Rolling Metal 2017

There's a version of Metallica's Death Magnetic making the rounds that's supposedly "de-loudness-war-ized":

foobar2000 1.3.5 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-04-30 06:19:00

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Analyzed: Metallica / Death Magnetic Unloaded
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR9 -0.03 dB -10.82 dB 7:08 01-That Was Just Your Life
DR9 -0.46 dB -10.81 dB 7:52 02-The End Of The Line
DR8 -0.19 dB -11.06 dB 6:24 03-Broken, Beat & Scarred
DR10 -0.52 dB -11.78 dB 7:54 04-The Day That Never Comes
DR8 0.00 dB -8.96 dB 7:58 05-All Nightmare Long
DR9 -0.89 dB -10.73 dB 6:39 06-Cyanide
DR10 -0.14 dB -12.71 dB 7:46 07-The Unforgiven III
DR9 -0.63 dB -11.25 dB 8:01 08-The Judas Kiss
DR9 -0.15 dB -10.85 dB 9:56 09-Suicide & Redemption
DR9 0.00 dB -9.86 dB 4:59 10-My Apocalypse
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Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR9

I'm listening to it now, and honestly, I can't hear any major differences between this, the officially released CD, and the Guitar Hero version that leaked around the time the album first came out. But maybe my ears are just too cooked to register the subtleties.

誤訳侮辱, do you use any kind of a DAC when you're listening? I am totally not an audiophile but the difference in EVERYTHING I listen to since I started putting a DAC in line is night and day.

No, I just plug headphones into my laptop. But they're decent headphones - Sony MDR-ZX600s, not earbuds or anything.

Cool, yeah like I say I'm not an audiophile, but since I started using a USB DAC I hear so much more than I used to -- when I was auditing mixes of my own new stuff, it was really pronounced, like I could not variations that if I a/b'd w/o the DAC in-line the difference was "that seems fine" (w/o DAC) vs. "dial that effect back about 50%" (with). I'm also using Sonys. My right ear is pretty fried but I'm always preaching the gospel of the Microstreamer DAC because it really 3d'd a lot of shit for me, especially metal

And this will help even on only average-quality files? Cause the vast majority of what I listen to is either 320kbps MP3s or 256kbps AACs; I'm not a FLAC/AIFF/WAV guy at all.

that's what I listen to unless it's something of my own that I'm mixing/evaluating.. don't have room for bigger files otherwise. seriously from the first measure of anything you listen to, especially if it's something you're familiar with...night & day.

Ordered it this morning. Thanks!

But they're decent headphones - Sony MDR-ZX600s, not earbuds or anything.

http://scontent.fewr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18221744_10158627727120597_8276973726021520126_n.jpg?oh=ddfe482cbc250a3273dc36c69d77133a&oe=597B0128

lol I had the wrong model. I use MDR-7506, which is what p much every engineer I know mixes with - very neutral and unglamorous, just the way I like em. They cost me 80 bucks and you can basically back over em with a truck.

hope you love the microstreamer like I do, it has added so much to my listening

oh but I came to this thread to say NEW CONTRARIAN HELL YES

https://contrarianmetal.bandcamp.com/album/to-perceive-is-to-suffer

I assume you can get them cheaper than this?

Uh, yeah; the last time I got 'em from Amazon, they were $59, and the most I've ever paid for a pair (I've bought several, since my wife and I both use them) was about $75.

I should note that when I bought the Microstreamer this morning, I also bought this fine item (hope the image isn't board-destroyingly huge):

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61LCygmnxJL._UX679_.jpg

Listening to the debut - fuck it, I'm calling it the only - CD by Dead Cross, a "hardcore" band formed by Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Justin Pearson of the Locust and Mike Crain of Retox. It...sucks. Patton doing his funny voices schtick, with some additional Jello Biafra imitation thrown in (not DKs-era Biafra, but latter-day Biafra), Lombardo playing way below his usual standard (and not mixed to sound anything like himself), and the other two playing generic early-00s needles-in-your-ears noisecore riffs. Complete fucking garbage. Can't wait for Whiney's rapturous review in Rolling Stone.

i forgot to mention i saw Astronoid live and they were incredible and now i think literally every band should do that processed harmony vocals thing.

Ghost Bath were boring, but maybe i was in the wrong space for 'em.

File under "not metal but metal people like them," the new Oxbow is brilliant (and likely the least metallic thing the band has done).

Yeah, it's fantastic, and if you can get a copy of the accompanying hardcover book they're selling, do it. The band members take turns interviewing each other about the production process, there are a bunch of great photos, and a ton of other stuff.

lol I had the wrong model. I use MDR-7506, which is what p much every engineer I know mixes with - very neutral and unglamorous, just the way I like em. They cost me 80 bucks and you can basically back over em with a truck.

The venerable Sony 7506, a great headphone, impressive that after 30 years it's still relevant. I had the precurser, MDR-V6 for over 15 years. When it finally wore out, I went on Head-Fi to research what was new, and got drawn into the hobby in 2006. I've written about some of the ones I've tried over the years, like the beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro, which you can get now for just over $100. beyerdynamic has an even more impressive long run, the DT48 was in production for over 75 years! I currently use the open DT 1990 Pro at home. A couple weeks ago I went to AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) to hear the latest of the crazy expensive gear, like speaker systems that cost over $60K and the $50K HiFiMAN Shangri-La electrostatic headphone, which I was actually not that impressed with. One that I was impressed with for it's value was the new Meze 99 Neo, which ships in a week or so. It's $249, about $60 less than the Classic which featured wood cups.

With decent headphones, a DAC really does make a difference, even with streaming and MP3s, and there has been some improvement in the chips made in the past few years. Here's some good values: iFi Nano, Schiit Fulla 2 and AudioQuest Dragonfly.

More here - Recommend a pair of headphones for me

Nokturnal Mortum just announced that the new album drops Monday. Should be on their bandcamp then.

https://nokturnalmortum1.bandcamp.com/

Everyone who orders it wil be hacked by Russians.

No really, great news. No idea what to expect in terms of quality, it's been ten years since their last album.

surely they loathe + detest russians

stoked anyway

They're NSBM, they hate everyone

They're not NSBM anymore, supposedly.

Yeah this was made clear by their song "Adolf Doesn't Want Me for a Blitzkrieg"

new album is mixed and mastered by Greg Chandler btw

and it's up

LOL at some NSBM losers saying they're 'no longer political' - you put out a split with Graveland last year FFS.

^^^^^^^^^^ otm. I listen to a lot of bm so I can't pretend my collection's going to be 100% ideologically pure, though: 1) A lot of it's not outwardly political and so obscure that no-one gives a fuck what they think/thought anyway, and 2) most racist/nsbm bands are fucking dogshit anyway.

I kind of resent having to do a bit of research sometimes when finding new bm to listen to, but I did this for Moonsorrow and found a thing where one of the members of that band explicitly states they are anti-Nazi/racist; compare and contrast that to Nokturnal Mortum's mealy-mouthed bollocks.

In today's climate they may very well feel safe to write anti-semitic lyrics again anyway, who fucking knows.

And while I don't like Nokturnal Mortum on a musical level, I don't care if other people listen to them and know that doing so doesn't mean you support fascism etc etc but it's the noncommittal tone that smacks of dishonesty behind NM's statement that irks me.

I'm not sure if such reductionism is very useful. Issues with misogyny, intolerance, racism, communism, fascism, nationalism, religion etc are not divorced from geographical and cultural context - this is not an issue with black metal (or even music) alone.

Haven't read the lyrics of this new record yet, but from an band operating in a Ukrainian warzone, a record without any overt nastiness (like NM have operated for the past 15-ish years) is fine with me.

I mean I'm not asking for a public apology from the remaining members of The Clash for writing Sandinista. For whatever reason, many people are too proud to renounce their past, esp when it still pays the bills thirty years later. I'm pretty sure they believed in the movement at the time and I'm not holding it against them (and certainly not their music), as long as they don't overtly support those fuckers in 2017.

I'm not sure if such reductionism is very useful. Issues with misogyny, intolerance, racism, communism, fascism, nationalism, religion etc are not divorced from geographical and cultural context - this is not an issue with black metal (or even music) alone.

Ehhh that feels like an excuse, and it's also assuming a vastly different cultural context.

The long and the short of it is, like ultros says, that non-committal tone is bad faith: if you were once NS then explicitly renounce your ways, that's that; merely saying 'I'm not political anymore' or the like is a cop-out at best, but more likely a nod-and-a-wink to fellow travellers. Are you too proud to take it back? Sucks for you, I'll hold it against you.

At the same time, I don't think it's the same as those who play with fascist imagery with that kind of haughty smugness of 'oh I know what wolf's hooks and sunwheels really mean, it's on you if you think I mean something else'. You know who I mean.

Anyway, I'm still gonna LOL at fake 'apolitical' pontificating.

A couple of albums I like are streaming in full in advance of their release:
The Wizards - Full Moon in Scorpio (Out 2017-05-16 on Fighter Records)
Saule - Saule (Out 2017-05-13 on Avantgarde Music)

Difficulty: Neither website is in English. Fortunately The Wizards' shit-kicking occult doom and Saule's shimmering post-black metal need no translations.

I'm not going to require an explicit apology/recognition of the Armenian genocide before I can enjoy a Turkish musician - esp if it doesn't play up the issue, their work stands on its own merits. I'm not asking Christians to acknowledge atrocities and intolerance, and I can enjoy their music as long as the music doesn't try to push the message too heavily. I'm sure you can think of similar cases with violence, misogyny, attitudes to gay ppl, etc. I know these are complex issues with various degrees of intensity, and people have various reasons to hold the beliefs that they do, but if they abstain from pushing their ideals in order to make their music more widely enjoyable, this is not something to hold against them. I hold it against them when they do push the issue.

Regardless of what they believe or where they come from I believe all artists have a voice - sure if that voice then sprout all kinds of odious hatred (or just general dumbassery), by all means tune out and call them out on it, but to dismiss them upfront regardless of the actual content is not really defensible in my view. Or rather, I don't think anything good ever came from this attitude.

nazi black metallers fuck off

The Voice Of Steel was impressive for its integration of Ukrainian folk elements. If the new album loses that without fully renouncing the NSBM shit, I'd have no problem skipping it. I've got plenty of other stuff to listen to.

thought tbh I can't believe this discussion is still relevant in 2017, but sadly it is

if there's no actual nazi content in their lyrics it really comes down to 'is the music good', which the last album imo was. will be listening to this one keenly (heard first four tracks earlier - didn't grab me as much but I was intrigued to hear them go in a folkier direction)

if anyone has substantial dirt to dish on them i'm all ears obv

hmm, this is growing on me quite a lot, sorry everyone

topical creams are good for that

Just downloaded a promo of the self-titled debut by a one-man project called Les Chants Du Hasard, which the press release describes as follows:

The band's eponymous debut is an experimental work featuring a mix of classical music and black metal without any guitar, bass or drums – only orchestral instruments. The result is a shocking and fascinating lecture of 1800's orchestral music as seen through the deforming lens of extreme metal; an original hybrid that marries the abrasive, aggressive vocals typical of black metal with the majestic and dramatic aura of classical music, caught in its darkest expressions. “The album is influenced by orchestral works and operas from composers like Modest Mussorgsky, Sergej Prokofiev and Richard Strauss,” Hazard explains. “I thought a lot about how to articulate it with black metal; especially the vocals, which I wanted in the vein of Ulver, Emperor and Ved Buens Ende.”

I'm intrigued.

hmm! label?

It's on I, Voidhanger. Comes out June 23.

yeah count me in too

https://leschantsduhasard.bandcamp.com/releases

There's one track available, anyway. Kinda reminds me of a way more dynamic Slagmaur (and without the incessant metronome drums obviously). Probably a pretty trippy experience as a whole album.

One day there's gonna be a black metal opera, isn't there...

it sounds like arcturus

that's not a bad thing btw

mind you, "no drums"

*timpani barrage*

hmm, not sure about this

holst's 'mars' >>>>>>>>>>>>

That's a pretty high bar tbh.