The general Metal discussion thread

[Bear 1817]

^ I know of these pretty rad bands:

 

Cult of Fire - black metal with a mystical Hindu vibe going on (since about 2013 at least)

 

But music-wise it's pretty straight-forward epic black metal in the vein of Master's Hammer and Gehenna. There's no middle-eastern/oriental elements in the music itself. But it's a highly recommended band, and if you ever get the chance of catching the band live - for the love of god, do NOT hesitate to attend. Superb live band!

[Tokage 5930]

Oooo damn, Enemite is exactly that good shit I needed. All the other recs so far (both here & in my status) have been sweet too, gonna take some time to explore all the ones I didn't know yet

[Bear 1817]

Check out Magane as well. Black metal band, but I'd say they have this traditional Japanese folk-thing going on at times.

 

 

 

If you feel adventurous you may want to check out Quest for Blood. The flute tend to annoy the shit out of people though. It's a bit too much at times, but it's alright:

 

 

And Rudra, which often gets called "verdic metal". Black/death/thrash metal with some elements of carnatic music:

 

[Bear 1817]

A few more I came to think of. Doesn't fit the whole oriental theme, though. These are all Mexican bands with aztec pagan vibe to them. Most are pretty poorly produced and raw as well, so unless you don't mind that type of production these might be interesting to you:

 

Kukulcan

Tezcatlipoca

Tlillan Calmecac

 

 

Tlillan Calmecac are my favourite, but I like all all three. When they did something they did nothing less than 100%.

 

 

 

Tengger Cavalry is pretty nice too. They're at their best when they use throat-singing. There's not nearly enough throat-singing in metal. The band's a bit banal, though. I'll admit that.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Magane sounds pretty awesome, I think I might try them out. Thanks for mentioning them!

[Bear 1817]

Yeah, very good band. I think both albums are worth a listen or ten. Misogi are kinda similar, but more progressive. And, if you ask me, better.

 

And since Nile is mentioned I guess Lykathea Aflame is a fair mention as well. Progressive/technical death metal with a middle eastern twist. It's not folk metal per se, but it's more folky than e.g Nile, which is also a natural comparison. Nile, Gorguts, Cryptopsy and Demilich omes to mind when listening to their one and only release, which is fantastic.

[Bear 1817]

Anyone heard the new Mgla? Fantastic album. The songwriting is nothing short of brilliant, and the drummer, Darkside, has outdone himself again. After the release of Kriegsmaschine's "Enemy of Man" i thought he had reached the top of what one could expect from a black metal drummer and that he would never reach that level again, but he's outdone himself. He just keeps on getting better and better with each album. What a drummer!

 

Anyway, the entire album sounds nice. 9+/10 after 5-6 listens, and right now it's on the same level of With Hearts Towards None, but with time I do not doubt that this will grow on to be as goodas Groza, if not even better. Hail!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I've only been able to listen to it once, but I liked it pretty much. Gonna re-listen a few more times for sure. They didn't disappoint.

[Bear 1817]

If you like earlier albums it'll please you for sure.  Mgla keep evolving with every single album, but M. manage to kee his unique style intact. He's absolutely perfected this style of black metal. I love it!

 

Also, I'm not sure if you're familiar with these bands, but if you like Mgla I highly recommend the following bands:

 

 

Plaga

Started out as a Mgla clone of their demo, but evolved into something else with each release. The EP was a disappointment, but both the demo and album are neat. Album sounds a bit darker and more depressive than the EP.

 

Kriegsmaschine

Another band of M. (main man of Mgla), and while the band is quite different. the quality is almost up there with Mgla. Nowadays the band also features Mgla drummer Darkside. The earlier outputs of the band focuses a bit more on brutality and rawness, while their latest album, Enemy of Man, is slower and more disharmonic. The drumming is IMMENSE!

 

Szron

More black metal in the vein of Kriegsmaschine and Mgla, close to the first one though. These guys doesn't have as much focus on melody as Mgla and is more mid-tempo and hypnotic than Kriegsmaschine. Their second album, Zeal, are among my black metal favourites of the 2000's. It's perfect, and as good as Mgla at their best IMO. Death Camp Earth isn't too far behind Zeal either, and it's a bit more oriented on melodies rather than groove. The debut isn't all that, though. Decent, but nothing to write home about.

[Tokage 5930]

as an addition to my previous request; hmu with some cool metal that utilizes brass instruments and/or accordeons. only stuff that comes to mind atm are Ihsahn and Sigh

[Bear 1817]

First band that comes to mind is Sear Bliss who's had both trumpet and trombone players in the band. Their current trombonist Zoltan Pal played on Sigh's Scenes From Hell as well. I consider everything up until Glory and Perdition very good. The band gets much more mellom and atmospheric the further back in their discography you go. But the horns always were a rather big part of the band's sound.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Yeah, Sear Bliss is pretty good horny metvlz mvzik.

 

In other metal news that makes me horny: there's this band called Speedwhore who, if the amazing name wasn't enough, dabble in totally cool raging black/thrash old-schoolness. Their new album "The Future Is Now" is an all around ace release, recommended. Imagine mid-'80s Bathory, Venom and Slayer jamming together and likewise sharing vocals duties.

 

[Bear 1817]

metalhammer.teamrock.com/features/2015-09-21/we-took-abbath-for-a-day-trip-round-london

 

 

Jesus, that's just sad. I've been a huge fan of Immortal and especially Abbath and his ridicolous personality for ages now, but that's awful.. If it was only Abbath walking around it would've been cool and worked out well because he's got this cool vibe which makes him capable of pulling off that kind of things, but with King ov Hell and that dumb-looking Kevin Foley it just gets fucking stupid and embarrassing. It's weird how two simple human beings can so easily ruin someone's vibe. Weird isn't it?

 

 

It also sucks that Abbath got King of Suckers on his team for this project. I can't think of someone more boring than him as far as black metal goes. The guy's got no personality or aura. Such a pointless figure.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

And here it is, Abbath's first song. Sounds a bit like Immortal, I'm okay with this.

 

[Bear 1817]

Meh. Sounds like newer Immortal, just far weaker and Kevin Foley sure as fuck ain't no Horgh. He's pretty boring to be quite honest. Just doesn't fit the overall sound at all IMO.

[The Reverend 3566]

Enemite - this isn't metal but dark as fuq creepy Chinese tribal chanting sp00ks

 

Dude, this shit is great! I imagine I need to be in a very specific mood to play it but still.... hell yeah.

 

Also like 6 months late but just got around to the new Ghost Bath and I think it's pretty awesome despite the lackluster reviews I read when it came out (maybe some of those writers were bitter they had to retract their 'burgeoning chinese black metal scene' articles haha)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ Yeah, pretty unique stuff. Also, I kinda like the new Ghost Bath album too, tho I haven't listened to it enough yet.

 

Random: I usually can't get into much of this 'vintage doom-rock/metal' scene, but Ruby the Hatchet's album from this year came as a nice surprise. Just the perfect sound with cool riffs and awesome vocals. They just released a new music vid from said album too, check it out:

 

 

I believe they're currently touring the US with Uncle Acid, a nice fit!

[Bear 1817]

Been playing the Abbath track a few more times and it gets better, but the drumming is poor as fuck. Foley just isn't a natural black metal drummer at all. And just seeing King ov Hell involved in another band makes me sad, but it gets better and it sounds a lot like Damned in Black. Sounds like a leftover track from the Damned in Black sessions IMO.

[Bear 1817]

 

Damn, this was a lovely surprise. Easily Kampfar's best track since Kvass, if not since Fra underverdenen. Simply a damn good song!

[Pretsy 1343]

as an addition to my previous request; hmu with some cool metal that utilizes brass instruments and/or accordeons. only stuff that comes to mind atm are Ihsahn and Sigh

Depends on how you look at it: do you want basic metal music that utilizes brass instruments/accordions or do you want metal-oriented-ish stuff that revolves around these instruments?

 

In case it's the former, go with what Bear suggested - but in terms of something more brass-oriented,  I suggest looking into acts that are not necessarily "metal" but known for incorporating metal influences with their brass-based arrangements:

 

 

 

Alamaailman Vasarat might be quite out-of-nowhere example here but they have their own share of random influences in their pockets despite of being some sort of Klezmer jazz-oriented collective: a bit of avant-garde metal trickery (songs above), some prog, even very vague doom/grind-y parts...etc.

 

 

Diablo Swing Orchestra, a.k.a swing/cabaret/tango Mr. Bungleistic Nightwish collective (?) might not be your thing but their stuff uses tons of brass (to the point of it being much more present than your standard metvlz riffage)

 

 

Anyways, since we are at it - what do you guys think of current, cherished metal-based acts of this year - take say, Ad Nauseam or latest Deafheaven as cases in point?

 

ps. I am not really metal-based listener to begin with, so that might explain picks which might lead traditionalists to rule me out as another /mu/-truder...

[Bear 1817]

New Hooded Menace track: https://soundcloud.com/relapserecords/02-elysium-of-dripping-death

 

Sounds great.

[トカゲ 49]

THey're playing in Norway this month or next actually, but it's too far for me to bother. I can't travel that far for one concert at the moment. Sadly.

 

Yes, that is the Mansion. Highly recommended stuff. All releases are top notch IMO.

 

Already familiar with SubRosa, Mantar and Horn of the Rhino. Not a fan of either, though. I prefer my sludgy metal a bit different then those acts.

Just try to get your ass to the show. I have just came home from their concert. They just played all in all aorund one hour, which is pretty fair for ca. 19 € including another band as opener.

It's just fucking great to be maybe 3 m away from the 1,20 m high stage while they're playing. And fuck it, it was simply awesome when she went straight throu the audience with a smoking piece of wood on a knife looking at people's eyes and sanctifying the hall with the smoke.

It's kind of a nice memory standing not even half a meter away from a woman with such an aura. (Or maybe my weak spot for slender yet strong women is just confusing me lol.)

[Bear 1817]

I couldn't afford it with everything I'm going to in October and November. Sadly.

 

Covert art from the upcoming Abbath 7" Count the Dead:

 

 

 

Remove the two clows in the background and shoot it from a slightly different angle and that could so easily have been a cool picture, but like that it's fucking awful.

[トカゲ 49]

I couldn't afford it with everything I'm going to in October and November. Sadly.

Hope you will be able the next time. The show is worth to be seen.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Strangely found myself on a stoner metal kick today... Some random goodness:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKFvN1D4WC8