Katatonia – Brave Murder Day
This is a masterpiece of empowering melancholy which I grew up with. This album helped me shape my taste in heavy music as a listener and opened a few doors in my imagination as a musician. I keep listening to “Brave Murder Day” to this day and I still find interesting nuances in it.
Wardruna – Runaljod: Gap Var Ginnunga
This album is charged with spiritual electricity. This is an otherworldly piece of music rooted deep down in the earth. I listen to these songs while meditating and they elevate my spirit. This is simply one of the best debut I have ever come across.
Death – Individual Thought Patterns
Probably my favourite death metal album. These songs’ rhythmic and lead guitars are pure brilliance. Listening to this album is like taking a master class in heavy metal song-writing.
Negura Bunget – Om
One of the most adventurous and progressive extreme metal band from Europe. A real underground gem of a band gone too soon. The band’s stubborn will to constantly evolve its sound is wonderfully expressed in this album, probably Negură Bunget’s artistic pinnacle. RIP Negru!
Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner
I’ve been listening to both Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas’s work since their beginning and I loved the evolution of both group and artist through the years. Did I expect their art to melt so effectively together? Not at all, but I’m so grateful that this collaboration happened. “Mariner” is Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas at their very best.