ive always preferred opeth to basically indulge their awful noodly 70s side a la damnation so this is all to the good as far as i am concerned
Damnation is actually one of my least favorite albums by them, which was really odd to me at the time because I was all-in on a softer Opeth album. The only song I really enjoy on that album is "Closure."
The last two albums have been a breath of fresh air for me, though, and this new one is shaping up to be pretty good so far. "The Wilde Flowers" is definitely growing on me too.
Damnation is actually one of my least favorite albums by them, which was really odd to me at the time because I was all-in on a softer Opeth album. The only song I really enjoy on that album is "Closure."
Same here, in fact, it IS my least favorite album by them. I don't think it's necessarily horrible, and I like some of the element to it, but it's just really not for me.
Heritage I'm still mixed on, but Pale Communion was excellent and I'm loving this new stuff so far.
Favourite track so far is Proponent for sentience II - the Algorithm.
Amazon was nice and let me download the MP3's this afternoon after my copy shipped, and after giving it 1.5 spins at work I'm ready to call it my favorite album so far this year.
I'm partial to Grey Matter Mechanics myself, but that's because of my background in fingerstyle/spanish and classical guitar and I find the Appassionata Greg plays as an outro sublime.
It's kinda weird to me, my first several years of listening to metal I had to be in a very particular headspace to dig growly/cookie-monster or black metal vocals over clean vocals, but the last couple of years have seen my top 5 lists dominated by them. Last year Enslaved's In Times was my favorite overall album and this year Allegaeon are leading the way.
BlackDragon480 on
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
Yeah it's up there with Be'lakor's Vessels for me. Top two of the year.
I really like Grey Matter Mechanics as well. I think I'm drawn to Algorithm because it's more down tempo and just crushingly heavy. When I First heard it I very much had a keanu 'woah' moment.
Yeah it's up there with Be'lakor's Vessels for me. Top two of the year.
I really like Grey Matter Mechanics as well. I think I'm drawn to Algorithm because it's more down tempo and just crushingly heavy. When I First heard it I very much had a keanu 'woah' moment.
Yeah, Algorithm is a nice track as well, my favorite from the 3-parter. From Nothing is IMO the weakest track, and it's still a cut above all but 3-4 albums I've heard this year.
And is it just me or does The Arbiters have the bassline and melody from Subdivisions buried in it a couple of minutes in?
BlackDragon480 on
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
Yeah it's up there with Be'lakor's Vessels for me. Top two of the year.
I really like Grey Matter Mechanics as well. I think I'm drawn to Algorithm because it's more down tempo and just crushingly heavy. When I First heard it I very much had a keanu 'woah' moment.
Yeah, Algorithm is a nice track as well, my favorite from the 3-parter. From Nothing is IMO the weakest track, and it's still a cut above all but 3-4 albums I've heard this year.
And is it just me or does The Arbiters have the bassline and melody from Subdivisions buried in it a couple of minutes in?
I'll give it another listen and see if I pick up on that!
First edition of Considered Dead fest starts tonight in my hometown of Québec City ! It's a small underground fest, mainly death metal.
I'm most looking forward to Chthe'ilist, who are making the 2h30-trip from Montréal for the first time, and Angelcorpse, the fest headliner. I've already seen them at the Messe des Morts, but I'm also pretty stoked for Kabbalistic BM band Gevurah too. Locals Outre-Tombe and Atroce are always great and should be checked out.
The new Neurosis is possibly my least favorite of all their efforts. It feels really meandering and boring.
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KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
I think following a unified concept or story was a really good thing for them. It's definitely something where you sit down and listen to the whole thing, and considering how repetitive and threadbare Shadows was with their previous material, that's quite the change. Reminds me of Swallow the Sun's "Plague of Butterflies," which'd make sense considering their collaborations and now shared producer.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Just got back from the Devin Townsend show. Pretty good!
Fallujah was up first. They were pretty OK! I don't own any of their stuff, although maybe I should change that. My wife ended up buying one of their T-shirts simply because, well:
Between the Buried and Me were up next. The crowd absolutely loved them and clearly knew their material. I was pretty unfamiliar, though. I found myself moderately interested in the music, but thoroughly unimpressed with the vocals.
This was my 4th time seeing Devin Townsend perform live. He's always entertaining to watch.
What wasn't entertaining was seeing a creepy dude attempt to give "affection" to (basically, assault) a lady who clearly wanted nothing to do with him. My wife reported him to security, who ejected him once she was able to communicate to them what had happened and a description of the goose. The damage was done, though. The lady left not long after that, and as we were leaving the venue we saw her sitting down outside next to another, older guy. My wife asked her if she was all right, and she sort of nodded while the guy said "yeah, she's ok." The look on her face clearly said otherwise. What was supposed to be an enjoyable night was ruined for her.
Ey, I noticed that Norma Jean has released a new album! You might remember them, they were quite a big deal back in the early aughts and dropped a slew of really great albums! Then, they imo totally lost their inspiration but continued to release meandering nothingburgers. Iirc The Anti-Mother deal was at least somewhat listenable (haven't gone back to it in years) but Meridional was a total shitshow and I hadn't even heard they released some Wrongdoers platter back in 2013...
So expectations were far from high when I sat down with this Polar Opposites thing... But wadda ya know! They've actually pulled themselves together! Polar Opposites is really an enjoyable listen, I'd like to say there's even brief seconds of occasional Bless the Martyr, Kiss the Child brilliance in there! Personally, I'm just so happy not having to categorically dismiss them any more, because that's were they've been for the last 5-6 years. :bigfrown: The album might also be some form of space concept record? I liked the creepy number station sample anyhow (man, Banshee Chapter!). Songs are generally quite short, now that I think of it? Definitely a better decision to not spin threads further than they'll keep up with imo, a 2-3 min good song is still a good song and that is what's important!
A strong 3+ effort!
Fallujah was up first. They were pretty OK! I don't own any of their stuff, although maybe I should change that. My wife ended up buying one of their T-shirts simply because, well:.
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
I definitely dig it more than the last two full-lengths, but in the end it still feels really samey and emotionally redundant to a lot of their other riffs, only just a fraction better arranged and produced. The melodies are also really well balanced and I liked the flow as a concept album too, so overall one thumb up, the other thumb twitching in reservation.
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
Yeah, it's an extremely solid album. It doesn't quite have the same sort of standout songs to me like Daughter of the Moon and some of their other older production. Insomnium is pretty much my gold standard for melodeath though, so I'll listen to this until I'm sick of it, like all of their other albums :P
The last 10-15 minutes of the album are very much to my liking.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
edited September 2016
I didn't mind Meridional from Norma Jean, but it had a really short spin-life and about the only song I could dig was "Falling from the Sky: Day Seven" after a few listens.
That sounds good, though. I don't think it stands up to the new Architects album, but it's definitely an improvement over their recent output.
jungleroomx on
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
awww YISS thats what i wanna here
i was a huge fan of across the dark and im hoping for some of that goodness plus a bit more variety thrown in
anybody got any recomendations for slightly out there prog type stuff? been on a devin townsend band rampage of course but any other recommendations welcome
and on that note i just realised katatonia dropped an album this year wut how did i miss that
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
awww YISS thats what i wanna here
i was a huge fan of across the dark and im hoping for some of that goodness plus a bit more variety thrown in
anybody got any recomendations for slightly out there prog type stuff? been on a devin townsend band rampage of course but any other recommendations welcome
and on that note i just realised katatonia dropped an album this year wut how did i miss that
I've been digging Tesseract as of late. Their album with the 2nd singer, whatever his name is.
New Opeth promises some pretty good progaliciousness.
I didn't mind Meridional from Norma Jean, but it had a really short spin-life and about the only song I could dig was "Falling from the Sky: Day Seven" after a few listens.
That sounds good, though. I don't think it stands up to the new Architects album, but it's definitely an improvement over their recent output.
Speaking of Norma Jean btw!
I think a bunch of bands made covers for some cd that came with the latest Metal Hammer mag? The excellent Employed to Serve took on this:
:heartbeat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALRTbapji90
The new Insomnium is one of their strongest albums. It's still very much an Insomnium album but it has more range and variety than some of their earlier albums.
awww YISS thats what i wanna here
i was a huge fan of across the dark and im hoping for some of that goodness plus a bit more variety thrown in
anybody got any recomendations for slightly out there prog type stuff? been on a devin townsend band rampage of course but any other recommendations welcome
and on that note i just realised katatonia dropped an album this year wut how did i miss that
That new Allegaeon is pretty amazing, that and the Deceptionist are among the better tech death records this year.
In other metals:
The new Grim Reaper is actually quite solid and respectable, though on a few tunes it sounds more like Saxon.
Listening to the new Insomnium next...
as someone who usually doesn't come down from mount black metal, I'm digging Allegaeon although I've never been a big fan of the faux orchestral things they use. It just reminds me of hollenthon and high school
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SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
GreasyKidsStuffMOMMM!ROAST BEEF WANTS TO KISS GIRLS ON THE TITTIES!Registered Userregular
Kim Kelly over at Noisey says she's listened to the new album and while she can't say anything specific, she alluded to her thoughts with a simple ":)"
Maybe it'll be good. I just remembered "Lords of Summer" should be on it, and while that one was okay, maybe it's been reconfigured a bit.
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kind of clicked on that video really just on a whim earlier and found myself hunting down pretty much every bit of their stuff i could listen to
i really do enjoy it when i'm tumbling down the youtube hole and i hit a really fantastic snag
"whoops it's some random black metal shit you really like dude time to lose your whole evening listening to more of their marvelous jams"
Damnation is actually one of my least favorite albums by them, which was really odd to me at the time because I was all-in on a softer Opeth album. The only song I really enjoy on that album is "Closure."
The last two albums have been a breath of fresh air for me, though, and this new one is shaping up to be pretty good so far. "The Wilde Flowers" is definitely growing on me too.
My Backloggery
Favourite track so far is Proponent for sentience II - the Algorithm.
I also really like the Lamentations DVD.
Enjoying this a bit more than the other tracks they've released so far.
Same here, in fact, it IS my least favorite album by them. I don't think it's necessarily horrible, and I like some of the element to it, but it's just really not for me.
Heritage I'm still mixed on, but Pale Communion was excellent and I'm loving this new stuff so far.
And some Belgian speed-metal, courtesy of Evil Invaders
Amazon was nice and let me download the MP3's this afternoon after my copy shipped, and after giving it 1.5 spins at work I'm ready to call it my favorite album so far this year.
I'm partial to Grey Matter Mechanics myself, but that's because of my background in fingerstyle/spanish and classical guitar and I find the Appassionata Greg plays as an outro sublime.
It's kinda weird to me, my first several years of listening to metal I had to be in a very particular headspace to dig growly/cookie-monster or black metal vocals over clean vocals, but the last couple of years have seen my top 5 lists dominated by them. Last year Enslaved's In Times was my favorite overall album and this year Allegaeon are leading the way.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I really like Grey Matter Mechanics as well. I think I'm drawn to Algorithm because it's more down tempo and just crushingly heavy. When I First heard it I very much had a keanu 'woah' moment.
In other metals:
The new Grim Reaper is actually quite solid and respectable, though on a few tunes it sounds more like Saxon.
Listening to the new Insomnium next...
Yeah, Algorithm is a nice track as well, my favorite from the 3-parter. From Nothing is IMO the weakest track, and it's still a cut above all but 3-4 albums I've heard this year.
And is it just me or does The Arbiters have the bassline and melody from Subdivisions buried in it a couple of minutes in?
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I'll give it another listen and see if I pick up on that!
"Sounds more like Saxon" is not necessarily a bad thing in my world; will look into that.
Hammerfall. Why do I feel like I've heard this song before?
I'm most looking forward to Chthe'ilist, who are making the 2h30-trip from Montréal for the first time, and Angelcorpse, the fest headliner. I've already seen them at the Messe des Morts, but I'm also pretty stoked for Kabbalistic BM band Gevurah too. Locals Outre-Tombe and Atroce are always great and should be checked out.
Fallujah was up first. They were pretty OK! I don't own any of their stuff, although maybe I should change that. My wife ended up buying one of their T-shirts simply because, well:
Between the Buried and Me were up next. The crowd absolutely loved them and clearly knew their material. I was pretty unfamiliar, though. I found myself moderately interested in the music, but thoroughly unimpressed with the vocals.
This was my 4th time seeing Devin Townsend perform live. He's always entertaining to watch.
What wasn't entertaining was seeing a creepy dude attempt to give "affection" to (basically, assault) a lady who clearly wanted nothing to do with him. My wife reported him to security, who ejected him once she was able to communicate to them what had happened and a description of the goose. The damage was done, though. The lady left not long after that, and as we were leaving the venue we saw her sitting down outside next to another, older guy. My wife asked her if she was all right, and she sort of nodded while the guy said "yeah, she's ok." The look on her face clearly said otherwise. What was supposed to be an enjoyable night was ruined for her.
My Backloggery
So expectations were far from high when I sat down with this Polar Opposites thing... But wadda ya know! They've actually pulled themselves together!
A strong 3+ effort!
That Fallujah T-shirt is amazing.
And shame about the goose, but you definitely did the right thing.
Steam | XBL
The Flesh Prevails is their magnum opus (so far).
I definitely dig it more than the last two full-lengths, but in the end it still feels really samey and emotionally redundant to a lot of their other riffs, only just a fraction better arranged and produced. The melodies are also really well balanced and I liked the flow as a concept album too, so overall one thumb up, the other thumb twitching in reservation.
Yeah, it's an extremely solid album. It doesn't quite have the same sort of standout songs to me like Daughter of the Moon and some of their other older production. Insomnium is pretty much my gold standard for melodeath though, so I'll listen to this until I'm sick of it, like all of their other albums :P
The last 10-15 minutes of the album are very much to my liking.
That sounds good, though. I don't think it stands up to the new Architects album, but it's definitely an improvement over their recent output.
awww YISS thats what i wanna here
i was a huge fan of across the dark and im hoping for some of that goodness plus a bit more variety thrown in
anybody got any recomendations for slightly out there prog type stuff? been on a devin townsend band rampage of course but any other recommendations welcome
and on that note i just realised katatonia dropped an album this year wut how did i miss that
I've been digging Tesseract as of late. Their album with the 2nd singer, whatever his name is.
New Opeth promises some pretty good progaliciousness.
I think a bunch of bands made covers for some cd that came with the latest Metal Hammer mag? The excellent Employed to Serve took on this:
:heartbeat:
Fall of hearts is a fantastic album :-)
as someone who usually doesn't come down from mount black metal, I'm digging Allegaeon although I've never been a big fan of the faux orchestral things they use. It just reminds me of hollenthon and high school
My Backloggery
This is really good
Maybe it'll be good. I just remembered "Lords of Summer" should be on it, and while that one was okay, maybe it's been reconfigured a bit.