The Metal Thread

[Red Baron]

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aksgS0E_Bx0[/flash]

 

[Slayer]

yes, rock/metal's answer to "We Are the World"

Sounded like an expanded Dio song, though I liked the extra touch of the guitar solo medley

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Hey you metal guys, what is your take on Fear Factory? I'm not familiar with much from them post about 98 or so, but I liked their first 3 albums well enough.

Stick with those. Digimortal is a steaming pile of shit that saw them stray from their cyber metal ways into generic nu-metal territory (thanks, Roadrunner), and Archetype - while a solid album unto its own - sounds more like the equivalent of a direct-to-DVD sequel to Obsolete. It's not bad, but it's not great. Transgression suffers more from poor tracklisting and sloppy production than anything else, as the songs themselves are about on par with Archetype's, but there's very little flow to them, and the production just isn't Fear Factory enough, if you know what I mean.

Basically, stick with Soul of a New Machine, Demanufacture, and Obsolete, keeping your ear closer to Demanufacture than the others. Soul has a tendency to have each song have riffs too similar to one another, and Obsolete (which I think is their best album, at least in terms of flow from start to finish) has weaker songs in the middle as compared to its beginning and end ("Shock" and "Edgecrusher" are amazing, and "Freedom or Fire" through "Timlessness" is as fluid as FF gets from song to song).

 

[Black Lushus]

Freedom or Fire was one of the songs I was listening to the other night, I almost forget I had some of their music on my mp3 player when that came up.

 

[Gary]

Oh joy, Varg is be resurrecting the Burzum project, and a new album called "Den Hvite Guden" (which translates to "The White God"-some things never change) is expected March or April of 2010. Also, he pretty much hates almost everybody who does Black Metal these days, and he still hates black people and homosexuals. In short: he's so cranky, he could burn a church.

 

[Black Lushus]

I know Slayer liked they're first album, but did any of you metal heads ever get in to Body Count?

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Their first album is surprisingly listenable. Looking back, though, a lot of what came out in 1990-1995 is really listenable. Early Pantera, Demolition Hammer (pre-Time Bomb), Body Count, the last truly listenable Sepultura album, Seasons in the Abyss, the rise of death and black metal...

Outside of the thrash scene in 1984-1987, has there been a better overall period for metal than the early 90's? This isn't meant to be a smartass question, I'm actually trying to think of anything post-1994 that has meant as much as what has come before it. There's the progressive metal and sludge scenes now, along with the thrash revival and the "mainstreaming" of extreme music thanks to MySpace and YouTube and whatnot, but I wouldn't put those on the same plain as the stuff in the early 90's, let alone mid-80's.

 

[Red Baron]

You can write off anything Funeral Doom related. Just not my thing.

 

[Slayer]

Okay, so now that the alphabet threads are largely said and done, let's go back and do some review.

First question: What bands, covered by other people and not yourself, have you newly discovered, re-discovered or re-evaluated as a result of these threads?

For me the biggest ones have been Isis and Neurosis, especially the former who I've fallen head-over for since Agent introduced them to me. Also thanks to these threads I've gotten into Coroner, Drudkh, Nasum and Demolition Hammer

Feel free to respond with any additional questions as well.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

I found a worthwhile Blind Guardian song! I also hate power metal less in general. Found Ufomammut and Drudkh, too, credit Gary

Summarize your metalphabet. Here's mine:

Atheist
Bolt Thrower
Celtic Frost
Death
Electric Wizard
Fantomas
Gorguts
Hate Eternal
Isis
Justin Broadrick
King Diamond
Lividity
Mieszko Talarczyk
Neurosis
Obituary (Though I'm now leaning towards Om, even if they aren't really metal)
I didn't really pick one for P, but it's probably Possessed
(defending Pantera)
Rompeprop
Slayer
!T.O.O.H.!
Venom
probably Witchfinder General
X Cops
Zimmers Hole

I'm satisfied with that.

 

[Slayer]

Agent Steel (would have done Amorphis or Armored Saint but got beaten to the punch on both)
Blind Guardian
Candlemass
Devin Townsend, Dark Tranquility
Evergrey
Fates Warning
Gamma Ray
Helloween
Iron Savior
Jag Panzer
Kreator
Loudness
Moonspell (Never did post an MDB article though, lazy fucker...)
Nevermore
Overkill (though I posted the Obituary article on behalf of Agent)
Paradise Lost
Q - should have been Quorthon, but got lazy again
Rage, Running Wild
SYL
Testament, Therion
U - none
Venom (co-opted)
WASP
X-Japan
Y - none
Z - none

 

[Wario Lemieux]

Akercocke
Behemoth
Candlemass
Death
Electric Wizard
The Faceless
Gojira
The Haunted
Isis
JEmperor
King Diamond
LOUDNESS FUCK YEAH
Mercyful Fate OR Melvins
Neurosis
Opeth
Pantera
QUEENSRYCHE FUCK YEAH
Red Seas Fire
Sepultura
Testament
Unearth
Vio-lence
WHITESNAKE FUCK YEAH
(E)xhorder
You Suffer, and all the other songs by Napalm Death
Zyklon

Had to cheat like a motherfucker, but I got all the letters, dammit.

 

[Gary]

Some of these I had to narrow down, or forgot to add.

Arcturus
Blut Aus Nord
Coroner
Drudkh
Emperor
Fleurety
The Gates of Slumber
High on Fire
Immortal
Janvs (shoulda been Jesu though)
Kyuss (Should have been Katatonia though)
L-I got nothing. Torn between Lifelover and Loits.
Mastodon
Negura Bunget
The Obsessed
Pentagram
Q-I got nothing.
Reverend Bizarre
Sacrementum
Tiamat
Ufomammut
Voivod
Watchtower
Yob
Zoroaster

And plenty of honorable mentions

 

[KanadianKrusty]

According to Blabbermouth, Ronnie James Dio is in the early stages of stomach cancer, this sucks.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

That sucks ass. I hope things improve for him.

 

[Gary]

Hey now, a Godflesh reunion.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Here's my crack at an alphabet:

Alice in Chains
Beautiful Sin
Cradle of Filth - I had nothing else for "C" and I liked the Nymphetamine song they had out several years ago
Delain
Edguy / Epica / Excalion
Filter - Only "F" I have on my Ipod
Nothing for G
Hammerfall
Nothing for I
Jerry Cantrell - I know I already have AiC on the list, but Degradation Trip kicks ass.
Kamelot
Leaves Eyes
Masterplan / Mod Rules
Nightwish / Northern Kings
Ozzy
Probot
Queensryche
Rhapsody
Serenity / Sonata Arctica / Symphony X
Tarot
Nothing for U
Vision Divine
Within Temptation
Nothing for X
Nothing for Y
Nothing for Z

 

[BUTT]

I'm not really qualified to judge the contents of a "metal alphabet," but I'd think that if you're including Queensryche on your list you could at least reserve a spot for Iron Maiden rather than no I at all.

Filter?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Filter - I grew rather fond of Richard Patrick's vocals in the late 90's. The only song of there's that I still listen to regularly is "Welcome to the Fold".

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Ah fuck, not that "Take a Picture" crap. Devil Horns indeed to that one.

 

[Wario Lemieux]

This is like a crappy internet IQ quiz question.

Haws Bah Gawd likes to listen to metal. Haws Bah Gawd likes to listen to Filter. Are Filter metal?

 

[Gary]

Russian Circles, a band that I had seen previously live and deemed to be lame posers, just released the best post rock album in years. It's called Geneva. Get that shit.

Oh yeah, that album is great.

I listened to it yesterday, but fuck, the new Yob album The Great Cessation is fucking killer. Agent, you will love this.

Oh, and there's a possible Arcturus reunion.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Anyone want to hear some incredibly masturbatory metal? Here you go.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Just picked up Rotten Sound's Cycles, and my girlfriend grabbed a Brain Drill album on a whim. Brain Drill sounds fucking NASTY, like how death metal is meant to be, and Rotten Sound reminds me a lot of Murder Squad, just without the dull mid-paced "jams" scattered throughout the album.

 

[Brocklock]

Does anyone like Gorod around here?

Super technical death metal band from France. Here's a sample

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

1:35 to 3:16 is guitar wankery at it's best. Amazing melodies. Their older stuff is great as well.

Also, Fear Factory's latest album is surprisingly good. I consider Fear Factory to be a gateway band for death metal and I kind of got bored with them as I grew older, but they added Gene Hoglan for this album and it's for the better. Here's an example:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Blastbeats and semi-technical guitar solos from Fear Factory, wtf.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Does anyone like Gorod around here?

I do now. Good find.

 

[Slayer]

I picked up the Gorod album over the summer. Good stuff, although not quite good enough for my year-end list, which I just posted over the the "Best of '09" thread (hint hint)

A good pickup I just discovered the other day is Obliteration from Norway. Old-school Scandinavian-style death metal with hints of Obituary and Sabbath-doom.

Later I'll be posting my various "of the decade" lists.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Anyone get the new Goatwhore?

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

New Fear Factory sounds about par for the course as Archetype, but with the guitars obviously a lot more well-done due to Dino being back and Christian gone (unfortunately, this means Christian is no longer on bass). I definitely have to pick the new one up. Gene Hoglan on drums just sounds so...so right. A perfect fit to replace Raymond Herrera (which is a scummy move to do since Raymond's also been there since day one), if I do say so myself.

Also, if you have a chance to see the documentary Get Thrashed? Do so. Solid work, with interviews from members of Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Anthrax, Megadeth, Kreator, Pantera, Sodom, Hirax, Response Negative, Overkill, and more. My sole complaint about the movie is the minimal Sepultura coverage given (although they do give credit for Chaos AD influencing nearly every album after it for nearly a decade) and the only 5-minute look at the thrash revival of the last few years (with the only band interviewed being Municipal Waste for about 10 seconds, but they do show album covers from Evile, Bonded By Blood, Fueled By Fire, Gama Bomb, and others). A little too heavy on the Metallica worship early on, but that's understandable given Metallica's early role in the scene. Also, no real talk of S.O.D., and barely any to D.R.I., although they're mentioned here and there.

 

[Gary]

Ihsahn's new album After comes out the 26th*, Borknagar's Universal comes out Feb. 22nd.


*I actually haven't heard his other two albums. Are they any good?