markm

Hi.

I haven't been posting much here because I've bought very little new metal this year. I will say Haunter's Discarnate Ails is one of the best albums I've grabed..it's progreesive black/death with a fair amount of dissonance but they always cycle back to a heavy, chaotic sound I dig......that said I found a stack of CD's from 2016, some new, some old but 2016 purchases- tucked away in my basement in overflow CD storage that I've been listening to before putting into main collection interspersed with 2021 albums: Asphyx/Incoming Death Ghoulgotha/To Starve the Cross-sounding better than I remembered Monolord/Vaenir-pretty boring, really Red Giant/Devil Child Blues-great The Vision Bleak/The Unknown-this holds up pretty well-gothic metal with blackened overtones Fleshgod Apocalypse/King-on the one hand-what was I thinking?-on the other hand-this is like a DM version of Dimmu Borgir or Therion both of whom I occasionally enjoy-and it's fun. Ramones/Leave Home Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine/A Beginner's Mind The War on Drugs/I Don't Live Here Anymore King Woman/Celestial Blues

New thread we should start-"metal your wife/GF will actually fucking tolerate".

I love Agrimonia. Agnosy is very cool, too. Rites of Separation is great. Awaken was my favorite album from 2018. It felt like a more "evolved" mixture of styles. Somewhat surprised you like Agrimonia in their genre mixing, but yeah, love that kind of thing. Definitely a good album but they have several that stack up pretty high for me-Viva Emptiness, Last Fair Deal Gone Down.

I'll definitely check the it out unless it gets completely trashed by the metal intelligencia.

Really? I never would have guessed. Good to see you posting again! Hope you are well.

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Under the Sign of Hell rules. Some good albums there. Did you ever listen to Immortal-At the Heart of winter-that's a great one with some strong blackened thrash goodness. One of my faves that might win over even BM deniers.

Neurosis/Fires within fires Oceans of Slumber/Starlight and Ash (2022)-no longer metal -progressive goth rock Oceans of Slumber/Winter (2016) For chill house music, I've been on something of a Debussy kick lately....a few minutes each morning as I get ready for work. His music has that fleeting impressionist feel that just feels right for now: Debussy Sonatas/ Nash Ensemble as well as a Kyung-Wha Chung recording of his violin sonata Debussy String Quartets/Emerson Quartets Debussy/Orchestral Works (La Mer, Images, etc.)/Charles Dutroit and Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Honestly, no reason to lament grunge as it basically morphed into stoner metal and sludge, or at minimum there is overlap. Superunknown has been heralded as an early stoner rock album. Dead brought Melvins into the discussion who obviously have overlap into sludge. I particularly like stoner and sludge with punk/hardcore influence.

I had Mudhoney's Piece of Cake from 92-dig that album.

I'm not sure how I feel about grunge really. I liked a lot of the bands but it also gets mixed in with my feelings about alternative rock/metal. And the music is now quite dated. I'll still throw on Dirt or Facelift or Superunknown or Badmotorfinger but I'm also sort of over those albums at this point except BMF which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Melvins are a different animal to me, but I fucking love Melvins. Peal Jam is boring and flat out suck-they're like the Bruce Springsteen of grunge . I never got into Nirvana in a big way. Actually, it was Nevermind. That album blew up in such a big way that I refused to buy it. But I did get In Utero which I rather liked and yeah, of course they were pivotal. I think Nirvana was a bigger influence on guys that were younger. I was in my my mid-late 20's rather than, say high school. I also mash up bands like NIN and Ministry that produced influential albums around the same time or maybe a couple of years later but it all blends into the amorphous early 90's alt metal thing along with way too much airplay from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and The Offspring.

I'm in general agreement. I'm tired of playing shit for my wife or 22 year old kid who might enjoy a random AC/DC or Zeppelin or Sabbath track, but really have no taste for anything heavy. Fuck it. It's not in you. Never gonna be.

Don't be....very user friendly. I like a fair amount of black metal but I actually think it generally sounds like shit on a decent speaker system. Somehow it translates pretty darn well on headphones....like the HPs take out some of the strident sibilance whereas DM often, but not always, with it's more thundering low end is the way to go on speaks...plus you hate black metal and like DM haha.

Dang guys, why can't we all just get along? I want my MTV.

Haunter – Discarnate Ails-love this album

Interesting reading.....but too many words...as someone less invested without the depth and breadth of some of you who have really studied the history and trends in DM, but as someone who still enjoys DM, I think Dead has some valid points...and I don't always agree on his takes, but overall I'd say, yah, Dead I think you're largely correct. That's why many of us who explore early DM through the mid 90's get thrilled by what they hear-as you say the range and diversity and inspired fresh sounds of the age.

For sure that would prolly go on mine.

Shit-so many great albums yous'ns have been listing. I love seeing familiar names that surprise. Like, I'm not the only one that likes something as obvious as Soundgarden.

I love McCoy Tyner.....everything he touched turned to gold.

Some good point GG. I eat meat as well as beef but I avoid red meat. I do eat a lot of chicken and fish. I've been reading Mark Hayman's The Pegan Diet book. He's all over PBS. My Mom gave a big donation and got this big deluxe set of material based on his book and popular PBS programming. She gave it to me. It's a lot of stuff you already know but the information is good. It combines the vegan principles with paleo. So meat is included, but it's not the main event. His ideas include: Food is medicine or poison Eat the rainbow 75% rule-your plate should literally be 75% non starchy vegetables Grains are not essential for humans-so eat the right kind of grains and beans-non starchy beans and only 1/2 cup of non gluten grains a day-tiny amount! Eat the right kind of meat-it can be healthy but-it should not be the star of the show. Be picky about eggs, poultry and fish. Low mercury fish 3x/week and some pasteurized raised poultry Healthy fats at every meat Avoid dairy mostly

Still a CD guy....these were delivered.... Haunter/Discarnate Ails Undeath/It's Time....to rise from the Grave Blut Aus Nord/Disharmonium Cave In /Heavy Pendulum

Have you ever bothered to research how much grain it takes to raise one cow? The methane produced by commercial modern factory farms is something like 14% of all man made emissions. Factory farmed red meat is a complete cluster fuck. It wouldn't have to be that way if farmers used regenerative practices from what I've read restoring nutrients to ecosystems rather than raping the land. Beef could actually be healthy if the practices were changed from using primarily corn to feed them to grass fed regenerately raised meat. I won't touch any beef that's not organic. It's poison afaic. I may as well take up smoking.

Honestly, we'd all be better off not eating cows or raising them contributing to methane. There would certainly be less heart disease. That said, I do like a good beef taco from time to time-haha Well the thing I find amusing is the overt experimental, artsy meandering quality to a lot of their music that you usually say that you find annoying. Here's what I wrote at the time in our end of year wrap-ups: 2. Old Man Gloom/Seminar VIII: The Light of Being and Seminar IX: Darkness of Being- Two pandemic albums dedicated to the passing of bassist Caleb Scofield who also worked with Cave-In. Their sound is more tilted to Cave-in’s alternative rock and post hardcore sound than Turner’s other projects a long with some expected post metal. Their previous works alternated from my limited listening between great and annoying AF. These weirdos specialize in experimental sludge and are tricksters. It’s not uncommon to have a track that starts out strong and then gives way to ten minutes of inane noise. Think Melvis at their most experimental and irritating. That tendency made their last double album, The Ape of God a bit of a deal breaker for me. Well, OMG clean that up here and mostly reign in the extended noise integrating the feedback and static in a more cohesive way with a couple of notable exceptions and offer an album of great excess-an unruly mixture of sludge, alternative, punk/hardcore and post punk. It’s a messy affair with some failed experiments but mostly awesome. Naturally, many of you will think it’s an artsy fartsy horrid affair. I do not.

Well that's pretty amusing, considering I gave those two my my no. 2 spot in 2020 just behind Sumac-also Aaron Turner. I think I was the only one at M-F who even mentioned those albums. But it's good shit...seriously surprised you enjoyed those two albums.