Is LOTRO still the best MMORPG of 2014 ?

Undoubtedly the lord of the rings online has been the best game of the 2013 year, maybe challenged only by Star Wars the old republic.

But will LOTRO (lord of the rings online) still be the best game in 2014 ?

With extension such as Isengard and Riders of Rohan you could say that LOTRO is on its way to becoming the number one game in 2014, but is it enough to gather a bigger player base than games such as WoW and Rift ?

To answer that question let's have a look at what made LOTRO so popular in the first place.

First of all the combat system, whether mounted or unmounted, makes LOTRO one of the online games with the best gameplay.

Second, as said in the 5 reasons you should play LOTRO post the story behind Lord of the Rings online is better than what you would find in other MMORPG games.

In part thanks to the lord of the rings universe.

Starving the Vultures album review

In recent weeks we have review many black metal albums here on The Morsay, including most notably the masterpiece Satanic Blood Angel by Von.

Today I will review the masterpiece Starving the Vultures by band Circle of Dead Children.

While Starving the Vultures isn't typically black metal per say, it contains many second wave black grindcore elements and possesses some very atmospheric attributes.

Tracks like Doom Farmer and Return to Water are considered by many as some of the finest brutal yet grim tracks of the album, and of the heavy metal genre in general.

Starving the Vultures combines elements from brutal death metal, technical black metal and black goregrind to form original and discordant music.

Starving the Vultures is among the very best albums of black metal.

Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters (2007)

A more recent band, as formed 2003, yet equally as cult as it's predecessors. One of the finest Black Metal ever produced, this band deserves it's place in this top list.

The album Two Hunters is composed of some very atmospheric and ritualistic Black Metal, which reminds some of the earlier work of bands like Weakling and Vesperian Sorrow.

Wolves in the Throne Room is for sure the most influential Black Metal band of the so called third wave of Black Metal.

You can read more from and about me in the online advertising hub, or at my Black Metal blog.

Agalloch - The Mantle (2002)

Initially started in 1995 as a ambient and atmospheric Black Metal band, Agalloch released several demos and one full-length album before engaging in a more avant-garde production in 2002. Agalloch is the first Black Metal band to incorporate such elements in it's music, which were to influence bands like Vesperian Sorrow or the Ordo Ad Chao album of Mayhem.

Before The Mantle, Agalloch produced a full-length album of the name Pale Folklore. One could argue that the atmospheric and icy presence that it inspired marked the pinnacle of the avant-garde Black Metal era. I would argue that sorrow atmosphere of desolation propel The Mantle as one of the best Black Metal albums ever produced.

For more information on ambient black metal bands, feel free to read my other lenses or my blog.

Black Funeral - Vampyr Throne of the Beast (1996)

Formed in 1993, a slight and fine time before the emergence and commercialization of most trend seeking second wave bands. Black Funeral have released several demos, both in 1994 and 1995, of raw Black Metal in the style of Demoncy. It is only in 1996, after the release of the full-length album Vampyr - Throne of the Beast, that Black Funeral imprinted it's own primitive and icy chill of nihilism and darkness.

The later work of Black Funeral is based on the same raw and primitive composition, yet it often lacks the nihilistic vision of Vampyr.