band to pursue a rawer, more aggressive sound. Its sound ranges from proggy avant-garde material to more raw, distorted metal and everything in between. The band is kind of a legend, and in their short career Blakkheim put out four fantastic albums. Death's Design, his last effort, is often referred to as his magnum opus and, besides being an amazing album also serves as a sampler for the different sounds he experiments with.

As a concept, the Blakkheim created a resilient rumor that it was the soundtrack for a horror movie that was never made. The album structure certainly lends credence to this, dividing the music up into 61 tracks and 20 "movements" each with a different sound and theme. It's very hard to describe this album and do it full justice, so you'll just have to listen to it. It goes a lot of places, all of them good.

Favorite tracks: the 5th and 8th movements are both amazing, but then again, so's the whole album.



Enjoy!

just a note

I was talking to Will the other day, and figured I'd throw up a suggestion that people be free to post on whichever day they wish. Or at least, if you don't post on the day I arbitrarily chose at the beginning of this venture you shouldn't feel obligated to wait until next week.

Ulver - Shadows of the Sun

Apologies for the rushed post...

This is the newest album from perhaps my favorite band in recent memory, Ulver. They currently are completely dominating my last.fm page, not that that should be any real recommendation to most...

Ulver is an interesting band to try and understand. There is such a thing as spicing up your music from album to album, and such a thing as experimenting with new sounds, but Ulver will shit all over your expectations of band continuity. Thus, if you really enjoy this album, I would almost recommend not listening to any of their earlier stuff, because you'll just be confused.

This album is a fairly simple, ambient-ish affair with Garm (the vocalist, aka: Trickster G., aka: Fiery G. Maelstrom, aka: Kristoffer Rygg) really pulling out some of the most expressive vocals in their catalog. The songs on this one are relatively short, and stay just long enough to do what they come to do; you won't ever feel like any of the tracks of overstayed their welcome like you do with many ambient albums. There is also a great deal, in my opinion, to be said for the lyrical content of the songs. They're simple, but poetically potent.

The band's own press release for this album is pretty amusing and adds the oddity that is Ulver:
"Many of you have been waiting for sound, and we are sorry for the silence. We needed to be alone, without the hustle and bustle of the living. We are uncomfortable with the world, the industry and our place. We have been working, sluggishly, well aware we could end up with nothing. Nonetheless we believe we have succeeded in giving our fears some kind of form. SHADOWS OF THE SUN, our 7th full-length album, is finished and will be released October 1st. We feel it is our most personal record to date. Low-key, dark, and tragic. As we are."

Highlights:
3.) Eos
2.) Like Music
1.) All the Love
(PS: "Solitude" is, indeed, a Sabbath cover)

Finally, rather than leave you with a picture of the album cover (which is kind of boring, sunset through ox horns, blah blah blah), I'll leave you with a picture of Garm, because, seriously, look at him.


Here's the link, and a final quote from the band:

"As you all know, by now we are filthy rich and expanding the business. Just look at this stunning new artifact" - right before a picture of the new limited edition run of 200, $89, Ulver cologne.

Romanian Black Metal

Between the vampires and the castles in which they dwell, Romania
seems like a pretty metal place. That being said I have heard only one
band from that country, but it's a good one. Negură Bunget is an
"atmospheric" black metal band from Timişoara that produces excellent
music. To quote the description on last.fm, they "combine Romanian
history and folklore into a mystical sonic adventure, quite literally
inspired by their homeland of Transylvania". If the term 'mystical
sonic adventure' strikes you as pretentious, consider the drummer's
description of the band's name:

Negură Bunget is a black fog coming from a deep dark dense forest.
The name tries to picture somehow the kind of atmosphere, both
musical and spiritual we'd want to create through our music. It has
also an esoteric nature, standing for the inexpressible parts of our
ideology. The two words are also from the Tracic substrate of the
Romanian language (the oldest one, containing about 90 words) as the
interest for our local history and spirituality is something of
crucial importance and meanings for us as a band

Despite (or perhaps because of) the band taking itself so seriously it
manages to produce a unique blend of black metal, traditional
instruments, and experimental atmospheric elements. This is best
displayed on Om, their fourth full-length release. This is not an album I listen to often but rather a favorite that I drag into my playlist once in a while when I wish to enjoy a great piece of music
in its entirety. The album is a rich tapestry of sounds - the band makes much use of keyboards to provide an ambiance which suits the guitar, drums and traditional instruments well. Each track bleeds into the next as we are transported into a higher realm. I highly recommend listening to this album through in one sitting in order to experience it to its fullest.

Highlight tracks: it's all great, but Țesarul de Lumini (track 2) might be my favorite.

Enjoy!



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