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Queen of Liars

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  1. Queen of Liars

    Tim Skold

    By Queen of Liars,

    Recently finished my collection of albums by one of my favourite musicians - Tim Skold.
    While there are a couple of things I'm missing, I have everything that I actually want.
     
    So let's go through it:
     

     
    Terrible picture I know, but it's hard to fit everything in at a good resolution without the file size being too big.
     
    Anyway, at the top left we have his solo project - Skold:
    Skold
    Anomie
    Suck EP
    Tonight EP
     
    Top middle, we have the KMFDM albums with him as a member of the band:
    Symbols
    Adios
    Attak
     
    Top right, Shotgun Messiah, which was his first band:
    Shotgun Messiah
    Second Coming
    Violent New Breed
     
    Bottom left, we have the self-titled Skold vs KMFDM album which was a collaboration between the two a few years after Tim left KMFDM.
     
    Bottom middle, the self titled album from the short-lived MDFMK. This was a project formed by Tim and two other members of KMFDM after they split up following Adios. However, MDFMK turned back into KMFDM just a couple of years later when the band officially reformed with Attak.
     
    Bottom right, I Declare: Treason by Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult - an industrial metal supergroup with Tim on bass.
     
    And finally, all the way off to the right side there, we have Infamous by Motionless in White, which was largely produced and engineered by Tim, although is otherwise a rather unremarkable album.
     
    Obsessed? Maybe a little, but he definitely is a prolific artist.
     
    The only things I'm missing are the three Marilyn Manson albums he was a member on which I honestly have no interest in, and the new Motionless in White album which he produced again, but apart from one song which was originally written by Tim and features him on vocals, that album is just kind of bad so I don't really intend on getting it.
  2. Queen of Liars
    Never quite paid attention at how expensive university accommodation can be until I started applying for it for my first choice university today.
    The cheapest self-catered option is £97.86 weekly or £3914.40 annually, as a 40-week contract...
    That's a lot of money for a student ;_;
  3. Queen of Liars

    Life Update

    By Queen of Liars,

    Right, following up on the last entry, I guess I figured out the gender identity thing to some degree. Which means that I will now identify as female.
     
    Again, I spoke about it in detail on my Tumblr, but ultimately I am now ready to be myself and this is the first step towards that. So that's nice, I guess.
  4. Queen of Liars
    I left this off a bit late as I've been pretty busy, but I thought I might as well still do my yearly music list.
    Before we get to the actually good stuff, why not have a look and maybe laugh at some of the albums that have been less than excellent?
    These are the albums of 2014 that I have been considerably disappointed by, for one reason or another.
     
     
    A World Lit Only by Fire by Godflesh
    I'm not really a big Godflesh fan, but I like Streetcleaner well enough and respect their influence in industrial metal, so I thought I would give the new album a try.
    Unfortunately, this turned out to be just a really bland and boring album. Ten heavy and crushing tracks with pretty much nothing going on in them. There's no texture, no subtle melodies to break up the repetitiveness, nothing. Just ten songs which all sound practically the same.
    Some of the riffs are pretty nice admittedly, but no matter how nice a riff, if you loop it for five minutes and then end the song without it progressing into anything I'm probably going to stop appreciating it at some point.
     
    1000hp by Godsmack
    Ok yeah, the title, the awful cover and it being Godsmack should be enough to deduce that the album isn't going to be very good. Thing is, I actually thought that their 2010 album, The Oracle, was really solid, and both Sully Erna and Shannon Larkin are very talented musicians who have the capacity to make something great if they actually used their talent (just look at Sully's solo album), so I had hopes that perhaps they would continue improving.
    Nope. Why bother with that when you can just make some lazy generic radio rock?
    I mean if the other clues weren't enough to glean what this album is like, it opens with the line "time to rewind back to 1995"...
    Yeah, I'd really rather you didn't to be honest with you, Sully.
     
    Triumph and Power by Grand Magus
    I wasn't a big fan of their last album, The Hunt, which I thought just lacked the punch of their previous albums, but was hoping they would pick back up after that slight low point.
    Unfortunately this ended up being just a generic heavy metal album with a bit of a power metal influence. Pretty much indistinguishable from the hundreds of other bands that do it.
    Don't really have anything else to say about it. It's completely unremarkable.
     
    Black Widow by In This Moment
    Largely generic metalcore/alternative metal is not something I usually listen to, so you might wonder why I even had any expectations for the new In This Moment album in the first place. Well, while I really don't care for their first three albums, I was surprised to learn that their last one, Blood, was actually quite good. It was probably the biggest surprise of 2012 for me as far as albums I initially had no interest in are concerned.
    Two of the band members left, which I guess made Blood more of a Maria Brink solo album, and it was actually much better for it. Thus, I was hoping that she would use her new found creative freedom to continue improving.
    Instead, what we get is a return to the mediocrity of previous albums, with lyrics and themes that feel like a second rate Alice Cooper knock off. The best songs on this feel like they could have been cut from Blood for not being good enough. Who knows, maybe they were.
     
    Redeemer of Souls by Judas Priest
    The best thing I can say about this album is that it's mostly not nearly as bad as the two singles from it. Seriously, March of the *Danged* is just straight up awful. The production on it makes Rob Halford, one of the greatest voices in all of metal, sound like Ozzy Osbourne did on Black Sabbatth's 13. Except even worse if you can imagine such a thing.
    As for the actual album, it feels like a cheap and tired imitation of Painkiller with none of the energy they had on that classic.
     
     
    And now, for my biggest disappointment of the year:
     

     
    The Undoing by Skold
    This is the only album on this list which is not here because of it's musical content being subpar. I'm sure that the album is actually of high quality. No, the reason this album is on the list is because it doesn't exist.
     
    Tim Skold announced this follow up to 2011's Anomie on the 17th of March, but only a week later made an announcement that "due to unforeseen developments [he has] chosen to cancel the scheduled release of the new Skold album".
    I have no idea what happened, and I'm sure that he has very good reasons for the cancellation, but I am still extremely disappointed.
    Tim is one of my favourite musicians and I adore both his solo work and his work with many other bands, such as KMFDM, so I'm always excited for something new by him. Anomie was his first solo album in over 15 years and an excellent display of all he has learned during that time, and I'm really hoping that he doesn't take another huge break from that project.
     
    This also isn't the first time he canceled an album. Back in the early 2000's he was working on what was to be his second solo album, Disrupting the Orderly Routine of the Institution (great title). He made demos of six songs that were pretty much finished, and gave them to a handful of people he trusted looking for some feedback. Unfortunately the demos ended up getting leaked, and being understandably furious and disheartened, Tim scrapped the whole project. All that is left of it are the six songs which are now floating around on the internet, known as the Dead God EP.
    A real shame that one person's total lack of respect for an artist's work deprived the rest of us of what would have likely been a great album.
     
    Hopefully whatever problems arose will be resolved and The Undoing will see a release this year.
     
     
    That does it for this list. Next I'll probably do an honourable mentions type thing, followed by my actual best of the year list.
  5. Queen of Liars
    Had my Sociology exam today and am now official done with exams. Forever. Well, until university.
    It went quite well, but the 33 mark question was all kinds of nasty. "Assess whether interpretivist methods are appropriate for sociological research". Eugh, that's the one specific question I was hoping would not come up. Still, I think I did pretty well on it, and the other three questions were very nice, especially since one of the 21 mark questions was on suicide. So hopefully I got that A I need.
     
    And now a whole summer of doing nothing and not caring about anything eduction related at all. Until results day, anyway.
  6. Queen of Liars

    Dronevil

    By Queen of Liars,

    Finally managed to get my hands on a physical copy of my second favourite Boris album, and it is beautiful.
     

     

     

     
    Boris CDs are always really neat. Makes me feel a lot better about the prices of these Japanese-only ones.
  7. Queen of Liars
    Gravedigger 2: The gallows-maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.
    Gravedigger 1: I like thy wit well in good faith. The gallows does well, but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. [...] To't again, come.
    Gravedigger 2: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?
    Gravedigger 1: Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.
    [...]
    Gravedigger 2: Mass, I cannot tell.
    Gravedigger 1: Cudgel thy brains no more about it [...] and when you are asked this question next, say a grave-maker. The houses he makes lasts till doomsday.
     
    Gravedigger 1 would have to be my favourite Hamlet character. Witty fellow.
    And yes, studying Hamlet too much will result in randomly quoting it.
  8. Queen of Liars
    Since I now have a blog, I thought I might as well start doing occasional short album reviews.
    And since Tragic Idol - the thirteenth album from the founders of Gothic Metal, Paradise Lost - comes out in a week's time, I thought I'd review it's predecessor: 2009's Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us.
     

     
    This was Paradise Lost's twelfth album, and is my favourite by them. It actually also is one of my favourite albums of all time.
    In comparison to their previous albums, it continues the darker and heavier side of Paradise Lost established by 2007's In Requiem, but steps it up a notch, while also taking bits from all of their previous eras of sound and using them as inspiration.
    The opening track, As Horizons End, tells you exactly what you're in for: a melodic, melancholic and atmospheric, yet very heavy and guitar-driven Gothic Metal record. There are a few variations in pace throughout the album, with some slower songs like the title track or In Truth but the whole record flows very well and the mood is never broken.
    Gregor Mackintosh is my favourite guitarist and this album is a great showcase as to why: his songwriting is fantastic. This album is full of great guitar playing with brilliant riffs and and solos, all of which serve to create a powerful melancholic atmosphere, which is something I've always loved Paradise Lost for doing. An epic atmosphere which is further strengthened by Nick Holmes' powerful vocals.
    There is really nothing negative I can say about this album. It pushes all the right buttons for me and I am happy to be a die-hard fan of the band.
    Also worth noting is that I bought the 2 CD limited edition of this album on its release day, which came with three bonus tracks - Cardinal Zero, which is a very strong track that could have easily been on the regular album, and different versions of the title track and Last Regret, with the music performed by the Lost In Prague orchestra. Let me tell you, the orchestra versions are very epic indeed, although I do prefer the originals.
     
    Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us is the fathers of Gothic Metal showing everyone how it's done.
  9. Queen of Liars
    So I decided to get myself a copy of the 20th anniversary special edition of Rage Against The Machine's debut album. Although usually I try to avoid reissues, especially of albums I already own, the demos and unreleased tracks included on the second CD were enough for me to get this one.
     
    I'm quite happy with it. As you can see, the packaging is great and includes some good pictures of the band, although more liner notes from the band members themselves would have been nice. The remaster of the album barely sounds different, which is good as the original was absolutely fine. It's the same ten songs that still sound as fresh, relevant and hard-hitting today as they did in 1992. I do believe this to be one of the finest rock records of the last 20 years. From that iconic guitar and bass riff which opens the album with Bombtrack, to Zack de la Rocha's last calls for freedom on the record's closer, Freedom, this is a relentless onslaught of revolution which just doesn't get old.
    The extra stuff on the second CD is also very nice for a big Rage fan like me. The unreleased songs are very good, and the demos are interesting to listen to as well. There's also a DVD with some live performances, although I haven't watched it yet.
    So yeah, a good purchase, I think.
     
     
    Oh, and I also managed to get a used limited edition copy of Paradise Lost's 1997 album, One Second, for just a few pounds. I just can't resist limited editions if they're a good price.
  11. Queen of Liars
    So I'm just gonna jump in on the tide of YouTube posts and leave one of my favourite pieces of music here:
     

     
     
    Being able to do this certainly is nice. Should make the 'Rate The Song Above You' topic a lot easier too.
  12. Queen of Liars
    15 - Asia, Urban Dance and Warpath by Boris
     

     
    I'm going to treat these three albums as one for the purposes of this list, just to make it easier. Which should be fine, since they were released at the same time, and are obviously meant to be part of the same trilogy.
    They released a pretty big album last year, so for the most part this is just Boris relaxing a bit and doing some noise and drone rather than writing songs, and as usual, doing it very well. Usually one probably wouldn't describe releasing three albums at once as "relaxing", but this is Boris after all.
    However, between all the noise and soundscapes, there is an actual song hidden here. Surrender, which is the second track on Urban Dance, is actually a very nice post rock piece, interspliced with a little bit of noise, which comes as a nice surprise.
     
     
    14 - Hades (The Nine Stages of Change at the Deceased Remains) by 死んだ僕の彼女 (My Dead Girlfriend)
     

     
    I know it might seem like this would be a pretty bleak album, but it's actually some pretty upbeat shoegaze/noise pop, though there is the occasional darker and more atmospheric song. A very enjoyable album with some great melodies and riffs, as well as some truly fantastic atmosphere on those occasional tracks.
     
     
    13 - A N D by tricot
     

     
    Not quite as good as T H E, but still an excellent math rock album. Catchy, and filled with great instrumentation.
     
     
    12 - Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper by Merzbow, Mats Gustafsson, Balázs Pándi & Thurston Moore
     

     
    A big collaboration resulting in a great free improvisation record, with plenty of harsh noise and jazz within. A very crushing and abrasive album, but one that is quite the experience.
     
     
    11 - The Dreaming I by Akhlys
     

     
    That cover sure reminds me of Behemoth's The Satanist from last year. As do some aspects of the music contained within. I mean, it's not a rip-off or anything, with the music being quite different, but Akhlys definitely took some inspiration from that album here, and have created a great black metal album with elements of dark ambient, and much like The Satanist, a great sense of atmosphere and grandeur.
     
     
    10 - Graveward by Sigh
     

     
    The production on this album may be quite bad, but it does not hide Sigh's signature avant-garde/black metal brilliance. Great riffs, excellent songwriting, and of course the usual Sigh weirdness.
     
     
    9 - Atheist's Cornea by Envy
     

     
    An excellent mix of post-rock and post-hardcore, with some great atmosphere, and moments of both slow beauty, and fast paced aggression.
     
     
    8 - Abyss by Chelsea Wolfe
     

     
    A mesmerising album of haunting and ethereal beauty, which sounds exactly what the cover looks like - dark, eerie and desolate.
     
     
    7 - Into the Shadows by Anoice
     

     
    A beautiful and melancholy album, blending post-rock with modern classical for some incredible compositions. It's very easy to get lost in the world that this album creates.
     
     
    6 - Fantasy Empire by Lightning Bolt
     

     
    An excellent noise rock/math rock album, with some fantastic instrumentation. The production gives it a very nice sound, with a layer of noise and muted vocals over top of the band rocking out on their instruments. Amazing riffs too.
     
     
    5 - Frozen Niagara Falls by Prurient
     

     
    A terrifying mass of harsh noise and industrial, which you can't break away from. It grabs and suffocates you, while taking you on a journey through bleak and hopeless soundscapes, with the occasional glimmer of beauty which inevitably gets drowned out in cold darkness. An experience unlike anything else.
     
     
    4 - Sgùrr by Thy Catafalque
     
     

     
    An amazing progressive metal album with an avant-garde flavour. Full of long and winding songs with incredible instrumentation and unique atmosphere, often going off in unpredictable directions. The riffs on this thing are seriously out of this world.
     
     
    3 - The Plague Within by Paradise Lost
     

     
    Paradise Lost continue their streak of perfect albums, this time seeing the return of growls and other death metal elements which have been long absent. Combining these elements with their current sound, Paradise Lost have achieved one of the best albums of their long and already highly impressive career. Great songwriting and riffs, their own brand of haunting beauty, the occasional symphonic elements, it's all here and it all makes for an incredible album.
     
     
    2 - The Battle of Being by Outside the Coma
     

     
    The latest project of Mikee Goodman, known for SikTh and Primal Rock Rebellion, is quite a wild ride. I don't even know how to describe it, to be honest. I guess that SikTh would be the closest point of comparison, but the experimentation and insanity is turned up to a whole different level here. It's a bizarre and eccentric album, and probably the best thing that Mikee's done, which is definitely no small praise when that means outdoing SikTh.
     
     
    1 - Freedom by Refused
     

     
    It's been 17 years since Refused revolutionised music with The Shape of Punk to Come - which I happen to think is the best album of all time. And for those 17 years, the world was convinced that there would never be another Refused album. Yet, here we are. And I couldn't be happier about it.
    Is Freedom as good as TSoPtC? No, of course not, don't be silly. It's not even close. Nothing is. So it's a good thing that Refused are not concerned with trying to replicate it, and instead do the same thing they've always done: change their sound with every album and never stop evolving.
    17 years, but Refused have not aged a day. The band is still as skilled and talented as they've ever been, and deliver an album of infectious punk anthems with plenty of twists to keep it interesting and unique. Although lacking the bold experimentation of the previous album, there's still plenty of new ideas here, and the excellent songwriting has not gone anywhere.
    Welcome back, Refused. Long live the New Noise.
     
     
     
    So that's my list done. Now it's time for the honourable mentions, since I can't be bothered to do a separate entry for them this year:
     
    Thier by Amestigon
    Arcturian by Arcturus
    Crypt of the NecroDancer OST by Danny Baranowsky
    Near Death Revelations by Blaze of Perdition
    The Devil by Blue Stahli
    Psychic Warfare by Clutch
    Lore by Elder
    Beware the Sword You Cannot See by A Forest of Stars
    Holographic Violence by Grave Babies
    Enki by Melechesh
    II by METZ
    Exercises in Futility by Mgła
    Autumn Eternal by Panopticon
    Monotony Fields by Shape of Despair
    International Blackjazz Society by Shining
    Opacities by SikTh
    Ordeal by Skepticism
    The Ride Majestic by Soilwork
    Never Were the Way She Was by Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld
    The Moon Lit Our Path by Tempel
    The Children of the Night by Tribulation
     
     
    And that concludes my look back at 2015's music. Here's hoping that 2016 is anywhere near as good.
  13. Queen of Liars
    Time for an updated Ghost in the Shell collection post, now that I have all the new Arise stuff.
     

     
    We have the DVDs:
     
    Ghost in the Shell / Innocence / Ghost in the Shell 2.0 boxset
    Stand Alone Complex 1st GIG boxset
    Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG boxset
    Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man
    Stand Alone Complex - Individual Eleven
    Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society
    Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Borders 1 & 2
    Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Borders 3 & 4
    Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie
     
    And the manga:
     
    Ghost in the Shell
    Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface
    Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor
     
    Good stuff right there.
  14. Queen of Liars
    Received my copy of the 20th anniversary reissue of Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse today.
    One of the most well regarded and influential black metal albums, and for very good reason.
     

     
    That cover art is so good.
    It's a 2 CD package, with the first disc containing the remastered album, and the second containing a previously unreleased alternative mix of the album, along with a few rare tracks from EPs and demos they did around the time.
     
    This is also a good excuse to show off my collection of Emperor and Ihsahn's solo albums.
     

     
    Stacked them up Ryuujin style because my desk isn't big enough for 11 albums side by side.
     
    On the left, we have the Emperor stuff:
     
    In the Nightside Eclipse
    Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
    IX Equilibrium (Special Edition)
    Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise
    Scattered Ashes: A Decade of Emperial Wrath
    In the Nightside Eclipse (20th Anniversary Edition)
     
    And on the right, Ihshan stuff:
     
    The Adversary
    angL
    After (Limited Edition)
    Eremita (Limited Edition)
    Das Seelenbrechen (Limited Edition)
     
     
    With that, it should come as no surprise that Ihsahn is one of my favourite artists. He's definitely one of the most interesting artists to follow because he always strives to experiment and stretch the boundaries of extreme metal, from the first Emperor album all the way to Das Seelenbrechen, which in my opinion eclipses even Anthems... as the best thing he's done.
    He's working on a new album for this year and I absolutely can't wait to see where he goes next.
  15. Queen of Liars

    Life Update?

    By Queen of Liars,

    It's been a long time since I used the blog, eh? Might as well do a little life update thingy, as it's been a strange month or two for me.
     
    Right now I am approaching two months of having worked in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, which is pretty far from home. It's a job for an Austrian company, which looks like it will last around half a year. I'll occasionally fly back home to London for holidays and stuff, but for the most part I'll be living here, which has been pretty interesting. It's nice to have an opportunity to see a bit more of the world, I suppose. The job is nice, though at 6 days a week it doesn't leave me with too much free time, but I'm not complaining. The time zone change does make it a bit tricky to keep up with friends from around the world, but I've been managing.
     
    So that's one big thing, but then I have also been dealing with some... gender idendity stuff? However you want to phrase it. Won't go into much detail here, but if you follow me on Tumblr you've seen my numerous posts there. So yeah, that has made it... an interesting time, I guess. We'll see where that ends up going.
     
    Well, without going into some other stuff, that is mainly what's been going on with me lately. A whole lot of self-discovery.
  16. Queen of Liars
    Well, submitted my last two assignments this morning, and with that it's the end of my first semester of university. Got to say it was quite enjoyable. Very enjoyable even. Definitely the most enjoyable time I've had in education so far. I'm glad that I decided to go with Law after all, as it's actually a very interesting and relevant subject. Although the workload multiplies at a rather staggering rate if left unattended for even the tiniest amount of time, most of that work is fairly interesting and engaging.
     
    However, I would have thought that at this point I'd be able to pull myself together enough not to leave large chunks of assignments unfinished, only starting to finish them within the last 24 hours before the submission deadline.
    Apparently not.
     
    Well, it's still a big relief not having anymore coursework to do for the time being. Now I get more time to do nothing.
  19. Queen of Liars

    Tragic Illusion

    By Queen of Liars,

    So, Paradise Lost just announced this thing:
     

     
    Tragic Illusion 25 (The Rarities), which will be released on the 25th of October to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary and will be a compilation of rarities and B-sides from over the years. It will also contain a brand new song - Loneliness Remains - as well as re-recorded versions of Gothic and Our Saviour.
    I'll definitely be picking this up. I already have five of the songs from limited edition copies of albums, but I am interested in the rest.
  21. Queen of Liars
    After some delays with the official Century Media store, my copy of the new Paradise Lost album finally arrived yesterday:
     

     
    A thing of beauty, and probably my album of the year. Of the announced albums I'm aware of this year, only Refused or Ihsahn have a chance of dethroning it.
     
     
    This also means that it's a good time for a Paradise Lost collection post:
     

    ^Click for a bigger picture
     
    So, the two on the left are:
     
    Drown in Darkness - The Early Demos
    Symbol of Life (Limited edition digipak)
     
    Then the pile in the middle:
     
    Lost Paradise
    Gothic
    Shades of God
    Icon (Limited edition digipak)
    Draconian Times
    One Second (Limited edition digipak)
    Host
    Believe in Nothing
    Paradise Lost (Limited edition digipak)
    In Requiem
    The Anatomy of Melancholy
    Tragic Illusion 25 (The Rarities)
    The Plague Within (Limited edition digibook)
     
    And finally the two on the right:
     
    Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us (Limited edition digibook)
    Tragic Idol (Limited edition box set; signed by the band)
     
    One of my all-time favourite bands, and one of my most valued collections.
  22. Queen of Liars
    One of my favourite record labels - Century Media - mark their 25th anniversary this year and have released 25 of their classic albums as limited 2CD editions, which is pretty cool.
    I got myself City by Strapping Young Lad today and will probably end up getting Paradise Lost's In Requiem despite owning the original, just for the second CD and because that album means quite a lot to me.
    Might also use these reissues to get some albums by bands I've been wanting to try out, like Turisas, Iced Earth and Tiamat.
    And of course I find out about these reissues just as I was thinking I should probably cut down on the money I spend on music... Ah well.
  23. Queen of Liars
    Why can't it just be rainy and miserable like England's supposed to be? The heat was bad enough yesterday to get in the way of enjoying The Dark Knight Rises, but today it's just horrible. Won't be able to do anything worthwhile at all.
    I really hate the heat >.>
  24. Queen of Liars

    Ihsahn

    By Queen of Liars,

    Time for an updated Ihsahn collection post I guess, given the new album:
     

    ^Click for a bigger picture
     
    Starting on the left:
     
    Thou Shalt Suffer, which is essentially the earliest incarnation of Emperor. They originally released one death metal/black metal EP in 1991 - Into the Woods of Belial - before the band split up, with Ihsahn and Samoth forming Emperor immediately afterwards. However, Ihsahn used the name again in 2000 to release his solo album Somnium, this time it being a neoclassical/darkwave/ambient album. Both releases are pictured.
     
    Next up, the legendary Emperor, one of the most influential and well regarded black metal bands in the history of the genre. The releases are:
     
    Emperor/Wrath of the Tyrant (a compilation including the self-titled EP and the first demo)
    In the Nightside Eclipse
    Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
    IX Equilibrium (Special Edition)
    Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise
    Scattered Ashes: A Decade of Emperial Wrath
    In the Nightside Eclipse (20th Anniversary Edition)
     
    Following this, we have Peccatum, an avant-garde band which Ihsahn formed with his wife Ihriel (aka Starofash) as Emperor was coming to an end. Here we have:
     
    Strangling from Within
    Amor Fati
    Lost in Reverie
    Oh, My Regrets EP
    The Moribund People EP
     
    Now we get to my favourite of these: Ihsahn's solo work which is what he primarily occupies himself with these days. Included here are:
     
    The Adversary
    angL
    After (Limited Edition)
    Eremita (Limited Edition Digibook)
    Das Seelenbrechen (Limited Edition Digibook)
    Arktis. (Limited Edition Digibook)
     
    Before we get to the stack all the way on the right, let's look at the three at the bottom:
     
    Blood Must Be Shed - a one-of EP by members of Emperor, Satyricon and Dødheimsgard.
    Grimen by Hardingrock - an experimental folk project by Ihsahn and Ihriel, joined by Norwegian folk musician Knut Buen.
    Fjelltronen by Wongraven - the dark folk/ambient/medieval project by Satyr of Satyricon, on which Ihsahn plays the grand piano and synths.
     
    As for the stack on the right, that one is for all the albums Ihsahn has appeared on as a guest:
     
    The Sham Mirrors by Arcturus
    Deconstruction by Devin Townsend Project
    Plains of Oblivion by Jeff Loomis
    Bilateral by Leprous
    Coal by Leprous
    Iter.Viator by Starofash
    Silence in the Snow by Trivium
    Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and *Heck* by Ulver
  25. Queen of Liars
    I got a ridiculous amount of work to do for tomorrow and it looks like it will take me the night to do it...
    Well, that's what I get for so foolishly leaving it off until now. At least I have an empty timetable for tomorrow, so I'll just turn up, hand in the work, go home and sleep.
     
    Looks like I'll need some coffee for this one...
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