Rolling Metal Thread 2009

And in the case of Katatonia well...their relevance/glory days are more than a decade behind them, both artistically and in terms of commercial breakthrough

It's never too late for a commercial breakthrough...as Scott said, just look at what Koch has done for Opeth and In Flames. Katatonia should be right up there. My local metal-friendly CD chain store had loads and loads of new Metal Blade/Nuclear Blast stuff prominently displayed, but just one copy of Night is the New Day, hidden away in the racks.

Alternative 4 (where they sounded exactly like Nickelback)

ok, I've never actually listened to this album and this isn't making me want to. is this accurate??

If I recall correctly, didn't Anathema's Peaceville compatriots Paradise Lost have a brief flirtation with the singles charts (in the UK at least) when they went 'pop' in the late '90s?

There's a difference between breaking with yr second album like Opeth and In Flames did and trying to break through with your eighth album. Also, Opeth and In Flames never changed style didn't lose their old fanbase, and kept the momentum going throughout their career. That makes promoting new albums easier for labels.

Lastly, there's a big audience for generic Gothenburg death and shitty prog, and not so much for mopey metal-lite (as Paradise Lost, Amorphis, Anathema, Sentenced and Katatonia have all discovered).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4x1Mq-NFFc

The intro is vintage Anathema, but then they go completely overboard.

peaceville has no base in the states. and horrible distribution. at least century media could get CDs into the stores. just this year katatonia did a deal with n.y. press people. i think. i remember an e-mail about them being represented by a u.s. company for the first time. i think its too little too late. but you never know. i mean, are they stunning me like they did a decade ago? no. do they still put out strong product that is light years more intelligent and better-crafted than 99% of whatever new shit is on u.s. rock radio. oh yeah.

this is a band that only started touring the states in the last couple of years. which is REALLY too late if you ask me. and i totally blame century media for not footing the bill for that years ago. touring is ALWAYS gonna get more people excited. i dunno. maybe they just didn't want to work it that hard. it's up to the band ultimately. i mean a band as marginal sales-wise as melt banana can find a way to tour the u.s., like, 50 times in ten years. and open for tool! so, it's never impossible. (i don't know what made me think of melt banana. they just seem to be always playing somewhere. and they don't live anywhere near here, i don't think. though there are only three of them and they probably travel light.)

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http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/64s/36733965.jpg Katatonia - Forsaker 12,432 listeners

http://www.last.fm/music/Katatonia/_/Forsaker

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Forsaker (4:03)

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depressive rock, melancholic, doom metal, doom, 2009

Judging by this they might be going to get some kind of breakthrough.

hmm i never banned it lol. Ive not even played them ever.

in my fantasy land, judgement by anathema is as big as, like, the wall by pink floyd, sales-wise. and generations of stoner teens study it like the bible. god i love that album.

# squidgehog wrote:
Wednesday morning

thank god it's not doom, because i hate doom! and further do i dislike god!

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"Jupiter was Cave In's peak for me. I thought Until Your Heart Stops and Beyond Hypothermia were kinda baby-steps and even at their best Botch wiped the floor with 'em. So the move toward something more conventionally rock yet still mathy and awesome was a natural, and wise, choice. Had they recorded three albums in a row in that style they'd be revered today, I think."

Phil--I'm with you 100% on this. I bought Antenna and even liked the single alright. But it just didn't have the appeal of Jupiter. And nothing they've released since has been cohesive.

I still enjoy them live, but I usually have to stand right at the front of the stage so the instruments are louder than the voice. The "vocal up" mix does these guys no favors.

Arabrot have had plenty of releases before but none outside of Norway until now, says their helpful label guy.

This EP is new and is called 'I Rove'.

And yeah, it's probably not really metal but I guess it's close enough that people on here may dig it.

To the best of my knowledge I've never heard Katatonia. I feel like I've committed some kind of crime.

Me either. Katatonia has long been on my list of bands to check out when I run across one of their albums in a shop, but I have never run across one! Partly because of the spotty at best Peaceville distribution, but also I guess no one ever sells them back used.

funny ho ive heard arabrot years ago but never checked out katatonia. the name probably put me off (other uk folk will understand why)

Ha, I think I recall them having reviews with lines to the effect of 'lol not that stupid Welsh indie band' like 10 or 11 years ago which is about when they started getting any press over here

Hehe, I think I still have "Mulder & Scully" on the mp3 player.

oh god

Ha ha! Yeah, that is *exactly* the reason why I have never listened to them . . .

and why they never cracked the UK

It's Veterans Day here in the US, so I posted some appropriate videos on my MSN Music blog: Black Sabbath (really nice live "War Pigs" from Paris 1970 with different lyrics), Metallica's "One", Slayer (live "Ghosts Of War" from 1988), Amon Amarth's "Runes To My Memory"...and Flipper's "Sacrifice":

http://bit.ly/15RXiO

After seeing Gojira completely destroy last month, I'm surprised I didn't find out about Hacride sooner. Downloaded it last weekend, loved it, bought the CD at Metal Haven last night. Nice packaging too. I also listened to the last three Madder Mortem albums, but those are harder to find physical copies of. I heart Metal Thread.

Make Hatebreed Not War

I should probably save this for the Rolling 2010 Metal thread, but the new Arsis is pretty killer. It's now a nwobhm/thrash hybrid more than ever, a huge, huge Arch Enemy thing going here...which to be honest pleases me to no end.

How the hell have you heard that? I haven't seen a NB download link for it yet.

Any NWOBHM band with a name that sounded like 'Arses' would have been roundly ridiculed in the pages of Sounds.

Sorry, but it's true. British culture.

and fair

Haha.

How the hell have you heard that?

I have to get a dB review done by Friday, and I think it's just been mastered, so I got a rush d/l. But if it's anything like Nile, it should be serviced to everyone else really soon.

Ah. Well, I'm not a huge fan anyway (I hate Malone's vocals).

He's learning to enunciate more, I'll give him that. But like AE, the harsh vox complement the wicked guitar hooks quite nicely, and the hooks on this album are gigantic.

hey scott i doubt you've seen this, since you don't read the last.fm thread, but it appears you have a fan
http://i34.tinypic.com/2po5ts2.jpg

Bolt Thrower are kind of odd ducks on that bill, aren't they?

Ask whoever the guy is, its his bill.
but why anyway?

I would say Dragonforce is the odder choice than Bolt Thrower. The latter is one of the all time classic metal bands ever. Refreshing to see them in this proper context IMO.

scariest e-mail subject line i received today:

YOU ARE INVITED TO A PRIVATE LISTENING PARTY WITH CHAD AND GREG OF MUDVAYNE

hahaha

http://headbangersblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mudvaynepic1008.bmp

didn't even know they still existed

Jan 19 Sigh - Scenes From Hell. Finally! I've got to be strong like Faust, and resist listening 'til I'm done with my 2009 list!

I like Mudvayne. Their second album was quite proggy and enjoyable, and their last album was pretty good, too. I'm actually looking forward to hearing the new one.

Finally got around to listening to Funeral Mist's "Maranatha", much raved about upthread: Amazing production, wild Lovecraft-monster vocals, reminds me quite a bit of Leviathan, specifically "Massive conspiracy . .", which makes me wonder about some common 2nd wave influence I haven't got to yet. Lots of effects and samples, and changes that make you feel like your head is coming off. Suspect I'll be spending some time with this.

Funeral Mist's "Maranatha" ... reminds me quite a bit of Leviathan, specifically "Massive conspiracy..."

Quite possibly my two favorite albums of the decade.

The guitars on both records have this boiling, liquid quality that really isn't like anything I've heard anywhere else.

Listening to the 4-disc Metallica bootleg Live in the '80s, which pretty thoroughly debunks any argument that James Hetfield's vocals were better in the old days.

I didn't know anyone disagreed with that. Is the bootleg for sale or just for download?

Wait, did I read that wrong?

Left the Metallica show early last night; they were playing almost the same set I saw in February, and I got bored. Lamb of God were good, though; at one point Randy Blythe said, "This song is dedicated to my mom, who's making her first ever trip to New York tonight. I love you, Mom. It's called 'Redneck.'"

do lamb of god still sound like pantera clones? I had high hopes for them til they did that.

With Lamb of God, it's not so much the Pantera-copping of "Redneck" than just complacently doing the same thing that they've done on the previous three albums. Which is okay, they still put out some solid tunes and it pleases their fanbase (not to mention the sycophants at Sirius Liquid Metal), but they can certainly do better than Wrath. They've started to plagiarize themselves.