Rolling Metal Thread 2009

Scott, did you like Pelican's other albums?

I really liked their first couple, just wondering how it compares. I guess I'm another one of their few fans around here.

you know, there are other things i want written on my tombstone other than "renowned Pelican hater", so, i won't spend a lot of time dissing them. i heard the last couple things they did. was not impressed. but i am not a mono fan or a mogwai fan. i liked the first two isis albums. i like neurosis. there is nothing neurisis-ish about the new album. it sounds like tedious instrumental indie rock. not even tedious instrumental post-rock! i was not a fucking champs fan either, for the record. there is nothing metallic about this new album. it isn't heavy. it isn't metal. it isn't interesting or memorable. if this sounds like your kind of thing, then by all means, go for it. i've heard heavier, more thoughtful, and better played stuff from trans am and trans am are kinda known as being a lol ironic pastiche act with brains and no soul. it's true that souls are kinda overrated, but i actually detect more heart in past trans am genre exercises than i do in anything i've heard from pelican. the one nice thing i can say about the album is that the songs are relatively short and there are no agonizing climbs up godspeed mountain. and for that i was grateful. "nice to nap on the couch to" is no compliment in my book. lots of things are nice to nap to. like vivaldi or bach. i'd rather listen to great challenging music while i snooze, because then i'll wake up a better and brighter person.

don't know why i thought of trans am. just thinking of instrumental stuff i like. and i like a lot!

everyone should just listen to kosmos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmBQFW2ZZDY

I always get the impression that Trans Am are very genuine about loving the styles they turn their hand to. I mean I don't think their albums have especially matched up to what subgenres or scenes are 'in' at the time, which has probably counted against them if anything.

Feel like Pelican still have it in them to make good music by the simple expedient of chancing on a strong riff and rinsing the fuck out of it avec good clear production. Also feel, on initial listens, like this doesn't really happen on the new one

Have you looked into writing for any websites or starting your own blog, Jon? It doesn't pay as well/at all, but it'll give you the opportunity to write and get promos.

Heh, didn't mean to make it seem like I was only in it for the promos, I like the discipline of writing as well. I have a bad, semi-abandoned blog, been thinking about starting fresh one of these days. I'm just not terribly self-motivated to write for my own blog, I should look into some websites to write for.

"nice to nap on the couch to" is no compliment in my book

Yeah, I guess that could be construed as damning with faint of praise. I mean don't get me wrong, I do like it, but I'm not going to stick it on when I want to really rock out (though I have seen Pelican live and they rock a lot harder in person). That being said, can totally see why someone might call them 'wallpaper metal' or something of that ilk.

Usually it's troo kvlt metallers who hate them saying its "false metal" "hipster metal" or "nigel metal".
Of course most of those people probably did like them until others called them this and joined in.

They were really good both times I've seen them live, but that hasn't been in about 4 years now. Laurent is a really nice dude too.

I loved City of Echoes and the new one sounds great too. Scott's right about it having nothing to do with NeurIsis stuff and I guess that's what I like about them. They manage to combine traditional twin lead stuff with an almost twee-ish indie vibe. They also have a nice lilting groove going on. Larry Helweg is the Meg White of instrumetal, people going on and on about his supossed technical inferiority really aren't paying enough attention. And yes, they do turn it up live and are quite excellent, me thinks.

All their haters moan like fuck about the drummer

I know, and it's pure parroting. There's nothing wrong with it, and it's certainly not bad enough to completely ruin the band. Like I said, I think his simple style actually benefits Pelicans music.

the drumming on their stuff always seemed to me like an obvious stylistic decision--never understood the "he can't play" crowd.

Uhm, before someone calls me out on this: Can grooves lilt, or is it just melodies? You know what I meant right?

What's the beef with the drumming on the new Gorgoroth? It sounds Gorgoroth-esque to me. I just did a quick comparative flit through their back-catalog, and still don't hear what's that different about the drums on the new one.

xpost: true "groove" is antithetical to "lilt". The more "o"s, the less lilt: "groooove" is way unlilty. If it lilts, you've gone from groove to grove. Elves! Elves don't groove.

What's the beef with the drumming on the new Gorgoroth?

Well, it sure as hell doesn't lilt. I don't remember that loud obnoxious plastic drumcomputer-y sound from earlier records.

BTW, any thoughts on the production of World Painted Blood yet? I quite like it actually, but it's extremely small, dry and off-the-cuff, isn't it? I actually double checked with the distributor whether they'd sent me an unmastered promo or a rough mix or something. Especially because the production seems to vary from song to song. For instance, the already leaked track 'Psychopathy Red' seems to have a much bigger sound than a lot of the other songs. Regardless, it's a fine, lively and surprising album.

BTW, any thoughts on the production of World Painted Blood yet?

It's not far removed from South of Heaven, actually. Quite like it.

The difference on the Slayer thing is that Psychopathy Red and that other track have both been released as singles, therefore are the finished product. I kind of wish they'd just release the rest of it all punky.

Brian Eno would have said the nap thing was a compliment wouldn't he?

Gnaw Their Tongues. I was completely unaware of them until hearing about them on this thread then All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity turned up at my house for me to review. It isn't necessarily from this year, the post has been so bad in London recently.

It's just breath taking. The use of orchestral samples - manipulated to sound like a full contingent of musicians have just gone mad and started murdering each other with their instruments, Burial Hex-style horrotronix, some blackened vocals but not so much that you could call it ambient BM, more something odd that's influence by it like 'Black One'.

I love it that it's all made by one jovial looking Dutchman called Maurice.

Also it's a fine line in metal with crazy 'evil' titles but I feel a thunder in my chest when songs called shit like 'The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands' named after a Gustave Flaubert poem actually live up to their nomenclature for a change.

I bought another couple of albums by him; I'm still completely bewildered by it really. Which is a good thing. Buzzing off it.

I love it that it's all made by one jovial looking Dutchman called Maurice.

Too true. I admit I wonder what the reaction would be if the song titles/cover art were different.

The difference on the Slayer thing is that Psychopathy Red and that other track have both been released as singles, therefore are the finished product. I kind of wish they'd just release the rest of it all punky.

Well, like I said, I checked up on it and the whole promo is 'finished product', apparently.

Gorgoroth "plastic drumcomputer-y sound"? Are we listening to the same recording? The drums in mine don't sound even vaguely plastic or computery to me. (Which would be pretty pathetic for an album recorded in the drummer's own studio...)

it's mostly the snare to me. has no pop at all. on some songs, it sounds so samey it could almost be a sample. i also am not a huge fan of clicky bass kicks. it's possible i just need to listen to this loud on a speaker system instead of headphones.

Thijs: Ah right, missed that. Well good news then.

it's mostly the snare to me. has no pop at all. on some songs, it sounds so samey it could almost be a sample. i also am not a huge fan of clicky bass kicks.

I definitely hear that, there's plenty clicky bass and pillowy snare. It's an odd combination for sure, but to be honest, I don't find it all that distracting. Quite enjoying this album, actually.

Hmm, this Gnaw Their Tongues is definitely interesting. Metal? More like Occult Atmospherics, but close enough. I won't be too surprised if I end up thinking it's a little too staged, and I'm curious to see if I'll find it as compelling once it isn't surprising anymore. But if it holds up, musically, I'll have to decide what I think of the nominal aesthetics and the relationship between those and the music...

Also: Wodensthrone! Great Wolves-in-the-Throne-Room-ish forest-metal.

And I got through the new Epica at least once without deleting it, but I'm not sure yet if that's an actual endorsement. Ditto Bornholm and Majestic Downfall.

I've got a big problem with Wodensthrone. They come across as a bunch of passive aggressive, cowardly racists to me.

On their MySpace they say they aren't a nationalist band just going on about some pre-Christian utopia when men were men and women looked like Red Sonja that apparently existed before the Romans. They do this by giving each other middle English names and by calling Sunderland, The Sundered Land etc.

They give the real game away in their lyrics however when they bang over about "Children of the crescent moon" (followers of Islam I guess) and how their god can't hear them here (the UK) and false Gods in the east and stuff like that.

I'm not like a major history dude but I would be right in thinking that in relative terms the Roman invasion of Britain happened the best part of 2,000 years ago but Islam as a religion is only about 1,000 years old right? It's pretty much a mealy mouthed comment on current immigration policy that doesn't have the courage of its convictions to step out from behind the Beowulf bullshit.

Further investigation reveals that certain people associated with the band are following members of the BNP (far right wing UK political organisation that has strong links to neo Nazi groups on the continent) on twitter and are friends with them on myspace.

And when I say Neo Nazi groups I'm not talking about daft fat goths wearing rubber lederhosen listening to Boyd Rice or Burzum. I'm talking about organized thugs murdering immigrant workers.

A quick glimpse at their press shot reveals that they have singularly failed to resist the lure of McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and other forms of American imperial invasion that has ruined their 'pure' English way of life.

And this is the trouble with some of this back to the forest idyll shit is that it's so heavily obscured it's almost not worth bothering worrying about. But personally I am worried about it.

If anyone knows different to me, then please let me know - I'm not interested in misrepresenting people.

GNT: Yeah, I don't think it's metal but this is the thread where I first learned about them.

yes they are dodgy. It's the guy from atavist.

Ah right. The guy who runs the record label or the other fellow?

the main dude in atavist afaik (not the singer or old singer) . i only know about it because an exmember of atavist mentioned it on dffd that he disassociated himself from that guys side project.

Okay. Good to know cheers.

the others in atavist dont hold the same views afaik

I like some stuff on Coldspring; I think Atavist are pretty good. I pretty much don't care what people's private views on things are as long as they're not using the music as a platform.

It was more the cowardice of Wodensthrone that annoyed me more than anything else. They claim to be anti-postmodern, getting all dewy eyed for a time when men said what was on their minds but their lyrics prove them to be a 100% disingenuous band. Mealy-mouthed. Unable to summon up the courage to nail their colours to the mast.

I'd say I had more time for Skrewdriver but they were equally as disingenuous with only nobrash being a committed Nazi and the others thinking it was a good marketing move.

I get emails from coldspring as i once bought 2 issues of rockarolla magazine from them. Seems a mostly noise/industrial label/distro. No politics at all.

Aren't Atavist on Invada?

Rockarolla mag is pretty good. I think some people would disagree that any label that featured Sol Invicticus was "no politics at all" but what I'm trying to say is I'm not about damning people by association or even saying that there's necessarily a fire when there's a ton of smoke billowing out of a window.

But given that I've got my labels mixed up I should probably shut up.

Ah right. A quick glance at my poorly ordered CD rack reveals that Coldspring put out an Atavist/Nadja/Satori split.

Justin who runs Cold Spring is in Satori isn't he?

Anyway, enough of this blustering about.

Yoga 'Megafauna' dist by Revolver.

Again, not really metal but some kind of hybrid, BM, industrial, ambient, murkcore sort of thing.

They're selling it as BM's answer to TG; a billing to which it nearly measures up.

Yoga album is on Holy Mountain isn't it?

Ha ha. Fuck me.

My copy, which is a press copy, just says Dist. Revolver on it.

But yeah, it's probably on Holy Mountain. I've lost the press release because I'm one badly organized, memory loss mother fucker.

http://holymountain.com/artists/yoga/

Label aside: what do you think of it? Great, no?

yeah i like it (i like a lot of things on Holy Mountain)

I saw Aufgehoben recently in Tilburg. They were fucking amazing. I thought I saw Sleazy P from TG in the audience and I must have been terrorizing him until he told me (some time later) that he was a Dutch guy with a beard into improv and not in Throbbing Gristle. And to leave him alone.

was it a put on dutch accent?

Either way it must have been slightly uncomfortable for him; I kept on trying to push my TG T shirt into his face and my photographer who'd been smoking ketamine with a black metal band started chasing him down the street going 'come back! We love you!'

Obviously the other guy found it really easy to 'escape'.

I'm liking this new Lifelover "EP" (7 songs, 26 minutes) Dekadens. I'd somehow never heard this band, or else never quite paid attention. Somewhere between black metal and HIM, which I assume means it pisses somebody off a lot.

so beyond all the list-making: what's new & worth hearing?

80s metal fans can get nostalgic over on ILX 1980s ALBUM POLL REDUX: Nomination Thread (nomination time ends on Sunday, November 1st)