mementomori

listened: this album is a blast, people! it's not a masterpiece, but it's an uncompromising reclaiming of one's identity... after the post-post hardcore of ASTNS and TEOES, they return to the sturdy and apocalyptic post-hardcore of Times of Grace, and damn, they hit hard... a succession of highs and lows where the pauses are more painful than the explosions, precisely because of the sense of instability and impending catastrophe that they exude. However, I have to take away a point from the review, as it doesn't seem to reflect the contents of this album and misses the crux of the matter: this is fucking noise!

I abstain from voting on the album and the review: we agree that Mayhem without Euronymous really makes no sense, and cursed be the day Hellhammer had the truly stupid idea for this ridiculous reunion. However, the way you describe the album almost piques my curiosity... it sounds like something truly absurd, irrational... well, I think I’ll never listen to it, but it’s also true that the thing I fear most from Mayhem today is trying to emulate an unbeatable past, and if they start experimenting, I might even appreciate them... of course, if they had changed their name, it would have sounded less obnoxious... as for the title, it seems really strange to me that they made such a glaring mistake; I had instead read that there was some sense to that chaos, but I don’t remember well... anyway, a warning to all young Debaser users who don’t know Mayhem: don’t be fooled by the reviews! You should have only and exclusively three albums by Mayhem: Deathcrush, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, and Live in Leipzig. Amen.

artistic peak of a unique group in history: it’s important to emphasize to those who don't know them that this is absolutely not rock! (I myself, when I first bought it, was initially burned expecting in some way a prog album). Here we speak of a mystical, panicky, ancestral experience, of intimate reconnection with nature: the hypnotic drumming of the percussion, the sinuous and at times heart-wrenching singing of the winds carries the listener to an era of pre-civilization through a sort of psychic regression to a primitive state: a dimension thick with fears, threats, mysterious forces, but also of immense wonder in the face of the incomprehensible and the spectacle of nature. Recommended for those who love the more spiritual Popol Vuh. good review, which reveals the fine ear of the reviewer, but perhaps a bit cold. 5 because it's really difficult to describe this music.

Well, everyone has their own style, this one turned out really well, but in my opinion, reviews should focus more on discussing "about" the music, the meaning of an artist or an album, for themselves and for the rest of the world, rather than trying to evoke the emotions that the music conveys (which is obviously a lost cause from the start). Anyway, the choice of white for the Debaser pages is excellent, so you don’t make a fool of yourself at work, and maybe while consulting them, you give the impression of actually working. By the way, I was wondering what the meaning of that little bovine next to the logo is? Is it really that essential?

Nice, but it's not a masterpiece... at first, it’s enjoyable for the melodic twist, but over time it becomes a bit boring: not all the tracks are on the same level, and Renske here is still too monotonous... the true and unmatched masterpiece of Katatonia, in my opinion, is "Brave Murder Day"; I still listen to it and it feels so fresh that it seems to have been released yesterday... every melodic line is deadly, while in the subsequent albums, the good ideas will be diluted along with less incisive solutions, good tracks will alternate with more anonymous ones, and the overall listening experience will somewhat weaken...

I'm joking, Lethe... I call you Taliban because your comments reveal strong judgments, but it's clear that you do it with dialectical intentions... I read your contributions with pleasure, because, regardless of whether I agree with the content or not, you are one of the few on Debaser who talks about music, about content, and without descending into empty provocations... as for the matter of vocal inserts, it seemed more Taliban than ever, as if you would not accept female intrusions in extreme contexts... but it was just an impression, no need to justify yourself... hi...

Sure, Lethe, sometimes you really are quite the fundamentalist (just kidding!)... but how can you not tolerate Gothic for those three miserable female vocal inserts? It’s an album that may not appeal to everyone, and in my opinion, it's full of limitations, but dismissing it outright for that particular aspect (which, by the way, is one of the most innovative features of that album...) seems a bit excessive... As for Anathema, well, it's true they haven't done doom for 10 years, but their contribution was so fundamental in the nineties (not just for *Silent Enigma* and *Serenades*, but also for the EP Crestfallen and especially for *Pentecost III*) that, in the end, separating between two distinct phases, I feel justified in counting them as one of the essential doom bands, at least regarding the first phase. That's why they were important, while the (beautiful) new albums don't bring any particular novelty to the music world. Katatonia has always been unique, but surely the only truly doom thing they did was the first *Dance of December Souls*, which many consider even doom-black due to the vocals... anyway, the obsession with labeling is a bit of a huge load of crap; it’s just done to take a moment's break from the job...

Sure, Lethe, sometimes you really are quite the fundamentalist (just kidding!)... but how can you not tolerate Gothic for those three miserable female vocal inserts? It’s an album that may not appeal to everyone, and in my opinion, it's full of limitations, but dismissing it outright for that particular aspect (which, by the way, is one of the most innovative features of that album...) seems a bit excessive... As for Anathema, well, it's true they haven't done doom for 10 years, but their contribution was so fundamental in the nineties (not just for *Silent Enigma* and *Serenades*, but also for the EP Crestfallen and especially for *Pentecost III*) that, in the end, separating between two distinct phases, I feel justified in counting them as one of the essential doom bands, at least regarding the first phase. That's why they were important, while the (beautiful) new albums don't bring any particular novelty to the music world. Katatonia has always been unique, but surely the only truly doom thing they did was the first *Dance of December Souls*, which many consider even doom-black due to the vocals... anyway, the obsession with labeling is a bit of a huge load of crap; it’s just done to take a moment's break from the job...

but it’s just for talking, festwca, if we don’t talk among ourselves, music-obsessed as we are, who do we talk to? it’s all about perspectives; for instance, in albums like *lost paradise*, *gothic*, and *shade of gods*, I still feel Iommi’s influence in certain passages, less so in MDB and even less in Anathema… but at that point, more than guitar style, it’s important to appreciate Iommi’s lesson, his hypnotic and suffocating riffs… but above all the idea of dissociating heaviness from speed (typical of hard rock) and linking it to slowness and oppressive atmospheres (and that’s how doom was born)… Iommi remains a genius of evil (a bit inflated to be honest), those who came after have compensated in terms of darkness and atmospheres with tricks like growl, violin, heavy organs, etc… I don’t know, I’ve always felt that Candlemass were more epic than gothic, I wouldn’t really compare them too much to the English triptych, but rather to classic metal…

I can’t stand them anymore, I reached host, then I threw in the towel... it’s not a matter of doom or pop, in my opinion they’ve really lost their inspiration and I don’t understand the point of continuing to follow them, they have nothing more to say... festwca: more than kings, the great Electric Wizard (whom I’ve seen live with Cathedral and Grand Magus a couple of years ago) seem to me like disciples, hopeless nostalgics... really too reliant on classic doom and what Black Sabbath created... I almost want to classify them more in stoner or a certain southern doom, while I agree with the reviewer’s view: the early Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema really changed the game, creating a sort of new wave of doom...