Metal

Iron Maiden double album? I am VERY interested now. I can't help but be skeptical about the quality overall, because while I don't hate Nostradamus, I don't think Maiden making their version of that record would be any good.

Huh, after Nightwish, this is the second world-famous metal band to release an unexpectedly long song this year.

Yeah, I hope this metal double album will be more Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence than Nostradamus.

I am quite intrigued by this album's ambition. At first I was hesitant at their decision to push ever further with Epic Rocking because I feel Maiden's "epics" on their recent albums have become kind of predictable musically. However, I saw pointed out somewhere else that most of those tracks were written or co-written by Steve Harris, who has a somewhat formulaic style of arranging things musically, while two of the epics including the longest one songs on the new album are written solely by Bruce Dickinson, who I feel has written some of the more interesting arrangements in their catalogue like "Revelations" and "Powerslave".

edited 25th Jun '15 5:51:37 PM by djbj

Oh my god, whoo I met Liv Jagrell after Sister Sin's set at Mayhemfest!

Also due to an eye infection, King Diamond had to perform without makeup. He still looked evil as fuck with the sunglasses he wore. The lack of makeup did not detract from the show in anyway.

edited 11th Jul '15 9:52:38 PM by MarkVonLewis

http://www.ironmaidenbrasil.com.br/2015/08/iron-maiden-vazou-ouca-na-integra-speed.html

Iron Maiden's "Speed of Light" leaked. It's a lot more classic-sounding than I expected.

And here it is legitimately.

edited 14th Aug '15 12:22:09 AM by Alucard

For whatever reason, Death and Blacck just are failing to have an impact. I'm on a Doom binge. It's slow, smothering the listener in sound, and providing atmosphere.

Death I'm still finding extremely difficult to like. Though some 90s and 80s material I guess technically Thrash then, really does seem to sound easier on the ears. Likely because of dynamics.

Seriously, dynamic metal is so scarce it is a blessing when any band offers vinyl.

Wasn't big on new Iron Maiden - not bad and I found it interesting they were reverting back towards the more hard rocky side of early 80's metal but the problem was that like those bands, they weren't really nailing it. Mausoleum Gate's 2014 S/T is the only one off the top of my head that I feel nails the sound when metal was halfway through transitioning out of the Deep Purple/Blue Oyster Cult/Led Zeppelin/Rainbow aspect of its heritage and into the Maiden/Priest/Saxon/Satan (UK) one.

As for dynamic metal, death metal usually has more tempo changes and riff switchups than nearly every other genre. Suffocation anyone?

edited 22nd Aug '15 7:54:45 PM by StillbornMachine

"Speed of Light" is a pretty good song, but I was kind of disappointed that a song called "speed of light" wasn't a faster number like "The Alchemist" from the last album.

I think he may be referring to the lack of dynamic range a.k.a. the Loudness War.

After giving Infernus multiple listens, I must say that it's at least on par with I, Monarch and may actually be better. Chason Westmoreland is everything that Jade wasn't as a drummer and is precisely what the band needed. Rutan also majorly stepped up the production; it actually sounds lively and the bass is up close and personal, which is a VAST improvement over the sonic mud that was Fury & Flames and Phoenix Amongst the Ashes.

The only album I'm super hyped for is Cruciamentum's Charnel Passages. I can't add links right now but the two songs on their page at the Profound Lore bandcamp are so far only matched by Ghoulgotha's debut. They've evolved a lot since 2009 from a grimy tremolo tunnelling Demigod/Incantation/Demoncy esque band into a highly varied mixture of various oldschool sounds. I can hear early Morbid Angel, Sadistic Intent, Necrovore, old Amorphis, Revenant, Infester, Bolt Thrower, Dismember, the aforementioned three, and even some of newer acts like Dead Congregation.

In spite of that it never turns into hollow retro worship. They do a great job of making sure each song explores a variety of themes but through the lens of death metal's expansive history and various regional sounds. The longer phrases and narrative song structures lend themselves well to this kind of varied riff based storytelling.

profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/charnel-passages

edited 23rd Aug '15 10:23:53 PM by StillbornMachine

If you're excited for that, my boy Phil Tougas's band Chthe'ilist has their debut coming out on Profound Lore this year as well. It's total retro Finndeath worship in the vein of Demigod, Convulse, early Sentenced, Rippikoulu, and similar acts, and Josh Staples has been going on about how awesome it's going to be (he recorded bass for it and may wind up doing some live shows as well). Phil is a genius in general, and this is going to be yet another great release from the kid.

I know Phil, dude loves his 80's power metal and Kingsbane. He plays great in Zealotry as well. He got me into Blood Incantation as well. Really hope we get to hear new Chthe'ilist previews soon.

edited 24th Aug '15 10:04:21 AM by StillbornMachine

I'm personally looking forward to hearing that First Fragment debut. Staples and Gabe Seeber were both going on about how proud he is of that album, and the clips of the drum tracks that Troy Fullerton was laying down looked incredible.

I wasn't big on that band personally. The Serocs album he played on was good and Vengeful are solid as well though.

edited 24th Aug '15 7:10:36 PM by StillbornMachine

Sony bought Century Media.

Granted, there's not a whole lot on that label nowadays that interests me, but still.

Hadn't Sony and Century Media been close for a while though?

I'd heard that the label had been up for sale for awhile, but wasn't sure of any specifics, so could be.

I mentioned them earlier but has anyone here checked out Ghoulgotha's 'The Deathmass Cloak'? So far it's probably my AOTY. They play very bizarre death/doom that takes familiar ideas from both the gothic/melancholic school of death/doom and the filthy, grime-encrusted one but mangle and distort them into something otherworldly. There are a lot of jerking, tugging rhythms and blunt near atonal riffs contrasted by winding deformed lead guitar passages and a few vital moments of melody. Very good drumming too, makes me think of a prog rock drummer trying his/her hand at death metal.

So the new Cruciamentum album is streaming in its entirety. AOTY confirmed.

That Ghoulgotha is tasty. Will check out the Cruciamentum when I have the chance.

To add to the death onslaught, Blood Incantation are working on a debut EP◊ which will boost a fuller and more low end heavy sound as opposed to the thin, decrepit production of Astral Spells

edited 28th Aug '15 7:32:22 PM by StillbornMachine

Anyone who likes old school style metal, I recommend Sister Sin.

They kick ass.

New Maiden Album is out.

Don't know why but I've been avoiding new Maiden personally. I find that I've only really bother with maybe four albums in their whole discography these days. 2015 has been really mediocre for me so far.

I listened to the new Maiden album on my way to a wedding today (it was a long drive) and holy FUCK. It. Is. Awesome.

Maybe it's just me, but I fucking love it. Especially the melody to Empire Of the Clouds.

Agreed, I'm really digging on the new Maiden. It's no Powerslave or Seventh Son (my favorites of theirs), but I like it better than the other stuff they've released since the eighties.