The general Metal discussion thread

[Bear 1817]

Bolt Thrower is amazing, and every single release it top notch. One of the most, if not THE most consistent (death) metal band ever. Can't really choose a favourite album, but their debut, the grindcore classic In Battle There Is No Law!, might be my favourite. But it's very close between In Battle There Is No Law!, Realm of Chaos, War Master, The IVth Crusade, ...for Victory and of course the fantastic The Peel Sessions 1988-90. The rest is great too, and Those Once Loyal is one hell of a way to end a (30 year long) career, even though it was released 11 years ago now.  Superb album!

 

 

If you want more Bolt Thrower, check out these bands:

 

Warmaster

War Master

Trenchrot

 

They all worship the altar of Bolt Thrower, especially the two War-bands. I think all three bands are very good.

[Bear 1817]

 

I've been trying to get into this album since forever now, because there's always been somthing very appealing about the music. But for some reason I just haven't managed to fully get into it. Before today, after probably listening to this album 50+ times over the years. Epic/melodic black metal, but the band call their music "cinematic black metal", which is actually quite spot on. They seem to be compared to Wintersun quite often, but I believe that has a lot to do with the fact that they've covered a Wintersun track once. An acoustic folk cover which is superb and way, way, way better than the original, btw.

 

It's a pretty unique band, but I can hear lots of elements from bands like Ne Obliviscaris, Anorexia Nervosa, Bal-Sagoth, Emperor, Apotheosis, Diabolical Masquerade and Opeth, as well as Rhapsody. In fact, I think the best comparrison would be Rhapsody. If Rhapsody did black metal it would sound similar to this.

[Bear 1817]

 

Anyone else heard Cultes des Ghoules's "Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love"? This has to be one of the most impressive black metal albums since Katharsis released "VVorldVVithoutEnd" back in 2006. They've gone a bit back to the sound of Häxan, with a strong Mortuary Drape and Necromantia vibe to the music, but it sounds hella lot more massive then the brilliant Häxan did. It sounds huge. A monster of an album! 1 hour and 40 minutes of evil, ritualistic and eerie black metal of the highest order. If you like black metal, then this is one of those albums you need to own. It's that good.

 

Might be the album of the year for me, and that says quite a lot at the moment. And he's already back in the studio to record another album. Hell fuckin' yeah, bitches!

 

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ You had me at "evil, ritualistic and eerie". I will try to give it a listen once I have enough time.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Jigsaw9

[Bear 1817]

You should try the other works, too. Odd Spirituality, Häxan, Spectres over Transylvania and Henbane are all 6/6 releases IMO. The three first ones are much in the vein of very old Mortuary Drape and Necromantia, with that old school occult, devilish, morbid "old-forgotten-graveyard-feeling". With Henbane I feel like he walked onto a different path, while still having some of that feeling, but a bit different. A bit less horror-esque. But with Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love he's back on that old path of his, but without copying himself or others.

 

This band is just brilliant. It's raw and primitive, but powerful and very unique in its own way.

[Bear 1817]

It's not metal, but as we haven't gotten a ambient thread I'll just leave it here as it does have a lot in common with black metal, and is a style that a lot of black metal artists have done too. And to be quite honest, the genre, the feeling of the music and such is basically an echo of the 2nd wave black metal. So it kinda fits in here anyway.

 

Thangorodrim

 

Dungeon synth that sounds like it was made by a black metal band in the mid-90's. It's very Mortiis-esque. In fact, the first releases is pure Mortiis era I worship.

 

Taur-nu-Fuin and Towers of the Teeth are among my favourite releases this year, especially Taur-nu-Fuin which is probably the best dungeon synth release since Mortiis' "Keiser av en dimension ukjent". And to be quite honest the album isn't too far behind classics like The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost, Født til å herske, Ånden som gjorde opprør and Keiser av en dimension ukjent, which I consider the ultimate DS releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And let me end this post with this fabolous song. Couldn't help but going totally fucking crazy when a mate put this on while we were getting drunk last weekend. Almost trashed his whole appartment to the sounds of this song. Music doesn't get much better than this:

 

 

 

[Bear 1817]

Do you enjoy 1st wave Bathory, Hellhammer, Sodom, Tormentor, Vulcano, Sarcofago, Holocausto, Poison and the likes? Then do yourself a favour and check out the debut of Sacrificio. Sacrificio plays ancient black metal like they used to long before black metal was a proper genre to describe a certain kind of music. Mostly very primitive and raw in the vein of Bathory and The Return..., but at times they move into a more epic form of black metal. A bit like Bathory did with songs such as Enter the Eternal Fire and Call from the Grave. Fantastic album, and it's way better than the very awesome demo.

 

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/guerra-eterna

 

 

I love their over the top image too. As ridiculous as it is cool.

 

[Visutox 188]

^ this album is on my "to listen" list and now that you've talked about the band, it made me wanna check the hell out of that album. Will do right away! 

 

I've been listening to a lot of Summoning lately and I can't wait to check out the tribute album that will be released on the 15th 

 

 

Can't wait to listen to Caladan Brood's cover, them fuckers had to take one of my fav tracks hehe.

Also the rest of the tracklist is amazing and the bands that'll cover the songs are amazing, I'm so fucking stoked.

 

And I'm sure that Eldamar will kill it with Land of The Dead. That song fits perfectly their style imo.

 

Talking about them, I listened their album not long ago and I was so amazed. It's glorious, really beautiful music. 

 

 

[Bear 1817]

I don't get why people are looking forward to this tribute album so much. Tribute albums are usually boring as fuck. But I'm interested in Evilfeast and Wędrujący Wiatr from this tribute. Should be interesting to see what they can get out of Summoning tracks as they are both amazing bands and very different from Summoning.

 

 

I don't get the Eldamar hype either. It's not at all awful or anything, but it sounds so digital, polished, artificial and sweet (as in sugar coated). The synths doesn't sound very good at all and the use of the female A-choir is nothing short of disgusting.

 

 

As far as Summoning'esque bands goes, these are the only ones that matters imo. The ones that I actually keep spinning over and over as the years have gone by:

 

Kinstrife & Blood

Unlike other Summoning clones, Kinstrife & Blood are heavily inspired by mid-era Summoning. Minas Morgul and Dol Guldur are obviously the main inspiration for this. They only released one album, but it's on par with the best Summoning albums IMO. The best one by a long shot!

 

 

 

Caladan Brood

Draws heavily from newer Summoning, but it's a bit more easy-listening with auto-tuned vocals and sweeter (in lack of a better word) sounding synths and melodies. The album is great, though. But not at all on par with Summoning, but it's different enough that it doesn't come off as just a poor clone. Wich is very good. But this is a band "everyone" know so I won't post a track off this album.

 

Moongates Guardian

I'm not too impressed by these guys' two first albums, but the two following ones are straight-up fantastic. Not as much of a clone as Caladan Brood, but they've got Summoning written all over their sound anyway. Sound-wise they sound a bit like mid-era Summoning. Think Stronghold and Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame.

 

Released a Summoning tribute earlier this year as well, with 7 songs. And it's called part 1, so I guess they have more where it came from. I was not impressed by this. They've changed some songs to make them their own, which can be a good thing, but they've not managed to change them enough. So it just sounds like poorly executed Summoning covers, which is just what it is.

 

 

 

Nazgûl

These guys are a lot more black metal-oriented and not as much a clone, but as with the previous ones they've got Summoning-written all over their sound. This band just released one album and it's superb IMO. Majestic, epic, but still grim underneath the beauty of it. The vocals tend to be a huge turn-off for most people, though. Very desperate-sounding screams. But I don't mind 'em at all.

 

 

 

Druadan Forest

Started as a much more black metal-oriented band back in the late 90's but disbanded after just two year. 2016 saw V-Khaoz pump some life back into the project and I am glad he did, because The Loremasters Time is truly magnificent. A really good album. Not as much a Summoning clone, though. But again, it's got Summoning written all over the project.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2016 by Bear

[Visutox 188]

Well, to me it depends which band they're paying tribute to, and in this particular case Summoning are fucking huge and a sufficient reason to be stoked (as I am). I usually don't care that much about tribute albums too, but when it's Summoning related stuff, man, gotta keep an eye on it!

 

For Eldamar, well, the female vocals are fucking overused and it gets somewhat annoying. But otherwise, I love their sound, to each his own.
 

And DUDE, finally someone who mentions Nazgul! That album is absolutely epic! Need another release from these guys asap. They're not fucking around.

I have 0 problem with the vocals as well, I think they're great. 

 

There are still similar stuff I gotta listen to though, like the new Sejourner album for which I heard good comments.

 

A friend of mine lately recommended me to check out Unreqvited's album. I liked it, a bit dull to my ears overall but it's good stuff. 

 

Also came across a band named "Death Fetishist", and as funny as the name is, I didn't expect to like the album so much. The cover art is cool too.

 

 

[Bear 1817]

1 hour ago, Visutox said:

Well, to me it depends which band they're paying tribute to, and in this particular case Summoning are fucking huge and a sufficient reason to be stoked (as I am). I usually don't care that much about tribute albums too, but when it's Summoning related stuff, man, gotta keep an eye on it!

 

Yeah, I know it's Summoning and I'm quite a big fan myself as I have worshipped the altar of Summoning for around 15 years now. But it's not an easy band to cover which is why the majority of the covers are mediocre at best. Most of them are just bands copying the songs without adding anything new to the songs, or anything of their own at all. The majority takes it really, really safe and are afraid of doing anything new to the songs, and when you don't dare to do anything with the song at all it just gets pointless to cover it. But whatever, I still don't get it. To each their own, as you say. I'll just listen to the originals and wank myself to death or something.

 

 

Btw, this is how you do cover a song. If you're familiar with the original you'll hear exactly which songs it is, but if you're unfamiliar with it you'd be sure this was an original Moonsorrow song, because they've very much made it their own. This could, if not for the language, easily have been an original song from the 2nd or 3rd album. It's just got that vibe to it.

 

 

 

[Visutox 188]

I get what you mean dude, and gotta say I totally agree with you. I mean yeah, seeing a band you listen to covering one of your fav bands is always nice but the cover has to be original otherwise it is indeed pointless to cover it. Anyone who plays guitar or any other instrument can cover a song, but giving it your own refreshing touch is how you do it. 

 

Never knew Moonsorrow covered Metallica and that sounds fucking great! Damn, I love it. And it's true, if I had never knew about Metallica I wouldn't have noticed it's a song that was written by them. That's crazy.

 

If I had to give an example, it would definitely be Nathrakh's cover of Powerslave, absolutely brilliant stuff. Gotta say I never expected this before checking the song out, woah. Unreal. 

 

 

Can't think of another cover right now but I'll definitely post one when something else comes to mind. 

 

 

[Bear 1817]

I think that AN cover is godawful. But then again, I don't like newer AN and the overall sound they've got nowadays to begin with. Might be a big part of the problem?

 

Another great example of a good cover is the Reverend Bizarre / Mr Velcro Fastener split, where traditional doomsters Reverend Bizarre covers a track from electro-due Mr Velcro Fastener and Mr Velcro Fastener covers a Reverend Bizarre track. Can't find Mr Velcro Fastener's Reverend Bizarre track on youtube, but I suggest people get it. The split is truly excellent!

 

 

Here's a good example of how NOT to do a cover:

 

 

That is fucked up and seriously bad. Such a poor joke.

[Bear 1817]

And I mentioned the fantastic Evilfeast a couple of posts back. If you like atmospheric black metal like Evilfeast, older Sear Bloss and Forest Silence I'll recommend you check out Bròn and his debut album Ànrach as soon as possible. Three songs and 57 minutes of beautiful atmospheric black metal. It's a bit on the lighter side compared to Evilfeast, but this album is a masterpiece. Fantastic stuff!

 

The coverart kinda sums up what this band is all about:

 

 

https://bronmusic.bandcamp.com/releases

[Visutox 188]

13 hours ago, Bear said:

Here's a good example of how NOT to do a cover:

 

 

That is fucked up and seriously bad. Such a poor joke.

 

Never heard of Aborym before and I couldn't avoid laughing at how this cover sucks. Started well to me but after the intro they literally screwed it up. 

[Bear 1817]

You need to check Aborym out. Their three first albums are essential industrial black metal IMO. Fantastic albums! They sadly haven't done anything of interest since 2006's With No Human Intervention, though. Just skip everything after it.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

If you're a fan of old-school metal's more violent and dirtier streak, then stop what you're doing and immediately blast this loud:

 

https://vanik-vanrecords.bandcamp.com/

 

The guy fronting the project has ties to Midnight, so that might put it on the map accurately. One of the best finds I had lately. Kickass!

Edited December 17, 2016 by Jigsaw9

[Bear 1817]

Quote

IMMORTAL starts recording their new album in Abyss Studio in January 2017!

IMMORTAL will start recording their ninth album in January 2017.

"The songs have been ready for some time, but we wanted to record it at the right place and time. We will once again work with Peter Tägtgren at Abyss Studio who produced our four last albums. The band will enter the studio during wintertime to have the right atmosphere.

We look forward to record and present the new album to the IMMORTAL hordes sometime in 2017.

The tracks that will appear on the album are: 'Northern Chaos Gods', 'Into Battle Ride', 'Gates To Blashyrkh', 'Blacker Of Worlds', 'Where Mountains Rise', 'Grim And Dark', 'Called To Ice', and 'Ravendark'.

Blashyrkh, December 2016

Demonaz and Horgh"

---
More info:
http://www.immortalofficial.com
http://www.facebook.com/immortalofficial
http://www.nuclearblast.de/immortal

 

 

I don't expect great things from this, but I am quite interested I have to say. I hope it is a blacker and more furious Immortal album than All Shall Fall, Sons of Northern Darkness and Damned in Black, as well as Demonaz' March of the Norse and Abbath's Abbath. A bit more black metal and less heavy metal and viking-era Bathory-inspired would be cool.

[Visutox 188]

^ Same. Hoping to hear some interesting and somewhat different stuff from the recent releases.

 

Just listened the new Gotsu Totsu Kotsu. Holy shit. Man. 65 minutes of amazing death metal, with some fucking sick bass-lines and mental riffages. 

I absolutely love it, didn't hesitate to put it on my top 10 which I'll be posting today or in the next few days. 

[Bear 1817]

Quote

Greetings Vektonauts. With sadness we must inform you that we, Blake, Frank, and Erik, are all departing from Vektor effective immediately. It has been a completely incredible 10-ish years that has brought us all around the world and introduced us to so many super generous, passionate, friendly people and produced three albums of which we are extremely proud. Seeing the reception for Terminal Redux in particular after all of the hard work put into it has been very humbling. Sadly we've reached a point where we can't continue with the working arrangement we have, for a number of reasons that we find unnecessary to discuss publicly. There's no big story or drama, people and personalities simply change and drift apart and we've reached our limit.
The three of us are lifer musicians and will continue to be. You'll be seeing us in other contexts, other bands, recordings, tours, and more. Our time in Vektor has been a major part of our lives and parting with that will be a serious adjustment, but ultimately we're excited to see other new ways we can put our ideas to use. We are -hugely- grateful to everyone that came out to shows, picked up merch, listened to the music, showed us a great time and kept us going. We accomplished more than we ever thought was possible when we joined and we hope you'll stay tuned for what we do next - you have certainly not seen the last of us.
We don't know if this means Dave will seek new members and continue Vektor or not, that is for him to decide and announce in his own time.
Given that it's the holidays and the future of the band is out of our hands, we'd appreciate some space for the time being as we enjoy time with friends and family (please don't message our personal pages about it, we won't reply). All the best and we'll see you down the road.
-Blake, Frank, and Erik

 

Well, that sucks. They finally reached up and reached their potential with Terminal Redux and I was very excited to see where they'd take it next. Doubt they'd manage to top it, but still, would've been interesting to see what they were gonna do anyway.

 

Dave will continue Vektor, though. That's good at least. But I wonder how much if an input the other guys had on the band's sound and songwriting. I'm pretty sure Dave is the main songwriter, but I am not sure.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Bear

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Daaaaaaamn... sucks to hear that.

[Bear 1817]

 

This band just knows how to do a cover, don't they? The cover of Grave's Soulless is also really fucking good, although not quite as good as this. This sounds 100% Moonsorrow, but those of us who are familiar with the original will also be able to recognize the track. Just how you're supossed to do a cover. It sounds so huge and epic. Class!

 

Moonsorrow is one of those very fre bands where I'd love to hear a full cover album.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Bear

[Bear 1817]

 

I've never been big on Satanic Warmaster, but this album is really good. I think the album sounds very Norwegian and Swedish, unlike his previous albums which sounds closer to the finnish style. Some clear homages to bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Dark Funeral, and I also spot on clear influences from Gehenna, Old Man's Child and more.

 

Dimmu Borgir - Broderskapets ring

 

Satanic Warmaster - Nuin Gaer Faun

 

I like a band who so clearly dare to show his influences and even borrow great riffs and make something own out of it, if not completely unique or anything. But it sounds pure and nice.

[Visutox 188]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

 

This band just knows how to do a cover, don't they? The cover of Grave's Soulless is also really fucking good, although not quite as good as this. This sounds 100% Moonsorrow, but those of us who are familiar with the original will also be able to recognize the track. Just how you're supossed to do a cover. It sounds so huge and epic. Class!

 

Moonsorrow is one of those very fre bands where I'd love to hear a full cover album.

 

Absolutely! They didn't only release one of the best albums of 2016 but they've also did two amazing covers. Loved this one too, colossal tribute to RC.

A full cover album would be great yeah! 

 

And yeah, Fimbulwinter was one of my fav albums that came out in 2014. Need to re-listen it though, kinda forgot how it sounded like. 

 

Gutted about the bad news from Vektor. Hoping things will turn out well for Dave and the band.

 

Btw, just noticed I haven't posted my top albums of 2016 (when ironically I was the one who asked y'all to post it haha)

 

15. Anaal Nathrakh

14. Wormed

13. Insomnium

12. Hypno5e

11. SAOR

10. Fleshgod Apocalypse

9. Witherscape

8. Ade

7. Brymir

6. Départe
5. 兀突骨 (Gotsu Totsu Kotsu)

4. Khemmis

3. Moonsorrow
2. Ulcerate
1. Schammasch
 

 

[Bear 1817]

I will dismiss every single list without Cultes des Ghoules - Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love among the 3 best as a joke. That's how damn good that album is.