The Metal Thread - Version 2

[Gary]

The new Converge is great, which comes to no surprise IMO. Other stuff I've enjoyed from this year:

-I discovered Artificial Brain, and posted about them before. Their new album is exactly the kind I'm looking for when it comes to Tech Death

-Speaking of Tech Death, Archspire's new album is pretty great. I didn't care for their prior albums (which I felt focused too much on Technical riffs and not enough on writing interesting songs) but they finally seem to have found out how to make interesting music.

-The new Enslaved is their best in years. Full on Progressive Metal that actually knows how to mix harsh and clean vocals. It's what I've wanted Opeth to be since "Harvest"

-Also among their best work-Ruins of Beverast and Fen. Hell, the new RoB album might be their best yet-and exactly what I want a more atmospheric Black Metal album to sound like in 2017, while Fen are embracing elements of prog without sacrificing their core sound and what makes them so special (see: Opeth and Cynic)

-If you don't mind the idea of an album that's one song that's over 80 minutes of Funeral Doom, then you might love the new Bell Witch. I dug it, but I'm not sure if it's their absolute best yet ("Four Phantoms" was incredible) so it might take another listen to fully embrace it

-Slam Death Metal normally isn't my kind of thing...at all. That being said, the new Analepsy album is really damn good, and it's nice to hear a band in this sub genre that isn't afraid to sometimes embrace things such as guitar solos. It's nothing mind blowing, but it's better than it has any right to be.

 

[Brocklock]

The lead singer of Nevermore, Warrel Dane died at 48. Huge shock as I thought Nevermore were a pretty great band and his vocals were fantastic.

RIP

 

[Laz]

Came here to say that. Nevermore was a hugely important band to me when I was growing up and was one of nearly favorites beyond the biggies of Metallica/Maiden/etc. Saw them live a few times and fucking loved each show.

 

[Gary]

"Dreaming Neon Black" is one of those albums that, whenever I listen to it, I get something new out of it. RIP to a great vocalist.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Huge Nevermore fan. I got to meet him and them on the first Gigantor tour. Sanctuary was great, and his solo album was fantastic. He was working on his new solo album when he died. I'm so heartbroken over this one.

 

[Slayer]

Nevermore was one of my fav metal bands (obligatory link to my gush article about them way back when Agent and I did the metal alphabet) with DHIADW and TGE high on my favorite metal albums list. I had been hoping that Nevermore would release a bounce-back album after the very underwhelming Obsidian Conspiracy, but alas. The Sanctuary revival album from a couple years ago was alright but not quite the same.

Also today is the 16th anniversary of Chuck Schuldiner's passing, which I still remember where I was when I read about that. Two of my favorites on the same day, how bout that

 

[Laz]

Slayer is calling it quits this year, kicking off one last world tour in May. North American dates are...

May 10 - Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, CA
May 11 - FivePoint Amphitheatre, Irvine, CA
May 13 - Papa Murphy's Park at Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA
May 16 - PNE forum, Vancouver, BC
May 17 - South Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton, BC
May 19 - Big Four, Calgary, AL
May 20 - Shaw Centre, Edmonton, AB
May 22 - Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, MB
May 24 - The Armory, Minneapolis, MN
May 25 - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
May 27 - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill, Detroit, MI
May 29 - Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
May 30 - Place Bell, Montreal, PQ
Jun. 01 - Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
Jun. 02 - PNC Banks Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
Jun. 04 - Santander Arena, Reading, PA
Jun. 06 - Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
Jun. 07 - Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH
Jun. 09 - KeyBank Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA
Jun. 10 - Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
Jun. 12 - VUHL Amphitheatre, Virginia Beach, VA
Jun. 14 - PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, NC
Jun. 15 - Orlando Amphitheatre, Orlando, FL
Jun. 17 - Smart Financial Center, Houston, TX
Jun. 19 - The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX
Jun. 20 - Austin 360 Amphitheatre, Austin, TX

...which are fucking lousy. The support lineup is okay, but having to sit through garbage like Lamb of God to see Slayer one more time is annoying. I'll still do it (FUCKING SLAYER), but LOG is getting mercilessly booed by anybody over 30.

 

[Gary]

Good to see there's Ohio shows. I just might see 'em.

Anyways, Tomb Mold and Contaminated are right up my alley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGoko_kI1WI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFdVf6u7Q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3TqPoKejmk

We need more Death Metal like this nowadays.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Kamelot released their newest album a few weeks back called The Shadow Theory and its fucking great. They didn't try anything new, but they found a formula long ago that works and they stuck to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8MqvUeDqL4

I'll be seeing them with Delain and Battle Beast in Atlanta next month.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Yeah, the new Kamelot album is really good.

 

[Laz]

Random purchases last night have yielded killer results!

DEFLORATION is a new favorite, blending European death metal riff construction with American brutal death songwriting. I nabbed Dripping With Blood and Necrotic Nightmare, both a solid 7.5/10 for me.
https://youtu.be/woDxYYhTfSM
(Not from the discs I picked up, but there isn't much of them on YouTube)

BENIGHTED is a favorite anyway, but I always pick up physical copies for bands whose work I mostly have downloaded on a hard drive somewhere. Necrobreed is just as killer as Carnivore Sublime, 8.5/10, you'll love them if you're into Aborted or similar deathgrind bands.
https://youtu.be/oPDH83tFa9o

BROKEN HOPE...why the hell have I waited so long?! Mutilated and Assimilated is how tech death should be. Fuck being pretty, this is DEATH METAL.
https://youtu.be/tRnhEGl6Np8

 

[Laz]

BLIND GUARDIAN IS INCREDIBLE AND I FORGOT THAT FOR 16 YEARS

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Blind Guardian is really good. I've only been able to see them once though, and that one time, you could tell they were sleep walking through the set. It was incredibly disappointing.

 

[Epic Springs]

Master of Puppets > Peace Sells.

And there's my random thought of the day.

 

[Laz]

Megadeth is the weakest of the Big Four. Dave may be the best musician of all of them, but that doesn't mean shit when his albums were the least enjoyable.

 

[Epic Springs]

I agree that they were the weakest but Peace Sells is still a good record and probably the strongest of Megadeth's 80s input (with a fist fight between Rust and Countdown for best of their 90s) but the one-two punch of Puppets and Lightning can't be touched. A lot of people still tend to forget how high Metallica's highs really were.

 

[Slayer]

Megadeth is the weakest of the Big Four.

I agree that they were the weakest

Anthrax would like a word with you two.

Granted, I base this almost entirely on my extreme dislike of Belladonna, both as a person and vocalist. The rest of the band is cool and I loved the Bush-era material, plus Bush singing the older stuff too, but srsly fuck Belladonna.

Also I may have mellowed through the years but I will stand by MOP being an all-time overrated AF album, and will take the opposite stance of what Reine said earlier

 

[Slayer]

Making separate post for this, but something I've always wondered is how Anthrax got lumped in with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer as the "Big Four" anyways as they are so different from the other three it's such a stark contrast. The other three bands were from California, took a lot of influence from English rock/metal, and otherwise developed similar sounds (Metallica/Megadeth intertwined history notwithstanding), while Anthrax was from NYC and took their influence from the NYC punk/hardcore scene, making them more a contemporary with Overkill, another NYC punk-influenced metal band. Then there's Testament, a Bay Area band that sounded far closer to the other CA bands than Anthrax, although they came along a few years after the California Big Three established themselves.

 

[Epic Springs]

I think it has to do with them hitting it "big" (for lack of a better word) and releasing their major label debut around the same time as the other three. Megadeth's first album was released the same year as Exodus' but there was Dave's connection to Metallica a few years before. Fistful of Metal (with original vocalist, Neil Turban, who has seemingly fallen off the face of the planet) is stylistically different than Anthrax's later work.

I love Anthrax (and not because of the hometown bias). I do love the Belladonna era stuff and Bush was a good vocalist too although I only really care for Sound of White Noise and a few tracks from We've Come For You All.

It's cool if you think MOP is overrated. I prefer Lightning myself.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I know they're not part of the Big 4, but I'll take Overkill over any of them.

 

[Slayer]

It's cool if you think MOP is overrated. I prefer Lighning myself.

Oh absolutely, within Metallica's discography I'll take RTL over MOP 9.5 times out of 10.

I know they're not part of the Big 4, but I'll take Overkill over any of them.

My man

To quote myself from those Agent metal threads however long ago (don't think about it...): "If Testament is the lesser-appreciated-but-ultimately-better-musicwise version of Metallica, then Overkill fits the same bill for Anthrax."

 

[Epic Springs]

There's also the unofficial, fan-made "2nd Tier" of the Big Four which included Exodus, Overkill, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies (may be wrong about the last one as they're way different from the other three).

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

It's cool if you think MOP is overrated. I prefer Lighning myself.

Oh absolutely, within Metallica's discography I'll take RTL over MOP 9.5 times out of 10.

I know they're not part of the Big 4, but I'll take Overkill over any of them.

My man

To quote myself from those Agent metal threads however long ago (don't think about it...): "If Testament is the lesser-appreciated-but-ultimately-better-musicwise version of Metallica, then Overkill fits the same bill for Anthrax."

I have a friend who's been a big Overkill fan for at least a decade and a half. Any time we'd hang out, he'd play some for me. Learned to love them from that. They're still pumping out awesome work.

 

[Brocklock]

There's also the unofficial, fan-made "2nd Tier" of the Big Four which included Exodus, Overkill, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies (may be wrong about the last one as they're way different from the other three).

I'd throw Kreator in there over Suicidal Tendencies. And, I'd personally have Sodom or Coroner over Overkill. Rust in Piece is my favorite album of any of the big four, but Megadeth might be my least favorite band of the four if that makes sense. They never sounded as good to me as on RiP and Mustaine's vocals can be annoying.

 

[Slayer]

I'd put the three big German thrash bands (Kreator, Sodom and Destruction) plus Coroner in their own separate category as they had very different and distinct sounds/themes compared to the American bands we've been discussing.

 

[Brocklock]

Okay, gotcha. But, I'd throw in Dark Angel/Annihilator/Voivod/Vio-lence as a sweet uncategorized thrash foursome.

 

[Laz]

Overkill has grown on me, but Testament always rode the popularity wave. They were riding Metallica and Megadeth's coattails in the 80s, released a pair of poor pseudo-death albums in the 90s, and their reunion produced material considerably weaker than those by bands they clearly influenced.

This is all for naught anyway. Demolition Hammer smokes practically every other thrash band besides Metallica and Slayer.

 

[Epic Springs]

Just listened to some Testament. Sorry, Laz, but "The Legacy" and "The New Order" are pretty badass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Hr6S_uzCw

 

[Epic Springs]

Seperate post for this but for those who have actually seen the Big Four live, who would you say put on the best show overall?

I know a lot of factors come into play here, most notably the year they performed as well as the type of venue. I saw Metallica and Slayer in large arenas while I watched Anthrax and Megadeth at smaller, standing-room only, general admission venues. I appreciated Megadeth's interaction with the crowd as well as Robert Trujillo's onstage antics. Anthrax didn't seem to do anything different given they were in their hometown, and Slayer were to the point, rocking the fuck out while Tom told a few jokes. It terms of pure energy, I feel Slayer may win in that category.

 

[Laz]

Slayer is the only one I've cared to see more than once, but that's entirely due to ticket costs. Metallica shows usually cost $100 or more whereas most Slayer tickets I've bought have been in the $25-50 range. I've seen all but Anthrax (skipped them for Slayer's farewell gig I went to because I wanted to avoid Lamb of God at all costs), but I'm not big on Anthrax anyway.

Of them, Metallica probably puts on the best show, but I'd still choose Slayer over them for pure intensity. Even the newer Slayer material sounds perfect when they play it live, but I couldn't say that about when I saw Metallica and they sandwiched "St. Anger" between AJFA/Black Album songs.