The general Metal discussion thread

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I see, thanks! I mostly like my doom sludgey and stonery so maybe gonna go in chronological order. xD

 

Also, totally random but stumbled on this Japanese death metal band called Gotsu Totsu Kotsu... self-proclaimed "samurai metal" (cuz of the lyrical themes), not bad. Props to the frontman who does the vocals and the sick bass stuff too.

 

[Bear 1817]

Then you should start with Dopethrone. But IMO you can't go wrong with Electric Wizard, so no matter where you start you'll touch upon something good.

 

 

Been trying to get into Gotsu Totsu Kotsu several times, but I never end up going back to them. Love the concept (which is the reason why I checked them out to begin with), but that's more or less it. Not bad, but it doesn't give me much at all.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Been listening to that Electric Wizard stuff (first few albums so far), and now my ears feel like they are coated with a layer of moist moss vibrating with the fuzzy riffs. Wholesome entertainment! Dopethrone was what I enjoyed most but Come My Fanatics... is also cool, almost as excellent!

 

Gonna try me those other albums too, this stuff is pretty great.

[Bear 1817]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Cool hearing you're enjoying it so far. You should check out the Pre-Electric Wizard 1989-1994 split sooner or later too. It's a threeway split of the band's three pre-Electric Wizard bands. Different from the Electric Wizard stuff, but very good.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Thanks for the suggestion, will look into it (as soon as I exhaust the Wizard's material ).

 

btw if any of you guys like old-school inspired death metal, here are two nice local bands from my city who just released their first EPs:

 

Gravecrusher - Morbid Black Oath

Coffinborn - Beneath the Cemetery

 

The sound may be a bit similar cuz like it's almost the same band members (some of whom are also in the excellent Mörbid Carnage and Tyrant Goatgaldrakona) but pretty cool imo. Nothing special but solid. Maybe Coffinborn is a bit more dirty/thick sounding and occasionally doomy, while Gravecrusher has more of a Florida/Sweden mashup style going on. xD

Also yay for Mark Riddick cover art!

[Bear 1817]

That wasn't too bad, but not too interesting either. I'll give it a chance, because maybe it'll grow. But I don't think it was too interesting right now.

[Zeus 7997]

Here is an update from Jari (Wintersun) about the progress of his next album that I thought you would find interesting.

Reality Update About Crowd Funding, TIME II And Future Albums

I´m very happy to see that we have so much dedicated fans that would be willing to pledge and be a part of funding a studio for Wintersun, so I could make the next Wintersun album without it taking another 10 years again.

I´ve been thinking about this Kickstarter/Pledge crowd funding thing for a while and I´m very confident now that there is enough of you guys that would help us raise the money for the Wintersun studio! This would give me the freedom to make music efficiently and nonstop. It would eliminate lot of the problems I´ve struggled with all my life and still continue to struggle everyday. For example right now I need a studio to reamp guitars for TIME II. And not just any studio, my own studio where I can craft my sounds exactly like I want them. 3rd party studios have never worked for me and I´ve never gotten satisfactory results for the insane prices they charge.

I live in a small shitty apartment building and I have neighbors. It is very very hard to work like this. I can´t record vocals, I can´t practise my singing, I can´t record guitars, I can´t record guitars even with modelling amps, because the electricity is so bad in this shitty building so I get lots of interference, I even play and practise the electric guitar acoustically without an amp 99% of the time in my home, I can´t record drums or basically any acoustic instruments, I don´t have the room or cool space for a big computer farm which is a must for the orchestrations for the next album (the place is too small and hot even for the one computer I have), I can´t mix properly, ´cause the room is so bad and there´s always ambient noise in and outside the building. That´s why I usually turn my sleeping rhythm around and mix at nights, but that causes problems in my everyday life. I can´t do pretty much anything properly in this situation. Building a professional studio for Wintersun would erase all this and give us the freedom to make music nonstop. It would upgrade our album sound significantly and most importantly speed up the album making process significantly. This would even raise our live game. With proper preproduction, able to tweak our live sounds and setup properly we would sound pretty incredible live. We would also be able to rehearse more and that would allow us to be able to play live more often and come to places where we normally have not been able to come. The studio would allow us to have more time for everything.

But the problem is this. I have a record deal with Nuclear Blast. If I would do a Kickstarter with a downloadable album for example, they would come with lawyers and take % share (more than half) away from the money that is your money meant for the Wintersun studio and the album production. Would you even want to pledge if Wintersun didn´t get 100% of the money you´ve pledged for the album production? Then our management would take their % share away. Then there´s taxes of course. The Finnish government would take something like 40% away. This would leave me nothing. I would be totally screwed. I´ve been trying to have a discussion with Nuclear Blast about crowd funding, but they are totally freaking out. They see the crowd funding as a threat to their business and they would rather see Wintersun dead, than me doing a crowd funding. I think this would not hurt them at all, only benefit them, but they cannot see the big picture of Wintersun doing well. They actually told me point blank that I should just stop making music and they will never release Wintersun from the contract. It´s really like this, because they can´t or won´t loan me enough money to build a studio and fund an album, they don´t want other people (the fans) to fund it either… unless they get a crazy big cut of the funding (for doing absolutely nothing).

This is the way a record deal works: The label gives an advance to make an album. This is a loan and they will recoup every penny back from the record sales. The reason why TIME I&II has taken so long to make (and still is taking long to finish TIME II), is because I haven´t gotten enough advances (money) to make these complex albums. Not even close. So I´ve been struggling all these years and sacrificed everything to make these albums. I have never really made any money from Wintersun. All my money has gone to album production, but you can guess who have made tons of money from Wintersun. The point is that I need my own studio to make the future albums, but Nuclear Blast won´t be able to loan enough money to make that happen and then they won´t allow me to do a crow funding campaign either that would make it happen. And even if Nuclear Blast would be able to loan me the money for the studio, our management would take their share of that money and I would get only part of the money, but I would still have to pay back 100% to Nuclear Blast from the record sales. So I would actually lose big chunk of the album production money straight away, which makes no sense at all. And then there´s the taxes. So there´s no point of taking these “loans” either.

This all is stressing me out very badly and it´s slowing my workflow. I´ve got enough technical problems to deal with making these albums. I just want the freedom to make music, but I guess it is what it is. Honestly, I feel like I´ve signed a deal with the devil and I´m just a slave in the system.

I´ve got probably 5 long albums worth of new insanely good material! And there´s no filler material at all! The music is much more refined, much more advanced in arrangement/composition/productionwise. It´s diverse and beautiful, heavy, chaotic and exploring different styles&themes and some new dimensions I feel no band has explored before… The stuff is simply on another level, in a different universe than the debut album and the TIME albums combined. I wrote the TIME albums around 2006 and before, that was a lifetime ago. Think of the stuff I´ve written ever since to this day! And I just keep on writing, I feel like I´m on fire. The music is just flowing out of me. I´m so excited about all this new music and I can´t wait to start recording and sharing it with you… BUT I can´t without a studio, that´s the problem…

Jari

p.s. Should have stayed working in the post office!

[Champ213 1858]

 

It´s really like this, because they can´t or won´t loan me enough money to build a studio and fund an album, they don´t want other people (the fans) to fund it either… unless they get a crazy big cut of the funding (for doing absolutely nothing).

 

 

Whow, that sucks. I really liked Time I and hoped that Time II would come any time soon, but.... ugh.

[Zeus 7997]

Nuclear Blast had a response but it's a lot of corporate double-speak and there was nothing really worth reposting here. On one hand I could understand Jari's frustration with his label for not helping him to make his music. On the other hand, I don't know how much money NB has already poured into the TIME project. Jari has a spotty track record for delivering music and it always seems like there's something holding him up. Time I took 8 years for a half an album and it wasn't all that good. At this point, I'd rather just have Time II in my hands without all the bloody 100+ layer orchestration.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Stumbled upon a pretty cool band yesterday, Take Over And Destroy (or, alternatively, TOAD, lol). Nice old-school sounding mixture of black metal, this sludgey blackened hardcore thingie that seems to be all the rage recently and some interesting vintage elements (organ-like keyboards) that bring out a nice occult and horror-like atmosphere imo. People tend to stick weird labels onto them like '70s inspired and rock'n'rollish, even bringing Jim Morrison into the picture but I think some of these are a bit of a stretch. xD Anyway, nice groovy music -- also gotta say, I really dig the voice of the vocalist. They're dropping new tracks left and right currently cuz their new album is coming out in like 2 weeks' time.

 

Here's a track from last year to get u guys started:

 

 

(their old stuff is more standard sounding and straightforward, also some cool tunes there)

 

http://takeoveranddestroy.bandcamp.com/ (their 2 releases so far)

http://bouerecords.bandcamp.com/album/drone-throne-toad (their oldest recording, a split with Drone Throne)

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

as a lover of much & many metals, I guess i can chill here with you guise.

[relentless 254]

Pallbearer -- awesome doom metal band. This is their new album "Foundations of Burden"

 

 

 

[Nisimaldar 153]

Time I took 8 years for a half an album and it wasn't all that good. At this point, I'd rather just have Time II in my hands without all the bloody 100+ layer orchestration.

I've heard that Time II is the Half-Life 3 of metal ;] we're probably in for a long wait.

 

On another note, does anyone have any cool progressive metal recs?

I love Opeth and Dream Theater and the like :S

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

straight up prog metal or something similar to opeths earlier stuff?? Prog-Melo-Death metal type

[Bear 1817]

I don't have too many straight forward prog metal albums to recommend, but here's some of my prog metal favourites:

 

 

Amorphis - Elegy (progressive death/rock/folk)

Death - Human (progressive death metal)

Death - Individual Thought Patterns (progressive death metal)

Death - Symbolic (progressive extreme metal)

Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness (doomy prog metal)

Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (progressive/power metal)

Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian (progressive/power metal)

Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory (progressive heavy/power)

Crimson Glory - Transcendence (progressive heavy/power)

Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle (prog metal/rock opera)

Ayreon - The Universal Migrator Part I & 2 (part 1 is more of a prog rock album while part 2 is moe of a prog metal album)

Orphaned Land - Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven (progressive oriental (extreme) metal)

Orphaned Land - All Is One (progressive oriental metal)

 

 

Note that none of these are straight forward prog metal albums though. But neither are Opeth, so that should be allright.

 

 

 

Symphony X (progressive power metal) and Myrath (prog metal with middle eastern folk) might be your cup of tea as well. Not into these bands myself, but they are well-liked among prog metal fans.

[Bear 1817]

I almost forgot it, but add Edge of Sanity's Crimson to that list. Progressive death metal. Fantastic album.

[Nisimaldar 153]

straight up prog metal or something similar to opeths earlier stuff?? Prog-Melo-Death metal type

I don't really care, I like Opeth's earlier releases as well. As long as you'd class it overall under prog, I'd like to give it a go. :}

 

Note that none of these are straight forward prog metal albums though. But neither are Opeth, so that should be allright.

It is, thanks!

[Bear 1817]

I'd highly recommend Moonsorrow's Verisäkeet and V: Hävitetty as well. Progressive viking metal. Fantastic albums. Dark and epic.

 

 

 

Inferno Festival released their five first bands for next years Inferno today. Impressive names, even though I am not too keen on ay of them:

 

Behemoth

Enslaved

My Dying Bride

SepticFlesh

Antichrist

 

Very impressive names, that. Will most likely check out both My Dying Bride and Behemoth as I have never seen any of them before, and both have released some good albums in recent years.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Finally, a new song just premiered from Necrophagia's upcoming album!!

 

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3309427/necrophagia-fear-priest-song-premiere-exclusive/

 

Sounds awesome. Cover art is a bit silly but kinda fitting I guess.

[Bear 1817]

That's not too bad, but it's not all that either. Lacks something.

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

Well... Ive been dipping into more 80's metal fused with modern metal with loads of lashings of power metal for a while

 

machinae supremacy might not be for everyone, Some people might dislike his vocals but the musicianship is pretty solid. Not as riff heavy as some 80's bands but still enough t keep me entertained. 

 

One unique thing about this band is how they mix 8bit chiptune audio melodies & samples like you would hear from an old GameBoy instead of the usual dubstep or other ebm related samples. 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r4nrE-y8pI

[Bear 1817]

I've heard a couple of Machinae Supremacy albums, and it's not my cup of tea at all. It's not bad, just not my thing. And to be hoenst I don't hear much 80's metal in it at all. Both the albums I heard was super modern and there was nothing that reminded me of anything 80's as far as metal goes.

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

Eh... some of it reminded me of 80s but i suppose its a subjective thing.

[Bear 1817]

Must be very subjective, because I don't hear any resemblance to any metal from the 80's, and I'm a pretty big fan of 80's heavy/power/speed metal.

 

 

Anyway, talking about 80's metal Been having a massive kick on Blind Guardian these last days. What a band they were. Follow the Blind and Somewhere Far Beyond are nothing short of perfect, Battalions of Fear and Tales from the Twilight World and  are close to perfect and Imaginations from the Other Side is fantastic. Don't like the albums post-Imaginations... though. But I am not at all a fan of their semi-progressive, pompous and Queen-inspired power metal that they've been doing since Nightfall in Middle-Earth. And Then There Was Silence are the only post-Imaginations... song that I think are good, but that one's very good. Not heard their last album, but I'm not sure if I should bother. But their speed metal albums are classics.

 

Banish from Sanctuary might be their best song ever.

 

 

God, that's good. The choruses are pretty decent, I'd dare to say. Impossible not to sing along..

[DogManX 179]

Belphegor are back with some more devilish golden showers. The new album is particularly hard to get into, as I found it. Yet, it pays off to keep going with it, since I've not heard such evil riffs in a long while. Belphegor prove to me once more to be one of the finest blackened death combos out there. HAIL SEXDICTATOR LUCIFER!

 

The new video is as always wonderfully thrashy, with a sense of "I know it looks bad, and I don't give a fuck".

 

 

Brought me back to some old stuff too, awesome pace and riffing. And... the lyrics..oh my