Random Appreciation Post: Fates Warning - "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray"

This toothache is a bane in my existence.

Standard painkillers don't help. Sleepless night.

So I am doing admin work, deleting emails, saving down documents, doing taxes, feeling so tired, grumpy miserable.

And then I remembered that back in the summer of '98 I had messed up my elbow (playing basketball probably) and I spent a sleepless night that was made transcendentally better by the "A Pleasant Shade Of Gray" VHS (and some late night TV videos from Ronnie Scott's).

This dawn is also made better by this unfathomably deep and rewarding album.

Fates Warning are one of the best bands of all time.

(If the pain persists after the visit to the dentist, I'll probably end up not-so-randomly appreciating King Diamond's "Conspiracy" next.) 

Playlists

 Playlist 05/07/2021

1) Sepultura - "Beneath The Remains" (Roadrunner/racer, 1989)

2) Sepultura - "Arise" (Roadrunner/racer, 1991)
Scott Burns is a truly legendary producer. Here we are confronted by a "nuclear" production (cf. "Deicide"). Here the overall sound works. There are musical and stylistic reasons for this, in addition to Andy Wallace (another great) doing the mixing. This sort of a production was unsuitable for Napalm Death. I'm not a big "Harmony Corruption" fan.

3) Diocletean

4) Voivod
5) Testament - "The Legacy" (Megaforce, 1987)
6) Testament - "The New Order" (Megaforce, 1988)
7) Witchcraft - "Legend" (Nuclear Blast, 2012)

I was annoyed at how good this was, when it first came out. Really solid songwriting, porting a plethora of moods from one section to the next, while always ensuring that the Witchcraft trademarks are experienced by the listeners. Angel Of Betrayal!

Playlists

 

Playlist 04/07/2021 

1) Clutch - "Psychic Warfare" (Weathermaker, 2015) 

Great album, with a "breezier" feel than the full-lengths that preceded and followed and a few should-be-all-time-classics.

2) Sepultura - "Schizophrenia" (Cogumelo, 1987)

Love the "Intro". Love it! The rest of the album is not bad either :)

3) Crypt Sermon - "The Ruins Of Fading Light" (Dark Descent, 2019)

Really good album with a thematic take that allows for doom metal vocabulary to shine in the lyrics. 

4) Vektor - "Black Future" (Heavy Artillery, 2009)

Vektor are, by far, the best thrash metal band of the millenium (so far). What a trip!

 

Playlists

Playlist 21/03/2021

1) Bolt Thrower - "The IVth Crusade" (Earache, 1992)

Make the world better. Listen to Bolt Thrower!

2) Bolt Thrower - "War Master" (Earache, 1991)

A better world is possible. Listen to Bolt Thrower!  

3) Baest - "Necro Sapiens" (Century Media, 2021)

Great multiverse of influences. Catchy songs. Non-pretentious music. Possible their best all-around album.

4) Spirit Adrift - "Enlightened In Eternity" (Century Media, 2020)

Really great stuff. Melodic yet heavy. I really like this band. 

5) The Mars Volta & Solitude Aeturnus mix

Because I can.

 

Playlists

 Playlist 21/03/2021

1. Immolation - "Shadows In The Light" (2007, Listenable)

Awesome album. It felt awesome when it came out. It still feels awesome over a decade later. Immolation are a great band!

2. Opeth - "Blackwater Park" (2001, MFN)

I'll always remember how perplexed I was when the brutal vocals kicked in. Biased prick that I was, I did not want to hear anymore from bands that were desperately trying to "mature", without having the same honest intentions and passion they had as when they were first starting out. Great album. Today the Pink Floyd influences (guitars) really stood out for me.

3. Opeth - "Still Life" (1999, Peaceville)

The pivotal step in their career. Leaders, not followers.

4. Deep Purple - "Abandon" (1998, EMI)

Clearly not as good as its predecessor, but good nonetheless. I think I saw them live in '99 and again in '01; on the strength of this album, could be claimed. I remember walking my uncle's cream beagle Irma (Beagles Rule! Paws Up!) with this cassette tape in my walkman. 

5. Deep Purple - "Bananas" (2003, EMI) 

It may have been in 2004, 2005 even, when I sat down to listen to release. Had I listened to this album first, I'd definitely prefer it to "Abandon". Alas, I heard them in chronological order, "Abandon" first and then "Bananas". I'd probably still go for the latter if squeezed.

Playlists

Playlist 03-07/08/2020

1. Karnivool - "Assymetry" (2013, Density)

2. Midnight - "Sweet Death And Ecstasy" (2017, Hells Headbangers)

Yes, they(?) are better than Toxic Holocaust, Joel Grind.

3. Yes - "The Yes Album" (1971, Atlantic)

It is a pitty that -at least until 10 years ago- there was more talk of and about "Tales..." rather than this feelgood record.

4. Metallica - "Ride The Lightning" (1984, Megaforce)

I'm willing to change an opinion I've held for 25 years just as a Fuck You to the intolerable fanboys of "... Puppets".

5. In Flames - "Reroute To Remain" (2002, Nuclear Blast)

Trendy metal, heavily influenced by Slipknot. They were fully aware of the Tool and Meshuggah impact on american or wannabe american ears. Their second best? They were NEVER a good proper (death) metal band.

6. Vital Remains - "Forever Underground" (1997, Osmose)

Still remember the (1-page?) interview at Metal Hammer Greece. Teenage wasteland. 

7. Six Feet Under - "Warpath" (1997, Metal Blade)

Great commercial album, great vocals, Necrophagia for stoner rockers, zombie groove. Allen West is a seriously awesome riffer (a meth reefer?) and "Back From The Dead" is a criminally overlooked '90s record. Summer metal, or no metal at all!

8. Six Feet Under - "Haunted" (1995, Metal Blade)

Very interesting take.

9. Six Feet Under - "Maximum Violence" (1999, Metal Blade)

Their last properly solid album. A career semi-wasted.

10. Mekong Delta - "The Music Of Erich Zann" (1988, Aaarrg)

11. Mekong Delta - "Dances Of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)" (1990, Aaarrg)

Metal for metalheads.

12. Blood Ceremony - "Living With The Ancients" (2011, Rise Above)

Stylistically trendy when released with organically orgasmic songs like "Daughter Of The Sun".

13. Blood Ceremony - "Lord Of Misrule" (2016, Rise Above)

Includes a few perfunctory riffs.

14. Cradle Of Filth - "Damnation And A Day" (2003, Epic)

Tastier than a pack of crisps, but pretty worthless in calories.

15. Motörhead - "Aftershock" (2013, Motörhead Music)

In the conversation for their second best album of the third millenium.

16. Clawfinger - "Clawfinger" (1997, Warner)

Ameriglobal 2000s nu rawk, done early right.

17. Suicidal Tendencies - "Lights... Camera... Revolution" (1990, Epic)

Kick... Ass... Masterpiece 

18. Black Sabbath - "13"

Better than "The Final Frontier", "Nostradamus", "Death Magnetic", worse than "Book Of Souls", "Firepower", "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct".

The Rewatchables - "Enemy Of The State"

Fargo (Season 2)

Knives Out (2019)

In The Electric Mist (2009)

Playlists

Playlist 27-31/07/2020

1. Swans - "The Glowing Man" (2016, Young God)

2. Killing Joke - "Pylon" (2015, Spinefarm)

3. Alchemist - "Tripsis" (2007, Relapse)

4. Morgoth - "Feel Sorry For The Fanatic" (1996, Century Media)

5. Morgoth - "Odium" (1993, Century Media)

6. Napalm Death - "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism" (2020, Century Media)

7. Sabbat - "Envenom" (1991, Evil)

8. Sabbat - "Evoke" (1992, Evil)

9. Nunslaughter - "Hells Unholy Fire" (2000, Revenge)

10. Nunslaughter - "Goat" (2003, Revenge)

11. W.A.S.P. - "The Headless Children" (1989, Capitol)

12. W.A.S.P. - "The Crimson Idol" (1992, Capitol)

13. Immolation - "Here In The After" (1996, Metal Blade)

14. Liquid Tension Experiment - "Liquid Tension Experiment" (1998, Magna Carta)

15. Enslaved - "Eld" (1997, Osmose)

16. Church Of Misery - various

17. Amorphis - "Am Universum" (2001, Relapse)

18. Amorphis - "Tuonela" (1999, Nuclear Blast)

19. Borknagar - "Winter Thrice" (2016, Century Media)

20. Anathema - "Alternative 4" (1998, Peaceville)

21. Sabbat - "Disembody" (1993, Evil)

22. Karnivool - "Sound Awake" (2009, Cymatic)

Back To The Future (1985)

Back To The Future Part II (1989)

Fargo (Season 2)

Thin Lizzy: Rocker on the Loose (2018?)

The Spider's Web - Britain's Second Empire (2017)

Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (2013)