Nowadays Limbonic Art is a one-man project, but back in the day, it consisted of two guys, and while I enjoy the newer material quite a bit, that duo was something special. Their first four albums were spectacular. Atmosphere, melody, aggression, creativity, technical skill, wild vocals, willingness to take risks and to experiment, vivid sonic landscapes, they had all of these things. During the second half of the 90's they had no competition. In some of their songs, they used electronics in interesting ways, which is why I would say they were quite avant-garde for that time period, I mean, black metal and electronics was certainly a combination that was odd for the 90's. Thank you a lot for giving them a listen! They truly were incredible.

a great record from start to finish, really pushed the black metal boundaries sonically

Back in Norway again huh? This was published by the record company of Samoth (Emperor) whose music you just reacted to earlier this week as well. Highly ambitious stuff for its time.

Moon in Scorpio is a great album, from start to finish. It would be interesting to have it remixed and remsatered.

When I was watching yesterday's video with Progenie Terrestre Pura I kept coming back to these guys and how they would likely be a better fit for you, given that at this time they were gloriously free from any third wave trappings. This is firmly in the second wave, though and came out all the way back in 1996. I would bet Progenie Terrestre Pura listen to this a lot. I do get what you're saying regarding both the compression and the repetition, though I would also say that the production is clear enough. But this was ultimately two guys playing around with what was possible with technology at the time, and it's less of a purist aesthetic choice than it was them doing the best they could with the tech and budgetary limitations they had. As for the repetition, this first album has a bit of it. It works great as an album to vibe to and to let it just wash away in the background, but it's going for mood rather than any prog status. It's an album that clicks on multiple listens and when you're not analysing it, and with you personally, it will likely never fully click because repetition isn't your thing. So you will possibly like to know that the next studio album (and the work after that which is essentially rerecordings of demos) retain the strong symphonic elements seen here, but add a lot more conciseness, with tracks on those albums averaging the 7 minute mark. They're probably quite what you'd be looking for. After that, they went in a somewhat bizarre direction and dropped almost all symphonic bits, and went in a much more aggressive direction that made them lose everything about them that made them stand out. But there was sort of a backlash in underground circles against black metal becoming too "melodic", and they certainly weren't the only band to do this kind of 180. But anything from In Abhorrence Dementia in particular should genuinely appeal to you. It's like this, but more compact in composition, a bit more playful, even. My personal favourite would be "A Venomous Kiss of Profane Grace" This is, again, why I laud the second wave so much. What might sound a bit more derivative here is only so because dozens of other bands were influenced by it. Before this, you had Emperor (these guys were proteges of Emperor and were released in Samoth's own label) and Arcturus, and a few others were taking notice. But at the same time, this takes the same elements of these two bands and does something completely different with them. It's recognisably black metal, while managing to transcend a few of its trappings.

@thegrimner

22 күн бұрын

As for bands that escape the dichotomy of symphonic metal you mentioned, I'd say Emperor are a good example of it, and even though I shared some misgivings about the track you reacted earlier, it still does showcase how Ihsahn always, from the get go, had a musical vision that treated both aspects as part of the same compositional whole. Other bands who do that, and they are sadly not that many who do it, include Obtained Enslavement (which you reacted to on a stream) and Bal Sagoth, which I am guilty of forcing upon you. I don't know why it's not a more common approach, even heavyweights like Septic Flesh or Fleshgod Apocalypse eventually end up separating the two elements.

I beg you, do the arcturus reaction. Anything from La Masquerade Infernale... please 🥹

@Tan-Tan666

21 күн бұрын

Yes! Good call! Time to go listen to Ad Astra again...

Good album. Unlike Bal Sagoth in their later releases, this band certainly let the riffs and passages breath almost to a hypnotic level on this album.

The whole album is a kind of a mixed bag for me, but this song in mindblowingly epic and powerful, Symphonic Black Metal at it's best

Limbonic Art is great.

Limbonic art is just great imo. His vocals are just perfectly... demonic. He just came out with a new album as well, which sounded good.

Limbonic Art comes up with truly epic ideas, but some of the fillers are a bit too long.

Of all the Black Metal (and BM adjacent) slop I've listened to over the years I do remember enjoying my time listening to several Limbonic Art albums but nothing I would ever really return to. The vocals are good, there are catchy hooks, I like the texture of the synth and guitar but the drums is really the weak point for me, if they had a badass drummer like Hellhammer or Frost it would be seriously good. With that said I can imagine putting some of their albums if I'm looking for this type of mood for an extended period of time. Its a droning music for sure. By the way, Diabolical Masquerade is right down your alley if you want something like this but just more musical (Dan Swano, and Blakheim from Katatonia/Bloodbath) I am definitely going to request DM but have to wait for next opportunity, might request a full album if I can.

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