Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone [2005]

Very weak start for Akercocke, but it eventually gets going. The first track seems to have much more pop-metal influences added in, but towards the end it complete redeems itself. The pop-metal influences are minimized and not necessarily a bad thing. Seems like they've changed their style a bit from Choronzon. It still feels like an Akercocke album, but it also feels fresh because of some more Death Metal styled riffs and structures. "Shelter from the Sand" is extremely unique for Akercocke and even ventures into the Post-Metal genre. Overall, better production and a fresh take on their own style while not compromising what makes them great leaves me with a fucking stiffy for this album (despite the fact that it started off very weak).

Rating: 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akercocke

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Akercocke - Choronzon [2003]

Creativity and complexity is definitely still there. Increased production quality with the guitars. Album is louder than TGoM. Nicely varied throughout. The great songwriting and attention to detail are expanded on from TGoM.

Rating: 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akercocke

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Akercocke - The Goat of Mendes [2001]

Kind of weird production quality. It's definitely missing quite a bit of bass and heaviness. Way more Death Metal than I thought it would be. Damn cool riffs, though. Definitely has an evil vibe to it. There's certainly a lot of creativity. Each song jumps back and forth between many different styles and it all flows surprisingly well. The creative and well-put-together riffs of this album make me almost entirely forgive the weak production. Because of the huge aura of evil, the great/creative songwriting, and the smooth blending of many different styles/genres, I'll give this high marks (perhaps this will be reversed after I've listened a couple more times). If only the production were better.

Rating: 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akercocke

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Akercocke - Rape of the Bastard Nazarene [1999]

Definitely a weaker production quality than TGoM. Damn cool effects in the middle of the first track… if this carries through, it will definitely earn a favorable score. Nicely done. It's got some sparks of creativity throughout, but the production quality holds it back significantly.

Rating: 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akercocke

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Absu - Absu [2009]

Great production. Follows with the more schizo song style, but with a much more experimental feel than previous albums. At the same time, it never looses its thrashiness or brutality. This is their best… hands down.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - Tara [2001]

Since this is the end of the "trilogy" that they have with a few of their albums, I can imagine that this will take on a style more in the vein of TTSoC and TSoT. We'll see. The second song really kicked in, I'm now beginning to doubt my earlier analysis. Okay, it's definitely their best album yet. Just misses an "8" rating by a hair.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - In the Eyes Of Ioldánach [1998]

Wow, starts of blazing with creative percussion thrown in the mix. It's definitely got a heavier mix than any of the previous albums; much to my liking. Plus the more schizo section changes are back, yay! It's a step back in the right direction in my opinion. It never lets up until the end.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - The Third Storm Of Cythraul [1997]

Much better production quality than TSoT. Hmm, it's a bit more of the same really and is beginning to feel a little stale. However, it still has good song structure. It's mostly something that I can see myself turning on in the background.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - The Sun of Tiphareth [1995]

Definitely not what I was expecting for the beginning. The more creative drumming is back. Songwriting is a bit more experimental than before. However, the production has suffered even more with the guitars being way low in the mix. So, it's lost some heaviness. Also, the songwriting isn't as schizo as before... I can't tell if that's a good thing or not. I kind of liked their more abrupt song structures from the first album. Even so, this is certainly more refined songwriting.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - ...And Shineth Unto The Cold Cometh [1995]

Damn cool and promising beginning. The production quality of the guitars has gone down a bit. The fusion drumming has been lost, probably due to the short length of the album.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Absu - Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L. [1993]

Definitely ahead of its time. It's got a bit of Death Metal influence in the song structure and the way that it jumps violently from riff to riff. However, there are elements of jazz and operatic vocals as well. The production quality is far superior to what you'd expect from a Black Metal band in 1993; especially one from the U.S. The drumming is incredible. The keys and effects are used sparingly, but very well. Serious props for a damn-good debut album and being ahead of their time.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/absu

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Skinlab - Nerve Damage [2004]

More of a droning album than RR. It started off feeling very weak, but halfway through I'm beginning to understand what they're going for. It's more of a really gothic doom metal album. Meh, I'm really not feeling it with this one, but then, I've never really been a fan of remixes and extra demo versions and shit like that.

Rating: 5

http://www.myspace.com/skinlab

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Jealkb - Metronome [2006]

Yup, pretty stock J-Rock beginning to it. Although, "Love Balance" has a bit of an American Blues-Rock feel to the main verse riff. It's even got some punk influence with the vox. Quite catchy stuff even if it's derivative.

Rating: 7

http://jealkb.jp/

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Jun - Atomic Smile [2007]

Interesting. Pretty catchy J-Rock. Kinda surprising that there aren't any vox on the first track. There's a significant amount of techno / industrial effects, and I'm almost certain that most of the instruments are actually programmed (certainly the drums and maybe even the guitars). Very catchy solos, but bit stock. Actually, it's a bit stock overall. However, it's pretty well done, catchy, and good production.

Rating: 7



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Kenji Kawai - Ghost in the Shell Original Soundtrack [1995]

Ambient. Percussive. Erie. Perfectly crafted. Even the nutty vibrato that the chorus performs has grown on me and adds to the creepy effect of the music. "M04 Virtual Crime" throws some cool guitars into the mix towards the end. "M05 Chant II - Ghost City" throws more of the normal tonal effects and keys behind the same chant that was in "M01". Normally, this sort of ambient music bores me, but this is so precisely crafted that everything feels like it has its purpose instead of just being a bunch of effects that are thrown together. I am, however, not a fan of the recycled chants in some of the songs. Even though the music behind them is different, I would have preferred to hear new chant rhythms and notes. The mixture of mostly ambient tracks with more beautiful tonal tracks really suits the soundtrack and the mood well; it also creates some small sense of variety throughout the album. Finally, as far as I'm concerned, this soundtrack only has 10 tracks. "See You Everyday" is an abomination that has nothing to do with anything about the OVA or the music contained therein.

Rating: 9

http://www.kenjikawai.com/

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Spiral Architect - A Sceptic's Universe [1999]

Very interesting song writing. It definitely blends Jazz and Metal in a progressive sandwich much better than most bands that make the attempt. The vocals are odd enough for this genre to be enjoyable. Normally, this vocal style would be better suited for Progressive Rock/Metal in a similar vein as Dream Theater. The music skips back and forth between Progressive Metal and Jazz. The music is extremely technical most of the time. The vocals are very accurate and bursting with talent. The production reminds me of 90s underground metal like Atheist. The creativity is quite excellent at times (i.e. "Moving Spirit" and "Occam's Razor") and plenty of riffs have a dark spin to them much to my liking.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.spiralarchitect.com/

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ジュリィー - イノチノ衝動 [2007.04]

After a very odd intro track, track 2 starts off with a riff that could easily be used in Atmospheric Black Metal, which is enjoyable in this context. The riffs are catchy and much more somber than previously, but the vocals are less fitting and catchy than the music. It creates an interesting contrast, but I wish the vocals fit better. The third track is a bit more punky and up-lifting. Track 4 has much more catchy vocals that fit with the music better. Track 5 is definitely on one of their previous singles... which is a bit depressing. This album, overall, is a bit average. There are some standouts like track 9, but most of it is somewhat lacking and average-feeling. I do like the production, especially of the drums.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadabra [2010]

AWESOME intro track, if the rest of the album doesn't live up to this, I'll be pissed. And we're off to a really shitty start in "Born Treacherous". The production isn't very heavy at all, pretty disappointing; the guitars are much more buried than previously and they also fell a bit unbalanced. "Gateways" starts out much more promising, but then takes the opposite route of "Born Treacherous" and gets a bit crappy and the melodic harmonized guitars can go right into a closet and fuck themselves. It gets really catchy and beautiful towards the end, though; shame it wasn't that good all the way through. Finally, a decent song can be found in "Ritualist". I suppose I should be a little more forgiving since this is a very different style for Dimmu. The reduced guitars are the price they pay for trying to make the orchestra stand out more. I like the addition of the choir, though, and the orchestra is much more heavily integrated into the songs than previously. Dimmu was never a band that would put out a grind-fest album, but this is even less so than normal. Much of the excitement in this album comes in short spurts and it feels like there are way too many filler riffs thrown in the mix. This is definitely a step away from the Black Metal that I would expect Dimmu to put out. All the songs have the same problem of having very unexciting riffs that drag the listener down in between really good and catchy sections. "Dimmu Borgir" sounds identical to Nightwish's style of writing. So, the bite of Black Metal is completely gone, it's not brutal in the slightest, the guitars are too wussy, and there are way too many crappy riffs. Even so, props for trying to change things up, the orchestra and choir are extremely effective, and the riffs that are good are great. If I can approach this album as if it didn't come from Dimmu and as a Gothic Metal album with no pretentions to Black Metal, this would be a decent album (probably get a score of 7). However, I just can't ignore the fact that this is a large disappointment coming from Dimmu.

Rating: 6

http://www.dimmu-borgir.com/

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Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain [2006]

Much like Agalloch's previous full-length efforts, this album is solid all the way through. Not much has changed in the style, but there is more heaviness in many of the riffs. The atmosphere is still as solid as ever. The production is solid and heavy. The songs are catchy and contemplative. Overall a very good album.

Rating: 8

http://www.agalloch.org/

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Juliadoll - Departure [2006]

The first two tracks have a great dark and heavy quality to the music. However, the vocals are in typical J-Rock style and it feels a bit out of place and cliché. "Departure" is more of a J-Rock song all around. I like the heaviness and the darkness, but I'm not too much a fan of the vocals. Especially in "Departure", the vocals are quite distracting and choppy. The pitch control is ok, but there are notes that are noticeably out of tune. It's good and catchy music, but the vox should have been adjusted to fit the mood of the music.

Rating: 7



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