Rolling Metal Thread 2012

Yeah, it's indeed excellent. I was a big fan of the debut and the new one is even more low-key.

Just got sent the new Monarch record, which I'm really excited about.

Yeah, I got sent that as well. Why should I be excited for it? (Not sarcasm, just unfamiliar with their work)

because they're awesome

Monarch's monstrously heavy French doom, and the new one sounds great so far. Three songs, 35 minutes. Dead Men Tell No Tales turned me on to them back in 2007.

Nice to see the site back up and running! Happy new year y'all. :)

Happy New Year Nate!

nate your band got in our poll!

Much appreciated sirs! It was a great year for us, and we are looking forward to a bigger and better year now.

Went off that Liberteer album spectacularly quickly to be honest. The new Cannibal Corpse on the other hand is a fucking belter...

My favorite metal-related things so far this year are not themselves actually metal:

- I'm really loving Andy Julia's darkwave band Soror Dolorosa. Recommended if you liked the Sound or the gloomier bits of the Icicle Works, or if Interpol made you nostalgic for the original New Wave.

- I was a big fan of the Gathering circa Mandylion, but they kind of lost me after that, and I wasn't much into Anneke's solo work. Until now. This new album, Everything Is Changing is fabulous high-energy alt-pop.

Holy hell, the new Napalm Death is fucking fantastic. I'm pretty sure the guest saxophone on the third track is by John Zorn, and there are probably some guest vocalists, too, but I don't have a press release, just a download, so I can't be sure yet.

Holy shit, sounds fantastic.

Hey Nevermore fans, did you know that there was a precursor to that band? You can find out about it in this week's spam: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/the-lazarus-pit-sanctuarys-into-the-mirror-black/

At the risk of being laughed off of here am I the only one looking forward to the new Iron Maiden live DVD/CD? Yeah, I kinda thought so.

I've seen Maiden live five times since 2003, and they're fucking killer, but I'm not sure any of their live records from the 2000s sums up their recent output the way Live After Death encapsulates their early peak.

I agree. I saw the Live After Death tour in person and love the DVD but I'm still a sucker for them. 2003 was the last time I saw them so I guess I look at it as a cheap way to catch the highlights of the most recent tour.

Of course I'm looking forward to the new Maiden DVD!

No, you can't top Live After Death, but they're still tremendous live, and their DVDs are always great fun. Plus the last album was their best since 1988, so it'll be great to hear the new stuff. Last time I saw them they only played "El Dorado".

"A new Burzum album, titled "Umskiptar" (Metamorphoses), is scheduled for release in May 2012 on Byelobog Productions. "Umskiptar" consists of 65 minutes of skaldic metal, recorded in Grieghallen Studio in Bergen in September 2011. The lyrics on "Umskiptar" are all taken from a Norse poem, Völuspá. For an English translation of the lyrics see the book "Sorcery And Religion In Ancient Scandinavia". The original Norse lyrics for "Umskiptar" can be found http://www.burzum.org/eng/discography/official/2012_umskiptar.shtml "

Howdy - not really following this thread, but here are samples of the new Drudkh, out Feb 24th

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006T3MB86/ref=dm_sp_alb/276-8287266-9656466

Just to elaborate on the Anneke thing, I relistened to her other solo records last week, and saying I was not much into them is being kind. Yeek. Maudlin, lifeless, blech. The new one, on the other hand, is still not metal, but it sounds like a record whose author was once in a metal band, and isn't trying to convince anybody that she wouldn't ever be in one again.

I can't say too much about it just yet, 'cause we haven't even officially announced the project, let alone given it a street date, but I brought home the "Mikael & Steven" album this weekend, and it's fucking fantastic. Is it metal? Hell no. To me, it sounds like a cross between Kid A, the first two Peter Gabriel solo albums, and some other dark '70s prog stuff like Univers Zero or Van der Graaf Generator. But it's beautiful, too.

Brought home the new Soulfly, too, but haven't really dipped into that one yet. Personally, I prefer Cavalera Conspiracy. Still, it's supposed to be their most aggressive one yet, and with the bassist from Static-X and Asesino, and the drummer from Borknagar, I'm ready to believe it.

I'm not a big Steven Wilson fan, but that looks interesting.

Meanwhile, the new Meshuggah album is great. Where Obzen felt like an amalgamation of everything the band had done up until then, Koloss returns to challenging listeners more, throwing some interesting curveballs. And there are no"djent" riffs to be found; they leave that to all the kiddie bands imitating them these days. Easily their best since Nothing. I'll have an interview with Haake up at MSN around Feb. 1st.

Excited to hear that Meshuggah!

In catching up with 2011 releases news, what the hell happened to Maylene and the Sons of Disaster? I know they've never been exactly a brilliant band, but their particular brand of southern fried metalcore was a guilty pleasure. But now, wow are they awful. IV might as well be a Shinedown album or something. This is terrible.

oh man, really want to hear that new meshuggah album!

Yeah, that Maylene record was a pretty big disaster. My guess is, their previous albums didn't do as well as people had hoped and so this was a last-ditch effort to find that elusive success by going for rock radio. Unfortunately, I guess nobody realized that rock radio isn't really a path to success for anybody anymore (except maybe Five Finger Death Punch).

I was just handed the new DragonForce album. There was some mild dismay at the fact that while there is a song with "Storm" in the title, and one with "Sword" in its title, there is no song with "Fire" or "Flames" in its title.

More seriously, this is a more aggressive, and more concise, album from them. There's only one song that's more than six minutes long, plus you get an acoustic version of one song (presumably this will be a bonus track on the deluxe edition, or something). I like it, but I've always liked DragonForce.

Eh, tbh, if I'm going to listen to DragonForce, I want long songs! Only one song over six minutes isn't really a selling point for me.

Well, the other songs are all in the 4-5 minute range, and the new singer is much better than ZP was, at least to my ear.

Sounds promising. I can't ever not like DragonForce.

I'm about halfway through the album now, and while it still sounds every bit a DragonForce album, there are a lot of different sounds on it (more human-ish guitar playing, weirder synth tones, occasional slow drumming) and it's really, genuinely heavy at times. I'm liking this a lot.

Oh I'm definitely going to check it out, I've just always liked the longer epics.

I also like DragonForce.

Wolves in the Throne room plyed in SF tonight and I didn't go... for fucks sake I'm getting old!

i continue to be shocked by people enjoying meshuggah. however considering i have gotten a few calls about ordering the new ibanez $5000 meshuggah signature, i support them from a business perspective. go meshuggah, you terrible terrible band!

btw i just did the sabermetrics on our sales of metal guitars last year and we sold more 7/8 strings than 6 strings. which is insane, and thats w/o counting baritones.

7-string guitars are still a thing? damn.

Of all the bands to single out as "terrible terrible", Meshuggah strikes me as a weird one.

They're not terrible, but unless I hear something really revelatory on this album, I'm probably gonna shrug them off.

Yeah I'd say Meshuggah is mediocre at worst.

crazy

I like to think of them as the powerman 5000 of tech metal.

I'm not even sure what that means but yeah basically I think they are awful

You're meshuggina, John.

jjj actually likes powerman 5000 so just ignore him.

A big ol' Fenriz interview:

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/fenriz-isengard-darkthrone-interviewed/

that reads really weirdly, like part email interview part telephone

still cool tho

Yeah, it also kind of just dives right into the commentary track question with no setup or anything, sort of confusing without some sort of context via an introductory paragraph. Anyway, minor quibbles, its a cool interview.

Decibel's Feb issue has the Top 25 most anticipated albums and a pretty thorough release schedule. I'm surprised they didn't include the Electric Wizard and Ufomammut releases in their top 25, but otherwise was a cool feature. These stand out for me:

Ancestors - In Dreams And Time (Tee Pee) Apr
Bible of the Devil - For the Love of Thugs and Fools (Cruz Del Sur) May 8
Christian Mistress - Possession (Relapse) Feb 28
Corrosion Of Conformity (Candlelight) Feb 28
Death - Vivus (Relapse) Feb 28
Drudkh - Eternal Turn Of The Wheel (Season Of Mist) Feb 24
Napalm Death - Utilitarian (Century Media) Feb 28
Orange Goblin – A Eulogy For The Damned (Candlelight) Feb 14
Sigh - In Somniphobia (Candlelight) Mar 20
Ufomammut - Oro: Opus Primum (Neurot) Apr
Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth (Interscope) Feb 7

Also coming: Ancestors, Baroness, Black Math Horseman, Black Sabbath, Church Of Misery, Cobalt, The Darkness, Electric Wizard, Ghost, Gojira, Gozu, Graveyard, Greenleaf, Gypsyhawk, High On Fire, Horisont, Kylesa, Kyuss, The Mars Volta, Neurosis, Om, Queens Of The Stone Age, Saint Vitus, Shrinebuilder, Sons Of Otis, Tool, Torche, Truckfighters, Wight, Witch Mountain.

Anyone heard anything?

ugh ghost show is tonight and i am really stuffed head sick do i go