Rolling Metal 2019

I interviewed the lovely and talented Kim Kelly to preview the Black Flags Over Brooklyn Fest she is putting on in Brooklyn this weekend.

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/bfob2019-kim-kelly-interview

Anyone attending the fest? I wanted to but I can't with work.

I don’t go to Brooklyn (because relying on NJ Transit makes it impossible, not for snobbish reasons). Total respect to her for putting this thing on, though.

I was unaware that you made any decisions without at least one or two snobbish reasons.

:P

RIP, Bruce Corbitt of Rigor Mortis.

Some old friends of mine put this out (mathy/thrashy/maybe kinda silly), idk sounds pretty sick to me: https://freighter.bandcamp.com/track/psychic-reading-94

― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 11 January 2019 18:18 (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is great!

I'm enjoying the Krallice EP and Revenge single posted upthread too.

Some metal favourites from this year so far:

Quercus - Verferum: Funeral doom with massive walls of church organ. Manages to be forbidding, and yet somehow not take itself too seriously. Tracks undergo some lovely and unexpected transformations.
Veiled - In Blinding Presence: Lightly experimental bm that would not be out of place in gross underground club.
Bleach Birth - Caesarean Tapestries: Engaging, effects-laden and riff-heavy crust.
RASHŌMON - Pathogen X: Very solid and nicely grimy hardcore.
Griefloss - S/T: Quite lovely, Alcest-like, clean-vocalled blackgaze.

I wish there was a way to open Bandcamp links in their app. Bleach Birth is sounding good today.

Quercus has an ode to pu-erh tea so respect due

Voting is now available for metal poll. You got two weeks to draw up a ballot!

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! Ballots due Saturday, Feb. 2nd!

Not to nitpick but isn’t that 1 week (actually less now)?

February 9th is the actual date

Rolling Stone's Hank Shteamer reviewed last weekend's Black Flags Over Brooklyn Fest and much to my surprise quoted from and linked to the interview I did with Kim Kelly to preview the festival. That was a cool surprise, though it's a really solid review from a guy who seemed to really get the Fest and the bands that played it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/black-flags-over-brooklyn-kim-kelly-anti-fascist-metal-fest-785088/

http://www.musikuniverse.mu/images/nouvelles/glory-hammer-3e-album.jpg

well the astronoid record kicks a lot of ass so far

I'm not feeling the new Astronoid as much as Air - I'm sure I just need a few more listens.

it's gonna suffer a bit simply from the fact that we've now heard what they do ... there's less surprise factor with this one. and i think that first album carried a fair amount of surprise with it, i.e. "whoa, look how this band is putting this and that and this together"

which isn't to say the new one isn't great ... i think it is. but it'll be hard to capture that same feeling again.

I feel like the new one is even more dream-pop and less metal than the last one, but maybe my memories of Air have faded. I do know that I'm having a pretty viscerally negative response to the vocals.

The new Magic Circle album is the first 2018 album I've heard that I'm genuinely excited about. The usual no-frills, Trouble-style doom from the guys, with a little late-'70s greasiness for good measure. This track is a good indication:

http://listen.20buckspin.com/album/departed-souls

The new Ceremony of Silence album Oútis is fantastic - pummeling, dissonant death metal made by two insane Slovenians. Out in April, available for pre-order from Willowtip:

https://ceremonyofsilence.bandcamp.com/album/o-tis

Sorry, two insane Slovakians.

Just found out a Dismember reunion is underway: http://www.truemetal.it/news/intervista-dismember-robert-senneb-ck-105562-p2

I'm very much enjoying the new Astronoid album, though perhaps there is a little less distinction between tracks than last time around. It does remind me a lot of Mew, which is never a bad thing.

Panopticon have released a little northern lights-inspired EP that is managing to satisfy some of my Mesarthim cravings (since they've disappeared for an unprecedented 7 months now!). https://thetruepanopticon.bandcamp.com/album/the-crescendo-of-dusk

New Sunn O))) out in April, apparently. I loved Monoliths & Dimension when it came out but haven't explored their output further. Worthwhile?

that is the best one but...Black One is pretty intense, and there's an early track called My Wall that has a fun Julian Cope narration

Noted.

Kannon is great, as is Oracle (an EP on which they explore their Einstürzende Neubauten side - Joe Preston "plays" jackhammer on it). The live Dømkirke is really good, too. And I like their collaboration with Ulver, Terrestrials, though it's not very Sunn-y.

^^^

Pretty much exactly the ones I would recommend, I was surprised by how much I liked Kannon, a tighter representation of what they can do. Looking forward to the new one.

I am so behind on metal this year. stoked to check out that imha tarikat record from upthread though.

.@Die_Klute
Planet Fear
(@CleopatraRecord)

Members of Die Krupps, Leæther Strip and Fear Factory go back to a time when smoky dancefloors throbbed with metallic guitars that got vampires in big black boots stomping and metalheads at the bar nodding approvingly. #TwitterLPReview pic.twitter.com/ba6yBGdcC1

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) February 5, 2019

hard pass

No Grimes?

Hey, some of us had some formative years listening to KMFDM and making out with Goth girls.

Kinda feels that the Sunn O))) doom-panto might have run its course? Still interested to see what they do but not convinced.

Was having a conversation with someone the other day and we came to the conclusion that of all the industrial stuff we listened to in the late 80s/early 90s, KMFDM has aged the worst by far.

xp I see it's produced by Albini. Hmm...

I think Ministry has aged far worse actually. I saw them live a couple years ago and I actually left before they finished which is rare for me and unthinkable considering in the mid '90s they were completely unfuckwithable.

Maybe it's just the few sites I go on but Astronoid seem to be facing some heavy backlash which is fully undeserved imo, I mean most people will happily listen to bands that essentially do the same thing every time (myself included) and this is as prevalent in metal as anywhere else, maybe even more so. But when this band do it it's hard to swallow? Just seems weird to me.

I think Ministry has aged far worse actually. I saw them live a couple years ago and I actually left before they finished which is rare for me and unthinkable considering in the mid '90s they were completely unfuckwithable.

Okay, I am talking about how the band held up with new material. Having seen both bands in their prime and much more recently, I was talking about how that. As far as older material, I still enjoy KMFDM but find the singles to be more to my taste than any full-length albums, but I'm not really sure that I felt differently back in the day.

I never got to see Ministry in their prime, though I did see the 1990 Revolting Cocks tour. I finally caught up with Al 'n' co. in 2005 or so. It was an uninspired show to say the least. He had motorcycle handlebars on his mic stand and I'm convinced they were there to keep him from falling over. Ogre from Skinny Puppy showed up for the obligatory run through "Supernaut."

I saw KMFDM in 1992 and had fun, but the only stuff of theirs I remember at all fondly were the "Godlike" single and the Money album, and both of those sounded much less awesome the last time I heard them (a year or two ago) than they did at the time.

Skinny Puppy, on the other hand, I've come around on quite a bit the last few years. I didn't like them at all in the 80s and 90s, and now I'm convinced they were one of the smartest and most interesting industrial acts.

I saw Skinny Puppy on the Greater Wrong tour and they were absolutely life affirming.

I saw them in 1992 (Last Rights tour, I think) and I was kinda bummed because Godflesh were supposed to open the show but they were refused entry into the country. I remember the show being very creepily theatrical - there was some kind of weird treelike sculpture onstage - but musically Not For Me. I was there with a big fan, though, and she had a blast.

I saw them 80s 90s and 00s and I fkn love them, but have genuinely thought they bettered with age.

uh I saw KMFDM open for Ministry on The Mind Is A Terrible Thing tour and thought they were both great.

but Ministry has become more embarassing in the long run (still listen to their albums up to and including Filth Pig tho)

I also saw them both on that tour and the "Ministry has become more embarassing in the long run" is what I was getting at previously.

Second vote for Skinny Puppe being life affirming every time I saw them.

Stupid, but funny: a right-wing Arkansas state senator is calling for a boycott of a Little Rock club because the band Eyehategod put a picture of him eating a baby on the poster for their show.

I’m sure they’ll lose a lot of business over that.

The pitchfork pan of the Astronoid record is the first review they've published in years to successfully make me Mad Online

I normally hate Ian Cohen’s writing but I thought that review was dead on. There’s just nothing there - not one memorable song. It’s all texture. And sure, that’s rich coming from someone who likes Sunn O))) as much as I do, but still.

Idk the criticisms he has of it (too samey! silly lyrics!) are also true of so many metal albums they've lauded. (And incidentally, also completely true of many great albums!) And don't get me started on the argument about the vocals - "too much himself"? What the fuck does that mean? The dismissive tone reminds me of when they used to blanket-pan emo albums for their sonic qualities, which kinda makes sense cause it feels closer to emo than metal in sensibility.

this is making me feel better about ultimately not loving the tomb mold record as much as i wanted to

How do we rate the year in metal out of 10?

11

the teitanblood, abonormality, and facelift deformation records were my disappointments of 2019. spun previous records way more than these. all three just go in one ear and out the other.

liked the pissgrave (sick live btw) and blut aus nord but haven't gone back to either much. new darkthrone was cool I think but I barely remember it. tomb mold was OK (fun live tho).

need to hear the mgla. and a million more, I suppose. but I keep just playing the first convulse record instead. which works too.

good death metal that maybe leans on the synths for padding, but i love a beholder on an album cover

https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/altered-state

i like the teitanblood album a lot.

also thank you for the Disentomb rec, this is incredible.

Was just reminded on Twitter that Chuck Schuldiner died 18 years ago today. Wasn't planning on listening to Human and Individual Thought Patterns tonight, but now I guess I will.

I wish when the two Entombed factions split, they had naned themselves Disentombed and Datentombed

Yeah always a good time for Death. Think ill throw Human on

I've already been going through a Death revival over here because I watched that documentary about Chuck but any excuse to put on any of their records tbh

Ran into one of my exes a few weeks ago and she was with a friend. He saw how I was dressed and asked me if I knew who Chuck Schuldiner was.

On seeing my face light up, he starts telling me he went to high school with Chuck. Not shocking, he grew up within five miles of the building we were in. He recalled where his house was, all that.

But this guy wasn't a metalhead. He just said he knew him growing up, said he was a very quiet guy, and that he didn't even know he was a musician.

He talked about hearing about Chuck being sick, and eventually dying, and saw the outpouring of sadness from the metal community for Evil Chuck...he was stunned. He had no idea dude was a musician, much less a legend of an entire scene.

Kinda the amazing thing about the scene at the time. A casual friend of yours could have secretly been a metal god and you had no idea the dude even played music.

I... like? this new Ihsahn tune? I like that it features a horn section too.

After Turia, Fluisteraars have also announced a new album, to be released in February:

https://fluisteraars.bandcamp.com/album/bloem

this is probably the right/wrong place to point out that the white ward album is imo kind of boring, and as ever, if you wanted abstract BM with saxophones, head to the last dodheimsgard album

Def the right place (otm btw).

I for one will fire up Dodheimsgard asap.

in the last week, the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise added:

Toxik
Brujeria
Whiplash
Exodus
Vio-lence
Possessed

this is gonna be a fun cruise.