Jus starting this because we don’t have any threads for general random music discussion. I usually put any kinds of posts like this in the random thread, and there’s the AOTY threads every year, but those are meant for current releases specifically.
Any and all genres obviously.
To kick it off:
When I was recently doing this Metal catch-up, I listened to a little bit of basically every type of style and subgenre, also including some bands I had never heard before. So there was a week or so stretch of that where I was specifically trying to find more bands similar to Mastodon, Tool, Cynic, etc. All completely different bands, but all fall under that trippier, drugged out approach in different forms. So there was a lot of combing through Reddit recommendations and shit and I stumbled on Psychonaut. Idk if yall ever heard them before but if not, you need to. They’re phenomenal. They’re like a perfect hybrid of Mastodon, Gojira, and Tool all in one, and executed PERFECTLY. They’re great overall, but this song specifically is fucking insane. That main reoccurring riff is one of the most infectious riffs I ever heard and I was instantly stuck on it the second it first played lmao. It’s their most played song on Spotify and for good reason so start here cause if this doesn’t catch you then the rest definitely won’t:
https://youtu.be/Ux7caqShL4A
Then away from that, there was a Black Metal stretch. Was never too big on the genre because the wall of sound effect combined wit the mostly piss poor engineering created mostly unmemorable music for me where all the bands essentially sounded the same. But there was always select standouts that I loved so I checked anyways, and I ended up listening to Rotting Christ’s most recent album, The Heretics. They’re obviously one of the big names in the genre, but they’re one that even back then, I never checked out. Might’ve heard a song or 2, but definitely never fully listened. So this was my first time ever actually listening to them, and got damn, this is prolly my favorite Black Metal album of all time lmao. Granted it’s not pure traditional Black Metal and it’s definitely a hybrid, (Shit I listened in the first place because they were like the top result when I Googled “Melodic Black Metal bands” lmao.) but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Black Metal album that is front to back catchy and loaded wit straight up ANTHEMS like this. I mean those words are oxymorons to the genre as a whole lmao. Not to mention it’s extremely polished as far as engineering goes, and that adds so much to the atmosphere they were going for. Considering how much of an impression this album left on me, I obviously checked out more and I ended up listening to the like 4 or 5 most recent albums before this one, and unfortunately none of them are nearly as good as this one, this is definitely their pinnacle for me. And I wasn’t gonna go even further back cause the older the album, the more traditional Black Metal it was, which does nothing for me. But as it stands, Goddamn this album specifically is a masterpiece. This song from it is one of my most played tracks of 2023 on my Spotify charts lmao. This shit fucking RIDES:
https://youtu.be/I4LDxWlveKE
Also, Rivers Of Nihil’s album “Where Owls Know My Name” is fucking phenomenal. Sadly the other 3 don’t hit the same at all. The first 2 are more traditional Death Metal and don’t really stand out that much, and the most recent that came after it is a continuation of that sound, but a lot slower and not as intriguing IMO. Still tho, they’re definitely on my radar now, cause that record is insane.
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