Rolling Metal Thread 2009

Did an email interview with the guy from Liturgy last week, and I came away mightily impressed. Smart guy. Not often you get a fella who goes into great detail describing the similarities between black metal and spectralism.

The drumming on that album is nuts.

he seemed like there was a lot going on upstairs. that's good to hear. the drumming was crazy!

Listening to a five-song sampler from the new Lita Ford album, Wicked Wonderland. She can still play. Unfortunately, she still can't sing. And the production is more Rob Zombie than Runaways (or even her early solo stuff). Oh, well.

The Gates of Slumber disc sounds really good so far, but not all that distinct from your average doom/stoner-type stuff to me. i like it fine, but can't really see why it's being praised to the skies; i mean, the second coming Sabbath it is NOT.

― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Not being a dick but I kinda wonder how hard yr listening if it comes off as 'doom/stoner type stuff' to you - there's like one long sludgy song on there and near enough everything else has a bunch of Priest/NWOBHM/Dio type grandstanding about it... I think people are just saying that if you like stuff like that these guys are pretty much at the top of the class right now

no i get that, just surprised at the amount of praise it's getting is all. i mean, the riffs are ok but nowhere near Sabbath worthy; likewise the vocals & songs. as i said, i like it, just wish it was better. i much prefer the Heaven & Hell album, tbh.

OK, I'm having one of those "holy crap, how did I not know about this before?" days. This time it's Thy Catafalque. Only three reviews in EM, though, so maybe I'm not the only one here who didn't know about them. Hungarian, experimental/electronic/symphonic/gothic/atmospheric black metal. The new album, their 4th, is called Roka Hasa Radio, with a whole bunch of accents, and I don't know what it means. The experience I'm having is like the ones I had discovering Negura Bunget, and before that Rotting Christ: like I've stumbled into some whole culture I didn't know about. In this case, thick with folk melodies via Xennakis via Jean Michel Jarre, layers upon layers, surges of noise shot with twittery melodic glitter. Exciting.

tbf all gates of slumber fans are doom metallers

tho this album might pick up new fans (theyre already getting stick for joining Rise Above)

so the circle of true doom pricks might go off them if they do

i'm not usually a stats kinda guy, but in the new decibel mag there are two perfect tens in the review section. don't think that's ever happened before. i could be wrong.

also, great job on the hall of fame, adrien! i haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's already one of the best i've read.

also also, kudos jeff "girly metal" treppel! hahahaha! you rule!

Thank you, sir! I have been enjoying your Wages of Din column. Even though, as a non-noise freak, it's unlikely that I'm ever going to listen to any of those bands, your column does make me curious.

Thanks, Scott! It was one of those situations where you interview a favourite band from your youth and you come away admiring them even more. Everyone was so friendly.

The two perfect tens are really deserving scores, that's for sure.

i think it does benefit from being an album that feels like actual "history". you know? so much has changed since then. the making-of stories in the hall of fame of albums from the 90's just don't seem as intriguing most of the time, cuz they seem too...fresh? i dunno.

oh, and the noise column is fun. i am a fan, but i wouldn't say i'm a fanatic. i'm surely no expert. i saw the column as a way for me to re-invigorate myself writing-wise and listening-wise. plus, i thought if decibel was gonna be about "extreme" music that it should at least tip its hat to that other netherworld of experimental/extreme stuff that has been around as long as metal has. i'll tell you what the best thing about it is though. noise/experimental dudes are really excited/appreciative when someone shows an interest in their stuff! cuz their audience is so small. i tell ya, when i was doing the black label ball column every month it could be really frustrating trying to get stuff from small metal labels. some of them were "extremely" unhelpful. i wanted to grab them and say: dude! i am offering you what amounts to a free half page of advertising in a metal magazine! what is your problem! and these weren't tiny kult labels that hated the idea of press. i dunno. it could be discouraging.

Also: the new Hypocrisy is really good.

I'm actually not 100% sure that AFM is even aware I did a Black Label Ball on them.

i think it does benefit from being an album that feels like actual "history". you know? so much has changed since then. the making-of stories in the hall of fame of albums from the 90's just don't seem as intriguing most of the time, cuz they seem too...fresh? i dunno.

I sort of feel the same way, for the most part I'm far more interested in the pre-90s inductees, and I knew if I was going to do one it had to be from the early-80s era.

love all ya trv Hessian warriors!!! when's the new issue out, btw (asks the subscriber from Greece)?

Well, I just got the Immortal issue last week. They seem to arrive later each month now. Too bad, us Old World folks pay like more than three times the amount US subscribers do :/

yeah, me too. :<(((

I only just got the Immortal issue last week, and I'm in Canada!

Speaking of Immortal, new album sounds great (out in Europe tomorrow, hah!). It's got a definite classic thrash / Ride the Lightning-vibe going in tracks like "Norden on Fire" and with the Tägtgren 'empty warehouse decked in ice'-production. Favorite track thusfar is definitely "Hordes to War", with its main riff going back and forth underneath the drums and that huge galloping fast polka bit at the end.

I liked that Immortal album pretty well on first listen last night, too.

OK, I know it's actually in another language, but I can't stop myself from giggling at the cover-art and particularly the logo for Hat. Just imagining a big line of swarthily grim corpse-painted viking dudes grimmacing at me for all they're worth and then all in unison bellowing "Hat!" And then there's this long, long silence, and then the second one from the left raises his hand and points at my hat without saying anything. And after another long silence the one beside him says, quietly but clearly, almost to himself, "Hat." And then they all nod, kind of to me but kind of to each other, and bow slightly, and file away without looking back.

attn: kerr

i gotcher grimmrobes right here

um

i bought kerr a copy of grimm robes live at sunno_O))) tonight

blut aus nord? butt ass nerd more like

Anybody heard Dethalbum II yet?

http://www.blinddaterecords.de/typo3temp/pics/ce3d4070b2.jpg

Clone – play slow. die fast LP VOL II .....12 EURO
The second Volume out of four. Again amazing package and 12-paged booklet.
200 copies in white vinyl. 400 copies in black vinyl.

Line up Vol. II:
*moloch - lightning striked twice (rorschach - 1995)
*on pain of death – troops of doom (sepultura - 1986)
*golden gorilla – absentee debate (unbroken - 1995)
*aguirre - like weeds (his hero is gone - 1997)
*loss – the fog (goatlord - 1987)
*thou – well fed fuck (born against - 1991)
*shadow of the torturer – judgement of the dead (pagan altar - 1982)
*hey colossus – institutionalized (suicidal tendencies - 1983)

Vol. III and Vol. IV in 2010.

oops that should be
http://www.blinddaterecords.de/typo3temp/pics/6d8968d769.jpg

great taste in 90s punk in evidence above I gotta say

Keen to see if Hey Colossus can top the Black Velvet Flag versh of 'Institutionalized'

Got the new Hey Colossus split in the mail on saturday actually.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, FU MANCHU has a number of very special events planned for 2010. The band will unveil a host of plans that include rolling out both one-of-a-kind live events and extra special vinyl releases. Additionally, the VIRULENCE (pre-FU MANCHU) recordings will be remastered and packaged with the band’s “1985-87 demos” and both live songs and video footage from 1987-89 under the title If This Isn`t A Dream…1985-1989. The package will be made available on both CD and LP and is slated for a winter 2009 release via Southern Lord Records.

Man arrested for assault charge

WALTHAM - A 41-year-old Waltham man was arrested at his School Street home at 3 a.m. on Sunday, after Waltham police got a call from Worcester police saying they had probable cause to arrest him, police said.

Seth Putnam, of 157 School St., was arrested on probable cause for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a microphone), police said.

and now an account of it from another board:

"i was there. seth putnam was making fun of this woman standing on the side of the stage. they go back and forth for a little, she's just kidding around, and seth goes "i really wanna punch you in the face, can i punch you in the face?" and she says yes. so he hits her, really hard too. my friend pat said he saw blood shoot out from her face when he hit her. anyways after that everyone went silent and this one dude started screaming and running towards the stage. apparently this was her husband and he body checked seth putnam across the stage into the wall and started beating the shit out of him. the show got shut down, people complained for their money back. after they refused to refund the money some people decided they would just take beer from behind the bar. that resulted in all the security guards grabbing the dudes and trying to hold them there while everyone else escaped. they got away with the security guards chasing after their car in the middle of the street while a cop car 180'd so fast and chased after them. it was the best 5 dollars i've ever spent."

shadow of the torturer, ahhhh its beautiful!

for roxy
http://www.blinddaterecords.de/typo3temp/pics/ce3d4070b2.jpg

Shadow of the Torturer – marching into chaos LP.....11 EURO
ULTRA DOOM. All star project with members of aldebaran, yob, hc minds etc.
Ltd. 300 copies. 100 in white vinyl

ultra d♥♥m

stay classy, seth putnam.

anyone catch one of the rorschach reunion shows? I found out too late and missed out. :-/

Shadow of the Torturer: I turned those guys onto the Gene Wolfe novel of the same name. Still haven't caught them live though.

Devin Townsend and Anneke: two great tastes that taste great together!

I take back what I said about Anvil upthread, I'll never trust a listen through shitty Borders headphones again.. the record is indeed pretty good. Not great, the lyrics are sometimes painful, but some of the tunes really hit me. "Thumb Hang" was on repeat for a bit last night.

Devin Townsend and Anneke: two great tastes that taste great together!

I just love their new song. Agua de Annique's new album is very nice, though there's not an ounce of 'metal' on there, which makes reviewing it for Decibel kind of strange.

i completely (well, almost completely) take back what i said about The Gates of Slumber above. wasn't really feeling it after the first couple of listens, tbh. but now, i kinda love it...and Conqueror too.

and so you should!

i think i like the Shrinebuilder disc even more tho.

shrinebuilder will depend on how good the missing track no5 is i think

I want to love GoS' Conqueror-- I love the sound of the band and I really love the sound of the dude's voice and I love that it's about goddamn Conan, but there's something too samey about the way the songs are put together, it feels like each one does the same RIFF-five syllables-RIFF-four syllables call and response pattern. Gonna listen a few more times though. Have not heard the new one.

I'm really enjoying Addicted!, the aforementioned Devin Townsend Project. It's definitely his most poppy record in a while, down to the electronic beats. And, of course, Anneke sounds great, especially on the cover of Townsend's transcendent "Hyperdrive" from Ziltoid.