navybsn

Coheed & Cambria - The Unheavenly Creatures - I remember liking an album from these guys years ago. Honestly didn't realize they were still making new music. This is not bad and I could see liking it a lot more 20 years ago. Firmly in the prog rock/metal category but more accessible than stuff by Haken, Riverside, or Pain of Salvation. I'd put these guys in down as a more radio friendly Fates Warning. Musicianship is excellent, well written songs, catchy melodies. Can't say I can see this sticking around, but it's not bad.

Saxon - Carpe Diem - seen this one mentioned a few times, and being a fan of early Saxon I had to check it out. Not bad. Musically it rocks pretty hard. My issue with later Saxon and most all of the NWOBHM bands is the lyrics. They're just so bad. Corny even. Distracts from otherwise would be an excellent heavy metal album.

Agreed. Definitely could have benefitted from some editing. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

AC/DC - Powerage

Mork - Katedralen - every time I spin this it makes me remember why it landed so high on my list this year. Perfect blend of metal styles and guitar hero antics.

Senjutsu gets better with every listen. No it's not old school Maiden, but once you get past that (which I did shortly after BNW), it's a really good dare I say progressive metal album. Speaking of progressive: NP: Enslaved - Caravans to the Other Worlds

Yeah, you're not going to find a bigger Rush fan than me, but I'd never say they are even remotely metal. Widely loved in the metal community - yes, but they are most definitely a prog rock/hard rock band. Definitely not a Slipknot fan, but I'd classify them in with metal.

Wagner Ödegård - Om kosmos och de tolv järtekn The Cure - Pornography

Arnaut Pavle - self-titled

MA is handy for exploring a band's discography and some of the projects associated with the members listed, but that's about it for me. I find the "similar artists" (rarely are they actually similar) and "external links" (not up to date - I mean I still find MySpace links) to be somewhat useless.

Perdition Temple - Sacraments of Descension Asphyx - Last One on Earth BLOOD - Impulse to Destroy

Road trip day. Out: Bandcamp wishlist roulette Back: Burzum - Filosofem Opeth - Still Life In Flames - Lunar Strain

Phrenelith - Chimera

Chilling on a Saturday night with my new pal Geddy the 3 month old Siamese. Ophiuchi - Shibboleth Cryptospital - Scythe of the Black Death

Saw all 3 of these guys in the past year. While very likely not millionaires they're not hurting. Still draw a considerable crowd. Hell, the death-core psuedo nu-metal fest I was dragged to in September had 50,000 fans there most of which were under the age of 40 and generally had no concept of pre 2000 metal (at least those I talked to). Indeed heavy music isn't dead, but I think the days of 1-2 bands filling stadiums are past us. Leaving aside economic debates, the vast number of ways to consume music these days and the huge selection of artists would certainly play a part.

Nice. Quite liked the first one. Will have to check this out today along with @MarkhantonioYeatts's space black metal comp. Re: Green Lung. I'm with you @markm. Enjoyable listen but not a purchase. I would definitely go see them if they came through town, but hell I'll go see just about anyone that's halfway decent. We get so few shows in town that we have to take what we can get. Most shows we have to travel 3-5 hours for although I've seen a significant uptick in death-core shows coming to the next town over (45 min-1 hr away). Nothing worth traveling over, but maybe it will bring some more action this way. @JonoBlade, thanks for the reminder on bc Friday. I've got quite a bit in my wishlist I've been holding on to for when they restarted the Friday thing. This morning: Rush - All the World's a Stage Rush - Grace Under Pressure: 1984 Tour

Yeah, lots of great bands from Houston. Dave Callier (guitar) is in both Oath of Cruelty and PLF. Some other excellent bands from that same scene I really like are Thy Feeble Saviour, Blaspherian, and Imprecation. Most of these bands have a good number of shared members at one time or another. This morning - spinning the General's list

Fucking excellent as usual @GoatmasterGeneral. Not enough horns to throw on this list. I'm sad to say that I've only heard about 20% of your selections. It's been that kind of year. I'm probably just going to blind purchase about 20 of these and put them in rotation. Great work.

The expectations of family members for you to come heavily out of pocket to attend a brief event like a wedding is a bit ridiculous. When we were planning our daughter's wedding, we intentionally didn't invite everyone we/she knew. Two reasons 1) like you mentioned with your parents we had no intent of ever seeing some of them again (my parents) and 2) we understood their situation and didn't want to put them in a position to either have to decline or do something that created financial issues for them. We of course explained to those in the second group in the most polite way possible to avoid hard feelings and fortunately we avoided them. I find weddings in general have become overblown money wasting activities. As a new couple, the money spent on overpriced clothing, food, pictures, and venues could be much better utilized to get a head start financially. I'd rather given my kids $15K to put a down payment on a house, secure reliable transportation, or build an emergency fund than waste it on a single day which we did. I think it would go a long way to reducing some of the hardships associated with new marriages. My wife of course didn't see it that way (even though that's exactly the way we did it). She and I just went to the courthouse, did the deed, then went to a nice resort where we did everything we should have as newlyweds. We have very fond memories of it still 25 years later. Whole weekend cost us less than a grand.

Both of these kick so much as there's a shortage of ass in Houston, which by the way is the most underrated metal scene in my travels.

Not arguing that at all. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt no matter what they've done in the past. There's rarely much that's completely unredeemable and no one who hasn't made mistakes in their lives. Dude had a problem with a significantly deviant perversion. That could indicate a number of mental health disorders ranging from obsessive compulsive disorder, narcissism, and bipolar to conditions along the Autism spectrum. With adequate treatment and commitment, those people can lead normal socially acceptable lives. Without treatment, they can do terrible things. The step between looking at pictures and actively engaging in more depraved activity isn't a big one (something I would say is irredeemable) and what I would equate to people singing or writing about the glorification of Satan/satanic imagery and those that take it further and engage in ritual activities that hurt others. Maybe not the best analogy, but you get the idea. Regardless, I think you can see the distinction I'm making. In his case, we've never heard any statement of contrition or explanation which makes me curious as to what his side is and what has happened in the intervening 11-12 years. Has he sought treatment and worked to make amends? We've no idea. My experience with the legal system is that things rarely go down the way they are related in a plea deal. Sometimes worse, sometimes not. Seeing how the whole thing actually took place over a decade ago (came to everyone's attention later), we're not likely to hear that in the future. It's likely he's done nothing at all to atone, but I'm not in a position to judge that. I'm not saying that in his case I'm turning a blind eye to what he did. I don't pay for any of his music anymore (I was sent a promotional copy of the last record), but I can still enjoy the music for what it is. I don't listen to Inquisition because of Dragon or the other dude, I do because the music is good. Back to the timeless debate of separating the art from the artist. I certainly understand where people on the side of the argument are coming from and support you having that take 100%. Just like everything in the human condition, nothing is ever simple and the myriad of factors that go into why people make the decisions they do. I try to approach things with an open mind for things I can understand and a bit of sympathy for those (like mental illness) that I can't.

Yeah, that's early 90's edgelord provoke a reaction shit as far as I see it. Lots of bands did that sort of thing back then (and still do). People grow up and change. Get a better understanding of the world and other people. I'm much more likely to reject those that continue to spew that bullshit when they're older vs those that are in their teens/early 20's. Dagon doesn't seem to be a good dude. I say seem to be because I don't know him and don't actively seek to engage and learn those sorts of things about musicians in general. If the opportunity were to present, I'd be interested in an unfiltered honest perspective from the guy on what he did and the changes if any he's made since then. No one here is likely to ever have that sort of perspective much less me, so I have a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don't like what he did/pled too and certainly don't endorse it, but so much of metal journalism is sketchy at best and many accusations are founded on loose associations, reading between the lines, and hearsay. Not saying that's the case here with Dagon, but just that I've because I've become much more skeptical over the past few years of anything I read on the interweb.

Yeah, I'm a little bias myself. Huge Immo fan for years. I really liked Atonement and I'll be really surprised if this one doesn't just crush.

Fucking hell, the new Immolation album is shaping up to be nasty. Second single released. Most may have heard it, but somehow I missed it 2 weeks ago when it was released. The Age of No Light For those who missed it, here's the first single Apostle

This one has aged fairly well in my collection. Not my favorite from them mind you, but still enjoyable. Inquisition - Black Mass for a Mass Grave