METAL for ART-metallers

harry pussy => no wave-ish

fushitsusha => psych blues

naked city => art thrash metal ;-)

but most of what i've heard from this list is far better than any metal I've heard.

And Julio = blasphemer!

umm, Sleep, Boris, Lightning Bolt...

Ruins rule!

Paradoxally it seems like it's never the "art" style (or "avantgarde", "experimental", "open minded" or whatever label they're marketed under) bands that kick off any real innovation, somehow all of them tend to fuck around with one or more styles in various interesting ways but never really progress. Napalm Death/Repulsion develop grindcore: three years later we have Naked City. Winter slows Celtic Frost down to a thick bleak sludge: a decade later, Khanate/Sunn 0)). NY hardcore emerges in the early 80s and borrows thrash riffs somewhere along the lines: Meshuggah twists and turns the concept nicely half a decade later. Possessed/Death/Morbid Angel establish death metal: Pan.Thy.Monium plays bizarre DM riffs with a saxophone six years later.

On the other hand, nothing really new has come out of metal in the last five, six years (compared to the abundance of new ideas in '85-'95) so maybe these kind of bands can live up to their promise of taking metal in a radical new direction.

But I can see why for lots of people 'real' metal isn't very interesting: invariably it is based on the presumption that the whole darkness/evil/long hair/beer/spikes&denim&leather/"Bang your head for Satan" paradigm is GOOD and should unapologetically be celebrated (explicitly or implicitly). Throughout the years the music has changed pretty dramatically, but every band keeps insisting it's all still done in the spirit of (insert old 70s/80s metal band X). If that's a turnoff (and face it, it IS for most people who did not grow up thinking at some point in their life that Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden/Metallica/Morbid Angel is the coolest band on earth), it's not surprising that if they like the aesthetic side of metal, they'll go for bands that operate outside of the traditionalist metal paradigm but use its techniques, melodicism or structures.

N.P.-Killing Technology!! art metal 87-style

www.Maudlinofthewell.com

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to have some ironic stance etc, but no way, I'm going to enjoy music because it moves me in some way, not because it's totally ironic, like, woah, where's my white belt.

As for art metal, hrmm, I'm surprised to see Gorguts maligned, as "Obscura" is one of my favorites as far as this is concerned.
As is Cynic's "Focus", which is a truly beautiful album, strangely enough, considering the band started out as yet another Florida death metal band. Be warned that this album has some "robotic vocals" that many people find absolutely disastrous.

I'll gladly second Maudlin of the well.
I know a lot of people who'd say Agalloch, so I'll mention them, though I personally find them about as interesting as Accept.

Sigh deserves a nice big mention, particularly the HAil Horror Hail and Ghastly Funeral Theatre albums. Take simplistic 80s metal ala Venom etc, then add a curious penchant for progrock and experimentation. It shouldn't work, but it does quite well. The latest album is quite good too, though it's more hardrocky, but chockful of "vintage synths", as ol' progists would put it.

Another pair that I personally don't care for, but that might be worth mentioning are Korova (now Korovakill) and Angizia.

But screw it all; just get some Bolt Thrower! *performs thrashing, headbanging and general stereotypical 'hessian' moves*

I honestly don't know if any of these bands will intrigue you mister, err, Snoom, given that most of the bands you mention tend to veer closer to hardcore, or at least doom metal and sludge.

Perhaps CSSO (clotted symmetric sexual organs) will tickle your fancy. Grindcore meets psychedelia.

Sorry for the dreadfully scattered style of this post, but it got written in increments while doing other things.

as for agalloch...can't stand the vocals. that's the problem with most metal bands with non-shrieking/growling vocals, they're just awful. ved buens ende i like, despite the vocals.

I feel sort of silly for being part of this thread, as I realized that I'm not quite sure always what people mean when they're talking about art rock etc.
For me Morbid Angel's "Blessed are the sick" is much more artistic than say something like Converge or Boris (though I love both of those bands)

As for the "does REAL metal hold secrets of time signatures & psychedelic mentalisms?" question of the initial post.. Undoubtedly, though mainly the former... Psychedelia often strikes me as the opposite of what most metal bands want to do. Though bands like Esoteric certainly have delved into that direction.
I still say someone should send a bunch of Gong, Amon Düül II etc to Gorguts!
Come to think of it, to go back to Morbid Angel, I often find a lot of Trey's solosections to delve into psychedelia in a way. That guy is plain weird.

how about we send them a muffin basket with some CDR copies of "yeti," "you," "tago mago," maybe the silberbart album. see what happens.

Don't like Ved Buens Ende, but definitely check out Fleurety - just as weird, but more developed and more interesting.

I love Isis, Orthrelm, and have even warmed up to the new Locust CD (though I don't think that's metal in any sense, but I love the keyboards).

Also, for non-metal noise-guitar kicks, check out the last CD by Raoul Bjorkenheim's Scorch Trio (can't remember title; it may not even have one).

Enslaved's new Below the Lights CD is total art rock black metal, complete with flutes. Really excellent cut-up of high-speed rage, pompous ghostly folk, and prog breakdowns.

Solefald are a pretty great Jethro Tull-influenced post-black metal band.

Secret Chiefs 3 are barely metal, but Zappa-possessed ex-Mr. Bungle guys (not the annoying ones) pulling a virtuoso art-rock take on the fake mysticism of old Murat temple "oriental" bands.

Yeah, Tarantula Hawk are like a slacker Magma, and their latest is good.

As for Khanate, the members' splinter groups like SUNN are more experimental, but more about drones than ROCK.

Ulver's gone all the way from black metal to bad techno to blipcore, complete with a Fennesz remix on the new one.

Pan-thy-monium are heavily psychedelicized metal from Sweden in the mid-1990s, sort of like Acid Mother Temple landing atop Entombed.

Burzum's Filosofem could be compared to Mark Rothko, so I guess that's art metal.

The last Mayhem studio album, Grand Declaration of War, was arty in a bad but not worthless Flock of Seagulls kind of way.

Arcturus were the first metal band to use amen breaks.

Do the No-Neck Blues Band count? Their founding drummer was in the Texas metalcore (80s metalcore) band Angkor Wat.

And everybody's favorite Chris Burdon-inspired performance metal act AC has reunited, to the delight of reconstructive surgeons everywhere.

I thought Mayhem's last album sounded like Laibach.

actually, hasn't one of Bolt Thrower just put out a very arty jazz metal album??

Heresy! HERESY!!!

Sigh!!!

Heresy! HERESY!!!

I take that back, I take it back! Or at least they're a less reliable beast in the golden Earache stable of Morbid Angel, Carcass, Napalm Death, Godflesh, Cathedral... And by now haven't they fought one crusade too many?

If every band named in this topic [plus the Thrones; Necrophagist; Absu; the original version of Kataklysm; even the reformed Celtic Frost] could gather for a 3-day festival in Iceland some year soon, I'd start building my ice bridge from New York now. Need somebody with a Segway to tow me part of the way on my runt bike. Party!

Oh absolutely, they've basically become the Motörhead of Death Metal: an instantly recognizable, perfected and insanely catchy formula band with a live show resembling a twenty ton steamroller. But because their charisma, you forgive them for releasing the same collection of ten identical songs every two years.

But Bolt Thrower is a bit of an odd choice for putting down - if you would name and shame also-ran DM bands, why not point out the obvious ones: Benediction, Brutality, Monstrosity & all the NYDM 'groove' DM bands (or alternatively, basically every early 90s band on Nuclear Blast). The success of those bands basically bled DM completely dry.

Mayhem is apparently recording a new album at the moment. I'm REALLY looking forward to that one, as Grand Declaration Of War had a very interesting core concept but was a letdown because of quite superficial flaws (some dodgy/amateurish experimentation). After three years, it's still surprisingly good once you look behind that. They just need a critical editor and Hellhammer & His Merry Men could well come up with something truly spectacular again.

Mayhem is apparently recording a new album at the moment. I'm REALLY looking forward to that one, as Grand Declaration Of War had a very interesting core concept but was a letdown because of quite superficial flaws (some dodgy/amateurish experimentation). After three years, it's still surprisingly good once you look behind that. They just need a critical editor and Hellhammer & His Merry Men could well come up with something truly spectacular again.

I really like the Mezzerschmitt EP, which is Mayhem minus Maniac plus a guy from Red Harvest, where they nail down a lot of the flighty concepts from Grand Declaration. (and sing in german, but offer one of those "we're not political" disclaimers on the back cover to thwart NSBM accusations.)

Also, the Swiss band Meridian do a wholly derivative but class job of basing their sound on the precepts of Grand Declaration. Fine and ingenious Swiss craftsmanship. I think they won their contract with Season of Mist via some sort of heavy metal Eurovision contest, but don't know much else about them.

I wanna give some love in the art-metal catagory to Today is the Day, mostly for their first two Amphetamine Reptile albums, which hold up really well as some sort of apex of the super ugly noise rock style made hideously misshapen and complex and scary. As for their Relapse work, I'm down with In the Eyes of God as slightly less with Temple of the Morning Star.

On that note, I also adore Mastodon, a band built on an old TITD rhythm section. Debut EP pretty good, debut LP fucking excellent.

As for Discordance Axis, I cannot wait to hear Jon Chang and Dave Witte's new band War Chalking. Anyone heard 'em?

Mostly these days I'm enjoying super-old-school style death metal, consciously retro bands like Sinister and Arch Enemy (great female vocals on both), Bloodbath, Grave, even total cheeseball acts like Destruction and Hypocrisy. That's why I liked Immortal's last record so much...it was totally retro. Black metal mixed with death metal guitar breaks.

Is it me, or is Cult of Luna strictly for people who think Neurosis take too long between records?

Best live band I saw in the last 12 months? Amon Amarth. And they're coming back around.

really not keen on it
must 've posted this in my sleep years ago.

that double bass drums thing. that's kind of like a baby's rattle, isn't it?

erm...
necrophagist.
they're fun !
benighted leams.
necrofrost.
necronomitron.
velvet cacoon.
i dunno it's all panto to me
i am now listening to aavikko in preference over music of such monolithic gravitas >ahem< and so should you.

Anyone heard this?

Citay, *Citay* Indie types (with a connection to {and maybe guys from?} the useless Fucking Champs, I believe) claim to be inspired by pastoral rennaisance faire parts on the first couple Heart LPs and the pretty intros to Metallica songs (and Led Zep, duh.) I for sure hear the guitar player (Ezra Feinberg - was he a Fucking Champ?) trying. But Heart and Zep and Metallica turned the rennaisance tapestries into rock; Citay turn it into chamber-group shoegaze music with a weedy indie non-singer. No surprise since Fucking Champs were basically just a loud version of Tortoise. (I never understood why anybody who liked metal would like them. I guess the idea was that if you learn some Iron Maiden or Queen guitar riffs and randomly string them together you don't need to have any songs. But you do.)

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 9th, 2006.
)
(Much of the Citay CD thing is instrumental, which is better than when the guy sings. Who knows, maybe guitar players would be less bored with it than I am. Maybe they'd be less bored with Fucking Champs, too.) (Actually, I have two guitarist friends who *like* that band, come to think of it. To me they just seem completely cold, clinical, and pointless.)

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 9th, 2006.

>Esoteric are about as psych as metal gets.<

seeing how heavy metal basically was a subset of psychedelic music in the first place.

I didn't really get into music until I was 18 and i started with Nirvana,Stones, Sex Pistols, Janes Addiction,Soundgarden etc and my mates gave me some metallica, pixies,anthrax,sabbath,Maiden , dead kennedys,Husker Du,Celtic Frost so I was never just into the one sort of music that so many people are like at that age.
But because i didnt like Slayer or Anthrax they didnt consider me a metaller, especially as i ended up listening to lots of indie and dance music.
And god knows what they would think now.

Ha, I STILL don't like Slayer and Anthrax much. (I mean, they're both okay, I guess. I have nothing against them. But I can't remotely imagine *choosing* to listen to either of them.)

...are their intellectual property. Anyway, there was an article in one of the Times' a week or so ago about the phenomenon of clueless scientists who spend part of their careers or the Ph.D. theses of their grad students duplicating research that was done decades earlier. They labor intently thinking they've come into a real "Eureka" moment. Then someone sees it, informs them it was published in some other journal twenty years ago, they get all bummed out and go into shock. With pop music, instead of being a subject of embarrassment and personal chagrin, it goes into the New York Times arts section as unique newness.

I suppose theres plenty who dismiss metal because simply they've never heard any metal bar the odd thing that hits the charts.
But i'd hope people will investigate further than Limp Bizkit or whoever.

I'm sure classic rock once had Abba on their cover.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Viikate/100_greatest_hard_rock_albums__classic_rock_and_metal_hammer/

I do think some of the stonehenge stuff that was mentioned can fall into the category, however.

When I think "Art Metal," I think of Celtic Frost's Into The Pandemonium, most all of Voivod's stuff from Killing Technology onwards, The God Machine, Course Of Empire, Sigh, and I hear elements of it in Tool/A Perfect Circle and Jane's Addiction. Oh, and Killing Joke for sure. I probably need to include Opeth these days (even though I do not like them at all) and a lot of the new stuff on The End Records certainly qualifies.

Also coming to mind are the loud guitarists camp such as Casper Brotzmann Massacre and Helios Creed.

No, Bltfzpk and Satan's Penguins are the real alpha and omega.

James

http://www.mare.ca
http://www.hydrahead.org/hh/mp3s/they_sent_you.mp3

Wow! Yuck!!

> by time signatures i mean like morris day and the time with that linn drum sound and the handclaps

Ocrilim (aka Mick Barr) "Anoint" (I and Ear Records) - Mick Barr (Orthrelm) continues his penchant to create entirely new bands for each of his outings, now he introduces us to Ocrilim. If you have heard the Orthrelm album you know that you'll either find it genius or entirely maddening, Ocrilim takes Orthrelm one step further losing the drums and turning in a guitar only rock opera.

At least this thread doesn't have the guy claiming that listening to heavy metal increased his intelligence. Be thankful for small mercies.

Check out Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, dude. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I sure was. Their album sucked. Not sure I can remember off hand *how* it sucked; tried to block it from my memory, but I kinda recall assorted Tom Waitish cabaret bullshit mixed into other shtick. Yuck.

That's the newer one, xhuxk.

Well, the thing I like about them most is Carla Kilstedht, honestly. Her violin and singing is a thing to behold, she also plays in Tin Hat Trio. After that, I dig the prog-rock complexity of their arrangements and the bass-heavy, metal-esque way they approach the execution of the songs. Then there's the appeal of their unique-sounding homemade instruments, their unified look in concert, and the odd cabaret diversion (I LIKE the cockroach song).

They remind me of some unholy alliance between Queen, Mad Max, Metallica, and 20's surrealism. Plus, they are extremely nice people, which oftens counts more with me than it maybe should.

What can I say? I've probably seen them a dozen times and am on their mailing list. So I'll just say going to see them might be worthwhile even if the albums don't click with you.

Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna, Univers Zero, Art Bears etc. were bands in the "movement." SGM have a certain fondness for the sound (particularly Henry Cow and Art Bears) and you can hear it in their arrangements.

By the way, I should note that I for the most part LIKE The End Records, thanks to all their lovely goth metal stuff that has no metal in it. They are just about the only art-metal label around not addicted to extreme and gratuitous ugliness. So maybe, if that label likes them, Sleepyhead Guerilla Mustard are more beautiful than I thought. xp

Back to the topic at hand.

NIGEL HIPSTER
('nI-jel 'hip-st&r)
Noun: Anyone who appreciates or supports black metal for ironic reasons, or because they find it humorous.

Angelblood is the right answer.

Did you ever hear that track, Louis?

I got the us pressing of the Alcest vinyl in the mail today.
Really liking new Nachtmystium, anyone else like that?

oh and the albums by Ascend and Pentemple belong on this thread

Runhild Gammelsæter - Amplicon isn't really metal but is scary as fuck. Different to the Thorr's Hammer stuff she did with Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley way back when she was 17.
It's out on Utech if anyone cares.

i care. or i'm curious. is it just processed vocals or what?

Well the vocals re the same scary screechy stuff as on the excellent Khlyst album.

Btw there's a Khlyst dvd of a live performance coming out.

hey, do you still read ilm, siegbran? because this speculation from way upthread (and the simpler days of 2003) didn't really come true, did it?

On the other hand, nothing really new has come out of metal in the last five, six years (compared to the abundance of new ideas in '85-'95) so maybe these kind of bands can live up to their promise of taking metal in a radical new direction.

nothing comes to mind, really. maybe om tapping into the indian classical vibe?

nothing comes to mind?!?!?! i'm not in a listy mood but for heaven's sake someone else PLEASE take this

Siegbran is still around

AVANT-GARDE METAL

A Brief And Incomplete History Of An Ongoing Experiment

http://www.avantgarde-metal.com/content/stories2.php?id=67

yeah, nothing really does. plenty of bands mixing up little bits of this-and-that... which I like! but I honestly can't think of a record from the last 10 years or so that sounds like nothing I've heard before.

and about that link...
Avant-garde metal has not slowed down; in fact, it has only continued to evolve and expand. Bands like KAYO DOT, JESU, ISIS, DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA, SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM

is this really the best we've got? jesu and kayo dot are basically similar takes on formulas THE PEOPLE IN THE BANDS developed like 10-20 years ago! isis are hardly doing anything new too.

and on that "record from the last 10 years" thing I said... that's in the metal world. I mean, it's not like these kinds of records are popping left and right in any genre, but more than most other genres, metal is all about taking what you liked about a couple of bands and doing your own thing with it.

again, nothing wrong with that!

lol, "not that there's anything wrong with that"
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l256/gswyers/Seinfeld_not_that_theres_small.jpg

nothing comes to mind?!?!?! i'm not in a listy mood but for heaven's sake someone else PLEASE take this

metal has taken exactly zero radical new directions since '03 - especially when you compare things, as Siegbran did, to the convulsive '85-'95 times. There are plenty of good new metal records for sure. None of them that I can think of are really breaking any new ground. I like heavy metal a lot, so that's generally fine with me - innovation is exciting but isn't necessary for me to really enjoy something.

If you honestly think you can make a list of people who've been really breaking down doors since '03, you are mistaken.

There doesn't seem to have been a lot of door-breaking-down going on lately, but it's not like the genre's stagnant. Anaal Nathrakh/Frost & Deathspell Omega have put out interesting albums since '03. Among others, I mean...

You're on the "cranky old man" kick this week, aren't you, John?

he'll never beat gorge at that game.

what would someone have to do to take metal in a "radical new direction". that's what i want to know. i guess we would know it when we hear it.

Years later, this thread still has a very stupid title.
-- xhuxk, Wednesday, March 7, 2007 9:16 PM

im guessing that was actually scott?

oh yeah that was me

I'm going to grossly over simplify and ignore the actual music completely and say a lot of the distinctions between art-metal and real-metal is down to fashion and trends.

There are people who like the basic sound of metal (which is common to both) but are too hung up on being cool and clever to let themselves enjoy real-metal because of some of its coincidentals like leather studded jackets and concept albums about angels being raped.

Then there are real-metal fans who don't care about looking cool, but tend to fall for metal cliches themselves.

...and they dont like anything thats "arty-farty"

herman, have you heard the new hey colossus album yet? just playing their last one and remembered that they had a new album coming out.

i find metal politics and debate and poseur/hipster talk entertaining. or about as entertaining as i used to find punk politics and debate and poseur/hipster talk entertaining way back when.

i find it entertaining cuz i feel so removed from it all. i've been a metal fan for decades and almost all my metal listening has been completely solitary in nature. meaning: 95% of the metal i have listened to in my life i've listened to ALONE. and i rarely ever talk about metal in real life. it's completely personal to me. as is most of the music i listen to. which is why i always have to remember not to make blanket statements about WHY anyone listens to anything. unless they tell me why, i have no idea. i can guess why people who haven't listened to a lot of metal are drawn to certain things within the genre, but they are just guesses. i also don't think that people who are seen as dabblers have to somehow show respect for the genre in some way that pleases the "true" fans. like, they have to leave an offering of good will and faith before they are allowed to partake in the black bounty of heavy metal. fuck that. fuck the faithful. you want to know about all the cool, weird, and avant garde metal out there that is all fucked up and psychedelic and filled with non-metal elements? i'll tell you all about them. be glad to. my pleasure. also, you should really subscribe to Decibel.

You're on the "cranky old man" kick this week, aren't you, John?

LOL Jeff OTM, pretty much when shit gets busy around here I get cranky

Scott, I haven't yet. I think it comes out in August. Will be buying it though. I think pre-orders opened for the cd a few weeks ago. Great band.

...i also don't think that people who are seen as dabblers have to somehow show respect for the genre in some way that pleases the "true" fans. like, they have to leave an offering of good will and faith before they are allowed to partake in the black bounty of heavy metal. fuck that. fuck the faithful. you want to know about all the cool, weird, and avant garde metal out there that is all fucked up and psychedelic and filled with non-metal elements? i'll tell you all about them. be glad to. my pleasure.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

FO' REAL.

yeah you guys should still listen to some goddamn cannibal corpse and that's the truth and even my less-cranky friend scott knows that's the truth. people who listen to fusion but never listen to straight-no-chaser jazz are missing the fuck out.

but it doesn't sound like deerhoof or anything so be ready for that.

this is the stuff that was seriously blowing my mind last week. i'm way old school:

Dance Music of the Renaissance for Recorder, Dulcian, Crumhorn, Viola da Braccio, Viola da Gamba and Lute (moderne, susato, gervaise, phalese, franck, hassler, attaignant, demantius)

Francois Couperin - Lecons De Tenebres (early 1700s churchy stuff for countertenor, tenor, viola da gamba, and organ and it is AWESOME. completely hypnotic.)

Mozart - Flute Concerti (in G major K.313 & D major K.314)

Monteverdi - Madrigals (love this too!)

Claude Lejeune - Chants de la Renaissance

Music from the Chapel of Charles V (gombert, crecquillon, schlick)

French Harpsichord Masterpieces (Louis Couperin, Jean-Henri D'Anglebert. another stunner!)

William Byrd - Music for Viols and Virginals (freak folk! byrd was the bomb.)

Antiphonal Music For Four Brass Choirs (gabrieli, purcell, des prez)

Varajase Muusika Ansambel - Hortus Musicus (ancient kickass Croatian church music)

Voices of the Middle Ages - Music From The Gothic Cathedral (Capella Antiqua from Munich. I heartily recommend this album. It's on Nonesuch. Or at least the vinyl is. Just unbelievably brilliant. And still waaaaaay ahead of its time.)

John Taverner - Tudor Church Music (another beauty. and my 1962 stereo copy on Argo sounds amazing.)

Stravinsky - Pulcinella/Apollon Musagete (love this. and another great recording on Argo. academy of st.martin in the fields.)

er, that would be me again.

I listened to a couple of cannibal corpse songs last week via my brother's shared iTunes network, they were actually pretty super! "Sanded Faceless" especially.

i find it entertaining cuz i feel so removed from it all. i've been a metal fan for decades and almost all my metal listening has been completely solitary in nature. meaning: 95% of the metal i have listened to in my life i've listened to ALONE. and i rarely ever talk about metal in real life. it's completely personal to me. as is most of the music i listen to. which is why i always have to remember not to make blanket statements about WHY anyone listens to anything. unless they tell me why, i have no idea. i can guess why people who haven't listened to a lot of metal are drawn to certain things within the genre, but they are just guesses. i also don't think that people who are seen as dabblers have to somehow show respect for the genre in some way that pleases the "true" fans. like, they have to leave an offering of good will and faith before they are allowed to partake in the black bounty of heavy metal. fuck that. fuck the faithful. you want to know about all the cool, weird, and avant garde metal out there that is all fucked up and psychedelic and filled with non-metal elements? i'll tell you all about them. be glad to. my pleasure. also, you should really subscribe to Decibel.

Started c+p'ing bits of this to put in italics and write DING DING DING under, but it kept getting longer and then it was just the whole post

I'm another one who doesn't mind dabbling. I dig particular artists, maybe even record labels, but I don't see why one has to go all-in when it comes to particular genres.

To give an example, I dig Cannibal Corpse too, but only 'The Bleeding' - the rest I've heard, but could take or leave. I don't see anything wrong with that.

I do it with all genres. Some I listen to more than others but I've never been culturally attached to them. Never self-identified as a punk or metal kid or raver or whatever. It would feel ridiculous and would defeat what I assume is the object of doing so by being entirely untrue to myself

xpost: Hmm . . so maybe I'm not the only one who's been alternating Monteverdi and Xasthur!

I'm still a punk though.

I'm just a square, going nowhere

I'm "nu-prog" apparently. Whatever the hell that is. Xasthur is a genius and a genuinely singular artist in the metal scene fwiw.

"Genuinely singular"? see now you're just baiting me. I like Xasthur fine, and I get that he's sort of marketing himself a little different & aware of who's buttering his bread, but there's a baker's dozen one-man black metal bands working the same angle - you won't get the exact same vibe from them, of course, he's got his own personality, but this notion that he's somehow A One-Man Black Metal Band Apart is the sort of coronation-by-indiedom stuff that turns me into Cranky Old Manasaurus.

Which isn't purism - I listen to as wide a variety of shit as anybody, I'd guess - it's if anything an attempt to argue for a much wider net, one which doesn't demand artiness first & foremost.

i loved Manasaurus. their later stuff wasn't as good as their early demos though.

now playing:

http://static.metal-archives.com/images/1/9/9/2/199211.jpg

this notion that he's somehow A One-Man Black Metal Band Apart is the sort of coronation-by-indiedom stuff that turns me into Cranky Old Manasaurus.

Maybe that's just because he's on Hydra Head, which may be less intimidating to some than some obscure kvlt imprint (aside from certainly having a greater profile).

which is why i always have to remember not to make blanket statements about WHY anyone listens to anything.

exactly. but imagine what a desert this place would be if everyone followed your example.

Scott Seward is my hero.

mine too, now.

I'm aspiring to be more Scottlike in this thread while wanting to continue encouraging people to seek out from metal both the things that are different from what they already know they like as well as the things they already know they like (indie self-consciousness, big telegraphed "this is art!" punches as has there ever been a more artful metal album than Transilvanian Hunger? A: not according to me, etc)

Anyhow LJ you might seek out: Arkenstone, Drastus, Velvet Cacoon (v. controversial! many purists think they don't "mean it"! I think they're quite cool), Striborg (now on Southern Lord I think), Haemoth & especially if you haven't already Abruptum.

and I wanna plug Cirith Gorgor though they're not in the this-looks-like-art camp but their guitar work (and tone) are fucking artful as anything.

now playing:

http://img1.nnm.ru/imagez/gallery/4/6/1/7/6/46176253245b7619e6c9222d90a40079.jpg

original pressing or you are posing

KIDDING

i'm trying to think of something new and "arty" that i really dig, but i can't think of much. i like the new Velnias album, but it's not really that out there. it's good though.

http://www.myspace.com/velniascult

i have the season of mist reissue of the beherit album. i helped the record store here set up a metal section - they didn't have one - and they got it in and i felt like i should buy it in case nobody else did.

would racebannon qualify for the 'arty' ephithet? or 'metal', for that matter? either way, the new album is pretty stunning.

am i really the only person on here who loves the septic flesh album that came out this year??????

it's so cool. and best use of metal band + full orchestra that i think i've ever heard. the arrangements are so great. the orchestral parts aren't just tacked on. they are an integral and crucial part of the sound.

http://www.metalkingdom.net/album/img/d15/15064.jpg

http://www.myspace.com/septicfleshband

racebannon are spazzcore and pretty great. and they've held up better than the locust. i never understood why they were on an indiepop label for so long though. was it secretly canadian?

(only cuz people who would like what they do might never hear stuff on a label like secretly canadian. if that was the label. i know it was one of those indie rock labels. although their offshoot rapider than horsepower was a good fit for an indie rock label. i loved that first album by them.)

no scott I share your enthusiasm for septicflesh, wrote about it here

it was definitely secretly canadian.

although it was their second and third albums on that label...

SC and Racebannon are both from Bloomington yeah? So I gess they go back a bit. I heard that they left the label as a result of someone from one end fucking the girlfriend of someone from the other end. </Spazzcore Enquirer>

<3 that Beherit album. Might be the 1st black metal I ever bought actually

racebannon are heavier, more feral and more diverse than the locust, imo. there's something about them that I find genuinely disturbing. in a good way.

Thanks, J0hn! There's nothing I'd like more than for this thread (bad title and all) to turn into a "stuff y'all might like" eye-opening-recommendation forum. I'll stay tuned! My Xasthur comment was probably born out of ignorance; I've never heard anything like it, but then I haven't heard very much metal.

Totally endorse J0hn's Velvet Cacoon recommendation upthread. Been listening to their stuff a lot over the last few months, and I reckon a lot of noise heads here would like them. (Apart from the ones who hate them already!)

. and with Velvet Cacoon, you have this whole debate in one band!

There's a new Racebannon??? I gotta hear it!!! I love all their other albums I have. What label are they on now?

people who would like what they do might never hear stuff on a label like secretly canadian

Isn't that kinda like when Saint Vitus were on SST? Although maybe that was the reverse, as in punkers doing a double-take when their fave label signs a gang of longhairs with kickass riffs.

Tried real hard w/ the Vlevet Cacoons, but couldn't get into em. Sound great as background music, like having a thousand amplified cats purring at you, but there's no there there. It's just a pleasant tone, carried out for forty-some minutes. I have way too many "pleasant tone" records.

Love Xasthur, but was likewise a bit 0_o at the "genius and a genuinely singular artist in the metal", when, you know, Leviathan, Striborg, Drastus, BURZUM (BM Godwin's Law).

Sound great as background music, like having a thousand amplified cats purring at you, but there's no there there.

kind of why I like them

OTM

If anyone can be bothered putting together an annotated "If you like Xasthur . ." list of one-man BM outfits, I'd like to see it. Even if I have the first half-dozen already.

There's a new Racebannon??? I gotta hear it!!! I love all their other albums I have. What label are they on now?

'tis on southern.

i forgot to mention the new Empire Auriga album on here! i love it.

http://www.myspace.com/empireauriga

you can listen to a couple tracks on their myspace. very down and dirty blend of bm/industrial/martial neo-folk/etc

again, that would be me, not maria.

Maria is getting quite metal these days ;)

There's a fair amount of art-metal on Paper Thin Walls from time to time. Here's a couple of tracks I like, both of which can still be downloaded:
Time Of Orchids
http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=948
Oops, better save the second for another post, or it'll say too much BB.

Although you'd prob have to hear that in context of the album to have it seem all that metal, like it does to me; it's more the overall vibe though. The other I was thinking of is Kayo Dot, though they were more consistent early on, but it still works sometimes.I guess we shouldn't call these bands "post-metal"? They have something to do with trace elements, still glowing in the dark, setting off counters.:
http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=1594

I just want to thank this thread for making me finally listen to some Art Bears.

1st Kayo Dot was best

OK, so I mostly only listen to music at the moment when I'm working, so it needs to be somewhat backgroundish. I listen to a lot of Sunn O))) - what else should I try?

I can recommend Nortt - very atmospheric black/doom - and Velvet Cacoon, described above.

i highly recommend listening to Make a Change... Kill Yourself as background music while at work.

Darkspace is awesome for that, too, but a different vibe.

man, I love that last time of orchids record. not sure that they were at all metal (esp. by that point), but THERE was a band that were doing their own thing. a shame they called it quits; they were at the height of their game.

I love how they took this fragmented, spazzy off-shoot of prog and made it into something so pretty and epic. I mean, they really make you work for it, but when a song climaxes, it can be pretty amazing. the "darling abandon" track that's streaming on paper thin walls is the perfect example. people should listen to that.

still bummed that I missed them open for koenjihyakkei. :-/

fucking great list of music up there from scott

The best album I've ever heard for working to is Earth Pentastar. I can play it over and over and never get tired of it.

Erik Davis wrote a great thing in the Voice, about art waltzing its way into metal, againe and againe: think the title was "Only A Northern Song," or close to that, and still in the online no doubt. Leave us not forget Mastodon, Nadja, Yakuza.

New Velvet Cacoon double 'Atropine' announced for Oct/Nov on the Full Moon Productions site: "This album was carefully created over a four year period under the closely supervised influence of mandrake, hemlock, datura stramonium, henbane, belladonna and jesaconitine isolate. Most of the drone library was originally recorded to DAT and buried in the ground for two years before reviving them for use."

New album by Lustmord is pretty good. Arguably more conventional than previous releases, in that it doesn't sound like being pulled out of airlock into space, but identifiably him.

Finally got around to downloading "Where the black stars hang", which you recommended to me ages ago. Immense! Perhaps not metal as such, but a lot of the 'ambient' BM I've been listening to recently approaches a similar feel. I'd be surprised if Darkspace weren't fans.

Stunning clip, zero information, as per with Velvet Cacoon. Appears to be a track from the new VC CD. Could be a fanvid from found footage - if so, I'd like to know where they found it.

can someone educate me about Ascend? There's one album titled "Ample fire within" here in the store.

It's great and the best thing Greg Anderson has been involved with in years!

okay, I'm going to buy it NOW! : )

It's more like sunn o))) than Goatsnake but better than the formers recent output. I think it's better than the Pentemple album.

Agreed Ascend is Greg's best stuff in years. It's with the Iceburn / Engine Kid guy. There's one track of swirly backwards guitar drone that is just outstanding. Worth buying.

New Velvet Cacoon? Psyched!

New Velvet Cacoon . . real soon, according to their Full Moon Productions page. The vid almost makes me believe it's actually going to happen.

Ascend = great. I'm really loving this album.
ready to be blown away/ sucked in by the new Velvet Cacoon!

I have my copy of the new Velvet Cacoon "Atropine" double CD from Full Moon Productions - huge, absorbing ambient drones and tones, though I miss the driving-rain drum machine.

Their long-lost "P aa opal poere pr. 33" LP is finally out as a limited release from Starlight Temple Society, and my copy is ordered. I have two leaked versions, one with a really horrible Goth drum track, and one that's guitars only - be interested to see what they've settled on for the official mix.

What's good in the avant metal world lately?

Locrian?

2nd or 3rd time ive seen them recommended on ILM in the past week.

Hi Christopher,
I'm writing to inform you that we do not have Rotting Christ - Aealo on red vinyl. We do have it in stock on blue which we will gladly send you

did you purchase it?

New Agalloch album is imminent:

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=998&Itemid=2

cant wait to hear it!

Hope it gets released on vinyl

Really getting into Agalloch, thanks to the metal poll. The band achieve exactly what I always thought Black Metal should but never previously has for me, ie vividly evoking snow-bound forests and mountains.

hurrah!! Success for the metal poll!! I hope everyone discovers lots of good stuff because of it.

Is there any other BM I might like? Basically nothing too lo-fi. And I don't like blastbeats.

You should ask on the actual poll thread, I think there's others more qualified there to help you. Do you like Absu?

Absu has blast beats iirc - amazing band, amazing drummer

I've just checked out a couple of tracks, they sound interesting. Thanks. I'm cool with blastbeats in moderation actually. It's only when they go on for an entire song without variation that I find it tiring, like in lots of first wave BM stuff I've heard.

youre looking for more atmospheric BM? Try Drudkh.

New Drudkh is a bit more post-rockish, so I dunno if you would prefer that or the other stuff.

Yeah, they sound kind of like what I'm after. Plenty to be getting on with, cheers.

Tried real hard w/ the Vlevet Cacoons, but couldn't get into em. Sound great as background music, like having a thousand amplified cats purring at you, but there's no there there. It's just a pleasant tone, carried out for forty-some minutes. I have way too many "pleasant tone" records.

goddamnit this sounds so fucking incredible ^^^^

must seek out now

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001759430

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/25/8840233/art-metal

Not sure how 'arty' High on Fire are. Not that that's the article's biggest problem.

But now I know this thread exists I might use it to dump any and all weirdo-metal bands I discover that don't fit on the Branca-metal thread to the resounding indifference of all.

Why didn't you?
What are the best Art-Metal albums of 2016 then?

Aluk Todolo - Voix
Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä
Schammasch - Triangle

what else?

http://www.themonolith.com/music/review-schammasch-triangle/

New Dysrhythmia is great: http://clrvynt.com/dysrhythmia-the-veil-of-control/

I've ordered that but dunno when it will arrive. a couple of weeks I think so not gonna listen to a stream and will wait for the CD but as I own all of their albums and liked them a long time I am looking forward to hearing it!

Does it differ to the other albums, sund4r?

Ha, I don't know their other albums tbh. I have one of Kevin Hufnagels' solo albums, which I like a lot. (Need to get the new one.)

oh! Ive been a fan of them since the 2nd album. Mr HCI loves to annoy me with pics of his demo cdr he got when it came out. Ive never ever seen one on sale anywhere

btw that Schammasch album I managed to get Mark S intrigued enough to listen to it a few months ago and he seemed to like some of it. So I really really recommend giving it a shot. It might be a bit over-ambitious but I find it quite rewarding to listen to.

It does help of course to listen to the album in 3 different sittings.
I have the triple lp so have a break inbetween each side so it feels more like listening to 3 different albums (which tbh it is)

https://schammasch.bandcamp.com/album/the-maldoror-chants-hermaphrodite

"Swiftly following their Triangle triple album, Schammasch return with the first of a number of releases exploring the 19th century poetic novel, Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont. Centred around a protagonist who opposes God and renounces morality’s conventions, this long-prose poem certainly lends itself thematically to an ambitious metal act"

It has a bit of an industrial feel to it. Its short (32 mins) but very good.

black metal jazz! https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/futility-report

can we make this a rolling thread from 2020 onwards

with a more palatable title

rolling metal can be wall to wall genre exercises and brutal death and 'this could have come out in 1982!' and we can all be happy

Sure, why not? Although now you're tempting me to start a rolling thread per metal subgenre, that I may forever be exempt from -core-related hype.

<snooty voice>genre exercises</snooty voice>

you're probably underestimating how snooty I felt as I typed that

I've begun to think of the metal I like as soundscape metal. That thing where I mostly love how I get images in my mind of winds and demons and fjords. Lots and lots of beautiful icy fjords. My faves this year has been stuff like Inter Arma, Abyssal and Pissgrave.

ok plan abandoned

i saw my friend's little brother's band the other night -- Apprentice Destroyer -- kinda kraut-y. Nice kids!

Apprentice Destroyer

Awwww.

here's a nice article about them:
https://cvltnation.com/erase-your-mind-apprentice-destroyer-permanent-climbing-monolith-exclusive-full-album-premiere/

So I've just discovered Murmuüre :D

they probably didn't need FOUR guitarists to pull this sound off but it rules anyway!

Murmuüre were amazing. I have their CDr but missed out on the vinyl issue when it came out a few years later as it sold out instantly and has been selling on eBay/Discogs for silly money ever since

Even the CD is £85 on here https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2500715?ev=rb

Not sure if they are arty enough for this thread, but the new White Ward is awesome lounge-jazz black metal. Also, if you want more cool arty metallic stuff their recommendations at the end of this interview are all very cool: https://kvlt.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Interview_with_WHITE_WARD_wwwKVLTpl.pdf

Shit, the last post before the revive was a plug for... White Ward. Now I feel dumb.

Don't sleep on those recommendations though: Genghis Tron, Cult Leader, Valborg, Hybrid... so much goodness.