Rolling Metal Thread 2012

anyone else spin the new incantation yet? didn't make a huge impression on my initial listen this morning but it seemed solid enough. expect further listens will help."profound loathing" was a nice, doomy standout.

and not gonna lie, I miss the grimey golgotha sound. I know it's not coming back, I just can't help it.

it's on spotify btw

This video reminds me of something I've been noticing that maybe hasn't been addressed in music but more in heavier/extreme music..

Age.

Back in the day, a band wouldn't be caught dead with some "old" dude in the band. Peoples acceptance of these things probably isn't anything that they've even thought about or noticed. I couldn't imagine looking through Hit Parader BITD and seeing a band I'd never heard of with a cruster, grey bearded or balding goon and take em seriously. Its just always seemed to be a young mans' game to be in a band. Whenever I'd think of elder statesmen it would be guys that have aged while in bands, AC/DC, the Stones, etc.

But now it seems the norm for any sludge or post metal type thing is dudes in the 40s. Or any newer band doing the like, or anything atmospheric or even blackened for that matter being done by hella young dudes might not get the respect at first. I have seen a trend too of newer school grind bands being older cats, but having a young drummer.. (cuz old cats can't play that shit on drums..lol)

Maybe I'm totally out of my tree, or maybe cuz I'm old now I notice the older dudes more.. When i get asked what kind of music i play currently i usually say old Man Metal.. or to barrow and expand on a quote from Kowloon Walled City, "4 dudes playing to 40 dudes" all in their 40s..

― SeanWayne, Wednesday, November 28, 2012 10:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this kind of ties in with this, but as another angle of the age thing, i was also surprised at how many YOUNG kids (and like YOUNG, maybe 21-23 yrs old) kids I saw at Saint Vitus like totally rocking out to shit they were playing off the old SST albums, like the group of kids that were totally smoking weed in the pit that had backpacks and snap back oversized baseball hats with flat brims that basically dressed like the dudes in Odd Future

and i had come basically expecting myself at 38 to be on the young end of the show crowd

This Author & Punisher album is absolutely incredible. Ashamed to admit I'm just finally hearing it now, but man. I cannot believe this isn't gaining more traction! I can see this crossing over to a pretty big audience, actually. And, hell, even some of the quieter pieces could even attract some of those ambient techno/dubstep ilm-types. I mean, come on, if you dropped "Mercy Dub" on the web and claimed it came from some young bedroom producer from Brighton, I can see people who like Burial eating it up.

The fans are getting older and the younger ones help to keep things viable. But I'm trippin on the geezers actually in bands. That video made me realize-heres a relatively new band, and the singer is old, or at least older; it doesn't look like he graduated high school in the last 5 years, ya know? Bands 20 years ago couldn't make any head way with some old dude in their ranks, and maybe in some aspects of the industry this is still true, but I'm seeing more of it. I think the underground (for lack of a better term) is probably more forgiving of this, and those types of bands will be a little more DIY, so I'm sure that plays a part too..

Mick Mars was a trailblazer and we never knew it.

you are right about the A&P. The dub step thing is lost on me, but I can see fans of that getting into this.. its like Godflesh meets Aphex Twins with modern sounds and production.. its pretty dope.

HA!! right? Mick Mars is like 10 years older than all of those guys!

Of course there is gonna be those examples, but I'm just seeing it WAY more these days

coverdale had been around the block a few times before whitesnake blew up in the 80s

Listening to the Incantation album now. It's pretty great. I love those guys, though. Diabolical Conquest is my favorite of their albums by a long stretch (mostly for the 17-minute final track), but they don't have any genuinely bad albums, and their change-ups from death metal blasting to doom creepy-crawling are awesome.

I'm impressed by the Author & Punisher too, and love the Corsair.

I think you're absolutely right SeanWayne. Metal is no longer a young man (or even a man's) game. I can testify.

Oh I just set myself up for a barrage of tranny jokes, didn't I?

Metal is now the Crying Game.

Hasn't it always been, though?

So...who's buying the 15-CD Blind Guardian box that's coming out in February?

J3ff?

That's a lot of Blind Guardian.

Apparently it's their whole discography, studio and live albums, plus a couple of discs' worth of rarities.

Blabbermouth rundown

Here's the list that was linked above.

Mixtarum Metallum IV: The 20 Best of 2012

Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay
Liberteer - Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees
Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life
God Seed - I Begin
Royal Thunder - CVI
The Secret - Agnus Dei
High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis
Evoken - Atra Mors
Martyrdöd - Paranoia
Conan - Monnos
Titan - Burn
Napalm Death - Utilitarian
Dordeduh - Dar de Duh
Witch Mountain - Cauldron of the Wild
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine
Nihill - Verdonkermaan
Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering
Ufomammut - Oro: Opus Primum & Opus Alter
AMENRA - Mass V

I'm listening to Liberteer, Gaza and God Seed for the first time, still processing.

I hope that The latest Grand Magus record, The Hunt, gets some recognition from people. I hadn't listened to it in a while but it is a rifftastic monster. Such a great driving album, all forward motion with big old sing-along choruses. It deserves a wider audience.

I don't like that Liberteer album at all. I love grind and I get the concept and all, but those synthy horns make me cringe so much.

Horny synths would be better.

I liked The Hunt so much I went back to their previous albums to re-listen, and bought a couple on CD.

way late but the new converge is great, man they are making some excellent records these days

I do need to track down that Grand Magus. I've really liked their last couple and I kept waiting for the new one to show up in shops, when it didn't, I kinda forgot all about it.

kinda half-jokingly lol @ Converge making excellent records "these days", imho, they've been making excellent records for about a decade now

I don't find Converge in the least appealing. One of the many where I accept they're good at their thing but their thing has the appeal of a bag of shit.

kinda half-jokingly lol @ Converge making excellent records "these days", imho, they've been making excellent records for about a decade now

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, December 2, 2012 4:54 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's prob true, i took a break after jane doe because i didn't really dig that album but now i'm back

I don't find Converge in the least appealing. One of the many where I accept they're good at their thing but their thing has the appeal of a bag of shit.

― EZ Snappin, Sunday, December 2, 2012 5:32 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also i appreciate this, they're an occasional thing for me

I'm sure I'd like them live, but the rest of the bill would have to be stellar for that to happen because I'm not buying a ticket with the hope that I won't hate it.

I would have liked to see Kvelertak on their latest tour but I was out of town when they came through.

that was the wrong show to be scheduled for a tuesday night here but i did in theory want to see it

It was a Thursday here, but I was heading out of town at 5 the next morning. I couldn't do what you did for the Agalloch show a few years ago. Thanks again for that sacrifice!

I have it on good authority that Kvelertak will be doing a much more substantial US tour in 2013.

Re Converge live: When I saw them on tour with Dethklok, Mastodon and High On Fire, they were pretty good, musically speaking, except that Bannon sounded even more like a relentlessly barking Rottweiler than usual and he was running back and forth onstage doing what looked a lot like a Nazi salute. It was a little off-putting. Also, they were the only band that looked dwarfed by the stage, somehow. I haven't made it all the way through the new album.

It was a Thursday here, but I was heading out of town at 5 the next morning. I couldn't do what you did for the Agalloch show a few years ago. Thanks again for that sacrifice!

― EZ Snappin, Sunday, December 2, 2012 5:49 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that was a blast!

Next time you come to Dallas for a show I promise you can crash for a night. :)

thanks for the Kvelertak upcoming tour insight, 誤訳侮辱. And the Converge live review. That doesn't sound like it would convert me.

Yeah, I've actually never seen Converge live, but based on what I know of those guys, I can't believe that Bannon's arm thing was anything but pure accident or something.

Would love to see Kvelertak.

Seen Converge a couple times, never been that impressed. I don't know, they're fine, but not really my thing.

I think I may have already said that on here… Apparently I'm going senile in my old age.

Converge were pretty great here on Friday night, I have to say. Bannon was darting around too, but no Nazi salutes, just random gestures (nothing like the best on-stage gestures I've seen, from the frontman in Zen Guerrilla).

I saw High on Fire with Goatwhore over the weekend... Really good show, but HoF was mixed so in the red that their sound actually lost a bunch of oomph (drums were totally buried, Pike's guitar was hard to hear beyond just a deep thrum). Goatwhore, on the other hand, totally owned. I'd never heard them before, but I seem to have a really high tolerance for Celtic Frost worship. They were insanely tight, mixed perfectly, and had amazing stage presence.

How's Pike looking these days? When I saw HoF last, back in March, he was looking a little haggard (which makes sense, given what transpired since). Just hoping dude is doing well.

Doing some catching up on 2012 releases I missed, really enjoying the Lunar Aurora album, Hoagascht.

Pike looked pretty good, I thought. No shortage of energy...

One of my editors wants me to interview Paul Di'Anno for his upcoming show. Anybody got a good PR contact for the man, the myth? Thanks.

p✧✧✧@battlez✧✧✧.n✧✧

xpost - Thanks for including us in your top 20 Fastnbulbous!

xxpost - I have been seeing Converge live since the 90s. They have been incredible every time I've seen them -- except for on that Dethklok tour. Something wasn't right about that one.

As for the new album, I streamed it, and it sounds great like all their stuff. But I don't know that I need any more music like that in my life. Pretty happy to put on one of their mid-era records to scratch that itch, or more likely a Deadguy album instead.

Either way, I hold them in very high esteem. I just think most of us are too old to be the target audience for Converge in 2012-13. Too bad because they are really fine artists that are aging well. And if they toned it down for our old ears, they'd piss off everyone else.

Gracias Sh@kedown!