The first Cradle of Filth album I bought was 'Midian', which I was very impressed by. After reading some reviews I decided to buy 'Cruelty And The Beast'. However, due to a mix up I received this album instead. So I thought "What the hell? I might aswell listen to it!". Little did I know that my taste in music would be changed so dramatically by this album.
The first thing I noticed was the contrast between the production on this album and on Midian. The "wall of sound" on Midian is replaced by a sparse sonic landscape. The guitars are fuzzy, the bass cold, the drums tight; all backed by keyboards, brimming with elegance. The vocals Dani produced on this album are raw, more true to the 'black metal' that was beginning to surface ... Read More:
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Great 1996 album, with a real medieval feel! Absoluteley, totally heavy with a real focus on battles and the Apocalypse.
Production is strong and it's a full on assault of riffs & drums that batter into submission. Satyr's vocals are brutal, and yet always easy to understand. The album has some of THE best use of keyboards within Black Metal, on classics such as Mother North. And there's plenty of clear, audible bass guitar as well, to back up the insaneley heavy guitar work.
Great drums, fast & heavy, sometimes really tribal from the legend that is Frost.
I defy anyone to put forward a heavier track than Forhekset!
There's lyrics written in both English & the band's native Norwegian. Always dark, violent & up for ... Read More:
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Venoms finest moment is here on this fine re-issue of a true classic black metal album. the singer is not good, the guitar is rubbish and the bass is awful but its venom, true metal. easily the best black metal album ever, no competition............CLASS
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Venoms finest moment is here on this fine re-issue of a true classic black metal album. the singer is not good, the guitar is rubbish and the bass is awful but its venom, true metal. easily the best black metal album ever, no competition............CLASS
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It's a bit softer than their other albums, and the songs aren't as fun to listen to either. And the lyrics can be weak at points, but other songs (Guilded C*nt, Nymphetamine Fix, English Fire) make up for that. However, overall, it is not as good as their previous albums or their newest ones. If you're just getting into Cradle, though, this might be a good one to get if you're not accustomed to really thrashy stuff. Then, after this, you can get Thornography and work your way back from Damnation & A Day. So...yeah. This is a good introduction to metal and COF, but if you're already a fan of both, it's got it's strong points and it's (very) weak points...
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It seems that this is were things started to go wrong for the band (or right in terms of watering down their sound and appealing to tasteless Ozzfest fans)
After three classic albums (Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony) it seems like In Flames have had enough of being edgy and aggressive and prefer instead to sound sterile and uninspired. For one, the its extremly over produced and hollow sounding. Secondly, Anders vocals changed dramatically. Gone are the harsh throaty roars and screams in favour of a high pitched girly yelp that's more common in emo bands. But all in all the band just seem to crawl along with no real impact. Even the twin guitar melodies have lost their glory. Bullet Ride bored the hell out of me, and while Pinball map is a great song, its ... Read More:
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I got this album as became more interested in the punk rock anarcho scene. I was surprised at many of the references to H.P. Lovecraft and I think that Nick Blinko is a similar artist. The songs are all very short, and are definately best enjoyed with the lyrics at hand, to see what is going on. Great testament to the wisdom and creativity of Nick Blinko, whos fantastic and frightening artwork makes this CD even better. However, only four stars because it is a sound that is different to get used to.
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I'm always cautious when approaching hyped albums, albums which are labelled the best a band has ever put out and especially albums labelled as 'genre-classics'. Such albums tend fall flat on their faces in dissapointment or, as is more often the case, fall victim to their own hype in that, while not being bad, they cannot live up to their reputation. The Jester Race, however, lives up to it's reputation as In Flames best and a genre classic.
The beauty of the Jester Race comes from its simplicty;a heads down, riff heavy metal album of the finest calibar, which has, to my ears, an almost working-class work ethic in that it delivers solid, top notch metal tunes without being overly flashy or needlessly technical. Take, for example, the legendary opener 'Moonshield'. ... Read More:
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And on par with their 3 predecessors; it contains elements of the 3 of them, retaining the speed, agression and their hardcorish thrash/speed-metal signature sound. Their first after a 4 year hiatus and the departure of their famous drummer Dave Lombardo now incorporating the competent Paul Bostaph. Problem is the band were moved from one studio to another( to a total of 4) so production is quite inconsistent but once you're familiar with the record it starts kicking ..ss bigtime.
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1995 was probably quite an intimidating time for Morbid Angel. The whole grunge/alt. rock thing was starting to really get into high gear. On the heavier side of music the word 'industrial' was starting to be mentioned in closer and closer circles to the mainstream. Extreme metal bands must have been wondering what, if anything the future held for them. This is somewhat evident on David Vincent's last studio album with the band and shows the only discernible signs of compromise in their long and eminent career.
Of course when I mean compromise, I mean Morbid Angel style compromise. Because after all every one of their albums is different, from the blistering, straight ahead speed workout of Altars of Madness to the complex and epic Blessed are the Sick to the stripped back song-based ... Read More:
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