Metal Heads Assemble!!

[Ack]

Spring is death metal, to remind us that all of this life will end. Summer is thrash because fuck, it's hot!

[Forlorn Drifter]

So, is power metal dedicated to the short week of Christmas in all of its empowering and more melodic glory?

[nullPointer]

So, is power metal dedicated to the short week of Christmas in all of its empowering and more melodic glory?

Ha! This made me chuckle, as it's really not so far off. All that pomp and grandeur and cheese would seem to be a perfect fit for the Christmas season. Trim the tree and bring on the Nightwish!

Okay so, Autumn = doom.
Winter = black metal (duh).
??? = death metal.

Heh, well that's a bit of a tough one for me, but it's down to weird personal tastes more than anything. I generally take my death in hybridized forms (i.e. Melo-Death, Prog Death, Death Doom, etc.), moreso than straight up brutal death metal. (And this from the guy that just said obsessive genre classification is dumb ). Accordingly death metal sort of gets spread out across my year, depending on what fits. Just as Ack alluded, death is a universal constant. Muah ha ha.

Man ... I'm a weirdo with my seasonal music tastes.

[nullPointer]

Geez, I don't post forever, and then when I do it's in the metal thread. What's my frickin' problem!? (Actually I know exactly what my problem is. Work has been a non-stop charlie foxtrot party from which there is no escape. Ugh) Any hoo, I was listening to this today and couldn't help but think of our power metal discussion. I'm not normally a huge fan of parody bands, but when their execution is on the same level as (or better than?) their more 'distinguished' peers in the genre it's hard not to stand up and take notice (See also: Dethklok who are basically the prototype for this sort of thing, or alternately Spın̈al Tap ... if you're old ... like I am). At any rate, these guys basically are to power metal what Kung Fury is to 80s action flicks. Every time I listen to them I'm grinning like a big goofy idiot from beginning to end. Seriously just watch this video and try to be in a bad mood. You can't. You just can't* Here's Gloryhammer off their album Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards (also is it just me or is there a hint of LoZ melody right around 0:54 in the pre-chorus?)



*Unless you're a soulless monster, you soulless monster.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I haven't listened to much Gloryhammer, since they took off after my metal listening slowed down. I do have some of the Alestorm stuff though, which I love to death. Same people, just a pirate theme.

[nullPointer]

I haven't listened to much Gloryhammer, since they took off after my metal listening slowed down. I do have some of the Alestorm stuff though, which I love to death. Same people, just a pirate theme.

I was very vaguely aware of Alestorm but for some reason had them pigeonholed away in my mind as some sort of Finnish folk metal band in the vein of Finntroll, Korpiklaani and (the decidedly not Finnish) Eluveitie, which can be nice diversion for a while (in the case of the former) or a bit wanky (in the case of the latter). But after checking them out for a while, Alestorm is tons-of-fun! I'll definitely be listening to more of them. Thanks for the recommendation!

[nullPointer]

I really am just the worst for double posting in this thread the way that I do. For shame I say! For shame ...

Any hoo! There's been a rumor floating around in the ether for a bit that a newly formed doom super group (legion of doom?) would be releasing an album in October. The group is called With the Dead and features members from Electric Wizard, Napalm Death, and Cathedral. Holy crap right!? To be fair one member of the band accounts for both Napalm Death and Cathedral, but it's none other than the legendary Lee Dorian so I certainly won't complain. What's more is that Electric Wizard alums Tim Bagshaw and Mark Greening fill out the lineup on bass and drums respectively (And those dudes were part of the lineup that recorded the legendary album Dopethrone ... before subsequently being screwed over in Electric Wizard by Jus Osbourne). So long story short, these guys have some heavyweight doom cred, and being that the rhythm section has already played together for years and appeared on some legendary doom tracks together there's a pretty good chance that this band won't suck (as opposed to most other super groups). The trouble is that thus far there wasn't a whole lot of evidence to suggest that this was actually going to happen; the musical equivalent of vaporware, if you will.

Well shit just got real up in here! Today they released a teaser track off the new, which is apparently still on track to release this Friday, October 16. The song is called Crown of Burning Stars, the video for which is linked below. Be warned! The video does feature a couple of brief flashes of nudity and drug use, so you know, consider this one NSFW. Having said that, the entire video seems to be composed of clips from vintage-y type horror films and documentaries, so ... um ... it's all tastefully done with redeeming historical value. Yeah.

I'm getting a real Monolord vibe from this one (a comparison that springs to mind due to them having released their own epic slab of doom this year), but I need to remind myself that the guys in this band were the actual pioneers of the genre to which Monolord belongs. If you can't tell, I'm pretty pumped for this one guys! Just in time for Halloween! So enough blabbing, check it out:



Hmm ... one "epic" infraction and one "um"
This post would probably literally rate a C- on the Luke approval scale.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Would've posted earlier, but haven't had a chance to listen to anything on the computer while my roommates weren't around.

They sound pretty good. And I'm loving the video, reminds me a bit of some of the videos Uncle Acid has. There's a certain something missing though, just one spark away from being an inferno of amazing. This is great, but just needs a bit more. Might just be that this isn't the type of doom I gravitate towards though, I'm not sure.

On a completely unrelated note, I listened to some other stuff a friend sent me from the Punk goes Pop stuff, and it cracks me up how well this stuff works together. A little questionable how metal it is being metalcore (groan from the crowd), but it kind of makes me surprised that this type of stuff has caught on in the full blown mainstream. But then again, I remember that one band that was around that was a weird mix of flowery power-melodeath with breakdowns, electronic bits, and I believe there was a song with rap mixed in, so I'm not too thrilled of what could come if stuff like that ever actually gets mainstream.

[nullPointer]

There's a certain something missing though, just one spark away from being an inferno of amazing. This is great, but just needs a bit more. Might just be that this isn't the type of doom I gravitate towards though, I'm not sure.

To be honest this is sort of my issue with the released tracks as well. The constituent members of this group were instrumental in forming the sound of modern doom, which in turn influenced tons of imitators both good and bad. My trouble with this track is that it doesn't do a lot to separate itself from the imitators, many of which are quite good at this point (i.e. Windhand and Monolord). So the whole thing sort of has the feel of resting on their laurels without much innovation. Who knows though! These guys have certainly paid their dues, so maybe they earned it. At any rate they're not bad per se, but yeah at this point it's also something I feel like I've heard before. I'll still be picking up the album though. There's a certain guitar tone that I really like in doom, and at the very least I will say that With the Dead has that in spades.

On a completely unrelated note, I listened to some other stuff a friend sent me from the Punk goes Pop stuff, and it cracks me up how well this stuff works together. A little questionable how metal it is being metalcore (groan from the crowd), but it kind of makes me surprised that this type of stuff has caught on in the full blown mainstream. But then again, I remember that one band that was around that was a weird mix of flowery power-melodeath with breakdowns, electronic bits, and I believe there was a song with rap mixed in, so I'm not too thrilled of what could come if stuff like that ever actually gets mainstream.

I've not listened to a lot of punk in the last couple of years, though it used to be something I listened to predominantly. I think I reached a point where I felt like I had mined the classic bands as far as I could (or cared to), and most of the modern stuff wasn't really doing it for me. I still love the classics though! I dunno, I guess there are certain corners I should revisit at some point. I've not delved too deeply into the NY C-Squat scene beyond a couple of the better known albums, and I think I would enjoy most of that (despite the fact that I think Stza is a fairly deplorable human being).

[BoneSnapDeez]

It's unsurprising to see modern metalcore go mainstream. Most of this stuff is characterized by weaksauce/poppy riffing, goofball sing-scream vocals, and squeaky clean production. It ultimately all sounds closer to nu metal or buttrock than "classic" metalcore (Acme, Catharsis, Gehenna, Starkweather, Rorschach, whatever).

As far as the C-Squat scene goes, Fuck World Trade by Leftöver Crack is one of my favorite punk albums ever. Brilliant.