Rolling Metal Thread 2014

Possessor - Electric Hell - Ooh!
http://possessor.bandcamp.com/album/electric-hell
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/p/possessor-electric-hell-dd-2014

Got my copy of the new Monarch in today's mail. Nice packaging.

Yeah, I really like that album cover. Hopefully getting it in the mail today.

Two great metal discoveries today:

- http://open.spotify.com/album/0S7HZRVXpzAgLkAKoI6hpu
- Austrian blackgaze band Harakiri for the Sky's second album Aokigahara. Keeps more black in the blackgaze mix than Alcest or Deafheaven, but still has plenty of gaze. Inspired me to add blackgaze to my genre map (even though I already had "atmospheric black metal"). http://everynoise.com/engenremap-blackgaze.html and http://open.spotify.com/user/glennpmcdonald/playlist/2HozoQdoUebrxqP2BWfv5Q.

- http://open.spotify.com/album/380sEUYEIIF7HZupR5J3Tj
- Estonian mostly-instrumental mostly-post-(mostly)-metal-ish band Ocean Districts' debut album Expeditions. Slow, textured and crunchy.

Is is just me or is Children Of Bodom, Machine Head, Epica and Battlecross kind of an odd quadruple-bill?

Keeps more black in the blackgaze mix than Alcest

This was enough to sell me on checking it out.

Man, the guest vocalist on "69 Dead Birds..." is ruining it for me. I liked "Homecoming Denied" though.

Is is just me or is Children Of Bodom, Machine Head, Epica and Battlecross kind of an odd quadruple-bill?

It is. I suspect I'd enjoy Battlecross live, and I always enjoy Machine Head live, but Children of Bodom haven't been good in a decade, and Epica? No thanks.

I love Epica, and would avoid Children of Bodom and Machine Head, so yeah. Odd.

I enjoy all those bands, darn it.

I'm not commenting on quality. It's just that you've got this Finnish Melodic Death Metal band with an American Groove Metal band, a European Symphonic Metal band and a scrappy thrash outfit opening the show. I'm sure you can find bands that fit those descriptions that are actually good and they would still make for a strange bill.

(I don't much care for Bodom or Machine Head; I like some Epica and Battlecross is fun.)

Can't really think who you'd replace, say, Bodom with that would match them in terms of numbers and drawing power, though. They're depressingly popular.

While looking for something completely different I stumbled on a 2007 release no one seems to have paid much attention to: http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/The_Exile/Exile_Is_Eternal/154794 and couldn't resist checking out a song called "Dark Goblins of the World."

I really like the album, and think some of you (glenn?) might like it too. It fits more comfortably in the "black metal" box than most of what I dig -- more straightforward than Deathspell Omega, Rotting Christ, Gorguts et al -- but still has plenty of experimental/post-rock/post-punk touches to hold my attention. Production on the clear side more than the murky side, with guitars allowed some mid/upper range tones. Fly in ointment: several tracks that fade out, which almost always feels like a songwriting cop-out to me, although it's arguably thematically appropriate here -- the listener gets to hear excerpts of songs that go on forever or whatever.

Darkest Era - The Last Caress of Light (Metal Blade, 2011) - They just made it available on Bandcamp, originally for €8. I gently suggested it's a bit steep for a DL of an older album, especially with the exchange rate, and they dropped it to 6! For those who like the new one, this debut is more Celtic sounding with that great Lizzy/Maiden/Slough Feg twin guitar attack.
https://darkestera.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-caress-of-light-2

ok, digging this pretty well

http://bastardfeast.bandcamp.com/album/osculum-infame

'a virulent strain of doom-heavy, blackened hardcore'

very nimble, with sick drumming

Really enjoying the Harakiri for the Sky album.

yeah good album but terrible band name

speaking of which, this new Secret Cutter album is also very rad

http://secretcutter.bandcamp.com/

While this style of music, sort of "rust flaking from enormous iron hinges" death doom, isn't up my particular alleyway, I'm thinking there might be appreciation for it in this thread. It was a random find by someone on metal-archives, and seemed to get some love. Winter, Conan, and Indian were mentioned as comparisons.
http://forn.bandcamp.com/album/the-departure-of-consciousness

Throw the word "sludgy" in there, too.

Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of Virginia hard rock riff worshippers VALKYRIE. Formed in 2002, VALKYRIE consists of brothers Jake and Pete Adams (Baroness, Samhain) on guitar and vocals, Alan Fary (Earthling) on bass and Warren Hawkins on drums. Drawing heavily from the classic eras of hard rock and heavy metal, VALKYRIE play guitar driven rock n’ roll replete with infectious solos and catchy, powerful vocals. The band has drawn numerous comparisons to greats like Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, Black Sabbath, early Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple.

Never heard their earlier stuff. Should I pick some things up in advance of the Relapse release? It sounds up my alley (and if performed well, up the alleys of about 90% of the people who post here).

http://concert.arte.tv/de/wacken

Accept is currently on at Wacken.

Got there just in time for "Losers & Winners!" Thanks!

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/27/333726142/first-listen-panopticon-roads-to-the-north

new panopticon, 'bluegrass + black metal' band. never heard their last, 'kentucky', but this is really something. engaging throughout.

Kntucky was great, looking forward to giving this one a spin.

Saw Yob and Black Cobra the other night in Oakland.. My buddies band Augurs opened and was hand picked by Yob to do so.. pretty rad show.. I get home today and the new Yob is there from earsplit.. Its so fucking heavy!!!!

New Hellbeard very soon... I know a guy that knows a guy ;p

finally found a good time to listen to the Triptykon record, I'd been putting it off

holy fucking shit

I've only listened the once but this thing is just great from beginning to end in my opinion

Just heard the new Slipknot song. It sounds like a rejected early take of one of their older songs, but I can't exactly pin down which one. Oh, well. (BTW, I stopped working at Roadrunner back in May.)

I saw Valkyrie in 2008 and they were good, and a year or so later with Torche and Baroness and they were great. First S/T 2006 album sounds kind of crappy and weak vocals, but has some good tunes, and Man Of Two Visions (2008) is better. Best thing about those are the solos, but I'm confident they'll make a huge step with the new one. Can't wait!

Reminder: Carcass in one hour.
http://concert.arte.tv/de/wacken

Awesome lineup tomorrow. I need to catch Emperor at least.

I think Carcass might be starting momentarily...

whoops, yes indeed they did

Looking at the list, the band whose absence from the top 100 most strikes me is Supertramp. They are intrinsic to my sense of Classic Rock.

To mine too. I voted for "Hide in Your Shell" and "School". I've never seen them get much love on ILM so I wasn't that surprised. If I squint a little, I can sort of see those songs as anticipating Radiohead in a weird way.

Wrong thread, sorry.

I watched the new Electric Wizard "video accompaniment" to their track "I Am Nothing" and man is that title an accurate description. I've liked/loved most of their records from the past decade, but this song is so interminable and boring. If this is their idea of a lead cut to get people excited about the upcoming album I'm definitely worried. Bereft of riffs, ideas, or anything resembling momentum or excitement. What a turd.

Been hearing good things about the new Fallujah, worth getting?

it is interesting. but the word about it being NONSTOP LOUD is also tru.

That mix is unforgivable. Hard to tell if it's actually good or not.

Ah shit that EP they did last year suffered from that too.

I read a comment from the guy who mixed it (can't remember where now) that it is exactly what the band wanted. Which is a shame, but give the client what they want.

Is it the mix or the mastering though?

Thing is these overcompressed ultra-intense on-edge-all-the-time records would be a lot more enjoyable if bands would release them as two or three 20-minute EP's over the course of a year. Take a band like Bölzer, I'm perfectly fine with them releasing EP's only for the rest of their career.

I mainly want Bölzer to stay as perfect as they are right now. I'm sure they could sustain interest across a whole album, since they're definitely judicious about shifting pace or dialing back the intensity at appropriate moments...but, they're really good at EPs.

This might've been the Fallujah comment? http://www.angrymetalguy.com/fallujah-flesh-prevails/#comment-1485283695

Yeah, I think that was it. So it was mastered hot, but that's what they wanted, and the lack of dynamics is inherent in the mix. The result is a tiring, samey, nigh-unlistenable record that wears out its welcome rather quickly.

Hmm too bad then.

Meanwhile, I'm still caning the shit out of Witchrist "The Grand Tormentor", a record that will change your life and make you inflict unspeakable horrors upon your unsuspecting neighbours. The good news is, they've got some new material coming out, a split with Antediluvian.

Witchrist's name makes my brain stop working. I'm trying to figure out how to pronounce it. Witchwrist? Wit-Christ? Witch-riced?

Fucking great guitar sound, though, I'll have to check out their album.

It's Witch-Christ