Hopefully between Sept-Oct!

 Hopefully sometime between Sept-Oct I'll be able to start and do the character creation/mini-tutorial/discussion vids for AD&D 2e. 

I'm pretty sure I can set aside some time blocks. Once again, these are not really going to be edited, just one of those "me and the camera live-discussion" types that I'm a fan of.

But I got the setup! 

Probably gonna do 4d6, drop low, and discuss other ways, show off some characters I had in a folder, and basically talk people through it and go into the philosophy of the old days in terms of how stats worked and stuff.

Hopefully these turn out well! (if not they aren't getting uploaded and I'll do an album review instead, heh.) 

TTRPG Character Creation Vids

 You know, there's tons of these things around(character creation videos)...at least kinda. Okay, maybe not *tons* of certain editions. Newer editions of games, yes, but I can't really find a lot of older ones.

Considering doing some now and then for fun. VERY off the cuff stuff; not really edited, just like old-school style for old-school editions. No face shots(maybe a mask shot once or twice), but more like "Hands and Books" style with the camera above, you guys know the type I think. Rolling stats on camera and the like. 

Yes, I'll be wearing the spikes/studs on the hands, lol. I think to add something to it I'll pick an album to play in the background(one that doesn't run afoul of any license stuff; AKA albums that are all available on official band channels online/otherwise available for streaming, even though I won't stream them.) I'll have to feel out what's playable and what's not, but sticking to stuff on official band channels seems a safe bet. 

I might be able to find three people who watch me do chargen tutorials for 30+ year old games while Dark Medieval Times plays in the background! (Hell, even if I got three hits in a month I'd count myself as happy.)

I'm not a streamer, nor a 'content creator'(I am not fond of that phrase at all), nor anything like that, I am not taking sponsors, nor monetizing anything, nor do I care to-just a person who likes to talk about old RPGs. 

(Plus after looking through, I can't seem to find too many chargen videos for stuff like 1st-2nd edition AD&D, or 1st-3rd Shadowrun...just a handful. More might always be welcome.) 

Azzy Ranks: Mercyful Fate

Continuing on with my little random series(I really should pick a game series to do this with one day, Castlevania, maybe?) to celebrate seeing King Diamond live, I decided to do a back to back ranking of both Mercyful Fate's and King Diamond's discogs, starting with Mercyful Fate. 

Once again, we have acts like Sodom, Satyricon and a few others where I really enjoy their entire discographies, so there are no "Bad" albums in either of these, which makes it, once again, challenging. I stand by the fact I feel like it's harder to rank albums when they're all good, than when there are extremely obvious stand-outs or ones that don't work. 

Out of the two, I DO slightly prefer Mercyful Fate as a whole, but I do love the King's solo endeavors as well. I think MF just has a little bit more of a sound that hits me just a tiny bit more. But it's close. 

Mercyful Fate's most recent album was out in 1999, 26 years ago, but they ARE working on new material! So I'll get to see where that lands. As per usual, I'll be doing the full-lengths. I feel a little bad sometimes leaving out EPs and such(especially because some bands have EPs that I consider my favorites, like Keep of Kalessin with Reclaim or even In the Sign of Evil with Sodom), but I think it makes for a more clear and concise list to do so. Mercyful Fate only has seven full-lengths, so without further ado:

7. Dead Again(1998)

Starting off the list we have Dead Again. As I stated above, "A 'low' ranked Mercyful Fate album is still a really good album that I'd suggest to anyone looking for classic dark heavy metal to get.' I think overall I just end up putting this on less than the other 90s albums since I feel like even though it's overall good, it lacks those 'really standout tracks' that all the other albums have at least one of. There are still some really good songs here though, even if the production feels a bit odd sometimes. I can't say there's anything stand-out 'wrong' with the album. Since Forever and the Lady who Cries are both a couple of songs that almost hit that stand-out status, though! Fear is really good as well. 

6. Into the Unknown(1996)

Into the Unknown certainly has some gems on it. Fifteen Men(and a bottle of rum) is a pretty awesome evil pirate tribute, which is not something you'd expect from Mercyful Fate(but it's nice to see a more Bad Guy Pirate Song), and being a Lovecraft junkie I have to appreciate Kutulu. This is another one of those "Huh, I haven't put this on for awhile" albums. But for a classic, dark heavy metal album in the 90s, this still sounds great. Mercyful Fate didn't try to turn industrial, or go way into the left field in order to battle grunge or anything, they just stayed Mercyful Fate, and it works. 

5. 9(1999)

Their latest album(yeah, 26 years ago and counting, but once again praise satan that they're making more music!) I would say ranks sixth for me. An album that I'd continue to suggest to anyone -- being a band where owning their whole discography I would say is a nice idea -- 9 has some great songs and riffs on it. Last Rites and Insane are great tracks, and Buried Alive is like old-school levels of good with its riffs and is probably my fav track on the album and a song I'd actually rank up there with some of my favorite Mercyful Fate songs. King Diamond sounds as great as ever. This is another case of 'Well, something has to be down here', and I just find myself putting it on a little less than the ones further down the list/depending on my mood. They didn't try to change their sound too much like a lot of classic and thrash bands in the 90s, and in their case, I feel like it was for the best(as much as I can like when bands progress.)

4.  In the Shadows(1993)

More horror-themed than Satanic-themed(much like King Diamond's self-titled work, though it's not a concept album like the King is known to do, though there is no lack of mention of witches and the like). In the Shadows might, after some thought, come in third. Their first album in almost ten years after Don't Break the Oath, it's a fine offering with Shermann's riffs being as catchy as always. Classics like The Bell Witch, Egypt, and the callback to the old days with Is that you, Melissa? make this an album I do find myself putting on a bit when I'm not running their 80s discography. Just overall a great album(but, for the hundredth time, all Mercyful Fate albums are great. 

3. Time(1994)

Time is a pretty incredible album that I think delves back more into the old-school Mercyful Fate more than ever. Maybe my brain sort of clicks with certain styles in certain bands, and while I'm always a fan of bands progressing through time(heh), and evolving, sometimes bands that keep going with their tried and true methods can work out and I think Mercyful Fate is one of them. Despite coming out in 1994(a time where a lot of those older bands went far into experimentation mode, for better or worse), it totally sounds like it could've been part of that 80s discography. Maybe that's why it kinda goes here for me? I like MF when they're on with the satanic themes too, I admit. Nightmare Be Thy Name, Angel of Light, Witches Dance right in a row hit hard and there are some super-killer riffs on this album. The Mad Arab of course appeals to the big Lovecraft fan in me, much like the sequel on Into the Unknown. 

2. Melissa(1983)

Melissa could be number 1 I think sometimes, and for a lot of folks I know it is; but it's very close in any case. How can one listen to the sounds of the legendary Evil(IMO one of their best songs), Black Funeral, or the epic Satan's Fall and NOT put this album at least close to the top? Melissa was one hell of a debut full-length(they did have their self-titled EP, later affectionately nicknamed' Nuns Have No Fun'.) Like, easily one of those upper echelon debut albums; while some bands' debuts left something to be desired and their real stride wouldn't be hit until their second or third album(see Judas Priest for a great example of this), Mercyful Fate hit the ground running straight to Hell with a big evil grin. All I can really say is to go out and immediately listen to this without stopping to pass Go or anything like that, if you're at all a fan of dark heavy metal. 

1. Don't Break the Oath(1984)

GodDAMN 1984 was a great year. Bathory's S/T album, Ride the Lightning, Morbid Tales, Apocalyptic Raids, At War With Satan...and Mercyful Fate's timeless sophomore effort, Don't Break the Oath. 

I think DBtO or Melissa could be interchangeable, depending on my mood, to be honest, but somehow I felt like this one just hit a tiny bit harder, or hits a tiny bit harder for me more often. Like, very tiny. Almost microscopic. Don't Break the Oath had the evil sound of Melissa, but they really went off musically on some of these tracks. A Dangerous Meeting, Nightmare, The Oath, Come to the Sabbath...all incredibly dark and wicked sounding offerings. I think one thing that sticks out to me almost more than Melissa is the extra slightly darker tone which ended up into that formation of black metal(okay, all Mercyful Fate did, but this album's sound was kinda transformative, I think.) Just like Melissa, go out immediately and listen to this album. Not much else to say but "What the fuck are you waiting for." 

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And that's the list! I'm not sure where I'd put the self-titled EP, but probably around Time, hovering right in that area right before or after it depending on my mood that day. Mercyful Fate is pretty incredibly influential, and really you can't go wrong with listening to any of their albums; that said, if I had to pick three, go with the first three at the start. Then branch out(since others may well find more stuff on the other albums they like even more than I do.)

Looking forward to doing my King Diamond ranking as well; he too has an incredibly strong discography. 

Anyway, 'til next time, readers! 

Hellsinki Metal Fest 2025

 While I'm not going to make this into a full-on review, but I decided to recap my weekend at Hellsinki Metal Festival this year!

The past couple of times(it started in 2023) I wasn't able to make it since the timing was extremely close to trips that we ended up taking, if not overlapping, but given we didn't go visit the US this year or anywhere else, I managed to finally make it, and from here on I think I'll definitely be making it a yearly thing.

In short, this festival feels a lot like Tuska used to back in the day(I'd say before it moved to the new area from the center of Helsinki), which was wonderful. Tuska really started to feel differently after it moved; its last year in the center was 2010(which I missed due to, you guessed it, visiting the US), and I managed to go twice since then, once in 2015 and once in 2018. (My favorite year was 2006, as an aside; getting to see Celtic Frost, Venom, and Sodom in one weekend was amazing.)

It has an excellent setup, very easy to get to stages, and I went toward the covered VIP area and that was nice, too. Great food offerings and even craft beer. The lineup was particularly great this year; King Diamond was the main reason I went and was indeed the MVP of the festival. His stage show always looked amazing on video, and I was right up front enjoying it. The Funeral-Arrival combo is one of the coolest intros ever! King Diamond was another one of those 'white whale' acts of mine that I've listened to for ages, but never got a chance to see him live(or Mercyful Fate) just due to bad timing. 

Also of note were getting to see Sigh finally live; they were another one of those white-whale acts, seminal black metal from Japan, and they put on a great show(and packed the indoor stage, too, so I think a whole lot of people wanted to catch them.) Enslaved put on a great show, and Candlemass were fantastic(another 'finally got to see them' act!). The sun disappeared and the rain rolled in right before their gig and stayed away during it, and I appreciate that as the old doom wizards are best suited for performing in the shade. The Blood Fire Death Tribute to Bathory was the closest thing I came to actually getting to see Bathory live(one of the OG bassists who used to help Quorthon was part of it!) so that was excellent, with Atilla Csihar showing up to do vocals for a track. 

For Marduk, I of course had to show up in my plague gear. I had bought the mask with me, but ended up not wearing it a lot due to how hot and sunny it was over the weekend, but Marduk went on in the evening, so it was cooler for it. 

(Also my DJ outfit.)

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures -- I mentioned this in a past blog, but I'm pretty old-fashioned and don't like to watch a gig through my phone. I just take a few, and a couple of clips of my favorites, and am happy. But here's a few select pictures I took of various acts, in no order whatsoever:

Marduk

Blood Fire Death

                                                                       King Diamond

Enslaved

Sigh

Venom

Anyway, IMHO this is one of the best Finnish metal fests these days. Tuska isn't for me anymore, and that's fine; people into the more mainstream rock and metal or whatnot can have fun there, but Hellsinki is tops. 2 days is perfect I think(I'm feeling my age now despite being in, at least what my watch claims, decent shape for it, but damn 3+ day fests are not it for me anymore), in a great location, with a great setup, and great bands. Here's hoping next year's lineup keeps it going with the past years! 

I hope to be back with my "Azzy Ranks: Mercyful Fate and Azzy Ranks: King Diamond" discographies soon. The first two I did were fun, and I think doing those next would be fitting since I'm still riding the concert high! 

Azzy Ranks: Satyricon

With Bathory done(and I do think it was a good first band to do, even if my picks for said band might not be particularly surprising), I decided to move over to Norway for Satyricon. They're one of those bands that were with me since I started dropping into the 2nd wave of black metal, and they've never left my playlists since. A steadfast staple in Azzy's playlists, and a band I'll always play on a DJ night,, too. They're a band that's mostly been a duo; bandleader Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven, who handles vocals, guitar, bass and most of the other instruments on the albums themselves(he also makes wine!) and drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad, who is one of the fastest, most proficient black metal drummers in the scene today, his mark made on many albums as a session drummer back in the 90s and '00s(and he even occasionally appears elsewhere even today, though nowadays he mostly sticks to Satyricon and his other band, 1349, who you will be seeing come up in these Azzy Ranks series at some point for sure.) 

I feel like Satyricon I also think they're a great band to do since they're a challenging band to do. Essentially, I love all of Satyricon's albums. This band hasn't put out something that I've disliked, like, ever. Which I think makes the ranking a lot more fun, since I really have to think things over, as well as sometimes even see what my mood is that day. A 'low ranked' Satyricon album is, IMO, still an excellent album in it's way, I might just listen to it a bit less than the higher ranked ones. 

Indeed, when doing these rankings, something has to be first, and something has to be last, even when the whole discography is strong. So I'll try my hardest to arrange these albums the best I can. 

Without further ado, here's how I'd rank Satyricon's full-length discography(today!)

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10. Satyricon & Munch(2022)

So, I have this one as the last place, even though it's a masterfully crafted piece of soundtrack music. More ambient and less metal, it has guitars, bass, and drums utilized, but it really is more of a soundscape, set to take you on a journey through Munch's works. It's extremely well done like this, and as someone who loves Munch and loves soundtrack music, I do find myself putting this on every so often. It's definitely a great album to just lay back to. As a bonus, it makes for a great soundtrack piece with the pivotal scene in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, one of my favorite books, which includes a Munch exhibit. All that said, Satyricon & Munch is more of a 'mood album' for me than even some other albums, so that's why it goes here. It's so different that it's hard to rank with the rest. 

9. Dark Medieval Times(1993)

And for my first wrench thrown in the gears of most "trve" types, yeah, I have their debut, often put on the Satyricon top 3 pedestal by black metal fans, all the way at number 9. Once again, I do love this album, like I do all their albums, and I listen to something from it on pretty much any playlist I'll make. So this is not me saying the album is bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's still an A+ tier album, easily, and absolutely an album I'd suggest for someone to listen to looking for something in this style, and an album I do put on often. But it's also, in its own way, a 'mood' album. When I want to hear barbaric, medieval-tinged type of black metal, soaked in both ice and melody, this album hits the spot. In fact, I LOVE it in the autumn, especially. But it's also rough around the edges; which is both good(it has that old 'spirit'), and also lags it behind the well-oiled extreme musicians they became. When I feel like going on a journey to, well, the plague-ridden Dark Medieval Times(the use of the Pesta Kommer from Kittelsen as the art in the booklet of the original, and on the cover of the remaster -- and, well, I might use it too as a banner -- gives me plague-vibes, what can I say), then this is the album that I put on. All in all, I'll always appreciate a well-timed 'Walk The Path of Sorrow' or 'The Dark Castle in the Deep Forest'(possibly my favorite song on the album and somewhat underrated I think.) Again I reiterate this list is challenging because I am forced to put some albums I like at the end, but that's why it's fun. Something has to be last, something has to be in the middle, and something has to be first. 

8. Satyricon(2013)

Their self-titled album tends to get a little maligned by the underground, given it really did branch out a lot. Despite having some incredibly heavy, dark songs like 'Walker Upon the Wind', and the amazing -- nah, masterpiece of a song 'The Infinity of Time and Space', I think people sorta pushed against the dark rock-tinged offerings like 'Nekrohaven', or 'Phoenix', which featured a guest singer and even clean vocals. What I see is an album that was incredibly experimental in its genre, not afraid to branch out to try other things while still keeping its roots in black metal(which can mean a whole lot more than just like, stuff from the 80s and 90s.) All that said, because this album branches out so much, it's once again another 'mood' thing for me. I need to be in the mood to sit down with an album that goes here and there. Plus, and I can't explain this as it's just a weird 'me' thing, this album is more of an 'autumn-winter' album(especially autumn, this is yet another favorite autumn album.) I dunno what it is about the album's sound, but it just hits right around then. When it's perfectly chilly out and I'm around the parks nearby in the morning, its atmosphere makes it great to wake up to, especially since there are some brutally heavy tracks to help with that. 

I will also add that from 8 to 5, these spots can shift depending on my mood, the week, the time of day, or even if I heard a song on one of them recently. While I'd say 10/9 are pretty well set in stone, and 4 to 1 are as well, 8 to 5 for Satyricon are 'the mutable ranks', much like how Bathory's viking/folk outings were. 

7. Volcano(2002)

I hesitate to keep using the "black 'n roll" term that many like to use, because there's been grooves in extreme metal since the beginning with Bathory and Venom. Are you going to try to tell me "Woman of Dark Desires" isn't a singalong? Come on now. Not to mention the rest of the first wave; Mercyful Fate has such a grounding in classic heavy metal and hard rock that for me it's just a natural thing. I guess people started using the term for...some reason? I always preferred to call it 'black metal with heavy grooves' or something, though I suppose the "black 'n roll" moniker falls off the tongue easier. In any case, while Satyricon were never a stranger to some good grooves in their music before Volcano, they really came to the forefront in this. I will say their '2000s Era albums' where they put out three albums with a whole lot of these heavy grooves do swap spots for me often. Volcano might be my favorite 'summer album' of Satyricon(and one of my fav 'summer albums'), though this is probably because we used to listen to it constantly then(and I played it a ton while DJing over the summer, too.) We also used to listen to it in the receiving department when I still lived in the US and worked at the record store. It's a killer, heavy album and you can't help but love stuff like 'Fuel for Hatred', 'With Ravenous Hunger', 'Angstridden', 'Repined Bastard Nation'...I think the best song might be 'Mental Mercury' which is brutal as hell! But, again, something has to go somewhere, and I do find myself turning toward their other 2000s era albums just a bit more often. So today Volcano gets the 7th spot. 

6. Now, Diabolical(2006)

Volcano's follow-up, and for my money, just darker, heavier and groovier enough that it usually sneaks a tiny bit above the album, though with some hesitation. I think it occasionally even swaps with the number 5 spot. Like the rest of Satyricon's discography I adore the album and I don't think it has any skippable tracks. 'K.I.N.G.' is the grooviest black metal song to have ever grooved(and the video is great for this song, too), the title track is an incredible 'get pumped' track, and 'A New Enemy' really hits some sorta brain neurons in my strangely wired brain for some reason. Now, Diabolical is one of the albums I'd hand to someone who says 'gimme something great to listen to from the 2000s.' I feel like another reason I put this a little higher than Volcano was that it kinda sounds ahead of its time; when I listen to it today it's like I'm somehow listening to an album that was made yesterday. It's easy to see why the band leans heavily on this album for live shows, too; these songs translate *very very well* to a live set. All in all when I'm making up playlists and such I find myself revisiting this album enough that it just about scratches the top five, and depending on my mood that day, like I said, can sometimes be IN the top 5. But for now, I've been playing another one just a little more often...

5. The Age of Nero(2008)

Maybe it's because it's the sign of the times, but with Nero meaning both darkness/black and being the famed emperor, I've always just felt like this albums sheer, suffocating darkness and heaviness has spoken to me more and more over the years and it's crept higher after a time and often overtakes the other 2000s era albums. The Age of Nero does have a little bit of an experimental bent from time to time, but whenever I start thinking of ranking these albums, I'll put this on and listen to it open with the vicious drum assault of 'Commando' and this one ends up coming back home to the top 5. 'Black Crow on a Tombstone' is the second-grooviest black metal song ever. To go along with Commando's perfect opening, Den Siste is a dark and nasty closer, and the Sign of the Trident is yet another one of those catchy as fuck tracks. All in all The Age of Nero comes together extremely well and shows I think the growth of their 2000s-era perfectly. It's another album that sounds like it could've come out yesterday(and is just as relevant today as it always was. Their message wasn't straight-up blatant, but it certainly had that air of an observation of the world's darkness.) 

4. The Shadowthrone(1994)

Now we're settling into the top 5, and from Satyricon's "old sound"(which is what I consider DMT and ST, Nemesis Divina had sort of evolved past their older, more raw sound), I always preferred the Shadowthrone. This album always has and always does get a lot of play; I feel like they took their barbaric, medieval influence of DMT and evolved it into a harshly cold and melodic, almost epic sounding album, featuring some longer tracks and keyboards that I don't think ever really overtake the album and turn it pompous or anything like that. I rank this album highly because I also feel it shows the band's growth very, very well, even though it was only a year after DMT. Their songwriting and musicianship evolved a whole lot in that year and it comes through in the music. This album is one of 1994's best black metal albums IMHO; up there with Transilvanian Hunger and In The Nightside Eclipse. When it opens with that snarling "Kampen mot Gud og hvitekrist er igang!" you know you're in for a ride. 'Hvite Krist's Død', 'In The Mist By The Hills', 'Vikingland', all so good and with riffs galore. Frost's drums step up pretty much immediately too(even though they were pretty damn good still on their first album.) It's been solidly in my top 5 Satyricon albums since I sank into the realms of black metal, and I'm not sure I see this one leaving anytime soon unless they release two albums in quick succession that warrant it. 

3. Deep Calleth Upon Deep(2017)

Yes, yes, I know. I have performed a black metal sin and placed one of the newest albums in the top 3. I of course kid(I mean, many people find Monotheist to be one of Celtic Frost's finest, me included, and that was their last album), but let's face it, the extreme metal community has a big draw to sticking with a band's first albums; as I remember hearing one time "The first demo is always the best." In Satyricon's case, I simply feel like their last full-on metal album was incredible. The musicianship, for one, on this album is absolutely top-notch. You can hear just HOW much they have evolved and just gotten better and better over time. The tracks on this album actually start scratching an almost progressive sound, though it avoids crossing straight over into 'prog'; more of an influence. And Frost sounds like he is having so much fun on the drums on this one, and has put out some of his most impressive bits yet. The drums in 'Blood Cracks Open the Ground' alone are mind-boggling(and try to find a clip of that played live!) The title track I have fond memories of listening to inside while playing some PC games. I feel like this album belongs here because it's a fantastic example of growth and evolution while still keeping an incredibly dark and heavy sounding album. 

2. Rebel Extravaganza(1999)

Getting toward the top! I recently wrote a blog gushing about how much I loved this album, and there are times where I sometimes really do think it's their best album, but at the end of the day I think my nostalgia makes number 1 the way it is, but goddamn it's a mere hair's thread. I listen to this album SO much. It's dark, cold, incredibly heavy, thickly produced, with, as I've said a lot, some of the greatest black metal drumming of the 90s found right here. From the beginning of 'Tied in Bronze Chains' to the absolute stamina test of the last three+ minute blastbeat at the end of  'The Scorn Torrent', this album is a masterpiece in what it takes to push against the direction that a genre might be headed and not being afraid to do so. I use the words "game-changer" with this album a lot, and it's because I mean it; I believe this album was one of the biggest game-changers of its time. 'Filthgrinder' is a legendary track to see played live(and is a fond memory of anyone with Kazaa downloading the famous drum check involving that and Forhekset), with one of the coolest buildup and breakdowns ever at the last part of the song. 

If you want to read me vomit a lot more words about Rebel Extravaganza than I did here, you can check the blog about it here: https://azaaelfgc.blogspot.com/2025/07/my-ode-to-one-hell-of-game-changing.html . This blog is the only reason why I didn't go on longer about this one. 

1. Nemesis Divina(1996)

When I talk about essential albums, I mostly just mean really great albums of any particular genre or sub-genre. They don't have to be peak or legendary(though they often are), but just really spectacular albums. Nemesis Divina, on the other hand, is one of those albums that I straight-up consider 100% essential legendary black metal listening. If you asked me to make a list of the 10 most important black metal albums of the 2nd wave(90s-early 00s basically), Nemesis Divina would absolutely be on this list. From the intro of Dawn of a New Age and the iconic "This is armageddon!" -- ranking up there with best song openings with Angel of Death -- to the finale, Nemesis Divina is a masterclass on how to combine an icy feel, sharp production, blasting, keys, melody, and heaviness all together, never really getting symphonic at any time. Mother North just needs to become Norway's national anthem(especially if it's the live version with the National Opera), and Forhekset's iconic double-bass assault and riffing keeps it one of the best songs on the album. The riffs on this album are absolutely fantastic; I can recognize pretty much any one of them with a listen. 

I don't think I need to even mention that there's no filler on this(I don't think there's really filler on Satyricon albums, just songs I listen to a bit less). Interestingly, this was the last album where Satyricon operated as more than a two-piece; Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone had joined on guitar for this and was a part of the band/their live performances this time, as well. These songs have stood the test of time; it's hard to believe, but this album is going to be 30 next year(and I certainly hope they do something for that!) They hold up live, they hold up on album, they hold up everywhere. Despite the band's youth, Satyr and Frost showed a musical maturity already here on this album that seemed to level up severalfold from both Dark Medieval Times and The Shadowthrone. Perhaps it sounds a little rough still compared to the musicians they became decades later, but this album aged so incredibly well it's crazy. 

I don't want to turn this into an outright review of Nemesis Divina, but it's my 3rd favorite album of all time for a reason, as well as, once again, an album that I'd consider one of the most important of the 2nd wave. 

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Welp, there we have it. Yeah, I know this is going to look different than a lot since I know a LOT of people put some order of The Shadowthrone or Dark Medieval Times first(occasionally Nemesis Divina), and others yet won't even recognize anything after them -- but you know what, no hate, it's their loss if they won't even give it a try, IMO. I think this band has something for almost everyone in metal, though, and even IF something isn't up your alley, there might be something else. 

I'll be back again with more Azzy Ranks in the near future! 

Azzy Ranks: Bathory

You know, sorry for the decidedly un-catchy name for this series, but I was really drawing a blank. I was considering calling the series something like "Blood Must Be Shed: Azzy Ranks Albums" but I'm not sure how much sense that would have made.

Well, I figured I'd start this with Bathory. I mean they are one of my favorite bands of all time, holding one of my favorite albums of all time, and of the 1st generation, so it feels just 'right' to do so. Bathory was the mastermind of the late Thomas Björe "Quorthon" Forsberg, the main(and sometimes only) member of the project. He passed away in 2004 at the young age of 38 due to a congenital heart defect, and the metal world has certainly been less without his talent. A definite "What could be" moment; I am going to see the Blood Fire Death tribute band in a little over a week of the posting of this blog, and I only wish it could've been Bathory itself(though, to be fair, Quorthon only did a couple of live shows way, way back before he decided to keep Bathory as a studio band, so it may have been we'd never have seen him live regardless. Alas, we shall never know.) 

I will admit that this ranking might not be a surprise. I feel like many a black metal fan probably ranks their first 3 or 4 albums in the first 3 or 4 spots, albeit maybe in a slightly different order, but I don't think the bottom two or top four are any real surprise. Ranking the folk albums was a little more difficult for me(but not even then, as I have the ones that I turn toward more.)

I guess I won't drag out this intro. Note this isn't a detailed review of each album(though as always I can get a bit wordy), here's my first Azzy Ranks: The Albums of Bathory! 

11. Octagon(1995)

Oh, Octagon. If anything said 'phoned in', it's Octagon. There's a few serviceable riffs, but compared to the downright majesty of so many of the albums, this one is very weak, and it came out during The Mid Nineties, which was a very, very rough time for thrash metal. (A lot of thrash bands are known to have their weakest albums during this time period; Sodom weathered it well, but a lot of other bands, not so much.) I think I rated this album 'strictly average' once but I never really put it on and I was very generous that day, heh. 

12. Requiem(1994)

Again, not a whole lot to say here, but I felt like Requiem had a few more riffs on it that I could enjoy. Another straight-forward thrash album that it felt like Quorthon put a little more effort into, but it still had that somewhat unfortunate phoned-in sound to it. I will say though given what I mentioned about the thrash era of the mid 90s, I definitely heard worse, but for Bathory, it's kind of a forgettable album. 

10. Destroyer of Worlds(2001)

It's weird how I tend to rank some of Bathory's later thrashy stuff a bit lower, but I guess I heard a little less 'heart' in it. That said, I don't dislike Destroyer of Worlds. I think the album was overall pretty good; it starts to at this point, though, comes down to 'Something has to be lower.' I don't really listen to this one a whole lot admittedly. It's a pretty decent mix of thrash and viking/folk, though, if you're into that sorta thing. Not too much to say about this one otherwise. (Unfortunately as much as I love  most of this band's albums, they do have a few where even I can't find a whole lot to say about them.) 

9. Blood on Ice(1996)

The mastertapes were from earlier, actually -- 1989, even before Hammerheart, but this concept album was strongly in the folk/viking style the band became known for in the later years. I place this around here even though I'd say the next three albums fall under the "Interchangeable Depending on Mood," umbrella(which going forward with more of these lists, you'll see some albums that fall under.) It's a good album in this style, but once again it kinda has that "Somehow I find myself gravitating toward the other folk-tinged albums a bit more." But I like the concept album aspect and honestly it's a pretty damn good concept album all told(which can be hit or miss.) Has some rather excellent songs, though; I particularly like 'The Sword' and 'The Stallion.' This part of the ranking is where the albums start getting some real standout tracks and honestly being quite strong overall. 

8. Twilight of the Gods(1991)

Like Blood on Ice, another interchangeable album, and I think sometimes I like it as much as Nordland II. Their sixth studio album, this was the second released album(Blood on Ice was written two years before this but released five years after), it's actually quite a heavy, slow and atmospheric album in folk/viking phase. It's got some great songs on it-'Through Blood by Thunder', 'Bond of Blood', and the title track. If I had a sort of issue with it, I think it sometimes gets a little bit samey sounding compared to the other folk material, but it nonetheless is an album I'd happily suggest to someone who likes this sub-genre. 

7. Nordland I(2002)

If 8 through 6 are pretty interchangeable(maybe even 9 through 6), than 7 and 6 are even more interchangeable with each other. Even looking at the Nordland album covers give a sense of cold, and these albums I feel like are Bathory's most atmospheric. "Perfect Winter Atmosphere" comes to mind for a description. I'll say that I find myself sort of poking around these albums during the colder months of the year, and for good reason. I think listening to Nordland I and II back to back gives quite the journey, almost poetic like. Overall really good album(Bathory doesn't have many albums I'd consider mid), and if this is your genre I'd consider it on the essential listening list. I feel like this album stands best as a whole, instead of picking 'favorite songs.' Given these albums tell a story, it's kinda difficult to separate them out as a whole-I feel like they're all best listened to sitting there from start to finish. 

6. Nordland II(2003)

Today, Nordland II's epic, atmospheric sound squeezes ahead of number 1, though just barely. Maybe it's the sound, maybe it's the songs, maybe it's the fact that this was Quorthon's final album before his tragic and way too young passing, and I find myself thinking "What could have been" in the future. It's in a similar style to Nordland I -- epic, atmospheric and cold bombastic folk metal. Would we have gotten a Nordland III? Quorthon never confirmed that we would have, but he also had said the door wasn't shut on the idea. Alas, we may never know, but we still have his legacy recorded forever.

5. Hammerheart(1990)

Hammerheart, for my money, is the peak of Quorthon's foray into practically inventing the folk/viking genre, and to be honest competes with one of my fav albums of this particular sub-genre(I think I like the black metal of Enslaved's Eld a bit more, but Hammerheart certainly ranks up there. An almost bombastic album, though without getting pompous about it, the icy atmosphere comes through extremely well. With epic songs like 'One Rode To Asa Bay', 'Shores in Flames' and 'Valhalla',  I appreciate Quorthon's rougher voice on this one. It's not his harsh black metal voice, but there's a rasp to his singing here that I feel like adds to the album's overall battle-like atmosphere. This is an album that I'd put on as a background in one of my tabletop games for sure, and I'd even put a track of this in during a more extreme metal DJ night. I do bring it out when I'm in the mood for something heavy, but without harsh vocals. Absolute essential listening if you're a folk/viking metal fan. 

4. Blood Fire Death(1988)

Blood Fire Death is an album that I'd call one of the best examples of a "transitional album" in heavy metal, when it comes to bands that have shifted their sound around. Now when I say 'shifted sound', I mean in a more extreme way. There are several bands that have evolved their sound in the extreme metal genre, but in Bathory's case, their shift from the raw, unrelenting 1st wave black metal over to the melodic folk/viking metal, Quorthon was there basically just helping invent and inspire genres left and right. 

Blood Fire Death was the shifting point between Under the Sign and Hammerheart. While Blood Fire Death was still more in the harsh, black side than it was the viking/folk, it nonetheless starts to dabble with the intro song(Oden's Ride over Nordland), and some acoustic intro pieces, and also in the title track. It's got some fantastic songs on it; 'A Fine Day to Die'(which takes verses from The King in Yellow) is classic, and 'For All Those who Died' is a vicious, angry spitting song which may genuinely be one of Bathory's most enraged-sounding. It comes in 4th more because...well, the other three before it I just end up putting on a little more often overall. 

3. The Return...(1985)

I do love the Return -- I mean it's ranked 3rd on the list of Bathory albums -- but this is one of those cases that falls under that "I just put on the other two more." Don't get me wrong, The Return is a legendary album and 100% suggested to any black metal fan(how could I live without songs like 'Bestial Lust', 'Born for Burning' or 'Sadist'. This album brings in some serious grooves to some of the songs; while some are still nasty, ugly affairs, he starts to add a little more variety to the songs; 'Born for Burning' grooves like hell. It's an excellent evolution of the self-titled, but doesn't jump too far ahead. Another 1st wave must-buy. This album crushes, it's dark atmosphere with an almost stifling sort of feel to it due to the crunchier production. 

2. Bathory(1984)

One of the best debut albums in the black metal genre, period(regardless if it's the 1st or 2nd wave), the infamous goat-head staring at you just sort of attracts you to the album. So you pick it up and see the pentagram on the back, seeing Side Darkness and Side Evil. You take the album home, put it on your turntable, and after the tell-tale pops of the needle(you're probably in a metal-ish looking room or perhaps one of those literal underground record stores), and there's a cold breeze coming in. The winds of mayhem blow and the harsh, cold chainsaws that you might know as 'guitars' start spitting through the speakers, completing the evil atmosphere as the goat stares into your soul as the door blows open and the storm comes right into the room with you. 

And then 'Hades' begins in earnest. 

I mean I dunno what else I have to say. It's a 10/10 album, a 10/10 debut and the only reason why it's not number 1 is because of what's number 1. Iconic cover, iconic songs, iconic sound. The goat(one day, I will get a yellow one...one day) remains one of those 'Top Recognizable Logos in Extreme Metal.' 

1. Under the Sign of the Black Mark(1987)

Straight up; this album is my 2nd favorite album of all time, let alone my favorite Bathory album. It just sort of dances around with Under a Funeral Moon, maybe some days tying with it, but yeah, just to give you an idea of where I stand on this album. Pure 10/10 perfection from start to finish. Under the Sign of the Black Mark is a perfect example of an album from an artist who dropped a legendary self-titled, and then another legendary follow-up, and combined everything that worked from those two albums into one perfect combination. It has the self-titled's evil, chainsaw-esque guitars and nastiness, combined with The Return's heavy grooves, and they come together in bloody harmony. 'Enter The Eternal Fire' might be one of the best black metal songs of all time. A 100% essential album(okay, any of Bathory's first 3 are essential, even first 4, for a black metal fan), I can't really gush enough about it. It's pretty obvious why this is my number 1 Bathory album and one of my favs of all time. 

I could probably review this album like I did in my old days of writing eons-long reviews for the old webzine. Besides Enter the Eternal Fire being one of black metal's best songs, I can't of course leave out the rest of the album, of which there are zero filler(okay, Bathory hasn't had filler for a few spots here, let's face it.) 'Equimanthorn' is vicious, 'Woman Of Dark Desires' is a straight-up singalong, and 'Call of the Grave' is dark as hell, complete with the intro of someone trying to scratch their way out of a tomb(or so it sounds.) 

Also, it's got a mega-cool album cover. I don't know what it is about it specifically, but the album just screams "80s extreme/black metal."

--

Anyway, those are my rankings. Like I said, maybe it's not too much of a surprise for a black metal fan to rank them this way, and maybe you have different rankings, but these are mine for now. I think Bathory has some material to appeal to a variety of fans -- black metal, thrash metal, and folk&viking metal at least. Stay tuned for my next in the series of Azzy Ranks(which will be on the tail end of this one!) 

Azzy Ranks Albums Series

 I think, starting next week, I'll do a weekly(or try to do a weekly) blog where I take a band's albums and rank them from what I consider the 'worst' to the best. (Worst is in quotes because there are some bands where I enjoy the whole discography, so 'worst' is relative here; something has to be last.)

I'll make sure to point out if I'm dealing with a band who's discog is all gold standard stuff, or if they have some great mixed in with mid, or if some stuff is downright bad(at least, IMO.) I think I'll start out with the bands that make up my top 10 albums, though not necessarily in order(as Darkthrone's discography is huge, and I think I'll start with something a bit more moderate-sized.)

I think also I'll keep it to full-length albums, noting any EPs the bands have on the side in an article. This won't be a numerical or letter-grading rating so much as just me discussing each album and why it is where it is. (Also, some of these can change depending on my mood, of course, though I'd say my top 3 to 5 with all of these bands are pretty well heavily settled.) 

For those curious, here are my top 10:

So yeah. Chances are, I'm going to either start with Bathory(who I might consider my fav band, despite them having my 2nd favorite album of all time), or perhaps Mercyful Fate or Satyricon(both of which I feel like have incredibly strong, consistent, high-quality discographies.) That said, I think 1349 and Emperor do as well, so they could also be in the running. I'd like to eventually do all of these. Some will be more obvious than others, while some bands might actually surprise people(particularly Satyricon and Sodom, though more the former than the latter.) 

I'll also try to come up with a catchy name for it. 

If it works out for me(and I don't see a shiny object and think of something else), I might try a Game Rank series after it! 

RIP to one Ozzy Osbourne

 The Prince of Darkness may have left the building, but he'll live forever just like Lemmy. 

There isn't really much to say about the man's influence, so I'd rather use this blog to tell how my life was formed by his music. I think we all have a story like that, young and old alike, given Black Sabbath formed in the late 60s; the band that basically influenced any and all genres and sub genres of rock and metal.

When I was a little kid in the early 80s, as many families we had family gatherings on holidays or just now and again, usually at my aunt and uncle's place. They had the big two story house with the attic with the pool table and dartboards and stuff, and the big dining room. (Me and my folks had a typical suburban 1 story home at the time. You know the type in every 80s suburb.) 

Of course like a lot of families they had the stereo system with the glass door on it. Usually they'd be playing whatever big band or easy listening stuff they listened to, but when my big brother would join for the events(which was usual, he was my half brother but I never made the distinction, we had different mothers but mine always treated him the same), he'd bring his records with him. Big Bro was a metalhead. He was 12 years older than me, and would always have his array of albums from the late 70s and early 80s; Motley Crue, Dokken, Kiss, all the usuals. 

And, of course, Ozzy. Ozzy was his favorite. When I was like four, I used to pronounce it "Ozzy Osburne." He got to see Ozzy on the tour right after Randy passed; in fact, one of those random, sparse early childhood memories that we all have is remembering hearing him talking about how Randy died at one of those gatherings soon after it happened(I think he was talking to his one childhood friend who always used to come over to those too.) He had some shirts, and a guitar that he used to mess with(I do remember him playing the Crazy Train solo.) 

I used to hang with him in the living room and check some of the music out, and despite being young, I remember liking it. I was pretty open to music at the time, as my parents raised me on a lot of stuff. They were big hard rock fans(my mom actually saw Black Sabbath on one of their early US tours in '71, the Paranoid tour, but I'll get to that more later), they liked classical music and played it a lot too, my dad was into the blues, and both of them also liked old electronic music-stuff like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and Vangelis(I still like a lot of dark ambient stuff today and I think that + the metal formed my modern love of black and dark metal.) So I was pretty much open to whatever. I listened to a variety of stuff and metal was no different, I took to it quite quickly. Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley were iconic; the solo and the keyboard intro, respectively, stuck out in my mind. I remember thinking the album covers were funny(especially Speak of the Devil.) I remember later enjoying The Ultimate Sin, even if Ozzy himself wasn't fond of that one. The first time he saw Ozzy was I believe in 1983, on the Speak of the Devil tour, at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Unfortunately, my brother passed away about 11 years ago, so I can't ask him anymore(and I'm not sure his old friend would know.) But it was one of those tours not too long after Randy died. 

As I got more into metal as time went on, I of course got to the thrash scene(which was the next step for a lot of us before the extreme metal.) I remember one day my mother listening in as I was listening to Metallica, and she said how the guitars reminded her of Black Sabbath. I said yeah, they were of course influenced by them, and she said she could hear it, and then proceeded to tell me the story on how she saw them back in 1971 on their Paranoid tour. She even had floor seats! Mom still has me beat for concerts let me say that. She also said how she almost got hit with a flying bottle of Southern Comfort I believe it was(the security was pretty lax in those days, it was like Hell's Angels or nothing.)

And I of course had a lot of Ozzy in my collection, as did friends of mine. Ozzy was always one of those welcome acts to play in some format, since even our parents grew up with stuff like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. He bridged gaps, and Sabbath inspired pretty much every genre under the sun. At school, Ozzy/Sabbath was often on playlists of people who weren't into other types of metal(since Sabbath appealed to the classic hard rock fans, too.)

Again, nothing here is really groundbreaking what I'm saying. One of my oldest friends and I went to go see him the first time in '96; this was a hell of a gig since it also featured one of the last gigs of Sepultura in their old lineup. We were still teenagers and thought it was crazy cool to see the legend live(and had some pretty damn good near ground-level seats at the Spectrum in Philly, though I think at that point it was the First Union Center, affectionally known as the F.U.C., of course.) I saw him a couple more times after that in some format(Ozzfests, and some other festival IIRC that is escaping me at the moment), and he was always, even after I went way deeper into the extreme and black metal life(which was full on 'yeah, this is me, this is my life now, I was clearly built for inverted crosses and spikes'), Ozzy never ever went away on mine or anyone else's playlists either, that were into extreme metal.

I wished I could've gone to see the final gig; it unfortunately wasn't in the cards(it was hard as fuck to get tickets for it and boy were they pricey), as it would've been awesome to let the little dude also see him once live; he's been starting to get more into some heavy music(though goes between requesting 'the fast drummer' and 'the deep voice' for now), and he showed some interest in seeing a gig. Between me and Mr. Azzy both having seen him, and my mother having seen him, and my big bro having seen him, it'd have been cool to sort of keep the Ozzy seeing in the family, but it can't go on forever, of course, and he has plenty of footage for him to watch. 

But more importantly, I think for me this marks a weird end of another era. With my mother and brother both gone(and my old man now, as well), Ozzy's passing feels like another string that broke away, in a sense. The music and the memories always stick around, of course, and I never got to personally meet Ozzy like I have so many other musicians, but there's still a bit of melancholy there that I can't help but have. Not deep mourning or anything, but still remembering how I continue to have a drink and play Crazy Train every year on my brother's birthday and stuff. 

Anyway, rest well king, say hi to Lemmy, Alexi, my buddy Jon, and anyone else you see over in Valhalla, and you better make that reunion hug you give to Randy count. 

Pandemonium and the Black Flame

I was overthinking music again and came to the realization that, at least to my strangely-wired brainpan, Celtic Frost's 1987 album Into the Pandemonium and 1349's 2009 album Revelations of the Black Flame have a lot more in common that I once might have thought. After hearing ItP discussed in an interview not long ago, I started thinking about this and Revelations and started to see more things. 

Kind of. In abstract sort of way. 

Despite coming out nearly twenty years apart, after time, growth, and my own musical maturity, I was able to see interesting connections here that I didn't before. Maybe not literal ones, but just that these two albums have some things in common that I couldn't appreciate until a bit later on(or I just started looking at things from non-Euclidian angles for some reason.) 

They sound quite different; the similarities aren't in the actual sounds of the albums, necessarily. Revelations of the Black Flame is still 1349 and has its brutal sound, Frost's relentless double bass, and other things they're known for, and Celtic Frost still has Tom's harsh vocals and trademark 'Ugh!', which if you know anything about Celtic Frost, you will know the 'Ugh.' If you don't, this particular blog is going to confuse the hell out of you, but before it does that, just know Tom G. Warrior has a very trademark "UGH."

Okay okay, I'll go into a brief history of CF to prevent such confusion. Celtic Frost was part of what generally gets nicknamed "The 1st wave of Black Metal." These are typically bands from the very late 70s to early 80s that went on to influence a lot of the 2nd wave of black metal(the stuff from Norway, and, well, everywhere else.) It's not black metal as you might know it, but often 'darker versions of some genres at the time.' Bathory, for example, was probably the most black-sounding, but had a lot of thrash influence. Sodom started out as more of a black/thrash combo before moving onto their more classic Teutonic thrash sound. Venom was a very dark version of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal(N.W.O.B.H.M. as its usually seen abbreviated to.) Mercyful Fate was a very dark and satanic version of what really was classic heavy metal. (Note that 1st wave black metal is different from OG Heavy metal like Sabbath, Priest, and other 70s bands, who were the influencers for like, ALL of it, but I digress. I'm just speaking a bit about the early extreme bands.) 

Then we had Celtic Frost, heavily inspired by Discharge and other D-beat hardcore punk at the time, with its driving, trademark beat and dark punkish sound on their first two albums(moreso on their Morbid Tales EP.) They were formed from the ashes of the band Hellhammer, who by the time they split, were already 2/3rds of Celtic Frost(Tom G. Warrior and the late Martin Eric Ein.) 

Okay, so with that brief background out of the way, know that Celtic Frost's original stuff sounded like dark, more brutal, hardcore D-beat inspired music. Very straightforward; To Mega Therion did branch out some more, getting even darker sounding than Morbid Tales, but still very raw. You can go check them out online; they're available anywhere. 

But then came Into the Pandemonium, and with that, instead of another more straightforward, punkish(like Morbid Tales) or punkish-groovy(like To Mega Therion), it has some stranger aspects. There's some orchestration, cleaner vocals mixed in with the rough, some female vocals, breakdowns...there's still those Celtic Frosts riffs in play, but the album is, for the best term I can use, "experimental" in many ways. For one, it opens with a cover of Mexican Radio. Yes, *that* Mexican Radio. From Wall of Voodoo, released in 1982, and not a song you'd expect Celtic Frost to cover. It was indeed a metal version, and a groovy one at that, but man, coming off of Hellhammer's stuff and Celtic Frost's early stuff, I wasn't really sure where it was going.

Really, I feel like this was Celtic Frost showing that they had grown musically quite a bit from their previous albums in their way. 

Now 1349 needs I think less introduction in terms of metal history; they are a 2nd wave Norwegian black metal band, known a whole lot for being the musical equivalent of being lit on fire and beaten to death with a bag of hammers. Put on Hellfire and you will hear exactly what I mean. They've consisted of vocalist Ravn, guitarist Archaon, bassist Seidemann, and drummer Frost(yes, the same one from Satyricon and, in the '90s and '00s, a billion other bands. He was a very in-demand drummer at the time. he still probably is, but just sticks to his main bands nowadays) for a long time now. They previously had a 2nd guitarist Tjalve, but he stepped out of the band after Hellfire, and they've been a four-piece ever since. (They have had an incredibly stable lineup, though, especially for black metal. Besides Tjalve leaving, they had one change back in their demo days, and that's it. Typically, this is a genre where a band's lineup is measured in Planck units instead of years before they swap members.) 

I mentioned how I started to feel how Revelations of the Black Flame has some strange things in common with Into the Pandemonium(indeed, this is the reason why I decided to write this blog-article-thing.) While Maggot Fetus...Teeth like Thorns is probably the closest to what one might expect from 1349(it is an incredible song, too!) it's not quite as fast as some of their typical previous songs(which were generally far more blistering.) It's got an almost galloping beat that goes with some intricate yet still fast double bass and blastbeats in there. It's a 'pit song' for sure, but they do add more layers to it. But then there are other interesting tracks; Uncreation is a seven-minute-long(note: 1349 is no stranger to long songs), mid-tempo atmospheric affair, and Serpentine Sibilance is a dark and grinding, also mid-tempo song that the rhythm section carries in a primal way. 

There are musical interludes as well, in between the songs. Creepy, actually somewhat freakishly demonic sounding interludes adding more to the atmosphere. And "atmosphere" really comes out here, from the production down to songs themselves, it feels more like a ritual sometimes than their previous albums where their goal was to seemingly administer savage beatings through music. 

I would say Into the Pandemonium took me a bit less time to really sink in, but it still took it awhile to move up the list for me. As someone who just could not really get Cold Lake or Vanity/Nemesis(the latter just doesn't make me feel anything, and, well, the band even denies Cold Lake, lol), for awhile my fav Celtic Frost albums were, well, To Mega Therion(a top 5 of all time for me!) and Morbid Tales, with Into the Pandemonium after those. Then 2006's Monotheist came out and was one of the finest 'final albums' from a band before their split that I've heard, and that album eventually became my 2nd favorite Celtic Frost, due to its absolutely stifling, heavy evil atmosphere. 

But then one day(I forget when it was, it happened quite a long time ago), ItP kinda clicked hard with me; I think it may have actually been after Tuska 2006 and not even that long after Monotheist dropped. And you know something, the more I think about this, I don't know if we would've gotten that stiflingly evil album of Monotheist if Celtic Frost *hadn't* decide to go experiment the way they did on ItP. 

I think I thought to write about it NOW, nearly 20 years after the fact, because I started to see those similarities with Revelations and I started to line it up. I wanted to know why I felt that way about the albums the first times I heard them. It wasn't youth(I was 31 when Revelations came out), but perhaps my tastes in the 2000s and before were a little more hardline(as many can be when they are younger in a scene.) 

1349 was, at least at the time for me, a very big left turn. Maybe a bit too much for me at first. Hellfire is often seen as their magnum opus(and for good reason, I do think it's their magnum opus.) It took everything they learned from the previous two albums, added excellent production value, even more blasts and crushing sound. Hellfire is one of the most brutal black metal albums around and often even offered up as "Essential Listening" for those who like their black metal on the harsh, unforgiving, and brutal side. But I also think the experimenting they did on Revelations did actually allow them to add some more grooves and atmosphere to their later albums, as well. The more I think about it, after Hellfire, I'm not sure how much nastier they could've gotten. I feel like they perfected that sound with that album, and perhaps really had to go somewhere else, lest they just release Hellfire II. And while Hellfire II might have sounded awesome, would Hellfire III? Or IV? I'm not so sure. I can't blame the band for not wanting to be one-note. 

But the more I listened, I mentioned I saw those similarities. Experimental albums, both of which swapped previous styles for something different(yet not complete departures.) Both include some very strange cover song picks, between Mexican Radio and Set Controls For the Heart of the Sun(Pink Floyd, if you didn't know.) Revelations went for a very dark, more stifling atmosphere, Pandemonium went for some more groovy metal sound(though with it's own eerie interludes. Both in ways somewhat challenging to get into if you come at it from the wrong angle, almost like trying to line up a shot in the wind. Come at it head on, and you're going to get blown off course, but approach it from a different angle, and it might hit that bull's eye. 

Oh yeah, they both involve Tom G. Warrior, amusingly enough. Did I mention he was one of the producers on Revelations? Now I have. So there's that tie-in, which I do find pretty interesting and awesome, as well. 

I do feel they share that other aspect of "Peaking with their previous sound." To Mega Therion I think was the summit and crowning achievement of the original Celtic Frost sound(which had advanced from Hellhammer, remember), and Hellfire perfected 1349's "set on fire and murdered in a dark alley with hammers" sound. While CF would continue experimenting(perhaps not that successfully until the monumentally good Monotheist, which just nailed everything), 1349 would start mixing what they learned from Revelations with their unforgiving, brutal sound and start creating even more layered albums that were nonetheless journeys in lightning fast percussion and crushing guitars, only with more atmosphere this time.( FWIW, 2019's The Infernal Pathway is my 2nd favorite album of theirs, which I feel like really did capture the brutality, speed and the evil atmosphere pretty perfectly.)

I also think they're interesting in that neither album necessarily became a favorite from either band for me. This isn't a story of "Now these albums are my favorites," but "I 'get them' so much more now and really enjoy them for what they are because I examined them under a new light." 

ItP, again, I'd rate third(not bad for a band with only 6 albums), and I do probably put Revelations at the end of 1349's discography, BUT I appreciate what they did on the albums, a lot more these days. I can genuinely say 1349 has an 'all good' discography if someone asks me, where some years back I'd have said 'You could probably ignore Revelations.' Now, I would suggest that folks actually give it a listen. Hell, if their other stuff is too fast and brutal, or if Celtic Frost's first couple of albums are too raw and punkish, it may be these albums might click with you more for all I know. 

So...yeah. This wasn't so much a review of play-by-play of each album(I wasn't planning on it to be exactly that), but for those who haven't listened to them yet, you can listen for yourself and make your own decisions. Perhaps if you're from the outside you might not hear the weird similar aspects; if anything I almost feel like this is me overthinking music again like I am wont to do. 

'Til next time, when we'll see what I talk about next(and when that might be!)