Another one for you prog-metal fans -- Peccatum

[Dusty Chalk]

Lost in Reverie

I am so digging this disk. Imagine somewhere between Cradle of Filth, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, and...I don't know, something with blast beats.

I really dig the guy's voice, especially when he screams. You can almost his vocal chords getting shredded. The girl's voice is great, too, but is saved for more delicate material.

Lots of back and forth between the hard and the soft. Song titles are like "Desolate Ever After" and "Parasite My Heart", so that should give you a good idea of the lyrical content -- I suspect it's going to appeal to the vampire-and-mummy crowd.

Recommended (though this is only after one listen). You may have to be tolerant of cookie monster vocals, so if that makes you ralph, make sure you hear it before you buy it.

I'm already pretty sure it's going to make my top 10 list.

[mad rhetorik]

Lost in Reverie

I am so digging this disk. Imagine somewhere between Cradle of Filth, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, and...I don't know, something with blast beats.

I really dig the guy's voice, especially when he screams. You can almost hear his vocal chords getting shredded. The girl's voice is great, too, but is saved for more delicate material.

Lots of back and forth between the hard and the soft. Song titles are like "Desolate Ever After" and "Parasite My Heart", so that should give you a good idea of the lyrical content -- I suspect it's going to appeal to the vampire-and-mummy crowd.

Recommended (though this is only after one listen). You may have to be tolerant of cookie monster vocals, so if that makes you ralph, make sure you hear it before you buy it.

I'm already pretty sure it's going to make my top 10 list.

Just citing Cradle Of Filth raises a red flag for me. I never, ever liked that band. Pseudo-black metal (a genre I don't have any use for anyway) with big cheesy symphonic overtones and some of the most irritating and ridiculous vocals I've ever heard. Ick. And naturally, it's similar to black metal in lyrical content so it's no prize there either. All quasi-Satanic bullshit.

I do like a couple of bands in the black metal genre. Some of Emperor's later albums are decent, and Ulver's Bergtatt is also good, but I just never enjoyed the aesthetic, music, or image most "troo kVlt" black metal bands subscribe to. It always seems to be predicated on how "evil" and "cold-sounding" (read: sounds like it was recorded in a cave) your music is, rather than being innovative in any way. So naturally 99% of this stuff sounds almost exactly the same....bad production, hideous vocals, recycled simple riffs, constant blastbeats, STUPID lyrics. Again, Emperor and Ulver did make an effort to sound different, which I commend them for, but I still don't care for this genre much.

Anyway--Peccatum huh? I've read that it is a project by Ihsahn, who was the lead vocalist for Emperor. Rumor has it that the female singing is done by his wife. Don't know if that's true or not.

[Dusty Chalk]

Okay, after listening to the disk again, there's a lot less screaming, and no -- that's right, no -- growling. There's only two tracks or so with the Devin Townshend-esque screaming (which I quite righteously dig), and the rest has actually great quantities of mellow.

Mad Rhetorik -- yes, credits are to Ihsahn and Ihriel (also of Star Of Ash). Do yourself a favour -- give 'em a listen before you dismiss 'em. Namechecking Cradle Of Filth might be overstepping my bounds in terms of providing reference points. I don't think so, but I'm not much of a lyrics guy -- I was only referring to vocal style. Also, I like Cradle of Filth, so mentioning them isn't a bad thing to me.

Do you like Dimmu Borgir? That's probably like the ultimate test. Pretentious as hell (if you pardon the reference), but their music is so good, you'd have to be an idiot to dismiss them just because of their ...erm... "distracting" image.

[mad rhetorik]

Okay, after listening to the disk again, there's a lot less screaming, and no -- that's right, no -- growling. There's only two tracks or so with the Devin Townshend-esque screaming (which I quite righteously dig), and the rest has actually great quantities of mellow.

Mad Rhetorik -- yes, credits are to Ihsahn and Ihriel (also of Star Of Ash). Do yourself a favour -- give 'em a listen before you dismiss 'em. Namechecking Cradle Of Filth might be overstepping my bounds in terms of providing reference points. I don't think so, but I'm not much of a lyrics guy -- I was only referring to vocal style. Also, I like Cradle of Filth, so mentioning them isn't a bad thing to me.

Do you like Dimmu Borgir? That's probably like the ultimate test. Pretentious as hell (if you pardon the reference), but their music is so good, you'd have to be an idiot to dismiss them just because of their ...erm... "distracting" image.

I may have given you way too harsh of a response the first time around.

Peccatum does sound like a fairly interesting band, if the descriptions I've heard (sort of a goth/black metal/industrial/doom stew) are accurate. As far as Emperor goes, I've listened to In The Nightside Eclipse (which is hailed as a genre classic but wasn't my bag) and Prometheus: Discipline Of Fire And Demise (not "troo" black metal, but surprisingly good) and found Ihsahn's harsh vox to be quite listenable. His scream does sound sort of like Devin. On the other hand his clean singing (at least on those albums) isn't all that great--operatic, kinda King Diamond-ish. Not unbearable though. I doubt the vocals will present any problem to me.

I lump Dimmu Borgir in with Cradle Of Filth--silly, overproduced, cheesy symph/pseudo-black metal. As you said, the image is really distracting, but if the music is good enough (case in point: Celtic Frost) I can overlook it to an extent. Dimmu Borgir ain't even close to meeting that standard as a band. And all that Satanic posturing and corpse paint is just desperately stupid to me. Always has been, always will be. Sorry Dusty, I guess I don't hear what you seem to be hearing.

But I will check out that Peccatum disc when I can scrape up the bucks. Thanks for the rec.

And BTW, see if you can pick up Ulver's Bergtatt. It's a really great album, even if you despise the genre like I do.

[Dusty Chalk]

And BTW, see if you can pick up Ulver's Bergtatt. It's a really great album, even if you despise the genre like I do.

You know, that's been on my wishlist, like, forever. I really should get around to ordering it online, I've never seen it in any store...