[babyBlueSedan]

Round 1 Matchup:

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Dark Space III by Darkspace

(nominated by dividesbyzero)

vs.

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I by Fuath

(nominated by Muslim-Bigfoot)



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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[undefined]

well this one is just down to simple math

[Hayden]

I'd rather have three pies than one.
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Doubles & Conch

[babyBlueSedan]

I was an enjoyable listen but honestly a lot of these atmospheric black metal albums sound pretty similar to my ears. Nothing on this one really elevated it above the rest.

III on the other hand blew me away when I first heard it and is probably my favorite discovery in this tournament. It's genuinely terrifying and a thrill from start to finish.
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[mickilennial]

>complains about atmospheric black metal
>praises atmospheric black metal in second paragraph

[babyBlueSedan]

My tastes in music are nothing if not inconsistent. I guess what I was trying to say was that Darkspace takes a genre that otherwise seems to be fairly repetitive and makes it more interesting. I love how it actually feels like there is an atmosphere - like you're floating in space or getting sucked into a black hole, to be rather cliché. And the songs each have distinct elements that make them different. The Fuath album sounds flatter and interprets "atmospheric" as formless rather than as creating an immersive sound. The Darkspace album also made me pretty paranoid and I found myself looking over my shoulder quite a few times when I listened to it the first time. I felt more like black metal by the numbers to me. Any genre has good and bad elements, I hope it's clearer what I find those good and bad elements to be now.
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[mickilennial]

Definitely a little clearer, yeah.

I voted for Darkspace’s III myself because I feel it is the stronger album, though I don’t think Fuath’s I is without its own merits, either. However, III is one of the strongest albums in the “atmospheric black metal canon” and it is pretty hard to not see why looking at it eight years after its initial release. Though I think you are largely incorrect with I being “formless” as it is anything but. I could show you formless metal expressionism if you like, and it does not sound like this even within a black metal framework. The issue is the tones are entirely different— Darkspace is cold and harrowing, Fuath is warm and hopeful. Also, Fuath is a relatively new one-man project and Darkspace is a seasoned band of several musicians; though, knowing that context isn’t going to change much if the tones and ideas don’t inspire or interest the listener.

[undefined]

[babyBlueSedan]

Darkspace wins, VIII - II
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[undefined]