Rolling Metal Thread 2009

I never really gave Bolt Thrower the time of day before, but their Peel Session tracks are utterly immense, I'm digging them muchly.

"In Battle There is No Law" is classic. They were mad live on the Earache records tour back in the day.

The Wire is asking folks who contribute year-end lists to cite reissues and compilations separately, and Grind Madness At The BBC is definitely making my compilations list.

every time people give a shout out to Gay Witch Abortion it makes me so happy

― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten)

I wouldn't have ever heard of them or checked them out without you, so big thanks! Maverick is awesome.

awesome! i think that you and j0hn D and uh no one are my converts at this point

It is their loss for it is awesome.

Any major releases still to come out November?

The new Krallice is due out next week, but whether that's a major release (in the gravity sense) is in the eye of the beholder.

It is for me. I loved the last one. Im waiting for the vinyl version next year though since I have the last one on lp.

Best-of-year stuff not mentioned yet in my list: The Gates of Slumber, Iron Age, Gnaw, L'acephale, Eagle Twin, 1349, Manatees

Not even started making a list. Will do so in january i guess.
Was the Ocean album out this year or last? Im still awaiting the vinyl version.

Pantheon of the Lesser was last year.

i shouldve checked the poll i ran last year. I cant believe the vinyl still isnt out then if it was last year.

man that was an awesome album

although the bands in question probably aren't getting any accounting from Earache

This is something I've been thinking about after finding a load of early MRR issues scanned online - how/when did Dig go from being a pious holier-than-thou hardcore anarcho-punker to being an unscrupulous money-grubbing businessman? Does anyone know of an "un-authorised" history of Earache online?

i think it was around MOSH005

More Best-of contenders: Revocation, Liturgy, Amesoeurs, Greymachine, God Forbid, Black Cobra, Saviours, Goatwhore...I could go on. It's been a great year.

The new Krallice is due out next week, but whether that's a major release (in the gravity sense) is in the eye of the beholder.

Barring any late-year surprises, it's the last biggie of 2009, I think.

Greymachine and Black Cobra, yes. Saviours yes.

Liturgy seconded. Fucking amazing.

I'm still blasting Nargaroth's "Jahreszeiten" on a daily basis, and I probably like the insanely cheery "Fruhling" section most at this point.

Borgia's "Ecclesia" is really good Death/Grind to these ears.

What about Hiems? Absu? Hypocrisy? Funeral Mist? I think those were all very good 2009 records.

I listened to that Nargaroth record based on everything I read in this thread, and I have to say, it was one of the strangest things I have ever heard.

Yeah, Funeral Mist, definitely. Gorgoroth really surprised me...it sounds like the right guy won the court case.

This is going to be a hard list to get down to 10, for me. At this point there are a few albums I haven't fully absorbed that I'm almost hoping don't grow on me more, so it doesn't get any harder.

In serious contention: Absu, Amorphis, Antigua & Barbuda, Blut Aus Nord, Candlemass, Cantata Sangui, Eluveitie, Funeral Mist, Gnaw Their Tongues, Gorgoroth, Heaven & Hell, Kreator, l'Acephale, Lifelover, Liturgy, Madder Mortem, Nargaroth, Samael, Saros, Satyricon, Secrets of the Moon, Sirenia, Slayer, Sunn O))), 1349, Thy Catafalque, Tyr, Urna, Wardruna, Wodensthrone, Wolves in the Throne Room

Not yet ruled out: Amesoeurs, Anaal Nathrakh, Augury, Entwine, Epica, Hypocrisy, Immortal, Obsidian Shell, Witchbreed, Xasthur

This thread has a lot of stuff people like from this year: Best ov Metal 2009

Haven't heard the new Slayer yet, but I would consider adding Devin Townsend's Addicted to my list.

Glenn -

I too love that Wardruna album but it just doesn't seem metal at all. Awesome creepy folk music, but it's hard for me to see it as metal despite the pedigree. And a big second to Madder Mortem - on paper I should hate it but it just captivates.

I forget to mention the latest Slough Feg - Ape Uprising is still getting major play. And Hacride's Lazarus. In retrospect this has been quite a good year.

Yeah, Wardruna is arguably metal by association only, at least taken strictly on its musical characteristics, but because of that association I listen to it in a metal context, and it makes cultural and aesthetic sense to me that way. Eluveitie is obviously another borderline case, but then so in parts are Amesoeurs, Cantata Sangui, Gnaw Their Tongues, l'Acephale, Sunn O)))), Thy Catafalque and Xasthur, at least.

Madder Mortem seems really likely to be my #1.

Madder Morten screams number 1.

It's a horse race between Cobalt, Katatonia, and Converge for my #1. I just might have to take the coward's way out and just assign 1a, 1b, and 1c. All equally good in completely different ways, and no other metal records quite reach that level of excellence, in my opinion, there's quite a gulf between the first three and the rest.

Darkspace IV is on the way (and a show in Finland)

http://www.darkcyberspace.com/stprtcl200911081507.html

Awesome - I wish I could afford the flight to Helsinki!

Been listening to Sun Of The Blind side project by the guitarist who isn't Wroth from Paysage D'Hiver- it's OK, but it really made me want to hear a new Darkspace disc, so it's good to know it's on it's way.

This is something I've been thinking about after finding a load of early MRR issues scanned online - how/when did Dig go from being a pious holier-than-thou hardcore anarcho-punker to being an unscrupulous money-grubbing businessman? Does anyone know of an "un-authorised" history of Earache online?

― Colonel Poo, Friday, November 6, 2009 3:48 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Albert Mudrian's book Choosing Death from a few yrs back has quite a lot of 'insider'-ish stuff on Earache, esp the early 90s period when most of their released had major distribution in the US. I felt like Dig seemed more clueless than venal or unscrupulous so I dunno how hard Albert was being on him exactly. I've read those PDFs too and yeah it just seems like a timeless case of it being easy to call out people who put their head above the parapet until circumstances give you the chance to do the same thing yourself

So where are these MRRs?

Plz.

here

I'm sticking with Baroness at #1 no matter what, but Krallice is a serious contender. What an amazing record. For me, it's a substantial improvement on their debut, and I thought their debut was incredible.

ÅRABROT - 'I Rove' (Fysisk)

Just received this Norwegian EP. It's phenomenal, kind of Birthday Pary meets Swans meets Overmars meets Godflesh with BM overtones. Haven't heard any of their previous albums though.

WANT

coalesce fucking destroyed yesterday. danzig might as well have worn a fucking tutu.

Listening to the new Katatonia album. Very beautiful (a couple of the tracks really sound like outtakes from Opeth's Damnation), but is it even a metal album? I'm not sure.

how does Katatonia manage to get the whole techno-presets-meets-metal thing so right? The synth/keyboard work on this album is top notch.

The Katatonia record actually reminds me of Catherine Wheel (specifically in the vocals). Which isn't a bad thing, but how can it be compared to something like Liturgy? Still, it's a very good record; I don't mean to say otherwise.

who compared it to Liturgy?

No one at all, not specifically -- but unperson asked if it was "even a metal album?" I was kind of responding to that. I can't think of any sonic criterion by which it is really "metal," whereas I think Liturgy is probably the heaviest record I have heard this year, and by that standard, I don't see how Katatonia can be objectively considered metal. However, that's an admittedly subjective and arbitrary standard. Just my reaction.

Yeah, it's more darkwave than anything, I guess. But us metal writers are pretty much the only press that will give this album any attention, despite its very broad appeal. Anyway, Renske's singing on the album is just unreal, and the production is immaculate. I think it's as big a revelation as the Cure's Disintegration was back in '89, as if all the right pieces fell together at the same time at long last.

On an unrelated note, is it common knowledge round these parts that John Dyer Baizley from Baroness did the art for the recent Flight of the Conchords album? (I just put 2 + 2 together myself, is why I'm asking.) Pretty cool!

http://www.metalsucks.net/2009/11/09/r-i-p-jerry-fuchs-maserati-drummer/

Very sad, not to mention grisly.

But us metal writers are pretty much the only press that will give this album any attention, despite its very broad appeal.

could be that metal fans are the only target for their sound anyway, whether they are metal or not. their name, doom-and-gloom atmosphere, and the chunky guitars on certain songs probably make it seem metal than any other genre to non-metalheads. the only Katatonia fans I've met in person have been metalheads my age (mid 30s). the audience when I saw them a few years ago was decidedly older, too.

I don't know what the point of that speculation was, other than to say that I guess I categorize them as metal by default since they used to do death metal, and only metal fans like them?

I think Katatonia's sound has advanced enough to the point where it can appeal to anyone who digs vintage goth/darkwave, and the subtle Massive Attack thing they have going on NITND sure doesn't hurt either.

I'm reminded me of all the bitching and moaning from non-metal folks who say they want to like so-and-so metal band but can't get past the harsh vocals...you want textured singing in heavy music, well, here it is. Doesn't get much better than this record.