Rolling Metal 2019

It’s a lot to digest, but I’ve been enjoying it as well. I can’t tell if the first song is my favorite or if I just can’t absorb much more in one sitting.

listened to it all. would say good but not amazing, think i liked 'consuming lies' the best.

the wilderun, i must clarify, is one of the best prog-metal albums i've ever heard

the last track on the Esoteric is amazing

yeah that was good too. surprisingly major-key?

Unsurprisingly the Esoteric is sounding incredible so far. I listened to half of a Wilderun track and regret that I persisted past the two minute mark (sorry, lj).

lol that recommendation certainly wasn't for you!

so uhhh, the 70000 tons of metal bookings have gotten a lil more lackluster, but still, there's 10 bands I'm interested in (Emperor, Ihsahn, Candlemass, Kampfar, Aborted, At the Gates, Origin, Devin Townsend, Venom, Flotsam and Jetsam), two, maybe three of whom are bucket listers.

the extreme metallers are whining (loudly and obnoxiously) that there's next to no death/grind and asking for some shit band (literally) called Gutalax, the power metallers are whining that there's no power metal, and I'm kinda wondering if I can tolerate four days on a boat with these guys. Buuuut, already made half the payments, sooo....

sometimes I wonder how I ever got into this scene considering how much most metalheads aggravate me (when I'm sober). but then I'm also an amateur actor and I hate actors.

Metal is mostly interesting (and got to where it is) because of the unhinged crazies that make up the scene, not despite them.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/abbath-plays-disastrous-two-song-concert-in-buenos-aires-fans-request-refund/

Happy Birthday, Neanderthal!

Metal is mostly interesting (and got to where it is) because of the unhinged crazies that make up the scene, not despite them.

I would push back on this a bit! It seems to me most of the good metal being made lately is by earnest and disciplined regular folks/enthusiasts, not unhinged outsiders or whatever. They might have taken some of their cues from the crazies, but these days most of the actual crazies are just tiresome and reactionary.

yep!

although when the crazies are really crazy, like Forgotten Spell, the results can still be great

I mean even ppl like the Jute Gyte guy are really just mildly eccentric nerds/bookworms

As far as I can tell, openly 'problematic' bands only make up a tiny percentage of my favourite metal this year. Not by design, mind you.

Sanks buddy! Xxxxposts

At Electric Wizard/Midnight.

I have liked Midnight for a while but man they blew the roof off today.

Orphaned Land, Suffocation, and Cattle Decapitation added to 70000Tons cruise

really enjoying the Casket Huffer album

Listening to the full Wilderun album in case I missed something and, sure enough, I did. LJ-purveyed rumours according to which this is 'not for pom' turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Based on the excerpt I initially heard, I expected straight-up folk metal from beginning to end (a subgenre I enjoy… when it's more than a mishmash of hearsay) but this is in fact esoteric fantasy symphonic prog metal, and It Is Good.

Excellent! Incidentally, they did a Discord q&a yesterday and I got it out of Evan (the songwriter) that he thinks Tim Smith is probably the best living songwriter, so there

whoa

anyway I'm glad to hear you came around, it's one of my most-listened-to this year

An hour flies by on the strength of the songwriting. It really is a user's guide on how to make prog metal not-boring

Btw next week's classical decade poll will feature Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, without which much of the music you worship would be unthinkable, lj, so you better vote! In exchange I'll stop postponing my intention to hear a Cardiacs record and dive into On Land and in the Sea forthwith.

You should vote too, Simon, as well as everyone else!

I know jack shit about classical but I will use it as an opportunity to acquint myself better :)

*acquaint, not acquit lol

It sounds like a fantastic symphony. I'll check in

That's the spirit! The aim of these polls is neither exhaustiveness nor chichi-ness, it's just an excuse to listen and discover music you might like.

Oh and as far as the current (1820s) poll is concerned, Beethoven's Missa solemnis and the Große Fuge in particular are your tickets to pre-prog bewilderment.

A momentary change in subject, my apologies, but I'm extremely pleased to report that Multishiva is only getting better and better

https://multishiva.bandcamp.com/album/savup-iv

I've never heard these guys but 'Total Fucking Dunkelheit' is an A+++ title.

One last thing, re: the Wilderun album. Is this the first documented instance of T. S. Eliot metal?

*posts the Cats trailer again*

Just listening to the Kampfar record that came out earlier this year - this is a band that I’ve always thought had a 10/10 classic in them someday, and this might not quite be that but it’s very good and probably the best thing they did in this millennium.

Highlight are the vocals, really well done mix of screams, chants, yells and some lady that sounds suspiciously like Fever Ray. It keeps things moody and dark mostly, but plenty of hooks, it’s an easy listen.

Also, how can you not enjoy a song with the chorus going “the rowers keep on rowing”?

Acclaimed guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have unveiled a spectacular new version of the Metallica classic, “Battery,” which will be featured on the duo’s upcoming METTAL EP, due from ATO Records on Black Friday, November 29, as a one-sided 12” vinyl Record Store Day First release, limited to 2,500 and available only at independent record stores. Side 2 will have an art etching. This companion EP to their latest full-length, METTALVOLUTION, sees Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero paying tribute to the icons of thrash metal with three previously unreleased covers, shedding light on some of their favorite foundational songs. Along with “Battery,” METTAL EP includes stunning new versions of Megadeth’s “Holy War” and Slayer’s epic “Seasons In The Abyss.” All three tracks were produced and recorded by Sanchez in Oslo, Norway and finished at the duo’s own Lumbini Studio in Ixtapa, Zihuatenejo, Mexico. METTAL EP was mixed by Jim Monti (Slipknot, Metallica, KoRN) and then mastered by GRAMMY® Award-winner Ted Jensen (Bring Me The Horizon, Disturbed, Halestorm) at Sterling Sound, Nashville.

maybe not everyone's taste here but i diggit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUL3-rXIATc

iirc R&G famously went from playing in a metal band in mexico to doing cruise ship flamenco where they would work to camouflage metal tracks into the songs. then somehow they caught on big time in ireland and have been doing american arena shows for nearly a decade. it's a story!

Yeah I dug Rodrigo y Gabriela the first time I saw them, but I kinda faded fast on being into them. That said, their new one from this year is surprisingly good. Definitely not metal in any sense of the word, but it has a side-length cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that is really good.

Indeed ulysses, Rodrigo y Gabriela were fucking massive here in Ireland for a while.

y'all like intricate guitar!

I admire what R&G do, but I don't really need to hear it. They seem like the kind of thing that does really well on YouTube, like one step removed from those "hot girl drummer covers Tool" videos, but somehow they managed to translate it into a full-fledged career. Good for them.

i've seen them live maybe six times including in a couple of very small clubs and they're remarkably skilled guitarists and have amazing chemistry. they're really good musicians and composer/arrangers. i understand the impulse to shrug them off as a novelty act but the reason they've done so well for themselves and lasted as long as they have is because they're talented performers and spectacular live, not because they're doing acoustic megadeth.

Pretty sure my favorite metal-related thing from this year that doesn't involve any women singing is the new envy song "A step in the morning glow".

https://open.spotify.com/track/1GORbtwX5guuohmSbr8NI3?si=EyU-cE5AQsqphq8s7CZqyQ

dudes

just checked out the Wilderun

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oh jesus he's speaking in tongues

the prog is in him

Ok so here's some mildly blackened death featuring Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost which I just had to check out on account of their name, Strigoi (a kind of restless, malevolent revenant in Romanian mythology):

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2019/11/19/strigoi-abandon-all-faith/

The single, 'Phantoms' is a pure monster and now I need to hear Vallenfyre as well.

Btw Siegbran, I very much enjoyed Ofidians Manifest, but like you said, as good as it is, I too like to think they have an even better album in store for us at some point in the near to distant future.

increasingly convinced the new Cattle Decapitation is gonna be my metal AOTY

https://youtu.be/k3G2Iz8Vhd8

Blood Incantation is heading for mine.

I hope the clean vocal breaks aren't as jarring on this one. I liked em on Monolith but sometimes on the last album it felt like they would just abruptly and awkwardly pivot to them (tho i like the alb).

Gonna see em on Tuesday, tho more excited for Atheist