Now Listening To - The show must go on..., And it sure will. Options

[1234king]

Right now im listening to some Pantera(R.I.P DD), to their cover of walk

[milanius]

SENSER - Formula Milk and Crucible

I am really irritated by chronic lack of their lyrics on the Net.


This post has been edited by milanius: Mar 22 2007, 11:32 PM

[The Metal Mallet]

Well, another Saturday. The Countdown continues and it's sooo close to being done, in fact, these CDs are the Top 8, but I have a feeling I won't be able to listen to them all today. Most of them are around or above an hour long so it looks doubtful. I expect the Countdown to be finished by next week. Anyways, here's today's music:

Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna
Saturday Night Wrist by The Deftones
Alone by Solitude Aeturnus
In The Absense of Truth by Isis
Above the Weeping Wolrd by Insomnium
Ashes Against the Grain by Agalloch
Vol 1 by Hurt
Blood Mountain by Mastodon

See ya next Saturday!

[The Metal Mallet]

Finally, the 2006 Countdown shall end! But it's not like it's been a bad thing, I certainly enjoyed listening to my entire 2006 collection. Here's today's list:

Above the Weeping World by Insomnium
In the Absence of Truth by Isis
Vol.1 by Hurt
Blood Mountain by Mastodon
Pure Holocaust by Immortal
At the Heart of Winter by Immortal
Sons of Northern Darkness by Immortal
11 Dreams by Mercenary

I decided to give my Immortal collection a listen today after I finish the countdown. Should be some good epic Black Metal listening!

[The Metal Mallet]

Another Saturday, but a new list and a new theme! Hooray! Excited are we? I sure hope so because today's list is pretty good. Here it is:

Sons of Northern Darkness by Immortal
Burn My Eyes by Machine Head
Through the Ashes of Empires by Machine Head
The Blackening by Machine Head
Blast Tyrant by Clutch
Robot Hive/Exodus by Clutch
From Beale Street to Oblivion by Clutch
Inside the Machine by This Ending

So, I think it's obvious the today's theme is playing my entire Clutch and Machine Head releases to celebrate the two new CDs they each respectively released (The Blackening and Beale Street). Here's a couple of mini reviews for some of my latest purchases:

The Blackening by Machine Head

Wow, is one of the first things that come to mind when I listen to this sucker. The songs of this new release are epic. 4 or 5 of the 10 songs featured on this album break the 9 minute limit and work because of it. Each songs seems meticously written, and there's still plenty of punishing riffs and a lot more emphasis on some pretty slick guitar solos. They've definitely stepped up from their previous "return to form" CD. Highly recommended.

From Beale Street to Oblivion by Clutch

I always like Clutch's work, but I've never been amazed by their stuff. That is, until I gave a listen to this CD. Their brand of bluesy, southerny, hard rock is ridiculously catchy and just plain awesome. With the new record they don't exactly development their songs any further than past releases but opt for stronger songwriting. Heck, the first two opening numbers are worth the price of admission alone and there's no drop in songwriting after those songs either. Another highly reccommended CD.

The Ritual Fires of Abandonment by Minsk

Minsk are another band that writes music that's fairly similar to Neurosis, Isis, etc... Minsk themselves utilize the tribal sounding drums specifically and focus on a bit more psycheldellicia as well, particularly in the first track "Ember". Vocally, it's a mixed of chilling clean vocals and bellowing shouts/screams, both of which are used at the right moments. I have yet to give this CD it's appropriate amount of listening, but I'm definitely liking it so far. It's definitely meant to be listened as a whole though, since most of the songs contain segue tracks.

Hope by Swallow the Sun

Swallow the Sun play a genre of music I am beginning to like more and more, Doom/Death (though plain ole Doom I perfer a bit more most of the time). Hope features 8 songs, most of which are around the 6-8 minute mark, of depressingly melodic music with flourishes of heaviness tossed in for nice contrast. The regretful part about this band is vocally, as the most prevalent vocal use is the deep death metal bellow that is completely indecipherable (which is shame considering it masks the lyrics), but they fortunately break the monotony with a few clean vocals and some encompanying raspy "melodeath" vocals. Solid musically, but there's better stuff out there.

The Novella Reservoir by Novembers Doom [sic]

Novembers Doom is another Doom/Death band, but a much more exciting one in my opinion. I say this because not all of Novembers Doom's songs follow the same format. There's a couple of songs that have a quicker, more vicious edge to them (Rain and Drown the Inland Mere), then there's the heavy, slower paced songs (The Novella Reservoir) and even an acoustic track (Twilight Innocence). This variety is very welcomed by me. Plus, the vocallist has a much more appealling death metal voice since it's decipherable, yet very vicious and his clean vocals have character to them. This one is definitely reccommended to those who like Opeth and Katatonia. It's a great CD.

[Lord Revan]

Music Genre? Soundtracks mostly, videogames, movies, etc. Currently I'm listening to EDI's Sacrifice from Stealth played by BT.

It has a solemn and remorseful tone to it.

[The Metal Mallet]

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! And I'm here stuck at work with a cold! At least I have some good tunes to kill the time. Here's this week's list:

Robot Hive/Exodus by Clutch
From Beale Street to Oblivion by Clutch
The Greyest of Blue Skies by Finger Eleven
Finger Eleven by Finger Eleven
Them vs. You vs. Me by Finger Eleven
Inside the Machine by This Ending
The Ritual Fires of Abandonment by Minsk
The Greater Wrong of the Right by Skinny Puppy
Mythmaker by Skinny Puppy

Hopefully once if my order from Hellride comes in I'll take about some of my more recent CD purchases. Though I don't know if I'll be posting another weekend list, because I won't be at work next Saturday. I'll actually be on my way to the Bahamas for vacation! Weeee!

[The Metal Mallet]

Well I'm currently been listening to Isis - Panopticon, Machine Head's "The Blackening", and Immortal's "Sons of Northern Darkness" alot over my trip. But like I stated earlier, my order came in just before I left for vacation, so I'll talk about my latest purchases.

Suffer No Guilt by The Gates of Slumber

Had to order this CD, since the band is on the same indie label. But I must say, this is some quality stuff. The Gates of Slumber play Doom Metal, which is slower, distortion heavy metal, but the band certainly throws in some speedier guitar parts at appropriate moments. Suffer No Guilt has 3 of it's 10 songs break the 10 minute mark, which creates for some epic composistions, one of which even breaks the 20 minute mark. There's a bit of a Black Sabbath vibe with their work, mainly due to the slightly similar sounding vocals and the production, which really emphasises the guitar and bass, but the drums sound a bit thin. I've really been enjoying this CD. Now if only I could get my hands on "Drawing Down the Sun" by The River...


Dismantling Devotion by Daylight Dies

When I first heard of Daylight Dies, I didn't give them a chance due to the "Doom/Death" label they were given (mainly the "Death" part turned me off, because I'm not fond of death vocals). But since I discovered that not all "Doom/Death" bands have terrible Death Metal vocals, I gave this band a chance and I'm very happy I did. The death vocals are more of a growling then the deep, burpy noises of some death metal that I find a lot of tolerable. Heck, they work well in establishing the sorrow and pain in the lyrics. I really love the weepy lead guitar work since a lot of the emotion is driven through the use of it. Songs to check out are the single "Lies That Bind", since it features a mixture of everything the band does well (sorrowful clean vocals, good mix of emotion and heaviness), the completely cleanly sung "Solitary Refinement", and the instrumental title track. Heavily recommended.

Vena Sera by Chevelle

Chevelle are back with a consistent, and heavier sound. Production-wise, this album is monstrously effective as everything can be heard and has heft to it at the most appropriate moments. Everything seems a bit stronger, especially since the screaming has been basically completely removed; the songs work better without it. I must add that the new bassist really adds a lot to the band, this is most notably seen in the song, "Brainiac" (one of my favourites). Other songs to check out are "I Get It" with it's ridiculously catchy chorus, and "Saferwaters" for a quality mid-tempo, melodic song. A more than solid followup from their previous CD.

In The Wake of Separation by Thine Eyes Bleed

Thine Eyes Bleed are a Canadian Melodic Thrash Band, most notably known for having Tom Araya's (of Slayer fame) younger brother playing bass for this band. This band definitely lives up to the genre they play as the music is quite vicious and fairly technical as well. There can be some gripes about monotonity though, as some songs are hard to differentiate, especially since the vocalist doesn't do much to change up his vocal style, only adding brief clean vocals to a couple of songs. I'm curious to hear how their next album that is due sometime this year will sound. Fans of the genre should enjoy this one.

All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions In The Sky

Explosions In The Sky are an Instrumental Post Rock band. So, the songs are fairly long, meticulously written ones. I was surprised that I didn't find it difficult to pay attention to this record. The guitars are really melodic and beautiful, so they completely entranced me. I was listening to this record as I was flying home from my trip, and at that moment to be a perfectly good representation of the music. I was above the big fluffly clouds on a clear, sunny day. Absolutely breath-taking. Definitely recommended.

Conqueror by Jesu

If I were to give a loose description of Jesu's sound, I'd say it would be heavy pop music. I say this because drifting within the melodic guitars, twinkling programming, and deep, lurching basswork are vocals that would work easily on a pop rock CD (likely something like Snow Patrol, or maybe Death Cab for Cutie??). It creates for some hypnotic music. It's one of those CDs that people who don't usually listen to heavy music could listen too, much like Isis. Recommended for those intrigued by odd combinations that work.

Watching From a Distance by Warning

Warning is another Doom metal band from Britain. This is some emotional stuff, it definitely focuses on inner emotions and termoil as clearly displayed by Warning's unique vocalist. His vocals are clean, but can be an aquired taste, but he clearly emits the pain and emotion through his voice. The music behind further compliments the desolation of the music, as Warning uses a lot more of the sludgy, droning bass and guitars than other Doom bands. They still have doses of melodic guitar rise from the mire of sound, but they don't implement any speed. They perfer the crushing heaviness that slow, methodical heft can create. I adore this CD. It's been hard to listen to other stuff. It's an expensive, and fairly rare CD to get your hands on. The only place I found it was at hellride.com in their "Doom" section. I recommend to pick it up, if there's still copies left.

Beyond the Crimson Horizon by Solitude Aeturnus

I ordered this re-mastered with bonus songs CD from the same site I got my The Gates of Slumber, and Warning CD from. They also gave me a free bonus promo CD too! Anyways, this was a limited edition type thing, only 2000 copies, so I'm really happy I got my hands on this. After listening to this older CD (it was originally released in 1992 I think), Solitude Aeturnus is quickly becoming one of my favourite bands. This is Epic Doom Metal at it's finest. It easily rivals their 2006 release "Alone" (which is one of my favourites from last year). The riffs are more punishining, and just groovy. Robert Lowe sounds amazing, though not as multidimensional as his performance on "Alone", and the guitar solos are still eye catching. I'm going to treat this CD really nicely. If you can find a copy of this, I suggest you get your hands on it.

[Black Hand]

Metal enjoys his Metal?

I looked up a couple of those bands, never heard of any of them. But they're actually pretty good.

I enjoy all music, some people get a little freaked out when I switch from what they call 'satan' music to a classical station, I tell them, Mozart was the Rock Star of his day, and I can appreciate it.

[Fuzzy Knight]

Short and brief visit from the Fuzz - but I just gotta tell that I finally got the news and it's about time too; Dream Theater is coming to Oslo 29th September and that was good enough but even better is Symphony X and another band yet to be confirmed will support

Along with that, I already have my precious Metallica ticket for this summer and soon ordering my ticket to the Hovefestival

By the way Mallet, great stuff you've been posting here - checked A LOT of it and much of it has found it's way to my mp3

[The Metal Mallet]

Glad to hear that you guys (and possible gals) have been enjoying the music I've been talking about. I like to spread the word since music is easily becoming an important part of my life (much like writing and electrical/robotics stuff). And I got an ego that says my musical taste is awesome

Anyways, here's another recommendation for you guys. Porcupine Tree just recently released their new CD, "Fear of a Blank Planet", which I believe is a concept album based off of the lyrics I read. Porcupine Tree are a Progressive Rock band that has recently begun to add some heavy elements to their music as well (probably because Steve Wilson, the singer/guitarist of the band, has produced 3 Opeth albums). I've only listened to the first three songs so far, but they are really good (especially the 17 minute song which features a guitar solo from Rush's guitarist). Definitely recommended to Prog fans...

I'm looking at you Dantrag and Fuzzy!

[The Metal Mallet]

Hooray! My Saturday Worktime Music List is back up running! Happy you are I hope! To celebrate, I'm going to continue my theme which involves playing any 2007 releases I have alongside any older albums I have by that artist. Here's the list:

The Greating Wrong of the Right by Skinny Puppy
Mythmaker by Skinny Puppy
Deadwing by Porcupine Tree
Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree
Conqueror by Jesu
Hope by Swallow the Sun
The Novella Reservoir by Novembers Doom
Watching From a Distance by Warning

Now that I'm given one complete listen to Fear of a Blank Planet, I can easily recommend it. The songs I had yet to listen to are just as solid. Still, the 17 minute epic, "Anesthetize" is easily the best track of the album as it features a well balanced tempo of songwriting (it has a slow buildup, then gets a little heavy and teases you before going back into lighter moments, eventually there's a moment where it's absolutely choatic, it's great!).

[The Metal Mallet]

Another Saturday means another Weekend Music Listening List! Goody, goody, gumdrops! Here it is:

Hope by Swallow the Sun
The Novella Reservoir by Novembers Doom
Watching From a Distance by Warning
Fiction by Dark Tranquility
We Must Obey by Fu Manchu
Elementary by The End
Year of Desolation by Year of Desolation
All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions In The Sky


Oh boy! Next week the new Megadeth CD comes out. Can't wait to get my hands on that one! Until next week, folks!

[Dantrag]

So I picked up Megadeth's United Abominations today. It's got some great moments in it; songs like the re-hash of 'A Tout le Monde' with Lacuna Coil's vocalist, 'Sleepwalker', 'Washington is Next', 'Amerikhastan', 'You're Dead'....As a metter of fact, the title track and Gears of War are the only ones I'm not fond of. After the three disappointing albums in a row (Risk, The World Needs a Hero, The System Has Failed - not saying they don't have great moments, just overall not that great) this one is very refreshing.

Just to vent though, I have to say that the album art sucks. They had a contest in which fans created the cover, and the best one won. Unfortunately, the best wasn't so great. Vic Rattlehead looks like that ogre looking thing from 300, and has some angel chick hovering over him. It looks like the cover to a lame video game.

I have some more albums to look forward to as well, like Symphony X's Paradise Lost, and Dream Theater's Systematic Chaos. Really psyched for those two.

[The Metal Mallet]

Saturday for a long weekend! Yippe! Time for my music listening for the weekend:

Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Whose Buying?
Megadeth - Rust In Peace
Megadeth - United Abominations
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Forgotten Tomb - Negative Megalomania
Solitude Aeturnus - Beyond the Crimson Horizon
Solitude Aeturnus - Alone


Obviously, I'm playing all the Megadeth CDs I own. And I have to agree about the enjoyability of their new CD, definitely their most solid material in awile. I can agree about how horrendous the front cover is. Vic doesn't look right with hair. I don't mind the picture on the back of the case and the big picture in the middle of the booklet though. Those ones aren't terrible.

[minque]

I was on a concert yesterday...in Berlin at K17, that's a club, mainly a goth-club, well I was listening to one of my absolute favourites....

THE CRUXSHADOWS...yayyyyy they are magnificent

[Wolfie]

Right now at this very moment I'm not listening to anything, but lately I've been listening to Lamb of God, more specifically the album Sacrament. It's really cool, but if you don't like heavy metal stuff it's not for you. I certainly know everyone else in my family hates it

[Priest of Sithis]

My fellow LOG fan, i really like the new guitar sounds and drums but does the vocals have to be so clean all of the sudden. Its like everyone is going soft.

PoS's Softie "Hardcore" Music List:
(feel free to add or edit)
1) Likin Park
2) My Chemical Romance
3) Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
4) Aiden

that's all for now folks, remember, I am not calling your music bad, it speaks for itself.

This post has been edited by Priest of Sithis: May 22 2007, 03:48 AM

[milanius]

Blink 182 - Stockholm Syndrome

Interestingly enough, this one song doesn't suck as much as most of their immature material.

edit:
I have also obtained [trough some, eh, channels] new LP of New York's metal/HC group PRO PAIN - "Age of Tyranny - The Tenth Crusade". I am amazed just how much anti-government topics are there in their lyrics, as well as how much they have remained boat-kicking, uncompromising and furious. Anyone who likes hardcore or metal should look them up.

This post has been edited by milanius: May 23 2007, 12:55 PM

[minque]

I have been to a great concert this saturday. In Berlin...at a rather small goth-club not far from where my daughter lives. This was a late birthday-present from her and was really a great experience.

The band was Crüxshadows, one of my absolute favourites. They have recently released a new CD, called Dreamcypher...and it´s just so great!

The concert itself was excellent, well performed, the singer even spoke german between the songs out of courtesy to the german audience. Then he also mingled with us, he went around, singing and even hugging us! yeah!!!!

Oh boy what a saturday eve!