Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

Here I go in any case...

I really dislike it so far (made it through the first 8.5 songs and will not listen to more right now). I can't quite explain why yet. Other than the awful heavy-handed orchestral writing, there's nothing obviously poor about their craftsmanship but something about their aesthetic really does not appeal to me and just leaves me irritated. I could imagine myself loving it, down to the ridiculous narrative, when I was 17-18 though.

This said, it often takes me a while to get into something,

OK, folks, here we go.

Amon Amarth, Versus the World, 1994
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61C%2BEgk9wWL._SS500_.jpg
Their fourth album, and the one that found them settling into the sound they've explored ever since.

GridLink, Amber Gray, 2008
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-DgKbZpbL._SS500_.jpg
Ultra-tight grindcore featuring vocals from former Discordance Axis frontman Jon Chang. 11 songs in as many minutes.

Manowar, Sign of the Hammer, 1984
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61nnGV-rZIL._SS500_.jpg
Like Amon Amarth, this is their fourth album; but in Manowar's case, this album marked the end, not the beginning, of a sound. On later discs, they'd be just as aggressive, but more pomptastic and less rocking.

Interested to know everyone's thoughts!

I don't know why I said the Amon Amarth album was from 1994; it's from 2002.

Listening to Man O'War, is it me or is there something very slightly camp about them?

Thoughts about this record: not as "power metal" as I expected (much looser and self-consciously epic), very much influenced by Maiden, unsurprisingly I suppose considering the year of release. Presumably the proper power metal stuff came after this record?

PS Spotify link for Man O'War:
http://open.spotify.com/album/2Ry1UTk7LC4bpZ6cXiAdPC

For Amon Amarth:
http://open.spotify.com/album/2N4o8xXRlIRNa8Y4covLjp

No Gridlink, sadly.

"Thank you for the Kool Aid, Reverend Jim" lol

"Are you our god, or a man in a cape?" KBP to thread!

KBP is too scared to listen to metal. Bogans listen to synth pop from the 80s now.

Awesome! Metal thread making my Mondays tolerant!

(Haven't heard this Manowar album yet, but yes -- Manowar is always super campy. That's the concept.)

I've heard other Amon Amarth and Man O'War records, just not either of those two. Have the GridLink, but haven't really listened to it since I was sent the promo. I remember thinking I had to be in a very particular mood to want to hear it.

Some tips for appreciating Manowar: remember that the lyrics are not the music. The album cover and any band photos you may Google up are not the music. Yes, they're goofy looking. Yes, their lyrics wallow in a kind of machismo that our placid suburban middle-class upbringing and secondary/higher education have taught us is to be ridiculed. But can they write a riff? Hell, yes. Can they play their instruments? They can play the fuck out of their instruments. So shut off the part of your brain that reflexively snickers at things you might be embarrassed to be seen/overheard liking, and fully invest yourself in taking Manowar seriously for 40 minutes or so.

The ManOwaR is not an obvious (thunder)pick, but Thor The Powerhead, Mountains and Guyana are three of their strongest songs, epic stuff. I get goosebumps when the song is introduced in the Hell on Wheels live album.

Also, some fanclub dude counted the times the word "metal" was uttered in each Manowar album. The average was around several dozens, but strangely it's nowhere to be heard in Sign.

^ the song="Thor"

Excellent, just starting the Amon Amarth now! I haven't heard this Amon Amarth album, had never even heard of GridLink, and haven't listened to this Manowar album since it was still current, so this will all be new enough for me, but I shouldn't have to bail out of anything!

I always prefer Hail to England over Sign of the Hammer, but it's still a solid album. "Guyana" and "Mountains" especially.

And I play Versus the World's "Death in Fire" all the time. I never tire of that tune, and it kills live.

My first and fave Manowar album is Fighting the World, primarily for the totally awesome insane "Black, Wind, Fire and Steel," but this album is really great. Especially Guyana which has some completely gorgeous moments that I had no idea Manowar was capable of. I can see why unperson wanted us to listen to this unironically (or without looking for camp), because this song at least is totally good in a very sincere beautiful way. (Every time they sing Guyana, I keep hearing Diana, and then imaging that they're singing this to a girl.) That said: I think it's totally legit to appreciate Manowar songs for being completely over the top metal camp.

ooooooooooooooooooooh

http://i42.tinypic.com/6z3af8.jpg

first riff on versus the world is THUNDEROUS

i remember streaming some of twilight of the thunder gods and not getting what the big deal was, so this is a good re-engagement opportunity.

Listening to Amon Amarth just now. On the first song and liking it so far, love the guitar solo.

hahahah love the bell on the second track

amon amarth is on grooveshark for amurrcans, btw.

I got the sound of a phone dialling on the 2nd track then a scottish dude asked me to give blood. Damn spotify adverts.

REMEMBER! PIRATING IS A CRIME! ARGH.

I'm not paying £10 a month premium just to listen to amon amarth, its good so far but I'd rather buy the damn thing for a tenner.

Guitar sound is awesome on this, but the drum sound is argh.

yeah i know what you mean--i'd like the drums to be a little more aggro but it's not really bothering me that much

its that farting drum sound all the way through it, im not a muso so cant explain it, its all over most extreme metal albums and its always annoying. But you all know what I mean.

back to last week's:
Fates Warning is the surprise. Im sure I mustve heard some of it when it came out, but its much better than I remembered FW being. Fantastic drummer, great songs, great solos...singing obv a bit dated and silly. Like that theyre somewhere midway between queensryche and iron maiden. Production is great too, if only more records sounded as breathy, open.

I wonder if this is what people mean by drum triggers? Someone needs to explain it to me. But it really is annoying me spoiling a really good record.
xp

Triggered drums are when the producer adds a sample drum sound on the beats to keep the kick drum tone as clean as possible. Lots of people hate it, but I'm fine with it in most cases. On this album the kicks are borderline intrusive, that's for sure, but that sort of adds to the whole cannonading fun of Amon Amarth. Gets the blood pumping!

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.

in conclusion--amon amarth fucking ruled, that's def going on the buy list, thx phil!

re: camp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3LghdBWxc

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

"mountains" is actually just disgusting

when did ross the boss leave?

after kings of metal iirc?

bass harmonic melody plus volume swell pedal solo

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.

ok just gonna skip to guyana (cult of the damned) if no one minds

Love Guyana!

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.

lol probably don't even need to say this but that was dict. definition of "not my thing"

time to track down gridlink

oh god is this a ballad?