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.

Yeah, just got hired on.

Good stuff!

Awesome.

Happy Birthday Phil!

Nothing here about Ayat's Six Years of Dormant Hatred? You guys -- Lebanese death metal that takes its first track to call down a fatwa on themselves! Songs like "Mass Suicide in the Boudoir (Feeling Wonderful Tonight)"!

Worst Album On Kerrang Albums Of The Year List 2008

This is probably more appropriate for a 2009 metal thread, but the new Buried Inside is very strong. A little more simplified approach than Chronoclast, unapologetically indebted to Neurosis, but the melodies are exceptional and the Ballou production sounds massive. Plus the usual lyrics that read like a dissertation in rhetoric and postmodernism...in other words, really lofty stuff.

Happy Birthday Phil!

Really? Well, seconded then!

Thirded!

fourthed! great new jazziz piece btw

Is there a list for the best in doom?

This year or all time?

Did I miss Phil's birthday? Happy belated, then!

Metallica had a much better laser show than Bigelf.

Doom metal this year, please.

Hope you had a happy one Phil!

HEY ROLLING METAL

HEY GUYS

THE HAND OF DOOM ALBUM "POISONOISE" IS BEING REISSUED BY SHADOW KINGDOM. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! GERMAN HEAVY METAL AWESOMENESS.

Has Rolling Metal ever discussed Averse Sefira? Picked up "Advent Parallax" the other day and am finding it to be an enjoyable and well-recorded set of relatively straight-up black metal. Their bassist also writes tour diaries that are endearingly normal.

Check out the Paganfest 2 lineup, touring the US & Canada next year:

Korpiklaani, Eluveite, Primordial, Moonsorrow, Blackguard (formerly known as Profugus Mortis) and Swashbuckle.

I am so there.

I read that Averse Sefira guy's blog avidly, but their music bores me.

For a counterbalancing positive, I'm really enjoying this new album by the unsearchable The Black. At least the title, Alongside Death, is findable.

And to foreshadow Rolling Metal Thread 2009, all three of the 2009 releases (going by US dates, anyway) I've heard so far, I really like: Kreator is still churningly great, Sirenia is still gothextravagant, and the new Satyricon converted me to them completely.

Also, I finally capitulated to Wetnurse, so thanks to everybody here who plugged them so enthusiastically that I gave Invisible City more than once chance!

Nominate Albums For ILM's Metal Albums Of The Year 2008 (closes Jan 1st )

i didn't do a decibel list this year, but i've decided i'm gonna do a pazz & jop ballot this year for the hell of it. soooo, i gotta come up with ten records. here's my list so far of 2008 stuff i liked the most:

my big problem is my favorite album of the year came out in october of 2007. but i only got it/heard it in 2008. but since i got it too late to vote for it in the 2007 decibel poll, i'm just gonna say fuck it and vote for it now. it was new to me in 2008!

anyhoo, my fave metal album of the year was *Drautran - Throne of the Depths*. i listened to it more than any other album and i just fuckin' love it. if parts of it remind me of Immortal and a bunch of other stuff, i don't care, i didn't hear anything as cool in 2008. (way better than that amon amarth album everyone loved, that's for sure.) it's my number one. i have to pick nine more out of this list:

Otesanek/Loss/Orthodox/Mournful Congregation - Four Burials

Execration - Syndicate of Lethargy

Septic Flesh - Communion (pretty definite)

Brown Jenkins - Angel Eyes

Dornenreich - In Luft Geritzt

Blood of the Black Owl - A Feral Spirit (definite. maybe my 2nd fave of 2008)

Cold Northern Vengeance - Domination and Servitude

Caina - Temporary Antennae (definite)

Impiety - Dominator

Mourning Beloveth - A Disease For The Ages

Velnias - Sovereign Nocturnal (definite)

Animus Mortis - Atrabilis (Residues From Verb & Flesh)

Ars Diavoli - Nihilo Esse

Winterfylleth - The Ghost of Heritage (also definite. love this album to death.)

Remember to nominate on Nominate Albums For ILM's Metal Albums Of The Year 2008 (closes Jan 1st ) Scott

Mourning Beloveth, Dornenreich, and Cold Northern Vengeance are the best three of those that I've heard...and they are awesome! (I didn't like the Animus Mortis much.)

i like that the dudes in cold northern vengeance are writing songs about being frosty in new hampshire. i guess it would have been too obvious for them to name their album LIVE FREE OR DIE!

Septicflesh will be on my list, too. I'm still trying to make sense of the Blood of a Black Owl record. I'm sure I appreciate it, but haven't figured out whether I also like it or not. I've only heard half of those others, though! Off to MySpace...

I'm just glad CNV have renounced their kinda-Nazi-ish imagery. At least that's what they say, I can't understand a damn thing they're saying.

that's what they say in interviews I mean

I finally got to hear the ASG album on Sunday night, when my partner-in-crime and I did our yearly Best Of 2008 program on our radio show. Both that and the Wetnurse, which I had heard but didn't realize who it was, are really decent. I need to track those suckas down.

In a completely unrelated event, I also quite surprisingly picked up a number of deleted titles on Escapi Music from a bargain bin at a Zellers store in (tourist town) Collingwood, Ontario last week while away on a mini-skiing holiday. Eidolon CDs, Candlemass and Dissection DVDs for $1.96 each? Why, thank you, don't mind if I do.

A reminder
Nominate Albums For ILM's Metal Albums Of The Year 2008 (closes Jan 1st )

Yeah I picked up the ASG album because of some of the commentary I've seen here and elsewhere and it's pretty entertaining. Have a bitch of a time finding the Wetnurse in my local stores. Also finally got the Krallice record and it's surprisingly good.

Why is it that the Wetnurse sounds good when I'm alone and really awkward when I try to play it for other people?

I can't seem to find that Wetnurse anywhere either, that's why I've yet to hear it. Saving it for my next big online order.

the wetnurse is only 5 bux on cd from the label right now:
http://www.seventhrule.com/store/

tempted to grab something myself but I'm not really familiar with the label.

finally listening to the earthless double live thing. its killer.

the fadeout at the end of the first disc really bummed me out, tho. so unsatisfying. man, I hate fadeouts.

Found the Wetnurse. The "holy fucks" way up in this thread were OTM. What a great album. I was air drumming furiously in the car at 8:00 a.m. this morning.

lol 95% of the recs i really love sound awkward when i play them for people. this is why i post to ilx.

Back in the office after a week and a half "vacation" (got a horrible chest cold on Day 2, spent the rest of my time off lying on my back on the couch, spitting out handfuls of neon green phlegm). There was a copy of the new Lamb of God album Wrath waiting on my desk.

Holy fuck, it's good. I was really disappointed by Sacrament (and, to be honest, Ashes of the Wake was something of a step down from As the Palaces Burn). This one is amazing, though. It totally lives up to its title - the riffs will peel your skin off, and Chris Adler remains one of the best and most identifiable drummers in metal.

So it doesn't sound like Pantera this time? (fuck, I really hate Pantera, so I was REALLY DISAPPOINTED, by the last album)

Lamb of God played a couple new tracks when they were here a few weeks ago, and they both killed. Plus the new single is nice and thrashy. Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one, big time. They might not be cool, but I can't help but like them.

Back in the office after a week and a half "vacation" (got a horrible chest cold on Day 2, spent the rest of my time off lying on my back on the couch, spitting out handfuls of neon green phlegm)

This almost sounds like my vacation (not as racked out as you but substitute 'sneezing out gobs of snot' at the end there and it's pretty much the same).

The Winterfylleth is so epic. I can't think of a better black metal album to ever come out of the UK. Between Winterfylleth and Caina, it appears something truly rotten is lurking in the bangers and mash.

Oh, add Fen to the list of awesome British BM. Really looking forward to their full length next year.

Has everyone posted their nominations on Nominate Albums For ILM's Metal Albums Of The Year 2008 (closes Jan 1st )

Oh, and the new Edguy album suck-diddly-ucks. Wow.

I wrote a Metal Top Ten for the New Times/Village Voice Media chain which was syndicated to a bunch of local markets; you can read it here, with links to all the reprints I could find after a cursory Googling. Enjoy a coast-to-coast roundup of "hey, you forgot Torche!" and "Guns N' Roses sucks!"

Yeah, I really liked Rocket Ride, but what I've listened to of the new Edguy sounds incredibly boring. Too bad, I really thought they were on to something.

Somebody here have an email contact for Decibel writer Scott Koerber? Thanks!

The thing I liked so much about Rocket Ride and the previous record was that for all the cheesiness, it was so much fun. The new CD sounds so forced, hammy, and joyless. The odd decent hook here and there, but that's it.

invisible oranges Year-End Thoughts - 2008
http://invisibleoranges.com/2008/12/year-end-thoughts-2008.html

Rolling Metal Thread 2009

The Metal Threads were one of my most favorite things this year - thanks a lot guys for all the good recommendations, discussion, etc. I just threw down Bison B.C. Quiet Earth rekkid at a party of mixed nuts guests and got some great flying horns and bodies reaction and I thought of all the fun on the thread this year and Decibel articles (the Chicago feature was awesome - thanks - I think the metal haven guys are nicer now), etc. ! - Thanks bunches

Yeah, a lot of people I've mentioned ILX to have been quick to talk shit. But I always defend the metal crew here. Cheers everyone.