Rolling Metal Thread 2012

Ghost sounded better than the record because it was live in a big hall with pro-sound. Otherwise, I was surprised how much it was produced to sound like the album.

I look at that album now as a soundtrack to the live show. You can't fully "get" Ghost until you've seen them. The music is only part of what they're doing. It's theater, and it works.

favorite gothic-metal thing of the moment is Memento Mori, by Lunar Path.

Ha -- Same title as the second Flyleaf album.

Just got my ticket for the Mastodon/Opeth/Ghost tour, super excited. Sick of ridiculous fees though, the fees were 41% of the face value of the ticket.

:O

I was tempted to go, but just saw both Ghost and Mastodon. It's at the Riviera again, and the sound sucked there for Mastodon. The clincher is that Devil's Blood and In Solitude are playing that same night at Bottom Lounge. I'm definitely doing that!

I'm also gonna see Van Halen with my cousin at United Center. He also wanted to see Guns 'n' Roses at House of Blues. However tix are $125 + fees, kind of insulting given the state of the band. We flipped a coin and VH with Diamond Dave it is! Listening to the new VH today and it's kind of awesome! It's definitely better than Diver Down, and possibly even 1984.

Yeah, the sound at the Riv sucks, but I've missed out on Ghost before and I've never seen Opeth.

Yeah, I'm pretty fucking impressed by the new VH. "Tattoo" sucks dead dog ass, but every other song I've heard (I've only made it a little past the halfway mark) has a power and fury I've rarely heard from them. Hell, some of these songs are easily among the fastest and heaviest they've ever recorded, going back all the way to the earliest days. I'm extremely pleasantly surprised.

Wow, guess I'm going to have to give that album the time of day after all. "Tattoo" was so awful that I was all prepared to ignore the whole thing.

No, the rest of the record is shockingly good.

In other news, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm going to be giving a talk on 80s German thrash next Sunday at Centrum Berlin, and anyone who's gonna be in the neighborhood is more than welcome to stop by. It's free and will run about two hours. I'll be giving a sort of general overview of the history, talking about stylistic tropes and political overtones, and playing music by Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Holy Moses, Iron Angel, Grave Digger, Accept, Running Wild, Deathrow, Rage, Living Death, Erosion, Paradox and maybe even Tankard.

I really can't be arsed going to see Mastodon later, but I kind of want to see DEP and Red Fang so I need to get it in gear. I can always leave early.

I know they placed decently on the metal poll, but man it seems like everyone is pretty down on Mastodon around here these days.

my mate, who didn't care much for recent albums, went to see them in Zurich and really enjoyed it.

As is the case with most bands, I find myself liking Mastodon's earlier stuff than the later,...

Actually, Unsane is probably one of the only bands where I can say I like the new stuff better..

I'm actually looking forward to hearing the newer Mastodon stuff, it seems they've been working at sharpening up the live performances of those songs, which vocally left a lot to be desired.

Pretty stoked. I got hired to write an article on Black Sabbath, and another on Star Wars. Good weekend.

Well, they appear to have regressed to the point where they're an entry-level metal band - the sort you might go and see when you don't want to turn round at a Foo Fighters show and see your parents or your teacher. There's been what seems like a conscious attempt to mould everything down to 3-4 minute territory and it just doesn't work. It seems hard to believe just three years ago I was watching them covering 'The Bit' and now they'd be more likely to cover 'No-one Knows'.

A couple of points to note - Bill has tried to go full-on for the Josh Homme look he's played with for a couple of years now, but is carrying a few touring pounds and actually looks like Dylan Carlson. Secondly, I'd swear that there was some miming going on. If nobody's mouth is open and there's still singing over the PA... Plus the guitar tech inadvertently revealed while setting up that some of the guitar parts are on tape.

I couldn't stick it out and left before the hour mark.

^ When you go mainstream, people expect perfection (hence the taped parts, lipsyncing, etc).

This is a bad example, but didn't Creed get sued years ago by some concertgoer who complained that their show didn't sound like the album?

Friends of Metal - I'm interviewing a nameless ghoul tonight, can anyone who has seen Ghost live on the recent tour give me any pointers for questions? Does it really look like they're going to blow up in the states? I've read some pretty breathless reports. Is there anything about the shows I should know about having not seen them live myself? Cheers.

Pretty stoked. I got hired to write an article on Black Sabbath, and another on Star Wars. Good weekend.

That's awesome! What a great weekend!

I've seen Mastodon four times now and enjoyed every one, but that recent Aragon live album was a little disappointing. I guess I'm surprised to see a lot of people, not so much in here, backpedal from them now that they've hit this level of success.

Mastodon were real bad the last time I saw them, on the tail end of the Crack the Skye touring cycle. There seemed to be a lot of tension within the band itself, and they seemed really tired of playing that album from front to back. Hopefully they've rekindled their love for the material in the intervening time, because they had always been great before that show.

the 2 times i saw them way back at leviathan time they were fantastic

I saw them once Leviathan era, twice Blood Mountain era and once right at the start of the Crack the Skye tour cycle.

the first time i saw them was in a tiny club (glasgow cathouse) and it was like sardines. Leviathan ccouldn't have been out that long. Awesome gig. set was from remission and leviathan. Awesome stuff

Doran - There were a ton of people at the Ghost show I saw, and I bet you every single one of them will go see them again next time.

There are the bands (like Pentagram) who people want to check off the list and say "I was there." Ghost is so god damn entertaining that it's an infectious experience you'd want to have again. They're the Disneyland of Satanic metal.

Thanks. Talking to a ghoul right this instant...

Okay, Ghost was really good, but there's a bit of hyperbole happening here. I think the costumes and props are throwing off peoples' perspectives. Pentagram were more dynamic, expressive and fun. I would choose Pentagram over Ghost live at this point, at least until Ghost start touring on their next album. They have plenty of room for improvement, and then maybe they'll start to be as great as people are now claiming.

I'd swear that there was some miming going on. If nobody's mouth is open and there's still singing over the PA

That is a steaming load of B.S. I've seen Mastodon several times and have seen no such thing. They're just so tight you were hallucinating.

Haha, yeah, I forgot to mention upthread that the last time I saw them they were definitely singing live otherwise they'd be a little embarrassed about the quality of the pre-recorded tracks.

I only noticed it on the one song, and it was the very first one (Blasteroid, I think?). A Brent song with a very tuneful vocal. I didn't think it was likely, but I'm sure what I saw and I had a good view.

It has come out that Sharon Osbourne fired Bill Ward... the hits keep on coming.. what a miserable Cunt!

So...if you're gonna be in Berlin this weekend, come hear me talk about German thrash!

https://www.facebook.com/events/164126797035079/

If that Bill Ward rumour is true, it'll hardly be a surprise.

And Phil, I would if I could! Best of luck with all that.

Its not a surprise, but fucking shameful and I wish people would boycott their tour. <---- so not gonna happen, but man, it really bums me out

I can't for the life of me imagine why anybody who cares about the music of Black Sabbath in any way would go see Black Sabbath in 2012 - it's like saying "I don't care about their music, I just want to say I was in the same building as the guys who once made good music"

I think they have it in them to make great music still, look at that second Heaven & Hell record.. awesome songs on that record. I just think that doing it without Bill Ward is totally disrespectful, in the same way Van Halen was disrespectful to Micheal Anthony, and that new record is great!! but would've been perfect with MA.. its just a sad reminder that its the music business..

Well, as someone who's lived in places that have had no hope in hell of having the original Black Sabbath play there, if I had the chance I would absolutely go in a heartbeat, Bill Ward or no Bill Ward, teleprompter Ozzy, whatever. Same reason I'm going to see Deep Purple Mark VIII next week. Never had the chance before. Do now. Love the band's music. Bought my ticket.

100 times out of 100 I'd sooner go and watch Bolt Thrower.

I saw Sabbath the last time they headlined Ozzfest - what was that, 2005? Were they the same band as the Paris footage from 1970 that you can see on YouTube? Hell, no. Were they even the same band as the California Jam footage? No. Were they still great in a magisterial, old-kings kind of way? Fuck yes. And yes, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were still a crushing rhythm team. I don't know how much damage seven more years and lymphoma has done to them - I suspect at this point Ozzy might well be the healthiest one of 'em, which is a frankly bizarre concept. But he's become quite a good performer lately - his 2010 tour was astonishing. Still, no Ward, no interest from this corner. Not in the album, and certainly not in the tour. And frankly, even if he does wind up coming back, I don't think I'll listen then, because it'll feel like he got crowbar'ed into it.

I can't for the life of me imagine why anybody who cares about the music of Black Sabbath in any way would go see Black Sabbath in 2012 - it's like saying "I don't care about their music, I just want to say I was in the same building as the guys who once made good music"

Explain that to the band. Their appropriate response would likely be, "Go fuck yourself, mate."

Given that the band and Rubin intend to tap into the sound of their early albums, I'm excited. Chances are, it won't suck and it won't rival their best work, but I think it could be good.

Regarding Bill Ward, from his statement at http://www.billward.com/, he never says exactly what he was asking for in his contract. Maybe he was asking for more money than Geezer and Tony. We really don't know the details. Tony is willing to work while going through treatment for cancer. Kind of makes Bill's issue seem a bit petty.

I saw Dio & the guys as Heaven & Hell a couple years back because I loved their first couple albums. The fact that their new album was actually pretty decent was a bonus. I'm glad I got to see Dio before he passed. If I had turned my nose up at the opportunity, I'd feel like a real asshole right now.

I doubt Sabbath will be touring this year, with Tony's illness. Let's just hope he recovers and he can eventually play, and we can count ourselves lucky to see the man perform once again.

Given that the band and Rubin intend to tap into the sound of their early albums

lol and there was me expecting an earnest attempt at a 'Headless Cross' redux

XP: You may be right about Bill Ward but it seems highly fucking unlikely that he was asking for anything other than 25%. He did so in a very reasonable, un-shit-talking way. He's got every right to bail out on this, if they're going to start arguing some incontinent drunk who doesn't know the words to any of the songs deserves a bigger cut than him.

I can't for the life of me imagine why anybody who cares about the music of Black Sabbath in any way would go see Black Sabbath in 2012 - it's like saying "I don't care about their music, I just want to say I was in the same building as the guys who once made good music"

I have always had trouble with this line of thinking, because we aren't all able to see every artist performing at their peak until time machines come around and then, damn will those shows be packed. I'd rather see Black Sabbath 2012 than to not ever experience them live.

yeah I guess I just differ there - I think plenty of rock acts can be good many years into their careers (I'd go see a John Cale solo set in a minute & the first time I saw him play solo was, like, twenty years ago, and he'd already been doing it for 10+ years) but I don't think of Sabbath as one of them. I'll ride for Gillan-era Sabs even but I can't imagine enjoying watching Ozzy in his present condition.

I can't imagine enjoying watching Ozzy in his present condition.

I'm telling you straight, as someone who saw him play a two-hours-plus concert in 2010, he is not in the condition you think he's in.

Someone recently made that same comment of not wanting to check out older acts in regards to Van Halen, not wanting to see a drunken spandexed Roth rolling around the stage not singing the songs very well.. How and why do people get these twisted notions of what these older guys are doing?

I'd see Van Halen tho I gather the weak link there is Eddie half the time. I'd also see Wire. There's a ton of older acts that seem worth seeing, I'm not making a sweeping condemnation, I'm saying Sabbath live seems like a sure miss to me

for me basically "at least I can say I saw them" isn't ever going to be a priority for me with any act

I saw those 4 guys on the '98/'99 Reunion and they were fucking great--except for Ozzy. But I believe that he might be in better for now.

Also, Bill Ward probably didn't even want 20%. I bet he just wanted more than 6% or whatever they offered him. The problem of course is that the other 3 guys would rather keep the money and spend a lot less on a session drummer who is a lot healthier and more reliable.

It's sad as I'd prefer to see Ward. But if I was the other guys, I'd want a pro who is currently in working order.

Ultimately, I'll listen to whatever they produce and judge it then and there.

Ozzy was pretty much winded by the end of the half-hour set I saw him do it the Sunset Strip Music Festival a few years back. I'm pretty skeptical that he's in better shape these days.

Um… YES.

http://184.173.71.130//14004/PromoImage.jpg

Liking the Priest-ish cover there...