Rolling Metal Thread 2014

New Cretin is really good. No major changes in their sound.

I keep coming back to Nonexistence, this is so awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkUBUKEvLGw
The guitar melody reminds me of something though, can't quite put my finger on it.

Man I really hope the new Spectral Lore album (III) doesn't get overlooked in year-end lists due to its relatively late arrival. It's a complete master class in avant garde black metal. I get hints of Ved Buens Ende/Virus, Blut Aus Nord, a much more fierce Alcest, mid-period Enslaved, Agalloch, even a Glenn Branca vibe during some of the extended instrumental passages. There are plenty of straight-ahead blasting parts, which are also excellent, but the real joy comes when they head out into the stratosphere electric guitar-wise and make noises that sound like the NASA Voyager recordings from a few decades ago.

the long synth intro/outro to the last track is so lovely and enchanting

Totally. The whole album has a really nice unrushed feel to it. Whether it's that synth intro/outro, an acoustic section, a slow doomy part -- they take the time to develop each theme properly before they morph into the next movement. It's great to hear dynamics being employed like that over the long haul.

I was at the Siege of Limerick last weekend, the latest edition of a great free festival putting on Irish legends (like Mael Mordha and Abaddon Incarnate), up and comers (Malthusian, and Seprevation whose set I caught the end of, nice death/thrash crossover) and some impressive imports, such as Cruciamentum (why don't they have an album yet).

new Necrophagia album is a LOT of fun.

May all your weenies be hallowed.
http://youtu.be/2BWWQiHoLik

I'd just like to 3rd the Spectral Lore love because more people need to hear this. It's probably the best black metal release I've heard in ages, says a lot that it's almost an hour and a half long and I never get bored. I really enjoy how it blends dissonance, spacey ambient sections and a good dose of prog etc without getting cluttered and confused, since, as Skrot said, ideas are given ample room to grow.

And the track title 'Cosmic Significance' ties in nicely to a song on Petrychor's album this year which is also really good

Before the release of the band's Crucial Blast debut, An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood, in 2007, GNAW THEIR TONGUES crawled into the black metal/industrial underground via a number of ultra-limited EPs which quickly went out of print, and are now sought after by fans of the band's abject blackened horror. Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 is a new double CD anthology that gathers together essential, out-of-print early recordings from the band that span the first three years of GNAW THEIR TONGUES's existence, compiling the Prefering Human Skin Over Animal Fur, Horse Drawn Hearse and For All Slaves... A Song Of False Hope EPs, the material from the Static Hymnal compilation, and other rarities from the bowels of the GTT archive.

Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 will be released by Crucial Blast on January 26th. A demoralizing blast from the past, "Glorification Of Rats," from GNAW THEIR TONGUES' 2007-released Prefering Human Skin Over Animal Fur is currently emitting from THIS LOCATION.

Stand by for further updates on additional news on Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 and Crucial Blast's other upcoming GNAW THEIR TONGUES actions to take over 2015.

Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 Track Listing:

Disc One:
1. For All Slaves...A Song Of False Hope I
2. The Uncomfortable Silence In Between Beatings
3. A Fiery Deluge
4. My Womb Is Barren And I Want Revenge
5. Aderlating
6. For All Slaves...A Song Of False Hope II
7. Body Bouquet
8. Slaves

Disc Two:
1. The Behemoth Crawls Ashore
2. Horse Drawn Hearse
3. Another Study In Bleakness And Despair
4. Prefering Human Skin Over Animal Fur
5. Spasming And Howling
6. Glorification Of Rats
7. Circles Of The Abyss

Please note that the album cover at the link in the post above is of the very NSFW variety.

NSF anywhere I should think

hey skrot, ultros, what do you think of the first half of that spectral lore? it seems a little less well defined to me, maybe just because i keep replaying the back half over and over, but i haven't totally seen its place in the whole thing yet.

I think it's pretty consistent in quality, though in fact the first track is probably my the least favourite. I admit I'm still chewing this over as I have to listen to the whole thing and I can't alway be bothered even though it enjoy it a lot. The first half is in general more dissonant and less 'epic' than the second, and the last three tracks do feel like an entity of their own compared to the rest of it maybe, but one of the most impressive things about the album is how well sequenced it is.

The album does take a while to get going, but I'm guessing this is deliberate. It's kind of the opposite of most albums, in that usually a band leads with the most dynamic and impressive tracks, whereas this one takes its time and builds up to the coolest stuff. I just reorganized these tracks on my iPod so that they're grouped into two separate "albums," since I rarely have time to listen to the whole thing straight through. Perhaps the first half will start to pale in comparison with the second half once I get used to listening to it this way. Regardless, the highs are really high, and the lows are pretty damn awesome, too. I'm glad others are enjoying it!

motherfucker this is incredible

I saw King Diamond in SF the other night.. Holy shit!!! one of the best shows ever.. Dude is in top form and so is that band.

I've seen a few videos and his voice sounds in great shape. He's still hitting some crazy notes.

Jessica Hopper: Are metal fans all Nazis? Signs point to yes.

That Buzzfeed article is over a year old, incidentally. That Blake Judd was one of the only people to speak to the Hopper is telling.

http://i.imgur.com/8UWvTXD.jpg

No need to squint.

1/27/2015 Miami, FL Grand Central*
1/28/2015 St Petersburg, FL State Theater*
1/29/2015 Atlanta, GA Masquerade*
1/30/2015 Winston-Salem, NC Ziggy's*
1/31/2015 Baltimore, MD Soundstage*
2/2/2015 New York, NY Gramercy Theater*
2/3/2015 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer*
2/4/2015 Toronto, ON Opera House
2/5/2015 Ottawa, ON Maverick's
2/6/2015 Montreal, QC Club Soda
2/7/2015 Worcester, MA Palladium*
2/8/2015 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance Theater*
2/9/2015 Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom*
2/10/2015 Chicago, IL Reggie's*
2/11/2015 Minneapolis, MN Amsterdam*
2/12/2015 Winnipeg, MB The Zoo
2/13/2015 Regina, SK The Exchange
2/14/2015 algary, AB Republik
2/15/2015 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room
2/17/2015 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theater**
2/18/2015 Seattle, WA Studio 7 #
2/19/2015 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
2/20/2015 Oakland, CA Metro ##
2/21/2015 Fresno, CA Strummers ##
2/22/2015 Los Angeles, CA House Of Blues
2/23/2015 Tempe, AZ Club Red ##
2/24/2015 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater ##
2/25/2015 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall ##
2/26/2015 Lawrence, KS Granada Theater ##
2/27/2015 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey ##
2/28/2015 Houston, TX Fitzgerald's ##

* = RINGWORM
**=Dayglo Abortions
#= Theories
##= Phobia

That's a lotta bands. Really glad Ringworm are on the NYC date, though - I like them and have never seen them. Seen Napalm before but they're always awesome and I'm looking forward to whatever the new material sounds like, never seen Voivod and don't particularly like them (blasphemy, I know), Exhumed I can deal with, Iron Reagan are no funnier than Municipal Waste so I'm gonna spend that 30-40 minute span wishing I drank.

Cool, I'll be going to the Ottawa stop if I can.

"Grind" doesn't rhyme very well with "time" though.

Voivod were fun at Housecore. They had to follow Portal which is pretty much impossible but I still enjoyed it.

14 year old me would have moved heaven and earth to see Napalm Death and Voivod together on the same bill. Or at least come up with a better lie than I did to attempt the 100 mile round trip for the Grind Crusher tour...
Wish NY wasn't at Gramercy tho. I hate that place.
To add another voice to the choir slightly upthread. The new Spectral Lore. SOOOOO GOOD!

threw kill the client's escalation of hostility on for the first time in years this weekend. that was fun.

The upcoming Primordial is the bee's knees.

love the witch mountain

Love this too, not sure if its metal though. Seems more like occult heavy rock to me, but maybe that's a distinction without a difference.

'The Skull' record is blowing my mind tonight - slick production mod doom - would love to see 'em live.

The Skull record was a huge surprise. Wagner hasn't been that good in well over 20 years.

I might even like The Skull better than some of the classic Trouble albums. Apostle of Solitude - Of Woe and Wounds is really good too.

http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2014/11/06/apostle-of-solitude-of-woe-and-wounds-review/
http://fastnbulbous.com/doom-clap-apostle-of-solitude-the-skull/

anyone else check out the latest anaal nathrakh? enjoyably heavy-handed w/the industrial bass drum kicks (kinda made me want to dig out old berzerker albums) but warning: this album contains dubstep and "parental discretion is advised" samples

didn't see a mention of the Mutilation Rites Harbringer album - very good, and kind of unclassifiable black/crust record, maybe reminiscent of the Vhol record in terms of energy. This tends a bit more towards pure black metal, though also w elements of thrash. Coming to realize I love this hybrid (probably because I love Darkthrone), and as am now in NY, hope to see em live soon.

xpost It's getting glowing reviews so I was going to check that out after not bothering with the last two albums, what's really overwhelming and intense to start with gets kind of old after hearing the same thing over and over again. If it's more of the same plus fucking dubstep I don't think I'll bother.

haven't heard the last two, but (charmingly?) boneheaded electronics aside, it's not really too different from other post-codex necro material that I have heard (bearing in mind that CN is the only one that I actually go back to...)

dominique, i rather liked their previous one, was looking forward to their continued development, but something about thew new one just seemed kind of listless or uninspired, so never gave it any time this year, probably even deleted it

Codex Necro and the When Fire Rains Down... EP are all I need from that band, forever.

2014 is certainly shaping up as a landmark year for metal, there's so many releases I'm enjoying so far, from so many genres.

Electric Wizard - Time To Die: remains divisive, but personally I loved it, really digging the mix of crushing doom with their more distorted mid-era albums like Let Us Prey/We Live. Better than Dopethrone? Maybe not, but more accessible.

The Skull - For Those Which Are Asleep: superb doom metal/hard rock hybrid that captures the raucous energy of classic Trouble, but injects a modern flair to stay relevant

Dawnbringer - Night of the Hammer: Not as spine-crushing, but more melodic than previous albums, these guys still retain the power and immediacy that made them a hit in the first place.

Horrendous - Ecdysis: after a solid old-school DM debut, these guys take a leaf from Tribulation & Morbus Chron and inject more unusual pyschedelics into their music, crafting an atmospheric and affecting death metal release that stands out from the crowd

Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole: possibly the best death metal release I've heard for a long time. Rivals Grave Miasma for evoking dark dungeon atmosphere and cavernous horror.

Ancient VVisdom - Sacrificial: Not metal per se, but heavier and more electric than previous releases. Doesn't have the menacing melancholy of Deathlike, but a powerful and effective release.

Varathron - Untrodden Corridors of Hades: Greek BM stalwarts up the quality of production and songwriting to create their best album yet, catchy and memorable. Similar to Behemoth's "comeback".

Wolvhammer - Crawling Into Black Sun: Gritty black/sludge with plenty of atmosphere that's well worth hearing, anther winner from Profound Lore.

Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem: Ridiculous OTT black/speed metal clearly from the Venom school of trad metal. Superb.

Ovvl - Screech: marks a more Budgie-esque speed rock release from the hard rock/trad metallers, just as addictive as their last.

At the Gates - At War with Reality: wasn't sure what to expect, but a superb return for the legends, modern-sounding while evoking the classics.

Still digesting Thy Darkened Shade, Witch Mountain, Soen, Ne Obliviscaris, and am very much looking forward to new releases from Usnea, 11 Paranoias, Doctor Smoke and many more.

Foreseen HKI, friends. This has edged Exodus as the best thrash album of 2014. Savage.

http://listen.20buckspin.com/album/helsinki-savagery

RIP, Jonathan Athon of Black Tusk.

This sucks.

been listening to a mostly instrumental record that kinda splits the difference between sludgier metal and straightup noise rock, by a chicago band named scientist: http://hellcomeshome.bandcamp.com/album/scientist

it's really good! kinda wish there were more vocals to ground it/make the rhythms even more knotted but there's an energy and clarity to their compositions i find lacking in things traditionally described as uh "post-metal"

ho HO, lookee:
http://youtu.be/osA6zRyRZuM

http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/2014-10-24/thorns-members-resurface

Apparently the GM of Peaceville has a project that lured Aldrahn for vocal duties and Snorre Ruch for either producing or mixing (and "development"). Sounds stellar, reminds me of the best minimalist, one-riff-per-minute, Norse black metal like Kronet til Konge, Transilvanian Hunger, or those two Transilvanian Hunger-type songs on Panzerfaust, but with that serrated Thorns edge. Needless to say the vocals are monstrous.

Cool cover art too: http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/The_Deathtrip/Deep_Drone_Master/454033

Caught the Pallbearer/Tombs/Vattnet Viskar tour finale tonight. An odd bill, but all three bands were really good. Vattnet is moving from traditional black metal into black metal that rocks and even swings a bit. Not black and roll or whatever folks want to call it, but something interesting and more engaging than they were before. Tombs ripped it up, and their new drummer is amazing. I get so much more from them live than I ever have on record. Pallbearer is stripping their sound back and it's all for the better. The lyricism isn't swamped by heavy for heavy's sake, and it means when they do drop the hammer it's all the more impressive because of the dynamics. The best I've heard them sound, though they're still far from perfect.

did you remember to ask the one pallbearer guy about his boots?

AAAH - I forgot. I'll send Joseph an email.

Nice to see Ovvl mentioned! Great band, though the way they present the artwork as a cassette release makes me wonder if they consider it a minor release?

I've only just got around to hearing the latest (or any) Aevangelist record, 'Writhes in the Murk', which takes 1st place for most apt album title of the year. I dig.

It definitely fits into the 'muddy death metal that lurches around like a great big horrible Thing' paradigm, so it's reccommended if you like Ulcerate, Portal, Mitochondrian etc.

It's fucking foul and I mean that in the best possible way. Listen out for the sax, too!

That one's a definite candidate for year-end list placement for me. Their 2012 album was reissued this year, too, so I'm kinda wallowing in their stuff at the moment.