Champ213

Why is everything bold!?!?! Seriously though, that's some long-ass lists! And I know barey any of it. XD I definetely need to check out that new Laura Marling, didn't know she had another album. I also grabbed Rian Sheehan and Pastacas & Tenniscoats from you a while ago. I was a bit confused to see the latter in the japanese category, until I realized it's an Estonian-japanese collab. XD I still haven't listened to either though. Will have to go through some of your samples later too.

Normally the studio versions, especially for stuff I haven't heard before. I do like to hear live versions of my favourite songs though. There are also a few cases where the live versions sound better than the studio versions. I could swear that Atsushi Sakurai sometimes sounds even more impressive live than on CD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEJUReKHkpE

Well, I am going to play devil's advocate here and say while it's obviously a stunt it's as good a way as any to see how many people actually care about your band. If you cannot attract 400 fans even under circumstances like these, you may as well disband anyway because obviously you're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Japanese: Grieva - Oni to kage Already wrote extensively about it in the staff reviews. A nice nostalgic throw-back with a fresh spin on it. GAUZES - Yurikago Kinda like above, except they definetely can improve more. A good album, but could have needed more highlights. Jupiter - Classical Element I admit that I'm a secret Kamijo fangirl and I think that this album didn't reach Versailles' best moments, but it was a worthwhile album in any case. Dear L'Novel - Ai to Shi I'm pretty sure I got cavaties after listening to this. But it's so Larein-ish, I just can't resist. Nakano Aya - Hetana uso Not as good as her previous album, but a good and relaxing listen nevertheless. amber gris - Around Children As written in my staff review. No masterpieve, but a very solid and plesant pop-rock album. Church of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum Very atmospheric and intense, a good listen - if you are in the mood for that. Non-Japanese: Tyr - Valkyrja Oh my god so many good melodies I can't Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods I would put it here just for the epicness that is "Blood Eagle". Turisas - Turisas2103 Is it really really cheesy? It sure is. Is it more poppy and less folky then previous stuff? I guess so. Is it ridicilously catchy and much fun to sing and shout along to? HELL YEAH! Kauan - Pirut My copy hasn't arrived so far, so I had to make do with the streamed version. But what can I say? A fucking masterpiece. Vali - Skogslandskap Really surprised to see this, almost 10 years after their first album. It's really hard to match up to "Forlatt" (and I think they didn't quite archive it), but it's still a really really really nice folk album. The Monolith Deathcult - Tetragrammaton Because RWAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!.... I guess. Wardruna - Yggdrasil Nice ambient tribal-y stuff. Suede - Bloodsports Suede are my undying teenage music love. Their post-reunion stuff isn't really as good as some of their 90s stuff, but they still manage tio shine every once in a while. Also worth mentioning: Ancient Wisdom - Deathlike Manegarm - Legions of the North Ereb Altor - Fire Meets Ice Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy

Well, first of all, MH is really the only online music-related online community I frequent, so I can really only base my experiences on this. So, do they complain more than they actually talk? As a whole, I don't think so. But I guess the complaing is more obvious? And, in individual cases it's certainly true. In general, there's nothing wrong with disliking a band, being critical of a band, or even poking fun at something really bad - in good doses. But once you are more concerend with bands you hate than with bands you like - you should seriously reconsider your priorities. Well, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they actually don't like the music. But they probably wouldn't express their dislike so much if it wasn't a popular band. Some people also might not give them a proper chance because they're famous. Different standpoints/opinions are good. Without them discussions wouldn't happen. Outright negativity and hate is not good. It doesn't make for good or interesting discussions.

Mercurius' "Variant" is the first thing that comes to my mind! They didn't live long enough to have re-recordings in proper quality, so I couldn't say if I would have liked them more. But I like the crappy quality versions all the same. XD

Good, in alphabetical order, only full albums: Ancient Wisdom - Deathlike amber gris - Around Children Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods Church of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum Dear L'Novel - Ai to Shi Ereb Altor - Fire Meets Ice GAUZES - Yurikago Grieva - Oni to kage Jupiter - Classical Element Kauan - Pirut Manegarm - Legions of the North Nakano Aya - Hetana uso Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy Suede - Bloodsports The Monolith Deathcult - Tetragrammaton Turisas - Turisas2013 Tyr - Valkyrja Vali - Skogslandskap Wardruna - Yggdrasil And probably some stuff I'm forgetting. No "bad" list because, umm, I do not keep track of stuff I don't like. ^^;

It's sad, because I really liked them, but honestly, I am so used to most of my favourite vk bands being broken up that in the end it doesn't really matter so much to me. XD Also not going to say "vk is dead", because people have been saying that for like almost 15 years now, and in the end there have always been new bands - bad bands, mediocre bands, good bands. It always sucks to see a good band go, but something new will come along. It always has.

I really do like the chanting, but the rest is a bit too, I dunno.... "raw" for my taste? Not really my cup of coffee, at least not something I would mlisten to on repeat. I think it would be cool if more bands used that kind of tribal chanting. A lot of folk metal really is just a standard black or death metal song with some flute or similar mixed into it. Which can still make for some great songs, but there is definetly more potential in mixing folk and metal.

Well.... nice to see them back in action, I guess? Too bad I never really liked their previous Ura Dorado stuff. Also, I haven't heard anything from Glamorous Honey in ages. Are they still around? They were so good. ._.

^ Pretty much. He didn't just stop posting here, he basically vanished from the internet as a whole (at least under the name we know), so I assume it's a bigger issue than just losing interest in the forum. People losing interest in a forum happens all the time, but they normally don't abandon all their other accounts on other sites in the process. I can't really speculate why this happened and I hope it's just something undramatic like wanting to start over under a new online persona. But as far as we know, he hasn't re-registered yet under a new name.

I'm not sure if VII-Sense are important enough to be ripped off....

I actually used it once or twice to drink from it, yes, just for the sake of it. But I mostly use it as decoration on my cupboard. I'm not very sentimental when it comes to using extras I get with limited editions. The limited edition of Valkyrja came with a poster of the cover artwork and it went straight up on my wall. Also, the horn literally came shipped as seen in the photo. It wasn't sealed in with the CD or had any kind of packaging whatsoever, so there's little incentive to keep it in "pristine" condition. May as well use it for what it is intendeded.

Yess! And the horn is huge. When I read the description I figured it would be a small horn, small enough to be packaged with a CD, but it turned out to be gigantic. I made this pic back when I unpacked it: Also, I noticed there's a bunch of folk metal bands from South America. A lot of them seem to go for a heavy/power metal approach though, which is kinda hit and miss for me. Tuatha de Dannan actually remind me a bit of Bellfast, a folk metal band from Japan. XD

Well, that was awkward. Also, I guess there isn't any info whether that DVD will be released in regular shops or just be some live-distributed thing?

It wasn't so bad until the guy started to "sing". Seriously, why do people with a vocal range of like 3 notes think they should be vocalists? This makes me facepalm a lot more than a vocalist being off-key at times, like the one Ikna linked. I can live with that. And I know quite a few vk vocalists that are far from perfect from a technical standpoint, but their voices have charisma and uniqueness. But if the vocalist just sings the same 3 notes over and over again, and has a highly unremarkable voice at that... I really don't get it.

Ooh, okay. I wasn't aware that it's unpopular with fans. I guess it's a bit slower than most of their other stuff? I don't mind, I like it too. It also had the most gorgeous packaging. Although it can't quite beat the drinking horn that came with the limited edition of BtLotNS, haha.

Steam Autumn sale? That was unexpected. Especially since, well, it's barely autumn anymore. It's also pretty close the Christmas sale. Anyway, there aren't really many games I'm badly planning to buy atm, but I will haver an eye on it.

I do like the lyrics, especially since it's something different than usual. The flute thing is a bit cheesy, but I am known to like cheesy stuff. XD Overall the lyrics on Valkyrja seem to focus more on the female aspects of norse mythology and not just the usual "Odin, Thor, Valhalla raaaaaaaawr!"-stuff, which is a really nice change of pace in my opinion. And I don't think that Eric the Red is a bad album. In fact, it has some of the nicest songs based on traditional melodies. They actually just have been on a Germany tour a few months ago (with Skálmöld no less, who are quite decent), but of course they skipped my town by a wide radius. >_>

Yes! Týr are probably my favourite folk metal band overall. I liked Valkyrja quite a bit too. I think it's not on par with my favourite album Ragnarok, but still very enjoyable. I'd rate it about the same as "The Lay of Thrym", maybe a bit better, and definetely better than "By the Light of the Norther Star" (which wasn't a bad album either overall, but the only song that really stood out for me was "Hear the Heathen Call"). From Valkyrja I like "Blood of Heroes" and "Mare of my Night" the most (looool, those lyrics - always have to giggle stupidly at the "painful flute"). Týr are also one of those bands I really want to see live one day.

Yeah, if I'm going to buy a release, I prefer the actual CD as well. Especially if it comes as a digipack. I love digipacks. But sometimes digital releases are a nice compromise if you want to support an artist without paying the full price of an actual CD. Buuuuut.... since we're on the topic of doom-ish stuff, I was also quite fond of Ereb Altor's recent album "Fire meets Ice", released earlier this year.