mdm's top 5 albums of November!
Hiiiiii I'm back again with another monthly top 5 list!! I know I missed October, honestly there was really just not that much that got my attention and stuck with me. Thankfully, there was a bit more in November that stuck with me. I had at least a good 7 albums to pick from that I really enjoyed, compared to the 4 from October.
Imagine modern Darkthrone's sound + epic fantasy lyrics, specifically Tolkien, and you get this album. The production value present on this album isn't the greatest, but I feel it helps enhance the atmosphere and feel of the album, as a more clean production would not benefit the album in the slightest. While it's not something that is present in the lyrics themselves, the musician behind the band is also a very vocal anti-fascist, which is always something that is amazing to see in a scene with such a large issue of it. As stated by the band themselves, this is their most aggressive album yet and it shows, as the Bathory influence present on previous albums has been switched out for a very punky edge.
Stand out track(s): The Witch Bell and His Master's Coils
Number 4:
Venus - Obscured Until Observed
Progressive Thrash Metal, FFO Vektor, Black Fast, Vexovoid
Have you been missing Vektor the past few years? No? I haven't been either due to the tons of Vektor influenced prog thrash we have gotten since Terminal Redux, with Venus being the most recent of the bands to fall into this niche. Having formed in just 2021, this album is a rather strong debut from a band in a genre full of high quality competition. As is the case with basically all the Vektor clones, not only are you getting Vektor thrash in terms of just the music itself, but you are also getting Sci-Fi lyrics as well as a vocalist who is doing his best David DeSanto impersonation possible. There's nothing new really being taken to the scene with this album, but that still does not change the fact of this album being a rather solid slab of progressive thrash metal.
Stand out track(s): Subatomic Search for Human Cosciousness
Number 3:
DGM - Life
Progressive Power Metal, FFO Symphony X, Angra, Pagan's Mind
DGM once again returning with another masterclass example of progPower metal. Great riffs, amazing vocals, good levels of cheese, emotional, what more is there to really ask for from a power metal album? This album hits pretty much everything required for a good power metal album imo. Despite the fact that they had a very rough start with their first few albums, DGM have quickly made themselves into one of the most consistent bands in the modern power metal scene, ever since 2007 when they picked up Mark Basile on vocals. While they haven't exactly been improving the quality for the last 3 albums, that is honestly perfectly fine as they're already great as is. However, this album has what is possibly their best sub-6 minute track in To the Core. I can't really say much else about this album without also just going into their previous albums as well, as there isn't much different here from those. Just some incredibly high quality progressive power metal that basically any fan of the genre can appreciate.
Stand out track(s): To the Core
Number 2:
Green Lung - Heathen Land
Stoner/Doom Metal/Rock, FFO Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, The Sword
Probably the album I've listened to the most from November, there is tons of replayability here. I'm probably on my... 8th list of the album now? And I have yet to get bored of it at all. I honestly don't really have anything to say here, this is easily going to be a contender for my top 5 albums of the year. This is just some incredibly fun and enjoyable stoner metal. Listen to it, you will not regret it.
Stand out track(s): Mountain Throne, Maxine (Witch Queen), and Oceans of Time
Number 1:
Panopticon - The Rime of Memory
Atmospheric Black/Folk Metal, FFO Wolves in the Throne Room, Wayfarer
Panopticon is a project that needs no introduction whatsoever to those acquainted with black metal. Perhaps the single biggest band in the red and anarchist black metal scene, anyone who has any level of familiarity with leftist metal should know this project. This is another pretty standard entry into the Panopticon discography, but that is not a bad thing when you are releasing material of such high quality on a semi-frequently basis. Unlike a lot of the albums released by Lunn, the lyrics have actually been published and are listed on the album's bandcamp page. As such, we can read the beautiful lyrics that Lunn had written for the album, which are very heavily focused around nature and environmentalism, specifically as stated by Lunn himself "a rant about the climate crisis and wilderness advocacy". Even if you are not a fan of black metal, I recommend at least giving the notes about the album a read, as its a beautiful read. Pretty damn close to a perfect 10/10 album.
Stand out track(s): Literally the entire album
