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CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
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CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
Thus Spoke and Maddog’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Steel Druhm
Thus Spoke
My second AMG End-of-Year piece?! Didn’t I just get here? This is my typical reaction to life’s happenings. I’m blindsided by everything. You’ll probably notice that many of the below list entries ‘snuck up on me’ in how much I liked them, compared to everything else. The fact that we’re now halfway through the 2020s makes me feel a bit nauseous. I keep telling people I ‘just moved’ into the home I bought this year, but I’ve been in it since April. And that huge milestone—for which I feel immensely grateful and privileged to have achieved this side of 30—would have solely dominated my year were it not for two other facts: 1) I was finally diagnosed with and very recently started medication for ADHD; 2) 2024 has got to have been the strongest year of the decade so far for metal. So, time to talk about the music rather than myself.
My overoptimistic prediction that Ulcerate would release new music came true,1 and there was, in general, a particular influx of excellent material from the darker, more dissonant, and extreme sides of death and black metal. This was also the year I finally reconnected with my love of doom after a long period of lukewarm engagement. But I wouldn’t have known about half of it were it not for this gig, and the amazing people I share it with. Whether it was Dear Hollow, Kenstrosity, or Mystikus Hugebeard pinging across something they thought I might like, or a particularly potent review penned by a colleague, a commenter chipping in with some gem, or the group buzz around an album I might otherwise never have considered, there’s no better place to find and discuss metal. And speaking of community, if I ever needed a confirmation that this right here is the loveliest place on the internet, the rallying response to Ken‘s plight earlier this year from staff and readers was it.2 I couldn’t ask for better company.
I said as much last year, but I’ll probably say it every year: having this opportunity is wild and I feel so blessed. To be able to send my thoughts about music into the world where people read and consider them, that’s mad. Bumping into an AMG fan in the wild was also an affirming and heartwarming experience reminding me that there are actually real people out there who know who we are; and let me say, however enthusiastic and grateful you might be for us, the feeling is mutual. So to everyone reading this, to all the folks at AMG who make it possible for me to continually wax lyrical about stuff I love (and stuff I don’t love so much) and put up with all my overrating, to all of you: thank you. Shout out also to my list buddy Maddog, whose EOY write-up is bound to be more br00tal and much less flowery than mine, and whose in-person company I continue to have the pleasure of enjoying whenever he deigns to visit our little island up here. Oh, and thank you to the original creator and to Kenstrosity for my new avatar! I asked and you delivered. And if you actually read this far down, thank you for indulging me. But now, finally, it’s list time.
#ish. Pillar of Light // Caldera – I unintentionally ended my reviewing year on a high with Pillar of Light. Or perhaps a low, if we consider mood. When a record evokes a genuine emotional response in me,3 as Caldera does, it deserves more than an Honorable Mention. So here it is. It’s one of those albums you experience that forever afterward remains tied to your particular life situation when you were first immersed, and for that reason, its longevity is increased and its impact amplified. Given how “Leaving” and “Infernal Gaze” leave me in pieces, it’s probably a good thing the misery comes down from 11 at other times. But on the next album, who knows? I’ll be ready at least.
#10. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – Much like Kenstrosity, author of the review, I have not historically been Replicant’s hugest fan. For some reason their music never stuck with me; I just didn’t get it. Infinite Mortality has been the enlightenment I needed. It’s undeniably fantastic. Brilliantly technical and ruthlessly efficient in execution, it manages to also be ridiculously groovy in a way that you wouldn’t expect from this flavor of extreme death metal. Suited, evidently, to desk sessions and gym sessions alike, given the range of play it got from me since its release, its balance of skronk and style proved why I should, long ago, have been paying attention to Replicant. Ken himself struggled to find a negative and so do I. Even interlude “SCN9A” is great, especially as it leads into monster “Pain Enduring.” Only the superlative strength of other contenders causes this to fall so low on the list.
#9. ColdCell // Age of Unreason – In a rare case of me underrating something, my review of Age of Unreason did not quite do justice to its strength. Not only have I revisited it often, but I have of late been struck ever deeper by its profundity. The honest, vulnerable lamentations on inequality (“Solidarity or Solitude”), hatred (“Discord”), and human selfishness (“Dead to the World”) go far beyond a jaded misanthropy and strike a real chord. In wrapping this up in an insidiously simple package of compelling, devastating black metal with a distinctive voice, ColdCell have made, I now recognize, a true masterpiece. Brutal in its own way, and beautiful in many more, this is a record I hardly realized had made such a strong impact on me until I saw just how many times I’d spun it. This year may have seen black metal that goes harder, or with more powerful atmospheres, but none that are as memorable as Age of Unreason.
#8. Spectral Voice // Sparagmos – What a behemoth. It’s hard to believe that—just for a little while—Sparagmos slipped my mind many months after its February release. Relistening brought it all back into horrifying clarity. This record throws a veil over the sun, stares at you with unseeing, ecstatic eyes of Dionysian worship, and forces you into terrified awe. I’m still blown away by how crushingly heavy and immersive it is; how it still manages to blindside me with sudden turns from ominous crawling into chaotic, chthonic tremolos and clustered, hideous vocals. A masterclass in patient, predatory ambush. Nothing else this year was like it, which is partially why I’ve had to return so often to its dark embrace. Every nightmarish track was at some point in the runnings for the Song of the Year playlist. In the end, only one could make it, and it is, as I said in my review, “as inexorable as death.”
#7. Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk – I’m surprised as well. Before Men Guðs hond er sterk, I had never laid ears on Hamferð and I was quite stunned to find how instantly I loved them. It’s not often an album by a band you’d previously never spent time with claims a spot on your year-end list after one listen, but this was one of those rare occasions. Something about the sorrowful, yet also soaring, melodies delivered through the interplays of resonant chords and gentle plucks, and between caustic growls and clear, ardent cleans just transports me. I feel the solemnity, the fear, and the grief in alternately forceful and graceful heaviness thanks to these intricately woven compositions and ardent performances that make the fact the lyrics are all in Faroese completely irrelevant. And Hamferð cover breadth with such ease, the slowly rolling wave of doom rising with tremolos into new intensity; and yet still controlled, still patient. The closer and it’s sample used to bother me, but I’m long past that now. In short, as the Angry Metal Guy himself said, “the record’s flow is impeccable,” and “the writing is subtle but addictive”. He’s not kidding about that last part, I really can’t stop listening to it.
#6. Föhn // Condescending – I was not prepared for what Condescending would do to me. Like any funeral doom worth its salt, it’s massive, but its presence is not smothering, it does not suffocate. Instead, it dampens the sound of anything else, so that the lugubrious chords, vocals, and fraught, lamenting refrains reverberate inside your mind, alone. This presence is redoubled by the heart-rending devastation of the compositions it centers—lyrically and musically. Bleakly beautiful, crushing doom in all its low, slow, cavernous hell leads you into an almost blissful moroseness, just in time for the veil to tear and your spirit to crumble as haunting melodies spill in from impossibly delicate sources of saxophone, synth, or ringing strings. Condescending will not leave my mind, and as broken and misty-eyed as these songs make me—”A Day After” and “Persona” especially—I’ll keep returning to experience it again and again. Maybe I can only speak for myself; maybe you’re sensing a theme wherein I like albums that make me feel sad. Whatever the case, Föhn took my breath away, and I don’t want it back.
#5. Cave Sermon // Divine Laughter – It’s pretty irresponsible of me to put this in the list at all, let alone in this position, considering how late in the day I discovered it. But I’m not really known for being ‘responsible’ around these parts, so, what the hell. What some might pigeonhole as just wonky death metal, or blackened post-hardcore—or even post-metal, as Metal Archives confusingly stamp it—is really much more complex, deep, and unique. Gripping and strange, in a way that struck me on my very first listen, Divine Laughter is responsible for me going from never having heard of Cave Sermon to being an ardent fan in one afternoon. Every listen gives me my new favorite part and uncovers more and more of its treasures. Savage and beautiful and with unnervingly easy flow, large parts of it are total perfection (“Liquid Gol, “The Paint of An Invader”). I cannot get enough. It’s so good, actually, that it’s made me feel a bit anxious about how much I’ve still missed this year, though I am very glad that this made it to my ears, even at the 11th hour. Divine Laughter is simply one of the greatest things I’ve heard in 2024, and it’s a crime that more people aren’t talking about it.
#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – I was waiting for Blessing of Despair since January, and as it always is with things we have high expectations for, part of me was preparing for disappointment. That preparation proved unnecessary once I finally got my hands on this in the Autumn. Devenial Verdict delivered. This time, they amped up all their unique little idiosyncrasies that made me fall in love with Ash Blind, and added a criminally heavy helping of groove. This thing is atmospheric and punchy, providing soundscapes that are just as haunting and mysterious(TM) as they are stomping and cutthroat. Either way, these riffs will make you shiver. “Garden of Eyes”! “Solus”! Ahhhh! Even “Counting Silence” and “A Curse Made Flesh,” which I initially dismissed as a little understated, have this delicious melancholic presence I just want to be immersed in 24/7. Devenial Verdict’s slick mixture of mournful melody and menacing, barked growls; neck-snapping flicks of cymbal, and those resonant, aggressive chord progressions make for—almost—my favorite take on death metal that exists. The sole reason Blessing of Despair wasn’t my most-played album of 2024 is that I only started in September.4
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – Back in 2017 or so, I was struck by what at the time I considered the most gorgeous opening guitar on any song ever. It was “…Of Solitary Ramblings,” the first track on Selbst’s self-titled debut.5 From that day forward I was enamoured. The undercurrents of lamenting melodrama and a black metal interwoven with a distinctive style of flowing, weeping strums continue to make Selbst very special. But if I had thought that their depths of emotional poignancy and stirring, multi-layered compositions had been reached, Despondency Chord Progressions showed they had not. Cleans that some wrote off as unsavory, rather bring—in my opinion—a new vulnerability, and their rawness compounds the pathos of already intensely cathartic compositions. The album’s title is, as I noted, an apt descriptor for the musical themes, but really undersells the cry of grief and despair that erupts from the music with every shuddering, tremolo-shaken, surge and every plaintive, somber quietude. I stand by what I said back in April, that “[t]his is black metal at its most stirring, entrancingly beautiful, and existentially affecting.” The sheer magnitude of its impassioned peaks (“Third World Wretchedness,” “Between Seclusion and Obsession”) and the sting of its humanity (“When true Loneliness is Experienced,” “Chant of Self Confrontation”) are like nothing else in the genre.
#2. Amiensus // Reclamation [Parts 1 & 2] – Take it up in the comments if you think this is cheating; Reclamation is one work in my eyes. And what a masterpiece. Each part a gorgeous, immersive side of one breathtaking journey that is best experienced together. I remain stunned by Amiensus’ mastery of musical storytelling through a flowing, intricate soundscape—at turns triumphant (“Vermillion Fog of War,” “Sólfarið”), sorrowful (“Reverie,” “Leprosarium”), and always stirring. Everything about Reclamation is graceful, which is another part of its magic because it’s not as though Amiensus left the black metal behind. Rather they seem to have found the deepest essence of the genre’s unique propensity for raw emotional expression, and moulded its elements into what is hands-down the most beautiful thing I’ve heard at least this year. It is, as I noted in my write-up of Part 1, a distillation of pure joy, and uplifting no matter how wistful (“Sun and Moon”), or suffused with bittersweet longing (“A Consciousness Throughout Time,” “Acquiescence”). And with so much of it—albeit, a time that flashes by with thrilling speed—it’s impossible not to get lost in. “Sun and Moon” was so close to being my favorite song of 2024, and in another year, it would have been. For that matter, in another year Reclamation itself would have claimed the top spot on this list.
#1. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – What else could it have been? I worry that by this point I may have used up all of the words that are possible to describe this pinnacle of excellence. In reality, though, I’m not sure I even have the words to express it in the first place, not for lack of trying. Ulcerate have long been a behemoth in their realm within the larger world of death metal, but while distinctive, they have never settled, continually carving up the template of dissonance with varyingly-sized blades of atmosphere and melody, moving between their most barbed and chaotic (Everything is Fire) to their most somber and moody (The Destroyers of All) in just one album. Later Shrines of Paralysis—my former favorite—saw a turn back towards the urgency and aggression, but with this new harmonic undercurrent in place. With hindsight, I can see now that the deeply atmospheric, disquieting Stare into Death and Be Still marked a turning point, paving the ground for what could be their magnum opus. Distilling the tension and the turmoil, into tidal forces of incredible rhythm, and dark, brilliant melody, with Cutting the Throat of God, Ulcerate reach transcendence. Dire (“The Dawn is Hollow”), deadly (“Transfiguration in and Out of Worlds”), devastating (“To See Death Just Once,” “Cutting the Throat of God”). Its intricacies only continue to reveal themselves to me; helped, no doubt, by a phenomenal live performance that bewitched me anew this October. I had to upgrade this album’s score to Iconic, because it is. This is atmospheric death metal perfected, and if genre-mates weren’t already looking in Ulcerate’s direction, there’s hardly any choice now. Cutting the Throat of God represents, in the greatest form, “the savagery, authenticity, and more recently, beauty that makes this icon of the dissonant death metal world who they are.”
Honorable Mentions:
Gaerea // Coma – Despite having calmed down considerably from my previous Gaerea overhype, there’s no denying that they’ve really got something. With a new vocalist, they retain their distinctively melodramatic and intense style, while incorporating a little more vulnerability via some genuinely really lovely cleans. A great record that just wasn’t great enough for the ridiculously high standard set by this year’s fare.
Eye Eater // Alienate – I am immensely grateful for Dolphin Whisperer for bringing this to my attention. Much of this album feels like it was written specifically for me, because it uses pretty much all of my favorite things in metal. It’s atmospheric and dissonant, like Ulcerate and others in that vein; it’s kind of post-death-y, and replete with minor melodies, and a particular kind of urgency my brain associates with specific kinds of ‘-core’. I just didn’t get quite enough time with it.
Songs of the Year
“To See Death Just Once” – Ulcerate
“Sun and Moon” – Amiensus
“Solus” – Devenial Verdict
“Terminal” – Vorga
“Third World Wretchedness” – Selbst
“The Paint of an Invader” – Cave Sermon
“A Day After” – Föhn
“Ábær” – Hamferð
“Inversion” – Endonomos
“Death’s Knell Rings in Eternity” – Spectral Voice
“Leaving” – Pillar of Light
Maddog
It’s been a weird year, and this is a weird list. Last December, I lamented the emotional hollowness of 2023’s metal output. If anything, 2024 fell even flatter. My most anticipated heavyweights were competent but inconsistent (Alcest, Julie Christmas), and few albums moved me. Unfazed, death metal picked up the slack and made this year a pleasure. Led by a flurry of excellent releases from genre titans, 2024 helped rekindle my love for cantankerous death metal.
Even so, the brutality of 2024’s output shocked me. Despite my worship of Suffocation and Dying Fetus, most brutal death metal releases of the last decade haven’t gripped me. But 2024 pulled me onto the brutal train with creativity and pizzazz. Both the techy and the knuckle-dragging corners of that subgenre thrived, including several artists that didn’t make my list (like Gigan, Iniquitous Savagery, and Nile). After tending toward more emotive music and other poseur nonsense in recent years, I took a long jump back in 2024.
As if that wasn’t enough, this was a banner year for dissonance. That’s a sentence I never expected to type; even dissonant death metal’s classics tend to be hit-or-miss with me. In 2024, the skronk finally broke through, aided by many avant-garde bands drifting toward a more accessible sound. This year’s screechy screeds were cogent enough to grab my arm and unhinged enough to rip it out of its socket. It’s been a jarring but eye-opening year.
This comment from the Brodequin review doubles as a summary of my 2024 music picks:
I wonder if I, we, they or all of us have a screw loose.
Heading into 2024, I craved immersive soundscapes and misty eyes. Instead, I was met with discordant gurgling. I didn’t expect it, but I don’t regret it.
#ish. Hypoxia // Defiance – Defiance never gets old. This old-school death metal behemoth has been around for ten months and hails from a subgenre that’s infamous for monotony. And yet, like Monstrosity’s best work, it blossoms on every spin. Defiance sports 2024’s fiercest harsh vocal performance, and riffwork so potent that it could revive the Selbst baby. I don’t have anything fancy to add, so I won’t try. Defiance is a rare death metal record that’s simple, thrilling, and well-written.
#10. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay – The thought sometimes crosses my mind: Why does atmospheric black metal even exist? The musical possibilities abound; who would pay $8 for tremolo scales recorded in a rest stop bathroom? Records like Bloom & Decay jolt me out of my pretension. Dawn Treader’s underground gem is both a product and a peddler of overpowering emotion. Ross Connell unleashes a tirade against violence and oppression using grief-stricken guitar melodies. On the flip side, Bloom & Decay’s heavy use of major keys—my second biggest fear—blurs the line between despair and tentative hope. Most impressive is the album’s flow, which Itchymenace described better than I ever could: “The majority of Bloom & Decay is instrumental, but you hardly notice because the music has such a storytelling quality.” Bloom & Decay’s 53-minute chokehold on my heart is ineffable but unyielding.
#9. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Germany’s nameless Noise has built up a remarkable CV – 7 years, 3 bands, 8 albums. While I’ve often enjoyed his music, I never fell under his spell. Die Urkatastrophe was the last straw. A pacifist tirade told through first-person WWI vignettes, Die Urkatastrophe depicts nationalist violence and its aftermath. Armed with a sharp-edged blackened death foundation and surging chorus melodies, Kanonenfieber provides rewarding fodder even for unfeeling riff addicts. However, its excellence lies in its raw emotion. Both Noise’s lyrics and his songwriting embrace a “show, don’t tell” approach that brings the album to life. As the narrator’s cavalry offensive meets with a hilltop ambush in “Gott mit der Kavallerie,” Kanonenfieber’s upbeat riffs transform into a sudden dirge followed by frantic black metal. The epic “Waffenbrüder” evokes the wide-eyed optimism of childhood friends, the pride of enlisting, the tragedy of losing a companion, and the regrets of a life wasted. Die Urkatastrophe is both a transformative album and exemplary storytelling.
#8. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Chronicles of Lunacy is essential listening for any fans of extreme metal. Its greatest triumph is its fine mix of Defeated Sanity’s signature ingredients. Chronicles excels as pure brutal death metal through punishing caveman riffs and a tasteful dose of slam. Vaughn Stoffey’s guitars elevate this to an art form using wily fretboard acrobatics and seamless jazzy breaks. Led by kit-meister Lille Gruber, Defeated Sanity’s off-kilter rhythms and heavy syncopation miraculously aid the album’s staying power rather than hindering it. Put simply, Chronicles of Lunacy is 2024’s most vivid reminder of why I love death metal. I love its unforgiving brutality; I love its dazzling technicality; I love its groove; I love its genre-bending creative expression; I love its rhythmic feats of strength; I love its intellect; I love its idiocy. In other words, I love Defeated Sanity.
#7. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – It’s a match made in heaven: Cutting the Throat of God is Ulcerate for dummies, and I’m a dummy. Ulcerate continues to march toward more accessible ground, leaving behind the merciless dissonance of Everything is Fire. Powerful melodic themes peek through the chaos and take time to shine, offering both souvenirs and footholds. Despite Cutting’s lowbrow appeal, Ulcerate’s inimitable signature remains. Unease pervades the record, and Ulcerate’s cohesive songwriting transforms it from a concept to an emotion. In Thus Spoke’s words, Jamie Saint Merat’s drums are “more body than skeleton,” using their distinctive start-stop style to guide the mood. The album’s climaxes alone justify a purchase, as hypnotic melodies and frenzied dissonance coalesce into a tsunami. In short, Cutting the Throat of God captured both my brain and my heart.
#6. Hippotraktor // Stasis – I first heard about Belgium’s Hippotraktor from an insistent coworker, long before I discovered GardensTale’s well-worded underrating. Psychonaut meets Karnivool meets The Ocean meets Meshuggah in this pounding, beautiful prog/post adventure. Stasis’ hard-won achievement is that it navigates through disparate ideas with fluidity and flair. Psychonaut-drenched sludge forms a jagged backbone that sways between meditative and explosive. Meanwhile, Hippotraktor’s mastery of melody catapults them into genre royalty. “Stasis” uses this superpower for peaceful guitar jams, “Echoes” uses it for soaring As I Lay Dying vocal lines, and “The Reckoning” uses it for haunting continuity across its eight minutes. The djenty interdjections are well-written and screwed in tight, packing a punch even for listeners with severe djent allerdjies. Stasis is a bold statement from a new band, and it’s jostled up my list posthaste.
#5. Hell:on // Shaman – Hell:on’s folk-infused take on death metal stands apart. Shaman’s diverse influences complement each other and flourish in isolation. Phrygian themes, throat singing, and driving sitars steer the album. But despite Shaman’s folk roots, it’s an excellent slab of death metal. Hell:on’s riffs recall the threatening leviathans of Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked, while the narrative song structures feel like a roided-out Aeternam. Even among such storied company, Shaman’s melodies stand out. Over the record’s runtime, Hell:on’s guitars shred, soar, flail, and wallop, evolving smoothly and dragging the listener along. As icing on the cake, Holdeneye’s review of Shaman features the most sobering and most badass introductory story of 2024. Hell:on demanded my attention and earned it.
#4. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I started warming up to Exhaust on my first listen, but it took a while to diagnose why. Pyrrhon’s earlier releases didn’t click with me, but Exhaust is a trailblazer and a paradox. Pyrrhon rewrites the textbook on riffs, displaying a mastery of groove even in their wildest moments. And the noisier cuts, which remind me most of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and The Velvet Underground, are evocative narratives rather than lifeless technical exercises. The longer pieces intersperse hypnotic buildups with furious cacophony (“Out of Gas”), while the shorter tracks are simultaneously caustic and infectious. With a thick leading bass performance and a master that highlights every detail of the drums, Exhaust grows on me with every spin. Pyrrhon’s off-the-deep-end brand of experimental death metal isn’t my usual fare, but I can’t avert my ears this time. Both mellifluous and disgusting, both rifftastic and immersive, Exhaust is singular.
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – My first toe dip into Selbst made a lasting impression. Shortly after Despondency Chord Progressions came out, I spun it at the office. In the final minute of the opener “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos,” I felt the involuntary tears start to flow, and I had to nuke the music and run to the bathroom to avoid worrying my desk neighbor. This embarrassing first encounter perfectly encapsulates the album. While it’s “merely” black metal, its gorgeous melodies and shrilling tremolos showcase the genre at its finest. Alternating between meditative dirges and howling chords, Selbst conveys both muffled sobs and hysterical bawling. Selbst’s fluid compositions captivated me at once and dug their claws even deeper over the ensuing months. The most heart-rending record of 2024, Despondency Chord Progressions showcases the paralyzing power of music.
#2. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – Noxis’ debut is a remarkable blend of old and new. The album’s stomping riffs and popping snare drum root it in 1990s brutal death metal. Conversely, its exuberantly grimy bass tone, its proggy rhythms, and its surprise woodwind extravaganza feel unabashedly modern. Much like last year’s Ohio death metal highlight, Violence Inherent in the System succeeds by ripping throughout, whether with a vile Dying Fetus riff or with an adventurous bass melody. Although this is the longest record in my top five, its 46 minutes fly by. Boasting momentum that would make Newton blush, Noxis keeps the energy high from the barnburner “Skullcrushing Defilement” to the proggy old-school “Emanations of the Sick.” After six months of scrutinizing and adoring Violence, I still can’t fathom that this is a debut album.
#1. Wormed // Omegon – I’ve already said my piece on this, and nothing has changed. Omegon feels as thrilling, as alien, as robotic, and as human as it did in July. In a year where brutality and dissonance thrived, Wormed maxed out both dimensions. Omegon is at once a painstakingly crafted work of art, an all-consuming atmosphere, and 2024’s punchiest death metal record.
Honorable Mentions:
- Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – Redefining Darkness strikes again. Oxygen Destroyer’s latest death-thrash opus is a concise half hour of exhilarating riffs. The album sounds one track, but I don’t care; it gains steam as it progresses, and it lodges deeper on every listen. There’s no excuse for missing this.
- Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – Despite its morose title, Harbinger of Woe is straightforward and riotous. Brodequin has honed a sleek archetype of brutal death metal, far from the likes of Wormed. It doesn’t aim to innovate; it just aims for high impact. It succeeds.
- Kryptos // Decimator – India’s heavy metal kings dealt me an irreplaceable shot of adrenaline. Decimator is Kryptos’ most melodically inspired work to date, an absolute scorcher, and the most viscerally satisfying production job of 2024.
- Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – Somehow, despite competition from In Aphelion and Necrophobic themselves, Necrowretch churned out the best Necrophobic album of 2024.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”
- Hippotraktor – “The Reckoning”
- Kanonenfieber – “Waffenbrüder”
- Hypoxia – “Scorched and Skinned”
- Kryptos – “Fall to the Spectre’s Gaze”
- Wormed – “Protogod”
- Alcest – “Améthyste”
- Defeated Sanity – “Heredity Violated”
- Andy Gillion – “Acceptance”
- Selbst – “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos”
- Pyrrhon – “Out of Gas”
- Ulcerate – “Cutting the Throat of God”
- Noxis – “Abstemious, Pious Writ of Life”
- Keygen Church – “La Chiave del mio Amor”
#2024 #Amiensus #BlogPost #Brodequin #CaveSermon #ColdCell #DawnTreader #DefeatedSanity #DevenialVerdict #EyeEater #Föhn #Gaerea #Hamferð #HellOn #Hippotraktor #Hypoxia #Kanonenfeiber #Kryptos #Necrowretch #Noxis #OxygenDestroyer #PillarOfLight #Pyrrhon #Replicant #Selbst #SpectralVoice #ThusSpokeAndMaddogSTopTenIshOf2024 #Ulcerate #Wormed
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Thus Spoke and Maddog’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Steel Druhm
Thus Spoke
My second AMG End-of-Year piece?! Didn’t I just get here? This is my typical reaction to life’s happenings. I’m blindsided by everything. You’ll probably notice that many of the below list entries ‘snuck up on me’ in how much I liked them, compared to everything else. The fact that we’re now halfway through the 2020s makes me feel a bit nauseous. I keep telling people I ‘just moved’ into the home I bought this year, but I’ve been in it since April. And that huge milestone—for which I feel immensely grateful and privileged to have achieved this side of 30—would have solely dominated my year were it not for two other facts: 1) I was finally diagnosed with and very recently started medication for ADHD; 2) 2024 has got to have been the strongest year of the decade so far for metal. So, time to talk about the music rather than myself.
My overoptimistic prediction that Ulcerate would release new music came true,1 and there was, in general, a particular influx of excellent material from the darker, more dissonant, and extreme sides of death and black metal. This was also the year I finally reconnected with my love of doom after a long period of lukewarm engagement. But I wouldn’t have known about half of it were it not for this gig, and the amazing people I share it with. Whether it was Dear Hollow, Kenstrosity, or Mystikus Hugebeard pinging across something they thought I might like, or a particularly potent review penned by a colleague, a commenter chipping in with some gem, or the group buzz around an album I might otherwise never have considered, there’s no better place to find and discuss metal. And speaking of community, if I ever needed a confirmation that this right here is the loveliest place on the internet, the rallying response to Ken‘s plight earlier this year from staff and readers was it.2 I couldn’t ask for better company.
I said as much last year, but I’ll probably say it every year: having this opportunity is wild and I feel so blessed. To be able to send my thoughts about music into the world where people read and consider them, that’s mad. Bumping into an AMG fan in the wild was also an affirming and heartwarming experience reminding me that there are actually real people out there who know who we are; and let me say, however enthusiastic and grateful you might be for us, the feeling is mutual. So to everyone reading this, to all the folks at AMG who make it possible for me to continually wax lyrical about stuff I love (and stuff I don’t love so much) and put up with all my overrating, to all of you: thank you. Shout out also to my list buddy Maddog, whose EOY write-up is bound to be more br00tal and much less flowery than mine, and whose in-person company I continue to have the pleasure of enjoying whenever he deigns to visit our little island up here. Oh, and thank you to the original creator and to Kenstrosity for my new avatar! I asked and you delivered. And if you actually read this far down, thank you for indulging me. But now, finally, it’s list time.
#ish. Pillar of Light // Caldera – I unintentionally ended my reviewing year on a high with Pillar of Light. Or perhaps a low, if we consider mood. When a record evokes a genuine emotional response in me,3 as Caldera does, it deserves more than an Honorable Mention. So here it is. It’s one of those albums you experience that forever afterward remains tied to your particular life situation when you were first immersed, and for that reason, its longevity is increased and its impact amplified. Given how “Leaving” and “Infernal Gaze” leave me in pieces, it’s probably a good thing the misery comes down from 11 at other times. But on the next album, who knows? I’ll be ready at least.
#10. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – Much like Kenstrosity, author of the review, I have not historically been Replicant’s hugest fan. For some reason their music never stuck with me; I just didn’t get it. Infinite Mortality has been the enlightenment I needed. It’s undeniably fantastic. Brilliantly technical and ruthlessly efficient in execution, it manages to also be ridiculously groovy in a way that you wouldn’t expect from this flavor of extreme death metal. Suited, evidently, to desk sessions and gym sessions alike, given the range of play it got from me since its release, its balance of skronk and style proved why I should, long ago, have been paying attention to Replicant. Ken himself struggled to find a negative and so do I. Even interlude “SCN9A” is great, especially as it leads into monster “Pain Enduring.” Only the superlative strength of other contenders causes this to fall so low on the list.
#9. ColdCell // Age of Unreason – In a rare case of me underrating something, my review of Age of Unreason did not quite do justice to its strength. Not only have I revisited it often, but I have of late been struck ever deeper by its profundity. The honest, vulnerable lamentations on inequality (“Solidarity or Solitude”), hatred (“Discord”), and human selfishness (“Dead to the World”) go far beyond a jaded misanthropy and strike a real chord. In wrapping this up in an insidiously simple package of compelling, devastating black metal with a distinctive voice, ColdCell have made, I now recognize, a true masterpiece. Brutal in its own way, and beautiful in many more, this is a record I hardly realized had made such a strong impact on me until I saw just how many times I’d spun it. This year may have seen black metal that goes harder, or with more powerful atmospheres, but none that are as memorable as Age of Unreason.
#8. Spectral Voice // Sparagmos – What a behemoth. It’s hard to believe that—just for a little while—Sparagmos slipped my mind many months after its February release. Relistening brought it all back into horrifying clarity. This record throws a veil over the sun, stares at you with unseeing, ecstatic eyes of Dionysian worship, and forces you into terrified awe. I’m still blown away by how crushingly heavy and immersive it is; how it still manages to blindside me with sudden turns from ominous crawling into chaotic, chthonic tremolos and clustered, hideous vocals. A masterclass in patient, predatory ambush. Nothing else this year was like it, which is partially why I’ve had to return so often to its dark embrace. Every nightmarish track was at some point in the runnings for the Song of the Year playlist. In the end, only one could make it, and it is, as I said in my review, “as inexorable as death.”
#7. Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk – I’m surprised as well. Before Men Guðs hond er sterk, I had never laid ears on Hamferð and I was quite stunned to find how instantly I loved them. It’s not often an album by a band you’d previously never spent time with claims a spot on your year-end list after one listen, but this was one of those rare occasions. Something about the sorrowful, yet also soaring, melodies delivered through the interplays of resonant chords and gentle plucks, and between caustic growls and clear, ardent cleans just transports me. I feel the solemnity, the fear, and the grief in alternately forceful and graceful heaviness thanks to these intricately woven compositions and ardent performances that make the fact the lyrics are all in Faroese completely irrelevant. And Hamferð cover breadth with such ease, the slowly rolling wave of doom rising with tremolos into new intensity; and yet still controlled, still patient. The closer and it’s sample used to bother me, but I’m long past that now. In short, as the Angry Metal Guy himself said, “the record’s flow is impeccable,” and “the writing is subtle but addictive”. He’s not kidding about that last part, I really can’t stop listening to it.
#6. Föhn // Condescending – I was not prepared for what Condescending would do to me. Like any funeral doom worth its salt, it’s massive, but its presence is not smothering, it does not suffocate. Instead, it dampens the sound of anything else, so that the lugubrious chords, vocals, and fraught, lamenting refrains reverberate inside your mind, alone. This presence is redoubled by the heart-rending devastation of the compositions it centers—lyrically and musically. Bleakly beautiful, crushing doom in all its low, slow, cavernous hell leads you into an almost blissful moroseness, just in time for the veil to tear and your spirit to crumble as haunting melodies spill in from impossibly delicate sources of saxophone, synth, or ringing strings. Condescending will not leave my mind, and as broken and misty-eyed as these songs make me—”A Day After” and “Persona” especially—I’ll keep returning to experience it again and again. Maybe I can only speak for myself; maybe you’re sensing a theme wherein I like albums that make me feel sad. Whatever the case, Föhn took my breath away, and I don’t want it back.
#5. Cave Sermon // Divine Laughter – It’s pretty irresponsible of me to put this in the list at all, let alone in this position, considering how late in the day I discovered it. But I’m not really known for being ‘responsible’ around these parts, so, what the hell. What some might pigeonhole as just wonky death metal, or blackened post-hardcore—or even post-metal, as Metal Archives confusingly stamp it—is really much more complex, deep, and unique. Gripping and strange, in a way that struck me on my very first listen, Divine Laughter is responsible for me going from never having heard of Cave Sermon to being an ardent fan in one afternoon. Every listen gives me my new favorite part and uncovers more and more of its treasures. Savage and beautiful and with unnervingly easy flow, large parts of it are total perfection (“Liquid Gol, “The Paint of An Invader”). I cannot get enough. It’s so good, actually, that it’s made me feel a bit anxious about how much I’ve still missed this year, though I am very glad that this made it to my ears, even at the 11th hour. Divine Laughter is simply one of the greatest things I’ve heard in 2024, and it’s a crime that more people aren’t talking about it.
#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – I was waiting for Blessing of Despair since January, and as it always is with things we have high expectations for, part of me was preparing for disappointment. That preparation proved unnecessary once I finally got my hands on this in the Autumn. Devenial Verdict delivered. This time, they amped up all their unique little idiosyncrasies that made me fall in love with Ash Blind, and added a criminally heavy helping of groove. This thing is atmospheric and punchy, providing soundscapes that are just as haunting and mysterious(TM) as they are stomping and cutthroat. Either way, these riffs will make you shiver. “Garden of Eyes”! “Solus”! Ahhhh! Even “Counting Silence” and “A Curse Made Flesh,” which I initially dismissed as a little understated, have this delicious melancholic presence I just want to be immersed in 24/7. Devenial Verdict’s slick mixture of mournful melody and menacing, barked growls; neck-snapping flicks of cymbal, and those resonant, aggressive chord progressions make for—almost—my favorite take on death metal that exists. The sole reason Blessing of Despair wasn’t my most-played album of 2024 is that I only started in September.4
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – Back in 2017 or so, I was struck by what at the time I considered the most gorgeous opening guitar on any song ever. It was “…Of Solitary Ramblings,” the first track on Selbst’s self-titled debut.5 From that day forward I was enamoured. The undercurrents of lamenting melodrama and a black metal interwoven with a distinctive style of flowing, weeping strums continue to make Selbst very special. But if I had thought that their depths of emotional poignancy and stirring, multi-layered compositions had been reached, Despondency Chord Progressions showed they had not. Cleans that some wrote off as unsavory, rather bring—in my opinion—a new vulnerability, and their rawness compounds the pathos of already intensely cathartic compositions. The album’s title is, as I noted, an apt descriptor for the musical themes, but really undersells the cry of grief and despair that erupts from the music with every shuddering, tremolo-shaken, surge and every plaintive, somber quietude. I stand by what I said back in April, that “[t]his is black metal at its most stirring, entrancingly beautiful, and existentially affecting.” The sheer magnitude of its impassioned peaks (“Third World Wretchedness,” “Between Seclusion and Obsession”) and the sting of its humanity (“When true Loneliness is Experienced,” “Chant of Self Confrontation”) are like nothing else in the genre.
#2. Amiensus // Reclamation [Parts 1 & 2] – Take it up in the comments if you think this is cheating; Reclamation is one work in my eyes. And what a masterpiece. Each part a gorgeous, immersive side of one breathtaking journey that is best experienced together. I remain stunned by Amiensus’ mastery of musical storytelling through a flowing, intricate soundscape—at turns triumphant (“Vermillion Fog of War,” “Sólfarið”), sorrowful (“Reverie,” “Leprosarium”), and always stirring. Everything about Reclamation is graceful, which is another part of its magic because it’s not as though Amiensus left the black metal behind. Rather they seem to have found the deepest essence of the genre’s unique propensity for raw emotional expression, and moulded its elements into what is hands-down the most beautiful thing I’ve heard at least this year. It is, as I noted in my write-up of Part 1, a distillation of pure joy, and uplifting no matter how wistful (“Sun and Moon”), or suffused with bittersweet longing (“A Consciousness Throughout Time,” “Acquiescence”). And with so much of it—albeit, a time that flashes by with thrilling speed—it’s impossible not to get lost in. “Sun and Moon” was so close to being my favorite song of 2024, and in another year, it would have been. For that matter, in another year Reclamation itself would have claimed the top spot on this list.
#1. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – What else could it have been? I worry that by this point I may have used up all of the words that are possible to describe this pinnacle of excellence. In reality, though, I’m not sure I even have the words to express it in the first place, not for lack of trying. Ulcerate have long been a behemoth in their realm within the larger world of death metal, but while distinctive, they have never settled, continually carving up the template of dissonance with varyingly-sized blades of atmosphere and melody, moving between their most barbed and chaotic (Everything is Fire) to their most somber and moody (The Destroyers of All) in just one album. Later Shrines of Paralysis—my former favorite—saw a turn back towards the urgency and aggression, but with this new harmonic undercurrent in place. With hindsight, I can see now that the deeply atmospheric, disquieting Stare into Death and Be Still marked a turning point, paving the ground for what could be their magnum opus. Distilling the tension and the turmoil, into tidal forces of incredible rhythm, and dark, brilliant melody, with Cutting the Throat of God, Ulcerate reach transcendence. Dire (“The Dawn is Hollow”), deadly (“Transfiguration in and Out of Worlds”), devastating (“To See Death Just Once,” “Cutting the Throat of God”). Its intricacies only continue to reveal themselves to me; helped, no doubt, by a phenomenal live performance that bewitched me anew this October. I had to upgrade this album’s score to Iconic, because it is. This is atmospheric death metal perfected, and if genre-mates weren’t already looking in Ulcerate’s direction, there’s hardly any choice now. Cutting the Throat of God represents, in the greatest form, “the savagery, authenticity, and more recently, beauty that makes this icon of the dissonant death metal world who they are.”
Honorable Mentions:
Gaerea // Coma – Despite having calmed down considerably from my previous Gaerea overhype, there’s no denying that they’ve really got something. With a new vocalist, they retain their distinctively melodramatic and intense style, while incorporating a little more vulnerability via some genuinely really lovely cleans. A great record that just wasn’t great enough for the ridiculously high standard set by this year’s fare.
Eye Eater // Alienate – I am immensely grateful for Dolphin Whisperer for bringing this to my attention. Much of this album feels like it was written specifically for me, because it uses pretty much all of my favorite things in metal. It’s atmospheric and dissonant, like Ulcerate and others in that vein; it’s kind of post-death-y, and replete with minor melodies, and a particular kind of urgency my brain associates with specific kinds of ‘-core’. I just didn’t get quite enough time with it.
Songs of the Year
“To See Death Just Once” – Ulcerate
“Sun and Moon” – Amiensus
“Solus” – Devenial Verdict
“Terminal” – Vorga
“Third World Wretchedness” – Selbst
“The Paint of an Invader” – Cave Sermon
“A Day After” – Föhn
“Ábær” – Hamferð
“Inversion” – Endonomos
“Death’s Knell Rings in Eternity” – Spectral Voice
“Leaving” – Pillar of Light
Maddog
It’s been a weird year, and this is a weird list. Last December, I lamented the emotional hollowness of 2023’s metal output. If anything, 2024 fell even flatter. My most anticipated heavyweights were competent but inconsistent (Alcest, Julie Christmas), and few albums moved me. Unfazed, death metal picked up the slack and made this year a pleasure. Led by a flurry of excellent releases from genre titans, 2024 helped rekindle my love for cantankerous death metal.
Even so, the brutality of 2024’s output shocked me. Despite my worship of Suffocation and Dying Fetus, most brutal death metal releases of the last decade haven’t gripped me. But 2024 pulled me onto the brutal train with creativity and pizzazz. Both the techy and the knuckle-dragging corners of that subgenre thrived, including several artists that didn’t make my list (like Gigan, Iniquitous Savagery, and Nile). After tending toward more emotive music and other poseur nonsense in recent years, I took a long jump back in 2024.
As if that wasn’t enough, this was a banner year for dissonance. That’s a sentence I never expected to type; even dissonant death metal’s classics tend to be hit-or-miss with me. In 2024, the skronk finally broke through, aided by many avant-garde bands drifting toward a more accessible sound. This year’s screechy screeds were cogent enough to grab my arm and unhinged enough to rip it out of its socket. It’s been a jarring but eye-opening year.
This comment from the Brodequin review doubles as a summary of my 2024 music picks:
I wonder if I, we, they or all of us have a screw loose.
Heading into 2024, I craved immersive soundscapes and misty eyes. Instead, I was met with discordant gurgling. I didn’t expect it, but I don’t regret it.
#ish. Hypoxia // Defiance – Defiance never gets old. This old-school death metal behemoth has been around for ten months and hails from a subgenre that’s infamous for monotony. And yet, like Monstrosity’s best work, it blossoms on every spin. Defiance sports 2024’s fiercest harsh vocal performance, and riffwork so potent that it could revive the Selbst baby. I don’t have anything fancy to add, so I won’t try. Defiance is a rare death metal record that’s simple, thrilling, and well-written.
#10. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay – The thought sometimes crosses my mind: Why does atmospheric black metal even exist? The musical possibilities abound; who would pay $8 for tremolo scales recorded in a rest stop bathroom? Records like Bloom & Decay jolt me out of my pretension. Dawn Treader’s underground gem is both a product and a peddler of overpowering emotion. Ross Connell unleashes a tirade against violence and oppression using grief-stricken guitar melodies. On the flip side, Bloom & Decay’s heavy use of major keys—my second biggest fear—blurs the line between despair and tentative hope. Most impressive is the album’s flow, which Itchymenace described better than I ever could: “The majority of Bloom & Decay is instrumental, but you hardly notice because the music has such a storytelling quality.” Bloom & Decay’s 53-minute chokehold on my heart is ineffable but unyielding.
#9. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Germany’s nameless Noise has built up a remarkable CV – 7 years, 3 bands, 8 albums. While I’ve often enjoyed his music, I never fell under his spell. Die Urkatastrophe was the last straw. A pacifist tirade told through first-person WWI vignettes, Die Urkatastrophe depicts nationalist violence and its aftermath. Armed with a sharp-edged blackened death foundation and surging chorus melodies, Kanonenfieber provides rewarding fodder even for unfeeling riff addicts. However, its excellence lies in its raw emotion. Both Noise’s lyrics and his songwriting embrace a “show, don’t tell” approach that brings the album to life. As the narrator’s cavalry offensive meets with a hilltop ambush in “Gott mit der Kavallerie,” Kanonenfieber’s upbeat riffs transform into a sudden dirge followed by frantic black metal. The epic “Waffenbrüder” evokes the wide-eyed optimism of childhood friends, the pride of enlisting, the tragedy of losing a companion, and the regrets of a life wasted. Die Urkatastrophe is both a transformative album and exemplary storytelling.
#8. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Chronicles of Lunacy is essential listening for any fans of extreme metal. Its greatest triumph is its fine mix of Defeated Sanity’s signature ingredients. Chronicles excels as pure brutal death metal through punishing caveman riffs and a tasteful dose of slam. Vaughn Stoffey’s guitars elevate this to an art form using wily fretboard acrobatics and seamless jazzy breaks. Led by kit-meister Lille Gruber, Defeated Sanity’s off-kilter rhythms and heavy syncopation miraculously aid the album’s staying power rather than hindering it. Put simply, Chronicles of Lunacy is 2024’s most vivid reminder of why I love death metal. I love its unforgiving brutality; I love its dazzling technicality; I love its groove; I love its genre-bending creative expression; I love its rhythmic feats of strength; I love its intellect; I love its idiocy. In other words, I love Defeated Sanity.
#7. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – It’s a match made in heaven: Cutting the Throat of God is Ulcerate for dummies, and I’m a dummy. Ulcerate continues to march toward more accessible ground, leaving behind the merciless dissonance of Everything is Fire. Powerful melodic themes peek through the chaos and take time to shine, offering both souvenirs and footholds. Despite Cutting’s lowbrow appeal, Ulcerate’s inimitable signature remains. Unease pervades the record, and Ulcerate’s cohesive songwriting transforms it from a concept to an emotion. In Thus Spoke’s words, Jamie Saint Merat’s drums are “more body than skeleton,” using their distinctive start-stop style to guide the mood. The album’s climaxes alone justify a purchase, as hypnotic melodies and frenzied dissonance coalesce into a tsunami. In short, Cutting the Throat of God captured both my brain and my heart.
#6. Hippotraktor // Stasis – I first heard about Belgium’s Hippotraktor from an insistent coworker, long before I discovered GardensTale’s well-worded underrating. Psychonaut meets Karnivool meets The Ocean meets Meshuggah in this pounding, beautiful prog/post adventure. Stasis’ hard-won achievement is that it navigates through disparate ideas with fluidity and flair. Psychonaut-drenched sludge forms a jagged backbone that sways between meditative and explosive. Meanwhile, Hippotraktor’s mastery of melody catapults them into genre royalty. “Stasis” uses this superpower for peaceful guitar jams, “Echoes” uses it for soaring As I Lay Dying vocal lines, and “The Reckoning” uses it for haunting continuity across its eight minutes. The djenty interdjections are well-written and screwed in tight, packing a punch even for listeners with severe djent allerdjies. Stasis is a bold statement from a new band, and it’s jostled up my list posthaste.
#5. Hell:on // Shaman – Hell:on’s folk-infused take on death metal stands apart. Shaman’s diverse influences complement each other and flourish in isolation. Phrygian themes, throat singing, and driving sitars steer the album. But despite Shaman’s folk roots, it’s an excellent slab of death metal. Hell:on’s riffs recall the threatening leviathans of Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked, while the narrative song structures feel like a roided-out Aeternam. Even among such storied company, Shaman’s melodies stand out. Over the record’s runtime, Hell:on’s guitars shred, soar, flail, and wallop, evolving smoothly and dragging the listener along. As icing on the cake, Holdeneye’s review of Shaman features the most sobering and most badass introductory story of 2024. Hell:on demanded my attention and earned it.
#4. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I started warming up to Exhaust on my first listen, but it took a while to diagnose why. Pyrrhon’s earlier releases didn’t click with me, but Exhaust is a trailblazer and a paradox. Pyrrhon rewrites the textbook on riffs, displaying a mastery of groove even in their wildest moments. And the noisier cuts, which remind me most of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and The Velvet Underground, are evocative narratives rather than lifeless technical exercises. The longer pieces intersperse hypnotic buildups with furious cacophony (“Out of Gas”), while the shorter tracks are simultaneously caustic and infectious. With a thick leading bass performance and a master that highlights every detail of the drums, Exhaust grows on me with every spin. Pyrrhon’s off-the-deep-end brand of experimental death metal isn’t my usual fare, but I can’t avert my ears this time. Both mellifluous and disgusting, both rifftastic and immersive, Exhaust is singular.
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – My first toe dip into Selbst made a lasting impression. Shortly after Despondency Chord Progressions came out, I spun it at the office. In the final minute of the opener “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos,” I felt the involuntary tears start to flow, and I had to nuke the music and run to the bathroom to avoid worrying my desk neighbor. This embarrassing first encounter perfectly encapsulates the album. While it’s “merely” black metal, its gorgeous melodies and shrilling tremolos showcase the genre at its finest. Alternating between meditative dirges and howling chords, Selbst conveys both muffled sobs and hysterical bawling. Selbst’s fluid compositions captivated me at once and dug their claws even deeper over the ensuing months. The most heart-rending record of 2024, Despondency Chord Progressions showcases the paralyzing power of music.
#2. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – Noxis’ debut is a remarkable blend of old and new. The album’s stomping riffs and popping snare drum root it in 1990s brutal death metal. Conversely, its exuberantly grimy bass tone, its proggy rhythms, and its surprise woodwind extravaganza feel unabashedly modern. Much like last year’s Ohio death metal highlight, Violence Inherent in the System succeeds by ripping throughout, whether with a vile Dying Fetus riff or with an adventurous bass melody. Although this is the longest record in my top five, its 46 minutes fly by. Boasting momentum that would make Newton blush, Noxis keeps the energy high from the barnburner “Skullcrushing Defilement” to the proggy old-school “Emanations of the Sick.” After six months of scrutinizing and adoring Violence, I still can’t fathom that this is a debut album.
#1. Wormed // Omegon – I’ve already said my piece on this, and nothing has changed. Omegon feels as thrilling, as alien, as robotic, and as human as it did in July. In a year where brutality and dissonance thrived, Wormed maxed out both dimensions. Omegon is at once a painstakingly crafted work of art, an all-consuming atmosphere, and 2024’s punchiest death metal record.
Honorable Mentions:
- Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – Redefining Darkness strikes again. Oxygen Destroyer’s latest death-thrash opus is a concise half hour of exhilarating riffs. The album sounds one track, but I don’t care; it gains steam as it progresses, and it lodges deeper on every listen. There’s no excuse for missing this.
- Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – Despite its morose title, Harbinger of Woe is straightforward and riotous. Brodequin has honed a sleek archetype of brutal death metal, far from the likes of Wormed. It doesn’t aim to innovate; it just aims for high impact. It succeeds.
- Kryptos // Decimator – India’s heavy metal kings dealt me an irreplaceable shot of adrenaline. Decimator is Kryptos’ most melodically inspired work to date, an absolute scorcher, and the most viscerally satisfying production job of 2024.
- Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – Somehow, despite competition from In Aphelion and Necrophobic themselves, Necrowretch churned out the best Necrophobic album of 2024.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”
- Hippotraktor – “The Reckoning”
- Kanonenfieber – “Waffenbrüder”
- Hypoxia – “Scorched and Skinned”
- Kryptos – “Fall to the Spectre’s Gaze”
- Wormed – “Protogod”
- Alcest – “Améthyste”
- Defeated Sanity – “Heredity Violated”
- Andy Gillion – “Acceptance”
- Selbst – “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos”
- Pyrrhon – “Out of Gas”
- Ulcerate – “Cutting the Throat of God”
- Noxis – “Abstemious, Pious Writ of Life”
- Keygen Church – “La Chiave del mio Amor”
#2024 #Amiensus #BlogPost #Brodequin #CaveSermon #ColdCell #DawnTreader #DefeatedSanity #DevenialVerdict #EyeEater #Föhn #Gaerea #Hamferð #HellOn #Hippotraktor #Hypoxia #Kanonenfeiber #Kryptos #Necrowretch #Noxis #OxygenDestroyer #PillarOfLight #Pyrrhon #Replicant #Selbst #SpectralVoice #ThusSpokeAndMaddogSTopTenIshOf2024 #Ulcerate #Wormed
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Thus Spoke and Maddog’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Steel Druhm
Thus Spoke
My second AMG End-of-Year piece?! Didn’t I just get here? This is my typical reaction to life’s happenings. I’m blindsided by everything. You’ll probably notice that many of the below list entries ‘snuck up on me’ in how much I liked them, compared to everything else. The fact that we’re now halfway through the 2020s makes me feel a bit nauseous. I keep telling people I ‘just moved’ into the home I bought this year, but I’ve been in it since April. And that huge milestone—for which I feel immensely grateful and privileged to have achieved this side of 30—would have solely dominated my year were it not for two other facts: 1) I was finally diagnosed with and very recently started medication for ADHD; 2) 2024 has got to have been the strongest year of the decade so far for metal. So, time to talk about the music rather than myself.
My overoptimistic prediction that Ulcerate would release new music came true,1 and there was, in general, a particular influx of excellent material from the darker, more dissonant, and extreme sides of death and black metal. This was also the year I finally reconnected with my love of doom after a long period of lukewarm engagement. But I wouldn’t have known about half of it were it not for this gig, and the amazing people I share it with. Whether it was Dear Hollow, Kenstrosity, or Mystikus Hugebeard pinging across something they thought I might like, or a particularly potent review penned by a colleague, a commenter chipping in with some gem, or the group buzz around an album I might otherwise never have considered, there’s no better place to find and discuss metal. And speaking of community, if I ever needed a confirmation that this right here is the loveliest place on the internet, the rallying response to Ken‘s plight earlier this year from staff and readers was it.2 I couldn’t ask for better company.
I said as much last year, but I’ll probably say it every year: having this opportunity is wild and I feel so blessed. To be able to send my thoughts about music into the world where people read and consider them, that’s mad. Bumping into an AMG fan in the wild was also an affirming and heartwarming experience reminding me that there are actually real people out there who know who we are; and let me say, however enthusiastic and grateful you might be for us, the feeling is mutual. So to everyone reading this, to all the folks at AMG who make it possible for me to continually wax lyrical about stuff I love (and stuff I don’t love so much) and put up with all my overrating, to all of you: thank you. Shout out also to my list buddy Maddog, whose EOY write-up is bound to be more br00tal and much less flowery than mine, and whose in-person company I continue to have the pleasure of enjoying whenever he deigns to visit our little island up here. Oh, and thank you to the original creator and to Kenstrosity for my new avatar! I asked and you delivered. And if you actually read this far down, thank you for indulging me. But now, finally, it’s list time.
#ish. Pillar of Light // Caldera – I unintentionally ended my reviewing year on a high with Pillar of Light. Or perhaps a low, if we consider mood. When a record evokes a genuine emotional response in me,3 as Caldera does, it deserves more than an Honorable Mention. So here it is. It’s one of those albums you experience that forever afterward remains tied to your particular life situation when you were first immersed, and for that reason, its longevity is increased and its impact amplified. Given how “Leaving” and “Infernal Gaze” leave me in pieces, it’s probably a good thing the misery comes down from 11 at other times. But on the next album, who knows? I’ll be ready at least.
#10. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – Much like Kenstrosity, author of the review, I have not historically been Replicant’s hugest fan. For some reason their music never stuck with me; I just didn’t get it. Infinite Mortality has been the enlightenment I needed. It’s undeniably fantastic. Brilliantly technical and ruthlessly efficient in execution, it manages to also be ridiculously groovy in a way that you wouldn’t expect from this flavor of extreme death metal. Suited, evidently, to desk sessions and gym sessions alike, given the range of play it got from me since its release, its balance of skronk and style proved why I should, long ago, have been paying attention to Replicant. Ken himself struggled to find a negative and so do I. Even interlude “SCN9A” is great, especially as it leads into monster “Pain Enduring.” Only the superlative strength of other contenders causes this to fall so low on the list.
#9. ColdCell // Age of Unreason – In a rare case of me underrating something, my review of Age of Unreason did not quite do justice to its strength. Not only have I revisited it often, but I have of late been struck ever deeper by its profundity. The honest, vulnerable lamentations on inequality (“Solidarity or Solitude”), hatred (“Discord”), and human selfishness (“Dead to the World”) go far beyond a jaded misanthropy and strike a real chord. In wrapping this up in an insidiously simple package of compelling, devastating black metal with a distinctive voice, ColdCell have made, I now recognize, a true masterpiece. Brutal in its own way, and beautiful in many more, this is a record I hardly realized had made such a strong impact on me until I saw just how many times I’d spun it. This year may have seen black metal that goes harder, or with more powerful atmospheres, but none that are as memorable as Age of Unreason.
#8. Spectral Voice // Sparagmos – What a behemoth. It’s hard to believe that—just for a little while—Sparagmos slipped my mind many months after its February release. Relistening brought it all back into horrifying clarity. This record throws a veil over the sun, stares at you with unseeing, ecstatic eyes of Dionysian worship, and forces you into terrified awe. I’m still blown away by how crushingly heavy and immersive it is; how it still manages to blindside me with sudden turns from ominous crawling into chaotic, chthonic tremolos and clustered, hideous vocals. A masterclass in patient, predatory ambush. Nothing else this year was like it, which is partially why I’ve had to return so often to its dark embrace. Every nightmarish track was at some point in the runnings for the Song of the Year playlist. In the end, only one could make it, and it is, as I said in my review, “as inexorable as death.”
#7. Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk – I’m surprised as well. Before Men Guðs hond er sterk, I had never laid ears on Hamferð and I was quite stunned to find how instantly I loved them. It’s not often an album by a band you’d previously never spent time with claims a spot on your year-end list after one listen, but this was one of those rare occasions. Something about the sorrowful, yet also soaring, melodies delivered through the interplays of resonant chords and gentle plucks, and between caustic growls and clear, ardent cleans just transports me. I feel the solemnity, the fear, and the grief in alternately forceful and graceful heaviness thanks to these intricately woven compositions and ardent performances that make the fact the lyrics are all in Faroese completely irrelevant. And Hamferð cover breadth with such ease, the slowly rolling wave of doom rising with tremolos into new intensity; and yet still controlled, still patient. The closer and it’s sample used to bother me, but I’m long past that now. In short, as the Angry Metal Guy himself said, “the record’s flow is impeccable,” and “the writing is subtle but addictive”. He’s not kidding about that last part, I really can’t stop listening to it.
#6. Föhn // Condescending – I was not prepared for what Condescending would do to me. Like any funeral doom worth its salt, it’s massive, but its presence is not smothering, it does not suffocate. Instead, it dampens the sound of anything else, so that the lugubrious chords, vocals, and fraught, lamenting refrains reverberate inside your mind, alone. This presence is redoubled by the heart-rending devastation of the compositions it centers—lyrically and musically. Bleakly beautiful, crushing doom in all its low, slow, cavernous hell leads you into an almost blissful moroseness, just in time for the veil to tear and your spirit to crumble as haunting melodies spill in from impossibly delicate sources of saxophone, synth, or ringing strings. Condescending will not leave my mind, and as broken and misty-eyed as these songs make me—”A Day After” and “Persona” especially—I’ll keep returning to experience it again and again. Maybe I can only speak for myself; maybe you’re sensing a theme wherein I like albums that make me feel sad. Whatever the case, Föhn took my breath away, and I don’t want it back.
#5. Cave Sermon // Divine Laughter – It’s pretty irresponsible of me to put this in the list at all, let alone in this position, considering how late in the day I discovered it. But I’m not really known for being ‘responsible’ around these parts, so, what the hell. What some might pigeonhole as just wonky death metal, or blackened post-hardcore—or even post-metal, as Metal Archives confusingly stamp it—is really much more complex, deep, and unique. Gripping and strange, in a way that struck me on my very first listen, Divine Laughter is responsible for me going from never having heard of Cave Sermon to being an ardent fan in one afternoon. Every listen gives me my new favorite part and uncovers more and more of its treasures. Savage and beautiful and with unnervingly easy flow, large parts of it are total perfection (“Liquid Gol, “The Paint of An Invader”). I cannot get enough. It’s so good, actually, that it’s made me feel a bit anxious about how much I’ve still missed this year, though I am very glad that this made it to my ears, even at the 11th hour. Divine Laughter is simply one of the greatest things I’ve heard in 2024, and it’s a crime that more people aren’t talking about it.
#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – I was waiting for Blessing of Despair since January, and as it always is with things we have high expectations for, part of me was preparing for disappointment. That preparation proved unnecessary once I finally got my hands on this in the Autumn. Devenial Verdict delivered. This time, they amped up all their unique little idiosyncrasies that made me fall in love with Ash Blind, and added a criminally heavy helping of groove. This thing is atmospheric and punchy, providing soundscapes that are just as haunting and mysterious(TM) as they are stomping and cutthroat. Either way, these riffs will make you shiver. “Garden of Eyes”! “Solus”! Ahhhh! Even “Counting Silence” and “A Curse Made Flesh,” which I initially dismissed as a little understated, have this delicious melancholic presence I just want to be immersed in 24/7. Devenial Verdict’s slick mixture of mournful melody and menacing, barked growls; neck-snapping flicks of cymbal, and those resonant, aggressive chord progressions make for—almost—my favorite take on death metal that exists. The sole reason Blessing of Despair wasn’t my most-played album of 2024 is that I only started in September.4
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – Back in 2017 or so, I was struck by what at the time I considered the most gorgeous opening guitar on any song ever. It was “…Of Solitary Ramblings,” the first track on Selbst’s self-titled debut.5 From that day forward I was enamoured. The undercurrents of lamenting melodrama and a black metal interwoven with a distinctive style of flowing, weeping strums continue to make Selbst very special. But if I had thought that their depths of emotional poignancy and stirring, multi-layered compositions had been reached, Despondency Chord Progressions showed they had not. Cleans that some wrote off as unsavory, rather bring—in my opinion—a new vulnerability, and their rawness compounds the pathos of already intensely cathartic compositions. The album’s title is, as I noted, an apt descriptor for the musical themes, but really undersells the cry of grief and despair that erupts from the music with every shuddering, tremolo-shaken, surge and every plaintive, somber quietude. I stand by what I said back in April, that “[t]his is black metal at its most stirring, entrancingly beautiful, and existentially affecting.” The sheer magnitude of its impassioned peaks (“Third World Wretchedness,” “Between Seclusion and Obsession”) and the sting of its humanity (“When true Loneliness is Experienced,” “Chant of Self Confrontation”) are like nothing else in the genre.
#2. Amiensus // Reclamation [Parts 1 & 2] – Take it up in the comments if you think this is cheating; Reclamation is one work in my eyes. And what a masterpiece. Each part a gorgeous, immersive side of one breathtaking journey that is best experienced together. I remain stunned by Amiensus’ mastery of musical storytelling through a flowing, intricate soundscape—at turns triumphant (“Vermillion Fog of War,” “Sólfarið”), sorrowful (“Reverie,” “Leprosarium”), and always stirring. Everything about Reclamation is graceful, which is another part of its magic because it’s not as though Amiensus left the black metal behind. Rather they seem to have found the deepest essence of the genre’s unique propensity for raw emotional expression, and moulded its elements into what is hands-down the most beautiful thing I’ve heard at least this year. It is, as I noted in my write-up of Part 1, a distillation of pure joy, and uplifting no matter how wistful (“Sun and Moon”), or suffused with bittersweet longing (“A Consciousness Throughout Time,” “Acquiescence”). And with so much of it—albeit, a time that flashes by with thrilling speed—it’s impossible not to get lost in. “Sun and Moon” was so close to being my favorite song of 2024, and in another year, it would have been. For that matter, in another year Reclamation itself would have claimed the top spot on this list.
#1. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – What else could it have been? I worry that by this point I may have used up all of the words that are possible to describe this pinnacle of excellence. In reality, though, I’m not sure I even have the words to express it in the first place, not for lack of trying. Ulcerate have long been a behemoth in their realm within the larger world of death metal, but while distinctive, they have never settled, continually carving up the template of dissonance with varyingly-sized blades of atmosphere and melody, moving between their most barbed and chaotic (Everything is Fire) to their most somber and moody (The Destroyers of All) in just one album. Later Shrines of Paralysis—my former favorite—saw a turn back towards the urgency and aggression, but with this new harmonic undercurrent in place. With hindsight, I can see now that the deeply atmospheric, disquieting Stare into Death and Be Still marked a turning point, paving the ground for what could be their magnum opus. Distilling the tension and the turmoil, into tidal forces of incredible rhythm, and dark, brilliant melody, with Cutting the Throat of God, Ulcerate reach transcendence. Dire (“The Dawn is Hollow”), deadly (“Transfiguration in and Out of Worlds”), devastating (“To See Death Just Once,” “Cutting the Throat of God”). Its intricacies only continue to reveal themselves to me; helped, no doubt, by a phenomenal live performance that bewitched me anew this October. I had to upgrade this album’s score to Iconic, because it is. This is atmospheric death metal perfected, and if genre-mates weren’t already looking in Ulcerate’s direction, there’s hardly any choice now. Cutting the Throat of God represents, in the greatest form, “the savagery, authenticity, and more recently, beauty that makes this icon of the dissonant death metal world who they are.”
Honorable Mentions:
Gaerea // Coma – Despite having calmed down considerably from my previous Gaerea overhype, there’s no denying that they’ve really got something. With a new vocalist, they retain their distinctively melodramatic and intense style, while incorporating a little more vulnerability via some genuinely really lovely cleans. A great record that just wasn’t great enough for the ridiculously high standard set by this year’s fare.
Eye Eater // Alienate – I am immensely grateful for Dolphin Whisperer for bringing this to my attention. Much of this album feels like it was written specifically for me, because it uses pretty much all of my favorite things in metal. It’s atmospheric and dissonant, like Ulcerate and others in that vein; it’s kind of post-death-y, and replete with minor melodies, and a particular kind of urgency my brain associates with specific kinds of ‘-core’. I just didn’t get quite enough time with it.
Songs of the Year
“To See Death Just Once” – Ulcerate
“Sun and Moon” – Amiensus
“Solus” – Devenial Verdict
“Terminal” – Vorga
“Third World Wretchedness” – Selbst
“The Paint of an Invader” – Cave Sermon
“A Day After” – Föhn
“Ábær” – Hamferð
“Inversion” – Endonomos
“Death’s Knell Rings in Eternity” – Spectral Voice
“Leaving” – Pillar of Light
Maddog
It’s been a weird year, and this is a weird list. Last December, I lamented the emotional hollowness of 2023’s metal output. If anything, 2024 fell even flatter. My most anticipated heavyweights were competent but inconsistent (Alcest, Julie Christmas), and few albums moved me. Unfazed, death metal picked up the slack and made this year a pleasure. Led by a flurry of excellent releases from genre titans, 2024 helped rekindle my love for cantankerous death metal.
Even so, the brutality of 2024’s output shocked me. Despite my worship of Suffocation and Dying Fetus, most brutal death metal releases of the last decade haven’t gripped me. But 2024 pulled me onto the brutal train with creativity and pizzazz. Both the techy and the knuckle-dragging corners of that subgenre thrived, including several artists that didn’t make my list (like Gigan, Iniquitous Savagery, and Nile). After tending toward more emotive music and other poseur nonsense in recent years, I took a long jump back in 2024.
As if that wasn’t enough, this was a banner year for dissonance. That’s a sentence I never expected to type; even dissonant death metal’s classics tend to be hit-or-miss with me. In 2024, the skronk finally broke through, aided by many avant-garde bands drifting toward a more accessible sound. This year’s screechy screeds were cogent enough to grab my arm and unhinged enough to rip it out of its socket. It’s been a jarring but eye-opening year.
This comment from the Brodequin review doubles as a summary of my 2024 music picks:
I wonder if I, we, they or all of us have a screw loose.
Heading into 2024, I craved immersive soundscapes and misty eyes. Instead, I was met with discordant gurgling. I didn’t expect it, but I don’t regret it.
#ish. Hypoxia // Defiance – Defiance never gets old. This old-school death metal behemoth has been around for ten months and hails from a subgenre that’s infamous for monotony. And yet, like Monstrosity’s best work, it blossoms on every spin. Defiance sports 2024’s fiercest harsh vocal performance, and riffwork so potent that it could revive the Selbst baby. I don’t have anything fancy to add, so I won’t try. Defiance is a rare death metal record that’s simple, thrilling, and well-written.
#10. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay – The thought sometimes crosses my mind: Why does atmospheric black metal even exist? The musical possibilities abound; who would pay $8 for tremolo scales recorded in a rest stop bathroom? Records like Bloom & Decay jolt me out of my pretension. Dawn Treader’s underground gem is both a product and a peddler of overpowering emotion. Ross Connell unleashes a tirade against violence and oppression using grief-stricken guitar melodies. On the flip side, Bloom & Decay’s heavy use of major keys—my second biggest fear—blurs the line between despair and tentative hope. Most impressive is the album’s flow, which Itchymenace described better than I ever could: “The majority of Bloom & Decay is instrumental, but you hardly notice because the music has such a storytelling quality.” Bloom & Decay’s 53-minute chokehold on my heart is ineffable but unyielding.
#9. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Germany’s nameless Noise has built up a remarkable CV – 7 years, 3 bands, 8 albums. While I’ve often enjoyed his music, I never fell under his spell. Die Urkatastrophe was the last straw. A pacifist tirade told through first-person WWI vignettes, Die Urkatastrophe depicts nationalist violence and its aftermath. Armed with a sharp-edged blackened death foundation and surging chorus melodies, Kanonenfieber provides rewarding fodder even for unfeeling riff addicts. However, its excellence lies in its raw emotion. Both Noise’s lyrics and his songwriting embrace a “show, don’t tell” approach that brings the album to life. As the narrator’s cavalry offensive meets with a hilltop ambush in “Gott mit der Kavallerie,” Kanonenfieber’s upbeat riffs transform into a sudden dirge followed by frantic black metal. The epic “Waffenbrüder” evokes the wide-eyed optimism of childhood friends, the pride of enlisting, the tragedy of losing a companion, and the regrets of a life wasted. Die Urkatastrophe is both a transformative album and exemplary storytelling.
#8. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Chronicles of Lunacy is essential listening for any fans of extreme metal. Its greatest triumph is its fine mix of Defeated Sanity’s signature ingredients. Chronicles excels as pure brutal death metal through punishing caveman riffs and a tasteful dose of slam. Vaughn Stoffey’s guitars elevate this to an art form using wily fretboard acrobatics and seamless jazzy breaks. Led by kit-meister Lille Gruber, Defeated Sanity’s off-kilter rhythms and heavy syncopation miraculously aid the album’s staying power rather than hindering it. Put simply, Chronicles of Lunacy is 2024’s most vivid reminder of why I love death metal. I love its unforgiving brutality; I love its dazzling technicality; I love its groove; I love its genre-bending creative expression; I love its rhythmic feats of strength; I love its intellect; I love its idiocy. In other words, I love Defeated Sanity.
#7. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – It’s a match made in heaven: Cutting the Throat of God is Ulcerate for dummies, and I’m a dummy. Ulcerate continues to march toward more accessible ground, leaving behind the merciless dissonance of Everything is Fire. Powerful melodic themes peek through the chaos and take time to shine, offering both souvenirs and footholds. Despite Cutting’s lowbrow appeal, Ulcerate’s inimitable signature remains. Unease pervades the record, and Ulcerate’s cohesive songwriting transforms it from a concept to an emotion. In Thus Spoke’s words, Jamie Saint Merat’s drums are “more body than skeleton,” using their distinctive start-stop style to guide the mood. The album’s climaxes alone justify a purchase, as hypnotic melodies and frenzied dissonance coalesce into a tsunami. In short, Cutting the Throat of God captured both my brain and my heart.
#6. Hippotraktor // Stasis – I first heard about Belgium’s Hippotraktor from an insistent coworker, long before I discovered GardensTale’s well-worded underrating. Psychonaut meets Karnivool meets The Ocean meets Meshuggah in this pounding, beautiful prog/post adventure. Stasis’ hard-won achievement is that it navigates through disparate ideas with fluidity and flair. Psychonaut-drenched sludge forms a jagged backbone that sways between meditative and explosive. Meanwhile, Hippotraktor’s mastery of melody catapults them into genre royalty. “Stasis” uses this superpower for peaceful guitar jams, “Echoes” uses it for soaring As I Lay Dying vocal lines, and “The Reckoning” uses it for haunting continuity across its eight minutes. The djenty interdjections are well-written and screwed in tight, packing a punch even for listeners with severe djent allerdjies. Stasis is a bold statement from a new band, and it’s jostled up my list posthaste.
#5. Hell:on // Shaman – Hell:on’s folk-infused take on death metal stands apart. Shaman’s diverse influences complement each other and flourish in isolation. Phrygian themes, throat singing, and driving sitars steer the album. But despite Shaman’s folk roots, it’s an excellent slab of death metal. Hell:on’s riffs recall the threatening leviathans of Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked, while the narrative song structures feel like a roided-out Aeternam. Even among such storied company, Shaman’s melodies stand out. Over the record’s runtime, Hell:on’s guitars shred, soar, flail, and wallop, evolving smoothly and dragging the listener along. As icing on the cake, Holdeneye’s review of Shaman features the most sobering and most badass introductory story of 2024. Hell:on demanded my attention and earned it.
#4. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I started warming up to Exhaust on my first listen, but it took a while to diagnose why. Pyrrhon’s earlier releases didn’t click with me, but Exhaust is a trailblazer and a paradox. Pyrrhon rewrites the textbook on riffs, displaying a mastery of groove even in their wildest moments. And the noisier cuts, which remind me most of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and The Velvet Underground, are evocative narratives rather than lifeless technical exercises. The longer pieces intersperse hypnotic buildups with furious cacophony (“Out of Gas”), while the shorter tracks are simultaneously caustic and infectious. With a thick leading bass performance and a master that highlights every detail of the drums, Exhaust grows on me with every spin. Pyrrhon’s off-the-deep-end brand of experimental death metal isn’t my usual fare, but I can’t avert my ears this time. Both mellifluous and disgusting, both rifftastic and immersive, Exhaust is singular.
#3. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – My first toe dip into Selbst made a lasting impression. Shortly after Despondency Chord Progressions came out, I spun it at the office. In the final minute of the opener “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos,” I felt the involuntary tears start to flow, and I had to nuke the music and run to the bathroom to avoid worrying my desk neighbor. This embarrassing first encounter perfectly encapsulates the album. While it’s “merely” black metal, its gorgeous melodies and shrilling tremolos showcase the genre at its finest. Alternating between meditative dirges and howling chords, Selbst conveys both muffled sobs and hysterical bawling. Selbst’s fluid compositions captivated me at once and dug their claws even deeper over the ensuing months. The most heart-rending record of 2024, Despondency Chord Progressions showcases the paralyzing power of music.
#2. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – Noxis’ debut is a remarkable blend of old and new. The album’s stomping riffs and popping snare drum root it in 1990s brutal death metal. Conversely, its exuberantly grimy bass tone, its proggy rhythms, and its surprise woodwind extravaganza feel unabashedly modern. Much like last year’s Ohio death metal highlight, Violence Inherent in the System succeeds by ripping throughout, whether with a vile Dying Fetus riff or with an adventurous bass melody. Although this is the longest record in my top five, its 46 minutes fly by. Boasting momentum that would make Newton blush, Noxis keeps the energy high from the barnburner “Skullcrushing Defilement” to the proggy old-school “Emanations of the Sick.” After six months of scrutinizing and adoring Violence, I still can’t fathom that this is a debut album.
#1. Wormed // Omegon – I’ve already said my piece on this, and nothing has changed. Omegon feels as thrilling, as alien, as robotic, and as human as it did in July. In a year where brutality and dissonance thrived, Wormed maxed out both dimensions. Omegon is at once a painstakingly crafted work of art, an all-consuming atmosphere, and 2024’s punchiest death metal record.
Honorable Mentions:
- Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – Redefining Darkness strikes again. Oxygen Destroyer’s latest death-thrash opus is a concise half hour of exhilarating riffs. The album sounds one track, but I don’t care; it gains steam as it progresses, and it lodges deeper on every listen. There’s no excuse for missing this.
- Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – Despite its morose title, Harbinger of Woe is straightforward and riotous. Brodequin has honed a sleek archetype of brutal death metal, far from the likes of Wormed. It doesn’t aim to innovate; it just aims for high impact. It succeeds.
- Kryptos // Decimator – India’s heavy metal kings dealt me an irreplaceable shot of adrenaline. Decimator is Kryptos’ most melodically inspired work to date, an absolute scorcher, and the most viscerally satisfying production job of 2024.
- Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – Somehow, despite competition from In Aphelion and Necrophobic themselves, Necrowretch churned out the best Necrophobic album of 2024.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”
- Hippotraktor – “The Reckoning”
- Kanonenfieber – “Waffenbrüder”
- Hypoxia – “Scorched and Skinned”
- Kryptos – “Fall to the Spectre’s Gaze”
- Wormed – “Protogod”
- Alcest – “Améthyste”
- Defeated Sanity – “Heredity Violated”
- Andy Gillion – “Acceptance”
- Selbst – “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos”
- Pyrrhon – “Out of Gas”
- Ulcerate – “Cutting the Throat of God”
- Noxis – “Abstemious, Pious Writ of Life”
- Keygen Church – “La Chiave del mio Amor”
#2024 #Amiensus #BlogPost #Brodequin #CaveSermon #ColdCell #DawnTreader #DefeatedSanity #DevenialVerdict #EyeEater #Föhn #Gaerea #Hamferð #HellOn #Hippotraktor #Hypoxia #Kanonenfeiber #Kryptos #Necrowretch #Noxis #OxygenDestroyer #PillarOfLight #Pyrrhon #Replicant #Selbst #SpectralVoice #ThusSpokeAndMaddogSTopTenIshOf2024 #Ulcerate #Wormed
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Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church
What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: [email protected] (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.
Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)
You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.
Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.
This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.
Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.
Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at [email protected] which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.
We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.
For more information about this event, email [email protected]. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.
#AmnestyInternational #AmnestyInternationalCanada #FirstUnitedChurch #Group9 #GroupNine #WriteForRights
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@Angry Tea Lady As far as I can see, there is no general consensus or agreement upon what's the right amount of description for an image. I guess it also really depends on the image. Cat photographs can do with rather short descriptions while other pictures require descriptions so long that you couldn't possibly post them in one piece anywhere on most Mastodon instances. Good thing there's a Fediverse beyond Mastodon.
There are two things I keep in mind for my own image descriptions. One, if something is obscure and niche enough for average Fediverse users to not know anything about it, it needs to be described and explained. That'd better go into the post text itself, but since my image descriptions often grow extremely long, I put them there anyway.
Two, whenever an image description mentions what there is in a picture, blind or visually-impaired people are likely to want to know what it looks like. So any and all descriptions must include that. It's more ableist not to give visual descriptions than to give them and make the image description longer.
I myself tend to try to include whatever I read about that should be part of an image description. Just recently, someone wondered why so few people mention where they've taken a picture. Good thing I've been doing that ever since I've started writing detailied image descriptions.
It's just unfortunate that people rarely give feedback for image descriptions, especially without being asked for it first. My own image descriptions regularly grow so long that they exceed any idea of excessive. What few people have given me feedback so far, including one who has done it out of the blue, liked them, but such a small number of people couldn't possibly represent all of the Fediverse. Then again, I hardly post images anymore because of how long it takes me to describe them, and fewer images mean even less feedback.
But if it looks like I can get away with image descriptions that are way longer than some essays, I think it's hard for alt-text within Mastodon's 1,500-character limit to be too long.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #CharacterCount #Accessibility #A11y -
I’ve been noting a lot of blow-back related to the ‘Coming Soon’ ban of TikTok in the United States, and after writing, ‘Beyond TikTok *Maybe* Being Banned‘, I found myself wondering… why are people so attached to a social network?
I could get into the obvious reasons – the sunk cost fallacy, where so much time and energy is invested in something that one doesn’t want to leave it. We humans tend toward that despite knowing better.
We see this with all social media where one can’t simply move content from one place to another easily, much less the connections made. If you back up your Facebook account, as an example, it’s only your information that gets backed up – not all the interactions with everyone you know, and not content you may be tagged in. So you lose that, but it’s sort of like moving to different geography – you can’t always keep relationships with those tied to your previous geography.
Yet the vehemence of some of the posts in defense of TikTok had me digging deeper. It wasn’t just the sunken cost, there was more to it than that. I haven’t used TikTok, not because of some grand reason – I just didn’t find it appealing.
Thus I explored some things. I’m not really for or against TikTok. I am against social media that passes your information on to entities you may not know, where it will be used in ways that are well beyond your control – even anonymized, it doesn’t mean an individual isn’t identifiable. How many times have you pictured a face and not remembered a name? Still, there’s something really sticky about TikTok.
Here’s what I found.
The Start: The Death of Vine.
When Vine curled up and died as Twitter started allowing video uploads, TikTok stood in. Vine was used by a diverse group of people – the regular stuff, including marketing and branding. There was nothing too different about users of other social media at that point.
It’s appealing to those with short attention spans, and the new average attention span is 47 seconds.
Then Ferguson happened, and Vine ended up becoming a part of an identifiable social movement after Michael Brown was shot and killed, largely because of Antonio French’s (then St Louis City Alderman) posts documenting racial tensions in and around Ferguson.
#FERGUSON, a short film composed of my Vines and videos from August 2014 https://t.co/0AHL8wmUJA
— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 9, 2016
It connected people who were participating in protests, which happens to an extent in some social media, but it doesn’t seem as much. It makes sense. A short video on a mobile phone drains less of the battery and the context of protests is hard to miss in a short video format – so while documenting things, one is more mobile, can post more information in context, and can be seen by a lot of people. That’s a powerful tool for social commentary and social awareness.
It made such an impact that activists mourned the loss of Vine.
TikTok showed up, with recommendation algorithms.
The Vine Replacement.
TikTok has the regular band of social media users, from dancing to brands – but it filled a vacuum left behind for social awareness and protest. It had other ‘benefits’ – being able to use copyrighted music on that platform but not others allowed lip synching and dance for a new generation of social media users. You can ‘stitch’ other videos – combining someone else’s video for yours, allowing commentary on commentary, like a threaded conversation only with combined contexts1.
There’s a lot of commentary on it’s algorithm for giving people want to see as well.
Certain landmark things happened in the world that highlighted social awareness and activism.
Black Lives Matter
- From TikTok to Black Lives Matter, how Gen Z is revolutionizing activism, which also shows context of Syria being bombed.
- TikTok apologizes after being accused of censoring #BlackLivesMatter posts: A hiccough in an algorithm caused #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd tags to show zero views.
Russian Invasion of Ukraine
- Watching the World’s “First TikTok War”
- Ukraine war: How TikTok fakes pushed Russian lies to millions
- TikTok was ‘just a dancing app’. Then the Ukraine war started
- TikTok users in Russia can see only old Russian-made content
Israel-Hamas War.
- Israel Has Asked Meta And TikTok To Remove 8,000 Posts Related To Hamas War: 26% of the 9,500 requests were for TikTok to remove content.
- How the Israel-Hamas War Has Roiled TikTok Internally: (may be paywalled) The internal struggles in the offices of TikTok over the war and bias toward the Palestinians – a subject of further examination in links below.
- “Israel is losing the war on TikTok. Palestinians have been more active for many, many years“
- Playful Activism: Memetic Performances of Palestinian Resistance in TikTok #Challenges: A well cited paper.
Plenty of other platforms were used in these, but the younger generations on the planet gravitated to TikTok. It became a platform where they could air their own contexts and promote awareness of things that they care about, though not all of minorities may agree, with one large blind spot.
The Blind Spot
That blind spot accounts for 18.6% of the global population. China. There is no criticism of China on TikTok, it’s removed, and maybe because people are caught up in their own contexts they seem unaware of that, and the state of human rights in China. It’s a platform where you can protest and air dirty laundry except in the country it is headquartered in.
It should be at least a little awkward to use a platform for social activism headquartered in a country that doesn’t permit it, much less the country that sits at 3rd in the list Worst countries for human rights and rule of law as of 2022, below Yemen and Iran.
The Great Firewall of China absolves users of TikTok of ignorance by assuring their ignorance.
And interesting, of the 30+ countries that have banned TikTok, China’s one of them. The localized version, Douyin, is subject to censorship by the Chinese Communist Party.
I’d say that should make everyone a little leery about supporting TikTok.
But What Will Come Next?
The TikTok platform certainly has allowed the younger generations to give voice to their situations and issues. That is not a bad thing.
There’s a few things that are happening – TikTok won’t go away for a while, it will be in court more than likely for some years appealing the ban. If people do care about social awareness and activism, it’s a hard case to make that what’s good for the rest of the world isn’t good for China.
If you truly care about human rights, TikTok is a paradox. It’s hard to have a conscientious conversation about human rights on a platform which doesn’t practice those same rights in it’s own country.
The key to finding an alternative is an algorithm, since the algorithm is fed by tracking users – users who might not be as keen about being tracked when they understand what that means.
Something will come. Something always does.
- This has seen some sociological study as you can see in “Stitching the Social World: The Processing of Multiple Social Structures in Communication” ↩︎
https://knowprose.com/2024/04/29/tiktok-history-and-issues/
#BlackLivesMatter #BLM #Challenges #China #GeorgeFloyd #Hamas #humanRights #Israel #Palestine #Russia #socialActivism #socialAwareness #socialmedia #tiktok #Ukraine
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Ghost stories have been with us for centuries, tapping into our innate curiosity about the unknown and the afterlife. They evoke a sense of thrill and suspense, allowing us to confront our fears in a safe environment. They hold a profound message that speaks to our sense of destiny – our destiny. These tales bring us themes of loss, love, and the unresolved, which resonate with our own experiences and emotions. I remember sitting around a campfire where ghost stories were told – some over and over again. Every family has a ghost, don’t they? For mine family, it was a woman, in pilgrim dress, that came for a great-great uncle who died during the 1918 flu epidemic.
“Real love isn’t blind, it sees everything and has an endless capacity for forgiving.”
R.A. DICK, THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
My favourite ghost story: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Author: R.A. Dick (aka Josephine Aimee Campbell Leslie)
Genre: Gothic/RomanceMy favourite ghost story is “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, a heartwarming novel that masterfully blends romance, humour, and the supernatural. Set in the picturesque seaside of early 20th-century England, R.A. Dick (the pen name of Josephine Aimee Campbell Leslie) introduces us to Lucy Muir, a young widow seeking independence and a fresh start after the death of her husband.
When Lucy moves into a quaint cottage that turns out to be haunted by Captain Daniel Gregg, the former owner, what begins as a tale of fright transforms into a strong partnership. Initially apprehensive of the ghost, Lucy soon finds him to be a kindred spirit who offers her companionship and guidance. Captain Gregg is portrayed as a roguish yet appealing figure, whose interactions with Lucy bring both emotional depth and delightful comedy to the narrative.
R. A. Dick’s writing elegantly captures the nuances of love, loss, and personal growth. The relationship between Lucy and Captain Gregg evolves, highlighting themes of destiny and the profound connections between souls, living or dead. Lucy’s journey toward self-discovery and empowerment resonates deeply with readers.
The novel achieved even greater recognition when it was adapted into the beloved 1947 film starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. The film captured the spirit of the book, bringing the story of Lucy and Captain Gregg to life for a new audience.
One of the standout aspects of “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” is its insightful commentary on love. As Lucy grapples with her new life, she learns that “Real love isn’t blind, it sees everything and has an endless capacity for forgiving.” This quote is the heart of the novel, reminding us that love transcends boundaries, whether they are earthly or ethereal.
“Because, as I have told you so many times, I have no words to make you understand,” said the captain. It’ s all the beauty and serenity and nobility you have ever experienced on earth. It’s all your grandest and most generous feelings, and the finest sunsets and greatest music- and then you’ re only on the fringe of understanding.”
R.A. DICK, THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
https://rebeccasreadingroom.ca/2024/10/31/happy-halloween-with-the-ghost-and-mrs-muir/
#FictionSalon #GothicFiction #HappyHalloween #RADick #RomanceFiction #TheGhostAndMrsMuir
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#pennedpossibilities 33 - MC POV: Write about something nice a stranger did for you.
We got caught flatfooted when Bureau agents entered the hotel suddenly and we couldn't move the boss, who was recuperating from being stabbed. I was wearing this stupid middle school uniform (very long story), so after I got the boss prepared to fend off the questioning with her attorney beside her, I settled at a low table outside the glassed-in conference room. I had my text books and a notebook, and in inspiration had grabbed some crayons some kid had lost. When the agent arrived, I shrieked, knocked over books I'd precariously stacked, scattered the crayons across the carpet, and sank beneath the table shyly. She treated me nicely, even picked up the crayons, then asked for the boss. I'd pointed mutely. I'd, of course, lowered the silvery blinds on the interior windows and opened the ones looking out on the sunny afternoon so I could watch hidden by reflections, ready to protect my employer with my thaumaturgy.
Later, on departure, she returned and ruffled the hair atop my head.
I'd felt validated in my ability to disguise myself.
I learned much later that the chief investigator had known I was the Boss' "daughter," her lead bodyguard, all along. Oddly, I didn't mind: It felt like professional recognition.
I ended up saving the agent's life a couple months later...
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#EntertainOrDie#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
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#PennedPossibilities 668 2/2 — Tell us how self and socially aware some of your [supporting characters] are. Are these two things connected in any way for them?
Ezekiel Stan is a villain, no mistaking this. He is very self-aware. He knows what he is doing, and understands he is both tyrannical and hypocritical—but he thinks he is carrying out God's will, is willing to accept judgment for his methods when he faces eternity. When EM Mars Corp. goes bankrupt, is cut off from Earth, and EM corporate governance continues on auto-pilot, Ezekiel, one of the seven Martian in situ board of directors, sees an opportunity to turn Mars into a religious utopia. He wants to fight the liberalism imported by contract colonial women who helped settle Mars after he helped complete the original settlements. He sees no role for women other than to support the men in their lives, to bear children, and to obey. He assumes the people he rules through intimidation and swift retribution share his values; he corrects those who don't. He corrected his son's girly-ness by breaking his arm when he found him helping out with women's work. His lack of social awareness when it comes to educated and martian-born women is an epic blindspot. He doesn't care what they think, or think that they can. Reina and May Ri (the MC) take advantage of this when he works to thwart progressive change.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSMarsNeededWomen -
Nemedian Chronicles – The Savage Sword Review
By Iceberg
Storytelling is intrinsic to the passage of knowledge from generation to generation. Within our steel-forged corner of the multiverse, a few subgenres tackle storytelling overtly: most often prog but also, as is the case today, power metal. Coming into this review, I was under the impression that the story of Conan the Barbarian was confined to the plot line of an old Arnold movie—I couldn’t have been more mistaken. The Hyborian Age is a sprawling prehistoric world designed by Robert E. Howard in the 1930s, set between the fall of Atlantis and the rise of traditional history. Enter French band Nemedian Chronicles and their 70-minute slab of sword and sorcery, ripped straight from the pages of Howard’s tales. Intrigued by the high fantasy concept—and baited by an Ennio Morricone namedrop—I dove headfirst into their debut album The Savage Sword.
Nemedian Chronicles play a brand of power metal in the vein of Hammerfall and Blind Guardian, with a bit of the barbarian stomp of Manowar and the epic sweep of Atlantean Codex. The band is organized in a classic Maiden twin-axe attack formation, supported by a gorgeously arranged orchestral backdrop. Alexandre Duffau puts on a vocal masterclass, with a reedy low register that transitions into powerful full-throated highs, especially when paired with another vocalist (“Born on a Battlefield,” “The Song of Red Sonja”). The rest of the band rarely misses a step in their performances, and their prowess is on full display in album highlight “Black Lotus/The Curse of Thog,” which takes me back to “Egypt” and “The Death of Balance/Lacrymosa” from Symphony X’s V; one of the highest bars in epic power metal as far as this writer is concerned.
Good performances are only one half of a successful concept album, and luckily for Nemedian Chronicles their strongest asset is their ability to sonically immerse the listener in their world. Opener “Nemedian Chronicles” nails the requisite concept album introduction with thunderous tribal drums and orchestrals bolstering a scene-setting monologue; I’m reminded of the beginning of Aeternam’s Heir of the Rising Sun, but even more cinematic in scope. A treasure horde of music follows, from anthemic choruses (“Born on the Battlefield,” “The Thing in the Crypt,” “The Song of Red Sonja”) to triple-time sea shanties (“Tigress of the Black Coast”) to an abyssal of terror in “Black Lotus/The Curse of Thog.” Credit to bassist Guillaume Lefebvre here with not only his stringed duties, but also writing all the music and lyrics, the latter of which frequently directly describe Conan’s exploits. Fans of the source material will find a lot to love here, and anyone who likes to follow clear stories in their music will experience the same.
For all the accolades I lay upon The Savage Sword, I see areas of improvement for the Frenchmen. The biggest, and perhaps most obvious one, pertains to bloat. Nemedian Chronicles’ issue isn’t so much the quality of material that needs to be jettisoned, but the repetition of it (“Monsterslayer,” “The Song of Red Sonja”). Another issue—and your mileage may vary here—is the setting of the lyrics. Alexandre Duffau is clearly an accomplished vocalist, but the sheer amount of words that need to be delivered often seems to overpower the rest of the music for the benefit of the plot; the 9-minute “Tower of the Elephant” is especially at fault here. There’s also a peculiar tendency for the band to suddenly shift the tempo or meter from verse to chorus, which makes some tracks a bumpier listen than I’d prefer (“Tower of the Elephant,” “Tigress of the Black Coast,” “Stygian Sons of Set”).
These most nit of picks aside, Nemedian Chronicles hit all the right notes for me when it comes to memorable power metal. When the closing tribal drums of “The Road of Kings” bring the album full circle, I’m left much more inspired than drained. Listening to this record led me to research the world Robert E. Howard built, which enriched subsequent spins. This is a mightily strong debut from a skilled outfit, and with some tightening in the lyrical and editing departments, Nemedian Chronicles could easily lay siege to our much-vaunted safety counter. I heartily recommend The Savage Sword for fans of the comics or power metal in general; keep an eye on these guys.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: No Remorse Records | facebook.com
Website: facebook.com
Releases Worldwide: February 23rd, 2024#2024 #35 #Aeternam #AtlanteanKodex #BlindGuardian #EpicMetal #Feb24 #FrenchMetal #Hammerfall #Manowar #NemedianChronicles #NoRemorseRecords #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #SymphonicPowerMetal #SymphonyX #TheSavageSword
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This is something I wrote on Dreamwidth in October. I think some of you may find it interesting. I myself am beginning to study all of this, as I am fascinated by the singing methods and knowledge of the time. It is a bit difficult doing it being blind and unable to read music, but fortunately, there are ways around that. My perfect pitch and good memory for lyrics also helps.
Below, you will find various links related to theory, harmony and counterpoint, and a comparison of older and modern methods of teaching and singing. While this relates to choirs and opera, it also relates to the theatre, particularly operettas and such.
Studying Music: Part I
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…My one criterion was that the methods and books used had to be from the time of Ivor Novello, preferably from his youth (born 1893). If I were to start in the early nineteenth century, which is where most of my preferred non-musical educational material is from, I would miss extremely important developments in classical music. Starting at the birth of his mother, Clara Novello Davies, in 1861, would be fine. However, since her own book, which I am using as my main text and guide, was written in 1928, I went with that of her son. In the following sections, you will find the books I am using. One thing I have not included, though it was a huge influence in Ivor's own writing style, was theatrical music, such as that found in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. That is such a large topic for discussion that I feel it deserves its own separate post, as does Ivor's music, since it's an interesting blend of all of the above. But this is well outside the scope of traditional musical study.
In the next entry, we will delve into vocal training and why the singers of Novello's time sound so wonderful.
Studying Music: Part II
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…Finally, since I mentioned the exercises, here they are, for anyone who wants to try them. Note that these are the Preliminaries and Breathlock Physicals, not the vocal exercises. But I have provided the link to her book as well, for those who may wish to go further.
Clara's Exercises
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…#books #choir #ClaraNovelloDavies #counterpoint #exercises #harmony #history #IvorNovello #music #musictheory #opera #operetta #singing #studying #vocaltraining #voicetraining #theater #theatre
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This is something I wrote on Dreamwidth in October. I think some of you may find it interesting. I myself am beginning to study all of this, as I am fascinated by the singing methods and knowledge of the time. It is a bit difficult doing it being blind and unable to read music, but fortunately, there are ways around that. My perfect pitch and good memory for lyrics also helps.
Below, you will find various links related to theory, harmony and counterpoint, and a comparison of older and modern methods of teaching and singing. While this relates to choirs and opera, it also relates to the theatre, particularly operettas and such.
Studying Music: Part I
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…My one criterion was that the methods and books used had to be from the time of Ivor Novello, preferably from his youth (born 1893). If I were to start in the early nineteenth century, which is where most of my preferred non-musical educational material is from, I would miss extremely important developments in classical music. Starting at the birth of his mother, Clara Novello Davies, in 1861, would be fine. However, since her own book, which I am using as my main text and guide, was written in 1928, I went with that of her son. In the following sections, you will find the books I am using. One thing I have not included, though it was a huge influence in Ivor's own writing style, was theatrical music, such as that found in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. That is such a large topic for discussion that I feel it deserves its own separate post, as does Ivor's music, since it's an interesting blend of all of the above. But this is well outside the scope of traditional musical study.
In the next entry, we will delve into vocal training and why the singers of Novello's time sound so wonderful.
Studying Music: Part II
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…Finally, since I mentioned the exercises, here they are, for anyone who wants to try them. Note that these are the Preliminaries and Breathlock Physicals, not the vocal exercises. But I have provided the link to her book as well, for those who may wish to go further.
Clara's Exercises
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…#books #choir #ClaraNovelloDavies #counterpoint #exercises #harmony #history #IvorNovello #music #musictheory #opera #operetta #singing #studying #vocaltraining #voicetraining #theater #theatre
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This is something I wrote on Dreamwidth in October. I think some of you may find it interesting. I myself am beginning to study all of this, as I am fascinated by the singing methods and knowledge of the time. It is a bit difficult doing it being blind and unable to read music, but fortunately, there are ways around that. My perfect pitch and good memory for lyrics also helps.
Below, you will find various links related to theory, harmony and counterpoint, and a comparison of older and modern methods of teaching and singing. While this relates to choirs and opera, it also relates to the theatre, particularly operettas and such.
Studying Music: Part I
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…My one criterion was that the methods and books used had to be from the time of Ivor Novello, preferably from his youth (born 1893). If I were to start in the early nineteenth century, which is where most of my preferred non-musical educational material is from, I would miss extremely important developments in classical music. Starting at the birth of his mother, Clara Novello Davies, in 1861, would be fine. However, since her own book, which I am using as my main text and guide, was written in 1928, I went with that of her son. In the following sections, you will find the books I am using. One thing I have not included, though it was a huge influence in Ivor's own writing style, was theatrical music, such as that found in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. That is such a large topic for discussion that I feel it deserves its own separate post, as does Ivor's music, since it's an interesting blend of all of the above. But this is well outside the scope of traditional musical study.
In the next entry, we will delve into vocal training and why the singers of Novello's time sound so wonderful.
Studying Music: Part II
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…Finally, since I mentioned the exercises, here they are, for anyone who wants to try them. Note that these are the Preliminaries and Breathlock Physicals, not the vocal exercises. But I have provided the link to her book as well, for those who may wish to go further.
Clara's Exercises
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…#books #choir #ClaraNovelloDavies #counterpoint #exercises #harmony #history #IvorNovello #music #musictheory #opera #operetta #singing #studying #vocaltraining #voicetraining #theater #theatre
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This is something I wrote on Dreamwidth in October. I think some of you may find it interesting. I myself am beginning to study all of this, as I am fascinated by the singing methods and knowledge of the time. It is a bit difficult doing it being blind and unable to read music, but fortunately, there are ways around that. My perfect pitch and good memory for lyrics also helps.
Below, you will find various links related to theory, harmony and counterpoint, and a comparison of older and modern methods of teaching and singing. While this relates to choirs and opera, it also relates to the theatre, particularly operettas and such.
Studying Music: Part I
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…My one criterion was that the methods and books used had to be from the time of Ivor Novello, preferably from his youth (born 1893). If I were to start in the early nineteenth century, which is where most of my preferred non-musical educational material is from, I would miss extremely important developments in classical music. Starting at the birth of his mother, Clara Novello Davies, in 1861, would be fine. However, since her own book, which I am using as my main text and guide, was written in 1928, I went with that of her son. In the following sections, you will find the books I am using. One thing I have not included, though it was a huge influence in Ivor's own writing style, was theatrical music, such as that found in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. That is such a large topic for discussion that I feel it deserves its own separate post, as does Ivor's music, since it's an interesting blend of all of the above. But this is well outside the scope of traditional musical study.
In the next entry, we will delve into vocal training and why the singers of Novello's time sound so wonderful.
Studying Music: Part II
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…Finally, since I mentioned the exercises, here they are, for anyone who wants to try them. Note that these are the Preliminaries and Breathlock Physicals, not the vocal exercises. But I have provided the link to her book as well, for those who may wish to go further.
Clara's Exercises
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…#books #choir #ClaraNovelloDavies #counterpoint #exercises #harmony #history #IvorNovello #music #musictheory #opera #operetta #singing #studying #vocaltraining #voicetraining #theater #theatre
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A disabled poet with Rett syndrome (Ysolde Stienon) and a disabled performing artist with Type 1 diabetes (Marina “heron” Tsaplina) document their 12-month artistic collaboration to illuminate ground-time: the nonverbal, expressive dynamics of embodied communication.
SADC provided audio description for two short, open-captioned videos to accompany an essay of the same name in the Leonardo journal, Volume 57, number 2. You do not need to register to read the essay or play the videos, but other articles in the journal are locked and only available to those with accounts. Find introductory writing and introductory videos all in one place, plus links to the articles on the Leonardo site’s Special Issue Gallery.
In the journal itself, the two videos are linked in a section called “Supplementary data” at the end of the article. Here are direct links to Video 1 and Video 2. (Note, the videos play automatically when the URLs open.)
Project Lead and captioner, Cheryl Green. Audio description written by Oliver Baker. Blind QC and narration by Nefertiti Matos Olivares. Audio editing by Thomas Reid.
https://socialaudiodescription.com/2024/04/26/primitive-way-country-come-look-inside/
#CherylGreen #NefertitiMatosOlivares #OliverBaker #OliverWriter #SADC #ThomasReid
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A disabled poet with Rett syndrome (Ysolde Stienon) and a disabled performing artist with Type 1 diabetes (Marina “heron” Tsaplina) document their 12-month artistic collaboration to illuminate ground-time: the nonverbal, expressive dynamics of embodied communication.
SADC provided audio description for two short, open-captioned videos to accompany an essay of the same name in the Leonardo journal, Volume 57, number 2. You do not need to register to read the essay or play the videos, but other articles in the journal are locked and only available to those with accounts. Find introductory writing and introductory videos all in one place, plus links to the articles on the Leonardo site’s Special Issue Gallery.
In the journal itself, the two videos are linked in a section called “Supplementary data” at the end of the article. Here are direct links to Video 1 and Video 2. (Note, the videos play automatically when the URLs open.)
Project Lead and captioner, Cheryl Green. Audio description written by Oliver Baker. Blind QC and narration by Nefertiti Matos Olivares. Audio editing by Thomas Reid.
https://socialaudiodescription.com/2024/04/26/primitive-way-country-come-look-inside/
#CherylGreen #NefertitiMatosOlivares #OliverBaker #OliverWriter #SADC #ThomasReid
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Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church
What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: [email protected] (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.
Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)
You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.
Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.
This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.
Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.
Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at [email protected] which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.
We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.
For more information about this event, email [email protected]. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.
#AmnestyInternational #AmnestyInternationalCanada #FirstUnitedChurch #Group9 #GroupNine #WriteForRights
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Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church
What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: [email protected] (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.
Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)
You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.
Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.
This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.
Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.
Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at [email protected] which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.
We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.
For more information about this event, email [email protected]. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.
#AmnestyInternational #AmnestyInternationalCanada #FirstUnitedChurch #Group9 #GroupNine #WriteForRights
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Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church
What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: [email protected] (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.
Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)
You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.
Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.
This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.
Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.
Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at [email protected] which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.
We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.
For more information about this event, email [email protected]. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.
#AmnestyInternational #AmnestyInternationalCanada #FirstUnitedChurch #Group9 #GroupNine #WriteForRights
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Amnesty International Write For Rights, Noon on Saturday 11 January 2025 at First United Church
What: Amnesty International Write For Rights
When: Noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 11 January 2025
Where: Hilliard Hall at First United Church
Location: 16 William Street West, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Contact: [email protected] (Amnesty International’s chapter in Waterloo Region)Write for Rights is this coming Saturday January 11 from Noon to 4:00pm in Hilliard Hall at First United Church. If you are able, we suggest printing up the letters and signing them in advance. Then we can bring them to First United to allow more time to work on cards of support during the event.
Amnesty International Write For Rights letter package 2024 (PDF, 515 kBytes)
You are invited to join human rights advocates in the Kitchener/Waterloo area as we take part in Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign. Along with hundreds of thousands of people across 200 countries and territories, we will gather to write letters and sign petitions in support of nine individuals or groups whose rights are at risk.
Every year, people around the world write millions of letters, emails, tweets, Facebook posts and postcards in support of those who are unjustly persecuted. Write for Rights has helped transform the lives of more than 100 people since 2001, freeing them from torture, harassment, or unjust imprisonment. In 2023, more than 5.8 million actions were taken, making Write for Rights the biggest human rights event in the world.
This year Amnesty International’s nine cases include the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders in BC, Canada, a singer and young mother in Angola sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing the president, a young man in Argentina who was blinded by rubber bullets when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, a university student in Egypt detained and tortured in retaliation for his brother’s activism, and a forensic medicine expert in Turkey renowned for her work to eradicate torture, who has been subjected to baseless criminal investigations, detention and prosecutions.
Your words have the power to change lives! Please join us to sign letters and send messages of support to change lives for the better. We have prepared letters for you to sign at the event — or if you have the time, to print and sign now — and bring to the event. Each case (except the Canadian one) has two letters to be signed; one to the government and the second to the embassy of that government. Please include your printed name, city name, Canada and your postal code with your signature.
Whether you sign the letters at the event or sign the letters in advance and bring them to the event, we will mail them for you. If you prefer to mail the letters or cards yourself, please inform us at [email protected] which letters and cards you have sent so that we can include them in our official count.
We hope that you will spend your time at the event creating cards and messages of support for the people on whose behalf we are acting this year. Blank cards and drawing materials will be provided.
For more information about this event, email [email protected]. For more information about Canada-based Write for Rights events and resources, see https://amnesty.ca/write.
#AmnestyInternational #AmnestyInternationalCanada #FirstUnitedChurch #Group9 #GroupNine #WriteForRights
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Wings Unfurled — A Lumenvale Story
The chains lay coiled at Lysander’s feet like dead serpents, their iron links catching the dawn light that filtered through the high windows of the tower chamber. Seven years they had bound his wrists and ankles, their weight as familiar as his own heartbeat. Now they rested on the smooth stone floor, inert and powerless, while he stood unencumbered for the first time since his sixteenth naming day.
“You may go wherever you wish,” Archmagister Thorne said, her voice a controlled melody that betrayed nothing of what she might feel about his release. “The gates of the Academy will open for you, as will the archives and garden labyrinths that were previously forbidden. Your sentence is complete.”
Lysander flexed his fingers, feeling the absence of weight more profoundly than he had ever felt its presence. The enchanted manacles had permitted him to perform the necessary gestures for basic spellcraft while preventing the channeling of power beyond strictly regulated parameters. Now, magic coursed through his veins like springwater finding new channels after a winter thaw—unfamiliar in its abundance, almost frightening in its potential.
“And if I wished to leave Lumenvale entirely?” he asked, the question emerging unbidden from some deep place he hadn’t known existed within himself.
The Archmagister’s face remained impassive, though something flickered in the depths of her amber eyes—concern, perhaps, or simple curiosity. “That too is your right. Though I would counsel patience. Freedom long-constrained can be as disorienting as sudden blindness might be to one who has always seen.”
She gestured toward the eastern wall where his few possessions had been arranged: clothing that no longer fit his frame, books he had read until their spines had cracked, a small wooden box containing the only remnants of his life before imprisonment. “Take the day to consider your path. The world beyond these walls has changed in ways you cannot anticipate.”
With that cryptic warning, she departed, her indigo robes whispering against ancient stone as the heavy oak door closed behind her. Lysander stood motionless in the sudden solitude, paralyzed not by restriction but by its absence. The entirety of existence lay open before him, a vast, unmapped territory after years confined to carefully delineated spaces and rigorously controlled interactions.
Seven years ago, he had been a willful, reckless apprentice who believed freedom meant acting without consideration of consequence—channeling forbidden magics simply because he could, breaking boundaries established by generations of practitioners who understood what he did not: that power unconstrained destroys its wielder as surely as anything it touches. The fire that had engulfed the western library and claimed the lives of two elder mages had not been intentional, but intention meant little against outcome.
Now, at twenty-three, he stood on the threshold of a liberty he no longer knew how to inhabit.
Sunlight inched across the floor as morning deepened, the pattern of light and shadow marking time with the same inexorable rhythm that had structured his days of confinement. Lysander moved to the narrow window and pressed his palms against the cool glass, a barrier he had never been permitted to touch, let alone pass through. Beyond lay the sprawling Academy grounds—emerald gardens where white-robed novices gathered in clusters of animated discussion, ancient oak trees beneath which masters taught small circles of advanced students, cobblestone paths winding between buildings whose architecture spanned twelve centuries of magical tradition.
And beyond that, the city of Silverkeep spread like an intricate tapestry beneath the mountain that housed the Academy: thousands of lives intertwined in patterns he could barely comprehend after years of isolation. Markets and taverns, guildhalls and theaters, docks where ships arrived bearing goods and stories from realms he had only read about in the limited texts permitted during his confinement.
What did freedom mean now, when its very concept had transformed from something he had taken for granted into an almost sacred state, at once tantalizing and terrifying?
The question accompanied him as he finally stirred himself to action, exchanging his prisoner’s gray tunic for one of deep blue that had been provided—a scholar’s garment, neither novice white nor master’s indigo, but something between. The fabric felt impossibly soft against skin accustomed to coarse cloth, another small liberty that threatened to overwhelm his senses.
Begin simply, he told himself, a phrase his first mentor had repeated during early lessons in elemental manipulation. Complexity builds from mastered foundations.
And so he began with a single step beyond the chamber that had been both prison and sanctuary. The stone corridor stretched before him, no longer bounded by the invisible barriers that had limited his movements to specific paths at appointed times. He could turn left toward the great library, right toward the meditation gardens, or continue straight to the grand staircase that descended to the Academy’s main halls. No guard watched his choice; no hidden ward monitored his passage.
He chose the gardens.
The air changed as he emerged from the tower’s confined atmosphere—not just fresher but alive with scents his memory had preserved but diluted over years of absence: jasmine and cedar, fresh-turned earth and sun-warmed stone. Spring had painted the formal beds with colors so vibrant they almost hurt his eyes after years of muted grays and browns. White blooms like fallen stars nestled among emerald foliage; crimson blossoms reached toward the sky with the intensity of flame.
A small gray bird alighted on the path before him, head tilted in curious assessment before it resumed pecking at something invisible between the cobblestones. The creature’s perfect liberty—its ability to come and go, to rise above walls and barriers with a simple movement of wings—struck Lysander with unexpected poignancy.
“Remarkable, isn’t it?” came a voice from behind him, startling in its proximity. “How they never recognize the freedom they possess.”
He turned to find a woman seated on a stone bench half-hidden by a flowering quince. Her hair fell in silver waves despite a face too young for such coloring, and her eyes—a particular shade of violet rare among Lumenvale’s population—regarded him with undisguised interest. Not a student, given her age and the absence of Academy garb, nor any master he recognized.
“Forgive me,” she continued when he failed to respond. “I’ve intruded on what must be a significant moment. First taste of open air without supervision?”
The accuracy of her assessment unnerved him. “How did you—”
“The way you’re breathing,” she explained, rising from the bench with fluid grace. “Like someone surfacing after too long underwater. And the look in your eyes—cataloging everything as both familiar and strange simultaneously.” She extended a hand in formal greeting. “Lysira Nightsong, Keeper of Records for the Council of Nine.”
The name registered immediately—one of the most powerful political positions in Silverkeep, responsible for maintaining the historical and legal archives that governed relations between magical practitioners and mundane society. That such a person would be present on his first day of freedom seemed beyond coincidence.
“Your release was discussed at some length,” she acknowledged, confirming his suspicion. “Some believed the traditional seven-year binding insufficient for the particular nature of your… indiscretion.”
“And you?” he found himself asking. “What did you believe?”
She considered him with those unsettling violet eyes that seemed to perceive layers beneath his visible self. “I believe that freedom without understanding is merely the opportunity to make new mistakes rather than repeat old ones.” She gestured to the path ahead. “Walk with me, Lysander Thorne. The gardens extend farther than they did during your apprenticeship.”
He fell into step beside her, noting that she had used his full name—acknowledging his relation to the Archmagister despite the estrangement that had preceded his crime. They followed winding paths through sections of the garden he remembered and others entirely new: a meditation labyrinth of silver-leafed herbs, a pool where water flowed upward in defiance of natural law, a grove of trees whose trunks had been shaped over decades to form living archways.
“The Council requires assurance that your understanding of power and its responsible application has matured,” Lysira continued as they walked. “Seven years of restriction may have taught discipline, but has it taught wisdom?”
“And you’ve been assigned to make that determination?” Lysander asked, unable to entirely keep bitterness from his tone.
Her laughter surprised him—genuine amusement rather than the condescension he had anticipated. “I volunteered. Your case interests me particularly.”
“Because of my relation to the Archmagister?”
“Because of what you represent,” she corrected. “A gifted practitioner whose abilities exceeded his judgment. The most dangerous combination in our profession, and unfortunately, not uncommon.”
They paused beneath an ancient oak whose branches had been trained to create a living ceiling, leaves rustling in patterns that seemed almost deliberate, as though the tree itself participated in their conversation. Filtered sunlight dappled the ground in ever-changing constellations of light and shadow.
“What does freedom mean to you, Lysander?” Lysira asked, the direct question catching him unprepared. “Not as an abstract concept, but as you understand it now, having experienced its absence?”
The question echoed his own internal deliberations so precisely that he wondered momentarily if she possessed mind-reading abilities—not impossible for someone of her rank, though generally considered an unconscionable invasion of privacy.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, finding unexpected relief in acknowledging his uncertainty. “Before my sentencing, I would have said freedom meant doing whatever I wished, constrained only by the limits of my ability. Now…”
He trailed off, attention caught by a golden butterfly that had alighted on a nearby flowering bush. Its wings opened and closed with languid precision, each movement revealing intricate patterns that shifted with the changing angle of light.
“Now I suspect freedom might be more complex than the absence of constraint,” he continued, watching as the butterfly rose on an invisible current of air, its path appearing random yet somehow purposeful. “Perhaps it involves understanding the natural boundaries that exist regardless of external restriction—the limits inherent in being human, in being part of an interconnected system.”
Lysira nodded, her expression revealing nothing of whether she found his answer satisfactory. “An interesting evolution of thought. Though still theoretical. You’ve had seven years to contemplate such philosophical distinctions while bound by enchanted iron. The true test comes with choice and consequence.”
“You don’t believe people can change through reflection alone?” he challenged.
“I believe reflection provides the map, but the journey must still be walked.” She gestured toward the path ahead, which divided into three distinct routes. “Speaking of journeys and choices—one path leads to the Academy’s main hall, another to the outer gates, and the third to a section of garden few students ever discover. Which would you choose?”
Lysander studied the diverging paths, aware that this seemingly casual question likely carried significant weight in her assessment. The main hall represented reintegration into the academic community he had damaged through his actions. The gates offered immediate escape from an environment that still held painful memories. The third unknown path…
“The unexplored garden,” he decided, surprising himself with the certainty of his choice.
Lysira’s expression remained neutral, though a subtle shift in her posture suggested approval. “Then let us see what awaits us there.”
The third path narrowed as they followed it, stone giving way to packed earth, formal beds yielding to what appeared to be deliberate wildness—an orchestrated chaos of growth that mimicked natural patterns while subtly guiding the visitor’s experience. Flowers he had never encountered in any botanical text grew alongside common dandelions. Massive trees with luminescent bark stood sentinel over delicate ferns that quivered with each passing breeze.
They emerged into a circular clearing where seven stone benches surrounded a pool of water so still it perfectly mirrored the sky above. At the pool’s center stood a sculpture unlike any Lysander had seen within the Academy’s grounds—a human figure neither male nor female, its form composed of thousands of tiny metal links forged into the semblance of flesh. Though motionless, the sculpture conveyed such a powerful sense of movement that it seemed about to step from its pedestal into the waiting water.
“The Bound One Who Walks,” Lysira said, naming the artwork that had captured his attention. “Created by Magister Elindra three centuries ago, after her own period of restriction for forbidden research into time manipulation.”
Lysander approached the pool’s edge, studying the figure’s face—serene despite the chains that both formed and constrained it. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “And disturbing.”
“As the best art should be,” Lysira agreed, joining him at the water’s edge. “Elindra created it after her release, when she discovered something unexpected about the nature of constraint and liberation.”
“What did she discover?”
“That she had never been truly free before her binding,” Lysira replied. “Because she had been enslaved by her own unexamined impulses, by the tyranny of momentary desire over considered choice.”
The water before them rippled suddenly, though no wind disturbed the clearing’s perfect stillness. The sculpture’s reflection fragmented into thousands of individual components—no longer a cohesive figure but a collection of separate links that somehow retained the suggestion of its original form.
“Freedom isn’t the absence of boundaries,” Lysira continued, her voice taking on the quality of formal instruction. “It’s the conscious navigation of necessary limitations—those imposed by natural law, by ethical consideration, by the legitimate needs of the communities in which we exist.”
Lysander knelt beside the pool, compelled by some instinct to touch its surface. As his fingers broke the water’s plane, the dispersed reflection of the sculpture began to reassemble, individual links reconnecting to form a new configuration—still recognizably the same figure, but with subtle alterations that suggested movement, progress, evolution.
“The true prisoner,” Lysira said softly, “is not the one bound by considered restriction, but the one who never questions the chains they forge for themselves through habitual action and unconsidered choice.”
The water stilled again, the sculpture’s reflection once more intact but somehow transformed by the momentary disintegration and reassembly. Lysander withdrew his hand, watching as droplets fell from his fingertips back into the pool, each creating concentric rings that expanded outward before gradually fading.
“I believed my sentence was about punishment,” he said, the realization crystallizing as he spoke. “Perhaps it was actually about education.”
For the first time, Lysira smiled—a genuine expression that transformed her serious countenance. “Now that,” she said, “is the beginning of wisdom.”
They remained by the pool as afternoon light gilded the clearing, speaking of smaller things—changes to the Academy curriculum during his absence, political developments in Silverkeep, advancements in theoretical approaches to elemental manipulation. Ordinary conversation that nonetheless represented a kind of freedom he had been denied for seven years: the liberty to exchange ideas beyond the strict confines of his restricted studies.
As shadows lengthened across the garden, Lysira rose from the stone bench they had shared. “The day grows late, and you have much to reacquaint yourself with. I’ve taken enough of your first hours of freedom.”
“You haven’t answered one question,” Lysander said, remaining seated. “Will you report to the Council that I’m fit to practice magic without restriction?”
She considered him thoughtfully. “I will report that you’ve begun a journey of understanding, the outcome of which remains to be determined. Freedom isn’t granted in a single moment, Lysander Thorne. It’s earned through continuous demonstration of the wisdom to wield it responsibly.”
With that ambiguous assessment, she departed along the same path they had entered, leaving him alone with the statue and its perfect reflection. As twilight descended, small lights awakened throughout the garden—bioluminescent plants responding to darkness with their own subtle illumination. The statue caught this gentle radiance, the metal links that formed its body appearing to shift and flow though no actual movement occurred.
What did freedom mean to him now? The question that had paralyzed him that morning had transformed, much as the statue’s reflection had changed after his touch disturbed the water’s surface. No longer a binary state of constraint versus liberation, but a continuous process of choosing within the context of natural limitation and ethical consideration.
True freedom, perhaps, lay not in the absence of boundaries but in the conscious recognition of which boundaries served legitimate purpose and which existed merely as artifacts of fear or unexamined tradition. Not unlike magic itself—most powerful when channeled through deliberate forms rather than released as raw, undirected energy.
As stars appeared in the darkening sky above, mirrored in the pool’s still surface, Lysander rose and began the walk back toward the Academy’s main buildings. Tomorrow would bring new choices, new opportunities to navigate the complex territory between license and restraint. For tonight, he carried with him the image of the Bound One Who Walks—a being composed of constraint yet embodying movement, progress, possibility.
Perhaps freedom, like the statue, was both journey and destination simultaneously—a continuous becoming rather than a fixed state of being. And perhaps, after seven years of enforced stillness, he was finally ready to begin that journey in earnest.
If you loved this story then please consider subscribing to my newsletter. In doing so you ensure that you will never miss any of my stories that i post daily. Please leave a comment about your favorite part. Or you can support my writing endeavors by joining my patreon. For 5 dollars a month you can help me quit my day job so that i can write more for you guys. If you join my patreon as a paid supporter you will get access to a new and patreon exclusive story called The Broken Shield. It is a new cozy fantasy series that I am working on featuring a were-moose barbarian that leaves his adventuring party and opens his own tavern in a small run down town. Here’s the link to my Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/ChadwickRye
Thanks for reading and God Bless.
#adventure #books #ChadwickRye #cozyFantasy #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1935 #DarkFantasy #EpicFantasy #fantasy #FantasyCharacters #FantasyFiction #fiction #freeFantasyFictionOnline #HighFantasy #lowFantasy #Lumenvale #mageFiction #redemptionFantasy #shortStory #writing -
Omnerod – The Amnesal Rise [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]
By Kenstrosity
Sometimes a record takes its sweet time worming its way into my hole brain. Other times, a record drills into me with the immediacy of a bolt of lightning. Omnerod’s sophomore full-length, The Amnesal Rise, did a little bit of both to me in 2023. Released back in May, this immense, intense slab of dramatic progressive death metal slowly crept into my skin, but the infection it carried was virulent. I found myself feverishly affected by its horrific tale, and while it took me a while before I returned, once I did, there was no escape.
Omnerod is an odd duck, there’s no doubt about it. Bridging the gap between Devin Townsend Project, Blind the Huntsmen, and Native Construct, these Belgians charge fearlessly into the theatrical, twisted, and dramatic. As I expected from an Omnerod product, a surplus of wacky instrumentation, off-kilter riffing, and wildly entertaining songwriting catapults into my cranium during each and every moment of The Amnesal Rise. However, the added horror elements à la Nightmarer and Blindfolded and Led to the Woods make this a much darker, much heavier, and much more immersive affair than Arteries. In execution, Omnerod’s ultimate goal with The Amnesal Rise is to fuck with your brain, maintaining a deep sense of foreboding and distrust while luring you into trap after monstrous trap for over an hour—and then make you want to do it all over again.
Between Anthony Deneyer’s unbelievable vocal performance; Romain Jeuniaux’s multifaceted and novel guitar wizardry; André Six’s immense bass heft; and Pablo Schwilden Diaz’s venerable work on the drum kit, the keyboard, and all manner of other percussion, I find myself utterly enraptured by Omnerod’s adventurous songwriting. From the very first explosive crash of opener “Sunday Heat,” The Amnesal Rise abuses my bodily system as it repeatedly, mercilessly injects me with fatal doses of adrenaline. Dual-wielding crushing, skronky death metal and light, airy lulls, as on the monumental “Satellites,” Omnerod continue the adrenal abuse as they force my emotions to flick mercilessly from awe into alarm and back again. “Spore,” too, constitutes an unqualified triumph of songwriting dynamics. Its blasting death metal freakouts and tender, smooth jazz reveries make it an absolutely stunning thirteen-minute opus, easily launching itself into Song o’ the Year category.
Come to think of it, almost every song here offers something compelling and memorable enough to make a play at Song o’ the Year playlists. “Magnets” shifts gears into more straightforward territory, stripping the layers left by its predecessors in favor of seriously infectious prog-death riffing and hooky writing. The title track blends beautifully Omnerod’s progressive death metal core with Danny Elfman-esque balladry and wonderfully twisted effects. Last but not least, closer “The Commensal Fall” brings all of the different directions and explorations ventured into one final conflagration, burning the whole barn down and leaving nothing but rubble and ash behind.
Perhaps most importantly, though, The Amnesal Rise works without condition as a singular, unified experience. Yes, it’s extremely long at a lofty seventy minutes, but there’s never a dull moment and I find myself helplessly immersed in the whole terrifying trek. If you miss it, it is truly your loss.
Tracks to Check Out: “Satellites,” “Spore,” “The Amnesal Rise,” “The Commensal Fall”
#2023 #BlindTheHuntsmen #BlindfoldedAndLedToTheWoods #DeathMetal #DevinTownsendProject #MelodicDeathMetal #NativeConstruct #Nightmarer #Omnerod #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #TheAmnesalRise #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023
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(Note. The bit about watching/listening and Tagliavini refers to a Reddit post in which I asked about four different versions of La Boheme that I have in my large list of opera links. Also, Schipa is still my favourite singer of all time. But Gigli is second, Tagliavini is third, and Battistini is fourth.)
"I just finished listening to La Boheme from 1938. I say "listening" because several people mentioned that I said "watching" in the post where I was trying to decide on a version. I am totally blind, so it's all listening for me, whether there is a video or not. But I'm accustomed to saying "watch" when referring to things that I find on Youtube, which is odd, as I usually download them as mp3s, but anyway. This is the full opera.youtube.com/watch?v=mE5vRfD7uC…
This is the libretto that I used.
opera-arias.com/puccini/la-boh…
The first act basically told the story of the characters themselves. The second made me laugh in several places. Marcello and (Musetta were quite funny, in general. Poor Alcindoro) kept trying to calm Musetta and was ultimately stuck with the bill, but that was clever. The third, of course, was more serious, and forshaddowed things to come. I'm glad the fourth act had some comedy in it, because the ending was heart-breaking. Even though I knew what would happen, it was played so well that it brought me to tears, and I had to calm down before writing this review! Even Schipa himself couldn't do that, and I have the last scene with him in it! Gigli was an absolute master of this role, and while complaining about his sobs in other instances may be justified, he used them expertly in this performance, and truly brought the character of Rodolfo to life. What really surprised me is how much I liked Licia Albanese. I am usually not a fan of high-pitched female voices, but for some reason, I liked her, and the chemistry between her and Gigli's characters could be felt. I am really glad that I chose this version and would highly recommend it to anyone."
"Since I mentioned being caught between Gigli and Tagliavini in my other post, here is Che Gelida Manina by both of them.
Gigli
youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ba_MSygG…Tagliavini
(I am providing two versions because he sings them quite differently. The first is extremely sweet and the second less so, but it still sounds like it's before the voice change. I have always loved his version, but I don't know how he would handle the rest, particularly the really dramatic parts.)
1
youtube.com/watch?v=ux1QuTbQsc…2
youtube.com/watch?v=2DdPoNsTRD…Now for Schipa.
youtube.com/watch?v=gqcuAAA_2m…
And this is the final scene that I mentioned in my review. Naturally, it is played well, as Schipa always sang everything beautifully. But Gigli added his own elements to it.
youtube.com/watch?v=IMTQ7gGyuw… "
Since I mentioned it, here is my large list of operas.
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/242…
#BeniaminoGigli #FerruccioTagliavini #Gigli #LaBoheme #opera #Puccini #review #Tagliavini #TitoSchipa #Schipa
-
(Note. The bit about watching/listening and Tagliavini refers to a Reddit post in which I asked about four different versions of La Boheme that I have in my large list of opera links. Also, Schipa is still my favourite singer of all time. But Gigli is second, Tagliavini is third, and Battistini is fourth.)
"I just finished listening to La Boheme from 1938. I say "listening" because several people mentioned that I said "watching" in the post where I was trying to decide on a version. I am totally blind, so it's all listening for me, whether there is a video or not. But I'm accustomed to saying "watch" when referring to things that I find on Youtube, which is odd, as I usually download them as mp3s, but anyway. This is the full opera.youtube.com/watch?v=mE5vRfD7uC…
This is the libretto that I used.
opera-arias.com/puccini/la-boh…
The first act basically told the story of the characters themselves. The second made me laugh in several places. Marcello and (Musetta were quite funny, in general. Poor Alcindoro) kept trying to calm Musetta and was ultimately stuck with the bill, but that was clever. The third, of course, was more serious, and forshaddowed things to come. I'm glad the fourth act had some comedy in it, because the ending was heart-breaking. Even though I knew what would happen, it was played so well that it brought me to tears, and I had to calm down before writing this review! Even Schipa himself couldn't do that, and I have the last scene with him in it! Gigli was an absolute master of this role, and while complaining about his sobs in other instances may be justified, he used them expertly in this performance, and truly brought the character of Rodolfo to life. What really surprised me is how much I liked Licia Albanese. I am usually not a fan of high-pitched female voices, but for some reason, I liked her, and the chemistry between her and Gigli's characters could be felt. I am really glad that I chose this version and would highly recommend it to anyone."
"Since I mentioned being caught between Gigli and Tagliavini in my other post, here is Che Gelida Manina by both of them.
Gigli
youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ba_MSygG…Tagliavini
(I am providing two versions because he sings them quite differently. The first is extremely sweet and the second less so, but it still sounds like it's before the voice change. I have always loved his version, but I don't know how he would handle the rest, particularly the really dramatic parts.)
1
youtube.com/watch?v=ux1QuTbQsc…2
youtube.com/watch?v=2DdPoNsTRD…Now for Schipa.
youtube.com/watch?v=gqcuAAA_2m…
And this is the final scene that I mentioned in my review. Naturally, it is played well, as Schipa always sang everything beautifully. But Gigli added his own elements to it.
youtube.com/watch?v=IMTQ7gGyuw… "
Since I mentioned it, here is my large list of operas.
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/242…
#BeniaminoGigli #FerruccioTagliavini #Gigli #LaBoheme #opera #Puccini #review #Tagliavini #TitoSchipa #Schipa
-
(Note. The bit about watching/listening and Tagliavini refers to a Reddit post in which I asked about four different versions of La Boheme that I have in my large list of opera links. Also, Schipa is still my favourite singer of all time. But Gigli is second, Tagliavini is third, and Battistini is fourth.)
"I just finished listening to La Boheme from 1938. I say "listening" because several people mentioned that I said "watching" in the post where I was trying to decide on a version. I am totally blind, so it's all listening for me, whether there is a video or not. But I'm accustomed to saying "watch" when referring to things that I find on Youtube, which is odd, as I usually download them as mp3s, but anyway. This is the full opera.youtube.com/watch?v=mE5vRfD7uC…
This is the libretto that I used.
opera-arias.com/puccini/la-boh…
The first act basically told the story of the characters themselves. The second made me laugh in several places. Marcello and (Musetta were quite funny, in general. Poor Alcindoro) kept trying to calm Musetta and was ultimately stuck with the bill, but that was clever. The third, of course, was more serious, and forshaddowed things to come. I'm glad the fourth act had some comedy in it, because the ending was heart-breaking. Even though I knew what would happen, it was played so well that it brought me to tears, and I had to calm down before writing this review! Even Schipa himself couldn't do that, and I have the last scene with him in it! Gigli was an absolute master of this role, and while complaining about his sobs in other instances may be justified, he used them expertly in this performance, and truly brought the character of Rodolfo to life. What really surprised me is how much I liked Licia Albanese. I am usually not a fan of high-pitched female voices, but for some reason, I liked her, and the chemistry between her and Gigli's characters could be felt. I am really glad that I chose this version and would highly recommend it to anyone."
"Since I mentioned being caught between Gigli and Tagliavini in my other post, here is Che Gelida Manina by both of them.
Gigli
youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ba_MSygG…Tagliavini
(I am providing two versions because he sings them quite differently. The first is extremely sweet and the second less so, but it still sounds like it's before the voice change. I have always loved his version, but I don't know how he would handle the rest, particularly the really dramatic parts.)
1
youtube.com/watch?v=ux1QuTbQsc…2
youtube.com/watch?v=2DdPoNsTRD…Now for Schipa.
youtube.com/watch?v=gqcuAAA_2m…
And this is the final scene that I mentioned in my review. Naturally, it is played well, as Schipa always sang everything beautifully. But Gigli added his own elements to it.
youtube.com/watch?v=IMTQ7gGyuw… "
Since I mentioned it, here is my large list of operas.
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/242…
#BeniaminoGigli #FerruccioTagliavini #Gigli #LaBoheme #opera #Puccini #review #Tagliavini #TitoSchipa #Schipa
-
(Note. The bit about watching/listening and Tagliavini refers to a Reddit post in which I asked about four different versions of La Boheme that I have in my large list of opera links. Also, Schipa is still my favourite singer of all time. But Gigli is second, Tagliavini is third, and Battistini is fourth.)
"I just finished listening to La Boheme from 1938. I say "listening" because several people mentioned that I said "watching" in the post where I was trying to decide on a version. I am totally blind, so it's all listening for me, whether there is a video or not. But I'm accustomed to saying "watch" when referring to things that I find on Youtube, which is odd, as I usually download them as mp3s, but anyway. This is the full opera.youtube.com/watch?v=mE5vRfD7uC…
This is the libretto that I used.
opera-arias.com/puccini/la-boh…
The first act basically told the story of the characters themselves. The second made me laugh in several places. Marcello and (Musetta were quite funny, in general. Poor Alcindoro) kept trying to calm Musetta and was ultimately stuck with the bill, but that was clever. The third, of course, was more serious, and forshaddowed things to come. I'm glad the fourth act had some comedy in it, because the ending was heart-breaking. Even though I knew what would happen, it was played so well that it brought me to tears, and I had to calm down before writing this review! Even Schipa himself couldn't do that, and I have the last scene with him in it! Gigli was an absolute master of this role, and while complaining about his sobs in other instances may be justified, he used them expertly in this performance, and truly brought the character of Rodolfo to life. What really surprised me is how much I liked Licia Albanese. I am usually not a fan of high-pitched female voices, but for some reason, I liked her, and the chemistry between her and Gigli's characters could be felt. I am really glad that I chose this version and would highly recommend it to anyone."
"Since I mentioned being caught between Gigli and Tagliavini in my other post, here is Che Gelida Manina by both of them.
Gigli
youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ba_MSygG…Tagliavini
(I am providing two versions because he sings them quite differently. The first is extremely sweet and the second less so, but it still sounds like it's before the voice change. I have always loved his version, but I don't know how he would handle the rest, particularly the really dramatic parts.)
1
youtube.com/watch?v=ux1QuTbQsc…2
youtube.com/watch?v=2DdPoNsTRD…Now for Schipa.
youtube.com/watch?v=gqcuAAA_2m…
And this is the final scene that I mentioned in my review. Naturally, it is played well, as Schipa always sang everything beautifully. But Gigli added his own elements to it.
youtube.com/watch?v=IMTQ7gGyuw… "
Since I mentioned it, here is my large list of operas.
dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/242…
#BeniaminoGigli #FerruccioTagliavini #Gigli #LaBoheme #opera #Puccini #review #Tagliavini #TitoSchipa #Schipa