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  1. As it goes - opinions are like assholes, everyone has a shitty one... Most of what I would consider "perfect" or "unskippable" I'm sure would fall out of your wheelhouse and most likely the opposite is true. NBD. Fortunately, we both passed the metalhead certification test years ago. Enslaved - Mardraum
    6 points
  2. Blasphemathory - War, Blasphemy & Divine Destruction Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal Sentient Divide - Haunted By Cruelty
    6 points
  3. Show wrapped last night. Would've posted a small summary, but I was well past my limit of cheap beer. I think the appropriate term is piss drunk. Regardless, day 3 was the best of the week. Highlights - Sodom, Demolition Hammer, and Rotting Christ. Darvaza was pretty decent too. Didn't get excited about Tank, though the rest of the fest seemed to enjoy them quite a bit. Also didn't get much for Forbidden, mainly because they only have 1 song I even remember and secondly because who the fuck can follow DH after they level the place. Surprise of the day was Rotting Christ. Never seen them or listened to them much. Pretty freaking great. Overall show highlights aside from the above - Queensryche (the early stuff kills live and after seeing them both I think I prefer LaTorre to Tate), Lamp of Murmur (pulled it off live), Candlemass, Sumerlands, Savage Oath, and Autopsy. 6th year here and it just keeps getting bigger. Some growing pains and capacity issues at the venue, but they have always been good at working those things out between years. Up there with MDF for quality run organized festival by good people. If you're shopping for a fest to hit next year, can recommend.
    5 points
  4. Huoripukki - Ikuinen Kamppailu Destruction - Sentence of Death Dead Congregation - Promulgation of the Fall
    5 points
  5. WFH day, so massive playlist incoming. I would throw in some Anti-Cimex, Discharge, or Wolfbrigade in honor of our dear leafy green vegetable, but I've already done the work to put the playlist together. Akercocke - Choronzon - FA and I both thinking about getting some 'cocke today Akercocke - Renaissance in Extremis Hulder - Verses in Oath Inquisition - Veneration Inquisition - Black Mass Marduk - Panzer Division Marduk DHG - Black Medium Current The Antichrist Imperium - Vol 2: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan Black Angel - The Black Truth Judas Iscariot - Heaven Shall Burn Horna - Vuohipaimen
    5 points
  6. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)
    4 points
  7. @Nasty_Cabbage bringing the fucking Nina Simone! Cheers mate. Great stuff. Fornicus - Sulphuric Omnipotence Scourge Lair - One Hundred Eyes One Hundred Arms (demo) Judas Iscariot - To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding Non-skipper albums for me: Sad Wings NOTB Piece of Mind Seventh Son
    4 points
  8. You like to play the part of the rube, but anyone that reads your posts know that you are highly intelligent. We've engaged in a range of convos on your takes on history, left wing politics to the complexities of economics. You like language and culture. So, don't play the knuckle dragger with me! Your tastes are questionable, you like to instigate debate and can be annoying AF at times but your intellect is not in questions, sir. We have vastly different views on lyrics. Here's what I would say on the subject-first off, metal lyrics by and large don't add much. That said, in regards to extreme metal they sometimes help draw me into the world of the artist. You don't need to read the lyrics to The Ramones or Judas Priest. And most extreme metal lyrics are a throw away, but I've found that some artists really take the time to put a great deal of thought into their lyrics. It's an odd thing-introspective lyrics that no one can understand-but that's part of the riddle of extreme metal. Most artists want success. Extreme metal is the opposite. There are self imposed barriers to limit entry like the code to get into khazad-dum. It requires effort on the part of the listener. In a way, that's part of the appeal. That's partly why I like physical media. I'll typically take a few minutes to look at the artwork and the lyrics and often don't read past the first couple of tracks. But, I just figure songs are combination of music and words and artists, no matter how primitive might want to say something or at minimum create an atmosphere where language plays some part. BM in particular has a way of taking the listener to other dimensions where the artwork and sometimes the lyrics can add to the mystique they try to envelope the listener in. Extreme metal can be complex and dense and the lyrics can be used to punctuate a point in the prose or storyline if there is one. Beginning with Metallica and Anthrax per my listening, those artists were making great music but also talking about real societal things-racism, the criminal justice system, mental health drug addiction, the futility of war. Lemmy was actually an underrated lyricism. Beyond the sex, drugs and rock and roll culture of many of his songs, his lyrics were often hilarious and quite poignant writing about his disgust at the wealthy and powerful, disingenuity of elitists, his intolerance of the lies hoisted upon all of us by those that pull the strings in our world, the stupidity of war and and religion. Ihashn wrote some really interesting stuff on Anthems that took the power of their symphonic black metal and fused it with more than Satanism-but with occult mysticism that was genius for a teenager. I know you're not an Opeth fan, Mikael Åkerfeldt basically wrote dark poetry that he set to music. I can't imagine listening to Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries without taking a peek at the lyrics. He's a great example of using extreme metal to punctuate his lyrical themes. Neurosis is another band who took wild, ambitious ideas both sonically and lyrically using samples and ideas from myth and psychology. Arioch (both with Funeral Mist and Marduk) does some pretty intelligent things to the old Satanic tropes of BM inverting Christianity with some twisted shit. DSO is famous for their existential essays posed as intellectual Satanism set to music. I've noticed in recent years that DM sometimes brings in elements of eastern religion, particularly Buddhism and bands like Vastum (and definitely doomy post metal bands like Subrosa) pull from literature and in Vastum's case write some twisted, thought provoking disturbing shit. I know you don't have any interest in any of that stuff, but my point is in a small percentage of metal, the time and talent put into lyrics enrich my enjoyment. It's like the dead sea scrolls or the Davinci code-only available to those that put the effort into deciphering secret runes. Enough said!
    4 points
  9. Seems I might've erroneously assumed that because of your propensity to defend ancient has-been legacy bands including Judas Pweest, Megastaine and Anthrax from nay-sayers, and because of your being an old thrash metal aficionado just one year younger than me, that you would quite likely have been a Pweest fan back in the day. So then what were you listening to back in your teenage years and those early 80's days just before thrash metal hit the scene? There aren't any rules Orca, I don't believe in rules. Put whichever and however many Pweest songs on the list that you want to, based on any criteria you'd like. Or don't make a list at all if you've really never been into the band and don't have any favorite Pweest songs. I don't really care that much about Pweest myself tbh or most of these 40 - 50 year old legacy bands for that matter. I just figured Pweest are one of those bands that most of us older metal dudes would likely have in common from back in the days when there weren't so many different sub-genres and not so many heavy bands to choose from out there. I can't talk to old guys like you about black metal or deathgrind, or even make jokes about it, you get all cranky and go ad hominem on me. So I was trying to engage you on a neutral playing field, maybe find some common ground we could build on. Same reason I'll often weigh in on Megastaine, Metallica or Maiden convos. I don't give two shits about most those old dinosaur mainstream metal bands anymore, but they were undeniably a big part of my 80's metal upbringing so I have enough background knowledge about their music still kicking around in my head somewhere that I can hold my own in a convo. Because it's a forum, we have to talk about something, or else Cabbie will come and make a remark about how quiet it is in here today. Monster Magnet - Dopes to Infinty, space rock out of Red Bank New Jersey 1995
    4 points
  10. There you have it... even their fans admit the music puts them to sleep
    4 points
  11. Alrighty then. I dismissed Hate Eternal years ago as one of those boring American one-dimensional rapid-fire blasty-blast death metal bands that just aren't for me. But you and JT just keep bringing them up. You just can't stop yourselves. So I guess the time has come for the old goat to revisit them. You say this is your favorite Hate Eternal album, so I'm going in, wish me luck. #*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# Well ok I'm back. They're not quite as bad as I'd remembered, not terrible at all. There were even a few spots where I almost found myself enjoying this. Almost. Vocals aren't annoying or anything, but they're really not that good either, they're just there. These horribly clickety rapid-fire drums definitely aren't good at all, that's the worst part of this for me. The overdubbed guitar solos seem weird and out of place and take my head out of the song. These songs aren't memorable, can't hum along with any of them, and they all have the exact same rapid-fire tempo that becomes a blur. This became quite tedious by like track 3 or 4. I won't say I hate them eternally, but this style of death metal semble fastidieux et ennuyeux. Makes me a bit curious as to why people who don't listen to a ton of death metal like you and JT would latch onto this band out of all death metal bands. Leprosy or Cause of Death this is not. What's the main appeal here? It's not overly accessible, it's not very melodic, it's not particularly brutal, it's not breakdown city, it's not dynamic, riffs don't stick in your head, totally one-dimensional. They're not really bad, any one song taken on its own is reasonably listenable, but a whole album full of these is just not good. It's unremarkable, middle of the road, generic American rapid-fire clickety drum death metal that I'll forget as soon as I go downstairs to make coffee. They'd be serviceable as an opening band maybe, acceptable background noise for while I'm over at the bar purchasing a tasty cold beverage. Don't see these dudes as headline material. NP: Siniser - Hate, Netherlands 1995. Another legacy band I haven't spent a ton of time with, but right from track 1 this is far more interesting to me than Hate Eternal.
    4 points
  12. Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith (1984)
    4 points
  13. Messiah - Christus Hypercubus Disgrace - Grey Misery Ripping Corpse - Unreleased 2nd Album
    4 points
  14. Scorpions - Animal Magnetism (1980)
    4 points
  15. Ripping Corpse - Dreaming with the Dead (1991)
    4 points
  16. Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos (1989)
    4 points
  17. Before: Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis Cryfemal - Apoteosis Oculta Incantation - Mortal Throne Of Nazarene NP: Grave Miasma - Endless Pilgrimage
    4 points
  18. Sadus - Swallowed in Black (1990)
    4 points
  19. Under the sign of the black mark (1987) - bathory Deathcrush (1987) - mayhem In the nightside eclipse (1994) - emperor
    4 points
  20. Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific (2023) This. Absolutely this. More is less for my brain and always has been. It is not always necessarily brand new releases though, the same applies for aything new to my ears, in order to truly appreciate it needs to be drip fed.
    4 points
  21. Sarcofagus - Envoy of Death Savage - Hyperactive No Future, No Past - Finnish Speed & Thrash Metal Explosion 1986-1992
    3 points
  22. Swans/Soundtracks for the Bind (1996)-It's been said by many, that in a career of making weird albums, this is the weirdest album Swans ever made. love it or hate it-and fans fall on both sides of the fence (I am on the love side) there is nothing like this album. The album that was the final straw breaking the Swans for 14 years. They reformed in 2010'ish and they came to more general notoriety in 2012 with their massive trilogy beginning with The Seer in 2012 which garnered a great deal of praise in all music internet sites that cover left of field experimental music, which is when I discovered them. 2012 was when I got into headfi and hifi gear, put together a proper listening system and started following the machinations beyond metal. At any rate, Soundtracks for the Blind (2 discs, 4 LPs) and 26 tracks is a herculean listen at over 2 hours. It's long been a favorite for fans of experimental rock music. Some would say it's been eclipsed post 2010 in terms of what Gira strove to achieve-some kind of transcendental music that pulls from many genres. It's an album that requires patience, there is over indulgence and bloat to be sure, but I find the entire experience utterly compelling. The roots to Soundtracks predates 1996 some 10 years to the beginning of the Swans existence and is as you might guess, conceived to be the soundtrack to movie that never existed. There's quite a bit ambient music and overall vibe of ambient drone on this album, but also explosive music and field recordings, and creepy, voyeuristic voice tracks. I believe Gira and Jarboe both recorded people in their lives with mental and physical health problems to create a sense of watching a film designed to give the listener a feeling of discomfort. The album is unsettling and beautiful. Much credit has to go to Jarboe, Gira's long time collaborator who has one of the most elastic, powerful, beautiful and at times brutal female voices in experimental music. In fact, the entire album has a combined effect of surrealist experience-reminiscent of a bizarre David Lynch movie and other worldly experience beyond the capacity to explain in words. The voice overs create a sense of watching a haunting documentary of some corner of the underbelly of twisted human existence-ne'er do wells living sordid, utterly depressing lives-something that draws me in, repels me but I just can't take my eyes off the screen--- or perhaps, turning to look at the multi car accident on the other side of the highway-traffic backed up for miles, emergency vehicles, cars burning, bodies on stretchers....and you just can't restrain yourself from slowing down to look at the carnage. There is nothing that I've heard that sounds like this album.
    3 points
  23. Afterbirth - In But Not Of (2023) Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (2024)
    3 points
  24. KAT - Oddech Wymarlch Swiatow (Polish thrashy hm a la 1987) Accept - Metal Heart
    3 points
  25. Circle of Ouroborus - Night Radiance Recluse - Stillbirth in Bethlehem (my favorite Christmas album) Wode - Servants of the Countercosmos
    3 points
  26. NP: Fabricant - Drudge to the Thicket ▶︎ Drudge To The Thicket | FABRICANT | Fabricant (bandcamp.com) I'm going to be kind of a dick here and call attention away from that striking cover art for a moment to their band photo on MA Why? Why would you include that? Is Weird Al going through a beatnick phase? Never mind those two poorly disguised cenobites behind him. Was this taken in a church basement? Is the body of a high school senior who was about to have his yearbook photo taken splayed about in a half eaten bloody puddle behind that screen. Just please please tell me Weird Al Beatnovick sounds exactly as I imagine he does. Like listening to Steven Wilson talk through a word problem in an artsy and all too self serious whisper. He has to sound that way. This is like an entire David Lynch film in one photo. The music's good by the way. They've got a cool way of gluing riffs together that sort of tumbles and lurches along unpredictably.
    3 points
  27. BLACKRAT - Hail To Hades
    3 points
  28. On Saturday my flatmates were watching rugby. I set up a new audio interface and switched to Windows 11 to solve some problems it was having. Finally started working. I then went to a gig in the evening, but not quite worth reporting. A local band Verminthrone, (The Cull | Verminthrone (bandcamp.com)) which sounds like it would be black metal, but closer to Pantera. Meat and potatoes. Decent. The opening band was Electric Wizard worship (Industrial Nightmare | Voidlurker (bandcamp.com)) but just a little too simple for me. The guitarist lost his pick before the last song and played with a credit card. You couldn't tell the difference. My favourite part was the knob twiddling guitar effects feedback over drum and bass that they finished with. That was pretty cool. Sunday was fairly uneventful. Played mini-golf. Point being, I found occasion to write something on this here forums. Oh, big name drop, on Friday night I had quite a long chat with Karl Sanders from Nile. It was like we'd been buddies forever. Nice bloke.
    3 points
  29. I wouldn't say the part I'm playing is one of a "rube" as I'm a very cynical and jaded, some would say a grizzled old New Yorker. I'm not educated or refined or cultured or traveled or high falutin like Doc though. I'm just a common man with simple tastes who flunked out of university within a year for being lazy and disinterested, and then went back home and performed manual labor for many years. I'm what they call downwardly mobile. An extreme underachiever. Neither my parents or any of their parents ever performed manual labor. So you can't conflate my having a fairly decently developed vocabulary and knowing the difference between there, their and they're with me being highly intelligent. Being reasonably proficient in English does not in and of itself necessarily make one highly intelligent. It's all relative. Every time I find myself in a convo with or in the company of someone who is in fact highly intelligent, it becomes painfully obvious to me very quickly that I'm not on their level. I sometimes wish I was more intelligent as I do value intelligence over most other things. But I'm not. So instead, I prefer to think of it in terms of how most people are just incredibly, monumentally fucking stupid. Dumb as a stump as I like to say. So that might leave me as just a bit smarter than many of your average 'rubes' and typical dumbasses relatively speaking, but certainly nothing even remotely approaching 'highly intelligent." Remember, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. I suppose that could be seen as an arrogant 'elitist' attitude to have that I dismiss most people as being dumb as shit, but I reckon it's true so fuck 'em. But anyway yeah man, I do understand that many people such as yourself get quite a bit from metal themes and lyrics. I figure you're probably well in the majority on that front. I haven't actually run into that many other fellow lyric dismissers or lyric deniers in my time. My boy Navy comes to mind as one, but we're outliers to some extent I think. And I know I've said this a thousand times but just to be clear, this holds true just for extreme metal only. I figure if a band goes to all the trouble of making their vocals/lyrics completely unintelligible, then I will happily ignore them and just focus on the sound and the timbre and the rhythm of the voice itself as an instrument. And I think we can all agree that the human voice can be a wonderful and very powerful instrument. I do often listen to the lyrics in other genres of music though, and I've even been known to sing along. I have a pretty shitty voice, but I never let that stop me. I'll sing in falsetto a lot, but then I'll also try to hit all the low notes (and fail) singing along with Pete on Type O songs or Andrew Eldritch on SoM songs. I frequently find myself alone in the kitchen singing lyrics to songs that I can't even remember which decade I might last have heard them. Which means those inane lyrics had been bouncing around somewhere inside my head taking up bandwidth for decades. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Or to taste. But I think you know I totally respect everyone's right to enjoy whichever aspects of music give them the most pleasure, be that lyrics, or themes, or artwork, or scrutinizing liner notes, or the band's makeup and costumes, or the display of accomplished musicianship, or the actual music itself, or the fact that it pisses off their parents, or watching live performances or just watching the vinyl go 'round and 'round on the turntable or whatever combination of those elements it may be. That's the beauty of music, we all have the freedom to enjoy our music in whichever ways we want to. Rest assured I'm quite aware that I'm generally looking to get different things out of my music than what most people are, even most other metalheads. But then I am a 1%er, a 'counter-culture' guy as you've called me. And as such I'm acutely aware that I'm just not like everyone else. I have my own shit going on over here, I look at things differently, I'm on my own wavelength, my own frequency, I march to the beat of my own drummer, I care about and concern myself with different things than most normies care about. I'm not bragging though and I deffo wouldn't expect others to aspire to be like me. Because when you're different, a lot of the rubes don't/can't understand where you're coming from so they just assume that guy must be a little crazy. But that's fine, I'm totally cool with being different and doing my own thing up in my little corner of the woods here. And by the way I do like me some Opeth every now and then, BWP, MAYH, GR, they were one of my gateway bands. OK maybe not as much in recent years, but in the past I had. No it's Emperor I can't stand. Maybe Nightside but that's it. Teenage prodigy or not, I blame that Ish dude (whose name I can never remember how to spell) for the proliferation of symphonic black metal, which in my holy book is a mortal sin. NP: Seraphic Entombment - Sickness Particles Gleam, Alabama 2023. Keep going back to this one. Disma - Towards the Megalith, 2011
    3 points
  30. Time Ghoul riding My Little Pony
    3 points
  31. Me, I was in high school between 80-84. Weened during preteen years on AC/DC, Aerosmith, Kiss and Van Halen. My parents liked folk rock and The Beatles, a little Dylan, The Who and so on. I listened to pop metal through high school. I definitely was a JP fan. I listened to some Def Leppard, Accept, Iron Maiden, etc. And hair metal-the usual suspects, Ratt, Motley Crue, Dokken, Twisted Sister. But I was a theater nerd and none of my friends listened to metal. But Pink Floyd, The Ramones, Elvis Costello, Bowie were staples. Of course I listened to Zeppelin and Sabbath. Always liked Neil Young and I love Dylan. Then, in college ; (84-90), I got into Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth (Peace Sells and Rust in Peace-the only albums I bothered with) and didn't listen to Slayer until Seasons in the Abyss. For some reason I remember seasons in the Abyss, Slave to the Grind and Cowboys from Hell all came out when I graduated college in 1990. Of course, GNR, Motorhead and grunge-Soundgarden Alice Chains and were a big influence for me-really opened my ears to alternative and punk influenced stuff. But I was pretty vicarious in my metal listening-a little Suicidal Tendencies, Ministry, Tool, Prong, and finally it all got played out for me and lost interest in the mid 90's-my late 20's when I was L.A. pursing acting and then got married and had a kid in my mid 30 and finally woke the fuck up. Years later, on the cusp of 40, I woke up and plugged into the 'net and really started exploring stoner metal, doom, post metal and finally a little melodeth, black and DM that came out in the early aughts-Gaahl fronted Gorgoroth, Opeth, Dark Tranquility, Behemoth, Nile, second wave black. But because I was older and avoided extreme metal all those years, I've always held extreme metal at a kind of arms length. Time went by and I began listening to more and more but to this day, I reject the label metalhead, I'm just a middle aged guy that likes a lot of music and some of it is heavy. Death metal and black metal are ridiculous. But I can't deny the virtuosity and inventiveness also contained within those genres and I like a lot of it, even though it's absurd. It's the wide tentacles of metal that keep my interest. I like to be part of the conversation and enjoy metal that defies expectations, upends them even, from the primal to the ethereal and keeps me guessing what new Van Halen savant will blow me away with unlimited potential and ambition. It's the range for me from caveman metal to avant-garde. But, I prefer my metal with some level of musicality-so much of so called cavernous, goat bestial metal seems to want to drown and suffocate any level of musicality and I tend to like my metal just slightly elevated above lizard brain.
    3 points
  32. LMFAO, this is the funniest thing I've seen in weeks. Brilliant. The younger sister is a beast. American girls would never rock like that. Sign me up! I'm a huge fan. But, GG, then you share a cover of Angel of Death. Little girl metal? I see a crack in your criticism. Is Slayer, and a cover from the greatest thrash album (supposedly) of all time no less, really little girl metal? Answer-little girls are metal Af. Bring it, Audrey and Kate, bring it! Take no prisoners, take no shit.
    3 points
  33. I've been looking for interesting metalhead forums on the Internet for a long time, but most of them are abandoned. What about this? by the way, I'm from Russia (Krasnodar), it would be interesting to talk to those from another country 🙂
    3 points
  34. Crucifier - Coffins Through Time... a Mourning in Nazareth, black/death Philly, 2013 compilation of tracks from various demos EP's & splits. General Surgery - Left Hand Pathology, Swedish goregrind 2006 Necrony - Pathological Performances, deathgrind Sweden 1993 Mysticum - Planet Satan, industrial black Norway 2014, the surprisingly good 2nd album that arrived 18 years after the '96 debut.
    3 points
  35. ....WhiteNoise...there is never a bad time of day or night to listen to OSSUARY....no matter which one....or OSSUARIUM....or any other band with "OSS" in the name..... G.I.S.M. - Endless Blockades For The Pussyfooter ....I have the VHS of this...never digitized it, however....guess I need to change that..... Randy Uchida looks like a combination of Vinnie Vincent, Mick Mars and Tom G Warrior in this video....
    3 points
  36. Soundgarden/Badmotorfinger-I love this album. listening to this album makes me want to sell my soul to the devil to have a voice like Chris Cornell at which point I would rip my lungs out of my chest singing this song. The pipes on that dude. So sad. The guy had everything. Actually, I would probably just go back in time to 1990 and see Soundgarden at the peak of their powers before the band blew up into the mega stadium rock star band they became.
    3 points
  37. Interesting review Cabbie. Problem with grindcore is there are a variety of styles within that sub-genre. I happen to really like a lot of grindcore, guess I've been on a bit of a grindcore kick of late, but I hated this. Hate might be too strong, but I didn't like it. This doesn't sound like the same sub-genre as most of the grindcore I generally listen to. I guess I lean more toward the extreme end of gc and I prefer some death metal mixed in with my grindcore. Not saying Gridlink's been mis-genred, it's definitely grindcore, just not the 'good' grindcore. I will now proceed to go on a grindcore binge this evening. NP: Sickrecy - Salvation Through Tyranny, Sweden 2022 - ahhh, the good grindcore Internal Rot - Grieving Birth, Melbourne Aus 2020 grindcore I understand taste is subjective mec, and I'm not discrediting your love of HE, but I just kept seeing you guys post Hate Eternal over and over so I thought I'd weigh in and offer my thoughts on the matter. Guess I just like the death metal that doesn't put me to sleep, that's all. And yes, we say 'fight tooth and nail' over here as well. Funny I don't like Morbid Angel either, so maybe that whole side of the death metal world is just not for me. Anything with the rapid-fire clickety drums I'm almost always going to pass on. There's just too much other death metal I really like a lot to waste time on stuff I don't. But hey, I'm glad you've found a reliable method to help you get to sleep!
    3 points
  38. Went to Cattle Decapitation on Friday night. The highlight was probably not the gig but meeting up with a mate and going to the pub afterwards until 1am, which is pretty much unheard of for me these days. Luckily I didn't have to get home afterwards, but nearly missed the last northbound tube to where I was staying. Anyway...to the show: I missed the first band but saw the whole set from 200 Stab Wounds. Slave to the Scalpel | 200 Stab Wounds (bandcamp.com) Enjoyable, if unremarkable, fairly old school death metal. As is the curse of opening acts, the guitar tone was pretty muddy so I just concentrated on watching the drummer. By the end of the set the balance was pretty good. I will give this a few listens and probably pick up on a BC Friday. The next band was Signs of the Swarm. Absolvere | Signs of the Swarm | Unique Leader Records (bandcamp.com) Oh dear. I believe this is what the kids call "deathcore." The above link doesn't quite capture what I took away from watching this band live. Every song was a prolonged breakdown. Each breakdown a raging torrent of breakdowns, flooded with rivulets of breakdowns, cascading into a waterfall of more breakdowns. The typewriter drum sound and one trick vocal delivery, interjected with "circle pit" was so distracting I couldn't derive much enjoyment from this. Others around me seemed to "get it" but I was minded of the discussion of Slipknot on that other thread. This is metal made by AI for people that think lots of tattoos and flesh tunnels equate to talent. Tasteless. Earlier in the day I had been genuinely worrying that I was just liking too much stuff I was listening to lately. I have been enjoying the shit out of the likes of post black Underdark and surf rock King Gizzard wondering if I was losing perspective. But this band renewed my faith in misanthropy. The main event, Cattle Decapitation, is a band I hadn't even heard before a few months ago. I had always assumed they were some joke grind band, but the AOTY accolades for Terrasite were too frequent to ignore. I am a convert, and had picked up a few other albums to cram for this gig. Luckily for me, I seem to have picked the albums they decided to pull pretty much the whole set from. There was only one, perhaps two, tracks I did not recognise. I have the same gripe about the drum sound as Signs of Breakdowns mentioned above. Triggered to the point of distraction and outright offense, so that it removes any soul from the kit; I just can't fathom why any band would want this sound. 200 Stab Wounds' drum sound was so much better. Apart from that, CatDecap were great. Vocal delivery was about what I knew it would be - flawed but so difficult to pull off live I was not expecting perfection. Still Travis Ryan is a great front man that did not once feel the need to request a circle pit or wall of death or make any other cliched idiot frontman comment. All class. Lead guitar work is excellent with tasteful solos. Great bass tone. Rhythm guitarist had great hair and tight jeans. From photos, it is obvious that unless I can fly, pics were taken from a balcony which was almost too steep of an angle, but a good vantage point. I stood in the same spot for 3 hours so as not to lose my place. Finished at 11pm which vindicated my decision to stay in London rather than try to get home on a slow train and risk waking up in Crewe or Glasgow. But, as mentioned, highlight of night was probably talking metal with buddy I don't see that often. He'd bought an autographed Terrasite LP, the bastard.
    3 points
  39. Sinira - The Everlorn Serpent Column - Mirror in Darkness Satyricon - Volcano Lamp of Murmur/Ebony Pendant - Plenilunar Requiems split
    3 points
  40. I think that is... 1. Darkthrone 2. Evilfeast 3. Marduk 4. Walknut 5. Windhand :)
    3 points
  41. Soundgarden - Superunknown (album)
    3 points
  42. PRONG - Working Man
    3 points
  43. Judas Priest day, as well as Exhorder. I know the excitement level for both around here is huge (and largely denied). NP: Exhorder - Get Rude
    3 points
  44. No idea King Gizz had pumped out another one. Not sure how anyone can keep up with these guys. Seems they drop something every few months. I'll have to check this out. Golgothan Remains - Perverse Offerings to the Void Golgothan Remains - Adorned in Ruin
    3 points
  45. Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
    3 points
  46. WORLD EATER - An Insidious Remedy
    3 points
  47. Overkill - Taking Over (1987)
    3 points
  48. Some more: New Human (Reissue) by Death This has been in my wishlist for ages but not sure if I actually listened to this mix before. The bass is a lot more prominent and better than the original CD...which I assume I still have in the garage. Fun fact, Human was the first CD I ever bought, back in 1992 with some of the money I was supposed to spend on textbooks for Uni. New Dusk | Subside by Inverloch I've had Distance Collapsed for years and never realised there was an earlier release. Still not been able to stump up $18 for the old diSEMBOWELMENT album, so this is better value at $6.
    3 points
  49. Akercocke - The Goat Of Mendes Akercocke - Choronzon
    3 points
  50. Abigor - Taphonomia Aeternitatis Abigor - Totschläger Mayhem - Chimera Akercocke - Rape Of The Bastard Nazarene
    3 points
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