Rolling Metal Thread 2009

BTW I never got round to lauding the Black Breath EP on here did I? Southern Lord just put it out and remarkably it doesn't appear to feature jobbing members from a bunch of other bands on the label. It has four songs and sounds like Motorhead/Poison Idea/Celtic Frost/Coffins/Septic Death pretty much all at once - it floored me

WELP sounds like i'll be buying my yearly southern lord record right there

xpost Scott, I'm gonna go to the Shrinebuilder show of the blackened fest.

i think it's like, powerviolence is closer to punk and sludge, whereas grindcore is closer to deathmetal. that's what i've heard and so far it sounds just about right.

I both agree and disagree with this - grindcore (or at least modern-day grind) is tighter, like death metalis tight, while powerviolence sounds looser, noisier. My introduction to powerviolence was Benumb, but I just took it to be sloppier grindcore really. Later on I discovered Slap-A-Ham and bought a few CDs from them when Chris Dodge was closing the label and liquidating his stock.

Floridian "Power violence" / (and the death of hardcore?)

Top 100 Grind / Power Violence Songs

This Suffocation live album, The Close Of A Chapter, is fucking amazing. It's a complete show from Quebec City in 2005 or so, and they just kill it from beginning to end. I mean, Suffocation are great live; that's well-established. So the performances are ace, and Frank Mullen's ultra-thick Long Island accent announcing the songs is hilarious. But the recording and production on this are terrific, too. I'd say this is even better than Neuraxis's live album, which was one of my previous personal highwater marks for live death metal recordings.

Xpost - Hey DJ Mencap, is that the Black Breath from Bellingham? I assume from your description that it is. Great band.

Enjoying the December Decibel. Update on High On Fire's recording sessions, Shrinebuilder, 3 Inches Of Blood, Gates of Slumber, Converge, Trouble's Psalm 9, etc. I'm intruiged by at least one unfamiliar band, Skeletonwitch, and will need to check out that new Nile album. I'd lost interest in them, but will see if it lives up to the review.

"I think you must sing what you know the best, and we know something about beers, women and forest life." -- Jonne Järvelä (Korpiklaani)

the cats of metal feature was inspired!

New-ish Skeletonwitch album is pretty decent as neo-thrash goes, IIRC

xxp Nate I assume it is - knew nothing about them before it dropped through my door but it smashes it

Heathenfest on monday, first chance to actually see Belphegor, so fucking excited

"....Trouble's Psalm 9, etc...."

Hall of fame inductee? if so, good choice.

Yup. I still need to get that. I see old Metal Blade copies sometimes, but can never find the Escapi remaster from 06.

The old school metal Hall of Fames please me to no end. Looking forward to the new issue. (but not the cats though!)

I was enjoying the new Nile last night, which is significant because I usually hate that band. So take that as a recommendation, I suppose.

Shane Embury is an ugly man with an ugly cat.

So what are people rating the most then? Yob, Shrinebuilder, SunnO))), Converge, Baroness, Gnaw Their Tongues, Admiral Angry, Swtichblade, Rammstein, Cobalt, Slayer . . .

Off the top of my head like.

Katatonia, too!

Mastodon

I loved the Mastodon album when I first heard it but haven't listened to it since. Need to rectify it but wasn't tempted to at the time by watching them on the Crack the Skye tour. The Leviathan stuff they played as the encore sounded loads better.

I'd throw the Ancestors (though it's barely metal), Bloody Panda and Gay Witch Abortion into the mix too.

I need to hear the Gnaw Their Tongues album. Finally got around to hearing the new YOB and, well, hate to say this with all the rabid fans on this thread, but its all a little bit too much doom for me. I mean, I really like the album, but man I just feel completely crushed and wiped out by the end of it all. Maybe thats a good thing? I think I slightly prefer the new Shrinebuilder for not being quite as, I dunno, relentless.

every time people give a shout out to Gay Witch Abortion it makes me so happy

Bloody Panda. Yes. I've never heard of Gay Witch Abortion. They have an amazing name.

Can we count reissues/comps here too? I'm loving the Grind Madness set (although the bands in question probably aren't getting any accounting from Earache).

I never really gave Bolt Thrower the time of day before, but their Peel Session tracks are utterly immense, I'm digging them muchly.

"In Battle There is No Law" is classic. They were mad live on the Earache records tour back in the day.

The Wire is asking folks who contribute year-end lists to cite reissues and compilations separately, and Grind Madness At The BBC is definitely making my compilations list.

every time people give a shout out to Gay Witch Abortion it makes me so happy

― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten)

I wouldn't have ever heard of them or checked them out without you, so big thanks! Maverick is awesome.

awesome! i think that you and j0hn D and uh no one are my converts at this point

It is their loss for it is awesome.

Any major releases still to come out November?

The new Krallice is due out next week, but whether that's a major release (in the gravity sense) is in the eye of the beholder.

It is for me. I loved the last one. Im waiting for the vinyl version next year though since I have the last one on lp.

Best-of-year stuff not mentioned yet in my list: The Gates of Slumber, Iron Age, Gnaw, L'acephale, Eagle Twin, 1349, Manatees

Not even started making a list. Will do so in january i guess.
Was the Ocean album out this year or last? Im still awaiting the vinyl version.

Pantheon of the Lesser was last year.

i shouldve checked the poll i ran last year. I cant believe the vinyl still isnt out then if it was last year.

man that was an awesome album

although the bands in question probably aren't getting any accounting from Earache

This is something I've been thinking about after finding a load of early MRR issues scanned online - how/when did Dig go from being a pious holier-than-thou hardcore anarcho-punker to being an unscrupulous money-grubbing businessman? Does anyone know of an "un-authorised" history of Earache online?

i think it was around MOSH005

More Best-of contenders: Revocation, Liturgy, Amesoeurs, Greymachine, God Forbid, Black Cobra, Saviours, Goatwhore...I could go on. It's been a great year.

The new Krallice is due out next week, but whether that's a major release (in the gravity sense) is in the eye of the beholder.

Barring any late-year surprises, it's the last biggie of 2009, I think.

Greymachine and Black Cobra, yes. Saviours yes.

Liturgy seconded. Fucking amazing.

I'm still blasting Nargaroth's "Jahreszeiten" on a daily basis, and I probably like the insanely cheery "Fruhling" section most at this point.

Borgia's "Ecclesia" is really good Death/Grind to these ears.

What about Hiems? Absu? Hypocrisy? Funeral Mist? I think those were all very good 2009 records.

I listened to that Nargaroth record based on everything I read in this thread, and I have to say, it was one of the strangest things I have ever heard.

Yeah, Funeral Mist, definitely. Gorgoroth really surprised me...it sounds like the right guy won the court case.

This is going to be a hard list to get down to 10, for me. At this point there are a few albums I haven't fully absorbed that I'm almost hoping don't grow on me more, so it doesn't get any harder.

In serious contention: Absu, Amorphis, Antigua & Barbuda, Blut Aus Nord, Candlemass, Cantata Sangui, Eluveitie, Funeral Mist, Gnaw Their Tongues, Gorgoroth, Heaven & Hell, Kreator, l'Acephale, Lifelover, Liturgy, Madder Mortem, Nargaroth, Samael, Saros, Satyricon, Secrets of the Moon, Sirenia, Slayer, Sunn O))), 1349, Thy Catafalque, Tyr, Urna, Wardruna, Wodensthrone, Wolves in the Throne Room

Not yet ruled out: Amesoeurs, Anaal Nathrakh, Augury, Entwine, Epica, Hypocrisy, Immortal, Obsidian Shell, Witchbreed, Xasthur

This thread has a lot of stuff people like from this year: Best ov Metal 2009

Haven't heard the new Slayer yet, but I would consider adding Devin Townsend's Addicted to my list.

Glenn -

I too love that Wardruna album but it just doesn't seem metal at all. Awesome creepy folk music, but it's hard for me to see it as metal despite the pedigree. And a big second to Madder Mortem - on paper I should hate it but it just captivates.

I forget to mention the latest Slough Feg - Ape Uprising is still getting major play. And Hacride's Lazarus. In retrospect this has been quite a good year.

Yeah, Wardruna is arguably metal by association only, at least taken strictly on its musical characteristics, but because of that association I listen to it in a metal context, and it makes cultural and aesthetic sense to me that way. Eluveitie is obviously another borderline case, but then so in parts are Amesoeurs, Cantata Sangui, Gnaw Their Tongues, l'Acephale, Sunn O)))), Thy Catafalque and Xasthur, at least.

Madder Mortem seems really likely to be my #1.