Damn, I love me some dwarf metal. I’m gonna grab my axe and find some orcs!
Zephyr
3191
It was a good show. We got there when The Ocean was wrapping up, but hung around the soundboard. I was surprised at the size of the crowd compared to the Dark Tranquility show the weekend before, but may be the venue. No barricades, so we were up close and personal with Chris Amott for most of the show and Mikael Stanne when he came to sing for the 8-year old metal head next to us.
Nice! Similar placements for me, though more central during the second set.
I’ll be at The Midnight and Dragonforce shows over the next month. Having to miss a lot so I can run in person rpgs with very covid risk avoidant friends.
Just got it and listened to it last night.
And it’s great. Better than the last one, and I enjoyed the last one quite a bit.
I wish they would have released Kaiserion as a single before all those other ones though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt6Ss5r7-qo
Day #116 - Pallbearer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNl_18Kr56g
“Little Rock, Arkansas’ Pallbearer are a doom metal quartet whose penchant for extreme, monstrously thick heaviness has drawn fans from across the globe. With a sound rooted in the slow, riff-centric traditions pioneered by Black Sabbath, the band’s approach is appended by a neo-psychedelic application of guitar harmony and later on, prog elements.”
Uh I forgot it yesterday.
Day #117 - Papa Roach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0lSpNtjPM8
In the nu metal category, i always liked these guys.
Tyjenks
3196
I saw them maybe three years ago and it started me on a Doom Metal kick. Really enjoyed it as a friend who moved away came back just for the show.
There is a local band with a wife (vocals) and husband (drummer) called EMBR that pushed me further into the subgenre. The biggest problem is that they think they are Libertarians. :)
And add me to the super jealous list regarding attendees of the Ocean/Leprous show.
Day #118 - The Parlor Mob
https://youtu.be/0_4Gxy0VqF8
Not metal, but rock hard enough to make an exception.
Heh, that looks like a cast photo from either Jesus Christ Superstar or a Deep Purple concert, c. 1973.
And You Were A Crow is a fantastic album from The Parlor Mob. They haven’t really been able to catch a break, but they seem like a band that should have broken through to much larger success.
New Ghost is great. I finally got to listen to it all the way through a few times over the last few days. I can’t help but laugh at its sincerely 80’s sounds and how the makeup and the Satan seems to allow fans to completely ignore that they’re basically a Hair Band. :)
They can keep on writing anthem rockers and power ballads for years to come as far as I’m concerned. Power posing in the Robin McAuley fashion wearing full makeup and costuming while belting out damning lyrics about Trump and his cronies? I’m here for it.
Haha, never meet your heroes! If you’re allergic to dummies and freaks, metal is a tough scene to be in. I can usually ignore most of it, as long as they aren’t outright nazis.
Rose Tattoo are a thorn in my side. Can’t stop listening to them. Won’t stop.
In the realm of certified good guys™ it’s Lich King, who spent an admirable amount of time correcting and embarrassing people on Facebook when they were being assholes and ragging on this or that group.
CraigM
3201
I would dispute that.
Not the ‘they’re a throwback to the late 70’s/ early 80’s’ in sound, Fire of Unknown Origin is basically their musical touchstone, but Blue Oyster Cult was never really hair metal, and neither is Ghost.
Psychadelic, occultic, progressive rock/ metal? Yes. Straight 70’s heavy metal at times? For sure!
But definitely not hair metal.
And to be clear, I am 100% not saying that as aa criticism! I appreciate what they are doing.
This one is legit. Overall I don’t like this album as much as their last 2, but this one track can hang with anything they’ve ever put out.
I can’t wait to see them live again!
I mean, we can split hairs on it, and will. BOC certainly wanted some of that hairy popularity when they sang about not fearing the reaper. :)
I think where I really differ with you is when they have ballads like they do on this record. That’s straight up power pop metal they have there, despite the occultic, progressive undertones.
Either way, I’m happy they’re doing it and will gladly listen. :)
On the subject of psychedelic and occult, it’s funny how one of the most universally loved bands in metal is not a metal band.
BOC doing hair metal? Now that’s a scary thought.
Though I do think they came alarmingly close on 1985’s Club Ninja, an album that saw BOC trying desperately to remain relevant as the late 80’s approached.
Then 1988’s Imaginos came out. I’ve done such a 180 with that album over the years. When I first picked it up in 1988, I thought it was a horrible, bombastic, unintelligible (both lyrically and musically) sludge of a mess, and I listened to it once and shelved it. And every couple of years I would try it again, and hated it again.
Then, one of those times, it was weird, but something just ‘clicked’ or whatever, and I started falling in love with that damn album. At one point maybe 20 years ago, it was even my favorite BOC album. It’s not anymore, but that still kinda blows my mind that it took over a decade to latch its teeth into me.
Speaking of Imaginos, has anybody else heard Albert Bouchard’s recent acoustic re-recording of it? I think it’s pretty great.
And I left off a point I was trying to make.
I love some hair metal, and my girlfriend being 9 years younger than me means she adores it.
But much of it bounces right off of me.
Not because of the songs or the playing either. Most of the popular artists that made it big within that genre were quite talented.
The thing that bothers me most about hair metal are the production techniques used in all those studio recordings. Growing up in the late 70’s, I was accustomed to clear, dry rock recordings, where your ear could easily pick out every instrument within the arrangement. In hair metal (in most cases), the guitars and bass form almost a wall of sound that to my ears sounds like blasts of static.
And those drums. Wow, what were they thinking? I think I know what they were thinking: That if we make the drums as loud as we can, and even distort them to make them even louder, that will be awesome! My ears couldn’t take it, and for several years I reverted back to country music because they weren’t doing that…Yet.
For instance, try to imagine those early Rush albums done with hair metal production techniques. My imagination boggles at the thought.
Quite frankly, that last Blue Öyster Cult album was an ugly reality, but man, good call on Imaginos. I didn’t like it at first either. It’s a complicated thing, which probably reflects all the trouble it went through during recording.
My personal favorite is “The Siege and Investiture…”. Joe Cerisano who sings on it was extremely close to becoming the vocalist for Black Sabbath, but ultimately turned it down because he wasn’t into the music.
That still kinda haunts me, because goddamn he would’ve made a great metal singer.
My overall favorites are always gonna be the first three albums, especially Secret Treaties, but there’s a lot of gold in that there catalogue. Cool acoustic recording too!
