Rolling Metal Thread 2012

Saw Sleep last night in Oakland.. The guys in Kowloon Walled City, who did an amazing set opening up asked me to be their band bitch for this show. You can't really say no, can you? The Fox Theater is the swankiest venue I've ever been in. its amazing..

Oxbow was main support and I was pretty disappointed. I thought they would be heavier, instead they were just weird..

Sleep was loud as fuck! No dummy cabs, they were using all of it! lol.. 6 cabs and 3 heads (thats 3 full stacks) for Pike; 4 cabs, 4 heads, and a guitar full stack with tow power amps for Al... Altough Jason (from Neurosis) was pounding the shit out of his drums, beating them as they owed him money, but he was drowned out.. the best sound in the place was in the wings of the theater stage, where I got a drum clinic from Jason-he's a fucking beast!! They played for two hours, and I think it was just one riff.. it was too loud to tell though. I went downstairs to the dressing rooms, where the whole place was just rattling to shit. I joked that union guys were coming in today to reset screws and nail shit back in..

hey guys send your best wishes to the viceroy, he got concussion in a scooter accident 2 nights ago. He's fine but I know you will want to send good metal vibes to him.

Shit, sorry to hear that. Good vibes to you, Viceroy. Or, uh, fierce vulpine vibes of satan to you! This is the metal thread, after all.

Throwing the horns in his direction.

Taking head banging too far, Viceroy. Hope you recover quickly.

i am not sure how metal scootering is, but concussions are like 110% metal so

He should have been wearing his Motorhead helmet.

^JJ OTM

Meanwhile, Chuck and Adrien, have you heard the new Crucified Barbara? Seems like it was basically custom-made for us.

Also, free Paradise Lost compilation: http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/06/07/free-download-and-stream-paradise-losts-lost-in-time-greatest-hits-compilation/

I first heard the first single from the new Crucified Barbara album a couple months ago, and yeah, it's great. I take it the rest of the album is just as good?

Yup, super fun, catchy gritty 80s metal with Doro-type vocals (although less histrionic). Probably not something that's going to make my year-end list (unlike the Grand Magus, which likely will), but great to drive to on a sunny day.

Meanwhile High on Fire has cancelled all touring plans as Matt Pike is going into rehab.

Ah fuck. Is it the painkiller thing again? He looked really ill at Alexandra Palace.

Man, weak sauce.

Press release Adrien tweeted says alcohol. Sadly not surprised, but wish him the best.

there was an interview w/him somewhere recently where he appeared to be drinking a lot

Pike must have went in right after that Sleep show in Oakland..

what did you do to him?

My friend was at that Oakland Sleep show.

"I really had the best time. I can't stop thinking about how amazing it was. So loud, so incredible to see them on home turf. After it was done Pikey lights a cigarette in the shadows of the stage after the show and survey's the crowd like "yeah motherfucker...that's what I thought." His stomach is so big, I think a demon is incubating up in thar."

Maybe he was so stoked from a good show that he partied too hard that night and realized after he'd better cool it if he wants to be able to continue rawking balls.

I bought him a drink before his show at Alexandra Palace. :-(

i really loved the sleep set at alexandra palace. it was a really powerful, righteous amalgam of 'dopesmoker/jerusalem'extract plus 'holy mountain'stuff. wish they'd played 'from beyond' tho'.

melvins covering 'youth of america' was fuckin' great too.

yeah that was a fun day alright, helped by the excellent weather, in contrast to today's November-like gale.

Yeah, there were more than a few "is Mike pregnant?" jokes when they played the Dark Lord Day event back in April. Glad to see he's getting help though.

Obviously "Mike" is my conflation of "Matt" and "Pike". Frack I'm tired this morning.

We should do that with more metal stars... Kerring! Tyomi. Jusborne.

patt Mike on the belly

Lulrich

Witch Mountain - Cauldron Of The Wild is out today! All you fans be sure to pick up or order a copy! I'll get one at the show on Saturday. Profound Lore | All That Is Heavy | Amazon

Anyone heard Crystal Viper's fourth and latest album, Crimen Excepta? It's a concept album about the persecution of witches accused of practicing black magic during the holy inquisition.

Anyone heard Crystal Viper's fourth and latest album, Crimen Excepta? It's a concept album about the persecution of witches accused of practicing black magic during the holy inquisition.

Yeah, I have it. It's OK. The one super annoying aspect is that there are short bridge tracks before every song, and they're nothing but sound effects - crackling fires, screaming torture victims - that serve no dramatic purpose (there's no dialogue) and just pad out the track listing/running time. I excised them all before putting it in my iPod. And even on a song level, it's not as good as their last album. They're not a great band, but if you're really hard up for Maiden-aping female-fronted power metal, they'll do.

if you're really hard up for Maiden-aping female-fronted power metal

so completely sold, holy fuck yes

Fair enough, but if you follow the storyline of the lyrics close enough, I think the sounds do serve a dramatic purpose. I was listening to <i>Legends</i> (2010), and I think the new one is better, and overall if not great, better than just good! And of course you can leave them out if you wish. Remember the old days of programming a temporary custom playlist in the 5 CD changer? That used to be a cool bonus feature, now it's considered an inconvenience!

How are their first two albums? I'm almost afraid to check, but I bet there's just a ton of other interesting Polish metal bands worth hearing.

if you're really hard up for Maiden-aping female-fronted power metal

so completely sold, holy fuck yes

That sold me too, but mostly it reminds me of Michael Schenker Group (although the solos aren't up to Schenker's standard) not least because Marta Gabriel's voice is uncannily like Gary Barden's. Not complaining...

I've never gotten around to any Michael Schenker Group. Should I start with MSG 2 (1981)?

Assault Attack is the one I'd recommend.

I've never gotten around to any Michael Schenker Group. Should I start with MSG 2 (1981)?

Sure, that's a good starting point. It and MSG 1 are both fine melodic hard rock but the release 1981 has Cozy Powell on drums. Assault Attack is a bit more aggressive, but I think the songs are stronger on the earlier records. I have a soft spot for 1983's Built to Destroy (especially the superior UK mix, which shows up as bonus tracks on the current mp3 release), but it's probably a dark horse choice, a little more pop.

Saint Vitus brought it last night

believe that (Bristol) was their last UK date but they are really on form so if you live in a place where you can see them, do it

the idea of a band where Wino could play guitar, but doesn't, and it's not even an issue, continues to amaze me (in a good way)

Totally agree, although the onslaught of Acid King threatened to steal the show beforehand.

How out of it was Wino though? Totally caned.

Man I totally need to hear more Acid King

Here's a thing I did for the day job: members of Dream Theater, Korn, Machine Head, Slipknot and Soulfly talking about balancing fatherhood with metal-hood.

Thanks for that, those things are always fun for me to read, doubly so having become a recent father myself.

(Congrats btw)

Congrats! My 14 month old presented me with a Marduk mug for my birthday this morning. It was most righteous. Then we invented a song: "Marduk! Marduk! Quack Quack Quack! Whose duck? Your duck? My duck? No Marduk!"

I enjoyed that fathers day piece immensely needless to say.

I def wanted to wish u a happy birthday Doran. I probably shouldve just revived an old Sunn0))) thread tbh

Thanks! \m/

OK, it became available on the band's website (and/or the rar blog of your choice) yesterday, so clearly it's time to talk about Manowar's new album, The Lord of Steel. They abandoned their plans to collaborate with some fantasy novelist on a concept album about Norse gods(!), and chose instead to bring back original drummer Donnie Hamzik (who only played on their debut album, Battle Hymns, before quitting) and just write ten awesome songs. Which these are. Best song titles: "Born in a Grave," "Expendable" (a tribute to the Sylvester Stallone movies), "Hail, Kill and Die" (presumably a sequel to "Hail and Kill"), and of course "Manowarriors."

Seriously, I get that Manowar are not for everyone—hell, they're not even for 90% of metal fans—but after years of snickering from afar, I downloaded their whole studio catalog (and one live album) a while back, and was totally converted. They're fucking awesome, and this album is awesome. The drums sound a little over-gated to me, and/but DeMaio's bass is much more fuzzed out than on previous albums, but Karl Wagner's guitar solos are terrific, and Erik Adams remains a solid vocal presence. I can see me playing this at least as often as the new Grand Magus, and that album's gonna make my year-end list for sure (which, to name one other notable and semi-comparable example, the new High On Fire is definitely not).

i love manowar so much. black wind fire + steel is my jam.

i used to listen to eddie trunk's show in high school and that's where i first heard them

I'm hoping the new Manowar is better than the last album, which was dreadful.

The Grand Magus album is incredible. Plus the band is coming to North America in September just to play Noctis Fest & Conference in Calgary with Agalloch and Pig Destroyer, which is going to rule. (I'm going to be one of the panelists there this year, too)

Is the theme "no two metal bands that sound even remotely similar"? Wow.