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Mr. Glenn Danzig is a genius in making music. Raw, but funny lyrics with guitars that almost eat your ears up.....And his voice is great: crystal clear!
Listen to such songs as: "Little whip" and "Going down to Die".
All masterpieces!
I dont know what to call this music, but it all reminds me of The Doors. Danzig`s
voice sounds a bit like Morison´s, and the music reminds of The Doors
as well, but more brutal.
If you are looking for something different. Look for Danzig.
Ranking: 9 / 10
DARK FUNERAL
Secrets of the Black Arts
Maybe the most famous Swedish black metal band. With corpse paint, satanic lyrics, and fast music, they made a name of them self's in the metal world with this album. And I dont know why exactly.......
This music sounds like everything else. Crap lyrics and fast ordinary black metal. There are some nice things here and there, but it doesn´t help this album from drowning in everything else.
Ranking: 3 / 10
DARKTHRONE
Under a Funeral Moon
The second Darkthrone release (from 1993). This is quality black metal, and at the same time it isn´t........It´s quality because this is original, Norwegian and great. It´s not quality because the sound is demo.
Darkthrone (together with Mayhem) brought black metal to the ordinary people. With brutality and Satanism they shocked the world.
This album will not be remembered for the great songs and the great production. No, it will be remembered for the evil and simply ´cause this music was first in it´s kind!
Ranking: 9 / 10
DARKTHRONE
Transilvanian Hunger
This album Varg Vikernes wrote half of the lyrics and Fenriz the other half. And Darkthrone was Nazi´s people said. No, not because Varg wrote the lyrics, but that the back of the album contained those words: "Norsk Arisk Black Metal", which means "Norwegian Aryan Black Metal"....And I wonder why they choose to put that sentence there....Anyway, this album is Darkthrone to the bones. The sound is even worse then before, but iy doesn´t matter cause it gives it an rawer atmosphere. This is a great album, and when I think of Darkthrone I think of this album.
Ranking: 9 / 10
DARKTHRONE
Panzerfaust
The forth release from Darkthrone. The sound haven´t changed much, but the music have. More slow songs thats almost drag it self forward.......But it´s still Darkthrone in every riff. Varg Vikernes wrote a song for this album also.
This is probably the best DT release to date, in my opinion. Not much to complain about. Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have done it again: They created a masterpiece!
Ranking: 9 / 10
DARKTHRONE
Total Death
Another Darkthrone album.....And I believe that this is the worst one ever.
There are some standard DT songs, but they all doesn´t reach up to the
standard we are used to. No, this is simply not good enough for a band that
stands for quality, evil and beer-can metal......
Ranking: 3 / 10
DARKTHRONE
Ravishing Grimness
Finally they are back, on Moonfog by the way. I didn´t heard this album until now (januari 2002), so it is new for me. They even have an even newer release ("Plaugewielder" - a review will come soon) in the stores....
Well, what could we expect from the legends in Darkthrone, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto? As usual: beercan metal! As we want it off course. In other words; there are nothing new on the Darkthrone front. Maybe the sound are better than before (could it be worse than "Transilvainian Hunger"?). But the sound is still "necro" and garage, just as we want it... The lyrics and the music are as before: cute stories about love and joy.
So, buy this if you like everything that Darkthrone stands for, and you will not be disappointed. The only negative thing about this dark release is the length of the album: Just 6 (six) songs in 37 minutes......Feels hard to pay full price for this. But who cares anyway: It is the mighty Darkthrone!
Ranking: 7 / 10
Another band with the famous Gothenburg sound. But this band was actually one of the first bands with that sound. They began in the same vein as At the Gates, but today they sound different. I had to say that I have not heard all of thier releases (yet), but after hearing this one, I simply must take a closer look at this band!
The music is pretty soft, with keyboard harmonies and great guitars, with a black/death voice on top. Really great soft death metal, or whatever you want to call this.
Ranking: 9 / 10
DARK TRANQUILLITY
Damage Done
What a album! What a voice.....This is one of the best releases of 2002. Easy! Nowadays DT returns to their older sound. So if you are looking for songs like "Emptier Still" and "Haven": you will not find them here. But I think you still will like this album, 'cause the atmosphere are pretty soft (the melodies) but at the same time aggressive (the vocals, the lyrics). The melodies will be caught inside your brain after listening to this (and that's always a nice sign...or?), and Mikael Stanne's voice will haunt you down as well....
....I just cant find the right words for this excellent album. Just buy it and enjoy it!
Ranking: 10 / 10
DEAD CAN DANCE
Under the Realm of a Dying Sun
Most of the people knows about this band, and it has nothing to do with metal at all. But if you are looking for nice harmonies, beauty and a girl that can sing, this is it!
There are cellos, violin, trumpets and so on in a sweet harmony. And with Lisa Gerad´s voice you can just slip away for a while. A non-stress album so to say.....
The reason for adding this one here, is that DCD have influenced many metal bands around the world to add the melodic harmony things in there songs.
Ranking: 7 / 10
DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING part. V
Various Artists
A compilation from Nuclear Blast, and thats means quality and non-demo. For better or for worse. There are all more or less famous bands here (Dimmu Borgir, Sinergy, Dissection, Covenant, Hypocrisy etc.), so you know what you will get when buying this record. There are 2 discs at the price for 1 (I bought it for that price), so it´s worth the money. But since I am into metal, I have heard at least 70% of the bands before, so it was no surprise listen to it. But there is much unreleased material from some of the bands, so thats another reason buying this. And it´s a perfect party album: you don´t have to change CD all the time.....
Ranking: 8 / 10
DEATHSTARS
Synthetic Generation
These guys from Sweden are really trying to reach the big market with their Marylin Manson - The Kovenant - Rammstein music. And they made it. With really good places on different Swedish charts they are building themselves a name.
This band was playing black metal for no to long ago. At that time under the name Swordmaster. After some changes they decided to change their musical direction. And the change is pretty big.
If you are familiar with bands like The Kovenant and Samael (the later albums) you know what kind of music this is: Electronic influences with simple and catchy riffs. Nothing complicated at all. On the top some effects and a deep singing voice. It sounds simple and it is simple. But it works....
This album is a really nice one that really stocks inside your head. Every song on the album have at least one thing that you will remember (a catchy chorus, grim riffs or a nice keyboard thing).
Deathstars know how to make people buy records and they know that they dont have to make complicated music to make success. Call it a sellout or whatever you want. Maybe it is, but it sounds damn good!
Ranking: 8 / 10
DESIRE
There where Candles Fades
A Swedish/Finnish act who entered the famous Abyss studio. This is a group sounding like Sisters of Mercy, and since I am not a big fan of that group I don´t like this one. Some songs are okay, but thats not enough for me. Fans of this style will probably like this, but I dont.....
Ranking 2 / 10
This is a Swedish punk/rock group thats doesn´t exist nomore (at least I think so). They are performing there songs in Swedish, in a political direction (as many other punk bands). The melodies are nice, sometimes with some folklore inspired riffs, and thats always nice....
This is a more than okay album. This is quality, but at the same time, a bit underground. And the guys can play their instruments (as not all punk band can...).
Ranking: 7 / 10
DIA PSALMA
Sell Out
This a sort of "Best of" album. All Dia Psalma´s singles and B-sides on one album. Nothing for the real fan, but it is for me who like them, but not buying all the records. Not much to be said about this: The songs are catchy, in true Dia Psalma spirit, some ballads with violin, and some aggressive political songs about war and piece and the ordinary punk things.....This is quite nice!
Ranking: 6 / 10
The "cousin" band of Vader, with band members from the elite of the Polish death metal scene (Vader, Behemoth and more).
To make this story short: If you like Vader you will like Dies Irae. It is not harder than that.....well....I know it's not right to compare bands when writing a review, but when it comes to Dies Irae I just cant help it. Vader latest release ("Revelations") was mid-paced piece, and so is this album. Not ultra fast, not slow, just mid-paced......And in fact quite boring after a while. Listen to one song here and there are just fine, but the whole album at once are too much for me.....
But offcourse this album have some highlights, specially the opening song "Comrade of Death" and the pretty slow and pounding "Internal War". But, as I said, it is boring after a while....Listening to Vader is enough for me.....
Ranking: 5 / 10
One of the most famous extreme metal band in the world, but not because of this album....
This is slow and pretty demo. Acoustics, keyboards with aggressive song by Shagrath. Nothing great at all. But it´s not bad either. Just something you have heard a thousand times before.
But there are some nice little elements here and there. Like the title song with nice and straightforward riffs.
Ranking: 4 / 10
DIMMU BORGIR
Stormblåst
Like the debut, the lyrics are in Norwegian. But this time it is even more brutal lyrics. Songs about Kickin´Gods ass, but even more brutal.....The songs reminds of the previous album, but this is better: more straight forward, and not so much keyboards. Instead the keyboards are more in the background, giving the songs a colder atmosphere.
The songs are smid-paced and slow this time as well, and you can see this album as "For All Tid part II", but better!
Ranking: 6 / 10
DIMMU BORGIR
Enthroned Darkness Triumphant
The major breakthrough for Dimmu. The love song "Mourning Palace" took the world by storm. And it is a great song: containing all the black metal things like nice keyboard melodies, grim voices, satanic lyrics, great riffs, one fast section etc....
On this album Dimmu Borgir perform there songs in English. And if you compare this one to the earlier albums....well, you cant do that. It is a completely different sound and the songs are more varied. Sometimes slow, and more often ultra fast (as the previous albums was missing) in a great way.
But since Dimmu became popular with this album, more and more people started to hate them, and selling over 100.000 records in the black metal scene is not accepted.....But I dont care about that. I just listen to the music: If an album is great, it is great, even if it turns out that they are a sellout band, or if the lead guitarist are a catholic priest or something. It doesn´t matter. It is the music that matters!
Ranking: 7 / 10
DIMMU BORGIR
Spiritual Black Dimensions
Dimmu Borgir continues to develop their music. The sound on this one is so much more than ever before: more (or better) guitar sound, more complex keyboards and so on. And Shagrath got a little help with the clean vocals by Simen Hestnæs (Borgnagar). But I am not sure if this is better then "Enthroned Darkness Triumphant". I think that this is just a little too much of it. It seems like they thought: "Lets create a big and fat album now!" And then they forgot to make good songs.......But there is some nice songs on this one as well, like "Reptile" and "Dreamside Dominions". Thats not enough I think. But they are for sure in a positive direction with the music! It´s not as "mainstream" as before!
Ranking: 6 / 10
DIMMU BORGIR
Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
It is in the same vein as the previous album, but better in all ways! The "fat" sound are still here, and the complex music are here as well. But this time they managed to create a couple of very nice songs. And thats not all that has changed: the line up are different. Tjodalv, the drummer, left the band and the replacer was a wellknown man: Nick Barker from Cradle of Filth, and thats not a bad replacement! Nagash, who played session bass, also left the band for Vortex (Simen Hestnæs) who also handles the clean vocals. Galder also joined playing lead guitar. And this time it´s not only Shagrath and Silenoz that makes the music. Almost everybody have one or two fingers in it. And maybe thats the difference?
As I see it; this is the ultimate Dimmu Borgir album, and it´s hard to imagine how they could make a better album then this?
Ranking: 9 / 10
A must have in every heavy metal freaks´ CD wall. I dont think a review is necessary here. Everybody have heard the great songs "Holy Diver", "Dont talk to Strangers" and "Rainbow in the Dark". This is music history.....
Ranking: 10 / 10
DIO
Dream Evil
Ronnie are back again. Not as strong album as "Holy Diver", but hey! This is DIO and they are good even if they are bad.....:)
Ranking: 6 / 10
DIO
Strange Highways
DIO anno 90`s. Not good.....no, this is a experimental album, and maybe they did this due to the lack of interest of DIO. The heavy metal scene wasn´t that big in that time, so they took a new grip, but it didn´t work out at all. Goodbye DIO. Thanx!
Ranking: 2 / 10
DISMAL EUPHONY
Soria Moria Slott
The debut of this Norwegian boy/girl band. Trying to copy from tons of other band. There is no special with this album at all: Slow, melancholic, female voice, screams, keyboards, forests, winter...etc, etc. But if I just listen to the album and not thinking of things like that, the music is pretty okay, but I just cant stop think about that......
Ranking: 3 / 10
DISMAL EUPHONY
Autumn Leaves - A Rebellion of Tides
This is much better, but yet not original at all (but whats original nowadays?). Ole, the singer, sings better on this album and his screams really crawls down my neck. And the female voice, Keltziva, sings both high (very high) and beautiful.....
The music are more varied then the previous album, and more heavier, with some rock/punk influences. The production is better and the sound is cleaner. Maybe Dismal have found them self's now. I am really looking forward to the next album!
Ranking: 7 / 10
DISMAL EUPHONY
All little Devils
A very nice album. At least the first couple of times I listened to it. After that I got bored of it....I dont know why exactly, ´cause the songs reminds me of "Autumn Leaves" and thats not bad, but there is something missing in, which I cannot put the finger on. But it is a okay album.
Ranking: 5 / 10
DISSECTION
Storm of the Lights Bane
Maybe the band we Swedes should be most proud of. The does not exist no more, as far as I know, since penalties.....
The Gothenburg act was playing since the "early" days in the black metal scene, and the music is quite soft to be born out of the fury back then. But the lyrics are of course pure satanic.......The production is clean and crisp, with great guitars and voices. Jon can sing, thats for sure.
The opening song "Night´s blood" really blows my head of with it´s melodic chorus. But "Where Dead Angels lie" are of course this album`s peak. It´s like a ballad about an angel who flew to the wrong place, so to say......Great song!
I cant see, or hear, no bad songs or mistakes by Dissection on this album, but the title song aren´t my favorite. But I think that this album is too short.....More of this!
Ranking: 8 / 10
All-star band from 1995 with Fenriz (Darkthrone), Vicotnic (Ved Buens Ende) and Aldhran which is the main figure in the band. They are playing ordinary Norwegian black metal with lyrics both in English and Norwegian, but it´s yet original I think. This is satanic and evil.....The album contains many nice cute songs about how to kill Jesus and God and how heaven shall burn etc. etc.....
The production is "garage" and raw but very clear at the same time. The guys can really handle their instruments, thats for sure.
I really loved this album when I bought it, but since their is 10.000 other bands today playing this kind of music, I have nearly forgot this album......
This music is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, so almost everyone could find something nice on this album.
Ranking: 6 / 10
DØDHEIMSGARD
666 International
In the year 1999 DHG as they should change their name to on the next album returns. With a totally different sound. We could hear that the guys were changing a bit on the "Satanic Art" album, but who believed this?
Some hate it, some love. Well, this is as brutal as before, but there are more effects (not the ordinary keyboard stuff), and more sound. I dont know how to describe this music, but I can tell you that it´s different. You have never heard something like this!
I like this album alot. It´s fast, fast, fast and slow with "bar-piano" melodies sometimes. The lyrics are weird and the guys looks like aliens with weird makeup. They have also changed their names to: Mr. Fixit, Magic Logic etc.......
Buy this if you want something different. If you hate any "new grip" within the black metal scene: dont buy this.....
Ranking: 8 / 10
