Rolling Metal Thread 2009

Last night I saw YOB play a secret show for the High School Metal appreciation club at Westview High in Hillsboro, OR; one of the more surreal and gorgeous concert experiences I've had the pleasure to witness. It was me, a couple of teachers, and about a hundred kids with Beaverton school district i.d's witnessing some of the heaviest cosmic doom ever written. At least a few young lives were changed.

wow, that's amazing.

at my high school we got a bunch of old farts playing santana and kenny loggins covers as a treat.

This guy shot some nice pictures of the show. http://www.flickr.com/photos/afrojet/sets/72157617826648497/

that's awesome.

rigor sardonicus played at my high school!

Just back from ATP and fucking SLEEP. Wow. First night was Holy Mountain in the 'right' order with some of the more experimental sections of Dopesmoker and a 'new' track (Not Against Art? Apparently it was something they were working on in their last rehearsals.), second night was more mixed up in order and was a lot better. Al hinted at the end that this maybe wasn't the "one-off exclusive never to be repeated" that it was billed as, which is good because they were having SO much fun on stage it clearly wasn't just for the money or whatever.

Other metal thread type bands:

Jesus Lizard killed. The first show was better, far more chaotic, though the band were tighter second show. It's like they never split up.
Grails were disappointing, I thought. I like the records but the live show just didn't hang together - they barely got grooves going, and when they did they dropped them far too quickly. Reincarnation Blues, for example, clocked in at under 2 minutes.
Harvey Milk were fucking great, a lot of older material in the set and played as trio.
Jesu were good, although the Conqueror material (which was most of the set) just isn't as good as the Heart-ache/self titled stuff. Massive full sound though.
Electric Wizard SLAYED. Disappointingly small crowd, and the first half wasn't nearly loud enough, but the last half hour was awesome.
Lords are the boogie mclusky. This is not a bad thing.
Killing Joke more than made up for the disappointment of the Forum show last year, by mixing the set up a bit (although I have no idea why anyone alive would think including My Love Of This Land off the universally reviled Outside The Gate was a good plan) and the atmosphere was much improved by having a normal gig going crowd and not a pile of pricks running around like they own the band and you can't have fun unless they say so.

I'm seeing Jesus Lizard/Harvey Milk/Grails in a few hours, have high hopes.

Impossible not to enjoy.

trying to decide whether to go see gojira tonight or save some money and listen to all the stuff i havent caught up on recently

So I'm delivering a paper next week that heavily features Jamie Saft's new heavy metal album. Wish me luck!

cool. you gonna blog it?

The paper? I'll post it up somewhere after I deliver it.

You'll do a great job on what is a godawful album (if that one track u sent me is any indication). Break a leg!

:'(

oh btw scott followed your advice and bought the annihilator stuff - LOVE IT - although the album cover for criteria for a black widow is sort of stunningly lol awful.

I would invest in Gojira and a pair of earplugs, JJJ.

SO excited for Opeth/Enslaved tomorrow!

And tonight, if you're in Boise, ID--you can see Wolves in the Throneroom open for Opeth & Enslaved.

Paganfest was so much fun. Moonsorrow was great (especially "Jotunheim"), Korpiklaani brought the house down, but Primordial was AWESOME. What a frontman Nemtheanga is, and whatta voice.

I suspect it's because Primordial *are* awesome.

On record, we are all aware of the awesomeness of Primordial, but I wasn't quite expecting that awesomeness level to be raised as high in a live setting as it turned out to be. Exhilarating night of metal.

Oh, and Blackguard was cool, I've been into them since the Profugus Mortis days. Though I think I prefer them more with the violin instead of the synths they have now.

Al hinted at the end that this maybe wasn't the "one-off exclusive never to be repeated" that it was billed as

Pretty sure some minds'll be blown with amazement if this turns out to be the case haha. The half hour of Sleep I saw on Sunday was hueg but I had to get a lift home. I was a free ticket fukk tho so no complaints.

Lords are the boogie mclusky. This is not a bad thing.

Not sure Lords would share your view there but I think both bands are rad so all gravy imo

Any love for November's Doom, specifically their new album if anyone has heard it, here? I don't normally fuck with that sub-Candlemass strain of doom pomposity but I was pretty into it when I span it yesterday

Sunday night's ATP Sleep set was one of the best things ever (& Saturday was pretty damn fine too). Really hope they do it again - people need to see it.

The new November's Doom is terrific. When you ignore the needlessly audible lyrics.

I'm really digging these double-disc remasters of the first four Amon Amarth albums; each one is paired with a live run-through of the whole album, recorded last year in Germany. Since I prefer Johan Hegg's deeper vocals to the black metal screeching of the first couple of discs, the live versions are better than the originals.

"the live versions are better than the originals."

you are a crazy person.

i am officially jealous of anyone seeing Primordial. they are one of a small handful of bands/people i would ever care to see live. (i never go see bands live.)

trying to decide whether to go see gojira tonight or save some money and listen to all the stuff i havent caught up on recently
― Esprit de Corpsgrinder Fisher (jjjusten)

Did you see them? I missed their Sunday show at Logan Square Aud, and am kicking myself for it. I saw Mastodon and Enslaved/Opeth in the past week. Would have been a perfect end.

I was convinced that Enslaved was going to blow Opeth off the stage. Not so this year. Enslaved were fine, but played it very safe, with a short set of new material including only the first track from Below the Lights and "Isa". Too safe, and definitely dealing with relatively hostile Opeth crowd.

Opeth on the other hand, dug deep. They were commanding and personable and excellent. Only two new songs with a set that covered Still Life, Blackwater Park, My Arms Your Hearse, Morningrise, and the encore of Deliverance, which I thought was both rewarding and predictable.

This was my 6th Opeth show and the best one yet. It's really interesting how many COUPLES are in the front row and singing all the words to even the oldest and most obscure tracks.

Fuck the haters. Opeth is now awesome outside the studio too.

Weird how an Opeth crowd would be hostile towards Enslaved.

I know. Totally ridiculous. Opeth fans are the new Tool fans I guess.

Anyway, in other news, Mike Lastra of Smegma just produced a diy music video for Stovokor the Klingon Metal band. Check it:

And for full disclosure: my younger brother Merlin Carson is the lead guitarist with the red Mockingbird (which formerly belonged to Slash).

Hi, my name is Nate, and my brother is a Klingon.

lol that's kind of awesome.

ha - awesome! they were in trekkies 2, right?

Yes they were the finale of the Trekkies 2 film. I also booked them atop the Space Needle at the 40th anniversary Star Trek convention. That was amazing.

ah, yes.

trekkies 2 was pretty great, actually.

So yeah, the new Sunn O))) is pretty awesome halfway through.

Phil, how's the vinyl sounding? I'm hoping to get that before the weekend.

I don't own a turntable.

so they probably sound really weird then.

Yeah, I tried rubbing the two discs together, but that wasn't all that impressive, so I clapped them together like cymbals, but that just made a kind of wobbly cracking sound. Meh.

You could try the old pin in a paper cup trick.

Anyway, the album's not too shabby, actually reminds me of Earth in some spots. But I dunno, the second half is so durn sedate when I was expecting it to be a lot more ee-vill.

"actually reminds me of Earth in some spots"

a band that started as an Earth tribute band sounds like Earth? No way!

It's a helluvalot more Earthy than the last couple albums, that's for sure.

which earth though? spaghetti cowboy earth? pentastar hotrod earth? droney earth? i'll betcha it's droney earth, right?

Actually, "Alice" at times reminds me a tiny bit of The Bees Made Honey..., namely the desolate French horn outro. More jazz than Morricone, but the same feel.

ok didnt go to gojira because i suck, but in one hour i will be seeing Wolves In The Throne Room, Krallice, Zebulon Pike, and Empires.

SO FUCKING INTO THIS ($13!!!!)

oh shit

added bonus of knowing dude in Zebulon Pike = unplanned for guest list!