I don't know. All of the funeral doom, post-sludge, black metal, etc. are stuff I've largely heard before. I've been listening to metal (by large quantities) and scouring metal-archives yearly since 2005 so a lot of it is fatigue but also familiarity. Nothing really feels that inventive or substantially good, but maybe that's part of growing older in general.
Yeah, fatigue, burnout and/or oversaturation I'd guess. But it's also true that you can do only so much in a particular genre, and metal is an old genre. In the recent years I find more joy in well crafted and sonically interesting metal albums than I do in new, groundbreaking stuff. For example, give me Worm's huge doomy synths and riffs over Ashenspire's supposedly unique half-sung, half-narrated avantgarde style any day of the week (though both are cool).
1) If it's not that daring or innovative, be well produced and executed well
2) If it's not well produced or executed well, be interesting and dynamic
Like for example, the power metal band I linked earlier, Silver Bullet, they are obviously not doing anything new at all. They are just copping from Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica (as Finnish Power Metal bands tend to do). But they do it really well and consistently.
I started with their EP, We Are The Men but consensus seems to be around Open Your Heart as the LP of choice.
These are my top choices (yes I have put NYC at the top after the first listen because nearly every track is top but it might of course change if I listen to it more):
1. New York City
2. Tomorrow’s Hits (Going Down is one of my favorite tracks ever)
3. Devil Music
4. Leave Home
5. Open Your Heart
6. New Moon
7. Mercy
I have already doubted if I would count their mini album in (only 4 but fantastic tracks with also very overdriven guitars) but maybe I should go for the compilation Hated: 2008-2011, which includes these tracks but I haven't heard completely yet.
And indeed oversteered guitar is in fact a literal translation from the Dutch overstuurde gitaar and I suppose overdriven is the word to use in English.
I started with their EP, We Are The Men but consensus seems to be around Open Your Heart as the LP of choice.
dihansse wrote:
These are my top choices (yes I have put NYC at the top after the first listen because nearly every track is top but it might of course change if I listen to it more):
1. New York City 2. Tomorrow’s Hits (Going Down is one of my favorite tracks ever)
3. Devil Music
4. Leave Home
5. Open Your Heart
6. New Moon
7. Mercy
I have already doubted if I would count their mini album in (only 4 but fantastic tracks with also very overdriven guitars) but maybe I should go for the compilation Hated: 2008-2011, which includes these tracks but I haven't heard completely yet.
And indeed oversteered guitar is in fact a literal translation from the Dutch overstuurde gitaar and I suppose overdriven is the word to use in English.
BOTH are pretty awesome words in my book!
I'll check out the three LPs that I bolded AND their debut EP over the next couple of days!
In the meantime, I'd like to REWIND to the very first week on this year...
============================
1st Week of 2023 <Jan 6th Release Date>
These are the albums that I had on repeat for that first week of January...
1. Iggy Pop - Every Loser (Iggy Pop)
2. Nicole Dollanganger - Married In Mount Airy (Indie Pop)
3. Anti-Flag - Lies They Tell Our Children (Punk Pop)
4. Fireworks - Higher Lonely Power (Alt Rock/Punk Pop)
I thought all four of these were good to great for their respective genres. By far, the two that made the biggest first impression on me were bands I’d never even heard of before - Fireworks and a Nicole Dollanganger.
What was YOUR favorite release from the week of Jan 6th?!
Considering it’s currently ranked # 5 on BEA's 2023 chart and also tearing up the RYM chart let’s start by talking about Nicole's ...
Was anyone else captivated by this ethereal fever dream? Do you think it will have staying power? Or will it be a dream all but forgotten in a month?
Also, anyone a fan of her earlier work?
1) If it's not that daring or innovative, be well produced and executed well
2) If it's not well produced or executed well, be interesting and dynamic
Like for example, the power metal band I linked earlier, Silver Bullet, they are obviously not doing anything new at all. They are just copping from Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica (as Finnish Power Metal bands tend to do). But they do it really well and consistently.
Like... they know they ain't original. They are just having fun playing dumb Finnish Power Metal. Respect.
Just added to the BEA database! Not really my thing, but you probably already know that. That said, I can see what you mean. They sound like they're having a BLAST! Just great infectious energy! Melo-DRAMA!!!
Just added to the BEA database! Not really my thing, but you probably already know that. That said, I can see what you mean. They sound like they're having a BLAST! Just great infectious energy! Melo-DRAMA!!!
actually i don't know the basis of your power metal knowledge or taste
the only thing i could use to estimate what would be your thing or not is the age old "I prefer Killers-era Maiden over Beast-era Maiden" thing...
actually i don't know the basis of your power metal knowledge or taste
the only thing i could use to estimate what would be your thing or not is the age old "I prefer Killers-era Maiden over Beast-era Maiden" thing...
Gowi wrote:
Repo wrote:
Love all the write-ups, Gowi!!! Just threw this one in my queue!!!
<I've never heard of Forbidden so might have to check them out as well! >
Really? Forbidden are a pretty big name. How fluent/well-read are you on the classic thrash era (1980-1995) overall? Is it something you only know the big names with some extras or?
Forbidden were just past my time. I pretty much stopped listening to thrash, and metal in general ,once I got into college in 1987. So anything after 1987 I only started listening to once I started hanging around these parts. Back then the metal and indie rock scenes were pretty much separate. So while i was really into stuff like Soundgarden, Faith No More, Helmet, Jesus Lizard etc., I knew very little about bands like Artillery,Annihilator and Forbidden. Remember this is WAY BEFORE the internet.
For me, buying music was just a vehicle for going to live shows. If I was not going to see a band live, I didn't really seek out their music.
Thus, I know almost nothing about Power Metal except I LOVEd early - mid 80s Manowar. That's why I really enjoyed your "80s Primer on Power Metal" you posted in the Repo Zone just a few months back and then trying to compare Jag Panzer and Omen (both bands I now really enjoy, but didn't even know of back in the mid-80s. )
Listening to and exploring music is so different nowadays because of the internet and music streaming. Back in the day everything was pretty much word of mouth. Stuff you'd pick up by seeing bands live.
Last edited by Repo on 02/05/2023 03:28; edited 1 time in total
So far I think Shadowfall by Silver Bullet is my standout for January of 2023. In that month a lot of middling, forgettable metal was being highlighted ...
So, Gowi, I assume this - Obituary's Dying Of Everything - is one of those bands that you're talking about. It's one of the three metal albums that were getting a big push promotion-wise this past month that I had on heavy rotation along with Katatonia's Sky Void Of Stars and Ahab's The Coral Tomb.
As I've just started getting into Death Metal over the past five years or so, I can't help but being super impressed by Obituary. I LOVE John Tardy's vocals and use him as example to my 13 year old daughter as the gold standard for Death Metal vocalists. <She's really into this stuff!> I also love that they play at the lumbering, almost Death Doom, end of the spectrum compared to their speedy Floridian mates Morbid Angel and Death.
And this question goes out to everyone, not just Gowi, what do YOU consider Obituary's best album?! Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death, or some other dark horse?!
<Essentially I'm hoping someone will drop some knowledge bombs on Obituary like MJ did with Iggy Pop! lol. Because THAT was amazing! >
Well, it's certainly not Dying of Everything. Probably their weakest release in their entire career. I mean its fine, but its nowhere close to being worth talking about.
(also why do I not have any Obituary rated on RYM? That's weird. I've listened to their early work at least enough. Weird.)
But yeah, Cause of Death is their consensus highest rated and probably their best. I don't have any good stories since they aren't a band I was ever super high on.
An indie project from Ohio, Alexander Mikel taps into his fondness of the Elephant 6 label within an indie folk, lo-fi aesthetic. You can hear the trappings of Neutral Milk Hotel, The Gerbils, Elf Power, etc. in his songwriting and I think its probably one of the better releases in early January. Worth a look for fans of that kind of thing. I think it has some of the best lyrical songwriting I've heard in this kind of music in a while.
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