Rolling Metal Thread 2014

9. “Holy Diver” – Killswitch Engage

noooooooooooooooooo

they disrespect Dio, and more importantly they disrespect the results of the all-time metal trax poll

the last Kowloon Walled City was really well recorded, kind of tense, spacious sounding sludge metal verging on post hardcore

― a chance to cross is a chance to score (anonanon), Friday, February 7, 2014 3:18 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they record their own stuff in a member's basement iirc? there are def bigger fans of this band then me, overall, but yeah they do have a good sound

i think they went to a real studio for the most recent one

ums - Ballou is Converge's guitarist, he started off producing their records (edit - actually even before that looks like produced among others Until Your Heart Stops which makes a lot of sense) and went on to produce a ton of records, especially for bands that followed in their metallic-hardcore-but-don't-call-it-metalcore wake, bestowing on them a bit of Converge's trademark sound and only deepening their influence.

I mean just look at this list, which is still far from comprehensive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Ballou#Production_and_recording_discography

I'd describe his production sound, as really vivid, intense, kind of... front-loaded? agree with cad, it's very present, it's like the band is playing 2 inches from your face, but with surprising clarity

The last Kowloon is gorgeous. Their singer/rhythm guitarist just built his own studio: http://antisleep.com/

hah look at the second post there, quite the convergence

hey! I totally missed that.

I'm not a huge fan of Ballou as a producer, he's pretty effective in what he does (ie, metalcore) but that brickwalled to the extreme, overcompressed sound is pretty tiring. He's the new Ross Robinson, in that respect.

I don't like everything Ballou's recorded, and figuratively he's a bit like Steve Albini in that I imagine bands would gravitate to him to get a particular sound. But look back on the varied stuff he's done, even more than a decade ago: Until Your Heart Stops still sounds amazing, and different from Suicide Note, different again from the Jan Michael Vincent Car Crash. It's not all Converge-core.

and on the same tip, I would not have guessed he produced the Beastmilk record.

(I can't front on Ross Robinson, didn't he produce Burn, Piano Island, Burn?)

was gonna say, I'd be willing to bet he is somewhat keen for more non-metal bands to come knocking, much like Albini circa 1993 probably hankered for more recording jobs for bands who didn't sound like idk Tar or someone

(I can't front on Ross Robinson, didn't he produce Burn, Piano Island, Burn?)

also relationship of command, the first time i heard a record mastered so brutally i thought it was breaking my stereo. think there's a bit more nuance in ballou's stuff but yeah they're pretty brickwalled

Ballou is the first guy who's managed to really capture Skeletonwitch on record, so respect for that.

Yeah, the Skeletonwitch album is easily the best sounding record they have ever made.
They also have one of his disciples doing the sound for them on the road.
Even though they were third on the Amon Amarth / Enslaved bill, the live sound was the best I ever heard from them.
And I have seen this band literally dozens of times (they came up in Ohio when I was there - I sold their self-released CDs in my record store for them).
The bass really could be heard, giving even older material a groove, a new dimension I was unaccustomed to hearing.

I just recorded with Scott from Kowloon.. dude knows what he's doing. the new Hellbeard is sounding really good..

(I can't front on Ross Robinson, didn't he produce Burn, Piano Island, Burn?)

Really badly. It's the worst sounding Blood Brothers album, compressed to shit and so exhausting to listen to. Granted I haven't heard the reissue on Epitaph, which might be remastered?

really loving the use of horns on this Behemoth album. also Nergals vocals are some of the best he's ever delivered.

Horns? I just lost any interest in checking out that record.. lol

That's funny, seeing that there are horns on it just made me want to check it out.

sean is not a horny dude

i listened to that record in the background but reasonably closely and "horns" did not really come up prominently in my mind, so i think you can probably still check it out.

It's not like it's ska metal, dude. The horns sound seriously evil.

The Skatanist?

Celtic Frost used horns, so horns are metal. Especially French horns.

yeah, they're flourishes, it's not like they're recording Extreme singles....

well I figured they were not doing bad ass Earth, Wind and Fire horn lines..

And I was more than half kidding

man this Obliteration album isn't innovative or anything but it's one of the most aggressive 80s-esque sounding death metal albums I've heard in a minute.

I would really like to hear/start a doom metal band with a lineup like Roy Wood's Wizzard - double drummers, cello and baritone saxophones. Mmm. Yeah. Metal needs more horns.

Or maybe have Borbetomagus play with Lugubrum. Anyway I gotta check out that Obliteration album.

It's not like it's ska metal, dude. The horns sound seriously evil.

I will be listening to this album

Just got the new Behemoth today, and while I haven't listened to it yet (currently playing Evangelion again to lead into it for possible continuity and contrast's sake, for I am nerd you see) I laughed at the reflective Time Person of the Year cover overlay. (It's you! You're the Satanist of the Year!) Internet feedback has been all over the place for this album; I'm genuinely curious.

And yes to Obliteration -- if you've not heard their previous album, Nekropsalms, you must. Hearing that for the first time last year is what compelled me to check out their newest.

Last, this Artificial Brain thing on Profound Lore is lining up nicely along the Demilich-Gorguts-Mitochondrion axis of weird: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinth-constellation

Oh wait, last for real: the new Blut Aus Nord, some kind of 10 year anniversary EP for the DMP label, is absolutely awesome, a little of each of their styles, the industrial conking and the electrified shimmering, and a great Pitchshifter cover: https://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/debemur-morti

Folks, catch the Russian Circles / KEN Mode / Inter Arma tour if you can. All three bands are in top form. Great, great night of music.

gonna try to & make the cambridge show on the 21st, but will have to trade shifts. figure 50/50 at best. :(

amazing fucking albums i missed in 2013

portal - vexovoid
tribulation - the formulas of death
rotting christ - greek to me

HAILZ!

I really wish I'd heard The Formulas of Death before I made my year-end lists and whatnot. Awesome record.

coulda sworn the last Deathspell Omega album had horns in there somewhere in the maelstrom

If you're looking for horns and metal I heartily recommend these guys:

http://www.oretubadoom.com

Just got the new Behemoth today, and while I haven't listened to it yet (currently playing Evangelion again to lead into it for possible continuity and contrast's sake, for I am nerd you see) I laughed at the reflective Time Person of the Year cover overlay. (It's you! You're the Satanist of the Year!) Internet feedback has been all over the place for this album; I'm genuinely curious.

they're coming here in May. definitely going

Behemoth spoilers incoming:

Having listened to The Satanist three times last night, twice in a row and then once a few hours later, I can safely say that at the least it's their best since Zos Kia Cultus -- the other superlatives might have to wait. But yeah, it's pretty huge, full of actual songs with perfectly complementary parts rather than the usual tinker toy assemblage of stock riffs keeping time behind Inferno's distracting blast furnace drumming and Nergal's distracting blast furnace roaring. Inferno is way low key, you'd never even guess it was him, and boy does that work in favor of the songs. The wonderfully homogenizing murk of the production would've obscured most of his usual over-the-topness anyway. And yes, Nergal sounds amazing, like he actually knows where in the song he is, delivering not reciting.

The last song cracks me up. People on metal-archives were saying it sounds like "Kashmir," but with the choirs, horns, bluesy solo, and spoken word, it reminds me more of the "cover" of "Kashmir" that P Diddy did with Jimmy Page. So you have that to look forward to.

/END SPOILAGE

everyone otm about the new behemoth, holy shit

guyz, i think we might could need a dedicated behemoth thread this year for outreach purposes, i read noted ~poet~ michael robbins speculating that it would become a buncha kids' BLONDE ON BLONDE already (tho i am not sure which one is the 'funny' song about getting stoned yet)

It's only a construction defect in the fabric of time that led to Nergal rather than Dylan first using the expression, "bitch ov a sybilline vulva."

wish the lyrics were less comprehensible on this tbh

What I think of when I think of evil horns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC73Os9NmZE

Not very metal, tho.

um i listened twice and no horns really jumped out at me, were they just playing some sustained tones in the arrangements, if so zzz

lookin for some bb king, chess records, famous flames horn stabs here

I've always liked the low-in-the-mix horns on (most of) the QotSA records.

wow can the behemoth seriously be that good

I liked zos kia cultus plenty and have followed them casually since but I'm intrigued