Lifelover - Pulver

Genre(s) - Depressive blackened pop/rock, oh yes
Origin - Sweden
Year of release - 2006
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 38.45 MB

Today's a shitty, shitty day and what better way to deal with those than to give in to it completely? Here's a band that seems made especially for grey and weary days like this. The ambiguous, cynical mixture of pop music structures with helpings of postpunk and depressive black metal sentiments generate a feeling of hopelessness that any regular depressive black metal band can only dream of achieving. Pulver is created to alienate and lock you up into your own most secret, unspeakable thoughts. There are some harsh vocals but the guitars sound very open and the strangely fitting programmed drums never turn aggressive. In fact, it's very melodic and quite accessible, were it not for the ultra-despondent nature of the music that is bound (and meant) to rub off on the listener. Woods of Infinity meets Rocketship for some Joy Division covers. Now put some pants on, Lady, you are indecent.

1. Nackskott
2. MS salmonella
3. Mitt öppna öga
4. Kärlek - backsvart melankoli
5. Vardagsnytt
6. Avbrott sex
7. Stockholm
8. Söndag
9. Medicinmannen
10. Herrens hand
11. Nästa gryning
12. En sang om dig
    

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Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Fegmania!

Genre(s) - Psychedelic rock/folk, singer-songwriter
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 1985
Bitrate - 320 kbps
Size - 94.52 MB

Previous Hitchcock post (here) was a compilation I made, combining some of my favourite songs. It was a measure out of necessity, not knowing what album to post. But it felt a bit like cheating so after long deliberation I chose this one for the upping. It's an and the Egyptians-release so it's relatively complex and rock-oriented, but as always balances the fine line between psychedelically goofy and really really beautiful. Robyn displays a gorgeously shimmering guitar sound here, giving half the songs an introspective, even sad-ish slant, but keeps things spicy with some more upbeat and diverse material like The Fly, Goodnight I Say and Strawberry Mind. This edition is the 1995 remaster, with the added advantage of two live tracks that are wildly superior to their original versions, and the long ambient track Pit of Souls that ends with an almost post-rock like bang. But don't ask me what Fegmania is supposed to mean.

1. Egyptian cream
2. Another bubble
3. I'm only you
4. My wife and my dead wife
5. Goodnight I say
6. The man with the lightbulb head
7. Insect mother
8. Strawberry mind
9. Glass
10. The fly
11. Heaven
12. Bells of Rhymney
13. Dwarfbeat
    
14. Some body
15. Egyptian cream (demo version)
    
16. Heaven (live)
17. Insect mother (smithsound demo)
18. Egyptian cream (live)
19. The pit of souls (parts I-IV)
    

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Darkthrone - Plaguewielder

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Norway of course, you silly
Year of release - 2001
Bitrate - 192/128 kbps
Size - 44.34 MB

Plaguewielder is the single most reviled Darkthrone album in the band's impressive lifespan, and I totally don't get it. I'm no professional music reviewer, I can only judge a band subjectively, based on what the music invokes or fails to invoke in me. From that perspective this is one of my favourite releases by the band. Then again I totally don't dig the tinny production of A Blaze or Funeral Moon, and find they contain many boring segments. I simply get much more of a kick out of the clawing riffs on Weakling Avenger, Command and Wreak. I'm not a noob either, I've been listening to black metal for many (or at least a couple of) years longer than any of the more mainstream music on here which I only learned to know during the past four years and usually less. So what exactly is "wrong" with this album - and me for preferring it? Please give it an unbiased (re)try, and me your opinion. It might be you who has to reconsider his/her judgement.

1. Weakling avenger
2. Raining murder
3. Sin origin
4. Command
5. I, voidhanger
6. Wreak
   

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Funeral Procession - Funeral Procession

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Germany
Year of release - 2006
Bitrate - 256-320 kbps
Size - 80.04 MB

This is not the band that's come to put the "fun" back in funeral. Nope. This is a votive offering to the coming death of mankind. Pure, cold, venomous hate is the gospel that Funeral Procession preach, through a black metal vessel without any vain ornamentation. Musically it reminds a bit of De Mysteriis-era Mayhem, but adapted to the year 2006 and this decennium's much more apocalyptic perspective on the future. The mix and production are very strong, especially the drums have a lovely deep rumble to them, greatly reinforcing the leaden guitars and intimidating vocals. No fun here, boys and girls.

1. Heavenlie aeons grimlie torne apart
2. When moonshine is the only light
3. Beholde the stars fall from the heavens
4. Bloode of the elder (building the antikosmos)
5. Doom
6. The death empire on burial ground - part I
7. The death empire on burial ground - part II
8. Millennium of revenge - Jerusalem in ashes
   

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Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In

Genre(s) - Sleaze rock
Origin - LA, Cali, USA
Year of release - 1986
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 30.35 MB

Oh my god, look what the cat dragged in. Four ultra-sleazy and effeminate good-fer-nuthin's with a lousy, pubescent attitude and only mediocre talent who think they can play rock 'n roll. Though perhaps not the genre's undertakers, at least this band was present at the funeral, with a big grin on the face and dollar signs in the eyes. The music on this debut is simplistic and dated into dementia and after writing the ridiculously ballsy lyrics the gents clearly had no more balls left to put into the music. So why am I sharing this again? Because even somebody who can profess his love for Kylie Minogue without flinching needs a guilty pleasure.

1. Cry tough
2. I want action
3. I won't forget you
4. Play dirty
5. Look what the cat dragged in
6. Talk dirty to me
7. Want some, need some
8. Blame it on you
9. #1 bad boy
10. Let me go to the show
    

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Swans - The Great Annihilator

Genre(s) - You tell me!
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 1995
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 60.03 MB

Apparently The Great Annihilator is Swans' most accessible album. Sure it's less visceral and skeletal (among other -als) than the bleak, lumbering industrial noisescapes of their 80s work but that doesn't say all that much. Although through the years the band has expanded their sonic palette in various directions, the music retains a doomy, ominous feeling. The multifaceted approach on here helps pour the disquieting rituals and visions of Swans into many different shapes - from the industrial aggression on I am the Sun or Alcohol the Seed, the beautiful drift of Warm and Killing for Company to the rock track Celebrity Lifestyle. Altogether this makes for a record that everybody into dark music can learn to enjoy, and I recommend everybody to give it a try.

1. In
2. I am the sun
3. She lives!
4. Celebrity lifestyle
5. Mother-father
6. Blood promise
7. Mind-body-light-sound
8. My buried child
9. Warm
10. Alcohol the seed
11. Killing for company
12. Mother's milk
13. Where does a body end
14. Telepathy
15. The great annihilator
16. Out
    

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Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant

Genre(s) - Folk
Origin - Seattle, United States of America
Year of release - 2008
Bitrate - 256 kbps
Size - 36.01 MB

Here's a light snack for those people that are binging on Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Joshua Radin, that sort of stuff. I did not so much like the Fleet Foxes full-length, or at least, I was too impatient to have to look for the best tracks and an EP like this is a lot more convenient in such a case. It's a bitesize portion of your daily sunshine - it is! It's really summerlike music with some minor mystic undertones and it makes you wanna lie down in the grass and do nothing all day. At least the middle three songs do, the first and last track are actually a bit annoying and all they wanna make me do is press the skip-button. Don't let this personal opinion of mine sully your listening experience though! Lay back and let the warm breeze roll over you.

1. Sun giant
2. Drops in the river
3. English house
4. Mykonos
5. Innocent son
   

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The Upper Crust - Let Them Eat Rock

Genre(s) - Hard roque
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 1995
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 42.58 MB

It's not easy being a fashion-conscious, handsome and important 18th-century aristocrat, but on the other hand, it has its benefits. Five of these privileged gentlemen teamed up as a rock band to share their experiences with the proles. As The Upper Crust, they play driving (if somewhat simple) old-school hard rock with snobbish vocals and a haughty fucking attitude, taking their cues from AC/DC, Kiss and Lord Foppington. Excellent music to accompany your participation in debaucheries at the highest circles or to compare each other's wigs and beauty spots to. Rock out with your frock coat!

1. Let them eat rock
2. Little lord Fauntleroy
3. Rock 'n' roll butler
4. Minuet
5. Who's who of love
6. I've got my ascot and my dickie
7. Old money
8. Friend of a friend (of the working class)
9. RSVP
10. Little rickshaw boy
11. Opera glass
    

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About that "post extra metal" period thing...

It's done. Metal to music ratios are well and comfy again. Back to the order of the day!

That wasn't so bad now, was it? Bet you wouldn't even have noticed without the stupid announcement. I hardly caught a whiff of it, myself.

Peacock is the devuhl! Ask an Arab.

Evergrey - Recreation Day

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Sweden
Year of release - 2003
Bitrate - 160 kbps
Size - 58.17 MB

People seem determined to bill Evergrey as a progressive metal band, well, I'm not hearing it. Of course, for a heavy/power metal group they rely quite a bit on synths, and not in the usual uptempo way. This band is all about laying down a thick and dark atmosphere. The music never gets into a gallop but strides along solemnly to give the mood a chance to draw you in. Instrumental in this, besides the synths, is Tom S. Englund's voice. A perfect depth and a nice raw edge, and the capability to use it. Oh, he's good. Come to think of it, there are some remarkable tracks on here, especially the two fully acoustic songs, I'm Sorry and Madness Caught Another Victim, which nonetheless are quite different in style. My favourites, though, are The Great Deceiver and As I Lie Here Bleeding. Like a cross between Masterplan's debut and Iced Earth's The Dark Saga, maybe. Yeah, that sounds about right. Enjoy.

1. The great deceiver
2. End of your days
3. As I lie here bleeding
4. Recreation day
5. Visions
6. I'm sorry
7. Blinded
8. Fragments
9. Madness caught another victim
10. Darkest hour
11. Unforgivable sin
    

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Peste Noire - Lorraine Rehearsal

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Avignon, France
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 320/256 kbps
Size - 49.38 MB

The first half of this EP is kind of enjoyable I guess, with some early versions of tracks from the then-upcoming Folkfuck Folie album. As ever, the riffs are immediately recognisable as Peste Noire even though their style was changing radically in this period, and not for the better if you ask me. The most surprising song is La Césarienne, a Neige-penned old school black/thrash piece (what's gotten into you Stéphane?). But hopefully you're going to download this for the reworking of classic track Phalènes et Pestilence from their orgasmic debut La Sanie des Siécles, remember, from way back when their music was full of graceful moments of awe and wonder. In the meantime the song has doubled in length to twenty minutes, and what a joy it is to hear Peste Noire play in their old style versus the purposely butt-ugly music on the last two albums.

1. La fin del siècle
2. La Césarienne
3. Maleiçon
4. Psaume IV
5. Phalènes et pestilence
   

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Elvis Jackson - Go Home and Practice

Genre(s) - Ska-punk
Origin - Slovenia!
Year of release - 2000
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 74.94 MB

Shit yeah, some more upbeat (is there any other kind?) ska-punk, from the least expected of places! Maybe you already guessed but the bandname is a combination of Presley and Michael. The lyrics, usually in endearing broken English, are all about, er... yeah. Most of the time they don't really seem to be about anything at all, really. Fun nonetheless! Some great tracks are the reggae tunes Smoke the Herb and Smile, No Problem, the punkier My Beer and Be Yourself, and the Happy Metal Song that starts out as metal indeed but does switch back to ska. The album title is funny but definitely not representative of the music, they're doing more than okay as far as I can judge. Who cares about instrumental prowess, anyway? It's the fun that matters.

1. Dreams
2. Trigger
3. My beer
4. Hawaii club
5. Gancid - unusual conversations
6. Morning
7. Be yourself
8. Market sweets
9. Smoke the herb
10. Happy metal song
11. Monstrumental
12. You're the face
13. Johnny
14. Smile, no problem
15. Eyes can hear
16. Lies before reality
17. Srow fizow
18. Presentation
19. Terrible night
20. Ni vec poti zanaj
21. Wada
    

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