Rolling Metal Thread 2009

Haha, wait! False alarm, I was thinking that you were Al Mudrian. I smoked a little weed this weekend tbh. :/

I am embarassed!

Haha. No biggie!

Haha, actually I had you both confused with Anthony Bartkewicz!?

Anyway, how about that metal

Decibel does own the record for hiring the most writers with the initials AB, that's for sure.

The Decibel table at Deathfest was a beacon of calm in a sea of insanity btw

Grabbed a drink with Albert a few weeks ago when he was in Los Angeles for Murderfest, he seemed a bit stressed out but he was a nice guy. I know this because he didn't fire me when I revealed my love for Roxette.

Meanwhile, saw Gojira put on a seriously star making performance at the Key Club last night. I've seen them open for bands a couple times, but the sound always sucked. Last night, the sound was great, the crowd was there for them, and my God, I had forgotten how transcendent concerts could be. They seriously made the club shake.

Also:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/warrior_war.jpg

roxy you will approve

my fave bit is the solo (its Whiplash btw)

infact the crowdsurfing lego guy is even better

Is that ever great.

just chiming in to say that misery index were my big surprise at deathfest. napalm death were probably my highlight and tbh i was kinda disappointed in WITTR but misery index, who i'd never heard, actually had me stopping what i was doing and listening. fucking captivating.

Lego Metallica made me smile. Then it made me sad, because Hetfield used to be such a great singer.

HOOS just out of curiosity how big was the venue where you saw wittr? i saw them just a few days ago in a v. small club and thought they legit killed.

I think I've come around to Adrien's way of thinking -- new Fairyland, Score to a New Beginning, scratches exactly the same itch that pre-chicken-dancing Nightwish used to.

I haven't heard the new Fairyland yet. But despite the rather unfortunate name, their last album was definitely some quality power metal.

Chicken dancing Nightwish? Please explain, that flew right over my head!

The new vocalist does this weird, jerky chicken dance on stage because she's a pop singer who has no idea how to front a metal band.

Ah. I also hear she's taken to wearing muumuus onstage as of late.

That's pretty metal, I guess.

hey dudes just upping this for a friend of a friend but cool metal zine called Worm Gear

http://www.crionicmind.org/wormgear/

9.04.07
A couple of new interviews are up now with MORRIGAN and SAPTHURAN, as well as a bunch of new reviews and what not. I also added minimal archives for the rest of the alphabet that has been missing. Currently they just contain reviews done since I got the bright idea to change the website, but at least it's something and I will ad new ones here and there. Hopefully this will be less intimidating than trying to hammer out a whole section for an update in addition to everything else.

In addition you will notice a link for a podcast in the menu bar. This isn't a Worm Gear podcast technically, but one I do myself called "Professor Gruntsplatter's Spookatorium" It features a wide crossection of music as well as tales of weirdness and the supernatural, roadside attractions and all of that kind of thing. There is a corresponding blog with news updates regularly and hopefully several other things in the coming weeks.

3.24.07
A mess of new reviews have been posted along with new interviews with EYES OF LIGEIA and WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM. In addition I got the archive for "X" posted as well. Completed archives right now are A-C, J, O, Q & X-Z. So if you want your band in the archive quicker, give it a first letter no one uses because it's less work for me.

There are other interviews in the cooker right now, some have been sent out and haven't been returned, others are still being nailed down. I say it eveytime , but I am going to try and get the archive caught up a bit, if for no other reason than to get that stone from around my neck.

Interesting piece of Worm Gear Trivia: For the first 3 months of 2007 the most viewed review in the limited archives was for CIRCLE OF OUROBOROUS - "Shores".

i was just listening to eyes of ligeia the other day. they are great.

i feel bad that i got the new tyr album, like, 2 weeks ago and i still haven't listened to it. napalm voiceover promos do bum me out, but still...

sapthuran doesn't get enough ink. he's way better than most basement bm u.s. dudes. i love his stuff. maybe cuz he isn't on moribund or southern lord or something people don't seek his stuff out? who knows. they should though.

reminds me i should hit up crionic mind for my noise column.

bindrune just might be my favorite record label in america. even though they haven't put out much. them and god is myth.

This very weekend, I will seek out Sapthuran. Actually, I'm listening to him now on Youtube, but I'll definitely give him some serious listening.

I only know of Sapthuran because of the split with Leviathan, and I admit I deleted the Sapthuran tracks after a couple listens.

My newest Black Metal discovery is Funeral Mist, who I'd somehow ignored until now. Nothing too likely to convert outsiders, but the new album, Maranatha, is a particularly good mix of ominous atmosphere and intermittent breakneck BM sputtering.

Listening now to the Hungarian band Obsidian Shell. Reminds me of a less fluttery, more aggressive version of Dalriada, the only other female-fronted Hungarian metal band I know.

Got the new Xasthur, but haven't played it. Haven't been feeling miserable enough yet.

You will be miserable enough after listening to it.

ha - was just thinking about how I loved the celestial album that came out a few years back on birdrune.

never listened to anyone else on the label, tho.

Latest Xasthur is a further step in the direction of BM as big 60's film themes. Great moments, but the drawback is that I can't see any structure or flow - just seems like "here's the last dozen things I wrote in chronological order. Back in six months."

Respect is due for putting out a cassette-only release in 2009, though.

i feel bad that i got the new tyr album, like, 2 weeks ago and i still haven't listened to it. napalm voiceover promos do bum me out, but still...

Yeah, those voice-overs are awful. The new Tyr is pretty solid, a lot more upbeat than the last few, with some great vocals. But only two songs in Faroese...I think this band is always better when they don't sing in English.

Really looking forward to that Tyr album, but those fucking voice-overs nearly kept me from discovering Tyr in the first place, so I'll wait for the unruined version...

This is very much a side note, but if any of you are a fan of Tape Op, the magazine about home recording, there is a (unintentionally) hilarious article about recording death metal and black metal in the most recent issue. It basically vacillates between "When I'm recording the ride cymbal, I use an SM57 pointed halfway in between the bell and the cymbal proper" and "You have to turn up the drums so they are FUCKING EXTREME." I also learned that in recording keyboards for metal music "REAL METAL HAS NO KEYBOARDS."

Well more unintentionally bemusing than unintentionally hilarious, to be fair.

over/under on number of times "brutal" is used....i'm setting at 3.5

HOOS just out of curiosity how big was the venue where you saw wittr? i saw them just a few days ago in a v. small club and thought they legit killed.

― Is because I think a lot of the music you like is flowery? (call all destroyer), Tuesday, May 26, 2009 3

kinda like a large club

place i'll be in a week or so will be smaller

Am I just late to the party, or have we talked about how great this Helms Alee album on Hydrahead is yet? Stoner with folk and country influences, and intertwined male/female vox.

It's great, I have the vinyl.

The new Darkest Hour album sounds as if In Flames reverted from Clayman back to Whoracle. Not a bad thing.

New Goatwhore's the best new record I've heard in a while, though.

OK, now I've heard the Tyr album. Whee! 100% predictable, and I do not mean that as a criticism in any way.

Also, I'm so into this Funeral Mist album. More after each listen. The cover needs to be cropped, however. Logo to the bottom left, angel in the top right, make it square. Much better.

New Pelican EP is pretty solid. Much heavier than the other stuff I've heard by them. Unfortunately, it's also a little more traditional instrumental hard rock... of course, it is only two songs and an Earth cover, so it's hardly as expansive.

Chickenfoot is surprisingly fun! Bluesy hard rock with no real pretensions or expectations, just four pros jamming in the studio. Plus, the heat sensitive packaging blows my mind.

The new YOB is in the process of killing me right now. Yikes, it's good.

As is the proggy new Drudkh album. Things are really starting to pick up, there are tons of killer metal releases this summer.

i just wanted to stop by and thank Scott for convincing me to buy the annihilator album - Criteria for a Black Widow is maybe my favorite "new" thing i've heard this year. so fucking thrash awesome.

ysi?

jk

um give me a moment and check your email

this Helms Alee album on Hydrahead

this is ridiculously fucking dope btw

Finally got my hands on a copy of the now-mastered unreleased Bloody Panda album. It definitely delivers on the promise of the first, featuring further realization, better production, and more tuneful singing (betwixt plenty of gut-wrenching screams).

Would be the Doom album of the year hands down if not for YOB.

it's unrelease as-of-yet, right? and not going to be unreleased forever? right? because i want to hear it.

Meanwhile, at the lighter end of things ... I've been given the debut album by a Glasgow band called You Already Know to review. It's kind of "we like Mogwai" mixed with "we also really, really like old-fashioned metal", recorded in a sock. I have reasonably high hopes for them. Any of the Scots on here know them?

onion avclub got a metal column