Quite a bounty at the local stores. Here's the stuff I can't be bothered to do individual posts for, $2 each:
(lots more still to be added!)
Annihilator - Waking the Fury (2006 reissue)
Mostly uninteresting modern thrash, although worth the 2 bucks for the classic metal-influenced "Striker"--even with the modernized guitar tone, it's one of the best post-'80s Annihilator songs I've heard. Despite my disinterest in the album, it's not even as bad as some of the Annihilator material since...
Borknagar - Empiricism
Borknagar - Epic
Borknagar - The Olden Domain
Borknagar - Origin
Borknagar - Universal
Not much to say here. I probably would have been more excited about finding the earlier albums 20 years ago, but even back then, I'd rather have listened to Molested. The albums tend to get more progressive and less interesting sequentially (although Origin is an acoustic album outlier).
Brave - Monuments
Progressive rock/metal, generally not very heavy at all but there are some definite metal sections and influences. Considering the female vocalist and the use of violins and keyboards (as well as their previous work as Arise from Thorns and member ties to While Heaven Wept), the sound feels more like melodic doom or gothic metal band members using their instrumentation to make a progressive rock record, rather than a band trying to inject lighter and more palatable sensibilities into metal (and this could be applicable to any number of female fronted bands, from symphonic Nightwish/Within Temptation stuff to later The Gathering). Nothing offensive to listen to but not my cup of tea. I questioned whether I found the CD to be mildly interesting as opposed to good, but I had no desire to even skim through the tracks again to confirm, so I guess that answers that question.
Eidolon - Sacred Shrine
Compilation of old demo material. Being unfamiliar with their music, I was under the impression they were more of straightforward power metal band, but they mix power with thrash, speed, (and to a lesser extent) prog. metal. The first set of tracks vary a lot in sound, ranging from sounding like a tribute to oldish Annihilator to a more power metallish version of Cacophony, but they're tied together with the shreddy guitarwork. The Fates Warning cover ("Silent Cries") is decent, but not exceptional. The last couple of tracks are instrumental demos that keep the same basic sound, but are a lot more guitar-focused. I appreciate the musicianship but for the style, I think the "Race with Time" instrumental from the first part of the CD is superior. The drum sound is very artificial sounding, especially on the cover song and the older instrumental tracks, which unfortunately kind of cheapens the feel of these songs. Not a bad find though.
Ensiferum - From Afar
Had never heard a full album from these guys before. I know they're generally lumped in with the Finnish folk metal scene alongside bands like Korpiklaani and Finntroll, and while there are certainly folkish sections abound, the heart of the music feels a lot more like something akin to Children of Bodom or Kalmah, power metal beefed up with heavy melodeath influences and extreme vocals. In a general sense, this is slightly similar to the later Suidakra stuff (which I listened to first) reviewed below, although I think the folkish elements and atmospheric sections are classier here. They exist as a very precarious genre hybrid which I'm not the biggest fan of, so I found some parts entertaining and even bombastic, while others were rather tedious. Not a fan, though this ended up being less mediocre than I was expecting.
Reviewing this also allows me to share an Ensiferum-related anecdote. I used to go to a thrash/speed metal chatroom in the mid '00s, which for a short time was frequented by a dorky guy in his late teens who clearly didn't have much of a grasp on subgenres. He'd talk about random power and melodeath bands as being thrash, and he constantly referred to Ensiferum as speed metal (similar things occasionally happen nowadays when you meet someone with no clue about Agent Steel or Exciter or Iron Angel, so when you mention speed metal, they have to be a tryhard and mention Dragonforce or something like that). The one thing that really sticks out in my mind was this guy's awkward profile photo--he was bald and wore a spiked harness contraption around the top of his head (like the drummer for Canada's Aggression, or like the top part of what the Urgehal guy wears). Seeing someone like this being into Ensiferum probably led to some bias on my part against them, although hearing them seriously now, I don't really think I missed much.
Enslavement of Beauty - The Perdition EP
Some sort of melodic black/gothic metal. Too gothic and saccharine for my taste although it's not as avant-garde as the cover and layout might suggest.
Ereb Altor - By Honour
I was quite excited for this one, as the supposed mix of doom and viking metal sounded very appealing, and I never had the chance to hear them before. I must admit I expected something more like say, a cross between Grand Magus and Einherjer, but these guys obviously love Bathory's Twilight of the Gods, especially the choral vocals. I suppose the riffage is doomier than on the viking-era Bathory stuff, although rather than feeling morose or doomy, this has an epic and--dare I say--folkish feel. Great find.
Folkearth - Songs of Yore
Completely acoustic album--not even a hint of metal here, just modern folk. I have a feeling I wouldn't even like their regular folk metal albums that much, but I imagine they're far more interesting than this.
In Grief - Deserted Soul
Picked this up as cheap collection filler with no particular expectations (I really wish they had opted for some kind of logo beyond a plain Arial font), but it turned out to be fairly decent. Death metal mixed with lots of progressive metal and melodic death parts, among others. The death vocals have an old Finnish DM vibe to them, which was a huge plus. Everything is well integrated, and while I didn't find it boring, the 6+ min. tracks meant I naturally gravitated towards the more overtly death/doom sounding sections in each track, rather than any individual song leaving a great impression as a whole. Not bad at all for $2.
Kataklysm - Prevail CD/DVD
Couldn't get interested in this at all, it just turned into background music for me. It's funny, because this is the kind of groove-laden death metal I expected Gojira to sound like based on descriptions (what I've actually heard of them sounds like downtuned nu with brutal vocals). The DVD includes a 2007 live-in-studio gig (in front of a limited audience) that was livestreamed. There's nothing particularly special about the show, the live viewer comments and questions seem dumb, and the band plays no pre-2001 material.
Madder Mortem - Deadlands
Given their aesthetics and that Madder Mortem is a Norwegian female-fronted band, I was somewhat expecting this to be in the vein of later Theatre of Tragedy (I would have welcomed something like their earlier style) or later Tristania. It's not, but I'm not sure that it's necessarily any better. This really blurs the edges between progressive metal and gothic metal, and incorporates some very stark modern parts--two songs have very strong nu influences (which aren't my favorite, but at least they're able to integrate it into their sound). It's far from a happy sounding album but there are a couple riffs from "Faceless" and "Silverspine" that hint at a doominess that never really manifests. Imagine if The Gathering had an extra album between Mandylion and Nighttime Birds that wasn't as doomy as the earlier stuff but not as rockish as their later. Now have a prog. metal band perform it--Frantic Bleep would be ideal, since two members are on this album--and add some influences from The Third and the Mortal and the aforementioned modern stuff, and you come pretty close. Praising them for not doing the typical symphonic/gothic metal schtick seems kind of disingenuous as I don't really like this any better.
Månegarm - Vargstenen
Månegarm - Vredens tid
Decent, with the later Vargstenen being my favorite of these two. The undiluted black metal sections of the music are interesting enough, but I didn't get much out of the folk parts. If I was actually in the mood for viking or folkish metal, in all likelihood I'd pick something else.
Maskim - Sacrifice
Live
EP of extremely generic black metal. The recording and playing isn't
bad in terms of being lo-fi, it's just that this is so short, underwhelming, and void of interesting ideas, I can't
understand why anyone would feel this gig was noteworthy enough to need
its own individual release. I was extremely disappointed "Sacrifice" was an
original song and not a Bathory (or otherwise) cover. Had to check
online to confirm it, but Blakk here is indeed the same guy from
Angelkill and Mortuary Oath. Because it's such a comparatively unusual
locale for black metal, I like to playfully rank Iowan BM
bands against each other. Unfortunately this comes nowhere near to the
levels of Vitam Eternam or Erasmus, and I'm even inclined to say that
some of the less noisy Satan's Almighty Penis stuff is marginally more
interesting.The Mist and the Morning Dew - s/t
Initially I wasn't that impressed with this female-fronted atmospheric doom, as it's extremely mellow stuff by doom standards. When I began to listen to it more passively, as background music, it was quite pleasant. A lot has been said about this demo having folk/folk metal elements (probably mostly due to the participation of the Finntroll bassist and the Korpiklaani multi-instrumentalist on violin). I suppose there are hints of folksiness with the violin use (and I personally feel the acoustic guitar sections add more atmosphere to the music than the violin), but I feel it's largely exaggerated unless you're using a broad literal definition of folk as any sort of traditional melody. These elements remind me far more of something like early Anneke-era The Gathering than any folk metal band. Even though the first 4 tracks of the original demo are decent at conjuring up warm ethereal atmospheres, I was most impressed by the instrumental bonus track "Tuoni Vie." It was recorded by a much different earlier lineup, with flute instead of violin. It's heavier and doomier than any of the other tracks, and all the better for it.
Mithotyn - King of the Distant Forest
While probably not my first choice, this might be the kind of thing I'd pick over Månegarm, as mentioned above. While still largely rooted in black metal, there are some more epic sections that are what you'd expect from viking metal. Actually a bit surprised it took me so long to get this, as I remember many of the other licensed Swedish releases Death Records licensed in late '90s (Midvinter, Prophanity, The Everdawn, etc.) were pretty common in cheapo bins years ago.
Moonspell - Memorial
I vaguely know about Moonspell's trajectory into far more gothic oriented stuff after their first album, but I haven't been terribly interested or heard much later material from them. I was surprised some of the earlier tracks here come off as very unexpectedly black metal-influenced and extreme, skirting Cradle of Filth (sans the annoying vocals) or (less symphonic) Dimmu territory. Farther and farther into the disc there was more of the gothic style I expected, both melancholic, vaguely Katatonia-ish material (pretty enjoyable), as well as clean-vocalled attempts at rockish Type O Negative-styled parts (corny and not so enjoyable). Better than I anticipated but no match for anything on their mCD or first album.
Morgana Lefay - Grand Materia
This isn't too far removed from Lefay's SOS album, though I remember all earlier Lefay/Morgana Lefay stuff (except the s/t album) having more genuine thrash parts. While there is some thrashiness here, a lot of the more aggressive material here is rooted in contemporary groove metal. I do acknowledge that these sections help to make them stand out differently from more generic power metal bands, but a song like "Edge of Mind" really boils down to groove metal with a Jon Oliva-sounding singer over it, and I'm not sure whether that's really much of a superior option. The less groovy stuff is fine and makes this worth the $2, although I think their earlier stuff is better overall by far.
Morgana Lefay - Aberrations of the Mind
Even more emphasis on groove metal now, and in most songs this strongly overshadows the power metal elements. Don't really hear any thrashiness here aside from the modern The Haunted-style riff in "Vultures Devouring." Not really my type of thing, but the vocals (again, very Jon Oliva-esque) help make this far more listenable than the aggro/HC vocals groove metal is normally saddled with.
Nanda Devi - Fifth Season
Sludgy post-rock, not my kinda thing. This CD seems to be a derided a bit online as being a less interesting take on a Neurosis style sound, which I neither care about nor disagree much with. I would personally describe this as sounding like a Hydra Head Records band trying to release something that gets them signed to Relapse circa '00s.
Omnium Gatherum - Spirits and August Light
Decent if generic melodic death metal.
Rainbow - Rising
I was woefully unfamiliar with this album, having previously only known "Stargazer." "A Light in the Black" is great, with a proto-speed metal main riff that slightly reminds me of Accept's "Breaker." The rest is fine for '70s stuff although I'm more likely to reach for old Dio, Deep Purple, or Long Live Rock 'n' Roll. I was also about to note this is the first time I've ever seen a Rainbow disc in a bargain bin, although technically years ago a pawn shop had a copy of Down to Earth with the disc missing. Does that count?
Suidakra - Lays from Afar
This is the Neon Knights reissue with the entire Lupine Essence album as bonus tracks. All of the musical elements that go into their later stuff exist in some form here more or less, but even disregarding obvious BM vocals, here things are far more black metal-oriented with the Celtic/folk influences providing some atmosphere. There's still a melodic death metal element to the guitars, although nowhere to the extent of some of the later stuff that could easily be broadly classified as melodeath. Definitely more of a black metal release in sound and spirit, which I find more appealing. I suspect I'll like this more than the other discs I picked up by them, but time will tell--stay tuned.
Suidakra - The Arcanum
Yeah, this still has the folkish elements, but the focus has flip-flopped. While I'd consider the older stuff to be predominantly black metal in approach, this is predominantly melodic death. Decent but I like Lays from Afar more.
Suidakra - Signs for the Fallen
...And here they've gone a bit too far into genericness and modernity for my taste, sounding quite similar to contemporary Swedish melodeath bands with some folkish elements retained for atmosphere. Unfortunately this is the type of music I also largely associate with the band.
Suidakra - Caledonia
Melodeath again, although they seem to have found their balance. They've gone really hard on the folk influences and there are a couple of full acoustic tracks. This is usually not my kind of thing but it's integrated well enough where I find it more compelling than the above 2 discs, at least.
Tad Morose - Undead
Solid power metal.
Woods of Ypres - Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth
Have their final album but I don't think it did much for me as I don't remember it at all. Broadly, they're obviously one of those bands that juxtaposes extreme parts and mellow passages. Black metal and multiple acoustic guitar/clean-vocalled segues are involved, so comparison to Agalloch is inevitable, although I find WoY to generally be a tad less traditionally folksy. Typically with these types of bands, I find the non-metal to be more interesting or more of a standout (even if I wouldn't necessarily want to listen to it) and the metal to be filler. Here the melodic black metal is pretty decent and would work well even without the contrast dynamic, but while the mellow stuff is well played, I didn't find it particularly engaging. I think I was also somewhat disappointed as I heard people rave about how doomy and depressive the music was, but it's only...mildly melancholic rock? Maybe somewhat akin to some later Katatonia if we're being generous. I perceive most classic doom metal to be far sadder than this in tone.
