Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Long Hundred: Redux



A while back I announced that I was working on a series of posts called "100 Albums I'm Glad I Heard Before I Died."; the idea was to write about albums that had a profound effect on me, that changed me in some way, or that I felt lucky to have heard. That was 3 years ago, and I have yet to post a single one. [Anyone who knows me is probably used to big ideas with no follow through.]  Instead, I started a podcast, focused my spare time on writing and recording my death metal project, and grew to despise my own writing thousands of time. Doing a hundred posts seemed like it required more of a time commitment than I was prepared to make.

Well, it's now three years later,  and circumstances have changed. My jiu jitsu gym has moved to a different part of KL, and it takes me 2 hours to get to training everyday. With all this extra time to kill, I've started doing the write-ups. The plan is to post one a week til they're all done.

The basic idea for The Long Hundred hasn't changed. This isn't a "best of" series; there will be no Reign in Blood, no Paranoid, no Left Hand Path. I'm not trying to say that Vader, Krisiun, or Origin are more important than Death or Morbid Angel; just that they're more important to me. Some of these albums I haven't listened to in years. The series is essentially about me trying to document my own musical journey; about how and why a kid who listened to Pantera and Fear Factory in high school turned into an obsessive procurer of obscure noise makers; and how that same kid turned into a guy who thought P.J. Harvey's White Chalk was up there with Anaal Nathrakh and Naglfar as one of the best releases of 2007.

The list has changed a bit since 2012; no doubt it'll change further before the last post is up. This is what it looks like today:

01.   Logical Nonsense - Expand the Hive
02.   Sacrilege - Lost in the Beauty You Slay
03.   Catharsis - Samsara
04.    Old - Formula
05.    Ministry - Filth Pig
06.    Head of David - Dustbowl
07.    Will Haven - El Diablo
  
08.    The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand
09.    Turmoil - The Process Of
  
10.    Dan Swanö - Moontower
11.    Carnage - Dark Recollections
12.    Breach - Friction
13.    Hellchild - Bareskin
14.    Gorguts - Obscura
15.    Grotesque - In the Embrace of Evil
16.    Death Is Just The Beginning III
17.    Blackened: The Black Metal Compilation
18.    Northcore: The Polar Scene Compilation
19.    Close Up Magazine # 19: Dolores Records Compilation
20.    Extent #7 Compilation
21.    The Red Chord - Fused Together In The Revolving Doors
22.    Misery Loves Co. - Misery Loves Co.
23.    Morgion - Solinari
24.    Samael - Ceremony of Opposites
25.    Meatjack - Trust
26.    In the Woods...  - Omnio
27.    Nasum - Inhale/Exhale
28.    Cream Abdul Babar - The Catalyst to Ruins
29.    Cult of Luna - Salvation
30.    Coalesce - Functioning on Impatience
31.    Crawl - Earth
32.    Repulsion - Horrified
33.    Refused - Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent
34.    All Out War - For Those Who Were Crucified
35.    Earth Crisis - Firestorm
36.    Sick of it All - Scratch the Surface
37.    Red Sparowes - At the Soundless Dawn
38.    Behemoth - Satanica
39.    Eucharist - Mirrorworlds
40.    Strapping Young Lad - City
41.    Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine  
42.    Gwynbleidd - Amaranthine/Nostalgia
43.    Vader - Future of the Past
44.    Naglfar - Diabolical
45.    Dawn - Slaughtersun
46.    Eyes of Fire - Ashes to Embers
47.    Anathema - Eternity
48.    My Dying Bride - 34.788 complete
49.    Paradise Lost - Host
50.    Left Hand Solution - Fevered
51.    Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae to the Sky
52.    Glissando - With Our Arms Wide Open We March Towards The Burning Sea
53.    Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
54.    PJ Harvey - White Chalk
55.    Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
56.    Dellamorte - Uglier and More Disgusting
57.    Dismember - Massive Killing Capacity
58.    No Fun At All - The Big Knockover
59.    Samiam - You Are Freaking Me Out
60.    Nailbomb - Point Blank
61.    Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters
62.    Bill Hicks - Dangerous
63.    Vader - Black to the Blind
64.    Krisiun - Conquerors of Armageddon
65.    Disfear - A Brutal Sight of War
66.    Hypocrisy - Final Chapter
67.    Vehemence - And God Was Created
68.    Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
69.    The Gathering  - How to Measure a Planet
70.    Eden A.D. - Cycles of Relevance
71.    Kyuss - Sky Valley
72.    John Coltrane - Ascension
73.    Buzzov•en - Sore
74.    Antonio Pinto - Lord of War
75.    Lost Soul - Scream of the Mourning Star
76.    The Haunted - The Haunted
77.    Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
78.    Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
79.    Machine Head - Burn My Eyes
80.    Scar Culture - Inscribe
81.    Evergreen Terrace - Wolfbiker
82.    Judas Priest - British Steel
83.    Halford - Resurrection
84.    Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
85.    Depeche Mode - Violator
86.    Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
87.    Henry Rollins - Eric the Pilot
88.    Deicide - Once Upon The Cross
89.    Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
90.    Opeth - Morningrise
91.    Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
92.    Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery
93.    The Crown - Crowned in Terror
94.    Origin - Antithesis
95.    Godflesh - Selfless
96.    At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
97.    Entombed - Clandestine
98.    Napalm Death - Fear Emptiness Despair
99.    Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
100.  Sepultura - Beneath the Remains