Rolling Metal Thread 2009

If anyone's interested, I have a review of Saturday's HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE/LUDICRA show in Hamilton ON Canada posted at http://www.hellbound.ca/2009/08/hammers-of-misfortune-casbah-hamilton-on-august-8-2009/

I thought all the bands were really good and was super impressed by the new Toronto band SLAUGHTER STRIKE that opened the night. 2 dudes from RAMMER with some of THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE doing old school death metal ala early Entombed and Autopsy. Awesome!

As for asking about ABSU, I saw them in Toronto a few months back and really enjoyed them. They played a good cross-section off all their albums and were fun.

New Iron Age album on Tee Pee is a total blast. Assumed these guys were a tough guy HC sort of thing for ages, possibly based on the ppl who put them on in my neck of the woods; this has got tons of thrash, crossover, early 80s metal, sludge and doom in its DNA, wholly recommended

xpost - Nice to see Ludicra get some props. Best black metal band in the US and nobody ever talks about them.

New Iron Age album on Tee Pee is a total blast.

No kidding...wow, what a surprise. Definitely more metal than hardcore, which I can't help but love. That opening track is unreal.

So the new Baroness is solid. They continue to veer away from metal and into a weird grey area between metal and indie rock. But aside from dummies like me, who's this record going to appeal to? Can this cross over with more success than the (amazing) last Torche album? It'll have many metal purists thinking 'false', while it's still too heavy for the indie kids.

Terrific article on Pig Destroyer and the Maryland Deathfest, from the Washington Post Sunday magazine a week or so back.

Did you review the Baroness somewhere Adrien? I'd like to read it. Count me in on one of the "dummies" that it will probably appeal to!

Haven't reviewed it yet, just listened for the first time last night. But yeah, if you liked the more accessible parts of The Red Album, you'll love the blue one.

I'll be sure to pick it up. Thanks for the heads up.

Anyone else heard the new Gates of Slumber track on the Deciblog? The new record just might wind up being better than Conqueror if this song is any indication.

http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=323526

I'm listening to it now! The really long one (http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=242424 ) is arguably the only 'doom' number on it - they couldn't be any more clear that they want to do straight up early 80s metal, albeit with the advantages of modern production. lol oh man there's a folky interlude type song with female vocals!

sorry, clarification: 'it' = the new record

Listening to the new Baroness now. I don't hear any huge leaps forward from Red Album; they've just decided they're really good at what they do and are gonna stick with it for a while. But it is really, really good. Between this and Crack the Skye, it's a really good year for heavy Southern prog.

OK, ignore my previous post. What you really need to know about the new Baroness album is that "A Horse Called Golgotha" is 2009's ultimate, smash-all-your-furniture, burn-the-house-down, run-naked-through-the-streets guitar jam. Fucking killer. When they bust this one out live (and they will), grown men will weep openly.

Thanks for linking to that Washington Post article, it really made my day. I love that image of the kid coming up to the writer and saying 'What are you, a narc?' Classic!

Anyone heard this new Cave In 4 song ep yet?

Or how about the new Necrophobic? I learned about both from Decibel today...

I gave up on Cave In after Jupiter. Not saying that album drove me away; I'm saying it was their last good one.

It is their last good one. I like some songs on the subsequent releases, but they haven't made a solid record since. Was hoping that so much time off has given them time to reflect on what once made them great.

gave the new cave in a listen for old time's sake. first song is more convincingly heavy than the forced stuff on the last album. it's aiight. the rest didn't do much for me at all.

but I'm totally psyched for the new gates of slumber! really loved the last one.

new baroness sounds cool too. expanding on the red album formula is fine by me.

Nate, are you pals with Westering? i see they signed with my fave label God Is Myth.

shoegaze bm fans here would dig them. or maybe they already dig them.

http://www.myspace.com/westeringus

Haven't heard them. Will check it.

they are seattle-ites.

really like the new subarachnoid space! really REALLY like the Overmars album on Crucial Blast too. seriously good and HEAVY sludge. on the sludge tip, digging the power pellut vinyl i got in the mail too. it's unsane + sludge + doom. which is always a good combo in my book. love the album package too.

http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/PowerPellutcover.jpg

let me repeat, now that nobody is in the store and i can crank it really loud: the Overmars album is AWESOME! so great to hear such an amazing female heavy doom vocalist. (they've got two vocalists, male and female, but the female vox are so friggin' cool.)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40292000/jpg/_40292729_overmarsb203.jpg

Oh frabjous day. I fucking love Overmars. 'Born Again' was amazing.

Got the new Cave In ep from Aaron Turner. It's the best stuff since Jupiter. Faster and meaner than they've been in years. I like it, but I'm not going to ride through the streets yelling "They're back!" until they can make a whole album this good.

I just got the new Skeletonwitch. It's pretty blazing.

^ Really looking forward to that one. Jack Endino's having quite the metal renaissance these days.

The new Arch Enemy album of re-recorded pre-Angela tracks is kind of pointless. I greatly prefer her vocals to Liiva's, but she doesn't really bring anything new to the table, which is surprising, because a) she really sounded charismatic on the last record, and b) the performances of the old tracks on the live DVDs are blistering. These new tracks just feel tepid.

Is there a thread about albums that actually should be re-recorded?

I liked the Destruction re-recordings a lot. It's a dumb idea nearly all the time, but every once in a rare while it can work.

Listening to the new Anvil album right now. It's...good! Much heavier than I thought it would be, almost reminds me of the Heaven and Hell disc in a way, and the vocals are almost Ian Gillan-esque. Note: this is my first experience with Anvil - haven't heard the back catalog, haven't seen the movie. So if anyone can tell me if this is a major change for them (if age has slowed them down) or if they were always sorta doomy classic/power metal?

Their early stuff was half proto-thrash, half UFO style classic metal. Still, what I've heard of the new one still sounds unmistakably Anvil.

holy crap - I didn't realize that joe connell (ex-man is the bastard) is in bastard noise now! check out "movement two" on their myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/mitbnoise

awesome.

turns out the Overmars album on Crucial Blast is just an American re-release of their album from last year, Born Again. One 40 minute epic song. But it's new to me! This is seriously one of the best things i've heard all year. And without a doubt one of the heaviest albums i've heard in a long long time. like, Swans-heavy doom. very exciting to listen to.

The new Crucifist album is pretty good, like a crustier Goatwhore, total Frost/Bathory worship. The highlight, though, has to be their ripping cover of Angel Witch's "Angel of Death". Awesome track.

Now downloading my watermarked copy of the new Slayer. Tentative release date: October somethingorother.

my prediction: it sounds EXACTLY like a Slayer album!

It does indeed. But to my ear, they've never made a bad one except for Undisputed Attitude, so I'm happy with it.

Would you agree that the last one they put out as good as Seasons in the Abyss was Seasons in the Abyss?

No, I would not. I really like some of the Bostaph-era albums, particularly Diabolus in Musica, and I thought Christ Illusion was at least as strong as Seasons in the Abyss; maybe even better, because it had some crazy dissonant guitars and it didn't have any songs as shitty as "Dead Skin Mask."

That new Bastard Noise line-up is aces.

xpost - I am also a defender of Diabolus in Musica. Haven't heard Christ Illusion.

Christ Illusion is great!

"turns out the Overmars album on Crucial Blast is just an American re-release of their album from last year, Born Again. One 40 minute epic song. But it's new to me! This is seriously one of the best things i've heard all year. And without a doubt one of the heaviest albums i've heard in a long long time. like, Swans-heavy doom. very exciting to listen to."

Aiiieeeeee! Denied!

They are great though. If they come to your town, go and see them. They play that track all the way through infront of a big film of a woman giving birth, made to look like a kaleidoscope. Main dude looks like the chap from 300 with the beard having something inserted roughly but not entirely unpleasantly into his anal cavity.

'Christ Illusion' is a great album.

I think I agree with Adrien on the new 3 Inches of Blood... pretty rocking throwback metal. "All of Them witches" is especially glorious.

i've been enjoying mindrot lately. it's really cool to hear something with a neurosis influence from before neurosis became a genre.

^Mindrot!!! Yeah I remember listening to them back to back with Winter and Asbestos Death--before Neurosis was a genre. Good stuff.