This album is not really something like what I usually listen to. But when I heard this for the first time many many years ago as an 8-year old it was quite something and it has stayed in my mind ever since. I recently listened to it for the first time in a long time.

Therion begun in Sweden way back in 1987 (under the name Blitzkrieg) as just another death metal act, they released a couple of records in this style but gradually Christofer Johnsson incorporate more symphonic passages into his music.

In 1996 this record "Theli" arrived, a massive, bombastic sounding album recorded in Germany with Dan Swanö, two choirs and an orchestra (really just keyboards and samplers, guess he couldn't afford much more). This album is a mix of death metal, choir singing, traditional heavy metal and touches of Egyptian imagery. It mixes these different sounds very good without sounding out of place or very strange, it's masterfully combined. Something I enjoy about this album is an overall feeling of melancholy in the songs (especially track 9). There's full of great melodic passages, solos and everything works really well between the choir singing and the "normal" singing. There's not really any lowpoints in this album (that would be the -ludiums, then) but the beautiful, melancholic, nearly 10-minute "Siren of the Woods" definatly stands out. After this very sad sounding song it finishes off with a bombastic "Grand Finale".

This is not just another stupid "symphony-rock" "opera-metal" (or whatever) album. This is actually very good and has a lot of atmosphere I think.

This compilation is indeed cheaply put together. Although the songs themselves are good, it's that they have chosen only songs from her debut "Chelsea Girls" her collaboration with The Velvet Underground and her fourth album "The End" + a bonus live recording of "The End". This way they miss out on many essential Nico songs like "No One is There" and "Janitor of Lunacy".

This compilation does not live up to it's name "An introduction to Nico". It's cheaply put together and you'll be better buying the albums seperatly. Though there is a better compilation called "The Classic Years" wich includes songs from her VU collaboration, first four albums AND her early first single released on Immediate in 1965!

There's also the later albums "Drama of Exile" and "Camera Obscura" to pick from wich sounds quite different.
Nico deserves a much more representative compilation than this.

Burmese's first release on tUMULt was a fast, furious, seriously downtuned mess of 2 basses, drums, feedback and a lot of screaming with occasional slower sludgy parts.
Then they started becoming weirder and incorporated alot of Whitehouse influences into their music (never heard Whitehouse before, but so I am told).
Burmese already had 2 bass players and a drummer so when they added a fourth member one might think a guitarist or maybe a singer. No. They added ANOTHER drummer, how about that? 2 bass players and 2 drummers, it can only lead to one thing: MASSIVE.
That's what "Men" is, one MASSIVE giant grinding you slowly towards the ground with a heavy rock. It's not long before you're just a pool of blood and squished bodyparts.

First song "Rapewar" starts of with a shower of cymbals as the vocalist (very distorted) starts ranting, then it kicks into a very slow part of just pure heaviness until after a while we get a squealing, high bass solo with more vocals, the slow part returns and ends where it started in a symphony of cymbals showering us with noise.
Then the stomping "Preyer" starts the second track, this one really lets us hear the power and force of the twin-basses as they keep pounding our heads with distorted, crushing lines.
"Thumbsucker" begins fast as the vocals shrieks painfully over the drumming, bashing madness but then it slows down to the more familiar pace.
"Headmaster" is the slowest of the bunch and it drowns and intoxicates your brain with it's droning feedback for over 5 minutes.
Then theres "Shut Your Mouth...I Paid For the Hour" which is the most "catchiest" of them all, it would be their single if they ever had one. But it's a damn fine tune and as heavy as it gets.
After just 5 songs and barely 20 minutes the record ends with "Just Say Cunt" which is just about 30 seconds of complete noise, improv, insanity, freak-out which ends very abruptly.

This is one very short record, with very few songs, which hardly classifies as an album. But it just might be THE HEAVIEST thing I've heard. There's a lot of doom bands out there that are heavy but this is so fucking BRUTAL! And it has stuck with me the last month since I got it and I don't grow tired of it despite it's short length, despite it's few songs, but of course one wouldn't have mind 4 more songs or so.

This record doesn't have any lyrics in it but it seems to be a theme of misogyny (or it's just about being provocative and shocking). For instance on the cover a crying women is pictured and the titles "Rapewar", "Just Say Cunt", "Shut Your Mouth... I Paid For the Hour" and on the back cover is the title "Men" written on top of which is a line drawing something phallus-shaped. Men, always thinking with their dicks.
Still not interested in this record? Weasel Walter recorded and produced it. No? Well... Piss off then!