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Your Favourite Year in Metal


Requiem

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@Requiem,

This was a recent acquisition of mine, and one that I was thinking you might enjoy. I have some of their older albums, but this was the first album of Root's newer material for me to check out. They've matured quite a bit, but still maintain their signature sound in a lot of ways. Musically, it reminds me of more recent Rotting Christ, with its clean, mid-paced, and Gothic flavored blackness, and Jiri's baritone wails remind me of Fernando from Moonspell. Hope you enjoy it.



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@BlutAusNerd I'm sorry I missed this until now - your tag didn't give me a notification as far as I can tell. 

This is really cool stuff. I've never heard of Root at all, let alone heard their music. I love the satanic bent which is given to the gothic metal template. Interesting also that they're from the Czech Republic, one of the few European countries that I don't own an album from. 

I did a bit of research as I was listening, and that track was from a 2003 album, so I'm not sure how 'new' it is given that it's 15 years old, but time flies these days. I'm amazed that this band has been around since the early 90s. 

I'm now spinning (on youtube!) their latest album, and I'm finding it a little less engaging. In fact I don't really like it at all. Maybe I'll stick with the older material. 

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[mention=5429]BlutAusNerd[/mention] I'm sorry I missed this until now - your tag didn't give me a notification as far as I can tell. 
This is really cool stuff. I've never heard of Root at all, let alone heard their music. I love the satanic bent which is given to the gothic metal template. Interesting also that they're from the Czech Republic, one of the few European countries that I don't own an album from. 
I did a bit of research as I was listening, and that track was from a 2003 album, so I'm not sure how 'new' it is given that it's 15 years old, but time flies these days. I'm amazed that this band has been around since the early 90s. 
I'm now spinning (on youtube!) their latest album, and I'm finding it a little less engaging. In fact I don't really like it at all. Maybe I'll stick with the older material. 
They've actually been around since the 80's, but their first album is from 1990. They kind of helped bridge the gap between the first and second waves of black metal early on, but focused on becoming more classy over time rather than becoming more extreme. Big Boss used more clean as time went on, and that operatic baritone gives the music a bit of Gothic drama, not unlike King Diamond's vocals. As far as I can tell, they played this Gothic/black metal formula on The Book, The Black Seal, and Madness of the Graves, and then tried to go more black metal with Heritage of Satan. The newest is part II of the Kargeras concept album, and you might like the original, but I'm not sure about that. I only have Zjeveni, Kargeras, and Madness of the Graves, so I'm just going off of memory from the tracks I've heard from the other albums, but that mid-period stuff seemed like something you would enjoy. The Czech Republic is loaded with great metal bands, but they're almost all on the weirder/more extreme end of the spectrum.

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On 3/13/2018 at 12:19 AM, RelentlessOblivion said:

Redeemer was a bad joke. Priest have been largely worthless since Jugulator. We're all entitled to our opinions but saying 2014 was the best year since 1990? '90 was a good year for metal but '93-'95 happened. As has been stated already there were iconic, landmark, albums being released almost monthly during those three years.

Me saying "1990" was an estimate. I meant more like, "at some point in the early 90's"

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On 3/12/2018 at 7:23 PM, Will_Warden said:

2014.

Plagues Of Babylon, Once More 'Round The Sun, Delivering The Black, Redeemer Of Souls, Babymetal, Return Of The Reaper, All You Can Eat, Metal Knight, Rise Of The Hero, Kings Of Metal, This Is Your Life, Bloodstone & Diamonds. To name a few.

Best year since 1990, but I wasn't alive then.

So, a crappy Iced Earth album, a mediocre Mastodon album, a mediocre Judas Priest album, J-pop with distortion, an OK Grave Digger album, a tribute album, an OK Iron Savior album, and the rest are what constitute one of the best years in the genre? 

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9 minutes ago, Ekthelion said:

So, a crappy Iced Earth album, a mediocre Mastodon album, a mediocre Judas Priest album, J-pop with distortion, an OK Grave Digger album, a tribute album, an OK Iron Savior album, and the rest are what constitute one of the best years in the genre? 

Don't agree with all the "crappys", "medicores" and "okays", but each to their own I guess.

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Don't agree with all the "crappys", "medicores" and "okays", but each to their own I guess.
You may be the only person who wouldn't consider these, at the very least, to not be these bands at the top of their game. Even if you consider these to be good albums, I don't see how they could justifiably be on any "best of" list.

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8 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

You may be the only person who wouldn't consider these, at the very least, to not be these bands at the top of their game. Even if you consider these to be good albums, I don't see how they could justifiably be on any "best of" list.

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I guess it's partially cause I'm young af, so Metal in it's golden years is kinda distant for me. Like I love me some old-school finds, but I have little personal connection with them. Stu Block era Iced Earth converted me to Metal, so I have a blackened place in my heart for those albums. It really reflects what albums came out when I was 14-18 that I enjoyed.

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I guess it's partially cause I'm young af, so Metal in it's golden years is kinda distant for me. Like I love me some old-school finds, but I have little personal connection with them. Stu Block era Iced Earth converted me to Metal, so I have a blackened place in my heart for those albums. It really reflects what albums out when I was 14-18 that I enjoyed.
I get that nostalgia plays a factor, but with a bit more exploration, I would guess that this list would look a lot different.

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3 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I get that nostalgia plays a factor, but with a bit more exploration, I would guess that this list would look a lot different.

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True. Guess I took "favorite year in metal" pretty literally. After all, "favorite" and "best of" are entirely different lol

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10 hours ago, Will_Warden said:

True. Guess I took "favorite year in metal" pretty literally. After all, "favorite" and "best of" are entirely different lol

Maybe that's why your "best year since 1990" comment awakened the peanut gallery.

Honestly it's a good point that's too often forgotten IMO. There are plenty of objective comparisons to be made between different scenes, bands, albums, etc, but it's pretty easy to default to thinking you like something because it's good, rather than the other way around. I bet you could find a lot of quality stuff that would change your mind about what the "best" year in metal has been, but for sheer personal significance it's difficult to compete with those albums that first hit you during the formative years in adolescence and early adulthood.

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19 hours ago, Will_Warden said:

True. Guess I took "favorite year in metal" pretty literally. After all, "favorite" and "best of" are entirely different lol

As esteemed author of this thread, I can vouch for the purpose to be to share personal favourites rather than objective mathematical proofs. It’s cool that 2014 had an impact on you, just like 1996 had that same impact on me. 

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On 30/03/2018 at 2:24 PM, Will_Warden said:

I guess it's partially cause I'm young af, so Metal in it's golden years is kinda distant for me. Like I love me some old-school finds, but I have little personal connection with them. Stu Block era Iced Earth converted me to Metal, so I have a blackened place in my heart for those albums. It really reflects what albums came out when I was 14-18 that I enjoyed.

Similarly I don't have the 'lived through this' connection with the golden age of metal. That being said I have a real affinity for the early to mid nineties. We all like what we like and I think there's an argument 2014 was one of metal's strongest years. The albums you liked just don't do it for me.

 

On the subject of Iced Earth I presume you're familiar with Stormrider and Burnt Offerings? They are by far IE's best albums.

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Similarly I don't have the 'lived through this' connection with the golden age of metal. That being said I have a real affinity for the early to mid nineties. We all like what we like and I think there's an argument 2014 was one of metal's strongest years. The albums you liked just don't do it for me.
 
On the subject of Iced Earth I presume you're familiar with Stormrider and Burnt Offerings? They are by far IE's best albums.
I've really come around to Horror Show and The Glorious Burden in recent years, but otherwise I agree. Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings are prime Iced Earth, despite the vocal shortcomings of both.

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8 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I've really come around to Horror Show and The Glorious Burden in recent years, but otherwise I agree. Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings are prime Iced Earth, despite the vocal shortcomings of both.

I don't know, I thought Greely was perfect for the album, if I'm being honest. He matched the character of Night of the Stormrider better than Barlow, who was better on the albums he originally appeared in. He basically brought out the best in both the album's thrash and power elements. 

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I don't know, I thought Greely was perfect for the album, if I'm being honest. He matched the character of Night of the Stormrider better than Barlow, who was better on the albums he originally appeared in. He basically brought out the best in both the album's thrash and power elements. 
He was a good fit in that he was decent and kept to himself enough not to disturb the excellent music that the band was cranking out, but I would never call Greely a good vocalist. Capable, I guess, and a vast improvement over his predecessor, but not particularly good. I've always thought Barlow was a shitty vocalist too though, he tries way too hard and his tone sucks. I can ignore him well enough on Burnt Offerings, but he's part of what drags Dark Saga and Something Wicked down for me. He seemed a bit more competent by the time of Horror Show, but they had stepped up their songwriting at that point too. I think Owens gets an unfair shake, he's a pretty damn good vocalist and the best the band ever had IMO, but I think he gets shit on because the fans wanted the classic vocalist and we're put off by the patriotic themes on The Glorious Burden. I totally get it, I'm not crazy about them either, but the bands conviction is palpable and it features some of their best performances. I remember buying it as my first Iced Earth album and not really digging it because of all of the ballads, but recent listens have reminded me that that are some real ragers on there, and the ballads have grown on me. It also features one of their best big epic closers, so it ranks pretty highly for me among their discography.

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2 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

He was a good fit in that he was decent and kept to himself enough not to disturb the excellent music that the band was cranking out, but I would never call Greely a good vocalist. Capable, I guess, and a vast improvement over his predecessor, but not particularly good. I've always thought Barlow was a shitty vocalist too though, he tries way too hard and his tone sucks. I can ignore him well enough on Burnt Offerings, but he's part of what drags Dark Saga and Something Wicked down for me. He seemed a bit more competent by the time of Horror Show, but they had stepped up their songwriting at that point too. I think Owens gets an unfair shake, he's a pretty damn good vocalist and the best the band ever had IMO, but I think he gets shit on because the fans wanted the classic vocalist and we're put off by the patriotic themes on The Glorious Burden. I totally get it, I'm not crazy about them either, but the bands conviction is palpable and it features some of their best performances. I remember buying it as my first Iced Earth album and not really digging it because of all of the ballads, but recent listens have reminded me that that are some real ragers on there, and the ballads have grown on me. It also features one of their best big epic closers, so it ranks pretty highly for me among their discography.

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The Glorious Burden is by far my favourite Iced Earth album.

It’s almost like it was created by an entirely different band. Ripper Owens sounds amazing, the songs (mostly) rock, the history themes are good fun, and The Gettysburg Trilogy is evocative and moving. 

Can’t believe it’s written by the same person who wrote Dystopia...

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The Glorious Burden is by far my favourite Iced Earth album.
It’s almost like it was created by an entirely different band. Ripper Owens sounds amazing, the songs (mostly) rock, the history themes are good fun, and The Gettysburg Trilogy is evocative and moving. 
Can’t believe it’s written by the same person who wrote Dystopia...


I don't know if it will ever take Stormrider's place at the top for me, but it's my second favorite at this point. And yes, this band knows how to shit the bed with style. Just look at Dark Saga, leave it Iced Earth to fuck up an epic about Spawn.

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