Reply With QuoteFinally got around to listening to Mastodon's Crack The Skye. Pretty good first impression but need to listen more. Not kicking as much ass off the bat as Leviathan.
Amazon was kind enough to remind me there's new/old Cynic coming out toward the end of the month! Doesn't sound like we should be expecting the heaviest sounds in their arsenal, though, but that's fine by me:
Originally Posted by Season of Mist
Finally got around to listening to Mastodon's Crack The Skye. Pretty good first impression but need to listen more. Not kicking as much ass off the bat as Leviathan.
It's more of a fever dream than an asskicking. It pays to listen to the whole thing at once to dig on the movement between songs. Riding a motorcycle helps as well.
H.
I didn't actually get it until I heard it performed live. But that's probably because it was the first time I'd ever listened to the entire album in one sitting, uninterrupted.
Did you guys see that March is Metal month on Amazon? Tons of albums between $5.99 and $6.99. :)
High On Fire's De Vermis Mysteriis is out today. Has great early buzz, I've listened to 1/2 of it, makes me want to drive fast and punch people in the face, so that's a good sign ;)
I was just about to ask about this one, along with the new Killing Joke (not really "metal" metal, but still snarly).
I'm not the biggest Meshuggah fan here but I remember some people praising them. Well, "Koluss" just dropped a week or so ago and it's... uh... more Meshuggah. As always I fall in love with one song (this time, the heavier-than-a-planet-of-pure-lead "Demiurge"), then I kind of enjoy the rest but it never sticks with me.
Chaosphere is my favorite of their albums. It's just so raw.
I love "The Mouth Licking What You've Bled" but not much else from it. I've long given up explaining my mostly-apathy towards Meshuggah. Can't figure it out.
In less apathetic news, Ufomammut's "ORO" is great, although it's not gonna surprise fans in any way. You get the trademark punishing titanic riffs with swirls of psychedelic electronica and reverb-heavy screaming that all moves along at a glacial pace. I dunno, maybe they're formulaic but it's a formula I have yet to tire of.
Ufomammut - Empireum
Lately I have been listening to an obscene amount of Cloudkicker, a one man project. The music is instrumental, ambient, progressive metal. So far, my favorite is the album "Beacons", but I have really enjoyed it all. The best part is, he has a pay-what-you-want model and you can immediately download the music in just about any format you wish directly from the site.
Been a dry year for good metal I think (at least the type I like.) Anyway, Baroness' "Yellow & Green" has been out for a week and...
It's more like a Chicago album than a metal album. In fact, it's really not metal at all, more like some crappy Indie-Rock whiny band that shoots videos of themselves running through fields of wheat. Or an album that features a crayola drawing on it cover.
It may be decent musicianship, but it's not metal at all. Even the last Opeth album was more metal.
I tried listening to it this week on Spotify. Just isn't doing it for me. Couldn't even make it through one entire listen.
So, any love for the new Testament album, Dark Roots of the Earth? Just released today and I have only made it through one full time, but initial impressions are positive. Great sound, awesome guitar work from both Peterson and Skolnick, and I understand Alex had more input in the writing this time. I think this shows as he is an incredibly diverse guitarist. Seems to add a bit to the whole package.
Definitely still good ol' American thrash, but a bit more diverse this time out. Might be a positive, might hinder it on further listens. However, for now, I am enjoying it. Worth checking out if you are a fan or just want some solid thrash metal with excellent performances from all involved.
Thanks for mentioning it, I had no idea they had a new album but I'm always down for some Testament.
No problem. I have long thought that Testament was sadly underrated. They continued to put out some real great, punishing metal while Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax all were floundering.
live at the fillmore is one of my favorite live metal albums..
I'll have to check it out as I didnt realize Skolnick was back in the band. I saw him once in NY doing his jazz thing and he was pretty amazing.
It's actually growing on me quite a bit. I still which it had some metal in it though.
I've been looking for High on Fire's first album for years. They finally released, and remastered "The Art of Self Defense." It's on LP and CD here
http://www.southernlord.com/highonfire.php
The remaster is excellent. It's even better that "Surround by Thieves," which is available on iTunes. Last I checked, this wasn't.
Been digging some Witch Mountain. Very seventies. Doomy, and really heavy in that Sabbath sense of the word. And the vocalist is a woman with some serious chops. Think Heart combined with some southern soul and a ragged, nasty growl thrown in for good measure. Sadly, their newest isn't on Spotify, but the first is. They just got picked up by Profound Lore, the best label in the metal biz as far as I'm concerned. So here's hoping to good things.
http://open.spotify.com/album/5dBZmJ0Agw84vSBAaas2ta
Ben Sharp, aka Cloudkicker, just released a new album, Fade. Again, you can stream the entire album on the page or download for whatever price you choose. A much more mature album, with a little more post-rock and shoegaze this time around. Great album.
Yeah, I was digging on that Cloudkicker too. Beacons is great as well. The guy's a total machine of consistancy.
New Katatonia coming out next week. Previews so far sound great and Devin Townsend has been raving about it. Very excited.
Oooh! Been looking forward to this. Thanks for the heads up.
Diablo Swing Orchestra has been mentioned on here previously, but not since Pandora's Piņata has been released.
It's truly, delightfully off.
Just a follow up that, after further listens, I am firmly in the "love it" camp for Dark Roots of Earth. I don't know if I like it more than The Formation of Damnation, but it is a very good album.
I tried Dark Roots of Earth, and after one spin I'm just not feeling it. Chuck's voice has lost a lot of its vigor, and the music sticks pretty rigidly to a template I've grown tired of. It's executed really well, but it's totally unremarkable. I liked formation okay, but The Gathering is always going to be my favorite.
Are there any grind or deathgrind fans around these parts? That's never really been my thing, but I recently checked out Rotten Sound and they're blowing me away. Usually, the constant blasting is a major turn off for me, but these guys know when to slow it down. It's just so damn raw and I need more like it. As a side note, I found them through another band, Afgrund. Their new one, The Age of Dumb, is just killer. This genre in general is pretty new to me, so if anyone's got some recommendations, please toss them my way. Already tried Nasum and hated it. I know they're poster children for grind, but they didn't do it for me. Thanks.
I think I shouted out these guys in the general music thread, but as I can't stop listening to this I'll prop them here too: "The Last Bow" by Satellite Beaver. One of the more promising EPs I've heard in a while. Powered by monstrous fuzzy bass-fueled riffs, crash-cymbal-heavy drums, a vocalist who's drawing comparisons to both Layne Staley and Marilyn Manson... it's pretty much the opposite of intricate and subtle, and I wouldn't have it any other wya.
Pershing
Roadtrip
THIS IS THE GREATEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER MADE EVER AND IF YOU DISAGREE YOU ARE WRONG
Seriously. I don't even particularly like the song, but the video itself is priceless. Priceless!
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