Rolling Metal Thread 2010

I'll be at the Boston show on Saturday :-)

Lazy bugger - make the drive up 95!

That Torche album doesn't do anything for me. It feels good getting that off my chest.

I agree. Enjoyed the original version of that track with DLR on it though.

Its no Meanderthal, but I still love it. Surprised to see those comments after just reading the really negative Dusted review of it earlier today.

Doran - I think I said something similar in the Torche thread. I like the last two songs but the rest is "meh". I really like Meanderthal.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of any of the bands I'm seeing tonight, but they all have decent to great live reputations and good shows don't come my way all the time (though Christian Mistress were excellent a couple of weeks back).

Don't get me wrong, last time I saw Torche, they were amazing live... I guess it was an ATP show just after Meanderthal. And High On Fire live is always a killer show.

Matt Pike walked past me once and I was wearing a High On Fire T-shirt. He made the horns to me as he walked past. I had to steady myself against a bollard.

ATP show was the one after Montoya had been sacked but he played at anyway - Patton/Melvins?

That sounds about right.

The Torche EP never really gets going until the last track.

Matt Pike walked past me once and I was wearing a High On Fire T-shirt. He made the horns to me as he walked past. I had to steady myself against a bollard.

awesome!!!

I saw Blake Judd walking down Milwaukee once and I tried to give him a nod/smile thing that was supposed to read "I know who you are and really like you and your band, but I don't want to be all fanboyish about it". He kind of scowled at me in return. Probably because I was wearing my work dress clothes and looked about as un-metal as possible.

Matt & Judd have both snorted coke off my tits. Goddamn you guys are square.

Sorry. I'll go burn all of my metal albums when I get home tonight. :(

OK, I had to read that several times to realize the sense of "burn" you meant.

<3 Jon :)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs362.ash2/64020_159306380754833_114358401916298_408729_2326204_n.jpg

This Ghost album Opus Eponymous is blowing me away. The satanic gimmick is far more effective when it's played totally straight-faced and musically understated like these guys do. Plus they're permanently stuck in 1978, and what's not to like about that?

I am not feeling Ghost yet. Why do Sweedes never want original band names?

A very pretty girl just gave me a Burzum shirt that fits me like a glove. Do I wear it out?

Yeah unless your neighborhood is full of SHARPs or somethin'.

Ended up leaving during High On Fire's set tonight. HoF bring out the meatheads, and Pike was encouraging them to behave like morons. Not fun. The band aren't really my thing and this show didn't change that, though "Blessed Black Wings" was epic in all the right ways.

However, Torche were quite good and much heavier and rougher live. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would based on the new record.

The show stealer was definitely the opener, Kylesa. I didn't know what to expect (I haven't warmed to their records in the past) but they are a tight, powerful live band. I have no idea whether they played mainly new stuff or not but it made me a fan and converted a few of my friends who were there as well.

So if you're catching this tour later make sure you get there in time for the opener!

Thanks, Adrien, for mentioning that Weapon have a new one coming out.
What a powerful album!

Pike was encouraging them to behave like morons

^like what

he asked to see their tits and then snort coke off of them?

did i mention that jerseyband are awesome math-metal with trumpet and saxophone, and that the horns are used in a way that is not lame at all

ooh now you're talkin
why do they have such a crummy name?

element of surprise

also they appear to have a sense of humor: http://www.myspace.com/jerseyband

Pike was encouraging them to behave like morons

^like what

by saying things like "that's not a pit! You got to throw yourself around!" and going "fuck yeah!" when people who were headbanging but not moshing get knocked to the ground. One of my friends was right in front rocking out and got pushed up and over the barricade by some meathead during the second song. He was fine and joined me in the back for the rest of it until we left 30 or so minutes in. The "security" didn't help; a couple of the big guys wearing earpieces and staff shirts were right in the middle of the mosh being asshats themselves.

I'm happy he wanted the crowd to be into it but don't encourage people to be assholes. Ended up being forty people up front and 2 or 300 people fifteen feet back from them.

This is where Nate calls you "square" EZ.

Yep.

I was never a mosh dude. "I'm here for the music, man!" Luckily, I'm a good sized guy and in general can hold my own if I get stuck in one. My friend who went ass over tit is a little shaver and didn't stand a chance.

when i saw high on fire several years ago i was on the periphery and still got knocked around pretty good. still thinking about bailing after torche.

I'd never seen them so wanted to give their live show a shot. They were super tight and Pike can play the shit out of the guitar, but there was no conversion from appreciation to fandom like there was for Kylesa, or for Ludicra when I saw them last spring.

xpost

wait, I'm going to get injured just standing there, even if I'm in the back of the room?

nah the pit gravitates towards the front; it's easy to avoid

yes
xp

xpost

ok good

get in the pit, man. you won't get injured.

yeah no, there's no way I wouldn't get destroyed

i'm relatively little and i got bumped around at the eyehategod show i went to earlier this year. it sucked.

Just over an hour until Necro Deathmort kick off Supersonic.

Mosh pits suck and are totally false metal.

I do miss the days when metal shows were all fist-pumping and headbanging. That was a lifetime ago.

I used to love the pit from about ages 16-21. Once I got married, though, I eased back. Now I'm the arms-folded guy at the back of the crowd.

last metal show I went to was Metallica/Godsmack in 2004. I'm curious to see what kinda crowd there'll be at the Torche/Kylesa/High On Fire show tomorrow night

I do miss the days when metal shows were all fist-pumping and headbanging. That was a lifetime ago.

One of the things I love about where I live is all the smaller metal shows are still like that. I was actually surprised to see a pit. Obviously, I should only go to shows with less than 100 people.

I've been to shows with circle pits, etc but there's always been a certain level of pit etiquette that I appreciated (ie if you're on the edge and not moshing, no one touches you or invades your space, and so on). I'm all for letting people have their fun provided it doesn't get impede on mine.

Quite honestly the worst show I was ever at was a Pearl Jam arena gig at the old Point in Dublin; there was nowhere safe to stand as the crowd kept surging backwards and forwards and side to side like we were in a fucking wave pool. Not for me, thanks.

I loved the pit when I was a kid. There was a sense of camaraderie in the somewhat small scene I was in at the time; a lot of people knew each others faces from other shows and most of the shows were 18+ so alcohol wasn't a big worry. It was never about hurting other people and in fact, people were more about keeping each other on their feet. When people fell down, they were picked up. People on the outsides of the pit acted as a cushion/barrier and mostly pushed people back in. I had a friend who was pretty small and got tossed around a lot, but he was even more into it than I was. I never saw any serious injuries.

These days when I go to shows I get a lot more out of watching the performers do their thing, but I still see the pit as a pretty fundamental aspect of death/thrash metal. All that said, I would steer way clear of a mosh pit at a rock show like Torche.

I've been listening to a lot of new stuff at random today,
and this black/death band from Belfast really grabbed my attention.

http://www.myspace.com/altusastrum

Their debut full-length just came out this month.
All four tracks on their myspace are pretty impressive.

I hate pits but they do have their place. What I hate more is when there's no pit, but there's 1-3 guys trying to make one and just generally upsetting the vibe for the rest of us geezers.

Saw Triptykon play a crushing set to less than 100 people in Portland last night. Despite the dismal turnout, they played a set that made me feel utterly purified. I can see how this band could easily bore a lot of folks, but the minimalism and heaviness is EXACTLY what I want from this band. Tom is in great form, the band look and sound excellent, and they do so much musically with so little. Also the entire set was Frost/Triptykon/Frost/Triptykon the whole time. A very nice crowd-pleasing balance.

Then I crossed town to see a late set from Ancestors who made full use of their organist and modular synth players. Super epic jams. Great night all round.

Helluva a double last night Nate! Jealous as I'd love to see them both.