Iceni

"Whispers of Creation" by Tethys. It's OK so far. There's better tech-death around but this is pretty solid.

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

The other scene is Cain and Abel making sacrifices of harvest and livestock, respectively.

Oh, OK! I thought I saw sheaves of wheat. Interesting then that the discord between brothers is placed over Eve.

I don't have any art to show for it, but as a brief tangent I think the deep sea/ocean more generally as an alternative to space is underappreciated. Lots of really cool vistas and and atmosphere. The guy who writes One Piece might be the only author I know of who's explored it to a really appreciable extent within a more modern fantasy medium. Biggest draw of ocean over space is that there's so much life down there of such a variety.

@FatherAlabaster The Adam and Eve comparison most got my attention. Looks like they were intentionally made with a resemblance. Interesting that Adam covers his chest but Eve seems content to go bare-breasted. What are the figures on the top right doing? Top left looks like Cain and Abel but the other one is harder for me to figure out.

2 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Interesting you'd say that, I didn't pick up on IE. I noticed a higher proportion of Rush-influenced parts than on previous albums; I feel like it's their lightest album, but still one of their best. If anything, I'd say they sound more like themselves than ever.

I found it light as well, which was part of the IE analysis. That whole concept of ambient, languid bubbling guitar with very snappy drums seemed particularly emblematic. Now that you mention it there was a fair amount of Rush in there. I'm not familiar with their broader work, so this one came off as really odd by contrast with what I'd heard.

6 hours ago, Requiem said:

You love your prog!

I'm a rare creature.

5 hours ago, Requiem said:

DC is cool! I visited there back in the 90s. The Lincoln Memorial was great. We saw all the usual sites but I actually can't remember that much about it. I think I was just too young to really appreciate what I was looking at, which is unfortunate. 

DC's good to visit. Museums are pretty good. Living here is a different kettle of fish.

Still in the DC area. It's political. Of course it is. Trump's election brought out the worst in everyone and nobody can stop talking about it. Very preppy. Everyone with any money dresses in strict accordance with style guidelines. Teeming with yuppies who drink all the time. Drivers are lousy. Public transport is being retooled so we don't get delays out the ass, but its still a pretty good system. Food's too damn expensive where I live, and the grocery store is meager. Summer this year was exceptionally mild but usually the weather's disgusting humid crap that makes you feel like a pig the second you step outside. Winter's very cold. Autumn is the best season. I like the presence of greenery in the nearby areas but it's lost its luster. Unfortunately I gotta learn to love this limestone bog because there's nowhere else I can reasonably expect to do African politics work in the US. At least this year I've been blessed with what is very cheap rent for the area, but the second I find a drier, less formal and doggedly left-wing area where I can pursue my career I'm taking it.

Overwatch is my shit, been playing it for about a year now. About level 400 at the moment, and it's still great. I found a decent clutch of people to play with on PC and we've had a lot of fun.

I've actually written a manga chapter as a birthday present for a friend before. Did it again this year but ended up being the length of about three chapters. Composing fight scenes is a bitch...

One of the schools I'm applying to for Masters study is UCLA. Would love being in LA for two years...major city with zero humidity, a car culture and gigs galore, close to NM so flights are cheaper...yes please. Also applying to Pitt and I hear Pittsburgh is nice.

Swano has his own style that I've yet to see imitated, let alone expounded upon. Love most of his main work.

Pretty sure nobody else will be affected by this song the way I am, but "I AM" by Theocracy is a prog-power masterwork. Matt Smith can me a spectacular composer when he wants to be, and the vocal arrangements here are superb. It's also a magnificent triumphant hymn of Easter, one man's attempt to depict the fullness of God with a compelling simplistic lyric structure.

My favorite song is "Long Way Home" by Threshold. At first it was because it was the coolest and techiest song I'd ever heard. That's definitely not true, but its lyrics have stood the test of time. A simple but under-examined notion, about a man who knows what he has to do but is just taking a long time to do it and knows he must overcome his own flaws in order to ensure his future. He knows what he must do, it only remains to summon the will to do it. The general idea continues to be very strongly pertinent to my own life. It's a solid song besides, Threshold at their best with the one and only Andrew MacDermott at the helm.

I remember Syuurin making some statement to the effect that certain varieties of metal cater to toxic permutations of masculinity and that in some sense this was an occupational hazard of being a metal band as the genre lends itself to a masculine style. Got me wondering what feminine metal might sound like and whether drawing a dichotomy there makes any amount of sense.

On 10/6/2017 at 8:54 PM, Requiem said:

I'll tell you another atmospheric doom metal album that is utterly transcendent: Funeral - 'From these Wounds'

This is a deeply affecting album that is the perfect combination of emotional riffs and vocals. It took me a while to figure out why the other albums by Funeral didn't have anywhere near the same quality - and the answer is because 'From these Wounds' is the only album the band did with that vocalist and the main songwriter. The effect is perfect. 

Agree wholeheartedly - my favorite doom album. Their latest wasn't bad either though. You want something similar, with even deeper vocals and odd melodies, check out Fallen:

https://fallendoom.bandcamp.com/releases

The new Akercocke. They seem to have listened to one hell of a lot of Inanimate Existence because the new album has a lot from their repertoire. Not complaining, I love IE and it's a direction that has precedent in Akercocke's discography. It's just surprising...I suppose this is what happens when you drop Asmodeus from the lineup.

Thanks, guys! Feeling a bit better about the whole thing since I made some progress. Forgot more math than I thought, but at least it didn't completely atrophy. Language skills as good as ever, writing chops vastly improved...just gotta bang out these practice tests and then I'll be prepped for the real deal on Nov. 2.

On 8/13/2017 at 11:17 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

Ambiguity is one of my major goals, at least in my personal work, not so much with the album covers - I have a few ideas I'm trying to express with each of them, but I'd like for people to want to figure things out for themselves. Above all I'm trying to make these paintings feel relatable on a human level, and at the same time symbolic, which is a weird tension that's captured perfectly in some of my favorite medieval and Italian/Northern Renaissance paintings.

Examples? I'd be curious to see if I've been missing stuff from these historical works you're mentioning.

David Dubenic - lead for Dissona, a band that I hope become a prog-power institution. Deep, sonorous bass.

Robert Leger - kinda like a slightly smoother Hansi Kusch, perfectly suited to Solar Fragment and a powerful baritone.

Jonathan Grant Griffin of Lo-Ruhamah. He absolutely killed it on the band's latest album. You rarely come across a harsh vocalist who stands out, but Griffin can portray an impressive spectrum of emotions and textures with his growls and shrieks. I didn't care for "Anointing" on the first listen, but Griffin roared out a phenomenal performance.

Dunno, probably these.

"Paleopneumatic" by Dissona

A prog/power masterpiece and AOTY 2016 in my book. It's the kind of album I was hoping for a long time would be made and thus it was. Bassy vocals, strong atmosphere built on a towering melodic progressive foundation

"Tales from the Sleepless Empire" by Unexpect

It's Unexpect, I rarely get tired of them. If you're playing something different every 20 seconds the songs will stay relatively fresh.

"V" by Voyager

I would need something relentlessly fun so it'd be either this or something from Amaranthe. Voyager is a little better in my book and this is their best work so far.

"Gloria" by Disillusion

Bafflingly clever bit of work despite being superficially off the mark. It's oddly catchy and very energetic. Could just as easily go for "Back to Times of Splendor" though.

"The Great Cold Distance" by Katatonia

My favorite from these guys, a perfect mix of intellect, emotion and damn good hooks to boot.

Blackberry ginger ale. Good stuff, caffeine free.

In terms of really broad genres, I'd rank them thusly from best to worst:

Prog

Power

Death

Doom

Black

Folk

Gothic

Trad

Thrash

Industrial

Sludge/stoner (I think I have liked maybe one band from this genre)

If I can be more specific:

Prog

Prog/power

Tech-death

Prog death

Prog black metal

Power

Dissonant death/black

Melodic doom

Traditional power

Doom/death

6 hours ago, deathstorm said:

Apocalypse orchestra cd it’s pretty good doom metal mix with folk 

One of my buddies introduced me to them, really enjoyed that release.

Studying for the GRE at the moment. Really hope I can get good enough financial aid to do a Masters. I'm reasonably hopeful since I do think I'm well-qualified, but I'm also impatient since I know the application process will be glacial.

On 10/3/2017 at 7:32 PM, Requiem said:

Wintersun doesn't have anything to do with black metal in my book. I actually really like 'The Forest Seasons' - at least I like it quite a bit more than 'Time I' which bored me a little bit. 'Time 1' really sounded like a computer album, it was so digital. I get a lot less of that feeling with 'The Forest Seasons', it seems to breathe a lot better and it's got some great big epic hooks all over the place. I'm actually a little less sceptical about this band's quality after this release. 

Really? Time I had plenty of big hooks. Digital is fine with me, I think I just have a higher tolerance for squeaky-clean production than most.

Hey, deathstorm, good to be back. Have you been well?

Good to see you too, Gorbo! You avatar is less weird than normal, did something happen?

Awesome, more Trees of Eternity fans. "My Requiem" was actually my favorite from that album too.