Rolling Metal Thread 2009

Holy shit, Metallica crushed it in Newark last night. "Ride the Lightning," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Master of Puppets," "Battery," "...And Justice For All," "One," six-and-a-half from the new one (no "My Apocalypse," sadly), "Enter Sandman," "Sad But True," and an (almost - they started with a bit of "Suicide and Redemption") all-Kill 'Em All encore - "Blitzkrieg," "Hit the Lights" and "Seek and Destroy." Oh, and "Nothing Else Matters" toward the end of the main set. Other than that, though, it was all crunch for two hours. They came out swinging; the opening version of "That Was Just Your Life" was faster than the studio version.

Machine Head was good; they covered Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and did five of their own songs, with a minimum of jabber from Robb Flynn. The Sword, though, tore shit up like a cross between Maiden and High on Fire. They fucking rule.

I think grimly fiendish would love it

It's already on his list, fear not. Didn't know there was a new Cobalt album, though! Sound.

Heh, not 15 minutes ago I was interviewing Yanni from Stinking Lizaveta, he went to the show in Philly and watched from backstage cos the band are tour pals w/ The Sword

xp

Just got the new SL in the mail; haven't checked it out yet but will this week for sure. Love those guys.

Just obtained a two-disc compilation (may actually be Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) called Latinoamerica Thrashin' the World, which is all unsigned thrash bands from Central and South America, and yes, it kicks all kinds of ass.

So, I made a commitment to listen to more Metal this year (primarily so my year-end list won't be quite as pathetic). I got the 2009 preview issue of Hails & Horns (which I've gotten in the mail since I profiled the Human Abstract about two years ago). Hopefully you guys can tell me which of this stuff I should be excited for (look for) and which probably sucks. They're looking forward to:

Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor (January), God Forbid - Earthsblood (February), Killswitch Engage (March), Darkest Hour (March), Lacuna Coil (May), Slayer (June), Chiodos (Fall), Comeback Kid (TBA), Municipal Waste (TBA), Behemoth (Fall), The Devil Wears Prada (April), Doomriders, Into the Boat, Job for a Cowboy, Impending Doom, God Dethroned, August Burns Red, Born of Osiris, A Day to Remember, Vanna, The Fall of Troy, A Plea For Purging, Evergreen Terrace, Psyopus, The Red Chord, It Dies Today

The Cattle Decapitation album is their best work to date, but if you don't already like them it won't win you over. The God Forbid album is very classicist - if you like Judas Priest and/or Opeth (not the new album but the two before that), you'll like it. You can't go wrong with Slayer - they've never made a bad record. I like Into the Moat (screaming hardcore-influenced death metal with weird jazz-fusion breaks and super-techy bass playing) and Job For A Cowboy (technical death metal - complex riffs, crazy drumming, Cookie Monster vocals) and Born Of Osiris (more technical death metal), but others may disagree.

The Devil Wears Prada, what an awful band. Watch out for Evergreen Terrace, though, their last album was surprisingly good. Chiodos isn't metal at all, but I actually admired their last CD...shamelessly sappy stuff.

I like Into the Moat (screaming hardcore-influenced death metal with weird jazz-fusion breaks and super-techy bass playing) and Job For A Cowboy (technical death metal - complex riffs, crazy drumming, Cookie Monster vocals) and Born Of Osiris (more technical death metal), but others may disagree.

Heh, I'm not a fan of JFAC at all. Tight performers, they have a better presence live than on record, but as far as actual songwriting goes, they don't hold a candle to a band like Neuraxis. Just boring noodling and grunting, with zero hooks.

I think Born of Osiris could develop into something special, and I'm not just saying that because my little brother went to high school with the guitarist. Their EP from a couple years ago wasn't amazing, but it showed tons of potential. I can't wait to hear the full-length.

God Forbid album is really, really good. Early word on the Lacuna Coil is that the new stuff sounds like a vast improvement over the last record. Killswitch Engage are always dependably good/great.

So I'll have to agree with Phil, the new Lamb of God (leaked over the weekend) is quite the cookin' album.

Early word on the Lacuna Coil is that the new stuff sounds like a vast improvement over the last record.

Can't be that good if they're going back into the studio post-tour to re-record it. (Shhh...you didn't hear that from me.)

Heh, wow.

Maybe it's so awesome they wanted to do it twice.

Reuse Your Illusion

The songs evolved as the band played them live? I'd say this re-recording doesn't prove the record will suck. But I haven't been very thrilled with a Lacuna Coil record in a while, so actually I'd have been inclined to tell them to try twice no matter how the first one turned out...

I'm listening to the new Absu. I was not a big fan of Tara, so I fully expected to just skip through a few songs and delete this, but it's holding my attention so far.

Also liking the two new Wolves in the Throne Room songs. Vinyl-only is a dubious trick in general, but kind of in character for WitTR...

The songs evolved as the band played them live?

Nope. The album was supposed to be out in late spring, but is being pushed back to the fall, so after they get off the tour they're about to commence, they've gotta get back to work on it.

Woah, I had no idea Orphaned Land had a new album coming out this year.

About time, too. I loved Mabool, but I hadn't listened to it in quite a while...the Global Metal movie reminded me of just how cool a band they are.

HAIL SATAN

http://www.boingboing.net/200902021203.jpg

Oops. That image is kind of huge.

The Fall Of Troy, from the album i heard is some super spazzmocore stuff that i seem to think i found sort of ok at the time but had zero lasting power. also were like really ridiculously young at the time, so like a wee baby version of Blood Brothers maybe.

So I listened to the new Lamb of God today. I mostly liked the parts that weren't the howling growling cookie monster vocals. (So parts of "Grace," the entire "The Passing," parts of "In Your Words," especially around 3:30 in that song.) I think one of my biggest issues with metal is how addicted I am to lyrics in almost all the music I listen to (probably cause I listen to mostly folk/singer-songwriter) and how hard it is to listen to something entirely not for the lyrics. Ironically I don't have this issue with Classical music. So it might be that the presence of vocals, but their incomprehensibility, bothers me. I feel like I should be able to understand them, and I'm frustrated that I cannot. Is frustrating the listener a part of the intention of metal music? Or is there something about the vocals that if I understood it, I'd be able to appreciate it more?

lyric sheets, bro.

Mordy I feel like you phrased your question in a cloying way, but I feel u: it's occurred to me "am I supposed to care what Xasthur or whoever is howling at me?"

When it comes to the more extreme forms of metal, lyrics are pretty much secondary in my opinion, what counts is the overall visceral impact of the music. If an extreme band does have an extremely talented lyricist (Red Chord, Pig Destroyer are two of my faves for instance), then that's just gravy. I don't care as much about metal lyrics as I did 25 years ago (really, really exceptional lyrics are few and far between), but I do appreciate the growlers and screamers who do make an effort to enunciate. Like Blythe in Lamb of God, he has a real knack for it. Or Corpsegrinder.

Yeah, I vastly prefer growls in my metal, but can't say I ever pay any attention to the lyrics. Just an odd line here and there (y'know, "Welcome to... my church!", haha!)
This point is limited to the subgenres that I guess get lumped together as "extreme metal" these days. I'm not sure how I listen to the vocals, to be honest. It's just a sort of binding rhythmic and textural element most of the time, though I do really like the -sound- of some growls, such as the ones on _Clandestine_.
I'd say I listen to metal mainly for rhythm (and implicitly structure), with the limited sort of melody and harmony brutal riffs provide trailing a bit behind. I do not like "melodic" death metal etc where people try to jam Judas Priest or Abba into their guitar leads, whether it's Vital Remains' _Dechristianized_ or In Flames' _The Jester Race_.

There's incidentally very little I find more offensive to listen to than -singing- over properly brutal riffs, which has made it very hard to find listenable recent "technical" metal bands, since they're all doing that unfortunate emo yell now.

Ignoring lyrics might be more common for us who don't speak English natively, I suppose; it's easier for us to not really pay close attention what the lyrics really say, and thus more easily be comfortable with songs where the lyrics are nigh-impossible to make out. It might also explain why "Every breath you take" is sometimes played at weddings here. Hm. Or why I've heard people complain about Anacrusis' cover of "I Love The World", which apparently wasn't a properly metal sentiment. This might be completely off-base, I admit. I've never really asked around.

Hrm, that didn't really lead anywhere, did it? Damn.
I've been listening to Solstafir on myspace lately, and uh, I don't really get it. Competent but kinda dull, eh? Maybe if I hadn't played "The Silent Enigma" to death back in the days.

I think that "Every Breath You Take" is played at weddings everywhere.

Very few modern metal bands have lyrics that matter to me, so I don't really care what bands are singing about. They have to have good riffs and a solid rhythm section (and of course make music I like).

i never pay attention to metal lyrics but the quality of the vocals matters a lot to me--timbre, timing, style, and just generally fitting in well with the music. a lot of solid bands are dragged down by a boring singer, but most of my favorite bands have a singer who is really trying to do something interesting. for example anaal nathrakh is to me a sort of forgettable band without their singer, and one thing that really elevated krallice was that mick barr did a nice job with the vocals.

This year's token metal band at Bonnaroo is Down.

xp I love melodic death metal, but that's probably because I look for melody over rhythm and music. However, I find that the Cobra Commander-style vocals work much better with melodic death metal than the Cookie Monster ones.

Also: RIP Metal Edge =(

word, RIP BIG MAG

Yeah, it's a sad day.

Yup. :-(

waht happen?

Yeah, really bummed out to hear that news.

The magazine stopped sucking just in time for the economy to kill it.

crap! after i just subscribed a couple of days ago. maybe that done it in?

Technically not public knowledge yet, fellas, but yeah, we're outta here.

Oops... epic fail!

No big deal.

Well, anyway, you did a great job with the magazine, Phil.

Yeah, what a turnaround that was. It went from being a Hit Parader-style jumble of badly written press releases to a magazine with real integrity.

Yeah, it was great to be even a very, very small part of that turnaround. Phil did such an amazing job.

Shit, I guess I should actually try and read a copy of this while I can - sorry to hear that

new Tombs video - gossamer
http://pitchfork.tv/videos/tombs-gossamer

metalgaze music from the USA

Are Tombs America's answer to Jesu?

album review
Tombs - Winter Hours
http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=13240〈=en

That review is not super useful, considering that it isn't in English. Although I already reviewed this record for Outburn.

ilxor bbcode messed the url up, go to the review and in the top left corner of the webpage see the link to the english language review

As you might surmise from the name, that is a really freaking depressing album.

I've been meaning to check out that Tombs album, but I've been having loads of trouble getting the Relapse promo flash player to work right.