Rolling Metal Thread 2010

have to say, I love the thou aesthetic. all those line drawings look badass.

Today's mailbag: new Skullflower 2CD on Neurot (not metal, but probably fun at high volume) and three reissues by 16-17, the greatest noise-jazz-doom trio you never heard.

probably fun at high volume

can confirm this

Maybe they and the hammerskins just really liked "The Wall."

it could be an age difference thing (i have no idea how young these dudes are), but i can guarantee you anybody involved the music scene in MN in the late 80's/early 90's is going to recognize that image immediately. First Avenue was a racist skin vs. anti-racist skin bloodbath most nights back then anytime something heavy came through.

frankly i am hoping to be wrong, but even if i am they are going to want to 86 that logo because i wont be the last dude to have an immediate reaction to it.

ahh, see, i didn't know the context there. i thought the hammerskins were a southern thing, so maybe they were unaware, but i guess not.

three reissues by 16-17, the greatest noise-jazz-doom trio you never heard.

are these the "16-17/hardkore & buffbunker," "when all else fails" and "gyatso" reissues, or are there yet more to come? great fucking band.

are these the "16-17/hardkore & buffbunker," "when all else fails" and "gyatso" reissues

Yep. Ordered 'em from the label a week and a half ago or so, was wondering why it was taking so long and then I get 'em today and the envelope is stamped France. Whoops, my mistake.

Anyway, just got an email from Wolvhammer's publicist who says the band is 100% not racist, that she's contacted them for a response (which I will post on the blog as soon as I get it) and that she'll be issuing a press release herself. She also jabbed me on Twitter. I told her at the very least they need to get a new logo.

Interesting stuff, Phil.

Oh and DJ, WOLD is still on Profound Lore.

glad those dudes aren't racists

I'm glad you approached it this way Phil, I hope no one gives you too much shit for it.

ok thats great, sorry to stir the kettle, and yeah, you dealt with this about as well as anyone could.

is there a place like Boomkat for metal, where I can buy a bunch of new metal records in FLAC?

i doubt the band has a problem with a popular music writer trying to find out more about them

(xposts)

Wolvhammer: officially not racist.

listening to the second demo in celebration

Listening to the demos now that I can without feeling guilty, pretty good. Excited to hear what they bring on the full-length.

Especially liking the ultra slow 9 minute track off the newer EP.

striborg is so good the morning after your country's supreme court completely fucks up democracy forever.

BLACK APPARITIONAL VOID indeed

Which record(s) of Striborg's are the best?

they're all pretty much the same.... ha. but "embittered darkness/isle de morts" is easy to find (on southern lord) and is a good example of his style.

Thank you!

all the thou talk--newish split w/ haarp, another awesome LA band: http://www.omgvinyl.com/2009/12/02/thou-haarp-reincarnation-prayer-7-ep/

thou side is pretty standard thou. haarp side pretty standard haarp. excellent all around. also, cheap and pretty and the packaging is terrific.

Just played ^that, can't argue w/ any of the above (esp cos this is the first time I'm hearing Haarp)

http://www.myspace.com/haarpnola

bands around here don't branch out much but when the basic sludgy formula is so effective why change etc. in other nola metal coverage thou got one of those one-page band feature things in decibel last month.

we're in the top 5 now guys !!!!!!!! ILX METAL ALBUMS of 2009 POLL RESULTS!!!!!! (TOP TEN! LAST CHANCE TO DECRY FALSE METAL m/!)

come posts your thoughts! all non-voters and troo metal warriors welcome!!

Went out to the Nokia Theater tonight.

Mutiny Within were pretty good power metal w/occasional DM vocals, somewhere between Trivium and DragonForce. They were kissing the audience's ass in a big way - "This next song is on our MySpace page, so check it out when you get home!"; "We're gonna be at the merch table all night after our set!" - and it seemed to work; they got a good round of applause despite going on at 7:30.

Arsis' new songs are like a cross between Arch Enemy and early Metallica; their tech-death back catalog stuff didn't fit that comfortably alongside stuff from the new album and We Are The Nightmare, and they only had a half hour anyway, so they didn't do much Willowtip-era material, but they did close with a ferocious version of "The Face of My Innocence." The problem was, their sound was all fucked up; their intro tape was louder than their actual set. The guitars were ridiculously quiet, the bass was inaudible, the background vocals were louder than Malone's vocals, the snare and bass drums sounded like typewriter keys, while the toms were thunderous. But they must have been getting a good monitor mix, because they didn't make any mention of it. So even with all of that, their set was really good, and the crowd dug them.

I left after that, though. I saw Exodus in 1990 and didn't care to see them again, and the prospect of watching Arch Enemy deliver an ultra-slick, totally efficient and professional 70 minutes of melodic death metal for the fourth time (I saw them in 2003, 2005 and 2007) just didn't get my blood pumping.

Heard the new Rob Zombie album last night too. It's shockingly good, and I say that as someone who put Educated Horses in my Top 100 of the decade. It's his most stripped-down, hard-rock album since White Zombie's Make Them Die Slowly. Sure, there are still movie dialogue samples, and keyboards on a couple of tracks, but the techno-metal sound he beat into the ground for a decade is almost totally gone. There are riffs that could have come off a Rose Tattoo album - John 5 is just killing it all over the disc, and the drums are played by a live human being. Know how you can tell? There's a five-minute drum solo at the end of the last song. Some of the songs are a little short, and they're almost always dumb, but his lyrics have always been empty-headed, so who cares? The exception, believe it or not, is "Werewolf, Baby," which isn't just a string of disconnected one-liners like his lyrics usually are - its a Danzig-esque tale of becoming a werewolf. Seriously, if you've written off Rob Zombie as just a clown who's maybe worth seeing live but not listening to at home, this album might change your mind. I thought he was moving to Roadrunner's Loud & Proud sub-label because he was tired of working and just wanted to coast for a few years before announcing his retirement from music, but if this is the album he's making his debut with, I don't know what to think.

New Hey Colossus on Riot Season is brilliant. They've really gone up a couple of gears with their new album Eurogrumble Vol 1.

Ohh i need to hear that.

I was listening to the Rob Zombie album last night as well, and it's not too bad. The organic quality is definitely a change...I don't think all the songs are successes, the latter half tends to drag on, but stuff like "Sick Bubblegum", "Werewolf Baby", and "Burn" are definitely keepers.

i love hey colossus! i wanna hear that. they need to tour here or something. they should be huge in the states.

Hey Colossus sounds like an awesome title for the upcoming Eurovision approved new style Keep of Kalessin album. Quite like the song actually, especially the dub-y bass bits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW3wU2fDc2o

A quick link to the full top 100 and a genre list breakdown!
!!!!!!!! ILX METAL ALBUMS of 2009 POLL RESULTS!!!!!! (TOP TEN! LAST CHANCE TO DECRY FALSE METAL m/!)

http://stereogum.com/img/scionflyer.jpgp

And on the same page, here is Brandon Stosuy's latest interview with Aesop Dekker of Ludicra and Agalloch and Cosmic Hearse BLOG:

http://stereogum.com/archives/haunting_the_chapel/haunting_the_chapel_no_5_110691.html

This post was supposed to come first:

http://stereogum.com/img/scionflyer.jpg

Scion/backpacker metal.

has death metal rooster already gotten the necessary link here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A43JOxLa5MM

he seems so pissed off!

Here's a link to my interview with Ihsahn. The more I listen to his new album, the more I like it, and I am not an Emperor fan (and am not all that fervent about his last two solo discs either, though angL is enjoyable enough). I may have two spots already reserved on my 2010 Top Ten, with this and the new High on Fire.

I hate artwork like this but I bet you all love it

http://www.nwnprod.com/?p=695

What's not to love? Skulls! Reminds me of Prague’s Kutna Hora Bone Church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dDr7EN_SR4&feature=player_embedded

Sorry, don't mean to mislead anyone who'd look for it in Prague -- it's actually quite a ways east of Prague, towards the middle of the country.

totally. what do you mean "like this," kerr?

xpost

I'm finishing up my first listen to Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR, and I like it. Good review from Angry Metal Guy: http://www.angrymetalguy.com/?p=1018

I don't like it, I find it a bit of a mess. That narration just grated on me the more I heard it, and aside from three or four tracks, the songs just weren't as good as on the last album.

So I've been listening to new stuff by Swedish band Kongh...epic doom, very similar to YOB without being too much of a rip-off. Needless to say, I like:

http://www.myspace.com/kongh

listening to more Helcaraxe this morning, their 2007 album Triumph and Revenge. This is a seriously great band, I would guess that a lot of rolling metal regulars would dig them. kind of like a more Nordic-inspired Mastadon maybe? epic songs, melodic guitar-slinger progressions, pick-up-change fast parts but broad sweeping slow parts...maybe we already talked about these guys but anyway I got hip to them in December off a split with Father Befouled on Enucleation (which is incredible) and got the rest of their stuff -- I would be really surprised if people didn't dig them. Maybe they're known already I don't know but I had completely missed them and they kind of rule.

streaming this on myspace now...it's pretty good tho i wish i liked the singer better.

btw john my copy of that avenger cd you were on about last year finally showed up from amazon yesterday; holy hell did it sound great blasting in my car last night.

yeah the singing on helcaraxe isn't so inspiring but the riffs overtake it it. stoked you love the avenger album - every time I listen to it I'm like, it's so awesome when a metal album is really like a long voyage someplace

I'm listening to Avenger right now. for some reason this and Ruins of Beverast's Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite have been on nonstop rotation for the last two weeks.