Rolling Metal 2016

Ditto the tropical-metal album from Blut Aus Sud.

Sweet Hollow by Them is pretty fun King Diamond mimicry. The vocals, the horror album concept... they actually pull it off not too badly.

https://them6.bandcamp.com/ (whole album is on Youtube)

This Bhavachakra album... scrapy, trebled out guitars (with that modern underdriven distortion sound I'm not super fond of), discordant, DsO, probably own "Obscura," yeah yeah. Some of the riffing attempts eloquence successfully but the production's kind of distracting - sounds like the guitars were recorded on a cassette four-track while everything else was done in a pro studio. Especially those drums.

That's not to say I'm not going to listen to it a lot for a week or so, though.

xxpost
That's the second mention of Them I've seen in the last day or two and it finally jogged my memory of this bizarro world, Brazilian, Christian KD clone, with pretty much plagiarized music and song titles, and album art that dips far enough below the threshold of embarrassing to flip around and become awesome again. Anyway, turns out that they, like apparently every other band in existence, have a new one out this year. As usual, the music sounds stiff and almost programmed, esp compared to something like the actual KD. And haha those verses of "Silent Tears" are outright stolen from "A Mansion in Darkness." I binged on this band a couple years ago when I first saw them mentioned at metal-archives and I wish I'd remembered in time for Halloween this year.
https://visionofgodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dark-night-day-of-the-dead

but I mean this is really the purpose of this post:
http://i.imgur.com/S7koot5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/W3GyLYm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/49RQ6rs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hVIUJYx.jpg

Amazing covers!

just in case any of you wanted to hear some synth-heavy, dreampop-vocall'd welsh psych-doom then you may wish to get in touch with your inner mammoth weed wizard bastard*. it's really quite something. heads-up courtesy of tt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y2g0g3r6hY

*british humour

I countersign Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, although it took me some serious psychological effort to get past the name.

The new Madder Mortem is out, and I won't be terribly surprised if it ends up being my album of the year. What a fantastic band. They're like a midpoint between djent and Voivod and Nightwish, which is a pretty good targeting formula for me.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2rXW7pX2XlPi23Gs97rIOI

Also, if you like big happy turbo-melodic power-metal, give the new Theocracy album a listen.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3asAAUyg67JJa8VAvsfmVK

I think I'm about ready to put this Ysengrin/Sartegos split in my cart

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/resvrrezionespiritval

2 songs apiece, plus interludes
Ysengrin offer cavernous doomy BM with lots of textural and dynamic shifts, big spooky choirs, some of the weirdest snare hits this side of the Shaggs, hideous clanky bass, and a dash of rawk swagger.
Sartegos are I guess blackened death? (deadened BM?) with refreshingly bright guitar solo breaks -- lots of up/down fast 8ths verging on explosions in the sky-style post rock territory

Both bands are new to me and I'm curious to hear more from both.

more metal with crayon covers plz

Great album covers. They do promise some darker-than-average nights.

MWWB are great

digging the first couple of tracks from this EP by Rivette from Finland - NWOBHM for softies p much. not as good as High Spirits but worth an ear

https://rivette.bandcamp.com/album/in-vertigo

Just booked tickets to see MWWB tomorrow, supporting Ufomammut. I expect to be doomed into space

I was just listening to that Rivette EP today! Not bad. The Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard made our Doom Chart last month - https://doomcharts.com/2016/10/11/the-doom-charts-for-october-2016/. New one should be out by the weekend hopefully.

Glad to hear someone is enthusiastic about Madder Mortem! I reviewed it and raved about it elsewhere and it's been crickets.

Dark Night album art made my day thank you!

Here's another UK stoner doom psych band that has an interesting release: https://spiderkitten.bandcamp.com/album/ark-of-octofelis

Ya good call on Dark Night. I mentioned them in my Halloween piece where I also offered up Hail Spirit Noir and Slasher Dave as ideal additions to yr Halloween mixes. I guess I should have posted before Halloween.

I've been so anticipating the new Furia full length that I didn't notice they'd slipped another of their oddball EPs into the world earlier in October. Says it was recorded in an actual mine 300+ meters below the earth, so, uh, ok. Sort of droney, jangly, folky, but seething with that Polish black metal life force that seems to be powering half a dozen brilliant bands right now.
https://paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/guido

Speaking of, according to W.T.C. there's a new Medico Peste album coming. Their wonderfully diseased debut Tremendum et Fascinatio got overshadowed by everything else coming out of Poland, but it's quite good for fans of that slithering, visceral strain of black metal akin to Glorior Belli's Manifesting the Raging Beast or for that matter Polish stuff like Cultes des Ghoules or Blaze of Perdition (or even Arioch-era Marduk when they're not full speed ahead).

Decibel is streaming the new Ruinous album. One of my favorite death metal albums of the year.

the new Furia finally appeared and made my album of the year decision a lot easier
https://paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ksi-yc-milczy-luty

good god

Furia is a great band that should have a much higher profile than they do, I'm looking forward to the album.

Furia's last album was kinda drifting into the sort of "post black" (or whatever) that didn't really hit me, but this fucking thing. This fucking thing. It's like a black metal version of an Earth album. I'm on my sixth listen just today and I can't even remember the last time something like that happened.

Songwriting aside, the sound of it is just ...

why the hell couldn't this be the Polish black metal band to put out an hour and a half long album this year

to be fair, no album really needs to be an hour and a half

Ulcerate's new album is boring me to tears

Do I just not like avant-death any more? But I like Gorguts. And I quite liked the Dysrhythmia, which is basically a Gorguts spin-off. So idk. Maybe you have to be Gorguts. Will check out DSO shortly but ugh tbh

Ulcerate are always hyped but I've always found them pretty boring too, not even going to bother with this new one. Gorguts are on another plane entirely.

I think the new DSO is awesome but if you haven't been convinced by them before, I don't think it'll change you mind

oh I have been convinced by them before. so far this is great. far, far better than ulcerate

the ugh was just residual disgust at ulcerate being boring

OK cool :D

ha wow the new furia sounds kinda like a metal gvsb

imago yr wrong about ulcerate but I don't think you'll ever see yr way clear to that because for metal to work for you personally it has to have several this-is-not-from-metal elements in it and ulcerate is all metal. no shame in that alloys are fine too but I wish you could get yr mind free enough to hear how great ulcerate is because damn they're great.

Dysrhythmia, which is basically a Gorguts spin-off

lol no btw

it's 2/3 Gorguts! point taken that they're doing something v different

will try again with Ulcerate soon too. it probably requires a dark room and lots of space to contemplate. it is true that I often find it hard to like pure metal, so I'm sorry for ruining yr thread

in the next chapter, i will express incomprehension at the new Meshuggah

tbh somebody sent me a promo of Vermis when it was new and I played it and went "ho-hum, honestly I love death metal but I'm not hearing anything that sets this apart" and it sat in a box for a year or more and then I was cleaning out the box and found the disc minus the packaging and said "ok what's this, am I keeping this" and listened and about halfway through I went "fuck...this is pretty interesting actually" and I dug up the packaging and now they're one of my favorite bands. but my initial reaction was "who gives a fuck"

death metal strikes me as one of those things that you pretty much have to be a sommelier of to have any clue what you're talking about

I think you just have to know what you like and don't like. Ulcerate don't appeal to me either, but there's plenty of death metal that does.

A good, thoughtful Invisible Oranges piece on power metal disguised as a Hammerfall track premiere.

fucking GREAT piece, that. I have my own theory about why the metal press ignores power metal ("the metal press consists disproportionately of music nerds for whom novelty is more important than craft or tradition, and their coverage reflects this thirst for novelty") but anyway I'm very happy to see this.

What is the good power metal this year? One that I've been playing a lot is Dark Forest's Beyond the Veil, which might be more heavy metal. It doesn't have the glossy production I associate with contemporary power metal, but it's as cheesy and triumphant as anything.

Theocracy! Temperance!

I think I was born without the neuroreceptor for power metal.

But I am enjoying this Psychotic Waltz reissue. A Social Grace. Awesome.

is the band Battlecross good?

I went to Steve Earle & the Dukes and there was a guy* sitting in front of me that had a shirt on that said MOTOR CITY THRASH on the back and I tracked it down to Battlecross

*he looked exactly like Stone Cold Steve Austin and him and his gf left after Earle made a crack about Trump

Got the new Venom Prison CD. Feminist death metal. Unfortunate name. Once they get over some stereotypical -core stuff in the first one-third to one-half it gets pretty good.

Listened to the three new Metallica songs, and "Lords of Summer," while walking the two blocks to the polls and waiting in line to vote. Can't wait for that album. (I pre-ordered the 3CD version from Amazon; I'm wondering whether their "AutoRip" policy will give me the tracks from all three discs next Friday, or just the main two.)

Listening to The Body's All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood album. Old but it's suiting my mood today.

Bought "Fall Babylon Fall" by Veni Domine... 1992. On REX. But definitely high level Christian epic jams with doom elements, kinda like Queensryche meets Candlemass or something.

HAWKWINDZ I know you like weirdo black metal, so you might dig this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UliGZDZ_ckQ&ab_channel=NachthymnenTheTwilightAge

Like a lot of the good shit it oscillates between demented wtf outsiderness and genuinely inspired ideas imo. Probably a bit too long but it's good to get lost in for a while.

Going to this tonight. Gonna have to take a metal nap to gather my energy for it.

http://cdn.theobelisk.net/obelisk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/alehorn-of-power-ix.jpg

BLOODCOW will travel from Omaha, Nebraska to open the show, self-described as “beard metal” but with an unexpected mad-sci-fi twist, as evidenced on their most recent and fourth full-length, 2015’s Crystals & Lasers.

THE LURKING CORPSES will follow, bringing their heavy metal horror show from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Reggies for the first time. The Corpses’ wide range of influences both musically and lyrically, not to mention their unforgettable image, have made them quite a favorite in many underground circles.

Long-running Chicago act BIBLE OF THE DEVIL is not only Alehorn’s spiritual guidepost but also its musical cornerstone. The band’s unmistakable brand of heavy metal rock and roll embodies every bit the twin-guitarred, big-chorused, epic FM sound perhaps most associated with the festival’s history. This year’s set will include a selection of new material alongside hits from the band’s vast catalog.

From Pittsburgh, ARGUS will make a much-awaited return to this year’s Alehorn lineup, fresh from the stages of Ireland and mainland Europe where the band is in high demand. It’s easy to see why: the trademark Argus sound of majestic and anthemic heavy metal is precisely what the European audiences crave. Of course, fans on this side of the Atlantic have also taken notice of the band’s musical accomplishments and will no doubt give them a hero’s welcome back to Reggies this year.

PROFESSOR BLACK’s live debut rounds out this year’s lineup, a unique concept that will feature songs and musicians from namesake frontman Chris Black’s entire recorded catalog. It is the first show of its kind for the Chicago-based musician/songwriter, although it could also be described as a return of sorts: Chris and his bandmates have played Alehorn of Power several times in the past, variously as members of Pharaoh, Superchrist, Dawnbringer, and High Spirits.

As if that weren’t enough, the stage will then be handed over to THOR, the Legendary Rock Warrior himself, who will personally show you the power of heavy metal, song after song, with all of the subtlety of a hammer to the skull! The man is a legend many times over, with a prolific musical career reaching back to the 70s and further acclaim as a body-builder and B-movie actor. More recently, he was the star of his own documentary, I am Thor, in which he overcame many obstacles to mount a return to the heavy metal stages of the world. Nevertheless, THOR will always be an underground icon, and his deep catalog of heavy metal smash-hit songs (literally!) and uniquely theatrical live show make him the ultimate headliner of ALEHORN OF POWER IX! Additionally, THOR will be promoting his new release “Metal Avenger” now out on Deadline/Cleopatra Records.

Saturday November 12, 2016
Doors 7 PM / $20 / Ages 17+
Reggies, 2101 S. State, Chicago IL USA