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

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

but experimental isn't even really music most of the time, unfortunately.

That's a strange way of saying "transcends the rigid and arbitrary constraints that shackle art, liberates the style to reach previously unimaginable expanses, and only sometimes turns out to be a mislabeled recording of a radio telescope."

Screaming at the Void Music.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

but experimental isn't even really music most of the time, unfortunately.

That's a strange way of saying "transcends the rigid and arbitrary constraints that shackle art, liberates the style to reach previously unimaginable expanses, and only sometimes turns out to be a mislabeled recording of a radio telescope."

That's a generous interpretation. I'd interpret it as "Y'know what? Who said wheels have to be round or circular? Screw that! Let's experiment! Let's make 'em square, or rectangle, or even triangle! While we're at it, let's go rhombus! Screw circles! Circles are pedestrian! Open your mind to the possibility of non-circular wheels, man!"

EDIT: This probably comes off as a lot more jerky than I had intended. My mind later went off on a tangent about how this desire to experiment by not only breaking outside of established norms, but outright revolting against them, is not unique to music and is likely, in part, due to the over-abundance we have of these materials compared to the centuries and even millennia in which things like music had existed, leading to many established norms being commonplace across cultures, even when there are notable differences.

But who wants to get into that conversation?

ccesarano wrote:

That's a generous interpretation.

I think I sufficiently took the piss out of the concept with the last part of my description.

*Legion* wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

That's a generous interpretation.

I think I sufficiently took the piss out of the concept with the last part of my description.

I dunno, maybe Chris took you seriously with the last part. He has seen some of the stuff you post.

It's called telescopecore and you just don't get it.

garion333 wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

That's a generous interpretation.

I think I sufficiently took the piss out of the concept with the last part of my description.

I dunno, maybe Chris took you seriously with the last part. He has seen some of the stuff you post.

Pretty much. As someone that takes themselves too seriously, it's also tough to determine when someone else is not.

ccesarano wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

but experimental isn't even really music most of the time, unfortunately.

That's a strange way of saying "transcends the rigid and arbitrary constraints that shackle art, liberates the style to reach previously unimaginable expanses, and only sometimes turns out to be a mislabeled recording of a radio telescope."

That's a generous interpretation. I'd interpret it as "Y'know what? Who said wheels have to be round or circular? Screw that! Let's experiment! Let's make 'em square, or rectangle, or even triangle! While we're at it, let's go rhombus! Screw circles! Circles are pedestrian! Open your mind to the possibility of non-circular wheels, man!"

EDIT: This probably comes off as a lot more jerky than I had intended. My mind later went off on a tangent about how this desire to experiment by not only breaking outside of established norms, but outright revolting against them, is not unique to music and is likely, in part, due to the over-abundance we have of these materials compared to the centuries and even millennia in which things like music had existed, leading to many established norms being commonplace across cultures, even when there are notable differences.

But who wants to get into that conversation?

*Legion* wrote:

It's called telescopecore and you just don't get it.

Well actually...

I do enjoy that type of conversation. And I think that I DO get “it” as far as understanding that some groups and artists are good at pushing the boundaries of the definition of what music is. It’s just that I don’t enjoy “it”. But that’s on me. If others enjoy “it”, then great. I’ve outlined some specific reasons of why I don’t enjoy “it”. TBH, there are some jazz compositions that I love in which the exact same criticisms could be leveled upon.

But what I really want to know is, what is “it”? You say, “What is “it”?” YOU say, “What is “it”?” You want it all, but you can’t have “it”!

“It”’s in your face but you can’t grab it!

edit

Holy sh*t! Look how young he was!

RawkGWJ wrote:

It’s just that I don’t enjoy “it”.

That's because it's only for fast and unsafe Southern California drivers.

*Legion* wrote:
RawkGWJ wrote:

It’s just that I don’t enjoy “it”.

That's because it's only for fast and unsafe Southern California drivers.

What? How did you? Wait. Come on!!

I honestly don't get Portal either. Been listening to the new albums for or a day or two now. They aren't doing anything particularly interesting is my issue.

Some interesting stuff here or there, but that's about it. Heck, I think Hagbulbia is the more interesting of the two because it's way out there instead of being another atmospheric death metal song. Hagbulbia is much more like a soundtrack to a nightmare than Avow. To some I can see it being more and less at the same time than Avow, but it's certainly more daring in my eyes.

Ion was better. The succinct song length plays a large part. I'm definitely in the camp that believes a good editor can generally make songs/albums better.

If you like older Portal but the new ones aren't doing it for you, try the new Altarage album.

RawkGWJ wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Rawk, have you heard the good news about Gatecreeper? I've mentioned them several times. They have some of the elements you mentioned - even groove, occasionally.

Thank you Fed. I will give that a listen!

I have been listening to that new EP and it’s great!

It’s incredibly hardcore adjacent. The first seven songs fly by in about eight minutes. No guitar solos. Then the last song is ten minutes long, but it’s not really just one song. It’s still a bunch of shorter than 2 minutes songs with some slower atmospheric interludes. There are some solid stoner type riffs on that last track.

This is exactly the type of thing I wanted to hear. Thanks again, Fed.

You're welcome! Now check out their two LPs and let me know what you think - they're more mid-tempo than either side of the new EP.

Not metal, but the new Wolf Alice is super good. They continue to be a broad band with a wide sound kind of like an alternative dark synthpop punk rock band, depending on the song. For instance, if you don't like the first song of the above playlist, wait for the second one and see if it's more your thing.

It's like a death metal version of GloryHammer.

I was surprised I don't really mind the screaming in this despite there being no actual vocal melody. Maybe it's balanced in just the right way, I dunno. I dug it.

Apparently that's a power metal supergroup with death metal vocals. It features members of Nekrogoblin, Alestorm, Aether Realm, and the aforementioned Gloryhammer.

Gloryhammer sounds like a sex act. Like a glory hole but more forceful (and not something I would want to participate in).

Nevin73 wrote:

Gloryhammer sounds like a sex act. Like a glory hole but more forceful (and not something I would want to participate in).

To me it sounds like what Thor Glen Danzig would call his penis.

New Thy Catafalque is awesome. I was hoping it'd be a bit harder and more cohesive than the last album and that's totally the case.

Pandemic angst on this one.

ccesarano wrote:

It's like a death metal version of GloryHammer.

I was surprised I don't really mind the screaming in this despite there being no actual vocal melody. Maybe it's balanced in just the right way, I dunno. I dug it.

It’s geometry metal!!

Not a bad moment. Pinkus (Butthole Surfers) on bass is always a good time. Dual bass!

I really gotta catch up on the last decade of Melvins music.

I saw the Melvins open up for Hemlet years ago. I didn't get it.

It probably says a lot about me that they're both wearing shirts of my two least-favorite Pre-St. Anger albums Metallica made.

garion333 wrote:

Not a bad moment. Pinkus (Butthole Surfers) on bass is always a good time. Dual bass!

I really gotta catch up on the last decade of Melvins music.

That’s incredible. What a great live sound. Two bassists plus all four are doing vocals, even the drummer.

ccesarano wrote:

It probably says a lot about me that they're both wearing shirts of my two least-favorite Pre-St. Anger albums Metallica made.

You prefer Load and Re-Load to Kill Em All and Justice? That's what you call a wrong opinion.

Yes. Kill 'Em All is a really, really, really bad Megadeth album and And Justice For All is maybe two, three at best good songs with a whole lot of okay at best.

Of course, I already know I'm the minority opinion here in liking Load and ReLoad for being unique, though they honestly should have just dropped half the tracks from both albums and made one solid album. Bleeding Me, Low Man's Lyric, King Nothing, Memory Remains, Until it Sleeps, Waste My Hate, I feel like these are some of the better and more unique songs written by Metallica, where they finally had their own identity as a band rather than being a weak but mainstream friendly thrash band that was never really as good as the others (though really, Megadeth is the only thrash band I really got into, and even then the later 90's albums than the original 80's ones). Fixxxer is probably my favorite Metallica song, period.

So, yeah, even though there aren't enough good songs on both to justify two albums, I think the best tracks from both albums combine into Metallica's best work where they're writing their own music for a change as opposed to imitating what everyone else in the Bay Area was doing.

But, again, I know I'm drastically in the minority opinion on that.

ccesarano wrote:

But, again, I know I'm drastically in the minority opinion on that.

Yep. Metallica built their fan base upon the first four LPs. I think it’s great that you like their later stuff, but that later stuff would never have been possible without the LPs that came before.

Load and Re-Load are fine, but it's definitely the beginning of Metallica needing an editor.

I also don't care for Kill Em All much. I can appreciate its importance to metal in general, but I don't enjoy listening to it very often.

Justice, however, is one of my favorites from them. It's their progressive album before they turned into Jefferson Starship Metallica with the Black Album. Age and money seems to do that to folks.

I'm also in the group that finds KEA to be overrated aside from its importance. That was obviously a time of explosive growth and creativity in heavy music, and KEA is more like the spark while albums that came shortly after (like RTL) are the flame. As something to listen to right now, I can only give KEA about 2.5 Black Albums out of 5.

Ad for Load and ReLoad, I think Garion pretty much has it with the editor comment. There's one solid ~50 minute rock record buried across the ~150 minutes of those two releases, I think. The filler just kills actually listening to the albums for me. 2 Black Albums out of 5.

AJFA is legit. Would be more legit without sabotaged production. 4 Black Albums out of 5.

Still having the same discussions metalheads have had about Metallica albums for 30+ years: 5 Black Albums out of 5.

They should re-record Justice and give it a proper production.