Rolling Metal Thread 2010

Ah, I'm very pleased to report that I enjoyed the new Cradle of Filth on first listen, which puts this one way ahead of the last one in my world. They seem to have remembered that energy and intensity are different from volume and speed!

And good songwriting, I hope. The last couple felt so lazy at times.

I gave the Cradle an 8 in my decibel review, but they bumped it down to a 7, which didn't surprise me at all.

Now that the fucking Financial Times has weighed in on the Salome album, I feel like I should ignore it on principle. But I've gotta write about it for AMG, so eventually that'll happen. In the meantime, though, I reviewed the second album by Mexican trad-metallers Voltax at BurningAmbulance.com today.

Children of Technology album on Hell's Headbangers is pretty sweet. I am kind of a sucker for d-beat/metal hybrid bands, though.

wow, had no idea salome were getting this kind of press. (and lol @ financial times.)

good for them. like the album but I haven't formulated much of an opinion beyond that.

Anyone digging the new Black Anvil, "Triumvirate?"

The riffage at the end of the first track, "What Is Life If Not Now!" is my favorite metal moment this year.

Has nobody talked about Deathspell Omega yet? Really?

This can only be because we don't comment on leaks then, right? Because otherwise, top 10 this year.

I reviewed it for AMG this very day. I don't like it as much as its two predecessors (too fast 'n' blasty w/o the weirdness that made them what they are - or, apparently, were) but yeah, it's plenty solid. I still think Spektr are my favorite of the French weirdo-BM acts.

haha so Danzig was supposed to play in town tonight at a club called the cabooze but apparently threw some sort of fit because the stage was not large enough to hold his awesomeness or whatever and cancelled the show at the last minute. a buddy of mine just sent me a photo of the cabooze response, which was to change the marquee to read FUCK DANZIG in big illuminated letters

Care to email me that photo? I'll throw it up on MSN tomorrow morning.

yeah sure, is yer ilx email the best one to get it to you?

haaa

eh i just went ahead and sent it to that address (its a h0tm41l one so hope thats right). subject line is danzig photo. let me know if you dont get it.

dear danzig,

smaller stage = bigger looking tiny you, id say go for it next time dude.

yours,
jjjusten

the stage was not large enough to hold his awesomeness
was gonna say was it 2'x2' o que because he is basically same size as me only more beefy

Got it, thanks. It'll be up on MSN Music tomorrow...

PLS post a link to that, gotta see it.

Not enough room for his cat litter pyro.

Funny. I finally "acquired" the new Danzig album this evening. And I actually enjoyed quite a few tunes on it. Will be seeing him next Tuesday as I assume the Roseland is big enough--I've seen him play there twice before. He hasn't been very good live since the early 90s though :(

Ten bucks says someone's going to leave Danzig a bunch of cat litter backstage as though it was part of his rider. Where was the interview where the journalist kept trying to get him to talk about that photo, and he was just desperate to dodge it? That was cracking me up.

Danzig story at MSN: http://bit.ly/d0KVwh

lol

so last night i was thinking 'i wonder if theres such a thing as free improv metal' and i found painkiller. this shit's pretty tite, anyone got any more suggestions?

You should also listen to Last Exit (pre-Painkiller) and you might like Yakuza (thrash w/saxophone) and Ehnahre (weird, atonal death metal w/some horns on the new record).

gorguts, obscura is very much the opposite of improv but the wild, dissonant playing on the record might do the trick anyway.

ehnahre sounds good. will be checking them out.

Something else that definitely fits into this category would be John Zorn's band Moonchild (vocals by Mike Patton, bass by Trevor Dunn, drums by Joey Baron, sax by Zorn sometimes, guitar by Marc Ribot sometimes). Five CDs: Moonchild, Astronome, Six Litanies for Heliogabalus, The Crucible and Ipsissimus. Every bit as intense as Painkiller but more composed - a crushingly heavy mix of hardcore and skronk-jazz. Ipsissimus just came out at the end of September and it's fucking phenomenal. This band is totally being slept on, not only by headbangers who used to worship Naked City and Painkiller but by the Patton cult, too, it seems.

I haven't heard the new one, but the s/t Moonchild album is fantastic.

I'd add Massacre to this list. Their 1981 album Killing Time featured Bill Laswell, Fred Maher and Fred Frith. It's more from the jazz end really but it's improv and has a solid metal aesthetic.

Blood Stereo and Aufgehoben as well. The Thing ft Mats Gustafsson.

And Zu, even though I don't really think it's that 'free', the mix of saxophone and Jesus Lizard style rhythm section is mind blowing.

Oh hell yeah, The Thing is awesome. I literally stumbled across them in Oslo (they were playing at Rockefeller while I was waiting for Sahg to come on at the Annex next door) and they left me absolutely floored.

So is it just me, or have Gwar been on kind of a bizarre creative streak since Violence Has Arrived? I never heard the one where they went to hell and killed Satan, but their last few have been pretty excellent.

the cato salsa experience + the thing is also a good record
sounds like a sandwich, i think it's called?

this shit's pretty tite, anyone got any more suggestions?

GRAVITAR, dude. "Now the Road of Knives."

Oh and I may be the last to know this, but "Hallow's Victim" and "The Walking Dead" by Saint Vitus is available on CD again. And on vinyl, I think. Hooray!

GRAVITAR, dude. "Now the Road of Knives."

this is a cool record that i heard like 5 years ago and had totally forgotten about!

wow these are all really great. im officially obsessed

Oh and I may be the last to know this, but "Hallow's Victim" and "The Walking Dead" by Saint Vitus is available on CD again. And on vinyl, I think. Hooray!

I didn't know either! Man, Greg Ginn doesn't really want anyone to know SST is still a going concern, does he?

Publicists are for posers.

I think he only represses stuff when he needs more money for weed and/or to press copies of his boring vanity project jam bands.

Saw Monarch last night. Good set; one long piece, "Sabbat Noir" (which is also their new CD, which I bought).

glenn macdonald in the house!

The "house" in question here being Scott's excellent record store and Lincoln Log construction studio in Greenfield, MA, where I dropped by with my daughter for a brief visit while her mother and uncle were at a nearby rock show (in this case rock as in geology) on Saturday. Always strange and cool to finally meet somebody in person after years online. And it gave me an opportunity to show off my parenting skills, by which I mean having successfully taught a 3yo to hold the horns high and even wave them a little bit. Admittedly her waving doesn't have a lot of really dark menace to it yet, but give her time.

oops sorry i spelled your name wrong. great to see you!

Awesome!

This review of Electric Wizard's Black Masses claims it's a complete disappointment compared to Bongripper's Satan Worshipping Doom. Say it ain't so! I'll choose to believe Freeman's review and prepare to be pleased when I finally hear it.

Both albums are fantastic. Black Masses is on a par with Witchcult Today. The CD sounds ever so much better than the rips going round on 320bitrate mp3s btw

Agalloch Marrow of the Spirit streaming now on NPR.org.

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/09/131192147/first-listen-agalloch-marrow-of-the-spirit

the last 5 or 6 mins of Black Lake Nidstång are amazing, esp when the scream comes in with a couple of mins left. Awesome track (luckily Nate didn't ruin it ;) )