[EphelDuath666]

yeah, I agree on the vocals...I'm German myself but a strong German accent in English just doesn't sound nice. Anyways, Scarve's Irradiant does rule indeed!

Here's a record I often forget, though excellent.

Anyone ever heard a trip-hop album called "Bloom", by a band called Crustation ?
I can't even remember where I got it, I had it on mp3 without the band or album's name... 2 years later I made someone listen to a song and he came back with the information. I was happy to have a chance to find more of this, only to read that they did only this album then disbanded... Meeeh...

But it's really good. Beautiful, not the happiest record out there, quite melancholic in fact, but not depressing. The girl singing on this has a really nice voice, how could I say... a "velvet voice".

I've checked out a few reviews, and most considered it one of the best trip-hop album, as good as Portishead stuff.

(If anyone has read the manga Blame! (which I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone, it's now published in the US), listening to this songs pops up many pictures of the manga in my mind, with a bit less exterminator safeguards, and just a bit more humans, but not that much.)

uaral - sounds of pain

if you thought my dying bride or empyrium was sad, you were right.

only this is way sadder and depressing. but astoundingly awesome!

chilean doom (take some prozac or risperdal before hearing it, i mean it)

I've been on a Breach binge recently, the Godbox Ep is essential listening to all Hardcore/Cult of Luna/whatever fans.

[EphelDuath666]

for those who haven't seen it in the "review forum"...there IS actually a new Riverside song posted on progarchives...didn't know that
http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive ... d=9336#mp3

Zappa-Hot Rats
In my humble opinion a real pre-devy devy
ooh and Arcturis-Sideshow Symphonies

[EphelDuath666]

Jääportit - Uumenissa


Mr. Dunkelheit has been whoring for this, I checked it out and it blew me away so I ordered this Album and WOW...awesomeness!!! 60 minutes of amazing ambience. If you like ambient music then you have to check this stuff out. It's just one dude from Finland but he sure knows what he does. That stuff sounds cold as ice but so beautiful. I'm sure that's exactly what Scandinavia feel like in winter. It's all very mellow and relaxing, you will hardly find any beats on this record and if so, then only so few that it doesn't get stressful in any way. It's quite moving at times in my opinion. The song Maa Pirstaleista is a perfect example for that (you can listen to it at the music site of Jääportit).

The website is:
http://www.jaaportit.net/
and you can find songs at this location:
http://www.mikseri.net/artists/?id=33849

Jääportit - Uumenissa


Mr. Dunkelheit has been whoring for this, I checked it out and it blew me away so I ordered this Album and WOW...awesomeness!!! 60 minutes of amazing ambience. If you like ambient music then you have to check this stuff out. It's just one dude from Finland but he sure knows what he does. That stuff sounds cold as ice but so beautiful. I'm sure that's exactly what Scandinavia feel like in winter. It's all very mellow and relaxing, you will hardly find any beats on this record and if so, then only so few that it doesn't get stressful in any way. It's quite moving at times in my opinion. The song Maa Pirstaleista is a perfect example for that (you can listen to it at the music site of Jääportit).

The website is:
http://www.jaaportit.net/
and you can find songs at this location:
http://www.mikseri.net/artists/?id=33849

Tempted..

pelican, ulver and explosions in the sky! some really good mood music

[EphelDuath666]

The Deserts Of Träun - Part III: The Lilac Moon



Thanks to psychotic I was able to check out this really cool Album. It's the solo project of a dude called David Murray who has (if I remember it right) worked with Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3. It's basically like video game music meets fantasy, Noir, Death Metal, Black Metal, World Music meets electronic music. What a wild mix but it all flows extremely well. It's like a crazy soundtrack for a fantasy movie or video game. The drumming in some songs is really amazing. And you can definitely hear the "The Dark Crystal" influence in there. Good stuff. And the whole Album does actually tell a story...but mostly without words. You can find some information on that if you follow this link:
http://people.ucsc.edu/~dav19pt5/trippi ... notes.html

David Murray's site is:
http://people.ucsc.edu/~dav19pt5/

and you can listen to quite a few samples when you follow this link:
http://www.turbo-music.de/shop/catalog/ ... s_id/48092

30 Seconds To Mars

ive known about this band for a while but never really checked them out. the album production is very good. the music is just good hard rock, some cool electronic stuff in the back ground or intros to songs. singer is very good. most songs range 4-5mins and they are really catchy

im just listening to the album first time now, its really great

some samples are available here: http://music.download.com/8om/3600-8652 ... 58180.html

enjoy

Pagan's Mind: Enigmatic Calling


Pagan's Mind is mainly a progressive metal band mixed with some power metal. Their music is mostly about mankind originally being created and placed on earth by "Aliens". Some very melodic parts and some more extreme parts. This is their newest album, and they have two others: (Infinity Divine, Celestial Entrance). They're one of my favourite bands at the moment.

If you want to check them out, some good songs would be: The Celestine Prophecy, Enigmatic Calling, Dimensions of Fire, or Aegean Shores.

[EphelDuath666]

*bump*

Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis



Holy crap! Poland strikes again! Now that's a kick in the nuts! This Album certainly is the best Death Metal record that I have heard since Behemoth's Demigod. Imagine Meshuggah's Chaosphere gone Death Metal with some Industrial vibes and you know what this sounds like and this record does sound awesome! I'm very pleased with the production and the bass drum sound is delicious! It's only 32 minutes long but that's probably good, otherwise it would be too much for an average brain! Anyways, give this a shot if you like your Death Metal brutal, technical and cold. To quote Mr. Wombat: "Brutalicious!"
Here's a sample:
http://www.earache.com/bands/decapitate ... omo/01.mp3

[EphelDuath666]

Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress



I recommended their debut and I will recommend their second Album as well. This one is even better than 'Symmetric In Design'. It's not a whole lot different but it's better musically. And I do like their stuff much better than the recent Soilwork Albums. The vocals are more diverse. Their singer pulls off Death growls, Melodic Death screams and really great clean vocals. Makes me wonder how well he does that live. And there's at least one solo in every song (!!!) Anyways, great record. If you like Soilwork then you will forget about them once you listened to this CD.

Listen to some samples in crappy quality:
http://www.nuclearblast-musicshop.de/in ... nd_id=1524

Björk - Live at the Royal Opera House DVD



After I checked out her Albums I had to order this DVD because it got such great reviews on Amazon and it definitely deserves it. The sound is great and if you like her vocal style then you'll be blown away because she sings each song perfectly. The concert basically consists of almost all songs from her Album 'Vespertine' and then about 2 songs or so from the previous CD's. The sound is great and the show is pretty cool too. There's an orchestra, a choir, etc. . The concert itself is about an hour and a half long. I only paid 11 Euros for this and am VERY pleased. You can check out an mp3 of this concert and a video sample when you follow this link:

http://unit.bjork.com/specials/rohdvd/


Massive Attack - Mezzanine



Finally checked out this CD and it's great! It's the only Massive attack CD that I have listened to so far but I like it a lot! It's really cool and chilling and mostly electronic music with both female vocals and (spoken) male vocals. Really nice stuff to chill to and great from start to finish. I will have to check out more of their music. You can listen to some samples here:

http://www.virginmusic.de/xml/5/3250859/8455992.html

[EphelDuath666]

Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - In The Heart Of The Moon



I more or less accidently found this one on Amazon and for some reason gave it a listen and loved the samples. It's 2 guys from Africa playing accoustic music. That might not sound very exciting but I can assure you, it's great stuff! The musicianship is fantastic and the songs are just beautiful! With the usual stereotypes in mind people wouldn't expect this to coem from Africa...maybe rather latin America. The songs are mostly completely instrumental with only 2 exceptions. Another definite recommendation! And as I just found out looking for a website, Ali Farka Touré died last month...RIP

listen to some samples here, it's worth it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AQ ... oding=UTF8


Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance



WOW...what an Album!!! This is so far one of the Top 3 of the year for me so far with DTB's Synchestra and Ihsahn's The Adversary. I already loved Viva Emptiness but TGCD is even better in my opinion. It's maybe a bit easier to get into, the production is fantastic...you don't often get to hear such a clean production. There's no bad song on this one. You can listen to it from start to finnish and won't be disappointed. "In The White" definitely is one of the best songs of the year. Awesome stuff! Imagine Opeth gone Porcupine Tree and you know what this sounds like.

http://www.katatonia.com
and listen to a sample or watch a video here: http://katatonia.com/av.php


Tori Amos - Welcome to Sunny Florida DVD + CD



I finally bought this DVD/CD package a while ago and I was blown away. Now I will admit that Tori looked a bit weird when she played that show but musically it's brilliant stuff. It's 2 hours of great songs such as Crucify, A Sorta Fairytale, Your Cloud, Cornflake Girl, Hey Jupiter and many more. It's only Tori with 3 pianos, a bass player and a drummer. The show is rather minimalistic but well, what can you expect form that kind of music...certainly no pyro stuff. I guess what I said about Björk also works for Tori...you either love her or hate her. In addition to the live DVD you get a CD with outtakes from the Scarlet's Walk recording sessions. 6 songs to be exact and all of them are great as well. If you know and like Tori's music then this is a must have...if you don't know her stuff then it's worth to check it out!

http://www.toriamos.com
you can listen to some samples on her site


Kataklysm - In The Arms Of Devastation



People who like Death Metal with some blastbeats and groove should check out the new Kataklysm record. I got into their stuff about 3 years ago and loved them ever since. But compared to their last 3 Albums (only know those) this one is a bit slower and more focused on the 'groove' I'd say. While 'Serenity In Fire' was a blastbeat inferno, the new Album is quite the groove monster. They proved with their last record how fast blastbeats can be so no need to do the same thing again, that's why I appreciate the new effort. There's also 2 guest vocalists on this Album. The 'Into Eternity" singer and...yes...Kittie's singer Morgan. You can't go wrong with this Album. And the cover artwork rules!

http://www.kataklysm.net


[b)Harold Budd - The White Arcades[/b]



On my ongoing search for more Ambient music, I found this very cool Album by an artist called Harold Budd (god, I love Amazon!!) As far as I know he was one of the first people that made Ambient music and he also collaborated with Brian Eno, who is considered the father of Ambient. This CD is almost 20 years old already, if I'm not mistaken. But it's great stuff. beautiful soundscapes with nice piano melodies. You don't hear at all how old this record already is. If you like Ambient, you should give this a try.
you can check out some samples here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B6 ... oding=UTF8