\m/(~_~)\m/ Bring the Metal! \m/(~_~)\m/

garion333 wrote:

Here's a band that would likely open for Mastodon at some point. Just enough prog to not be rock, but not enough metal to be trve. Clean vox won't be everyone's cup of tea, but seems to work for what they're doing. Their guitarist is legit. Something feels a lil off to me, but it feels like they're onto something.

The guitar solo was a bit too kooky in ways but otherwise I dug this. They reminded me of discovering Tremonti last year, where there's some 90's aesthetic going on but evolved beyond that. Definitely more prog than Tremonti, though. I'll have to look into them more.

Crone is a band I've been listening to heavily since year end lists hit in December. GardensTale from AMG mentioned it in his best of list and I went back to his earlier review. I think his warning that he's an emotional listener is spot on because that tends to be my immediate reaction to most music. Crone is phenomenal at creating an evocative sound, especially with the guitar leads. GardensTale pointed out the lead guitarist was schooled by Pink Floyd/David Gilmour and I wholly agree and wish there were more guitarists who go down this path.

Vox, again, will be the biggest sore spot as the singer/guitarist goes for a more raspy whine. I'm not entirely certain who he's emulating but it reminds me of something I'd almost expect from a goth or new wave band. Can't put my finger on it.

Hrm, the first thing that came to mind was Moonspell's vocalist, but he's a far, far deeper bass. My Dying Bride was the second band to come to mind, so the "goth" reference seems about right. It's moody and atmospheric, but not my style. I like my stuff lively.

Seeing some more bands mentioned that I know about Thanks for the Batushka explanation, because that had me really confused. I agree the first song released is much better than that one that came out on Spotify later. I couldn't figure out what happened. It's too bad it's now so confusing.

I just saw Deafheaven live a couple months ago and it was an awesome show. They rock live, and I was only kind of a side listener of their stuff before then. I've liked basically every other album they've put out, and that didn't include the last one. However, seeing them in person was a different experience. Their music somehow just made more sense that way. Has anyone else had this happen? You listen to a band's albums and it's like "eh" but then live, it's really something.

I enjoyed the recent Moon Tooth release, but in my opinion their first album, Chromaparagon, was much better. I think it was even on my top 10, or at least an honorable mention, the year it came out (2016). This newer one started incredibly strong with that song that was posted, but for me it kind of went downhill from there. They are clearly talented musicians, especially the guitarist, but personally I think Crux was a downswing unfortunately.

For the stoner metal fans out there, Spirit Adrift and Lo-Pan have recently released new albums. Check them out! And then there's this recent one

d4m0 wrote:

I've liked basically every other album they've put out, and that didn't include the last one. However, seeing them in person was a different experience. Their music somehow just made more sense that way. Has anyone else had this happen? You listen to a band's albums and it's like "eh" but then live, it's really something.

This was my experience with Ghost's Prequelle.
Didn't really care for it at all until I heard most of it live on the Pale Tour Named Death.

SubRosa is splitting up, and now I'm sad.

Sounds like most of them are still working together, so it's not a true end.

I dig it

Full release of the good Batushka: https://sphieratz.bandcamp.com/album/

Apparently he is on Spotify, but under the Cyrillic version of "Batushka": https://open.spotify.com/artist/4JbG...

I bought the new album on Bandcamp to support the guy as he's clearly the real heart of Batushka.

So, Avatar and Devin Townsend are going to be here, on Wednesday... I’m tempted to give it a go.

Since I never did do a list for 2018 and after posting Crone the other day, I figure I should mention another song/album that I loved but don't think I posted here about:

Ihsahn's Amr is f*cking good. I am not a huge Ihsahn fan, in large part because his stuff always feels pretentious but also because I think his BM vocals aren't very good. Yeah, I said it, the vocals he is known for suck. His clean stuff is amazing, however (see above embed). Maybe his harsh voice is just shredded now, I don't know.

Anyway, Amr is all over the place in sound and type of song, ranging from electronic ballad to full on blistering black metal. Ihsahn puts a ton of effort into his compositions, so much so he's one of the few who knows how to do a countermelody (see below embed). Amr is the album I want Leprous to make, or what NiN used to make. Normally I give an Ihsahn album a spin and then forget about it, but Amr stuck with me. Heck, I'm still listening to it over a year after release.

Pretentious, absolutely, but earned.

Seconding Amr. One of the best albums of last year by... a lot.

How did I not know Ihsahn released a new album last year?? That's going to rectified right away!

garion thanks for the mention of the good Batushka. That's also going on the list today. Your link actually doesn't work - it went to the Bandcamp homepage. I think this is the one: https://sphieratz.bandcamp.com/releases

Also hell yeah Clutch. One of my favorite bands of all time. They're one of the groups that got me into metal.

Thanks, looks like Bandcamp moved the URL for the release (I assume, because it now has his name and not Batushka). Fixed.

I remember getting this album a long time ago, I think in high school, and this was one of the few songs that wasn't bad. Not saying much, but the goofiness of Elvis Hitler, meshing two names together before Marilyn Manson did, was mildly amusing.

Few things get me as excited as a show getting announced that has a bunch of great bands, so I have to share with y'all that I'm giddy to learn of this upcoming tour:

Municipal Waste
Napalm Death
Sick of it All
*Revocation *
Voivod
Psycroptic
Take Offense
Skeletal Remains
Conjurer

This show starts in the late afternoon and in a stroke of unbelievable luck, is on a Saturday that Aggie Football has off in October.

Y'all alrsady know that I'm a gigantic fan of Revocation, and I really enjoyed seeing Skeletal Remains late last year. I've been a bit of a Sick of it All fan since discovering them while filling in as a DJ at my college radio station. Several other bands I'm interested to learn more about.

The bill definitely has a crossover thrash theme with the two headliners and then having both thrash and hardcore bands on the undercard.

Also, just wanted to note that I saw d4m0's reference to Spirit Adrift earlier. If I didn't mention it earlier, I came across them on some random Spotify playlist and "Hear Her" absolutely kicked my ass. The new album is straight up traditional metal, and it's good! The frontman and bass player are a guitarist and the vocalist for Gatecreeper, respectively, which is one of my absolute favorite bands right now. They allegedly have a new album coming this year, and then hopefully I'll catch them on tour at some point.

I enjoy when artists have different projects that actually are different; one counterexample would be Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice. The latter is 3/4 of the former (only the drummer is different) and is basically the same kind of stuff but slower. Still good, though!

Speaking of multiple projects, I was listening to the Speak & Destroy podcast with Dave Davidson of Revocation talking all things Metallica when he mentioned that his new band, Gargoyl, had put some music out at some point. He mentioned the extremely large Alice in Chains influence, but there's a lot of weird Faith No More influence to my ear, as well.

Man, I haven't heard Sick of it All in years!

I stumbled on them completely on accident. I saw the cassette of Blood, Sweat, and No Tears and liked the art. Picked it up and that was the start of that. Followed them for decades.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Also, just wanted to note that I saw d4m0's reference to Spirit Adrift earlier. If I didn't mention it earlier, I came across them on some random Spotify playlist and "Hear Her" absolutely kicked my ass. The new album is straight up traditional metal, and it's good! The frontman and bass player are a guitarist and the vocalist for Gatecreeper, respectively, which is one of my absolute favorite bands right now. They allegedly have a new album coming this year, and then hopefully I'll catch them on tour at some point.

Nice! Glad you enjoy them. If you want more like that, you should definitely check out Khemmis. And I'll definitely be listening to some Gatecreeper. That is a band I had not heard before.

I've got a couple recent amazing (in my opinion) discoveries. To go along with the amazing death metal of Wachenfeldt, if you liked them, I'd say you'll also love Hath. This one came out a couple months ago and it's been played very loud in my car for a good week now. It's definitely a contender for my own end-of-year list.

And then there's a Russian band, Second to Sun. I feel like these guys would be in Legion's wheelhouse. Some very original stuff going on with these guys:

I would have sworn I posted about Hath, but I can't find it. They sing (whatevs) about Dark Souls! A couple of their songs popped up on shreddit a few weeks ago.

I consider them to be progressive death metal with very tech-death leanings, quite a bit like Black Crown Initiate, but with their own particular style.

Turns out that tour I was discussing this morning is the intersection of two tours, just for the Texas shows. We get sh*t on a lot in Houston as a lot of tours skip us, but this is awesome!

Both tours feature two headliners, and Revocation is the top band on their particular tour, so hopefully they will play a very full length set. The tour poster (which is gorgeous) says that they're performing the new album in its entirety.

I'm surprised that Sick of it All listed with all those other bands, but def makes sense they're touring with Municipal Waste. Frankly, I'd probably rather see Sick of it All than Municipal Waste, but yall may feel different.

d4m0 wrote:

And then there's a Russian band, Second to Sun. I feel like these guys would be in Legion's wheelhouse. Some very original stuff going on with these guys:

Well, this went places I didn't expect. Feels like the metal version of Monty Python's interlude music. In a good way.

Edit: Been listening to Second to Sun all day. I prefer their instrumental versions as it helps me focus on the music. The vox are mixed really loud on the vocal versions. Either way, it's nice they release both vox and instrumental versions. Take not, metal bands!

garion - Yeah, the bill makes more sense when split into the two different component tours.

I have not had a great hit rate lately with new releases. It's already June and my would-be 2019 list is awfully short.

One recent release that has been working for me is Drawn into Descent:

New Pelican album out today. Seems pretty good.
A review

*Legion* wrote:

One recent release that has been working for me is Drawn into Descent

Ohh that's good stuff. I'll be checking the rest of that one out. Have you heard Ghost Bath? Not new, but Drawn into Descent reminded me of them quite a bit. Their best so far I think was Starmourner, which is their second-to-last album. The "singing" is definitely not for everyone.

That Pelican album does seem pretty good! I'll have to listen to more of that one too.

I'm sure I mentioned Sulphur Aeon some aeons ago, but they put a new album out last year, and I finally got to it today. It's fantastic! Probably better than their previous (second) album, just at first impression.

They play well-produced death metal with a Lovecraft theme. Not sure who to compare them to, maybe I'll ask the Encyclopedia Metallum...

Edit: They're being compared to a number of caverndeath bands, and I don't agree with that at all; see "well-produced". Another comparison is Nile, which I do agree with, but I'm not really a fan of Nile, and I dig this bigtime.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I'm sure I mentioned Sulphur Aeon some aeons ago, but they put a new album out last year, and I finally got to it today. It's fantastic!

Hell yes it is! I love Sulphur Aeon's stuff. I'm sure I mentioned them myself. Their version of death metal is essentially perfectly aligned to what I dig the most. The singer's voice is perfect for it, too.

The dude from Vektor appears to be a domestic abuser.

*Legion* wrote:

The dude from Vektor appears to be a domestic abuser.

Saw that on Reddit. Bigtime bummer. Their last album was a brilliant concept album, hard to be enthusiastic about that now.

Man, Dave Mustaine has been diagnosed with throat cancer. He says the doctors give him a 90% chance of recovery.