A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... There was already discussion about the best albums ever. Today we honor not only the Force, but also the power of music. Whether you are on the Dark Side and prefer Black Metal or have more Jedi vibes, such as classics, prog or just something that heals your soul, everything is welcome! May the 4th be with you. Transmission OPEN.
Maarten VanPraet
The Haunted - rEVOLVEr
This month, I’m sharing a straightforward melodic death metal album. Back in high school, I had a subscription to Rock Tribune, which often came with a demo CD. That’s how I discovered The Haunted. By the mid-2000s, they had taken the entire metal world by storm. This is one that everyone in this group will probably enjoy. Personal recommendations: Sabotage, Sweet Relief, and My Shadow Enjoy \m/
Pieter-Jan Cassiman
(0) - Skamhan
Yet another fairly obscure band that’s not easy to look up; (0) parenthesis 0 parenthesis .
The introduction to this album goes as follows: In rousing dark euphoria, Danish progressive black metal enigma (0) lifts the veil for their debut album SkamHan, a lucid dream wrapped in growling dark melancholia. And I have to say that this introduction really sums it up nicely. The tempo is fairly calm, and it’s not your typical “black metal,” but there’s still some bite to the sound.
How did I discover this band? A few years ago, I was browsing for vinyl records; it was the very beginning of my collection, and I only had a handful of records at the time. I saw their EP “(0)” heavily discounted, so I thought, “Eh, why not?” I didn’t know the band; there wasn’t a preview or teaser available anywhere. And when I turned to Google, I couldn’t find a thing.
But I ordered the record on a whim anyway, and listened to it for the first time a week later. It was pretty heavy and a bit more “authentic” black metal. But I really thought it was a good album. A year later, they released their first album, “Skamhan,” which I ordered right away.
This album is a bit calmer, but it also has a certain aggressiveness to it. If you look up the lyrics (and translate them from Danish to English), they’re pretty harsh, but there’s still something hopeful in the sound.
Especially the closing track of the album, “Alle Renses,” is a full melodic track that stands in stark contrast to the rest of the album. I won’t give away any more, because you just have to listen to it from start to finish!
For your convenience, the lyrics can be found here: https://0bandofficial.com/SkamHan_lyrics.pdf
My absolute favorite is Rød Glorie
Edit: You should probably play the album a little louder for a better experience :wink:
Kenzo Staelens
Rave the Reqviem - Stigmata Itch
This month, for me, it’s going to be one of those albums with no story behind it (unless you count Spotify’s Smart Shuffle)—just good music. I’d like to recommend the album Stigmata Itch by Rave the Reqviem. When it comes to picking a track from the album, I’m torn between two songs, but I’m going to go with “Collosvs.” To write something besides just an album, here’s a fun fact about this artist: you can spell all their album titles using 25 letters of the alphabet. Take two guesses as to which letter isn’t used :slightly_smiling_face:.
Gladys Haelters
Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been
Thanks to my chronic indecisiveness when it comes to choosing an album from a plethora of options, the choice was ultimately made thanks to inspiration from Kenzo’s album post.
I’d like to highlight the latest album by Landmvrks, a band from Marseille that has also creatively used the letter “V” to replace another letter.
To describe this album, I’ll use a quote from a concert review of their show at the AB last December, which couldn’t put it better and with which I wholeheartedly agree.
“With the rock-solid album The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been, they completed the puzzle after ten years of hard work and established themselves as one of the most exciting metalcore bands of their generation.” Source: https://www.dansendeberen.be/2025/12/06/landmvrks-ancienne-belgique-ab-hors-categorie/
Behind the album lies the story that, in the run-up to making this album, the singer struggled heavily with anxiety and depression that only got worse and worse, to the point where it paralyzed him. He no longer wanted to pick up his guitar or talk about anything music-related. When he tried to write this album, for the first time in his life, he failed to write what he considered a “good” song. The more he tried, the deeper he sank into depression. He threw himself even more into his work to avoid facing his fears or trying to heal them. Not being able to finish the album fueled his fears, and those fears, in turn, fueled the new songs. This cycle continued to repeat and build up into what this album has now become. Fortunately, he’s doing better now; you can see the album as a kind of crazy form of self-therapy. So you can literally link the album title to this backstory.
The lyrics are a mix of English and French, and some parts hit just that little bit harder when they’re better expressed in the artists’ native language (Blood Red is a great example of this).
When European metal bands start reaching high levels and doing great things, it makes me just a little bit prouder of the “local” music and metal scene. I’d like to highlight them a bit more here. And I’d say: keep an eye on them; I expect great things from this band.