Go and live your passion

  I didn't enjoy the May'25 releases that much. Very few caught my attention and I'll continue to listen to them in the future months. Even some of the albums in the list below can't be considered so strong. It is a very heavy list, though, and at this point in time, it was the best I could gather as proof of my enjoyment of the new music. Naturally, most of my choices are black metal and death metal, and some cringeworthy stuff as well. I won't comment much this time, but the first five or six albums will definitely be in my various AOTY lists. The last 4 are here just because of the momentary lapse (lack) of reason and were severely dependent on my mood.  Was there a clear winner of the Album of the Month prize? Not really because every one of the first five albums in this list could be No. 1, depending on the mood. Finally, I decided to put Kaevum on top because this is the way BM should be - UG, raw, straightforward, no trends, no fun and games, no sympho crap, ...

My notes on the new releases schedule in April 2025 featured too many new albums, and I trimmed everything down to 35 releases, which I decided to include in the present publication. I really wanted to include as many as possible. Not that there weren't more that deserved attention. The 35 below might have the chance to stay with me longer than expected. (probably until next week when another portion of new albums will flood us all 😂).  In fact, April delivered. There are some really good albums that I did enjoy. Of course, everything depends on the mood and the circumstances. There is probably something for everyone below. However, when I thought about the Album of the month, I couldn't decide on a clear favourite. My favourites over the recent years - LIK and Blood Abscission (my love for both is well-known), and even Machine Head, were potential candidates. As a huge MGLA worshiper, I listened to a lot of Varnheim. Tenebrae Aeternum blew me away during a month of listening ...

  March was full of new releases by many bands. That's why, for the third month of 2025, I will give you 25 albums in my regular monthly list, plus another 8, just in case. In total 33. These deserve high attention. I praise them as the best out of the big pile of new albums coming out daily. This can't be stopped anymore, and I am super tired. Of course, it is impossible to listen to everything, no matter how hard I try (at least in the genres I prefer). A few big names didn't make my list, and for a reason.  The question is always "what is going to stay with me in the upcoming months/years? What am I taking with me, what will stay longer?" Just because the list below could have been 50 albums long, but so what?! Even many of these 30 will be forgotten, and I'll barely return to them even in the following days. Yeah, this is the time we are living in - fast food everywhere.  By the way, the list below is also a nice mix of several genres that hardly go togeth...

February 2025 was a solid month. I listened to many new albums and the selection below only proves there were good ones. A 30-album selection is not happening very often most recently, especially in times of constant flood of new records (of mediocrity).  I tried to make a split in the selection, and there is a kind of top 20 and then another 10 very special mentions. Anyway, it could all be taken as one whole pile of stuff to be checked for those who haven't yet. All these are good and enjoyable albums that differ from the pedestrian release schedule that happens every Friday or every day of the week.  And I keep buying a lot of records, new albums or klassiks, my collection grows and grows. There is one clear album of the month for me. HANGMAN'S CHAIR's Saddiction took all the bells and whistles in February 2025. Soooo good, so melancholic, and so drowning into sadness. Then follows the rest, and the list here is somehow in a particular order this time. As I mentioned abo...

I still listen to the 2024 overlooked records and here it is - another month went by, so a new monthly list is on the way. It was a very weak January 2025, and there are very few albums that I can recommend. They won't have the power to stay long. I don't have much to say about the quality, yet the quantity was again dominant. The below 17 albums are the most solid thing I can come up with when we discuss new releases in January 2025. I liked them, I played them and they are my solid choices.  Album of the month? The Night Flight Orchestra took it over Faithxtractor at the very last moment simply because it will stay longer with me in the foreseeable future. I have loved TNFO for ages now and the nostalgia they bring. On the other hand, Faithxtractor delivered blistering death metal again! All the rest that follow are worth mentioning in the order of the appearance below. And of course, depending on the mood, they all serve different purposes in different circumstances. I recom...

Here's the final list for 2024. Looking it from the high level, it is shit, isn't it? It is a strange compilation of my top death metal albums, my top black metal albums plus some others that I liked a lot in 2024. Actually, I don't like it as a whole. This year it was all about quantity, not about quality. What will be the standing power of these albums? Are we going to forget about them in a week when the new release schedule cycle begins again? What are we going to cherish from the fast food called modern music? No memory, no purpose, just moving forward. Yes, in between these 50 (I could easily make it 100 list), few that will stand the test of time. They made a solid impression and made a good year out of 2024. A good year, not an outstanding one.  I ranted about it during the whole year, and I'll continue to do so.  Before I go to the AOTY list, here are two links that might be of useful: MY TOP 50 BLACK METAL ALBUMS OF 2024 and MY TOP 50 DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF 202...

I already published  MY TOP 50 BLACK METAL ALBUMS OF 2024 , so here comes the DEATH METAL of 2024! Death Metal did OK in 2024, with some really impressive releases! Now I take the opportunity to present what I listened to the most, what made me the best impression, and what I spent most time with during this already gone worthless year.  After careful consideration, ULCERATE's cutting throats album took the highest spot. The severe competition came from Absolute Elsewhere which is super close behind. I'll keep on listening to these two in the future. And not only that. The whole list consists of very good albums that have the potential to stay a bit longer than usual. Let's see. If you follow closely this blog, you may notice that many of the albums were part of my monthly lists and are already popular for the scene in 2024. However, I can assure you that some popular names are not present on the list though. You won't find Undeath here for example. I just could not squ...

  It is again that time of the year when we reflect back and prepare the AOTY lists. As usual, I have a Black Metal Top List, Death Metal Top List, and AOTY List of course. And here we go! Here's MY TOP 50 BLACK METAL ALBUMS OF 2024 list - the black metal albums I liked the most, made the best impression, and spent the most time with. Probably this list is too unkvlt, to pretentious, too colorful or contains equally some mainstream hipster albums along with some UG ones. So what?! Did I like the albums? Yes. Are they good? Yes.  In fact, there are 51 names there, starting from 0 because, above all the 2024 releases, there is a release that was recorded live in 2015 and represents a 1999 album. Technically it’s not a new album. However Marduk's Beast of Prey is the most intense and tight thing you can hear in 2024, not only in the black metal sphere. After that comes the whole list with 50 new releases, so in total 51 albums are present there. I can fairly say that Paysage d’Hi...

November brought a lot of new albums and some quality. This is how I can describe it; the present list proves it. It is a long list. I decided to include (almost) everything I liked. A list of 20 and then another 16 that made me a good impression. I wanted to leave the 16 as a reminder to revisit because there is something in them. Slow burners? Nah, they are better in comparison to many in the huge pile. There are more records in my notebook that didn't make the cut, but it is a far too long list anyway. - Ulver delivered in the very end of the month and won over Paysage d'Hiver the album of the month prize! My love for synth Ulver is enormous and it is another magnificent album that transcends me into spaces and times.  - Paysage's new album is fantastic as well, much in the veins of Im Wald. This is the main reason I liked it so much.  - Nekus really completes the top 3 with their cavernous death doom and I can say that it is what the new Spectral Voice should have been....