Rolling Metal Thread 2009

(Something which anyone who read my Sylosis review in the latest issue of Decibel could have probably figured out)

holy crap! i am, like, totally digging the hell outta the new Sabba...er Heaven & Hell album! riffs galore; production dark & densely packed; Dio's voice aging well and far more than bearable; Bill Ward, alas, missing. my top two metal albums of the year locked in place already. next?

I'm listening to In Flames - The Jester Race for the first time. I've never been this fucking bored in my whole life. Is it because this just sucks or because 100,000 bands have done this since then?

― matt o, donderdag 16 april 2009 23:45 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I loved that album when it came out in 1996. Haven't listened to it in recent years but to me it was one of the albums that got me into the whole Gothenburg melo-deathmetal thing (together with Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery, which is even better).

yeah i picked up the new jester race and whoracle reissues--even if it's not my all-time favorite stuff, sometimes you just need to listen to some in flames.

I think The Jester Race holds up very well, although its folk metal direction on "Moonshield" is in retrospect completely unnecessary.

I actually prefer Colony and Clayman, to be honest.

really digging the new Hacride album today! serious riff after serious riff! by the end track, you've got something totally majestic.

i second and third adrien and phil on the ulcerate (willow)tip. great stuff.

i've been listening to wavering radiant for awhile now, and i really like it. it's very 'isis' but definitely distinct from their other albums. it's about 10 minutes shorter than the last record, and there's definitely an absence of filler, which is refreshing.

aaron turner's vocals haven't sounded this awesome/grating in a loooong time.

also, i've found there's more emphasis on tight rhythms this time around. the band really sound together.

Agree about Wavering Radiant; it is tighter than their last couple. Plus, I really dig the 70s organ tones. Got the Hacride in yesterday's mail but haven't played it because...well, because I also got like a half dozen awesome salsa reissues and/or compilations, plus a two-CD Rory Gallagher compilation I picked up while in Belfast this weekend.

yeah, I thought, uh, whatever the one before wavering radiant was called, was seriously boring. I think I only got through that thing about twice or so. but wavering radiant is a step up.

I mean, it's still isis, so if you think isis are boring, it probably won't change your mind. but it compares favorably to the best of their post-celestial stuff, imo.

Second the Hacride love. BIG step up from Amoeba, and I really liked that album. Amoeba got kind of monotonous after a while, but the new one switches it off the lot. I'd say more, but I reviewed it for Decibel, which frames my thoughts in a more coherent way.

holy crap! i am, like, totally digging the hell outta the new Sabba...er Heaven & Hell album!

Not me:

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/27386930/review/27534978/the_devil_you_know

That NWONWOBHM comp on Earache Metal Killers finally really kicked in though! Cauldron's excellently titled "Chained Up In Chains" is even the running for my Top Ten Singles list for the year, at least for now. Other favorites: Powervice, Crowning Glory, Portrait, two or three others maybe.

Also really liking Cross Stitched Eyes' Coranach on Alternative Tentacles, which I'm told is "crust punk," but then Rudimentary Peni always sounded pretty metal to me (and to Voivod, too.)

Speaking of which, new Voivod!

Voivod are playing Download

Voivod isn't touring Canada. More money in the festivals, but still, boooo.

Cannot wait to hear the new record.

Oh, and that band Portrait Chuck mentioned is so awesome, their album totally took me by surprise. It's like Priest circa '82 meets Mercyful Fate circa '82.

Voivod are playing two shows in Quebec in July.

I am trying to get them to come to Ontario, but it's just gotta be good timing for them to do more...

you know what's great about Agony Column's 80's hellbilly thrash debut album God, Guns, & Guts?

the sticker on the front cover says: WARNING:THIS ALBUM CONTAINS BACKWOODS MESSAGES.

hahahahahahaha!

ooops, wrong video. i'm drunk.

I saw Agony Column open for GWAR in '92 and that dude totally had a lightning bolt shaped guitar. I recall buying the LP before the show because they had a song called "Dead By Dawn" which really didn't live up to it's titular promise.

BTW, just got files of the new Liturgy (from NYC). This stuff is really fucking impressive. Need to digest more fully. Sorta indie-fied trance Black Metal from NYC with a nice, original angle.

Check it: http://www.myspace.com/liturgynybm

I think I've grown numb to grind in the last year or so. I spent time with both the new Agoraphobic NB and Mumakil last night, but really didn't get much at all from either.

I haven't felt the slightest urge to revisit the Nosebleed disc, but that Mumakil album is pretty strong stuff. So's the new Antigama. And I'm enjoying the new Brutal Truth more than I thought I would.

The Mumakil was definitely the better of the two, but even with that I just kept waiting for it to get over. I was just numb after about track 13.

xps

three stars in service of the man (Wenner), Chuck? NOOOOOO!!!!!!

What i've heard off the new Sabbath, which isn't much, is pretty good. Nothing earth-shattering, but a pretty good effort for a bunch of 60 year olds.

How intense was the Mastodon show tonight? Fat dude in the pit picked up The Ubiquitous Lost Shoe and started whapping the sole as hard as he could into his face during the mellow part of "The Czar".

Kylesa was awesome, they benefitted hugely from the 45 minute set time, taking about three songs to get going, and then going on to tear the place apart. Intronaut was the real revelation, though. I've been into them since their demo, but live they're actually so much better.

Fat dude in the pit picked up The Ubiquitous Lost Shoe and started whapping the sole as hard as he could into his face during the mellow part of "The Czar".

hahaha this is amazing

Saw Brutal Truth play in Toronto on Friday night. I really like them with the new guitarist, something I wasn't sure of going into the show. However, a band like them touring without their own sound guy is a huge no no. The club they were playing in, the Wreck Room, was just that. A shithole with a bar down through the middle did nothing for creating a good atmosphere and the club sound dude was just atrocious. Mix was brutal. No guitar, too much bass, drum sounds were fucked. Anyway, they were great despite all of that. Nice to see them playing again after all these years.

Cannot wait for the Mastodon show Thursday night, especially after hearing that all 3 bands are sounding good!

I was listening to that Graves of Valor album on Relapse and I think it may be one of my favorite death records of the year so far.

so pissed they're not swinging anywhere near me

The only problem at Mastodon was that by the time they played "Hearts Alive", I was too exhausted to really enjoy it. These epic metal package tours are really killing me as of late.

The new Hacride really sounds strong, alright. I'm always a week behind the rest of you guys when it comes to new arrivals. Thanks, Canada Post!

I'm hoping to catch the Mastodon tour on 5/9 in NYC; the Lamb of God tour is the night before, so I'm skipping that one.

http://www.brutallegend.com

New Mastodon "vocal stylings" = unbearable.

Not sure what the rolling metal denizens think of Minsk, but I'm enjoying the new album. The bit about halfway through "Almitra's Premonition" when the Hawkwind keyboards come in just kills me.

Great band. New album? awesome! cant wait to hear it.

Yeah, it comes out May 26th. Lots of stuff going on here, very heavy and full sound. Quite a few of the songs incorporate keyboards, but never in a way that detracts from everything else. I'm really impressed after first listen.

I've enjoyed the last two Minsk albums a lot. I don't listen to those Relapse streams, though; I'm waiting for a real copy to show up in the mail, or at least downloadable files from that Play MPE system.

i listened to some of the minsk download, but, yeah, they never sound that good and i usually ignore them. which is sad cuz relapse still puts out a lot of stuff i like. i just wish they would send me stuff. i'd take a tdk 90 even. as long as it was high bias.

listening to the new human quena orchestra album on crucial blast and it just makes me wonder how long it will be until pfunkboy buys the diehard triple vinyl gatefold edition. it's yer kinda slow-ass doom, mate! in other words, collector doom.

Collector doom, I like that.

I've always enjoyed Minsk, but I haven't given the stream a listen either. I expect it to be good, though.

Are people here falling appropriately in love with the Withered CD?

new withered?

love the new dodsferd album. my fave by far from that dude. 2nd track especially (there are only two tracks) is just infinitely groovy. sounds like there is black metal harmonica on it! god knows what the actual noise is. but it really does sound like a harmonica.

oi, who are you calling a collector doom fan!

New Mastodon "vocal stylings" = unbearable.

― Nate Carson, Monday, April 27, 2009 9:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i agree. at least on the album it's somewhat tolerable, but the none of the dudes can sing live. it's painful listening to them trying to project.

"I'm hoping to catch the Mastodon tour on 5/9 in NYC"

I'm defintely there.

but the none of the dudes can sing live. it's painful listening to them trying to project.

WTF? I must have seen a different Mastodon live those two times then.

haven't seen them live since remission days... but I wouldn't find that too surprising. they can't even sing on record. ;-)