The Metal Scholar's Weekly Listening List (24th November 2020)

Not Long Now Until I Have To Decide My Album Of The Year...

I think it's fair to say that I am not looking forward to that decision at all. Whilst I have a complied list for my writing endeavours over at Noizze, but there are still so many albums that I love for different reasons this year and I've actively avoided thinking about it. Even so, I always find it fun to go back and look at albums that have been released through the year, as I get very vivid memory flashbacks that remind me of the emotions and scenarios I experienced when the album came out, and the subsequent months after it. It can be quite a cathartic exercise as well as a voyage of discovery, as I've often found bits in albums that I've missed that just amplify or dampen my opinion of it. Some of the best albums often show themselves to me during this recapping process, diamonds in the rough and hidden gems so to speak. Sometimes you feel like Smaug the dragon, hauling all the albums you've heard and sifting through them until you notice you've made an accidental omission, then you fly into a fit of rage trying to remember what that one album is just by remembering the cover art. Whilst that being said, things have resumed to normal after last week's strange blip, as you may have read in the latest Miscellaneous Goings On Of Tom, that came out yesterday. Now, I am fully in the music flow again, so without further ado, let's delve into this week's lists! 

Singles Of The Week

I. Tombs (🇺🇸) - The Hunger (Season Of Mist), Black/Post-Metal

II. Angelus Apatrida (🇪🇸) - Bleed The Crown (Century Media Records), Thrash Metal

III. Hjelvik (🇳🇴) - Helgrinda (Nuclear Blast), Viking Metal

IV. Moonspell (🇵🇹) - The Greater Good (Napalm Records), Gothic Metal

V. Wolf King (🇺🇸) - Sanctuary (Prosthetic Records), Blackened Hardcore

VI. Frosttide (🇫🇮) - We Will Be Gone (Out Of Line Music), Melodic Death/Folk Metal

VII. Skelethal (🇫🇷) - Cave Dwellers (Hells Headbangers Records), Death Metal

VIII. The Black (🇮🇹) - Ars Metal Metis (Black Widow Records), Heavy/Doom/Progressive Metal

IX. Warkvlt (🇮🇩) - Morbid Ritual (Sadist Records), Black Metal

X. Soulskinner (🇬🇷) - Angel Of Darkness (Xtreem Music), Death Metal

Albums Of The Week

I. Hjelvik (🇳🇴) - Welcome To Hel (Nuclear Blast), Viking Metal

II. Tombs (🇺🇸) - Under Sullen Skies (Season Of Mist), Black/Post-Metal

III. Skelethal (🇫🇷) - Unveiling The Threshold (Hells Headbangers Records), Death Metal

IV. Warkvlt (🇮🇩) - Deathymn (Sadist Records), Black Metal

V. Soulskinner (🇬🇷) - Seven Bowls Of Wrath (Xtreem Music), Death Metal

Throwback Of The Week

This week's throwback is a modern classic for me (it came out in 2016) and has a special place in my memory because it was my entry album into Darkthrone! Arctic Thunder is just a heavy, riff filled punchy album that I absolutely love and is perfect for these cold nights. This week's throwback is;

Darkthrone (🇳🇴)  - Arctic Thunder (Peaceville Records), Black Metal

Favourite Song

Weekly Listening Playlist