Random old metal you are loving

I loaded my phone with some random (not so old) metal albums that discogs recommended me for a trip to the desert. I went through them all in a few hours. It was awesome. Here are some takes.

Down - (ep i or something)
I liked this, idiosyncratic. Don’t remember much honestly. Minus point for hidden track nonsense lol.

Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake
This ruled, funny “social commentary” lyrics, was that a weird christian song in there? Thrash with good vibes, a little bit cheesy which is aok by me.

Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
Oh my god. This was actually recommended to me by unperson in the high on fire thread but it took me a while to fall for it i guess. Reign In Blood taken to new places. So fucking good.

Clutch - Psychic Warfare
Really fun funky hard rock. Lyrical themes well-trodden but some funny turns of phrase. Like watching a bar band you know nothing about and they turn into one of your favorite bands in 45 minutes.

Yob - Our Raw Heart
This one hit when I descended into the desert and was a nice soundtrack overall. A little plodding and sleepy at times.

Been really enjoying the Sortilege self-titled EP recently.

Our Raw Heart hits extra for me because of the hell Mike went through to even be able to record that. love Yob. Mike is a cool dude. one of my besties was having a rough time and almost cancelled on going to see them with me back in 2018, but she soldiered on, wound up finding it the most cathartic, emotional shows of her life, and then at the end of the show she went up to Mike to take a pic and he said "you look like you need one of these" and hugged her.

Power Trip was great. fucking tragic what happened to their vocalist.

i haven't returned to that Testament in a while, they did play "Pale King" from it last week. think i dig the newest one more, but it's good. which song is the Christian one? I never knew Chuck to be much of a religious dude, esp due to the song "True Believer", but surviving throat cancer can change someone's perspective.

i've been spinning something quite diff for me of late, going back to Symphony X, who I still love but hadn't listened to in a while. I'm not a prog metal guy at all, but they do it so well. Divine Wings of Tragedy, V, The Odyssey. but mostly because it reminds me of a more peaceful time in my life.

and spinning through Hypocrisy, who were one of the first melo-death bands I ever got into. Abducted and The Final Chapter.

Hi Neanderthal! Hope you post a lot to this thread. Looking forward to dipping into some things you mention.

I think my favorite Yob, if you haven't heard it yet, is The Great Cessation. has my two favorite Yob songs, "Burning the Altar", and "The Lie That is Sin". a bit of a darker tone because Mike was dealing with a lot of music industry bullshit.

in fact....it's time to listen now!

xpost hi map! I def will, mostly cos new releases tire me out and I like to jump into the older releases lately

not sure it is metal exactly, maybe just very loud deconstructed blues, but I’ve been listening to Fushitsusha - I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense (2000) recently, and it sounds really good to me. There are a lot of other interesting Fushitsusha albums too

I must listen to Power Trip. Keep reading about how amazing they are. Probably right up my alley.

It was always magnificent but the s/t Trouble album from 1990 has been remastered and holy shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdEMtYaj2LU

That's a fantastic album

Yeah, that's the one I keep coming back to in their catalog. I didn't get into them until a few years ago, when those remasters came out.

If I was forced to choose I'd probably go with Manic Frustration but the s/t is magnificent. I saw them in London in (I think) 1993 - still one of my favourite shows.

Heard Masters Of Reality’s Blue Garden for the first time the other day. Damn.

wow what a great thread idea

I just started listening to that Trouble album too. I had wanted to get Psalm 9 but this was sitting there in the shop with a good review quote on the front

Wow, this Trouble album is amazing.

recent older metal discoveries for me: Pilgrim's Misery Wizard (RIP the guy from Pilgrim), that Thorr's Hammer record, From Beyond by Massacre, Drawing Down the Moon by Beherit, Sons of Northern Darkness by Immortal. I've also gone back to Pagan Altar and Warning's records, what a great pair of bands with a similar feel and lyrical concerns.

Pagan Altar are fantastic. I saw them at MDF in 2013 and they put on an incredible set, largely comprised of their first album.

that Massacre album is fun. I've hung w/ Kam Lee before - nice guy (though I hear he's not such a nice guy to people in his bands, lol). they put on a good show last year, I dig their new album as well.

Kam said the coolest fucking thing at the last Massacre show - "no, death metal wasn't invented in TAMPA. those of us who know , know that it originated in Altamonte Springs!" aka where Chuck Schuldiner was from and where they rehearsed in early days. so amazing to think a big slice of history in my favorite scene originated 10 minutes from where I a) grew up and b) live now.

Evil Chuck went to my rival high school (knew he wasn't perfect).

I loved Our Raw Heart at the time; saw them live that year and they were fantastic.

the weirdest Yob set I saw was at Psycho Las Vegas. they were playing on an outdoor stage on top of a wave pool. people were having splash fights to Yob. great set. i don't feel like they can have a bad set cos they don't really have bad albums. but I definitely gravitate towards Atma/Great Cessation era stuff.

saw Bad Religion play that same 'venue', was amusing screaming their lyrics with my swim trunks on.

alright, here are my ALBUMS OF YORE reccs:

thrash/crossover

Lawnmower Deth - Ooh Crikey...It's Lawnmower Deth (funny as hell, and with punchy songwriting to boot)

grindcore

Machetazo - Trono De Huesos (this is of the goregrind variety, extremely uptempo, not really Carcass worship thankfully, and lots of energy and kewl riffs galore. i don't think they're growling actual lyrics)

tech-death

Mortal Decay - Forensic (I don't like a lot of tech death, but this is the kind I do like - stuff that isn't afraid to kick your ass as well. feels like an album from 1993 but it's not. crunchy riffs of the technical variety but never boring or noodly, and it just outright stomps)

black/death

Mortuary Drape - All the Witches Dance (i am out of descriptors, this is just awesome)

If you want great old skool metal please try Manilla Road - Crystal Logic.If you like that then maybe try Lord Weird Slough Feg.

If you liked the Trouble albums then try the first (IMO the best) album Psalm 9.

If you like that, then you may like Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus.

Seconding/thirding Pagan Altar
Warning - Watching From A Distance
and the Masters Of Reality album

Ooh Crikey It's Lawnmower Deth is one of the best crossover thrash albums ever.

I've been lately getting into Candlemass, I think Ancient Dreams is my favourite of the early ones.

1st 4 were great tbf

yeah that run of Candlemass sits atop the doom heap.

i have an Epicus shirt I wear everywhere

Mortuary Drape were awesome, never had a big break but they should have.

Apparently the old lady corpse on the cover was a real dug up one.

looked pretty realistic. one of the creepiest covers i've seen

Saw the Drape play with Volahn in 2018. Incredible show. Never been around denser clouds of incense in my entire life.

Seconding Manila Road recommendation. Their first 8 records are all top shelf and their post 2001 reunion ones are never less than good. One of my all time favorite bands.

Mortal Decay - Forensic

Randomly purchased this out of a bunch of cheap tech/brutal dm at a store and was not at all disappointed, excepting that all of the lyrics to their songs were just like cool gross morbid clinical stuff w/no misogyny except... one. But that's just a genre issue.

Mortuary Drape - All the Witches Dance

Such a good band!! This and Secret Sudaria/Tolling 13 Knell are fucking great.

I was listening to a bunch of metal singles from the 80s last night: Treasure, EF Band, JJ's Powerhouse, Overdrive, Silver Mountain. Don't know why the metal single sort of fell by the wayside as time went on but that NWOBHM/Swedish HM era of stuff is just so fun to throw in a big fat playlist and rock out to.

Oh wait, had that Mortal Decay's lyrics confused w/something else maybe but there's at least one song about how bad animal testing is in between the serial killer shit.

Don't know why the metal single sort of fell by the wayside as time went on but that NWOBHM/Swedish HM era of stuff is just so fun to throw in a big fat playlist and rock out to.

Radio Fenriz is exactly the show to put when you want to scratch that itch!

Hypocrisy - Penetralia

ok, there's a really terrible song title on this one (which I forgot about). but the album rips.

completely diff of course from the melo-death of later.

epicus doomicus is up there with something like rust in peace for me, total classic

caught demolition hammer with immolation + mortician a month or two ago. prior to that, I'd somehow gone my whole life only listening to tortured existence (which rules) but holy shit epidemic of violence is some of the most aggressive thrash ever. (a shame about those "aborticide" lyrics tho, woof)

I've also been watching confessor's 1998 performance at a water park in houston a lot lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5CgB4dB0NU

amazing

I like Confessor a lot but man the vocals just rub me like nails on a chalkboard. (not his voice as much as his constant wailing and the weird melodic choices)

Demolition Hammer rip. one big regret - they were playing at Maryland Deathfest in 2016, when I was there. I didn't know em at the time, and I had a complete mental breakdown at the festival that I was still in the middle of, so I walked over to watch someone else play instead.

bet i missed a killer set.

(back to Confessor, though, don't take as a slag - metal that unique should always exist and be praised. but sometimes....oi).

HI RANDOM DOOM VOCALIST APPRECIATION LIST

my favs include

Eric Wagner (and I'm pissed at Wino for helping get him killed)

Messiah Marcolin (I realize there's people who think he is God, and some who find him really fucking annoying - I'm more in the 'very good but overrated' camp, but still recognize the 'very good')

Robert Lowe (my current favorite - Solitude Aeternus and late-era Candlemass fame)

Kayla Dixon/Uta Plotkin (both from Witch Mountain, Kayla being Uta's replacement. both brought their own unique style to the band - Kayla definitely doesn't try to ape Uta. and she comes from a musical theatre background.)

Brooks Wilson (Crypt Sermon - my current second favorite. he was phenomenal live last year, bringing a neo-Dio-flare to the fore)

Saw Confessor on the Gods of Grind tour in 1992 maybe? (with Carcass, Cathedral and Entombed). The sound was pretty awful but the bass pretty much ruptured my sternum. Saw Demolition Hammer support (I think) Napalm Death around a similar time. Broootal gig.

After Eric Wagner, I think him off Solitude Aeturnus would be my favourite doom vocalist. I love Lee Dorian's voice too - especially on Forest of Equilibrium.

ahh good one, i've been listening to so much early ND lately I forgot how good Lee was in Cathedral

So many things to check out on this thread. Crypt Sermon and Mortuary Drape coming right up.

xp Dorian rules.

I went to Lee Dorian's record shop in North London the other week (Rise Above Records), he served me and was very nice! We talked about Ashra records.

Ché - Sounds of Liberation. It rips.

Yeah, that Ché album is great. I was reminded of it because I've just started getting into Fu Manchu, a band I heard a song of two by over the years but never really put any time into. And honestly, I don't need more than two or three albums (they've got about a dozen), but at their best they're really good.

Another cool one-off from that scene/era is the self-titled album by Brant Bjork & The Operators, which adds some New Wave synths to the baked-out desert rock sound.

http://brantbjork.bandcamp.com/album/brant-bjork-the-operators

Fu Manchu is kind of new to me too, actually. One of those bands that have just been out there, churning out albums, but which I’ve sort of just ignored. But I’m on a desert rock run these days, so have been checking out various stuff. Will check out the BB & the Operators album

Fu Manchu's In Search of is the one I return to the most, absolutely massive guitar tone. Coincidentally, I'm listening to the pre-FM band Virulence rn, very much a late Black Flag tribute but still good.

Yeah, In Search Of is pretty rad

can't it be both

judging by the audience at most of the shows I go to it is

I find it really funny when fans of dark and/or heavy music describe music in ways that sounds almost insulting, like:
"that bassline is pure evil"
"that riff is absolutely despicable"
"that guitar solo is reprehensible"

You have to know they like the music to see the compliment but it tickles me

I found a bunch of old gig tickets. Good times.

https://i.imgur.com/OfuDgkl.jpg

those are some primo shows. thanks for sharing!

totally forgot about PItchshifter.

Looks like I saw them twice in 1994! Big live band.

that Prong ticket font should've been their official logo

Dug up Vattnet Viskar’s «Settler» from 2015. That’s a beautiful record.

I forgot about them. They blew me away when I saw them open for 1349

I'm going through the Obituary catalog in reverse chronological order in preparation for the new album, which comes out next Friday. The 2017 self-titled album rules so fucking hard.

https://obituary.bandcamp.com/album/obituary

I actually haven't listened to much beyond music videos on youtube but I've always liked what I heard. I thought he must be better known for his film work but in one of the concerts it looks like a big audience, so maybe not. Also fronted a band called The Mad. Altogether he doesn't have a huge discography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRF9jLIG8cs

The Mad have huge gaps of years in their discography. A late 70s CBGBs band too.

Very much enjoying the old punky Motorhead speed metal vibes from this Dum Dum Bullet demo collection; it sounds like shit but it rules.

https://cameleonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dum-dum-bullet

I was in a metal mood today, I didn't really find the spot immediately but now I've put on Samael - Ceremony of Opposites. It's a good companion to Rotting Christ, which is my go-to for mid-tempo metal grooves with hooks and gothic atmosphere.

Ceremony of Opposites is one of my all time favourites.

Yeah that's a great one!

Desultory - Into Eternity
Swedish death metal from 93, melodic and intense with some remnants of thrash, totally wins me over

It's heartbreaking there wasn't a few more Watchtower albums after Control And Resistance with the same line-up.

i'm finally digging into eagle twin - 'the thundering heard: songs of hoof and horn' from 2018. they are hometown heroes. this is so fucking great. i should have gone to a lot more of their shows. craving a metal show tonight tbqfh.

this over and over and over. cuz sooooo friggin' awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzHwtnvhdag

I guess it's not really super old, but I've been listening to and appreciating how great old Leviathan and Lurker of Chalice were today; and really wishing guy had not gone off the deep end and turned out to be a total dick.

Speaking of him, I just recently saw this tidbit in Wikipedia about the old NES game, Skate of Die 2. I had no idea.

The skater seen on the cover art is Jef Whitehead, who would years later become known for being the sole member of the black metal project Leviathan.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Skate_or_Die_2_Cover.PNG

That is weird and hilarious

lol the FUCK?

ho-leeeey SHIIIIIT

classic child star trajectory, I guess?

I seen someone tweeting that a lot of later albums by beloved metal bands get a ridiculously overdue reappraisal and people eventually come around and say that those later albums were actually great all along. Is this a real thing? Is it a resistance to stylistic changes?

Maybe, but that's not specific to metal? At some point every single long-running artist will have some eloquent writer passionately challenging the canon.

The passage of time also gradually blunts the cultural impact of the breakthrough material of bands - someone today discovering the Rolling Stones, they don't care about what they meant in the cultural landscape of the day. If the 60s rock revolution means nothing to you, "Sticky Fingers" and "Steel Wheels" are both just blues rock records by a the same guys.

I feel like in the music culture I grew up with (NME and Uncut kind of music) it was expected/encouraged that good bands changed a lot* and when I was getting into metal it seemed like there was some expectation that if you want to make a real departure you start a side project.

* I don't think this was entirely good because some artists can fruitfully milk a style for a longer time, changing style each album is an extremely artificial and potentially repressive way to do things

The passage of time also gradually blunts the cultural impact of the breakthrough material of bands - someone today discovering the Rolling Stones, they don't care about what they meant in the cultural landscape of the day. If the 60s rock revolution means nothing to you, "Sticky Fingers" and "Steel Wheels" are both just blues rock records by the same guys.

This is a key factor and something I think about a lot. Every Metallica album is someone's first Metallica album. If your first Metallica album was ReLoad, you're gonna receive Kill 'Em All very differently — if you ever bother listening to it at all.

2023 has been the year i discovered sepultura, specifically roots. what an insanely great album. i see the brothers cavalera are coming to my city early next year. i might have to check that out. anyone know anything about that?

i keep trying with metallica but i just can't do it for some reason. maybe next year.

The Cavalera Brothers show this year was my favorite of the year. Playing Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation in its entirety.

If that's the tour, definitely go.

awesome, thanks.

2023 has been the year i discovered sepultura, specifically roots. what an insanely great album.

best best best album, welcome aboard

not old but the last mentions i see are from the 2019 metal poll

warforged - i: voice

so epic

another 2019 thing so not old but this is doing a lot for me, it sounds amazing and it's just so good at what it does, a lot of depth to it, perfect album

Immortal Bird - Thrive On Neglect

Yes! That is such a good record.

\m/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8VWhn0nNwg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ORe9a3VVg

Couple of things I've been re-visiting recently: Clutch - I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth from Clutch and Entombed - Chaos Breed from Clandestine.

Clandestine is basically recorded godhead

Like every boring person wants to say LOL LEFT HAND PATH and on, it is a a godly album.

But Clandestine is also a classic. And you can't have one without the other

I guess this is as good a place to put this as any. (Could also almost go in the 50 plus thread on ILE.) The other night I went to see Voivod backed up by Prong with Hirax opening. I don't really like the hassle of going to shows very much, but I've been making time for a lot of legacy metal acts that have come through town. Last year I saw Carcass, Sacred Reich, Immolation, and some others. Before COVID, I was able to see Iron Maiden, which was a lifelong bucket list show for me. None of these bands have come anywhere close to being disappointing. Just great shows across the board. They can all shred in their sleep at this point. Just total professionals.

One thing I've found amusing is this expectation from all of the bands that have come through here (especially Prong) that because it's The Bay Area, people should be moshing like the old days. Tommy Victor was trying so hard to get people to mosh and I was looking at the people who did try to get a pit going and... Bless them for trying. Most of the audience looked old enough to have attended Voivod's earliest shows. "The pit" was a handful of people very carefully walking in circles while gingerly headbanging, and the audience gave them a wide berth. I have Tinnitus so I am generally pretty hesitant to come down to the front, but I had to for Prong (I always wear earplugs now). No moshing for me... though I did consider it for a few minutes.

All that said about audience participation, I hope the ticket sales and enthusiastic applause after each song should show these bands how much people still love them. I'm sure they get bigger pits in festivals in Europe, but here it really does feel like the tail end of an era. At least the one I grew up in.

Out of everything Voivod performed, I think I most enjoyed the performance of the more recent track "The End of Dormancy", which has sneakily become one of my favorite songs by them. Prong did a cool cover of Killing Joke's "Seeing Red" and later on in the set of Rush's "Working Man" which I see they have released as a single. As a result of the show I've been going through both of their catalogs since the show.

- Marilyn Haggerty

I love Prong to an almost unreasonable degree, and never having seen them live is a real nagging disappointment for me. I'm almost certain they're never gonna play Montana.

lol beard papa, I find nothing sadder than bands begging people to mosh. first of all, you can't command a pit - it happens or it doesn't. sometimes it doesn't even have anything to do with how much people like your music.

really glad you got to see Voivod! i haven't seen them in a while and need to rectify that

He was good natured about it, though. Kept saying "C'mon, mothafuckas!" but was smiling the whole time. I honestly was kind of surprised by Tommy Victor on the whole. I guess I had assumed he would be super intense guy, but he had a gregarious presence. Really seemed to be enjoying himself. He was flawless, too. I've always enjoyed his playing. Both Prong and Voivod are 3-man bands who sound way bigger.

I hope you get to see them, unperson! Not too far to Seattle or the bay from there... maybe the stars will align some day.

speaking of shows, I caught Necrot, Ghoul, and Municipal Waste last night. or rather, the first two - I'm not a MW fan, think when it comes to thrash revival, they're my least favorite of the big'uns (Toxic Holocaust is more my jam).

Necrot were great, though really they could use a second guitar player live. those solos are great but shouldn't be played over bass, and it does render some of the riffs murky if you don't know them (which fortunately I do). but they still had a great energy and I'm stoked for their newest album.

Ghoul were kinda the surprise for me, I've seen em and listened to em before but mostly as an afterthought, I just knew them as the dorks who wear sacks on their heads. they've really leaned into their inner-GWAR, with full-on goofy costumed characters, voices and storylines, and the music itself is a bit more than the 'good surfy thrash' that I remembered, there's a lot more grindcore in it (which makes sense considering the source bands for Ghoul). sound-wise, they sounded phenomenal, the energy was incredible, the goofy theatrical sideshow was entertaining as hell, plus they insulted Joe Rogan which was a plus.

I had entertained staying for MW just to get my money's worth but had enough fun watching Ghoul that I felt satiated.

I saw MW last year as well and would have left during their set if they had been headlining. Sacred Reich, who were never one of my favorite thrash bands, played before them and blew them off the stage.

love SR! i can imagine - i saw them live once and they were fantastic.