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AC/DC - High Voltage - need to knock it back a notch after Vital Remains and Meshuggah! AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Queensrÿche - The Warning

I always thought Scott Ian was the guy who tries to be everywhere and everyone's friend. He does seem to be passionate about metal and hardcore though so he's alright in my book. NP Meshuggah - Contradictions Collapse.

Been saying this for years but no one takes me seriously. Don't think it would even be that hard to implement, it'd just make a bunch of corrupt Congressmen redundant.

I find that it can be very difficult to dissect and put my finger on exactly what makes something great to me. While it's usually much easier to figure out why I think something is bad. So I can relate to your greater than the sum of its parts thing, there are many albums I feel that way about. But this is a metal forum where we come to talk about the music we love, the music we hate, the music we just checked out and the music we don't give a shit about. All we have here is words so I like to challenge myself to try to better describe why I do and don't like various pieces of music. I've never been any good at writing album reviews which kind of irritates me because I fancy myself as a man who's pretty good with words generally speaking. It's just so god damned hard to describe the intricacies and nuance of music. So I will agree there is much more that goes into evaluating music than just dissecting the sonic elements and what each instrument is doing in a clinical way. Music is a visceral thing for many of us and describing how or why something makes me feel a certain way is an art I have not as yet mastered. Probably never will. But I'll strive to do better Marky Mark. For your sake at least.

Personally, I'm more of a-the sum is greater than the individual parts-guy rather than pull out and analyze individual pieces, even though it can be important to analyze individual parts when describing music. As with most artistic endeavors, rather than conduct a death metal dissection, I know it's good when I hear it. When it gels, good is simply good across a swath of extreme metal styles. It can be raw, chunky ODM, progressive death, atmospheric, modern dissdeath....anything but tech death which I don't like. When things click it's often an undefinable element than its individual parts. The sum is greater in combination with a variety of elements rather than the merits of those elements pulled apart....kind of like a good stew....

Well you should understand Jon-O that with my 'casual and laid back' comment I was comparing the album just specifically with other death metal. I personally like a denser wall of noise in my death metal. These Golgothan dudes left a lot of space and air between their notes as compared to some other death metal bands, and that's how I chose to describe it. Laid back death metal, relatively speaking. It wasn't about beats per minute. That'd be an inadequate way to judge extreme metal I think just purely by BPM. I myself actually prefer a more midpaced approach rather than the rapid fire blur of machinated blast beats approach some bands take with their death metal. Fast for fast's sake doesn't interest me any more than bands showing off their superior musical prowess just because they can. Sometimes less really is more. But too slow when it drags and gets all doomy & dirgey well then that doesn't work for me either. So in my mind there's a real 'sweet spot' for death metal of let's say medium-fast but not too fast, with some good tempo changes giving me some faster sections and slower sections to keep things interesting. But not so many slower parts that I'll lose the plot and forget why I'm even there as well as all the reasons I thought I had to get out of bed and face another day. But lots of other things come into play as well when I'm auditioning a death metal album and deciding if I want to continue listening to it, and then once I've passed that hurdle if I might want to own it. It needs to be overall rough-dirty-filthy sounding, but beyond that I definitely need sufficiently rough & dirty individual instrument sounds, guitar tone in particular is very important to me. Moreso than the overall production or sound of an album, I need to be able to find something to like about a guitar tone. You could have the worst production ever but if you have a sick guitar tone I'll still give you a chance. Too clean, too twangy or too thin just doesn't fit with death metal in my mind and I'm out. The vocals also need to have a certain timbre to them that I find appealing on some level. Nothing makes me click away from a death metal album faster than bad or annoying vocals. Dissonance/discordance is another one of the biggest deal breakers in death metal for me, I'm not a fan of these techniques at all. Also odd time signatures, or like these wacky bands that try to pass free jazz off as death metal. I like a little bit of a groove in my death metal that I can bop my head along in time with. Dissonance impededs or sometimes completely removes my ability to keep time along to a piece of music prohibiting me from bopping my head along with it and that's simply unacceptable. So now you tell me Jon-O, what do you look for in death metal? Since last night. There's good howling and bad howling. But mostly there's bad howling. I know the good kind when I hear it. Barking has a little more leeway to be good, but sometimes it can miss the mark for me too, like with that GR album.

I threw on this (GOLGOTHAN REMAINS - Adorned in Ruin) to check it oot. Sure it has some odd vocal choices but we have very different views on what "casual and laid back" means. Your heart must beat at like 320bpm. That'll kill ya man. Meditate!

But what's up with the howling and barking Doc? I'm just not sold on the canine aspects of the vocals. And then in track 3 the dude just randomly starts speaking French. I had to pause it for a sec to make sure the French speaking wasn't from some other tab I didn't know was playing. I keep going back to this album because so many people keep mentioning it in a positive manner. Now I'm not saying the album's bad, but the music isn't dense or suffocating enough for what I want from my death metal, it seems too casual and laid back to me, even as compared to their first album. At first I thought maybe it was just an Aussie thing, with all your sunshine, beaches, surf shops and everyone half pissed all the time it's gotta be hard to keep things brutal if you're hanging out in your boardies at Bondi Beach in the arvo chattin' up the Shielas. But there have been some pretty brutal Aussie bands so that can't be it. Can't quite put my finger on it, but if this album doesn't click with me soon I'm gonna have to stop going back to it and just let it go as one of the ones that got away. Intus Mortem - Exiled from Light, Italy

Mine comes to me 2 days after the candidates are named and I just fill it out and post it off. This year I didn't even have to leave the house because the wife posted it while she was at work!

A gloomy take on the world. I'm not saying you are entirely wrong, but there is ascertainment bias here. I interact with a different bunch of younger people but we all consume too much, me included. In person.Very simple and convenient.

Was that to vote early in person or on the postal vote form? Because from memory I think the postal vote form has 4 maybe 6 options and they are all fairly generic. At the end of the day the AEC want people to vote, they don't care if it's done via post, but the rules state one must have a valid reason so that's all they ask for they don't care what the reason is. I never really thought I liked dark themes on my web pages but I've been getting used to them lately and this site stood out as kind of annoying all white so I've changed it. Looks much better black I think I'll keep it. Given all that white is less environmentally friendly I'll consider this my contribution to global warming

Undeath/It's Time...To Rise From the Grave

He's turned into a huge dick since he was chosen to be a gambler. But he's always sucking up to James and Lars in interviews and on stage when he gets a chance. As for his passion with metal, the closest thing he's done that's metal in the past 6 years is the album with Bert from Big Bang Theory. His latest album with his wife is barely even hard rock and with the new Anthrax album that they started writing in 2018 now not due until sometime on 2023, possibly, he's about as metal as a cheese sandwich with pickles.

In this country it requires changes to the constitution to implement any form of online voting. It's not impossible but it's something no party really wants to be responsible for changing given the ramifications if it fails.

I actually agree. I also think modern technology could allow all democracies to become more democratic by allowing polling for major or contentious legislation (aka direct democracy). They do this in Switzerland which is the only real democracy.

I really don't understand why they can't just have people vote on their phones via an internet poll like they do for American Idol. We could have election results in mere minutes.

I love the way that the AEC has been on TV lately talking about the high numbers of people voting early while at the same time saying that people need a good reason not to vote on the day. The only reason people need is "will not be available". Not only that if you ask your local member, whether you like them or not, for a postal vote form most of them keep your name on record for the next election and just send out the forms because they think they've got a chance of getting your vote if they send you the papers.

Totally true, despite the fact there are so many massive issues now concerning everything from environment to housing to cost of living to national security and China relationship. What happens now literally determines the future of the country. The old neoliberal ways of doing things are less and less viable. I totally agree. They have come along quite a long way since their more activist days. I always try to vote early. This year I did a postal vote for first time.

They reckon the number of early voters could be as high as 50% this year. I voted about 2 weeks ago when my papers arrived in the mail. I haven't seen a polling booth in about 20 years.

The yoiks who talk are self selected. Either they have an agenda or they are too clueless to know they are being manipulated. Then the journalists select and edit. A total waste of air time. I - like > 30% - voted early so the polls are meaningless too. The Greens are the sensible voice and so rarely heard.

I think in the interest of not taking the sides the ABC are anti every politician whilst simultaneously kissing their arses to try and get interviews with them. The ABC TV news is like a kid whose parents have split up, today they talk to one politician about how great he's doing and how the other parents are all idiots, then tomorrow they get a different parent on and do the same bloody thing. Not one hard question has been asked by the media in this election.

I worked with Taipan quite a few times back in the 80's. I loved their early stuff and it was always a great show when they were on the bill. NP Obituary - Torture Chamber

Their first album Immaculate Deception (1986) is probably even better. Never heard of Scatterbrain, I'll have to check them out.

I just found this on eBay and put in a bid. Scatterbrain - Here Comes Trouble is a defining album from my youth. I always knew there was a precursor band called Ludichrist but never heard it before. This is awesome. Its not as polished as Scatterbrain but heavier. Made my morning.