Rolling Metal Thread 2009

I only have the s/t Wishbone Ash album, but it's pretty great. If you like that, I also recommend checking out the band November, who are a Swedish heavy blues-psych-rock band from the early '70s and almost certainly a major influence on Åkerfeldt and Opeth. Three studio albums and one posthumous live disc.

I've nothing to add to a discussion of Wishbone Ash, having never heard them save live, back in '75 or so. :)
As to that Decibel List: very funny, really.
No Gorgoroth, Nargaroth, WitTR?
That Nile ( one of my fave bands; heard them live many times) is their weakest so far.
Marduk is not bad, but is not that good, either.Funeral Mist sounds like the left-overs from it.
The Krallice sounds like a rehearsal jam more than an album.Weakling minus the talent. Boring, interminable,...
Oh, well, no matter. The only copy of Decibel I have ever seen was on the rack at Barnes and Noble.

Back to the Isis debate, when they stopped through Portland on Celestial tour, we played right before them. Soilent Green headlined. I got a little known group from Eugene called YOB to open.

It was titanic. And the Oceanic shows I saw were equally fantastic.

Panopticon, and Absence of Truth are boring, hookless, and unmemorable. I'm firmly with Phil and J0hn on this one. Wavering Radiant is definitely a step in the right direction though.

The 10th anniversary tour was great. But then I saw them again this year and it was boring again :(

Are there not any live Isis albums?

they released a live DVD a couple of years ago. seemed a bit pointless though... they're not exactly the most visual of bands.

I only ask bcuz like 3 ppl on this thread have suggested they used to bring it live.

Are there not any live Isis albums?

There's a live DVD that's decent, and they've released five limited-edition live CDs that sell out pretty much the minute they're announced. I have two of 'em; one is a complete run-through of Oceanic several years after its release, which is pretty good - more psychedelic than the original album.

Aha then re: limited live discs. It's off to the magic rap1dsh@re machine then!

i have the live cds

Of course you do.

actually i dont have the 1st one, no way was i paying loadsa money for a cdr. I have the vinyl version.

Loving the new Arsis, Starve for the Devil. It's about one X chromosome away from being an Arch Enemy album, but it's really catchy and melodic and has a definite sense of humor.

I like Arsis OK but Arch Enemy is my shit so if this new one is not as rad as Wages of Sin I am comin for you jeff t

you added a "my" by mistake there J0hn ;)

oh man I am not havin any arch enemy disrespect from the dronelords around here :)

Yeah, what's up with that? Not only are they extremely solid on record (don't love the new album of re-recordings, because they've actually gotten better with Gossow up front), but I've seen them live three or four times and they've killed it every time out.

Oh, I love Arch Enemy, that's probably why I'm enjoying the new Arsis.

I don't know if it's as rad as Wages of Sin, though. That one was in my decade top 40 list for decibel.

haha dronelord. I like that!

and I have a new screen-name !

xp I get the feeling that a lot of the hard-core death kids are going to cry sellout when they hear this record, though, hence the Arch Enemy disclaimer.

Yeah, the new Arsis will annoy a lot of tech-deathy nerds, but personally, I like the whole Arch Enemy thing the new record has going on. Some great hooks amidst all the shredding.

That sounds disappointing to me, loved the last Arsis but haven't really ever been a huge Arch Enemy fan. They're okay, I guess.

Not a big fan, but whadaya know, I'm seeing Arch Enemy toninght with Destruction and Abigail Williams. Saw them once before on a festival and liked them much better than on the albums I've heard of them.

More interested in seeing Destruction though, hopefully they don't sound as protools-y live as on their recent albums. I always loved how their awesome-crappy thrash polka beat used to mutate into a jump blues shuffle groove mid-verse back in the day. Still hoping for them to do a Bull Moose Jackson cover instead of The Knack.

Decibel list-griping, Day 5... http://bit.ly/8BfnuO

Not to put more work on you now Phil, but I'd love to see a follow post detailing the bands you feel were slighted by the list.

Where in god's name is Blessed Black Wings? A bizarre omission

by no means new, but I listened to aura noir black thrash attack last night. many, many great riffs on this one. 100% awesome.

and the last track sounds like it might morph into "ace of spades" at any moment!

Are we going to run an ILM metal best of the decade poll? I want phil to write a blog complaining about it too!!

I for one will nominate as many non-metal-metal albums as I can think of.

This is the ballot that I ended up submitting for the decade list:

1. Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon
2. Nightwish - Wishmaster
3. Baroness - Blue Record
4. Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night
5. Machine Head - The Blackening
6. Torche – Meanderthal
7. Mastodon – Leviathan
8. Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
9. Soilwork - Figure Number Five
10. Lacuna Coil - Comalies
11. Shadows Fall - the Art of Balance
12. Arch Enemy - The Wages of Sin
13. Blind Guardian - A Twist in the Myth
14. Slough Feg - Traveler
15. DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage
16. Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll
17. Opeth – Watershed
18. Gojira- From Mars to Sirius
19. Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
20. Earthless- Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky
21. Nachtmystium - Assassins
22. High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
23. Corrosion of Conformity - in the Arms of God
24. Cradle of Filth - Midian
25. Agalloch - The Mantle
26. Armored Saint - Revelation
27. In Flames- Clayman
28. Clutch - from Beale Street to Oblivion
29. Rammstein - Mutter
30. Behemoth - Evangelion
31. Strapping Young Lad - Alien
32. Into Eternity - the Incurable Tragedy
33. Kylesa - Static Tensions
34. Hammers of Misfortune- Fields/Church of Broken Glass
35. Enslaved - Vertebrae
36. Testament - the Formation of Damnation
37. Turisas - The Varangian Way
38. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster - II
39. Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation
40. DHG - Supervillain Outcast

After looking over the Decibel list, there are a few things I would swap out (I should probably have Killswitch, Iron Maiden, and Queens of the Stone Age in there), but not as many as you would think.

Sadness at Wishmaster not making it.

Well, I wouldn't really call that particularly surprising, but I heart that record.

wait so can anybody tell me is sons of northern darkness getting passed over on everybody's list because if so that is some o_0 wtfness

Good series, Phil, thanks for linking here.

I haven't heard Sons of Northern Darkness since its original release, and that was when I couldn't listen to black metal at all, so it would have been disingenuous to put it on my list. I'd probably put All Shall Fall on there now, though.

If you like Gojira, you'll really enjoy France's Hacride. Their last two albums are superb.

This recommendation was spot on. Thanks. I enjoyed the Hacride stuff I found on YouTube. I'll probably queue some of this up for download once my eMusic credits refresh. I tried the Ulcerate too, but didn't dig it as much - not as melodic as I was hoping for.

One other pleasant surprise on the Decibel list was Katatonia's Last Fair Deal Gone Down placing so prominently. If there was one Katatonia record I would have predicted would make the decade list, it would have been Viva Emptiness.

I like Jeff's list a lot...Arch Enemy, Bodom, DragonForce, and Nightwish all should have made the top 100.

Interesting to read a List that does not include
LVTHN 'Tenth Sublevel of Suicide'
Emperor 'Prometheus...'
Mayhem 'Ordo ad Chao'
WitTR 'Black Cascade'

I voted for Prometheus, and was shocked it didn't make the cut.

I'm honestly not that big into the pure kvlt blackness. Emperor are cool, but Wolves always struck me as kind of background music. Really neat background music, but I've never really been blown away.

Yeah Wolves bored me and i did try more than once.

I've tried every Wolves release and been bored surly every time.

hehe you're always surly!

i was gonna say! that is so phil. bored AND pissed off.

yall liking that alcest split?

yes

ordo ad chao is decade top 20 for sure imo