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19 minutes ago, Requiem said:

The latest album is really good, but I haven’t heard it that much. I accidentally bought the album before it - the first without Luca - and it’s really bad. It’s so tame, keyboard heavy and bland. They give the new guitar player virtually nothing to do. I remember the latest being a good step up though. 

It was a good step up. I think the main issue was that once Luca left (albeit on amicable terms), it left a large compositional hole that Staropoli had to make up for with keys and orchestral elements on Dark Wings of Steel. The problem is that even those elements were not anywhere near as potent as the material present on both Symphonies albums, for example. Into the Legend was a great improvement though. Shame they had to kill the momentum with the tedium that was Legendary Years. 

19 minutes ago, Requiem said:

As for the band before the split, of the albums I own I love ‘Power of the Dragonflame’ and ‘Dawn of Victory’, but find their last with Luca just terrible wank. I really want to pick up all of their early albums though. Great booklets with maps and daft stories.

Power of the Dragonflame is probably my favorite album from their discography as well. 

19 minutes ago, Requiem said:

What do you think of them?

I think everything they've done from their debut to From Chaos to Eternity either ranges from good to incredible (with the rare lame song like Forest of Unicorns). Seeing how they added and improved upon elements they introduced in their debut was a pretty rewarding experience and they remain as one of my favorite power metal bands. Sure, the prevailing concept that takes over much of the RoF discography is over the top but the composition and performance makes up for it the majority of the time. 

I get why you'd have that opinion on From Chaos to Eternity but some of my favorite moments from Luca are in the classic lineup's latter period. I quite admire him as a guitar player and I'm glad he rounded out his last years with the band with a more guitar-oriented approach after the more orchestral Magic Circle period. 

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Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

After how good their first two albums were, it really sounds like they phoned it in on this one. Mameli's vocals aren't anywhere near as good as Van Drunen's, and the songs are repetitious, dull, and directionless for the most part. All of the instruments hang back more than usual, leaving enough open space to draw your attention to how ineffective Foddis' drumming is. It always has been, but it didn't matter on earlier recordings because the intricate and dynamic riffs mixed with the raging vocals and frantic pacing did plenty to consume the attention of the listener. They added keyboards, but the keyboards don't really add anything since they just follow the guitars or fill the empty spaces with whole/half notes, and having two guitars similarly doesn't matter if they're both going to play the same thing. Even Tony Choy hung back, barely doing anything that doesn't just follow the rhythm guitars, which begs the question "why bother bringing him in or mention that he's 'Tony Choy (from Cynic)' only to not utilize his talents?"

I just don't get what happened here. How do you go from being the leaders of the pack to the runt of the litter in the space of two years? It seems like the pretense of ambition with keyboards and ambient interludes without any actual ambition.

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4 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

After how good their first two albums were, it really sounds like they phoned it in on this one. Mameli's vocals aren't anywhere near as good as Van Drunen's, and the songs are repetitious, dull, and directionless for the most part. All of the instruments hang back more than usual, leaving enough open space to draw your attention to how ineffective Foddis' drumming is. It always has been, but it didn't matter on earlier recordings because the intricate and dynamic riffs mixed with the raging vocals and frantic pacing did plenty to consume the attention of the listener. They added keyboards, but the keyboards don't really add anything since they just follow the guitars or fill the empty spaces with whole/half notes, and having two guitars similarly doesn't matter if they're both going to play the same thing. Even Tony Choy hung back, barely doing anything that doesn't just follow the rhythm guitars, which begs the question "why bother bringing him in or mention that he's 'Tony Choy (from Cynic)' only to not utilize his talents?"

I just don't get what happened here. How do you go from being the leaders of the pack to the runt of the litter in the space of two years? It seems like the pretense of ambition with keyboards and ambient interludes without any actual ambition.

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Brace yourself man, if you haven't heard their later material yet. Total wankery

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Brace yourself man, if you haven't heard their later material yet. Total wankery
No, I don't have anything beyond this point and haven't cared to check any of it out. I probably wouldn't even still own Testimony if it wasn't included with my copy of Consuming Impulse. I put it on every once in a while to see if my opinion of it has changed, but it still disappoints me every time.

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On 5/11/2018 at 7:48 AM, BlutAusNerd said:

Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

After how good their first two albums were, it really sounds like they phoned it in on this one. Mameli's vocals aren't anywhere near as good as Van Drunen's, and the songs are repetitious, dull, and directionless for the most part. All of the instruments hang back more than usual, leaving enough open space to draw your attention to how ineffective Foddis' drumming is. It always has been, but it didn't matter on earlier recordings because the intricate and dynamic riffs mixed with the raging vocals and frantic pacing did plenty to consume the attention of the listener. They added keyboards, but the keyboards don't really add anything since they just follow the guitars or fill the empty spaces with whole/half notes, and having two guitars similarly doesn't matter if they're both going to play the same thing. Even Tony Choy hung back, barely doing anything that doesn't just follow the rhythm guitars, which begs the question "why bother bringing him in or mention that he's 'Tony Choy (from Cynic)' only to not utilize his talents?"

I just don't get what happened here. How do you go from being the leaders of the pack to the runt of the litter in the space of two years? It seems like the pretense of ambition with keyboards and ambient interludes without any actual ambition.

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I definitely see what you're saying. I personally love the sound of this album, though. 

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On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 4:52 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

Apollo Ra - Ra Pariah

Lethal - Programmed

Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance

Titan Force - s/t   ...this is another one that I seem to like better and better the more I listen to it.

 

Wow...Heir Apparent & Lethal. I have both those albums. Have you considered adding Mike Howe's pre-Metal Church band Heretic 'Breaking Point' into that potent mix..??

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9 hours ago, True Belief said:

 

Wow...Heir Apparent & Lethal. I have both those albums. Have you considered adding Mike Howe's pre-Metal Church band Heretic 'Breaking Point' into that potent mix..??

This is cool, I hadn't listened to it before. He's got a really good vocal tone. I'm only really familiar with David Wayne-era Metal Church - used to love the debut (and "The Dark" to a lesser extent), but I haven't gone back to it in ages. Speaking of David Wayne, do you enjoy Reverend?

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"Deus Salutis Meæ" - Blut Aus Nord

"Ad Patres" - Baise Ma Hache

On 5/13/2018 at 1:30 AM, MattCantina said:

NP: Baise Ma Hache - Bréviaire du chaos; for uninitiated, this band is mostly a Peste Noire clone. I'm liking them quite a lot though

This is really cool.  Never heard of them before.

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