Root - Kärgeräs

What can I say about Kärgeräs. My favorite album of all time? Top 3 at least…I’m taking this one to the desert island with me that’s for damn sure (Nothingface and Fish Rising would be the other two I suppose). Unbeatable atmosphere, emotion, chops, and imagination. The absolute pinnacle of what metal can be, even when it’s hardly metal at all.

Sweet Nation Kärgeräs

Durlin Lurt - Him Jenson

Wu-Tang slams meet Sesame Street jams.

Him Jenson

Törr - Institut Klinické Smrti

One of the best thrash releases ever, never mind from the Czech Rep., I mean ANYWHERE!! And just like the cover, there is no fucking around. Hailz Vlasta!!

Schoolin' Death

Tudor - Demos

More old idiosyncratic Czech thrash in the vein of Drakar. A bit more Root-like in their demeanor but still poppy in an excellent and utterly confusing way. Take a song like Plast for instance, these guys must have been high as a kite when they recorded it!  Who thinks to sing that way? Completely lo-fi and 'bout as earnest as you can get, these demos from ’90 and ’91 encapsulate the weirdness that is Czechslovakian metal.

Zombie & Skeletor

Drakar - Let Draka

Czech metal week dudes, gonna start things out with Drakar's Let Draka, very special idiosyncratic thrash that sounds sort of unlike anything else. "Dragoon musick of Prague Mystic Metal"? I could say this sounds like Master’s Hammer with the obfuscated Oriental guitar lines, but this is much more classic metal…almost poppy at times.  I’m gonna hate myself for saying this but maybe it’s a little like Def Leppard and Master’s Hammer got together and smoked the peace pipe. Dive bombs and fancy guitar runs a plenty and some vocals that might make you scratch your head in bewilderment, what can I say these “Crazy Boy’s” could play.

Dragoons

Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust

Midnight Oil on a grimmer than thou blog? Well, it is GPM, so what do you expect?! This is a damn fine album passionately performed by some very capable musicians. Of course best known for Beds Are Burning, but Dreamworld and Bullroarer are definitely cutz not to be trifled with.

Diesel and Dust

Todtgelichter - Angst

Probably the best black metal album released in the last few years…I know I said that about Rossomahaar and MGLA but these Krauts have them beat. Imagine Nagelfar’s Srontgorrth combined with The Postman Syndrome’s Terraforming the result is so awesome that if I would’ve known about it sooner Angst would’ve topped my Beast of List for last year no questions asked. So many key tracks on this album but I guess it says something that Subway is the number one played song in my itunes. Addictive, depressive, enlightening, stupendous!

Angst

Bethzaida - LXXVIII

Finnish death metal that fuses folky riffs with a Voivodian pacing and dissonance. Much like the underrated Dark Heresy did on their lone full-length.  Plenty of flute too, so suck on that. 

78

Absonant Cadence - Inside Out-Life

This Canuck band played some very imaginitive, technical death metal... unfortunately the production really, really sucks.  But that's OK! If you're like me, sometimes you listen to music for the ideas in it and not the overall sound, and believe me, there are about a million ideas flying around here.

Inside Out-Life

Blackdeath - Katharsis - Kalte Lieder Aus der Hölle

One of the better black metal albums from last year, and I'm just catching on to it.  Imagine those crazy nutters from !T.O.O.H! playing obscure black metal...I think that's a fair assessment.

Katharsis