Rolling Metal Thread 2012

Which goat? They are not an easy band to Google.

Goat's 'World Music'.

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/headbang-blogpost.aspx?post=23c13964-a164-4396-a7cc-ca0c2761b653

I don't get how Goat are metal. And my definition is really, really loose.

Yeah dude, Albert would laugh at me.

Hard rock, stoner/psych, whatever you want to call it. Might not be "extreme" enough for some metal places, but it's going on my list at MSN.

To my ears it's kraut rock and afrobeat and psych. Doesn't really have any stoner grooves or even retro hard rock. It's a solid album, I just find it odd to place it under an even large metal umbrella.

"Goathead" is an example of it being plenty heavy and groovy to make it qualify in my opinion.

I can't help but feel like I'm missing some obvious stuff…

black breath, bosse-de-nage

i don't remember what you think of the newest high on fire. don't remember what i think about it either.

High on Fire was good, and I liked it, but it didn't really jump out at me as end of year material. Same with Black Breath.

i wasn't sure black breath was so special, but then i ended up playing it 40 times.

Too early for end 2012 lists.. the new Converge nor Neurosis have yet to drop... lol!
I know a lot of you fuckers get to hear this shit early, but us mortals have to wait!

Given that I didnt particularly like any Enslaved record from the past ten years, is it worth spending time with the new one? The reviews seem to be v positive...

if Goat weren't called Goat and their sleeves didn't look like some 30-year-old NWOBHM band they would never have been mentioned in this thread

When are Enslaved reviews ever negative? They're like Neurosis in that regard - universally beloved of all metal writers (except me).

Discounting albums that are only marginally metal (45 Grave, Bushman's Revenge, El Doom & the Born Electric, Goat, Timmy's Organism, King Mob, Metz, Anders Nilsson, Elephant9 With Reine Fiske, ZZ Top, Blackberry Smoke, 333 -- anybody want to argue that any of those are definitely metal?), my metal top 25 so far would look something like this:

Angel Witch – As Above, So Below (Rise Above)
Thunderkraft – Totentanz (Svarga)
3 Inches Of Blood – Long Live Heavy Metal (Century Media)
Bible Of The Devil – For The Love Of Thugs & Fools (Cruz Del Sur)
Christian Mistress – Possession (Relapse)
Pharaoh – Bury The Light (Cruz Del Sur)
The Shrine - Primitive Blast (Tee Pee)
Bullet – Full Pull (Nuclear Blast)
Larman Clamor – Frogs (Small Stone)
Saint Vitus – Lillie: F-65 (Season Of Mist)
Grand Magus – The Hunt (Nuclear Blast)
Royal Thunder – CVI (Relapse)
Abrahma – Through The Dusty Paths Of Our Lives (Small Stone)
The Sword – Apocryphon (Razor & Tie)
Altar Of Oblivion – Grand Gesture Of Defiance (Shadow Kingdom)
Hellwell – Beyond The Boundardies Of Sin (Shadow Kingdom)
Lord Fowl – Moon Queen (Small Stone)
Skånska Mord – Paths To Charon (Small Stone)
Witchcraft – Legend (Nuclear Blast)
Tygers Of Pan Tang – Ambush (Rocksector)
Kadavar - Kadavar (Tee Pee)
Witch Mountain – Cauldron Of The Wild (Profound Lore)
Accept – Stalingrad (Nuclear Blast)
The Devil’s Blood – The Thousandfold Epicentre (Metal Blade)
Ulver – Childhood’s End (Kscope)

Uh, maybe some of those (Devil's Blood, or some of the more "hard rock" ones?) are only marginally metal too, to some people. I've obviously never been great about knowing where to draw the line.

The Devil's Blood was out in the rest of the world last year too. They appeared in most EOY lists. It's a terrific album.

Yeah, it's pretty good for such a boring record. But I didn't hear it until 2012 (which is when it came out in the U.S.)

Also, what do people think about these 3 records qualifying for year-end lists? (All old music, but very sparsely available until now apparently -- especially the top one.)

Coven – Worship New Gods (Shadow Kingdom)
Pagan Altar – The Time Lord (Shadow Kingdom)
Manilla Road – Invasion (Shadow Kingdom)

Yeah, I might have to move Goat to my ever-growing list of "marginal"metal honourable mentions. There are a lot of those this year.

I feel like both the Bullet and Witchcraft albums (both of which I was really looking forward to) are greatly inferior to each band's previous record.

Absolutely. Plenty to like on both, but the Bullet album sounds tired, while Witchraft is SORELY missing the psychedelic influence that made The Alchemist so great.

Don't disagree on Witchcraft (whose lineup has been 3/5 overhauled since their last album), and I've actually never heard a Bullet album before. Do think the new Bullet one has a few rote tracks, too. But there's was plenty I liked on both new albums anyway -- especially the Bullet.

You definitely need to check out more of Bullet, xhuxk, especially the last one, Highway Pirates. At their best, they're a perfect cross between Accept and AC/DC circa '85.

'85 is where any self respecting AC/DC fan draws the line on their output.. Thats the Fly on the Wall record, and a lot of AC/DC fans don't like it.. i think there are some gems on there, but after that, its pretty bad.. Plus Phil Rudd is out by then, and you don't have a proper AC/Dc without Phil Rudd.. EVERYONE knows that!

Also, what do people think about these 3 records qualifying for year-end lists? (All old music, but very sparsely available until now apparently -- especially the top one.)

I think yes. If i were making one these would definitely appear. Although the Coven is the only one that wasn't previously reissued, if that counts for anything. Such a great album.

Voivod were great in Dublin last night. I think maybe the best thing about it was that they looked so happy.

The new songs are good stuff too, looking forward to the album in January.

Cool, I'm seeing Voivod tonight. Wasn't really sure what to expect - we're mostly going to see Doom support them, Voivod is a bonus.

Top ten (twelve?) so far roughly in order:
Asphyx - Deathhammer
Mgla - With Hearts Toward None
Nachtvorst - Silence
Les Discrets - Ariettes Oubliees
Burzum - Umskiptar
Al Namrood - Kitab Al Awthan
Furia - Marzannie, Krolowej Polski
Lunar Aurora - Hoagascht
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine
Wodensthrone - Curse
A Forest of Stars - A Shadowplay for Yesterdays
Heidevolk - Batavi

Oh and:
Deiphago - Satan Alpha Omega

There are no bad AC/DC albums. Some are (much) better than others, but there are no bad AC/DC albums. They've never made a Turbo.

Cool, I'm seeing Voivod tonight. Wasn't really sure what to expect - we're mostly going to see Doom support them, Voivod is a bonus.

Doom were pretty good too. I guess the crowd here wasn't much into 'em, aside from the two lifers at the front yelling out for 'Police Bastard'. One of the band did quip: "Is that the only song we wrote?"

Doom are pretty popular in London I think, last time I saw them here was at an all day punk/oi!/crust gig and I think they had the biggest draw of all the bands. Not sure how much that crosses over into Voivod fans but I often see people I recognise from crusty punk gigs at metal shows, so might be OK.

Unfortunately, I'm not as into this A Forest of Stars record as I was the last one.

However – you guys have to listen to Venomous Maximus! They are from Houston, but they capture the Aleister Crowley charisma and charmingly incompetent on occult rock of 80s Italian bands like Death SS. Stream or buy here: http://venomousmaximus.bandcamp.com/

I wrote a review of the new Ehnahre album that will be up on Burning Ambulance tomorrow.

I've really been enjoying the new Venomous Maximus album, too.

A while ago I asked if anybody knew of a good metal/dubstep combination. Nobody really came up with anything that matched what I meant, but I did just come across a metal song with dubstep wobble-bass, which is pretty good: "Távolból", by Hungarian vaguely-gothic band Obsidian Shell.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7DpxQG0EB50A0GGpPGRrL6

I liked their 2009 debut quite a bit, but they've done three more since then without my realizing. This song is from the new one, In Noxa Est. According to EM they're still unsigned, so you get extra indie cred for listening.

Also, this new Kiss record is pretty decent.

By the standards of a Kiss record, or by the standards of music generally?

Er, I guess both. It's an unapologetically straightforward analog hard rock record, so if that's not a kind of thing you like, it probably won't matter what standards anybody applies. But I think it's a pretty solid reminder, and I admit I'm one of the people who periodically forgets this, that Kiss was a real rock band, not just a stage show. Was and is.

I should clarify: I've never been a Kiss fan, and it has nothing to do with the makeup or anything besides the music. As a '70s hard rock band, they've never done it for me - they've got maybe two or three genuinely solid, memorable, rockin' songs, and then a whole bunch of stuff that seems to me to be way inferior to what else was going on at the time. Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Montrose...all those bands had way better songs than Kiss, to my ear. So if it's only as good as the stuff other people like by them, I know it's not gonna work for me. That's what I meant.

Did you like Black 'n' Blue back in the day? Because Tommy Thayer seems to be driving the riffs and musical structure of a fair chunk of the new Kiss sound. If you don't like how he writes a song than I expect the new Kiss will be as worthless as old Kiss to you.

Oh, and while we're clarifying, this is the first whole Kiss record I've listened to since, er, Love Gun or so, and as best I can recall the first one I've ever said anything complimentary about. I was also never an Aerosmith, Nugent or Montrose fan. But I like AC/DC, UFO and Rainbow.

I went on Spotify and tried listening to other recent Kiss albums. Couldn't find Sonic Boom on there, but checked out Psycho Circus and Carnival of Souls, and honestly I liked the first few songs on Carnival but HATED Psycho Circus.

can't recall/be bothered to read up on why Nachtmystium shed members with such regularity but if you want to know what four (4) ex-members are doing now they are in a band called Doomsday which is pretty dece crusty BM rampage on the basis of their mini-album. also they include a cover of 'I Kill Everything I Fuck' but sadly did not cede to demands for an acoustic version

Each Blut Aus Nord album seems almost indistinguishable from the one before, to me, but I feel like they're slowly perfecting something odd and fascinating.

I kind of gave up on Blut Aus Nord a while ago, but maybe we'll meet again when they do perfect that sound.

Really digging Hellwell right now. Manilla Road + keyboards, basically.

yeah i like the Hellwell

More ebulliently sparkly female-sung gothic/symphonic metal for you: Yotangor's second album, We Speak. They're from France. The "symphonic" part here is basically just some keyboards. The "gothic" part is basically just the female singer and everybody wearing black on the cover. So it's kind of more metallic synthpop hard rock. Which is absolutely fine with me.

Any reactions to new Yakuza or Neurosis?