Rolling Metal 2019

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.

ooof, Lords of Chaos sounds awful. also the movie Akerlund did for Netflix recently was fucking terrible

https://www.stereogum.com/2031231/lords-of-chaos-jonas-akerlund-review/franchises/sounding-board/

besides the ethical/historical objections....of all the bands you could get to score this, Sigur Ros?!

Lords of Chaos is pretty darn good, actually. Eliminates all mythology and hero worship, focuses on how they were all really, really dumb kids.

If I want to watch a movie about dumbass metalheads who kill somebody, I'll pull out my Blu-Ray of River's Edge.

Lords of Chaos is pretty darn good, actually. Eliminates all mythology and hero worship, focuses on how they were all really, really dumb kids.

― A. Begrand, Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:04 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i've heard this a lot but i'm still... suspicious

also this isn't really a story i'm interested in seeing as a film, until the light takes us was about as close as i want to get

this isn't really a story i'm interested in seeing as a film

This is where I'm at with it, too.

Week extension on the 2018 metal poll! One of the best ways to get ppl to listen to your favorite albums from last year! You have til Friday the 15th to get your ballot in!

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! NEW EXTENDED DEADLINE! Ballots due by Friday, February 15th 11.59pm PST

River's Edge is a much more accurate depiction of '80s teen headbangers, of course. I've long stated that as well (I was in a small town scene much like the one depicted in the movie, albeit with less murder). But Åkerlund does a very good job stripping the legend away from black metal. Black metal, from its inception, has been every bit of a pose as any other metal gimmick (i.e. *ALL* metal is a gimmick), and it's nice to see a film portray it that way.

Isn’t stripping away the legend to show it’s all just a bunch of dumb kids the least interesting and most banal approach to tell this story as fiction? I mean it definitely works for River’s Edge fictional story, but what does that approach add to all the documentaries that already firmly established the banality of it all?

Nope, because there's been way too much worship of the Norwegian black metal "myth" already. That needed to be debunked as publicly as Åkerlund does here. And besides, the flick is entertaining.

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.