BUY PHYSICAL RELEASES AND SUPPORT GREAT MUSIC

I enjoy metal of all shapes and forms (though mainly Black, Death, Thrash & Doom), and as well as loving the music, I enjoy seeking out cool shit to add to my CD collection.

My collection is entirely made up of original CDs, official CD-rs, Vinyl and tapes (with quite a few first pressings and rare items too). I've not listed my tape collection, just as the vast majority of them are dubs from my trading days. Plus, there's boxes and boxes of the fuckers. I am in no way interested in digital music or self burned CDs. It seems to me that a lot of so called 'collections' are made up only of illegally downloaded albums on a hard drive nowadays, so I like to take a stand and keep it old school. It's a preference thing. Unfortunately, this also means - sorry, I will not burn you albums/send you MP3s/album or sleeve scans for your own "collection". If that makes me an asshole, fine - but I'm not a public library.

In the past I've enjoyed a little amateur journalism, spouting my opinions by reviewing various albums, gigs and occasionally interviewing bands that I like (such as Crebain, Marblebog and Beatrik to name but a few memorable ones). Over the years, I've written for www.goldenlakeproductions.co.uk, www.metalcrypt.com, www.supernalmusic.com and www.metalteamuk.net - thus if you've seen my reviews before, chances it's been on one of these sites. At the moment, I'm writing for Ave Noctum (http://www.avenoctum.com/author/lars/) so will find any future reviews there.

For those who're interested... MY YEARLY GREATS:

10's -
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,

00's -
2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000,

90's -
1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990,

80's -
1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980,

My Ratings Guide:-

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5: A classic. Absolutely essential to any metal fan's collection. Lacks absolutely nothing, and gets better with every new play.
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4.5: An excellent album, bordering on perfection. I can listen to this any time and get a lot out of it.
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4: A great album. This will more than likely get regular plays from me.
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3.5: A solid album, above average in almost all respects, well worth checking out.
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3: A fair album, enjoyable enough, but lacks that bite to really become a mainstayer.
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2.5: A distinctly average album. Lacks any striking characteristics to distinguish itself from the faceless masses, fails as much as it does entertain.
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2: Disappointing. The negatives outweigh the positives somewhat, packed with filler and poor songs.
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1.5: Poor. Has hardly any redeeming values whatsoever. Tired, and uninspired.
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1: Awful. Very hard to listen to, extremely insipid and particularly dull music.
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0.5: Sheer crap. Unlistenable. I find it hard to get through a few tracks of this album, let alone its entire run time.
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** Currently doing a little 'maintenance' to my collection, making sure titles are listed under correct labels and pressings **