Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

oh dudes i have so much catching up to do on this thread

I need to catch up on this week

ok trying to catch up....sin after sin is available on grooveshark, the other two are not

correction, like half of sin after sin is available. wtf grooveshark.

The scorpions album just kinda washed over me

It really is my least favorite Scorps from that era. I'm a Fly to the Rainbow guy. Everybody listen to the track "Drifting Sun" and get back to me ;)

who is up next?

14/6 Siegbran
21/6 Call All Destroyer
28/6 jeff
05/7 aldo
12/7 A. Begrand.

GOREFEST - False (1992)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_220vz8JKmAQ/Si34_SjAXSI/AAAAAAAAEX8/KP7Jw3ih2do/s400/Cvr.jpg

ARCKANUM - Kostogher (1997)
http://www.todeslaut.de/shop/cover/108arckanumkostoghercd120091013.jpg

COLDWORLD - Melancholie² (2008)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/8/9/5/189521.jpg

Spotify links:
Gorefest (support the war against bonustracks - False is 46 minutes/9 tracks, you really, really don't need those demo tracks, live tracks and the atrocious Erase album tacked on to the reissues)
Arckanum
Coldworld

False is one of the grooviest old-school death albums you'll ever hear. And I like that Arckanum album, it's incredibly spacious for a black metal album, and the pagan parts are not only well-timed but pretty darn unsettling, especially when you've got the album turned all the way up to hear the thing (dynamic range in metal...who'd have thunk it?).

I hadn't heard Coldworld...it's interesting, bt it hasn't exactly grabbed me as of yet.

Kostogher is one of the grooviest black metal albums you'll ever hear too.

The Gorefest and Arckanum are very similar in the sense that these are both headbangable METAL first and 'extreme metal' second. Even in the faster parts they keep pulling you in rather than try to pummel you into submission.

Coldworld as the complete opposite - contemplative, deliberate, rhythmically stiff as a corpse.

I wondered which 3 you would go with in the end.

hiya fiends: can i have a go when there's a spot available?

I reviewed that Arckanum disc for AMG a while ago; I liked its predecessor better, but it was pretty good. Haven't heard the other two yet.

wish i had Spotify -- haven't heard of any of those before, but i really like the album art for both the Coldworld and Arckanum

Would have skipped Gorefest just because of the name, expecting undifferentiated mush, but I'm kind of liking it. Not sure I'm bonding with the vocalist enough to count as a serious convert, but I like its balance between musical and unmusical. Good reminder that genres are sometimes more interesting (or at least interesting in different ways) before they really get codified.

Oh, and disagree about skipping these bonus tracks. Love how much the live singing sounds like a milk endorsement.

ketchup time:

Gridlink - rabid rodent frontman seeks funny, jazz-skronk lovin', post-hardcore backing band for the good times.

Kyuss - can't believe how much i dig this one! wasn't feeling Sun Valley at all a few months back, tbh. desert doom as it should be: tipsy, bleary-eyed, meandering, LOUD. iz all good.

Entombed - this is just swell. finally, a DM singer i can stand for more than a couple of tracks at a time. pretty rockin' too.

Fates Warning - sounds good and generic on first listen--could probably do with a killer riff or two. don't hear anything particularly mind-blowing, tho.

Manowar - awesomely rifftastic! why i have resisted these guys for all this time is beyond me? also, the lyrics may well be the best part! and how could anyone hate on "Mountains?" ain't y'all got no soul?

Amon Amarth - this one sounds really good, but kinda overly-generic when compared with the terrific Twilight of the Thunder God.

Him - mostly hate the homogeneous feel to the production here. the songs seem decent enough when i pay attention, but given the frontman's lack of personality, i don't see why i should care one way or the other.

Mastodon - this strikes me as their least focused effort; still damn exciting, tho.

All of these records are also on iTunes, with previews.

Arckanum: Hmm. I liked Phbbthbbthbbt fairly well, but hadn't gone back to hear any of the earlier ones yet. This one isn't really grabbing me. I'm not hearing "incredibly spacious", I'm hearing "mashed into a gray blur". Maybe I just don't have it turned up high enough. Let's see. Ah, yes, that's a bit better. But not enough. The anguished howling is just making me want to listen to Lifelover instead.

The Arckanum isn't my cup of tea. The only tracks I liked were the instrumental interludes. I kept trying to find a way into it, to find the groove or something else that would open a door, but it didn't happen.

I like the Coldworld, but, to be honest, the only black metal I've been able to get into is the ambient and folkier stuff. I'm not sure how often I'd dig this out but I really enjoyed hearing it. "A Dream of a Dead Sun" is great, if just a bit too long.

Gorefest definitely has a groove - was able to get into that right away. The rhythm section makes this for me - the guitarists are solid, but I like that these guys swing. Nodding along as I type but it makes me want to get up and move. Easily my favorite of the three; once again, you guys are making me rethink my stance on death metal (I still find the vocals detract more than add though. Always another hurdle to jump).

Thanks Siegbran! I would never have heard these on my own. This listening club may not be getting the most interesting or salient comments from me but it's definitely expanding my horizons and exposing me to lots of cool stuff.

been listening to a lot of Scorpions (1975-77) lately, and i gotta say, man, were these guys ever less annoying back then than when they hit the '80s. great '70s hard rock guitar tone/sound, decently recorded drums, better than tolerable vocals, and there's bass, too. i dig it. Taken by Force may just be my fave of theirs from that time. good pick.

omg! i can't believe i waited soooooo many years to hear Mob Rules! fucking thing is a monster! i am ashamed and dismayed, and demand that my fellow metal brethren (and sistren) do herewith mete out most just, unyielding & tr00 (natch) retribution on this unworthy infidel's misbegotten person. thankin' ya already.

Sign of the Southern Cross!!!
Sign of the motherfucking Southern Cross!!!!!!

dude, sleeping on mob rules is damn near inexcusable!!

Interesting to hear the reactions. Gorefest and Arckanum are obv longtime faves of mine (the former immediately, the latter a grower), picked the Coldworld because I haven't made my mind up about it. It's surprisingly varied (in a style that is monochromatic by definition), the grand, cinematic themes are very effective and the concept/lyrics/artwork is well developed and executed but yet I keep feeling there's something missing, that something that made Burzum/Strid/Forgotten Woods what they are. Production, drums and vocals could definitely be better.

The irony in Gorefest's career is of course that after the success of False they were very aware of their strengths (the groove and solos) but utterly failed in their attempts to leave death metal behind and capitalise on them. Their later 70s-inspired groovy hard rock records are tedious and uninteresting. JC's vocals got worse and worse too, his voice totally shot.

Oh and yeah Mob Rules rules.

yes it does. and i suck for getting off the Sabbath/metal-in-general bandwagon 'round about the time of Heaven and Hell. i must now make penance most grave!

I really like this ColdWorld album. It's like Xasthur turned from miserable to grandly melancholy.

yeah i thought it was ok on first listen

i got the arckanum album a while ago, but this thread made me revisit it. it really does have great groove! that guy drummed in grotesque for a bit, right?

'acquired' seven albums today so i can catch up on this thread.

also, sorry to be a pain, but does anyone want to switch weeks w/me? i moved on june 1 and still haven't unpacked my cds. i'm doing it this weekend but that won't give me enough time to figure out what i want to post for you guys.

Someone want to swap with him?

21/6 Call All Destroyer
28/6 jeff
05/7 aldo
12/7 A. Begrand.

i can fill in if y'all don't mind.

thanks! pfunk you can wrap me around to the end so as not to disrupt everyone else

Sure. I think I will add myself after you for a week too.

21/6 Ioannis
28/6 jeff
05/7 aldo
12/7 A. Begrand.
19/7 Call All Destroyer
26/6 pfunkboy

Mordy you taking the week after me?

oops that should be
21/6 Ioannis
28/6 jeff
05/7 aldo
12/7 A. Begrand.
19/7 Call All Destroyer
26/7 pfunkboy

swell. prepare for some Osmond-metal, heathens!

Later-Day Armored Saints!

okay, that was great Glenn.

I did an Osmond-metal thing - you can hear it here: Crazy-Ass Horses

Sure, I'll take whatever the very last week is.

coldworld is reminding me a hell of a lot of a lo-fi agalloch

really dig this record--naturally it follows that it's going to be a complete pain in the ass to buy it.

yeah, i listened to the Coldworld disc earlier, too; all those lovely glacial textures and/or riffs were just what the doctor ordered what with this damned heat. great pick, Siegbran; this one goes on my must get list.

\m/

gawd, that "Crazy-ass Horses" mix is giving me the extreme lol's just now! think i preferred your "Working Man" Rush-screw even more, tho. still play that one every so often.

The Rush wasn't me, but was the inspiration for my own goofing around. My best was probably a version of the Stooges "Loose" which made it sound like Loop.

more ketchup:

Arckanum – loving this on the second listen--thought it sounded a little too flat and monochromatic at first. but now I hear all these cool little folky-pagan/occult/what-have-you details all over the place that add just the right sinister touch to the overall atmosphere of the thing. Also, the vocals are tr00ly fierce; more so than in most BM I’d say.

Gorguts – wow! these are damn impressive! i think the key to digging this more technical end of DM is to more or less treat it as if it's some kinda avant jazz-rock hybrid (with COOKIE!). i mean, these fuckers can play! and we're not talking about some "oh look at me wank off in public in order to impress all the other white boys who wish they could shred like i can shred" crap either. nope, we're talking about serious chops of the pure fucking musical DENSITY school here! great shit when you're in the mood for it.