FatherAlabaster

I went and listened to the Nuclear Death and Order from Chaos stuff on youtube. None of it really ticked any boxes for me, though I'll give these albums another spin anyway. Listening to Incantation now and I don't dislike it like I used to! So that's good... Thanks as always for recommendations.

I feel like their songwriting peaked on Destroy Erase Improve, but they're on my list of "always loved them, always will" bands. Tomas Haake still blows my mind.

BAN, you missed some:

Ok, after listening to Songs Of Darkness and seeing the cover art, I remembered that I had this album at one point. Not sure what happened to the CD... I still don't really care for it, it sounds weak to me compared to their earlier stuff. However... I'm listening to A Map Of All Our Failures right now and I'm really impressed. I like this quite a bit. Though I could wish for some more of the nasty trem-picked blast stuff that they tease you with in the first track, overall it's really good. I like the melodies and the vocal harmonies, and his spoken stuff isn't quite as annoying as I used to find it. So I'm glad I gave this one a spin.

All I can really say to that, is: Without you in my life I'd slowly wilt and die But with you by my side You're the reason I'm alive But with you in my life You're the reason I'm alive But without you, without you... I could face a mountain But I could never climb alone I could start another day But how many, just don't know You're the reason the sun shines down And the nights, they don't grow cold Only you that I'll hold when I'm young Only you...as we grow old Without you in my life I'd slowly wilt and die But with you by my side You're the reason I'm alive But with you in my life You're the reason I'm alive But without you, without you...

On Line Of Deathless Kings, his harsh vocals just sounded like they had no intensity. They sounded like he was doing them very quietly and relying on effects and production. I was disappointed, because Aaron had always had one of my favorite death metal voices. I'll give Songs Of Darkness a spin. I'd rather like MDB than be disappointed by them, they were one of my favorite bands in high school and I still consider them an influence.

Fair enough. That's how I felt about Sabbath until a couple years ago. And I still hate the Beatles. Not that I can really compare Celtic Frost to Sabbath or The Beatles...

Lots of forums have temporary bans. Banned until you can learn to be more forgiving.

Banned until the Motorhead album comes out!

They've gotten better live with the most recent lineup. They were uniformly disappointing when I saw them before that. Sounds Of Decay rules. But I really have to say they've been one of my favorite bands for about sixteen years now and I don't dislike any of their material. I'm a fanboy. @NTNR, I tend to agree with you about Anathema as well, although I pretty much cut them off after Silent Enigma. I found Judgement tolerable. I'm surprised you don't like Into The Pandemonium, Silent Enigma took a lot of cues from that album (though it's more melodic and digestible).

Banned for coining the dreadful word "cyberhipster".

Ok, Sorcery doesn't suck. I like the vocals better, the highs are really cool. I still don't like their melodies at all but the noisier passages and the more "brutal" stuff are good.

I hear a lot of thrashy "early death metal" on it. It's not a bad album, but I've never liked that kind of arpeggio solo thing. INRI was just kind of special.

I've not heard that. I'll check it out. Some of my friends have some of their (I suppose) more recent albums, I've listened to them and been thoroughly unimpressed.

I feel like MDB's high point was Turn Loose The Swans/Angel And The Dark River. Gods Of The Sun sounded like recycled AATDR to me, and then they kinda lost me. There are good tracks on Light At The End Of The World and Dreadful Hours, although I don't think they're as strong all the way through as their earlier material. The last one I heard was Line Of Deathless Kings, and I couldn't take his "whisper growl" on that, it sounded like he got tired of working on his death metal voice. I still love their old stuff and listen to it pretty regularly.

Of the Gathering, I like the stuff with Anneke the best, and I have a hard time choosing between Mandylion and if_then_else. I agree the ones directly leading up to it weren't as good - it's like they were trying to figure out how to write that album. Haven't heard anything they've done recently, after Anneke left I lost interest. As far as Katatonia, Discouraged Ones was the first one I got - right when it came out - and it's one of my favorites, though Tonight's Decision is the one that really got me into their "new" sound. Loved Last Fair Deal. VE took a while to grow on me, and while I preferred their older, less polished sound, I think Great Cold Distance might be their best. I started kind of liking NITND after hearing it at a bar a few times; Dead End Kings is actually a lot better though softer. None of that forced "heaviness". I think Anders basically stopped writing songs and let Jonas take over, which isn't entirely bad, I love old October Tide, but I agree they've gotten a bit repetitive and fallen off. I saw them a couple of years ago and they played Chrome into We Must Bury You just like on the album, except with real drums... ah it was so fucking cool. One of my favorite live moments.

I like INRI better.

Gorguts - Le Toit Du Monde

Sarcofago - Satanas

How do you pronounce this? Isn't it a rude word in Czech or something? Do you get into The Gathering, or any later Katatonia? I like a lot of that shit...

Jerry Cantrell - Boggy Depot

You don't have "Gothic"? Dude.

MY FUCKING EAR. It's still plugged up. It was getting clogged at night, so I thought, earwax removal kit, great, that'll help... It's been completely closed up now for almost a week. Playing guitar is no fun, doing vocals sucks, mixing is pretty much impossible. Fuck ears. I hate ears. Shoulda stuck with painting. Wrong thread, perhaps...