"So here's a small sampling - a baker's dozen, if you will - of highly worthwhile metal albums that may have slipped past you unnoticed in '09."
20 is a baker's dozen. 13 is a demon's dozen! \m/
― Fastnbulbous, Monday, 30 November 2009 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
wont be in the UK Borders. They've gone bust.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 30 November 2009 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
20 is so not a baker's dozen.
― scott seward, Monday, 30 November 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
That is a nice list Phil, I can especially endorse the Kreator, Wolf, and Obscura albums - all of which I enjoyed to varying levels and didn't really see a whole lot on. Still need to check out the Zu and Minsk though.
Hasn't 13 always been a baker's dozen?
(ha xpost!)
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 30 November 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Have all the Borders straight up just locked their doors never to return as of today then? Crazy
― I AGREE WITH THE COSMETIC SURGERY (DJ Mencap), Monday, 30 November 2009 19:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Aren't they still struggling on in vain like Willem Dafoe at the end of Platoon? I'm sure the one in Islington was open the other day.
― Doran, Monday, 30 November 2009 21:51 (fourteen years ago) link
closing down sale apparently, but they wont be getting any new stock obviously.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 30 November 2009 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
But what if the baker did a wake 'n' bake and was feeling generous? Or was addled with cold medicine like me?
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 1 December 2009 06:01 (fourteen years ago) link
20 is only a baker's dozen if you're a really hungry baker.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 08:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Question for Adrien if he sees this. I saw you mention Orphaned Land on your Twitter, do they have a new one coming out? My wife works with a guy who splits time between Israel and Chicago for their company and he knows a couple of the Orphaned Land guys, which is how I got ahold of Mabool originally.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 02:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I've been listening to the new album, I was a big fan of Mabool as well. It's pretty good, but there's a lot to digest. It comes out in February I believe.
― A. Begrand, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 02:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not Adrien, obviously, but yeah, there's a new OL disc coming out in early '10. I got a download link for it but haven't grabbed it yet 'cause I've got eight dozen other things demanding my attention at the moment.
― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 02:30 (fourteen years ago) link
i want new orphaned land!
― scott seward, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 02:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks for the info Phil, curious to hear it.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 03:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i wrote a review of mabool almost SIX years ago in the village voice and i used the term "half-assed experimentalism" which i TOTALLY stole from siegbran! wow, feels likes a lifetime ago:
Some purists decry what they see as half-assed experimentalism in some modern metal as an aesthetic dead end and as a trend that prizes novelty over the perfection of form dictated by the unwritten laws and constraints of whatever sui generis subgenres a band aligns itself with. Unfortunately, I was cursed with a funny bone, a belief that exploration can often trump orthodoxy, and have never been much interested in the comfort and faith that purism provides and requires.
Plus, you never know what's gonna come of anything. If Israel's Orphaned Land, beloved by Arab and Israeli alike, manage to service the long-overlooked segment of society that are fans of Fiddler on the Roof, Ofra Haza, and death metal with their album Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven, then all I can say is hurrah for the Holy Land!
I happen to enjoy their mixture of Jesus Christ Superstar choral work, death-barking, epic Semitic desert riffs, Mideastern folk warbling and plucking, triumphal hi-diddle-diddle-la-la-la-la choruses, temple-mount rock-god solos, and a cappella prettiness mixed with spoken-word portentousness. Heavy metal is folk music, so combining it with trad ethnic hootenanny action makes perfect sense. And there ain't nothing half-assed in the way that Orphaned Land go about it. Do I care that the three sons pictured on the album cover are a snake, an eagle, and a lion, and that these animals represent Judaism, Islam, and Christianity? No, I don't. The song is the thing. What Orphaned Land do make me think about is that metal—and music!—is a land you are free to roam, even though there will always be people who choose to stay close to home working the same plot of ancestral soil year in and year out.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 03:35 (fourteen years ago) link
This is why I love Scott.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 03:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know what it is about those Middle Eastern sounds and metal, but damn the combination can work brilliantly. A great example on the new Orphaned Land is the opening track "Sapari", which is probably the best track on the record.
I like experimentalism in metal as well, for the last 20+ years I've been drawn to the more adventurous heavy sounds, satisfying as formulaic metal is. I can't help it, I'm always interested in where metal is going to go next. That's just me. Actually, Scott's statement actually works as a convincing argument against that ludicrous anti-false metal rant that the Voice published today.
― A. Begrand, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I just read that piece. Such garbage.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:24 (fourteen years ago) link
link pls?
― omaha deserved 311 (call all destroyer), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:29 (fourteen years ago) link
my pal jeanne responds:
http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=345944
― scott seward, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, the Deciblog is how I first saw the piece.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:34 (fourteen years ago) link
It's like, dude, bash on the Pelican because you've kinda got a few good points about that particular album, but, uh, just shut up after that.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:35 (fourteen years ago) link
wow what a horrible piece (the vv, not your pal jeanne)
― omaha deserved 311 (call all destroyer), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:37 (fourteen years ago) link
The same goes doubly for Florida's Torche, which often sounds like Looney Tunes composer Carl Stallings tearing through Helmet's late oeuvre in double-time.
this is a not inaccurate rendering of why torche is awesome you fucking clown
― omaha deserved 311 (call all destroyer), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:38 (fourteen years ago) link
god dammit. i mean at least you could say baroness, mastodon, and torche are linked by geography but whatever you think of pelican they have nothing at all to do with those other bands.
grouping is the most intellectually dishonest form of criticism.
― omaha deserved 311 (call all destroyer), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:39 (fourteen years ago) link
"Boy this Pelican album is bad. And you know what other metal bands I hate?"
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 04:43 (fourteen years ago) link
LOL voegtlin. he's always fucking terrible.
― her appendix were out (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 05:14 (fourteen years ago) link
I kinda like the idea of 'sketchy' metal. In this interview Weakling's Josh Gossard also talks about how he would like metal to be *more* sketchy. If Dead as Dreams is 'sketchy metal' then I'm all for it.
― Chuffed Wiff Morrisound (Thijs), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 10:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Man, the new Mudvayne album is bad. I used to kind of like them - I thought their second album showed real promise - but this is terrible, a watered-down combination of the worst aspects of Tool and Linkin Park. Guh.
― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 14:53 (fourteen years ago) link
good comment from the deciblog post:
Posted 12/1/2009 8:08 PM by ghettohed
Ive read alot of trash like that Village Voice article. People spend way to much time naming things cool or uncool, hip or unhip, etc. Not to sound like the stoned kid in the back, but cant we just enjoy the music?
― original bgm, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 14:55 (fourteen years ago) link
i can understand his frustration at bands that probably don't really qualify as metal taking album of the year honors from groups like Blut Aus Nord, Enslaved, and Behemoth*, who have all put out amazing albums over the past few years, but the article is poorly written. i wouldn't mind reading a well-written hate-fest of Pelican or Baroness based on their music instead of where they fit in in the world of metal and who listens to them. that's just kind of juvenile to me.
*okay maybe i am projecting a little
― Buck Utah (rockapads), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 18:41 (fourteen years ago) link
i know i might be inviting a shitstorm with the "qualify as metal" thing, but c'mon... these guys are either punk-tinged hard rock (Torche), prog rock (Mastodon, Baroness), or post-rock (Pelican), with massive amounts of distortion and/or hollerin'.
― Buck Utah (rockapads), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 18:44 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost I hear ya but I also don't think it's all that surprising that crossover acts get a disproportionate amount of attention from media that doesn't exclusively cover metal.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
"I never cared who was in the crowd as long as they weren’t out to beat my ass."
This was the line that Jeanne wrote that resonated with me. It's an important stipulation because we all know the "bridge and tunnel" knuckledraggers can in fact ruin a good show if they don't behave.
― Nate Carson, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 21:56 (fourteen years ago) link
whatever next:
KEEP OF KALESSIN Competing To Represent Norway In EUROVISION SONG CONTEST http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=131312
― djmartian, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 23:22 (fourteen years ago) link
whatever next...this
10,000 metal releases came out this yearhttp://invisibleoranges.com/2009/12/10000-metal-releases-came-out-this-year.html
― djmartian, Wednesday, 2 December 2009 23:33 (fourteen years ago) link
decibel 100 best of the decade special issue is pretty cool! and no martian i will not transcribe it for you. it's probably online somewhere by now anyway.
― scott seward, Thursday, 3 December 2009 02:11 (fourteen years ago) link
no sign of a blogger publishing the list yet, however i would expect the list to turn up on rateyourmusic.com soon
http://rateyourmusic.com/lists/recent
― djmartian, Thursday, 3 December 2009 13:25 (fourteen years ago) link
The Metal Minute: The Metal Minute's 25 Immaculate Receptions (and Honor Roll) for 2009http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/2009/12/metal-minutes-25-immaculate-receptions.html
1. Mastodon – Crack the Skye2. Isis – Wavering Radiant3. Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect4. Kylesa – Static Tensions5. Candlemass – Death Magic Doom6. Chthonic – Mirror of Retribution7. Megadeth – Endgame8. Sepultura – A-Lex9. Zombi – Spirit Animal10. Voivod – Infini11. Slough Feg – Ape Uprising!12. Pelican – What We All Come to Need13. Slayer – World Painted Blood14. Brown Jenkins – Death Obsessed15. Skyfire – Esoteric16. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions17. The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate18. Hacride – Lazarus19. Shadows Fall – Retribution20. Tyr – By the Light of the Northern Star21. Mantic Ritual - The Executioner22. My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire23. Heaven and Hell - The Devil You Know24. Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade25. Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans
Honor Roll of 2009:
Lamb of God - WrathArise - The ReckoningVader - NecropolisBehemoth - EvangelionAncestors - Of Sound MindLeeches of Lore - s/tNocturnal Fear - Metal of HonorLeaves' Eyes - NjordStatic-X - Cult of StaticGod Dethroned - PassiondaleJob for a Cowboy - RuinationLiving Colour - The Chair in the DoorwayAce Frehley - AnomalyWarbringer - Waking Into NightmaresMudvayne - s/tNovembers Doom - Into Night's Requiem EternalBone Gnawer - Feast of FleshAssjack - s/tLuna Mortis - The AbsenceCannibal Corpse - Evisceration PlagueNile - Those Whom the Gods DetestShrinebuilder - s/tWino - Punctuated EquilibriumLillian Axe - Sad Day On Planet EarthW.A.S.P. - BabylonKillswitch Engage - s/tUFO - The VisitorPowerman 5000 - Somewhere On the Other Side of NowhereNihilitia - Nihilist MilitiaThe 11th Hour - Burden of GriefThe Amenta - NonPsyopus - Odd SensesGollum - The CoreConspiracy - Concordat
― djmartian, Friday, 4 December 2009 11:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Decibel's decade list has finally been blurted:
http://www.terrorizer.com/main-forum/music/decibel-mags-greatest-100-albums-decade
It's definitely eclectic, which is a really good thing. Lots of stuff to argue and discuss about (right off the bat, I don't agree with numbers 1 and 2!). Can't wait to read the real thing...whenever that'll be.
― A. Begrand, Friday, 4 December 2009 23:05 (fourteen years ago) link
So it's not on the stands yet?
― Bring me Sanka or Tetley (Jon Lewis), Friday, 4 December 2009 23:13 (fourteen years ago) link
lol @ no 100
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 4 December 2009 23:17 (fourteen years ago) link
The complete absence of Slipknot on that list pleases me.
― A. Begrand, Friday, 4 December 2009 23:19 (fourteen years ago) link
that list is hilarious. Decibel is trolling imo.
― richie aprile (rockapads), Friday, 4 December 2009 23:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm ok with that list. A bit surprised to not see YOB or Sunn 0))) on there... Great that Asunder, Warhorse and Ewiz got the doom nods though.
― Nate Carson, Saturday, 5 December 2009 03:55 (fourteen years ago) link
on quick review it seems to be mostly lacking in doom
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 5 December 2009 03:57 (fourteen years ago) link
What's new? It's always been the ugly duckling genre of metal. And we like it that way, right?
― Nate Carson, Saturday, 5 December 2009 04:15 (fourteen years ago) link
true i guess i hoped decibel of all ppl would include at least as much doom as metalcore but hey what can you do
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 5 December 2009 04:17 (fourteen years ago) link
The fact that the specific complaint of the first person complaining there is that the top 100 doesn't feature Bad Religion, Ignite or Propagandhi really says it all about the tsunami of list-obsessed retardation that this part of the decade is creating
― I AGREE WITH THE COSMETIC SURGERY (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 5 December 2009 08:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i think i posted this on another thread, but this was my ballot for the decibel decade list:
Top 40 Of The Decade
1 – Agalloch – Ashes Against The Grain 2 – Celtic Frost – Monotheist 3 – Katatonia – Last Fair Deal Gone Down4 – Primordial – The Gathering Wilderness5 – Converge – Jane Doe6 – Deathspell Omega – Kenose7 – Orphaned Land – Mabool8 – Neurosis – A Sun That Never Sets9 – Intaglio – S/T 10 – Eyehategod – Confederacy Of Ruined Lives11 – Grave In The Sky – Cutlery Hits China: English For The Hearing Impaired12 – Amok – Necrospiritual Deathcore13 – Vog – S/T14 – Necrodemon – Ice Fields Of Hyperion 15 – Harvey Milk – Special Wishes16 – Celestiial – Desolate North17 – Blood Of The Black Owl – S/T18 – Heinous Killings – Hung With Barbwire19 – Magane – Beginning At The End20 – Metsatoll – Terast Mis Hangund Me Hinge 1021821 – Ahab – The Call Of The Wretched Sea22 – Indesinence – Noctambulism23 – Minsk – Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive24 - Negative Reaction – Under The Ancient Penalty25 - Ea – Taesse26 - Skinless – Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead27 - Tristwood – The Delphic Doctrine28 - Virgin Black – Requiem – Fortissimo29 – Gospel – The Moon Is A Dead World30 – Kylesa – To Walk A Middle Course31 - Destroyer 666 – Cold Steel…For An Iron Age32 – The Black League – Ichor33 – Tyr – Eric The Red34 – Falkenbach – Heralding The Fireblade35 – Opeth – Deliverance36 – Caina – Some People Fall37 – Gorguts – From Wisdom To Hate38 – Electric Wizard – Dopethrone39 – Moonsorrow – V:Havitetty40 – Raging Speedhorn – How The Great Have Fallen
― scott seward, Saturday, 5 December 2009 12:54 (fourteen years ago) link