Rolling Metal Thread 2014

yeah tbh while I like Exhumed and all, I've seen em twice already, and having them on a bill w/ Carcass seems almost pointless (kinda like how Pennywise and Bad Religion are on the same bill now).

Macabre would be the main draw for me but admittedly I only know their first two albums. anything from later period worth checking out?

I know a bunch of you guys have talked to Luc Lemay before, but I got to talk to him for the first time this past weekend and what a friendly and engaging interview. I'd happily talk to him anytime.

jealous. only metal musician I've ever been in a lengthy dialogue w/ was Jon Oliva of Savatage (interview, never published due to recording issues).

I love how Gorguts cheesed the audience at the Carcass show I was at by saying "Y'ALL WANNA HEAR SOME OLD STUFF?" and everyone erupts thinking they're getting something from Erosion of Sanity and he just picks an Obscura song, in keeping w/ the theme for the night.

Given Colored Sands sound, it made sense in keeping thematic unity, but it was a humorous windup on his part.

Oh and anyone have any comments about Postsocial by Wold?

Only played it once so far. I thought it was alright, but definitely not my favorite of theirs. I remember thinking the vocals were pushed up way too high in the mix for my liking.

Neanderthal - if you want to hear the conversation with Luc it's the latest Steel for Brains podcast. You can find it at steelforbrains.com or search Steel for Brains on itunes.

I think Jon Olava would be a cool interview. I'm sorry you had tech issues.

nice, will check it out.

yeah technology circa 2000, bleh. woulda been easier in today's day and age. I wasn't really a 'writer', but Savatage was my third favorite band at the time so talking to an idol was still a great experience.

I might MIGHT be at the Raleigh show. Saw Carcass in Raleigh a few years back and had a great time, though the first week in November is going to be a heady time in this house so I might not be able to get out

Anyone seen Ragnar Bragason's Icelandic film Malmhaus (known internationally as Metalhead)?

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2014/08/interview-joseph-d-rowland-pallbearer/

good interview

I saw Metalhead on an Icelandair flight recently. I thought it was pretty interesting, but its grimness is much more human than metal, mostly.

It's a family drama first and a metal movie second, yes.

It still gets the metal right though. Also:
http://www.vera-groningen.nl/sites/all/files/imagecache/420x280/events/4917/rockin-screen-metalhead-malmhaus_0.jpg

In other news, I've sort of been following developments around Nokturnal Mortum over the past year or so. They're arguably Eastern Europe's most significant metal band today, of festival-headlining popularity, and very outspoken Ukrainian nationalists. This would mostly be a curiosity were it not for the fact that they're from the city of Kharkiv, less than thirty miles from the Russian border. They have had to cancel most of their summer festival appearances because of travel restrictions, and instead a couple of weeks ago they headlined a local Kharkiv charity concert to support the Ukrainian national army, along with performances by nationalist poets and the like. At this point Nokturnal Mortum can more or less be considered one of the flagship pro-Ukrainian artists, esp with many supporters in the army. With the first Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine today, things are heating up (more than 70 people a day are getting killed) and I'm sure they're aware that their profile makes them targets.

New Orange Goblin track:
http://loudwire.com/orange-goblin-the-devils-whip-song-premiere/

Sounds kinda punk-and-roll. I like.

Decibel came in yesterday, nice to see Electric Wizard on the cover. But unlike last year's Pallbearer issue, the excitement doesn't extend to the reviews section, where there's two of the most buzzkilling, wet-blanket meh reviews of the Electric Wizard and Witch Mountain albums one is likely to see anywhere. I refuse to believe they deserve the 7 and 6(where I come from those are failing grades!) 'til I hear 'em.

Nice surprise to see Orange Goblin has Back From The Abyss coming Oct 7, though I'm hoping for less Motorhead, and more stoner doom, but fear that's not gonna happen.

I haven't heard the Witch Mountain, but the Electric Wizard album is really boring and uninspired. I remember when they'd at least try to have more than one idea - the weird dubby stuff on Come My Fanatics..., the Radiohead-gone-doom stuff on Let Us Prey - I miss that band.

I'm actually more likely to check out a 7 than a 9. back in high school friends and I worked out what grades/ratings tended to indicate the most interesting records and "better than average, not great" was almost always a review of something really interesting

same. think the moment that crystallized for me was when pfork gave a maxwell album a 7.something

I kinda agree, but for me it's mostly because I distrust writers that get too excited about stuff. I'm always more likely to actually listen to a record if I read a review that's sort of subdued in its enthusiasm, and/but points out specific interesting things about its subject, than some "Album of the Year/career highlight/paradigm-shattering" hoo-ha.

A 6 for the new Witch Mountain? Yikes, I strongly disagree.

Granted, in my critic's mind a 6 is still positive, but in metal parlance a 6 is practically the kiss of death.

Unless there's three of them.

The problem isn't that a 6 is particularly bad, but with ~3000 metal albums released every year, that means you get the feeling there's an awful lot of records that are more worthy of your time.

Indeed, to me a 6 would indicate there should be several hundred or even a couple thousand better albums. Which is just not true, and why I mostly ignore scaled scores, and removed them from my site, though they are hidden in my database.

I also refuse to believe the Electric Wiz is uninspired. We'll see.

Am I the only person who ignores the shit out of number scores?

no, i ignore them too. if an album is in a metal genre/style that interests me, i'll probably end up listening even if it's a minor entry. an album could get all 10 out of 10s but if it's trash metal or grindcore i probably won't even bother. (unless the cover looks really cool.)

lol trash metal. i meant thrash.

if a number is like an 8-10 and i don't otherwise have an interest in a record, i'll check it out just on that basis (unless the review makes it sound obviously not what i want). especially if it's kind of a keeping-up-with-the-wider-world kind of thing.

Ratings do work on an aggregated level I find - Rateyourmusic is an amazingly reliable indicator, esp how few 'false positives' it gives, if it's highly rated it's good. Obviously the genre tags are important, I mostly filter out prog metal, trad doom and melodeath (although I have to say, I do sample a few each year).

Funny regarding mistrust of writers who get "too excited," ha ha. If it's a writer I know and not just some excitable 20 yr old, I figure if they get passionate and lose their cool and get too enthusiastic, that's a sign that there is something really interesting about the album. Even if it's not my thing, I can appreciate a good rave review and want to at least check out what they're hearing. It seems there are thousands of tepid not bad/not great reviews, so not sure how those can stand out.

If it's a writer I know and not just some excitable 20 yr old, I figure if they get passionate and lose their cool and get too enthusiastic, that's a sign that there is something really interesting about the album.

I think it's about knowing the writer either way, whether it's music reviews or film reviews or whatever; usually I have to get a handle on the reviewer's tastes over a sample of reviews which then colours my overall judgement. It's easy to mistake enthusiasm for PR twaddle, for sure, but more so if you don't have an inkling of the writer's tastes.

I note, for the record, that Pitchfork's "The 200 Best Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)" contains one (1) arguably metal song, and it's Deafheaven.

http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9466-the-top-200-tracks-of-2010-2014/

Yeah, I pointed that out in the pitchfork is dumb thread.

Late summer 2014 is a perfect time to resume the overselling of Deafheaven.

New Electric Wizard track: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17051-electric-wizard-sadiowitch

Debate on how "uninspired" is it below.

That's a song off the new album I genuinely like.

why do their recent records sound so bad

It's better than the first song they put out from this record.

I deleted the EW album from my iPod last night.

Detroit stoner rock label Small Stone Records got flooded:

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs190/1114457189250/img/962.jpg

They are crowd-sourcing relief if anyone cares. That picture is depressing. Reminds me of the Great Basement Flood of 2010 which destroyed all of my vinyl.

Oh damn, that is depressing! I just bought a huge pile of records from them a few weeks ago, I'll see if I can toss some dollars their way.

I see they managed to put the computer up on the desk, but it seems to still be plugged in, yikes! Floodwater is nasty, my sympathies. They've been having such a great year release wise, hope they had some kind of insurance.

From the conflicts that EW's Jus Osborn is having with just about everyone except his wife, at least we know his hate-filled lyrics are no pose. He's a true blue misanthrope who keeps moving further and further out into the middle of nowhere to escape people, just like my wife's (psychiatrist) most difficult and frustrating patients. But I've never heard an album by him I didn't like, and am undaunted by the negative feedback so far.

So thoughts on today's releases?

Pallbearer – Foundations Of Burden (Profound Lore) - Anyone not like it? This seems to be the one that will cross over to the most non-doom heads.
Cardinals Folly – Our Cult Continues! (Shadow Kingdom) - I reviewed both.
Black Trip – Goin' Under (Prosthetic) - Some really catchy Swedish trad rock n' metal along the lines of Saturn and Death Penalty (coming next week)
Johnny Touch – Inner City Wolves (Shadow Kingdom) - solid trad metal
Accept – Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast) - Probably best of the three most recent efforts

that looks like an ancient power mac tower or something. push it in the water & upgrade

Pallbearer – Foundations Of Burden (Profound Lore) - Anyone not like it? This seems to be the one that will cross over to the most non-doom heads.

like it, but after a few listens, I can't tell if the first lp is more immediate or just plain better. feel like the mix could stand to be a bit more dynamic. still working out my feelings out.

Pallbearer is going to be nearly unbeatable for my album of the year

i like the new one ok but the first one was a lot more immediate i think. there are more stodgy/draggy passages on the new one, where the old one might have opted for floaty dreaminess in its less fully articulated passages.

i feel like i have to catch it in the right circumstances, so that the dynamism really stands out. if i don't, then it seems a bit trudgy.

Two stand-out news songs this week, for me: Lyriel's folk-gothic "Numbers" and Khors' folk-death "My Cossack Way".

don't really have any interest in armchair psychoanalysing Jus Osborn but in his band boss role he kind of reminds me of Mark E Smith

In his "buy lots of pringles and pasties at the late night garage to deal with the munchies" role he kind of reminds me of Mel Smith.