We are excited to launch our first Monthly Staff Picks, a new series highlighting the metal albums capturing our team's attention. From underground gems to heavy hitters, join us every month for a curated look at exactly what is in our album rotation.
Gladys Haelters
Nightwish - Once
Finland is not only the birthplace of Linus Torvalds, but also the birthplace of a lot of amazing metalbands. This brings me to my choice for “record of the month”, one that is more nostalgic. The end of the 90s and early 2000s was a great time for the metalscene. Many influential bands and albums sprung forth from this period and are still going strong to this day. Back then I had a phase in which female-fronted and symphonic metalbands stood high atop my playlists. All the way at the top was Nightwish. Looking back, this wasn’t so strange, since I also love movie- and game scores and sometimes it can be quite dramatic.
Their music is often inspired by literature, film, mythology, folklore and science. It doesn’t always have the most profound background to connect with emotionally, but this sin’t always necessary.
To choose only a single album, is a difficult task. I have them all and they have evolved throughout the years, in such a way, that I could pick almost each and every one of them as my choice of the month. To make things easier, I will stick to their early years, from before they turned the world upside down, by firing their singer.
Because of this I like to present “Once”, release in 2004, and the last studio album fronted by their original singer “Tarja”. (The other albums, might get the spotlight a different month). This album brought them their big breakout, especially the track “Nemo”. This track got a lot of airtime, on TV stations such as “MTV” and “TMF”, alongside other popular bands from the period, such as Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Deftones and Slipknot… Unfortunately, this is the very reason I started hating this track. Even though it was the soundtrack for “Resident Evil: Apocalypse”, along with many other good tracks.
My absolutely favourite track ont his album is “Ghost Love Score”, that has a modest runtime of 10 minutes. Other favourites are “Planet Hell”, “Dark Chest of Wonders” and “The Siren”, … From their roster from before “Once” there are other pearls such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Walking in the Air”, “Sleeping Sun” and their version of “The Phantom of the Opera”.
The further you go back in time, the more the leading synth has that distinct 90s sound. If you would make new music today, with those sounds, it would probably immediately evoke a cringe feeling. But then again I am biased, I have grown up with thus music, when it was new and grew to love it.
Fun fact: In the year 2000, Nightwish almost participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. They took part in the Finnish pre-selection with the track “Sleepwalker”. They even won the public vote, but the jury gave them a low score. Metal and symphonic music was then seen as too controversial or different to be performed in a contest like this. The preference was to perform a pop song. Ironically, Finland won, barely six years later, the Eurovision Song Contents, with Lordi…
I will stop rambling now, because if I keep going I could easily fill pages and pages. I do like to talk about music and my dear colleagues are getting impatient to discover new music.
Kenzo Staelens
Crimson Sun - Sorrowbreaker
Once again an entry with much less crazy stories, then the other picks this month.
Even though I could easily continue about half a year with albums from “Within Temptation”, I did opt to choose a different album and like to present: “Sorrowbreaker” by “Crimson Sun”.
Oftentimes the music I listen to (and by extension, my playlist) fairly vibe based and depends on the mood. Despite this, there isn’t much difference in “heaviness”. Apologies for breaking the trend, of course there are exceptions, but not this time.
Sorrowbreaker is one of the albums that only recently found its way into my playlists. Then again “Crimson Sun”, with only about 26k monthly listens, is a less well known artist. Especially when compared to my pick of last month, and most likely to my pick of next month.
Because of this I would like to, figuratively, put them into the spotlight; The smaller ones deserve some love too.
For those who are interested in this album, I can only recommend the tracks “Sorrowbreaker” or “Neon Lights”.
Maarten VanPraet
Behemoth - Demigod
Behemoth is most likely not unknown to anyone of you.
Back in 2005, on saturday around 2 in the afternoon, Behemoth graced the staged at Graspop for the first time, in a full marquee. It was an absolutely wild experience! Raw energy, exhilarating and die-hard. Demigod is the album that made Behemoth known in our regions. I have since then had multiple opportunities to see live, unfortunately I have had to miss them at GMM, last year…
Behemoth mixes occult themes with their extreme metal, in an intelligent way, and I cannot state enough how much I appreciate this. Not like your average black metal band, that goes “satan this, satan that”… No shade, but looking at you Gaahl.
Lead Nergal takes the time to dive into the occult and mysticism. You can find Egyptian hekau, tibetan chants, a lot of references to the Thelemism of Aleister Crowley, chants from the Lesser key of Solomon etc etc, in their numerous albums. Other recommendations are ZOS KIA CULTUS, for something more raw, and The Apostasy for something more melodic.
In Demigod, the music sounds immensely aggressive and violent. The lyrics are nothing but self-glorification. The album contains a lot of music that is layered on top of each other. Which sounds amazing on the album, but can be a bit disappointing when heard live, especially the solo in “Conquer All”.
Despite this, an absolutely amazing album, Good when you are feeling down and need something to pull yourself out and hype yourself up. Also really good to sport, especially tracks like “xul” and “slaves shall server”.
All in all. one of my all-time favourite albums! Only time for one track: “Conquer all” Other great tracks: all the others!
Pieter-Jan Cassiman
Infected Rain - Time
Infected Rain is the band that really started my journey into self discovery and my taste for heavier music. This journey started with “Orphan Soul”, it was one of the first heavier songs, I happened to stumble upon, whilst browsing YouTube.
It was during the summer of 2018, I was travelling through Ukraine at the time and staying in a little loft in the city centre of Kyiv. It had been an incredibly hot summer’s day and I remember sitting on the windowsill, with the window open watching the sun set over the city and listening to some music, enjoying the cold breeze that was blowing into the city and having a cold drink.
There was an immediate match between the song and me. The first time listening, I didn’t pay as much attention to the lyrics as I should have, but still there was something in my subconscious that could relate to the song. Later, upon reading the lyrics, while listening, there was a real sense of familiarity in this song.
Since that moment “Orphan Soul” and “Infected Rain” have graced my music player countless times with their presence.
It was really hard to choose a single album for this moment, and I was doubting between “Time” and “Embrace Eternity”. Both are really high in my all-time favourite albums, but eventually I managed to land on “Time”. This album is just a bit more relatable to me.
Their music has always struck a balance and contrast between something forlorn and yet, there is still a glint of hope or optimism throughout. It is this very contrast that I like and can relate to.
The highlight of the album, for me, was definitely “Because I Let You”; It hits hard and each time I listen it gives me a lump in my throat. The accompanying music video is absolutely gut-wrenching, especially the end when the music cuts out and the video continues on for a little while. Even now I still have a hard time, not shedding a tear while watching.
It is this song, and video, that has elicited the same initial emotions and reactions as I had when I first listened to “Orphan Soul”.
A few years ago, when the band was on tour promoting this album, I ended up traveling to Romania to see them live. This in itself was yet again a similar experience. I was staying in the old city centre of Bucharest, in a little apartment. The concert venue was at the edge of the city and after taking the metro, I came to the venue, Which ended up being a small cafe / concert hall.
It had again been a really hot day in the middle of summer, and the hot air was trapped in between the buildings in the city centre and radiating from the stones. Yet stepping out of the metro at the edge of the city there was a gentle cool breeze. But you could still feel the heat coming from the asphalt.
The venue had a nice area in the back outside, with some shade, where you could sit and have a cold drink. It was a nice place to escape the heat for a while. In the evening the concert started, and they played most songs of this album, including “Because I Let You”, but they also played “Orphan Soul”, so this made the entire experience and memory complete.
And soon (the end of april), they are having a concert, together with “Butcher Babies” and “Black Spikes”; All 3 are amazing bands, that often times appear on my playlists! To quote some colleagues: “It will be a certified banger”.