The Official Metal Topic

[BrickPharaoh]

Hey guys anyone heard of Pentakill? With songs based on the League of Legends universe what could possibly go wrong? Also I think I'm in the midst of discovering my new favorite: Blind Guardian. What a band!

 

[Laughing Man]

I checked out the Pentakill album when it first dropped, it's pretty alright, especially for basically being one big gimmick

 

 

 

so I already said this in the Official Music Topic, but no reason not to repeat it here now that I have the chance: new Lamb of God album titled VII: Sturm und Drang announced, going to be released July 24, new song "Still Echoes" is up for streaming, it's killer and reminds me more of As the Palaces Burn than anything off of their last two albums. if the rest of the album is as good, it might end up being their best in over a decade.

 

on the subject of new releases, I was going to ask what people are looking forward to, but then I realized something: this topic needs more discussion. like, actual discussion. as it is, it's mostly people coming in and saying what they've been listening to, and then somebody asking what people are looking forward to, and it just goes quiet for weeks or months at a time. we need some actual conversation going on in here.

 

 

 

also, RIP Ronnie James Dio. 5 years yesterday since he passed.

 

on a more positive note, Bruce Dickinson has been declared cancer-free, so it sounds like we won't be losing another metal god any time soon.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Scythey

[Bambi]

Yeah, new Lamb of God is killer. I'm thinking of preordering the album.

I'm a little late with this, but Matt DeVries left Fear Factory about a week or two ago. That makes me a little sad, as I was really hoping he'd stick around for a while and maybe even bring in a little Chimaira influence to their sound. 

I also think this is the first time someone has left FF on good terms, lol.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Bambi

[Laughing Man]

Chimaira influence in Fear Factory? not sure how that would work, given that Chimaira's sound is built mostly on Fear Factory influence..

 

and given that Dino Cazares' ego is almost as big as he is, I doubt they would've let DeVries in on the songwriting process enough to let him influence anything anyway. these are people who replaced a legendary drummer with a drum machine and didn't even bother to let him know that he was out of the band. I'm pretty sure at this point, outside of the core Bell/Cazares team, the other band members are just hired guns.

[Bambi]

True and true. Though to be fair, Gene was more of a session drummer than an actual member if I remember correctly. Still pretty low on their part.

I guess we'll find out in a few months just how DeVries did on the new album.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Bambi

[Xinlo]

hey so I got into Leprous recently (no idea what took so long) and I'm loving them. Don't dig their demo Aeolia much, but the three studio albums are excellent. I'd say Coal's my favourite at the moment due to the weird, chill synthy atmosphere it has. haven't heard much prog that sounds like that.

 

bands like these guys and Haken give me hope for the genre in these dark djenty times

 

also very glad that Bruce Dickinson is recovered. maiden are really hitting their stride with the new style they've got going imo and (aside from someone dying being a generally bad thing) i'd hate to see them quit on such a high note

Edited May 19, 2015 by The Xinlo Of This Story

[Queen of Liars]

Leprous are absolutely excellent. Tall Poppy Syndrome is probably my favourite of theirs despite it being the only one without a guest appearance from Ihsahn, but all three are fantastic. They were also excellent as Ihsahn's live backing band for the past few years.

 

I'm really excited for the new album, which I have pre-ordered. Both of the songs they've released so far have been great. Less than a week to go!

Edited May 19, 2015 by Emilie Autumn

[Millennium]

I'm recently so digging Primordial. Averill's vocal prowess is overwhelming.

[Laughing Man]

the new solo album from Nile drummer George Kollias is available for free download today only. I haven't heard it yet, but I've seen it described as being in a similar vein of technical death metal as Nile, just a bit more straightforward and having deeper vocals, which sounds good to me.

 

 

 

also somebody mentioned Blind Guardian earlier and I just wanted to say heck yeah, I started listening to them recently too and they're probably the first pure power metal band I've found that I can not only tolerate, but actually enjoy a lot

Edited May 19, 2015 by Scythey

[Xinlo]

Leprous are absolutely excellent. Tall Poppy Syndrome is probably my favourite of theirs despite it being the only one without a guest appearance from Ihsahn, but all three are fantastic. They were also excellent as Ihsahn's live backing band for the past few years.

 

I'm really excited for the new album, which I have pre-ordered. Both of the songs they've released so far have been great. Less than a week to go!

I'm also super stoked for it, though I'm not a fan of the title. I loved both the songs as well, but I hope they lean a little more in the direction of The Price. Those synths get me every time.

 

also did manage to check out the new Kamelot album, and I liked it. it was no masterpiece and many of the songs I find to be pretty boring still, but Tommy Karevik sings more like he does in Seventh Wonder and it works much better, I think. Really like Insomnia and Under Grey Skies

 

also also just curious, but does anyone else here enjoy Seventh Wonder? Normally they'd be the kind of band I'd find too obnoxious to get into but the progressive metal side of them seems to balance that out for me. Also the bass playing is probably some of the best I've ever heard.

Edited May 19, 2015 by The Xinlo Of This Story

[Laughing Man]

Fear Factory have announced that their new album, Genexus, will be released on August 7. here's hoping it'll be better than The Industrialist, and here's hoping to god that they keep Greg Reely as far away from it as possible. his overly loud, bright mastering made Mechanize and Industrialist nearly unlistenable.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

also did manage to check out the new Kamelot album, and I liked it. it was no masterpiece and many of the songs I find to be pretty boring still, but Tommy Karevik sings more like he does in Seventh Wonder and it works much better, I think. Really like Insomnia and Under Grey Skies

 

 

 

also also just curious, but does anyone else here enjoy Seventh Wonder? Normally they'd be the kind of band I'd find too obnoxious to get into but the progressive metal side of them seems to balance that out for me. Also the bass playing is probably some of the best I've ever heard.

 

Funny thing is I don't care much for those 2 songs off the new album. I haven't had a full listen yet, but those 2 songs are bland imo. I've only heard of Seventh Wonder because of Karevik. I haven't really checked them out. What's a good song (on the shorter side. I don't mind long songs, but I don't want to check out the band based on a super long song) to listen to? (By short I mean shorter than 9 minutes)

Edited May 22, 2015 by Evergrey_Toa

[Bambi]

Fear Factory have announced that their new album, Genexus, will be released on August 7. here's hoping it'll be better than The Industrialist, and here's hoping to god that they keep Greg Reely as far away from it as possible. his overly loud, bright mastering made Mechanize and Industrialist nearly unlistenable.

Beat me to it.

And we still don't have a single or a track listing. Not even album art. I just want something besides "Soon".

[Xinlo]

 

also did manage to check out the new Kamelot album, and I liked it. it was no masterpiece and many of the songs I find to be pretty boring still, but Tommy Karevik sings more like he does in Seventh Wonder and it works much better, I think. Really like Insomnia and Under Grey Skies

 

 

 

also also just curious, but does anyone else here enjoy Seventh Wonder? Normally they'd be the kind of band I'd find too obnoxious to get into but the progressive metal side of them seems to balance that out for me. Also the bass playing is probably some of the best I've ever heard.

 

Funny thing is I don't care much for those 2 songs off the new album. I haven't had a full listen yet, but those 2 songs are bland imo. I've only heard of Seventh Wonder because of Karevik. I haven't really checked them out. What's a good song (on the shorter side. I don't mind long songs, but I don't want to check out the band based on a super long song) to listen to? (By short I mean shorter than 9 minutes)

 

Some of my favourites are Taint The Sky, Alley Cat and Break The Silence (I think it's juuuust over 9 mins though lol). They're sort of a prog/power fusion with Karevik singing in a pretty poppy style. it's a bit of a weird mix but I dig it. Their new single Inner Enemy's okay too, but a little more bland than their usual stuff.

[Queen of Liars]

Don't know how I've missed this announcement for a month, but just found out that High on Fire have a new album, Luminiferous, coming out on June 23.

De Vermis Mysteriis was excellent, so I'm definitely looking forward to this. The new album is produced by Kurt Ballou, which is also nice.

[Johnny Truant]

hey anybody thats into black metal; can i get some atmospheric black metal recommends? after rediscovering deafheaven i want to give black metal another try

 

things that are preferable:

-good production

-huge guitars

-melodies

-long songs

-lyrics that are not about satan or other trve and kvlt entities/places/rituals, and/or are not about the nordic aryan master race

 

pls/thanks

Edited May 23, 2015 by Johnny Truant

[Laughing Man]

it sounds like what you're looking for is probably more in the "blackgaze" or "post-black metal" or whatever type of subgenre Deafheaven fit into rather than typical black metal.

 

that said, I'm not really into black metal so I won't be of much help, but Hoth's Oathbreaker is a melodic black metal album that does not have any of those lyrical themes, has good production, and has song lengths generally exceeding 5 minutes if you'd consider that long. it was also my favorite album of 2014 so take that for whatever it's worth. it's atmospheric, though not really in the same way as Deafheaven, and I'm not sure what you mean by "huge guitars", but the guitars are really not like Deafheaven's either.

 

pretty sure it won't be what you're looking for but I felt the need to throw it out there anyway since I just love it so much.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Scythey

[Queen of Liars]

hey anybody thats into black metal; can i get some atmospheric black metal recommends? after rediscovering deafheaven i want to give black metal another try

 

things that are preferable:

-good production

-huge guitars

-melodies

-long songs

-lyrics that are not about satan or other trve and kvlt entities/places/rituals, and/or are not about the nordic aryan master race

 

pls/thanks

 

Ooh, I've got you covered here, my friend. This is one of my jams.

 

Ghost Bath - These guys get compared to Deafheaven a lot. They do the same blackgaze thing, but with a bit more of a depressive black metal flavour. Check out their new album Moonlover, which is available on Bandcamp (can't link it because of the cover).

 

Darkspace - Fits your criteria pretty much perfectly. Really atmospheric thanks to a big use of ambient, excellent guitars, songs usually at around the 20 minute mark, lyrics about the mysteries of the cosmos. Dark Space III I was my AotY last year. Check it out on Bandcamp. The MP3 album is also available from Amazon for like $3.

 

Saor - Atmospheric black metal with elements of celtic folk music. Lots of really beautiful melodies accompanied by crushing heaviness. Bandcamp link.

 

Panopticon - Atmospheric black metal with elements of bluegrass. Similarly to Saor, lots of really beautiful melodies in conjunction with heaviness. His album from last year, Roads to the North, was excellent. Bandcamp link.

 

Agalloch - Elements of dark folk and post-rock with these guys, with the occasional blackgaze too. Last years The Serpent & The Sphere was fantastic. Bandcamp link.

 

A Forest of Stars - This one's a bit more on the avant-garde side of things, but is still great atmospheric black metal. Elements of folk and progressive metal too. Beware the Sword You Cannot See is one my favourites from this year so far. Bandcamp link.

 

Black Autumn - A bit more straightforward, but great nonetheless. Elements of blackgaze here and there too. Bandcamp link.

 

Also, I can't do a black metal post without mentioning Ihsahn, even if that's not really what you're looking for. He doesn't do atmospheric black metal, but he does do black metal that is often atmospheric, you know? Eremita and After are both amazing black/progressive/avant-garde metal albums that I highly recommend, with great atmosphere, guitar, experimentation and use of saxophone. Really, fits all of your criteria except for the specific sub genre part =P

 

Guess that'll do for now. Let me know if you dig those and want more.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Emilie Autumn

[Johnny Truant]

Much thanks guys

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Anyone who likes Symphony X, their new album comes out in July It's called Underworld and the first single called Nevermore has been released on Youtube. 

[Bambi]

You guys know of any good industrial metal bands? Looking for some more to listen to besides Fear Factory. Someone told me Lyfthrasyr are good, and I'll probably be checking out Godflesh sometime soon.

So, I'm open to suggestions.

[Laughing Man]

Strapping Young Lad, Sybreed, and Mechina. check out the albums City, Antares, and Empyrean respectively.

 

edit: also Samael, particularly the album Passage

Edited May 25, 2015 by Scythey

[Queen of Liars]

Ooh, industrial is another one of my jams. I recommend the following:

 

KMFDM - Nihil and Symbols are classic albums of the genre and I highly recommend both. The MDFMK side-project was also excellent.

 

Skold - Both of his solo albums are excellent, but I like Anomie a bit more than the self-titled.

 

Strapping Young Lad - Incredibly heavy and intense industrial with a progressive flavour. City and Alien are both fantastic.

 

Front Line Assembly - More just straight up industrial and electro-industrial than industrial metal for the most part, but Artificial Soldier and Improvised Electronic Device are both great albums with plenty of metal within.

 

Mechina - Excellent cyber metal, with a page on Bandcamp.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Hey, since we're asking: anyone know more bands that have a similar sound to Blood Stain Child, specifically the Epsilon album? I know of Amaranthe, but any other bands that follow a similar style? I'm just curious.

[Laughing Man]

aside from Amaranthe, Deadlock's album Wolves is the only thing that comes to mind. BSC's ex-clean vocalist Sophia (from the Epsilon album) also has a project called Season of Ghosts that has some similarities, although it's not as heavy or melodeath-oriented.

 

 

 

 

hey anybody thats into black metal; can i get some atmospheric black metal recommends? after rediscovering deafheaven i want to give black metal another try

 

I'm probably not qualified to recommend this since I've never actually heard it myself, but I remembered that Teethed Glory and Injury by Altar of Plagues was a pretty critically acclaimed album back in 2013 that drew comparisons to Deafheaven and apparently is a similar style. that might be one to check out.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Scythey

[Xinlo]

Scythey recently showed me Amorphis and I'm loving them. Only heard Circle so far but I plan to get more soon. The blend of genres on that album is mindblowing.

 

Also got the new Leprous album, and I love it but gotta say I'm slightly disappointed. It starts off incredibly strong and ends incredibly strong but the middle drags a bit I feel. It's also neither as proggy as Poppy/Bilateral nor as atmospheric as Coal, and I was really hoping they'd expand on what they were doing with The Valley and Echo. Still really enjoying it though, Third Law and Down are excellent.

Edited May 25, 2015 by The Xinlo Of This Story

[Laughing Man]

Nile have announced that their new album, What Should Not Be Unearthed, will be released on August 28. they described it as the "opposite" of their last album At the Gates of Sethu, which they said was too clean and technical whereas this one will be more raw and crushing. I know the overly-processed production and overly-flashy musicianship were some of the main problems people had with Sethu so hopefully this will be a better effort all around. the cover art was done by the same guy who did the art for Those Whom the Gods Detest and has a very similar vibe, down to using the same font for the album title that that album did, so hopefully it'll be similar musically as well. that was my favorite Nile album, so I'm hopeful.

 

edit: Soilwork just announced their new album. it's called The Ride Majestic and it will also be released on August 28. so so so so so stoked for this. according to Björn Strid, it "definitely picks up where we left off with 'The Living Infinite', but slightly darker, atmospheric and almost anthemic, with some really interesting twists and turns". if it's anywhere near as good as The Living Infinite, it will almost definitely be my album of the year. the only thing that could possibly dethrone it would be new Katatonia.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Scythey

[Queen of Liars]

Completely unsurprisingly, the new Paradise Lost album is bloody excellent.

[Laughing Man]

Children of Bodom have announced their new album, I Worship Chaos, will be released on October 2. cover art and tracklist were also unveiled. the art's really cool, although it strikes me as hilariously similar to the new Breaking Benjamin album cover.

 

they went back to the same producer who worked with them on their three best albums, plus Halo of Blood was a promising step in the right direction, so I'm excited to see how this turns out.

[Millennium]

I received Primordial's To the nameless dead for my birthday. Best gift ever.

[Laughing Man]

new Lamb of God track titled "512" has been released. even better than "Still Echoes". this album is going to be killer for sure.

 

edit: well, that's surprising. although the term "symphonic deathcore" would usually be enough to drive me away, I kept seeing a lot of positive buzz about the new Make Them Suffer album Old Souls so I decided to give it a chance. it's actually not bad so far. has some charm to it.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Scythey

[Bambi]

So I went ahead and pre-ordered Fear Factory's new album again, this time I got the mega bundle. Yay exclusive merch.

Speaking of, tomorrow their classic album Demanufacture turns twenty! You all should go listen to it.

And in other news, a coworker invited me to go see Bullet for My Valentine, Motionless in White, Slipknot, and Lamb of God with him in July. I'd like to go, but according to him tickets are around $30 and the only band I'm even remotely interested in seeing is Lamb of God. I've got time to decide though, since the show is July 26.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Bambi

[Laughing Man]

speaking of Lamb of God, they've revealed that Deftones' Chino Moreno and Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan will be doing guest vocals on their new album. absolutely stoked to hear how that turns out.

 

 

 

also, you guys should check out Earthside. they're an instrumental/atmospheric prog-metal band who are influenced by artists like Katatonia and Opeth. they recorded their debut album with the same production team (Jens Bogren and David Castillo) who produced a number of both those band's albums, and their logo and artwork are done by Travis Smith who's been responsible for all of Katatonia and Opeth's art since the late 90s.

 

they've only released one song so far, "The Closest I've Come", but it's really good. they said on Facebook that another song will be released very soon as well. their debut album A Dream in Static is supposed to be out by the end of this year, and it'll feature a number of guest musicians including some guest vocals on a few tracks. I'd be willing to bet money that Jonas Renkse shows up on one of them.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Scythey

[Bambi]

So Fear Factory have (finally) released a single from their new album. 

 

 

Sounds almost like something from Obsolete, which is great. So, so stoked. August can't come soon enough..

[Laughing Man]

I found it very underwhelming, personally. it's so uninspired. Fear Factory is just going through the motions at this point.

 

 

 

not technically metal but definitely related (they were initially promoted by Fenriz from Darkthrone, their first album was produced by Kurt Ballou, and they're made up of members of metal bands like Code, In Solitude, Oranssi Pazuzu, and The Oath), Finnish apocalyptic post-punk/death-rock band Grave Pleasures, the band formerly known as Beastmilk, have announced that their new album (second altogether, debut under the new name) will be released on September 4 via Sony Columbia. it's titled Dreamcrash and the album art is stunning.

 

Beastmilk's debut Climax was my favorite album of 2013 and honestly one of my favorite albums of all time, so I'm positively stoked to hear this next chapter unfold.

[BrickPharaoh]

I was deeply saddened to hear of Sir Cristopher Lee's passing. He was a great actor and musician, the oldest metal performer in history. May he rest in peace.

 

I'm at the midst of potentially rediscovering my taste in metal music. Would anyone be able to recommend some essentials to try out? I quite enjoy fantasy-themed stuff such as Blind Guardian and Pentakill's Lightbringer, and Opeth's Ghost Reveries. If you can think of something as thematic then please let me know!

Edited June 17, 2015 by Mohamed Marei

[Millennium]

I was deeply saddened to hear of Sir Cristopher Lee's passing. He was a great actor and musician, the oldest metal performer in history. May he rest in peace.

 

I'm at the midst of potentially rediscovering my taste in metal music. Would anyone be able to recommend some essentials to try out? I quite enjoy fantasy-themed stuff such as Blind Guardian and Pentakill's Lightbringer, and Opeth's Ghost Reveries. If you can think of something as thematic then please let me know!

 

If you're in for fantasy stuff, I'll suggest Rhapsody of fire, pretty much all of their discography, and maybe Symohony X's Twilight in Olympus and Paradise lost.

[Laughing Man]

new Lamb of God track "Overlord" is so good and so unexpected. the first half is like Lamb of God meets Alice in Chains.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

I was deeply saddened to hear of Sir Cristopher Lee's passing. He was a great actor and musician, the oldest metal performer in history. May he rest in peace.

 

I'm at the midst of potentially rediscovering my taste in metal music. Would anyone be able to recommend some essentials to try out? I quite enjoy fantasy-themed stuff such as Blind Guardian and Pentakill's Lightbringer, and Opeth's Ghost Reveries. If you can think of something as thematic then please let me know!

As Millennium said, Symphony X is great (Twilight in Olympus and The Odyssey are (in my personal opinion) the best 2 albums that band has put out. Fantasy lyrics...you might try The Unguided, specifically the album Fragile Immortality (2014). HammerFall has fantasy lyrics and some pretty killer songs, but other than Legacy of Kings, I don't think their albums deliver very much overall (again, these are my opinions).

[Bambi]

So the other day Fear Factory debuted "Protomech", a new song from their upcoming album, live. Sounds great, I'm even more excited for this album now.