u/Hard_Working_Sinner

From their album Tremendum (2018
Hate is a band from Poland, who on their most recent albums has blended more black metal-elements into their death metal sound.

I love the riffs in this one.
VILT is a melodic death metal band from Sweden, with some thrash and folk elements in their music. This song is from their debut album Divine Intervention, released in May this year.

From the 2004 album 11 Dreams
Mercenary was formed in 1991 in Aalborg, Denmark

From their debut album with the same name

Released 1991, and re-released in 2001.

Grave is a Death Metal band formed in Visby, Sweden in 1988.

I just downloaded Qobuz and trying it out for comparison, and I want to hear what other users think. Spotify has been my main streaming service since it was launched in 2008, so it will take some considering before I change it.

- What was the main reason you started using Qobuz? (especially if you used Spotify before)
- What are your pros and cons on both apps?

- If you dont use either of them, what service do you use, and why?

Here's some of my thought right now:

What I like about Spotify is all the ways you can discover new music. Like the recent add where you can find random playlists made by users that contains a certain band. I often find some gold in these. Spotify is the best when it comes to discovery.

What I don't like about Spotify is

1. the amount of AI-music. I was on the brink of deleting it some months ago since all my suggestions was mostly AI-crap. There has been an huge amount of feedback from users on this, and thankfully they are doing something about it now. They are launching AI-label, and banning AI from suggestions (from mid-September). I'll wait and see how that works. Although I would like to see AI get banned altogether.
2. the podcasts. I'm not a big podcast-listener, and when i do i use the app on my iPhone. I want a streaming service only focusing on music, as Qobuz does.
3. the slow and lagging apps. This has been ongoing for the last two months, both on desktop and phone apps. A lot of times it freezes completely when I try to change a song or playlist, and it doesn't start playing for 10-20 seconds. And it's not because of data on my devices, as I have only a small amount of apps and material on them. They have to do something about it.

First impressions on Qobus (after one day)

1. I like the design on the desktop app (haven't downloaded to phone yet), as it is simple and easy to navigate in.
2. No podcasts, only music.
3. More human-made input and suggestions.
4. Haven't seen any AI music yet. Not sure how their policy is, but as it claims being an app for audiophiles I highly assume they try to keep it away.
5. They focus more on albums and labels.
6. It doesn't have so many ways to discover new music as Spotify has
7. They have the ''Like button'' I have missed since Spotify changed theirs.

What's your favorite albums so far released this year? Any genres

My favorites:

Sylosis - The New Flesh

Exodus - Goliath

100 Demons - Embrace The Black Light

Devildriver - Strike and Kill

Exumer - Death Mask Messiah

What music blogs or other sites do you frequently read? Looking for all genres.

Post your favorite (or your own) site here.

For me it’s Black Metal, and I mean those lo-fi recordings. Tried a bunch of albums that is deemed classic by the fans, but I can’t get it under my skin. It’s definitely the distortion and production (or lack of it) that puts me off.
Metal is my main genre, with Thrash- and Death Metal as favorites.

What song has your favorite drumming? It can be the whole song, a special part that stands out, an unique fill or as simple as a perfect sound/mix.

Occasionally a band throws something completely unexpected into a song, and somehow it works so well that the strange instrument becomes one of the defining elements of the track.

I am first and foremost looking for rock/metal, but if its brilliant enough I take suggestions in other genres.
Give me the songs you know about.

Do you know any songs that has an surprising twist? Something that you didn't see coming the first time you heard it. Can be sudden change in genre, tempo, unexpected instrument, story in lyrics or anything else.

New band from Germany I recently discovered.

How much has your taste in music changed throughout your life? Or in the last 10 years?

Do you listen to the same type of music, or are you more varied to day?

What genre and/or artists/bands do you listen to today, that you before never could think of listening to?

Do you still challenge yourself in new genres?

For me, it has changed drastically. In my youth and 20s I only listened to rock and metal, and actually called all other genres bad music. Now I can not understand this, as I today can shuffle between all other kinds of music. Especially Hip-Hop, Country, Indie and Electronica.
But metal is still my absolute favorite.
Of course a big part of it is about «growing up», but I would never have the variety I have today if I didn’t challenge my taste as much as I did some years back. And i still do.

What's the best concert you've ever attended, and what made it special?

And while we're at it, whats your worst?

My best experience was seeing In Flames, Soilwork and Arch Enemy sharing the stage for a night. This was right after In Flames had released their newest album and was in great shape on stage. Also seeing Soilwork for the first time was huge for me! This was also in their home country Sweden, so the atmosphere and joy was great!

My worst experience was seeing Megadeth back in 2018. This was not their fault. The sound was awful, much because of the venue.

How do you organize your private library on Spotify? Do you only use ''Liked song'' or do you have a lot of playlists? And in what category)

I love Spotify all way, but I feel there's something missing when it comes to the library. I'm not a big fan on having 100 paylists where only 2 gets played.

Since i started using the app in 2008, I have spent so much time trying to figure out whats best, but never found it. (Much easier managing my physical collection.)

Do you have ane great system or tips i could borrow from?

Give me your choise of bands/songs that has the most
- «stank-face» riffs
- palm-muted riffs
- groovy riffs
- and/or the genious tasty riffs

I prefer Thrash, Death metal and Crossover, but i listen to everything that has riffs in it. No need to post the Big 4 bands, as all their riffs are deeply carved into my head. That goes for Pantera and Exodus too.

I like to discover new bands and underground bands, but love all the big bands too. Give me a mix of it all, from all decades.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of most modern metal bands today, even though I absolutely respect the talent behind them.

But Black Spikes caught me differently.
There was something about them from the first listen that I couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it’s the fact that they sing in Lithuanian, which is pretty rare these days. Honestly, I think they might have lost some of that pull for me if they sang in English.

They released Šešėlių Vedami in 2020, followed by NIL in 2025, and now they’re entering a bigger chapter with Napalm Records and their upcoming album Ydos, out August 28. I’ve got high hopes for that record and for the band in general.
Check them out.

It also made me think: how many people regularly listen to bands that sing in a language they don’t understand?

I used to be the kind of person who mostly ignored bands unless they sang in English, or at least in a language I knew. Changing that mindset has opened up a lot of music for me over the last few years.

Of course I know there is so much more with this band besides the language, but would they be so interesting if they sang in English?