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LionsMouth
What album by Leviathan would you say is the best?

I really dig The Tenth Sub Level Of Suicide. That was the first album of his I heard. Howl Mockery At the Cross is pretty decent, too. It's another older demo he had released on his own that Moribund reissued after Tentacles Of Whorror. He recorded a split with Xasthur that is insanely epic on both their parts. The last two albums he put out under the Leviathan name show how much he's moved forward in the genre though.

True Traitor, True Whore (2011) is absolutely dripping with rage. When he wrote this, he had been accused of rape and battery by his ex-girlfriend (he was later found innocent of the charges). This is one of the most brutal albums I've ever heard from anyone.





Scar Sighted (2015) is the latest album, and it's another epic. There's a slight death metal angle to it at times, although it's blackened death along the lines of Behemoth, and even some moments that show a definite sense of melody.





There's also the Lurker Of Chalice project. This is another solo effort, but somewhat different that Leviathan. Less aggressive, more depressed.





And he's also a member of Twilight, a sort of "supergroup" that has had Scott Conner from Xasthur, Aaron Turner of Isis, Blake Judd from Nachtmystium, and even Thurston Moore, as members. They've put out at least three albums that are all pretty decent.

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Waldgeflüster / Panopticon (split LP)
Nordvis/Bindrune Recordings, 2016



My apologies for posting so much black metal lately. I've just been on a kind of jag with this stuff.

This split between Waldgeflüster (Munich, Germany) and Panopticon (Minnesota) is easily one of my favorite releases of this year, showing that even an ocean apart, metal is a universal language. Each band has one side of this LP consisting of one track of their own, followed by a cover of one song by the other, and it's these latter songs that really make this special. Instead of picking a typical blast-driven beatdown, each chooses one of the others slower, more melodic songs to cover.

Waldgeflüster takes on Panopticon's languid Norwegian Nights, turning it into a German folk song.





And Panopticon does Waldgeflüster's Trauerweide II, remaking it as a masterpiece Appalachian elegy.





The two original songs are fantastic as well, but in a genre driven by music distilled from depressive violence, the two tracks above stand out, displaying the true essence of black metal in their willingness to be unafraid of doing something different.

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Feel free to post as much black metal as you want! I'll try to post some soon too, don't have any on vinyl though.

Not really familiar with either group, but Panopticon has been on my list of things to check out.

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Lifelover - Pulver
GoatowaRex/NorthernSky, 2006 - This reissue by Osmose Productions, 2016



This was Lifelover's first LP after a demo released a year earlier, and they came out of the gate with a masterpiece of gothic black doom. Churning riffs, creeped out and depressed vocals, weird samples, disturbing artwork. This one had it all. I don't even mind the drum machine. It actually kind of suits the tenor of the album. While I dig the other three albums and one EP this band put out, this one remains one of my all time favorite records in the genre.

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Gordon Rekcikssa
Lifelover - Pulver
GoatowaRex/NorthernSky, 2006 - This reissue by Osmose Productions, 2016

Some very raw, twisted sounding stuff going on there!

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