The general Metal discussion thread

[Bear 1817]

Never really liked Arcturus, sorry. This new track doesn't convince me either.

 

What? None of their albums? That can't be true. Aspera Hiems Symfonia are one of the best black metal albums ever made. Garm's amazing vocals, Carl August Tidemann guitar work (those god damn leads and solos!), Hellhammer's simple, yet brilliant drumming and Sverd's soothing keyboard work makes this into a harsh, yet majestic and beautifully atmospheric album unlike anything else ever recorded. Perfection! Also, the title, which translates to Harsh Winter Symphony, are one of the most fitting album titles ever. Spot on!

 

 

La Masquerade Infernale is also a must. This avant-garde masepiece is the perfect soundtrack to a dark, crazy circus led by Satan himself. An absolute madhouse. The elements of black metal are still present, and I'd say that band still had one foot in black metal at the time of the release, but it's something completely different and unique. Dark, fun and challenging. Perfection 2!

 

 

The Sham Mirrors? Well, like the previous one it's a must. One of the finest prog albums ever made, and while not as dark as previous albums, I just love the spacey sound and feeling of the album. Garm is God, and he really shines on this album. Powerfull stuff!

 

 

 

 

You don't like any of this? I refuse to believe that. It shouldn't be possible for anyone into metal not to love at least one of those albums. Brilliance!

[DogManX 179]

I got La Masquerade Infernale and I just don#t get into it. I'd prefer Sigh instead.

[Bear 1817]

Fair enough, and I prefer Sigh myself as it is the best band ever, but they aren't exactly compareable though. Both bands are rooted in black metal and played around with an avant-garde black metal sound, but that's pretty much all they've got in common as well.

 

Vulture Industries however are pretty compareable to Arcturus and La Masquerade Infernale, especially their debut album The Dystopia Journals is more or less a La Masquerade Infernale clone. A bit less theatrical and carnivalesque and a bit blacker, but still very much La Masquerade Infernale from A to Å. The two other sounds more like the lovechild of Arcturus' La Masquerade Infernale and Devil Doll, and both are fantastic. Great band.

[emmny 4139]

has anyone given the new enslaved a listen? thoughts? i haven't gone around to listening to it yet but i loved AEO and RIITIIR (a lil less than AEO but thoughts like hammers is prolly my fav enslaved song) so i hope it matches them in quality.

[Bear 1817]

I thought it was awful, but so I've thought about all their albums since Isa. So it didn't come as a surprise. But if you do enjoy recent Enslaved it'll probably please you.

[Bear 1817]

I'll be leaving for Oslo with the night train tonight. I am ready for another year of Inferno festival (the bands in () are maybe's, the rest I will see for sure):

 

Wednsday:

 

Misþyrming

Sinmara

Svartidauði

Arcturus

 

Thursday:

(Haemophagus)

(Execration)

(Antichrist)

(1349)

Vulture Industries

Behemoth

(Doomraiser)

 

Friday:

 

Dødsengel

My Dying Bride

Sargeist

(Sectu)

 

Saturday:

 

(Secrets of the Moon)

Deathcult

(Kampfar)

Slagmaur

Dødheimsgard

Mortuary Drape

Bloodbath

(שְׁאוֹל / Sheol)

 

 

Looks pretty nice! It's gonna be a blast as always.

 

 

 

Haven't checked for a place to stay yet, though. We'll go to our buddy who we'll spend time with anyway and see if we can crash there, like last year. It's such a small apartment, though. It means 4 nights on the fucking floor. That'll do my already back good, just like last year. Heh.

[Visutox 188]

^ Enjoy the show mate! 

 

 

Nowadays a few death metal bands know what death metal is all about, and Sulphur Aeon are among that "few death metal bands". Gateway to the Antisphere is a pure gem, this new album fucking slays. And fucking yes, I can't stop listening to it. 9/10

 

April couldn't start any better for death metal, one of the best albums of the month and probably one of the best albums of the year. 

[Bear 1817]

Oh dear god, Behemoth was amazing. Surpased my expectations with miles, and even songs from their weaker albums worked well. The power, the atmosphere, the show. Brilliant! And Nergal is an amazing front figure.

[blackdoll 907]

[Bear 1817]

A small Inferno Festival update. As usual there was too much good too drink and lots of great peole to hang around with. Oh, and plenty great bands.

 

Day 1:

 

I had massive expecations to the bands I was seeing this day, and I'll have to admit I was a tad disappointed by all of them. Had expected much more.

 

Misþyrming was first out and did good, but not nearly as good as I had expected. But I'm not overly familiar with their music to begin with, and that probably had much to say. 6/10

Sinmara is another band I am not too familiar with before, and I thought it all seemed way to generic both musically and visually. Not bad, but not amazing either. 5/10

Svartidauði was good, but very disappointing as I love their album and shit. Was poor visually, but musically allright. 6/10

Naglfar was a huge disappointment. Watched the first four songs before we gave up. Was shit. 2/10

Arcturus finished this evening off and was very good, but visually it was a big disappointment. Lacked the theatrics and was more or less doing exactly the same as last time I saw them, just with another setlist. Sounded good, though, and the new songs were cool. 7/10

 

This was the end of day 1, and I was drunk off my mind and had too high expectations. Probably ruined it for me, cause I've seen nothing but praise for the three icelandic bands other places.

 

 

To be continued...

[Bear 1817]

Day 2:

 

I was eager to see both Haemophagus and Execration, but as both played so fucking early we didn't bother going to see them. Shame, but that's life.

 

Septicflesh started off the day for us as both my brother and friend wanted to see them, and they were, as expected, a fucking disgrace. They turned to shit many, many, many years ago and live they're even worse. This might be the worst concert I've ever been at. 1/10

Antichrist was next up, and I was impressed. A bit too polished on album, but live they were very good. Thrashed out and had fun. 7/10

1349 was next and they did their usual stuff. Solid liveband, but they were the exactly same as last time I saw them, just with more boring songs to play. 6/10

Vulture Industries had a special show this evening, but they had started earlier than expected so I only catched the second half of their concert. Apart from one moment the 25 minutes I saw were amazing. Did really well on stage, and at one point the band went 100% Devil Doll and it was nothing short of brilliant! Shame I missed the first half of the concert. 8/10

Behemoth was the first headliner of the festival, a concert I had been looking forward to because of their last album, but was sceptical towards due to 10 years of shit prior to that. But god damn did they deliver the goods. Powerful, majestic, crushing and god damn awesome. Visually amazing as well as a great performance by all the members. Especially frontman Nergal was amazing and Orion looked really well on stage. The whole concert was perfect, and even shitty songs from the shitty albums Demigod, The Apostasy and Evangelion worked really well live. That's impressive, because how it is possible to make shit like that sound god is beyond me. The only thing that disappointed me here was that they didn't play a single song from their early (92-98) period. That's disappointing because they have more than enough classics to choose from that period, but apart from that I have nothing to complain about. Brilliant and the highlight of the festival for me. 10/10

Doomraiser ended the concert with a "nachspiel" concert at another location after Behemoth. It was OK. But I was too tired to focus at that point.

 

To be continued again...

[blackdoll 907]

lol 2days later

 

[Bear 1817]

Day 3:

 

There wasn't to many interesting bands this day, but we planned to see 4 and ended up seeing 5, which is pretty decent.

 

Our friend left before us to see Skeletonwitch and my brother and I arrived just in time to catch the last three songs... which was not a positive experience, because it was really bad. The band looked bored as fuck as if they hated being on stage and the vocalist, Andy "Weedgrinder" Horn previously of Cannabis Corpse, came of as mentally challenged. Was shit. 2/10

Dødsengel was the first band I wanted to see, and the band did not disappoint. The band came on stage dressed in red robes and it was like a 50 minute long dark ritual, where the drummer seemed to be in trance for the ritualistic parts of the songs. He looked to be in a different place than the rest of us. Everything really worked well here, and the vocalist Kark was the most impressive aspect of the concert. I never actually expected him to be able to pull off the clean vocals live, but he proved to nail every single type of vocals and his range is just unbelieveable. I doubt there is many others involved in exteme metal that are as talented as him. Breathtaking! Brilliant concert. 9/10

My Dying Bride was next up and did not disappoint. It was the band's first concert with Calvin Robertshaw, who left the band in 99, back in the lineup and that was exciting as hell. I thought the band did really well, and it was damn cool hearing older songs like The Thrash of Naked Limbs and something I believe was God is Alone. The minus here was the sound. Mostly good, but there was some annoying feedback every now and then when the violin was played. But other than that it was all good. 8/10

Sargeist wasa band I had been looking forward to as I am a huge fan of the band, and they did not disappoint me. The sound was allright and the band did really well. Cold, grim and dark. Amazing gig! 9/10

Enslaved ended the night at Rockefeller/John Dee, and I was not looking forward to it having seeing the band twice before, where the last gig was awful. The streams I've checked out for the band in later years have been bad too, so I expected nothing. Or, I expected something bad. But was I surprised. This wasn't bad, this was super fucking bad. Almost as bad as SepticFlesh in fact. They actually played one song from Hordanes Land, one song from Frost, one song from Monumension and one song from Below the Lights, but sadly they all sounded uninspired and like shit. The rest were awful songs from Isa and onwards, which all sucks. But the band looked uninspired, Grutle had nothing to give as a frontman and it was just godawful. Really fucking shite. Also, out friend fell asleep standing during this shit gig. Heh... 1/10

Sheol ended the night at the nachspiel. I had not heard the band before, but I really looked forward to the gig anyway and I was not disappointed. They really delivered the goods and I am sue it would've been even better had I been familiar with the band. A great gig, and they ended it with a cover of Darkthrone's death metal classic Cromlech, which was awesome. Really good gig. 8/10

 

To be continued... as usual.

[Bear 1817]

Day 4, the ending:

 

Started the day with egg & bacon, beer and minttu shots for breakfast. And as usual we missed out on some bands we wanted to see because they started way too early. Secrets of the Moon, Deathcult and Kampfar played while we were still drinking beer and shotting minttu. Shame, especially about Deathcult, but that's festival life for ya.

 

Slagmaur kicked off our last day at Inferno, and Slagmaur was one of the bands I had highest expectations about. It's only their third concert ever (one in 2013, one in 2014 and now one in 2015), but the band disappointed big. They started off with a way too long intro sample which was silly as fuck as well, and I had expected something weird and wicked, but this was standard shit with masks that didn't work and all that. There was nothing wicked about this at all, and it didn't sound very good either. 4/10

Dødheimsgard was one of the bands we looked forward to due to giving us a great concert some years ago, as well as a new masterpiece in their discography and original vocalist Aldrahn back in the team. But this was a disappointment. Aldrahn looked extremely uncomfortable on stage, the new songs didn't work too well, the sound was poor and bassist L.E. Måløy was acting like a moron on stage, reminding me of Robert Trujillo. Completely out of place. Yeah, no. Didn't work out. 5/10

Mortuary Drape are a band I adore more than most, and the band didn't disappoint me, which is weird because my expectations were immense... just like the band. I've seen plenty of pictures of the band live and they've done lots of different stuff from weird-as-fuck-makeup to other things, but this evening they entered the stage in robes and pretty standard corpsepain, and they looked great... but sounded even better. It was pretty untight and shabby, but it really does fit the heavy metalesque black metal of the band and things eally worked out. Among the festival's best bands if you ask me. 9/10

Bloodbath was the headliner of the evening and they really did surprise me. They delivered a great fucking gig, and with songs such as Breeding Death and Eaten you couldn't really ask for much more. Nick Holmes was a cool frontman even though he didn't know all the lyrics and had to use a lyric sheet tapes to the floor, and his vocals sounded brilliant. His vocals were powerful as fuck, just at the other end of what I had expected. I expected some cool, but weak and powerless vocals from the dude. But he's still got it. Anyway, great gig! 9/10

Sectu got to end this years Inferno and I thought they did well. Not the best, but it was a very enjoyable gig for sure. And a nice ending to a fantastic festival. 7/10

 

 

As usual a great festival. A big party with lots of great people and more than enough good bands. Satisfied? Fucking satisfied!

[Bear 1817]

 

 

 

This leaked now. Death worship to the fullest. So if you can't get enough of old Death and want more this is for you.

[Bear 1817]

Alucarda - Raw Howls is up for free HERE for those interested. Album of the year so far. Raw, filthy doom metal punk in the vein of Satan's Satyrs masterful debut album. Highly recommended for fuzz addicts. 10/10!

[Bear 1817]

 

1. The Black Gates

2. Harps of the Ancient Temples

3. Titans

4. River of Woe

5. B.O.D.D.

6. Blood Rite Tree

7. Opaline Eye of Death

8. Andromeda

 

 

I read about this release (Nocternity - Harps of the Ancient Temples) a long time ago, but I thought it was a re-release of the EP by the same name, but I just found out we're getting a full album. 3 previously released songs (2-4), and the rest is new. It's been 12 years since last full lenght, so this is exciting news. Brilliant band, and among the best greek metal bands ever. Love the band's imagery as well.

 

I've been playing this album a lot lately and count me impressed. Very, very impressive album. People who expect a new Onyx or En Oria will be disappointed, though. While it sounds 100% Nocternity, it's a much more stripped down and minimalistic album. It's cold, eerie and mystic. At times I get the image of walking through a foggy battlefield with dead bodies all around me. Fantastic album, even though it's not quite up there with the masterpieces that is Onyx and En Oria quite yet.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I've begun listening to that new Tribulation album and IT ROCKS! Like, really, 'rocks.' Interesting mixture of occult hard rock, heavy metal and black metal elements. I kinda remembered them as a nice lil' band with more of a death metal edge, but seems like they've changed things up quite a bit. Great atmosphere too! Hopefully it won't die down by the end (almost-an-hour-long runtimes always seem a bit much for me).

 

Incidentally, they have a new vid out:

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ As it turned out, the album got a bit tiring towards the end -- too long for my taste. Kinda not bad, still.

 

Also, listening to that Gruesome album, some cool Deathiness, yess~

[Bear 1817]

Haven't heard the new Tribulation album and wasn't a fan of the last, but I'll try 'em both out sometime. Brilliant coverart for the new one, though. It's taken from Les Vampires, one of my all-time favourite TV-series.

 

And yes, the Gruesome album is cool. Total Leprosy worship.

 

 

I know this album (Sulphur Aeon) was talked about earlier here, I've not heard the band as far as I know but that's some artwork. Would love to have a huge picture of that up on my wall.

[DogManX 179]

Dat cover.. I think I just stared at this thing for 10 minutes straight. ... ... dope

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Been spinning some Meth Drinker recently, absolutely filthy and crushing sludge/doom. Reminds me a bit of Eyehategod, but without the punky influences. Incidentally, they'll have a gig here in a few weeks, will definitely try to catch them!

 

 

By the way, I tried out that Alucarda album -- excellent dirty-sounding stuff, just what I needed!

[Bear 1817]

Trying Sulphur Aeon now. Three songs in it sounds well-written, produced and played, but I don't think I'll ever be able to fully enjoy this. It sounds like a mix of Behemoth anno 2004-2009, Immolation and Hypocrisy anno 1996. I'd say they mix the grand, epic style of Behemoth, the darkness of Immolation and spice it up with the melodies of Hypocrisy's Abducted. Not really the type of death metal I enjoy, but I'll give both albums a fair chance.

 

 

The psychedelic death/doomers in Acid Witch released this cover EP this year. Four great songs taken from some really cool films. Here's the originals of the songs they cover:

 

Sorcery - I'm Back (from Rocktober Blood)

Fastway - After Midnight (from Trick or Treat)

Black Roses - Soldiers of the Night (from Black Roses)

45 Grave - Partytime (from The Return of the Living Dead)

 

I'm usually not into cover albums, but considering this is Acid Witch covering some songs far away from what they are usually doing, the fact that these are great songs form cool horror films and I'm a horror maniac I'm really looking forward to hear this. Their cover for Partytime, which they've been playing live for years, is really cool:

 

 

Highly recommended band too. Horror-influenced and psychedelic death/doom. Shame I am missing out on their concert in a week or two. Such a shame.

 

[Bear 1817]

The new Peste Noire is up on bandcamp: https://pestenoire.bandcamp.com/album/la-chaise-dyable

 

I've only heard a couple of songs, but they sound great. Looking forward to checking out the full thing later today.

[Bear 1817]

By the way, I tried out that Alucarda album -- excellent dirty-sounding stuff, just what I needed!

 

Good boy. It's such a good album. Best of the year for me. Been playing it 2-3 times a day since it hit the net, and I am not close to bored of it yet. Just digging the hell out of it. Here's a song not from either of their releases:

 

 

Cool as fuck.