Rolling Metal Thread 2015

New year, new metal (not nu-metal, please).

hey

So is this the place for black metal also? Missed out on most of that in '14, but am on board again!

All colors of metal are welcome here!

I'm currently listening to iDentity, the second album by German power metal band Alpha Tiger—comes out later this month on SPV. It reminds me a lot of Somewhere in Time/Seventh Son era Iron Maiden. I'm into it.

I liked their first one, but I think the guy's voice was a turnoff for a lot of people.

Maybe because I've been on a Melechesh kick lately, I'm very much looking forward to Enki in March. I'd post the fabulously garish album art but I don't want to start image dumping so early in the year. (And everyone's likely to have seen it anyway.) One of those bands in the "hey, we give a shit" songwriting category -- maybe to a fault; their albums are ... sometimes a little on the long side. In true overzealous Babylonian necromancer fashion, however, getting lost in those never-ending labyrinths is part of the deal. And the charm.

I'm sure I'll find stuff to anticipate that's much more obscure once I start dragging the nets.

The other big names of the coming year, btw, are Napalm Death, Blind Guardian, Immolation, Enslaved, Marduk, Nokturnal Mortum, and Lost Soul. Bring!

I think I heard Nile might have something and boy do I hope they've reconfigured, like, everything after whatever Gate of Sethu was supposed to be. It hurt my ears and my soul. At this point I wish they'd either go their separate ways and/or lose the conceptual thing. Or maybe they'll be like Marduk and put out a Romans 5:12 type rejuvenation album. Or maybe I'm just gonna have to keep listening to Nephren-Ka.

Not that their other stuff was bad. Ithyphallic and At the Gate of Sethu were just awful for polar opposite reasons: Ithy because it was going through the motions, Sethu because they tried to be weirdly different in their sound and vocal approach and it was bad weird not good weird.

I have used up my word allotment for the month, I think.

Enki is fantastic. The drumming is so unbelievably satisfying.

Didn't know there was a new Lost Soul coming. Very excited about that. The Napalm album will be a Napalm album, but I'm fine with that; they haven't made a bad record since Harmony Corruption, and their recent streak—Smear Campaign/Time Waits for No Slave/Utilitarian—has been great. Definitely looking forward to hearing the new Enslaved, but they kinda bored the socks off me when I saw them last year with Amon Amarth and Skeletonwitch, so I'll be skipping the tour. I'll check out the Marduk album for sure—their last three albums have been pretty amazing.

The Lost Soul album is finished, actually, and has been since late August, per their FB; hence my broken record incantation of their name throughout the 2014 thread, only to be disappointed with every Lost Soulless month. Seems they're having label issues. To say I've been anticipating this thing is an understatement.

Now if they do what Mayhem did, which is to put out crap after reaching a creative pinnacle, I'll have to take up drinking again.

ps: there's an image of the Lost Album back cover at that FB link.

*Lost Soul album back cover, were I able to type

Rang in the New Year (and the night before) being band bitch for Kowloon Walled City as they opened for Neurosis in SF, with Tragedy and Arthur & Punisher... holy shit.. Such a good show all the way around.

Also saw Death Angel a couple nights before that with Orchid.. I didn't know anyone could be that much of an Ozzy era Black Sabbath cover band with out actually being Black Sabbath or playing any Black Sabbath songs. Dude even hold the mic on the stand and head bangs like Ozzy did in 1970... A dude behind me yelled, "you guys are fucking ridiculous!" I'd have to say I agreed.. DA was stellar.. they played way too long though, like 2 hrs. But original rhythm guitarist Gus Peppa got up and jammed a tune which was nice...

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Looking forward to new Desolate Shrine, Ufomammut and Bosse-de-Nage.

Supposed to get new Vektor this year, psyched for that. And Torche has one imminent on Relapse, right? First single is dull, but I'm still hoping. Also Melechesh, Nokturnal Mortum (w due reservations), King Diamond, debut Aktor LP, Black Breath. Curiously optimistic about a Bolzer full-length, curious but not optimistic about new Nile.

\m/

This is going to be a good year. Blind Giardian, Enslaved, Nightwish, Royal Thunder, Napalm Death, maybe even Maiden.

The Visigoth album The Revenant King, which comes out 1/27 on Metal Blade, is a lot of fun. RIYL Grand Magus. Fair warning: There's a song called "Dungeon Master" and it's about exactly what you think it's about. On the other hand, "Creature of Desire" is maybe the most egalitarian song about a metal woman I've ever heard—despite its title, she's portrayed as the narrator's equal in every way.

Haha, Brujeria has a new one coming out. I'm basing this, along with a few of the others I listed, on this Nuclear Blast promo image: http://imgur.com/c1DA5VP

And the Napalm Death artwork is somewhere between amazing and horrifying, while the sample track is nothing but the former: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/napalm-death-apex-predator-easy-meat-artwork-track-listing-revealed/

I'm not even that big of a fan but after that song ... yeah I'll be grabbing this one. And probably going back through their discography in order to become that big of a fan.

new xibalba in a few weeks https://soundcloud.com/noisey/xibalba-invierno

who recommended this Devil Ancestry record - it's really great

That was me! Glad someone else digs druggy satanic bass metal!

It's not MDF but the A389 11th Anniversary Bash seems like fun...

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/58545da97c32fd0a047659782/images/32cfdd14-7e9a-44bb-93c9-ad015851790e.jpg

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/58545da97c32fd0a047659782/images/32cfdd14-7e9a-44bb-93c9-ad015851790e.jpg

Heidens Hart records has a dodgy-lookin runic sigil kinda logo and a lot of bands that ID as "pagan," so, y'know, possible nazi alert, but the two bands I've been listening to on their bandcamp page - Murwe and Mondovolland - 1) do not seem to be nsbm types and 2) are fuckin' really good

Murw's stuff is pretty cool! Thanks for that. The demo reminds me a bit of Ophthalamia, full length takes the oddly elaborate riffing style and commits more to a doom style.

catching the Decibel tour here in Ottawa in a few weeks - Voivod/Napalm Death/Exhumed/Iron Reagan/Black Crown Initiate. First proper metal show in a long long time.

Having a very power metal day today; started with the new Alpha Tiger (again), and am now checking out the new Battle Beast, with the new Blind Guardian on deck.

xpost that tour is awesome, but the Decibel tour is At The Gates + Converge + Vallenfyre, and they just added Pallbearer.

they're both Decibel tours, though sadly that one is not oming to Ottawa.

oh. ok.

hi

Hey back in September there was a bit of chatter about a Slagmaur release in the works ... thought it was supposed to be in '14, but that didn't happen AFAICT. Anyone know more?

i feel like they've been "finishing up" that album since 2013

According to their FB they're doing shows, with the last message about a new album from like October saying "it'll be out in the near future."

I want.

Of course the Brave Words article about it from January of 2013 says it'll be completed by Spring (of, I presume, 2013).

Just got the new Psycroptic. They're still tech-death, but they've added some melodic prog-core chugga-chugga that I'd describe as almost...Trivium-esque. I like it.

I liked them already, will check that out

this Stargazer album that came out in December is fucking great imo

yeah, that stargazer album's awesome. would have included it among my 2014 favorites if i'd heard it in time.

I still can't stop listening to spectral lore III

infinite dreamscape, no kidding

This could be fun.

http://www.relapse.com/bedemon
http://www.relapse.com/myspace/bed/bed_landingpage.jpg

The name was chosen as a portmanteau of two earlier suggested names, Demon and Behemoth.[11]

I was gonna guess it was either a contraction of "bed demon" or a verb similar to "bedevil".

I was thinking it was a Pokemon character that looked like a mattress

That's actually a reissue of the Black Widow release, I guess? Good to see anyway, it's good stuff if you like 70s Pentagram and don't mind raw recording.

i like the phrase "provocation to doom"

http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/amazon-has-over-3000-metal-hard-rock-albums-on-sale-for-only-5

love how sly & the family stone are in the metal section

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=s9_dnav_bw_ir12_c?_encoding=UTF8&bbn=2384464011&rh=i%3Adigital-music-album%2Cn%3A163856011%2Cn%3A!2334092011%2Cn%3A!2334154011%2Cn%3A2384464011%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A625150011%2Cn%3A625011011%2Cn%3A!2334154011%2Cn%3A!2334092011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=0F71YHPQZ92W2RQZDR03&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2015969142&pf_rd_i=678551011

some albums appear to be free to prime members

wish this was in the UK

Spotify Year in Metal 2015
https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/0MMszONEuwc1JU3Fa1Wp36
118 tracks

lol at Apple putting Repentless on the list. Slayer were my first favorite metal band, I've seen them 8 times, I have two Slayer tatts on my right arm, and I haven't listened to this album basically since two weeks after it dropped.

not that it's bad but if the thing came out in 1998 you'd have been like "who is this" prior to Tom's voice starting on most tracks

The problem with it is that Gary Holt is basically a second Kerry King, so between that and the much more locked-in drumming of Paul Bostaph vs. Dave Lombardo, it sounds like just any thrash band - it lacks the wildness and noise that made Slayer so great.

yeah I mean I could easily tell which track had Hanneman's input when I listened.

the second half is better than the first in my esteem, but I don't get the fondness some had for "When the Stillness Comes", which I find to be a dire retread of their Diabolus-style material

Relapse is reissuing the Incubus (Lousiana) album "Serpent Temptation" under their later name Opprobrium, looks like with the original vocals replaced. Fucking classic album of thrashy death metal IMHO, these guys were ahead of the curve for a bit (Altars of Madness came out the following year)...

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/opprobrium-incubus-premiere/

https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/sick-with-bloom

new yellow eyes, i wasn't too hot on their last one but this seems quite good

Late arriving gothic symphonic excellence: Nocturnal Resurrection by Graveshadow. Seriously good.

two also-ran, too-late-to-vote-on good records from 2015:

Coffincraft - In Eerie Slumber
https://coffincraft.bandcamp.com/album/in-eerie-slumber

Finnish OSDM in the vein of Swedish bands like Entombed, Dismember, Carnage. Not experimental in the slightest, leans towards thrash.

Desecresy - Stoic Death
https://desecresy.bandcamp.com/album/stoic-death

Also Finnish, also OSDM, but more Finnish sounding (Demigod, Demilich, Convulse, Rippikoulu). Not experimental in the slightest, leans towards doom.

(youtube link for 2nd album because they mystifyingly don't stream their shit)

Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll. Every year I encourage other metal writers to participate. I'm pretty sure if they'd let me do it this past decade, they'd let nearly anyone ;) It would only take 5-7 extra votes to get some key albums into the top 100 -- this poll gets more attention than any other, and would do the bands some real good to get them exposure. Simply write to pazzandjop at villagevoice dot com to ask for a ballot and give them a) Name and current address, b) email and phone, c) Publications you write for. If they invite you, you have until December 28.

Everything Yellow Eyes release sounds exactly the same, I should be bored by now but I can't help but love 'em.

This is some pretty cool death metal from Australia:

https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a2089437439_10.jpg

Ur Draugr - With Hunger Undying
https://atmfsssdtp.bandcamp.com/album/with-hunger-undying

I really like that cover, very Beksinsi-esque. Will give it a listen.

Well well well.

http://witchinghourproductions.bandcamp.com/album/litourgiya
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnv3jkb-S_w

This can't possibly be the Mgla/Kriegsmaschine guys in yet another ridiculously strong band, can it? Some of that melodic warmth, not to mention the open, midpaced passages and how they kind of plummet out of the blasty parts, feels awfully familiar. And man, it all just flies by without a hitch.

for fans of: Polish black metal church services, a wrathful god

dammit meant to use the non embed yt link; oh well, year's almost over

Really liking this new album by energetic Montana blackish metal band Martriden.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2iJRLtRjdGHqFySsnBUMP8

I was wondering if the Mgla guys were involved in Batushka. The drums have the same feel. Sounded great on first listen.

yea this batushka is killer, the chanting vox are absolutely *perfect* for this music!

Someone suggested it may be some guys from Polish band Hermh, who I'd never heard of. I still say there are some Mgla-isms in those rhythm guitars. Who knows, though.

I checked out a couple songs from Hermh and there were some liturgical sounding chants however. And the black metal vox were similar too.

Satan – Atom By Atom
King Heavy – King Heavy
Trixter Human Era
Cave Of Swimmers – Reflection
Vhöl – Deeper Than Sky
Black Space Riders – Refugeeum
Magister Templi – Into Duat
Melechesh – Enki
Helrunar – Niederkunfft
Ghost – Meliora
The Sword – High Country
Night Demon – Curse Of The Damned
Visigoth – The Revenant King
My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery
Myrkur – M
Sigh – Graveward
Raven – ExtermiNation
Crypt Sermon – Out Of The Garden
Heidevolk – Velua
Iron Maiden – The Book Of Souls

Oops, sorry left off the title. That was Rhapsody's top 20 metal albums of 2015.

That's Chuck Eddy's list, for what it's worth.
He doesn't post in this thread, I don't think.

that King Heavy is pretty great, the vocals especially, which I can't quite tell are serious...or ultra serious

http://doomcharts.com/2015/12/21/best-of-2015/

Some nice name-your-price atmoblack from Mexico

https://lluvia.bandcamp.com/album/eternidad-solemne

oh I wanted to see them a couple of weeks in Oakland but it didn't work out.

My Year in Metal, 2015
https://open.spotify.com/user/glennpmcdonald/playlist/59NtrREsm0x5Cmi7XyGuBj

My top 10 went like this:

1. Agent Fresco
2. Moonspell
3. Amberian Dawn
4. Panopticon
5. Imperia
6. Myrkur
7. Violet Cold
8. Nightwish
9. Obsequiae
10. Öxxö Xööx

And then 90 more, in associative order:

Shape Of Despair, Leprous, Amorphis, Leviathan, Enslaved, So Hideous, Draconian, Eldritch, Rie a.k.a. Suzaku, Halo, Gloryhammer, Kamelot, Baroness, Dream Theater, Avantasia, Primal Fear, Tau Cross, Elder, To/Die/For, Raaka-Aine, Månegarm, Korpiklaani, Wolfheart, Omnium Gatherum, Turmion Kätilöt, Blind Guardian, Malrun, Santa Cruz, Nergard, Amoral, Graveshadow, Tales Of Evening, Sirenia, Setanera, Xandria, Elyose, Elferya, Dalriada, Triosphere, Battle Beast, Dark Sarah, Embassy Of Silence, Anfel, Crimson Sun, End of the Dream, Against Myself, Coronatus, Elvellon, Symphonic Destiny, Head Phones President, Christian Mistress, Dead Sara, Lucifer, Lotus Thief, Lethe, Imperial Triumphant, Monasteries, Sanzu, Black Tongue, Sunn 0))), Osculum Infame, Heretical, Entrails, Morphinist, Aetherius Obscuritas, A Forest Of Stars, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Vattnet Viskar, Drudkh, Kampfar, Tsjuder, Whispered, Mastery, Shining, Bosse-de-Nage, Cradle Of Filth, Finsterforst, Thy Catafalque, Negative Voice, Sannhet, Martriden, Kill The Thrill, Deafheaven, Envy, Cronometrobudú, Saurom, Mokoma, Kauan, Widek, Divides

fuuuuck this Imperial Triumphant

FUUUUUUUUCK

should be fuuuuck, this Imperial Triumphant

Amazing record, don't know why the RYM average is just barely over 3

So there's a song on the YouTubes - Amon Amarth doing "Viking Christmas."
Except that I cannot find it as part of their discography and people online say it isn't them.

Anyone know anything about this?

It's not them. Doesn't sound anything like them.

Thanks for clearing that up... Do you know who it is?

No idea. It's weird to think someone would consider Amon Amarth famous enough to record a parody Christmas song under their name. But in fact, there are two now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDcu87hyIb8

The singer on that one sounds a little more like Johan, except he's German (which you can hear most clearly on the chorus).

So sometimes I go stupid and I bought this Black Tongue album "The Unconquerable Dark" based on a couple of samples I heard in the store; to me it sounds like sludgy, mildly proggy, kinda djenty kinda doomy stuff with an overwrought vocalist doing, like, EVERY extreme vocalist thing he can think of. He reminds me a bit of Desalvo from Cryptopsy, actually. I get home and apparently these dudes are considered "beatdown hardcore" but call themselves (sigh) doomcore. So are these guys part of some subgenre of hardcore I'm unaware of?

Beatdown is definitely a thing.

http://everynoise.com/engenremap-beatdown.html

ha played 4 bands on that link, and if you had told me before that they were not only the same band, but samples from 4 parts of the same song, I would have believed you

I believe both of your posts. I guess I'm more curious as to whether some subgenre has mutated into discordant prog-sludge...

that's so weird

how could there be like, that many bands i have never heard of who are part of a subgenre i've never heard of that is THAT CLOSE to things i have

lol black tongue, I like that one in small doses too, I put it on to do dishes sometimes

Maybe it's just the mood for head-nodding music that I'm in but the more I listen to Enki the more I think it should've found a place on my year end list. That guy's riffs, especially in the build-up beginning of every song, are just out of this world. And those rhythms -- forget about sitting still when jamming this thing.

Have they even had a single bad song on their last four albums? I feel like Melechesh is gonna end up alongside bands like The Chasm and Anata, appreciated by a lot of people but still not really at the recognition level they deserve for what they're doing.

Fuckin' "Multiple Truths." When they slow things down to that serpentine drone thing, like "Ghouls of Ninevah," I pretty much go to a place no other metal band takes me these days. We need more sexy beats in the netal.

Er, ok, all done I think. Roll my old clattering bones into 2016 please.

netal = *metal

The Beast in the Nettles sounds like a Derleth or Howard story title.

But, please, Gervase, pray close the shades before I relate my tale. It's those nettles... I can't bear to see them, they fill me with a dread redolent of the chill a soul feelsin the last throes of death. Those awful, sting-y nettles!

Spoil that shit!

spoiler* even

Goodbye, Rolling Metal Thread 2015! You were a good timekiller, a fruitful giver of good music, and a fun place to hang out. My favorite thread on ILM. Looking forward to 2016!

well im not starting the new one

Something I posted on Facebook under the title of "10 Great Metal Albums of 2015", although I would probably try to work in King Heavy if I redid it now:

10) Christian Mistress - To Your Death
Fairly straightforward hard rock with twin guitar leads reminiscent of Wishbone Ash and a unique vocal presence in singer Christine Davis.
9) Aevangelist - Enthrall to the Void of Bliss
Discordant, atmospheric black metal featuring unintelligible guttural vocals, churning guitars, and creative use of a harp.
8) Elder - Lore
A melodic prog-metal odyssey featuring five tracks all over 10 minutes long that somehow don’t overstay their welcome.
7) KEN Mode - Success
Arguable whether this is metal, the vocals code as post-hardcore to me, but either way a righteous rocking slab of anger, negativity and irony.
6) Dodheimsgard - A Umbra Omega
Kind of an indescribable maximalist prog-black-metal suite with over-the-top theatrical vocals.
5) Kadavar - Berlin
Another fairly straightforward hard rock album, this time a power trio, with solid songcraft and winningly understated hooks.
4) Satan - Atom by Atom
Don’t be fooled by the name, these guys are more Richard Dawkins than Aleister Crowley lyrically, and don’t miss this non-stop barrage of catchy speed-metal riffs.
3) Mare Infinitum - Alien Monolith God
A unique death-doom-prog-metal sci-fi odyssey, reminiscent of classic-era Opeth for its melodic inventiveness and alternation of clean and guttural vocals.
2) Ghost - Meliora
As enjoyable and slickly-produced an off-beat occult progressive pop metal album as you’ll likely hear this year.
1) Tribulation - The Children of the Night
A seemingly oil-and-water pairing of guttural growls and melodic yet understated classic psych instrumentation that somehow gels into an atmospheric nocturnal journey that was one of the year’s most compelling listens.

Rolling Metal 2016