Rolling Metal Thread 2010

Not even all 13 glorious minutes of "Halloween", Phil? Pre-1988 Helloween is so great. After that, not so much.

I like Lair of the Minotaur, but it seems they never go as over the top as they should with this kind of battle metal or what have you. I'll be giving the new album a listen later.

Meanwhile, the new Landmine Marathon album isn't really growing on me much. It's good, but it doesn't feel like the big leap you'd expect from a band expected to get a lot of hype in 2010. I just like their previous stuff better, I think.

What do you hate about the Orphaned Land?

helloween (yeah the old stuff) is great, get tarnished with the silly brush a little too often so a lot of dudes i know wont listen to them, but i think it holds up

yeah, i too liked the Orphaned Land quite a bit on first hearing. come to think of it, that alone may well be definitive proof that it does indeed suck.

Despite being probably way too long, it's the first "real" metal album I've made it all the way through, painlessly, on first sitting, in ages.

Helloween best-of sounded way lighter and catchier (even almost "new wave" now and then) than I expected. Which I'm sure will bother some people, but fuck 'em.

Of course I was just playing both of them in the background; maybe on closer inspection, they'll wind up boring me. But I hope not.

Currently listening to the new Armored Saint, which is really good. Not metal exactly; heavy in a Wino/Trouble sort of way, with Mellotron and classic hard rock guitar sounds. Plus John Bush's vocals, of course, which are terrific.

The Orphaned Land album is just...too much. Too long, too overbearing with the Middle Eastern instrumentation, too boring ("Bereft in the Abyss"), and not heavy enough. No thanks. I'll stick with Melechesh.

what i have heard of Orphaned Land has not impressed me very much

I'm glad I'm not the only one less than impressed with the Orphaned Land CD. Tries way too hard, whereas Mabool was totally charming.

Oh, and thanks, jon, for the Overkill comment upthread. What a great album Ironbound is! I was totally floored when I heard "The Green and Black".

i dunno, for me Mabool sounded really primitive/tentative in comparison to the new one's all out, head-long dive into the "cultural" abyss. the more middle-eastern flavor they let seep into their more or less standard, by-the-numbers extreme metal tunes the better, i say. eclecticism is not always a negative trait, y'know.

eclecticism is not always a negative trait, y'know.

Before I took over Metal Edge I spent two years editing a world music magazine. I'm very familiar with sonic eclecticism and the combining of rock with other musical forms, in both directions. Their eclecticism isn't enough to make Orphaned Land good.

I've never heard anyone do it better than Melechesh.

http://pitchfork.com/news/37924-xasthur-and-marissa-nadler-collaborate-on-new-album/

he reminds me of humorless goth dudes of the 90s.

kshighway isn't a goth is he?

am i?

not sure if you're joking or not, but I meant Xasthur.

xp

i think he's joking

oops - meta goes over my head O_o

The last time I met Marissa Nadler, like three years ago, I asked her what she'd been up to recently and she said she'd been thinking about drowning herself in a bath. I'm not saying, I'm just saying

She's a funny gal.

where is L0uis so I can give him shit about this

he is on birthday/exam leave iirc

things you dont expect to see - darrahmac on the metal thread. Welcome!

Listening to the Barren Earth album, Curse of the Red River, right now. Do you like Opeth? 'Cause these guys do - a lot. Mellotron, acoustic guitar interludes, death growls 'n' clean crooning...seriously, Mikael Åkerfeldt should file a cease and desist letter.

most badass track I've heard in 2010. ride for revenge, "no savior no return":
http://chronicyouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/03-no-savior-no-return.mp3

sounds kind of like coffins-style death/doom with some tom g. warrior grunting and growling on top. but just bass and drums and plus some throbbing gristle weirdness thrown in for good measure throughout the album. rules.

there's no quicker way into my heart than a drummer playing the same drum beat over ever track. provided it's a cool drum beat.

also been listening to the bastard noise/endless blockade split. been anticipating this one since I heard about the new bastard noise lineup with live drums and bass + electronics. their side of the split basically sounds like man is the bastard with a production job with a little more oomph. it's really cool. endless blockade side is the first I've heard of them but I like it too.

also keep listening to the cremation demos I mentioned upthread. nuclear war now just collected most of them for a comp called black death cult.

RFR are pretty awesome. they need a guitarist making flipper-style noise though.

hahaha I was thinking the same thing last night while listening

one of the many reasons I love corrupted too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqQVP81ab9s

also, I think my "coffins-style death/doom" description above might be a bit misleading, now that I think of it. RFR swing more than that. just listen to the track!

new Cathedral out 10 May, this is my #1 most anticipated

^I hope to be able to listen to that in a few days (when back on a PC where I can stream promos), may report back

Gonna pick up the BN/Endless Blockade split asap also

Listening to the Barren Earth album, Curse of the Red River, right now. Do you like Opeth? 'Cause these guys do - a lot. Mellotron, acoustic guitar interludes, death growls 'n' clean crooning...seriously, Mikael Åkerfeldt should file a cease and desist letter.

I've been enjoying that one a lot. Their EP from late last year is good, too.

Just played the Ov Hell album for the first time, and at least initially it seems more varied and interesting than the last Gorgoroth album. Looks stupid, though.

so fuckin excited i'm gonna see Krisiun/Nile/immolation on friday. and immolation are selling advance copies of their new albm at the shows!

Hey, y'all - I'm part of a new zine called Burning Ambulance. The first issue is out now. It's only available through Lulu.com, and features mostly avant-garde jazz, but also includes a long and fascinating story on Orthodox, and me reviewing a bunch of punk- and metal-related books including Precious Metal, Joe Carducci's Enter Naomi and Daniel Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal, among others. You can buy it ($5 for a download, $10 for a physical copy) at this link. I really hope you'll consider doing so. This is a total labor of love.

cool!

Contributing writers: Matt Cibula, Philip Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, Stephen Haynes, and Phil Nugent.

done.

"new Cathedral out 10 May, this is my #1 most anticipated

Halfway through it now and it is amazing.

!!

also, I haven't listened to overkill since I hear black but the praise on this thread got me curious. listening to the stuff on their myspace page and loving it!

*Whistles* bootvids.blogspot.com/

I agree on the new Cathedral. Really strong album by them, which is good to see because they are either great or drab. I absolutely love the track 'Funeral Of Dreams.' So unexpected in composition but it really works.

The Overkill is a nice surprise too, Can't remember the last time I really enjoyed one of their albums. I think it was decades ago.

Yay, gonna see Orphaned Land in NY in March.

The Overkill is a nice surprise too, Can't remember the last time I really enjoyed one of their albums. I think it was decades ago.

Same here. Last one I liked at all was Under the Influence, and even that one had its mediocre moments. I always found them to be a horribly inconsistent band, but did they ever get it right on the new one.

bootvids.blogspot.com/

Uh, wow. GORE live! FEAR OF GOD live! Wow wow wow.

I was beginning to think noone was going to check that link out!

Also, I don't think I'd ever paid much attention to Dark Fortress (possibly even confusing them with Dark Funeral), but this new album Ylem is pretty good. "Melodic Black Metal", EM says, but this is the kind of thing that makes me not quite understand the boundaries between Black and Death Metal. It's "dark", anyway, with stretches of both stomping and twitching, and a variety of vocal styles (all percussive). Heavier than creepy, though.

whoa, i'm really kinda surprised to be digging the new Rotting Christ album as much as i am here. lotsa interesting shit goin' on--love their use of mid-eastern/arabic scales/modes/etc.--that ain't just part and parcel of yer standard BM offerings. cool.

So apparently Burzum leaked -- anyone heard yet?