(Un)Official Metal Thread

[Crybaby Bunting]

I decided to pick up Lightning To The Nations (The White Album) by Diamond Head the other day.

I cannot understand why I haven't bothered listening to them before now, maybe it's because I didn't like the Metallica covers so thought it was something on Diamond Head's behalf, not that I just find Metallica hard to listen to at all times.

But yeah, it's such a great album filled with awesome songs. I think it might even work for that guy who was after stuff similar to Iron Maiden.

[Lowerdeck]

This might be the best place to ask:

So tomorrow seems like a batch of albums are coming out. Probably have a budget for two or three, one of which is more than likely going to be the new Bruce Hornsby album.

But I'm undecided between:

Black Dahlia Murder

Dying Fetus

It Dies Today

Shadows Fall

Leaning more towards those first two. Help me decide EWB. What you all think is the best of the bunch? More into death metal, just brutal sounding music.

Edited September 15, 2009 by Lowerdeck

[wolves]

The new Dying Fetus is god awful in my opinion. The new singers vocals just ruin it for me. The new Black Dahlia Murder album absolutely slays. One of the best offerings I've heard from a band this year.

[Liam]

Have you not checked out the new Behemoth? If not, maybe look that way.

[Jayzon]

/win thread

[Lowerdeck]

The new Dying Fetus is god awful in my opinion. The new singers vocals just ruin it for me.

I tend to not pay too much attention to vocals in metal, unless it's something where it stands out or is worthwhile to paying attention to.

At least it's not like 3 Inches of Blood. I couldn't stand too much of that.

[SRN]

For anyone who likes ambient avantgarde black metal stuff, or incidently like Darkspace, check out Sun Of The Blind, Zharaal's (Darkspace guitarist and one of the vocalists) pet project while the other guys take a break. It sounds awesome without being a carbon copy of Darkspace. So yeah, it is actually called Svn Of The Blind!

[Benjamin]

Hey, I need some help. Recently I've been listening to different types of metal that I usually don't listen to, and got kind of interested in avant-garde metal. However, as interesting as it is, there are only a handful that I've actually been able to get into, mostly Buckethead and Dog Fashion Disco. My friend recommended Portal to me, but I can't seem to get into it. I'm here asking for some help on some good avant-garde metal bands that I can get into. Anybody got any suggestions?

[SRN]

If you are willing to cross over into some Norwegian black metal territory, the church-burning, Satanic bastards, you could check out Arcturus who sports a blend of Avant-garde and black metal. Specifically check out the stuff where Simen Hestnæs, AKA ICS Vortex, is in charge. THey aren't active anymore but they had a long standing band.

[lari]

Maybe try Therion.

Check out the albums

- Lemuria

- Sirius B

- Gothic Kabbalah

[Skummy]

If you liked Dog Fashion Disco, then Mr. Bungle seems an obvious comparison to me - they're similar in terms of the tongue-in-cheek nature and mad genre-mixing. Carnival In Coal could be worth checking out too.

[Eric]

This might be the best place to ask:

So tomorrow seems like a batch of albums are coming out. Probably have a budget for two or three, one of which is more than likely going to be the new Bruce Hornsby album.

But I'm undecided between:

Black Dahlia Murder

Dying Fetus

It Dies Today

Shadows Fall

Leaning more towards those first two. Help me decide EWB. What you all think is the best of the bunch? More into death metal, just brutal sounding music.

Dying Fetus is the best of that bunch, but that's not saying too much... They've basically released the same boring slam death album since Killing on Adrenaline, although they weren't bad live when I saw them live this summer.

If you're into brutal-sounding music, I would highly, highly recommend death metal over any of the overproduced metalcore bands today. Suffocation (as seen as in my avatar, I feel like a huge nerd now ), essentially set all the groundwork for the "brutal" style. Effigy of the Forgotten and Pierced from Within are both classic essential albums.

Incantation also has been releasing awesome brutal death metal since 1989 or so. Most of their discography is sick, particularly Onward to Golgotha. They're famous for their "time-bending" breakdowns, which sound way more brutal than the chug-chug boring stuff in deathcore.

Cryptopsy's 1996 album None So Vile is mind-blowing. Their new shit is false terrible deathcore, and most of the rest of their catalog is kind of boring, but NSV is insane.

If you like Black Dahlia Murder, I would check out At The Gates' Terminal Spirit Disease (much better than Slaughter of the Soul, IMO).

Hey, I need some help. Recently I've been listening to different types of metal that I usually don't listen to, and got kind of interested in avant-garde metal. However, as interesting as it is, there are only a handful that I've actually been able to get into, mostly Buckethead and Dog Fashion Disco. My friend recommended Portal to me, but I can't seem to get into it. I'm here asking for some help on some good avant-garde metal bands that I can get into. Anybody got any suggestions?

Voivod are a bunch of weirdos but check em out. Rrroooaaar is good, and you'll probably dig some of their later stuff too.

Lykathea Aflame is a bizarre death metal / folk band that switches between folk instrumentation and brutal death metal. Pretty interesting stuff.

Black metal-wise, Ulver has done some cool weird stuff, like releasing a whole folk album that's actually really good (Kveldssanger). Their later stuff is even weirder.

[Lowerdeck]

This might be the best place to ask:

So tomorrow seems like a batch of albums are coming out. Probably have a budget for two or three, one of which is more than likely going to be the new Bruce Hornsby album.

But I'm undecided between:

Black Dahlia Murder

Dying Fetus

It Dies Today

Shadows Fall

Leaning more towards those first two. Help me decide EWB. What you all think is the best of the bunch? More into death metal, just brutal sounding music.

Dying Fetus is the best of that bunch, but that's not saying too much... They've basically released the same boring slam death album since Killing on Adrenaline, although they weren't bad live when I saw them live this summer.

If you're into brutal-sounding music, I would highly, highly recommend death metal over any of the overproduced metalcore bands today. Suffocation (as seen as in my avatar, I feel like a huge nerd now ), essentially set all the groundwork for the "brutal" style. Effigy of the Forgotten and Pierced from Within are both classic essential albums.

Incantation also has been releasing awesome brutal death metal since 1989 or so. Most of their discography is sick, particularly Onward to Golgotha. They're famous for their "time-bending" breakdowns, which sound way more brutal than the chug-chug boring stuff in deathcore.

Cryptopsy's 1996 album None So Vile is mind-blowing. Their new shit is false terrible deathcore, and most of the rest of their catalog is kind of boring, but NSV is insane.

If you like Black Dahlia Murder, I would check out At The Gates' Terminal Spirit Disease (much better than Slaughter of the Soul, IMO).

Yeah, the overproduced metalcore just doesn't really cut it for me. I got bored with KSE easily, and only got the new IDT album (emphasis: on sale) mainly cause I was curious to hear the Duran Duran cover in the bonus track.

I'll get around to checking out your recommendations. I did hear samples of the two Suffocation albums you mentioned over at Amazon, sounds quality. More what I'm looking into in metal.

The Black Dahlia Murder and Dying Fetus new albums I got are the only ones I've gotten from them. I don't have much of a metal CD collection beyond Slayer and Metallica. But I saw them on the playlists for this metal show I listen to on the radio, so gave it a shot after hearing the samples on Amazon.

[DFF]

Recently I've been enjoying 'Colors' by Between The Buried And Me a lot - could anyone recommend anything to branch out to?

[Crybaby Bunting]

I got into Colours right after getting into Mastodon, but I get the feeling you'll already have heard of Mastodon

Do you mean branching out within the band or across multiple bands? Apparently Alaska is meant to be good, but I can't get into it at all :/

I've been checking out Metazoa by Cormorant lately, it might be what you're after without being something you've particularly heard of.

[DFF]

I got into Colours right after getting into Mastodon, but I get the feeling you'll already have heard of Mastodon

Do you mean branching out within the band or across multiple bands? Apparently Alaska is meant to be good, but I can't get into it at all :/

I've been checking out Metazoa by Cormorant lately, it might be what you're after without being something you've particularly heard of.

Yeah, I've heard of Mastodon, but nothing I've heard by them resembles the sheer quality on 'Colors'.

I don't mind whether it's the same band, or just a similar artist - I'd just like to check more out.

Cool, I'll give them a listen to. Cheers.

[Lowerdeck]

LD's current metal rotation:

Man Must Die - No Tolerance for Imperfection

Suffocation - Blood Oath

Vital Remains - Icons of Evil

Burning Human - Resurrection Through Fire

Dethklok - Dethalbum II

Chthonic - Mirror of Retribution

Vader - Necropolis

Revocation - Existence is Futile

Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate

Dying Fetus - Descend into Depravity

Misery Index - Traitors

It Dies Today - Lividity (N)

[lari]

This week I've listened through all my Nevermore, Slayer, Annihilator and Axxis albums.

Since I feel like I have all the albums in my head right now, I think I could put them in order.

Nevermore

1. Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)

*drop*

2. Politics of Ecstacy (1996)

3. Dreaming Neon Black (1999)

4. This Godless Endeavor (2005)

*drop*

5. Enemies of Reality (2003)

'Dead Heart' is by far my favourite. The others are good, but not that essential.

Slayer

1. Reign in Blood (1986)

2. Seasons in the Abyss (1990)

*drop*

3. South of Heaven (1988)

*drop*

4. God Hates Us All (2001)

Reign in Blood is an awesome record. I love the speed and intensity. I never really like the slowed down South of Heaven... but this time I'm already dropping it out of the list of best Slayer albums.

Annihilator

1. Carnival Diablos (2001)

2. Waking the Fury (2002)

3. Never Neverland (1990)

4. Alice in Hell (1990)

All four albums are awesome, plus Double Live Annihilation. Nothing really wrong with the bottom two, but I really enjoy Joe Comeau singing in those top two albums. Carnival Diablos is probably in my top 40 albums of all time.

Axxis

1. Back to the Kingdom (2000)

2. Paradise in Flames (2006)

3. The Big Thrill (1993)

4. Kingdom of the Night (1989)

5. Doom Of Destiny (2007)

*slight drop*

6. Axxis II (1990)

7. Time Machine (2004)

8. Utopia (2009)

9. Eyes of Darkness (2001)

Despite the slight drop, Axxis are an incredibly consistent band. Tough to choose favourites, but Back to the Kingdom is a brilliant combination of very different songs. If you're into that kind of pop-metal Scorpions meet Helloween type of heavy metal, that is. The new one, Utopia, is solid, too. There's only two Axxis albums I don't have, and I've been avoiding them on purpose because of bad reviews. But seeing how much I like Axxis, I guess I'll get them at some point...

[New Damage]

The two songs that they've released from Fozzy's upcoming "chasing the Grail" album sound massive.

Just further proof of the awesome that is Jericho.

[BuddyAwesome]

This is the only place I think this question should go... But, which band's version of "Dissident Agressor" do you like more? Judas Priest or Slayer?