JamesT

Good evening, my friend! As far as I understand it, the "southern metal" descriptor is merely a reference to the style of music being played, rather than the location where the band is based. I remember posting about a band called Black Tooth, who play a southern-tinged groove metal sound similar to PanterA, and they're from Turkey. A couple of others are Betzefer (from Israel) and Overcharger (who I think are from Germany, but I could be mistaken) and Behind the Smokescreen (from Greece). They tend to model their sound after bands like PanterA, Down, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, etc., that are all from down here in the American south (most of those bands are from New Orleans, but I still claim them, being from the southeast region of the country!). I have a few thousand songs in my music library that fall under the "southern/groove metal" label, so I'm constantly making my way through them. It gives me great joy that you're at least mildly curious about the modern era of Accept! I'm actually the opposite - I almost exclusively listen to this new era. I know some folks might consider this to be metal sacrilege, but I much prefer Mark Tornillo as a singer over Udo. Don't get me wrong - I own several U.D.O. albums, and I like Udo quite a bit. And very occasionally, I'll listen to "Restless and Wild", "Balls to the Wall", "Objection Overruled", etc. But in my opinion, Mark is a far more dynamic singer - he has that very gruff singing voice in general, and he can hit those banshee screams at will. I'm absolutely pumped for the release of "Humanoid" (Mark's 6th album with the band now) next Friday, April 26! With regard to this modern era of Accept, my top recommendation would be Mark's debut with the band, "Blood of the Nations" (2010). However, right on its heels would be "The Rise of Chaos" (2017). I can say with all honesty that I enjoy all 5 (soon to be 6, I'm fully confident) of the Tornillo-era albums fairly equally, but I'd put those two at the top of the list. And hey, I'm psyched that the Goatmaster even cares enough to ask for my humble opinion on these albums! I hope you're not totally disappointed (I can't conceive how these albums would be even remotely disappointing, but of course, I'm incredibly biased toward this era), but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts if you do decide to have a listen. Take care, my metal friend! P.S. I hope that issue with your refrigerator/freezer turned out okay!

Overkill - "The Grinding Wheel" Accept - "Blood of the Nations" Accept - "Stalingrad" Whiskey Rebellion - Self-titled (EP)

Love me some Tyr! The epic feel to the music, the melodic compositions, and the stellar vocals all make this band a great listen at any time. Can't go wrong with Body Count either! The last couple of albums have been fantastic.

Hardbone - "This is Rock 'N' Roll" Hardbone - "Bone Hard" Overkill - "Scorched" Facebreaker - "Dead, Rotten, and Hungry" Fantastic, mid-paced death metal!

My goodness, I had no idea! I sure hope nothing disastrous happens while Joel is up high - seems like a bad combination with lots of beer drinking. Hardbone - "Dirty 'N' Young" Love some good ol' rock 'n' roll!

I don't doubt that at all! I've seen some of their live shows on YouTube, and he seems to climb a tower or two during every show. Not sure how he manages to continue playing his guitar in the meantime, but he certainly brings that rock 'n' roll energy on stage, reminiscent of the mighty Angus Young.

Great minds think alike, my metal friend! If Joel and the boys ever come over to the U.S. near me, I'll be there waiting to catch a beer can that he crushes against his own forehead.

Airbourne - "No Guts, No Glory" My favorite Airbourne album! The one-two punch of "Raise the Flag" and "Bottom of the Well" (tracks 4 and 5) is just tremendous. Big Ball - "Hotter Than Hell" Yep, it's been a great day of stripped down rock 'n' roll!

Completely agree! No reason for the pandemic to be an excuse any longer, especially given how many bands put out new albums during the past few years. I've been reading that they're putting out a new album this year, so hopefully that happens!

Mean Machine - "Livin' Outlaw" Strong Motorhead vibes with this bunch - very well done! Airbourne - "Runnin' Wild" Can never go wrong with one of the modern torchbearers of rock 'n' roll!

3 Inches of Blood - "Advance and Vanquish" Lamb of God - "Omens" Metallica - "Hardwired...to Self-Destruct" Saxon - "Innocence is No Excuse" Saxon - "The Inner Sanctum" Cannibal Corpse - "Chaos Horrific" Cannibal Corpse - "Bloodthirst" Medicine Horse - Self-titled

Raider - "Trial by Chaos" Cattle Decapitation - "Terrasite" Enforced - "Kill Grid" Enforced - "War Remains" Atrophy - "Asylum"

I appreciate your showing mercy on me, my friend! I've been a huge DragonForce fan for about 18 years now, but in hindsight, I don't play those first four albums with ZP Theart on vocals as much as I used to. But now with Marc Hudson on vocals for the last 5 albums, the songwriting has been more varied, and the material has been top-notch! I listen to far less power metal in general these days - with DragonForce, Cellador, GloryHammer, Sabaton, and Rhapsody being the main exceptions - but when DF puts out something new, I'm on it as soon as possible. Always a pleasure, my metal brother! I couldn't have stated it any better! The first four albums - "Ecliptica", "Silence", "Winterheart's Guild", and "Reckoning Night" - are absolute classics for me, and I play them quite often. I enjoyed "Unia" fairly well, although I much prefer when they play a more straightforward power metal style. "The Days of Grays" (2009) came out during my freshman year of college, and I played it quite a bit, but it continued to stray from power metal (with the exception of the impeccable track, "Flag in the Ground"), so I started to lose hope. "Stones Grow Her Name" and "Pariah's Child" were albums that I only played a couple of songs from and really never revisited. However, with this new release, "Clear Cold Beyond", they've made more of a return (although not completely) to the power metal style I fell in love with all those years ago. With this new release, my love for Sonata Arctica has been completely rekindled, and I'm really enjoying the albums from the last 15 years a lot more. Love this band and so glad to have come back around!

Sonata Arctica - "Winterheart's Guild" My favorite Sonata album. Can't wait to check out the brand new release! DragonForce - "Maximum Overload" My favorite DF album - not a single weak track.

Alestorm - "Captain Morgan's Revenge" DragonForce - "Warp Speed Warriors" Really enjoying the first new album in 5 years from my favorite power metal band. Really glad Marc Hudson is in the band and has been for some time now. I know ZP Theart was beloved on those early albums, but Hudson is a much more dynamic singer and never hits a sour note. I'll be playing this one for a long time.

Yes, same here! I don't hold out much hope that they're still together at this point, but perhaps they'll surprise me.

Fantastic choice! Love that band. Got two of their albums, although I'm not certain how big their discography is. This one has been one of the better new wave thrash albums in more recent years. I revisit this one often! Black Water Rising - Self-titled Black Water Rising - "Pissed and Driven" Nice hard rock with a southern metal flare to it.

Fantastic album! Even better than their 2019 release, "Bury the Pain", which was great as well. Those guys keep getting better and better. AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock" AC/DC - "Powerage" AC/DC - "Highway to Hell" AC/DC - "Back in Black" AC/DC - "For Those About to Rock" AC/DC - "Flick of the Switch" AC/DC - "Fly on the Wall" Temple Balls - "Pyromide"

Fantastic album! Been one of my favorite thrash albums to revisit for several years now. The pace is pretty furious throughout, and the guitar work is great. They have two albums out that I know of, and I own them both, but hopefully they'll put some more stuff out at some point.

That's my #2 Testament album of all, just behind "The Gathering"! Just an incredible slab of thrash.

Fantastic choice! The most recent 5 Testament albums (dating back to "The Gathering") are my 5 favorites in the catalog, and "Brotherhood of the Snake" is right up there!

Howl - "Bloodlines" A band that forges a nervous truce between hardcore and sludge, but it works very well!

Just played this based on your recommendation - thank you, sir! This is some great stuff.

Helldozers - "Hate Sweet Hate" Blessed Hellride - "Bastards & Outlaws" KK's Priest - "Sermons of the Sinner"

One can never go wrong with some Iron Monkey! Happy listening, my friend.