A you’ve all noticed we’ve been on a bit of a hiatus today, but now it’s Friday night and the large part of my exams are over, so I’ll just throw down some of the music I’m digging at the moment. Nothing special, just some bands to keep you busy.

First up is a song by Enslaved, which seems to be a band of contradiction to me. I’m not very familiar with them, but I was really attracted to this song called Ethica Odini, an 8-minute long hybrid of Black Metal and Progressive Rock. It’s really a fabulous piece of music, but when I look at the list of album reviews at the Metal Encyclopedia, I actually find people who are angry with Enslaved for putting out this album Axioma Ethica Odini. I really like it though, because the balance between Black Metal and edgy Prog Rock is just perfect.

Two Paths came to me by means of two CD-ROMs, in one jewel case, in a box which was in theory able to hold fifty jewel cases, but was filled with polystyrene foam. These guys do handle their babies with care for sure, and after some heedful listening I can see why. Two Paths is an album which is very worthwhile and which should be appreciated to the fullest.

At the first few listens, I didn’t know what to make of this album. I heard influences from all different kinds of Extreme Metal-genres, but none of them was dominating the others really. The above mentioned genre is the closest I could fit without resorting to ridiculously long and extended genre identifications.

For a long time I thought Sludge / Doom was a genre who couldn’t afford decent instruments and equipment and that moreover had no clue on how to play their shit. But why then does it still sound so brilliant?

Grimpen Mire is the cause to such philosophical contemplation in my head today. It’s a three-piece, from Wolverhampton, UK and has been sludging its way in and out of venues since 2007. With Paul van Linden doing vocals and bass, James Goad on guitar and more vocals and Ian Davis on drums, the band employs nothing more than the bare minimum, but the sound springing from these dudes’ hands is rich nonetheless. As rich as can be in a minimalistic genre like Sludge.

Thanks to motig we got ourselves some delicious Norwegian, classically-sounding Metal. Just Metal, no subgenre indicators – although the band itself seems to favor the descriptor ”Doom Heavy Rock”. I think this is just Metal as it could have been in the Eighties. Except that the band has only been together since 2004.

In the time since then, the band aired three studio albums, titled I, II and III. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

UK Doom Metallers Conan have just uploaded a video of them performing a new song of their upcoming album, at the Buffalo Bar, Cardiff. The name Hawk as Weapon, already sounds cool to me, and the live recording sounds promising. I’ve always wondered what these guys would sound like live, and all I can say is that they sound louder and heavier than in the studio. Which is a good thing.

Then who are Conan? We wrote about them little over a month ago, and we were all quite positive. I wrote about their latest record Horseback Battle Hammer

their music feels like you’ve just had a massive blow with a war hammer, and now you lie on the ground, which is wet from the rain, while you can’t feel anything.

The boundaries of Doom-Death Metal has been stretched again, this time by Greek act Hedon Cries. Their self-labeled “Atmospheric Doom-Death” is not quite as funereal or elegiac as expected, and adds a much faster tempo than the genre implies. After releasing two albums since 2001, the band underwent new changes in the form of bassist Stathis Karoutis and vocalist Christos Aidonis, and adding Thanos Lois on keyboard. The band, as a result, has shifted styles slightly into a gloomier Melodeath approach, akin to Novembre’s and Sentenced’s lovechild, with several other smaller influences hidden within The End of the Path is Nigh.

The record kicks off in style with a speedy number; the pounding drums from Papadoulas and Sentenced-like guitar-work of Boufas and Kopsaftopoulos keep the rhythm whilst injecting some melancholic melody in the chorus. The real center stage, and where the band excels, is in the guitar-work, combining a mixture of Tales…era Amorphis, Novembre and a touch of Agalloch circa Ashes… to create many a swirling melody within the songs.

I actually need to write my letter of motivation, but this got me so pumped that I couldn’t get myself to do something else. I was wondering what people do at Doom Metal concert, do they like mosh in slow-motion, or do they headbang really slow and hard, or do they do ballet? So I typed in ‘doom live’ into Youtube, and the first one I got was a live video of Krux performing their song Omfalos. There were no crowd shots, but it certainly got me headbanging for 6 minutes, so I clicked through.

The most appealing songs came from their latest album III – He Who Sleeps Among the Stars, released end November, 2011. Their style is a mix of old school (think of Candlemass) and some modern tones. The old school feel is mainly enhanced by the use of clean vocals, although there are some rare growls to be spotted in their earlier work.

The big moment! The top four of albums I’ve reviewed this year. If you’ve missed what came before this, these four were preceded by eleven other albums in Part 1 and Part 2 of this list. Today’s four are the absolute cream of the crop.

As you’ll read on, there’s one thing you might notice: Finland’s the winner. Each and every single band in this top 4 hails out of the most Metal nation on the planet. Something I only just discovered myself. I think the Finnish are to Metal what American are to hamburgers. What Germans are to cars. And what Dutchmen are to drugs and prostitutes.

Anyfuck, I can make this a long and boring speech up front, like they do with most award shows, but I think everyone would just prefer to fuckin’ get going with this! After all, it’s Christmas Eve tonight and I’m sure you’ll want to get back to spinning Metal albums sitting under the Christmas tree.

Thanks to CroOZza’s comment here, I now know something I should’ve known months ago: that Black Sun Aeon has released a new album! One of many projects by Finland’s most busy Metal wonderboy Tuomas Saukkonen, this outfit traditionally represents the darkest of his projects.

Also traditionally, this project was one he manned 100% alone. Until now. I’m reading that for this new album, entitled Blacklight Deliverance, Tuomas is joined by two additional vocalists: Mikko Heikkilä (male cleans) and Janica Lönn (female cleans), bringing the total number of voices including Tuomas’ to three. Still at the old is the fact that Saukkonen’s responsible for all instruments by himself.

While we’re in the doomy, sludgy type of mood that Toreignimmortal initiated with his post on British Doom Stoners Conan, we might as well throw up Ventilation Shaft’s recommendation as well. He recommends Omega Massif, a German band from Würzburg, Bavaria that has been active since 2005. As Ventilation Shaft describes it: ”very dark in atmosphere, very heavy, but also melodic”. Accurate!

After the band’s 2007 debut Geisterstadt, four years passed until the release of Karpatia, which came out last September. All their songs carry German titles, but the vocals are not. Because there are no vocals. Omega Massif plays purely instrumental.

I’ve seen fit to take you through some of the band’s past releases – there have been two splits as well – as there is some genuinely good stuff there. Just free up some time for this, as this, despite that the songs aren’t even that ridiculously long, is not suitable for quick and easy listening. Now follow us past the jump!