Rolling Metal Thread 2010

Appropriately, I'm listening to Cathedral's The Ethereal Mirror (54 minutes) now, for the first time, and not wanting it to be any shorter.

Also, how lame is it that iTunes can't sort my albums by duration?

well Cathedral would definitely be one of those that work at a longer length....doom is slow developing inherently (not that that is a bad thing!)

I can't quickly think of a great true metal double-album

Does ...And Justice For All count?

I'd say the Gathering's How to Measure a Planet? is a great metal double album. Though some might have issues with just how "metal" it actually is, I suppose...

And it might make me look patently uncool, but Therion's Gothic Kabballah is a cool double album.

I would say one of the esoteric double albums but the two single albums are probably my faves.

it's a collection, but Katatonia's Brave Yester Days is a mindblowing double CD.

also the last Blut Aus Nord was a double LP & was quite righteous

listening to those early mantas and death demos now. so crazy. can't help but wonder what would have happened if they had got it together to record an EP or an album in 1984. they were already on to some next-level nastiness in 1983 when they recorded death by metal. anyway, listening to death by metal/reign of terror/infernal death/back from the dead/mutilation. 1983 to 1986.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Death1.jpg

and, you know, for the record, i listen to and like LOTS of long-ass albums. if i really like a band i can go along for almost any ride. i mean, i'm a funeral doom fan. i just think, in general, the cd age has ruined many a good thing. i love bands that leave me wanting MORE. that have me wearing out my vinyl/tape/cd because i can't get enough of it. and this was common in the vinyl age. you couldn't wait for the next album or single or ep. now its like you get a big care package that is supposed to hold you over for the next couple of years till the next one. and don't even get me started about rap music. quadruple vinyl? really?

Yeah I find myself having to play editor far too often. But not so often with metal, actually!

Wasn't Come My Fanatics a double?

Come My Fanatics was a single album by itself, but when it was originally released in the US (on The Music Cartel) it was paired up with the first, s/t Electric Wizard album as a two-CD set.

you read those interviews with people working in the studio and they say something like: "yeah, we've got about 30 songs that we're working on and we'll get that down to 12 or 13 for the album..." just sounds like a slog! like you HAVE to have five hours of material in order to even begin recording or something. not to mention the fact that most people have, like, ONE great song in them if they are lucky.

I forgot to mention just how much I like the new Raven album. I wasn't expecting that at all, I've been a fan of their early stuff for so long, but haven't liked an album of theirs since 1987.

they don't make them like they used to...

http://www.danteross.com/blogs/dante/files/2009/05/raven-the-pack-is-back-460-100-460-70.jpg

That album still boggles my mind. One of the most incredible major label failures in metal history.

i like that album. i gave my copy to chuck though.

I liked Stay Hard, but The Pack is Back went way too far into party metal territory. The cover of "Gimme Some Lovin'" is head-slappingly awful.

It's amazing how obsessed so many bands were with those Roland guitar synths in 1986.

Listening to Fates Warning's reissued Parallels today. Haven't played this in a really long time. Hadn't exactly forgotten that it was great, but had kind of lost track of what it feels like to listen to it. For me this and Perfect Symmetry and Queensryche's Rage for Order pre-atone for everything Dream Theater later inflicted on us...

I heard Five Finger Death Punch's cover of "Bad Company" on the radio yesterday and it made me want to drive off a bridge. In what universe would someone want to hear that guy sing?

I just gave that a listen...wow, they totally Nickelbackified it. Just when that band couldn't get any more obnoxious.

To see official release this May via Neurot Recordings, the Hawkwind Triad album is a fitting tribute to the British band that somehow seems to simultaneously remain unknown to the majority of the world’s rock listeners, while also standing as one of the most influential psychedelic bands of all time.

The Triad is unique, as it is an album of covers by three separate artists that essentially flows like an album. Each band -- HARVESTMAN (Steve Von Till of NEUROSIS’ psych guitar based project), MINSK, and U.S. CHRISTMAS -- have approached these 11 iconic songs with respect, but each have also recognized the need for the songs to be reinterpreted in a new space and time. The result is a full-length psychedelic feast that not only captures the feel of Hawkwind’s individual songs, but also has the feel of their classic albums. Even the artwork by Boston artist Thomas Saraceno appropriately provides trippy surrealist scenes fitting to many albums from the 70s. Most of all, the Triad was done out of pure veneration for a band than laid a solid foundation for every heavy, trippy, weirdo band that exists now – as well as for those who will freak out in the future.

Hawkwind Triad Tracklist:
U.S. Christmas - "Master of the Universe"
HARVESTMAN - "D Rider"
MINSK - "7x7"
HARVESTMAN - "Down Through The Night"
MINSK - "Assault and Battery/The Golden Void"
U.S. Christmas - "Psychedelic Warlords"
MINSK - "Children of the Sun"
U.S. Christmas - "Orgone Accumulator"
HARVESTMAN - "The Watcher"
U.S. Christmas - "You Shouldn't Do That"
HARVESTMAN - "Magnu"

kinda cool. except i have no idea who u.s. christmas are.

U.S. Christmas opened at the Baroness/Earthless show I saw in November. The Hawkwind thing is v v obvious. They marshalled a ton of people on stage and make a lotta sound but unfortunately it didn't add up to anything. Boring. Seemed like real cool people though.

i was just noticing the other day that I have 3 Minsk albums and, like, i bet if i heard any song off of any of them at a bar, i would have no idea what band it was.

be kind of a cool bar to hang out at though. if they were playing minsk during happy hour.

Slough Feg should be on Hawkwind cover album, that's my pearl of wisdom. Dude's voice would sound perfect for those songs.

Got a glorious package from Profound Lore today...Hooded Menace, Coffinworm, the Howling Wind. Where to begin??? I've been looknig forward to all three. I went with Hooded Menace, and oh man, is it good.

I ordered 3 cd's at the weekend from them. I guess you got promos of not released stuff? Hows the howling wind?

I loved the last Howling Wind CD...I'll definitely get to the new one tonight.

be kind of a cool bar to hang out at though. if they were playing minsk during happy hour.

^totally agree with this

Meanwhile, the new Nevermore album is really damn good, pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Though it does get a little ballady here and there.

they have a new one out? what's it like in comparison to the last one?

I liked This Godless Endeavor, but it was only "like" as opposed to the love I had for the s/t, Politics, and Dreaming Neon Black.

Despite the love for Dead Heart in a Dead World, I didn't like the detuned and simplified guitar riffage, or the songwriting, and thought it was half good half meh. Hated Enemies of Reality.

(really liked Sanctuary's Into the Mirror Black too)...

I prefer Dead Heart, but they're such a good, consistent band that there's not much I dislike at all. The new one has a good mix of Loomis riffery and more restrained stuff that reminds me of Empire era Queensryche, sans the suckage.

My Moog track for the new Agalloch record was just accepted by the band with glowing reviews :)

Congrats! :-D

Thanks. I'm not trying to too my own synth here. It's just that even after 20 years of this stuff, I still get excited like a little kid when things go well. Being jaded is over-rated ;)

Working my way, happily, through the Cathedral catalog. Supernatural Birth Machine currently receiving the head-bob of approval from both me and 2yo daughter. A record for all ages.

(Nate: five more to go before you've reached Six Organs of Acceptance.)

holy fuck man, congrats!

yeah, that's awesome! any idea when it's coming out??

saw immortal live last night btw. it was a blast! (of course.)

Agalloch still in pre-production. With luck it could be out by year's end.

***

I'm hoping that my love for this new Cathedral will unlock some of the secrets of their catalog. I've only liked their purist doom albums until this latest...

Saw Immortal in '02; didn't feel the need to see them again in '07 or last night (especially since last night's gig was in Brooklyn). Next shows I'm going to are High On Fire/Priestess/Bison B.C. next Friday, and then Amon Amarth toward the end of April.

That Amon Amarth is in nyc? Date?

Irving Plaza, April 25.

saw immortal live last night btw. it was a blast! (of course.)

― ¬_¬ (Alan N), Wednesday, March 31, 2010 10:06 AM

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/3/6/1/3610646983ebca1f9db64dccc249e6a3.gif

Did they play this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehnRt3LaLUc

yeah, when the lights went on. kinda like maiden and "always look on the bright side of life".

Immortal would be great fun to see. Too bad they're not into more extensive touring.

And congrats, Nate! The wait for that Agalloch album has been far too long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLkOYHYQ2tc

really like the new Fear Factory. it's amazing how simple a formula they've stuck to for all these years, and while they aren't exactly genre defining artists, they know how to craft a solid tune.

saw em tonight tho and boy was Burton hoarse. and I don't mean by the end of the show, I mean by the third song.