Creative Title: Zess Will Explode If He Can't Find New Music

[Zeus 7997]

Yes, I'm at it again.

And yes, this topic did require an announcement. No one looks at this subforum ; o ; I was going to say subreddit haha

I got a lot more recommendations than I was expecting so I thought to do something with them all. This is what I came up with. It's a minimal time-investment experiment that could end up being adventurous and quite fun if you let it. The basic gist of it is: we're taking all of the recommendations that we got from users in this topic and the goal is to go through two albums a week and just discuss how much we like/dislike the album.

I was going to originally restrict it to just one from each genre but then I figured that I'd be judging which album to listen to based off of having listened to neither, so I scrapped that idea. I also was going to do one a week but then I figured it was going to take us FOREVER to get through, so I increased it to two. I'm going to try and keep the genres as close together as possible.

My motivation for starting this topic is simple: I am bored with music. That means I'm not getting enough exposure to music. Instead of just blindly striking out and hoping to find gold, I figure I'd ask the members of MH to tell me the best albums they can think of to make sure I get a lot of quality goods. Now I don't want to listen to them all by myself, so this is where you guys come in ;D

Of course, I want anyone that wants to participate to actually listen to the album during this time frame at least once but listen as many times as it takes you to form an opinion! You can join in whenever you want and leave whenever you want, but just make sure that whatever week it is we're all on the same album to avoid confusion. There's the list in the spoiler below just in case you aren't sure and I'll be sure to keep up on it.

As for thoughts, feel free to leave them here at any point during the week. A few sentences is all that I'm looking for but if you want to write more, go ahead! I'm going to update the list each Sunday as I wake up (or sometime soon after). I'll have the album marked off in the list so you know where we are and previous albums crossed off so everyone knows what we've already covered.

Sounds fun? Awesome. I'm going to go get started with it now.

Tristania - Beyond the Veil (Gothic Metal) - Zesshoku Oct. 22 2011 - Oct. 29, 2011

MONO - Hymn to the Immortal Wind (Post-Rock) - Zesshoku

The Beatles - REVOLVER (Psychedelic Rock) - Chianti

Blondie - Parallel Lines (New Wave) - Chianti

Person Pitch - Panda Bear (Dream Pop, Post Rock) - Chianti

Mezzanine - Massive Attack (Trip Hop) - Chianti

Music For The Jilted Generation - The Prodigy (Big Beat, Electro Industrial, Hardcore Techno, Jungle) - Chianti Oct 30, 2011 - Nov 6. 2011

Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side (Melodic Death Metal) - Champ213 Oct. 22 2011 - Oct. 29, 2011

Suede - Dog Man Star (Britpop) - Champ213

Tenhi - Maaäet (Neofolk) - Champ213 Nov 14, 2011 - Nov 20. 2011

Misfits - Walk Among Us (Horror Punk) - Jigsaw9

Cinema Strange - The Astonished Eyes of Evening (Batcave/Death Rock) - Jigsaw9

System of a Down - Toxicity (Nu Metal) - Jigsaw9

Down - II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (Stoner/Southern Metal) - Jigsaw9

Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines (Technical Death Metal) - Jigsaw9

Tom Waits - Bone Machine (Blues Rock) - Jigsaw9

Der Eisenrost - Armored Weapon (Industrial) - Jigsaw9

Nirvana - Nevermind (Grunge) - Neon

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (Post-Punk) - Jigsaw9

Ramones - Ramones (Punk Rock) - Jigsaw9

Slayer - God Hates Us All (Thrash Metal) - Jigsaw9 Nov 21, 2011 - Nov 27. 2011

Marduk - Plague Angel (Black Metal) - Jigsaw9

Astrud Gilberto - The Astrud Gilberto Album (Bossa Nova) - fitear1590 Oct 30, 2011 - Nov 6. 2011

Russian Circles - Geneva (Post-Metal) - bonsaijodelfisch Nov 7, 2011 - Nov 13. 2011

Boris - Heavy Rocks (2002) (Stoner/Sludge Metal) - bonsaijodelfisch

Justice - † (Electro) - bonsaijodelfisch

Jimi Hendrix- are you experienced (electric blues/psychedelic blues) - bonsaijodelfisch

led zeppelin - led zeppelin 1 (hard rock) - bonsaijodelfisch

queen - a night at the opera (Glam Rock) - bonsaijodelfisch

sick of it all - blood, sweat & no tears (new york hardcore) - bonsaijodelfisch Nov 28, 2011 - Dec 4. 2011

Nick & Simon - Vandaag (Palingsound) - Cupcakes

Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (Britpop) - lukrecia

Autechre - Incunabula / Amber (IDM) - lukrecia Nov 28, 2011 - Dec 4. 2011

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen (Modern Classical) - lukrecia

Merzbow - Music For A Bondage Performance (Noise) - lukrecia

Robert Hood - Minimal Nation (Minimal Techno) - lukrecia

Nile - Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka (Extreme Death Metal) - lukrecia

Benga - Newstep / Diary Of An Afro Warrior (Dubstep) - lukrecia

J Dilla - Donuts (Instrumental Hip-hop) - lukrecia

Blur - Parklife (Britpop) - lukrecia

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (rock) - Pretsy

Placebo - Placebo (britpop/alternative rock) - Pretsy

My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (Post-hardcore) - Pretsy

Alice in Chains - Dirt (grunge) - Pretsy

Faith No More - Angel Dust (experimental rock) - Pretsy

Korn - Korn (nu-metal) - Pretsy

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (experimental metal) - Pretsy

Luna Sea - MOTHER (90's VK) - Pretsy

Wintersun - Wintersun (melodic death metal) - Arithmetica Nov 7, 2011 - Nov 13. 2011

Death - Symbolic (death metal) - Arithmetica

Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (death metal) - lukrecia Nov 21, 2011 - Nov 27. 2011

The Kiddie - Brave New World (Pop Rock) - Maiku

Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation (Psychedelic Rock) - Maiku

Fiona Apple - When the Pawn (Piano Rock) - Maiku

CocoRosie - Noah's Ark (Freak Folk) - Maiku

The Bubbles - Daydreaming in Technicolor (Psychedelic Pop rock) - Maiku

Ott - Mir (Psychedlic Dubtronica) - Maiku

Pretty Lights - Making Up A Changing mind (Electro House) - Maiku

The Q4 - Sound Surroundings (Hip-hop) - Maiku Nov 14, 2011 - Nov 20. 2011

Regina Spektor - Songs (Vocal) - Maiku

The Smashing Pumpkins - Gish (Alternative) - Maiku

The Blood Brothers - BURN PIANO ISLAND BURN (Post-hardcore) - Maiku

[Maiku 4]

Hmmm. Can't really listen to Metal at this time of night cause people would get woken up. @_@ But tomorrow! I shall jump into this. 8D Sounds uber fun. Also, I'MMNOTARITHMETICA. ;___;

[Miasma 162]

THIS THREAD WAS MADE FOR ME

i could also use some recommendations rn. i'm dling the Tristania album as i type this.

also, i was thinking... maybe, if people are willing to participate, you guys can tie turntable.fm (or rolling.fm, etc) into this? you guys will set up a night for one person (preferably the person who recommended the album) to dj an entire album from the recommendation list, and all of us listeners give our thoughts there as we listen. y/n?

[Maiku 4]

WOAHWOAHWOAH WOAH. I like dat idea too. 8D

[Zeus 7997]

Hey, that's a pretty great idea too! I can dig it. The only problem would be the amount of times you can play the same artist per hour, so if we can find a way around that we're set!

[LIDL 692]

turntable idea is not bad,

but with the amount of user who are regular there

i am not sure it will producing quite much for the feed back.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Cool thread idea! I'll definitely try to participate when I can!

...except for the turntable.fm part, can't get that to work (even with a proxy-thingie).

[Neon 6]

I gonna ty ALBUMS OF THE WEEK , Good idea btw

I allredy know Amon Amarth but that other is kainda new for me

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

lol, this sounds like fun i'll try to keep up with it, but it'll be 31 weeks to finish these all soooo next list is due to 27.05.2012 \(^o^)/

EDIT: BTW anyone got a better rip of the tristania album? i only found a really bad sounding 128kbps....

[Zeus 7997]

Hold on, I'll see what mine is and then if I can find anything better.

NINJA EDIT: Mine is 160. Time to scour the nets. This album out of anything deserves to be listened at least above 192.

Not so NINJA-like EDIT: It takes a little digging but 320 can be found rather easily. If you have problems, just shoot me or bonsai a PM.

[LIDL 692]

can it be obtained from filestube?

[Zeus 7997]

Alright, so I'm going to start off with some of my thoughts for Tristania's Beyond the Veil album. I got into it a few days before I started this topic so I've already got some idea about how I feel towards this album.

First things first, fans of Nightwish and Tarja's voice should fall in love with vocalist Vibeke Stene. She sings in a register even higher than Tarja and she does it without sounding hollow or aggravating. She isn't by any means the prominent vocalist - that would be guitarist and main composer Morten Veland - but when she comes in it's always such a nice thing and just makes the tracks better. Plus, I dig that moaning in Opus Relinque.

I found it really hard to get into this album and when I downloaded it the first few times I tried listening to it I passed over it because I got "bored". I suggest that people actually try to give this album a chance. Tristania decided to forego just a few "great" tracks with an album full of "great" tracks, so it hard to figure out where to start. Everyone who likes this album has different tracks that they think you should start at and I'm no different. I'm partial to Opus Relinque, ...of Ruins and A Red Nightfall and Angina. All three are amazingly good tracks, even when compared against the rest of this album.

So in short I really, really like this album. I can see why people call it one of the best - if not the best - gothic metal album ever. If you're disappointed with the amount of female-fronted "gothic metal" bands that swamp the European metal scene this day, this band is the exception. Hell, I'll even wager that this band IS the progenitor for all of those lame copycats. Throw away the warranted hatred and give this album a try because it's good enough to have me vouch for it.

ALSO: Do not try their newest album Rubicon. The main male vocalist on this record departed after this record to form Sirenia and Vibeke departed after Illumination. I have my own thoughts about Sirenia so I'll save them until someone asks me about it. Tristania no longer sounds like this. You will be disappointed if you try that album. If you want more of this, you could try tracking down their previous album Widow's Weeds. As a whole that album is darker and less varied than this and the production is noticeably lower (hey, it was their first full-length!) but the atmosphere and the songwriting is amazing. Just as good as this album, even better to some people depending on what you're looking for.

I'll get started on Amon Amarth's album a little later.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ Hmmm I don't really like female-fronted gothic metal (let alone Nightwish, ugh), so I'm interested to try this out, after your encouraging words. Will listen to it in the next few days (and Amon Amarth's album too), and post my thoughts later.

[Champ213 1858]

also, i was thinking... maybe, if people are willing to participate, you guys can tie turntable.fm (or rolling.fm, etc) into this? you guys will set up a night for one person (preferably the person who recommended the album) to dj an entire album from the recommendation list, and all of us listeners give our thoughts there as we listen. y/n?

Sadly, TT doesn't allow full albums to be played. I think the restriction is 3 tracks from one album per hour. Not sure if it works with rolling.fm.

Personally I prefer to download the albums though, since for a proper review I like to repeat tracks etc.

Anyway, since I recommended the AA album, I won't review that, but I'll try the Tristania one. I actually know some songs from it, thanks to my teen goth days, but I mostly heard them at the club, never really as a whole CD.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

^ Hmmm I don't really like female-fronted gothic metal (let alone Nightwish, ugh), so I'm interested to try this out, after your encouraging words. Will listen to it in the next few days (and Amon Amarth's album too), and post my thoughts later.

I'm in the same boat, not a fan of female fronted metal bands since most of them are like a weaker water-downed Nightwish and I'm not much of a Nightwish fan to begin with. However if Zess says it's good then maybe it actually is but I'm still pretty leery.

[Neon 6]

Now I have listen this one album of the weeks :

Tristania - Beyond the Veil (Gothic Metal) and this is my mini review

New band for me so This was my first .Music was really nice and vocals / screams works , I'm not big fan instumentals song so that part was not good for me.

Overall good album and I enjoy it a lot

8 /10

Nexst I gonna listen Amon Amarth album

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Listened to the Amon Amarth album!

I've never listened to these guys' music before, but saw their names a few dozen times in my life so far, so naturally I was interested (since I love metal anyway). I wasn't disappointed! When I heard it's 'melodic death metal' I had my reservations because I somehow thought it wouldn't be 'beefy' enough, but it's totally the opposite. Same when I heard it's kinda 'vikingy' - somehow I had a picture of muffled-sounding endless black metal-like songs with a weak folk-like melody or two that make me fall asleep...thank god that wasn't the case here. xD I like the energy and power the music conveys - the vocalist adds to this greatly too. The healthily aggressive and modern guitar sound is also something I love, so bonus points there! The songs themselves are cool (and catchy!) too, standouts for me include Asator, Gods of War Arise, and Cry of the Black Birds. The closing track is pretty epic too. I like how the album isn't dragged out endlessly, that 42 minutes is just fine.

Overall, I kinda had some expectations, but they totally exceeded them! Good album, I might try their other stuff (and if I like those too, maybe go to their gig here in Hungary in November xD). Thanks for introducing them to me! Nice stuff, 7.5/10.

Next up, Tristania!

[Champ213 1858]

Glad you liked it!

Also:

standouts for me include Asator, Gods of War Arise, and Cry of the Black Birds.

High five! Those are my favourite tracks as well. xD

By the way, I found a 320kb/s version of the Tristania album. If anyone wants the link, message me.

I'll listen to it later today.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I finally listened to Tristania's album too but I didn't like this one so much. I don't know, maybe gothic/dark-symphonic/whatever metal is just not for me, but most of the time it felt like a chore to listen to the songs to the very end - despite containing some cool parts here and there. Kinda like drowning in a sea of too-soft purple pillows (somehow when listening to gothic-metal/rock that's the color I envision xD) while channel-surfing on the TV and occasionally there's something good but they always cut to the commercials. Kind of like that. I admit that they sound extremely talented musically but ehh...the music didn't really have much effect on me. The violin parts sounded good and refreshing though! I think I enjoyed the tracks Opus Relinque and Heretique a bit more than the others.

So it had some cool bits but overall it bored me pretty much. I'd give it something like 5/10.

[Champ213 1858]

Okay, I listened to the Tristania album. As I said before, Tristania are no strangers to me, as I used to be a half-assed goth in my teens. That was before the age of mp3 downloading, so I had their first album Widow's Weed as CD-to-tape-copy, lol. And I remember being madly in love with the song Angellore. I never fully listened to 'Beyond the Veil' though, I guess because I never got my hands on it before my interest in the goth scene faded. I know some of the songs though because they used to be (over)played at the local club at friday's goth/darkwave/ebm night. XD

So, listening to this album was quite a throwback into old days for me. I especially remembered Aphelion, which (maybe because of that) also turned out to be my favourite track from the album. I kinda agree with Jigsaw though that, while pretty impeccable from a technical perspective, I rarely felt really "touched" by the songs, except for a bit of nostalgia. (But the nostalgia was much stronger when I looked up "Angellore" on youtube again - for some reason that songs seemed more emotional to me). Or maybe I would have liked the album more if I had listened to it 10 years ago, since I'm not that much into gothic metal anymore. I do applaud them for using some unusual instruments like the violin though, and the thing that almost sounded like an erhu. I can also imagine that the album needs more than one listen to get fully grabbed by it. It's still a very decent album, and I can understand why somebody would pick it as most representative gothic metal album.

Overall: 6.5/10

[Neon 6]

Now my Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side mini review

Unlike Jigsaw9 I have listened this band before this Cd and I must say that this an definitely best album that they have made.

Front man Johan Hegg's vocals are awesome and tracks are overall really epic. I have seen live and that one time i was like : THIS IS SO GOOD.

My favorite songs : Valhall Awaits Me , Runes to My Memory and Under the Northern Star

9 /10

[Zeus 7997]

I haven't listened to Amon Amarth's album as much as I wanted to, so here are my first thoughts (without a rating).

The guitars sound great. The melodies sound great. The riffage is simple but effective and they don't use solos as a crutch. It's melodic death metal but it's not the usual fare that's basically death metal without it's balls. The only gripe I have is that Hegg uses the same style of grunt and that it could use some variation. More listens are required!

[LIDL 692]

Tristania, not bad for a first timer like me.

It's quite friendly to the ear.

It is hard but also melodic.

But i agree there is some parts that are too cheesy.

Overall an average album for me.

The second half were more interesting than the first.

Conclusions:

I need to listen more of them to see if i really into them. Or this genre in general.

Amon Amarth were great, musically.

I haven't adjusted to the vocal syle yet.

But i enjoyed the music greatly,

there is epic taste of it.

It was blended well, and captivating.

I love the guitar and drums most especially.

The dynamic were stable from start to end.

Conclusions:

I may check on few more albums by them in the future.

[Maiku 4]

I couldn't get into either of the albums. X_X Amon Amarth just has this arrogant sound. D: And then Tristania just seemed so PRETENTIOUS. I dunno gaiz. ;O; Metal isn't really my forte. Can never take it seriously. ;__;

[Zeus 7997]

Tristania Gothic Metal just seemed so PRETENTIOUS.

FTFY

Gothic Metal as a whole is a pretty pretentious genre, but Beyond the Veil is the greatest bucket of pretentious goo that you'll ever listen to from the genre. It's full of cheese but I shamelessly love it.

Next week might be more your speed though.