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Rabm - Blog Posts
Panopticon - Panopticon (2008)
To truly get a hang of Panopticon's art it is best to start with the album that started it all. released in 2008 the self titled album is a mix of Raw Black Metal some folkish elements and Lunn's signature (albeit at the time it was just his sound starting out) death metal influenced riffing. overall if you were to take this album at it's face value it is one of the pioneering works in the RABM art movement having the most overtly political lyrics of Lunn's discography (the Amebix cover is a great touch on an already good album). Overall as an album on its on it stands amongst many other copycats in the genre with a few small influences from other bands/genres from across the spectrum of music. if you were to take this album as a member of Panopticon's discography however it is on its weaker side as a lot of the elements that make Austin's music Austin's is not as thought out but for a Freshman release it ticks all my boxes for a record of this type.
Listening Recs #1 - Ashenspire Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandary
An honestly stellar release from the group behind one of my favorite albums of all time (Hostile Architecture) and a step ahead of a lot of the avant-garde BM that has been released in the past few years. The vocals are probably the most interesting part for me at least as the vocalist takes a more punk based approach to vox rather than the screeched/howled/screamed/growled vocals that are pretty status quo in black metal. Overall I would rate this album an 8/10 as there are some places to improve (Track 5 and 1 are a little too iffy for me) but other than that an absolutely stunning release from some awesome people.