Damn dude, ain’t that the truth. Terminal Redux is a freaking monster of a thrash album.
I have only listened to the new Gojira once so far, but I enjoyed it. I got into the band late though, with L’Enfant Sauvage, so it’s very much similar sounding to me (which is a good thing).
In concert news, I went to two metal concerts recently after not having been to any concerts in 10+ years. The first was Devildriver (with two opening bands not really of any note- other than one was Max Cavalera’s kid’s band). Devildriver put on a great show and I enjoyed it a lot. The guitarist (Mike) was hanging out at the bar before they went on and me and my buddy had some beers with him which was really cool.
The second concert was last week - I saw Lamb of God, with Corrosion of Conformity and Clutch opening. What an amazing show. I had seen CoC before, but not Clutch or Lamb of God. LoG especially put on an amazing show - I’m dumbfounded that they can play that stuff live and it sounds great. The Rave was enforcing a No Moshing rule that night which I thought put a damper on the normal metal concert atmosphere. I don’t ever get in the pit, but I expect it to be there. During the last song (Redneck), Randy encouraged everyone to mosh anyway since it was the last song so it wasn’t a big deal if they got kicked out… Thought that was kind of amusing, but I’m sure security wasn’t happy about it.
My favorite thread is back!
New Gojira album is amazing - it’s a good sign when an album doesn’t grab you on the first listen. It means it’s not full of recycled shit.
The Rave was enforcing a No Moshing rule
Kids these fucking days
I’ve been putting quite of bit of time into the latest releases from Black Breath. I’ve been into this band for several years, and they have three albums to their credit. Their latest album took a while to grow on me because they changed directions and the vocals are significantly different from the first two. They didn’t have any lineup changes or anything for this album, they just changed styles, and the new vocals sound more akin to Black Metal than the Hardcore style they had before.
Aside from the vocals, they’re more or less a thrash/hardcore crossover band. If you haven’t heard them before, albums 2 and 3 are being streamed below. I love their work:
Black Breath: Sentenced to Life (album 2):
Black Breath: Slaves Beyond Death (album 3):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__g3o7ovJCU
I’m also digging the latest Baroness album, Purple. The album is just great, and I’m glad they’re still making music after that bus accident a few years ago.
Although I love them all, one of my favorite tracks from Baroness’ Purple is called Kerosene:
I’m also in a holding pattern for upcoming releases. There are so many good bands with new albums directly on the horizon, it looks like the latter of of this year is going to be exciting.
Off the top of my head, the following bands have stuff due by the end of the year:
Neurosis: Due Sept 23rd
Suicidal Tendencies: Due Sept 30th. Dave Lombardo (formerly of Slayer) will be helming the drums for this release.
Devin Townsend: Due Sept 2nd. Entitled Transcendence.
Girraffe Tongue Orchstra: Due Sept 23rd. This is a collaboration between members of Dillinger Escape Plan (Ben), Mastodon (Brent Hinds), Alice in Chains (William DuVall) and The Mars Volta (the drummer guy). You can hear one of their songs here. Being a fan of three of these bands, I can hear the direct influence of each of those members. The last collaboration between (different) members of Mastodon, DEP, Mars Volta (And Max Cavalera (Soulfly/Sepultura)) gave us Killer Be Killed, which was also great. This one sounds great as well.
Opeth: Due this year through their new label, Nuclear Blast. They’ve been recording for a while now.
Meshuggah: Due late fall. They’ve been recording this year. One of my most anticipated releases.
Iced Earth: Due this year.
Testament: Due this year. They’re wrapping up recording.
Dillinger Escape Plan: Due this year, they’re just now wrapping up the last little details on their next release.
I’ve only actively been into metal for the last couple of years, so Purple and Magma are the first albums I’ve heard so far by their respective bands. Liking them both, and it will be interesting to go back to some of the earlier material since it seems to be significantly different.
Anyway, really liking a lot of the new music so far this year. Besides Vektor, which was already mentioned, my highest recommendations would be:
Chthe’ilist - Le Dernier Crepuscule
Haken - Affinity
Omnium Gatherum - Grey Heavens
Thrawsunblat - Metacthonia
Also liking the new Ihsahn, Kvelertak, Katatonia, Moonsorrow, Hyperion, Myrath, and Wormed.
Myrath is amazing. Looking forward to it a lot.
Cheers, some of these look right up my alley. Listened to Chthe’ilist and it’s great.
Thanks – that’s right up my alley. LOVE that.
The latest Kvelertak album is pretty great. Death metal vocals mixed with hardcore punk and hard rock.
My favorites: Nattesferd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ZG0QpYAWQ
Berserkr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpYoevccWIA
Nekrodamus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7GMYhCdAeo&index=9&list=PLFPlK3nGQOjFQmwJLMrNjcNeJCb2wG_af
So, the latest from Fates Warning, Theories of Flight, dropped Friday. As a huge fan, I was extremely excited. Honestly, it surpassed my expectations. I enjoyed their last album, Darkness in a Different Light, but felt that Ray Alder was sort of phoning it in. His singing just felt laconic. On this one? It’s like he’s singing for his life. So, so good.
Since you like Fates, and are presumably a Ray Alder fan, have you checked out Redemption?
I consider that his best work vocally. So much emotion and intensity. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite album by them, one of my 5 favorite bands hands down.
Yep, big Redemption fan too. Got in to them on their second, The Fullness of Time. Excellent stuff too.
Just got great news in my inbox, a band I’ve been following almost since their inception is gearing up to record their fourth album. They’re called Blizzard at Sea, and they play what is probably best described as progressive post-metal sludge. Yea, that’s a mouthful, but if I were to liken them to any particular band it would be the now-defunct Isis, another favorite of mine.
Here’s a sample of their work from their debut album, Individuation. The name of the track is Island of Stars:
I discovered and bought their first release off bandcamp, but picked up their subsequent releases by supporting the kickstarters they’ve run for each. These are some of my favorite releases in recent years, so I’m pretty excited about news of their latest one, which they’re hoping to start recording in September. Anyway, much like their last two albums, they’ve put up a kickstarter campaign for this latest recording as well. They’re a very small indy band whose last two campaigns only had a few dozen supporters each, so I’m thrilled to see them stick with it and continue to produce music.
In other news, in addition to Neurosis, Suicidal Tendencies, Devin Townsend and Giraffe Tongue Orchestra all releasing new albums in the month of September, Opeth has finally set a date of September 30th for their new one. Jesus that’s going to be quite a month. Though I wasn’t too keen on Opeth’s last two albums due to the heavy 70s prog rock/jazz influences, Pale Communion has grown on me quite a bit and it gets played regularly in my house. I’ve embraced the change, and am quite eager to hear new stuff.
Not sure how I missed this. I guess I expected it to take another 10 years for a new album. I was debating about seeing the classic lineup at Prog Power this year, but I think I will finally take the plunge next year and go to 70K Tons of Metal. If they ever open up public sales.
Revocation (thrash/technical death metal) is streaming their upcoming album in full. It’s titled Great is our Sin and comes out next week. Unfortunately it isn’t a Youtube link, so you’ll have to navigate shitty Soundcloud tracks.
I’ve only heard a couple tracks so far, and it’s undeniably Revocation. So far so good. No idea how long their label will be streaming this.
Anything with Lemmy in it.
I saw Be’lakor live on Saturday night. Was worth the flight down, plus hotel accomodation. They are pretty much my top pick when it comes to melodic death metal. I can never really pinpoint a single reason why that is. I guess their songs simply take me on a journey, and even their 10 minute sagas whizz by in a flash. For the live act, they had a great set, opening with Venator and closing with the ever reliable Countless Skies. 7 songs, 1 hour, and I’m thinking “over already?” Hearing their new song Smoke of Many Fires live gave me a new appreciation for the song. The first few times I’ve listened to their album Vessels, it didn’t really mesh with me, but after concert and more time spent with it, the album on a whole has well and truly stuck with me.
If anyone wants song recommendations, I’d say anything off their Stones Reach album. As for the other albums, Remnants or In Parting from Of Breath and Bone, Neither Shape nor Shadow off The Frail Tide, and probably An Ember’s Arc off their latest album. Seriously, An Embers Arc is a song essentially about Big Bang and Hydrogen fusion in a star to my understanding, for good reason as the whole album is a concept album to tell a unified story.
I’ve lived under some sort of rock and never really heard of Amon Amarth until now. This has been rectified.
Holy shit these guys are awesome.
never really heard of Amon Amarth until now
