The general Metal discussion thread

[Visutox 188]

Sure, that's a fact. And talking about all the bands that do this kind of stuff, in most cases the original versions are better than the re-records (thankfully not always, but yeah).

 

There is only one band from Québec that I know, and it's Forteresse. I know another one by name (only tried one or two songs from them), which is Blasphemy (though I'm not sure if they're Québecian, I think not). Forteresse is an atmpospheric black metal and "Québécois nationalist" band, so their lyrics are focused on patriotism and that kind of stuff. And concerning the lyrics, they're always written in French. 

 

http://youtu.be/h3DBnyrNn3w

 

http://youtu.be/gbJp_c3XaE0

 

Awesome stuff, huh. And that's all what I know about the Québecian black metal scene (you can notice that my knowledge about that scene is over 9000) so I personally wouldn't mind discovering some bands. That'd be great actually.

[Bear 1817]

Forteresse is the band I was listening to when writing my post, namely their debut, Métal noir québécois. Brilliant album, and the epitome of what Québecian black metal is. That's the sound people will think of when talking about Québecian black metal. Other fantastic bands with a similar sound is Csejthe, Ephemer, Brume d'Automne, Chätiment, Délétère, Maléfices, Grimoire and more. Most of these bands share some members with eachother, and even though some of these sounds quite different, they all manage to capute much of the same atmosphere and feeling.

 

Beside Forteresse, this demo by Ephemer is my favourite from the scene. On par with the debut of Forteresse IMO.

 

[Bear 1817]

Another new Marduk track: https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/marduk-wartheland

 

Yeah, it's allright. Mid-tempo and way more enjoyable than the first one. Great vocals.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Nice track indeed.

[Bear 1817]

 

Jesus. That's the most unifitting and unnecessary blasting I've heard all year. Disgusting.

[Visutox 188]

I never liked DARK FUNERAL and this new song annoyed me. Plus, do not forget to mention that the music video is one of the most useless made in black metal and this year. Only the audio or a lyric video would have been "better" imo. And it seems like they have a new vocalist? He does not help much.

 

Btw, I've been spinning too much Vader's latest album during the last few weeks. It's so good. 

Also tried Fen's new album, and I really don't know what to think about it. Listened it while doing some stuff for uni and I couldn't enjoy it properly, so I gotta give it a second listen. I remember it was good but I felt like it lacked something, or probably I wasn't in the mood for that kind of stuff. Anyway, gonna give a more concrete opinion when I'll be done with it.

[Bear 1817]

I really like older Dark Funeral. Dark Funeral, The Secrets of the Black Arts and Vobiscum Satanas are fantastic, and Diabolis Interium are pretty good. After that however - no thank you, sir. I also like their new vocalist Heljarmadr, but I don't think he fits the overall sound of the band. But he's great in Grá and Domgård, both great bands btw.

 

 

I haven't tried the new Fen yet, but I've got massive expectations. Great band.

[Bear 1817]

Also, seeing Aura Noir today and Morbid Angel tomorrow. Covenant is 20 years old so Morbid Angel is gonna play it from A to Å. Because of this I've picked up Covenant again, an album I've never really been into before, but I've become a fan. Great album! I think the setlist will be Covenant from A to Å, a couple of songs from their debut and one song from the other albums. Can't wait!

 

But tonight, Aura Noir! Saw them last year or something and they were great. This time they'll play at a smaller venue so it'll be intimate and fun.

 

 

 

This version of Mirage with Fenriz handling the vocals are way better than the other version btw.

[Bear 1817]

Aura Noir was great, but lacked a bit punch. I thought the setlist was a bit disappointing. Too many songs off Hades Rise, which I consider their weakest album. But I had fun.

 

 

 

 

Morbid Angel was CRUSHING! Oh my god, what a gig. Tim Yeung is a machine, thought a bit too perfect for my taste. But he knows how to drum. Thor Anders Myhren is a fantastic guitarist and riffer, but he looked wy out of place and didn't really look like he had too much fun.

 

David Vincent smiled, growled great and just looked like he had a great time and Trey Azagthoth is Trey Azagthoth. He's almost perfect.

 

The gig was fantastic, and even the abomination Existo Vulgore from the abomination that is Illud Divinum Insanus worked well. I didn't even notice that they played a single song from the new album. It was that fucking good.

[Bear 1817]

My top 10 rock/metal releases of 2014 (for now):

 

 

1. Darkspace - Dark Space III I

Darkspace returns with their fourth album after six year, and once again they give us pitch black cosmic mysticism wraped into musical form. The production is a tad cleaner and the music is a tad more melodic this time around, but it still sounds like Darkspace and it still sounds amazing. Album of the year! 10/10

 

2. Black Magic - Wizard's Spell

Great heavy/black metal from Norway. These guys does it the old way. First half is pure black metal influenced heavy/speed metal madness, and the second half is their second demo, and black metal in an 80's fashion. This album is awesome! 9,5/10

 

3. Salem's Pot - ...Lurar ut dig på prärien

There's not a hint of originality or distinctive stamp to be found anywhere on this album, but fuck me if this album isn't damn fine. Salem's Pot delivers 33 minutes of sleazy, occult doom metal of the purest kind. This album could've been used as the soundtrack to Vampyros Lesbos, or many of the other erotic horror films of the 70's. In other words, this is my type of doom metal. I dig! 9,5/10

 

4. Rude - Soul Recall

This is what you get if you'd make a mix consisting of something like 50% Pestilence - Consuming Impulse, 20% Autopsy - Severed Survival, 10% Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness, 10% Obituary - Slowly We Rot and 10% Death - Leposy. Rude isn't original, but they've got more than enough character to sound unique, and believe it or not - the music is even better than the fantastic cover art. 9,5/10

 

5. Tarot - The Watcher's Dream / Dying Daze / Life and Death

This isn't really metal, but it's three fantastic EPs. Semi-progressive 70's inspired rock. For soeme reason this makes me think of Uriah Heep meets Pagan Altar meets Rainbow. It's a very charming hard rock EPs with a very nice and epic feel to it. I'm digging this so much! 9,5/10

 

6. Funereal Presence - The Archer Takes Aim

Fantastic black metal with lots of character. The closest you'll get to this album is Negative Plane (the sole member, Bestial Devotion, is the drummer of Negative Plane), but it's a lot different from that. 9/10

 

7. Hail Spirit Noir - Oi Magoi

This isn't as good as their debut, but still a lovely album. HSN continues their unique brand of psychedelic/progressive rock and black metal. The production is richer than on the first, but I thought the debut had a better production. It was more laidback and less produced and polished really. The song writing was better to. It was more messy than this. On this album they've kinda tried to separate the black metal and prog/psychedelic rock, while on the first one these genres blended nicely thoughout the album. But that's not a problem, and this is a fantastic album. 8,5/10

 

8. Execration - Morbid Dimensions

This isn't as dark as the fantastic Odes of the Occult, their previous album, but it's still a fantastic album. Well-written, semi-progressive death metal with thints of black, doom and thrash metal. The riffs found on this album isn't very original, but the way they're put together makes everything sound original. It's just odd. This album is almost on par with Odes of the Occult to be honest, and that says a lot. Great album! 8,5/10

 

9. Vintersorg - Naturbål

With Cosmic Genesis, released in 2000, Vintersorg moved away from his well-known folk metal sound and stepped into progressive territory, and lyrically he moved from nature and paganism to cosmos. While there was still elements of both the folk and black metal sound in the music, it was a huge change and while a good album, it's inferior to the three albums relesed before it. With each album he got gradually worse and reached a low with the progressive The Focusing Blur. Not bad, just not very good either. Then came Solens rötter. We were promised an album that would be back to the roots with folky metal and lyrics in Swedish. Well, it was a bit folkier, and it had Swedish lyrics, but it wasn't much that reminded anyone about the good, ol' days. With that album I stopped checking out his new albums. He also got gradually more annoying vocal-wise, and went to become awful in both Vintersorg and Borknagar (both bands got worse with each release anyway, so it did not matter). I accidently came over his promo video for Lågornas rov and it was such a surprise. Once again he was playing around with folky black metal with a progressive and symphonic touch, and it was by far the best song he had done since Ödermarkens son. The album is amazing, and VIntersorg finally sings good again as well. The album feels like the natural follow-up to Ödermarkens son. Well-written and interesting songs with lots of catches, fantastic choruses, a production with a few, lovely faults and great vocals. His best album since Ödermarkens son, and perhaps even better than that, and a natural follow-up without him just copying himself. 8,5/10

 

10. Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen

Anothe fantastic release by Primordial. Not their best, and this time it basically feels like more of the same, but when you're as good at doing what you're doing as these guys there's no need to change whatsoever. Powerful celtic-folk influenced black/heavy metal with one of the very best metal vocalists of all time. A.A. Nemtheanga isn't the most talented vocalist ever, but only Quorthon comes close to the power and passion in his voice. To be fair, A.A. Nemtheanga alone makes this a superb album! That's how good he is. 8,5/10

 

 

Honorable mentions (albums that easily can get a spot on the list another day): Alcest, Death Vomit, Mysticum, Swallowed, The Deathtrip, Mortuary Drape, Portrait, Spell, Nunslaughter / Acid Witch, The Great Old Ones and Tusmørke (not metal, but fuck that!). Especially Alcest and Death Vomit are really close at getting a spot here.

[Bear 1817]

 

 

New Venom song. Pretty cool actually.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

A bit too longish, but surprisingly nice! (note: I've never actually liked Venom that much XD)

[Bear 1817]

What have you heard by Venom? Have you checked out anything beside Welcome to Hell and Black Metal? I think At War With Satan is their best and is quite a different album. It's a lot more mature and well-written, and I also think it is their blackest album ever. This, for me at least, is proper black metal at its very, very best. I'm also a huge fan of Prime Evil which certainly is up there with the three mentioned albums. Not as black, mean and evil, but their most mature album ever IMO. I think Possessed is fantastic as well, but it's probably their rawest and meanest album ever. Sloppy as fuck. Not for everyone.

 

Inbetween this they also released some fantastic non-album singles. I'm mainly thinking of of Bloodlust, Warhead, Die Hard and Manitou. All these singles contains soem of their best songs ever. Singles 80-86 got all of these. Love it!

 

 

1. At War With Satan (10/10)

2. Welcome to Hell (9,5/10)

3. Black Metal (9,5/10)

4. Prime Evil (9/10)

5. Possessed (8/10)

 

These are the albums I tend to get back to very often.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I think I just randomly checked a couple of songs but found them to be kinda lame / boring tbh (not enough 'punch' or power). Might look into them later tho, maybe with this new album~

[Bear 1817]

I see. I'd recommend you to try the albums I've come up with now because they're a lot better than newer Venom, but it's you choice brah. I expect the new album to be in the same vein as Metal Black, Hell and Fallen Angels. They sound the same and they all consist of good songs, but as albums they're not much more than a 3+/4- which should come as no surprise as they are all between 55 and 66 minutes long. Way too long with a lot of fillers. The new one has 14 songs and will probably be more of the same both musically and lenght-wise.

 

 

Also, a few albums that's simply must-haves for fans of Venom:

 

Bulldozer - The Day of Wrath

Witchgrave - Witchgrave

Warfare - Metal Anarchy

Warfare - Mayhem, Fuckin' Mayhem

NME - Unholy Death

 

People need these albums in their life.

 

 

 

Fucking twin leads with just bass and drums on the botton. Beautiful!

[Bear 1817]

Also, this looks fucking awesome:

 

 

On February 21st, 2015, DMR Books will release their first publication entitled Swords of Steel, an anthology of fantasy/horror adventure stories in the tradition of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, George R.R. Martin, and H.P. Lovecraft.

The book will be “mass market” size (6.5” x 4.25”), 250 pages, in the tradition of the classic paperbacks from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The stories in this collection are written by members of such underground heavy metal bands as Manilla Road, Bal-Sagoth, Solstice, Cauldron Born, Twisted Tower Dire, and others.

“I got the idea while listening to Manowar's "Dark Avenger." I thought the lyrics would make a great story that could have been in an anthology from the '70s like Swords Against Darkness. Then I wondered if any bands had ever written stories, and the idea took off from there.” - Dave Ritzlin (DMR Books editor and publisher)

"Dave agreed to let me do a Lovecraft-style story instead of heroic fantasy as that's where my heart is right now with writing. I agonized over this story, poured my heart into it, and went temporarily insane during its creation. Many aspects of it were derived from my life. I'm interested to see how the other lyricists approached this project and how it's received in-general by the public." – Scott Waldrop (TTD)

Swords of Steel also includes interior illustrations and maps, poems by Sean Weingartner (Eternal Champion) and Howie Bentley (Cauldron Born), a non-fiction essay by historical novelist M Harold Page, and an introduction by David C. Smith, author of such sword and sorcery novels as Oron, The Sorcerer’s Shadow, and the Red Sonja series. Cover art is provided by Martin Hanford who has illustrated Warhammer novels for Games Workshop as well as covers for a number of bands including Twisted Tower Dire, Bal-Sagoth, and Slough Feg.

 

“I'm so honored to be a part of this book. I approached Dave about adding some poetry and he graciously accepted. This is my first writing in 20 years.” - Sean Weingartner (Eternal Champion)

Swords of Steel is planned to be followed annually by more anthologies of fictional stories from bands of the music genre.

“Who better to return traditional fantasy to its former glory than the heavy metal bards?” - Dave Ritzlin

www.facebook.com/DMRBooks

 

 

 

I'm gonna buy this. Should be awesome as fuck. I am especially looking forward to the writing of Byron, who is a most talented gentleman. Even if you're not a fan of the band I recommend you reading the lyrics. Great stuff.

 

 

 

The "Multiverse" is the alternate reality in which the lyrics of Byron Roberts are set. Based on ideas similar in concept to H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and especially Robert E. Howard, the Multiverse is mostly past tense, wherein Roberts describes ancient events that have already transpired. Worldwide floods, pan-galactic wars, rogue demigods, ancient empires and kingdoms, and sinister artifacts compose this alternate history of the earth. Mythical places such as Atlantis, Hyperborea, Ultima Thule, Ys, Mu and Lemuria feature prominently in the band's Antediluvian World. Additionally, many of the lyrics are set within the framework of recognizable history, with a cast of characters including historical barbarians, gladiators, corsairs and privateers, archaeologists and occult investigators whose exploits take place during recorded history from Roman times through the age of Reason, the late 19th century and early 20th century. Along with Byron's other, more science fiction oriented lyrics detailing a far future era of galactic struggle and interstellar war, the Bal-Sagoth lyrics span countless aeons and are truly epic in scope.

 

...

 

Many of Byron Roberts's lyrical stories are soon to be expanded into short stories and graphic novels (written by Roberts and illustrated by fantasy artist Martin Hanford), and the forthcoming expanded Glossary, which will be an extended version of the glossary previously posted to the band's website, will be the definitive A-Z of all the characters and events of the vast lyrical universe

 

I also think Bal-Sagoth is a great band. Unique in so many ways.

[Bear 1817]

 

 

A couple of songs can be heard here: http://gruesomedeathmetal.bandcamp.com/releases

 

 

Basically an old school Death tribute band with Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Dekapitator) among others. Really loooking forward to this album. Just pure Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy worship - nothing more, nothing less. Awesome!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

This indeed sounds awesome!! Thanks for the info.

[Bear 1817]

Yeah, it does. Nothing new, but it sounds awesome.

 

 

 

Also, any other fans of Bal-Sagoth here? Since I mentioned them regarding the post up here I just had to re-discover them and got a massive kick. One of those odd bands that I really enjoy, yet isn't getting enough playtime. It's very, because I always enjoy all their albums a lot when I play them. Also, odd band musically. Their debut is a bit more death metal inspired and less power metal inspired, though it still does contain their trademark symphonic/epic black metal. With their second album, "Starfire Burning upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule", the band got a whole lot more cheesy and they went away from the death metal-inspired sound and towards a more cheesy power metal-inspired symphonic/epic black metal sound. Bal-Sagoth is basically blackened Disney metal. No kidding.

 

Great lyrics too.

 

Highly recommended band.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

 

#yaaaaaaaas

[Bear 1817]

The album leaked yesterday.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

omg I haven't been really keeping up with metal recently... and such a thing happens, for shame! *goes to download* XD

[Bear 1817]

Goat Semen's debut album leaked yesterday too. Black/death metal band from Brazil that formed in 2000. It only took them 15 years to get their debut album out. Got massive expectations for it. Both Goat Semen and Holocausto are fantastic demos. Holocausto was a promo for the album, which was very promising.

[Pretsy 1343]

*Does the Kilroy and looks around*

 

Alright,

 

I am not the one to talk about metal releases I look forward to and hodgepodge like that on a regular basis, but I am highly intrigued about upcoming Ghost Bath (Chinese DSBM band) album, "Moonlover"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg530raHyuo

(don't mind the random "uplifting" solo in the beginning...)

 

Earlier repertoire (as a case in point, their 2014 album

) was not that astonishing from a DSBM band avec a tinge of "atmospheric", but band's latest promo sorta screams out "Alcest on steroids" (if I were to describe it with my unfortunate knowledge of anything metal-related) - "hyena cries" are still there though, lol.

[Bear 1817]

Fantastic cover art. Thought the debut album was OK, but a bit lacking. It felt very rushed, and some parts came of as hastly thrown together with no thoughts behind it at all. This new song was a lot better. Airly, post-rockish Austere-esque depressive black metal with great drumming. And vocals.

 

Those hyena cries have grown to become a pretty big part of the genre, so I'm very, very fine with those. Quite a big fan, and I think it's a style that reeks of desperation and pain. Some bands, like Silencer and Down in Solitude, took it way too far though. It just ended up being hilarious. A fine joke it was.

 

 

Edit: You could also hear this type of painful and desperate creams as early as 93-94 with bands such as Forgotten Woods, Burzum, Nidhoggr, all bands who are considered the fathers of depressive black metal along with Strid, Bethlehem and Abyssic Hate. All these bands had a massive impact on the genre, but Forgotten Woods, Burzum and Nidhoggr started the crazy vocal-thing. Bethlehem took it all a massive step further with their fantastic Dictius Te Necare. Over the top and crazy vocals. A bit too much for many, but perfect to me. One of the best vocal performances of all time.

 

So it's something that has a part of the music, even if a lot dislike it.