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Hey KYM. I was wondering if we could do an album review thread. It will go like this. We post an album and someone listens to it, then reviews it. Whoever reviewed it, must post an album cover as well and it keeps going. When posting an album cover, put the (band name- name of album). Here's the first album to review.
(The Fall of Troy- Doppelganger)

I like this idea, a nice chance to discover new bands and music.

I'm currently around 35 minutes into Doppelganger, and I like it. I looked them up on wikipedia before writing this, so I had a bit of info about the band members.

The band members have a great technical ability, but they don't overdo it here. Some bands like to show off their skills, but I don't notice that here. The audible bass is nice, I often miss that.

The guitarists are really good. The riffs, moments of chaos and solos are great. I can't say something negative about them here. It's awesome how one of the vocalists can sing, and play this stuff at the same time.

The bassist isn't that noticeable, but you can definitely hear him, which is already good for me. It's cool that he has some small solo-ish parts, as near the end of 'Tom Waits'.

The drummer doesn't stick to standard drum beats, but gets creative, which is great. Again, can't really say something negative about him.

The use of two vocalists is cool. The clean vocals sound good to me, can't really say something about them. But when the clean vocalist goes from clean to screamed vocals (I think it's the same one that does those transitions), he starts to sound weird. I don't really like those moments.
The screamed ones are pretty good too, but at some moments, they get a little 'iffy'. The guy can scream for sure, he just gets a tad bit annoying at some times.

I'd give this album a 8 / 10
Instrumental wise, this band is really good. It's just the (screamed) vocals at times that won't let me give this album a higher score. I'll definitely listen to more of this band's music!

The next album is by a band I started to really like over the past few weeks:
Battle Magic by Bal-Sagoth.

Here's a link to a youtube playlist of it

oh boy, album reviews

i've only known bal-sagoth for their album the chtonic chronicles, because whenever i searched for taiwanese black/folk metal band chthonic this album popped up.

i'll start off with the overall sound of the album, which i find really hard to get into. the intro battle magic sounded horrible to me, the synths reminded me more of rune scape than of music that wants to be taken seriously.

as soon as naked steel started i thought it's gotten worse. the production is neither good nor 'trve kvlt', the drums sound fake, the 'epic' synths are way too prominent, the singing has potential, though a lot of parts are rather spoken or aspirated rather than, the guitars aren't even bad but they are overwhelmed by the fake trumpets.

but by return to the presidium of ys i've gotten used to it and try not to listen to the synth too much. the music itself is quite enjoyable and the singing, which i wasn't fond of in the beginning, fits into a part ritual chanting part storytelling atmosphere, there's blastbeats, which is always a good thing, but i think the vocals and the synths are really the point where you either hate it or love it. while i find the vocals really interesting, i really can't get into the synths (although i do listen to some synth heavy bands).

crystal shards is a rune scape track again, are they even trying?

when rides the scion of the storms is pretty great, starts with a less black, more epic (nonetheless upbeat, it's hard to describe) medieval atmosphere, then suddenly breaks and builds up to another spoken part, slower and certainly heavier (if you think the synths away) before getting faster at the end again.

blood slakes the sand at the circus maximus builds up a martial atmosphere in the beginning, then the harp syths set in… that middle part is kinda disney metal, could imagine 7 dwarfs picking ore to that… i really don't know how to feel about this.
and then santa visits. don't get me wrong, the keyboard arrangements must have taken a lot of time, and the melodies aren’t bad either. a little different or higher quality sounds would've done a lot of good though.

thwarted by the dark starts off more promising, the calm part around the middle has this storytelling thing again and a nice melancholic guitar, before the song becomes more upbeat again, i feel like this is one of the stronger songs off this album, along with return to the presidium of ys.

and atlantis falls is again a synth-only song and the outro of this album, which, again i'm not very fond of.

judging this album after the first run is really hard. i feel like songs like naked steel, return to the presidium of ys or thwarted by the dark could really grow on me after some time, but i think i've mentioned more than enough what i dislike about this album.
the lyrics that aren't inspired by historical themes (such as gladiators) also seem to have a bigger context, but i'm not really into the 'bal-sagoth lore' therefore it's har for me to judge that.
i think i've ranted enough about the sound of the instruments, guitar work and drumming are solid, but there really isn't that much that stays behind one you stop playing, many of the melodies aren't bad but also pretty cliché when it comes to metal music about epic battles etc.

as i said if ind it hard to rate this album right now, but i'll give this album a 6.5/10 for being original, having a good vocalist and solid instrumental work, but synths that are really hard to get into, bad production and lots of kitsch and cliché. this album is probably a hate it or love it thing, i don't mind it, but i can't imagine returning to this album any time soon.
i liked the chthonic chronicles and might listen into the other albums though.

mr mytery reviewer please review unconsecrated by the red shore for me
EDIT: i've changed my mind,
please review epsilon by blood stain child that might be a little more interesting to read ^^

(blood stain child – epsilon)