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What Are You Listening To?


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9 hours ago, Thatguy said:

Yep. I'm back. It wasn't just a drive. We went to stay with some friends at Coledale (I know GG will look it up and become an expert on Coledale).

Coledale, New South Wales - Chilby Photography

 

Well now I kinda have to look it up, don't I? Looks like a picturesque little coastal resort village in NSW about an hour south of Sydney which you'd probably pass right by on the Princes Highway without giving it a second thought it if you were on your way to the more well known Wollongong, because it's on the other side of the mountain. Under 3 hours from Canberra so that's a nice little drive for ya Doc, you didn't even have to stop to stretch your legs or gas up the Volvo until you got there.

 

Johnny-5 aka JohanV dropped his top 20 list on the other thread this morning (my time) and even though I've only heard about a third of those albums it's pretty clear that he and I have different tastes. (despite the fact that I own two of those albums) But still I was determined to find something I liked on there. So I started copying and pasting titles into Youtube, and I've come up with two that I thought were pretty good, if not neccessarily something I'd be wanting to buy.

 

Wrang - De Vaendrig, Netherlands

 

Sadistic Ritual - The Enigma, Boundless, Atlanta, Georgia

 

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36 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

you didn't even have to stop to stretch your legs or gas up the Volvo until you got there.

 

He's an old man, if he didn't stop he's employing the coke bottle in the front seat technique, which is fine for well built males but a real bugger of a stunt for the female kind.

The Poor - Round 1

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Blut aus Nord -  Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses (2022)

Somehow missed this (or do I vaguely recall dismissing this after a premiere track I heard?) which is rare for me as I usually lap up BAN output like a cat does milk from a saucer.  If I had dismissed this for whatever reason then I am a dick because it is great.

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I personally prefer BAN when they're not doing the whole "nightmare fuel elevator music" thing, but they're still one of my favourite bands and glad to see others enjoying the latest one.

NP: Hades - Again Shall Be

Unpopular opinion: Hades out-Bathory'd Bathory on their first two albums.

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It's funny how mix differences will influence my perception of albums. Listening to that BAN album is a different experience on my Bluetooth speaker. Since it's mono, the guitars on the sides sound quieter, and that has the effect of pushing the vocals more forward, which makes it feel more like a normal metal album and less like a largely instrumental recording with a bunch of weird vocal background textures. Good either way. But I could see vocal-forward remixes of the new one and Hallucinogen being awesome.

15 minutes ago, True Belief said:

Obsiquiae’s Tanner Anderson is heading up a very 1995-sounding melodeath project - Majesties. Debut single ‘The World Unseen’ is amazingly enjoyable. I’d swear it was an unreleased Unanimated song from Ancient God of Evil. Worth checking out.

I didn't realize that was another one of his projects. Now I'm curious to hear it. Obsequiae already has a 90s melodeath underpinning, to my ears anyway.

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2 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Looks like a picturesque little coastal resort village in NSW about an hour south of Sydney which you'd probably pass right by on the Princes Highway without giving it a second thought it if you were on your way to the more well known Wollongong, because it's on the other side of the mountain.

Yeah. Nah. Coledale and all the small towns/beaches just north and south of it are on the ocean side of the escarpment all centred on Lawrence Hargrave Dr which runs along the coast  - and out into the ocean at one stage.  Wollongong itself is further south where the escarpment runs further inland so there is enough room for the city and that's where the Princes Highway goes. 

I didn't know Coledale existed until my mate bought a house there. It's his place, LH Drive, a small park then the ocean - just beautiful.

2 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

He's an old man, if he didn't stop he's employing the coke bottle in the front seat technique, which is fine for well built males but a real bugger of a stunt for the female kind.

The Poor - Round 1

Fuck you too. No need to stop - and I made a pact with my wife when we were young that she is to put me down if I ever buy a Volvo.

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7 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

Fuck you too. No need to stop - and I made a pact with my wife when we were young that she is to put me down if I ever buy a Volvo.

You are a grumpy old man with a colourful, but not very expansive, vocabulary, are you sure you're not holding something in a little too long?

 

 

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1 hour ago, Thatguy said:

I made a pact with my wife when we were young that she is to put me down if I ever buy a Volvo.

Alright Doc, now I have to know what you drive. If you don't want the rest of these slobs to know you can tell me in confidence, I promise not to reveal your secrets to the bogans. I was trying to think, what would the good Doctor drive? I figured it wouldn't be anything too ostentatious like a Mercedes or a Lexus, or anything too flashy like a Ferrari, or anything you might feel was beneath you like a Holden. I can't see any Australians opting to drive a big SUV like an Escalade or a Range Rover or anything like well-off middle class Yanks might drive over here, considering the insane price of petrol over there. I know someone who bought a Volvo a few years ago and it's actually a pretty cool car. I had no idea, they're not like back in the 70's and 80's when they were ugly AF and mainly just known as the "safe" car. Just gimme one more guess, an Audi?

 

 

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Wider-mouthed bottles work better. 

Stream episode Female Pee Jars by Katie Richards podcast | Listen online  for free on SoundCloud

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4 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Coledale, New South Wales - Chilby Photography

 

Well now I kinda have to look it up, don't I? Looks like a picturesque little coastal resort village in NSW about an hour south of Sydney which you'd probably pass right by on the Princes Highway without giving it a second thought it if you were on your way to the more well known Wollongong, because it's on the other side of the mountain. Under 3 hours from Canberra so that's a nice little drive for ya Doc, you didn't even have to stop to stretch your legs or gas up the Volvo until you got there.

Wow, yeah, that looks like heaven on earth.

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Volvo's have always been frowned upon here in Oz. The boxy look and the mistaken idea that they always broke down had people who'd never driven them also never wanting to go near them. For years there was also many silly Australian's who thought that cars that always had their lights on by default were somehow inferior. It's kind of ironic now days given that we pretty much can't buy a car here that doesn't have 'daytime running lights'.

Range Rover's are big here among city doctors, or at least their wives. One look around several Melbourne Hospital carparks and it's all Range Rovers, Lexus', Mercs and Beemers. Beemers less so now because they are becoming common as muck and even boy racers just out of high school can afford lower end Beemers. Country doctors tend more towards the Lexus version of the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Toyota badge being too low class to be seen wearing.

Given the already colourful language he keeps aiming at me I'm going to go with a black Range Rover, and he drives it like Prince Philip used to!
 

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Angelus Apatrida - Self-titled album (2021)

My favorite modern thrash band (of the "new wave") has released perhaps their best album of their career - now 5 albums in.  This thing is a monster from start to finish.  If it's not their best so far, it comes in second place only to their 2012 masterpiece "The Call".  These thrash aficionados from Spain are well worth your time if you're into killer thrash! 

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Yes, Volvos have always been frowned upon here too for being boxy and ugly. But apparently word must have got back to Sweden that their cars had become the butt of jokes, so they've redesigned them in this century. So now they basically look like all the other luxury sedans that I can't tell apart.

But I live a little bit out in the country now, don't hardly ever need to go into the city for anything so more than anything else I mostly see a lot of pickup trucks (utes) and smaller SUV's like my Honda CRV. 

 

1988 Volvo 240 GL

No Reserve: 1988 Volvo 240 GL for sale on BaT Auctions - sold for $9,250 on  October 13, 2022 (Lot #87,271) | Bring a Trailer

 

2023 Volvo S90

2023 Volvo S90 Review, Pricing, and Specs

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Yeah the rebranding has worked well for them, the same goes for their trucks. Most Euro trucks didn't have a good reputation here for years and while that has improved Volvo has come in leaps and bounds and now days they even test trucks here. The 80's model 240 GL was a great car despite it's ugliness, there are quite a few here now being brought back to life.

Where getting a lot more big GMC's, F Trucks, and RAM's here but I can't see Doc in one of those, they take up too much space in the car park and the more car spaces available the more double bookings a doctor can make, which affords them the expensive US import. So maybe he does drive and Escalade

 

NP: The Poor - Round 2

 

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2020 Cadillac Escalade Interior and Exterior Color Options

There is no way in hell Doc drives one of these. He's more sensible, refined and reserved than that. Range Rover maybe I would believe, but I don't think so. I see him as a lower end luxury sedan guy. Something well-made, comfortable and attractive, but nothing too flashy that's not his style. Large SUV's are the norm here in the states but only pompous cunts with small cocks drive Escalades over here, or as you said usually it's their wives that get to drive them.

 

Vault - Autumn Fire (Demo) UK 2023

 

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Zack says more more Gevurah less Gaerea, so I'm giving them an A-B comparative listen. They're both very good. Gaerea is probably a little more accessible, grandiose but hits those cathartic highs at mock 10 overdrive a bit too much and Gaerea a bit more dissonant and hard hitting but both easy to love. Funny, I had them both in my BC wishlist  listened once or twice and never returned.  

Need to revisit Ultha, another reject from my wishlist. And Pharmacist. 

Cavernlight/As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw-One of my favorite 2022 albums criminally overlooked but it ticks the right boxes for me,

Brackbraid

Chat Pile/God's Country-not just because of the hype or maybe exactly because of it, I've been hitting this album. Another one I listened to several times and it didn't connect until it did. To GG, this most certainly has riffs, just not cliched metal riffs. IMO they are angular, sideways stabs and dissonant versus big overdriven metal riffs most of us are used to. They are clearly indebted to their influencs-noise rock, alt metal, post punk and industrial. If you don't like what Godflesh do, you probably won't like this album, but there's gold in them there hills. Pretty obvious, these kids are trying to create feelings of anxiety, mental unhealth and great unease and I'd say they do it rather effectively. 

 

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47 minutes ago, markm said:

Zack says more more Gevurah less Gaerea, so I'm giving them an A-B comparative listen. They're both very good. Gaerea is probably a little more accessible, grandiose but hits those cathartic highs at mock 10 overdrive a bit too much and Gaerea a bit more dissonant and hard hitting but both easy to love. Funny, I had them both in my BC wishlist  listened once or twice and never returned.  

Need to revisit Ultha, another reject from my wishlist. And Pharmacist. 

Cavernlight/As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw-One of my favorite 2022 albums criminally overlooked but it ticks the right boxes for me,

Brackbraid

Chat Pile/God's Country-not just because of the hype or maybe exactly because of it, I've been hitting this album. Another one I listened to several times and it didn't connect until it did. To GG, this most certainly has riffs, just not cliched metal riffs. IMO they are angular, sideways stabs and dissonant versus big overdriven metal riffs most of us are used to. They are clearly indebted to their influencs-noise rock, alt metal, post punk and industrial. If you don't like what Godflesh do, you probably won't like this album, but there's gold in them there hills. Pretty obvious, these kids are trying to create feelings of anxiety, mental unhealth and great unease and I'd say they do it rather effectively. 

 

As usual I wouldn't say that I hated it (Chat Pile) and I'm not saying it's "bad," just that it's definitely not my thing. Typically when you can use the words "angular" and "sideways" and "dissonant" to describe a band's music then there's a 99.9% chance that it's not going to be for me.

I generally like music that can be described as "riffy" and "straight-forward" and I really don't see bands using metal riffs in the traditional sense of the word "riffs" as being "cliched," but I guess that just illustrates one of the many ways in which you and I have different perspectives on things. To me calling metal riffs "cliched" is as dumb as saying the traditional 12 note scale is "cliched" or drummers still hitting their drum heads with wooden sticks is "cliched." As I see it, the "almighty riff" is the basis for all things metal and everything stems from there. 

Now, if you could please go back and proof-read your 1st paragraph about Gevurah vs Gaerea. In your 3rd sentence you used Gaerea's name twice, and I'm pretty sure one of those Gaerea's was meant to be a Gevurah. But which one? I didn't really like either of them as I recall. Again, I didn't hate them or think they were worthless rubbish, but neither of them were goaty enough for me. But I think one of them was better to me than the other, and I can't remember which. I'm thinking maybe it was Gevurah.

 

19 minutes ago, MarkhantonioYeatts said:

DISTRUSTER - Sic Semper Tyrannis

Fantastic band name! And the music's good too with those traditional cliched metal riffs.

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4 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Alright Doc, now I have to know what you drive.

I drive a BMW i3 around town - it was about the first electric car available in Australia. For longer trips it's the wife's BMW 328i GT Sport. We will go all electric  (and not BMW - cheaper electrics are coming onto the market - not Volvo neither) in due course.

 

3 hours ago, markm said:

Zack says more more Gevurah less Gaerea

Both sit as good not great for me but Gaerea has the edge.

 

3 hours ago, markm said:

Need to revisit Ultha, another reject from my wishlist. And Pharmacist. 

You do.

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