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

[Wind 195]

I added two or three albums to your recommendation list in the other topic, so give it a whirl if you wish.

On the subject of the Prodigy, I cannot say I've ever been a terribly huge fan. Every time i hear a song by them, I then get hit by a remix of it and generally, the remix ends up better. Specifically "Voodoo People" and "Smack My Bitch Up" have some brilliant remixes out there, but in no case whatsoever do the originals ever seem to eclipse these. It seems as if The Prodigy are almost making songs with the specific intention of having them remixed, instead of creating songs that are brilliant.

[LIDL 692]

well, i'll try Arithmetica's first since that's new for me

while i have listened GENEVA for awhile now thanks to ito

So i'll write more later.

[Zeus 7997]

Time to write thoughts about Wintersun:

Totally bought this album on a whim a year ago because I vaguely remember reading that they were a good band and it was in the middle of a drought of releases so there was nothing coming in from the visual land at the moment. It took a little to grow on me because I wasn't into as many Western bands as I am now but then once it clicked it took off. I love the extreme majestic technical epic melodic metal that the album has, I love the way the tracks get slightly longer and longer all building up to Sadness and Hate at the end, I love how it's kick-ass and metal but it's still easily digestable. I played this for a friend that doesn't even like screaming or harsh vocals in his metal and he liked it too! So yeah, this album definitely is a good showcase of whatever genre it's supposed to represent. There's too much variation to pin it down to just one.

I can't give it a good rating because I've heard it before but it never gets old. It's really good and I hope everyone else enjoys it just as much as I do.

[Zeus 7997]

I just finished listening to GENEVA and I think I'm in love. Russian Circles is the type of band that I've been looking for to not only fill the void left by ISIS but to also bridge the gap between the instrumental intertwining melodies of acts like Mono and the crushing heaviness of bands in the post-metal scene like ISIS. The only track I don't like is Philos because it lacks any sense of immediacy but the only thing that song is missing is a climax. Just when you think it is going to get started it meanders some more and then ends, making me feel like there was something more to that track that RC missed out on. Geneva (the song) is pretty sick and I'm loving the overall contrast between the cellos/violins and the crushing heaviness of the guitars. The different textures that the guitarist can wrangle out of his instrument is equally as impressive.

Afterwards I looked up some more information about the band to learn more about them and I found out that there's just one guitarist. It makes you wonder if bands like Godspeed You! with their 20-something band ensemble really need all of those guitarists when RC has shown that you can achieve greatness with a solitary guitarist. I'm also loving the crunchy bass I hear and the drummer is just fantastic. The tracks are a little short but they almost all make up for it in sheer energy and goodness.

I'd give this a solid 8.5. I'm listening to Empros now. Ito told me to keep an open mind about it so I am but a lot of reviewers are calling it their most solid effort to date. I'll report back and tell you guys what I think so if anyone else is interested they'll know whether or not it's up their alley.

Whomever recommended this album is awesome.

[Wind 195]

Zesshoku: Junius, just sayin.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

Whomever recommended this album is awesome.

you're welcome, glad you like it (btw try station next...)

sorry i'm behind again, won't comment on prodigy and bossanova-thingy now anymore (unfortunately didn't really have the time to listen to them anyways), but i'll give wintersun a spin this weekend so i hope i'll be back in the race by then

[Champ213 1858]

I'm kinda super-late but the last 2 weeks were really busy, lol.

I did listen to the Astrud Gilberto album and I quite liked it. It was pleasant, soothing, maybe a bit too, well, trivial? The music was kinda flowing in the background and it was easy to loose focus.

Also, I wish some of the songs would have been longer. Most of them had ended before I really got into them.

Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Overall: 6.5/10

As for the current albums of the week, I already know WIntersun, so I'm going to say a few words about that. It's a good album, pretty impeccable from a technical point of view. I always enjoyed Ensiferum a bit more, because they had this slightly folky edge. Wintersun is a lot more straightforward melodic death metal. Anyway, I wonder if "Time" will come out soon after all?

Overall: 7.5/10

[Zeus 7997]

I'll leave this open a bit longer so more people can get their thoughts in for the last minute.

Also, I guess Champ is saying that I should listen to Ensiferum?

[Jigsaw9 6783]

LOL didn't have much time this week. Listening to the albums now, will write my thoughts a bit later.

Listening to Wintersun now, positive feelings so far.

[Champ213 1858]

Also, I guess Champ is saying that I should listen to Ensiferum?

Well, it depends on what you prefer, I guess. Maybe it's also because I first listened to Ensiferum and later to Wintersun. Or maybe Wintersun is a bit too technical for me, too much in love with intricate solos and perfect riffage (which is not a bad thing but can get boring after a while.) Ensiferum is more "charming" to me, and the folky elements in some songs are unmatched, like Lai Lai hei!.

That being said, people that like Wintersun will usually like Ensiferum too, as they are still very similar. Listen to

for a more standard Ensiferum sound.

And what you'll prefer in the end ist just a matter of taste. They're both great bands, obviously.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Listened to the two albums.

Wintersun was pretty good. The guitarplay was top-notch and very creative/varied. I loved the random mellower bits thrown in here and there. The album felt like one big epic slab of metal, there were times when I didn't even notice a new track came on. Nice flow and atmosphere. The negative stuff: I absolutely loathe those tinkley-sparkly sounding synths (e.g. at the beginning of the album) but thankfully they weren't that predominant. Also, the "epic/melodic" vocals sometimes sounded a bit funny/weird to me, but other instances (nice black metal-like vox!) made up for it. Overall, it was a cool album, despite that I wouldn't listen to it every day.

I can't say such good things about Russian Circles sadly. I usually cringe whenever I encounter even the thought of 'post-rock', it's just one of the things that weren't made for me. xD But I was kinda positively surprised in the beginning, the album had a good strong start with a nice solid groove and mood. Unfortunately, that's almost everything I liked about it. The first two songs were okay, then the rest just fades into dreamy/hazy forgettableness. I kept trying to catch the feeling because the melodies and structures seem like they involve lots of emotion, but I was left unimpressed and unmoved.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

listening to wintersun right now. so far (track three now) i like the epicness of it all, but as with amon amarth before i think i pretty much know the whole record already,

but what really kills it for me is the overall sound, the guitars (to cope with the shredding lightspeed) sound pretty weak.

to top it of, as pretty common with fast metal drums, the first image after hearing the drums that jumps to mind is sorta like that

once more, maybe when i become a pirate and kill virgin baby kittens or whatever this might be my soundtrack, but apart from that melodic death just doesn't seem to do it for me^^

edit: through now, on second thought the sound ist that bad actually, just not really heavy, more technical. the album also has lots of nice bits to it, but i guess to me it will just be "that pirate-metal"-album no matter which song i put on, nothing really that remeberable to it...

therefore top-thumbsup-track: (["starchild"]:editedit read wrong title, meant)"beautiful death" most epic and technical folk-shred-pirate-guitar-porn on the whole album

[Zeus 7997]

Updated the list again!

[Zeus 7997]

Alright so I'm listening to Tenhi now and I shall do The Q4 either tomorrow or Saturday. My big thoughts will come along with my other review but for now I will say that neofolk isn't what I thought it was. Then again, I had no idea what to think when I read "neofolk". I guess I picked a good week to listen to Tenhi though because my current mood + the weather outside = perfect time for music such as this. Therefore, I'm getting into this a lot quicker than I think I would under normal circumstances. It's pretty good stuff for sure so far though!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Listened to the Tenhi album. I had no idea what to expect when I read the term 'neofolk' but it was quite pleasant. It seems to be a kinda introverted album, and I like that atmosphere - plus, it's pretty gloomy outside now, so the music matched nicely. Some really good melodies and instrumentation in there. Admittedly, I felt it was a little long though, I'm not used to this kind of music I guess. The vocals irritated me a bit in the beginning, but grew to like them as the songs went by. Actually I somehow thought that this would be an instrumental album in the beginning, it had that kind of mood. It's not something I can listen to every day, but it was interesting, and an overall positive experience (despite the dark tone).

Next up, The Q4!

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

ok, just finished downloading and starting to listen now.

exitement neofolk? no idea what to expect (starts reeeeeally cool though...)

EDIT: through now.

man what a find!

like jigsaw said, definitely not for every time,

but these days or on long boring trainrides etc. music like this, moody as fuck, is certainly very legit!

but yeah, it really is long. nothing to consume in full-length at once i guess.

also i guess this kind of music is perfect in the morning in the kitchen, when making the first coffee of the day, will try that out tomorrow!

q4 coming up next

EDIT:

so this seems to be the moody week i like

this album also follows a pretty melancholic vibe, of course not as dark, but still.

pleasantly surprised also by the high number of instrumental-tracks,

which make the album also sort of a trip-hop album, if i have my genres right here.

this also won't be something that makes the heavy-rotation on my ipod, but it seems perfect just to groove-up the background a little ^^

great library additions this week, curious aout the next ones

[Jigsaw9 6783]

The Q4 album was pretty good too. When I read the description on Last.fm this was basically something I could imagine, I like this kind of moody-jazzy atmospheric hip-hop music at times. For example, it was perfect now, at late night sitting at the PC. I expected it to be an instrumental album yet again, but the rapping was a nice addition here and there. I like the mellow feeling the album delivers, it's good to have either as background music or just chilling out and letting your mind wander at the end of the day. There were some dark-ish parts as well as parts where I just cracked a smile; it's a good feeling. Overall it left me with a pretty uplifting mood. Nice one!

Can't wait for next week's selection.

[Zeus 7997]

I greatly enjoyed The Q4. Like the two above me I expected it to be more of an instrumental, downtempo release similar to The Prunes "Tracks from the Darkside". That release dragged on near the end even though there was great stuff to listen to, so I'm glad that there were vocals that were featured. I also liked the different elements that were thrown into the tracks and the way they used old time "vinyl scratches" to good effect was nice. I don't know how often I'd listen to it but I have a feeling I'd go back to it again at some points. This seems to be "situational mood music" in this topic this week.

[Champ213 1858]

I'm glad people liked the Tenhi album! I can only recommend to check out their other albums as well, but specifically the album "Väre". As a matter of fact, I couldn't really decide whether to suggest Maaät or Väre for this list, because they're both really good, although I admit that they need their time and may not be something that 'clicks' on first listen. (And they have a new album coming out in a few days, the first studio album in 5 years, I'm so exited. )

Anyway, I'll try to review the Q4 album too, probably be a bit late again. I'm really not into Hip-hop, but hey, this is about checking out something new, right.

[Zeus 7997]

Updated the list again!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Hehe, total-metal week, I already like it! I actually know the Suffocation album too, but will be good to listen to it again.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Listened to both albums (but not gonna write about Slayer because I recommended them xD).

The Suffocation album kicks ass! I'm easy to please when it comes to old-school death metal as I don't know much about it technically but love listening to it. Of course the production could be a little bit more powerful but considering the genre it's standard/okay sounding. Musically it's everything I'd expect from an old death metal record, fast and grinding stuff, brutal low grunts, skillful drumming, it's all there. I must highlight the occasional guitar solos, they're fabulous, especially the one in Seeds of the Suffering, HOLY CRAP. The parts where they switch back a notch on the speed-o-meter are nice too, killer stuff.

Thoroughly enjoyed this album, nice one!

[Zeus 7997]

Still listening to the Slayer album. Haven't gotten through it but it sounds nice. I need time for it to sink in.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

soooo,

the slayer album:

i've actually know that for quite a while now, perhaps since when it came out, was my first slayer album too.

first the bad stuff.

i need to adress how distracting i find, that an album of one of the biggest bands in thrash, if not metal at all can be so poorly mixed and mastered.

i know that metal kicks tend to sound a tad weak, tend do have some veeery prominent high-frequency-range.

all just so in mastering overcompression they still have a chance against guitarwalls and the final master can be still made loud enough to make your ears and any good taste bleed to death.

but even in the age of such riddiculous loudness there are ways to still not steal away all the power of the drums and bass.

hell if i hammer my fingernails on the table right in front of me it sounds fatter and more powerful than those two 24ich kickdrums!

not to mention the complete lack of the bassguitar.

but the biggest problem of all is the mastering.

aside from compressing it all beyond the horizon they don't have their limiter under control, because this album is a complete digital-clipping-mayhem par excellence

(example just running, "exile" 2:20, but generally more or less everywhere in the guitar-intros or with guitar-solos, clippclipp *knrzrtzrtzrtz, krrrkrkrkr).

i first suspected the rip i have to be faulty and got me a *flac rip, but the same here.

so to the music itself

i really like what they did there, quite a fan of the riffing and also of arayas shouting.

best parts on the album are the slower songs actually i think, like bloodlines, threshold or deviance.

kings guitar solos unfortunately never where my cup of coffe, but at least they are special^^

on the other hand every time i accidentaly listened to the lyrics it was kind of like one cool one-liner following the next.

don't know about the lyrics as a whole but some phrases where just epic xD

"i hate everyone equally" (see kids, slayer aren't nazis)

"you're either on my side, or else you're in my way"

"can't stop the violence, I LOVE IT!"

etcetc...

pretty cool album in essence, a nice listen sometimes.

as for suffocation i can't really judge.

i don't know why, but oldschool deathmetal is just a kind of music that does exactly nothing to me (except perhaps bore me to death ), i just don't get it.

which is funny, because i really like deathmetal influences in other music (stone me, but i say DirEnGrey - MOO has quite a lot of prog-death in it, and personally this one is my album of the year)

so yeah, i have no idea if this is any good at all, as for sound you can imagine if i already ranted that lot about the slayer-album how laughable i find the sound of this (yes it was early 90's, but still)

so, that's for this week, looking forward to the next

[Zeus 7997]

i need to adress how distracting i find, that an album of one of the biggest bands in thrash, if not metal at all can be so poorly mixed and mastered.

i know that metal kicks tend to sound a tad weak, tend do have some veeery prominent high-frequency-range.

all just so in mastering overcompression they still have a chance against guitarwalls and the final master can be still made loud enough to make your ears and any good taste bleed to death.

but even in the age of such riddiculous loudness there are ways to still not steal away all the power of the drums and bass.

hell if i hammer my fingernails on the table right in front of me it sounds fatter and more powerful than those two 24ich kickdrums!

not to mention the complete lack of the bassguitar.

but the biggest problem of all is the mastering.

aside from compressing it all beyond the horizon they don't have their limiter under control, because this album is a complete digital-clipping-mayhem par excellence

(example just running, "exile" 2:20, but generally more or less everywhere in the guitar-intros or with guitar-solos, clippclipp *knrzrtzrtzrtz, krrrkrkrkr).

i first suspected the rip i have to be faulty and got me a *flac rip, but the same here.

It must be this then. I've tried listening to the Slayer album a few times now and there was something about the rip that was just "off" to me. I couldn't finish the album to share my thoughts. The production must be what's repelling me. I'll give it one final push tomorrow.

As for Suffocation, I've just started their album now and it's rejuvenated me. Mmm, tech death when I'm stressed out to all hell = perfection. I'm going to enjoy this