My current musical obsession (metal)

[StaticStrike]

I love, love, love metal. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Ulver's Bergtatt. Here's a good song from the album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNyIWBCFq5Y

I haven't been using Last.fm for a while, but here's my profile:
http://www.last.fm/user/StaticStrike

[Isgrimnur]

Amazon says that March is Metal.

[Gratch]

Amazon says that March is Metal.

Shit, that's gonna get expensive.   

[Isgrimnur]

You might say that.

We've got hundreds of albums on sale this month in honor of metal. You'll find death metal, black metal, progressive, thrash, grindcore... from all over the world.

Showing 1 - 24 of 708 Results

[kratz]

Things bought from that sale:





I bought this a while ago.  It is great:

[Isgrimnur]

Armoury Records sampler is free.

1. Slugger [Explicit]   The Resistance   
2. Phoney Smiles & Fake Hellos [Explicit]   Black Label Society
3. Rainbow In The Dark   DIO   
4. Lords of Abaddon [Explicit]   Duff McKagan's Loaded   
5. Breed To Breathe   Napalm Death
6. Unbreakable   Stratovarius
7. Time To Break Free   Gamma Ray
8. Die Young   Heaven & Hell
9. Killing Death   Circle II Circle
10. Like A Knife In The Back   Twisted Sister

[Gratch]

The album artwork for the new Beastwars album (due out on April 19) is fucking epic.  No Clean Singing gave it a great review...can't wait for this one.

[Gratch]

Only one album purchased in March, Finntroll's Bloodsvept.  If you liked Finntroll before, you'll love this album.  If you didn't, Bloodsvept won't do anything to change your mind.


It's not metal, but I also picked up the new David Bowie album, which is absolutely brilliant.  Except for the cover, which blows.  I honestly thought it was just placeholder art and that there was no way it could actually be the cover:


April looks to be a better month with both new Beastwars and new Amorphis on the horizon.  Heard a few tracks from Amorphis' Circle album, which have been really good.

Side note:  I also had to share what might be the most insane album cover I've seen in a while.  It's from a Dallas-based band called Cleric for their Gratum Inferno album.  Behold...


 

[Gratch]

New Black Sabbath is kinda meh.  God is Dead?

[kratz]

New Black Sabbath is kinda meh.  God is Dead?

Meh indeed.  Some of the heavy parts are ok, but mostly wtf? No.

[Gratch]

Slayer founding member Jeff Hanneman passes away at 49

RIP.   

[Isgrimnur]

Yeah, I heard about that from my metal/sports friend today.  Reports are that this is due to a spider bite that almost resulted in the loss of an arm.   

[kratz]

Yeah, he's been fucked up from the spider bite for like two years.  Shitty, shitty news.  Guy was the best of that pair by a mile.  Plus he wasn't a huge douche like Kerry King.

[Gratch]

Yeah, he's been fucked up from the spider bite for like two years.  Shitty, shitty news.  Guy was the best of that pair by a mile.  Plus he wasn't a huge douche like Kerry King.

Yup.  King is a colossal dickbag, and Hanneman was the one with all the writing chops anyways.

I don't listen to Slayer much anymore, but it's sad to think that with Lombardo out and Hanneman gone, the band that basically got me into metal in the first place doesn't exist anymore.   

[kratz]

Did you see that crap earlier this year about how King was taking 'Slayer' on the road in Europe this summer... without Lombardo, without Hanneman, and without Tom Araya either?  Pretty sure that's not Slayer.

[Gratch]

Did you see that crap earlier this year about how King was taking 'Slayer' on the road in Europe this summer... without Lombardo, without Hanneman, and without Tom Araya either?  Pretty sure that's not Slayer.

  I missed that one.  King's done a lot of ridiculous shit over the years, but that one may take the cake.

[CeeKay]

New Black Sabbath is kinda meh.  God is Dead?

I just checked the iTunes store for the first time in awhile and saw they have the whole album available for free streaming for an undefined 'limited time'.

[kratz]

I listened to it... which is to say I jumped through it listening to a bit of each song.  Not digging it.

[Gratch]

Been a couple months since the last update.  Here goes, best to worst:

Sul Ad Astral - Sul Ad Astral.  Black metal meets shoegaze.  Got an atmospheric, spacey, meandering vibe that took me by surprise.  It took a few listens to really click, but I've been thoroughly enjoying it since it did.


Shade Empire - Omega Arcane.  Symphonic black metal with an epic feel.  Very solid and catchy songwriting as well.


Azure Emote - The Gravity of Impertinence.  Avant-garde black metal with an industrial flavor.  Seemingly goes in every direction at once and is really quite fun.


Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy.  Straight up death metal from this longstanding outfit.  Not many surprises, but a solid batch of tunes.


Voyager - UniVers.  I loved the last two albums by this Aussie group, and figured I'd round out my collection.  Not nearly as strong as the last two, but still some damn good prog.


Polkadot Cadaver - Last Call in Jonestown.  Starts really strong, but kinda peters out towards the end.  It's almost "by the numbers", which is strange for a band like PDC.  Was really hoping for a better effort...not bad, but not particularly good either.


Ghost - Infestissumam.  Maybe the most disappointing sophomore effort I've ever heard.  The last album reveled in it's ludicrous "sing along to Satanism" vibe, but the songs were catchy as hell.  They seemed to take themselves entirely too seriously this time around, and the album suffers for it.  It's simply just boring.


Non-metal purchases:
Skinny Puppy - Weapon.  SP has been brilliant for the last 30 years, and this album is no exception.  There is a remake of "Solvent" on this album that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released 25 years ago.  My album of the year so far.


Project Pitchfork - Black.  Had no idea these guys were still around.  Surprised to hear a damn strong industrial EBM album.


How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion.  I adore nearly everything Reznor touches, but holy shit, this stuff is dull.