My current musical obsession (metal)

[Xmann]

We are going to Vegas for a week in April and i just found out that Mastadon/Opeth/Ghost will be at the House of Blues in Vegas while we are there.   The wife gave me the thumbs up and i'm psyched.   Probably will be much of the same Opeth set i saw last year (but i thought it was incredible and worth seeing again).   I never was much into Mastadon, but i've been listening to them alot more lately and hear they put on one hell of a show.

[kratz]

Seeing Ghost should be interesting.  I've seen Mastodon twice... once was incredible and once was bad... the bad time wasn't really their fault entirely, bad venue.  They seem to have gotten better at singing in tune in the more recent live footage I've seen - should be fun!

[Gratch]

The new Orange Goblin track kicks ass.  I'm slowly coming around to stoner metal.

[kratz]

You are the second person to link that today.  It's not bad... a little meathead at times, but I dig it overall.

[Xmann]

How about some more new Cannibal Corpse

http://www.revolvermag.com/?p=31785

[Gratch]

How about some more new Cannibal Corpse

http://www.revolvermag.com/?p=31785

I'm not a big CC fan to begin with, but that was a remarkably boring song. 

[Xmann]

Blasphemy!!

[kratz]

Yeah, I didn't finish that tune.

[rickfc]

Yeah, I didn't finish that tune.

Started out kinda cool, then it got boring.

[Xmann]

screw you guys 

just announced today Cannibal Corpse, Exhumed, and Abysmal Dawn this fall......I'm there!!

[kratz]

Do I want to see Baroness again badly enough to buy tickets to a show where they are main support for Meshuggah?  Meshuggah, Baroness, Decapitation... hrm... probably not.

[Gratch]

Do I want to see Baroness again badly enough to buy tickets to a show where they are main support for Meshuggah?  Meshuggah, Baroness, Decapitation... hrm... probably not.

I'm not a big Meshuggah fan, but would love to see Decapitated.  Their last album was excellent, although probably not your thing.

[pr0ner]

I know this isn't the usual type of metal posted here (you guys don't like power metal much, I know!), but I wanted to share anyway.  Even if it's DragonForce.   

[kratz]

Aw, you linked Dragonforce in the metal thread. That's adorable.

[pr0ner]

And technically appropriate.

[Gratch]

February's pickups, from best to worst (links go to song samples):

Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction.  Gloomy, doomy, sludgy, dirty, depressing, somber...and pretty damn awesome.  Very obvious Sabbath influences (vocals sound eerily like Ozzy sometimes) but a unique enough style to make it their own.  Have to be in the mood for it, but if you are, this is a tough one to beat.


Astomatous - The Beauty of Reason - Some crazy-ass tech death.  Completely chaotic and jarring, but always goes in some very interesting musical directions.  Bassist is a witch, which never hurts.


Nami - Fragile Ailments - Reminds me of a heaver version of Cynic.  Very crisp, technical, and unique with a mix of clean and harsh vocals


The Few Against Many - Sot - Symphonic death metal from the former Scar Symmetry vocalist.  Not bad, but not great either.  Feels pretty generic, and many of the symphonic bits feel kinda forced.  Good workout music (fast and angry, but I don't need to pay any attention to it), but not something I'll listen to much outside of the gym.


Xenocide - Galactic Oppression[/url] - By the numbers tech death (sensing a theme this month?) with a spacey theme.  Not bad, but Mechina does basically the same thing waaaaaay better.


The 11th Hour - Lacrima Mortis - This is one I thought I'd like a lot more than I did.  Lots of atmosphere, very symphonic, good vocals, but they just don't come together very well.  A poor man's Swallow the Sun.


Goatwhore - A Haunting Curse[/url] - Not even sure why I bought this, as I'm really not that into the blastbeat stuff.  They're a name I kept hearing kicked around and figured I'd give them a shot...probably won't be getting anything else from them.

[Xmann]

Is that the new Goatwhore? I like their stuff usually and I know they got a new album coming out.

[Gratch]

Is that the new Goatwhore? I like their stuff usually and I know they got a new album coming out.

Nah, it's an old one.  I've read some very good reviews of their new one though, if they're your thing.

[Gratch]

Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power album turned 20 years old a couple days ago.

Christ, I'm getting old...

[Xmann]

Wow, remember when and where I bought that cd. Still play a few songs from that almost daily.

[El-Producto]

Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power album turned 20 years old a couple days ago.

Christ, I'm getting old...

Yeah, seminal album in my youth.  They are releasing a 20th anniversary edition.

The new Melvins single War on Wisdom is amazing.  Pure headphone metal, the drumming is amazing.

And sorry guys, I just don't get the art-metal.

[Gratch]

And sorry guys, I just don't get the art-metal.

What is "art-metal"?

[El-Producto]

Opeth, etc.
I recognize it's not the official genre tag

I can appreciate what they are doing, but when I saw them live last summer I almost fell asleep.  They came on after Bodom, which was a mistake.
Guess I'm just old school.

** Goes back to shuffleboard

[Xmann]

Megadeth/Motorhead/Volbeat concert tonight

[Xmann]

So my wife and I are getting ready for the Megadeth/Motorhead show tonight and guess what....

Lemmy has a sore throat and Motorhead isn't performing. Thanks Lemmy! Only reason my wife agreed to go AND i bought VIP tickets for us so she wouldn't get smashed in the pits.

[Gratch]

Even though I've never been a Motorhead fan (blasphemous, I know) that really sucks.

On another note, I found out today that Sigh's new album is scheduled to drop on March 13.  I've always loved their particular brand of metal insanity, (Scenes from Hell was my personal album of the year for 2010) and this one looks to just as crazy.  And I'm sure 99% of you here will hate it. 

[kratz]

New High on Fire comes out April 3rd... here's a track:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13243-fertile-green/

The description is fucking hysterical:

It's also a concept album that, according to Pike, is framed by a couple questions: "I got this idea about Jesus Christ and the Immaculate Conception: What if Jesus had a twin who died at birth to give Jesus his life? And then what if the twin became a time traveler right then?"

That guy is on another planet.  Good track though... more of a return to the type of High on Fire I like the best.

[Xmann]

So it turned out ok i guess that Motorhead didn't perform.  They got a nice big boo from the crowd when one of the bands apologized for it.  I thought Lemmy should have atleast shown his ugly mug and played bass for a song or two.   But no dice, oh well.

Here is the summary of the show....

#1. Lacuna Coil was god awful.   One of the worse performances i've seen in nearly 25 years of going to shows.  Thank goodness they only played 6 songs (6 too many that is).

#2. Volbeat stole the show.   I was hoping they'd play 3 or 4 more songs since Motorhead canceled.   Awesome performers and had great energy.   Listen to more of their older albums for a decent taste of them.   The newer stuff isn't as good.   Regardless, fantastic show they put on.   Crowd absolutely loved them.   My wife proclaims them as her new favorite band.   Not sure who the last one was

#3. Megadeth was spot on.   I got some good HD footage i'll put on youtube when i get the chance.  Dave can and regularly is an ass, but damnit he can play a f'n guitar....simply amazing.    They played a Motorhead song and actually played some really older material for a change which was great.

Side note, halfway through one of their newer songs, Dave stops and tells security in front of the stage to stop manhandling the fans who were crowd surfing.   He kindly warned them a couple times before.   He called out one of the guards who really was rough with this one tiny girl who repeatedly made it to the front of the stage.   So he stops the song and is dog cussing the guard who is ignoring him.   Dave said, "If i leave this stage asshole you are in alot of damn trouble".   So the guy still doesn't respond and the lights come on in the venue and Mustaine walks off stage.  5 minutes later he comes back with his head of security and they kick the venue security out, literally out the building.   Dave puts his staff in front of the stage and tells the crowd to enjoy themselves and have fun and don't be idiots.   The crowd goes wild and the rest of the show went off great.

[rickfc]

Side note, halfway through one of their newer songs, Dave stops and tells security in front of the stage to stop manhandling the fans who were crowd surfing.   He kindly warned them a couple times before.   He called out one of the guards who really was rough with this one tiny girl who repeatedly made it to the front of the stage.   So he stops the song and is dog cussing the guard who is ignoring him.   Dave said, "If i leave this stage asshole you are in alot of damn trouble".   So the guy still doesn't respond and the lights come on in the venue and Mustaine walks off stage.  5 minutes later he comes back with his head of security and they kick the venue security out, literally out the building.   Dave puts his staff in front of the stage and tells the crowd to enjoy themselves and have fun and don't be idiots.   The crowd goes wild and the rest of the show went off great.

Awesome. 

[Gratch]

Sigh's new effort "In Somniphobia" is a mind-fuck of truly epic proportions.  Throw Frank Zappa, Mr. Bungle, Santana, Etta James, Fishbone, and Buddy Holly into a death metal blender, and this is the result.  It's simply a wonderfully crazy listen from start to finish...I find myself whistling the main lick from Purgatorium while walking around, and simply can't get The Transfiguration Fear out of my head.  Oh, and it has the greatest album art in the history of ever.



Awesome doesn't even begin to describe this record.

[Gratch]

Quality over quantity this month.  Again, most to least favorite:

Sigh - In Somniphobia: Nothing else to add that I didn't say above.  It will take something utterly mind-shattering to unseat this as my album of the year for 2012.  It's that goddamn good.

Gods of Eden - Gods of Eden.  A fantastic debut from these Aussies.  Not sure where to categorize it, as the album is all over the place.  One minute it's straight-up power metal, the next it's flamenco guitar over a full background chorus, then it turns on a dime to melodic death metal.  Constantly keeps you guessing, and the songwriting is very strong.  It's a free download from here...go check it out.


Sigh - Hangman's Hymn.  Not sure how I missed grabbing this one before.  It's crazy-ass Sigh...love it or hate it.


Seed - Origin of Seed.  Nothing real fancy here, just some straight up death-metal with some awfully catchy licks.  Don't listen to it much outside the gym, but it's killer workout music.


Haemic - Fields of Sanguine.  This one's a little tough to describe.  It's orchestral metal in the same vein as Cradle of Filth, but without quite as much bombast (and overwhelming douchiness).  It's suitably epic, the mix is fantastic, and they throw in some odd instrumental elements that have no business actually working, but they totally do.  The clean "singing" they try falls pretty flat, but the album is very solid otherwise.  Won't be for everyone, but is worth a listen. 


Eschaton - Isolated Intelligence and Granted Earth - Nomad.  I heard about these next two from a post over at No Clean Singing.  Eschaton takes death metal in some very unique directions, with melodic segments and clean female vocals.  I thought Granted Earth was pretty boring, but hey...they were both free.

[kratz]

Listen to High on Fire's new album in its entirety:

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/25/148593780/first-listen-high-on-fire-de-vermis-mysteriis

It's good.  Real good.

[El-Producto]

I saw Motorhead this summer, I almost fell asleep.

I know they are legendary, but zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[kratz]

Love it.

[Gratch]

Yes, I'm using this thread as my own personal metal journal.  Deal with it.     No real clunkers this month, some solid headbangingness.   

Miseration - The Mirroring Shadow.  Holy fuckballs, this is some heavy shit.  A facemelter of an album from start to finish.


I realized this month that there was a rather gaping hole in my metal collection, so I picked up Death's Individual Thought Patterns and Human albums.  I have them on cassette somewhere in the basement, but never bothered to get them digitally.  Problem corrected.    Amazing how well both albums hold up after all these years and how far ahead of their time Schuldiner and crew really were.



7 Horns 7 Eyes - Throes of Absolution.  I almost skipped Throes because these guys are techically a "christian" metal band.  Don't let that fact deter you, as this is a solid album. Much like 40 Watt Sun proved last year, it is possible for very good metal and positive lyrical themes to co-exist...and sound absolutely epic in the process.


Dan Swano - Moontower.  Solo project from the Edge of Sanity frontman. While I consider EoS' Crimson and Purgatory Afterglow to be two of the finest metal albums ever written, Moontower didn't grab me nearly as much.  It's still got his signature sound and reminds me a lot of early Amorphis (complete with cheesy keyboards) but not quite as catchy.


Elysium - Wires of Creation.  A very solid slice of melodeath from these Aussies.  Vocals aren't terribly strong, which was a bit of a turnoff, but the songwriting was very good.

[Xmann]

Death is definitely a must for any true metalhead....good stuff

[Gratch]

I have to force a cutoff point this month before I spend any more money.  Holy crap...so much good stuff.  Here goes:

Allegaeon - Formshifter.  Dayum.  Just dayum. 


Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I.  Not even sure how to describe this.  Part brutal, part mellow, part melodic, part folk, part prog, part power metal...all awesome.


Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere.  Very atmospheric black metal.  Brings to mind visions of medieval castles, dark woods, fields of snow, and fierce battles.  Really like this one.


Sybreed - Slave Design, The Pulse of Awakening, and Antares.  The reformed rivethead in me still has a big soft spot for "industrial metal".  Sybreed fit the bill nicely.  Slave Design is by far the best of the bunch.




Faal - Abhorance/Salvation.  Some slow, menacing, depressing funeral doom that's done  very well.


Edge of Sanity - Kur-Nu-Gi-A.  EoS is one of my all-time favorite bands, and this is a re-release of their original 1990 demo album.  Not nearly as strong as the Crimson-era stuff, but still pretty good.


Reverence - The Asthenic Ascension.  Thought I would like this one more than I did.  I liked the samples I heard, but it all just started sounding very same-y after a while.


Enthrallment - People From the Lands of Vit.  By-the-numbers black metal.  Started strong, but got pretty dull after a few songs.


Tesseract - Perspective.  Similar to what Cynic did with the acoustic Re-Traced album, but the songs aren't nearly as strong here.  The acoustic/mellow versions just sound...weird.


Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Pinata.  I'm typically all for something different, but DSO's odd mix of Big Band and Slayer just falls flat for me.  It's getting fantastic reviews and has a couple decent moments, but I really can't get into it.


Non-metal albums this month:

Peter Murphy - Ninth.  I've been a sucker for Murphy ever since the first Bauhaus album.  His voice doesn't pack the punch it used to, but there's still some good stuff to be found on this album.


L'ame Immortelle - Fragmente.  Again, a holdover from my industrial days.  Kinda cheesy, but a good album when the mood strikes.

[Gratch]

Well, June was a very busy month.     Unfortunately, there were quite a few clunkers in with some really good stuff.

Gojira - L'enfant Sauvage - About as perfect as technical metal can get.  Dudes can do no wrong.


Carach Angren - Where the Corpses Sink Forever.  9 songs, each of which tell a different horrifying tale of death and destruction.  I'm fairly desensitized to brutal lyrics in my metal, but this one was actually emotionally difficult to listen to.  The excellent meld of symphony and black metal makes for a great album.


Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Ghostmaker.  Part hilarious and part brutal, these dudes made one hell of a fun album.  And seriously, could a band name get any better?  I think not.


Blood Mortized - The Key to a Black Heart.  Some straight up solid death metal


Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve.  I still can't decide if I like this or not.  I'm a bit baffled at how such a "supergroup" can put out metal that is so...unmemorable.  The potential is there, it just never quite comes together like it should.


Wodensthrone - Curse.  My dose of folk-y metal for the month.  Not overly memorable but not awful either.


Talanas - The Waspkeeper.  Another album with a couple catchy tunes then a bunch of filler.  Thought I'd dig their gothic stylings more than I did.  Oh well.


Sear Bliss - Eternal Recurrance.  I typically like odd musical combinations in my metal, but Sear Bliss' mix of black metal and saxophone just never quite works.  Partly because the songwriting isn't terribly strong, but mostly because it's awfully silly. 


Process of Guilt - Faemin.  You can tell they were trying to for a Melvins-ish style of heavy and crushing, but it just comes across as boring and dull after a few minutes.


Delain - We Are the Others.  You'd think I would quit buying albums based off of one song.  Honest to God, I don't know what I was thinking on this one.


Candlemass - Psalms for the Dead.  Candlemass is one of those bands that it seems you're required to like if you're a metal fan.  But I'm going to record and saying they're shit.  Always have been, and still continue to be.  Thought I'd give them one more try...blech.


The non-metal album of the month is Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar.  I've loved Celldweller's particular brand of industrial for a long time, and WUaB is no exception.  It's not as strong as his debut, but has some great songs.  Chessy cover aside, this is probably my second favorite album of the month, behind Gojira.
.

[Gratch]

It's that time of the month again...the metal pickings for July are as follows.  Best to worst, as always.

Agalloch - Faustian Echoes EP.  An incredible, epic, amazing, haunting 21-minute song by the atmospheric metal masters.  Absolutely love it.


Vintersorg - Orkan.  No idea how to classify these guys.  Part folk metal, part power metal, part prog, part death...a little bit of everything that comes together amazingly.  Reminds me a little bit of Amorphis, in a good way.


Nile - At the Gate of Sethu.  Nothing fancy here, just more of the Egyptian-themed brutality we've come to expect from Nile.  


Dawn of Demise - Rejoyce in Vengance.  I'll admit, I bought this album without hearing anything from it simply because the 12-year-old in my thought the cover art was "bitchin".    Turns out, this is a very solid straight-up death metal album with crunchy riffs and appropriately brutal vocals.


Zamoria - Arrival of the Red Sun.  Angry Metal Guy did a great review of this album, and while I don't always agree with his takes, I thought this one was spot on.  Melodic death metal that doesn't cross into the "cheesy" realm is hard to come by these days, but Zamoria pulls it off very well.


Eternal Deformity - The Beauty of Chaos.  A decent enough tech-death album with some unique use of industrial and symphonic elements along with clean vocals to mix things up.  


Deathspell Omega - Drought.  I'm all for chaos in my music, but these guys take it a bit too far.  A few incredible riffs sandwiched between segments that are damn near unlistenable.


Miseration - Tragedy Has Spoken.  I absolutely loves Miseration's previous effort, Mirroring Shadow.  It was tech-death done to damn near perfection.  This time around, however, they seem to have lost whatever magic made the last album so fantastic.  Honestly, it's just kinda boring.  That said, I've only given it a couple listens at odd times...maybe I just haven't been in the right mood.


Ereb Altor - Gastrike.  Not good, not bad, just kinda there.  Vocals grated on me a bit...I prefer more growly and less shrieky.


Inborn Suffering - Regression to Nothingness[/url].  Not very often that death metal can put me to sleep, but this one managed to.

[Xmann]

How is the Gojira? Been thinking of picking that up. Really hasnt been much the last few months as far as bands I really listen to regularly.

Sent from me phone