Recommend me some quality Metal

Time for a little head-to head competition between recent releases. Which prog-power band released the more a-MAZE-ing piano intro on April 28?


Pyramaze – Contingent (power)

vs.


MindMaze – Resolve (power)


And which concept album about AI uprisings wiping out human civilization makes a better companion piece to NieR: Automata?


Ayreon – The Source (prog)

vs.


Artificial Brian – Infrared Horizon (weird death)


Sorry, no unifying theme for the rest of these – just a grab bag of (quality) metal.


Seven Kingdoms – Decennium (power)



Ingurgitating Oblivion (tech death)



God Dethroned – The World Ablaze (melodeath)



Hideous Divinity – Adveniens (tech death)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ysaKpzPHg
Mesarthim – Presence (atmospheric black)



Venenum – Trance of Death (death)


Holy shit!

Nuclear Blast is proud to finally announce the worldwide signing and return of POSSESSED! Few bands have done more to push the boundaries of extreme metal than the legendary POSSESSED. Even fewer can create a unique style, which continues to set them apart from all others by being the very first in a genre they laid the foundation for. POSSESSED are by definition, the creators of Death Metal. Ever since they stormed onto the San Francisco metal scene in the early 1980’s, POSSESSED has been redefining and breaking the rules for metal. Nuclear Blast is very excited to be a part of that continued legacy.

Comments vocalist and founding member Jeff Becerra:
“POSSESSED are pleased and honored to announce our joining the Nuclear Blast family. Currently, we are hard at work writing new material for our upcoming first full-length release on Nuclear Blast. I want to give special thanks to everybody at Nuclear Blast, and to all of our supporters. This has been a long time coming and this is a very exciting time for us.”

Fans can expect POSSESSED’s first a full-length release in 31 years, sometime in 2018.

POSSESSED is:
Jeff Becerra - Vocals
Daniel Gonzalez - Guitars
Emilio Marquez - Drums
Robert Cardenas - Bass
Claudeous Creamer - Guitars

I love Clawmaster from the 2011 album and also one of the coolest videos of all time.

A couple of recent concert dumps to follow:

##Amon Amarth with Goatwhore at the National in Richmond








Thoroughly awesome show. Goatwhore much better live than on album: I’d originally figured I’d not care for them much, but they wound up winning my heart a little bit when they dedicated “Fucked By Satan” to the crowd there that night.

The National was a huge venue, but I insisted on getting right up to the 3rd or so row for Amon Amarth. Probably a mistake in retrospect, as I think my back is still fucked up from the ravishing I received from the crowd, who were utterly insane that night. Not without good reason–AA are an incredible live act absolutely worth the time and money. They pounded out a huge 17-track setlist of classic hits like “Twilight of the Thunder Guard” and “Destroyer of the Universe” alongside brand new stuff like “The Way of Vikings” and “Father of the Wolf.” They were utterly locked in and insanely charming. The huge viking longboat with glowing red eyes didn’t hurt, either.

Plus, hey, fun road trip to Richmond with two awesome friends, and tasty Indian food nearby!

##Sabaton with Leaves Eyes and Battle Beast at The Underground in Charlotte, NC











On the way back from my huge cooking adventure in Gatlinburg, TN, I grabbed a buddy of mine who was having a post-wedding get-together in Asheville and drove on to Charlotte to meet two more friends for a three-band show: Leaves Eyes, Battle Beast, and Sabaton!

I’d seen LE once before, many years ago, as the only opener the first time I ever saw my favorite band, Blind Guardian. I wasn’t thrilled to have had them wasting my time that night, but I like to think I’ve matured a little! Their new female lead is perfectly good, the male lead is much better than he used to be, and the instrumentalists are thoroughly competent. They still don’t rise much above Nightwish copycatism, but c’est le vie. One of the guys there loves the band, and he had an absolute blast, so I’m glad to have seen em!

Battle Beast are absolutely amazing. Their energy, charisma, and talent just poured off the stage, from tiny little Noora on up. Their ludicrous 80s-inspired glam metal antics may not be to everyone’s taste, but frankly, they’re one of my favorite acts to debut in the last decade after spending the last couple of months getting to know 'em, and it was killer to see them live. They hit all my favorite tracks, including “Familiar Hell!”

Of course, Sabaton are infamous for their insanely good live shows. The entire band clearly maxed out on CHA and DEX at character creation, and their hilarious antics, passion for the fans, and superior musicianship all showed through in their first headlining US tour. The crowd–a sold-out show–was absolutely bonkers for them, breaking out into chants of “Sabaton” between every song and jumping up and down like teens at a Bieber concert during the big hits. The band played around with us a lot, letting us vote on a track to hear and whether or not we wanted it in English or Swedish (Swedish, duh!) and giving us a little history quiz before playing “Winged Hussars.” Joacim, the front man, was eating up the fan-love and couldn’t stop falling all over himself thanking us for coming out on a Sunday night and bringing down the house, but frankly, for a top-5 all-time live act, what else could we do???

Plus, that Swedish flag bass? Yeah, dude’s got “SWEDISH WAR MACHINE” printed down the neck of it, hah!

And finally, from Tuesday night. . .

##Nordjevel with Dreaded and Imperial Triumphant at Slim’s in Raleigh, NC






I got clued into this show by my awesome concert-buddy Briony, and am super glad I was. Despite opening up at 9PM on a work night, it was utterly worth seeing. Dreaded are a local outfit from Greensboro, NC playing some pretty brutal black metal with sick stage presence and a lot of love from the local crowd. So many spiked arm bands!

New York’s Imperial Triumphant were something to watch as smoked cloaked the tiny stage and their horrifying golden masks went on. Only a three-piece live, the superior bass work of Erik Malave really comes through, even if the full sound is a little less present in that format. Give em a little more road experience and they could really go places!

Finally, Nordjevel, a minor black metal supergroup (maybe more like greatgroup) who aren’t terribly likely to tour the US somehow made it out to Raleigh, NC, so of course we had to go see ‘em! They are absolutely killer and locked in as hell live–probably owing to the many years’ experience onstage the members possess from their various activities. Brutal, artful, relentless. . . seeing them from literally feet away was awe-inspiring and a little horrifying :)

Thanks for sharing @ArmandoPenblade! Looks like some awesome shows have been coming through. If I was less lazy I’d drive to Chicago or Detroit and see some of those tours.

Honestly that 3-hour drive back from Sabaton–after already being on the road a good 11 hours in the preceding 60H or so–was pretty hellish, but super worth it.

Still a few more definitive shows on the radar: Raleigh Death Fest in June, Slayer/Behemoth in July, and Dark Tranquility in September. May try to squeeze Sarah Longfield, Mega Colossus, and Insomnium in there, too. . . I might crack 20 concerts in 2017 by the end!

I’ve had years like that. Not this year though. So far I’ve seen Sleep back in April.

With the release of the deluxe edition of Alestorm’s latest, No Grave But the Sea, we now have 10 “for dogs” versions of all the tracks on that album. They are, uh. . . special:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_A19zUXQoo

Also, here’s an actual track:

Tangent!

I kinda like “Inhuman Sand” and “Suffer the Blue”.

Holy fucking hell this is awesome.

Aside from the vocalists, that “Mexico For Dogs” sounded a lot like Slade.

Only listened to this a couple times and I’m already feeling it’s destined for a slot on the old year-end list. We’ll see if it has legs and further depths after a couple more!

We’re talking melodic death/black in the epic Hellenic style, kind of reminds me of Macabre Omen and a bit of Windir. Or if you prefer, a more interesting, intricate Greek version of Amon Amarth.

Divine Element - Thaurachs of Borsu

Listen to this and tell me you’re not keen to hear more…

Sabaton was great and a sold out show in Denver as well. I was quite surprised by the turnout. Although, I felt like there were a few more skinheads here than I am used to seeing and a bit of a different crowd.

I’ll try to get around to posting pictures later, but we saw Xandria and Arkona the same week as Sabaton. If you have a chance to catch Arkona on this tour, they put on a good show. Masha is incredibly energetic. I bailed before the co-headliner Sirenia got on stage, but heard they were good.

Arkona are absolutely amazing live. Strongly agreed with the rec to go see em if you can.

Hell yeah, this is fantastic! I’ve always liked Spectral Lore, the atmo-black project by the same guy, and this is just as good but totally different.

The new Alestorm is lots of fun too.

Other good recent stuff:


Loss - Horizonless (funeral doom)



Bereft - Lands (post-doom)



The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia (blackened doom)


Voyager - Ghost Mile (prog)


Night Flight Orchestra - Amber Galactic (80’s rock side project from members of Arch Enemy and Soilwork)


DragonForce - Reaching Into Infinity (power/speed)

I’m digging these (and to a lesser extent Ruins of Beverast).

Another good recent funeral doom album, with more of a death metal edge is:

Inverloch - Distance | Collapsed

A spiritual successor to the mighty diSEMBOWELMENT featuring a couple of their ex-members.

Completely agreed about Inverloch. And as long as we’re on the doom train, here’s another one that I just discovered that really impressed me. Below - Upon a Pale Horse. Epic doom strongly reminiscent of Candlemass.