Hehe I’m pretty sure that admitting to liking power metal gets one summarily booted out of underground metal circles.
Good call on this one! I missed that they had a new album out, but have listened to it a couple of times and it’s really good. Thanks!
The local metal dudes I’ve been hanging out w/ more and more find this super weird about me, but what can I say? Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Sonata Arctica, that shit just gets me going in very different ways than more extreme metal.
I am really sad to learn that Borknagar’s Winter Thrice is a 2016 album, cuz otherwise that shit would be on my end-of-year list. . .
@Thraeg really enjoying Keldian, thanks. Somewhere between Iron Savior and Machinae Supremacy in both sound and lyrical content and I am super down with that. And love seeing Mega Colossus in your followup list; always glad to see my NC boys getting outside love :-D
And now I guess I gotta stop spinning old Borknagar and go dive into more of @playingwithknive’s crazy/awesome J-metal :-D
Listening to Unlucky Morpheus today. This is a doujin (best described a group of fans) band that does covers of songs from their favourite anime and have released loads of touhou arrangement albums, which i believe are fan released soundtracks for the Touhou bullet hell games? Oh man some of this stuff is bewildering to newbie Westerners. Every time i google it I get even more confused.
It’s another collection of musicians, as bands in some of the Japanese sub-genres are a bit decentralised and more side-projects than bands. I have a sneaking suspicion that 3000 jmetal bands across 100 metal genres actually works out to about 40 different musicians. Anyway, I digress, what you get is a decent female vocalist singing over some rather catchy melodic/power metal.
Hell yeah! That was definitely my biggest whiff when putting together my mammoth 2016 AotY list. I totally overlooked it at the time, but would probably put it at #3 today.
Adding Vintersorg to the mix a couple-few albums ago completely remade Borknagar in my eyes; it’s just. . . perfect.
At my show, yeah. It was pretty clear a lot of the crowd was there for them, so it made sense, but as an old AE fanboy, I was a little let down they didn’t get to close out the night :)
I’ve missed a ton of smaller local shows the last week or so and don’t have much else definitive on the docket till month’s end. I am likely to miss Yngwie Malmsteen and Dream Theater, which sucks. But I am hoping to catch Ne Oblivscaris+Allegaeon after Thanksgiving, then close out my month with Devin Townsend (sadly supporting Clutch) and Cut Copy (who aren’t metal, but are cool).
Nearly 10 years to the day I saw Shadows Fall, then Dragonforce, Arch Enemy, Trivium and finally Machine Head on the Black Crusade tour.
When i looked it up I was surprised it was 2007, that makes me feel old. Mind you this thread was created a year later. Now you all can feel old too.
Allegaeon and Ne Obliviscaris were really good and despite the dive bar appearance, the tiny Denver venue they played at on Sunday has the best sound out of the other locations. Plus BBQ. No pictures as the great sound was balanced out by lousy lighting.
Good to hear that Arch Enemy may play first. I was seriously debating buying tickets if I had to sit through Trivium.
Upside of Ne Oblivscaris is that it’s the night after Thanksgiving. Downside is. . . it’s the night after Thanksgiving :)
2018’s already starting to take shape. . .
I love that you track your concerts. Do you have them logged from years past as well?
This thread needs more Stolen Babies, because Dom is amazing.
I couldn’t even tell you what genre it’s supposed to be since they’re all over the place. They’re classified as “Experimental Metal” or something iirc. A lot of varied sounds and all awesome imo.
I don’t have a comprehensive record, which makes me really sad, honestly.
However, I did recently run across my concert list for Fall Semester, 2008, my last fall in Boston.
As I recall, I wound up actually making it to Flogging Molly/Alkaline Trio, Mars Volta, Girl Talk, Old 97s, Les Savi Fav, TV on the Radio, Cold War Kids, Iced Earth, Octopus Project, Of Montreal, Decemberists, Toadies, Hello Goodbye, and Powerglove/Dragonforce. That was an insane semester.
I kind of log them in the same avante garde type stuff with bands like Unexpect, Atrox, Sleepytime Gorilla Music, Diablo Swing Orchestra, and Mr Bungle. Meaning that they are nothing, if not weird. It is also a subset of music that I either really love (DSO, Stolen Babies) or just can’t stand (Mr Bungle, Atrox).
Like I can’t even tell you why one works for me and another doesn’t. There is no discernible pattern I can find for my own preferences here. Just weird I like, and weird I really do not.
Speaking of avante-garde, the legendary Fleurety released a new album (17 years since the last):
Also new Blut Aus Nord - Deus Salutis Meae
Loving the sound of this:
No avante-garde metal will ever quite compare with the genuine weirdness and occasional bright-shining brilliance of Spiral Architect’s sole full release, A Skeptic’s Universe
That’s fair.
I think that it helps SB that while the songs might be all over the place, they’re all really good even if they often feel like different genres. Also they’re not like… insanely weird. There is an accordion, but it doesn’t feel wildly out of place most of the times it shows up.
They’re one of those random people I’ve seen live and went from “never heard of them” to “love them.” Hell of a live show, even in a tiny venue
Saw the show in Milwaukee tonight and it was crazy good. Highlight of the night: Singer from While She Sleeps sang a song while crowd surfing. Then, he went up to the balcony (a good 20 feet up) and stage dove down to the crowd below. Talk about a risky move!
Arch Enemy duel guitar solos were amazing. Seeing Jeff Loomis play makes me want to give up guitar forever. Trivium was also crazy good, and I’ve never seen a pit that big at The Rave before. In fact, many shows I’ve been to there don’t allow moshing at all (and kicked out anyone who did it). Not sure if the policy changed or what, but it was huge and all they did was help people body surfing down in the front.