Rolling 2023 Metal thread

Can't say I always liked them, but I really did like Sun Eater. Kinda figured these guys were done for good after a decade, excited for that new one.

since i’m a simpleton, i think i’ll give a slight edge to the previous afterbirth after a few spins of the new one. i do get a little bored with parts of the second side. but this stuff rips and they’re easily one of long island’s greatest achievements, up there with disgustingly enormous portions of cheese-drenched pasta and mariah carey.

Starting to feel like a defining characteristic of recent death metal is how catchy the non-heavy parts of songs are. The new Afterbirth sounds like two bands with their own influences fighting for the spotlight. Felt the same about the recent Tomb Mold. I love metal, but almost wish these groups would trash the monster vox and just completely give in to their Cynic or, like, 80s King Crimson urges.

I guess I should have said "I love death metal" there, not to imply either band wouldn't be "metal" if they did that.

I love metal, but almost wish these groups would trash the monster vox and just completely give in to their Cynic or, like, 80s King Crimson urges.

This is how I've felt about Enslaved for a decade or more. The harsh vocals are basically a vestigial organ at this point; they should drop 'em and go full prog.

2 thoughts, nearly contradictory
i like plenty of metal this is just pure no-hyphens, but most of the stuff I love BEST fits only uneasily in its primary style.
i appreciate some metal vocal styles more when i don't think of them as singing, but a weird gnarly instrument that happens to be built-in

man the Afterbirth is great because of its contrasts - there was a while where 'avantgarde' death metal bands were forgetting to hit you in the mouth with riffs but Afterbirth do that and then create dream-like sequences as beautiful as any art-rock band and it doesn't sound jarring or gimmicky. loved their last one, really love this one.

]] man the Afterbirth is great because of its contrasts

yeah, I don't think it would be nearly as interesting as a pure prog record. that sense that you don't know which direction it will come from next is a lot of what makes it fun for me.

i appreciate some metal vocal styles more when i don't think of them as singing, but a weird gnarly instrument that happens to be built-in

This is precisely why I love brutal death metal — a) the vocals are just another sound and b) the almost-always-terrible lyrics are rendered incomprehensible.

This is precisely why I love brutal death metal — a) the vocals are just another sound and b) the almost-always-terrible lyrics are rendered incomprehensible.

yep. I also like that I can listen while working and not get distracted by the lyrics.

man the Afterbirth is great because of its contrasts - there was a while where 'avantgarde' death metal bands were forgetting to hit you in the mouth with riffs but Afterbirth do that and then create dream-like sequences as beautiful as any art-rock band and it doesn't sound jarring or gimmicky. loved their last one, really love this one.

agreed about the contrasts but the last record had em too! in a less a/b way tho

Century Media has put a bunch of their catalog up on Bandcamp. It's being handled by the European side (the prices are in Euro) and seems a little haphazard right now — not every album by every band, but usually just their first 2-3 releases. Presumably more to come. And now I'm listening to old Arch Enemy albums for the first time in forever. Doomsday Machine is a fucking great album.

https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/music

good god, my late teen years resurrected. thanks for the head's up.

There's a new Doro album out today that includes a cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," sung as a duet with Rob Halford.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DguMk2Hze1E

Can't top Bonnie Tyler, but I like it!

dang, body count's "carnivore" is pretty slammin' imho. (didn't make it into the "YES, THAT, NOW" first cartful of century media stuff, now I'm going back through the 20 or so tabs I opened to check out, thanks unperson.)

New Autopsy doesn't hit me as immediately as the last one but it's still quality.

I like this https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-dialogue-with-the-eeriest-sublime

fwiw it's really the final 2 songs that deliver that elusive combo of weird (delicate flute: check; neoclassical more than prog?) thorny, but melodic that push it into "buy" for me

The story at the top of this month's Stereogum metal column is really great. A band whose just slightly too-late sound doomed them to obscurity in the early 90s now achieves success via sync licensing. Good for them.

(Also, in a surprise to me, one of the releases on my label is written up as a bonus at the end of the column!)

which one is yours?

Diego Caicedo's Seis Amorfismos.

https://diegocaicedo.bandcamp.com/album/seis-amorfismos

I like it!

getting a lot of love elsewhere but this is pretty excellent https://ragana.bandcamp.com/album/desolations-flower

I love Ragana so much.

Diego Caicedo's Seis Amorfismos.

https://diegocaicedo.bandcamp.com/album/seis-amorfismos

― read-only (unperson), Tuesday, October 31, 2023 3:02 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is wild and awesome

i think you will hate this reference haha but there are little bits that remind me of LULU where the modern classical strings are droning

totally forgot there's new Suffocation tomorrow!

Xoth drops a new one tomorrow as well

the new Tetragrammacide going for track titles of the year award. also sounds fantastic

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/tetragrammacide-typho-tantric-aphorisms-from-the-arachneophidian-quran

oh shit, love Xoth!

Wow, this Tetragrammacide album is amazing (and has given me a new username).

lol

I'd been consciously avoiding the new Suffocation album, because no Frank? No interest. But I checked it out this morning and it's really fucking good. Some amazingly shredtastic guitar solos. And the new singer sounds enough like Frank that it's not a jarring transition. Now, does he do jazz hands live? That's the crucial question.

yeah I really dig the new Suffocation. definitely had an issue w/ no Frank the first time, but I am a Disgorge fan so I like Ricky.

might be the most vitality I've heard out of them in years, but I liked the last one a lot too.

the last one never really clicked but i LOVED pinnacle (aside from the cover). “sullen days,” “eminent wrath”… that’s good shit.

still gotta check the new one out. seeing them tomorrow tho. franks lawng island banter will be missed for sure.

I only got to see Frank with the band once, and the experience was somewhat hampered by a bad eye infection i had, but otm with his banter being missed. Ricky doesn't do much, I miss hearing "I love youse guys"

The one time I saw them his adult daughter was hanging out at the side of the stage, so we got some proud-dad banter and the revelation that "Breeding the Spawn" was about her, which was hilarious.

My mistake; he didn't say the song was about her, he just dedicated it to her.

hahahaha love it

the Xoth did not disappoint. \m/

how many calories are in these riffs, my ears are gaining weight

New Vastum drops today, one of the better death-metal bands currently operating, IMO:

https://vastum.bandcamp.com/album/inward-to-gethsemane

i like them, particularly their last two, but opted not to pick up yet, simply cos I'm slow to listen to anything lately. but maybe I"ll give a listen.

lol at the Incantation parody title

I listened to their previous one a lot. This one seems at least as good on first listen.

Out of curiosity - anyone itt ever order stuff direct from Nuclear Blast? I pre-ordered a few things months ago, with the latest street-date for them being October 27th, but still nothing has been shipped. Perhaps more worryingly, I can't get a response to my email asking for an update. Is this fairly typical for them? Not a big deal if something slipped back or there's a longer delay, just would be nice to have any kind of communication from them.

Yeah, I've bought things from them before — when they reissued the Earthless catalog I bought just about everything. But I think they might have changed webstores since then...and I don't remember them being super communicative, no.

Decibel's top 40 albums of 2023 have been posted:

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2023/11/16/spoiler-here-are-decibels-top-40-albums-of-2023/

Surprised not to see the Godflesh album on there.

This is the fewest I've heard of the Decibel top 40 like ever. That's not a brag, just a weird observation.

I've only heard 10, but four of them were on the list I submitted to The Wire. (I decided to submit an all-metal top 10 for their critics' poll this year.)

I've heard a couple of these. I've mainly defected to power metal.