Absu

Man, I was never all that into Absu back in the day but goddamn if they're not 1000x better than I remembered. 

Wound up listening to the entirety of their "Tara" album while I was deep down a late 90's/ early 00's USBM rabbit hole this past week and it absolutely fucking floored me... Blistering fast (seriously, there are moments where they get into straight up insane early Cryptopsy, Krisiun tempos) with just enough dissonant melody and frosty blackened "grimness" to hold it all together.

Can't friggin' believe their drummer sang on this stuff... Like, doing vox in the studio is one thing, but how the hell did he pull it off live?! Shrieking out their ultra complex mystical-word-salad lyrics while ripping blastbeats at that speed? You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

Mork Gryning

Uh, anyway, here's something less weepy and emotional than that last post: Ripshit Swedish black metal blasted out at speeds that sometimes border on full-on grind.

This was probably my favorite album circa 1997-98 but I honestly hadn't thought about it in a looong fucking time before it randomly popped into my head the other day and threw it on for a hit of nostalgia.

Definitely one of those albums that is inextricably linked with a very particular time/ place in my life, and a whole lot of memories... Mostly being 17 years old and riding my bike through middle of nowhere MA as the leaves started to change.

Ok I guess this is getting weepy and emotional after all. I'll see myself out.