Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

please tell me the songs they stole riffs from

::sigh:: you know when you hear something and it just kind of reminds you of a lot of other stuff, not in a specific way, but in a way that makes it feel like well-trod territory? that is what this sounds like to me.

i didnt mean to sound snarky btw

i mean if u wanna go early, vitus were actually more derivative but were so desperate and weird that it worked for them. if u wanna go contemporary, sleep's holy mountain came out in 92/93 and is also pretty derivative but in a way that i like.

I'm having trouble revisiting this Kyuss record. Haven't heard it in about fifteen years, and though I like some of the bands that they inspired I find this a slog. Feels much longer than 50 minutes or so. Looked up the credits to see who wrote what, and the Brant Bjork tracks (Green Machine, 50 Million Year Trip & Caterpillar March) I like much more than the rest, even the ones he co-wrote. I'm not surprised by my reaction; I don't like Garcia's vocals on anything, and, though I think Homme is a talented guitarist, I haven't liked any of his bands either.

OK, just to demonstrate that I'm actually into this Listening Club idea, I made it through the whole Mastodon album, even the pointless gap-and-static at the end. I didn't like Mastodon before, and I don't like them any better after this. It's an apt triad, I think, as even when Mastodon is sprinting through their spazz-metal bits, there's a kind of leathery braying tone to their riffs that sounds of a piece, to me, with Kyuss and Entombed. To vastly oversimplify, I feel like there are kind of three major temperamental wellsprings of metal: overthought alienation, underthought aggression and pretensions to divinity. It's possible to combine these in various balances, but alienation gave us Black Sabbath and Celtic Frost and today gives us black metal, aggression gave us AC/DC and Motorhead and various -cores and now what's left of death metal, pretension gave us Kiss and Iron Maiden power/progressive/gothic metal. Me, I'm into alienation and ambition, particularly when they can be combined. Not so much into aggression for its own sake. I'm as dedicated a metal fan as you'll find, but I'm also a 43-year-old software designer with a 3-year-old daughter and a Scrabble obsession, and even as a 17-year-old I was the kind of 17-year-old who was bound to grow up to be a software designer with a daughter and a head full of anagrams for RETINAS. So there we are. The week I pick the three albums, some of you will hate them all, too!

About halfway through the Entombed so far and this is really not at all what I expected to hear, given the date of release and the general description of Entombed as a death metal band. Of course further research shows me this was during their "death n' roll" phase, which I guess seems like a better description. I hear a little bit of bands like Pantera in this, in that I feel a sort of similar "groove" (for lack of a better word) in some of these songs. Normally hearing Pantera as a comparison would turn me off, but I'm finding myself enjoying it so far.

And yeah, this is my first ever exposure to Entombed. I know!

i listened to remission on the way to work today as it's the only one of these i own on cd. stone-cold classic imo--it's so funny that they're consistently noted as/accused of getting "proggier" when there's plenty of that to be found on remission. the songs are very parts-y but they're played with such grace and flow so well. dailor was on fire here, obviously--i think the dumbing-down of his drumming is the worst thing that happened to this band. tracks 1-4 in particular are unbelievable, and "workhorse" is just jaw-droppingly good.

glenn, i don't think i understand your three wellsprings at all, but i nominate you to pick next week.

I second that, I'm curious to see what three glenn would pick.

The Entombed is working much better for me than Kyuss did. I've never really cared for Death metal, but this doesn't really hold to what I understood as death metal. Death n' Roll does make more sense, as Jon said. Vocals like this usually rub me the wrong way, though this guys spittle-laced tirades aren't really putting me off. Not adding anything, but I'm not gritting my teeth. Some great chugging guitars, but as I type the solo on "Full Of Hell" made me laugh. Not a strong point. Intrigued, and much better groove than the Kyuss.

I am not looking forward to the Mastodon, even though I like it more than the rest of their catalog.

Just wrapped up the Entombed, liked it a lot more than I expected and will be digging deeper into their catalog when I get a chance. As opposed to EZ, I really liked the vocals on this record, this is the type of growl I can really go for.

snap, thats why i love entombed yet never cared for most DM

I'm approaching the end of the Entombed as well; would have loved to see these guys back in the day. Growlers annoy me less in person than on record. When they up the tempo and thrash out for a few moments now and again I could love these guys. Thanks for picking this!

Okay, no way am I making it through this Mastodon. Herman, you know my dislike - who am I kidding? loathing - and it isn't going to change. Sorry.

Remission is pretty great, but its a slog to get through, by the end of it you feel like you've been pummelled or something. I like their later stuff, especially the one from last year

but feeling like you've been pummeled is why it's such a good record!

Bill's a softie , you know that.

hahah

I like to be menaced and emotionally abused more than beaten.

The first bit of "March of the Fire Ants" is the greatest Mastodon riff ever. When they do that live, the crowd just explodes.

I'm a bit of a lurker on the Metal thread. Can I still join in on this?

of course, everyone can join in at anytime

cool, thanks. I love Mastodon, but I don't think I've ever heard Remission, so this is good for me to give it a listen. Never really heard of the other two, but I'm looking forward to them.

awesome, would be great if lots of non metal thread regulars joined in, im sure mordy will be glad of that.

I second that, the more the merrier!

I'm going to give that Mastodon a listen tomorrow if I can; never gave them the time of day before, even though I was working in a big-ass music store when that one came out (I was into the Hydra Head thing then, didn't branch out to much else).

As for that Entombed... didn't work for me, sorry. A pleasant enough listen, but I can't recall a single riff or tune. Nothing about it stands out to me. But to be fair, I didn't like the sound of To Ride... when that came out either.

once this finishes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqCKr5AeKpc&feature=player_embedded#at=11

...I'm q'ing up the entombed for my first listen in... probably over a decade? I think "full of hell" was my fave cut back then.

hellraiser sample? good start.

up to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ViTp9uur8";>titular</a> track now. really enjoying this one so far! for better or worse, the arrangements are a bit twistier and more convoluted than I was expecting from my hazy memories. (though this track is definitely not a great example of this observation!) this isn't remission but it hits some of the same buttons for me.

ugh, forgot to swap in the bbcode. one more time:

up to the titular track now. really enjoying this one so far! for better or worse, the arrangements are a bit twistier and more convoluted than I was expecting from my hazy memories. (though this track is definitely not a great example of this observation!) this isn't remission but it hits some of the same buttons for me.

just finished. fave track was "hollowman".

though the album is short, it gets a little tiring by the end. I think this is due to the downtuned, super-distorto guitars being so high in the mix more than anything.

but overall, this was fun and I had some good lols during "blood song".

(and feel free to delete my botched post if you have the ability to do so. sorry about that!)

glad you enjoyed it!

I was thinking, maybe in future run, this as a poll so everyone can vote for what they think was the best album?

damn commas in wrong place

or just run a poll as a companion and just post the albums for that week in this thread each time?

you need help.

Or we could just have a conversation without a "winner".

No need to be rude, I was just putting a suggestion out there to see what people thought.

I'm with EZ, I'd rather just have a discussion about these albums without it turning into any sort of "competition".

yeah agreed

Listening to the Kyuss right now, I already knew I loved "50 Million Year Trip", but was not prepared for how much I would love the quiet/loud dynamic of "Thong Song". The trick is really overused, but this is one example of how perfectly it can work.

Okay "Apothecaries' Weight" is awesome too, but I've mentioned before that I am pretty much a sucker for this vibe. Promise I won't liveblog the whole album like this.

please do!

Heh, I don't want to be that annoying, but right now the guitar tone on "Freedom Run" is absolutely slaying me. I almost feel dirty for being such an obvious mark for this sound. Really wondering why I hadn't worked my way back to this album yet, considering I already had the final two albums and the comp.

It's great to see someone on this thread actually enjoying it!

Wrapping it up with "Mondo Generator" right now, which I'd probably like much much better without the vocals all over the place. Not surprised that I love this, I mean pretty much straight up my alley.

i never really listened to entombed before, but i'm here to say it's great work music. cranking it for a second time through.

I hate. Slow songsssssssssssss.

3 really really good albums there.

I've tried twice to get into Celeste and failed, and Titan didn't appeal to me any more than I expected from the description, but I'm liking Murmuure quite a bit.