Rolling 2022 Metal Thread

playing the new Sigh rn. lessee how it is

Neurosis' Scott Kelly made a big statement on his Facebook page admitting "several years I have engaged in the emotional, financial, verbal and physical abuse of my wife and younger children."

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbQCzGyWIAIAb3E?format=png&name=900x900

There are two reactions to this online: Many are lauding Scott for his "bravery" while others feel this is just more manipulation from an abuser.

I have to admit I am in the later camp. I hope his wife and children are able to find peace and realize love should never feel the way he made them feel. And I could give a shit if Neurosis never does another thing.

Agree on all points.

A STATEMENT FROM NEUROSIS

We cannot overstate the level of disgust and disappointment we feel for a man who we once called Brother.

As a band, we parted ways with Scott Kelly at the end of 2019 after learning about severe acts of abuse he committed towards his family over the previous years. In the past, Scott had disclosed his marital difficulties and acts of verbal abuse, as well as his intention to get help and change his behaviors. The information we learned in 2019 made it clear Scott had crossed a line and there was no way back. We did not share this information out of respect for his wife’s direct request for privacy, and to honor the family’s wish not to let their experience become gossip in a music magazine. With Scott’s Facebook post of August 27, 2022 disclosing much of this information publicly, we can finally say what we believe needs to be said.

For the last twenty years we have lived far apart from one another and only saw Scott when meeting up to work on music or play shows. We had no idea what the reality was for his family when we were not around. By Scott's own admission, his abuse was intentional, targeted, and a closely guarded secret - even from those of us closest to him.

Once we learned of his abuse it was difficult to reconcile the horrible information with the person we thought we knew. It’s not surprising he hid the abuse for so long because it is a betrayal of our ethics as bandmates, partners, parents, and human beings.

Since 2019, we have made numerous attempts to contact Scott. We wanted to have an honest talk about the status of the band and find out how he and his family were doing, but he has refused to speak with us for three years. And, in what we now see clearly to be a pattern, Scott refused to take responsibility for his actions. Having been through so much with someone for more than 35 years, one would expect some amount of closure, or at the very least a response.

Now, without returning any of the calls, texts, or e-mails of his bandmates and friends, Scott has made a public post about the situation. To us, this decision seems like another attempt at manipulation, another opportunity for his narcissism to control the narrative. Don't allow Scott to make this about himself, it's about the abuse his family has suffered.

Usually, we would view public openness and honesty about mental illness as brave and even productive. We just don’t believe that is the case here.

There is nothing brave about systematically abusing your wife and children.

There is nothing brave about confessing wrongdoing when you have not done the work to change your behavior.

There is nothing brave about refusing to speak honestly, or speak at all, with one’s closest friends and bandmates, people who have supported you and stuck by you for most of your life.

Compared to the impact of Scott’s actions on his family, the impact on our band pales in significance. Nevertheless, with the heartbreak and horror we also grieve for the loss of our life’s work and a legacy that was sacred to us.

Again, our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of Scott’s wife and children, as well as anyone else in a similar situation. If someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please reach out to one of the many local or national resources available. One national resource is:

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 www.thehotline.org

If you or someone you know is suffering from mental health issues that could make you a danger to yourself or others, please get help before you hurt yourself or the people you love.

One resource for that is:

www.988lifeline.org

This is the only statement we plan to make about this issue. In due course, when it's appropriate, we will provide more information about our future musical endeavors, but that time is not now.

Good statement from the band.

Sanford Parker's separate statement also key:

https://www.facebook.com/sanford.parker/posts/10221367118952623

The only time I check facebook these days is when someone calls me and says "did you see the crazy shit homeboy just posted?!" which leads me to my next topic.

In response to Scott Kelly’s post I would like to make it crystal clear that during the active years of Corrections House and Mirrors for Psychic Warfare I had no idea the level of abuse Scott was inflicting onto his family. He always talked about his “mental illness” and things he did in the past he regretted, but nothing like this.

Over the last 12 plus years he and I have spent countless time together. I would be with him every second of every day for months at a time, often just the two of us and I have never seen this side of him. Not even close. It’s truly mind-blowing his level and power of manipulation he has on people.

In January of 2020 Scott cut off all contact with me for no reason. I tried repeatedly reaching out via text, emails and phone calls and nothing. I tried several times reaching out to his wife but was told everything was ok. Then in March of 2021 she sent me a lengthy detailed email about the abuse she and the kids had experienced and it was honestly the most disturbing thing I have ever read, it made me physically ill. I wish I could unsee it. By that point though the damage had been done and as far as I knew they were away from him and safe.

I poured my heart and soul into Corrections House and Mirrors for Psychic Warfare and now they are rotten. I will never have the same pride for those bands I once did and that truly hurts. This has been hard for me to process over the past year, but by this point in my life I am used to it and I move on.

I see a lot of people praising him for his honesty and that’s total bullshit, he deserves no praise. I have no sympathy for Scott and neither should you. I do have much love for his family and I really hope they are able to heal and move forward.

last sentence key

I'd vote in a metal decade poll, though my ballot would mostly add more fake black with pink covers.

like Old Man's Child doing "Get This Party Started"?

id vote in a 2010's till now metal poll for sure. i like that too because it gives 2021 a chance to shine.

I realize that trying to parse what the folks over at the Metal Archives consider “metal” is a bit of a fool’s errand, but their refusal to count the Denver Dreadnought as metal is one of the biggest head scratchers.

Their new album is fantastic tho.

some folks here probs know this and others may not give a f but i have a metal radio show called The Unquiet Grave. each episode is a deep dive into a subgenre, label, or a year in metal, or the metal of a particular place. you can listen live at wrir.org/listen at 9-11pm sundays, or you can listen to all the archived episodes here whenever: emilyrobinson.org/radio

i forgot how to make a link https://emilyrobinson.org/radio

Lol Neanderthal

latest ayloss, under the name 'auriferous flame', is typical brilliance from one of the (imo) greatest living songwriters

https://auriferousflame.bandcamp.com/releases

ty for the link roxy btw, will have a browse

Yeah, thanks for the link roxy! Def will check that out.

TBH, I don't think we will be doing a metal poll. Not one person on the album poll rollout said they were interested. Not a single one.

It's not much fun running a poll with only a handful of interested parties at most, and too stressful. So I guess it's on hold for now. If there is not enough interest on the board for metal and/or metal polls, you can't force it. A lot of this thread just hates polls, a lot of regular metal album EOY voters left ILM, and I'm not sure metal has much cache on the rest of the board.

Apologies to those who had their hopes up.

Also, everyone listen to Roxy's show

Another option, if someone wants to run an EOY poll for this year, might be to include both 2021 and 2022.

thank you roxy, early black metal and Swedish death metal episodes were educational af for me

There's a new Faceless Burial out in early October and it is really fuckin' good.

The one track that we proles have access to sounds fucking great, extremely solid band.

The new Megadeth album has a cover of the Dead Kennedys' "Police Truck" on it. Sadly, my first reaction was to wonder if Mustaine had rewritten the lyrics to be pro-cop. (No.)

Hmmm looks like it has Steve Di Giorgio on bass and guests Ice-T and Sammy Hagar? I guess I’ll have to check it out.

Peeping the new Blind Guardian.

Fuck. It's....good.

Like it's still OTT as hell but it's closer to their mid-late 90s output than their recent orchestral bombast.

They're playing at speed metal tempos again, the choruses are big. The Queen-y leads are tasty as ever.

You're not the only person who's praised it. I may have to check it out.

Hmmm looks like it has Steve Di Giorgio on bass

whoa, wonder if he's audible in the mix

Word is spreading that Dave Sherman, a DC/Maryland/Virginia doom legend (he was in Spirit Caravan and the Sacred lineup of the Obsessed, and fronted Earthride), has died.

New Darkthrone already, Astral Fortress due out October 28th.

Carried on the brisk wind of eager rock, with foundations in black, thrash, doom and heavy metal, Astral Fortress is the latest album of stellar, eclectic old metal in the Darkthrone odyssey. With a seemingly endless dungeon full of heavy metal influences channelled through Darkthrone’s dynamic riff-machine, plus also with many increasing inspirations taken from their own past catalogue.

the brisk wind of eager rock

happy halloween

xp - that's exactly the phrase that prompted me to share that paragraph

but the cover is kind of awesome:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3481823854_10.jpg

is he ice skating?!

fuck i love Darkthrone

Darkthrone should enter the Olympics

pairs figure skating

H. Amarillo
N. Culto

New Drudkh..think I like where its headed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9CcjznLS54

An interesting/surprising choice, but one I can respect — The Black Dahlia Murder will continue, with founding guitarist Brian Eschbach moving to vocals and the band's former lead guitarist, Ryan Knight, returning to the lineup.

Don't blame them for wanting to keep it in the group, makes sense on some level, but hard to imagine a non-vocalist stepping into Strnad's shoes like that.

Yeah, he says in the piece that he's not the vocal talent Strnad was (the first time I heard them I thought they had two singers) but it's an admirable effort and at least they didn't bring in fucking Tommy Vext or somebody.

Vocally speaking this might be like when Walkier left Skyclad and the guitarist took over.

Fans lost interest. Throwing Strnad's suicide in the mix, have to imagine fans will have mixed feelings.

But I don't begrudge the decision. May have been what Trevor wanted

Goatwhore have always left me cold, but their new album, Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven (out 10/7), is really getting the job done this morning. I don't know what changed, them or me, but it's a pleasant surprise for sure.

I check in with Soulfly like every three albums or so, feels like I picked a really good time to check in with Totem, this is really solid. Max sounds really energized here.

They've been on a hot streak more or less since Enslaved IMO.

So Vektor (well, David DiSanto and three nobodies) was signed to Century Media for about 24 hours...the social media backlash was so intense that they cut ties with him this morning.

He'll be on Profound Lore by the end of next week, probably.

Well, not exactly three nobodies, he somehow convinced Erik Nelson to come back with him. Disappointing all around.

Digging both sides of this new End/Cult Leader split EP:

https://cultleadermusic.bandcamp.com/album/gather-mourn

If you like your metal with multiple melodic female singers at once, the three lead-vocalists from Elyose, Semblant and Kalidia are all in The Erinyes, with Aldo Lonobile from Secret Sphere writing and producing the album. It's pretty good.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5aqqnUBWFQMFISICmcMsgr

Late in getting around to it, but damn this new Mares of Thrace is incredible. One of the best guitar tones I've heard this year and just riff after riff.