Saw this one recommended on a bunch of year end lists and its pretty good....nasty, gnarly hardcore but with some sludgy, raw and even black metal elements in there as well, plus one of the better cover arts I've seen lately.
Well nobody ever accused them of taking themselves too seriously. Coincidentally, I just got the new 2CD digipacks of Somewhere, Imaginations, Nightfall, and Opera. I'll probably write up a little bit about my impressions, but so far I'm really digging these new remixes even if they may or may not replace the originals.
EthelTheFrog on
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
+3
Options
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Allegaeon with the guys from Cattle Decapitation and The Black Dahlia Murder. At the Movies already covered this a few weeks ago, but this is definitely a different take.
I mentioned this band some pages back, but I came back to Vintersea and have been spinning their second album Illuminated nonstop for like a week. It's great stuff--I legitimately think frontwoman Avienne Low is one of the better metal vocalists I've heard. She shifts between styles frenetically, from black metal shrieks to guttural death growls to soaring operatic singing to lower-key goth metal-esque crooning. The instrumentation is great too. There are some fine riffs, loads of atmosphere, and a good bit of experimentation. One of the songs, "Crack of Light", has a saxophone solo, and it works--it's a standout track on the album.
Genre-wise, the band seems pretty content to straddle melodic black metal, prog metal, and melodeath, probably in that order from largest ratio to smallest. The drumming and riffs most remind me of Keep of Kalessin, but they cover a lot of ground here over the course of just six moderately-lengthy tracks, and no two songs sound the same.
I suppose the complaint some might have is they seem a bit over-produced and that there are hints of metalcore around the edges, although more in the presentation than in the songs themselves IMO.
Observations from the challenge I made to myself to sample thousands upon thousands of metal releases.
* I lost count at around 5k on my Word file, but there are quite a few more than that. Demos, EPs and splits really bulked up the tally.
* Just about every variation of style you can imagine in all the sub-genres is alive and well to some extent.
* A LOT of projects putting out multiple releases, more than usual, I'd attribute it to the added lockdown time.
* Although I'd say the bottom 10% was just outright bad, the vast majority of stuff, even that which I wasn't interested in, has something competent going on with it. Maybe they know the genre well, or have great production, or a good guitarist, but I'd say the iron is in pretty good hands for the time being.
* That said, if I never listened to 95%+ of this stuff, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Few if any of the releases outside my normal promotional sources made my lists. That tells me that a lot of blogs, forums, channels and whatnot have a pretty good finger on the pulse of the styles they follow.
* I'll never be able to handle something like this again, too much work, but it was interesting to explore.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I thought I was done thinking about 2020 releases by the beginning of December, but the new Soilwork EP surprised me with that 16-minute title track. Ended up really enjoying the whole thing.
I thought I was done thinking about 2020 releases by the beginning of December, but the new Soilwork EP surprised me with that 16-minute title track. Ended up really enjoying the whole thing.
Everything on that EP is solid, but yeah the title track is an absolute standout.
I thought I was done thinking about 2020 releases by the beginning of December, but the new Soilwork EP surprised me with that 16-minute title track. Ended up really enjoying the whole thing.
Everything on that EP is solid, but yeah the title track is an absolute standout.
Yeah, even though I had heard most of the other songs from it over the course of the last year and a half, I ended up enjoying them a lot more together on the release.
The year's been a blur for me as far as music is concerned, because I got into a few more bands I hadn't really heard much of before, plus I really enjoyed a good number of new releases.
I thought I was done thinking about 2020 releases by the beginning of December, but the new Soilwork EP surprised me with that 16-minute title track. Ended up really enjoying the whole thing.
Everything on that EP is solid, but yeah the title track is an absolute standout.
Yeah, even though I had heard most of the other songs from it over the course of the last year and a half, I ended up enjoying them a lot more together on the release.
The year's been a blur for me as far as music is concerned, because I got into a few more bands I hadn't really heard much of before, plus I really enjoyed a good number of new releases.
It's just like their Underworld EP last year.
Heard most of the stuff from the Verkligheten bonus material, but there were a couple new bits and overall it's a nice little spin by itself.
“Detroit People Mover” was one of my favorite songs this year. But I spent most of the year in the 60’s and 70’s so it’s not like I actually heard that much.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
0
Options
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully we can all have the opportunity to catch a live metal show by the end of the year (although I'm not getting my hopes up).
Also the new Undergang has been growing on me, expect a couple edits on my RYM lists.
The upcoming Dread Sovereign and Pounder albums are my faves of the 2021 crop thus far, the former obviously Alan from Primordial doing doom, and the latter Matt Harvey of Exhumed doing epic/heavy metal. Both pretty good improvements from the prior releases.
I was never really a fan but I remember reading an interview where he talked about dropping his bad habits and cutting down on his drinking. What a shame. So young.
On a similar note, in reading that Paul Masvidal is planning on releasing a new Cynic album soon, it also dawned on me that both Sean Reinert AND Sean Malone died last year.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
I wish I could say it was a Campy original, but tis merely a cover. Agreed though, it's pretty great!
edit: Saw the Alexi news on reddit too, major bummer Sounds like he wasn't doing well for a while from what people were saying of his appearance while touring. Sounds like he was a pretty epic partier, might have just caught up with him. Even after you kick the habit, alcohol can make some pretty gnarly long term effects.
On a similar note, in reading that Paul Masvidal is planning on releasing a new Cynic album soon, it also dawned on me that both Sean Reinert AND Sean Malone died last year.
Callous as it sounds, from the sound of things Reinert was never coming back to the band anyway. Truly a shame because some of the stuff those two put together was absolutely stellar. I hope Masvidal got some kind of closure before losing them both
Yeah, I remember Reinert leaving the band a few years back. Masvidal says he's planning on doing a virtual memorial for them both sometime this year.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
0
Options
BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
And since it was last week, 2020 just had to kick us in the balls one last time.
I got into listening to Alexi way back when he did Sinergy with Kim Goss from Dimmu Borgir and Stormblad from In Flames, CoB wasn't really on my radar as I didn't listen to much with harsh vocals in high school. Those were 3 fantastic musicians that put out IMO 3 of the best power metal albums of the early 00's.
Everyone likes to talk about his solos and the diatonic classical stuff he brought to Dearh Metal, but I think his best attribute was riff writing. He was the Tony Iommi of Dearh metal as pretty much every CoB album featured at least 4 or 5 riffs and bridges that just ripped and if you didn't appreciate or start headbanging to them, you may in fact be dead.
I got to see them live twice. First in 2009 touring with Lamb of God, As I lay Dying, and God Forbid (first time I'd ever heard them, made me an instant fan) and Alexi had hurt his left shoulder and wrist (like Fearmeister said, I saw them on the same tour) bad falling out off his top bunk in the tour bus on the drive from Denver to Kansas City. He simply put a little pad under his guitar strap, moved a floor monitor next to his mic stand and proceeded to do the entire set with his left leg on the monitor and just went for it. They got the biggest ovation of the night, even though Lamb of God is who closed the show.
2nd time was in 2017 in the 20th Anniversary tour of Something Wild. Set had good energy and the whole band was killing it. He'd stopped drinking by then, but was looking pretty rough for a guy that wasn't yet 40, kinda emaciated and wan. Still had lots of energy and was clearly enjoying himself on stage.
Think I'll track down that breakdown he did for Young Guitar magazine (along with Roope) of his adaptation of the Summer Presto movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and re-learn it (i originally did it via that lesson over 10 years ago).
RIP Wildchild.
BlackDragon480 on
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
If it has 'Ripper' it's got about an 80% chance for mediocrity outright. Nothing against the other guys in the group. I will be curious to hear how Binks holds up after all this time, but I recently read Halford's Confess and I could have sworn he was let go for not being up to speed with the times, even back then!
In other news, the new Reaper album promo has shown up already...here is the cover art.
I just found out that Wildchild was on Impaled Nazarene's Nihil. I love that record. Since I've never really enjoyed Bodom too much, I'm now glad I have something to blast in his memory.
All these folks trying to be the Hiroo Onoda of the Loudness War...
+1
Options
KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
I know the MT-2 is a shit pedal, but this is pretty funny.
Yep, he played in Impaled Nazarene, Sinergy, even in Thy Serpent for a little while, among other bands. He was a talented guy.
C.O.B. still has 3-4 albums that I'll spin once in awhile, some of their stuff was just unmemorable masturbatory drek, but when they were on they were on.
I remember rocking Blooddrunk back when I was 14-15. I found out much later that that album is almost universally panned by fans, but, hey, I remember liking it a lot more than the other albums I listened to once and then mostly forgot about. In fact, if I remember correctly, "Banned From Heaven" was my favorite Bodom song.
If it has 'Ripper' it's got about an 80% chance for mediocrity outright. Nothing against the other guys in the group. I will be curious to hear how Binks holds up after all this time, but I recently read Halford's Confess and I could have sworn he was let go for not being up to speed with the times, even back then!
In other news, the new Reaper album promo has shown up already...here is the cover art.
Looking forward to this one - last year’s release from them killed and also came out in Jan
Posts
New track from Ill Nino, new singer
That phrygian groove is really solid (1:17), always had a soft spot for the latin metal (Puya, etc)
Good job boys.
Edit: Listened to a song they did earlier in the year that's absolute dogshit. Stopped clocks I suppose.
Well nobody ever accused them of taking themselves too seriously. Coincidentally, I just got the new 2CD digipacks of Somewhere, Imaginations, Nightfall, and Opera. I'll probably write up a little bit about my impressions, but so far I'm really digging these new remixes even if they may or may not replace the originals.
Allegaeon with the guys from Cattle Decapitation and The Black Dahlia Murder. At the Movies already covered this a few weeks ago, but this is definitely a different take.
My Backloggery
Genre-wise, the band seems pretty content to straddle melodic black metal, prog metal, and melodeath, probably in that order from largest ratio to smallest. The drumming and riffs most remind me of Keep of Kalessin, but they cover a lot of ground here over the course of just six moderately-lengthy tracks, and no two songs sound the same.
I suppose the complaint some might have is they seem a bit over-produced and that there are hints of metalcore around the edges, although more in the presentation than in the songs themselves IMO.
(Video below maybe not work-safe)
http://autothrall.blogspot.com/2020/12/autothralls-year-end-audio-coronavirus.html
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/autothrall/autothralls-best-metal-of-2020/
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/autothrall/autothralls-backup-metal-for-2020/
Observations from the challenge I made to myself to sample thousands upon thousands of metal releases.
* I lost count at around 5k on my Word file, but there are quite a few more than that. Demos, EPs and splits really bulked up the tally.
* Just about every variation of style you can imagine in all the sub-genres is alive and well to some extent.
* A LOT of projects putting out multiple releases, more than usual, I'd attribute it to the added lockdown time.
* Although I'd say the bottom 10% was just outright bad, the vast majority of stuff, even that which I wasn't interested in, has something competent going on with it. Maybe they know the genre well, or have great production, or a good guitarist, but I'd say the iron is in pretty good hands for the time being.
* That said, if I never listened to 95%+ of this stuff, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Few if any of the releases outside my normal promotional sources made my lists. That tells me that a lot of blogs, forums, channels and whatnot have a pretty good finger on the pulse of the styles they follow.
* I'll never be able to handle something like this again, too much work, but it was interesting to explore.
My Backloggery
Everything on that EP is solid, but yeah the title track is an absolute standout.
Copied over from my Facebook. Four of them don't have CD releases sadly, at least not that I've found.
19. Grimes - Miss Anthropocene (pop)
18. Myrkur - Folkesang (folk)
17. Slime Golem - The Short But Touching Tale of Slime Golem (dungeon synth)
16. Dool - Summerland (occult rock)
15. Deep Purple - Whoosh! (prog rock)
14. Ulver - Flowers of Evil (pop)
13. Zombi - 2020 (electronica)
12. Jesper Kyd, Einar Solvik et all - Assassins Creed Valhalla (score)
11. Henrik Palm - Poverty Metal (rock)
10. Oliver Deriviere, et all - Streets of Rage 4 (score)
09. Hexvessel - Kindred (folk)
08. Autechre - Sign (electronica)
07. Garmarna - Förbundet (folk)
06. Hällas - Conundrum (prog rock)
05. Molasses - Through the Hollow (occult rock)
04. Vaisseau - Horrors Waiting in Line (electronica)
03. The Birthday Massacre - Diamonds (pop)
02. Phantogram - Ceremony (pop)
01. Maggot Heart - Mercy Machine (goth rock)
Yeah, even though I had heard most of the other songs from it over the course of the last year and a half, I ended up enjoying them a lot more together on the release.
The year's been a blur for me as far as music is concerned, because I got into a few more bands I hadn't really heard much of before, plus I really enjoyed a good number of new releases.
My Backloggery
It's just like their Underworld EP last year.
Heard most of the stuff from the Verkligheten bonus material, but there were a couple new bits and overall it's a nice little spin by itself.
Square. Pusher.
Liked a few songs off of it, but overall not enough to hit my list.
Steam | XBL
My Backloggery
Here is a killer death metal album I missed in 2020.
Also the new Undergang has been growing on me, expect a couple edits on my RYM lists.
The upcoming Dread Sovereign and Pounder albums are my faves of the 2021 crop thus far, the former obviously Alan from Primordial doing doom, and the latter Matt Harvey of Exhumed doing epic/heavy metal. Both pretty good improvements from the prior releases.
Alexi Laiho died.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/entertainment/alexi-laiho-children-of-bodom-death-intl-scli/index.html
I saw that mfer shred with a broken wrist in 2009. RIP
My Backloggery
I wish I could say it was a Campy original, but tis merely a cover. Agreed though, it's pretty great!
edit: Saw the Alexi news on reddit too, major bummer
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Callous as it sounds, from the sound of things Reinert was never coming back to the band anyway. Truly a shame because some of the stuff those two put together was absolutely stellar. I hope Masvidal got some kind of closure before losing them both
Man, fuuuuuck 2020.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
I got into listening to Alexi way back when he did Sinergy with Kim Goss from Dimmu Borgir and Stormblad from In Flames, CoB wasn't really on my radar as I didn't listen to much with harsh vocals in high school. Those were 3 fantastic musicians that put out IMO 3 of the best power metal albums of the early 00's.
Everyone likes to talk about his solos and the diatonic classical stuff he brought to Dearh Metal, but I think his best attribute was riff writing. He was the Tony Iommi of Dearh metal as pretty much every CoB album featured at least 4 or 5 riffs and bridges that just ripped and if you didn't appreciate or start headbanging to them, you may in fact be dead.
I got to see them live twice. First in 2009 touring with Lamb of God, As I lay Dying, and God Forbid (first time I'd ever heard them, made me an instant fan) and Alexi had hurt his left shoulder and wrist (like Fearmeister said, I saw them on the same tour) bad falling out off his top bunk in the tour bus on the drive from Denver to Kansas City. He simply put a little pad under his guitar strap, moved a floor monitor next to his mic stand and proceeded to do the entire set with his left leg on the monitor and just went for it. They got the biggest ovation of the night, even though Lamb of God is who closed the show.
2nd time was in 2017 in the 20th Anniversary tour of Something Wild. Set had good energy and the whole band was killing it. He'd stopped drinking by then, but was looking pretty rough for a guy that wasn't yet 40, kinda emaciated and wan. Still had lots of energy and was clearly enjoying himself on stage.
Think I'll track down that breakdown he did for Young Guitar magazine (along with Roope) of his adaptation of the Summer Presto movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and re-learn it (i originally did it via that lesson over 10 years ago).
RIP Wildchild.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Non CoB stuff:
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Well it's definitely on the best Bodom album.
edit: jfc autocorrect
https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/kks-priest-to-release-debut-album-in-2021/
In other news, the new Reaper album promo has shown up already...here is the cover art.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/conspiracy-theorists-share-schematic-for-5g-chip-they-claim-is-implanted-in-covid-19-vaccines-only-its-actually-for-the-boss-metal-zone
C.O.B. still has 3-4 albums that I'll spin once in awhile, some of their stuff was just unmemorable masturbatory drek, but when they were on they were on.
But I digress. Go listen to Nihil. It'll blow your face off.
Looking forward to this one - last year’s release from them killed and also came out in Jan