Rolling Metal Thread 2009

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.

Got the Cobalt pre-order in the mail today.

Got a ticket for the Mastodon/Kylesa/Intronaut show in April, very fucking excited for that line-up.

Since Mastodon are playing Coachella, they aren't doing an LA date. But, Kylesa and Intronaut are doing an off date... with Made Out Of Babies headlining. So, that's pretty cool.

!

That's not a bad replacement. I'm just excited to see a great metal show at the Metro, I love that place. A great deal of the high profile metal shows coming to Chicago play the House of Blues and I hate that venue, so I've skipped out on some good shows because of it.

Forgive the newbish question but do you guys find that most metal albums stick to a specific metal-style; like it's mostly thrash, or mostly technical, etc. Like there are certain schools and the cross-over on any particular album is limited? Because I'm trying to figure out what a metal album that uses a bunch of different styles on different tracks would come off as -- would it seem dilettantish? Or like the artist was more sampling the various metal communities rather than being actively involved?

"do you guys find that most metal albums stick to a specific metal-style"

Short answer: yes.
Long answer: any combination or hybridization of metal you can imagine has certainly been tried. There are exceptions to every rule and plenty of creative moves being made all the time.

Because I'm trying to figure out what a metal album that uses a bunch of different styles on different tracks would come off as -- would it seem dilettantish? Or like the artist was more sampling the various metal communities rather than being actively involved?

Actually that all-inclusive style is really starting to be heard in a lot of the new young American bands these days. Woe of Tyrants is such an example, hypertechnical deathcore, power metal melodies, black metal tremelo picking. Or bands like Rollo Tomassi or Iwrestledabearonce, same thing. Kids seem to be drawing from all styles of metal these days. Whether they can harness such prodigious technical ability and make timeless songs out of it remains to be seen, but it really looks like that's the next big post-metalcore trend, purists be damned.

There are also genre-hopping bands like Between the Buried and Me that cycle through the entire musical bandwidth on their records.

But that's more crossing over between metal and non-metal than between various metal disciplines, right?

Actually, they blend non-metal and pretty much every metal sound you can imagine. It's extraordinary.

BTBAM are so far ahead of their peers, it's nuts. But it's funny, while that band has a genuine interest in a lot of very different musical styles, other bands are merely looking at what BTBAM is doing rather than looking outwards. Which isn't a good thing, if you ask me. I was quite disappointed talking to Protest the Hero...back around Kezia, I was doing a piece on them and asked a lot of questions about that album's influences and what progressive stuff had inspired them, but they had no clue, they just said they were looking to BTBAM for inspiration.

they just said they were looking to BTBAM for inspiration.

whoa

Zeppelin syndrome.

BTBAM are so far ahead of their peers, it's nuts.

truthbomb tho I still think Alaska is the peak so far

Yeah, I thought for awhile that Colors topped Alaska, but after revisiting both a couple weeks ago I have to say that Alaska stands taller.

I'm going to see Mötley Crüe at MSG in a week. Woo-hoo?

to be fair Protest the Hero are super-young, aren't they? I'm very curious to see where they go in future, they're always a fun-if-juvenile listen.

off to try the new Wolves in the Throne Room.