|
1.
|
Nina Hagen - live at Fürstenhof Tanzpalast
1986. Seriously digging Nina lately, exploring her whole discography. I think this concert is a great synthesis. Her voice as well as her charisma just transcends me. It's great to find original music written by talented people. |
|
2.
|
Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield
1984. I got hooked with this song. The albums aren't satisfying though, with cool but forgettable songs, repetitive, and washed out with a bunch of sounds left and right. |
|
3.
|
Diamanda Galas
suggested by random youtubers under a Nina Hagen video. She also has incredible vocal capacities, but it's not the same music. It's an atmospheric, dark, sad, hellish music, made of drones, slow drum hits, insistant piano parts, litanic singing. She speaks and declame horrific lyrics, then raises her voice way up and split the notes to produce a haunting scream. I'm not turned on yet, I am just intrigued. It's clearly not enjoyable, but it's a new form of expression for me. Reminds me of Gnaw Their Tongues and Lingua Ignota a bit. I have to dig this more. |
|
4.
|
Indochine - 3
1986. This one is a famous album in France, from a famous pop/electro/rock/new-wave idk band. Often mocked for its cheesiness. It is true that the lyrics are awfully written, and that the singer has this typical "french singer from the 80s" voice, which sound pretty stupid. The music is also repetitive. The album is also weak, with a couple of very bad songs. But you have some hits here and there, and some good ideas. I think I like a bit of it, and that's great since it's music "casual" people normally relate to. (Not that I was socially pressured to listen to this or anything). |
 |
5.
|
Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King
1986 This one is still perfect one every listen. It's not a discovery at all but since I enjoy it a lot I can throw it here. It just sets a standard. (also it's against the rules to post a list wihout metal in it ahah) Actually this album is 11/10, perfect on every aspect and I'm soon on my 1000th listen |
 |
6.
|
VooDoo KungFu - Celestial Burial
2019 This was staff picked in 2019. I'm kinda the only one who checked it. Have to say it's a shame. This is a badass mix of chinese folk and alt-metal. The singer is pretty awesome. The metal parts kick and groove. The folk part are immersive and great. |
|
7.
|
Nina Hagen - Nunsexmonkrock
1982 best NH album heard yet, with a ton of trippy effects. It's a great moment of fun, and the vocals are obviously really impressive |
|
8.
|
Eskaton - 4 Visions
1982 One of the best prog album ever, from an unknown French zeuhl band. Thanks Karlabos for showing me this years ago, it's been a revelation. I recently got my hand on the lyrics, now I can try to sing along. They were hard to understand because of the speed and poor production. I'm surprised by the content, that is actually charming distopian scifi stories. |
|
9.
|
Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs - Dans An Diaoul
2008 This is one of the local band everyone knows down here, altough it struck me metalstormers might in fact not know this one. It's a mix of punk with traditionnal britton dances/singing. I'm revisiting this. Quite repetitive as expected, but the music is pumping and the biniou are always fun to listen too. I invite any fan of folk metal to check this. |
|
10.
|
Les Soeurs Goadec - Ar C'hoarezed Goadec
1973 While I'm at it, I'll also link actual britton singers, which I knew by name but never botherd to check. My roots are there. Thing is that the singing is very very repetitive, but also soothing in a way. I like this structure somehow, using call and response. One sentence x2, chorus x2, repeat. Same with zeuhl. It's also meant to be dance so that's why. It's also great to hear them burst in laughs from time to time, trying to keep the difficult syncopation of their phrase. |
 |
11.
|
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones
2010 Thanks MS awards for forgeting Triptykon in the symphonic category this year, for someone to complain about it in the forums and lead me to their Requiem which I've been unaware of. I forgot how much I like this band. Rex Irae is an un forgetable song, and the orchestration was really delicious. I also skipped Into The Pandemonium, so it might be next on the list |
 |
12.
|
Celtic Frost - Into The Pandemonium
1986 well, quite an inconsistent album |
|
13.
|
Starbenders - Live From Maze
2021 popping in my youtube thread. This is a glam rock band, from nowadays. Sounds like a mix of Marmozets and Heart? The singer looks like Ann Wilson, sure. She doesn't sing the same way at all though. There's a lot of pop elements in it too. The guitars are rather psychedelic. Well, I'm not buying it but it's surprising. |
 |
14.
|
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.
damn! I missed this one in 2020! And I actually heard it on french radio, can you believe it? Well it's a great album, love the soft rock approach as well as groovy odd signature, and all the microtonal instrumentation. It's a real banger! |
|
15.
|
Brown Sabbath - lives on KEXP
2015 The other day I was in my car, listening to the everlasting CDs I keep for travel, and this time it was Black Sabbath spinning once again. On "Fairies Wear Boots" I found myself groovig a lot, and I wondered this piece has ever been danced too. It a strong hard rock after all. So back home I searched for such things, which I did not find, but I've come across this band. Brown Sabbath. It's a funk/jazz band covering early BS. And it's great. |
|
16.
|
Kristofer Maddigan - Cuphead OST
2017. I played Cuphead, but you don't get to clearly hear the music, with all the sfx over it, and also the quickness of some fights. Moreover you have so much to focus on gameplay-wise that I didn't truely listen to the soundtrack. And it's a damn shame, since this music is so good. Grooving so hard! There's a clear evidence that I'm fed up with metal when a jazz soundtrack captivates me this much. Hear all the licks, the aggressive timbre of the brass, the virtuosity of the pianists... The drummer and percusionnist kill it, and it's so good to hear the actual sound of the drums. Not some overcompressed triggered and sampled stupid blastbeats. Modern metal doesn't know about timbre. It doesn't know about dynamics. Everything is saturated or compressed for the sake of the loudness, or to embrace some kind of mediocre standard. Well this OST has a super vibe and a wide diversity of tunes. Play the game if you haven't. |
 |
17.
|
Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness
2002. Holy drums! I knew Immortal a bit (abbith) but this is thrashing af. I especially love the title track, I got all those snare rolls in my head. So see, that's what I like : all musicians on this record are killing, all instruments shine, the sound is great, the album is consistent. It's been a while I haven't enjoyed a metal album this much, and I shall dig Immortal furthermore. |
|
18.
|
Shub Niggurath (FR) - Les Morts Vont Vite
1986. I already knew this album, but gosh I have to feature it in a list. This is an obscure Lovecraft themed zheul band. The music is rather dark, atmospheric blend of jazz, zheul, noise. It's very unique, intriguing and genuinely feels scary. The female singer does her best at singing the most dissonant stuff possible, clashing against the piano and the winds. Go check this if you like dark, atmoshperic or progressive music. |
|
19.
|
Guesch Patti - Labyrinthe
1987. "Etienne, Etienne, Etienne" I had stuck in my mind. "Who sings that already?" I asked myself. This old song I may have heard once on the radio. Guesch Patti. Well since I want this out of my head, let's hear the actual song in full to exorcise it. And then I got blown away by the singing, this girl actually has so much talent. I'm glad to add her along Nina Hagen and Diamanda. She can scream, go really really high, have a nice low tone, and exudes so much personnality. "Triangle" is a really great song. EDIT: There's something else with the high she can reach. She has a whistle register and can hit B7 as far as I encountered. She screams, she can add timbre, and I'll take her over any glam singer wannabe. Cause I stated it already but she has a lot of personnality, variations, dynamics... Some of her songs are well written too. I'm disappointed she's oly known for one song. |
|
20.
|
Jean-Louis Costès - Cinq Dents
2014 This guy is mad. He's like a one-man porngrind band, in the spirit, but without the musical elemtents. It's more like noise. It's more like a man shouting funny stories about piss and poop in a mic. Like it could just be vulgar, but's there's something else. He's a great actor. He manages to be funny, song after song. Also they're not devoid of message somtimes. And this madman operates since the 80s, little I knew. Thing is he also has talent as a writer. There's some serious album, written with a topic in mind, like "Le Gasoil Est Trop Cher", and it manages to strike hard. |
 |
21.
|
Pharaoh - The Powers That Be
2021 at last something I like from 2021. This is US power, reminding me of Control Denied a lot. Because the singer sounds the same. The songs are covered in incredible guitar leads, and inventive riff writing. The production is a bit lacking but it's not a major problem, in the end im just amazed by the musicianship |
 |
22.
|
KISS - Asylum
1985. Yes I like it. There's a couple of great tunes hear. I mean, only so few, but I'm Alive is especially good with this Racer X vibe. The singing is top notch, as well as the production. Well comes the time I have to admit im a KISS fan or what?? |
 |
23.
|
Morbid Angel - Covenant
1993. Another well known classic that never fails to entertain me. David Vincent is expressive. Trey always has interesting and goofy and funny ideas. But I'm particularly watching Pete Sandoval. There's also so much to his drumming, from punk to thrash to death. His blastbeats are never boring. His tom rolls are fast as hell. The underlying groove is unmatched in every song. Thanks Youtube for all the covers it can provide |
|
24.
|
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
1977. Great singer, great songs. What else to say? I like to listen to him from time to time, he has such power and range and expression. The songs are funky too, and somewhat progressive in their writing. They are pretty long but never lose the listener's attention |
 |
25.
|
W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.
1984. I'm trying to sing lately, and Blackie Lawless's voice is still a mistery to me. It's so gritty. Also really high. There's a bunch of cool songs on this album, a shame Animal is only a bonus track |
|
26.
|
Cristopher Larkin - Hollow Knight OST
2014 great OST with a consequent number of epic themes, perfectly matching the mood of the game. Special mentions for Hornet 1, Queen's Garden and Failed Knight |
|
27.
|
Kow Otoni - Shadow Of The Colussus OST
2005. So now that I write about videogames OST I can't help but quoting this one. The one. Epicness and mistery. |
|
28.
|
Shiro Sagisu - Neon Genesis Evangelion OST
1995. As well as Kare Kano's. Such a beautiful blend of classic, jazz and rock novellty. The orchestral pieces are mesmerizing, with this special harmony made of parallel fourth and non functionnal stuff. It leaves an untarnishable memory in my mind. |
 |
29.
|
Big Brave - Vital
2021 drone, noise, stoner. It feels like it's always the same song, album after album, but it's always a pleasure to listen to this gritty materia, with the delightful singing above it. The way she flips into head voice always kills me. |
 |
30.
|
Hiraes - Solitary
2021 melodeath. Reminiscent of Arch Enemy. In Flames too. But with more substance and atmosphere. There's a bit of epicness to their song. It's the usual melodeath soup but really well executed. It's their first album too, so nice try! |
|
31.
|
Inheritance - Black Night
2021 [EP] oldschool heavy/speed. The first thing you will notice is the unusual singer. He's singing high pitches, in a King Diamond fashion somewhat, but it's note quite like it. It's over the top and oscillates from great to laughable. Nonetheless the EP is cool to listen too, there's a bit of Bütcher or Mekong Delta in it by some aspects. Really dirty sound and extreme attempts at being fast or sounding evil. |
|
32.
|
Dirty Tricks - Bright Lights, Big City
2021 [EP] oldschool heavy/hardrock. Most so called oldschool bands often fail to offer engaging music, and a proper mix which sounds old, but with all the good points of old. Dirty Tricks did it. I could complain about the straightforwardness of the songs, of the lack of power of the vocals, but they compiled 4 really punchy sons in this EP |
|
33.
|
Clown Core - Van
2021 Electro/breakcore/metal/alternative/clown. One clown rips the drums while another reaps the saxophone. They mak funny noises and eventually shit on the keyboard. Jokes aside, their music is really great and should appeal to any Igorrr or HAH fan |
 |
34.
|
Candlemass - Nightfall
I really like Messiah's voice, so operatic, and bewitched is a great song |
|
35.
|
Yes - 90125
classis album for prog rock. Some tunes are really heavy and the album is intersting from strat to finish |
|
36.
|
Jean-Louis Costes
alright, so the truth is that I've been digging Costes a lot. I did 24 albums and 350 songs by now. It's not that good. It deals with poop, blood, cunt, sodomy, racism, shit, love, hate, suicide, sperm, etc... Somehow I keep listening because he keeps on surprisong me. It can be funny. The music can be great. The speech can be smart. So far his best albums are "Sorcière" (a love album), "Pas Encore Mort" (about suicide), "L'Avantgarde De L'Hopital" (about madness), "Aux Chiottes" (about public WC and shit), "Trash Romantique" (best of on piano), "Le Gasoil Est Trop Cher" (against our government), and "Terminator Moule" (where he tries to kill every woman on earth because he hates their pussy)... Although such a catalog starts to make me question my own sanity. Most music sounds blandly habitual to me now. Costes is garbage noise and stupid, but somehow I pay attention... So it's true that 2021 is another journey, where shall I end? |
 |
37.
|
Suffocation - Live In North America
2021 It's always the same with Suffo. Clean smart elegant techdeath. They often have the same setlist, but they worked real hard to get their dearest songs almost perfect. On top of that the sound engineer did marvels. This live record is astonishing. |
 |
38.
|
Tower - Shock To The System
2021. I often click on whatever labelled as "heavy metal", hoping it would be fun at least. Most of the time of least interest. To frank when I clicked on Tower I wasn't expecting much. The artwork and titles weren't especially intriguing. But the singing just blew me away, such a fierce voice. Also the guitar tones are just like I like them. The proper oldschool way. I can hear some H-Bomb and Warlock in this. So at last, a good OSHM album this year. |
