CoF on the other hand so unsurprising. This band really put all their originality into their first album and then cruised all the way to the bank/goth chicks for the next 15 years. Its a nice franchise but it really depends on fresh flows of adolescents cause who would buy more than 2 CoF albums? Basically theyre the Insane Clown Posse of metal. And with all original non-Dani members now out they really have nothing going for them musically at all, so boring and predictable and stale.
Interesting to note that their debut was received very well in 'serious' metal press and many a tr00 metalhead I know liked it on first listen. Amazing how fast this band wears off.
― Siegbran, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
in conclusion--amon amarth fucking ruled, that's def going on the buy list, thx phil!
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:49 (fourteen years ago) link
re: camphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3LghdBWxc
― forksclovetofu, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:53 (fourteen years ago) link
on to manowar now--this might be good, i don't know. i understand the point about turning your brain off a little but i hate 80s cock-rock vocals so so much
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:55 (fourteen years ago) link
"mountains" is actually just disgusting
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link
when did ross the boss leave?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link
after kings of metal iirc?
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
bass harmonic melody plus volume swell pedal solo
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
i mean, wow
yeah i hate this type of vocal mostly, but unlike with john garcia of Kyuss, i'll never be able to like them.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
ok just gonna skip to guyana (cult of the damned) if no one minds
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Love Guyana!
― Mordy, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Manowar definitely lost something when Ross left. The riffs by the other guy are good, but always so darn stiff. Ross knew groove.
Oh, and Eric Adams and Ross the Boss are two of the nicest guys you will ever meet.
― A. Begrand, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
lol probably don't even need to say this but that was dict. definition of "not my thing"
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
time to track down gridlink
oh god is this a ballad?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:26 (fourteen years ago) link
this is horrific
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
i fucking despise power ballads
death to false metal
i've lost the will to live
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
gridlink might just give it back to you
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
i like this but it's hard to know what to "do" with an 11-minute lp. yes i am a grind noob.
I hate grind but I think i could handle 11 mins of that more than another 11 of Manowar. But not tonight.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 26 April 2010 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Three songs into the Manowar so far and liking this a whole hell of a lot better than the only other album I've heard from them, Warriors of the World. Phil was right, this is much more enjoyable if you ignore the lyrics and focus on the musicianship. Absolutely love the solo on "Thor (The Powerhead)".
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 26 April 2010 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Okay, this first part of "Mountains" is really hard to take, bring back the riffs please! And quick!
Phew, there they are.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 26 April 2010 23:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Haha, that first bit of "Thunderpick" was way unexpected!
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 26 April 2010 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Okay, the Manowar really isn't up my alley, but now I can at least understand why people still talk about them and that they aren't a complete joke. They actually had some talent and great riffs once upon a time. "Thor" and "Guyana" probably my favorite songs of the bunch.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 26 April 2010 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Listened to them all once, and a few extra spins of tracks from Amon Amarth & Manowar to revel in the riffage.
I don't care much for grindcore, and GridLink didn't change that. Did like the one-second tease of just drums at the beginning of "Burning Tiamat".
Amon Amarth I liked more than I expected, mainly for the undeniable riffs and overall guitar sound. It felt a little back-loaded for me, but I like the slower tracks like "Across The Rainbow Bridge" and "...And Soon the World Will Cease to Be" more than their burners. If someone more familiar with their catalog wants to point me toward an album even more along those lines I'd greatly appreciate it.
The Manowar was a pleasant trip down memory lane. My best friend growing up had this and Fighting The World, both of which we played to death. "Mountains" is just horrible, but I can't get enough of "Thor (The Powerhead)" and "Thunder Pick". The title track is a wonderfully ham-fisted and amped-up take on Judas Priest - in other words, right up my alley. This and the Entombed are my favorites thus far in the listening club.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 27 April 2010 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
I dig the Gridlink, though it's almost too intense. If we get round to grind again I'd suggest something like Nasum; a bit more accessible (if grind can be accessible).
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 14:03 (fourteen years ago) link
I've enjoyed the times I've caught grindcore bands live, but the few records I've listened to just don't do anything for me. I like the noise & skronk stuff related to grind more than the true metal end of the spectrum.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 27 April 2010 14:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I appreciate the Gridlink in a very abstract way (wow, that's fast), and I don't have a problem with its brevity (at least, not compared to what I paid for it), but I definitely don't relate to it very deeply. I think it would be very interesting to hear it without the vocals or drums. The guitar parts are weird and, I think, inventive. The drums and shrieking, on the other hand, are monotonous no matter how fast, and I find it hard to listen through them to even be sure whether the rest has any substance.
The Manowar campiness is fine with me, too. I mean, I like Helloween and DragonForce, so whatever. I particularly like the wiry punk energy of "Animals" (reminds me a little of "City Baby Attacked by Rats"), and the buzz-slash bits and tempo-stalls of "Guyana", but most of these songs have at least something I enjoy. Pleasant to be reminded of a somewhat simpler metal era, at least in production terms, in which velocity and general extremism hadn't yet crowded out so much good bombast.
But Amon Amarth is the week's winner for me. I already knew of them, and had played a copule of their albums at least once, but they'd just never clicked for me, falling in between In Flame / Dark Traquillity, on the death side, and Enslaved or Tyr on the viking sides (depending on which kind of "viking" vibe you mean). But I've warmed to them quite a bit while listening to Versus the World and the bonus disc, and will be immediately giving With Oden on Our Side another chance, as well.
The pairing with Manowar feels nicely apt: Amon Amarth count as extreme metal, I guess, because of the growling, but compared to Gridlink this is almost pastoral. It's more heavy than extreme; they're focused on their own aesthetic, not trying to blast apart some implicit other one. I like the at-times almost ritual cyclicality of the guitar riffs, and the fact that they often stay slow when the drums speed up. Maybe I've been listening to too much strained weirdness lately (and/or more aware of it by contrast with all these Cathedral albums I've been remedially inhaling), but Amon Amarth feel almost soothingly understated to me.
PS: But obviously it goes without saying (but I'll say it for the benefit of stray ILXors coming across these archives long after the fact) that none of these are really metal...
― glenn mcdonald, Tuesday, 27 April 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey guys Join the http://www.last.fm/group/ILX+Rolling+Metal+Group
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 21:01 (fourteen years ago) link
oops that was meant for the rolling metal thread but oh well youre all the same people join away
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 21:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm listening to the Manowar and this is further proof I just don't enjoy obnoxious old metal. I will give the other thing w/ a spotify link a go and then I think I may start to try the playlist with all of the 09 metal poll stuff in it.
― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 23:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok I much prefer this Amon Amarth, not that I could figure out why, an Abou Diaby maybe? (Style seems at odd with what I like, but damn if he/they don't seem to do something enjoyable with strength and pace?) Entombed no longer the only thing I would listen to again, it has a companion in my METAL LISTENING CLUB playlist.
― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 27 April 2010 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
just listened to the manowar. it's a shame that "thor (the powerhead)" (my fave track on one listen) is followed by "mountains" (which was, BY FAR, my least fave)
― original bgm, Thursday, 29 April 2010 02:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, I've got it. Amon Amarth is the Big Country of metal. Awesome.
― glenn mcdonald, Thursday, 29 April 2010 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
well I listened to HIM
i guess it was good, because it's sort of weirdly comforting to know that one band has sort of managed to combine almost every single thing i've hated about "modern" rock in the last 10 years into one thing
― Shakey Ja Mocha (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 29 April 2010 03:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Diversify your friends, consolidate your enemies! Matt, what are some other bands you think of as representatively "modern" in this way?
― glenn mcdonald, Thursday, 29 April 2010 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Yep, I'm now a firm Amon Amarth convert. Just hit the live version of "Death by Fire" on the bonus disc for Twilight of the Thunder God and am looking for something on my desk that it would be OK to smash. No doubt Thor would just take a big, swarthy hammer-swipe at the whole scene, but he probably never had a MacBook. Such are the computer-geek-vs-Viking-Metal contingencies.
― glenn mcdonald, Friday, 30 April 2010 13:11 (fourteen years ago) link
is the drum sound less annoying on the other records?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 30 April 2010 14:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, actually, the kick drums, in particular, are deeper on both With Oden on Our Side and Twilight of the Thunder God than on Versus the World, I think. Enough to sway you? Only you can say. But if that's your main objection, give one of the others at least a sample-check...
― glenn mcdonald, Friday, 30 April 2010 16:32 (fourteen years ago) link
OK, I'll check em out
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 30 April 2010 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Spotify Playlist with all 3 weeks albums that are available on it.Will add to it as we go on.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 2 May 2010 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Mordy, you up for week 4?
― glenn mcdonald, Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
hope someone picks St. Anger
― ksh, Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Sure, I'll post some albums on Monday. I won't post St. Anger tho.
― Mordy, Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:03 (fourteen years ago) link
if anyone picks post 90s Metallica im sb'ing them!
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:05 (fourteen years ago) link
oh man perhaps i'll take a week way later on in the year -- St. Anger for all
― ksh, Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:12 (fourteen years ago) link
sb
― Mordy, Sunday, 2 May 2010 02:15 (fourteen years ago) link