The Official Metal Topic

[Sinclair]

So, having now listened to Dream Theater's Falling into Infinity, I can officially say that, while its reputation as the worst DT album is not justified, it's not a brilliant album either.

 

That said, Lines in the Sand sounds like Pink Floyd and I can't complain about that.

[Laughing Man]

so At the Gates have officially announced that they will be recording their first new album since 1995, titled At War with Reality, in June/July for release in October/November.

 

there's always a chance it could end up being terrible, but they seem very much aware of the influence of Slaughter of the Soul and its legacy, plus they've described the new material as being "the perfect mix" between that album and their early material which sounds promising.

 

 

 

on a semi-related note, Vallenfyre's new album is being produced by Kurt Ballou and that makes me very interested to check it out once it's dropped.

[BrickPharaoh]

That is unbelievably awesome!

[Queen of Liars]

So, the new Behemoth album is good. Like really good.

Very glad I picked it up today. It's the first real highlight of the year for me.

[Laughing Man]

Converge are allegedly working on new material. pretty psyched if it's true.

[Johnny Truant]

Converge are allegedly working on new material. pretty psyched if it's true.

 

 

 

that reminds me, i still need to listen to All We Love, and the pre-jane doe stuff

 

hopefully they make it down here around the area in which i live and i can go and see them. that'd be neat.

[Laughing Man]

All We Love is amazing and the pre-Jane Doe albums are amazing (except Halo in a Haystack)

 

When Forever Comes Crashing was my first Converge album and it's easily my second-favorite behind Jane Doe

 

"My Unsaid Everything" is such a beast

[Johnny Truant]

yeah i listened to halo in a haystack after reading that kurt ballou said they were "a bunch of hardcore kids playing leftover Slayer riffs.", and i was like "wow...that's exactly what that is"

[Laughing Man]

pretty much. it's not a bad album per se but it is kinda dull and uninspired compared to what they're known for.

 

the leap they made from that to the hardcore/metalcore masterpiece that is Petetioning the Empty Sky was pretty amazing.

[Johnny Truant]

yeah, like how did that happen, they're the greatest hardcore band ever out of nowhere

 

also i can't stop listening to when forever comes crashing

 

every time my unsaid everything starts i get so amped

 

 

 

 

 

SO. AMPED.

[Vidboy]

Anyone here heard of Maudlin of the Well?

[Laughing Man]

Killer Be Killed, the supergroup made up of Troy Sanders (Mastodon), Max Cavalera (Soulfly/ex-Sepultura), Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), and Dave Elitch (ex-The Mars Volta), have released their first couple songs, "Wings of Feather and Wax" and "Face Down" for streaming on YouTube. they're a bit simpler and at times more melodic than I expected, but they're both actually pretty great. it's especially just surreal hearing Troy, Max, and Greg all doing vocals together.

 

 

 

edit 3/17/14: so newcomer Vicky Psarakis is replacing The Agonist's Alissa White-Gluz who is replacing Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow who is retiring to become the band's manager.

 

additionally Metallica performed a new song called "The Lords of Summer" and there are videos online and it's actually pretty good.

 

 

 

edit 3/20/14: Bloodbath have dropped another hint to the identify of their new vocalist, this time a picture showing him (with his face obscured) in a British telephone box in a village, which is captioned "new singer calls from his abode".. from previous hints we know he's considered a "legend" and comes from an established band, was born in 1971, has a beard, and now we know he's probably British, so that narrows it down quite a bit. Paradise Lost's Nick Holmes is the only person who immediately comes to mind who fits every one of those criteria, so for now, my bet's on him.

 

also, Opeth have issued a minor update on their new album stating that it's been completed and they're hoping for a June release.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Ryuujin

[Johnny Truant]

>Lords Of Summer

 

that title sounds like don henley trying to be metal and/or 16 years old

[Laughing Man]

Katatonia have announced a Record Store Day-exclusive 12" vinyl B-sides EP called Kocytean (which has gorgeous artwork) and since the odds I'll be able to get a copy are astronomically low, I'm going to be absolutely distraught if it doesn't get at least a digital release

 

 

on a side note I've been getting really into Hypocrisy lately, idk why I didn't check them out sooner

[fasggbfrfesv]

Has anyone heard Gus G's new solo album, I am the Fire?

Gus G's from Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind, Dream Evil, Nightrage.

 

https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/gus-g-redemption-feat-michael/s-w7L6d

https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/gus-g-vengeance-feat-david/s-dXxdy

 

I was just listening to Hypocrisy's "A Taste of Extreme Divinity", I never heard them before, but I tend to zone out of death metal. I can listen to it, but I'm afraid it often sounds all the same to me; I'm more into Power and Thrash. I'm a bit of a Meshuggah fan though.

[Laughing Man]

I'm not sure if A Taste of Extreme Divinity is the best place to start with Hypocrisy.

 

I recommend giving songs like "Fractured Millennium" and "Eraser" a try, vocals aside you may enjoy them. they're more melodic, and there's enough wonderfully over-the-top keys in the former song alone to fill an entire power metal album's keyboard quota.

Edited March 29, 2014 by Ryuujin

[Queen of Liars]

A new Mastodon song, High Road, and a new Vallenfyre song, Odious Bliss, have been released.

I can't wait for these albums.

 

 

Also, Katatonia's drummer Daniel Liljekvist has left the band to find a 'normal job', saying that he just can't combine his family life and the band. Unfortunate, but understandable.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Cheshire Cat

[BrickPharaoh]

In other news, Korn's Shane Gibson has passed away due to a blood-clotting disorder.

:/

[Laughing Man]

Killer Be Killed debut drops tomorrow, reserved my copy at FYE and I'm so unbelievably stoked

 

meanwhile, contrary to what I said earlier about astronomically low chances, I managed to score this absolutely beautiful thing on Record Store Day

 

also sad news for those of us who like Opeth: new album Pale Communion's release date has been pushed from June 17 aaallllll the way back to August 26

 

all that aside, what has everyone been listening to lately?

Edited May 12, 2014 by Fox Mulder

[Queen of Liars]

That is a truly beautiful record there, congratulations on getting a copy.

 

I received my copy of the new Vallenfyre album Splinters this morning, so that was pretty much my day. I'm really loving it, even more than A Fragile King.

It feels very much like the early Paradise Lost stuff and what they might have sounded like if instead of experimenting with doom and gothic metal they went deeper into their death metal side, which is pretty interesting to hear.

 

Two other great albums from this year have been Longhena by Gridlink and Xenon by Mechina. The first is a fantastic and brutal Grindcore/Mathcore album with some great melodies and technical bits, while the second is a pretty interesting mix of cyber metal, djent and symphonic metal.

 

I'm also liking the new Whispered album, Shogunate Macabre. Melodic death metal with influences from Japanese folk music, which as it turns out is a great combination. Granted that the album does start to feel a bit gimmicky after a while, it's still really enjoyable.

 

Other than that, I gave the Killer Be Killed album a listen while it was streaming on Metal Hammer. Thought it was pretty good, but nothing particularly special. Considering the members of the band I kinda expected more, but it's still enjoyable.

There's also the new Insomnium album, which I found kinda 'meh'. It does seem to have gotten a positive response though, which is cool I guess.

 

Right now I'm really psyched for the new Devin Townsend album, which releases in two days.

[Laughing Man]

I'd forgotten about the new Vallenfyre, I was interested in it because of Kurt Ballou's production. would've reserved it at FYE had I remembered it. I'll see if they have it when I pick up Killer Be Killed.

 

I loved the new Insomnium, personally, thought it was their best since Above the Weeping World.

 

honestly though, besides that and Killer Be Killed, not much has come out this year that has really gotten my attention. I've been meaning to check out the Mechina album, but other than that, all of my most anticipated releases seem to be coming out in the June-September period. I've just been going back and checking out stuff that's a few years old now. finished off my Machine Head collection, delved into Cynic, and lately I've been in a groove metal mood so I've been listening to a lot of DevilDriver, Chimaira, and Lamb of God. not the most interesting stuff but it riffs pretty hard and that's good enough for me.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Fox Mulder

[BrickPharaoh]

Killer Be Killed debut drops tomorrow, reserved my copy at FYE and I'm so unbelievably stoked

 

meanwhile, contrary to what I said earlier about astronomically low chances, I managed to score this absolutely beautiful thing on Record Store Day

 

also sad news for those of us who like Opeth: new album Pale Communion's release date has been pushed from June 17 aaallllll the way back to August 26

 

all that aside, what has everyone been listening to lately?

Let's just hope their new album (Opeth) is worth the wait XD Have been waiting to get back into them for a while.

 

[Laughing Man]

Metal Injection described it as sounding like it could've come between Dangnation and Ghost Reveries, which sounds promising. they also confirmed it'd be entirely clean vocals, like Heritage, which is a bummer but not a big deal since it was kind of to be expected.

 

Mikael's heart isn't in the more deathy style anymore, and I'd rather they release a disappointing album in a new style than a half-hearted attempt at emulating the old.

[Queen of Liars]

I really liked Heritage, so I'm perfectly happy with that.

 

But yeah, it has been a pretty slow year so far. There's still some stuff I'm excited for that'll come out later, but it feels like we had a lot more great releases by this point last year.

There have only been three real highlights for me this year: the new Vallenfyre and Behemoth, as well as the new Starofash which is my favourite so far (not a metal album, but she has done metal before so it's still relevant I guess).

 

Although to be fair I've been feeling kinda burned out on not only metal, but music in general lately, so I haven't been checking out as much stuff as I normally would. There's probably lots of great albums I missed.

[BrickPharaoh]

Metal Injection described it as sounding like it could've come between Dangnation and Ghost Reveries, which sounds promising. they also confirmed it'd be entirely clean vocals, like Heritage, which is a bummer but not a big deal since it was kind of to be expected.

 

Mikael's heart isn't in the more deathy style anymore, and I'd rather they release a disappointing album in a new style than a half-hearted attempt at emulating the old.

Or maybe he doesn't want to do the same thing with two different bands. If I remember correctly, he is the lead vocalist for Bloodbath, isn't he? I presume he wants to do both things, just not for the same band anymore. While I am kind of disappointed that his death voice will not persist through this album, I am quite excited about it. My younger brother and I were just talking about this over Skype. He's kinda the one who told me about it in the first place.

 

Edit: just found out he left Bloodbath in 2012. What?! Lol

Edited May 13, 2014 by Mohamed Marei

[Laughing Man]

yeah, he left a few years back - but beyond that, he's stated multiple times in recent interviews that A. he's currently not interested in extreme metal in general and B. his harsh vocals began to suffer and he decided to give them a rest. he said in the MetalSucks podcast a few weeks back, though, that he wouldn't rule out a return to the deathier side of the band on future releases, it just depends on whether the music calls for it or not.


oh, another bit of news which likely everyone has already heard but I neglected to mention earlier (probably because at this point in history it's sad that it even has to be considered "news", it's such a normal thing): Cynic's core members Paul Masvidal (vocals/guitar) and Sean Reinert (drums) have both come out publicly as gay.

as a queer individual, I'm happy to have more gay icons in heavy metal and I'm even happier about the overwhelmingly positive response and acceptance by metal fans and musicians alike.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Fox Mulder

[Queen of Liars]

It always warms my heart seeing the majority having a positive response to things like these and going against some of the stereotypes metal fans get put under.

Unfortunately though there's always some people, like the Vik Guitars owner in this case, that come out as complete bigots.

 

 

On another note, the cover art for the upcoming Judas Priest album, Redeemer of Souls, is very metal.

Even though I thought the single they released is pretty bad, I'm still looking forward to the album. Hopefully the rest of it is far better.

[BrickPharaoh]

Had music on shuffle, and The Bleeding Baroness by Candlemass came on. And I was never the same again.

 

[NorikSigma]

So I started listening to Iron Maiden a couple of days back.

 

I am so happy I did.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Just Norik

[Queen of Liars]

Iron Maiden are awesome.

The stretch of albums from Iron Maiden to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is just absolutely fantastic, and the albums since Bruce and Adrian re-joined the band are great too.

 

 

Judas Priest released another single from the upcoming album a couple of days ago.

You know how I said that I hope the rest of the album is better than the title track they released earlier? Well, this doesn't bode well because the it's pretty awful. The production on Rob's voice is especially horrendous. It sounds like Ozzy did on the last Black Sabbath album.

My excitement for the album is dropping pretty quickly.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Cheshire Cat

[Laughing Man]

in an unexpected move, Nails have announced that they've signed to Nuclear Blast Records and are currently working on a follow-up to Abandon All Life, due early next year. psyched.

 

 

Opeth have released a new song and I like it way more than I expected to, although judging by most of the reaction I've seen so far, I'm in the minority on that.

 

 

also Adult Swim have announced this year's schedule for the 2014 Summer Singles and it includes new songs by Deafheaven and Mastodon (ft. Gibby Haynes) available for free download on August 25 and September 8, respectively. this will be Mastodon's second appearance in Summer Singles, following the release of "Deathbound" in 2011.

[BrickPharaoh]

in an unexpected move, Nails have announced that they've signed to Nuclear Blast Records and are currently working on a follow-up to Abandon All Life, due early next year. psyched.

 

 

Opeth have released a new song and I like it way more than I expected to, although judging by most of the reaction I've seen so far, I'm in the minority on that.

 

 

also Adult Swim have announced this year's schedule for the 2014 Summer Singles and it includes new songs by Deafheaven and Mastodon (ft. Gibby Haynes) available for free download on August 25 and September 8, respectively. this will be Mastodon's second appearance in Summer Singles, following the release of "Deathbound" in 2011.

 

Listened to the song Cusp of Eternity half an hour ago or so, and I thought it was quite something. Distinctively different, but still manages to capture the great talents that the group has to offer.

 

Edited June 3, 2014 by Mohamed Marei

[Queen of Liars]

I'm really digging the new Opeth song as well and am definitely looking forward to the album now.

 

However, I'm not digging it as much as the new song Mastodon just released - Chimes at Midnight. Incredibly psyched for the album which will be here in a few weeks.

[BrickPharaoh]

On a completely (mostly) unrelated note, anyone here going to Download Festival 2014? I won't be able to make it there on the 13th because I have a final exam that same day. I am tormented. Genuinely disappointed. But oh well.

A bunch of my friends are going on the Saturday but I wouldn't want to go and not attend some of my favorite acts.

 

[Laughing Man]

new In Flames single leaked and it sounds exactly like something off of their last two albums. I actually thought that Sounds of a Playground Fading was okay, but this is just bland.

 

it does have some pretty cool keys toward the end but that's about all I can say for it.

[Queen of Liars]

Two days until the new Mastodon album! Really psyched for it.

 

 

I'm also quite liking the new Mayhem album, Esoteric Warfare. Nothing really groundbreaking, but it's some really good black metal.

[Laughing Man]

psyched as well, reserved a copy at a nearby music store and I'm gonna go pick it up the day the album drops

 

 

also everybody should check out the album Heathen by Thou, it's unquestionably my metal AotY so far, really long and slow sludge metal that takes a lot of patience to listen to but it's sooo worth it (also it's free along with the rest of the band's discog so that's a plus)

[Queen of Liars]

Got my copy of the new Mastodon album today and it's absolutely fantastic. A big improvement over The Hunter, even if that album did end up growing on me.

[Johnny Truant]

oh my god the new mastodon

 

oh my god

 

and they're even using the dropped A tuning again, I'm pretty sure they haven't played in that one since leviathan

 

this is so good

[Laughing Man]

lovin it, personally I think it's their best since Blood Mountain