Nasty_Cabbage

Yeah. The once tireless flesh machine we pilot through this world not quite running at full speed is a big sign that father time is pulling one of those "I'll be there in five minutes" when he's actually more like thirty minutes away... Or maybe I'm just bitter since it irritates me when people do that. My thirties have been sorta rough on me health-wise mostly by virtue of my own actions without getting too much into it so that might be why I felt so comfortable claiming "long in the tooth" status. Oh, by the way all, I'm not going to write a huge elaborately structured post quoting everybody for this, but I really appreciate everyone's welcoming tone and level-headed demeanor responding to me in this and other threads. I've got thick skin and I can absorb plenty of shots without making it personal, but that doesn't mean I'm not incredibly grateful to participate in actual even handed discourse with you all. It's a rare commodity these days, especially online. Only been here a few days, but you lot seem like an awesome bunch. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Goatmaster, dude, you did not need to put yourself through the first half of The Sickness even if it was just for context. Good Lord, there are enough musical manifestations of pure torture out there without seeking them out. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. As far as the generational thing goes for me personally, I should note that I took a particularly strange path through my music to arrive where I am. Being into some nu-metal when everybody else was into it was probably about the most "normal" phase I went through. It doesn't take a degree in sociology to look at people's musical development and realize that rebellion, offensiveness, and a generally iconoclastic attitude toward the music of the directly prior generation often comes into play. Thing is, though, my parents weren't ever all that concerned with the music I listened to. Before the nu-metal thing hit I could have opined more on Jerry and the Peacemakers, The Beach Boys (It will never stop being funny to me that they swing back into fashion every now and again), Little Richard, and all the fifties doo-wa rock and/or roll than Helmet or Statc-X. If you'd have mentioned Fear Factory to me I would have asked if that's the lab where they clone Joe Rogans. What really killed all that for me was moving to Des Moines right as the whole Slipknot thing was rapidly gaining traction. I don't know if it's still there, but there used to be a nasty little hole in the wall bar in that town that would do a few all-ages shows every so often, and I went to as many of them as I could, quickly disillusioning myself of the idea that Slipknot was popular for anything but their marketing, and meeting a few of those absolute fucking assholes in the process. I pretty much decided that I was going to have to dig a little deeper to find good music. Negative personal associations with your audience, it turns out, are a pretty pivotal thing when you have no talent at all. God I hated those guys. Joey Jordensen is a decent enough dude, but the rest of them can go suck Cheez-Wiz from Angela Lansbury's asshole.

Aww come on man. I can't lose my aarp card. I need that for food.😄 Honestly, though, I've never actually checked which years of birth precisely classify as millennial. I just assumed they were younger than me, since whenever I'm handling promotional material that specifically mentions stats and marketing to millennials there's always some stock photo of a flock of teenagers trying desperately to make their smiles look sincere. And I'm rapidly approaching forty though (two and a half years from now). I'm sure not stepping into any mosh pits again. Those days are gone. Also I've really only met a few metalheads my age, not counting veteran touring band members.

I find that with most police I've dealt with, a little civility goes a long way. They'll be absolute jerks if you give them a reason though. Not a story about me breaking the law personally, but dealing with police: I was working a shift at a store just off the main road into the city I lived in and this very attractive young woman came up to me seeing my uniform and furtively whispered "Hey. I was in the library in [capitol of a neighboring state], and I was taken. This is the first time he's let me out to use the bathroom. I'm going to lock the door after I go in. Please call the cops and don't let anyone in there until they're here." I nodded, pointed to the bathroom, and said "best use the latch to lock it so it'll only open from the inside." I called the police and relayed the info to them. They were quick getting to us since this was a pretty serious situation. They talked to the guy who had been driving her for about twenty minutes, then came in and basically took her in so she could make a statement. They let the guy just drive off, though, which I thought was strange. I knew one of the cops who showed up happened to be a regular who stopped in every morning to get his coffee so of course I had to ask him about it the next day. He rolled his eyes and audibly grunted in frustration. He told me "That lady wasn't kidnapped at all. They had met each other on an online s and m community website and arranged to meet up for real life and go back to his place for the weekend. When she told you she'd been kidnapped it was appearantly because she suddenly got really frightened that her *ahem BOYFRIEND was going to find out. And of course he's the only one she could call to come pick her up. She's still at the station waiting for him to get there." And apparently she told the police all of this like it was just routine for her. I kind of understand why police become irate if their time is being wasted. What the hell lady?

Yep. The bandcamp said it had new artwork. Problem is I don't think I like the new one either. It's like they said "hey, this cover is kind of an eyesore. Do you want us to commission a new cover for the reissue?" to which the reply was "only if you have an amateur do it in pastel crayon again. NP: ▶︎ Primeval Well | Primeval Well | Babylon Doom Cult Records (bandcamp.com) The banjo's a strange choice here. Maybe it'll grow on me. I don't know whether they're hunting Hatfields or McCoys but they're going to shoot one of them.

Okay, so we started with nu-metal and ended up at YOB. Interesting. I'll probably go back and read the whole thread a little later. First thing's first I guess, a ton of metalheads from a generation or so ago came into their own with nu-metal as a starting point, myself included. It doesn't make Korn any less insufferable to me nowadays though. I will fully own up to having owned Disturbed's The Sickness and enjoying it when I was in junior high. I think a big problem that hits people eventually is the lack of any true "underground" scene for the stuff. It was very much a kind of engineered trend that took off after most people had started to tire of grunge, which itself was the long overdue bullet to the back of the head for glam in the vein of Poison, Def Leopard, what have you. The main access to newer music for most children at that point was still very much whatever was on the radio, so generally the major label cabal had a lot more of a hold on people's taste then I think many remember. Then the heraldic internet age blessed us all with the freedom to branch out. I do think that larger labels were far too slow reacting to that, and now they're mostly the ones who you'll hear whinging about the "death of the music industry". Spoiler alert, that's not and never was happening. It's just much more democratic and personalized now. The consequences of this for nu-metal of course lacking any real depth beneath what was already being pushed with a few outliers here and there meant that what was on the radio was both the ceiling and floor for the genre, and as freedom and access grew over the years, many hungry music fans found themselves falling straight through that floor and into legitimate underground metal. All of a sudden nu-metal acts felt shallow and simple, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of many. Nu-metal got outclassed by... well, almost everything else. As far as YOB goes I'm an absolute fanboy. I've only seen them twice, but man they're something else. Mike Scheidt has had himself an incredible career with that band, and I will buy and listen to whatever they put out. The Illusion of Motion is my personal favorite, and The Unreal Never lived is my least, but of course I still enjoy it.

I got a paraphernalia ticket once when my roommate had a warrant out, and the dumbass left his bong right on the living room coffee table. I told the police that it wasn't mine, that I hadn't partaken in that particular habit since high school, and would take a drug test to that effect, but since I was the only one home at the time, he basically said he had to write me the ticket, and my roommate would have to confirm that it was his to get the ticket dropped. Of course he never did that. I wasn't even all that upset about the fine. It was a few years later though I had a great job in the bag. They basically told me I could come in and start the second my background check went through HR. I had completely forgotten about the ticket until they called me and said that it looked like I had deliberately not disclosed the ticket on my application, and didn't get the job. It was really infuriating. Heads up all: if you're in the job market always make sure you've got a copy of your current record on hand, and write everything on there on your application. Basically err on the side of caution.

▶︎ For Mircalla | Briton Rites | sunandmoonrecords (bandcamp.com) Hmmm. This one's apparently regarded as a young classic if the archives are to be believed. I don't really fetishize horror films. I feel it's a genre where the sheer amount of awful to barely tolerable entries nearly makes the search for the masterpieces that are out there not worth it Still in metal, and doom in particular, I can get behind it as a fitting theme. The fans of this album seem positively lovestruck and smitten with it. Can't begrudge them that. Musically I think it's a little above average. I don't mind the vocalist at all even if he does sound like he lacks a bit of diaphragm control in trying to land the sweet notes. It probably helps that it reminds me a little of Pagan Altar in that the vocals underscore and strengthen the material by virtue of being capable enough not to be an annoyance, and staying out of the way when they're not required. Good guitar work all around.

It's not terrible, but I feel like I've been listening to it for well over an hour, and when I checked I was only 35 minutes in, that's only halfway. My patience with this dissonance in the name of musicianship is wearing thin and there's definitely an evil component missing here for me too. But it's not terrible. Worn Mantle, Minnesota 2022, not hearing the Pseudogod thing. I would not call this black metal. I certainly wouldn't call it straight up black metal either, or at least not without a ton of qualifiers attached, and honestly I wouldn't direct somebody who'd asked for black metal in its quintessential sense toward it. The approach to developing and slowly layering the stuff is mainly what makes me think these guys are probably familiar with some of Deathspell Omega's longer tracks. The simple rythms are where I'm getting the Pseudogod thing. It's not nearly as messy as Teitanblood or Impetuous Ritual, but it's got that otherworldly feel for me, which is an itch I sometimes find difficult to scratch. NP: I hate to pick on these guys, but this is kind of bad. The longer I let this one play the more I'm completely unsurprised by almost every musical choice. There's no sense of experimentation or adventure here. The production values are high, but outside of that these guys don't sound the slightest bit interested in their own music, and if they're not interested why should I be?

Worn Mantle - Worn Mantle Worn Mantle - Worn Mantle [RAUM-022] | Geistraum Records (bandcamp.com) Oddly enough though listening to these Minnesotans the band I'm reminded most of is Russia's Pseudogod. Much like the riffs on Deathwomb Catechesis the rythmic paths the riffs take here are deceptively simple and often very straightforward in terms of time signatures, but allowing these rythms to layer and build and erode with the passage of each song reveals a strong sense of confidence and musical development. Also like Pseudogod, even though the riffs say 'death metal' on their surface the cold bloodless hand of black metal cannot be overstated. I really like these guys just on the basis of reminding of Pseudogod alone since I've been waiting for album number two from them for over a decade now. But there's something very distinct here; something that could only have sprung from musical isolation.

np: Sacral Rage - Beyond Celestial Echoes ▶︎ Beyond Celestial Echoes | Sacral Rage (bandcamp.com) A lot of fun to be had here. The falsettos are at least on key, and used with relative restraint compared to a lot of other practitioners of their chosen style. I find with this strain of Trad. the songs live and die by the strength of the bridge since there's rarely any variance from the verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structure. That in itself isn't a bad thing per se, but it really makes it so you can't just throw a solo over the main chord change. These guys know what it's about, and how to write good bridges.

I feel very foolish. For the record, I would like to be clear that I am fully aware that Portugal is not in South America. I should have been clear that the South American scene seems to be the primary influence, and it being one of my absolute favorite niche scenes in all of metal was making me wax faux nostalgic since I was never part of it when it was happening. And to be fair to you it's actually a fairly common mistake that stateside Americans make with Portugal so I definitely understand why it needed to be pointed out. Truth is it's not even the dumbest mistake we often make. Some one asked me once where I would like to travel to if I were independently wealthy and I said "I'd love to see Vienna or just Austria in general", to which he replied "I'm too scared of crocodiles to go there." I almost couldn't reply I was so dumbstruck. Children of the Grave cover threw me. Obviously I wasn't expecting a full on doomy cover, but the way they start out just blistering right into it and then leading into the open sustained chords almost made it hard to identify as a cover right away. Gotta give 'em props for actually altering the nature of the song instead of just playing a straight cover. NP: Oh this looks tasty. I was picking up some doomy Hooded Menace kinda vibes from the artwork and logo, but the bottom end of this death metal has some serious thump to it. I like it.

I love that album. It's always struck me as strange how people mention Spheres onward as their more progressive albums, but when I listen to Malleus Maleficarum I really don't think it lacks any of the progressive elements that Spheres had. Malleus Maleficarum is just a little rougher in the recording. Maybe it's because Consuming Impulse is very clearly their straight up sledgehammer to the head, and maybe their most iconic album so people tend to think about them as becoming more progressive as they mature, but I say if you count Spheres, and definitely Testimony as part of their 'progressive' albums you've got to throw Malleus in there as well. I like it all though. NP Alastor - Gates of Darkness It's absolutely a rose-tinted glasses kind of effect, but when I listen to this kind of stuff there's a huge part of me that wishes I could have been in some sweaty filthy club in South America in the early 90's hearing this stuff played live in it's absolute rawest form as a younger man. This stuff makes me want to tear down the walls nowadays. Had I been in adolescence and heard Mutilator, Sarcofago, Sextrash, or Vulcano back then I would likely have lost my damn mind. I just have to keep in mind that conditions for a bunch of the people in that scene were probably fairly dire depending on a number of factors and to have been there is not something I actually want. Anybody know of any articles or interviews where some of these bands talk about what the South American blackened thrash scene was like at its inception. Preferably non-Sepultura related (I like the first few albums, but everybody seems to focus on Roots when they interview Max, and in my opinion that album is already showing symptoms of their declining quality).

Peace Sells easily. Only flaw with that album is I Ain't Superstitious. A fine cover on its own, but completely throws off the flow of the album heading into the last track (and my fave Megadeth song) My Last Words.

My bad. Lack of observation on my part. Thanks for the assist.

Resurrecting this thread to heartily echo the sentiment of MM's extensive discography being excellent in general. God forbid a band of absolute vets find success later in their career. They even got some *furtively glances around radio airplay. The horror.

Christopher Lloyd is my spirit animal.

The writing thread seems more geared toward things written by the poster. Commendable, but, things being as they are, I will require a thread to spout off about the joys of reading. Please feel free to post what you're currently reading, and thoughts on it, or give your opinions on literature or books in general. Fair warning though, classic literature is the only passion of mine I would rank above music, so my posts here may run long and frequent. I've got thick skin though so if you think I'm full of it, or just want me to stop cluttering up the thread, by all means do so. Currently reading Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Wonderful so far, but it probably won't dethrone Crossing to Safety as my favorite of his. Stegner's narrative voice is almost always distinct, if not hugely variable. It's more a case of him knowing what he's good at then any lack of strong characterization. The author he reminds me most of is Steinbeck in his later years; think Travels With Charlie. He's much more openly reflective and openly reminiscent than Steinbeck, though. His framing of the narrator as looking back on what some would call a mundane life and pondering whether such a life would be worth writing of at all is almost heroically tragic, but his deeply felt exultant victories and bitter failures are contagious. By the time we've fully immersed ourselves in his stark and gentle prose altering it for the sake of drama and adventure would be like putting lots of explosions into a movie like Babette's Feast. The worth is self evident.

Ten Commandments on deck then. If my creation was in fact malevolent, then hopefully this album will benevolently destroy.

Thank you. 90's death/thrash, huh. I was just considering going on a deep dive into Malevolent Creation's discography since I haven't really listened to any of their albums in full. They've been around forever though, it seems. Got a decent suggestion as to where to start?

Oh man, that album really tested me. I'm usually not one to become impatient with this stuff since it unfolds slowly by design, but that one for some reason just kept evading me right up until sometime last year when I just decided to bust out the nice headphones, turn off any light or screen in the house and just listen to it. Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations. "Did you order a dump truck of thrashy fun, sir?" "Yes. Yes I did. No need to unload it either. I'll keep the dumptruck."

Doin' well my man. I can jive with some black metal discussion for sure. I am here (not so) proudly representing the great state of 'Holy Shit I Didn't Think Anybody Actually Lived There' in the midwest of the U.S. How about you sir? As far as black metal goes I go through different stages with it. I shy away from a lot of the atmospheric stuff that sounds like some dude spent eight minutes playing five notes on his crumb-crusted Moog synthesizer and called it a day, but outside of that I like to take chances on stuff. Just today I stumbled on Blood of Kingu and in between looking like an rabid idiot jamming out to that I was kicking myself for having never checked them out before. Black metal can be incredible if it's rhythmically interesting. I think the U.S. black metal scene is underrated if we're talking regional affiliations, and at the moment my favorite particular bm band is Absu and it's many iterations even though I will never stop being mad at having to type out Proscriptor McGovern’s Apsû just to talk about how awesome that last album was.

Woah. Good stuff here. To be fair, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near a band with that name and a "hardcore punk" genre tag, "early" or not.

Thanks for posting that Ondfødt album Goatmaster. Reminded me that I started listening to it, but was interrupted by life and it's pesky responsibilities. Enjoying it so far. Without a doubt my favorite album of the week has been Defiled's The Highest Level. I can understand people's issues with the production, but the quality of the material itself easily overcomes what I'd honestly consider to be a mild hangup. Have some death metal my friends:

Hello all. Glad to have joined. I'm a little long in the tooth as far as most metalheads go these days, and I've been a member on several other forums over the years all of which were eventually taken down. I decided to join here mainly as a way to find and discuss metal that's at least a little off the beaten path. I feel as though over the last few years in particular the limited pool of places to discuss metal has resulted in a sort of homogenization of discussion and discovery in the metal world. I'm not pearl clutching though (I'll leave that to the nutjobs who go nostalgic recalling the tape trading days of yore). I do still see the larger websites as very useful resources. It's only that seeing the same ten to twenty albums on so many of the major websites where "New (insert subgenre) releases this week" show up on has become somewhat disheartening of late. Just as a primer for my particular taste I enjoy many different subgenres ranging from early formative hard rock like Uriah Heep or Deep Purple and their ilk, to the deepest fathoms of black and death dissonance like Mitochondrion, Wormed, and Dead Congregation, all the way back to the early Metalblade roster with Armored Saint, Fate's Warning, and Omen. This year in particular it seems as though I've been finding albums that landed either too blackened for the death metal fans, and too deathy for the black metal fans, but still of astounding quality; if you missed Nyr Gata's Luna Aeterna album when it came out a few years ago absolutely go give it a shot. For my money it's a near perfect blackened death album. Anyways, that's about enough of me pretending I'm socially functional enough to post a proper intro. Do not be afraid to hit me with recommendations. My appetite for new metal is ceaseless like some sort of musical tapeworm.

So I woke up today in a mood for some black metal that I hadn't heard before, and came across Lutomysl. After a cursory listen to a few of the tracks online I noticed that their Ecce Homo album has both a version with vocals (2018), and an instrumental version. I've already resolved to purchase that particular album, but I was wondering if anyone here can tell me why they released the same album twice? Was it due to negative feedback regarding the vocals, which are admiteddly very weak? Legal trouble with former band members, maybe? Which do you prefer? Both versions are playable here: Music | Lutomysl (bandcamp.com)