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

Yeah, that nu-metal phase... ung... But they've been getting back on track since. They're actually a bit more progressive, with really long, complex songs (A Farewell to Arms is awesome). They're really nailing the thrash with the groove, while keeping the sound theirs.

I really have a good feeling about Unto the Locust.

El-Producto wrote:

Full length documentary on Stoner/Doom metal.

Started watching that tonight, then about halfway through, they start talking about this legendary album by a band called Sleep that consists of a single, hour-long song titled Dopesmoker. At this point, I notice a video on the right side of the page titled Sleep: Dopesmoker clocking in at 1:03:24, so I click on it. Turns out it's the full-length original version of the song/album that was finally released several years after it was recorded (the original record label had released a shortened, edited version previously).

The reason I'm posting this reply is because, mostly out of curiousity, I just finished listening to the entire one hour and three minutes of Dopesmoker. And I can honestly say that I enjoyed all of it. I may never listen to the whole thing again, but as far as long songs go, Dopesmoker beats the sh*t out of Inna-gadda-da-vida as far as I'm concerned.

In case anyone is curious like I was, here's the song:

I'm not sure that I can get more amusement out of that documentary than I already have from that thumbnail. That dude's expression is hilarious!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I'm not sure that I can get more amusement out of that documentary than I already have from that thumbnail. That dude's expression is hilarious!

It is Stoner Rock

I found this, and just had to share:

Is this song on one of Mastodon's albums? I don't remember hearing it before. But the video is glorious.

No, that's a previously unreleased song.

Forte wrote:

I found this, and just had to share

Awesome! I hadn't seen that. If the muppets movies would have included destruction, chaos and Mastodon music, I probably would've watched them.

Well, poop. In Flames just cancelled for the rest of Rockstar Mayhem. That's the bad news. The good news, or possibly just mediating news, is that they have been playing mostly songs from after they changed their sound, so it may not be the world's biggest tragedy. Perhaps I should just make a playlist of the songs I'd want them to play, and listen to that.

Which brings up this subject: Is it best to see bands who are just now hitting their strides? I'm primarily going to see Trivium, whose last album was my favorite, and whose new songs (that I've heard) are very good.

Sybreed's not quite the same as most of the bands in this thread as they're industrial metal.

Is anyone familiar with the bands on the Metal Arise tour? Allegaeon, The Browning and The Devastated. The tour is coming to Houston tonight. I was planning on driving to Dallas for the Rockstar Mayhem show today, but I don't feel like 8+ hours in the car today, In Flames cancelled, and sad to say, I'm old. So I might check out this show in town tonight.

garion333 wrote:

Sybreed's not quite the same as most of the bands in this thread as they're industrial metal.

Good stuff there.

Thought you guys might appreciate a proggy mix of Opeth/Evergrey/Faith No Mori-ish vocals at times.

What do you guys think of Dir en Grey?

liquid wrote:

Thought you guys might appreciate a proggy mix of Opeth/Evergrey/Faith No Mori-ish vocals at times.

[ Division by Zero vid ]

I rather liked that.

Aaron D. wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Sybreed's not quite the same as most of the bands in this thread as they're industrial metal.

Good stuff there.

People might like the song below better. It shows more of the, well, Meshuggah influence in the music.

Metal Arise Tour show report:

It's a tour that has 3 bands traveling through the country and joining up with local bands in each city. Here are the bands I saw last night, in the order they played:

Carrion Sun (Houston, TX): Formerly Under A Carrion Sun. They were fine, but I didn't particularly dig them. They have a thrashy style with some nice lead playing. The singer kind of wandered aimlessly on stage while singing in a register somewhere between hardcore and black metal. He didn't seem to pay any attention to the audience. Worst stage presence of any singer last night.

Carry The Storm (Houston, TX): One-guitar thrash metal with a virtuoso guitarist. I was amazed at how complete their sound was with just the one guitar (and bass, and drums, natch). I liked what I heard on PureVolume.com, I enjoyed their set last night, and of course I like supporting local bands, so I bought their CD. If their set hadn't been good, I wouldn't have, but I think it was actually better than the mp3s I had heard.

The Devastated (California): Not my thing at all. They had two guitarists who played exactly the same thing 98% of the time. Their music was very staccato and rhythmic, so technically they were pretty good, but there was one lead guitar part the entire set. Not that I require leads, but they have two guitarists. My only positive comment would be that they had an extremely professional show: Decorated the stage, played eerie clips from movies between songs, headbanged in unison...now if only I liked their music. Another concertgoer said they got the least response all night.

Allegaeon (Colorado, garion!): Fantastic melodic death metal with intellectual, thought provoking lyrics. For example, "Biomech" is a song about the morality of keeping people alive on life support. They would fit in to my music collection more than any other band last night, in a good way. Check them out on YouTube; I may post some links later. Their singer, one guitarist, and mercy girl were all very friendly after the show. I went in planning to buy their CD, and I did.

The Browning (Dallas, TX): a unique blend of techno and metal. Some sites describe them as dubstep meets metalcore. The headliners did not disappoint, although as an old man I was pretty tired by this point. I enjoy their unique sound, and they have a ton of YouTube stuff. Their CD doesn't come out until October, so I almost bought a t-shirt; kind of think I should have. It had zombie soldiers on it.

Attendance was not great, and I think the show would be better served by having a bigger act to anchor it, but that's contrary to the theme of the tour. This was just the second show of the tour, so I encourage all you metal fans to check it out when it comes to your area. Allegaeon and The Browning are definitely worth it.

Has anybody been to the Amon Amarth tour? I'm going tomorrow, and looking forward to it. Somebody I used to work with got on the guest list, woo!

I've never posted in this thread before, and it's a bit of an old post, but Sleep is one of my favorite bands, full stop. If you like High on Fire, that was birthed by one of the guys after they split up. The other two went on to form a band called OM that's much more like Sleep, but even more so. I saw them in concert a year or so ago and they were amazing.

The thing that's extra funny about Dopesmoker is that they had released that same song as a full length album before, called Jerusalem. If you're familiar with Dopesmoker, listening to Jerusalem is a trip because in some ways it's even more sludgy....though produced worse.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Allegaeon (Colorado, garion!): Fantastic melodic death metal with intellectual, thought provoking lyrics. For example, "Biomech" is a song about the morality of keeping people alive on life support. They would fit in to my music collection more than any other band last night, in a good way. Check them out on YouTube; I may post some links later. Their singer, one guitarist, and mercy girl were all very friendly after the show. I went in planning to buy their CD, and I did.

You are speaking my language.

garion - Check out "The God Particle" and "Biomech" on YouTube and get back to me! The production and sound quality is as good as any major band.

necroyeti - Please give us a show review after! I'm planning on seeing Amon Amarth when they hit Houston.

Okay, I'm going to put some Allegaeon right here. Again, melodic death metal with very intellectual lyrics:

[/quote]

[/quote]

Necroyeti - did you go to the Amon Amarth show? How was it?

Fedaykin98 wrote:

garion - Check out "The God Particle" and "Biomech" on YouTube and get back to me! The production and sound quality is as good as any major band.

Sorry, never got back to you. I rather like it, a lot, especially since the vocals stay right on the edge of where I start to get annoyed with growls. I like vocalists who can do more than one thing (I use to think Sybreed had more than one vocalist), keeps it interesting for me. I would like Meshuggah a lot more if Jens had more range.

Support your local bands, garion! That cd was money well spent for me. One thing I really enjoy is that the singer does a great job of rhythmically matching his vocals to the music. You're spot on in saying that he can do more than one thing, as well.

I actually ordered it right after I posted.

They're playing in Denver on tuesday, but that's not a show I'll be able to make. Next time, though, I'll be able to plan ahead and support them properly.

If that Denver show is still the Metal Arise tour, let me just repeat that I find The Browning to be good as well.

It tis. There's just no way I can swing it.

Ha! Thanks, Fed, for reminding me of my obligations to the community. =)

In short, it was awesome. I honestly was not that familiar with their oeuvre before the show, though I did manage to get in a little background research listening. My thoughts, in no particular order:

That singer guy is HUGE. Like, really big. Amazing stage presence too. He managed to strike the perfect balance between being serious and rocking out (which is nice because I've seen a few vikingmetal bands who are too cheeky for their own good) and keeping the proceedings fun. They managed to keep the crowd energy high through a three hour pair of sets.

Which is another point, those guys were workhorses. Their first set was the entirety of their new album, which was tight. I was expecting this to be the highlight of the show, but they took a short (really short, not one of those annoying 45 minute ones) intermission and came back out and just tore it down for almost 2 hours more. Really impressive.

In closing, if you like stories about vikings and drinking beer, I think you'll love An Evening with Amon Amarth.

Thanks, yeti.

I know what you're talking about with being too cheeky - I saw Turisas open up for Dragonforce a couple years ago, playing their brand of "battle metal". Little too happy and silly to associate with battle, Vikings, etc.

Impressive

I'm a little late here, but so was necroyeti: Amon Amarth was fantastic. I was surprised that I enjoyed their second set (songs pre-Surtur) to their first set (all of Surtur Rising). I suppose that makes sense now that I think about it, though.

One nice surprise was that they played "Valhall Awaits Me", which setlist.fm had caused me not to expect. My first favorite Amon Amarth song.

You know a concert is good when you leave a bigger fan than you arrived, and when you spend the next few days listening to the band's music. I will definitely try to catch them on their next tour.