Rolling Metal Thread 2012

yeah, pretty breakneck prog though - the speed never lets up. the next one, individual thought patterns, features Andy LaRoque - guitarist from the King Diamond band! Do read that linked rundown, it's really a great concise history.

but do get those first two Mercyful Fate albums without delay, they're the business

(I should be clear, when I say prog I'm thinking of progressive death, which is kind of its own genre - it owes clear debts to 70s prog but doesn't really sound like it at all)

yeah i get what you mean. prog but not flashy for the hell of it stuff?

but do get those first two Mercyful Fate albums without delay, they're the business

Absolutely, it simply doesn't get any better than those two albums. Don't Break the Oath has some of the most insane riffing you will ever hear.

is the high pitched stuff constant or just now and again?

King's voice is all over the place on those records, but yeah, you'd have to get used to the high-pitched stuff. He times those moments brilliantly.

yeah, don't break the oath really is one of the best metal albums there is. and the riffs will prob hook you but you'll grow to love king diamond's vox, AG.

plus, it's on spotify. not much to lose here. listen to it!

Hey also check out the Mercyful Fate EP (included on "The Beginning") too cause that's got some classic jams. When I didn't really care for King's voice that was the record that kind of eased me into their style.

Finally got to see Yob last night. Well worth the wait of years for Nate to book a date on a weekend within 200 miles of me.

I think the biggest surprise to me was not how incredibly heavy they got on occasion, but how often they grooved like hell as they amped up from the glacial segments. The rhythm section doesn't exactly swing, but the have a fine lock groove that isn't as apparent on record. Mike was also in fine voice, effortlessly going from a growl to a screeching howl to a clean melodic tone.

If they weren't the best live band I've seen in recent years it's only because Ludicra were so damn good.

the lock grooves are my favorite parts on the records!

They're so much more prevalent live. Almost vamping.

Everybody needs some YOB in their life!

And absolutely the first two Mercyful Fates as well. Meeeeeliiiiissssaaaa!!!

pfunkboy -

I wrote a long review of Death's Human a few months ago - here's a link.

I just discovered Mercyful Fate this past weekend; I found Don't Break the Oath on vinyl and took a chance. HOLY SHIT. How did I live without this band?! The guitar work blows my face off. I've listened to the record about five times since I picked it up.

Coincidentally I listened to "Melissa" for the first time the other day too. It was good, I need to re-listen to it!

Did Ghost play I'm A Marionette by ABBA on their recent US tour?

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

http://www.cmdistro.com/images/xlarge/36569.jpg

Holy shit. I saw Vektor for the first time last night. Hands down one of the best metal bands out there. They are gonna be (deservedly) huge.

Here's footage from the show, at a tiny bar on a Monday night. Packed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI2t8nELDM4&feature=youtu.be

that's exciting! i really like 'outer isolation' and was wondering whether they could pull that sort of thing off live. (similiar sorta incredulity as to when i first heard absu) seems like they can. hope they come to the uk soon.

no ABBA songs at the ghost show i went to - just the full album + the here comes the sun cover

So Maiden's touring again this summer. Skipping my part of the world, but I'm fully prepared to go elsewhere to see this one. I missed the '88 Canadian tour (with GNR opening) for the same reason, so it'd be nice to see them revisiting that chapter in the band's history.

Yeah, I'm very excited about this tour. It'll be my sixth time seeing them, but I'm very much looking forward to hearing this particular set of songs. I like Seventh Son a fair amount.

the next one, individual thought patterns, features Andy LaRoque - guitarist from the King Diamond band!

Thanks jjjusten.

I'm watching Mayhem for the first time in Oslo on Saturday night.

Alice Cooper and Kvelertak are holding the flag for metal at Bonnaroo this year. (Honorary mention to Bad Brains and Battles) And that's about it.

Isn't Danzig playing too?

Japanese sludge! I know you guys are into that: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/the-lazarus-pit-greenmachines-d-a-m-n/

My first Rhapsody metal roundup of 2012. (Caveats: [1] I only really "recommend" the top three; [2] two albums technically came out in 2011; [3] six reviews were written by other people.)

http://www.rhapsody.com/blog/2012/02/metal

Otherwise, have been totally immersing myself in Small Stone Records stuff from the past few years. Surprised by how much I'm liking a lot of it.

Also, fwiw, I like the Devil's Blood album as much as any of those, but Rhapsody doesn't seem to be carrying it (at least not yet), and I like Christian Mistress even more than Devil's Blood but it's not out yet. Iron Fire and Steel Wing, both of which I actually reviewed, would have been in the Top 5 of that roundup if I was allowed to include them, but they're for-sale-only (no streaming), which makes them off-limits for Roundups/Staff Picks/etc. And Orange Goblin would've been in the top 5, too, but it came out too late; will save that for next time.

I'm at by:larm in Oslo. As well as a very enjoyable death metal group called Execration, I just saw an awesome grindcore band called Beaten To Death - so good live.

I had the greatest time at by:larm. Be sure to visit Neseblod Records! I miss Oslo dearly.

I've already been this year! Picked up Execration on vinyl... I was going to get a Dark Throne hoodie but everything only goes up to L; skinny, good looking Norwegian bastards. (I love going to Norway and I'm getting to round the trip off with Nekromantheon, Arabrot and Mayhem tomorrow - good times.)

I am listening to the new Emmure album. It's good. Better than their last one, maybe, and I put that one on my Pazz & Jop ballot for 2011.

Great line up coming up tonight in Oslo: Beaten To Death, Arabrot, Necromantheon, Mayhem and then Lindstrom.

fav metal album from last year finally getting a vinyl release

http://babel-label.bandcamp.com/album/i-vi

FUCK YES THERE'S A NEW JEFF LOOMIS ON THE WAY.

Been going in the metal room with frobisher viceroy and sean wayne during the day (when noones in outloud) and its kinda funny seeing what the almost real world listens to. Kids especially think metal should be fast otherwise its 'not metal'. Not 'not my think' or 'crap' but 'not metal. But the same kids listen to bullet for my valentine ,Avenged sevenfold , emmure or trivium, one of whom said while Mercyful Fate was on 'this isn't metal'. And smithy,it was the few people into Isis and Boris who were the ones who sprung to the kings defence!

Main stuff played in there is Slayer/slipknot/maiden/ozzy/sabbath/pantera/lamb of god/opeth/meshuggah/Death/Carcass/machine head/sepultura and Megadeth. plus the underground stuff but the main acts i mentioned get played and the same tracks get voted up as soon as theyve finished. Mainstream metal songs seem to be a small gene pool in there.
As i said metalcore gets played but is frowned upon. But there really is a big gap between the 16 year olds into metalcore/deathcore and the actual metalheads (there's no hipster metallers in there apart from us 3 ilxors!! haha).

Anyway irl do you guys come across kids into just the same stuff as i mentioned or do any listen to black/death/doom/grind/thrash? or even what you term as hipster metal?

Not 'not my thing'

when i say mainstream metal gene pool is small i mean the choices of bands/songs not the actual metallers, they are the largest amount obviously

The thing that most surprises me is that mainstream metallers, who are not kids, but guys in their 20s , don't listen to either a) a varied amount of genres and b) a lot of bands instead they listen to the same dozen or so that everyone else does. I thought with the internet and choice they would be devouring more music but it doesn't seem to be the case. And many of them say they only listen to metal - modern mainstream and classic (ie slayer,metallica,megadeth and 90s - yes 90s is classic era now). So it's not like they are listening to other music so have less time for other metal bands.

Anyway if this should be a thread of it's own rather than here i shall start it

if i could think of a good title

What happened to Cannibal Corpse cover art? I continue to be really disappointed with it since Kill.

The song titles aren't as creative, either – there are a few good ones like "Intestinal Crank" and "Followed Home Then Killed," but nothing nearly as gut churning as the classic stuff.

I was listening to the Christian Mistress album this weekend and discussing it with my wife (who is not particularly into metal, though she'll put up with certain bands), and the more I listen to it the more it seems symptomatic of lowered standards on metal bloggers' part. The obvious hook with CM is their "classicism," i.e. they sound like a band from the late '70s or early '80s, but here's the thing: they don't sound like a good band from the late '70s or early '80s. They sound like a third-tier act of that era, destined to permanent opening-act status and wholly unlikely to get signed and get the polishing-up that Judas Priest or Iron Maiden underwent. And yet in 2012, they not only got signed, they're getting the big push...this also-ran band is what everyone's panting over at the moment. Shouldn't we demand better? Isn't it about more than having the right amps and pedals? Shouldn't we want bands to be able to write a decent song, or put across a vocal with real power? The CM singer just isn't that good - her voice is basically a flat bark with a tiny dash of bluesy grit. Fine, you don't like tech-death or deathcore or djent or whatever other ultra-cyborgy thing seems dominant at the moment. But overpraising every retro thing that comes along doesn't help. And yes, I admit I liked them for a little while. But their album was just one of dozens, across multiple genres (metal, jazz, electronic stuff) I checked out in the course of a given week, and diminishing returns set in hard after the third or fourth listen.

I respectfully disagree with your thesis. At least to my ears, I've discovered more pockets of awesomeness in the record the more I listened to it.

yet in 2012, they not only got signed, they're getting the big push

well they got signed to an indie metal label, one which afaic has about the same relationship with the mainstream as the labels which put out the quote-unquote third-tier acts 30 years ago

..some of which were more interesting (or at least seem more interesting, in retrospect) than first-tier acts of 30 years ago. Or maybe the idea that they were third-tier acts means they were dead ends that didn't have to be dead ends, and are worth exploring to see paths that weren't quite taken the first time around. I also can't think of many new metal singers lately I've liked more than Christine Davis. I wish she put more words over, to be honest, but I kind of love the grain of her voice. I didn't think the songs on the first album actually clicked as songs -- it seemed too much like a demo to me, way too underproduced -- but on the new one a few definitely do, more than on most metal albums I hear. (My favorite is the title track, probably, then maybe "There Is Nowhere," "Black To Gold," and "Pentagon And Crucifix.") Not a great record, probably, but a really good one.

i think it does matter whether something is happening now or whether it happened back when.

sometimes there does seem to be something off about christine davis' singing, and yet it's very compelling to listen to.

I love Christine's voice, it's unique. Plus the band really steps up with some very good songs on the new album. They're far from also-rans.

If you want power, Phil, just wait until you hear the new Accept. It blows the last album away, it's focused, it's aggressive, it's in keeping with the classic Accept aesthetic. At least I think so. You'll probably say, "meh."