I had been waiting to pull the trigger on these, finally grabbed all the Sulphur Aeon slipcase CDs for $11 and change each at the Hell's Headbangers sale!
Also, this past week I just did a massive cleaning and curation of my digital metal library. Cut from 37,000 folders down to 13,500 folders. Absolutely ridiculous. Probably 80% of that was stuff sent to me as promos over the last 11 years at the blog, or traded to me. The rest would be my own rips or digital purchases. That doesn't include my FLAC stuff which is all in the normal library anyway. Next to clean up the non-metal.
Just mental. If there was an 'online hoarders' I'd be a feature episode. Way past time I did this.
KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
I could dig up my old Python script I used to clean out music from our shared drive.
I did this when I was a very bored new hire, but the script would scan the folder, find any mp3s, log where it found them. Then it would copy the file metadata and copy all that over to a new mp3 which was Creed's With Arms Wide Open. And it would do that for every mp3 it found.
Then three days later it would delete them based on the log it had written.
A library purge sounds like a great idea right about now.
It's the second half of 'Fall cleaning' for me. I finished the meatspace stuff before October, and want the cyberspace stuff done before November.
Basically if I looked at a band name and:
1) It's not a classic band that I will revisit.
2) It's not an interesting band that I plan to explore.
3) I don't even have a fraction of a good memory about it.
Gone. I even pruned a few bands down to just the albums I really like, will probably do more of that.
Guess who's still alive? I am! I hope everyone's been well since I last logged in (I've been doing some Internet fasting so it's been a while).
Ethel's Updates:
Finally got to see Iron Maiden live on that Legacy of the Beast tour. Bruce is going to be super fit once it's finally over: running, jumping, fighting. It was basically Bruce Dickinson meets the production of a Cirque du Soleil show with the rest of the band providing the score. The backdrops were also really well done. I was bummed out though that they didn't play anything from Somewhere In Time and am pretty confused that they instead played "The Clansman" and "Sign of the Cross". I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere but the pit definitely didn't skip a beat.
Best find of recent days: The Mars Volta's... well basically all their albums. A couple of them (mainly Amputechture and The Bedlam In Goliath) have so much going on that they took me a few listens to penetrate, but damn are they good.
Also, King Crimson's first two albums. I don't know how I've gone this long without listening to this band, but those two albums are masterpieces. Will definitely be checking out more of their stuff.
Biggest disappointment in recent days: Deathspell Omega's The Furnaces of Palingenesia. It's basically Synarchy without any of the highlights.
Also, this past week I just did a massive cleaning and curation of my digital metal library. Cut from 37,000 folders down to 13,500 folders. Absolutely ridiculous. Probably 80% of that was stuff sent to me as promos over the last 11 years at the blog, or traded to me. The rest would be my own rips or digital purchases. That doesn't include my FLAC stuff which is all in the normal library anyway. Next to clean up the non-metal.
Just mental. If there was an 'online hoarders' I'd be a feature episode. Way past time I did this.
I recently winnowed my digital library down to only those albums that I have ranked 8.75 or higher. I'm only listening to a few albums a day now, so I just don't have time for more.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
Hm. I gave that DSO about four listens when it first came out and didn't get much out of it (except bits of "The Fires of Frustration" and the whole of the last track). All of which surprised me since I love just about all of their past material. I'll probably give it another shot, but we'll see.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
0
Options
BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
In a theory class in college we did a deep dive on Epitaph and I Talk to the Wind. Took the better part of a week, and those are like the 2 weakest tracks on their debut.
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
Guess who's still alive? I am! I hope everyone's been well since I last logged in (I've been doing some Internet fasting so it's been a while).
Ethel's Updates:
Finally got to see Iron Maiden live on that Legacy of the Beast tour. Bruce is going to be super fit once it's finally over: running, jumping, fighting. It was basically Bruce Dickinson meets the production of a Cirque du Soleil show with the rest of the band providing the score. The backdrops were also really well done. I was bummed out though that they didn't play anything from Somewhere In Time and am pretty confused that they instead played "The Clansman" and "Sign of the Cross". I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere but the pit definitely didn't skip a beat..
When I saw that Bruce had basically put the setlist together, it made sense. He's known to not be much of a fan of Somewhere in Time; I wonder if it goes deeper than that and he's maybe still a little sore about what happened when the band reconvened to start making it and didn't use any of his material.
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults for what will doubtless be their final airings - the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics - but yeah, there's one or two other songs I would have dropped in order to dust off "Heaven Can Wait" or something (it was always a highlight of the show, the stage filling up for that big singalong). Somewhere in Time is one of my favourite Maiden albums and it's always been a little disappointing to me that it consistently gets such short shrift from the band.
The new Leprous album is certainly more interesting than I would have thought from the advance tunes. Very little by way of heaviness, maybe 2-3 parts total, but the music is generally compelling.
KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
It definitely has more of a Skepticism vibe than their earlier stuff.
+1
Options
MorgensternICH BIN DER PESTVOGELDU KAMPFAFFE!Registered Userregular
Dude from Maggot Stomp has basically created his own money tree. Everything he puts up on Bandcamp sells out seemingly instantly.
“Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.” - Loren Eiseley
+1
Options
BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
When power metal tries to be spooky and atmospheric:
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults... the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics
..."Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults... the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics
..."Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
And neither of us said they were superior to anything off Somewhere in Time. Just that they were good inclusions in the set. (And I'd add that those songs did arguably make more thematic sense given what The Legacy of the Beast is trying to achieve.)
I'd have loved for them to have found room for at least one SiT song. I love that album and it's so rare that they even seem to acknowledge it. But if Bruce is coming up with the concept and the setlist, which they've mentioned in interviews, then it's always going to be unlikely that they'll dust off anything from it.
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
The new Leprous album is certainly more interesting than I would have thought from the advance tunes. Very little by way of heaviness, maybe 2-3 parts total, but the music is generally compelling.
I've had the opposite reaction so far. I liked the singles but have found the album to be kind of boring. But I'm going to give it a bit more time. I've never minded less-heavy Leprous, because they were really good at using that kind of hypnotic bass and drum sound. This new album is missing a lot of that, which is leaving it feeling poppier than I'd like.
Edit: New Alcest is sooooo good though. Exactly what I was hoping for.
“Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.” - Loren Eiseley
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults... the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics
..."Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
And neither of us said they were superior to anything off Somewhere in Time. Just that they were good inclusions in the set. (And I'd add that those songs did arguably make more thematic sense given what The Legacy of the Beast is trying to achieve.)
I'd have loved for them to have found room for at least one SiT song. I love that album and it's so rare that they even seem to acknowledge it. But if Bruce is coming up with the concept and the setlist, which they've mentioned in interviews, then it's always going to be unlikely that they'll dust off anything from it.
I actually really like Sign of the Cross live. If they play anything from SiT again just please jebus not Wasted Years.
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults... the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics
..."Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
And neither of us said they were superior to anything off Somewhere in Time. Just that they were good inclusions in the set. (And I'd add that those songs did arguably make more thematic sense given what The Legacy of the Beast is trying to achieve.)
I'd have loved for them to have found room for at least one SiT song. I love that album and it's so rare that they even seem to acknowledge it. But if Bruce is coming up with the concept and the setlist, which they've mentioned in interviews, then it's always going to be unlikely that they'll dust off anything from it.
I actually really like Sign of the Cross live. If they play anything from SiT again just please jebus not Wasted Years.
She did a very similar rendition when I saw her open for Amorphis and Delain about 10 days ago. Also did Valley of the Queens, which warmed my heart as a huge Ayreon fan, got her Herbie Hancock on my blu-ray version of Ayreon Universe as well.
BlackDragon480 on
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
0
Options
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults... the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics
..."Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
And neither of us said they were superior to anything off Somewhere in Time. Just that they were good inclusions in the set. (And I'd add that those songs did arguably make more thematic sense given what The Legacy of the Beast is trying to achieve.)
I'd have loved for them to have found room for at least one SiT song. I love that album and it's so rare that they even seem to acknowledge it. But if Bruce is coming up with the concept and the setlist, which they've mentioned in interviews, then it's always going to be unlikely that they'll dust off anything from it.
I actually really like Sign of the Cross live. If they play anything from SiT again just please jebus not Wasted Years.
She did a very similar rendition when I saw her open for Amorphis and Delain about 10 days ago. Also did Valley of the Queens, which warmed my heart as a huge Ayreon fan, got her Herbie Hancock on my blu-ray version of Ayreon Universe as well.
I'm really sad I missed out on that tour. My wife couldn't be certain she'd not be needed for work that evening, and I didn't feel like making the trek to Baltimore alone.
Anneke has done a good song or two with acoustic Iron Maiden cover band Maiden United too.
KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
There is way too many interesting albums out this week. Alcest, Fit for an Autopsy, Profetus, Hour of Penance, Cloak, Runemagick, Vastum, The Great Old Ones
Bah, not nearly enough time and cash to get them all.
I think I may have seen an actual legit unplanned encore for the first time.
Saw Conjurer play a sold out Star and Garter here in Manc, which blow the fucking roof off. They were half way off stage while the cheering continued. Then, following a brief conversation, one of the guitarists mentioned that they'd "never played this live before" before a short pause and launching into Blood and Thunder.
Posts
(This in response to "progressive post-metalcore". Among others.)
Steam | XBL
Just mental. If there was an 'online hoarders' I'd be a feature episode. Way past time I did this.
I did this when I was a very bored new hire, but the script would scan the folder, find any mp3s, log where it found them. Then it would copy the file metadata and copy all that over to a new mp3 which was Creed's With Arms Wide Open. And it would do that for every mp3 it found.
Then three days later it would delete them based on the log it had written.
It's the second half of 'Fall cleaning' for me. I finished the meatspace stuff before October, and want the cyberspace stuff done before November.
Basically if I looked at a band name and:
1) It's not a classic band that I will revisit.
2) It's not an interesting band that I plan to explore.
3) I don't even have a fraction of a good memory about it.
Gone. I even pruned a few bands down to just the albums I really like, will probably do more of that.
My library purge is when my HDD dies or I have to re-install Windows or something. I don't really do physical media anymore and I fail at backups.
Ethel's Updates:
Finally got to see Iron Maiden live on that Legacy of the Beast tour. Bruce is going to be super fit once it's finally over: running, jumping, fighting. It was basically Bruce Dickinson meets the production of a Cirque du Soleil show with the rest of the band providing the score. The backdrops were also really well done. I was bummed out though that they didn't play anything from Somewhere In Time and am pretty confused that they instead played "The Clansman" and "Sign of the Cross". I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere but the pit definitely didn't skip a beat.
Best find of recent days: The Mars Volta's... well basically all their albums. A couple of them (mainly Amputechture and The Bedlam In Goliath) have so much going on that they took me a few listens to penetrate, but damn are they good.
Also, King Crimson's first two albums. I don't know how I've gone this long without listening to this band, but those two albums are masterpieces. Will definitely be checking out more of their stuff.
Biggest disappointment in recent days: Deathspell Omega's The Furnaces of Palingenesia. It's basically Synarchy without any of the highlights.
I recently winnowed my digital library down to only those albums that I have ranked 8.75 or higher. I'm only listening to a few albums a day now, so I just don't have time for more.
But good to see you back EthelTheFrog! I too like just about all of the Mars Volta stuff, and yeah King Crimson is mandatory.
In a theory class in college we did a deep dive on Epitaph and I Talk to the Wind. Took the better part of a week, and those are like the 2 weakest tracks on their debut.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
When I saw that Bruce had basically put the setlist together, it made sense. He's known to not be much of a fan of Somewhere in Time; I wonder if it goes deeper than that and he's maybe still a little sore about what happened when the band reconvened to start making it and didn't use any of his material.
I was glad that they pulled "The Clansman" and (in particular) "Sign of the Cross" out of the vaults for what will doubtless be their final airings - the latter is unashamedly one of my favourite Maiden epics - but yeah, there's one or two other songs I would have dropped in order to dust off "Heaven Can Wait" or something (it was always a highlight of the show, the stage filling up for that big singalong). Somewhere in Time is one of my favourite Maiden albums and it's always been a little disappointing to me that it consistently gets such short shrift from the band.
Steam | XBL
Not that high on my list, and "Sign of the Cross," is a real good one, so I think they may have made the right call.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
~ Buckaroo Banzai
"Fantasy," is definitely a word I'd support a moratorium on using in power metal lyrics.
Like ever ending a line in any stanza with the word "tonight" in any type of music ever.
Steam | XBL
Agreed. Though I'd certainly be down for more songs having sweet bass solos in them.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Oh, I still love them, but that video is trying way too hard...desu...
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Haha. I guess I shouldn't have said "I don't know who in the world thinks those are superior tracks to anything off of Somewhere" before consulting...well anyone in the world. I'm not too familiar with The X-Factor and Virtual XI, but I was much more engrossed in the backdrops and stage antics than the music during those songs.
And neither of us said they were superior to anything off Somewhere in Time. Just that they were good inclusions in the set. (And I'd add that those songs did arguably make more thematic sense given what The Legacy of the Beast is trying to achieve.)
I'd have loved for them to have found room for at least one SiT song. I love that album and it's so rare that they even seem to acknowledge it. But if Bruce is coming up with the concept and the setlist, which they've mentioned in interviews, then it's always going to be unlikely that they'll dust off anything from it.
Steam | XBL
General Spectre would like to have a word...
I've had the opposite reaction so far. I liked the singles but have found the album to be kind of boring. But I'm going to give it a bit more time. I've never minded less-heavy Leprous, because they were really good at using that kind of hypnotic bass and drum sound. This new album is missing a lot of that, which is leaving it feeling poppier than I'd like.
Edit: New Alcest is sooooo good though. Exactly what I was hoping for.
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Sacrificial_Massacre/The_Chief_of_the_Savage/777180
I actually really like Sign of the Cross live. If they play anything from SiT again just please jebus not Wasted Years.
She did a very similar rendition when I saw her open for Amorphis and Delain about 10 days ago. Also did Valley of the Queens, which warmed my heart as a huge Ayreon fan, got her Herbie Hancock on my blu-ray version of Ayreon Universe as well.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I'm really sad I missed out on that tour. My wife couldn't be certain she'd not be needed for work that evening, and I didn't feel like making the trek to Baltimore alone.
Anneke has done a good song or two with acoustic Iron Maiden cover band Maiden United too.
My Backloggery
Bah, not nearly enough time and cash to get them all.
Tons of new releases today though.
Saw Conjurer play a sold out Star and Garter here in Manc, which blow the fucking roof off. They were half way off stage while the cheering continued. Then, following a brief conversation, one of the guitarists mentioned that they'd "never played this live before" before a short pause and launching into Blood and Thunder.
THIS IVORY LEG IS WHAT PROPELS MEEEEE
Twas a most excellent finale.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
The Great Old Ones new album is all sorts of out.
UNF \m/
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy