FatherAlabaster

My condolences man, that's terrible news.

What's with this pseudo-academic bullshit, everybody knows Satan originated in England in the late 1970s.

The original Watchtower vocalist was in a newer group called Howling Sycamore that had a couple of albums I really enjoyed in the past few years. He doesn't "sound like Warrel" but listening to that stuff made me think he could pull it off. Not many could. I loved Nevermore. It took me a long time to warm up to anything they did after Dreaming Neon Black. Still kinda think that's their best. Everything after that sounds like plastic to me. But I have come to enjoy Enemies and Godless. I agree with everything posted here. GWAR - Scumdogs Of The Universe is the only album I need from them. Not amazing but pretty fun. No point seeing them live and getting spattered with crap for me though. I kinda recall having this conversation with Navy a while ago, too.

Some food for thought there. A big part of what I like about live shows is being there in person, in the moment with the musicians, and another big part is feeling the impact of air moving off the kit and from the amps and so on. I wonder what it would take to have a setup that's fast enough and interactive enough to feel like you're sharing that moment instead of just playing along and having it synced up downstream. I like a good live performance video but I don't think it could take the place of an actual show for me. It would be fun to jam on those tunes across the ocean though!

Behold... The Arctopus - Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning I got this album from a friend about 15 years ago and really liked it for a while, but I haven't played it in several years. Funny how some of you are shitting on it for being too chaotic, I had remembered it being more spastic and inaccessible than this. I think the mix sounds a bit unpolished and the playing is a little rough and loose sometimes, and maybe that makes it feel a little more frantic than it is. And maybe it comes off a little less intelligible without the "glue" a vocal would provide. Not surprised some of y'all don't get it, I would never expect the Goatster to enjoy a Colin Marston vehicle. But I'm happy this prompted me to put it back on. Philistines.

Wardruna - Kvitravn

I saw them on tour three times and they weren't too good. It seemed like Pete really didn't want to be there and the rest of the band kind of felt the same. I wrote them off for a few years and then finally saw them play on home turf at L'Amour, and they were fantastic. I got to see them twice more there and they were outstanding every time. Pete's energy was totally different, he was funny and humble and charismatic.

I pretty much agree with Jon. Anesthesia is a highlight. The song does slow down, and even sound a little mellow in parts, horror of horrors. My understanding is also that writing for the band was Pete's baby and he and Josh put everything together. I heard rumors that Pete recorded most of the guitar parts himself. Not to take away from Kenny, he was always on point when I saw them and his vocals added a lot to the band dynamic. I can't get into any of his post TON stuff though.

Not much for me either. I love good cover art, but bad cover art has never put me off if I like the music. Bad art and silly band names probably make me less likely to check out a band in the first place though. Maybe an Apple watch would help as backup - I could show it to my wife and say look honey, the machine says it's time for me to go to bed now.

I doubt it would be your kind of death metal, but it's a cool and relatively unique album. I'm surprised you haven't come across it before now. Jayke is a big fan.

Dødheimsgard - Black Medium Current

I don't think this is a sensation I've ever experienced or even looked for out of music before. I need to broaden my horizons.

Killing Joke - Night Time

If I can get to sleep by 9:30 or 10PM, I can wake up at 6 and feel great. Nobody else in my family is on the same page, so I usually get super tired around 9:30 or 10, stay awake through it, finally get to sleep between 11 and 1AM, and wake up between 5 and 7 groggy and annoyed. But if I've gotten enough sleep, that predawn alone time is fantastic.

Cool. They seem like the kind of band you'd enjoy. The last one from 2020 was another late December ninja release and I think it's fantastic. Their mid 90s stuff is awesome as well. I don't know why, but I had a hard time getting into them, until things finally clicked a few years ago. Maybe I just hadn't heard the right albums. It helped to be in a band with some die-hard Abigor fanatics, too. My favorites are Nachthymnen: Verwüstung: Time Is The Sulphur In The Veins Of The Saint: Totschläger:

It's a cool album. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I'm still getting my head around it. Have you listened to the previous one, "Totschläger - A Saintslayer's Songbook"?

Nice to see ya @navybsn. NP: Abigor - Taphonomia Aeternitatis ...sleeper from December, the digital version only came out a few days ago. More oddball heavy metal influence than their last one. I love this band.

Straight up punk rock, no, can't stand it. Hardcore sometimes. And hardcore-influenced bands like Neurosis and old Isis, I love them. I got into this Fall Of Efrafa trilogy 15 or 16 years ago when I was listening to more grindcore and some crust stuff. I think I found them when I was looking for more bands like Oroku. The cello is what drew me to it... and I guess I would have figured that would put you off, now that I think about it. When I'm in the right mood I enjoy it, otherwise I kind of feel like Thatguy. As far as sadness in music, I love it, it's probably the quality I connect with most readily, buuuut so many bands fail to get it right (in my worthless opinion) and just trudge over the same ground. Pretty much every "gothic metal" band comes off like this to me. NP: "Crazy Strings" Gypsy jazz compilation Hamlet Gonashvili - Georgian chant compilation

What do you think of this? Wouldn't have figured you for a fan.

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

I hated Bloody Kisses when it came out. I was in high school. Didn't start coming around to them until October Rust was released, which is funny because it's now my least favorite of theirs by a mile. Enslaved and Borknagar have some similarity on their early albums, but they've charted very different paths for a long time now. Enslaved is one of my favorite bands in any iteration, Borknagar has put out two albums I like. I suppose from a goatherder's perspective it's all the same, it's either brutal filth or lollipops and cotton candy. In any case welcome to the forum, new dude.

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Really putting the "somewhat" in "somewhat raw"

Oy, Devin Townsend. I still think City is the best thing he did. I used to like Ocean Machine, Physicist, and I thought the self-titled SYL and The New Black were pretty cool. That's all the Hevvy Devvy I need in my life.

Abigor - Taphonomia Aeternitatis