I thought Geoff Tate WAS Queensryche.
</casual Queensryche fan>
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.
Well, that's what he'd like you to think, but back in the old days (when they actually released good stuff) it was Chris DeGarmo who did a lot of the songwriting. He left in 1997, and ever since then, Tate's been puttering around aimlessly, plopping out unbelievably bad albums (which have utterly marginalised the actual members, all of whom are originals, in favour of outside songwriters) to a rapidly shrinking fanbase, and acting like an irredeemable douche in interviews. The other three members formed a new band called Rising West with Todd LaTorre on lead vocals to play stuff from the old albums, and a couple of days ago they kicked Geoff out and Rising West effectively became the "new" Queensryche. Let's just hope it's not the butthurt-Mike-Portnoy episode of 2012...
Geoff Tate pretty much is Queensryche for me, since I'm not a QR fan and just listen to their early stuff because his vocals on that material are great. That said his voice is completely and utterly wasted in this day and age and as far as songwriting Yon Troper is correct. QR's last album was shockingly bad.
I've never really bothered with Queensryche after their debut personally. Hell I found Operation Mindcrime cool in idea, just not so much in execution. They should've quit while they still were ahead and all of their major contributions have already been made. Some things should be put to rest already.
Speaking of progressive metal, I've been really liking Archetype lately. They sound like classic Fates Warning but updated for the modern day, with technical and structural add-on's that IMO make them miles ahead of the crowd in terms of how compositionally advanced it all is.
As silly as this may sound, the only material I can say I really "love" from Queensrÿche is... their first "album" (more of an EP, really). Very Iron Maiden-esque (to the point that I thought it really was Maiden when I saw the Queen of the Reich video for the first time!), but very good nonetheless.
For example:
Gojira were face-meltingly good in Sheffield last night. Great atmosphere and the band were clearly enjoying themselves. Well worth the neck and shoulder pain I am currently experiencing
(Post unlated to above discussion)
Over the past year or so I've become a casual fan of some heavy metal*, and I feel kind weird being in that position because metal has such an intense, devoted and vocal fanbase that it feels almost like an all or nothing kind of deal, like you are either a metalhead or you don't listen to metal at all. I know that's not actually the case, but it feels that way, probably because the casual fans aren't very vocal. So, are there any casual fans like around here?
Am I the only one noticing that black and death metal are trying to increasingly sound like one another without actually being one another? For example, Venenum (Germany) and Imprecation for the death metal side of things while black gets Morgirion and Demoncy.
edited 23rd Jul '12 9:45:33 PM by StillbirthMachine
Only Death Is RealDj Bj: I'm not really all that hardcore about it either. I'm not that heavy either, so I guess it sort of goes with the territory. I like a lot of the softer/clearer metals, and sometimes delve deeper, but I enjoy a very wide range of music, so sticking to one genre devotedly isn't really in my nature.
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"Cannot wait for this album to come out. Usually I don't bother with black metal derived from the second wave (not that I dislike 2nd wave BM) but this French band fortunately go back to the basics and then beyond them. Think Mortuary Drape, early Varathron, later Sabbat (Jpn), Mercyful Fate, and Death SS combined to make a single 40 minute psychedelic descent into whatever bizarre hermetic realms this band regularly plunges into.
Also, Zealotry's
new single, Blighted Paradise/Decaying Echoes is currently the only "technical" metal release since Crimson Massacre
's 2005 The Luster of Pandemonium worth a damn. Experimental/progressive stuff that actually doesn't forget about the songwriting and compositional expertise that made the genre great in the first place.
Binah's Hallucinating In Resurrecture came out on the 24th of July
and in spite of its Sunlight Studios guitar tone, isn't exactly another Nihilist/Entombed/Dismember wannabe - influences from the more melodic side of death/doom, earlier American death metal, and Finnish style crushing gloom, occasional traditional metal esque lead work, and long arching song constructions keep them head and shoulders above the rest.
There's Maveth's up and coming Coils of the Black Earth, another band out to crush
the feeble swoop haired/instrumental fellatio/backwards baseball cap/pop-hook "death metal" currently responsible for the genre's infestation of hipsters, bro-slammers, music theory snobs, and scene-emo bacteria-people. It's got a sort of descending occult vibe, comparable to Incantation although accusations of "clone band" fall short due to their far more orderly, less disruptive approach to songwriting and a melodic sensibility distinctive of their Finnish heritage.
The more traditional front doesn't seem to have as many heavy hitters coming up so far but I wouldn't be quick to dismiss it. Shadow Kingdom records is bringing us a side project of Manilla Road fronted by vocalist/guitarist Mark "The Shark" Shelton called Hellwell. They play something that while definitely in the vein of the main band, have an even stronger 70's aesthetic thanks to the notable pseudo-progressive rock/Deep Purple esque style synthesizer work. The two preview tracks
are definitely IMO sounding far better than Manilla Road's rather lackluster previous album
.
Another Shadow Kingdom band, Altar Of Oblivion, is also looking to step up their game. Grand Gesture Of Defiance, officially coming out on September 11, looks to continue in the same powerful, militaristic style of epic doom
, this time with what seems to be a more forceful approach to song direction.
Earlier this year however, the label already hit pretty hard with Pale Divine's Painted Windows Black and all I can really say is that well, it's just straight up traditional doom metal. Some Candlemass, some Trouble, some Black Sabbath, some Saint Vitus, some Pentagram... yeah, it makes its influences clear but that doesn't change how well put together the whole thing is
.
ALSO UPCOMING PAGAN ALTAR ALBUM HHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Somewhat lesser known than all of these are the Swedish Trial, joining fellow countrymen such as RAM
, Steelwing
, In Solitude
, and Portrait
in bringing back and simultaneously improving various classic metal approaches. Their style is closer to a darker, mystical take on NWOBHM featuring soaring, airy rhythms (not balls-less ones mind you) like Angel Witch and a lot of smokey, snaking melodies. It ultimately resembles the last album
of that band albeit better realized (the added punch is nice) to my ears
.
edited 6th Aug '12 5:06:29 PM by StillbirthMachine
Only Death Is RealJust got Fear Factory's new album The Industrialist... all I can say is: they've finally done it. They've finally made a worthy successor to Demanufacture. And it only took 17 years to do, too.
Back from Bloodstock! Absolutely brilliant weekend. Some thoughts...
Good stuff
- Amazing sets from Alice Cooper, Behemoth, Testament, Nile, Moonsorrow, Iced Earth, Sanctuary, Chthonic, Evile and Demonic Resurrection... among many.
- Hatebreed. I really don't care for their music at all, but everybody was really getting into it, and they put on a good show. Biggest surprise of the weekend for me, definitely better live than in the studio. The constant demands from Jamey Jasta to "LOSE YOUR VOICE!" and asking for unreasonably large circle pits did get annoying, though.
- Timing was excellent, the Sophie Lancaster stage bands were mostly scheduled for when the bands on the main stage weren't on. Really well done. (Still had to miss part of Orange Goblin's set for Testament, but hey, small potatoes.)
- No wasps.
Bad stuff
- Watain. Not because of their music, which was good but unspectacular. They ended up changing places with Dio Disciples and had their set pushed back because apparently they refused to play when it wasn't dark, but I suspect one of them just showed up late. And they still got a full hour set, meaning that Behemoth's had about half an hour cut off! And that was the one everyone wanted to see! (But said Behemoth set did have the best rendition of "Lucifer" I've heard yet, so that more than made up for it.)
- Bored senseless by Machine Head's set. Testament put on a killer show, why weren't they the headliners? Mayhem and Dimmu Borgir also fell flat, Mayhem really had no stage presence and Dimmu were just hopeless. (Clean vocals sounded lame - they really need ICS Vortex back, Shagrath is dreadful.)
- The Sophie Lancaster tent was incredibly, incredibly loud. You don't need sound that loud for a tent that size! Alcest put on a great set in there, but it was so loud I seriously couldn't hear anything not directly shouted into my ears for 20 minutes. Thank God I wasn't that close for Anaal Nathrakh, although listening to Anaal Nathrakh from 20 yards outside the tent's door is not fun.
- ZP Theart and Nick Holmes seriously need better stage banter. ZP sounds like he has Tourette's and acted like a complete dick throughout his set, and Nick's attempts at humor were frankly embarrassing. (Good set from Paradise Lost otherwise, not so much from I Am I.)
- The naked guy crowd surfing during the Black Dahlia Murder. I did NOT need to see that. Rumour has it he was getting certain... favors... in the pit.

A streaming of the new Gojira album
. I am monstrously excited, for I am seeing them live on Monday.
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.