MacabreEternal

Really? That sounds a little more in depth than your average book on tanks (I do have a thing about tanks to - he says looking at the tank calendar on the wall). I like authors who explore a subject in detail and look at linked subjects/concepts as well as fitting subject matter into a bigger picture. Robert Service does this brilliantly in his works on Trotsky and Lenin in particular. In "The Court Of The Red Tsar" Montefiore explores Stalin's henchmen in detail and looks at their personal histories and characters.

So what style are Lightless then? Sounds like a BM project (cue you telling us it's a glam rock band with symphonic influences). You are right about the place welcoming people - I recently joined having been a long time forumite and moderator elsewhere and have been pleased by the atmosphere of the place. I think there are very few active forums around full stop nowadays - certainly since Twitter and FB. Anyway, welcome aboard.

Hirax - El Rostro De La Muerte

Hello doomite. I flirt with doom every now and again but find I really have to be in the mood for it, Currently enjoying Cathedral "Forest Of Equilibrium" and Electric Wizard's "Dopethrone". I am told that Cathedral's "Last Spire" is great ending for their career btw. Anyways, welcome aboard.

Nerdy confessions in terms of reading material for me. I am a bit fascinated with Soviet era Russia (Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky..etc) Currently I am leafing through "Stalin - The Court of The Red Tsar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore for the second time. I have just finished reading "Resistance in the Gulag Archipelago" prior to that it was my second nerdy interest which is just developing in astrophysics which involved "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Next on my to read pile is "The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. I will probably have to read it twice before I even start to pick up what is being explained but it's interesting to me anyway.

The majority of my week I am in a suit or certainly a shirt and tie as I am working all week. When I do bother to change of an evening it's usually for sweat pants and a vest. Weekends is usually a t-shirt and jeans which aren't always metal orientated. I suppose the only give away would be my jewelry - I like my skull rings and recently picked up and eagle swooping for prey that caught my eye. I don't have a massive collection of t-shirts and to be honest don't go out of my way to "look" metal in particular. My metal credentials are covered by my music collection.

Ghost to me are massively underwhelming. They are a gimmick driven, mediocre at best retro occult rock band. From any interviews I have read with them they seem to be absolute immersed in the whole Satan and "end of humanity" slur. They make Glen Benton sound normal almost by comparison (and at least Benton makes decent music by contrast). I am baffled by their success and think that without the gimmick they would be unsigned and probably unheard of amongst the metal community (they most definitely are not metal).

My CD copy of Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" arrived this week. I have also picked up Cathedral's "Forest Of Equlibrium" and Ufommamut's "Idolum". It's been a good week. Ufomammut has been the biggest surprise of the week - I love albums that create atmosphere and the sense of something building on "Idolum" is fantastic. Great use of samples and sound effects also, they have been a real find this week. I am looking to try and pick up some Chastain and some Heavy Load shortly also.

Welcome aboard.

Attack - Destinies Of War If you don't know of this record I'd strongly suggest getting your shit together and sorting your life out.

Ufomammut - Idolum

Cathedral - Forest Of Equilibrium

Metallica - Master Of Puppets

Aeon - Aeons Black

Metal is very much like a first love. Growing up metal was the first music I listened to and actually enjoyed and identified with, I had all these anti this and anti that ideas floating in my head and metal spoke my language. Largely it's appeal has nothing to do with whether other people listen to it or not - I feel no camaraderie or collective conscience with other fans that's not what I look for. I do flirt around with other genres (mostly classical and jazz) but I always come back to metal.

I think this is true and from reading it I thought of one obvious benefit to once popular genres fading - the real fans stay around. The genuine music lover who utilises music as an expression of their feelings and takes it with them wherever they can as an accompaniment will stick with their chosen genre regardless of its popularity. Also I agree with your point about the quality of an artists music governs their longevity or popularity.

Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper

Hit the record shop whilst away yesterday and picked up a collectors edition of Holy Diver (didn't really want a collectors addition just a physical CD copy to replace my scratched one) and Children of Bodom's "Follow The Reaper" which to my mind is their only decent effort. Ironically the purchase of CoB brought conversation from the store staff at how great they were - erm hello guys I have a copy of Holy Diver in my hand too which is far superior and important to the genre of metal as a whole but we are not even mentioning it?

The problem with music as a whole (and this is not specific to any one genre) is peoples cause for interest. The mentality bred by TV talent shows has killed the magic of music for fans and artists alike. Nobody appears interested in the music anymore, more about the story of the person behind that music. Millions of people watch X-Factor to see grown ups cry on TV in front of them - they care fuck all about the music and only have interest in artist for the duration of the tv programmes current series. Gone are the days when a band's reputation was enough to draw new fans and encourage people to go out looking for new music. Music has become too accessible in the wrong format. To a point all music needs to be underground to be appreciated as originally intended. Shows about fake promises and dreams backed up by sob stories and human interest sympathy tales are going to kill all music.

Dio - Holy Diver

I did a search and was surprised to find only a limited number of mentions for Nuclear Assault in the Thrash section? Anyway I will put that right with a thread just for them. Only the first three albums are of any merit for me "Game Over", "Survive" and "Handle With Care" with the latter being the weakest of the bunch. "Game Over" is probably my favourite with its traditional thrash approach with bursts of near grind like instensity, with their tongue in cheek approach they break up the album nicely (check out "Buttf**k" for a random slice of brilliance). "Survive" is fucking awesome too but I rarely see it get the credit it deserves with "Game Over" seemingly mandatory listing as a classic on most forums. "Handle With Care" gets bad rep, some deserved, some not. "Critical Mass" is a monster of a track though - but the brilliance of the first two records is lacking overall by album number 3. We can also thank Dan Lilker for the mighty Brutal Truth of course which is another thread altogether. Seems Anthrax's loss after "Fistful Of Metal" was Nuclear Assaults gain. Any other Nuclear fans on here?

Nuclear Assault - Game Over

Wait till I start spamming about my Swingers Cruises around the Med. I'll put you all to shame. p.s jus kiddin!

Ufo - ufo1

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini