A Hundred Albums? Part 3
| Written by: | Darkside Momo |
| Published: | 16.08.2017 |
Hi all!
With this, the third installment of my 'A Hundred Albums' series, I decided to go all Too Extreme!
Just kidding.But yeah, here's a selection of extreme stuff, musically or otherwise. Loosely. My reactions, or the impact the album had on my life, might just be the extreme in there
As always, remember these albums are albums that mattered (and still matter) to me, and while all are great in their own right, this is not really a best-of list.
A note to the unwary, though: Quite a few of these albums are pretty intense on the emotional department - which is why they're so awesome to begin with - but, as Fear Factory said with one of the samples they used on Obsolete, 'listener discretion is advised'. Anyway, enjoy!
Special thanks to Killing Joke for the title, and to Morbid Angel for the song-so-awful-it-almost-became-a-meme.
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Ten albums, part three: Extremities, Dirt, And Various Repressed Emotions
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Ten albums, part three: Extremities, Dirt, And Various Repressed Emotions ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rhapsody (Of Fire) - Symphony Of Enchanted Lands (1998) You can't find more extremely cheesy - in a good, excellent way - in Power Metal than the mighty Rhapsody. And that album, released when I was in uni roleplaying my nights out with D&D (and others too), soon became quite a soundtrack! Now, raise your swords and sing along: "For the king, for the land, for the mountains..."  Link: here's a YouTube link. |  |
 | Dark Tranquillity - Damage Done (2002) If you read these lines now, it's because that album saved my life. Simple as that. In the depth of depression in summer 2002, Nightwish's Century Child might finish to drag me down (song titles like "Slaying The Dreamer" and "End Of All Hope" weren't what I really needed at the time - even if both are fantastic tracks I still love), but Damage Done, while darker, did help me endure and was that 'Something To Cling To' as I attached myself to it like a drowing guy holding on a piece of driftwood. "Hours Passed In Exile" and "Single Part Of Two" still hold a special place in my heart to this day. Many music fans who suffered from depression have that band who saved them; for some it's, say, Anathema, for me it was Dark Tranquillity. Eternal gratitude, guys! Link: there's a full YouTube stream here. |
| Strapping Young Lad - City (1997) You want extreme? There you are. This is a maelstrom of violence and rage, it's pure anger given music form. Think of whatever agressive metaphor you like to talk about this album; while totally relevant, this will only show how difficult it is to describe this beast. City is a one-of-a-kind marvel that'll leave you drained and exhausted after a listening session. Cathartic? Hell yes. Link: As always, YouTube is the place to go. |  |
 | Machine Head - Through The Ashes Of Empires (2003) This is Machine Head's turning point. After the trendy and shitty Supercharger, the band was lost. They found their salvation and a renewed energy in what's obviously Robb Flynn's most personal album and lyrics to date. The whole album drips with anger, rage and pain, particularly when Robb deals with his childhood's emotional scars. And while this album only hinted at better musical things to come (read that The Blackening), it's still my fave MH album by far, because of that sheer emotional impact. Link: another YouTube link |
| Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone (2005) They're death metal, pushed to a higher level of awesomeness by the addition of some seriously good black metal and an insanely great progressive, convoluted, songwriting flair. And if you ask me, no Akercocke album does it as well as WTGU,DTDU does. Just listen to "Shelter FromThe Sand" if you still doubt. Link: Find it on Bandcamp! |  |
 | Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale (2008) While my first - good! - contact with funeral doom was Ahab's The Call Of The Wretched Sea, Esoteric was like? Well it's difficult to describe this album anyway. Imagine a downward spiral of despair, hopelessness and depression sucking you in deeper and deeper for an hour and fourty minutes long ride? Yeah, that's about it, and that doesn't even scratch at the surface of the intense emotional trial this album proposes. Proceed with caution, as it's as dark as it's awesome (and God/Devil/Whatever awesome it is!) Link: Once again... Youtube |
| Dälek - Absence (2004) Hip-hop can be this dark and bleak? Oh yes! Sure it came as a surprise for me too. It's like, as a French reviewer once said, being tortured by a rusted razor blade, while being held by rusted manacles attached to a rusted staircase, in a basement in whatever rundown surburbia you can imagine. And yes, that's kinda what this album sounds like. It's hip-hop made the classic way, but with samples and inspiration coming from - mostly - the industrial scene. Impressive and surely not for the regular rap listener. Link: as usual, YouTube is the place to go. |  |
 | Breach - Kollapse (2001) Swansong of an great band - way to finish on high note! Sure, I myself discovered this gem while digging in Terra Tenebrosa's past? But wow! As far as post-hardcore goes, they give Neurosis a run for their money, and then some! For sure Breach mastered the art of build-ups that never explode? but balanced them on Kollapse with really aggressive hardcore tracks. Impressive. Link: another unofficial upload on YouTube |
| Death Grips - The Powers That B (2015) Now we're familiar with Dälek, let's see what we can do with electronically enhanced hip-hop gone over the edge. The Powers That B is one hell of a fucked-up answer to that. And while I'd REALLY recommend this to all adventurous music listeners, be warned: it mixes hip-hop, breakcore, electronica of all stripes, fucking emotional singing, punk, and Björk in a non-orthodox violent output. That was my first contact with Death Grips, and seriously, nothing they did before (even if the first one is great, granted) or after so far can compare with that mindfuck of an album? Link: YouTube again! |  |
 | John Zorn - Kristallnacht (1993) Yes, there's probably a trend going on when the last four albums here are not metal albums? but all are extreme in their own right. Anyway? To be honest, I listened to John Zorn's Kristallnacht only four times yet. The first one was enough to understand this was an album not to be trifled with. Its emotional impact is beyond all I've known in music so far, with only a few exceptions. Yes, we're talking about the historical Kristallnacht, for that's the way John Zorn chose to reconcile himself with his Jewish heritage. It's jazz. It's klezmer. It's totally industrial. That second track, "Never Again", is almost twelve minutes filled with noises of broken glass and terror - and the few respites won't help you calm down. And then, all the following tracks will have you deal with the aftermath, whether be it sorrow, pain, or more violence. You're shocked and assaulted by Kristallnacht? Does it hurt? If so, you probably still have a functionning heart, and that's good to know. Link: yet another YouTube upload |
Previously...
Part 1
Part 2
And next...
 | Written on 16.08.2017 by Once your regular Hellfest reporter, now retired. I (strangely enough) listen to a lot of metal. And enjoy good beers, comics, novels and role-playing games. |
Comments
Comments: 29
Visited by: 328 users
| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France  |
Some links and missing stuff will be added ASAP (and damn, it's already Wednesday 16 in server time...)
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Dream Taster The Enemy Within Posts: 1335 From: Canada  |
What a list once more. I hear you about Damage Done, it is a powerful upllifting album. I am glad it saved one more awesome metalhead in this world. Anathema and Esoteric have had the same strangely positive impact on my life. Rhapsody and DOD, yeah, we might even have shared a DOD session together at the university dorms!
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Dream Taster on 16.08.2017 at 00:29 I'm not sure we did play together, but we sure have played with the same person (Nicolas your neighbor, named Nicool around these parts)As for Anathema, Philippe Lageat (of Rock Hard France) did say that Alternative 4 and Judgement helped him through his own depression. And I'm also glad if Dark Tranquillity did help another person - obviously someone awesome too indeed
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| thenormalone Posts: 5 From: India |
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by thenormalone on 16.08.2017 at 05:47 Thanks!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Posts: 11835 From: Portugal  |
Yay! Damage Done is my favourite DT album, so I can relate to that in some way  Anathema was it for me though, in dark times. DT was always more fun to me than anything else. I just had so much fun when I listened to that album and it's so headbangable.Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone is also among my favourites! It's almost a twin of Choronzon since they are both so good. Funny to see Machine Head there as well, Burn My Eyes was my first album of theirs and still love it.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by BloodTears on 16.08.2017 at 12:15 Yes to DT being headbangable, but the emotions Mikeal always manage to deliver are so much more important for me As for Choronzon, well, for some reason this one never really clicked with me - I actually prefer Antichrist to it tbh. And while Burn My Eyes might be musically better - as far as pure thrash is concerned it indeed is, it's not a classic of the genre for nothing - as I said TTAOE has the impact of a band that gave all they had cause they had nothing to lose by then, and it's their most intense as a result. (well, for me at least)
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Diverge Posts: 1334 From: Canada |
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Diverge on 21.08.2017 at 20:19 And you're welcome. Rad it is indeed!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Guest on 22.08.2017 at 14:46 Yeah, right? Thanks for reading!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 800 From: Germany  |
Great to see breach here! When I dug back from Terra Tenebrosa I was blown away by how good the band actually is.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Desha on 23.08.2017 at 14:35 Same here! I didn't know them before, but they were a great discovery for me - and I discovered how influenal they were, too - on bands like Kruger, for example... anyway, thanks for reading!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| ylside Posts: 4727 From: Morocco  |
Hours Passed In Exile has a special place for me aswell, although not for the same reasons. It was the first song I ever heard by DT, from "Hard N' Heavy Vol. 49" . Loved it ever since.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by ylside on 25.08.2017 at 02:01 I didn't know you have / had Hard'n'Heavy in Morocco  Anyway, I still consider - all emotional ties aside - "Hours Passed In Exile" as one of Dark Tranquillity's finest songs ever (and thanks for reading!)
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| ylside Posts: 4727 From: Morocco |
Written by Darkside Momo on 25.08.2017 at 05:33 We didn't, I borrowed that one from a friend who got it from France back then 
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by ylside on 25.08.2017 at 21:27 Oh OK
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA  |
You've got Death Grips and Dalek. Add Clipping and complete the Unholy Trinity of experimental hip hop
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 30.08.2017 at 18:26 never listened to them... Any album to reccomend?
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA |
Written by Darkside Momo on 30.08.2017 at 19:01 They're noise hip hop basically, more similar to Dalek than to Death Grips, but beats are a little more formless, odd time signatures, stuff like that. The rapping comes from Daveed Diggs, who also plays Thomas Jefferson in that popular Hamilton musical that's been a thing lately. Very versatile, multitalented guy, and his flow and lyrics are very unique. I'd say start with the Midcity mixtape, or CLPPNG, the first "proper" debut. Either work for a good impression of the group, the former's just a little dirtier and more noise influenced.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 30.08.2017 at 19:19 So I checked both. It's really fucked up at times  , and really interesting, but probably a bit too minimalistic for me. That said, I'll be coming back to them, as after first listen, some songs ("guns.up", "Body & Blood"...) did really catch my ear. So thanks for the rec, even if they won't probably end up there in my personal top100 albums anytime soon (also, that has indeed such an impressive flow )
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| nikarg Posts: 7039 From: Greece  |
So much stuff I need to explore. DT and Akercocke are obvious choices and Dälek is pretty cool too (btw I used to dislike hip-hop until I saw the Ghost Dog film and was blown away by the soundtrack), however I could never get into Machine Head for some reason. My longtime obsession with WWII makes Kristallnacht sound very interesting.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by nikarg on 31.08.2017 at 09:56 Let's be honest, I still don't like hip-hop on the whole, same as jazz but for very different reasons (btw, never saw Ghost Dog, but I guess the Samurai Shamploo anime did help in softening me a bit) - but Dälek and Death Grip have that dark, aggressive side on top of being experimental, that appeal to me (compared to metal, you could say it's darkness in a different light, and I love that). As for Kristallnacht , be warned that it stands out even in John Zorn's particularly dense and varied discography
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA |
Written by Darkside Momo on 31.08.2017 at 02:53 Glad you found some enjoyment man! And yeah, Diggs is an amazing rapper. Sometimes that hyperfast "speed rapping" of his gets a little irritating, but thankfully he doesn't do it all that often and there's plenty more variation to his delivery. I particularly like his more hushed, whisper like approach like on "Dream."
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 31.08.2017 at 17:48 Yeah, Dream is quite impressive indeed
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250  |
More good stuff... Esoteric and my fave SYL album as well. RHapsody of Flame and Fire or whatever... haha. Heroes of the Lost Valley always makes me laugh as it sounds like the narrator has a mild speech impediment.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by BitterCOld on 01.09.2017 at 07:33 Yeah, it's funny - and part of the charm for me, as it's not [i]that[i]bad But thanfully they got better with their narrators later on (Christopher Lee...)Thanks for reading!
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| nikarg Posts: 7039 From: Greece |
Written by Darkside Momo on 31.08.2017 at 11:04 You need to watch Ghost Dog immediately . Forest Whitaker deserved an Oscar for this. I listened to Kristallnacht and I agree, it is intense. The glass breaking part was pretty disturbing for my stomach and passes the message across very convincingly.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France |
Written by nikarg on 02.09.2017 at 12:55 Yeah, it does.... And I know I should watch Ghost Dog someday - a friend of mine did pester me about it - so yes, I'll do it someday
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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