Rolling Metal Thread 2008

nearly 12 hours too soon!

Not to Australia, right? [As I sit in Philly, PA, prepping for NYE party.]

It's five o'clock somewhere!

So I guess I'll be the first person on this thread to talk about actual metal albums. Continuing more I left off on the 2007 thread on my latest batch of records:

I definitely like the Warbringer record. I wish not every song sounded the same, but they have chops and plenty of energy.

I like the Airbourne album the more I listen to it. I'd say it's about as good as any of the mid-80s AC/DC albums that I pull out occasionally to listen to in the car.

Saviours is surprisingly good. Production isn't great, but they have a definite High on Fire vibe, with a lot of Iron Maiden influence (the guitar riffs might as well be off some of the early Maiden records, and the bass sounds like Steve Harris's). The first listen was kind of in the background, so no individual songs stood out, but my overall impression was positive.

Sculptured was like putting a 99 track promo CDs of a death metal album, a 70s prog album, and an avant-garde jazz album, then putting it on shuffle. No real cohesion or memorable parts. Don't recommend it.

The Knives are intriguing -- hard rock with Maiden-esque riffs. Some really fantastic songs, and some that totally fell flat. I need to listen to it more.

I like the Saviours and the Warbringer, but the Airbourne disc is nowhere near even Blow Up Your Video, never mind Fly On The Wall. They seem more like the Cult to me, in that they're trying really hard to rock, but can't quite manage to convince me.

First thing I need to do when I get back to my desk on Wednesday is pop in the new Death Angel.

Well, Fly on the Wall had two or three great songs and a lot of filler. The Airborne record has some filler, too, but it also has a few great songs that stuck with me after I listened to it. I'm a big fan of that sort of three chord boogie/blues rock 'n roll, so it's right up my alley.

Also, I like the Cult quite a bit. I think they definitely succeeded in rocking from Love through Sonic Temple, and Beyond Good and Evil was pretty darn good as well. They are definitely a bit more mannered than AC/DC, that they had some great tunes.

I loved The Cult.

I can't stop playing the new Death Angel...the more I hear it, the more I start to think it could be their best one since The Ultra-Violence. It tops Act III, of that I'm certain.

The bigger surprise, though, has been the new Hate Eternal disc, which is very strong. Pretty much the kind of stuff you'd expect from Rutan, who's not exactly the most innovative death songwriter around, but there's a little bit more catchiness to the songs than on I, Monarch, and the production is just ace. "Hell Envenom" starts off sounding like it's almost a parody of the death metal genre, but it quickly becomes a massive, dense wall of (don't say brutality) brutality (sorry)...it could be the best thing the band's ever done.

I was sent a PlayMPE download link to that Hate Eternal, but for some reason Mac OS 10.5.1 really hates the program and won't let me use it. I'm gonna have to bug Metal Blade for a physical promo.

Embrace the cliché, Adrien! That being said, not a big Hate Eternal fan.

http://www.jetphotos.net/news/media/userfiles/9751465367.jpg

Feel bad that i haven't really given a good listen to the Ava Inferni album that came out last year until now, because I dig it. I liked the first album. I'm a Blasphemer/Rune Erickson fan. I got nothing against fado. Why did I wait so long?

I REALLY like the new Isole album. So good. The first song "By Blood" kicks so much ass.

Not heard Isole, what kinda stuff is it?

epic doom. 90's style.

http://www.myspace.com/isole

miraculously, "By Blood" doesn't sound completely horrible on their myspace page! i could mainline the friggin' guitars. the cd sound is good. not great. i give it a c+. it's big. the way it should be. and it sounds good when they highlight one or two instruments, but it can get a little mushy when they throw everything into the works. if you can picture the sound of a cd being mushy. overall, it's not a problem though. i'll definitely be playing it very loud for months to come.

It's not MDB type stuff is it?

After digesting Saviors some more, I've come to the conclusion that I really like the sound, and there are some really good riffs and solos, but not a damn thing sticks in my head after the CD stops spinning. They don't seem to be so good at writing memorable songs. Maybe that will change with subsequent listens, though.

"It's not MDB type stuff is it?"

well, yeah, it's EPIC doom metal, but these guys have been around forever, so they know what's up. One of those bands that gets better and better.

best line from an web review of the new isole:

"If we point the debut album as a dying flower and the second album as a tombstone the third one is a dying flower upon a tombstone"

i totally want to steal that line!

I'll have to listen to the Isole, I just got it.

The new Genghis Tron is pretty incredible. I like the last one a lot, but this is a huge, huge improvement. More controlled and melodic without compromising the original sound.

DJ Martian you got the Terrorizer list yet?

"2008 Preview?"

Here's a lil mix focused on East Bay Thrash & Death Metal (basically the Ruthie's Inn scene of the 80's) with Exodus, Laaz Rockit, Death Angel, Testament, Possessed, Vio-lence, Metallica, Heathen, and Y&T.
43 minute mp3 - download or stream http://oaklandish.com/PODCAST/audio.html

Hey, neat! Thanks for posting that.

Have you guys heard Hatchet? They're like a bay area thrash boy band (in a good way). Just got signed to Metal Blade.

Look at their photos and give particular attraction to the future hit "Imminent Attack".

myspace.com/hatchet2006

Their little guitarist is 21 and nails all the Exodus-style Kirk Hammett shit. It's kind of amazing.

holy shit, new havohej dudes. <i>tungkat blood wand</i> on hell's headbangers, 10" 45 rpm vinyl that plays from the inside out. craziest shit he's done since <i>black perversion</i>. RIYL wold, abruptum, woozy downtuned noises that might've once been guitars, etc.

(fuck bbcode etc)

ah Havohej, isn't he one of the first usbm type dudes? have some records i think...i loved the Wold disc last year so must check this out

yeah, and he was in profanatica originally (also early versions of incantation and revenant IIRC), who were kind proto-black/death whatever when it wasn't the coolest thing to do. after the first havohej album he just got more and more into bizarre noisy shit. new one isn't quite as abrasive as wold, a little more spacious, but i really like it so far.

The new Nadja sounds quite good, solid doomy drone with a subtle sense of melody. Hearing a lot of Angelic Process in this one, actually. Apparently it's a souped-up, expanded version of a 2005 CD-R...I haven't heard the original so I can't compare, but this sounds like another knockout for Profound Lore. And I think I prefer this to Guilted By the Sun, a disc I really liked.

Which one is it? Aidan posted about it on the old SL board a while back but I forget which one it is.
I'm pretty sure he said there was a brand new record coming too that was all new material.

i looove when black metal people get into noisy stuff....like that Korperschwache album on Crucial Bliss which is the cd-r sidelabel of Crucial Blast, obviously

Did you hear Aluk Todolo?

Which one is it? Aidan posted about it on the old SL board a while back but I forget which one it is.

Bliss Torn From Emptiness.

They're so prolific, it's hard to keep track of everything.

like that Korperschwache album on Crucial Bliss

which one? he's done several at this point...

i want to hear the aluk todolo album. dude or dudes from diamatregon, if i recall correctly. and that diamatregon album on tumult was pretty slept on. looking forward to an alleged new one...

now that i look, i have at least four korperschwache cdrs sitting on my computer desk, all on crucial bliss!

I got two or three the other week. But for me, today, it's all about the brick of ELP reissues I just got from Shout! Factory. Bloated '70s prog, ahoy!

which one? he's done several at this point...

i want to hear the aluk todolo album. dude or dudes from diamatregon, if i recall correctly. and that diamatregon album on tumult was pretty slept on. looking forward to an alleged new one...

the Ouroboros one. This year an album on my label as well!

Listening to that Aluk Todolo right now, what a glorious mess! really weird lopsided stuff....nothing seems to be in the right place but it works

I thought it might appeal to you!

WH Smiths didn't have new terrorizer today so DJ Martian I'm relying on you telling me what the top 20 albums are.

Terrorizer not in the shops yet, obviously some sort of delay. The first time in a few years that it hasn't arrived on time.

Terrorizer's list...it's a good one:

1 Deathspell Omega - Fas… (Norma Evangelium Diaboli)
2 Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao (Season Of Mist)
3 Neurosis - Given To The Rising (Neurot)
4 Primordial - To The Nameless Dead (Metal Blade)
5 Watain - Sworn To The Dark (Season Of Mist)
6 Darkthrone - FOAD (Peaceville)
7 High On Fire - Death Is Communion (Relapse)
8 DHG - Supervillian Outcast (Moonfog)
9 Gallhammer - Ill Innocence (Peaceville)
10 Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (Rise Above)
11 Nadja - Touched (Alien 8
12 Akercocke - Antichrist (Earache)
13 Cobalt - Eater Of Birds (Profound Lore)
14 Clutch - From Beale Street To Oblivion (DRT)
15 Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying (Earache)
16 Reverend Bizarre - So Long Suckers (Spinefarm)
17 Witchcraft - Alchemist (Rise Above)
18 Big Buisiness - Here Come The Waterworks (Hydra Head)
19 Evile - Enter The Grave (Earache)
20 Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun (Jester)
21 Angels Of Light - We Are Him (Young God Records)
22 Type O Negative - Dead Again (Nuclear Blast)
23 Sigh - Hangmans Hymn (The End)
24 Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (Relapse)
25 Arkhon Infaustus - Orthydoxyn (Osmose)
26 Megadeth - United Abominations (Roadrunner)
27 Shining - Halmstad (Osmose)
28 Unsane - Visqueen (Ipecac)
29 Candlemass - King (Nuclear Blast)
30 Prong - Power Of The Damager (13th Planet)
31 Amber Asylum - Still Point (Profound Lore)
32 Rotting Christ - Theogonia (Season Of Mist)
33 Elend - A World In Their Screams (Prophecy)
34 Alcest - Souvenirs (Prophecy)
35 Subhumans - Internal Riot (Bluurg)
36 Turisas - The Varangian Way (Century Media)
37 Anaal Nathrakh - Hell Is Empty (FETO)
38 Doomsword - My Name Will Live On (Dragonheart)
39 Down - Over The Under (Roadrunner)
40 Jesu - Conqueror (Hydra Head)

what's the source of this list?

I thought DJ Martian said it was a 20?
Someone posted the list on http://www.foreverdoomed.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=683 too

That's what is sez on the front cover of Terrorizer magazine on their website.

http://www.terrorizer.com/images/issues/bigt166.jpg

Yes, it is a good list.

23 Sigh - Hangmans Hymn (The End

SUCH good record.

21 Angels Of Light - We Are Him (Young God Records)

huh. didn't see that coming from terrorizer. a great record though.

oh dear ...look at this front cover:

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s1121382.jpg

Anyone else heard The Ocean's Precambrian? It's sounding really fucking great to these ears.

Been meaning to get to The Ocean, but I keep getting distract3ed by other stuff. Like Airbourne...holy crap, does this take me back to that biker/sleaze trend of the late-80s, bands like Dirty Looks, Dangerous Toyz, Four Horsemen, stuff like that. Trite, and with probably not much of a shelf life, but instantly satisfying.

got the old/new xasthur today along with the old/new nadja. nadja thing sounds dope. you gazer geezers will be plotzing for the nadja plotkin remaster/remix/whatever the hell they did to an old cdr. very cool.

That Meshuggah cover is, indeed, distressing. I hope it doesn't reflect the music inside.

I'm going to hear it next Saturday, so I'll let you know!

Why is Maynard James Keenan on the cover of a Meshuggah albbum?

Meshuggah once opened for Tool in the states, I believe. Cover looks like the same artist as the last Lacuna Coil record.

I got two or three the other week. But for me, today, it's all about the brick of ELP reissues I just got from Shout! Factory. Bloated '70s prog, ahoy!

There's something about being cooped up in the house that makes me go batty for this stuff in the wintertime. Anything interesting on them?

>I'm going to hear it next Saturday, so I'll let you know!

Are you going to the listening party Nuclear Blast is throwing? My assistant/subordinate, Rosa, will be there. The label's overnighting me an advance for the following Monday.

ha, they got one of the monsters from the Will Smith I Am Legend to pose for the Meshuggah cover

I am! I will say hello to her. Well, if somebody points out who she is to me.

Where is the love for the Brown Jenkins album on Moribund? I don't remember any love on the 2007 thread! Half of you are going on about psychedelic black metal, well, what more could you ask for!?

>>Anything interesting on them?

Exceptional stuff that's never been released? Not on the copies I have. I've the redo of Brain Salad Surgery and Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends, the latter being their vinyl thee-LP live recording from the top of their arena game time.

For the period and in terms of prog these albums weren't particularly bloated. That was a stigma rock critics hung on them later. Christgau craps all over ELP in his Seventies guide.

ELP did hav a sense of humor about what they were doing. Emerson would use the harpsichord to good comic effect on things like Jeremy Bender/The Sheriff.

If you haven't heard Brain Salad Surgery in awhile you'll be surprised at how warm the recording is. It's not overproduced at all. As a result, it sounds a bit more lo-fi than standard Yes recordings from the same period. Plus, there's much more a classic rock radio vibe coming from songs like "Still ... You Turn Me On."

I was pleased with both of them. They replace my vinyl, which I'd been playing. If you have slightly older remasters of, say, the first three LPs, they're not substantially different or better in sound. The packaging on both is superb, Brain Salad Surgery's being the best.

When listening to the live album in particular, what struck me most was a) how hard they actually rocked, and b) what a skilled noisician Emerson was. I'd rather hear him ripping up his analog synths than anything Wolf Eyes or whoever have ever dreamed of doing.

As far as the reissues, they sound real purty, but there are no bonus tracks (except two on BSS, which also comes in a fancy shrunken replica of the original foldout vinyl, so they can give you a mini version of the poster, too) and only two pages or so of liner notes inside the booklets.

Yeah, ELP did rock, particularly on Karn Evil 9 where Lake takes a turn on electric guitar for the "welcome back my friends" segment.

Is Hit Parader still going? Used to see that in newsagents in my town as well.
DJ Martian you forgot to link us to
http://www.hearya.com/2006/12/04/hit-paraders-top-100-metal-vocalists-of-all-time/

Bummer re ELP reissues. What's the point w/o awesome extras...that aren't just packaging. As much as I love ELP, I can't help but think about that Bangs interview w/ Keith. You can taste the solipsism.

Just got the new issue of Decibel. Cover story = not interesting, but a cursory glance at the 25 most anticipated records cracked me up.

Saviours is surprisingly good. Production isn't great, but they have a definite High on Fire vibe, with a lot of Iron Maiden influence (the guitar riffs might as well be off some of the early Maiden records, and the bass sounds like Steve Harris's). The first listen was kind of in the background, so no individual songs stood out, but my overall impression was positive.

Echoing. (Am listening to it right now for a Plan B review.) The Maiden thing was exactly what I thought of with the big difference being the vocals.

re: 25 most anticipated records cracked me up.

who are they?

Yeah, the Saviors record has grown on me. They do have some good, memorable bits, but it seems to me like they could have cut the long songs down and distributed the riffs through shorter songs that stood out more. However, it clearly being their intention to do the long songs, they do it well. And the vocals are where I got some of the High On Fire vibe from -- the singer definitely sounds like Matt Pike Lite.

Bit of a lighter Lemmy too, at least on a couple of songs.

Well, you can definitely draw parallels between Lemmy and Matt Pike's vocals, considering that Pike subscribes to the same "I can't actually sing so I'm going to croak in an interesting way" school as Mr. Kilmeister.

Fell to sleep with "Ordo Ad Chao" last night. Like being swallowed whole.

Swallowed whole by METAL!

Meantime I'm pondering this Danava album. Hmm.

Oh, they have a full length? Did Kemado just send you a package of stuff?

Electronically, yes. It's a good album but it's not connecting with me as much as the EP, though I do like how they're turning into an early seventies all-over-the-place band -- clavinet, synths, horns. It works, mostly, but only a couple of songs are truly great on first blush.

i liked the last danava thing a lot. descriptions of the new thing sound strange. or different anyway.

I've had a copy of that Danava on my desk for at least a month, but other things keep getting in the way of me actually listening to it. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing the new Danava. That recent trend of space rock bands (Danava, Titan, Bigelf) has been surprisingly enjoyable, nothing close to the hipster/false tag skeptics seem to call them.

And re: Saviours, that dude changed his vocals a bit compared to the last album. Which I like. Before, there was more of a hardcore feel in the vox, which didn't exactly endear Saviours to the more stodgy folks in the metal crowd.

Some fun stuff on that first Danava thing, but the vocals were kind of obnoxious. Which has been my problem with a lot of the bands that fall under the "hipster tag." Do they think the hobbit vocals actually help the music?

if you played saviours and coliseum for me, i might not be able to say who was who. or are coliseum just more hardcore-sounding? okay, maybe i could tell the difference. i wish Gospel would put out another record. that's all i know.

"Swallowed whole by METAL!"

Yes, and some black hurricane.

Some fun stuff on that first Danava thing, but the vocals were kind of obnoxious.

i think that'd pretty much be in line with what they're trying to accomplish? super-smoove power metal 7-part major key harmonies wouldn't quite work.

totally looking forward to the new danava. anyone else get the 7"?

There are, you know, degrees between "super-smoove power metal 7-part major key harmonies" and "obnoxious."

We are exploring only half of this, here.

There are, you know, degrees between "super-smoove power metal 7-part major key harmonies" and "obnoxious."

i really don't think the guy's voice is that bad, honestly. a little whiny but not dead meadow bad. made me think of various NWOBHM dudes who sounded like blue collar blokes trying to imitate their favorite 70s hard rock singers.

man fuck 2008, I'm listening to old Incantation right now and feeling no pain

I will probably only post here sporadically this year. For instance now, to note that I didn't wind up liking the Virgin Black album much, and I tried again with Saviors and enjoyed track #4 but that one came out as a 12-inch single last year which is plenty enough thank you, but the Ayreon double album is surprisingly growing on me for reasons I may or may wind up explaining someday. Also, there is a new REDS album. Yes, the same Reds who debuted on A&M back in 1979! George, and probably Scott, and maybe even a couple other people who have read Stairway To Hell, will know how much that thrills me. (Otherwise, I was thinking of starting a rolling hard rock thread for such stuff, but then I'd feel a need to keep up with it, so I probably won't. Sorry!)

Anyway. The Reds!:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/redsmusic

http://www.theredsmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theredsmusic

oops, "may or may not" (probably not)

"to note that I didn't wind up liking the Virgin Black album much"

oh why oh why?? it's so good!

I got bored with it! The songs are too long! But I do like the lady Gregorian chant parts, sort of!

Wow, I'm really liking this Isole a ton. We just don't get enough of this kind of classic doom anymore, do we? Exceptionally strong vocal melodies, and if there ever was an album with a snare sound that could be described as "forlorn", it's this one. There's something about that reverb...

the isole AND the new virgin black are great epic doom i tell ya.

i trust you've heard the new warning album 'watching from a distance'? best classic doom i've heard in AGES.

(although admittedly a '07 release.)

the isole AND the new virgin black are great epic doom i tell ya.

I dunno -- They both murked pleasant enough in the background, but hell if I can tell what there is to get excited about on either of them. Maybe I am just not in a depressed enough mood for doom this month or something. They'd be useful if I still had insonmnia, but as is, they just make me impatient for something to actually happen that wakes me up.

"I dunno -- They both murked pleasant enough in the background"

play them louder! they sound so great loud!

I don't think they were intended to be background music.

http://www.celticfrost.com/vcf/news/tn/demonentrailsdetails.jpg

Currently listening to In The Shadow Of The Black Palm Tree, the 5-song, 65-minute debut CD by Chingalera, a super heavy power-sludge trio from L.A. It's pretty goddamn huge. The vocals are the usual post-HC bark, but with a little extra circa-1984 Michael Gira to 'em. These guys could do a very creditable cover of "Raping A Slave" if they wanted to.

i. am. so. looking forward. to. that. HELLHAMMER demo set.

please, god, no vinyl-only bonus track bullshit.

'29 morbid songs in elegant mediabook and o-card packaging'

have no idea what that even means

"Demon Entrails" Details/European Release Date Revealed
Category: Music

With the release of "Demon Entrails" on February 18, 2008 the days of numerous sub-standard bootlegs of the classic Hellhammer demos "Death Fiend", "Triumph of Death" and "Satanic Rites" are finally over! Currently also working on a book dealing with the history of Hellhammer, founder Tom Gabriel Fischer points out the importance of this release:

"The release of these demos is very significant to both Martin Eric Ain and me. No matter how one looks at Hellhammer, this was our first recorded music so many years ago, and it represents the radicalness of our own lives at the time. These demos became the foundation to everything we later created in Celtic Frost. Hell reigned on earth."

"Demon Entrails" has been specially re-mastered from copies of the original master tapes under the supervision of Tom Gabriel Fischer, and the demos now represent Hellhammer exactly as the band sounded when recording these songs in June and December of 1983. Drawing from a wealth of previously unknown historical liner-notes, material and artwork, as well as plenty of unreleased Hellhammer photos from 1982 to 1984, "Demon Entrails" features all lyrics and essays detailing the individual demo recording sessions.

Here is the tracklisting information for the CD format of the release:

Hellhammer – "Demon Entrails" 2-CD Tracklisting:

CD 1: "Satanic Rites" Demo, December 2/3/4/7, 1983 (45:57)

1. Intro (0:58)
2. Messiah (4:18)
3. The Third Of The Storms (Evoked Damnation) (3:02)
4. Buried And Forgotten (6:01)
5. Maniac [re-recorded version] (3:46)
6. Eurynomos (3:10)
7. Triumph Of Death [re-recorded version] (6:58)
8. Revelations Of Doom (3:03)
9. Reaper [re-recorded version] (2:28)
10. Satanic Rites (7:18)
11. Crucifixion [re-recorded version] (2:45)
12. Outro (2:01)

CD 2: "Death Fiend & Triumph Of Death" Demos, June 10/11, 1983 (56:18)

1. Crucifixion (3:04)
2. Maniac (4:01)
3. (Execution) When Hell's Near (2:38)
4. Decapitator (2:07)
5. Blood Insanity (4:22)
6. Power Of Satan (4:11)
7. Reaper (2:06)
8. Death Fiend (2:35)
9. Triumph Of Death (5:15)
10. Metallic Storm (2:19)
11. Ready For Slaughter (3:36)
12. Dark Warriors (3:03)
13. Hammerhead (2:48)
14. Angel Of Destruction (2:58)
15. Bloody Pussies (4:59)
16. Chainsaw (3:58)
17. Sweet Torment (2:09)

"Demon Entrails" will be available as an opulent oversized double CD media-book packaging and as a gatefold triple vinyl album. Click here to view each version. Both versions will feature a lavish booklet and a poster. There will also be a third, bare-bones lower-priced CD version. To check out the artwork and some rare Hellhammer photos as well as discover more info on this release, visit the official Hellhammer website at http://www.Hellhammer.org or go to http://www.myspace.com/Hellhammerband for further details!

New band alert: At the Soundawn

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Italy's AT THE SOUNDAWN Signs With LIFEFORCE RECORDS

Lifeforce Records has announced the signing of Italy's AT THE SOUNDAWN. The group has been working on its new album, "Red Square: We Come In Waves", since 2005 and is planning on releasing the effort late spring/early summer.

According to a press release, "AT THE SOUNDAWN plays "a unique and unfettered style of music that can be described as beautiful, crushing and ethereal. 'Red Square: We Come In Waves' harkens the sounds of jazz-influenced RADIOHEAD and ISIS while combined with the hardcore urgency of SHAI HULUD.

link: MySpace.com - At The Soundawn - Modena, IT - Hardcore / Alternative / Ambient - www.myspace.com/atthesoundawn

Obviously comparisons with Cult Of Luna / Neurosis / Isis / Rosetta

Just downloaded my promo of the new Death Angel (legally!), pretty excited to sit down and spend some time with it outside of the listening party environment.

Holy crap this thing is good.

Yes, it is! Track five, especially. Whatever it's called.

"Buried Alive." And yeah, that's a good one. There's a ferocity to this record that I just love. And the producer actually paid attention to the bottom end, which isn't a common thing in thrash.

Correction: production isn't a common thing in thrash.

I had to do an invisible jukebox thing tonight and failed to ID pig destroyer

my cred is shot

DEATH TO FALSE JOHN

I turned in my denim at the office

My proposal for the 2008 EMP Pop Conference - "Charred Neighborhoods: The Rise Of The Colombian Death Metal Underground" - has been accepted. See some of you in April!

Congratulations! Wow, I guess we should start checking our mailboxes...

it will be interesting to see if Phil is the lone metal warrior this year, as I was last year. a gang of one!

and congrats, phil. you should have a swell time. i had more fun than i deserve and i'm already sad that i won't be attending the next one. maybe next next year!

Congrats, Phil!

My proposal for the 2008 EMP Pop Conference - "Charred Neighborhoods: The Rise Of The Colombian Death Metal Underground" - has been accepted. See some of you in April!

Holy shit, I just ran across my copy of "From Colombia With Hate" the other day - can't wait to read yr paper!

I should get out to EMP one of these years, I keep getting the invites. Cool to see you're participating, Phil!

I don't know what the hell I'd talk about...I'd go there to listen.

i've mentioned it a zillion times, but i had such a blast last year. and i had absolutely NO expectations. got to meet and hang out with tons of ilx pals like ned and the reverend and alfred and mark s. and geeta. had a great time getting to know simon reynolds and cosmo lee and others. and everyone involved with EMP made me feel right at home. cuz, um, i'm kind of a shut-in, so that was nice. they made me feel like a "peer" or something. everyone was talking to everyone. i liked that open exchange. i don't get to talk like that in real life with other people that often.

How come I never get invited to EMP? :-( (Probably because they don't know I exist)

congrats, Phil!

i'm pretty sure they send mass e-mails to anyone who has voted in pazz and jop. and you can request to vote in pazz and jop. i think. um, for future reference.

or even if you haven't voted, i think they had/have access to the pazz & jop list? maybe i'm wrong.

Oh. I did not know that. I thought you can only vote in the poll if you are a real critic. I will look into it. Thanks!

i think if you e-mail harvilla at the voice and say hey i really like ther arcade fire too then he will send you a ballot. too late this year, but for later...

I'm really looking forward to those Hellhammer demos, especially since the bootlegs I have already have better sound than Apocalyptic Raids.

i admit not having paid much attention, but were they always this open to discussing their hellhammer days? i used to have the impression that they had swept that stuff under the rug.

mr. warrior was reticent to talk about them for a long while, IIRC, same as not talking about cold lake (which he now roundly denounces every chance he gets). kraftwerk syndrome.

A solid 1/3 of Marooned contributors were folks I heard speak and/or met at EMP, just for the record.

Congrats, Phil.

Currently listening to In The Shadow Of The Black Palm Tree, the 5-song, 65-minute debut CD by Chingalera, a super heavy power-sludge trio from L.A. It's pretty goddamn huge. The vocals are the usual post-HC bark, but with a little extra circa-1984 Michael Gira to 'em. These guys could do a very creditable cover of "Raping A Slave" if they wanted to.

I'd never heard of these guys until yesterday but I've been asked to review it, pretty siked now I've read that!

Out of curiosity, which Pig D did they play J0hn? If it was Phantom Limb, I don't blame you. When I got the promo I still didn't think it was Pig D.

Screw 2008; it's all about 1998 in my cubicle, as I am presently blasting Incantation's Diabolical Conquest in my headphones. Woke up this morning with an irresistible urge to hear this album, and fuck, does it ever hold up.

man fuck 2008, I'm listening to old Incantation right now and feeling no pain

-- J0hn D., Monday, January 7, 2008

Screw 2008; it's all about 1998 in my cubicle, as I am presently blasting Incantation's Diabolical Conquest in my headphones.

-- unperson, Thursday, January 10, 2008

poor 2008 :(

Ha! I forgot he posted that. I may have to return to the present, though - the new Sword disc just fell out of the mailbag.

To answer Jeff's question above a bit further -- anyone can pitch a paper to EMP, Jeff, just follow the format when the call for papers goes out. There's always at least one dedicated thread on here!

For those like myself who can't wait to get their grimy metal paws on John D.'s forthcoming Sabbath book, Continuum is offering a two-chapter sampler for anyone who sends an email to sabbathsamp✧✧✧@ya✧✧✧.c✧✧.

Looking forward to reading it!

Weird...make that sabbathsampler(at)yahoo(dot)com.

John has lost all cred with me for not identifying Pig Destroyer.

the new Sword disc just fell out of the mailbag.

-- unperson, Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:27 PM

going to see them on sat, am psyched

John has lost all cred with me for not identifying Pig Destroyer.

I know it's awful. I listened to that record (it was Phantom Limb) all spring and had it on my year-end list. If they'd have played the song "Heathen Temple" I woulda got it. Then again I am the worst at invisible jukebox. The first song was Angels of Light, I've been listening to Michael Gira for twenty-four years, and I drew a total blank.

Ha ha, I am the king of "I know I've heard that before, but damned if I know what it is." My friend (who works at a record label) and I spent a good portion of time before the Boris show trying to figure out what stoner band was on the loudspeaker, only to realize like two weeks later that it was, in fact, The Sword.

Not to mention the billion or so times I've been writing a review, and absolutely knew that I recognized where a riff was stolen from or who the band sounded like, and could not for the life of me figure it out.

"The first song was Angels of Light, I've been listening to Michael Gira for twenty-four years, and I drew a total blank."

okay, now i know you are nuts. who else could it have been!

It was like my brain was broken! I was just sitting there with a dumb grin on my face goin' "Jesus, I know this...it's like...who is it, duh" & my wife looked over and was like "you didn't get that one?" and I was like "I hate being stupid"

You can go up on stage in front of people and perform your songs, but being asked to name songs is too much pressure for you?

Hell, I've blacked out on a few obvious things over time. Much to the amusement of those around me.

You can go up on stage in front of people and perform your songs, but being asked to name songs is too much pressure for you?

haha I imagine if I did invisible jukebox every night for an hour and got a paycheck at the end of it I'd get pretty good at it

That would be an awesome job!

got the latest issue of SOD magazine in the mail. i'm cranking the latest album by Sathanas that the band sent me on CDR. drinking lots of coffee. life is good.

So it turns out the latest one by the Destiny Program is actually more listenable than I expected it to be. When they're not doing a respectable imitation of In Flames and Soilwork, they pull out these big spacious melodies and arrangements that sort of remind me of Thrice, of all people. Not as good as, say, the last Soilwork album, but at least they're trying to stand out from the crowd.

Otherwise, as of late (the last month really) I've been completely immersed in the Tank back catalog, and have been thoroughly enjoying it. What a great band...

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree, Adrien. There is definitely some good stuff on this album, especially when they go melodic or try to sound like Fear Factory, but it's still pretty generic.

The harder stuff is pretty plain, but I'm really surprised at how this thing actually held my interest. I'm usually bored stiff 20 minutes into a metalcore album. I must have been in a good mood or something.

Today I listened to grind all day. It was awesome. Amoebic Dystenery & Gruesome Stuff Relish did not disappoint.

grind is the gift that keeps on giving.

After half a listen Khann's Tofutopia sounds like the greatest album ever made. It's hard but then suddenly it's not, and then suddenly it's eating your guts off the floor without even brushing them off or anything.

Well now I'm interested!

Just got the new Dead Child in the mail. I had heard about these guys but hadn't heard them - was sort of assuming there'd be an audible tongue-in-cheek quality to it, but there isn't - it sounds kinda like a sped-up Pentagram only the vocals have an early-eighties metal vibe. Chuck I wonder if you wouldn't dig this record a lot, at least the first two tracks, which is where I'm at.

The one-sheet is lousy and should be ignored but that's par for the course this year, I've read some of the worst shit ever just in the past two days.

actually having listened to the whole thing I'd say "it's real good" and "it sounds kinda like Only Theater of Pain/Deathwish-era Christian Death only more metal"

is dead child more of that horrible dave pajo crap? that last album was the worst thing i've ever heard.

So, Sigh - Gallows Gallery has been remastered 2 years after it came out. Is it any different?

The reissue, remastered by James Murphy (Testament/Death), also features revamped artwork and several bonus
tracks. The band recently released their album 'Hangman's Hymn' in June of this year to rave reviews.

About the reissue, singer/founder/frontman Mirai Kawashima says: "In the beginning, Gallows Gallery was planned to be
pretty much a jazzy album. You'll hear the discarded pieces along with some alternate versions never heard before in the
bonus tracks. Remastered

is dead child more of that horrible dave pajo crap? that last album was the worst thing i've ever heard.

It's Pajo for sure - I didn't hear the last one. My wife sez some song of his she heard on the radio was like the worst thing she'd ever heard. I dunno man! Dead Child new one sounds like Christian Death crossed with QOTSA!

well, the last one was beyond bad. that's all i know. painful. like, dudes, just have fun in the basement, okay, no need to put that shit out in public.

mostly i just hate when indie dudes try and play metal cuz they have to play so slow cuz they can't play.

and i got no problem with jokes! the song i heard from the deathalbum the other day was AWESOME!

I didn't see anything about this on the 2007 thread but these yankee black metal guys Imperial Crystalline Entombment kick ass: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=73387075

i actually bought actual CDs today! at a record store! with money! i know, what year am i living in. but i did. got me some amon amarth (never got a copy of with oden on our side), some beherit, some gorguts (twofer of considered dead/the erosion of sanity), and some bathory! i gotta support my local record store. especially as i'm the one who helped them set up their new metal section. which is looking great by the way!

Just got the new Dead Child in the mail...the vocals have an early-eighties metal vibe. Chuck I wonder if you wouldn't dig this record a lot, at least the first two tracks, which is where I'm at.

Okay, I'll put it back on; I'd already given up on it before I read John's post. I was thinking the singer -- at least in his high register -- sounded too much like Jack White (sort of like the Wolfmother guy), except really thin (even thinner than the Danava guy). Liked some of the riffs, but the overall air wasn't grabbing me; wonder if I'd have thought differently if I didn't suspect they were, as Scott says, "indie dudes try and play metal" stuff. I have no opinion about Dave Pajo himself one way or the other; who is he again? (I'm not kidding -- okay, I just Wiki'd him; skimmed his resume', and I still have no opinion about the guy.) Anyway, I wouldn't say the Dead Child stuff I was listening to was especially slow or inept, but it wasn't really grabbing me, either, mainly because of the weak voice, I think. Track 10 "Wasp Riot" (amusing name) was even reminding me of Killing Joke a little, though not as palatably as when October File and Alchemyst reminded me of Killing Joke a few months ago. I don't think I've ever listened to a Christian Death album, oddly enough. (Used to like 45 Grave, though; does that count? And once in New York Rocker somebody reviewed Chirstian Death alongside the first Bad Religion album, I guess because of their names, so I've always associated them with each other even though they have nothing in common.) Anyway, I'll try Dead Child again, at John's behest, but I'm not expecting anything. If I change my mind I'll say so here; if not, I'll probably just leave it at this.

(Weird how people here think both Danava's and Dead Child's singers sound early '80s metal; I don't hear them that way at all. Maybe my stereo just stinks.)

Christian Death and 45 Grave -- commonality -- none, that I could ever tell. Christian Death was always into art. 45 Grave was into monster movie jokes, which they pulled off pretty successfully for awhile with "Partytime" and its dispensation through that Eighties comedy zombie movie everyone in the US went to see. Dinah Cancer gave them something of an effective frontwoman/singer, too.

Was Christian Death on the Hell Comes to Your House comps on Bemisbrain? I can't remember.

Yep; maybe that's why the two bands are connected in my head:

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,327164,00.html

Wish I still had my copy, though it probably wasn't very good. (Why else would I have gotten rid of it, right?)

has been known to command prices in excess of $100 for a good vinyl copy

Fuck...The story of my life.

Christian Death and 45 Grave were friends and played together a lot but Christian Death was less campy. Or less playin'-it-for-laffs, anyway. Their first album & the Deathwish EP were them as a rock band, then they got arty. Still rock but kinda breezier and keyboardier. So when I say the Dead Child thing is kinda like them I mean the early lineup, not the Valor lineup.

man Scott I been spinnin that Erosion of Sanity reissue like twice a week. What a great fucking band.

45 Grave was into monster movie jokes, which they pulled off pretty successfully for awhile with "Partytime" and its dispensation through that Eighties comedy zombie movie everyone in the US went to see. Dinah Cancer gave them something of an effective frontwoman/singer, too.

Love both versions of that song (one of my all-time faves, really), but the older version, the child abuse one, is creepy as hell.

I got some good dirt on you from Rosa, Phil!

What metal blogs are y'all reading now?

so apparently pestilence (!) are making a comeback:

I have for you the best news you can even imagine... PESTILENCE IS BACK!!! There is new line up: founder Patrick Mameli (vocals, guitar), well known Tony Choy (bass) and drummer Peter Wildoer (Darkane, Non-Human Level and others). Patrick is working on new great songs which style he describes as modern fusion of "Testimony..." and "Spheres", but even more technical (!!!) and more brutal. New album will be recorded by Jacob Hansen and produced by Patrick himself. As you see we all have a reason to live!

did anyone here hear c-187?

Metal blogwise, I still say invisibleoranges.com and The Deciblog are the two most important ones out there right now.

thanks, A!

The Dead Child full-length is a big improvement over the EP, which was mind-roastingly shitty. Right now I'm listening to the Genghis Tron disc, which is also kinda awesome if a little too much for my present, already somewhat frantic 'n' skittish, state of mind. Up next: the Kingdom of Sorrow album, or maybe Grief Of War's A Mounting Crisis...As Their Fury Got Released, or maybe even the Earache nü-thrash compilation Thrashing Like A Maniac (Bonded By Blood, Evile, Municipal Waste, Dekapitator, Fueled By Fire, Decadence, Warbringer, SSS, Gama Bomb, Merciless Death, Deadfall, Lazarus, Toxic Holocaust, Mutant, Violator and Send More Paramedics). Tried the Gathering live album A Noise Severe last week and was bored nearly senseless. I guess I just don't get that band, and don't really care.

In other news, the 2008 Gigantour lineup sounds fucking great (Megadeth obviously, plus In Flames, Children Of Bodom, Job For A Cowboy and High On Fire), and I will definitely be there when the show hits NYC in April. Oh, and my new Iron Maiden Vans (with artwork from "The Trooper") came in today, as did my advance CD-Rs of the Hellhammer stuff. Woo-hoo!

Gigantour's headed my way this year, which I'm really happy about. Any chance to see High on Fire again, and I'm there.

It should be a fun year for metal shows...I plan on flying somewhere to catch Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time tour, which is pretty much the ultimate show for 37 year-old Maiden geeks. Yay nostalgia!

Roxy: http://www.metalsucks.net/ is very entertaining and irreverent.

I heard the Meshuggah album at the listening party on Saturday night. The other people there were going nuts over it, but it isn't really my thing. It didn't seem much of a stretch from their other material, but according to my friend it's way better than the last two albums. And Phil, I had Rosa take a picture of me with her to show you that I, I don't know, exist. Ask her about it.

You exist, Jeff? Impossible, we dreamt you up Saturday as a consensual hallucination.

Man, you guys must have some twisted imaginations to dream me up. I feel sorry for you.

Got the Meshuggah in today's mail - haven't had a chance to listen past track two yet, but so far I like it. Not a major leap forward, backward or in any direction, but at least it's not one long song. Can't wait to see them live again in May.

After hearing Gojira and Hacride do such great stuff with a similar sound, Meshuggah seem to be spinning their wheels. I realize that they were pretty revolutionary in their day, but there just doesn't seem to have been much advancement on their parts. But like I said, a lot of the other people there were loving it, so...

I heard the one song that surfaced over the weekend, and it sounds very promising. I found Catch Thirty Three to be rather dull, but judging by the track, they really seem to have shaken the cobwebs out. Nothing remains one of my favourite metal albums of the decade.

They're being (justifiably) stingy with advance copies...web writers (which is me in this case, having missed out on a print assignment)won't get to hear it for another couple months yet.

Holy crap, did anyone else see the new In Flames cover art? I would post a JPEG here, but it's huge... here's a link: http://a596.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/61/l_dbd387cecdff812a8316bdd11ee5e1e3.jpg

Wow.

wow thats awful.

I think it's kind of cool, actually. Has a very classic metal feel to it, like a Fates Warning cover or something.

looks like 90s goth johan vasquez comic book lameness. but inflames has always been lame.

holy shit, that's even worse than the Meshuggah

YOUR LAME

It's a bit, erm, busy, that's for sure. Idolator's going to be all over this one for their 2008 worst covers tournament if they ever see it.

that would not look good on a backpatch.

I don't think the "www.jesterhead.com" thing is going to be on the cover, obviously. But it definitely stands out. Way better than the Meshuggah cover.

InFlames have always had the WORST covers and shirts and songs.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004TS8G.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

OK, I can't really argue with you about the covers (although I still like the new one), but the Star Wars-style shirt is pretty cool, and they are the band that got me into death-type metal, so I have much love for them for that. They had a really great run of albums between Jester Race and Clay Man.

Yeah, as much as I like In Flames, their album art is not very good. Actually, I found a really cool Come Clarity shirt a couple years ago, it has the artwork used on the promo CD, which was way better than the actual album cover.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a198/djgarion/Bands/in_flames-come_clarity.jpg

Okay, that new cover is so getting referred to Idolator for the Worst Album Cover competition...

Wow, no kidding. I liked the last album, but the sketchy picture of the guy ripping out his own heart is so painfully emo.

I really like that weirdly busy and colorful one. The little sticker thing in the lower righthand corner makes it look worse than it actually is, I think.

if you enjoy that cover, rox, i think i know of a book you would REALLY like:
http://www.psychobabyonline.com/site/pics/533/27796/185559/255372/where_the_wild_things_are.jpg

That's a great book!

Ha, that new Alestorm album is great fun. Shame about the voice-overs, though. I only wish they'd ditch the synth in favour of some real accordion...

After hearing Gojira and Hacride do such great stuff with a similar sound, Meshuggah seem to be spinning their wheels.

in my mind I've always seen them as mad scientist types obsessing over how to finally build the PREFECT MESHUGGAH SONG. yeah, it all sounds the same and yeah they kinda already did it with the 'i' ep but whatevs. still can't wait to hear this.

Yeah, that was a poor zing, Chaki. That book is awesome!

Anyway, as I hoped...

In defense of "Purpose:" Look, a bad album cover's something like Shadows Fall's Threads of Life, or the freaking skeleton nuns playing pool on the last Black Label Society record. The more I think about it, the more I believe that the In Flames cover is one of the best I've seen in a long time. First of all, jester heads sticker aside, the actual artistry involved is quite accomplished. It's a technically well-done drawing. There are a lot of little details, and things that your eyes can pick up as it examines the painting closely. Secondly, it's instantly memorable and stands out, while making you think for a second about its connection to the title of the record. And the connection is quite obvious and subtle at the same time, which is tough to do. Third, the very fact that Idolator and chaki could read so much meaning into the symbols (like the door and Where the Wild Things Are) means that there are layers and things going on below the surface that are open for interpretation. Fourth, the way the new band logo evokes the early Lunar Strain/Jester Race logo while still finding its own identity is pretty cool. Fifth, and most importantly, you will notice it in a record store, which is the biggest purpose of an album cover. I could see people criticizing it as pretentious, but it's no more pretentious than album art that consists of a Xeroxed picture of a forest at night, and it's a whole lot more interesting to look at. It's controversial, sure, but the best art usually is.

And is it really a big deal? Sabotage is a huge ILM favorite and may be the most laughable cover ever. Come on Bill, put on some pants

I mean, I'm not saying that people aren't allowed to dislike it, I've just yet to see a well reasoned argument as to why it isn't a good album cover that doesn't involve the word "gay" or snarkiness.

It's garish to be sure, but I like it when metal albums are hyper-colorful. Cleanses the palate.

(I like the opposite, too.)

I agree Jeff, and I actually kind of like the cover too, even though I try to avoid looking at the vagina dentata.

I've just yet to see a well reasoned argument as to why it isn't a good album cover that doesn't involve the word "gay" or snarkiness.

"looks like 90s goth johan vasquez comic book" - me

come anticipate TEETH with me

Yeah, and that would be a valid criticism if it looked anything like Jhonen Vasquez's work. Totally different style. And what's wrong with a metal cover looking like a comic book?

wow you're really reppin. maybe you'd be interested in the jesterhead.com inflames package http://www.jesterhead.com/images/colonypackage_2.png

And you're really doing the opposite.

Oh man, I really want that glossy band photo to pin up above my bed!

whatev, rox. me and idolator agree. you and jeff treppel can go jack each other off at the JETS game while looking at the new In Flamers cd cover.

OK, I'm confused now.

Look, I don't really have any vested interest in the album cover, but what is ILM for if not thinking way too hard about trivial music matters?

lol @ whatev, rox. me and idolator agree.

But yeah, chaki: maybe getting a little riled up?

I think chaki was touched inappropriately by an In Flames album when he was young.

Oh yeah!? Well why don't you eat shit!!!

Me?!

yah you

This discussion has devolved rather quickly.

says who

Um, me?

this is pretty brutal
http://a120.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/73/l_5b34e35c4af4223794e0bcb1d4db1ad7.jpg

Haw, I was joking Jeff!

I know, I was just... playing along. Yeah! Playing along...

Anyone know much about this Vancouver band Bison? Anyone got the album?

http://www.thrashermagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=41

Friend sent me two tracks and they're really great mid-to-fast tempo grinding thrash.

I didn't know anything about Bison, but I'm intrigued by the MySpace tracks. Half thrash, half early Mastodon...not too shabby at all. "Dark Skies Above" especially.

Spent the day spinnnig Saviours and Warbringer again, two strong albums that just keep getting better the more I play them...it's not quite the blazing start to 2008 like 2007 was, but still a strong first quarter so far.

I'm waiting eagerly to hear that new Sword album...

re bison////
i have their only release so far and play it alot. it is pretty short at about 33 minutes but definitely worth seeking out. a few members from former skatekids the s.t.r.e.e.t.s.

favourite track "stokasaurus"

ok im totally feeling this new Decrepit Birth. recommended!

Anybody heard Pig Iron?

anyone else see this/mention this:

"16.01.2008 12:43:50 Metal Mind Productions signs a deal with Nuclear Blast!!!

Metal Mind Productions is very proud to announce a multi licensing deal signed with Nuclear Blast Records for their interesting, valuable back-catalogue.

In the first half of 2008 Metal Mind Productions will re-issue nearly 70 albums from their deep archives. The selection of bands includes Brutallity, Control Denied, Darkseed, Disharmonic Orchestra, Gardenian, Horde, Hypocrisy, Impulse Manslaughter, Macabre, Mortification, Night In Gales, Slaughter, Warhammer or Winter to name a few. This is a must-have offer for fans of good music - re-issues of classic material in new digipak editions, each title limited to 2000 copies, digitally remastered using 24-Bit process. The albums will include additional features like bonus audio or video material, biography, liner notes from Artists etc.

Tomasz Dziubinski, the President of Metal Mind Productions: “We are very proud to have finalized the deal with Nuclear Blast. It is a huge distinction for Metal Mind Productions that such a fantastic label wanted to start co-operating with us. We expect that we will achieve great sales results as we want to make re-releases of the highest quality: classic albums in new, improved editions. We want to achieve the best results possible. We do hope that our cooperation with Nuclear Blast will develop very well and fans can expect more and more interesting albums to be re-released”

Among first titles to be re-issued as part of this deal are 8 Mortification albums, Control Denied and Macabre!"

http://www.metalmind.com.pl/index.php?dzial=newsy&more=1039

breaking news: BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Reunited CYNIC To Record New Album

In the mail today: The Gathering Live DVD, new (!) Bauhaus, Hermano, and Donita Sparks. Some/all of these might belong on the hard rock thread, though...

I should be listening to the Opeth back catalog, for professional reasons, but instead I'm listening to Fudge Tunnel's Hate Songs In E Minor. Their half-speed demolition run through "Sunshine Of Your Love" is one of the great cover versions of all time.

That Gathering DVD is really, really well done.

I'm currently listening to an incredibly dumb CD by a band called Chingalera. Sounds great, mixed by Albini and all, but damn, if this isn't the stupidest, most pointless Tool imitation I've heard in a long while. Zero depth, all just surface wank. I'm turning this off right away. Ugh.

Today while wandering on campus I saw a fellow in a Rhapsody T-shirt. Haircut wise he was rocking the Jeff Treppel (short hair, short beard) rather than the old school Skot (hair for MILES!).

Jeff just keeps influencing everything he touches

I've got the touch! I've got the power!

The Hermano album is really, really good. Only listened to it once, though, will have specifics later.

I liked it but no-one else seemed to (amongst the slsk stoner crew)

Just wrote a review of Hermano for Alternative Press. As ex-Kyuss member projects go, Hermano is way better than Queens Of The Stone Age (who I fucking hate) but not as good as the Brant Bjork & The Operators album.

Today while wandering on campus I saw a fellow in a Rhapsody T-shirt. Haircut wise he was rocking the Jeff Treppel (short hair, short beard) rather than the old school Skot (hair for MILES!).

omg he's behind the times they're RHAPSODY OF FIRE now!!!!

An update on the upcoming Opeth album - inspired by Scott Walker !

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - OPETH Confirmed For Germany's WACKEN OPEN AIR Festival

OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt recently spoke to Revolver magazine about the group's forthcoming follow-up to 2005's "Ghost Reveries", tentatively due in the spring via Roadrunner Records.

"The music is much more complex," he said. "The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one. It's really hard to play some of this stuff. I mean, I wrote it and even I have trouble playing parts of it. I think it's going to be hard for some people to get into. It's definitely not a commercial-sounding record. The arrangements are exhausting. And it's much darker. Even the major patterns are very dark, while I think 'Ghost Reveries' had some light."

When asked if the songs were influences by anything musical, Mikael replied, I was hugely inspired by Scott Walker, who's an avant-garde artist and crooner. Last year he put out a record called 'The Drift', which is quite extreme and frightening, and it made a huge impact on me. Immediately, I wanted to do something like that. It just felt right. Also, with the situation the band has gone through over the last couple of years with the lineup changes, I just wanted it to be this way. I didn't want it to be a happy-sounding record."

I dont know if it really fits here but im not sure a Rolling Weird Experimental/Avant Garde on Sort of Metal Labels thread 2008 would get many posts, but if people dont think it belongs here maybe we could start one.
Anyway, this could either be great or awful, but hopefully some of you may get promos and can let me know

Paradigms is proud to announce two new special edition releases by Tropes and Somnam. Both are now available via mailorder exclusively from www.paradigms-recordings.com . Audio samples are available on the website. Also, new additions today to the Paradigms webstore from Dead Raven Choir, Aluk Todolo, Jagerblut, Godheadscope and Stroszek.

TROPES "Tropes" CD

A perfect soundtrack for long winter evenings. Tropes is the beautifully haunting work of German ethereal songwriter, Susan Bauszat. Eight celestial works of late night, candlelit songcraft with the shadowy ambience of maybe This Mortal Coil, Anja Garbarek, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra, Dead Can Dance and the output of the Rune Grammofon or 4AD labels. Guitar, flute, and violin shimmer alongside frosted electronica and the angelic tones of chanteuse Bauszat. Magestic. Presented as a limited edition of 750 copies only, in full colour card wallet and hand stamped Paradigms packaging.

SOMNAM "Melancholy's Masquerade" CD

Vast, dark forest ambient electronica filmscapes from Finland's Somnam. Cascading nocturnal melancholy which brings to mind the filmscores of Goblin, David Lynch's Twin Peaks and such, alongside the works of Ulver, Star Of Ash and other sprectral electronic visionaries. Organic, synth driven astral mindfog. Deep, rich, cinematic winter isolationism. Presented as a limited edition of 500 copies with full colour sleeve in white dvd box.

I have quite a few cds on this label and a few things i heard on mp3 and didnt like much so didn't buy. I do find it a good enough label to check out releases tho. Rhem and profoundlore have turned me on to things I may not otherwise have heard.
Hjarnidaudi - Pain-Noise-March and the Titan cds stood out particularly.

The above mentioned Aluk Todolo isn't bad btw. Kinda weird spacey black metal.

Wanted to like Emotional Coma by Lions Share (on Locomotive Records out of Spain, apparently) -- some hot riffs, but the album is dragged down and made unpalatable by, um...the singer? The lack of tunes? Something or other. Anybody think otherwise?

(...actually, probably more the melodic clunkiness than the singer, who did seem to at least have some aptitude for Geoff Tateness, amidst metal much heavier than Queensryche's. Not that I care about Geoff Tate-style singers all that much, I guess.)

I hate geoff tates voice and i've always found Queensryche to be a very boring band.

really digging mike hickey's Goatreign album. total low budget demo-sounding headbanging coolness. dude played guitar in Venom and even played guitar on Carcass's Heartwork tour. And he played bass in Cathedral on some of their tours. But he's a Yank. On the mighty Wabana Records in Brattlefuckingboro Vermont!

http://www.mikehickeyguitar.com/images/Goatreign-cargo1.jpg

the actual album sounds like a demo. and then at the end their are bonus demo tracks! they sound like extra demo-y demos!

oh and dude is a BAD-ASS shredder. know what i mean? not all fancy and frilly, just fuckin' wicked.

and i like it more than, like, black label society stuff. which is a fair comparison at times.

So can I sheepishly admit kinda liking the new Mars Volta in here? Also, the new Earth, even tho at this point it's uber-samey [nice keys/organs, but Hex pretty much sealed the deal.]

I don't love the new Volta, but the song "Goliath" is one of the hardest and straightest rock tunes they've ever done; the main riff sounds like a ripoff of Frank Zappa's "Stevie's Spanking," and the percussion/drum line(s), rather than being all hyper-complex like the rest of the album, are straight Santana circa 1970.

The new Opeth album is fucking amazing. I can't even describe how much of a simultaneous leap forward and left turn it is. One thing it's not is More Ghost Reveries. It opens with an acoustic song featuring a female co-vocalist (the new drummer's girlfriend, Natasha something). There's another song (sorry, I don't know titles on any of 'em - don't even know if titles are final yet) that sounds like the Moody Blues with occasional outbursts of loud guitar. And the second track on the disc (there are seven in all, adding up to a 55-minute running time) has possibly the most aggressive death parts they've ever recorded, plus a piano interlude, insane rhythmic shifts and unbelievable drumming from Axenrot - the whole track is like one big "here I am, fuck you" to anybody who's gonna bitch about Lopez's absence. Plus strings. Lots of strings on the album, and oboes, flutes, church organ and various other keyboard sounds. Seriously, it's such a melange of prog and symphonic rock styles and sonic touchstones, but at the same time it's heavy as fuck when it wants to be. Easily one of the albums of the year, already, I guarantee it. Out in June.

I cannot wait to hear that Opeth album! The way you describe it, Phil, it must be their boldest album in ages.

Does it sound anything like 'The Drift'?

noticed this: INVISIBLE ORANGES - Top 10 Most Anticipated Records 2008

Those most anticipated album guides are always so handy...I can never keep track of what's coming out.

I was on the fence with Broadrick/Jarboe's J2 EP, but over the weekend I was completely won over. A couple of the tracks bear a strange similarity to early Goldfrapp, while one in particular ("Magicgrl") is the best Swans song that Swans never recorded.

That Nasum live record could be a good one. I'm still kicking myself for missing them when they supported the DEP at Eamon Doran's back in 2002. I had an exam the next morning, true, but that didn't stop me from going to see Yo La Tengo two years before...

While I'm at it, I have to thank an former work colleague for getting me into Nasum. He was the drummer in a kick-ass grindcore band whose second album was, incidentally, produced by Mieszko.

I'm really pumped for new Arsis and Neuraxis. I saw them on a bill ages ago and was blown away.

Have you heard the recent Neuraxis live album? It's one of the best live discs to come out in quite some time. The new vocalist does a solid job, too.

I am now home from tour and I am dying to hear that new Opeth.

Oh yeah. New Danava video has just been posted.

http://kemado.com/artists.php?req=show&artist=11

Are you the Nate Carson that was in Witch Mountain?

Still am. 10 years!

Ha ha, awesome. I picked up "... Come the Mountain" in the bargain bin at Amoeba when I was there with Ned on a whim, didn't know that a fellow ILXor played on it.

Founding member. Our new trio format and material is heavier and less polished than that record...

Playing with WM is like going fishing with my buddies.

BTW, did you get the English Rage of Acchilles version or the deluxe US Mountastic edition?

The deluxe one. I'm good at sniffing out awesome stoner-type rock just from looking at the cover/label/names of the band members. And don't feel bad that it was in the bargain bin -- all sorts of great stuff that they don't know what to do with winds up in there. (And I picked up the album on a whim, I wasn't at amoeba with Ned on a whim. Grammar is fun!)

I am whim. By default.

I don't feel at all bad about being in the bargain bin. Our whole goal at this point is to become a future nugget from that whole Man's Ruin era...

"Rock on/420" is a total nugget.

On another note -- holy fuck, the Gathering DVD is amazing. I heart this band.

New Meshuggah album is kicking all kinds of bottom just now. Almost makes up for that cover.

Yeah, I don't quite get the Meshuggah thing.

Well, if you don't get Meshuggah, surely you must dig the new Sword. Pretty big improvement over the good debut, which I though wasn't quite as great as so many other critics claimed.

Lost out on the sword album, unfortunately. Going to have to wait to hear that one, I think.

On further listen, the Hermano album would make a phenomenal EP, but there's too much aimless filler in between the awesome rock songs.

I hope to get that Hermano disc sometime after reading about it so much here.

Also got the mediocre Tarja Turunen disc in the mail. I must have mentioned it in the 07 thread...her cover of Alice Cooper's "Poison" is a fascinating trainwreck.

i've been downloading relapse stuff that i haven't heard via their promo streams. ghengis tron sounded cool. kingdom of sorrow sounded ho-hum. haven't listened to DEP yet. or disfear. see, this is how long it takes me to hear stuff if people don't send me CDs.

oh and the J2 album wasn't doing anything for me. i was kinda hoping it was gonna be more guitar-based and less beatz-based. but maybe i'm just not in the mood. my cough/cold that i've had for a friggin' month is really bad tonight. gorge will have to recommend me some patented cough syrup rock. we've got the good stuff in the house too! (FYI: single malt scotch is NOT an effective substitute for cold medicines. just so you know. it DOES make a Democratic presidential debate a whole lot more entertaining though!)

oh and the J2 album wasn't doing anything for me. i was kinda hoping it was gonna be more guitar-based and less beatz-based.

Yeah, that really came as a surprise, but I really wound up warming up to it. Especially the Goldfrappish "Let Go" and the Swans-ish "Magicgrl".

Man, Akerfeldt looks like a total B.A. in the new(?) promo pics (stolen from Wacken website):

http://www.wacken.com/typo3temp/pics/a3c1feb5bb.jpg

Velveteen jacket confirms them as a prog band, in case anyone was still in doubt.

Bachelor of Arts?

Haha, perhaps. But I meant Bad Ass.

I don't know, he looks more like a BFA to me.

Bachelor of Fine Arts? Tomayto, tomahto!

New Meshuggah album is kicking all kinds of bottom just now.

You're not kidding, this thing sounds terrific. This mops the floor with Catch 33.

The midget second from left is doing nice!

Agreeing with the positive views on the Meshuggah - definitely very good stuff, though it didn't totally grab me at first listen. Probably need to play it a few more times while not half asleep.

Was I the only one to think lebowski when I saw that opeth pic? Maybe it's just because I love the idea of the dude frontmanning them.

I shall listen to the Meshuggah again just now I think.

Akerfeldt was wearing that same Moody Blues shirt when I interviewed him. And that must be a fairly old photo, because Martin Mendez has cut off all his hair.

Our whole goal at this point is to become a future nugget from that whole Man's Ruin era...

In that case I'll probably find your discs soon enough. All sorts of Man's Ruin stuff turns up in the Amoeba bargain bins and I pick up every one as I find it. (That's how I got into Croatan.)

Is that the same Croatan as this Croatan? Jeez, even by Man's Ruin's generous standards, they were barrel-scrapers. A duo that managed to derive no benefit from the duo fad. I got my copy on spec at Tower's going out of biz fire sale.
============
Croatan "Violent Passion Surrogate" -- One of the about two hundred reasons Man's Ruin went out of business, Croatan are one of the true flat-tires of this column, even at a buck and a quarter. A duo, consisting of a drummer and a girl who squawks unintelligibly, sings flat and plays Blue Cheer-esque guitar. However, there's no "Summertime Blues" or anything remotely like what's on "Vincebus Eruptum." Instead, you get loud make-it-up-as-you-go-along art.
==========

hey, is D@rk Sh1ft a band that metal dudes have heard of?

Dork Shaft?

I'm a Drive Shaft fan!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Hathery/ShaftCD0204.jpg

Jeez, even by Man's Ruin's generous standards, they were barrel-scrapers.

You gotta remember that I like goth.

http://www.losthatch.com/images%5Cscreen_captures%5CS1E15_Driveshaft_134.jpg

maria played you all everybody on her radio show last week.

who wants an autographed copy of Rust in Peace?

Only if it's autographed by Mike Clink.

he wasn't at the in-store. Keith Richards was tho.

I want autographed copy of Rust in peace.

Also, Ned, his disc did find its way into the bargain bin at amoeba, because I found it there when I was there with you, which is what initiated this whole conversation in the first place. Pay attention!

Speak up, son.

All those noise albums have scrambled your brains, man.

I know I'm incredibly late on this one, but I finally got around to hearing the new(ish) Primordial album, and it's great. Better than The Gathering Wilderness, I think.

i'm later than you! i still haven't heard it. but i will. and i will love it. this i know.

Some people on the ex sl board have been raving about that album for ages

Will hopefully be seeing Primordial live in just over a week! Wolves in the Throne Room a week later, February is gonna be good.

It's a really beautiful album, in that rugged Gaelic way of theirs. Not nearly as dark as the last one. Lots of heart-swelling epics, jig-style 6/8 time signatures, and those always fabulous vocals by Nemtheanga. It's a shame this came out after the Decibel voting, because this really deserved to be in that list.

xpost Lucky! I'm going to see Rotting Christ, Immolation and Belphegor on Valentine's Day. Romantic!

Is there a good site for getting info about metal bands on tour? I am always missing good stuff close to me.

I just use last.fm, which might not be very practical unless you use it anyway. Though I imagine you can still search for gigs on it without an account, you just won't get the personalised info. There's probably a better option out there. :)

Haha at the Valentine's Day thing!

i definitely would have had the primordial on my list if i had received it in time. new stuff from them is always a treat.

www.Pollstar.com has pretty much everything on it, but it can be a bit overwhelming. In the SoCal area, there's www.moshKing.com, which might be a good way for you to tell which bands are on tour since everything comes through Los Angeles, but not so good for you in terms of finding out when it's coming by your area.

Ha, in my city it's not very hard to keep track of metal shows. Next one is Gigantour in May...the metal scene is as dead as the prairie winter tundra!

There is a nice little DIY metal/crust venue in a house right down the road from me, but of course nothing big ever comes there. It's always nice to walk through the park and end up at a show with hundreds of kids (real kids!!!) going nuts, though. This week: Kakistocracy.

Catch 33 is my favorite Meshuggah record. Will I like this new one?

As far as the overall direction of obZen goes, I think it most resembles what they did on the I EP.

now i am psyched about the new meshuggah. thank you ab.

i definitely would have had the primordial on my list if i had received it in time. new stuff from them is always a treat.

They're not my cup of tea, but it's always nice to see an Irish band get recognition on the international scene after years of hard work. They're on Metal Blade now, aren't they? Fair play to 'em.

to me, one weird thing about meshuggah is that the real drums on obZen and the Nothing re-release sound more like fake drum samples than the actually fake drum samples on Catch 33...guess home studios aren't always the best way to go..

i like obZen, it's pretty filthy...i still like catch 33 the most (it was so epic...) but maybe this one will grow on me.

This is way late because it won't play in my car, but Ocean's Precambrian is really great. There's something different and cool happening every minute, but it doesn't sound spazzy or disjointed or anything. And you can dance to lots of the riffs. And the packaging is excellent, though the first CD minidisc is part of the reason it won't play in my car.

wait, CHUCK, did you see this thread?

I Can't Stop Watching Footage Of Turisas Doing Their Pagan Folk Metal Version Of Boney M's Rasputin!

i meant to call your attention to it but i forgot. just in case you had never heard this version.

Invisible Oranges just blogged about ME! Sort of.

Heard the new Warrell Dane solo album. Pretty darn good, like the more accessible parts of Dead Heart. No real surprises, except for the occasional Soilwork-sounding riff (their former guitarist produced the album and played on it). He even makes the Sisters of Mercy's "Lucretia My Reflection" sound like Nevermore, which has to kind of be heard to be believed. Still not sure what I think of that particular experiment, but the rest sounded good.

Yeah, that Warrel album sounds impressive the deeper you go. I don't have a tracklisting, so I didn't know there was a SoM cover on there.

The new Firewind is really good, too, better than the last one, which grew on me a couple years ago. They cover Micael Sembello's "Maniac", of all things, and do a passable job. What I like most about these guys is how they balance the Arch Enemy style shredding with a cool early-80s Michael Schenker Group/Rainbow/Graham Bonnett aesthetic.

Invisible Oranges just blogged about ME! Sort of.

You can't do that without providing a link!

http://invisibleoranges.com/2008/01/members-of-carcass-in-order-of-beauty.html !

Nice! The guy also quoted something from Adrien in another post. Secret ILXor?

He writes under the name Cosmo Lee.

A whole hell of a lot of stuff for Stylus.

So all you have to do to write for decibel is run a sarcastic blog?

I don't think he's a bad writer!

Me neither. I just wish I'd thought of that first!

I am really enjoying the new Protest the Hero album. They're kind of like a pop version of Between the Buried and Me at this point.

He writes under the name Cosmo Lee

That's because his name is Cosmo Lee. (Met him at EMP last year -- friendly guy!)

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was real or not, that's why I worded it that way. EMP?

Electromagnetic Pulse.

Experience Music Project?!

Emergency Medical Products

Engineered Machined Projects

You might find this enlightening, Roxy: EMP 2008 Pop Conference

Ecole des Mines de Paris?!?!

(Thanks)

Ned sure attends a lot of "things"!

Or should I say Emily, 27, from Knoxville, TN.?

Ned likes things.

Yay things.

Emily you shoulda come last year. Skot Seward AND Maria AND Mark Sinkah and many more in one place!

Now that I'm rich I will start attending some of these "things."

Yay richness! I knew robbing banks would come in handy for you.

STUDENT GRANTZ

http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/f/fat_joe_make_rain_060912/a.jpg

I LIKE MY ANSWER BETTER

(Back on track, sorry)

Has anyone heard Verdunkeln - Einblick in den Qualenfall? Invis. Oranges said: The guitar intro to "In die Irre" recalls the chewy outro to The Cure's "A Forest." Peter Hook also comes to mind.

!

Has anyone heard Verdunkeln - Einblick in den Qualenfall?

Yeah, listened to it the other day. Nice enough!

Think it's anything special? I'm downloading it right now.

Have to give it another listen to be sure. It's sitting around somewhere. Peter Hook didn't leap out at me as a comparison but I admit I wasn't giving it a close listen!

wow, some of my bros came out with a metal album recently and it actually sounds pretty sick: http://www.freighterband.com/music.htm

Cool, you live in Madison? My buddy owns the bar called Brocach.

Nice. I've had drinks there a couple times.

New Protest the Hero is WAY too busy imo.

Still loving Decrepit Birth album. Superawesome.

Shows coming up:
Rotting Christ, Nile.

Nile are super boring live.

Nile are super boring live.

Fixed.

well my friends are opening up so i am excited.

The new Attacker album is so awesome. Im not joking.

Ned OTM. But that's pretty cool that your friends are opening for them.

Walken are a good band, they are. (If it's them who are opening.)

nah its friends from la the faceless. but yes walken are good! zack on drums is a god!

We Canadians can't see Nile, they can't cross the border because of some prior arrest or whatnot, so on Canadian boards you always see people going "OH MAN I'D KILL TO SEE NILE!", which makes all the Nile Are Boring comments on American boards rather funny.

Hey guys get your votes in so Metal is represented *****THEY SEE ME POLLIN, THEY HATIN: 2007 ILX ALBUMS & TRAX POLL VOTING THREAD***** (Ballots due February 1)

My list is
Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today
High On Fire - Death Is This Communion
Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
Ghost - In Stormy Nights
Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand
Baroness - Red Album
Neurosis - Given To The Rising
Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun
OM - Pilgrimage
Nadja - Touched
Grails - Burning Off Impurities
Witchcraft - The Alchemist
Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
Boris w/ Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
Boris with Merzbow - Rock Dream
Caina - Mourner
Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Jesu - Conqueror
Sunn o))) - Oracle
Torche - In Return

Normally it would be more diverse but I wanted this type o get more recognition.

"We Canadians can't see Nile, they can't cross the border because of some prior arrest or whatnot"

NILE SONNED ON BORDER-CROSSING ANTIQUITIES BEEF

I have seen Nile a few times. First was in a small club opening for Morbid Angel on the Formulas Fatal to the Flesh tour. Maybe 150 people crammed in there. Still pretty meh.

I have interviewed Karl Sanders though and he was a gentleman.

http://a93.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/14/l_18d1257468dae171d8fd6efc9b61cdf4.jpg

RECOMMENDED!!!

I like Nile!

maybe you can not like where Nile's ended up but Black Seeds of Vengeance is unfuckwithable

^

Though that guy's signature guitar IS pretty unforgiveable.

ok i don't know if this is like mad old to you metal dudes but i lol'd so hard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7oCDbDebDA

Heh, I hadn't seen that.

The Brain Drill album Apocalyptic Feasting, on Metal Blade, is total tech-death overload. Love it, love it, love it.

But Roadrunner just messengered over my advance of the new Opeth album, so if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna spend the next 55 minutes flipping the fuck out. This record is so fucking great.

^^^ Jealous.

!!! how does it compare to Reveries?

^^^ Jealous.

Seconded.

Adrien, you need to head over to the Best of Canada thread.

>!!! how does it compare to Reveries?

It doesn't. Reveries was Damnation with more keyboard parts, and really felt like they'd pushed that aspect of their sound as far as they could; this one is a mind-blowing work of studio artistry, with sonic tricks and disruptions all over the place and some of their most ambitious songwriting ever. It's a left turn and a natural next step, all at once. I'm telling you, definite Album of the Year contention here.

Nice. Ever since I read the comment about main dude getting on a Scott Walker via The Drift kick I've been wondering what this would be like.

ooooh. I'm extra pumped for this now.

i'm digging the new agalloch EP track on their myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/agalloch

sounds purty.

I'm really enjoying Phil's reactions to the Opeth. Nice little post on his blog today, too. What is it...runningthevoodoodown.blogspot.com

Looking forward to that Agalloch as well. My big arrival is the new one by one-man black metal outfit Wrath of the Weak, the latest bit of avant-metal brilliance from Profound Lore. Very lo-fi and Burzumy, some very nice melodies buried in there. Artwork's by Martin Popoff, interestingly enough.

New Agalloch? Shall listen in!

Popoff is a multi-talented guy!

I need to get on the Profound Lore mailing list. Somebody send me a contact.

That Agollach song, "Sowilo Rune" sounds like a Chicane song without the beats.

I can't help but like it, though.

Todd from God Is Myth Records and Andrew from Caina have a post-rock project called Celestial Sea if anyone is into that kinda thing. They are only gonna put out a super-limited 300 copy CDR of the stuff they have recorded though. So, be on the lookout if that's your bag:

http://www.myspace.com/celestialsea

http://www.god-is-myth.com/images/celestial_sea_Deep_Inside_Cover_BIG.jpg

..sonings.

i mean, that's TWO metally bands now that are easily confused with the name of the same herbal tea company.

There wasn't a single article in the new Decibel that interested me (not professional rivalry, just statin' the facts), but it's worth the purchase price just for Scott's review of the Ayreon CD and John D.'s column on pornogrind on the back page.

It seems to be lavish/grim reissue season. I'm obsessing over Burning Witch's Crippled Lucifer (and download-bonus Demo 1996 & Live) and Xasthur's A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors, and looking forward to Hellhammer's Demon Entrails.

And, for variety, the new Gamma Ray.

I think I am buying the Ayreon tomorrow.

Only 2 US Agalloch shows this year:

Seattle fri 3/21 (w/Grayceon, In Memorium)
Portland sat 3/22 (w/Red Sparowes, Grayceon, Russian Circles).

Primordial put on a great live show, though I think their sound could've maybe been a bit better. They were lacking their normal bassist though.

Couldn't help laughing the first time the front-man (this massive bearded half-naked guy covered in war paint) from the supporting band Mael Mórdha pulled out a tiny flute thing in the middle of a song and started playing it into a mic. Guess that's my Irish metal cred gone!

Will have to give the new Agalloch stuff a listen, and looking forward to the new Opeth now.

So did everyone else already know that OM is looking for a new drummer. I'm auditioning. I am drone king! Who gets to keep the O and who gets the M?

I hear Chevy Chase is still free!

Ha ha, Nate Carson to thread!

I pre-ordered that new Agalloch. Should be here later this month. Really looking forward to it.

Wow I hadn't heard this OM news yet. I guess I should have stayed and watched them the other night...

I wonder who will drum in Shrinebuilder now?

I heard Max Weinberg was taking that gig.

So new 5ive album, 1st in 8 years. Who has heard it? I just got a leak..

Best 5ive Album/EP

Ayreon, guys? I mean, seriously?

Just got a package from Galy containing the Neuraxis live CD and the Infected Malignity EP. The former is exactly as awesome as I expected; Neuraxis blew me away when I saw them on a Necrophagist/Arsis/Alarum bill in '05. The IM disc is equally impressive, but very different; melodic tech-death with almost hardcore-ish vocals. Six songs, 21 minutes and change. Came out early last month in the U.S.

Yeah, the Infected Malignity is surprisingly good, especially when compared to the band's rather plain previous full-length.

The Neuraxis, though, as I've said, is as great a live album as I've heard in recent years.

Hey Jordan don't be snobby about German rock operas, because...um.... Well, okay, you're probably right to be hating on Ayreon. But I've never heard them before, and I like them like I used to like Rush back in the day, and the new one is a lot better than you think. Lots of excellently cheesy power-metal vocalizing from Gotthard's Steve Lee!

If you hit the west side Buy & Sell you can probably get the first Ayreon album, I sold a ton of my high school metal cds there last month. :>

Woo hoo! If you go to Strictly Discs or Re-Play you can find a lot of dodgy world music albums...courtesy of me.

Roxor.

Meantime, in the Metal Shirt Watch for today at UCI -- Nile shirt. Wearer's looks -- Kerry King circa 1991. Not bad.

hey metal dudes,

have a quick question, are either of these albums worth a lot of dough or worth keeping in the collection?

i got two recently for free that are sealed copies and i kinda want to listen to them but not if they are super collectible or something? or...if they are rockin' and awesome i'll keep 'em and listen to them...thx!

http://img.snowrecords.com/lp/14068.jpg

http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/les%20goupes/K/Killer%20Dwarfs/Big%20Deal/Big%20Deal.jpg

That Killer Dwarfs must be out of print. But the album itself was a bit of a dud (they were a really annoying band), so I don't know how valuable it really is.

"Heavy Mental Breakdown" was pretty much their greatest moment.

Don't know how many other Maiden geeks are here, but I was a giddy fanboy this afternoon, picking up the looong-awaited DVD release of Live After Death. Looks and sounds great so far, I'm 15 all over again. I can finally retire the VHS...

Got mine in yesterday's mail, and was just as giddy. Can't wait to check out the bonus footage from Russia and Rio.

om have a new drummer already

Doktor Avalanche?

Metal Shirt Watch @ Borders: A tiny, 13-yr-old-looking girl in a Nightwish shirt.

!

There wasn't a single article in the new Decibel that interested me (not professional rivalry, just statin' the facts), but it's worth the purchase price just for Scott's review of the Ayreon CD...

Brilliant. Oh man, is it ever brilliant. Best record review I've read in ages.

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/reviews/mar2008/ayreon.aspx

:-D

"Metal Shirt Watch @ Borders: A tiny, 13-yr-old-looking girl in a Nightwish shirt."

I was at Powell's looking at metal magazines a few weeks ago and a woman in her late forties asked my advice on which mag to buy her son who "really likes bands like Finntroll, but isn't into Slayer".

I handed her a copy of the new Terrorizer.

gree hee hee hee @ scott's review

non-shocker @ 13 yr old girl in nightwish shirt, this is the prime (or at least secondary) demographic???

So Phil's blog post yesterday about Braindrill compelled me to finally unearth it and give it a spin, and whaddya know, it's quite the nutty little death metal album. Some wicked playing on it, especially one track during the latter half that goes all Atheist on us. Not as great as the Hate Eternal disc, but definitely a bigger surprise.

whahaaaaahhahahaha awesome review, scott

I completely forgot my own Metal Shirt Moment yesterday -- was wearing my Carcass Heartwork shirt and was initially surprised by some guy who came to the library desk and was all "Dude, Carcass! They rule!"

haha "California state colleges: where you get to wear Carcass shirts at the library desk."

re: Nightwish girl, I almost never see girls of this age in my town into metal. 16+, still rare, but happens enough to not be o_O.

Very true, D5ive!

I want to get the Ayreon record just so I have something to remember Scott's review by.

non-shocker @ 13 yr old girl in nightwish shirt, this is the prime (or at least secondary) demographic???

maybe for nu-Nightwish but their main demo has always been Europa-powermetal doodz

I loved the with Tarja, Wishmaster is one of my favorite power metal albums ever, maybe even my favorite. Haven't heard the new stuff because as I've said elsewhere I WILL REP FOR YOU TARJA even if your pop turn smells like butts.

Metal Shirt Moment: rail-thin art student carrying her huge portfolio rocking a Therion tour shirt.

Only ever see girls with nu-metal shirts or, Metallica or marilyn manson. apart from one girl in a Nightwish tee.
usually its grizzly old dudes in maiden or sacred reich shirts or metallica tour tees. And a couple of idiots in cradle of filth shirts. Im sure they wore them 10 years ago or more too.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x1/m138jewski/5-2.jpg

damn son

I saw a girl at USC once wearing a Metal Church shirt. She was on a staircase, though, so I didn't get a chance to talk to her.

metal chicks into brutal underground shit are plentiful in the bay area.

Plenty of hot Latin girls wearing brutal DM tees at BB King's every time I've been there.

You will forgive me but I initially interpreted 'DM' as Depeche Mode. I would, though.

according to the official site, the new Opeth record is called Watershed, and one of the album castoffs is an Alice in Chains cover.

Plus a cover of a song by whatshername from Roxette! Can't wait to see the fanboys' reaction to that one.

Ok, I didn't mean that to turn into "lol, I once saw a girl in a metal shirt, too!" but it did anyway.

LOL, I once saw a girl in a metal shirt, too!

And ever since then you've searched in vain. But don't worry Jeff, it'll happen.

metal chicks into brutal underground shit are plentiful in the bay area.

-- chaki, Wednesday, February 6, 2008 7:57 PM

also down south. most of my female coworkers are into mexican death metal. several of my male coworkers are in mexican death metal bands.

I have not heard any of the non-album tracks, which kinda bugs me - when Mikael comes to NYC to do press, I'm gonna pester him for a CD-R, just so I can hear them do "Bridge Of Sighs."

Yeah, ladies with Sodom and Destruction shirts are a dime a dozen in Portland.

But they all have dreds.

:(

Okay, I got the Hermano album, and it's surprisingly good. Like, really good. Much catchier and groovier than QOTSA over the last few years, that's for sure.

I finally listened to Down III and have changed my mind about them. As much as it pains me to praise anything with Anselmo, I have to say it's great.

Just got the Attacker best-of Standing The Test Of Time in the mail, and taking modern remastering technology into account, it absolutely lives up to its title.

Ok, I didn't mean that to turn into "lol, I once saw a girl in a metal shirt, too!" but it did anyway.

It's the rolling thread that needs to be made

Real quick: I definitely like some stuff on the Warbringer CD and the two-disc Hellhammer reissue, though I really wish they were both EPs instead; as is, I'm not sure I'll ever get through them. Pretty sure I like Atrocity's Napalm album full of goth cheeseball '80s synth-pop covers more than either of those. Favorites are probably the rather lovely versions of Alphaville's "Forever Young" and Bronksi Beat's "Smalltown Boy." Not sure whether I had ever heard any version of A-ha's "The Sun Always Shines On TV," Icehouse's "Hey Little Girl," Talk Talk's "Such a Shame," or Herbert Gronemeyer's (whoever he is) "Keine Heimat" (all of which I just now googled to find out who did them) before, or maybe I did and I just wasn't paying attention. My favorite of those, naturally, is the German one.

Not sure whether I had ever heard any version of A-ha's "The Sun Always Shines On TV,"

! Chuck, man, you missed out.

Some other band did a version of "Smalltown Boy" that was much better, a few years ago. I saw them play it live at Irving Plaza and was bemused; can't remember the band's name now, though.

Paradise Lost?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A2iASJMuUkM

Paradise Lost does an incredible job on "Smalltown Boy". The stuff I've heard from that Atrocity album sounds awful.

Chuck, a good chunk of the Warbringer album was actually on an EP they released in 06 called One By One the Wicked Fall...it's a bit rawer, it's well worth checking out.

On a considerably wussier note, the new Bullet For My Valentine doesn't know what the hell it wants to be, going for Trivium's watered-down thrash and full-on emo/pop metal at the same time, but for all its faults, I kind of like the thing.

used to rep for this album in high school:

http://marknefilim.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/paradise_lost_-_1995_-_draconian_times.jpg

(is that a dave mckean cover?)

Slayer won another Grammy. Take that as you will.

Rawk.

Leave him alone, he's a family man:

http://idolator.com/assets/resources/2008/02/slayerrrrr.jpg

I think the voters are just voting for whoever they've heard of. Next year it will be Metallica, no doubt.

I just love that photo. The girl's (daughter's?) expression is priceless.

She looks like she's about to cry.

I see Araya "outkicked his coverage" with respect to his wife

that photo is A+ all the way.

Apparently the Getty images caption for that picture is: "Heavy Metal nominated artist Slayer and his family."

That's painful to read. Embarrassing. Great pic though.

lol. wife is smokin.

God, the daughter's face! <3

Rarely have I been a parent and a metal fan so simultaneously!

Today's new love for something (slightly) old: Down, by Sentenced. I missed this the first time, as I had written them off pre-Ville and not gotten around to reconsidering (lured back by HIM comparisons) until about when they disbanded. But ahh. Churning and overblown and majestic.

dude Down rule.

He's talking about Down the album not Down the band.

The Sentenced reissues are really good. Down just has one bonus track, and Crimson doesn't really have anything, but those are still pretty killer albums, especially Down. Frozen has the real good stuff, though: four pretty entertaining covers as bonus tracks. I also have the Moonspell and Samael reissues, but I haven't gotten around to listening to them yet. The Moonspell reissues have a second disc that's basically the albums performed live, and the Samael reissues have an EP at the end of Passage, and a bunch of alternative mixes at the end of Paternal. I have the original issues of the Moonspell albums, and they're both great already. Interested to hear the live versions.

In high school I was into Amok (the album).

The new In Flames album: pretty good. Comfortable, which isn't a bad thing.

The new Arsis: astounding. I've been listening to Neuraxis so much lately, that I forgot just how much better at combining tech death with hooky melodies Arsis is. I mean, underneath all the death noodling and drum fills, this is one wickedly catchy album. There are those who are still gonig to cling to A Diamond For Disease (awesome as it is), but I think in embracing melodiy like they have here, Arsis is doing something considerably more interesting.

Down still rule

did anyone else get the nadja reissue from The End? and did you listen to the bonus track? which is, like, 25 minutes of minimal ambience until around the 26th minute when it turns into a blast of friggin' nadja death metal. pretty cool.

love the three proper songs too. pretty massive.

I'm getting the Nadja disc right away. The online stream doesn't have the bonus track, which is annoying because I've heard on a couple of occasions just how incredible it is.

Their upcoming release for Crucial Blast looks really cool, they have a live drummer for the first time and the songs have a bit more groove to them apparently.

I can't wait to see Nadja live.

Which Nadja? One of the old tracks remade again that adn mentioned on dffd?
I cant keep up with him hehe

which Nadja was reissued on The End? I can't seem to find it on their site. Is it not out yet?

also wtf.. they are only coming to Aquarius Records.. my living room is bigger than that place (slight exaggeration)

Skin Turns to Glass is the release on The End.

Got Nadja, In Flames and Arsis all in today's mail, along with the new Sahg and a few other things I can't remember now.

This is kind of awesome, a band called Powerglove that does heavy metal versions of videogame themes: http://www.myspace.com/vgmetal

Ha, I like that Powerglove. They should tour with Graf Orlock.

How's that new Sahg? Are they any good live? I didn't mind their last album, and I'm considering going to see them next week.

The In Flames has grown on me nicely, it's a good, consistent album. "The Chosen Pessimist" has them going all Radiohead, but in a tasteful, effective way.

That Arsis, though, I just love it.

I hd a very metal Valentine's Day. This was my gift: http://fici.bira.gen.tr/06.04.2007DVDVILE7_Misanthrope260.jpg, and we watched this: http://www.merchdirect.net/x/detail_image.php?imageid=16621

(In lieu of actually going to see them, which was my fault.)

You sound like the best girlfriend ever, Roxy.

Haw, no, that was his gift to ME! But yes, you are correct. :D

Oh, I know. I just meant, the fact that you're so psyched over receiving those things is pretty awesome.

<a href="http://www.masterpiecedistribution.com/shop/vedi_articolo.php?id=15259&order_id=";>The Horna/Peste Noire 7'</a> is really really great, esp. the Peste Noire side. Vinyl is heavy as fuck for a 7", too, and the sleeve is great. The whole thing just pleases the hell out of me.

ok damn bbc code when am I gonna remember.

This new Eluveitie album Slania is the best folk-metal thing I've heard since early Skyclad!

See, sentences like that are why I come around here.

I'm loving the new Taint so far.

one of my goals as a human is to get more people to realize how awesome and cool Zatokrev are. This is still my fave song by them:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1vilnNfYnds

maybe my fave Swiss band since Young Gods!

anyway, if you are a doom metal fan and a Godflesh fan, and you have never heard them, then you would probably dig them.

:-D

The new Testament album is great. It's like they picked up right where The Gathering left off. Out April 29 (I think) on Nuclear Blast.

I've heard the Cavalera Conspiracy record, and I have to say, it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for: what Sepultura would sound like in 2008 if Max had never left the group. A lot of catchy tunes, some killer guitar solos, and a song that sounds like Dethklok. Max hasn't matured much in the lyrical department, but the words sound fine when he's shouting them. Very solid release.

Yeah, it's grown on me quite a bit. I didn't like it much on first listen, but that was sitting in the Roadrunner offices. Once I got my own copy and threw it into my iPod and spent a day or two with it, I started hearing lots of interesting little details.

This artwork looks so Roger Dean

http://home.online.no/~hilde-ej/ansur-wf.jpg

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - ANSUR: Warring Factions Artwork, Track Listing Revealed

Norwegian progressive extreme metallers ANSUR have set "Warring Factions" as the title of their follow-up to 2006's "Axiom", due later in the year via Nocturnal Art Productions/Candlelight Records. The CD contains seven songs with a total running time of 62 minutes.

"Warring Factions" (cover artwork by Israeli designer Eliran Kantor) track listing:

01. The Tunguska Incident (8:45)
02. Sierra Day (5:53)
03. Phobos Anomaly (6:20)
04. An Exercise In Depth Of Field (12:16)
05. At His Wit's End (7:59)
06. Cloudscaper (7:42)
07. Prime warring Eschatologist (12:39)

o_O at that cover

Geez is Ayreon shitty.

did anyone else get the nadja reissue from The End? and did you listen to the bonus track? which is, like, 25 minutes of minimal ambience until around the 26th minute when it turns into a blast of friggin' nadja death metal. pretty cool.

Just got it today...that track's one of the coolest things they've ever done. They have to speed up more often!

I haven't actually checked to confirm this, but it must be right: Slania, the title of the new Eluveitie album, is a combination of "Slayer" and "Shania Twain".

new Tiamat album front cover

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s1170636.jpg

Saviours today for free at amoeba sf!

it's nice to know that some people have a sense of humor. got an e-mail from Ayreon today:

Subject: Review Ayreon 010183763362728912899823248959875873258324643598436584358743
Date: Feb 25, 2008 2:32 PM
Hahaha, may you rest in peace, Scott!

Cheers,
Arjen Anthony Lucassen, 160 feet tall at least.

ps. And thanks again for your great vocals. Or weren't you on it?

Oh God, "Ansur"!! This album looks gross! Are they being liked elsewhere?

scott, that is the funniest damn thing i've ever read.

I am so happy. True fan mail, that. :-)

Technically it's late 07, but Evoken's Caress of the Void is really really good.

Scott, that is the best thank you note ever!!

The only metal album I've really liked much in recent weeks is the Helrunar one, on some label out of Ohio called Lupus Lounge. Here's their myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/helrunarhorde

The Farsot one is not nearly as good, I don't think, though I do find the 20-minute long track 7 higly admirable. Haven't decided about the Drauton one yet.

(Actually, it's spelled "Drautran.") (And "highly.")

Have not yet decided what I think of this industrial reptile anime metal band from Bogota, Koyi K Utho, who were written about in Billboard's Latin column last week thanks to their social networking success:

http://www.myspace.com/koyikutho

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Um7Q0mBbJzU

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvSM5vJqPRY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SDcI2_QMbQY

I bought Kiss's Gold anthology yesterday - it's a 2CD best-of covering 1974-82, and is the first Kiss record I have ever purchased (and the second-ever Kiss product, period; I bought one of the comics when I was a kid). I'm pretty sure it will be the last Kiss product I ever purchase.

In the mail: the new Boris (US version; downloaded the Japanese version yesterday - it's unbelievably beautiful, the first Boris album I've ever really loved), the new Lair Of The Minotaur (love those guys), the new Haiyuki Whateverthefuck EP (Jon Chang's new band, kinda punk-meets-power metal and pretty awesome), and a reissue of Testament's First Strike Still Deadly.

Just back from Oslo, where I saw a gazillion bands in three days (plus an extra day to sightsee!). No black metal, which kind of seems just plain wrong, being Norway and all, but I did see a few noteworthy acts. In Vain is a band that does a progressive blackened death sort of thing, which is cool, and Sahg was awesome...I think they've grown to the point now where they top The Sword when it comes to retro-doom.

Best of the lot though, was the Shining. Not Swedish depressive BM band Shining, but the Norwegian jazz metal Shining. Absolutely insane stuff, loads of sax and math metal, with some gool groove pieces too.

Phil, being a jazz guy, have you heard The Thing? Jazz trio who incorporates laptops and effects pedals into their compositions. Really, really aggressive free jazz, and they just lit up the place when I saw them.

Did other fun stuff like see the viking ships, found some mead, and went to Neseblod Records, which is quite the metal treasure trove.

it's unbelievably beautiful, the first Boris album I've ever really loved

I've enjoyed other things by them but I do agree this one's pretty special, and gets better as it goes.

Metal (Sweat)Shirt Watch: dude sitting out in the lobby bent over a book, wearing what looks like a brand spanking new Death Angel hoodie.

You are very near to me, A. Begrand!

Oslo's a hip little city! Loved it. Though the food prices are devastating...at least four times what it is in North America. I don't know how you guys manage to eat.

who were written about in Billboard's Latin column last week thanks to their social networking success

What does this mean?

it's unbelievably beautiful, the first Boris album I've ever really loved

-- unperson

I've enjoyed other things by them but I do agree this one's pretty special

-- Ned

Glad to see that other folks are liking this. Given the fan response in some quarters, you'd think it was the worst album ever recorded.

adrien you got name checked today on Music Information Centre Norway - MIC Norway

MIC Norway ...by:Larm 2008: A look at some afterthoughts
http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2008022612075176024719

adrien you got name checked today on Music Information Centre Norway - MIC Norway

Cool stuff! I still have a gigantic wrap-up to write, too.

Given the fan response in some quarters, you'd think it was the worst album ever recorded.

To heck with them, then!

I don't know how you guys manage to eat.

You become used to it, I am guessing.

Time to bump this sucker. Anyone else hear the new Lair of the Minotaur? Fantastic album!

When's that out? Really looking forward to hearing it.

I have no idea when it's out, actually. April? Being in Canada I'm usually last getting promos, so I figured a bunch of folks here would have gotten it by now. Anyway, it's great fun, lots of the usual battle-themed lyrics and some great Sanford Parker production.

http://foreverdoomed.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2176

Thanks, that Lair of the Minotaur link got me to the new Leviathan, which I'm very eager to hear...

Also: I never heard these Hellhammer demos before. Ahhhhhhhhkkkkgxrk. (Nice.)

Time to bump this sucker. Anyone else hear the new Lair of the Minotaur? Fantastic album!

better than the last one? as good as the first?

A fair bit catchier than the last two. Right now I would say it's indeed better than The Ultimate Destroyer.

their social networking success...What does this mean?

Not many album sales, I bet, but who knows. Their myspace and facebook streams (which don't mean that much anyway) were not precisely quantified in the column, which referred to such networks catching on among certain South American rock bands as a way of maintaining personal contact with fans who want to know about promotional events and particularly about shows--which tend to be the best place to buy albums in Colombia now, apparently, since record stores are increasingly few and far between and digital sales have yet to take off. Anyway, my sarcasm on the phrase "social networking success" (especially the "success" part), didn't come across, apparently. And honestly, their music doesn't sound that great either, judging from those links above. I do think those reptilian outfits are kind of wacky, however.

My immediate thought upon hearing the new Lair album is that if they had GWAR's stage show to go along with the music they're already making, they would be the greatest band in the history of music.

Have any of you heard Coliseum?

That last Coliseum album is pretty great. I never really knew their stuff prior to that one, but I was mightily impressed.

They're on tour right now, and playing a house show right down the street from me. I'm really excited.

In the mail today: Opeth, Birds of Prey, and the surprisingly good Steve Stevens solo album. I also have Hellhammer, but I haven't been in the right mood to listen to it yet.

You got the new Opeth? Argh. Be sure to give us your reaction...Phil's recap alone was tantalizing!

The press release basically boils down to "Opeth are fucking awesome."

is weedeater worth seeing live?

they vomited robitussin on a friend of mine

lol

http://www.weedeatertheband.com/tab/photo1.jpg

Weedeater is especially worth seeing live.

http://www.southernlord.com/press/weedeater/01%20Track%2001.mp3

Are these guys just always puking?!

Hooray!

My sis saw Weedeater live and loved 'em.

kinda psyched on going to live shows again now that there's a citywide smoking ban for bars/clubs :o)

Weedeater rocking the Velvet Lounge. The bassist puked all over himself on stage that night. Quality.

i guess he does!

Maybe he was just sick for a streak!

or its his diet

http://www.weedeatertheband.com/tab/photo3.jpg

Jealous!

Now that's a guaranteed ticket puncher into the Fool's Hall of Fame. Even when they were handing out the insults for the Rolling Stone "red book," the contributors couldn't have imagined a hard rock band whose hook was the upchuck. Vile! Too bad GG Allin had to go and die.

So, having listened to the album now, I can pretty much reconfirm that Opeth are fucking awesome.

:-D Must get.

never mind the vomit, dude's toque is on fire.

I feel like the new Opeth album is the metal nerd version of the girl in high school that everyone wanted to sleep with: "Dude, I so want to hit that!"

Good to see you approve, Jeff! Can't wait to hear it.

Gorge wtf r u talkin about

Dixie has been puking on stage for years. We toured with Weedeater back in 2001 (or was it 2002?). He puked every night except the night when he really needed to puke up all the drugs he had eaten when Bongzilla were getting busted in the parking lot at Emissions II. Instead he ran on stage with Boulder and sang an Iron Maiden cover while shaking and sweating.

Those were the days...

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper324/stills/2w9dhzog.jpg

I posted off the contract yesterday for the Weedeater show I'm doing in a few weeks and they actually ask for a bucket on the rider

xp - 2 of those bands will be playing in april, earthride and unorthodox, along with some old md band called iron man

this looks kinda interesting...drone metal drumming?

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4136

<i>Gorge wtf r u talkin about</i>

The fascination with a stoner band whose featured attaction is an idiot who upchucks onstage for the amusement of photographers and fans.

Upon second listen, the new Opeth seems like their most free jazz type effort. Like Phil said, lots of strings and complex instrumentation, so it's really textured and surprisingly melodic all the way through. Even though there are definitely a lot of proggy parts, it doesn't feel like rock structure. It seems more like them just going at it with their instruments and repeating musical themes and riffs to give the songs structure. And the vocals are either absent or used more as another instrument. Really cool stuff.

I cannot wait to hear that.

So then is it pretty much impossible to compare the new disc to any of Opeth's previous stuff? Any moments on Ghost Reveries that sound like a jumping-off point for the new stuff, or is it simply a radical departure from anything they've done before?

I need to listen to Ghost Reveries again, to be honest. It's been a while. Not that that's any sort of chore. I'll pop it in and get back to you.

The biggest difference between this one and GR for me is that the new one doesn't feel as ponderous, as self-consciously heavy, as the last one. There are parts on Watershed that are as brutal, as death metal, as anything they've ever done, as well as some totally shred-tastic guitar solos, but the cumulative impression is one of complexity and interaction rather than grim-faced roar 'n' pummel.

the cumulative impression is one of complexity and interaction rather than grim-faced roar 'n' pummel.

See, that's particularly encouraging, because so many whiny fans were signaling the death knell after the departure of Lindgren and Lopez.

Completely unrelated, I just got the new set of Today is the Day reissues (Supernova and the s/t), which is pretty darn exciting.

ATTENTION: One of the defining metal albums of 2008: Mar de Grises - Draining the Waterheart

avant-garde progressive doom-death metal from Chile

MAR DE GRISES To Release New Album In April
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=92295

Chilean progressive/doom metallers MAR DE GRISES will release their new album, "Draining the Waterheart", on April 14 via Firebox Records.

"Draining the Waterheart" track listing:

01. Sleep Just One Dawn
02. Kilómetros De Nada
03. Deep-Seeded Hope Avant-Garde
04. Fantasía
05. Wooden Woodpecker Conversion
06. One Possessed
07. Summon Me
08. Liturgia; Convite Y Prefiguración/Purgatorio/Diálogo Infierno

listen to 3 new tracks on myspace

Mar de Grises
http://www.myspace.com/mardegrises2

atmospheric sound with a dynamic production, complex, progressive music - for fans of Novembre, Opeth and Saturnus - some of the music goes into a Neurosis and Cult of Luna direction

listen on myspace ! and provide feedback - what other artists do they remind you of?

The fascination with a stoner band whose featured attaction is an idiot who upchucks onstage for the amusement of photographers and fans.

-- Gorge, Thursday, March 6, 2008 1:57 PM

u mad

That Mar de Grises sounds great. Massive and spacious, but with real texture. My kind of prog, I'd love to hear the rest of the album.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73506398&blogID=362156953

Firebox Recors - Distributor List
Mar de Grises: "Draining the Waterheart"

Austria - Rebeat: www.rebeat.com
Belgium - LSP: www.lsp-company.com
Canada - FAB: www.fab.ca
Denmark - Target: www.targetdistribution.dk
England / Eire - Plastic Head: www.plastichead.com
Estonia - Nailboard: www.nailboard.org
Finland - Firebox/Supersounds: www.firebox.fi - www.supersounds.fi
France - Season of Mist: www.season-of-mist.com
Germany - Twilight: www.twilight-vertrieb.com
Greece - Soundforge: www.soundforgemusicgroup.com
Holland - Displeased/Bertus: www.displeasedrecords.com - www.bertus.com
Hungary - Lethal Conflict: www.lethalconflict.com
Italy - Masterpiece: www.masterpiecedistribution.com
Japan - Disk Union: www.diskunion.net
Latvia - Randoms (music store)
Norway - Aftermath/Tuba: www.aftermath-music.com - www.tuba.musiconline.no
Poland - Foreshadow: www.foreshadow.info
Portugal - Recital: www.recital-records.com
Russia - Solitude Prod: www.solitude-prod.com
Slovakia - Metal Age: www.metalage.sk
Switzerland - NonStop: www.nonstopmusic.ch
Turkey - Hammer Muzic: www.hammermuzik.com
USA - The End Records: www.theendrecords.com

hey dudes my friend andy is in a new band called Empires...they have some stuff out on Saw Her Ghost records which puts out some stuff by the Pig Destroyer guy...anyway they are sorta doomy and really good:

http://www.myspace.com/empiresmusic

In the mail today: KORPIKLAANI!

In the mail today

Ondo "Mahavishnu" CD

The majestic debut full length album from Sweden's Ondo. Intricate, textured doomed drone, blackened ambience and lush nocturnal electronica, delicately crafted into a dark cinematic vision. A shadow dreamscape of overpowering density, akin to an intoxicating fusion of early Earth, Raison D'Etre and a touch of the shimmering haze of Fennesz, perhaps? Presented as a limited edition of 500 copies only, in dvd presentation box with full colour art.

The new Gates of Slumber album is very, very good. Quality old-fashioned, analog-recorded epic doom. Out on Profound Lore in May. Oh, and the cover art is so great:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/DoomedTemplars/message%20board/NoShadow.jpg

And much to my surprise, I'm liking the new Children of Bodom so far. I usually find them incredibly trite, and their last album did absolutely nothing for me, but this one sounds considerably stronger. Though the gang choruses are kind of goofy.

The last one sucked, but I liked Hate Crew Deathroll quite a bit. Reviewed it for the Voice back in 2003.

An improved COB would make for a more fun Gigantour, that's for sure. I was envisioning theirs and Job For a Cowboy's sets as boring filler in between MegaDave, In Flames, and the mighty High on Fire.

The Secret album was all right.

Looking at that ilx albums poll, I'm surprised dj martian didn't run a best metal poll of 2008.
Of course there's still time..

I should have voted in that. Alcest might have cracked the top 20 as a result!

The Secret album was all right.

The Italian band? I liked their last one Luce quite a bit. I'd sort of forgotten about them in the years since.

weedeater were great live. and no one puked

I think Dave has taken to puking into pockets in his cheeks and emptying them into a bucket in the van after the show. He's a real pro these days.

finally the phrase "heavy metal vomit party" has a practical application.

That Gates of Slumber didn't do a lot for me. Maybe I should give it another chance.

But this new Ufomammut is punching my head in.

I'm liking a Dutch band called Gnaw Your Tongues. At their best they sound like early SPK crossed with Leviathan style black metal. At their worst they sound like a bad Wax Trax band. But enough hits that I'm intrigued. Might be good for Throbbing Gristle fans who think that band’s gone soft.

The Ondo sounds like it will great. Lately, Paradigm have been on a roll.

But this new Ufomammut is punching my head in.

Yeah, I like them a lot, haven't heard this new one. The Italians seem to be getting it together like never before. (Which ties into A. Begrand's question -- yeah, that Secret. They went up to Umea, Sweden to record in an act of Refused worship, which turned out all right.)

So on my recent trip to Belize, I came across this interesting little bit of logo reappropriation, and I thought I would share with all of you: