The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: Antichrist

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I sometimes legitimately forget that I own this. It was actually one of the first death metal records I purchased - something I also tend to forget when I think back through my journey through death metal. I also forget how good it is, since it's not an album I spin very often and I don't own anything else by them. These then tweed suit wearing extreme metallers have some odd elements in their music and are much more progressive than they've ever really been given credit for, notably being absent from PA despite them having accepted the likes of the decidedly un-prog Nightwish as a fully blown progressive metal band, long before Imaginaerum gave them a case. Just looking at some of the individual song tags on RYM should give you clue that they were no ordinary death metal act: Death Industrial, Electronic, Post-Punk, Dark Folk, Avant-Garde Metal, Neoclassical Darkwave, Rital Ambient and Gothic Metal, it's all there in at least one song. Their growls were among some of the most incomprehensible I've ever heard though. Akercocke later split after this album but reformed a few years ago and made a comeback, though I've never checked it out. According to RYM, they returned as even more of a prog act. Still not on PA though. Anyway, this is definitely an album I've neglected a lot. It's pretty fucking great. My review from years on this is likely very inaccurate now.

New Rating: 4.5/5

This is my favourite still, possibly because it's a bit under-developed. The albums after this are crisper and tighter, but I love the rough around the edges sound. In The Beginning is a collection of demos from before this album and is rougher still, but shows promise, and shows the roots of a lot of the songs here.

Album: MorningStarlett

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: The year was 2012. Some folks thought the world was going to end (on my birthday no less). It didn't, which was good for a lot of reasons, not least among them that the self-titled debut album of MorningStarlett wouldn't be their only release...oh wait it's nearly ten years later and it's still their only release.

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

Still, this little known album from the American band (founded by Blue Öyster Cult guitarist Richie Castellano), at least have one of the best heavy metal albums ever made to their name.

Yeah, you read that right. 

I actually play this one quite a lot, so I'm surprised in almost 300 albums not written about for The Great Collection Rediscovery that it hasn't been featured yet. Just go check the damn thing out already. 

New Rating: No Change, but it's a 6/5 in my heart. 

Album: Sorceress

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Much more metallic than they'd been for a while, I think Sorceress is the point where I really started to get into Opeth's new sound. I liked Heritage but Pale Communion took a long while to click (or even be bought by me). This is the one that helped me to find a new appreciation for Pale Communion and it's an all round great album. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Слово (Slovo)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Initially an album I liked just as much as the three directly before it, Arkona's Slovo hasn't aged that well for me and today seems like just a solid record from a band that have the ability to do better. 

New Rating: 4/5

Album: Kentucky

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: For an album that I seem to play a lot, I'm surprised it's taken this long to get featured here. Kentucky is easily my favourite Panopticon album. He hasn't made anything else that's quite like this one with it's alternating mix of black metal and bluegrass. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Loss

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: A band that has mostly operated in the drone metal genre (which I don't enjoy), on Loss Yhdarl instead played atmospheric black metal. It's a solid album, but I don't feel that I listen to this one or even think about it enough to keep it on a 4.5.

New Rating: 4/5