Rolling Metal Thread 2009

even without grief the md death fest lineup is insane

i missed vbs. earthless was pretty good, one long jam that had its moments. witch were boring so i left. lots of girls at the show btw, maybe even outnumbering the guys?

The Singles comp isn't actually a greatest hits, it's literally a compiling of some singles and EPs that they put out for their last two records. So, it's going to be inconsistent, although I think there's a lot of fun stuff on there. I haven't listened to the new album as much, but it seemed to be the missing the sense of fun and hooks that they had on their last few releases (the ones that the singles were culled from) and just kind of sounded like generic Euro hard rock. But, I'll give it another listen.

Yeah, Tinnitus Sanctus isn't bad, but I think what's disappointing is that they seemed like they were on the verge of becoming (Hysteria-era) Def Leppard with their last album, and instead opted to go the road more traveled.

The new Edguy album feels like they're going through the motions. "Ministry of Saints" is really good, but it's all downhill from there. Several of the tracks feel like Avantasia rejects, and the others either try to sound too clever, or just lack the pure catchy fun of the last two records. It just feels sloppy overall.

And yeah, the singles CD is just a quickly-assembled collection of EPs. But it has two of their best singles (the hilarious "Lavatory Love Machine" and the poppy Superheroes"), and "The Life and Times of a Bonus Track" is worth a larf.

The Wolves in the Throne Room is as good as you'd expect, as usual the songs really take off during the extended passages after the vocals. Pretty much on top of their game, but I'm already thinking I prefer the previous two albums, there was a little more diversity to them.

Wittr is great, as is the new Kylesa album.

"Crystal Ammunition" is where the WITTR album really starts to get great, in my opinion. Pity it's the last track. Good stuff overall, though.

Meanwhile, this just came down the PR pike:

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NACHTMYSTIUM Booted From The Scion Rock Fest Bill

In a statement made on Friday, February 27, 2009: "NACHTMYSTIUM has sad news today with a once-again recurring issue surfacing from the wake of our past. We've been forced, at the request of the promoters and the folks at Scion / Toyota, to pull out of the Scion Rock Fest, scheduled for Saturday, February 28. This news came to us just this past Tuesday and was very disheartening to say the least. A troubling, and unjustly-applied notion that we are, or ever have been, in any way, a 'Nazi' band or a political band on any level, is completely absurd and we are disgusted that there is someone out there who really believes we are of this ilk. It made it as far as the sponsors of this event's desks, and now we are forced to pull out of it after some political threatening on the part of these ridiculously uneducated person/people who have caused this ruckus.

"We'd like to make light of at least one aspect of this situation and use the opportunity to once again clear the air — we are, IN NO WAY, a 'Nazi' band. We do NOT support such groups, political beliefs or bands that are affiliated with that world. We have canceled tours in the past and dodged working with bands and people BECAUSE they had these ideologies and we never wanted to be affiliated with it. Yet, here we are, a metal band whose members are more like hippies than your typical leather-clad metal maniacs, and we're being falsely accused of this association once again. We will be taking legal action against the people who slandered us in this situation, and in the future will file defamation / slander charges against any person or organization who attempts to prevent us from performing anywhere, especially in the United States. We are as offended by this as someone might be at the notion of a Nazi band playing a big corporate-sponsored festival. So — let it be known loud and clear for the LAST TIME, we ARE NOT a Nazi band, ARE NOT political, are certainly NOT racists and DO NOT support that world or any band, person or business affiliated with it.

"My deepest apologies to all of our friends, fans and people who have worked on and supported us being a part of this festival, we are sorry for these awful circumstances and you can be certain this will not defeat us." - Blake Judd

Mastodon/Kylesa/Intronaut on the best metal tour of the spring. Cannot wait to see it.

xp - Jesus. freakin' black metal. Just when you think it can't get worse than NSBM... you lift up the rotting wood, and what is crawling underneath? Pot smokin' hippies.

Guess they shouldn't have taken the Nazis' money back in '02, huh?

One thing I wasn't aware of until digging around a couple of weeks ago, is how few degrees of separation there are between Alcest and NSBM. :(

Oh, brother. Linked how so, curiously?

via Peste Noire, who I've seen described as NSBM, and at best plays cute with the whole Nationalist thing. They have had members linked to other more blatant groups, though I can't actually find the article where I read that. Not saying Alcest shares any of those viewpoints or anything.

peste noire's 1st demo was called "aryan supremacy" & their band logo is built skull & crossbones shield lifted directly from the white aryan resistance logo. (afik...) they've since distanced themselves from NSBM, much like nachtmystium

Yeah, there's absolutely nothing in Alcest that would hint at such nonsense.

Still, though, as the Nachtmystium story indicates, one little link, whether accurate or not, can haunt a band for a long time.

Switching subjects for a sec, the six-panel fold-out artwork inside the new Lord Mantis album is spectacular. It's like a cross between Pushead, John Baizley, and Bruegel.

Good album, too.

So anyway, I definitely think the new Edguy album is a lot better than people here are giving it credit for, but I need some time to formulate a concrete and coherent defense of it.

Meanwhile, received over the transom; let me know if you want this fellow's email address:

Dear guys

My name is Sérgio Martins and I am a brazilian journalist. I am sending this email because I am writing a piece about heavy metal and I would like to know from some privileged minds why this musical genre is still so popular. At least here, in Brazil, where bands like Iron Maiden play to at least 60 000 people by concert. Why metal is so popular? Is there something to do with the beat, the sound, the lyrics? Or is its “macho” attitude?

Thanks a lot.

Best,

Sérgio Martins

I just ordered the new Cobalt cd from profoundlore. Hope its good.

Oh, it is.

What percentage of metal albums would you say you guys listen to because the album looks cool? This week I listened to this, and while it wasn't great (it wasn't awful, either), I love the cover:

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/29/l_c5e4de82cd9141e4bdc01ed706febdc7.jpg

I also checked out these guys:

http://mediaportal.ru/uploads/posts/2009-03/1236012452_front.jpg

The cover made them look like steampunk metal. Alas, just normal technical death metal. Both these bands, btw, are Polish.

For anyone experiencing number-crunching withdrawal after the poll season, I just updated the data behind my Encyclopaedia Metallum-based metal-band similarity analysis again, and in the process also added a leaderboard for ranking major bands by their EM ratings.

index: http://furia.com/em/index.html
stats: http://furia.com/em/stats.html

Jeez, I go on tour for ONE WEEK and find this page has slid off the front.

Anyway, saw a killer new SF band called Prizehog last week. Aquarius is all over them. Great folks and heavy tunes.

I heard the new Papa Roach album....

Did it cut your life into pieces? Was it your last resort?

Neither, alas.

I've been listening to Serpentcult all day. Not much to that album, basically Electric Wizard with a girl singer, but has a few really, really good moments. Also, it's cool to hear "New World Order" getting strong airplay on Sirius.

I really, really like the femme singer on the WITTR. I want her to make big metal.

WITTR were awesome at the Scion Rock Fest. When they turned down the lights and kicked off their set, it was like watching the nice hacky-sack dudes from the organic co-op turn lycanthropic. Really kind of scary, in the best possible way.

Have any of you heard the new Mastodon yet?

I've not heard a single second of it, so at this point I'm just going to keep it that way until I can go out and buy my copy.

march 23'd, eh?

I've heard the new Mastodon, and the new Papa Roach. I like one better than the other.

oh, you tease.

We were discussing it earlier on this thread, but to sum up my thoughts: "mellow" for Mastodon, very 70s prog, better than Blood Mountain.

Sounded kinda stoner'y to me.

(In a good way, mind you. I really liked it.)

I was pretty shocked at the direction of the new Mastodon. Those massive riffs are nowhere to be found, but they've made incredible strides in the vocal department. Certainly a bold album...needs a few more listens to sink in, though.

That said, "The Czar" is an amazing track, one of their best ever.

i really need to hear this since i'm deciding whether to see them and now understand that they're going to be playing this entire record at all their upcoming dates. very classic-rock move or something.

You need to see them only because Kylesa and Intronaut are opening for them! Great package.

"mellow" for Mastodon, very 70s prog, better than Blood Mountain.

Exactly. I wrote 500 words about it for the now-final issue of Metal Edge, and this kinda sums it up.

I don't hate Papa Roach, by the way. The album's not awful. But it's not all that exciting, either.

yeah i like kylesa a lot and an somewhat down w/intronaut.

Helps that the new Kylesa is so damned good. I'm hoping I can score a ticket for this show when they go on sale tomorrow. I've had horrible luck getting tickets for really popular shows at the Metro.

I wrote 500 words about it for the now-final issue of Metal Edge, and this kinda sums it up.

Coincidentally, said final issue arrived in my mail today. Congrats again to Phil and the rest of the ME crew (especially you ilxors!) for a job well done. I had the best time writing for that mag.

Nice Mastodon write-up too, Phil.

About halfway through, the Serpentcult record dives deep into the sludge and wows the heck out of me. "Awaken the Kraken" plumbs some serious bathymetry.

Dead Man's "Rest in Peace" is a great song too. Like the whole disk, but that track in particular gets fits all the good bits of early-70s prog into a pretty brief span. Damn me for just realizing the were in town a month ago, playing to a no-doubt empty house.

considering going to see pentagram tonight

i missed them last night. with the devil's blood. i suck.

That Angelreich album has one or two pretty songs on it, btw. The really metal stuff on it sounds pretty generic and boring to me, but when they do more electronica-melodic-metal, it's enjoyable.