SALMACIS

There's more, this album reminds me of "The Sound of Perseverance" by Death, of course with the Black. But the parallel seems to hold when you consider that both are works that synthesize the best of a tradition (Norwegian black and North American death) while at the same time surpassing it. It's a kind of "beyond the genre but in the same direction of the genre."

Tab (the track) is the most lsd-like song I have ever listened to. It perfectly reproduces the feeling of extreme mental chaos of the trip, that "anarchy of consciousness," with high libidinal content, in which the Self sinks and dies to be reborn as cosmic "Id."

The best of Taake, even superior to Nattestid. The true masterpiece of Black after 2000. There isn't a single bad track, a choral work that is also really original and personal from the genius of Hoest.

My first Genesis album... I've also experienced similar feelings to those described by the reviewer regarding this truly deeply melancholic record. The most heartbreaking song is "Down and Out," whose beautiful lyrics portray a bitter dialogue that is also a confession and outburst from Hackett as he prepares to leave the band. The chiaroscuro of "Say it's allright Joe" is unforgettable, as is the atmosphere, featuring one of Collins' best vocal performances in "Undertow." "Burning Rope" feels a bit too Banksian for me. The best tracks on the album, however, are on the B-side: the opening and stunning "Deep in the Motherlode," a story of wild adolescence in the Wild West, crafted through phenomenal songwriting that was then giving its last poignant displays, followed by the dark and enchanted "The Lady Lies," an electric ballad in which Genesis revives ancient magic to sing about witches hiding in huts in the woods and the unresolved understanding of the feminine by the male. The instrumental section is magnificent, with Collins delivering a truly masterful performance on drums. I agree that "The Day The Light Went Out" would have been better suited than the various "Ballad of Big," "Scenes from a Night's Dream," and "Follow You Follow Me," which are the real sore points of the platter, yet it is still more than appreciable.

Actually, it's a beautiful album... in some respects better than Panopticon (see my comment on the review of Oceanic)... I too was quite disappointed at first, but after listening to it, I understood and reevaluated it. We are facing the most varied album by Isis, who really range from one genre to another while maintaining a fundamental unity of sound. It goes from the psychedelia of "Firdous-e-barren" (my ideal future Isis) to the Post-Core reminiscences of "OVER ROOT AND THORN" and even "Wrosts of Kings" to the Post-Rock of Dulcinea and Garden of Light. This platter never fails to bore me and I like it more with every listen. Isis are one of the greatest bands in the world, if not the greatest.

It's all useless... the more I hear it, the more I am convinced that the true masterpiece of Isis is this... the real quantum leap in quality was made right after Signal 5 (still connected to the sounds of Celestial). With Oceanic, we're already in the territory of Panopticon, yet with better songwriting... in short, "The Beginning and the End," "CARRY," "Maritime," "Weight," and "From Sinking"... do you realize??! ... and the others are just a step below... Panopticon maybe has two even more brilliant peaks, namely the opening "So Did We," which I consider the best piece ever written by Isis and which, after all, is the evolution of "The Beginning and the End," and the beautiful, instrumental "Altered Course," benefiting from the added value of Justin Chancellor's bass. Beyond these two gems, there is a great atmosphere, yes, but also a bit of monotony resulting from the removal of post-core roots. In a certain sense, "In the Absence of Truth" is better in terms of post-rock, more varied and interesting... Oceanic, on the other hand, remains an irreplicable and unreachable evolutionary hub of the Isis sound, exalted by creativity at its highest degree. I also recommend to anyone who hasn't done so yet to listen to the split with Areogramme "In the Fishtank," as it might bring a delightful surprise: the ideal Post-Rock version of Isis.

Personally, the best album by Converge: it has that dark mood that makes it feel more familiar to me than the recognized and acclaimed masterpieces (RIGHTLY) Jane Doe and No Heroes Black Light, and "In her shadow" are the gems.

I disagree, for me this Epic is not at all their best album, it's significantly inferior to its predecessor and "archetype" Empiricism, and in some tracks rather boring. The opener is splendid, though...too bad that in the following tracks the songwriting drops considerably and it feels like listening to a faded copy of Empiricism.
Moreover, Borknagar have been great especially when they limited the prog component, staying as close as possible to "black extremism," which was masterfully accomplished with their sensational first album and, to some extent, with the second "The Olden Domain." These, along with the aforementioned Empiricism, should be considered the true masterpieces of the band. It's also true, however, that in the first two albums the vocals were delivered by a screaming legend like Garm...and there’s only one Garm...there are no Vintersorg or Vortex who can compare (even if they're great)!!

The best of Jethro. The magical corner where the various evolutionary lines of the band intersect: folk, prog, blues, hard. The atmosphere and sound of the platter are something unique, inimitable, like a cloak or a mist that envelops and permeates all the tracks, from the harder ones like "Hymn 43," "Cross-eyed Mary," to the delicate, intimate acoustic sketches of "Cheap day return" and "sLIPSTREAM." And what can be said about the beautiful "Wond'ring aloud," of which a tasty diversion can be heard on "Living in the past," namely "Wond'ring again," or the "summe" placed at the beginning and the end of the record that these two (electroacoustic) registers exemplarily combine: "Aqualung" and "Wind-Up." But the real gem is "My God," a track that always sends shivers down my spine when the electric riff kicks in. Rarely have the artwork and lyrics been better matched in merging with the music to create a stylistic, emotional, and artistic unity capable of developing and justifying itself autonomously. "Thick as a brick," also marvelous, however breaks this magical balance by unilaterally strengthening the prog component. For this reason, I consider it a step below.