Rolling Metal Thread 2009

...and Lords of Falconry, his current project.

I have a DRT lp. And I'm personally acquainted with the guy. But since people were touting the "kraut metal" above, I thought the Faust reference would be more tantalizing.

i didn't even know he had a new project. had kind of forgotten about the dude, actually, since he hasn't done anything in a long time, but a friend of mine wanted to hear his stuff recently and i dug out "ewige blumenkraft" and it's still good.

check out the red veil

Got hold of a copy of Nargaroth's 'Jahreszeiten' on the strength of Glenn's recommendation a week ago. I'm coming to the end of the first spin now, and it's going straight back on again. What I'd heard from them before in no way prepared me for this. Four sprawling, epic chapters of cold black weirdness, church bells and howling wolves. Insanely ambitious, and it seems like some kind of deranged masterpiece at first listen.

OK I have to hear this.

A few listens later I haven't changed my mind about Jahreszeiten at all. I have no illusions about the universality of its appeal, but it's definitely doing some distinctive, memorable thing.

No, not for everyone, but that's the appeal - it's such a totally uncompromising vision. The production really hits the spot for me, too - perfect mix of clean and dirty sounds, wild experimentation and plain brutal riffage.

So happy to see Gojira last night in Chicago! They looked like they were having a blast (despite the fact the show was pretty sparsely attended)! Sure hope they come back.

i just saw gojira with zoroaster (who rule) in knoxville and they were a snooze bore

i meant to say (who ruled). im sure you know zoroaster rule in general

In honor of Columbus Day, here's a bunch of videos by Italian metal bands:

http://music.msn.com/superfans/heavy-metal/blog/columbus-day-italian-metal-video-special/

some sad news from the Minneapolis metal community.

Don Decker, promotor, leader of Anal Blast, former owner of Nightfall (extreme metal record store) basically singlehandedly made the extreme metal scene in Minneapolis from scratch, died :(

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/deckerrip.jpg

some memories of him here:

http://musicscene.org/forums/t/57841.aspx

story on blabbermouth

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=128545

nightfall record label site:
http://www.nightfallrecords.com/

Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer died early this morning, too.

got the new pelican album in the mail zzzzzzzzz......wait, what was i saying?

For those who might be interested:

Axe vs Kick Axe vs Alcatrazz vs Autograph vs Avalanche vs Anvil Bitch vs Angel Witch

Here's a link to that absurdly lazy SubArachnoid review in Decibel: http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=333999

Decibel needs better reviewers

Decibel needs better reviewers

They definitely need to replace that guy. He's got a serious case of "writing for print is just like blogging" disease; check out his Anvil review, from the same issue. At Metal Edge, I would have sent both those write-ups back to him. Albert must have been busy with Precious Metal promotional duties that week.

decibel has lots of good reviewers. i would have given it a rave. ah well, what are you gonna do.

Not buy it :)

Jesus. That Anvil review is painful. I don't think it would bother me so much if it weren't Decibel. I've grown to really expect a much higher caliber of writing from them, mostly due to the fine folks on this thread.

i know what a shopper pfunkboy is. dude from throne records is gonna be selling stuff from his collection and warehouse stuff.

http://collectorsthrone.blogspot.com/

i got that email

Has nobody else noticed that Michelangelo Matos has a review in this issue of decibel?

Yeah, I thought that was really cool. Plus I like that Naam album.

I wanted to review the Anvil in dB. Oh well, at least it got an 8. And my PopMatters review will go up soon anyway.

Matos has reviews in lots of issues of Decibel.

The only other one I can remember is his piece on John's Master of Reality, which was the best-written review I've seen of that fine book.

The new Gorgoroth album (lineup: Pest on vocals, Infernus on guitar, Obituary's Frank Watkins on bass and Dissection's Tomas Asklund on drums) is death-ier than expected, and actually kinda decent. There's been so much good black metal already this year, though (the new Marduk is totally kicking my ass), that this is something of a disappointment.

Which dark god should I curse that Shane Mehling is writing for Decibel and I'm not?

Azathoth

I was in a one-off metal band called Azathoth in 1993. We played Under the Sun at a Sabbath Hoot Night. Bass player got too high and fucked up his bass solo. I have it on video somewhere.

The drums on that new Gorgoroth really are godawful, to the point of ruining the whole thing.

agreed

I quite like the new Pelican. Not as catchy as the last one, if one could call it catchy, but it's nice to nap on the couch to. Also, instrumental band with vocals on one track shocker LOL

I'm probably one of the few other people in this thread that is actually curious to hear that Pelican. Seems like they bear the brunt of a lot of the NeurIsis overload.

Without an outlet to write for right now, my promos have all but completely disappeared. I was thrilled to get a link last night to download that Earache BBC comp. I miss the writing though.

Gnaw Their Tongues is a revelation.

Which album are you listening to John? Love this guy tbh

Seconded, although I'm not sure I've heard anything he's done this year.

Is that Grind Madness set actually in the shops anywhere? I thought it was supposed to be out last week so I traipsed around town looking for it, to no avail. I said screw it and ordered it off Amazon this morning.

Scott, did you like Pelican's other albums?

I really liked their first couple, just wondering how it compares. I guess I'm another one of their few fans around here.

you know, there are other things i want written on my tombstone other than "renowned Pelican hater", so, i won't spend a lot of time dissing them. i heard the last couple things they did. was not impressed. but i am not a mono fan or a mogwai fan. i liked the first two isis albums. i like neurosis. there is nothing neurisis-ish about the new album. it sounds like tedious instrumental indie rock. not even tedious instrumental post-rock! i was not a fucking champs fan either, for the record. there is nothing metallic about this new album. it isn't heavy. it isn't metal. it isn't interesting or memorable. if this sounds like your kind of thing, then by all means, go for it. i've heard heavier, more thoughtful, and better played stuff from trans am and trans am are kinda known as being a lol ironic pastiche act with brains and no soul. it's true that souls are kinda overrated, but i actually detect more heart in past trans am genre exercises than i do in anything i've heard from pelican. the one nice thing i can say about the album is that the songs are relatively short and there are no agonizing climbs up godspeed mountain. and for that i was grateful. "nice to nap on the couch to" is no compliment in my book. lots of things are nice to nap to. like vivaldi or bach. i'd rather listen to great challenging music while i snooze, because then i'll wake up a better and brighter person.

don't know why i thought of trans am. just thinking of instrumental stuff i like. and i like a lot!

everyone should just listen to kosmos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmBQFW2ZZDY

I always get the impression that Trans Am are very genuine about loving the styles they turn their hand to. I mean I don't think their albums have especially matched up to what subgenres or scenes are 'in' at the time, which has probably counted against them if anything.

Feel like Pelican still have it in them to make good music by the simple expedient of chancing on a strong riff and rinsing the fuck out of it avec good clear production. Also feel, on initial listens, like this doesn't really happen on the new one

Have you looked into writing for any websites or starting your own blog, Jon? It doesn't pay as well/at all, but it'll give you the opportunity to write and get promos.

Heh, didn't mean to make it seem like I was only in it for the promos, I like the discipline of writing as well. I have a bad, semi-abandoned blog, been thinking about starting fresh one of these days. I'm just not terribly self-motivated to write for my own blog, I should look into some websites to write for.

"nice to nap on the couch to" is no compliment in my book

Yeah, I guess that could be construed as damning with faint of praise. I mean don't get me wrong, I do like it, but I'm not going to stick it on when I want to really rock out (though I have seen Pelican live and they rock a lot harder in person). That being said, can totally see why someone might call them 'wallpaper metal' or something of that ilk.

Usually it's troo kvlt metallers who hate them saying its "false metal" "hipster metal" or "nigel metal".
Of course most of those people probably did like them until others called them this and joined in.

They were really good both times I've seen them live, but that hasn't been in about 4 years now. Laurent is a really nice dude too.