The meet and greet was pretty cool. Although the guy ahead of me had about
30 things to get signed, including a guitar and all the albums on vinyl he
had apparently just bought.
I do miss the east coast music festivals.
Metallica concert was so… BIG. I doubt I’ll ever see a concert of that scale anytime again. I’ll post some photos and comments later today - had a great time.
I’ll leave this here:
from Unleash the Archers - Apex
I’m not a huge modern power metal fan but the album is kinda fun.
Hell yeah it is!! I’ve been posting a little metal in the regular music thread, including these guys. “Cleanse the Bloodlines” is a ludicrously badass video.
Ah sorry I don’t go in there … good to see someone bringing some culture to that faithless thread eh? Good job! :)
I mean we can’t let them live lives dominated entirely by whimpery-soft semi-poprock, now can we? ;-)
Fucking hell that is incredible. Even Maiden back in. . . 07?. . . wasn’t anything like that scale. And they had a fucking tank.
It’s exciting to see metal bands filling stadiums in the US. I sure wish some of that fanthusiasm would bleed over to other metal acts and shows though. I mean, it’s cool I always get to see bands like Mastodon while packed into a club and surrounded by 500-1000 of my closest friends, but it would be pretty cool to see someone like them or some newer metal act break out and take over the world too.
Biggest crowd for a metal show I ever saw was Dream Theater and Iron Maiden back in… '10? Bruce running around like a madman, and doing The Trooper was amazing. The only complain I had was that, since it was Maiden, that Dream Theater focused more on Train of Thought and Systematic Chaos. Which, while good, isn’t my favorite material of theirs. I think they played one song from before 2000, that being Lie I think.
But it was 20,000+ people rocking out.
Sorry that was just a photo dump. There were 60,000 people. I doubt I’ll ever see anything on that scale again.
Random unorganized comments:
- Volbeat was amazing and sounded totally on-point live. Big fan of these guys and they did not disappoint live.
- Avenged Sevenfold was also good - very technically talented but I dug Volbeat more.
- Sound quality was loud but not great. This is the first time I’ve seen a big concert outside and inside venues just sound better. It wasn’t bad, it’s just that you couldn’t hear high end as clearly as I’m used to at live shows.
- There was a 45 minute weather delay halfway through Metallica’s set - lightning and rain. My seat was under an overhang so we just stayed there and let it pass. The general admission field was covered with a huge metal grate so they wanted everyone off. There was a totally drunk guy a few rows ahead of me who kept shouting “RIDE THE LIGHTNING” like an idiot during the storm. When they came back out, they played about half of Ride the Lightning though (unscheduled on set list). The delay caused them to drop Halo on Fire and Nothing Else Matters (during encore) because of a hard curfew cap by the city.
- Metallica is playing very well live these days. I love what Trullijo has done for the band. Lars’ drumming is lazier than it was 20 years ago when I last saw them, but he’s still decent enough. James is a fucking machine. Kirk still love his wah-wah.
- Lots of pyro and some fireworks. Truly an epic experience.
- I think 60% of the stadium (or more) was high. Denver rules.
- Lots of small scale mosh pits in the GA crowd and I didn’t see any security wise breaking it up.
Here’s the intro of One:
Looks like fun. One of the guys at work was at the same show. The last stadium show I saw was Maiden at Jones Beach 10+ years ago.
I didn’t realize you were in the Denver area as well. Feel free to ping me if you are hitting up any other shows. I haven’t seen anything on the calendars until Haken comes through town in September. Dark Tranquility and Orphaned Land are skipping over us, but I may try to travel for those as they are only playing a week apart in a few locations.
I remember watching Metallica at the Cains Ballroom in Tulsa in '86… it was great, the guy next to me was trying to fuck with Kirk’s whammy bar we were that close…
This isn’t a new song by any means, not even to me. But even though I’m a huge fan of the genre, there are relatively few cases where listening to a certain track, or certain part of a track, just hypes the fuck out of me to the point where I want to ram my head through a brick wall (you know, in a good way).
Anyway, this song provides one of those moments; and it works on me time and time again, without fail. And though the song is over 20 minutes long, and the whole thing is great, there’s a part that runs for about 2 minutes that more or less serves as my reward for listening to metal since discovering it over 25 years ago. It’s a blistering 2 minutes, and perhaps my favorite two minutes in music. And it’s one of the primary reasons I have the energy to keep looking for something new and better all the time, instead of merely settling for those bands I already know.
The track is called “I”, the band, Meshuggah. The timestamp: about 5:39 to 7:46.
Taken out of context, this section of the track can be a bit jarring. But while it really does work best in context, for those listeners that don’t find endurance metal particularly appealing, feel free to skip to right to 5:39 and see where the next two minutes takes you.
Once the chaos of the lead guitar relents, and we’re left with nothing but the driving hurried insistence of the rhythm section to ram a charged metal spear through the back of your skull over and over again until it finally feels like they just won’t stop until you’re dead, it’s possible you might hear and feel this track somewhat close to the way I do. It’s jaw dropping for me.
So here’s some things I’ve been liking lately.
Orden Ogan has been around a while, and I’ve found them decent to good, but never exceptionally noteworthy. This is shaping up to be their best sounding album yet.
Glorious Burden is a near perfect album. Utterly fantastic, and one of my favorite power metal albums ever. While the album seems to be no thematic connection, this song hearkens back to their best. I don’t think it’s as good as Declaration Day, but few songs are ;)
Relatively new song reminded me of their first music video, which is like the best thing ever.
Ok I just love the title. As far as song titles go, Alestorm has some greats.
But. . . Ripper :(
Sorry, I’m a diehard Matt Barlowe stan, and having seen the band with both (haven’t caught a Block-load show yet), I’ll never be able to truly accept anyone but that redhaired giant on the mic for IE :(
Good calls in general, though. Orden Ogan is totally new to me, and pretty cool :)
I got into Iced Earth in 1996 or so when the Spawn concept album came out, so I was a Barlow fan for a lot of years before Ripper showed up. But in the end I thoroughly enjoy both vocalists for different reasons, even if they do come off like two different bands to me during their respective eras.
I think Tim Owens gets too much shit from IE fans, and I also count Glorious Burden as my favorite IE album.
The tracks released so far off this new album are the best I’ve heard from the band since the Ripper era, and I’m excited for the first time in a long time to hear their new stuff.
Hat tips to @bovril for suggesting Elder, @Profanicus for Unleash the Archers, and especially @ArmandoPenblade for Aether Realm, which I’ve listened to probably a dozen times since you exposed me to them.
Also @CraigM for Orden Ogan – I’ve always really liked them (especially the Easton Hope album), but didn’t realize they have a new album coming out. Their emphasis on haunting vocal harmonies gives them a very different vibe than most other power metal bands. Here are a few more that I really like:
Well put sir! I’ve never been on the Ripper hate train either, enjoying his work with Iced Earth and Yngwie. But the band absolutely has a different feel with him versus Matt. Not a problem, they can exist in harmony.
Speaking of bands that change singers like some people change shoes, Xandria had a new album this year.
I’ve always considered them a second tier band, below other symphonic female fronted bands like Epica and Nightwish, but even second tier is worthwhile to me.
Also some Delian because I am a rebel and you can’t control me!
Guys,I’ve got a problem. Dawn of Ages by Unleash the Archers is stuck in my head. I’m probably closing on the dozenth time listening this week. Earworm removal will soon be needed.