What Are You Listening To?

[navybsn]

Bad Brains - I Against I

 

[navybsn]

Steel Bearing Hand - S/T

[FatherAlabaster]

Aesop Rock - Skelethon   ...I don't know why the mood hit me, but for the past couple months I've been on an Aesop Rock binge. Used to play his stuff a ton, I guess I still do.

NP: Thatguy - A Hundred Treasures ...this first track is calming. I like it. Great for looking out over the mountain and maybe reading a bit. 

[MacabreEternal]

Armagedda - The Final War Approaches (2001)

 

46 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Aesop Rock - Skelethon   ...I don't know why the mood hit me, but for the past couple months I've been on an Aesop Rock binge. Used to play his stuff a ton, I guess I still do.

NP: Thatguy - A Hundred Treasures ...this first track is calming. I like it. Great for looking out over the mountain and maybe reading a bit. 

Wait - you have a mountain now?

[Hungarino]

11 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

All dissonance is not created equally. Sometimes in small doses I'm ok with it. That one Abyssal abum with the French name and Onward to Golgotha are both examples of dissonant albums I enjoy. But it depends, sometimes I struggle to hear it as "music" when I feel like a band is taking the dissonance thing a bit too far. Like this Shrines to Dagon album Hungarino and Cabbage and Doc are all listening to this evening. I get the feeling of unease thing, and I could understand someone valuing unpredictability in music. But what I really don't understand is like how are these songs written and remembered? How could a band possibly recreate this randomness live without it being different every time? Or is it maybe supposed to be different every time? Are there special weird dissonant scales I'm unfamiiar with as a layman? How are these seemingly random disjointed sounds coming out of my speakers that seem to me to have no relation to each other whatsoever seen by some as an actual piece of music and not just random sounds? You can't tap your foot to it (or I can't anyway) so how does the drummer even know what to do? Are these dudes busy counting all kinds of crazy numbers in their heads to stay in time with each other, is that how this works? I'm 5 minutes from the end of this album and it kinda sounds to me like a symphony orchestra being played backwards.

I am more with GG on the dissonance personally. A little goes a long way when it suits the atmosphere and the vibe/pulse.

I get and appreciate that a bunch of metal guitarists are virtuosos and classically trained to understand the mathematical foundations of jazz-fusion and all that, and that's great, but when I hear a bunch of dissonant or arrhythmic wankery played just for the sake of it, I immediately want to crank some 3 chord beastial war metal recorded by 17-year-old Canadians in their mom's basement, or some such.

NP: Megadeth - Killing is my Business..

 

[agamerwholovesmetal]

Listening to Loudwires top 50 thrash metal albums

49. Epidemic of violence (1992) - demolition hammer

this album marked the beginning of the end of what I call the golden age of thrash (around 1983-1992) and unlike hair metal which had a slow painful death around the end of its golden age thrash went out on a year full of classics within the genre (the law - exhorder, beyond recognition - defiance, and will work for food - uncle slam being some good examples) and this album stands above all the rest. the only complaint i have is that this album wasn't higher on the list.

[MacabreEternal]

Swallow the Sun - Moonflowers (2021)

 

[FatherAlabaster]

28 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

Armagedda - The Final War Approaches (2001)

 

Wait - you have a mountain now?

Yup, there's a nice little one out the living room window across the river valley, and some more dramatic views nearby. Cloud formations to delight even the most jaded and benumbed (me, sometimes). 

[Hungarino]

Death - Fate: The Best of Death

[FatherAlabaster]

This one's for @navybsn - just finished watching this "Shred With Shifty" video interview with Alex Lifeson, going through the "Limelight" guitar solo. I'm not big on YouTube playthrough stuff and I wouldn't have thought to pick this solo, but I loved every minute of it.

 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

1 hour ago, agamerwholovesmetal said:

Listening to Loudwires top 50 thrash metal albums

49. Epidemic of violence (1992) - demolition hammer

this album marked the beginning of the end of what I call the golden age of thrash (around 1983-1992) and unlike hair metal which had a slow painful death around the end of its golden age thrash went out on a year full of classics within the genre (the law - exhorder, beyond recognition - defiance, and will work for food - uncle slam being some good examples) and this album stands above all the rest. the only complaint i have is that this album wasn't higher on the list.

For some reason that album art always reminds me of when somebody actually made a claymation fighting game for the N64

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Wicked Innocence - Omnipotence

[GoatmasterGeneral]

10 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Any two notes have a relation to each other. Same goes for chord sets and rhythmic percussive sets. It's just that that relation may not fall in line with traditional western harmonics. Even though you can view these things from the static perspective of pure atonal sound it's often the slipping in and out of tonality and the spaces in between that hold the most appeal for people. So the atonality is still, in it's own way, being heard through a traditional Western harmonic scale and rhythm. Also the power of suggested resolution attains a particular sort of impact in disharmonic note sets, but going into resolution would and has taken up many books worth of space in music theory, so it's probably best to avoid that avenue.

The best example I can give would be the string quartets of Bela Bartok. He was known for using traditional Eastern European folk melodies and rhythms all over his work, but to many ears it sounds dissonant even though he limited and kind of curtailed some of the innate atonality in some of them:

Another experiment in atonality that I find fascinating was Messaien's work with birdsong. It's kind of neat to hear something long considered to be beautiful and musical, when transcribed and performed note for note is atonal and dissonant. The first part of this video is a side by side of each birds song followed by that same song played on the piano.

Also, as an added bonus, it makes the cat freak out when I play this.

NP: Musmahhu - Reign of the Odious

Reign of the Odious | Musmahhu | Mysticism Productions (bandcamp.com)

 

Thank you sir, this is more like the answer I was looking for. I really need to get a book on music theory to explain dissonance and resolution in more detail because I don't understand how any of it works and why any two notes have a relationship to each other, and what that relationship could be.

I understand that certain groups of notes make chords, and when you substitute notes in a chord it sounds different or weird. Doc even says there's other special dissonant scales that as a non-musician I'm completely unaware of (although I've had my suspicions). But I think maybe this resolution thing could be what I really need to figure out. I think understanding a bit of the theory behind it might help me to make some sense of extreme dissonance and atonality.

Like it or not this atonal stuff exists and my goal is to be able to see it as more than just completely random noises with seemingly no relation to each other, like monkeys banging on instruments which is basically what a lot of these disso-death bands sound like to my uneducated ear now. I think I need to look under the hood to see what makes it go before I'll be able to make any sense out of it from just listening. 

[CumBloodSucker]

CBS most played bands according to lastFM 201 - 3000...?

206. Ancient rites

Not working. Could say I hate it.

207. Anthrax

I defenitely hate it.

I have a brother who has stepped into 'heavier' metal in recent years and he keeps introducing me to these bands.

Top 10 bands I've played today.

1. Archgoat (36)

2. Pungent stench (36)

3. Grave (31)

4. Anti cimex (19)

5. Bolt thrower (19)

6. Inquisition (9)

7. Throneum (19) black/death, Poland

8. Linekraft (16), noise, Japan

9. Kyy (15), black metal, Finland

10. Revenge (15)

---

I've got to present Kyy - Beyod flesh - Beyond matter - Beyond death

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

2 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Yup, there's a nice little one out the living room window across the river valley, and some more dramatic views nearby. Cloud formations to delight even the most jaded and benumbed (me, sometimes). 

Nice. You're making me miss the mountain views out the bedroom window of my house in Colorado, and the wild full color sunsets they get in the big sky out there. Even just the daily 5 minute ride to the kid's preschool offered me wide open spectacular mountain vistas.

Don't get that here in NJ. Even though I'm technically 'in the mountains' just 10 minutes from a ski place (if you can even seriously call these little Jersey hills 'mountains' with a straight face). I'm living towards the upper part of a 'mountain' and the trees are so thick that I don't get any wide open views from here, it just feels like being in the woods. There are breaks in the trees in a few places where you can get a wider view, but nothing I can see from my house. 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

20 minutes ago, CumBloodSucker said:

 

207. Anthrax

I defenitely hate it.

On that we agree. There's just something about them that irritates the hell out of me. It's possible I'm just frustrated at their inclusion in "the four horsemen" of thrash, but I honestly think it's more than that. I've given Anthrax a number of earnest goes over the years, and not only does it not take, it actively makes me frustrated with having spent my time trying to understand the appeal in a way almost no other group does. Usually when I do that I end at a place where I'm able to acknowledge and understand why some people like X group, but it's just not for me. Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime albums would be an example of this for me. With Anthrax? Nope. They're so unilaterally annoying I truly can't understand what anybody could possibly hear in their recorded output.

NP: KHNVM - Visions of a Plague Ridden Sky

▶︎ Visions of a Plague Ridden Sky | KHNVM (bandcamp.com)

Takes a similar approach to brutality as Okloth, another of death metal's heavy hitters this year. If anything this one is somehow both heavier and lighter at the same time. Okloth had a bad habit of using it's Nile influence when a song needed a nice arpeggiation to smooth out a transfer or keep the pace moving forward. Now, I love Nile, don't get me wrong, but their influence on the modern death metal landscape (especially post Annihilation... Nile) is getting a little pervasive, and it can negatively effect the dynamics of your album. These guys don't shy away from some of Nile's atmospheric instrumentation for sure (as evidenced by the mid album citar tracks using phrygian scales), but they don't rely on their influence to constantly push the tempo to areas where, without higher technical production, they fall flat, as with Archspire and their ilk. Attempting to properly use the death metal slow-down is a deceptively difficult trick at the best of times though, and this album is a bit of a far cry away from Incantations mastery of the art. Still very enjoyable stuff for a death fan like myself. I give it a B+.

 

37 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Nice. You're making me miss the mountain views out the bedroom window of my house in Colorado, and the wild full color sunsets they get in the big sky out there. Even just the daily 5 minute ride to the kid's preschool offered me wide open spectacular mountain vistas.

Don't get that here in NJ. Even though I'm technically 'in the mountains' just 10 minutes from a ski place (if you can even seriously call these little Jersey hills 'mountains' with a straight face). I'm living towards the upper part of a 'mountain' and the trees are so thick that I don't get any wide open views from here, it just feels like being in the woods. There are breaks in the trees in a few places where you can get a wider view, but nothing I can see from my house. 

Given limitless financial resources and the time to waste staring at landscapes I would honestly have a house built in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Carolinas. My jelousy of Mr. Alabaster is immeasurable right now.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, CumBloodSucker said:

CBS most played bands according to lastFM 201 - 3000...?

206. Ancient rites

Not working. Could say I hate it.

207. Anthrax

I defenitely hate it.

I have a brother who has stepped into 'heavier' metal in recent years and he keeps introducing me to these bands.

Top 10 bands I've played today.

1. Archgoat (36)

2. Pungent Stench (36)

3. Grave (31)

4. Anti cimex (19)

5. Bolt Thrower (19)

6. Inquisition (9)

7. Throneum (19) black/death, Poland

8. Linekraft (16), noise, Japan

9. Kyy (15), black metal, Finland

10. Revenge (15)

---

I've got to present Kyy - Beyod flesh - Beyond matter - Beyond death

Bangin' top 10. I've just never been that much into Revenge and I've never heard of Linekraft I don't think.

Kyy - Beyond Flesh, Finland 2016, good shit, 87 scrobbles 🤘

 

Dispyt - Under Tiden Jag Sålde Min Själ Till Satan, blackened crust Finland 2020

 

[MacabreEternal]

Fen - Monuments to Absence (2023)

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Fireball Ministry - The Second Great Awakening, LA hard rock 2003

 

Hookers - Satan's Highway, punk rock Louisville KY 1998

 

Hookers - Must Kill! Must Kill! 1998

 

[Thatguy]

1 hour ago, MacabreEternal said:

Fen - Monuments to Absence (2023)

Yeah, baby

NP - KALI MALONE (featuring Stephen O'Malley & Lucy Railton) - Does Spring Hide Its Joy. Despite the presence of Stephen O'Malley and despite the presence of distorted guitar this is not metal . It is long (very long) form drone just right for a quiet winter morning, wife and cat in bed, having a think, looking at the hills.

[navybsn]

6 hours ago, agamerwholovesmetal said:

Listening to Loudwires top 50 thrash metal albums

49. Epidemic of violence (1992) - demolition hammer

this album marked the beginning of the end of what I call the golden age of thrash (around 1983-1992) and unlike hair metal which had a slow painful death around the end of its golden age thrash went out on a year full of classics within the genre (the law - exhorder, beyond recognition - defiance, and will work for food - uncle slam being some good examples) and this album stands above all the rest. the only complaint i have is that this album wasn't higher on the list.

Should be much higher. Easily the most punishing thrash band I've ever seen live and one of the most unrelenting albums ever made. Pure unadulterated hate and aggression is only outweighed by the need to turn it up to 11. The breakdown in Skull Fracturing Nightmare is the heaviest thing I think I've ever experienced live. If you've never seen DH live, your life is not complete. This one is in my personal top 10 of all time, don't care what the rags say and which albums by the big 4 you put in which order. No DH, no Sadus, no Coroner, no Sodom or Destruction...then gtfo.

5 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

This one's for @navybsn - just finished watching this "Shred With Shifty" video interview with Alex Lifeson, going through the "Limelight" guitar solo. I'm not big on YouTube playthrough stuff and I wouldn't have thought to pick this solo, but I loved every minute of it.

 

All of Rush's stuff sounds deceptively simple until you start breaking it down or trying to play it, and Lerxst is the most overlooked of all contributions if that's possible. I mean he's the guy EVH attributed as the greatest guitarist of the generation, so overlooked may be a stretch. Limelight isn't even one of his more mind-blowing solos (Kid Gloves comes to mind first but there's honestly so many to choose from). I'd say I never want to meet my idols, but in the case of the 2 surviving members of the band, I'd give my left arm to spend the day with either. Just seem to be honestly nice dudes with a healthy dose of humor and kindness.

 

Re Anthrax, not sure how old you are @Nasty_Cabbage, but it's one of those bands you had to be there for. Early thrash wasn't flush with options and they were the early leader in the clubhouse on crossover appeal. A band heshers and punks could both like, even the burgeoning hip-hop crowd found something to like. Along with Suicidal, they were huge in skate culture. They don't have real staying power and much of it hasn't aged as well as the other 3, but they're in the big time for a reason. I personally never have a need to listen to any of their stuff ever again though. Especially not these days when I have so many more choices from Deathrow to Watchtower to Blind Illusion to Devastation or any of the myriad of bands I had no clue of back 30+ years ago.

And to stay on topic

The Black Angels - Wilderness of Mirrors

[GoatmasterGeneral]

3 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Given limitless financial resources and the time to waste staring at landscapes I would honestly have a house built in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Carolinas. My jelousy of Mr. Alabaster is immeasurable right now.

Been camping/backpacking in Smoky Mountain Natl Park a few times right on the NC/TN border. Now that really is a magical place. So cool to wake up in your tent and be able to enjoy your morning coffee while looking at scenes like this. Has a way of really clearing your head out.

[Dead1]

7 hours ago, agamerwholovesmetal said:

Listening to Loudwires top 50 thrash metal albums

49. Epidemic of violence (1992) - demolition hammer

this album marked the beginning of the end of what I call the golden age of thrash (around 1983-1992) and unlike hair metal which had a slow painful death around the end of its golden age thrash went out on a year full of classics within the genre (the law - exhorder, beyond recognition - defiance, and will work for food - uncle slam being some good examples) and this album stands above all the rest. the only complaint i have is that this album wasn't higher on the list.

A really good observation (and a cool album).  

 

[FatherAlabaster]

4 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Given limitless financial resources and the time to waste staring at landscapes I would honestly have a house built in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Carolinas. My jelousy of Mr. Alabaster is immeasurable right now.

The Blue Ridge mountains are gorgeous. My wife and I met when we were living in North Carolina and had our honeymoon in Boone. We talked about moving back to NC specifically to live in the mountains, but we both figured we just couldn't deal with everything else. I feel really lucky we're here right now and I hope we can stay here for a while. Beautiful spot.

____ 

Saw the Anthrax hatred above so I put on Sound Of White Noise earlier. Really dug it for a little while back in high school, but I hadn't heard it since sometime in my teen years. The only good thing on there for me now is John Bush's vocals. Riffs are bland, everything occupies this weird middle ground between metal and grunge - I guess you could say that about a ton of albums from the early 90s - and none of the songs really commit to anything. They're just kind of there. 

NP: 

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Type O Negative - Dead Again

[Hungarino]

6 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

The Blue Ridge mountains

Nice. I grew up in the foothills in central Virginia and those mountains were home. My sister named her daughter Shenandoah. Great way to grow up, although I must be near the ocean these days.

Anthrax fan from the start here, and so true that they filled their own niche and really don't get credit for how influential they were on different genres. They were heavy af at the time. Sure, their later stuff goes kind of haywire but so do a lot of bands. They definitely struck a unique chord in my adolescent years and I still enjoy everything through SoWN and then their most recent two were decent enough. Oh, and you can thank them (and Aerosmith I guess) for rap-rock/metal.