Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

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.

Anyone else want to chime in? Shame there isn't more chatter about these classics.

I wish I could! I'm so busy this week. Three GREAT albums, though. Sin After Sin tends to not get the same kind of attention being smooshed in between landmark albums like Sad Wings of destiny and Stained Class, but that is one of the heaviest metal records to come out of the '70s for sure. "Dissident Aggressor" is one of my favourite songs in the entire Priest catalog.

As for the Scorps, I always prefer Vigin Killer, but "Sails of Charon" is probably the best song from those early Uli Roth days.

oh dudes i have so much catching up to do on this thread

I need to catch up on this week

ok trying to catch up....sin after sin is available on grooveshark, the other two are not

correction, like half of sin after sin is available. wtf grooveshark.

The scorpions album just kinda washed over me

It really is my least favorite Scorps from that era. I'm a Fly to the Rainbow guy. Everybody listen to the track "Drifting Sun" and get back to me ;)

who is up next?

14/6 Siegbran
21/6 Call All Destroyer
28/6 jeff
05/7 aldo
12/7 A. Begrand.

GOREFEST - False (1992)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_220vz8JKmAQ/Si34_SjAXSI/AAAAAAAAEX8/KP7Jw3ih2do/s400/Cvr.jpg

ARCKANUM - Kostogher (1997)
http://www.todeslaut.de/shop/cover/108arckanumkostoghercd120091013.jpg

COLDWORLD - Melancholie² (2008)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/8/9/5/189521.jpg

Spotify links:
Gorefest (support the war against bonustracks - False is 46 minutes/9 tracks, you really, really don't need those demo tracks, live tracks and the atrocious Erase album tacked on to the reissues)
Arckanum
Coldworld

False is one of the grooviest old-school death albums you'll ever hear. And I like that Arckanum album, it's incredibly spacious for a black metal album, and the pagan parts are not only well-timed but pretty darn unsettling, especially when you've got the album turned all the way up to hear the thing (dynamic range in metal...who'd have thunk it?).

I hadn't heard Coldworld...it's interesting, bt it hasn't exactly grabbed me as of yet.

Kostogher is one of the grooviest black metal albums you'll ever hear too.

The Gorefest and Arckanum are very similar in the sense that these are both headbangable METAL first and 'extreme metal' second. Even in the faster parts they keep pulling you in rather than try to pummel you into submission.

Coldworld as the complete opposite - contemplative, deliberate, rhythmically stiff as a corpse.

I wondered which 3 you would go with in the end.

hiya fiends: can i have a go when there's a spot available?

I reviewed that Arckanum disc for AMG a while ago; I liked its predecessor better, but it was pretty good. Haven't heard the other two yet.

wish i had Spotify -- haven't heard of any of those before, but i really like the album art for both the Coldworld and Arckanum

Would have skipped Gorefest just because of the name, expecting undifferentiated mush, but I'm kind of liking it. Not sure I'm bonding with the vocalist enough to count as a serious convert, but I like its balance between musical and unmusical. Good reminder that genres are sometimes more interesting (or at least interesting in different ways) before they really get codified.

Oh, and disagree about skipping these bonus tracks. Love how much the live singing sounds like a milk endorsement.

ketchup time:

Gridlink - rabid rodent frontman seeks funny, jazz-skronk lovin', post-hardcore backing band for the good times.

Kyuss - can't believe how much i dig this one! wasn't feeling Sun Valley at all a few months back, tbh. desert doom as it should be: tipsy, bleary-eyed, meandering, LOUD. iz all good.

Entombed - this is just swell. finally, a DM singer i can stand for more than a couple of tracks at a time. pretty rockin' too.

Fates Warning - sounds good and generic on first listen--could probably do with a killer riff or two. don't hear anything particularly mind-blowing, tho.

Manowar - awesomely rifftastic! why i have resisted these guys for all this time is beyond me? also, the lyrics may well be the best part! and how could anyone hate on "Mountains?" ain't y'all got no soul?

Amon Amarth - this one sounds really good, but kinda overly-generic when compared with the terrific Twilight of the Thunder God.

Him - mostly hate the homogeneous feel to the production here. the songs seem decent enough when i pay attention, but given the frontman's lack of personality, i don't see why i should care one way or the other.

Mastodon - this strikes me as their least focused effort; still damn exciting, tho.

All of these records are also on iTunes, with previews.

Arckanum: Hmm. I liked Phbbthbbthbbt fairly well, but hadn't gone back to hear any of the earlier ones yet. This one isn't really grabbing me. I'm not hearing "incredibly spacious", I'm hearing "mashed into a gray blur". Maybe I just don't have it turned up high enough. Let's see. Ah, yes, that's a bit better. But not enough. The anguished howling is just making me want to listen to Lifelover instead.

The Arckanum isn't my cup of tea. The only tracks I liked were the instrumental interludes. I kept trying to find a way into it, to find the groove or something else that would open a door, but it didn't happen.

I like the Coldworld, but, to be honest, the only black metal I've been able to get into is the ambient and folkier stuff. I'm not sure how often I'd dig this out but I really enjoyed hearing it. "A Dream of a Dead Sun" is great, if just a bit too long.

Gorefest definitely has a groove - was able to get into that right away. The rhythm section makes this for me - the guitarists are solid, but I like that these guys swing. Nodding along as I type but it makes me want to get up and move. Easily my favorite of the three; once again, you guys are making me rethink my stance on death metal (I still find the vocals detract more than add though. Always another hurdle to jump).

Thanks Siegbran! I would never have heard these on my own. This listening club may not be getting the most interesting or salient comments from me but it's definitely expanding my horizons and exposing me to lots of cool stuff.

been listening to a lot of Scorpions (1975-77) lately, and i gotta say, man, were these guys ever less annoying back then than when they hit the '80s. great '70s hard rock guitar tone/sound, decently recorded drums, better than tolerable vocals, and there's bass, too. i dig it. Taken by Force may just be my fave of theirs from that time. good pick.

omg! i can't believe i waited soooooo many years to hear Mob Rules! fucking thing is a monster! i am ashamed and dismayed, and demand that my fellow metal brethren (and sistren) do herewith mete out most just, unyielding & tr00 (natch) retribution on this unworthy infidel's misbegotten person. thankin' ya already.

Sign of the Southern Cross!!!
Sign of the motherfucking Southern Cross!!!!!!

dude, sleeping on mob rules is damn near inexcusable!!

Interesting to hear the reactions. Gorefest and Arckanum are obv longtime faves of mine (the former immediately, the latter a grower), picked the Coldworld because I haven't made my mind up about it. It's surprisingly varied (in a style that is monochromatic by definition), the grand, cinematic themes are very effective and the concept/lyrics/artwork is well developed and executed but yet I keep feeling there's something missing, that something that made Burzum/Strid/Forgotten Woods what they are. Production, drums and vocals could definitely be better.

The irony in Gorefest's career is of course that after the success of False they were very aware of their strengths (the groove and solos) but utterly failed in their attempts to leave death metal behind and capitalise on them. Their later 70s-inspired groovy hard rock records are tedious and uninteresting. JC's vocals got worse and worse too, his voice totally shot.

Oh and yeah Mob Rules rules.

yes it does. and i suck for getting off the Sabbath/metal-in-general bandwagon 'round about the time of Heaven and Hell. i must now make penance most grave!

I really like this ColdWorld album. It's like Xasthur turned from miserable to grandly melancholy.