Morning Glory - The Whole World Is Watching

Artist: Morning Glory
Album: The Whole World Is Watching
Genre: Melodic Punk
Origin: USA
Year: 2003

Morning Glory is the side project of Ezra from Leftover Crack. It is just about the most melodic an album can be while still feeling entirely like rough-around-the-edges, street punk. This is partly an affect of the low-tech recording and production, and partly just a matter of attitude (with songs like "Gimme Heroin" and "School is Bullshit" you know these guys aren't going mainstream anytime soon). In any case, this album is catchy as hell. The last few tracks are off The Suicide Singles.

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Electric Wizard - Electric Wizard

Artist: Electric Wizard
Album: Electric Wizard
Genre: Stoner Doom Metal
Origin: UK
Year: 1995 (this is the 2006 re-issue)

Electric Wizard is often named as the best that doom metal has to offer. And I can't really say I disagree; this is some really heavy, primo metal music. Jus Oborn is the main man behind Electric Wizard, doing guitars and vocals (and as far as I know the song-writing as well) for this album. I think Electric Wizard reached higher peaks, in particular with Dopethrone, though this is still one of the better doom metal albums I think I've heard. This re-issue includes two bonus tracks which were taken from the Doom Chapter demo.

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Myrddraal - Blood on the Mountain

Artist: Myrddraal
Album: Blood on the Mountain
Genre: Black Metal
Origin: Australia
Year: 2001

Myrddraal is another band I initially looked into for the band name, and it was once again worth my while! They play rather raw black metal with a feeling of otherworldliness, which is fitting since they take much of their lyrical content from the Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels (RIP Robert Jordan). Dumai's Wells is probably my favorite track, with the haunting intonations of Mazrim Taim toward the end: "Ashaman raise a barrier to the skies, Ashaman KILL!" Daughter of the Night is also a pretty cool track (it's about Lanfear for y'all biscuitheads).

Fun Fact: According to Metal-Archives, the former bassist is now involved in professional wrestling.

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