@ArmandoPenblade Picked up tickets for Aether Realm next month. It looks like they are touring with Gloryhammer who I had fun watching them open for Alestorm. March will be a good month for shows with Hypocrisy, Children of Bodom, Zeal and Ardor, Aether Realm, Dream Theater and debating on traveling somewhere to catch Fates Warning.
You’re going to have an amazing time. Like you said, Gloryhammer are a ton of fun, and Aether Realm are super charming and delightful on-stage. They’re on tour right now with Wilderun, featuring my buddy Jon Teachey on drums, and played the opening show in Raleigh last night. It was UTTERLY amazing :-D
Dunno if any of y’all are in NC, GA, FL, TX, MO, IL, KY, TN, or AL, but if so, it’s deeeefinitely worth catching this tour. If not, the tour with Gloryhammer after that is gonna be thoroughly excellent, if a somewhat bigger and fancier production. The super homey, friendly feel of the Wilde-Realm shows is always amazing. Heh, I had to run out to my car after WIlderun’s set to get a portable charger for my phone so I could record AR’s and was afraid I might run late getting back into the venue. . . till I exited the parking structure and saw Jake (AR’s bassist/vocalist) tearing down the sidewalk right past me trailing audio cables they’d apparently forgotten in his car. Well, at least I knew I wasn’t gonna be late!
Got to talk to Jake, Jon, Evan (Wilderun’s vocalist), and the folks from Infinity Fortress a local a decent bit last night, which was really nice. IF are a local symphonic power metal band. They’re definitely still a little raw, but they’re really fun live, and Rhia (singer) and Matt (cello) are super nice, enthusiastic people.
Another new Carpenter Brut video, this version is very censored. You can find the NSFW one on Vimeo, but there’s a lot of boobs.
I want to see all of these movies.
The Sharks, they are a circling this thread…
When he said he was going in a whole new direction I expected a much bigger departure. Still sounds on par for D.T.
I enjoy the music. Sections of it sound especially like stuff from the Addicted and Epicloud eras. I could do without some of the world music stuff, but everything else seems on point. The drummer is certainly putting in some work.
I’m less onboard, I think. Just a little too mish-mash, disjointed, and interlude-heavy. My ideal Devin-zone, from approximately Epicloud through Transcendence (including Sky Blue/Dark Matters), is where he’s going fullbore on the choral-backed wall-of-sound pounding completely “full” production nonsense at about medium heaviness. There’s obviously still lots of that here, but also lots of bits of the earlier DTP records that I just can’t latch my brain onto as easily as I do the latest 3.
I’ve listened to the track about 10 more times over the last day, and although I was positive about it at the beginning I’m even more positive about it now. All the world music stuff has blended in better on repeat listens and seems less out of place in the music.
As for all of these stops and starts and the general disjointed feeling of the song (something I also experienced on my first couple listens), I guess much like prog metal or mathcore, once your brain is trained to a specific track it just starts to clicks; which this song does for me.
I’m happy to hear the blast beats in the song because hearing that sort of thing makes me laugh when it’s supporting some sort of cheery anthemic/choir type music. And I’m also happy to hear Devin’s slightly more aggressive vocals here and there. But I am a metal fan through and through, and even though large portions of this song are not necessarily metal, it is Devin Townsend and it does work for me. My only hope is that this song is not an outlier, but representative of the full album. I don’t want this to be the fan service transitional track or “radio single” meant for wider appeal than the rest of an album that might be a little too far up its own ass.
It’s Devin though, it sounds like him, and it just doesn’t seem like that big of a departure from what I’m used to getting from him. And he’s one of the few artists that I actually trust enough to give some of their stranger music a shot because I know there must be something good in there.
Per his own press release, he believes the song is the most representative of the album’s breadth. Individual songs might be heavier, more symphonic, or more fuckin weird, but “Genesis” basically encompasses most of what he hopes to do with the album as a whole. So in that vein, you’re in luck! :)
Yes, it feels like it would be right at home on Deconstructed. Which isn’t a bad thing at all!
I got excited when I saw a Delain album on the new releases list, but then I saw it was almost all live stuff with just a few new songs. Half of which we’d already heard from single releases over the last couple months.
Don’t get me wrong, any new music from a favorite artist is good in my book, but I miss the days when a new album actually meant a good solid 40 minutes of new music. Also, my lawn, get off it.
What’s the new direction then Dev?
Well, Im thinking of a concept album with wall of sound production, and choral and highly theatrical metal.
Although i have some Townsend stuff (Ziltoid) i havent listened to much Strapping Young Lad until this thread. Now have City, SYL, Genesis (and also found a sweeet version of Hyperdrive with Anneke on vocals) on my mp3 player and this mornings commute was heavy as fuck.
This remake comes from his album “Addicted.” She sings on several tracks on that album, and it’s worth picking up.
Yeah saw her on the retinal circus concert video and will dig around further . I like Devins stuff and the whole virtuoso/musical genius/autie thing he has going on. Super creative guy.
My personal favorite is Anneke’s participation on Retinal Circus, particularly War
Febuary 2019 Albums of the Month
Kicking us off for the Feb faves, these are the albums I had on repeat.
Unusually for me this month was a bit melo-death. Horizon Ignited reminded me of the better days of Kalmah with bits of Amorphis, and Bloodmores was Amon Amarth crossed with God Dethroned.
Otherwise it was business as usual with a couple solid black/post-black picks. :)
Horizon Ignited - After the Storm (melodic death)
Ondfødt - Dödsrikets Kallelse (2nd-wave black)
Somn - The All-Devouring (post-black)
Downfall Of Gaia - Ethic Of Radical Finitude (post-black)
Bloodmores - The Seeds of Seasons (melodic death)
What’s tickled your fancy this month?
Nice finds! I had totally missed Horizon Ignited and Bloodmores, but like them a lot.
February 2019 AotM
Steel
- Saor - Forgotten Paths
- Beast in Black - From Hell With Love
- Avantasia - Moonglow
- Wachenfeldt - The Interpreter
Iron
- Astronoid - Astronoid
- Soen - Lotus
- Cân Bardd - The Last Rain
- Drottnar - Monolith
- Hexvessel - All Tree
- Rhapsody of Fire - The Eighth Mountain
- Ethereal Darkness - Smoke and Shadows
- Kaleikr - Heart of Lead
- Tardigrade Inferno - Mastermine
Bronze
- Secret Rule - The 7 Endless
- Vandor - In the Land of Vandor
- A Novelist - Folie
- Downfall of Gaia - Ethic of Radical Finitude
- Steve Dadaian - Follow the Light
- Frenzy - Blind Justice
- Thornbridge - Theatrical Masterpiece
- Violet Cold - Kosmik
- Traveler - Traveler
- Gatekeeper - Grey Maiden
Some reviewer gushes over Devin Townsend’s Empath.
BOTTOM LINE: 10/10
Devin Townsend has created with ‘Empath’ a work that is unconventional, far from mainstream, and a work of genius.
Where will ‘Empath’ rank in the history of Devin’s career? I can’t answer that. This album will need a few years to fully digest. But what I can confidently say is that his career will likely be viewed in two parts: Pre Empath, and Post Empath. Because everything that came before lead to it, and whatever comes next will be the result of it. I don’t know how it will sound, but I look forward to hearing it.
As for me, I’m still digging the one track on Youtube.
Darkwater released Human not long ago and I’m digging it. More Dream Theater than Dream Theater has been recently. Recommended for your symphonic progressive needs.