Recent tuneful metal

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Not cookie monster furious stuff, not too mathematical, but not at all old-fashioned. Good tunes, good vocals. Recommendations?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

N.E.R.D! Seriously - it's like Faith No More meets Burt Bacharach.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Ew.

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Which part are you ew-ing at? FNM or Burt?

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Golly, N.E.R.D. - that's not what I expected. But thank you.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post)Or is the thought of them meeting the horrifying part?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ospeth?

― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Plenty of muppets on Opeth.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Some singing too though.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

How about Rhapsody, the Italian group?

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Mastodon! Remission is a big winner, and I've heard something about their newer, as-yet-unreleased material having a distinctly southern twang feel happening. Check out "March of the Fire Ants" or "Ol'e Nessie."

― Famous Athlete, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 02:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Mid-tempo, majestic, and totally rad is Ajattara - Kuolema. Big strong synths and catchy Finnish choruses. I totally recommend tracking down a copy through TheEndRecords.com or somwhere -- it'll be your ace in the hole.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks everyone, you're very helpful as always.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

More on that N.E.R.D. album from yours truly.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Rhapsody seconded! They seem to be popular among J-Pop fans too (I mean, 99% of them probably heard "Emerald Sword" and thought it was a Japanese band)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Mole, yer in Australia, no? then why don't you own the last Virgin Black album? Or Alchemist's Austral Alien? Talk about tuneful! Talk about recent!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

well, it's all new to me you see. I have heard of Alchemist though. So will check 'em both out.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Alchemist make pretty good Eco-Astral-Techno Metal and the digereedoos(sp?) are a nice touch. If you enjoy over-the-top stuff you might enjoy Aina's Days Of Rising Doom - The Metal Opera. There is a chance that it might make you run screaming from thr room though. You can get that from theendrecords too. virgin black made my top ten last year. here is my review:

The year isn’t over yet, so I suppose its a tad premature to call Virgin Black’s newest album, Elegant...and dying, the fabbest, most metallurgically shiny and liturgically doom-encrusted goth opera to come from Australia in 2003. But I’m throwing caution to the wind. Especially when the first lyrics on their album - which deftly mixes the faux-Roman hymnal book vocals and church lady bombast of countrymen Dead Can Dance with the sleek Bavarian musikal werkings and uber-riffs of German epic and/or power metal - is this whopper: “A thousand tears, a thousand eyes/ My friends and I we cry/ Religion has raped us”. And then, like the man says, they really go down and under.
75 minutes of wavering shadows, muted children, savage priests, choirs, flutes, guitars, and enough eternal sorrow to fill the river Styx. No lugger shepherd boozer singalongs for these Aussies. Just endless grandiose dirges that stop, start, lurch, and flail gloriously and which would give the jammiest jam band fits with their Byzantine construction and undead marching band tempo. If prog is the love that dare not speak its name when it comes to some of the most interesting metal bands these days then count Virgin Black in with that lot whether they like it or not. By substituting sacrilege and stigmata wounds for dragons and Roger Dean dreamscapes, they end up creating dark spacey suites where every day is like Sunday and the kangas weep in pain.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

If you are into Israeli folk-metal you might want to try Orphaned Land's Mabool:The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven (The 3 sons being the snake, the lion, and the eagle and which represent Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, duh.) Very tuneful if you enjoy Ofra Haza, Fiddler On The Roof and death metal.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Skip Orphaned Land and check out Melechesh instead. Much more melodic and fist-pumpin'.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Cales

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 9 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd suggest Muse. N.E.R.D wouldn't know a tune if their life depended on it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 9 April 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I like both Orphaned Land and Melechesh, but Orphaned Land are definitely the more tuneful and less merely noisy and more consistently middle-eastern sounding and less generic of the two. Other fairly melodic new metal albums I've enjoyed so far in 2004: Wolverine, Gaia, Amaran, Anathema, Winds, Leatherface, Wildhearts, Halfway to Gone, V.A.S.T. if they count, Red Swan (best album on this list) if they count, Local H if they count, Last Days of May if they count and if one 46 minute instrumental counts as an album and not a single. Or you could just go buy the recent double-CD best of albums by Girl and Marseille instead and they'll make you EXTREMELY happy....

― chuck, Friday, 9 April 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, I agree with those people who say NERD are neither tuneful nor metal. (They ARE recent, however. And I suppose they have their metal moments here and there. Just not any good ones that I know of.)

― chuck, Friday, 9 April 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh well, I was hoping maybe Chuck liked the new N.E.R.D., since the Voice was one of the few publications that I've seen so far that's given Fly or Die a fair shake (see Christian Hoard's hesitantly positive review).

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 9 April 2004 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't really call the Wildhearts recent, though.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 9 April 2004 03:19 (twenty-one years ago)

In Flames' new single "The Quiet Place" is excellent. The new Iced Earth cd is good as well.

― abegrand, Friday, 9 April 2004 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Thank you folks. Scott, your review of Virgin Black's record really piques my curiousity I must say.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Friday, 9 April 2004 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

HIM!

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 9 April 2004 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the new In Flames album. I liked their last one, too.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Friday, 9 April 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Nightwish!!!

― adam (adam), Friday, 9 April 2004 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

HIM is a fine choice as well! Nice one, Jel.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 9 April 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I made a mistake on the band whose name I thought was Gaia; actually, *Gaia* is their album, and the band is called Magode Oz -- from Spain, I think. And the "new" Wildhearts is apparently a best-of of sorts, turns out. Also, I forgot to mention the new Tiamat and Hanoi Rocks albums and (especailly) the new Couch Flambeu compilation, all of which are very nice. As is H.I.M.'s album. And I'll second Nightwish, and throw in Nightfist and Nightrage, too! That new In Flames, though, did nothing for me; odd, since I've liked them in the past. This one just seemed a lot dime-a-dozen noisy or something...

― chuck, Friday, 9 April 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't know why I just said "a lot," oh well.

I'm pretty sure NERD's most metal song is still "Rock Star" or whatever it's called from their debut. Which reminds me of Limp Bizkit.

― chuck, Friday, 9 April 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd say the most metal track on Fly or Die is the hidden track after "Drill Sargeant".

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 9 April 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

\m/ Eagles of Death Metal \m/

― scottontharox (scottkundla), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I got a free sampler at a record store with two In Flames tunes and some other bands I never heard of. I was cracking up at the first song, which is pure American nu-metal. The second IF track was more old-school, although without the yummy Maiden harmony riffs I remember (ridiculous drumming though, I wonder if it's the same guy).

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Do The Rasmus count here? "In The Shadows" is this year's "Bring Me To Life" only waaaaay better.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Eagles of Death Metal is okay, as is about half of Probot (you know, the obvious songs, with guys from Voivod and Celtic Frost and Saint Vitus and Motorhead singing). The Billy Butcher album is VERY good. And I'm pretty amused by Finntroll ("the truest form of pagan folk metal today--sinsiter guitar riffs combined with devil-driven drums wrap themselves in folkish melodies and traditional Finnish 'humpa' [ppolka] style," honest, that's from the liner notes!!), but so far I like its polka parts a lot more than its death-metal parts...On the other hand, the new Montgomery Gentry album (which definitely has its metal moments) probably rocks as hard or harder than anything else mentioned so far on this thread (give or take MAYBE Billy Butcher).

― chuck, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

And oh yeah (keep remembering more of these - and people say I don't like modern metal, ha!!), the new Satyricon album, *Volcano,* is surprisingly listenable, especially the 14 minute final track (which very much reminds me what I used to like so much about Celtic Frost.)

― chuck, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm intrigued by Finntroll! Thanks, Chuck.

Best track on the Probot disc, for my money, is "Centuries of Sin" featuring Cronos of Venom.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Fintroll is hilarious, I remember having that record on a tape someone sent to me years ago.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

When Finntroll go on tour in the US I will follow them like a hippie. The same goes for Nightwish.

― adam (adam), Thursday, 22 April 2004 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The Darkness, obviously.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 22 April 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

remember when celtic frost actually hired classical musicians and opera singers and whatnot? if finntroll would just drop the synths and get some folk and classical musicians on their albums, i'd like them 10 times as much.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 23 April 2004 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

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