Rolling Metal 2016

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

Ultros was that the Forgotten Spell thing? For some reason the video wouldn't play but I dug the embed code out... crazy stuff. Especially the vocals! Compositionally it's so weird I can't quite focus fully on it, but it does make a good background roar.

Oh shit new Emptiness track

http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2016/10/18/blackdeath-crew-emptiness-wear-their-meat-heart-on-their-longsleeves

Latter half gets into a Joy Division/dark postpunk vibe I wasn't expecting but am not mad at.

xp Yeah, that's the one. Not playing for me either for some reason idk why.

https://doomcharts.com/2016/11/13/the-doom-charts-for-november-2016/

I interviewed Chris Bay of Freedom Call for Noisey.

Just wanted to thank the metal thread for hipping me to High Spirits. I got into music at a p young age and stuff like Pyromania and 1984 and then Dokken and Ratt and shit were really formative to me as a little kid and this stuff really hits all those notes in a real way, and doesn't ring false to me the way some of the "power metal" stuff (which I should like in theory cuz I love Maiden and Priest and Armored Saint etc) but I dunno...hard rock like this is deceptively hard to really do right and they can do it.

On the mathcore tip, new (final) DEP is good, new Car Bomb might be even better

Decibel's top 40 albums of 2016 are right here.

http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2016/11/17/spoiler-here-are-decibels-top-40-albums-of-2016

who gives a shit

ilx list only 4eva

No Vektor in that list - seems totally whack

Nails didn't do much for me

Nails didn't do much for me

I completely didn't get it but JCLC has already and not inaccurately skewered my dislike of true metal so ignore me rly

Nails bring absolutely nothing new to the table. Which is fine, but that pretty much precludes them from being year-end list material.

Crippled Black Phoenix
Bronze
(Season Of Mist)
Release Date: 11/4/2016

http://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3780887996_16.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/4UoOV0KvltkozyBQNVHvvu
http://crippledblackphoenixsom.bandcamp.com/album/bronze

I like everything I have heard from CBP but this release really shows an accessibility which previous albums didn't have. The whole album is memorable but also coated in the hazy Gothic doom the band specializes in. I swear "No Fun" could be a QOTSA track if they were headlining a show in purgatory.

one listen of new Bolzer = less chaotic, more groove-oriented writing, kind of meh area right in between black metal and...not death metal exactly, something less extreme. Grunge metal? Dunno. I read people saying Mastodon, so maybe that's what I mean. Kind of a chore to get through tbh.

I'm not feeling it yet but the deathmetal dot org review of it was so hilariously lame and negative I feel like I've got to give it a chance. Because fuck those dudes.

here's a little lifehack 4u

don't read deathmetal dot org

ever

i don't as a rule (because, as i mentioned, fuck those dudes) but the review was quoted in a facebook group

I completely didn't get it but JCLC has already and not inaccurately skewered my dislike of true metal so ignore me rly

actually I like nails OK but have never understood the dB crew's hard repping thereof

I liked what I've heard from that Khemmis. The Decibel list reminded me to go download the whole thing.

the Gehennah album is fun and all but that's awfully high for an album with no fucking Vektor on it. Lots of "just OK" stuff on there from established bands.

what did Vektor do the Decibel, seriously

They weren't tuff enuff

The Hail Spirit Noir album is a treat. They have a really unique style.

Yes, yes it really is. Also weirdly absent from the Decibel list.

And so are Wormed! OK, done now.

Did Decibel not review Vektor either? Someone in the comments says there's been no coverage.

Yes, lots of puzzling omissions brought up there

New Krypts

Yesssssss.

To expand on that: there's this style that mixes doom/death a la Autopsy/Paradise Lost/Asphyx vibes with the creeping dissonance and openly picked chords of black metal descended from DMDS that I fucking love. Krypts own it, Tongues, Dwell... think I might be the only person repping this non-genre. I want more of it, I guess I'm saying.

Sounds like something I'd like, will check it out

I think dB gave Vektor a glowing, lead review. I'm puzzled why it didn't make the list, too.

the list is a poll. polled writers didn't place it in their ballots enough for it to make the list.

hideously predictable post klaxon:

i thought the vektor was just ok, nothing special at all

some nice bits

bye

FYI: on the back of the (excellent) new Asphyx album featuring no original members, there's now a new Soulburn record, with the two main founding Asphyx members.

Nice. You think they could tour together as the Asphyx-Soulburn Brothers Big Band?