Music

Imaginary Sonicscape (2001) by Sigh is a technicolor black metal masterpiece, the sound of a brilliant experimental band at the absolute pinnacle of their power and clearly having a ball with it. Astonishingly vivid, dense, and lively, it's a truly one-of-a-kind musical experience, and one I deeply regret I will only have heard for the first time once. Full review available here.

Under the Sign of Hell (1997) by Gorgoroth. A funeral dirge for a forest in flames, a scorching, otherworldly monstrosity that claws at you like it hates you. Blown out to all hell, drowning in its own distortion, and featuring a once-in-a-lifetime vocal performance from Pest, Under the Sign of Hell is an intimidating exercise in razor-sharp songwriting.

There Is Nothing Eternal Exists (2008) is Muga's magnum opus; pummeling, catchy, and anthemic as one would expect, but crowned by its unforgettable closing tracks. Two triumphant and genuinely epic songs run circles around other attempts at emotional neocrust, lending a sense of gravity, finality, and catharsis to the rest of the album's blistering aggression.

I know it's lame to call an album 'sexy' but come on. Type O Negative's October Rust (1996) sees Peter Steele's astonishing (and well-recorded!) vocal range on full display alongside infallible songwriting, seamlessly delivering infectious, sensual goth rock and mournful doom metal without missing a beat. Importantly, this album skips the thrash holdovers that strike out on Bloody Kisses for me.

Inarguably the most coherent fusion of classical music and black metal, Obtaned Enslavement deliver Witchcraft (1997) in all senses of the word. Authentically classical songwriting featuring ripping guitars, and delicate pianos strings that never cross into chesiness or obsequiousness to other instruments. No instrument wasted, no moment uncomposed. Gorgeous and flawlessly recorded.