Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

Maybe not the best intro to Opeth tho?

Maybe a lot of my love for that particular Necrophobic is aided by the fact that in 1994, I had very little context for what Swedish Death Metal was SUPPOSED to sound like. All that really matters to me is that the guitar riffs are so good, the bottom end is there, and the vocalist really carves out his own niche.

That record seems to stand alone to me in my collection... So I'll certainly look up the Impiety and Grotesque you suggest. Thanks!

Opeth was my idea, cos I wanted something Swedish. He did say to check out Hellhammer. What should i look into by them?

I've listened to a bit of these and am lovin it!

Oh, I see, there's very little....

get the reissue of all their stuff that came out a year or 2 ago. I totally regret not buying the vinyl of that s it was "too expensive" now its OOP and prob sells for triple what it was.

Hellhammer only recorded 3 demos (rereleased as one 2LP) and one EP. My fave is Satanic Rites (3rd demo), then the Apocalyptic Raids EP. The first 2 demos aren't that great to be honest.

It's all gloriously filthy.

Maybe not the best intro to Opeth tho?

bites tongue
― Siegbran, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 7:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Siegbran I personally would love it if you would put your guns on blast on this topic

don't encourage him! he's being polite.

"So I'll certainly look up the Impiety and Grotesque you suggest."

everyone on earth needs impiety in their lives. they just don't know it. they are god.

xpost - Ghost Reveries is the best production the band ever had, and the first time they were actually functioning in the studio as a band. Plus it's got "Baying of the Hounds" which is one of my personal favorite Opeth tracks.

Sure I love Still Life and all the others, really. The biggest trick with Opeth is getting used to their sound. Which album you work with is fairly superfluous IMO.

Ghost Reveries is a perfect introduction to Opeth. It's a little more accessible and streamlined, and can ease a new listener into their more meandering fare.

Which Opeth album you start with depends on what your other tastes are, I think; they have albums that would be more appealing to black metal fans (the first two or three), albums that would appeal more to prog fans (everything from Blackwater Park on), and some stuff in the middle that'll appeal to more hardcore death metal people. My personal favorite albums are Damnation, Deliverance and Watershed, and I also really love both their live albums, especially The Roundhouse Tapes.

The drum break in "Welcome to Hell"... WOAH DUDE

Oh damn the solo in "Witching Hour".

OK, I was just playing my 3yo daughter some music over breakfast, and iTunes segued into that Necrophobic album while I was in the kitchen. She reports that she likes "Awakening..." quite a bit, but that it's hard to make her sippy cup dance that fast.

I've moved on to other Thunderstorm albums. Could have done with out the "In a Gadda Da Vida" cover on Faithless Soul, but I'm liking it otherwise!

No surprise - another three I've never heard.

Thunderstorm is great. Not just okay, or even good, but freakin' awesome. The rhythm section is really together and as Nate said, sound massive. It's not proper doom without some serious balls from the bass and drums. I like the sound of the singer's voice too, which really helps.

Not a death guy, and cant tell you if Necrophobic is generic or not, but it is rifftastic. Some really great guitar lines just thrown out there and quickly replaced by another good one. I like. Singer is a bit whatever, but he didn't put me off the thing. The title track was the highpoint to these ears. Much as with the Amon Amaarth earlier, I like the slower stuff; it gives the blasts more impact when they let go. As I'm still a death metal noob, I have to ask: do other bands get as much swing as these guys? The pocket they form is nice and the eruptions out of it more primal than some of the busier drummers that I always seem to come across in the genre.

Speaking of pockets, my favorite part of the Voivod I've heard over the years has always been the drumming. No exception here, as I absolutely love the drums on "Bacteria" and "Quantum". I don't remember Voivod as being this dense and murky sonically, so I'm going to have to dig up my cassette of Nothingface to compare.

Thanks for a fun week Nate!

And Alan, I definitely plan on picking up From Wisdom to Hate. Very cool album.

Voivod has never been as dense or murky as they were on Phobos. Nothingface is sterling audio quality.

I too have finally been spinning that 3rd Gorguts record today in the car. I'd heard the first two but this one sure has a lot to love!

Somehow I think my obscure taste has totally derailed everyone's enthusiasm for metal club. Sorry guys!

nah dude i've been moving this week, i really want to hear these!

These are cool picks Nate - I think the holiday week is sapping some interest. As for me, my sickness is sapping my energy and ability to say anything meaningful.

I think if the thread title was changed more would click on it, a lot dont realise its updated.
If we dont change the picks in the title every week then maybe a "new albums every monday" would be better

yeah, I def want to check these out but I've been pretty busy this week. sorry, nate!

No worries, lol. I was just being emo. You all rule.

Thunderstorm shouldn't do covers. This version of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" at the end of As We Die Alone is terrible.

I like their Electric Funeral, but that's the only one I've heard.

Thunderstorm is indeed great. Doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, massive sound, glorious riffing. I haven't heard anything from these guys, don't know how adventurous they are on other recordings but I can't really imagine them improving on this record. This is pretty much as good as this style gets I think.

BTW I'm currently in hiding in a faraway country that doesn't have Spotify or Rhapsody - anyone I can contact to check if my picks for the 14th are available there? I'm not planning on picking super obscure stuff & I can check iTunes availability but obv I can't ask law abiding folks to cough up 30 bucks a week.

sure email me at my username ( not herman) gmail

"This is pretty much as good as this style gets I think."

Agreed. None of the other Thunderstorm material I've heard is quite so impressive. That album just flows from one to the next. Infectious and epic and crushing for what it is.

do other bands get as much swing as these guys?

Thanks for the tip! I guess I heard the American DM stuff which pummels but without the shake. Will check that stuff out.

The Class of '77

Motörhead - Motörhead

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S7E3PAEZL._SS400_.jpg

Scorpions - Taken By Force

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61huQQJJ1gL._SS500_.jpg

Judas Priest - SIn After Sin

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WGWvEIaaL._SS500_.jpg

My go to metal is always plain old classic heavy metal. Everyone should know these but we don't spend much time talking about roots and influences apart from Sabbath and I thought it could be fun. Plus, I wanted to encourage pfunkboy to hear 70s Scorpions at least once.

That Scorpions cover really is tremendous.

I really like how hard rock music of that time was recorded. Enjoying the Scorpions so far. "Riot of Your Time" is great. If the Judas Priest is anything like Screaming for Vengeance, I'll like it too.

The layered guitars on "Sails of Charon"! This stuff might be pretty close to my ideal of how a basic g/v/b/d lineup should be mixed.

Sorry, Sad Wings of Destiny was the Judas Priest album I was thinking of.:P

Is Virgin Killer good? The guys in The Stoned Age like it IIRC. I like In Trance.

Sad Wings of Destiny is my favorite Priest; In Trance my favorite Scorpions. These '77 releases are my second favorites. Virgin Killer is good, but my least favorite of the Uli Roth era albums. I think all the 74-77 Scorpions are essential.

It's a shame they had to change the Taken By Force cover for later releases. It's highly questionable but not hideously offensive like Virgin Killer.

I love the video for "Sails of Charon" too - Klaus' dancing in the back during the long intro is great, as is everyone looking sleek except for Uli's hippie regalia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya5bGthIz4E

Great choices! I need to spend time with that Motorhead. I know On Parole and Ace of Spades, but not the s/t.

Sin After Sin is one of the greatest albums of all time. Especially thanks to session drummer Simon Phillips. His hi-hat break down in the middle of Sinner would have impressed Becker and Fagen.

I prefer Virgin Killers to Taken By Force a) because I heard it first (by 20 years) and b) because I'm a nerd and I know that the band was falling apart and splitting with Uli during the recording of TBF. I'll try to do a more objective listen though since I mainly Dj Sails of Charon or Steamrock Fever rather than playing it as a whole album.

Also, I love to show the Taken By Force band photos to my lady friends and ask them "which one of these guys is your boyfriend?" Its a tough one!

His hi-hat break down in the middle of Sinner would have impressed Becker and Fagen.

ok I have to hear this

These albums are like multiplication tables. You shouldn't be allowed to use a calculator until you've mastered these.

Way to go EZ :)

This stuff might be pretty close to my ideal of how a basic g/v/b/d lineup should be mixed.

Heh, I'm not sure I still hold to this in the morning.:P Cool albums though.

xpost

hah, I'm actually v. familiar with the priest catalog. just never heard this one for whatever reason.

but I've never given the other two a formal listen. :-o

Well Nate, after we talked so much about these last week I knew I'd get some good comments (esp. about young Simon Phillips - he was 19! Best drumming on a Priest album to this day).

And Sundar, I do think the mix of Taken By Force is about perfect; their is such clarity to each instrument yet they sound so together - still like a band in a room - that I love it. I like the production on all of these, even if they are rather disparate.

xpost - Alan, that was no dig at you. Just a statement to the universe. I am excited for you because I wish I could hear Sin After Sin for the first time today :)

:-)

Yes, it was the clarity and dynamic range in the recording that I appreciated. The drums sound so great! Who produced this?

The one and only Dieter Dierks. He produced all the Scorpions albums from 75 (In Trance) to 88 (Savage Amusement).

I admit that the Scorpions never belonged to the metal elite, in my mind, and TBF isn't changing my mind. I mean, I'm enjoying it, but at this distance it sounds no more metal to me than Billy Squire. Very obviously I'd think different if I'd grown up with it.