Mik’s Top 20 Albums of 2015

 

Couldn’t fit Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors on the list. Also, switched Claret Ash – The Cleansing with Moonspell at the last second… now it looks like this:

20. Moonspell – Extinct (gothic metal)
I’m surprised too. Moonspell? Well, this band has been with me from the beginning of my metal years, and even though I’ve kind of lost interest in their music, with “Extinct” I’m back on their side again. Maybe the dark, slightly cheesy songs bring back old memories, or maybe it’s just that Fernando Riberio’s voice is spell-binding me. He sounds just as gorgeous as he used to 20 years ago! Listen here.

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19. Misthyrmning – Songvar Elds og óreidu (mysterious black metal)
Soulful, deep black metal from Iceland, with a tiny touch of rhythmic folk music, wrapped in a mind twisting atmosphere.

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18. Outre – Ghost Chants (eerie black)
Wicked is good… “Ghost Chants” is bizarre, freaky and uncomfortable.

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17. Pyramids – A Northern Meadow (fresh ambient metal)
Layers upon layers, endlessly complex textures and soaring vocals. It changes shape every time I listen, from black metal to David Bowie, and it melts my heart.

Tales From Bandcamp: Mgla – Exercises in Futility

Exercises in Futility VI

“As if you didn’t know how it feels to lose
As if you didn’t know how it feels to lose at dice with fate

At least have some dignity

As if it wasn’t a lifetime spent on connecting the dots
There was no pattern
As if the irony was more than a defense mechanism
And we could actually laugh for a change
As if steel hooks in our backs were more than a nuisance
And we could actually feel something

Self crucified – missed the right tree
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified – missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to

As if everything was to be made right one day
Dreams don’t come true for people like us
As if the gods were bored with peace in our hearts
And their fingers are itchy
As if we never broke people out of sheer boredom
And slept calmly among the wastes

And then we see bright and clear

As if we would be someone else
While mindlessly wandering through the mountains
As if we would be someone better
Expelling purgatory in Latin alphabet

Self crucified – missed the right tree
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified – missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to

As if all this was something more
Than another footnote on a postcard from nowhere
Another chapter in the handbook for exercises in futility”

 

Mik’s favourite 2015 albums… so far. In no particular order.

Somehow it feels like it’s been a slow beginning of the year, but when I started to look over my lists of albums I’ve listened to and rated, I could gather quite a large collection of favourites. Counted 17 really good releases in 6 months, that’s not bad! Not including all of them, here’s some of my must-listens of 2015:

Bosse-De-Nage – All Fours (hipster black metal)

It’s a very clever mix of frantic black metal and chaotic post-hardcore, with a well structured, intriguing story in the lyrics, impressive drum work and everything else a good, memorable album should have.

New Music Videos in June

A small selection of new music videos released in June, including Septekh, Being As An Ocean, Nekrogoblikon, Mutilation Rites, Deadspace and ColdSpell.

 

Being As An Ocean – Little Richie (melodic hardcore), from their self-titled third album released June 30.

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Roundtable Review: The Sun Explodes – The Calm, The Storm EP

Label:  Self-released

Release Date:  May 18th 2015

Songs:  5

Length: 23 minutes

Genre:  Creative progressive rock

Studio Albums: Emergence 2012, We Build Mountains 2013

Location:  Carlisle, UK

For fans of: Circa Survive, Children of Nova, Dream Theater, Tesseract

New Videos in May 2015

A small selection of new videos from the last month, including Voyager, Between The Buried and Me, Helloween, Secrets of The Sky and more.

Voyager – Seasons of Age, from their 2014 album “V“. (melodic progressive metal)

Roundtable Review: Leprous – The Congregation

Label: InsideOut/Century Media

Release Date:  May 25th (Europe), June 2nd (USA)

Tracks:  11      Length: 1 hour, 11 minutes

Genre:  Progressive Metal

Studio Albums: Aeolia 2006, Tall Poppy Syndrome 2009, Bilateral 2011, Coal 2013

Location:  Telemark, Norway

Atmospheric Videos: Caligula’s Horse – Into The White (live, supporting Opeth)

The C-Horse team certainly know how to make spectacular live videos! Similar to the last one, this video for the beautiful tune “Into The White” is filmed with fantastic images and audio, really emphasizing the greatest moments in the song. It’s recorded at the Brisbane concert at Eaton Hills Hotel, where Caligula’s Horse had the well deserved honour to be the opening act for Opeth. Who needs Opeth when you can listen to these guys? *wink*

 

Full Concert Goodness: TesseracT – Odyssey/Scala

Century Media are giving us a full stream of TesseracT‘s upcoming live DVD “Scala”, filmed in November last year at The Scala in London. With the release comes a live audio CD titled “Odyssey” which was recorded during various shows on the band’s 2014 European Tour.

As a dedicated and patient (*coughs*) fan, I’m waiting for my own signed copy to arrive in the mail. Then I’ll lock the front door, turn the lights and my phone off, and place scented candles in a circle on the floor in my living room before I sit down to witness my favourite band with my favourite vocalist in all its liveliness and glory. It’s going to be the most awesome night.

Release date: May 19th. Available from Tesseract official store on both CD and vinyl, signed by the whole band.

 

 

 

 

Roundtable Review: Lancer – Second Storm

Label: Despotz Records

Release Date:  April 10th, 2015

Songs:  9

Length: 51 minutes

Genre:  Power/Speed metal

Studio Albums: Purple Sky EP 2012, Lancer 2013

Location:  Arvika, Sweden

Recommended for fans of: Iron Maiden, Avantasia, Helloween, Edguy