I’m sorry. These days I’m having a real hard time identifying what’s metal and what’s hard rock. Not sure where this belongs, but it’s heavy enough for my definition.
To follow on in the vein of hard rock vs. heavy metal, I present a bit of a newer North Carolina band, Lightning Born, founded by Corrosion of Conformity’s Mike Dean (bass). Well, I would present them, but they haven’t officially released any material yet, and the live recordings of them kinda blow. So here’s a picture, instead:
Bluesy, with a heavy emphasis on Dean’s bass antics, but the girl upfront can belt like goddamn and everyone in the band is really holding their own. Good stuff; if/when they drop an actual release on Bandcamp or something, I’ll definitely link it.
Next group up tonight are Chapel Hill sludge metallers Solar Halos, whose doomy, wall-of-sound wailing is propelled by some seriously sick percussion work by drummer Mike Crouch. They’re still a little fresh, and probably not doing much to drive the entire genre forward, but the music’s very, very nice to listen to.
Finally up tonight were Mega Colossus, who I’ve evangelized a little here on the boards. Their particular brand of metal owes a lot to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which they’ve never shied away from or been afraid to admit, and over the years, they’ve really honed their take on that sound to a fine point indeed. HyperGlaive is one of my favorite albums of 2016, and tonight’s album release party for it was absolutely stellar. Great stuff all around :-D
Fantastic night, and great way to kick off the 2017 concert season.
For those who are curious, here’s a tentative calendar (I’m likely to miss some of these, but it’s worth a shot!!)
January 21 - Mega Colossus, Raleigh
January 22 - Reel Big Fish + Anti-Flag, Raleigh
February 8 - Gost, Chapel Hill
February 14 - Mayhem + Inquisition, Wilmington???
February 16 - Alcest + The Body, Richmond
March 6 - Nile + Amorphis + Overkill, Charlotte
March 17 - Obituary + Kreator, Charlotte???
March 31 - The Flaming Lips, Raleigh???
April 10 - Negură Bunget, Raleigh
April 11 - Anthrax + Killswitch Engage, Raleigh
April 15 - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Raleigh??? (old times’ sake?)
April 16 - Testament + Sepultura, Charlotte
May 21 - Sabaton + Leaves Eyes, Charlotte
June 9 - Iron Maiden + Ghost, Charlotte
This GosT?
The very one! I am actually super pumped about that; it’s like $8, close to a few places I love to eat, and really, really awesome music. Not metal, but still awesome :-D
(I’ll be seeing the metal Ghost–again–in June, if I’m in the state when they swing through here with Maiden)
I fekkin love you man. GosT is awesome. I’m jealous, I got somewhere to be when they swing by Orlando. :/
Iron Maiden + Ghost, North American Tour
I’m so going to this.
That sounds like a fantastic lineup. Very jealous.
Save the jealousy after we all see if I keep my shit together enough to attend half that shit 😉
I really hate to think of missing, Mayhem or Maiden, but both are very real possibilities right now. Damn my schedule!
A couple more 2016 release that I picked up from various lists. The first two are probably more rock than metal, but whatever:
Big Big Train - Folklore (prog)
Madder Mortem - Fallow Season (prog)
Words of Farewell - A Quiet World (melodeath)
And here’s my first batch of favorites from the first few weeks of 2017:
Undrask - Battle Through Time (melodeath)
Thunder & Lightning - The Ages Will Turn (power)
Forndom - Dauðra Dura (atmospheric black)
The Mantle - The Mantle (neoclassical shred)
Helheim - LandawarijaR (viking)
If anyone in the US wants to see Iron Maiden & Ghost this summer, tickets went on sale at 10am. The Livenation Presale code is SUPERSTAR, or EDDIE.
The Boston area show is almost gone, so act fast! I got my tickets. \m/
New Mastodon Track, Sultan’s Curse. The new album is due at the end of March: Emperor of Sand.
The new album artwork looks straight up High on Fire to me.
The track sounds too much like Once More Round the Sun for my liking (don’t like that album, too… buzzy). I’ll have to wait and see how the rest plays out.
New Kreator album ‘Gods of Violence’ is released and is reviewing well. I’ve listened to it a few times and there are some good tracks that sound like some people here would definitely enjoy. But it’s all a bit melodeath/power metal/dual guitar melody happy for me in my current mindset… ;)
Atm I’m deep into and loving:
These are awesome - if I’d listened to them last year they would have been high up in the top list!
Couple of years old, but a local metal bassist I kinda know through FB recommended this recently and I am super digging it:
…but right up my alley! Thanks for posting it. Good stuff.
I’m only 6 minutes into it, but I’m loving it so far. I’m normally not a fan of anything except clean vocals, but they’re using an interesting mix of vocal styles here that works for me. Especially enjoying the ultra-dramatic music.
Edit: And 20 minutes in, my subwoofer has now vibrated itself completely across the floor beneath my desk. :)
Woohoo! I made a contribution :-D
Glad you’re liking it, though, Giles H!
@ineffablebob - Symphonic/Power metal is about the extent of my metal tastes. You likely already know about these groups, but based on your list above I’m going to point out Within Temptation (probably one of my favorite groups of all - watch the Black Symphony concert!), Unsun, and (male vocals!) Kamelot - particularly the ‘Epica’ and ‘Black Halo’ set of albums which is a retelling of the German story of Faust. Also maybe try Sirenia and Xandria (both new and old lead singer - quite different styles). While not power metal, I’d also suggest Evanesence and Halestorm as both are very powerful female leads like Floor Jansen.
The above are probably “cliche” choices in this area (except Unsun), but my ‘discovery’ of Kamelot led me to those others.
And for anyone who got really super into Xerath up there and hoped to hear their forthcoming album. . . I’m sorry to say they just broke up.
Here’s the last track they recorded before doing so, though:
@daagar: That’s a good set of symphonic metal bands between you and @ineffablebob. If either of you are looking for more, I’d also recommend Ancient Bards, AfterTime, Amberian Dawn, Epica, Diabulus In Musica, and Beyond the Black.
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Thanks for the recommendations, fellas! I’ve listened to most of the stuff from about half of those - Sirenia and Evanesence particularly. (Speaking of the latter - I really wish Amy Lee would find some bandmates and a label she can live with and get on with more singing!) I will definitely put the rest on my list to check out.