Rolling Metal Thread 2012

the summoning works!

Horisont rules. You got that at Reckless?

No, FYE actually! I've walked in that place five times and walked out with something in my hand twice. Once was last week with Horisont and then again today when I just picked up four dirt cheap used BOC albums.

which BOC albums?

Agents of Fortune (remaster with bonus tracks)
Spectres (the first CD issue, not the remaster, but it was $3)
Some Enchanted Evening (first CD issue)
Workshop of the Telescopes (a 2-disc comp from the mid 90s, i was unfamiliar with this but the tracklist was awesome)

all for $17 total!

How much do you guys rate that Azareth album that crept into the 2011 metal countdown?

Workshop of the Telescopes is, indeed, an awesome BOC comp. For many years it was all I owned by them.

Yeah, I actually wore out my copy of Workshops.

BE
HE
MOTH
(Is what people were chanting a lot at the decibel tour)

Workshop of the Telescopes is, indeed, an awesome BOC comp. For many years it was all I owned by them.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if I needed a comp since I'm about 1/2 way through getting their albums one by one, but that tracklist was just so o_O that I couldn't pass that up.

There's enough unreleased stuff and alternate takes and selections from albums that are really not worth getting in their entirety to make it worthwhile.

Yeah, thats kinda what I figured when I was looking at it.

ok, i didn't know at first but now i'm 100% on board with this new black breath

i guess as long as there's one metallified hardcore album a year i'm happy.

LEMMINGS!!! http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/the-lazarus-pit-lemming-projects-hate-and-despise/

Ha, Lemming Project! Cool. Always found the lyrics to "Washed" amusing. Not a lot of metal bands attacking personal hygiene (lyrically, at least) as another kind of conformity.

Yeesh, yet another excellent female-fronted metal band I hadn't heard of before: Shear. Finnish, fast, slightly gothic and slightly progressive. EM says Power Metal, I guess because of the shredding and sometimes florid keyboards, but I listened to Dragonforce earlier today, and by that standard of Power Metal, this is something far more traditionally heavy. They could easily share a bill with Ulnleash the Archers and Triosphere.

I talk about them in the latest issue of Decibel. Big, big fan of the keyboard melody in "The Awaking," but the subsequent tracks don't quite live up to it.

Shear reminds me of Saraya. In a mildly complimentary sort of way.

Oh, duh, I should have mentioned that Jeff's thing in Decibel is where I encountered Shear. Totally disagree about the rest of the album not "living up" to the first track. "Scorched" is my favorite, but I think the whole album is really strong.

About to announce full US Agalloch tour. This is the most extensive North American run and longest tour of their career.

Very cool. Would love to see them again so I hope they head south.

oh boy!!

Okay, I don't know much about Semargl, but the combination of cover art (see below), title (Satanic Pop Metal), and the descriptions on RYM are really making me morbidly curious about their new album.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/78b4b05ec3c99ac344ba56330d1b930d/o3741118.jpg

Some RYM user reviews:

Hilarious album. Black metal took....a different path.

Well, if a band ever wanted to piss off the purist, evil kvlt black metal kids, they're doing an amazing job, considering the hate I've seen for this, haha.

If you ever wanted to hear a Behemoth and Ke$ha collab album, this is the closest you're gonna get.

ok, whoa, sorry about the hueg cover art!

Just a reminder that Jeff Loomis' Plains Of Oblivion is fucking amazing. The two songs with Christine Rhoades make me want them to do a whole album together. They also make me want to shred while standing powerfully upon a small meteor flying through the galaxy.

Yeah, those two songs are superb, sad she didn't sing on the entire album. But those instrumentals are mighty good, too.

No doubt. One of the highlights of 2012, start to finish. Loomis is incredibly lyrical and melodic for a shredder of his caliber.

I still need to track down that Loomis album.

Big year for metal dudes getting into jazz fusion, and I'm enjoying that. First was the surprisingly good TRAM album (dudes from Animals as Leaders, Suicidal Tendencies, and Mars Volta) and now we've got Trioscapes, which features Dan Briggs from Between the Buried and Me. I've only heard their Mahavishnu Orchestra cover thus far, but if the rest of the album holds up as well I think it'll be pretty fun.

Jesus but the new Baroness has got some really bad songs on it.

And in other news:

Jesus but the new Baroness has got some really good songs on it.

It's like Baroness made an EP of some of the best stuff they've ever done and decided to stretch it out to album length at the last minute with power ballads and Decemberists cover versions.

Oof. I hope you heard the fake press release version.

Adrien said on twitter that one of the songs reminded him of Weezer, so I'm guessing Doran got the same version.

Yeah I saw that tweet too, which is why I was hoping I could wish this "fake press release version" into existence. This had been one of my most anticipated albums of the summer.

i preordered the fancy book vinyl so it better be good.

The new songs were super boring live, although that might have more to do with them just not really fitting on metal bills anymore.

or they were boring songs?

Like, they sounded like they might be good sitting in my apartment and chilling out to them, but not sandwiched between Decapitated and Meshuggah.

Also, I am sure that this new Ulver album consisting of covers of 60s psychedelic rock songs will be of no interest whatsoever to people on ILM…

The new Baroness is crazy good. Sure, maybe a couple toss-offs, but it's a double album, those things happen.

Ulver was absolutely baffling doing the '60s covers at Roadburn. It sounded phenomenal, but it was surreal seeing Garm doing the maraca thing. It was missing that slow-burning mystique that Ulver usually brings, especially on their last three albums.

I've been asked to book some shows for Sledge Leather. It's Leather Leone (ex-Chastain) and her original Rude Girl partner Sandy Sledge. Accompanying them are Scott Warren and Jimmy Bain from the Dio band.

The question is, will anyone want to see this group? I think the tunes sound good... but I'm always shy about "historical merit."

What's interesting to me is that the new Baroness is only 75 minutes long; it could have fit on a single CD, but they seem to have split it in half so the listener would think about the two sets of songs as being separate. I've only listened to it a couple of times so far, but the first single is seriously the best song they've ever done, and even the weird shit on the second disc (where I think they're using a drum machine) works for me. Definite Album of the Year contender.

I will give anything a chance, but I have yet to hear a single Baroness song that I enjoyed.

The new Baroness single is the first music of theirs that I enjoyed.

As for Sledge Leather, as far as trad metal goes, this is really quite amazing.

Is their a show circuit for legacy metal? I haven't seen many (any?) listings for such shows in Dallas except for the glam guys.

wrong their there. I need an editor.

Seems like these shows invariably are either big and expensive (ie MSG + Anvil), or sad and under-attended (ie Diamondhead / Iron Butterfly)

Helps if you had hits. Helps more if you have all the right members in the band still living/performing.

sS there any chance of sending them out with a younger/bigger band who cites them as favorites/influence? That would likely be the best chance to succeed.