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Iceni

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  1. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Ina in The Official Progressive Metal Recommendations Thread   
    Re: intro to prog All RIGHT! Anyhow, I think I'm just going to give you a list and elaborate only a bit...It'll take eons if I try to give you a good impression of the band or album in question. I'll try to answer your questions on these bands if you want some more in-depth description. I recommend: 'The Weight Of The World' by 7days. This features my favorite guitarist Markus Sigfridsson and famed Candlemass vocalist Thomas Vikstrom on lead vocals; one of my favorite albums. 'Final Extension' by Andromeda. This is a reissue of their first album, but with their current singer who I think is better. Brainstorm overall. I have 'Liquid Monster' but people say that's one of their weaker albums. Otherwise, a pretty crunchy approach. Don't get their latest stuff, it's somewhat bland. 'Metus Mortis' and 'Soul Temptation' get good reviews. Circle II Circle overall. They use some of Savatage's talent and have a strongly guitar-based approach and great vocals. Circus Maximus overall. They have some great material on their two albums. 'Where Stories End' by Darkwater. This album is better than their first in my opinion; its melodies are more accessible and the guitar is better. Independent Harmony by Division By Zero. Their other album is also good, but this one showcases their awesome mix of thundering technical riffs better. Dominici overall. Good prog all around. 5th Season by Dreamscape. It's got a lot of long songs, but good and VERY underrated. Definitely a band which deserves more publicity. In Search Of Truth by Evergrey. This band really got to sucking recently, but their early stuff is good. Check out the song 'Watching The Skies'. MAD riff on that sucker! 'Memoirs Of A Broken Man' by Futures End. I think it's their only album, but it's great, very aggressive stuff while retaining clean vocals. 'Pulse For A Graveheart' by Mind Key. I discovered this recently, it's very good prog with a lot of passion behind it. Myrath overall. O yes, how I love this band. It's groovy, technical Arabic prog. What more do you need to hear? Nevermore overall. I like 'This Godless Endeavor' but they have a LOT of great stuff. The guitars are awesome here. Definitely one of my favorite prog bands. Orphaned Land overall. They combine complex arrangements with Hebrew instruments and prog. Pathosray's self-titled debut. Their songs have multiple passages, strong instrumentation and an overall aggressiveness and passion. 'Scent Of Snow' ranks up there as one of the best prog songs I've ever heard. Random Eyes overall. Yeah, their new album is called 'Light Up'. No, it's not about weed. Yes, it's pink. No, it's not horrible. These guys are a mixed bag; I like their album 'Invisible' the best but their other stuff is fine too. Redmption overall. They are the BEST prog band I've ever heard. Scar Symmetry overall. They haven't got one really strong album, but a lot of good material. 'Holographic Universe' is probably their best-loved album. 'Mercy Falls' by Seventh Wonder. Great Swedish prog and one of my favorite prog albums. Imaginary Sonicscape by Sigh. This is technically black metal, but the musicianship is great. Weird stuff and great for being strange. 'Aeons Past' by Solution .45. This is good progressive death metal with clean vocals. I know some people hate this band but I think they're good. 'When Time Fades' by Suspyre. This band has strong classical influences and a wide variety in their music. Definitely check them out for something interesting. 'Iconoclast' by Symphony X. This album features their crunchiest stuff, I think. Very aggressive, but it allows the keyboards to enjoy a bit more time in the limelight, putting it a bit ahead of 'Paradise Lost'. Threshold overall. They were the first prog band I discovered and remain one of my favorites. Sadly, their vocalist Andrew MacDermott died so we won't get to hear him again...try to find the material where he sings. 'Long Way Home' remains to this day my favorite song. Tomorrow's Eve overall. This German band is pretty underrated, but they're very good, nice and crunchy with good keyboards and drums as well. 'Reality' by Wingdom. This is good prog with wonderful keyboard melodies. And two Australian bands! 'The Fourth Season' by Vanishing Point. This band has good vocals and great atmosphere. Voyager overall. Look at their more recent stuff...I don't like their old work although others do. Their vocalist is quite exceptional, one of the best. Their overall sense of melody is great. Eeesh. Well, now my back hurts. Check these bands out!
  2. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from agamerwholovesmetal in How nerdy are you?   
    I played LARPing to the extent of whacking my buddies with foam-wrapped PVC weapons...I've still got a huge repository of Star Wars Expanded Universe knowledge bouncing around in my head as well. Decent knowledge of LOTR although I know people who are much bigger fans.
  3. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from helvete in The Official Progressive Metal Recommendations Thread   
    Re: intro to prog All RIGHT! Anyhow, I think I'm just going to give you a list and elaborate only a bit...It'll take eons if I try to give you a good impression of the band or album in question. I'll try to answer your questions on these bands if you want some more in-depth description. I recommend: 'The Weight Of The World' by 7days. This features my favorite guitarist Markus Sigfridsson and famed Candlemass vocalist Thomas Vikstrom on lead vocals; one of my favorite albums. 'Final Extension' by Andromeda. This is a reissue of their first album, but with their current singer who I think is better. Brainstorm overall. I have 'Liquid Monster' but people say that's one of their weaker albums. Otherwise, a pretty crunchy approach. Don't get their latest stuff, it's somewhat bland. 'Metus Mortis' and 'Soul Temptation' get good reviews. Circle II Circle overall. They use some of Savatage's talent and have a strongly guitar-based approach and great vocals. Circus Maximus overall. They have some great material on their two albums. 'Where Stories End' by Darkwater. This album is better than their first in my opinion; its melodies are more accessible and the guitar is better. Independent Harmony by Division By Zero. Their other album is also good, but this one showcases their awesome mix of thundering technical riffs better. Dominici overall. Good prog all around. 5th Season by Dreamscape. It's got a lot of long songs, but good and VERY underrated. Definitely a band which deserves more publicity. In Search Of Truth by Evergrey. This band really got to sucking recently, but their early stuff is good. Check out the song 'Watching The Skies'. MAD riff on that sucker! 'Memoirs Of A Broken Man' by Futures End. I think it's their only album, but it's great, very aggressive stuff while retaining clean vocals. 'Pulse For A Graveheart' by Mind Key. I discovered this recently, it's very good prog with a lot of passion behind it. Myrath overall. O yes, how I love this band. It's groovy, technical Arabic prog. What more do you need to hear? Nevermore overall. I like 'This Godless Endeavor' but they have a LOT of great stuff. The guitars are awesome here. Definitely one of my favorite prog bands. Orphaned Land overall. They combine complex arrangements with Hebrew instruments and prog. Pathosray's self-titled debut. Their songs have multiple passages, strong instrumentation and an overall aggressiveness and passion. 'Scent Of Snow' ranks up there as one of the best prog songs I've ever heard. Random Eyes overall. Yeah, their new album is called 'Light Up'. No, it's not about weed. Yes, it's pink. No, it's not horrible. These guys are a mixed bag; I like their album 'Invisible' the best but their other stuff is fine too. Redmption overall. They are the BEST prog band I've ever heard. Scar Symmetry overall. They haven't got one really strong album, but a lot of good material. 'Holographic Universe' is probably their best-loved album. 'Mercy Falls' by Seventh Wonder. Great Swedish prog and one of my favorite prog albums. Imaginary Sonicscape by Sigh. This is technically black metal, but the musicianship is great. Weird stuff and great for being strange. 'Aeons Past' by Solution .45. This is good progressive death metal with clean vocals. I know some people hate this band but I think they're good. 'When Time Fades' by Suspyre. This band has strong classical influences and a wide variety in their music. Definitely check them out for something interesting. 'Iconoclast' by Symphony X. This album features their crunchiest stuff, I think. Very aggressive, but it allows the keyboards to enjoy a bit more time in the limelight, putting it a bit ahead of 'Paradise Lost'. Threshold overall. They were the first prog band I discovered and remain one of my favorites. Sadly, their vocalist Andrew MacDermott died so we won't get to hear him again...try to find the material where he sings. 'Long Way Home' remains to this day my favorite song. Tomorrow's Eve overall. This German band is pretty underrated, but they're very good, nice and crunchy with good keyboards and drums as well. 'Reality' by Wingdom. This is good prog with wonderful keyboard melodies. And two Australian bands! 'The Fourth Season' by Vanishing Point. This band has good vocals and great atmosphere. Voyager overall. Look at their more recent stuff...I don't like their old work although others do. Their vocalist is quite exceptional, one of the best. Their overall sense of melody is great. Eeesh. Well, now my back hurts. Check these bands out!
  4. Haha
    Iceni given a Damn from blaaacdoommmmfan in Pets   
    Re: Pets I have three dust bunnies named Edwin, Theodore and Frederick, or as most people call them, Ned, Ted and Fred. They have been prospering under my bed for a while now.
  5. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from blaaacdoommmmfan in your biggest accoplishments/goals in life?   
    Well, it could be a number of things: making it up to about #30 on the Academic All-Americans list (the top 1.5% of some 10,000 national competitors in Speech and Debate) certainly stands out, although getting into Georgetown ranks high as well. Still, the fact that I've had such a great relationship with my family is something I'm proud of even though they're just as responsible for that as I am, or more so.
  6. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Strawberry in 80's and 90's metal vs. nowdays metal   
    I really can't stand it when people claim that good metal died in the 80s and early 90s. There is some superb metal being made nowadays and there's no point turning up one's nose at it. As a matter of fact, it typically demonstrates that said person simply hasn't been looking around enough. If I'm perfectly honest, I prefer the metal being made nowadays. The kind of excellent prog and tech-death I've heard was a lot rarer in those eras than it is now.
  7. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from blaaacdoommmmfan in Travel   
    It seems this may be a useful thread since this topic has cropped up every now and then. At any rate, post anything travel-related here if you like. I would love to go to the Bovington Tank Museum one of these days, sounds like a cool place. For that matter, the Geneva Auto Show could be really cool as well.
  8. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Moonhead in Personal favourite album covers   
    Listening to this right now and love the craziness of this cover.
  9. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Moonhead in Personal favourite album covers   
    Maybe. Then again, finding out more about pop music has opened my mind to exactly how phenomenally indolent pop artists are and how easily impressed the listening public really are. Anyhow:
  10. Haha
    Iceni given a Damn from H34VYM3T4LD4V3 in Opinions on Smoking (and my View)   
    Again I say to thee, Beware! for no thread shall be spared the tangent-forming wrath of D4V3.
  11. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from H34VYM3T4LD4V3 in What's on your mind?   
    Speaking of Ripper Owens, has anyone else heard Beyond Fear? They're like a slightly more thrashy Judas Priest clone. Maybe Dave will like them but I was a bit bored overall; the riffs didn't strike me as being particularly impressive and the vocals outstripped the rest of the music to an unacceptable extent.
  12. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Nephilim in 80's and 90's metal vs. nowdays metal   
    I really can't stand it when people claim that good metal died in the 80s and early 90s. There is some superb metal being made nowadays and there's no point turning up one's nose at it. As a matter of fact, it typically demonstrates that said person simply hasn't been looking around enough. If I'm perfectly honest, I prefer the metal being made nowadays. The kind of excellent prog and tech-death I've heard was a lot rarer in those eras than it is now.
  13. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from FatherAlabaster in Speed/Thrash Recomendation   
    Canadian tech-thrash outfit Droid deserve mention, if you're at all into Vektor these guys are well worth checking out.
    https://droidcanada.bandcamp.com/album/terrestrial-mutations
  14. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Nunez666 in 80's and 90's metal vs. nowdays metal   
    I really can't stand it when people claim that good metal died in the 80s and early 90s. There is some superb metal being made nowadays and there's no point turning up one's nose at it. As a matter of fact, it typically demonstrates that said person simply hasn't been looking around enough. If I'm perfectly honest, I prefer the metal being made nowadays. The kind of excellent prog and tech-death I've heard was a lot rarer in those eras than it is now.
  15. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to Fraser in Travel   
    I do not travel nearly as much as I would like to, especially now with two young boys. I am off to Portugal In May for a week to explore the southern coast, caves and rock pools. Not expecting to find any Metal venues or bars but will keep an eye out. 
    Dream destination would be Alaska. 
    I live about 20 mins away in the car, really interesting especially on the demo days when they will demonstrate certain tanks abilities. Also can ride in them if you are lucky. Great day out for all the family. Kids love it. 
  16. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to BlutAusNerd in Say Cheese   
    Winter had a dance recital today, and since 3 year olds dancing is more about looking cute in outfits than memorizing the routine, I would say that she succeeded. We followed up the performance with breakfast, and Autumn just wanted to sit with me and giggle and play. Got a couple good photos, so why not share?



    Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk


  17. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to Parker in What's on your mind?   
    Wow, had a great couple of days with my GF, and we've decided to get engaged soon. We know right now we shouldn't get engaged yet because we've haven't been together long enough, so we aren't officially engaged yet. But, we're pretty sure, and we've bought the rings. This is just completely amazing and unreal feeling. I feel like I've found who I've been looking for my whole life. I've never felt like this. For so many years I was just so full of anger and hatred and bitterness, and I hated myself and thought I was worthless. It's actually confusing to try to process these emotions I'm just so not used to. When I left her place this morning, sitting in my car while it was warming up, I burst into tears, just so overwhelmed by emotion. It's just so hard to believe that someone loves me and I'm worth something. I can't wait to put that ring an her finger.
  18. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Powerslave in Hi from PA!   
    I might end up in Pittsburgh depending on how grad school applications and finances work out. How d'you like it there?
  19. Haha
    Iceni gave a Damn to Natassja in Metal books   
    It's all for you, Req ..all for you..
     
    Ahh well.. perhaps some of us enjoy listening to the tedious -click-clickety-click- more than others..
  20. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Requiem in What Are You Listening To?   
    "Liberation" by Katatonia on a cool dark evening riding the train home. This seems like the right atmosphere.
  21. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to MacabreEternal in General Pics (Holidays, walks, outings etc.)   
    “Hard at it” on the next MF review.

  22. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to BlutAusNerd in Atmospheric Doom Metal   
    Chalk me up for another vote, that album is stunning.
  23. Horns
    Iceni gave a Damn to Kristiko in Favourite lyrics   
    I'm not trying anything and I'm not trying to be malicious with you, no need for sarcasm. It's just like, fine, I did it but like, whatever. 
  24. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from Will in What's on your mind?   
    Got a lot to be thankful for. I got to spend about 6 days or so of Thanksgiving with my best friend, meaning this was my first really good Thanksgiving in about 3 years and one of the only good Thanksgiving celebrations without my family. I also got an offer for an internship with a journal of Christianity and international affairs, which will be essentially full-time pay - meaning I can quit my humiliating department store job. Gonna take the GRE again since my quantitative score needs work, but I got promotional emails from the Fletcher School at Tufts and the Josef Korbel School at University of Denver, so clearly I'm doing something right.
    That all this should happen at the end of a year that I largely wasted is an enormous relief and has been really motivating. Hopefully I spend 2018 at this internship before embarking on grad school and the future writ large.
  25. Horns
    Iceni given a Damn from FatherAlabaster in What's on your mind?   
    Got a lot to be thankful for. I got to spend about 6 days or so of Thanksgiving with my best friend, meaning this was my first really good Thanksgiving in about 3 years and one of the only good Thanksgiving celebrations without my family. I also got an offer for an internship with a journal of Christianity and international affairs, which will be essentially full-time pay - meaning I can quit my humiliating department store job. Gonna take the GRE again since my quantitative score needs work, but I got promotional emails from the Fletcher School at Tufts and the Josef Korbel School at University of Denver, so clearly I'm doing something right.
    That all this should happen at the end of a year that I largely wasted is an enormous relief and has been really motivating. Hopefully I spend 2018 at this internship before embarking on grad school and the future writ large.
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