Rolling Metal Thread 2009

^^^ given that lineup, it really oughtta be two days - if not 4. unbelievable cruelty in the decision making. start w kylesa, stick around for torshay, wander on over to skeletonwitch (debate baroness while buying beer, but decide against), maybe check out early to catch some US christmas?, but probably just stick around for toxic holocaust, leave early & run over to harvey milk, bum about pig destroyer getting lost in the shuffle, leave early and run over to krallice, (hold leave early and run over to HoF as backup) but stick around for nachtmystium. kill time til zoroaster. given the lines, probably couldn't even make it into half that stuff anyway.

Yeah, forgot about wanting to see US Christmas. Curious to see how they translate live.

Heh, guess I should have just headed over to PopMatters earlier this morning to get your thoughts Adrien!

Ha, yeah, I don't plug shamelessly enough. But to reiterate, if Lamb of God hasn't won you over yet, I doubt that the new one will. Ashes of the Wake is still your best bet.

Looking forward to seeing them again in April...

Yeah, that's the thing. I thought Ashes of the Wake was decent, but the 2 or 3 tracks I heard off Sacrament didn't do much for me at all - so I never listened to the whole thing.

http://www.nme.com/reviews/lamb-of-god/10140

That's almost as weird as the thought of Pitchfork reviewing Lamb of God.

Is it a sign that Lamb Of God are past it? I hated their last album. I despised Pantera so I hate it when a band imitates them. I did enjoy their previous albums though. But that last one really put me off.

What, NME reviewing it at all? It's not like a lead review or anything, they're pretty big over here - this is highly uh.jpg tho

Virginia’s Lamb Of God remain masters of the subgenre called metalcore. Which itself is an offshoot of a thing called the new wave of American metal, which rejects oafish traditionalism and strives to innovate.

Yeah, if there's one thing Lamb of God has nothing to do with, it's innovation. Not that that's a bad thing of course, they and their fans seem content with being predictable.

who doesn't love oafish traditionalism?

People who write articles slagging off Manowar?

or ILM?

it warms my heart that other people loathe pantera as much as i do

i liked pantera when i was a youngin', but i can see why people hate them. they were a unique voice at one time. they sound worse in retrospect thanks to all of the shitty bands they influenced.

Nah, Vulgar Display is still a flat-out classic.

I should listen again - I doubt I've heard it in 10 years. I never had any use for the albums that followed.

Yeah, I think Anselmo's work with Down has aged a lot better than post-92 Pantera.

I'll rep for Pantera. I listened to Reinventing the Steel not even a week ago, and at least half its tracks hold up just fine. But I fucking hate Down. And the less said about anything else the man's ever done (Arson Anthem, his various idiotic black metal projects, etc.) the better.

I'm back from vacation! Not that anyone cares. Got a bunch of stuff in the mail, including new Samael, which is supposedly a return to their black metal roots, although I haven't listened to it yet. Also got a CD by a band called Mothra, who appropriately sound a lot like Gojira.

Also something from Persona Non Grata, who are foofy prog metal, but their vocalist has some serious pipes, like Matt Barlow range.

^^^
Haha, nice screen name.

It would be great if Mothra split the difference between Gojira and Rodan.

There's a Rodan? I knew there was a Gigan...

Rodan was one of those Slint-y mathrock mid-90s things.

There is a King Geedorah (misspelling on purpose) too - one of MF Doom's pseudonyms.

Rodan fucking ruled. Rusty is a terrific album.

This may be of interest to certain people on this thread:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/THE-50-GREATEST-METAL-FRONTMEN-OF-ALL-TIME-19861.aspx

Roadrunner disputes the Metal Edge list!

I mean, not that I agree with all of it, but I think we should start a blog war.

can anyone recommend seeing witch live? apparently j. mascis is the drummer

i recommend seeing witch live and coming back here and telling us if it was worth it

Can anyone recommend some good histories of metal music? Ideally something more historical/academic that I could cite when discussing metal history?

Ian Christe's Sound of the Beast is really good, and Albert Mudrian's Choosing Death is a cool history of grind/death metal.

Deena Weinstein's Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture is a superb examination of the culture of the genre as a whole.

I have yet to get Daniel Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal, but everyone's saying it's great.

Back to the music...the new Mantic Ritual is great fun. Nothing but generic thrash, but I have a real soft spot for generic thrash. This is right up there with Merciless Death, in my opinion, simple and catchy. Thanks to Palmerston for reminding me to spin this one.

i recommend seeing witch live and coming back here and telling us if it was worth it

― That's not just me saying that, that's the Pentagon. (contenderizer), Friday, February 27, 2009 12:35 AM

ha i watched a couple clips on youtube, seems pretty stoner doomy. i can get in free so i might just go anyway. also this local band vincent black shadow is opening and they're pretty good metal/punk. also earthless

^ have a VBS LP from 2005 (or so?) that's pretty good. metal punk like the stooges. plus love earthless. and you get in free? what's the hold up?

just wanted to see if anyone knew about witch

there's another vbs in canada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vincent_Black_Shadow. wonder who got the name first

Go for Earthless. They are amazing live.

Alright, the new Lamb of God is definitely a step in the right direction. Can't say its quite worth the glowing praise of The Quietus review ("Simply put, the most exciting metal record in the last ten or so years."), but I'm enjoying it.

man, the blut aus nord is KILLER. I wish the longest track on it went on forever. and I found it on youtube! compressed as all hell but hey...

the melodic guitar leads on this are just fantastic. almost remind me of a more polished countess. work so well with the head-nodding drums.

and I've liked bits-and-pieces of what I've heard for blut aus nord before but I love this whole thing. well, maybe except for the generic black metal keyboard intro, but that's hardly offensive and kind of funny in a "how to make a black metal album" checklist kind of way.

I'm finally going to listen to the new Blut Aus Nord and Absu albums today...something tells me it's going to be a good afternoon.

The Samael isn't really grabbing me. A little too obvious a stab at recapturing their early sound. I was a big fan of Reign of Light, but not Solar Soul...

Today's mailbag included the new Wolves in the Throne Room and Orcustus discs, plus a 2CD live set from last year's Return to Forever reunion tour (which I'm currently listening to).

i look forward to the wittr

whoa, didn't realize their was a new wolves in the throne room LP coming out so soon. psyched.

no spoilers!

Got the Wolves album the other day as well. Should be great.

Wow, Blut Aus Nord has really found a perfect middle ground between their experimental side and raw black metal. Brilliant album..."Meditant" (Alan N is right) and "Disciple's Libration" really stand out, plenty of gorgeous melodies in there.

Man, I am not feeling that BaN track as much as the Mort stuff.

The new Absu kills, I wasn't sure what to expect. Another blackened album that benefits hugely from a cleaner, warmer mix. I like this trend.

^ have a VBS LP from 2005 (or so?) that's pretty good. metal punk like the stooges.

yeah that's a good album, why the hell do they not seem to be known outisde of baltimore? i found their album in a dollar bin, it's solid.

i'll have to look for that album, they're really fun live. maybe they haven't toured enough outside of b-more, which is true of most bands here