#Genre: Death Metal (early); Melodic Death Metal | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lowsodiumscifi · 1 year

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Call of Duty headcanons - 141's favorite metal bands/metal genres

This headcanon was personal for me, so I didn't rush this one.

This is pure fluff!

Includes Phillip Graves

Comment what headcanons you guys wanna see, because I'm running out of ideas fast lol. It can be anything, any pairing, any headcanon, any character. You ask, I'll do it.

Enjoy my self indulging headcanons about heavy metal.

John "Soap" MacTavish - Hair/thrash metal

If you ever asked Soap what his favorite kind of rock music was, he would say "party rock by lmfao" He's an airhead, be patient with him lol

In all seriousness, hair/thrash metal is more his style.

If you couldn't tell by the way Soap takes care of his mohawk, homeboy loves the crazy hairstyles. Goes feral over it.

Soap wears tight jeans that extenuate his thighs all the time on missions, so he loves to just dress in the tightest of pants and pretend to be in an 80s music video.

Leather, animal print, spandex, even studded or spiky chaps. You name it, Soap will do it.

Will definitely put on some sensual 80s metal song during sex. Kingdom comes's "what Love Can Be" Sounds about right.

Soap once brought the 141 to a Pantera concert, and ended up brawling some punks in the moshpit for bullying Gaz.

They ended up getting kicked out by security and Ghost ended up dragging his sorry ass through the parking lot.

Price was definitely a disappointed dad that night. Mostly disappointed at himself for letting his children get too rowdy on his watch... and joining in on the brawl.

Simon "Ghost" Riley - Melodic/doom metal

When the cold weather begins to come around later in the year, and bands like Katatonia, Opeth and Swallow the Sun put out more music, Ghost is always there.

Ghost is from Britain, so he appreciates any music that comes from Europe.

There are two types of moshpits when it comes to melodic/doom metal - The ones with viking chanting and feral animal noises - and the ones with the tear jerkers, the ones that go just to feel things.

Ghost once took a trip to Sweden with Soap for work, catching a Katatonia concert while there.

By the time the fith or sixth song starts playing, Soap is baffled and emotionally drained by how heavy Katatonia's riffs and lyrics are.

Standing in a sea of swaying, rowdy and possibly drunk crowd of thousands of Swedes, Ghost takes the opportunity to hold Soap's hand.

In Ghost's defense, it's an outdoor event, and it's so cold outside, hell could've froze over. Soap knows the real reason, though.

By the end of the night, everyone is headbanging and swaying.

They both plan to go again next year.

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick - Alt/nu/rap metal

Gaz is that "I listen to everything" kind of friend.

Is definitely open to new groups, genres and sounds.

Leans more into the early 2000s rock/metal a little more.

Gaz is more "cultured" like the younger generation is, and loves the memes that came with the generation too.

Some of the rookies will catch Gaz singing along to a Rammstein song, and fail... miserably. His German sucks.

Soap and Gaz got so drunk one night that both men started belting "bring me to life" by Evanescence every time Ghost would walk into a room, and laughed so hard they almost threw up.

Some 90s rap metal is cheesy, but Gaz tolerates it. Since he mostly grew up with hip hop, Gaz feels obligated to like some rap metal.

Loves any kind of metal song with movie references or influences.

Gaz doesn't go to a lot of concerts, no matter how much of an extrovert he is. It's just not his thing, especially when it comes to heavy metal.

HUGE fan of Linkin Park.

Gaz definitely cried after Chester Bennington's death. Has a whole Playlist dedicated to the singer. 💙

John Price - Alt/classic/grunge metal

Price is a man who loves the classics.

Just because something is "classic", doesn't necessarily mean it's "old".

Yes, Price is older than all of them (probably), and grew up with a lot of 70s and 80s music, but surprisingly, Price loves bands who are with the modern times.

The cure, Deftones, Bush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM. You name it.

Tried to get into punk metal once, definitely wasn't for him.

Like Gaz, he's the "I listen to everything" friend.

Price goes into bars once in a while while off duty, with the boys and Laswell and will hear a Soundgarden song playing. He likes it. A lot.

Cigars, whiskey, company of friends and some metal is what makes his nights better. It lifts his spirits tremendously.

Definitely doesn't go to concerts anymore. Will flat out say no if you asked, end of conversation.

Why go to concerts when you can watch them at home on YouTube? Lol

Will cook breakfast to the sound of Alice in Chains playing in the background.

Phillip Graves - Metalcore/post-hardcore

Like the all American he is, Graves likes to fucking party. The best kind of parties? Metalcore concerts.

Graves' journey through his metal listening experience started tame enough. It soon turned into being fascinated with groups like Lorna Shore, the Dillinger Escape Plan and Atreyu.

Tried to once attempt a fry scream. Ended up blowing his vocal cords out.

He'll put Lorna Shore full blast on his headphones and let Will Ramos' voice numb his brain until his head is buzzing and his ears are ringing.

Likes to test people's ability to point out vocals. "Is this an animal? Or a human being making this sound?" LOL

Will throw shit with every breakdown in a song.

Comes up behind someone and will yell a "BLEGH!" just to scare the shit out of you. Lol

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anotherghoul666 · 1 year

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Under Our Black Cult tour primer

@battiestbelfry as promised my dear! Now, I don’t have info on Gaerea yet because I don’t know them yet, Imma deep dive in the next few days. But the other 3 bands on the bill I know well, so here we go!

Under the read more: primers and my personal opinions on the bands Uada, Carach Angren and Rotting Christ. Song and album recommendations to start off. And the mask kink thing, with pics. 3/4 of the bands on this bill are or can be confidered masked bands, you know I gotta touch on the mask kink in there!

UADA

Uada, which means “haunted”, are a melodic black metal band from the United States. They are based in Portland, Oregon and have been active since 2014. They are currently signed to Eisenwald records, an independent music label from Germany. In this house we love and support independent labels! They are specialized in black metal and have a very fun roster.

Uada have 3 releases out so far, all full length albums. They don’t do singles, they don’t do demos, they don’t do splits, they don’t do EPs. They make full albums and drop them on a roughly 2 years cycle, though with the pandemic we are at 3 years since the last record, so these mysterious hooded figures are ripe for new material! Their debut album Devoid of Light in 2016 was well received by the metal world as a promising debut, albeit very classic black metal that didn’t surprise much. 2018’s Cult of a Dying Sun seems to be their album with the most acclaim. The sound quality difference between these two is astounding. The tracks tend to be longer, which helps some songs and doesn’t help others. 2020’s Djinn is their latest release and the reception’s been this: Djinn is way more niche, as in, you have to be down for 14 minutes atmospheric black metal songs to like it, but if that’s your vibe? It’s fucking good. Quality up, marketability down. They still don’t do anything super different, but it’s good black metal. It feels like European black metal despite being American, which is what I love, because I’m intensely biased towards the EU scene. US bands have to be either 1)extremely fucking special or 2) European-sounding to get in my good graces XD

The guys are “masked”, in the sense that they play with hoods over their faces with the aim of not being seen, for atmospheric purposes:

They also do “the hand thing” when taking pictures.

But they’re ok being approached in public by fans, as long as you don't pressure them to take a pic with their faces showing. They are not anonymous, their names are out there if you wanna know.

As far as recs go, I would rec all of the albums honestly cause it’s less than 3 hours of music and there’s nothing truly bad in there. My favorite album personally is Djinn but that’s because I fucking love atmospheric albums that make me lose track of time. I’m aware that’s not everyone’s cup of tea xD So, to my previous recs of Devoid of Light, Black Autumn White Spring and Cult of a Dying Sun, I’d add all of Djinn, but specifically the title track and In The Absence of Matter as a first contact.

CARACH ANGREN

Carach Angren are a symphonic black metal band from the Limburg province of the Netherlands. They’ve been active since 2003 and they’re currently signed to French label Seasons of Mist, one of the few major metal labels I feel positively about! The Seasons of Mist roster is INSANE. They specialize in the darker genres of metal, black, death, gothic, doom and some prog. Many of my favorite bands have been on them through the years.

So. Listen. Carach are one of my absolute darlings in the black metal world. When I began my exploration into black metal in the early 2010s, their first three records have been instrumental in making this genre my favorite. I would not be where I am today without them. I will forever have a very special in my heart for these guys. I hung out with them several times, I’m attached, ok? But. And there’s a huge But. Dear fucking god did these guys fall off. I’m still reeling from how perfect their music used to be, and how fucking atrocious the output has been since 2015. In my opinion. These primers are only my personal opinions and ramblings ok XD They’re doing fine, their latest albums did get decent reviews which I? Don’t understand? But you do you, boo? XD They’re one of the big names in black metal right now, they’re headlining tours, they’re doing good on the new material ok. But I can’t fucking stand it hahaha.

The main problem for me was the vibe shift. Carach Angren’s themes are horror stories. They recount fantastic tales of horror, fright and gore, psychological horror, body horror, historical horror, the like. The storytelling in their first three albums is stunning. There was always a sense of realism there, of horror being grounded in reality. It’s classy, it’s tasteful, it’s striking and horrifying but it’s never cheap and nothing is played for shock. 2008’s Lammendam is about “true stories” in a 1700s an 1800s backdrop, a historical version of our “I heard from a friend of a friend that…”, tales from the crypt and all that. Ghost stories that we’ve heard before, la Dame Blanche for example, but set to music. 2010’s Death Came Through a Phantom Ship is about nautical horror. Historical stories of phantom ships, captain-less ships, mutinies and their disastrous bloody consequences. It’s so grounded. Their masterpiece, 2012’s Where the Corpses Sink Forever, is about the horrors of war. We follow soldiers in trenches, feel their desperation, their fear of death yet longing for it. The heart-wrenching beauty to be found on battlefields because they are so human, yet the absolute bone-chilling reality of it. It’s so fucking real. This album, no joke, is one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. It’s a 10/10 record for me, and I do not give out 10/10 easily. I’m rather critical. I have less than 20 albums that I’ve ever rated as perfect in my life, and this album is unanimously recognized as the pillar of this band, and one of the pillars of symphonic black metal altogether. This is one of the albums that made black metal click for me. It changed everything.

And then, there was a tonal shift. I suspect, coming off from such a resounding success, the band didn’t know how the fuck they could live up to it, and they crumbled under the pressure. 2015’s This is no Fairytale is, as the title suggests, bases in the Grimm fairytales. It’s a weird modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel and like. Yeah. It started to get cheap. The language used in the lyrics shifted. There’s a ton of unnecessary cursing all over this album, graphic depictions of SA, p*dophilia, incest, drugs abuse and overdose, and like, yes, Hansel and Gretel is a tale about child abuse, of course, but there’s a way to approach those topics you know? With feeling, with emotion, with realness, and here it just feels cheap. Ghastly “twists” are constantly played out for shock value, it’s surface, it’s plastic-y. The stage show changed from refined hustorical costumes and atmospheres to, like, female-bodied mannequins being dragged around and getting their throats cut on stage with copious amounts of fake blood, and for what? It’s just, tasteless now. The band lost its delicacy. That’s where it started to feel cheap, and it only went downhill from there. 2017’s Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is a joke. Legit, this album sounds like a joke. The songs are boring, uninspired, structure-less. The lyrics are so cheap. It’s like we went from a museum quality horror painting that moves and inspires, to a cheap clown trying to be scary at a kid’s birthday party. 2020’s Franckensteina Strataemontanus was very “meh” to me. Less offensive than the previous two, and the story is inspired by classic horror literature like Mary Shelley and the strange scientists that inspired her Frankenstein. There’s potential, but the magic is dead for me. Bad taste in my mouth. I can’t do it anymore, but maybe a fresh pair of ear that doesn’t have the baggage I have with this band will like it? You let me know.

In this context, you’ll understand why my recommendations will only be from the first three albums. If you want to go for it, just listen to all three. There are no duds in any of them. But for specific songs, from Lammendam: Haunting Echoes from the Seventeenth Century, The Carriage Wheel Murder, Heretic Poltergeist Phenomena and my absolute favorite La Malédiction de la Dame Blanche. From Phantom Ship: The Sighting Is a Portent of Doom and Bloodstains on the Captain's Log. From Corpses? Listen to the whole thing man. For real. It’s a concept album, so grab the whole thing, sit down, close the lights, get the lyrics out, and follow along. Prepare to be sobbing by the end. I could recommend every single song, but they hit so much more powerfully within the context of the story.

In terms of aesthetic, there guys are “masked” in the way that they have a very unique look of corpse paint (the face paint typical to black metal).

They coined this look, not corpse paint as a whole, but their style of it. It’s been copied a million times since (like by Cradle of Filth notably, though they'll argue to the ends of the world it wasn't copied. It looks the exact same, it's a bit ridiculous), but it was Carach who did it like this first. The band members have character names, though they are not anonymous. Their real names are out there, but on stage, they’re not themselves, they are Seregor and Ardek (Namtar used to be their drummer. He quit in 2020. I have no clue how the band will record anything else in the future without him because he was the CORE of the band for me. Absolute drummer crush. I digress.) Seregor is a hobbyist mask maker and he makes masks for his different characters from his stories, like these:

Imo they still hit on the mask kink somewhat. The guys on and off stage feel like they are radically different people, and to have met them masked at the end of a show and unmasked at more proper events, there’s a world of difference in the vibe. I love it.

Oh also they have spawn a good few big metal memes like this one XD :

Which they found funny enough they turned it into a shirt XD :

(and yes of course I have one hahaha)

ROTTING CHRIST

Rotting Christ are a seminal band in black metal’s history. They have been at it for 36 years under the Rotting Christ banner, 39 years if we count the first iteration of the band under a different name. Dare I say it? I’ll say it. They’re the black metal daddies. I’m so sorry, I said it, it’s out there now XD They are daddy and I don’t make the rules. Anyway! They’ve been active since 1987, as I said, and they are signed to, yep, Seasons of Mist. I wasn’t kidding when I said this label’s roster is nuts. They are from Athens, Greece and they’re more towards the melodic / gothic side of black metal. They influen ced black meal heavily because this early in the 80s (black metal as a genre really kicked off in the 90s), there were no other bands who did what they did, and especially not in Greek. Rotting Christ have a lot of songs in Greek, in Latin, later in their career they made songs based on Hindu mysticism, their lack of fear when it comes to singing in everything but English at the time was genre defining. They made many songs in English since, but man the ones in Greek just hit different you know? They changed the game before the black metal game was even a thing.

Currently there are only two original members left in the band, brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis, vocals/guitar and drums respectively. Everyone else right now are tour musicians or session studio musicians. As their band name suggests, their themes are of anti-christianity, satanism, occultism of many different cultures, mysticism, it’s all good shit. One more band we traumatized christian kids can heal our religious trauma through, weeeee!! They have 13 full length records out, their latest one being The Heretics from 2019 (we are starving from new material, please feed us) though they haven’t paused during the pandemic, re-recording older material and releasing compilations instead. There was a new single in 2022 called Holy Mountain, and I hope and pray that means new album soon. Sakis Tolis also released a solo project in 2022, Amongst the Fires of Hell, which was fucking DELICIOUS my dude. More laid back, but so fucking crunchy. Highly recommend if you feel their sound.

In terms of recommendations, you’re in luck because they released a massive best of for their 30th anniversary called Their Greatest Spells: 30 Years of Rotting Christ. That’s the must-listen. If you want into this band, start here. You’ll get a taste of the sound of every single full lenght that came befoee. It’s 2 albums, 33 songs: find your favorites, check which album they're from, and go from there! Non Serviam, Grandis Spiritus Diavolos, In Yumen-Xibalba, Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, everything’s on here, besides my personal favorite song of theirs, Apage Satanas. It’s a weird chanty, trance-y song but it’s the one that made me fall in love with the band. It scratches at something deep inside my brain idk.

Rotting Christ are not masked, nor is there an aesthetic to latch onto, really. They’re just cool dude doing cool things and doing their part spreading the message. They’re honest and raw. No frills. What you see is what you get. They’re the OG.

And that's the bill! Lemme know if you listen to anything and if the bands catch your interest :D

#asks #band primers #metal band primer #uada #carach angren #rotting christ

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metalsongoftheday · 2 months

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Tuesday, March 26: 220 Volt, "Woman in White"

It was a little strange at first that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was so immediately influential to several Swedish groups emerging just a couple years later, but it was also profoundly significant, as these bands laid the foundation for what would eventually become one of the genre’s major hubs. 220 Volt was one of those key acts, and an early track like “Woman in White”, while bearing little resemblance to the melodic death metal that would define Sweden in the ‘90s, was a ripping NWOBHM-inflected catchy banger with a sense of craft that would carry over to the band’s descendants. Notably, there was a finely calibrated balance of careening NWOBHM recklessness and northern European frostiness, particularly in Jocke Lundholm’s vocals, while the riffs sounded melodic, aggressive and forbidding in equal measure. 220 Volt was one of those groups that existed in their own time and place, seemingly not really interacting with the rest of the world even though their music was very much part of a continuum, and “Woman in White” was both a marker of its era as well as a predecessor of what was to come.

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aprilsrymblr · 2 years

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punk-funk

not all projects are meant to be, it seems... I spent quite a bit of work on a genre submission for RYM recently that wasn’t able to make it through the queue, as many people thought it may not be well-recognised as distinct from its parent genre, dance-punk. I, however, think this is a really unique and interesting style within the development of post-punk and early blending between post-punk and alternative music with dance elements... so here is the description I submitted:

Punk-funk is a style of dance-punk which is based around incorporating funk rhythms into the minimal, angular sound of post-punk. Consequently, compared to other styles of punk, punk-funk is typically slower and groovier with a strong focus on the rhythm section, in particular emphasizing instrumental interplay and the bass guitar as a lead melodic instrument. Electric guitar is used more sparingly, typically played in a scratchy and rhythmic disco-influenced style. Some punk-funk groups also incorporate other rhythmic influences outside funk, most commonly the offbeat rhythms of reggae and dub; the complex percussive style of Afrobeat was also influential on some artists, most notably Talking Heads. Though less common, some punk-funk groups have also incorporated horns or saxophone. The punk-funk style emerged effectively simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic in 1979, in large part out of a desire to break from the white cultural norms (and racism) within the existing punk movement by prominently embracing Black musical influences. British punk-funk was primarily developed by Northern bands like Gang of Four (Leeds), A Certain Ratio (Manchester), and The Pop Group (Bristol), with a more reggae-oriented variant emerging from London's The Slits. Also notable is Public Image Ltd's "Death Disco" single; its title and "funk noir" became alternate names for the genre in the UK, emphasizing its darker tone compared to the dance styles it was inspired by. In the US, punk-funk emerged out of the art punk scene and closely related No Wave movement in New York City, with artists like James Chance and 99 Records' ESG and Liquid Liquid serving as a more rock-oriented counterpart to the mutant disco trend, which punk-funk sometimes crossed over with (earning it the nickname "mutant funk"). NYC scene mainstay Talking Heads swiftly incorporated a less angular variation on the style into their arty brand of new wave, serving as a major influence to bands in the emerging Athens, Georgia scene like The B-52's and Pylon. Interest in the punk-funk sound declined by the mid-1980s, by which point many of these groups had broken up or moved onto new styles, but at the same time it was a major influence on New Order's emerging alt-dance tendencies and the proto-funk metal of Red Hot Chili Peppers (whose self-titled debut was produced by Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill). Happy Mondays, innovators of the baggy sound later in the decade, also started their recording career as a punk-funk group. The style was revisited in the early 2000s by a number of groups associated with the post-punk revival and electroclash scenes, leading to the innovation of newer forms of dance-punk that build on and diverge from punk-funk with an array of influences from contemporary electronic and dance music to the aggression and intensity of post-hardcore and sasscore. However, some groups in this dance-punk revival like !!! still emphasized funk influences and can be seen as a modern continuation of the punk-funk sound. (fin)

you may espy the submission, discussion, and sourcing if you have a RYM account by accessing this link; the information primarily comes from Simon Reynolds’ Rip It Up and Start Again (2005) and Tim Lawrence’s Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor (2016), along with a smattering of web sources. both books are great, and I’d highly recommend checking out them or the listed artists if this music is of interest to you!

to end this, here’s a song from the LP that spurred me to look into this little movement in the first place, Pylon’s 1980 album Gyrate:

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#punk #punk-funk #dance-punk #1970s #1980s #no wave #art punk #funk rock #post-punk #gang of four #a certain ratio #the pop group #the slits #public image ltd.#james chance #talking heads #pylon

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xmystophalesx · 1 year

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Best New Heavy Metal Releases Week of February 10th, 2023

Ahhhh, what a difference a single week can make. As much of a slog last week was with nothing that really hit with me, this week was the exact polar opposite. This week was absolutely dominated by Black Metal with yet another album I will be surprised if it is not in my end-of-year best of list. I will freely admit there was not a ton of variety this week and if you aren’t a fan of the heavier or more extreme forms of Metal, this week may be a slog for you as much as last week was for me. That being said, there are definitely some things worth checking out. You never know, maybe this is the week things turn around for your appreciation of these more extreme forms of music are concerned. After all, this WAS a week of a bit of a return to form (somewhat) of one of the biggest names in the genre. Look at that incredibly well done segue into my first highlight album…lol

In Flames-Foregone (Melodic Death/Heavy)**

I was debating on whether to make this a highlight album as honestly I REALLY only like half the album. The other half is decent. Maybe it is the nostalgia I feel for this band or my fervent desire to see them recapture the magic they exhibited in the late 90s. Whatever it is, this album is easily the best thing they have done in close to two decades and in that it really gives me hope they are no longer a lost cause for me. If nothing else, this would make a perfect album for people to listen to that dislike harsh vocals but will give them a shot. This may be a gateway album to get you over that threshold.

Haxanu-Totenpass (Black)**

This was the first of a flood of really damn good Black Metal albums this week. One man project out of the US that was my early pick of the week and stayed in the spot for most of the week. These one man projects just seem to get better and better all the time and this one is no exception. Unfortunately, not super easy to find as it is not on Spotify, so YouTube or Bandcamp is probably your best bet. Trust me, it is worth the effort.

Infinite & Divine-Ascendancy (Melodic Heavy/Hard Rock)**

Do you like Battle Beast but sometimes feel that they just get overly heavy at times? I am being facetious of course but if you are looking for a lighter version of Battle Beast, Infinite & Divine have you covered. Maybe not super original, but what we have here is very catchy and easy to listen to Heavy Hard Rock with excellent female vocals. Delain was probably the marquee release in this genre this week, but this one is easily the better release.

Fredlos-Fredlos (Heavy/Folk/Doom)**

Now this one came out of nowhere for me. This is usually not my thing but there is something about this album that kind of gets under your skin and worms its way into your subconscious. This Folk infused Heavy Metal with an overall Doom Metal vibe and killer clean female vocals just really worked for me. Even as I sit here and write this up, I couldn’t tell you why that is. It just FELT good is all I can really point to. Your mileage may vary, but i really dug this album.

Frozen Dawn-The Decline of the Enlightened Gods (Melodic Black)**

I first heard this album on Saturday and have listened to it at least a dozen times since. The only album that stopped me listening to it more often was one that I can’t actually talk about for about until it gets released on the 24th. This is Melodic Black Metal at an incredibly high level. If I had to compare this album to anyone, I would have to say a more melodic version of Dissection or Necrophobic. Hell, they even do a Necrophobic cover to end the album. This album is absolute perfection for its 50 minute runtime. Tons of high;lights on this album but the biggest has to be the incredible guitar work here. The leads are on a next level for a genre that normally doesn’t concern itself too much with them. Think of the In Aphelion album from last year for another band that does this incredibly well. The only downside at all is I couldn’t find any mention of a vinyl release for this album.

That will do it for this week of a return to form of killer new releases. Maybe the universe is realigning. If In Flames can release an album that impresses me again, maybe the world as a whole is turning a corner and from now on everyone will help one another. Yeah, probably not. Until next week and, as always, listen to music and fill your soul with happiness and of course,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genre

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Best of the Week

Burshtyn-Apokryf (Black)**

Trespasser-Apocalypse (Black)**

In Flames-Foregone (Melodic Death/Heavy)**

Haxanu-Totenpass (Black)**

Carnosus-Visions of Infinihility (Death/Thrash)**

Fredlos-Fredlos (Heavy/Folk/Doom)**

Frozen Dawn-The Decline of the Enlightened Gods (Melodic Black)**

Infinite & Divine-Ascendancy (Melodic Heavy/Hard Rock)**

Standouts in their Genre

Moonthoth-Uroczhysko (Black)*

Crimson River-Here’s to the End…Again (Heavy/Thrash)*

Razorschrieck-Black Magick (Black)*

Red Soil-Red Soil (Melodic Death)*

Electrikeel-Straight Outta Depths (Thrash/Crossover)*

Narrative-Servants of the Prophets, Martyrs of Men (Black)*

The Enigma Division-The Enigma Division (Progressive)*

Willloos-Begeerte (Depressive Black/Atmospheric)*

Big Laugh-Consume Me (Hardcore Punk)*

eMolecule-The Architect (Progressive)*

Worth a Listen

Doomas-R’lyeh (melodic Death/Doom)

Diatribe-Rabid Nightmare (Death)

Ritual Awakening-Demon King (Melodic Death)

Atomwinter-Sakrileg (Death)

Wig Wam-Out of the Dark (Hard Rock)

Khymera-Hold Your Ground (Hard Rock)

Gates of Mourning-Ruination (Black)

Irrseele-Wahn & Wehmut (Atmospheric Black)

Dispyria-The Story of Marion Dust (Heavy/Power)

T3nors-Naked Soul (Hard Rock/AOR)

Terrestrial Hospice-Caviary to the General (Black)

Delain-Dark Waters (Melodic/Symphonic)

Pick of the week was actually not difficult even with all the excellent releases. Frozen Dawn takes the top spot with The Decline with a perfect 5 sleepy bulldogs even with friends over out of 5.

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metalpurgatorymedia · 2 years

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ZETA - Binary Enigma

ZETA – Binary Enigma

ZeTA is a extreme metal project residing from Ohio, Arizona and Illinois and have released the band’s debut full-length album of Binary Enigma and is self released by the band. Musically, this band incorporates different musical genres anywhere from melodic black, death metal and experimental but also being heavily influenced by the early to mid 90’s Swedish melodic black and death metal bands…

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#2022 #Album Review #Binary Enigma #melodic black/death metal #metal #United States #unsigned #Zeta

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vitaminwaterreviews · 1 month

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AIXP - The Artificial Intelligence Experiment

I think that my comment on the first song really sums up my feelings towards the album as a whole: “Pleasantly surprised.” Often full albums can feel like a bit of a slog, especially if they’re from genres that I’m not a huge fan of. Coup d’Etat for example, which I listened to just yesterday, was more of a slog than this album was, and that album is considered one of the GOAT kpop albums. So the fact that this album was much easier (and more enjoyable) to get through is a big compliment.

The instrumental samples and vocals as a whole felt very processed, I think that’s my biggest criticism. It’s possible that I just have very messy versions of the songs; these have been converted at least once on my end, and who knows how many times on behalf of the person I got them from. But the vocals in the mellow and pretty sections never totally won me over, and the mellow sections in general always felt a Bit too coarse and processed.

I also definitely wanted more melody from the guitars, but again, I’m not familiar with the conventions of the genre so maybe that’s just something that I don’t know.

Now the stuff that I’m impressed by. The mixing was constantly making me turn the music up to the point that it hurt my ears. I dunno if that’s intentional, but for metal music I think that’s definitely a Good thing. The vocals were excellent, even if the growly vocals weren’t conventional death metal vocals, they still fit this particular sound well. I enjoyed the structure of the individual songs a lot - we had a really good mix of upbeat and mellow sections, and right as I was starting to get bored of one, it switched to another. There were only a couple of sections in the entire album that I started to get bored, and it kept my attention really well other than those.

The last two songs are definitely the highlights of the album for me, I think Hourglass is probably my favorite song overall.

I did find it kind of odd how a lot of the songs seemed to end on a slow section, even if they didn’t have one at all during the main part of the song. The transition from Hourglass to Finale was particularly jarring, maybe that could’ve been smoother. Or maybe that’s intentional. So many things that I just don’t know, because I’m not familiar with the genre! Anyway, enough rambling. Average score of 8.0 which feels exactly correct to me. Very good, could use some improvement, but still a solid four out of five stars. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to.

- Alright, I feel the need to add some disclaimers here. I do not usually listen to metal of any sort, and definitely not death metal. I am, however, regularly exposed to death metal, mostly though music leagues that I do with my friends who are more into the subgenre than I am. But since I got early access to this particular album, I figured I’d give it a proper listen and do the proper review and all that. I have no idea how I’ll end up rating any of these songs, or the album as a whole, but here we go.

The Artificial Intelligence Experiment

The layering on the vocals is Really nice

And actually the entire song feels so Thick, in a good way

Love the pause and “thump thump” after “The Artificial Intelligence Experiment”

Oh, I probably can’t just google the lyrics to this now can I, sad

The whole thing feels �� epic

I usually associate that kind of guttural growl singing with death metal, we haven’t had much of that yet

Oh and of course as soon as I type that, we get a bit of it lol

I quite like this section around 3:00, I assume this is the outro

I wonder whose vocals these are. Is this THE nLazy singing??

8/10, pleasantly surprised

I Forgot to Take My Meds

Me too tbh

Alright, here’s the melodic part of melodic death metal

Love love love the autotune on this voice in the intro here

“I forgot to take my medicationnnnn” lmao

I heard ‘forgotten pills’! That was a former name of this song

The voice still feels very heavily processed in the slow part ~1:50, kinda wish it was cleaner in the mix to give us more contrast

A bit better around 2:45. Maybe just personal taste then, because the vocal effects definitely fit Conceptually, but I’d prefer them cleaner to make them sound more human

8/10, really enjoyed this one, I think if I was more a fan of metal then it’d be a 9

Lost in the Void

Nice, love me some piano

It does feel slightly out of place though - very clean, kind of echoey, like a random piano from a music chamber was put in the middle of armageddon or something lmao

I keep turning the music up, and then my ears start to hurt, so I have to turn it back down. Maybe that’s an intentional aspect of the genre, or maybe the mixing is a bit off. Let me see if I can figure out what I’m trying to hear more of

Yeah even here. The vocals are as unprocessed as we’ve gotten so far, but they still feel processed! Idk, I’ll stop harping on that now

The “oooooh”s at the end are neat. I’m getting like, horror vibes out of this

7/10

Betrayers Lament

I almost get … prog rock vibes out of this soundscape, whatever instrument doing these harmonies feels like that electronic organ for some reason

Yeah, the growly vocals are definitely not the conventional style that I usually hear in death metal

Not that it’s a bad thing. The section beginning at 1:36 feels Really good in context

This is cool, the section around 3:30 feels really cool

Love how distorted the piano feels

What I want here is a ridiculously technical electric guitar solo at the here, riffing over everything else going on

8/10

Chaos Unleashed

That it, the mixing thing. The vocals are kind of buried in the mix, it’s really hard to make out what they’re saying. BUT, I suspect that’s very intentional, most death metal sounds similar to me

Or maybe I’m just used to listening to pop music where the vocals ARE the mix lol

I haven’t commented much on the particular song yet, but I’m vibing

A comment on the ending: it feels Kind of cheesy. Nowhere else in the song do we get the more mellow vibe of the final “nothing is as it seems”, so it feels like it comes out of nowhere just to force an ending

That said, if the next song begins with a similar vibe, then it might work pretty well as a bridge between the two songs. Let’s see!

7/10

Echoes of Freedom

Nope lol

That said I do quite like the intro here, it’s bouncy and almost dancy

Yeah, this actually feels almost more poppy than the other songs. Can’t totally tell why

Like, if I was gonna release a single off of this album, I think this is the one I’d choose

That said, this is partly because this song is kind of safe. It definitely doesn’t Explore as much as some of the other songs have

8/10

Maze of Life

Lord of the Rings vibes for some reason

I wonder what that instrument is, the one doing the triplets in the intro

Oh wait, this whole song is in 6/8, I didn’t even realize until just now

I like that a lot, it gives a really nice momentum

Feels almost like a march

Haha random choral section at 2:05, this is actually so neat

The thing is, this is the easiest song to listen to, but I don’t know if it’s my favorite. Like, as much as I love 6/8, it does often feel kinda cheesy to me

Or maybe I’m just jaded and cynical

8/10

Revelations

I want more of whatever the highest guitar line is in the first 30 seconds or so

Hoorayyyyyyyyy we’re 8 songs in and finally we get a proper guitar solo!!!

Kinda short though, gimme more gimme more

This was a really good song. I want more of that guitar. Very few comments here though because I did start to zone out - maybe worth noting

8/10

From the Shadows

I can definitely hear the lyrics very easily in the opening lines of the song, first time in the album I can say that for a full verse

Nice, the change between half time to double time around 2:00 felt really good

The instrumental break around 2:20 is good, I like the cute little sixteenth note runs

Structurally, I’d expect this song to be the climax of the album. Lyrically I think that makes sense, I’m not sure I buy it musically

Perhaps Finale is the climax though, seems likely

Again with randomly ending on a mellow section after an entire loud and upbeat song

Maybe that’s a trend in melodic deathcore though

It definitely did something with it though

8/10

Hourglass

Dude this guitar sample is So pretty omg

Yes, love the vocals

This isn’t death metal, this is just Lovely

Love the percussion

Mkay, now it picks up

Maybe this is the climax of the album then, it feels like it so far, that transition was epic

Alright, and now we’re slow again

Oh we’re in 3/4 now, didn’t even notice

I quite quite like this song, probably my favorite on the album so far

3/4 really is such an anthemic time signature, this feels so epic

I’d love to see the lyrics for this particular song. It’s impossible to pick them out during the loud sections

Whatever’s going on with the vocals around 3:20 is genius, love love love how they sound in conjunction with the instrumentals

Lol what is that ending

9/10

Finale

And we go from that soundscape to this soundscape, fair enough ig

We’re in 12 now, I think

Haha wait this is a 7 minute song!! Better be good

That section around 1:37 was good, felt like a nice break

I want it to go somewhere else, 2:20 and so far we’ve been at exactly the same energy the whole way through. This album has enough pretty sections on it that the finale should tie back into

Nice guitar around 2:50, give me more

That’s one thing the album doesn’t do too well is fun guitar solos. Maybe death metal doesn’t do fun guitar solos

3:30-ish sounds Really cool though

Mkay, now we’re soft, about time

This guitar does feel totally out of nowhere, it’s almost … folky

That’s such a metal trope, going from Chill and then immediately having the drums come in and introducing the Metal back in

4:40 is so cool omg

Yeah, this might be my favorite section on the album

The whole instrumental section here is perfect actually. I think vocals would detract from it, good decision

Yep, definitely 12/8

I’m at 6:30 now and I’ll tell you what, this didn’t feel like a 7 minute song at all

Not totally convinced by the ending

9/10

#album #metal #death metal #melodic death metal #AIXP

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k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9 · 1 year

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CARCASS poster from back in the "Necroticism..." album era...

📸 Thrash 'n Burn Magazine #1 - 1991

#Carcass #Genre: Goregrind/Grindcore (early); Melodic Death Metal #Lyrical themes: Death Gore Pathology Medical Humour Politics Society #UK #Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious #1991 #90's #90s #metal #Jeff Walker #Bill Steer #Michael Amott #ken owen

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metalmessage · 7 months

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[ Artwork: Timon Kokott ]

TRACKS: 01. The Dark Wanderer 06:56 02. Tristram 04:56 03. The Desert Sands 04:55 04. Risen From The Grave 07:03 05. The Fallen Temple 06:50 06. Mephisto 05:41 07. Lord Of Hell 04:07 08. Sescheron 04:59

total 45:27

[ Pic: Anna-Lena Hickmann ]

LINE-UP: Christian Krajewski • Lead Guitars, Vocals Ersin Kara • Guitars Oliver Krajewski • Bass Alexander Czernik • Drums

Action: OLD RUINS Title: Always Heading East Base: Gelsenkirchen • Germany Style: Black Metal Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Black Metal, Post Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal FFO: Early In Flames, Children Of Bodom, Arch Enemy, Tribulation Type: Full-length Format: CD + Vinyl Label: Doc Gator Records Release: Sept. 15, 2023 𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗡𝗦 ⚠️ 🎧 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗬 Alert🤘 • Feel free to share: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/16B7r7ccFBc2CGIdwzxSWA?si=40mlzhJsSlKidNDuGm5iEQ&nd=1 https://youtu.be/8tXT_4ny51o [ Official Video ] Bulletpoints: 🔘 The top debut album of the capable Germans 🔘 Individual, also vocally highly distinctive style 🔘 Melodic-catchy, gripping Black Metal

OLD RUINS • Fascinating tragedy

OLD RUINS can be rightly classified as BLACK METAL, whereby the resourceful German formation has created its own, very individual style with many influences from the areas of Heavy, Doom and Melodic Metal and is thus a very appreciated term to a large part of the underground scene already since their first demos on YouTube.

OLD RUINS also made first plans for their stage debut, but the Lord Of Destruction had other plans and brought the world a pandemic. However, OLD RUINS were not discouraged by this and began in August 2020 with the recordings of the completely convincing 6-track debut EP „Old Ruins“, which physically and digitally passed the gates of hell on November 06, 2020 and brought darkness from the heart of the Ruhr area over Tristram.  

On September 15, 2023, OLD RUINS will release their first long-player entitled „Always Heading East“ on Doc Gator, with which the record company proves exquisite taste.  

OLD RUINS was founded in 2019 and was initially supposed to be a pure studio project of drummer Alexander Czernik and singer/lead guitarist Christian Krajewski. But the thus only really hungry players quickly developed a damn dark, very atmospheric sound, which is still not easy to categorize and which remains not least because of this permanently as fascinating as exciting and wear-free. Inspired by their ingenious concept, they completed the line-up with Oliver Krajewski on bass and Ersin Kara on guitar. About their debut album „Always Heading East“ the conspiratorial gloomy souls say:

 “The lyrics lyrically refer to the video game classic ‚Diablo‘ from Blizzard. The dark atmosphere of the game has always fascinated us immensely. Whether the tragic story without any happy ending, or the neglected (sound)worlds on ‚Always Heading East‘ were the main inspiration is hard to say today“, but „when you close your eyes and put the record on, you really dive into the mystical story of the dark wanderer“, Christian Krajewski raves fervently, adding: „If you’re not versed in the history of the video game, you can still immerse yourself in the dark musical world of the album and enjoy the soothingly atmospheric Black Metal sound. „

Where Iron Maiden have to deal with only one beast, the brave warriors of OLD RUINS are exposed to numerous spawns of hell. Face to face they bravely take on MEPHISTO the Lord Of Hate, LILITH – Daughter Of Mephisto and Queen Of The Succubi, TATHAMET The Seven-headed Dragon and BAAL The Lord Of Destruction.

Follow these exceptionally talented German top artists on their new adventures in „Always Heading East“ and dive into a dark, atmospheric sound experience of a very special kind – inspired by the legendary world of Diablo! DISCOGRAPHY: 2020 • Old Ruins • EP 2023 • Always Heading East • Full-length OLD RUINS are available for interviews via phone, Skype, Zoom & email [email protected]

🌐 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙤 & 𝙋𝙍: 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘 ᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ • 𝐸𝓈𝓉. 2001 https://www.metalmessage.de/PR_OLD_RUINS_en.php

MEDIA FEEDBACK:

10 / 10 ➤ „… explosive mixture … epic … melancholic … great melodies … predominantly midtempo … the vocals put the crown on the whole thing …“ (Bleeding4Metal)

9,5 / 10 ➤ „OLD RUINS deliver a tour de force on their full-length debut, combining the raw frenzy of Black Metal with exquisite melodies and riffs from Heavy and Epic Metal. This album is by no means just a homage to a cult game, but skillfully forged black stainless steel!“ (Soundmagnet)

9 / 10 ➤ „… a dark, atmospheric album, coupled with influences from Death Metal and doom, as well as from classic Heavy Metal … anyone who likes dark and atmospheric Black Metal should definitely risk an ear here …“ (Moshpit Passion)

8,7 / 10 ➤ „… an album rich in detail, full of subtleties … multi-layered in its orientation, but still at home in melodic Black Metal. A promising newcomer, of whom you certainly haven’t heard the last … my insider tip for this month. Strong.“ (Zephyr’s Odem)

8,5 / 10 ➤ „… a heavyweight … jewel …“ (Saitenkult)

8,5 / 10 ➤ „… Krajewski’s harsh vocals are typical for the genre, but his fine guitar leads and harmonies are worthy of any Epic Metal combo and have nothing to do with some blind bludgeoning from the Black Metal mud corner. By the way, this also applies to the production …“ (Obliveon)

8,5 / 10 ➤ „This is how Melodic Black Metal must be. Here, a black dripping atmosphere is conjured out of the hat … falling for the melancholy of the black vocals … strong riffing, which could almost be classified as heavy metal … this Black’n’Heavy mixture is a great mood, doesn’t let boredom arise and immediately runs into the auditory canals to burn itself there …“ (Hellfire)

8 / 10 ➤ „… very great sounding atmospheric and melodic mixture of Black, Death, Doom and Heavy Metal …“ (A Different Shade Of Black Metal)

8 / 10 ➤ „Rounded off by an oldschool but nevertheless tidy and powerful production that should satisfy purists as well as friends of modern Metal productions. Let’s hope that the Ruhr area formation will follow this promising starting signal with many more releases, because here we could have a very exciting new entry in the black metal lexicon. And in such a hopelessly overrun genre, this fact alone is a small accolade!“ (Powermetal DE)

8 / 10 ➤ „… epic sound that lies somewhere between late-80s Bathory, mid-range Immortal, early In Flames and Dissection … while not missing out on great melodies and clear references to classic Heavy Metal … melancholy and epicness are the two cornerstones …“ (Metal DE)

8 / 10 ➤ „… works excellently over the entire playing time … varied, full of strong melodic arcs … with numerous, successful epic moments … the so-called Gothenburg sound as well as Doom and Death Metal are also cleverly integrated … appealing level … the production is quite powerful and relatively modern, more like a Power Metal record … all kinds of subtleties make this album a feast for the ears …“ (Neckbreaker)

12 / 15 ➤ „… should convince not only the quality-conscious Black- but also the inclined Epic-Metaller …“ (Legacy Magazin)

7,5 / 10 ➤ „… score with a proper Heavy Metal attitude … spirit meets melancholy and finds a nice balance … the songs are varied, but always have their own style and sound homogeneous … everything sounds like from one cast … interesting and detailed, without overwhelming … comparisons to Alcest, but also newer Tribulation spontaneously come to mind …“ (Crossfire Webzine)

3,7 / 5 ➤ „… sounds like dark big battles … besides genre-typical jangling and tremolo riffs there is also a good portion of Power, Thrash and Death Metal … partly almost traditional metal underpinnings. That makes mood. The sound is also not cold and clanking, but quite dense and fat … a plus of atmosphere even reminds something of the Irish Primordial … quite surprising …“ (Handwritten Mag)

7 / 10 ➤ „It almost feels like there is a hidden meaning underneath the surface of Christian Krajewski’s vocals with a fresh emotive quality rising to the surface from the black depths, something which works very well … despite being shrouded in a cloak of darker atmospheres there is a real sense of epic majesty …“ (Metal Noise)

7 / 10 ➤ „… a heavy reliance on melody … not afraid to measure themselves with less explosive but still rocky dynamics … great passion of the musicians involved …“ (Heavy Metal Webzine IT)

➤ „OLD RUINS do a lot of things right on their debut ‚Always Heading East‘, above all they know how to create an atmosphere that sweeps the listener along and where it doesn’t matter if you know the source of inspiration or set off ignorantly down the dark paths to Tristram. Black/heavy/doom metal that isn’t hard to digest and is fun to listen to.“ (Breakout)

➤ „… they master a broader spectrum of Metal music … sounds sharp and does not have the atmosphere that the representatives of the genre usually aim for … compositionally it is also quite edgy, but this is due to the organisational talent that seems to generally characterise these creators … the melodic moments are pronounced … carry something distinctive …“ (Flight Of Pegasus)

➤ „In many ways, the album hits those emotions that grab you, consume you and at the same time are delivered so (almost) elegantly that you just want more all the time … there are elements of several branches of Metal, but imagine some of the early In Flames, a little Children Of Bodom, a little Arch Enemy and then add a little Tribulation and mix it well together, and you have the sound of OLD RUINS – presented here on a really good album that will surely appeal to many.“ (Rancor Metalzine)

➤ „A crushing Heavy/Post Black Metal album. It’s heavy. It hits hard. At the same time, it’s also beautiful and soaring high with its elegant moments that can touch your very soul. A moving record while being brutal with a high-dynamic sound.“ (Noisewriter)

➤ „Dissection/(early) In Flames/Dark Tranquillity meets Epic Heavy Metal in all its powerful, enthralling, captivating glory. High Heavens, Burning Hells!“ (KMäNriffs)

➤ „… much to love about this … heavy, but often not blistering, with headbanging beats and hypnotic riffs … the subtle Black Metal influence is there, without OLD RUINS having to rely on it much, creating a unique sound … great …“ (Wanna Hear a Great Song Today?)

➤ „… clear recommendation … melodic guitar harmonies … OLD RUINS are clever songwriters and change tempo and mood in pretty much all tracks again and again, so that no boredom arises … really strong album, somewhere between Black and Heavy Metal, whereby the latter clearly predominates … is really fun … I had not expected otherwise after the great EP …“ (Vampster)

➤ „… very atmospheric … influences from Melodic Metal clearly recognisable … slight doom influences that give the songs more depth and balance, making them even more accessible than they already are … perfectly staged and also produced … professionals at work …“ (Metalglory)

➤ „… imagine some early In Flames, some Children Of Bodom, some Arch Enemy and then add a little Tribulation and mix it all together well, presented on a really good album that I’m sure many will enjoy.“ (Metaltone DK) etc.

#metalmessage #metal #album #band #germany #release #heavy #pr

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human-antithesis · 10 months

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Iotunn Countries: Denmark, Faroe Islands Genres: Progressive Power Metal (Early); Progressive Melodic Death Metal (Later) Formed in: 2015

Lineup: Eskil Rask - Bass (2019 - Present) Jens Nicolai Gräs - Guitars, Keyboards (2015 - Present) Jesper Gräs - Guitars (2015 - Present) Bjørn Wind Andersen - Drums (2015 - Present) Jón Aldará - Vocals (2018 - Present) Benjamin Møller Jensen - Vocals, Bass (2015 - 2017)

Albums:

2016 - The Wizard Falls (EP) 2021 - Access All Worlds 2022 - Access All Worlds - An Acoustic Voyage (Single) 2023 - Mistland (Single)

#Hermit's Lair #Human Antithesis #Telegram #Iotunn #Progressive Melodic Death Metal #Death Metal #Progressive Power Metal #Power Metal #Eskil Rask #Nicolai Gräs #Jesper Gräs #Bjørn Wind Andersen #Benjamin Møller Jensen #Denmark #Jón Aldará #Faroe Islands

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gruffpleisiosaur · 1 year

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Polyphia’s Journey as a band

I created this blog to show where one of my favorite bands started and where their talents guide them to greater heights.

Polyphia

Polyphia is a primarily instrumental band based in Texas, the band formed way back in 2010. The group consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage with bassist Clay Gober and drummer Brandon Bulkhalter.

Polyphia’s main focused on music was incorporating virtuosic guitar parts with other styles of music. The band’s early releases are initially rooted in a metal-focused tone, the band’s music evolved to a progressive rock sound in their later productions with the combination of electronic music and hip-hop. Polyphia has released four albums and two EPs and other singles. Their latest album, Remember That You Will Die was released last year 22nd of October, it was first to chart, debuting at number 33 on the Billboard 200.

The band achieved their first success after the guitar playthrough of their song “Impassion”, this song was from their EP Inspire after being viral on youtube. After that the band’s popularity has grown and they share stages together with other metalcore bands like Periphery, ISSUES, August Burns Red and many more.

As time goes by they develop their genre into a whole new sounding type of music, they broke out from their shell from creating metal and rock tones and started creating music that is more leaning on pop and rap music (trap, EDM, etc.).

Polyphia’s album New Levels New Devils and their EP The Most Hated are the best example of where their music has evolved. They start creating a more catchy type yet very technical kind of music, And with that they started getting more collaborations with several known artists and musicians like Ichika Nito, Yvette Young, Mateus Asato, CHON and Cuco.

In 22nd of September, Polyphia released the single “Ego Death”, the fourth song from their latest album Remember That You Will Die. The release was accompanied by a video which features the guitar virtuoso Steve Vai. The latest album includes more collaborations than their previous ones.

Polyphia Facts

In the year 2016 their drummer Brandon Bulkhalter decided to part ways with his beloved band mates, due to the fact that everyone else in the band, wanted to go for a less, over the top, speedy, shred sound to a more melodic, slightly softer sound. The band’s new drummer Clay Aeschliman fill the position.

Polyphia uses gears from Ibanez which lead them to their success as the brand’s endorsers, not just Ibanez but also brands like DiMarzio, Fishman, Meinl and TAMA drums

The Band’s name comes from the word “Polyphony”, meaning “music whose texture is defined by the interweaving of several melodic lines”.

#POLYPHIA #instrumental #new music

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metalshockfinland · 2 years

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New ACT OF DENIAL Album in the Works, Coming Out in Early 2023

Is been already a year since the melodic death metal project ACT OF DENIAL, featuring big names in metal industry, released their debut album “Negative”. The album has got positive reviews from metal magazines and great reaction from the fans of this metal genre, not only melodic death metal, since album is full of heavy metal, metal core and all kind of tunes for every metal fans. Luger and…

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#ACT OF DENIAL

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xmystophalesx · 1 year

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Best New Heavy Metal Releases Week of April 7th, 2023

Got a little of a break this week, which to be honest felt pretty good after being flooded with incredible albums the last few weeks. I’m not saying this week was bad, far from it actually, but simply fewer releases overall. Quality was still very high and still had plenty of albums that made the list. More than ANY sane and rational person would listen to in any given week. Trust me, I realize the amount of music I consume weekly is pretty crazy….lol

I don’t think I have ever mentioned this here but just a FYI all the albums that make my “Best of the Week” section get added to a playlist on Spotify entitled “Best Heavy Metal Releases for 2023”. If you only want the overall pick of the week, that is on a playlist titled “Picks of the Week at bestmetalweekly.com for 2023”. There are also playlists for previous years if you want to look back, as well as my top 30 albums of the previous years. Not everything I mention here will be on those playlists as not everything is on Spotify but I would say 98% of albums I talk about here can be found there. Easiest way to find them is to search for my username, Mystophales. So let’s get to some albums that were added this week. Yet another seamless segue…:)

Dystersol-Anaemic (Melodic Death/Groove)**

My god is this album ever overloaded with immense amounts of groove. Easily the heaviest mixture I have ever heard in a Melodic Death Metal album. If you ever wondered what a mixture of what Dark Tranquility would sound like if they were HEAVILY influenced by Pantera, this would be it.

Imperial Demonic-Beneath The Crimson Eclipse (Black)**

This is an EP which I was not aware of until after I had listened to it. Normally I don’t bother with EPs as I just don’t have the time and there are plenty of full length albums released every week. Only reason I really noticed this was because the album was over a lot sooner than I expected and I was hoping for more. Fantastic old school black metal reminiscent of the late 90s and early 2000s.

City Kings-Steel Rock N’ Roll (Heavy)**

Last week I came across a band that could be the second coming of the band Rush. Well, this week we have the second coming of Motorhead. While listening to this album, it really gives you the feeling that this is simply a missing Motorhead album. it really is that close in sound, songwriting and even attitude. Some people will be annoyed by this as they feel like it has already been done but with Lemmy’s passing we will not get anymore new Motorhead and if another band picks up that flag and carries it forward for future generations, I for one am completely cool with it. Especially when it is this well done.

Raider-Trial by Chaos (Thrash/Death)**

Within a song or two, I knew this album would make a push for my overall pick of the week. As I have mentioned before, I am a pretty easy mark when it comes to Thrash Metal. Especially when that Thrash Metal has a solid bit of aggression running through the songs. That is exactly what we have here. Aggressive razor sharp riffs are the order of the day throughout this album. The aggression never wavers and that is a VERY good thing. If you are even remotely a fan of the band Skeletonwitch, you will find a LOT to like here.

Wolf Spider-VI (Thrash/Technical/Progressive)**

Continuing on with Thrash Metal, we have this band out of Poland but with that style of Thrash Metal that has a bit of a technical or progressive quality to it. This is a style I haven’t really heard much to be honest, and I was thinking it had fallen by the wayside. I know I’m doing a terrible job describing this, so just think of bands like Coroner, Toxik, or even Vektor. If any of these bands interest you, give this one a shot.

That will do it for another week highlighting the best genre of music on the planet (I may be a bit partial…lol). Until next week, and as always,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genre

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Best of the Week

Cursebinder-Drifting (Atmospheric Black)**

Dystersol-Anaemic (Melodic Death/Groove)**

Imperial Demonic-Beneath The Crimson Eclipse (Black)**

Raider-Trial by Chaos (Thrash/Death)**

City Kings-Steel Rock N’ Roll (Heavy)**

Heathen Foray-Oathbreaker (Melodic Death/Folk)**

Wolf Spider-VI (Thrash/Technical/Progressive)**

Standouts in their Genre

Medevil-Mirror in the Dark (Thrash/Death)*

Shredhead-I Saw You Burn (Thrash/Groove)*

Dark Flood-Illusion of Light (Melodic Death/Progressive)*

Stillbirth-Homo Deus (Death)*

Yskelgroth-Bleeding of the Hideous (Black)*

Nocturnal Wolf-Cold and Dark (Black)*January 23rd

Darkhold-Tales From Hell (Heavy/Groove)*

SaintBreaker-Unrelenting Violence (Thrash/Crossover)*

Anthropophagous-Abuse of a Corpse (Death)*

Arched Fire-Trust Betrayal (Thrash)*

When Plages Collide-An Unbiblical Paradigm (Symphonic/Death)*

Alcyone-Cult of Kukulkan (Black/Progressive)*

Healthyliving-Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief (Post/Shoegaze)*

Penumbra-Eden (Gothic/Symphonic)*

Golden Grass-Life is Much Stranger (Rock/Psychedelic)*

The Grifted-Doomsaday & Salvation (Death)*

Yotuma-Otherworldy Incarnate (Death/Groove)*

Paraphilia-The Memory of Death Given Form (Death)*

Convergence-Extinction Level Event (Death)*

Worth a Listen

Maniaco-Maniaco (Brutal Death)

Over The Sacrifice-First Seal Broken (Death)

Neobabel-Survival Strategy (Power)

Sunrot-The Unfailing Rope (Sludge/Doom)

Valensorrow-Shorestank (Folk)

Pick of the week goes to Raider-Trial by Chaos and the Metal Bulldog picture is courtesy of the look you get when she is not included. I feel the same every time I see good tours pass by the city I live in..:)

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thisaintascenereviews · 2 years

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Miss May I - Curse Of Existence In the metalcore world, there are a handful of bands that somehow never got their fifteen minutes of fame about fifteen to twenty years ago, but that could be due to the fact that the genre was extremely saturated by the mid-00s. Metalcore was everywhere, whether you liked it or not. Personally, I enjoyed it, and I still do today, so I’m all for it, but I got to a point where I was rather sick of the genre. Too many bands that sounded the same were coming out, and it just wasn’t that interesting anymore, but one band that I always liked that never got as big as they should have was the Ohio act Miss May I. Miss May I was relatively known in the metalcore sphere, but outside of that, especially when a lot of the bigger metalcore / post-hardcore bands were doing some good numbers, they never got as big as those bands. They never were in the pantheon of Attack Attack, Of Mice & Men, Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, Memphis May Fire, or any of those bands, but they were pretty cool. I enjoyed their first couple of albums, but this band kind of went into super generic territory by their third in 2012. They only put out one more album in 2017, and Curse Of Existence is their first album in five years, and I was totally shocked to see it. I had no idea they were gearing up for a new record, but I was oddly curious about it. These guys were pretty good, and they were one of the more interesting bands back then; their sound was more technical, riff-heavy, as well as more on the side of As I Lay Dying and Killswitch Engage. I tend to call that style of metalcore the “At The Gates-core,” named because At The Gates is a Swedish melodic death metal band, and a lot of these metalcore bands took note from that band. Because of that, a lot of bands in the early to mid-00s sounded like them, and they utilized a melo-death sound that sounded pretty good a majority of the time, at least depending on the band. Miss May I, however, was one of the more underrated bands of that style, but I think they got the short end of the stick, because they were on Rise Records, so they got associated with those bands I mentioned earlier, even though they didn’t sound like them. I’m just happy they’re back again with Curse Of Existence, this album being their second with SharpTone. They released their last album on there, too, but when I saw this album on the new release section on Apple Music, I was relatively excited and curious. I had no idea what to expect with this, and it was a nice blast from the past to be seeing this band on the new release section again, so how does this album compare to their earlier stuff? Let’s find out. I’m writing like I haven’t heard this album, but let’s talk about it, either way. Curse Of Existence is a good album, I’ll start there. Is a great album? No, not necessarily, but I really enjoy it, especially for what it is. Essentially, this record picks up where they left off with on their last album, as it’s a straightforward metalcore album in the vein of Killswitch and AILD. It’s nothing super unique, but I have to give the band credit for executing this sound well. I don’t remember their last couple of albums sounding this good, or at least being this well-written and performed. They have a bit of life in their sound now, and I really appreciate that, because from what I remember, their last couple of albums were pretty bland and uninteresting. This one is not that at all, it’s a lot of fun, even though it plays into a lot of the tropes of metalcore, such as the generic clean chorus, the repetitive breakdowns, and the very derivative song structures that get old rather quickly. What makes this album, though, is vocalist Levi Benton being at the top of his game, and the instrumentation following suit. Sure, it’s generic, but it sounds great. Benton’s cleans aren’t the best, though, I have to admit that; he’s got those generic cleans that a lot of metalcore bands use, and I’m just not into that anymore. I don’t mind it here and there, but those kinds of vocals just really get on my nerves, because I’ve heard it so many times. It’s not bad here, especially when they aren’t used that much, and especially when his harsh vocals are very good, I don’t mind it. This album also clocks in at a very nice and slick 37 minutes, so even if it was a little too generic for my liking, it’s short at least. I love that it’s short and sweet, and it never feels long or boring. Maybe it’s because the songs are all rather different, despite having similar elements throughout them. I’d honestly recommend this if you want some good metalcore. I can’t say it’s unique, or that you’ll have your mind blown by it, but it was really fun, energetic, heavy, and a breath of fresh air. It’s cool to have a band just let loose and have fun like this, especially with some old school sounding metalcore. There are some solid breakdowns and riffs here, too, and it’s just one of those records that just sounds cool. There’s not much to it, and it won’t do a lot for certain people, but if it hits for you, it’ll work wonders. I wouldn’t say this is going to be on my album of the year list at all, because it’s not thaaaaat good, but it’s still quite good. I remember not being super crazy about their last couple of albums, but this is a lot better than I was expecting it to be. They sound like they’re firing on all cylinders here, and it’s great. It’s awesome to hear a band with a new sense of inspiration and energy, so here’s hoping they keep that newfound energy. I’d want to hear more stuff from these guys, but I do hope that they expand their sound a bit on the next album, as well as it not taking another five years. Part of the reason why people forgot about them is that they kept taking forever between albums, so here’s to not taking another half decade to drop some metalcore bangers, guys.

#miss may i #curse of existence #metalcore #post-hardcore #attack attack #of mice & men #pierce the veil #sleeping with sirens #emo #scene #sharptone records

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rainydawgradioblog · 2 years

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New Blawgger: What I Listened to in March of 2022

Hello everyone! For my first Blawg, I thought I would share what interesting things I listened to last month, including stuff that I just discovered and stuff that I had entirely forgotten about and had the pleasure of re-listening to. I chose 10 to put here, but I’ve got a complete playlist:

"Raw" – Big Daddy Kane

Big Daddy Kane was one of the MCs to come out of the explosion of hip hop in the late 80s, an era where it felt as if the genre was making decades of progress every few months. Unfortunately, Kane seems to have been forgotten compared to the rappers that came just after him like Nas or Kool G Rap, but his best material holds up today. “Raw” is a cut of classic boom-bap with killer lyricism and wordplay for days.

"Yereyira" – Papito & Iba One

If you recognize this at all, it’s because it was sampled by Death Grips on “Get Got”, but you’d be surprised to find out that it originates from Northwest Africa. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, music was spread throughout the Sahara in a file-sharing network on Nokia cellphones, the most popular of which was compiled on the Music from Saharan Cellphones releases. This track is a Southern US-inspired rap song with possibly one of the most maddeningly catchy choruses I’ve ever heard (in a good way). I can’t speak for what the lyrics are about as I can’t find any translations, but the flows are fantastic, and the performances are filled with undeniable confidence and swagger. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this song is how it demonstrates the reincorporation of newer African-descended musical forms into older ones: hip hop is descended from the musical forms of West Africa, and when returned there, it feels completely transformed and revitalized.

"Left Hand Path" – Entombed

And here we get into my new love: Swedish death metal! If your only familiarity with the genre is Cannibal Corpse, then you’re in for a treat: riffs that manage to be melodic, but still sinister with a guitar tone that buzzes like a feral beast. The vocals from a then-17 LG Petrov (RIP) complement the atmosphere perfectly, but the real treat is just how well-structured this track is, every change-up adding some kind of intensity and tension and feeling fresh the whole way through. If you’ve never gotten into extreme music before, this probably isn’t the place to start, but if you want the cream of the crop, here it is.

"Trapped in a Corner" – Death

I hope that y’all have been patient with my metal indulgence in this article, so here’s the last of it. The late great Death have probably one of the most consistently amazing catalogues in all of music, with the album this song is on fitting squarely in the middle of their transition from old-school death metal to a more philosophical, progressive sound. This track has some surprisingly melodic riffs and guitar solos that I would even describe as beautiful (not a word that usually characterizes extreme metal).

"How Come You’re Such a Hit with the Boys, Jane?" – Dolly Mixture

Definitely whiplash from the previous entry, but much more accessible. Dolly Mixture are a deep-cut indie pop group from the first wave of the genre in the early-mid 80s. They never got as much attention as their contemporaries like They Might Be Giants, the Smiths, or even Felt, but they deserve it just as much. This song is a great little cheeky 60s girl group throwback that will win you over with its charm and funny lyricism. The spoken-word segment is the cherry on top – a moment of equal parts satire and snide venom.

"La Vida Mejor" – La Vida Boheme

Something that you’ve seen and will continue to see from me is that I’m a huge fan of non-Western rock – while I feel that the American and UK scenes are somewhat stagnant, there’s far more interesting material coming out of South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. This band is from Venezuela, and this song is their hit from the Latin Grammy-nominated album Será, an ambitious politically charged modern indie classic which unfortunately has gotten almost no traction stateside. “La Vida Mejor” is an energetic dance-rock song full of distinctly Latin touches, especially in the energetic horns.

"Kodak Moment" – dltzk

They’ve already gotten a lot of attention in the online electronic underground, but if you haven’t checked them out already, dltzk (pronounced “deletezeek”) is worth doing so. Their songwriting combines a wide variety of very modern influences from emo to hyperpop. This song is a perfect encapsulation of their oeuvre, featuring catchy melodies with warped vocals and glistening keys getting split apart by extreme electronic glitch-noise (and, funnily enough, a sample of the Nintendo 3DS startup sound). The combination of levity and gravity in the lyrics, where a serious discussion of lost time runs into an oddly poignant Sharkboy and Lavagirl quote, perfectly captures the contradictions at the heart of Generation Z: doped up on cheap media, we attempt to find the beating heart at its core, recontextualizing the profane into the sacred and the meaningless into the center of our identity.

"Cellphone Machine" – Yun Head

If you’ve heard the name Yun Head, it’s probably from some…let’s just say less-than-stellar meme rap, but Austin Santiago has recently started to take music much more seriously, first with the Oat album last year, and now with the even-better Forever’s Forecast Demo single. The B-Side is the real draw here, a hyper-dense glitch pop love ballad (?) full of jazz-electronica touches and some hazy-yet-powerful bedroom production. Even though the lyrics are buried underneath layers of fuzz, the musical swells perfectly capture some kind of all-consuming warmth: the only line I can understand is "I can't help myself; he's the most beautiful person" - whether romantic or otherwise, it's a sentiment that the song conveys perfectly. At only 17, Yun has proven himself to be a fantastic producer with potential that I only think he's begun to reach. I'd stay tuned for what he has in store next.

"Congratulations" – The J. Arthur Keenes Band

If there’s a deep, obscure online underground, then the J. Arthur Keenes Band are underrated even there. A one-man Canadian indie project by Dan McLay that’s been putting out albums for over 10 years now, the J. Arthur Keenes Band features some of the best melodies and ingenious chord progressions I’ve heard anywhere, and their Beach Boys-meets chiptune sound is unique. Don’t let the cheerful sound fool you—McLay’s lyrics are dark and introspective (and unfortunately much too relatable). I'm not sure whether the searing sarcasm that runs through this song is directed towards someone else or McLay himself, but the weariness and fear of inadequacy at its core manages to be as terrifying as the music seems uplifting on its surface. Only the indie-pop noise which smothers the track hints at the venom underneath. Compared with the aforementioned "Cellphone Machine", it demonstrates just how versatile of a format lo-fi can be.

"Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child" – Ambrose Akinmusire

It seems as if contemporary jazz is unfairly locked away from the musical mainstream, only discussed by jazz musicians themselves or whenever a jazz musician features on a higher-profile album in a different genre. As such, Ambrose Akinmusire’s 2014 album The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint deserves to be brought out of the shadows and come into the running of not only one of the best jazz albums of the year, but of all time. This song, dedicated to Cyntoia Brown, is tender, passionate, and beautiful beyond words. It’s a meditation on youth and its disappearance, the way that oppression affects marginalized children, and yet how they manage to stay strong in the face of seemingly insurmountable societal devastation. The vocal performance from Ladan Hussein is reminiscent of Nina Simone’s “Little Girl Blue”: melancholic, compassionate, and yet full of hope. Combined with the deeply expressive cries of Akinmusire’s trumpet, and you have an emotional tour-de-force which can wring tears out of even the most hardened hearts.

I’ll be writing about some of my other discoveries in another column called “Rock of Elsewhere” which will focus more on international artists. Stay tuned.

Stefan

#Spotify

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