Man, Tompa died. So let’s listen to some At the Gates. Listened to this a lot as a teenager. And it’s still so good. RIP.

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More Converge, more betterer! Certainly one of my favourite discoveries in recent years. While I enjoy everyone here, it’s again Ben Koller’s drumming and Nate Newton’s bass playing that fascinate me most. Just listen to that groovy drum rhythm, together with the rather calm bass in “All we love we leave behind”, or this insane drum fill in “Veins and Veils” (again, with a great bass riff). Putting a ride symbol in there like this makes me absolutely addicted, and makes me happy for days.

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Just so much great riffing going on in this collection of fantastic songs. They have enough non-4/4-parts and tempo changes to make it interesting without making it hard to follow. There are some tasty guitar solos, too. “Drill the Skull” is my favourite, with this insanely awesome middle section.

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This was my entry album into Russian Circles. And it’s still my favourite, probably because of being my first. We saw them on tour back then in Auckland, NZ. And I still remember how that end part of “309” blew me away: first that drum beat, and then this thunderous bass. So heavy! And even better live.

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I’ve had this album on my radar already. But it needed their fantastic live gig at this year’s Rock Hard festival to remind me to give it another listen. And I missed out! Great melodies, all the instruments deserve being listened to, and above all is this great emotional voice.

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Amenra does an acoustic guitar cover version of maybe my favourite Portishead song. So good! Love how the guitar is recorded and you hear all sorts of background sounds, as well as the player doing the percussion probably live while playing guitar.

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Great riffs, powerful vocals, raw sound, and all killers no fillers. Thrash!!!

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For some reason, this is the album from their discography that I had been drawn to first. And I absolutely love it!

Converge were so impressive live a few weeks back, I had to get more into them. And it’s absolutly rewarding once you do. So many interesting ideas and songs on this album. Plus the musicianship is top notch. And that sound!

The whole thing is so damn heavy! And in a different way than I’m used to from - say - Death Metal. A ferocious steamroller.

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Their new album. This band really became a favourite during the last year or so. This output again immediately puts a smile on my face. So much fun playing and singing going on. An authentic sound. So good. Need to see them live!

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For some reason I wanted to listen to this classic a while back. Still regularly putting this on.

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It’s not far from Mutoid Man to Converge. And then their latest album is a collaboration with Chelsea Wolfe!? Sign me up! This seems to be atypical, but I like this a lot. A great album front to back!

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Saw them a few weeks back here at the small Pitcher. And they absolutely ruled. Now bullshit, just four dudes playing their asses off. Have been listening to this album ever since.

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As I noted once before, I really like this album, and especially Joe Haley’s guitar playing. But this also has great drumming, bass playing and vocals. All delivered with a heavy and clear sound. Also, look at that cover!

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Liking this album right now.

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Mutoid Man are wild: wild drumming, wild bass playing, wild guitar, wild vocals. All very skillfully played in these short and entertaining arrangements.

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Weekend-album.

I simply picked one Darkthrone album, as I‘m not very familiar with their discography. And this one has been virtually rotating here for a couple of spins. „The Claws of Time“ is so classic Black Metal: starts with this evil tremolo-picking melody, then the vocals come in… ahhh….pure black gold!

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When listening to Baroness, I tend to pick this album. Love the drumming and odd rhythms on it. Great guitar work, too, of course. „Chlorine & Wine“ is probably my favourite song of them.

Preparation for tomorrow’s concert.

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Here‘s one more female-fronted band, I‘m currently enjoying. Like these songs, like their sound, like her vocals (which do sound quite a bit like Björk).

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Listening to ERR quite a bit at the moment.

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Russian Circles is the instrumental post-metal band I keep coming back to.

That middle riff in “Conduit” is just perfect!

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Finest melodic death/black metal. Been blasting this all night.

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“This is beautiful music”, said my daughter the other day (I absolutely agree!). It has been difficult for the other people in this household to escape this album, as I have been listening to this all week.

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Dark and heavy. Killer voice. Kaboom!

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Friday soundtrack.

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I’m so into this album again – or even still. It’s fascinating to me, how you can do that much with only three instruments (at a time). And then the vocals add another layer. So, I’m really enjoying discovering and analysing all the different parts. It just keeps giving. And TOOL’s great live performance certainly played a huge part in making me dive into this again.

Very well deserved that this is the first album to appear a second time in this list.

Today’s soundtrack.

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“Municipal Waste is gonna FUCK YOU UP! Municipal Waste is gonna FUCK YOU UP!”

Those guys are always delivering a good mood. You wanna crack one open and then party along. Plus, their bass player – Land Phil – also has a mean sound.

I was looking for bass inspiration – both for playing and sound – and decided to check out Muse’s Chris Wolstenhome in more detail. And I ended up listening to that playlist quite a bit recently.

Always checking out Jack’s new outputs. Almost always enjoying his guitar playing, sounds and songs. My favourite Song so far is the closing track “Shedding My Velvet”. A drum beat like this always gets me; and the guitar parts are fantastic, too. Have I written enough “always”-es, yet?

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Atmospheric post-metal. Find that perfect at the moment to wind down in the evening.

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Regularly putting on this enjoyable and chaotic little album. Interesting arrangements and great playing has me coming back. Reminds me of old Mastodon and Protest the Hero. That opener is a banger!

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It’s their new one that just came out. It’s in constant rotation. Much easier to get into for me compared to the previous “The Violent Sleep of Reason”. The tracks on this one are so evil, which I very much like.

I’m almost sad now, that they cancelled all their gigs in Germany for the upcoming tour.

Very much enjoying the new Ghost! This one had me with that opening scream in Kaisarion. Much great songwriting and a great flashback to 80s hard rock and metal. This has great songs throughout and some of them keep making me smile. Especially Spillways and Griftwood, whose beginnings are Bon Jovi’s “Runaway” and Van Halen’s “Ain’t talking ‘bout love” respectively. Guitar work is so good and satisfying. And hiring Fredrik Åkesson is a great choice, as the solos are top notch, too.

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With Ukraine so much in the news, I started listening to Jinjer again more. Hope they are well! Love this EP!

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Recently I didn’t listen to stuff I haven’t posted before. But now I’m rediscovering this gem. Listened to this quite a bit in the 2000s. It’s still fantastic! Great riffs, great sound, and the occasional absurd beast vocals that makes me happy here.

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I did listen to this a lot a few years back. And currently I’m doing so again. All-around great musicianship!

This is giving me some nostalgia of splatter-movie samples and solid death metal. Just like a lot of bands did 20 years ago. How “Palms by the Cemetery” starts for example is exactly my kind of groove.

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Their new album came out today. Will surely be listening to this quite a bit the coming weeks.

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Their debut is also fantastic. Everything’s a bit less refined on this one. But I think this is actually adding character and makes the album more interesting.

I’m listening to Dissection a lot currently. This was an important album in my teenage years. And it still holds up! It’s killer front to back and absolutely deserves its status as “a classic”.

It’s rather Monolord’s time to shine. Because this might be their best output to date. All five songs are winners. There are plenty of great fuzzy riffs again. But the star might be those brilliant melodies.

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Seven grind songs and one epic in less than 18 minutes. Tippy toppy! I like this band!

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In preparation for the upcoming concert I have been listening to this album quite a bit. It has atmosphere, melodies, is quiet, is loud, has plenty blast beats, and a great production. Stellar!

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The new Jinjer has been out for a few weeks now. Given that I enjoyed their latest two outputs “Micro” and “Macro” a lot, I was looking forward to this one. And it’s a good solid Jinjer record. Tatiana got even better at singing. But apart from that now real surprises, I must say.

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Of course, I have been listening to this album quite a bit around recording my “Buried by the Dead” guitar cover. Catchy songs, ridiculous (good) guitar sound, and Åkerfeld’s amazing vocals. It’s a bit of a shame he no longer growls like this.

Man! What’s this? Some Blackened Death’n’Roll Hardcore? It’s definitely fun. Very aggressive with a lot of groovy breakdowns. If you dig the first 20 seconds of this album as much as I do, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the rest, too!

Heavy breathing? Heavy rotation!

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I have been listening to this atmospheric and progressive album quite a bit recently. The highlight might be “Devonian: Nascent” just because Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse sings on this one.

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This is the first Gojira album in a while that keeps getting play after play. They really managed to create a long-player that I enjoy back to front. After “The Way of All Flesh” – which I listened to a lot a decade back – none of their albums were like that for me. So, it’s likely that “real” Gojira fans do not like this one. But I think it’s fantastic!

Another one of Jasper’s tips. I knew the band already – and I’ve seen them live twice – but haven’t checked out their latest output.

Djenty, heavy, proggy stuff, with a great singer. Reminds me of Tesseract and Devin Townsend – which I both like – and probably a bunch of other artists, too. But that’s not to say they don’t have their own sound. They have! And I’m into it. And with proggy stuff like this, there’s often lots to discover after repeated listens. The refrains are sometimes a bit too “nice” for my liking, but apperently this didn’t stop me from putting this on again and again.

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To counter the complexity that is Blood Incantation, I need some easy listening. In comes this Gatecreeper album.

They also have this chainsaw sound going. Great riffs. A great vocalist. Nothing really new. But all I really need.

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My new friend Jasper recommended this band to me. And so this album has been in rotation ever since.

It’s technical death metal in a raw old school sound, interspersed with these atmospheric outer space parts. Not quite sure what this reminds of. Maybe Cynic!? Anyway, it’s a great album with (still) lots to discover.

My current favourite is the 18-minute long closing track “Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)”.

I’m simply into old school Swedish death metal right now.

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Their previous album is also fantastic. Same Swedish chainsaw guitar sound. And even better songs!

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I’m mainly in love with the sound of this album. But it’s also an easy album to like musically: well-done good old old-school Swedish death metal à la Dismember and Entombed. Just listen to “Funeral Anthem” to get a rotten taste!

Also: how can one not love that cover artwork?

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For some reason, I was listening to this last Sunday. I haven’t listened to Deicide in years. But it remained in rotation.

It’s Easter after all.

I recently came across their remarkable videos again. While a while back I mostly listened to their debut and “Murder the Mountains”, this time I’m givin’ their latest output a few spins. And I am not disappointed!

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The recent death of singer LG Petrov prompted me to listen to this marvel again.

It’s the Entombed album I listen(ed) to. It’s so damn heavy and the drumming immediately brings me in a good mood. Just listen to the title track. Banger!

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Death! Just too good! So, this one’s also in rotation now.

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Learning Crystal Mountain on guitar. Death is always much fun to play. And this is such a great album!

Been listening to this track a lot, because I was learning that middle section on guitar.

Royal Blood are back in rotation!

The new Soen album came out and it’s in heavy rotation.

[UPDATE:] This seems to not be for me this time around. I find myself regularly skipping songs, because either melody, guitar solo or vocals are unbearably cheesy. A shame, because some songs are actually quite good.

I never listened to this album. But because it’s such a classic, I know pretty much every song on here. And I’m enjoying it!

And if the end lead riff of “Fairies Wear Boots” was not a major influence for Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” I’ll eat my hat!

Does this bring anything new to the table? I don’t think so. But it’s very well done. It has some fantastic guitar work, blast beats, and great vocals. Winner!

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Enjoying some good Swedish riff-rock. Can’t stop listening to that “El Monstro”-riff.

Currently listening to this EP quite a bit. Some great tremolo-picking melodies. And a great vocalist duo. Much heavy! Much good!

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Instrumental post rock from New Zealand. Very atmospheric. Great to work to (as a lot of instrumental albums). My current favourite from that album is “Everything All of the Time” – that drum beat is exactly my kind of groove.

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What is this? 70s-style hard rock? Anyway – I like it! Great guitar riffs, catchy – although often long – songs, and – guess what? – very nice drumming.Every song is strong, but “Black Funeral” might be my favourite, if only for those amazing drum fills in the pre-chorus.

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Been listening to a bit of The Haunted lately. Mainly the “The Dead Eye” record. Just some beautiful guitar work on this one. And great vocals (as is normal for Dolving). Plus, I sometimes need a bit of Per Møller Jensen’s drumming.

“The Big Sleep” was on some sampler when I was a teenager. I stumbled across this song again, and have now been listening to the whole “Moontower” album quite a bit. In case you don’t know: Dan Swanö plays all the instruments and does the singing, too. A true one-man-band.

Got into Chelsea Wolfe. Mainly her “Hiss Spun” album. It’s a bit like the heavy, less electronic, even more melancholic version of Portishead. Also reminds me of the acts that would play Twin Peaks’ Roadhouse. Love it!

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Pretty unusual for me since it’s very electronic. But great stuff!

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Ghost’s “Meliora” album made a return to my rotation. Songwriting par excellence.

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Their new album. What can I say? Of course, it’s great!

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Been listening to all their 4 albums actually. It’s low, slow and heavy. And I like it.

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Just a wonderfully quiet and melancholic album.

All-Star Death Metal. David Vincent’s vocals are just superb!

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This Swedish black metal act is growing on me.

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Still regular listening to both the “Lotus” and “Lykaia” albums.

Ever since seeing them live last time, I can’t get “Allting tar slut” out of my head.

Their latest album. Would have loved to see them live last month. But as everything was cancelled, this will need to do – which is not bad at all.

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Still in rotation.

Listening to this over and over and over again…