The Official Metal Topic

[Laughing Man]

Destroy Erase Improve and ObZen. perfect albums.

[Queen of Liars]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

 

 

Black Sabbath released God Is Dead? - the first single from the new album. I quite like it, even if Ozzy's voice just isn't what it used to be.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about the actual album. I'm looking forward to hearing it and everything, but I really dislike the constant marketing of it as the first Black Sabbath album in 35 years. Which is obviously not true, as Forbidden was released in 1995, nevermind the Heaven & H*** album in 2009. While I understand that they mean it's the first album with Ozzy in 35 years, with the marketing, the way they talk about it and the way their website is, it feels like they're trying to pretend that everything after Ozzy left didn't happen, which seems very disrespectful to everyone else who was part of the band's history...

[Laughing Man]

title track off of the upcoming Nickelback Megadeth album Super Collider leaked.

 

and when the song you named your album after is that horrible, it's not a good sign.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Ryuujin

[Queen of Liars]

That can't seriously be it, can it? I wasn't gonna bother with the album anyway, but that was pretty dreadful.

 

The new Rob Zombie album comes out tomorrow. Quite looking forward to it, although I'm not expecting anything fantastic.

Well, only listened to it once so far, but I quite like it. It seems better than the last two at the very least.

 

 

Edit May 3rd: Jeff Hanneman, founding member and guitarist of Slayer passed away yesterday. He was an absolutely brilliant guitarist and songwriter who has inspired countless musicians. It's not clear if his death was related to the spider bite and the ensuing infection he got a couple of years ago, but I am still shocked, having thought that he was recovering. I may not be into Slayer as much as I used to be, but Reign In Blood and Seasons In The Abyss remain two of my favourite albums, and their influence on metal cannot be overstated.

It's a tragic day for metal. May Jeff rest in peace. He has made his mark on music.

Edited May 3, 2013 by -Malchior-

[Angel Beat]

May he rest in peace.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Valenti

[Johnny Truant]

sup guys

 

been a while

 

 

 

so i'm not really into metal at all lately, but since jeff hanneman died i've been listening to reign in blood and south of heaven, forgot how good slayer were

 

 

man, my whole body feels sad

[Laughing Man]

every time I'm at the nearby FYE I see a used copy of Kamelot's album The Black Halo for eight bucks

 

and it's gotten to the point that I've started having a recurring dream in which I purchase it

 

even though I've never listened to any Kamelot ever in my life and I don't even like power metal

 

so now I'm just kinda wondering if I should buy it just for the absolute heck of it which is weird I know

 

 

anyway Mastodon have confirmed that they're hard at work on a new album, and hopefully it will be better than The Hunter

 

also even though it's not metal (hard rock I guess which is close enough right) I gotta say that the latest Clutch album is really really good, like potential AotY good

Edited May 7, 2013 by Ryuujin

[Angel Beat]

I personally like Kamelot a lot and the Black Halo is one of my favourite Kamelot albums.

[Queen of Liars]

The Black Halo is a pretty good album. Not into Kamelot very much these days, especially having found the last two albums really disappointing, but I still go back to that album and Ghost Opera from time to time.

 

 

And yes, hopefully the new Mastodon album is better, and the Clutch album is indeed amazing. My favourite of the year so far, with Cult of Luna's Vertikal at a close second.

 

On that note, the new Cathedral album is also really good, a fitting end to one of the greatest doom metal bands, sad as I am to see them retire.

[Laughing Man]

so it turns out that As I Lay Dying's frontman Tim Lambesis was arrested today after allegedly trying to hire an undercover cop to murder his estranged wife.

[Queen of Liars]

What upsets me about this is that whether it's true or not, the media just got another excuse to paint metal musicians and fans as murdering psychopaths, and I have no doubt they'll jump at that opportunity.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Cheshire Cat

[~Takava Nirhii~]

Oh, undoubtedly.

[Pantera]

I've found my musical tastes have... rather "calmed down" in the past year or so. For example, my favorite band used to be Pantera (as my name suggests), but now my favorite band is Led Zeppelin, and since it's them, I think it's gonna stay that way for a good while. I just don't find myself always going back to that one Pantera song, or going back to Exodus' Bonded by Blood album to be constantly amazed, merely by the title track alone!

 

So what do you guys think? Some form of a small burnout (which I, myself doubt), or simply growing more mature & less angry as I was as a young teen, appreciating the well-thought/minded lyrics of bands like LZ and The Doors (my second favorite band right now)? This ever happen to you? Just thought I'd let it out there, because I find the change rather odd, but I do enjoy it nonetheless!

 

EDIT: However, I still do enjoy all the bands that used to be my favorites, very much. Heck, I've gotten a small bit into The Casualties and Dead Kennedys and the like! So what I'm wondering is why the sudden change of musical tastes?

Edited May 15, 2013 by Pantera

[Queen of Liars]

I think everyone's music tastes are constantly evolving. The more music you're exposed to the higher the chance you'll hear something you like that's outside your usual comfort zone. I guess maturity has something to do with it as well.

I still really like lots of bands that I liked pretty much since I started listening to music, such as Iron Maiden, but it's also a bit weird to think that at one point I actually liked a band like Atreyu. Similarly, five years ago I probably wouldn't have appreciated a lot of the stuff that I love now at all.

[Laughing Man]

So what do you guys think? Some form of a small burnout (which I, myself doubt), or simply growing more mature & less angry as I was as a young teen, appreciating the well-thought/minded lyrics of bands like LZ and The Doors (my second favorite band right now)? This ever happen to you? Just thought I'd let it out there, because I find the change rather odd, but I do enjoy it nonetheless!

 

yep that's happened to me

 

started out as burnout but now I'm in a place where I listen to pretty much a 50/50 split of various kinds of metal vs. various kinds of non-metal

 

I like to amaze my friends by going from an old school death metal song to an upbeat indie electropop song without being phased (not really a feat by any means, but what amazes my friends is up to them)

 

on a sidenote Chimaira has a new album, Crown of Phantoms, coming out and I donated to the IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign

 

I'll be getting the exclusive fan edition with a DVD, 7 bonus tracks, a custom guitar pick, and a special thanks (by name!) in the booklet

Edited May 29, 2013 by Ryuujin

[Queen of Liars]

I like to amaze my friends by going from an old school death metal song to an upbeat indie electropop song without being phased (not really a feat by any means, but what amazes my friends is up to them)

 

Oh god, this. I'll go from black metal to something like orchestral or jazz, and apparently my friends think that's amazing.

 

 

Anyhow, been really getting into Ihsahn's solo stuff lately. Very good progressive metal with elements of black metal.

All four albums are great, but 2010's After is just incredible. It includes saxophone on it as an integral part of many songs.

[Angel Beat]

Well, FortaRock was great yesterday.

 

Had a lot of fun watching Kreator, Airbourne, Volbeat and Rammstein, among others.

[Queen of Liars]

^ Very nice. Just recently got a bit into Kreator with their last album, which I thought was brilliant.

 

 

So, finally got around to listening to the new Bring Me The Horizon album (probably touched a nerve for a few people just by saying that ).

It's pretty decent, but I didn't think the electronic elements worked very well this time and it's definitely been over-hyped. Probably won't listen to it again, but still, there's some good songs on it like And The Snakes Start To Sing and Antivist, and it's nice to see that the last album wasn't a one-off attempt at something more ambitious and they have actually matured as musicians.

 

 

Edit: Thew new Black Sabbath album is streaming in full for free on iTunes at the moment.

Overall, I think it's ok, but at times it does sound a bit tired and uninspired. Ozzy's voice also sometimes sounds really bad, but that's not really a surprise at this point. A forgettable album, really.

Still, the fact that it says "13 is the first Black Sabbath album in more than 30 years" on the store page annoys me to no end.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Cheshire Cat

[Pantera]

Well, the first with Ozzy on vocals.

 

For me, I'd rather not listen to old artists I love put out new music. The quality at the time of release is amazing, while modern technology makes it too clean. High expectations are never met it seems with this kinda stuff. Sadly, I'm sure I'd feel the same way if LZ released some new stuff.

 

Speaking of BS, Dio. Suprisingly, I've never heard of him till the day he died. Outstanding voice. Really shows you don't need to be big to sound big.

[Laughing Man]

so I found this really good Swedish death metal band called Evocation (not to be confused with the more popular Revocation)

 

they sound like Left Hand Path-era Entombed mixed with Slaughter of the Soul-era At the Gates, kind of a 50/50 split between old-school and melodeath

 

they pull it off really well though, especially on Tales from the Tomb and Apocalyptic

 

here's a track off of Apocalyptic (my favorite of their albums) for anyone interested

[Johnny Truant]

that's really good dude

 

i'm not even all that into melodeath but that's rad

 

 

lately im really into every time i die, especially the new black

[-Sykura-]

so I found this really good Swedish death metal band called Evocation (not to be confused with the more popular Revocation)

 

they sound like Left Hand Path-era Entombed mixed with Slaughter of the Soul-era At the Gates, kind of a 50/50 split between old-school and melodeath

 

they pull it off really well though, especially on Tales from the Tomb and Apocalyptic

 

here's a track off of Apocalyptic (my favorite of their albums) for anyone interested

 

Huh, I actually really liked that, especially surprising seeing as melodic death metal is not really my thing (the majority of my library consist of br00tal slamming noodling guturals grinding pigcore, haha, but then again that could be my "truer than thou" subconcious elitist coming through, [ ] as I feel that trying to make death metal melodic fails in most instances, but I digress...). On another note, Human Error are fantastic melodic death metal.

Anyway seeing as I am here, I have recently started to get into the Viking themed stuff, and as I cannot be bothered trolling through hundreds of reviews and all video sites seem to throw up are the more well-known names and random one demo bands, does anybody have any good reccommendations for Viking, Pagan, National Socialist etc. themed black/death (more interested in the death metal aspect) bands? Thanks.

Edited June 13, 2013 by -Sykura-

[BrickPharaoh]

 

so I found this really good Swedish death metal band called Evocation (not to be confused with the more popular Revocation) they sound like Left Hand Path-era Entombed mixed with Slaughter of the Soul-era At the Gates, kind of a 50/50 split between old-school and melodeath they pull it off really well though, especially on Tales from the Tomb and Apocalyptic here's a track off of Apocalyptic (my favorite of their albums) for anyone interested

Huh, I actually really liked that, especially surprising seeing as melodic death metal is not really my thing (the majority of my library consist of br00tal slamming noodling guturals grinding pigcore, haha, but then again that could be my "truer than thou" subconcious elitist coming through, [ ] as I feel that trying to make death metal melodic fails in most instances, but I digress...). On another note, Human Error are fantastic melodic death metal.

Anyway seeing as I am here, I have recently started to get into the Viking themed stuff, and as I cannot be bothered trolling through hundreds of reviews and all video sites seem to throw up are the more well-known names and random one demo bands, does anybody have any good reccommendations for Viking, Pagan, National Socialist etc. themed black/death (more interested in the death metal aspect) bands? Thanks.

I only know Candlemass, and Aeternam are also in there, but the latter one makes reference to Arabic/Middle-Eastern-themed mythology; they're a bit too extreme f

 

so I found this really good Swedish death metal band called Evocation (not to be confused with the more popular Revocation) they sound like Left Hand Path-era Entombed mixed with Slaughter of the Soul-era At the Gates, kind of a 50/50 split between old-school and melodeath they pull it off really well though, especially on Tales from the Tomb and Apocalyptic here's a track off of Apocalyptic (my favorite of their albums) for anyone interested

Huh, I actually really liked that, especially surprising seeing as melodic death metal is not really my thing (the majority of my library consist of br00tal slamming noodling guturals grinding pigcore, haha, but then again that could be my "truer than thou" subconcious elitist coming through, [ ] as I feel that trying to make death metal melodic fails in most instances, but I digress...). On another note, Human Error are fantastic melodic death metal.

Anyway seeing as I am here, I have recently started to get into the Viking themed stuff, and as I cannot be bothered trolling through hundreds of reviews and all video sites seem to throw up are the more well-known names and random one demo bands, does anybody have any good reccommendations for Viking, Pagan, National Socialist etc. themed black/death (more interested in the death metal aspect) bands? Thanks.

I only know Candlemass, and Aeternam are also in there, but the latter one makes reference to Arabic/Middle-Eastern-themed mythology; they're a bit too extreme for me considering I'm a bit religious, but you might like them.

[Laughing Man]

against my better judgment I gave the new Children of Bodom album a try, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. it's similar in style to Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper, and while it's not quite as good as those albums, it's much better than the past few. seriously, I got Relentless Reckless Forever for free, legally, and I still felt ripped off. one of the songs is titled "Was It Worth It?", to which "no" is the answer. horrible album.EDIT: so apparently Katatonia are working to release a "stripped down, semi-acoustic" version of Dead End Kings entitled Dethroned & Uncrowned. they have a crowd-funding project for it going on and hope to have it finished and released by September 9. should be good.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Ryuujin

[NorikSigma]

Hello fellow BZPers, I've given a thoughts or two into trying out new (to me) styles of music, and I was wondering if any of you have good recommendations into Metal, because I know that views on it is rather polarised and I want to make my own judgement. Thanks.

[Xinlo]

a few good starting bands would be Iron Maiden, Metallica, or Judas Priest I guess. But the genre's so varied and huge that you'd really need to listen to hundreds of bands to get a feel for what it's all like.

 

 

also in response to the post before, I started out being a full-on metalhead but the past few years have adapted my tastes to be more into progressive rock, some jazz fusion, symphonic forms of a bunch of genres, a lot of 80's pop rock, and even a small bit of opera. It's quite amazing, and my friends aswell don't seem to grasp what's happening when my ipod switches from some straight up Megadeth to one of Fish's more jazzy, grooving songs.

Edited June 18, 2013 by The Xinlo

[Queen of Liars]

I'll second Iron Maiden as a great starting point for metal. Dio would also be pretty good to start with.

[NorikSigma]

Alright, thanks guys.

[Laughing Man]

since you liked the Katatonia song I posted in Rate the Song Above You, I'd recommend checking some of their stuff out as well. their last three releases (The Great Cold Distance, Night Is the New Day, and Dead End Kings) in particular are really good dark, atmospheric melodic metal albums. pretty easy to get into while also being quality music.Machinae Supremacy are also a really accessible yet creative and thoroughly enjoyable band. I'd recommend their album A View from the End of the World, but if you don't mind compilations, The Beat of Our Decay: Collection 2006-2010 is a great starting point and means of familiarizing yourself with their style.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Ryuujin

[Queen of Liars]

My copy of the new Amon Amarth album arrived today.

It's pretty darn good. They're not really exploring new ground, but what they do hasn't gotten stale yet. Having said that, the guest vocals on the eighth track - Hel - were a nice surprise.

The Under the Influence covers CD that comes with the deluxe edition of the album is also pretty nice.

[Pantera]

Black Sabbath wouldn't be too bad of a starter, either, I think.

 

13 was really good IMO. Surprised at how I liked right off the bat. One thing I like is that it's not an Ozzy album. I say this because his last solo album wasn't all that great. Tony and Geezer wouldn't have let that happen, and Ozzy himself wouldn't have either. It's a Sabbath album. I think one riff in either "End of the Beginning" or "God is Dead?" reminded me a bit of Hole in the Sky. Find it cool how Iommi can still make new riffs, also.

[Johnny Truant]

black sabbath is def a good starter, but the new album is bad

 

and it really, truly hurts me to say that

 

but it is not good

Edited June 26, 2013 by Saul Goodman

[Pantera]

Well, I think it depends on how you see it. I'm not a diehard Sabbath fan, yet I enjoy them very much. I still found the album to be good. It does seem people are split over loving it or disliking it. Really no inbetween it seems. lol Haven't seen anybody outright hate it, though.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

I think a lot of older bands are like that, with fans really split over which albums they like and which albums should have never been made. I know that for every Jethro Tull album out there, you can find at least a few fans who insist that it's the worst one they ever made, and a few more who think it's their best ever, but with any new album released after some time of no new albums, the balance will inevitably skewed towards those who just hate it. Rolling Stone seemed to like 13, which makes me kind of worried about the album.

 

Meanwhile, what do you think of that new song that Turisas released off of their upcoming album? The first couple of seconds on it make me think of the intro song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I think that, for people hoping for an album that fits the pattern set by the first three, this song is probably the second worrying thing - the first, of course, being the album's title. That being said, while I'm not entirely certain that this should be considered a metal song - seems more like heavy folk rock to me - it's kind of catchy.

[Queen of Liars]

I love Turisas, but I'm not really too fond of the new song. It just feels a bit like it's drawing from generic and derivative alternative/hard rock. I don't mind them experimenting and exploring new grounds, but these particular grounds just don't appeal to me. Still looking forward to the album though.

And yeah, Turisas2013 as an album title is just... no. Although it's not as bad as something like TH1RT3EN, I suppose.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Yeah, I was really confused and disappointed when I heard about the album title. I would have preferred one of the earlier rumours I heard about the title (Guards of Glory) because pulling a name out of lyrics from the previous album is better than just stating the band name and the year the album was released in.

 

Still, fingers crossed for some decent variety in the album. They put Venetoi Prasinoi and The Bosphorus Freezes Over on the previous album, so I don't think it's unlikely that this song is the only one that sounds like that.

[Johnny Truant]

I love Turisas, but I'm not really too fond of the new song. It just feels a bit like it's drawing from generic and derivative alternative/hard rock. I don't mind them experimenting and exploring new grounds, but these particular grounds just don't appeal to me. Still looking forward to the album though.

And yeah, Turisas2013 as an album title is just... no. Although it's not as bad as something like TH1RT3EN, I suppose.

 

i have yet to see megadeth live, but if they're just gonna play songs from an album that awful, with a title that awful, i'm not too bothered

[Laughing Man]

Th1rt3en was bad enough but the new album is worse

 

much, much worse

[Johnny Truant]

OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT SUPER COLLIDER

 

jeez how did megadeth get so bad

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Maybe they took pointers from Metallica. I'm not sure who Megadeth could partner with to make less sense than Metallica+Lou Reed, but I'm sure Dave Mustaine is searching hard for that person.