I suppose you're unaware that in the early 00s there was a movement in metalcore that combined it with melodic death metal and the more cringe elements of post-hardcore, giving us a form of metal that is more reviled than hair metal but not so much as nu metal: melodic metalcore. Even I could give a **** about the vast majority of it, and I'm a cheesy ****. So of course it got crazy popular, bands started coming out of the woodworks, and "mainstream underground metal" has kind of been a ****show ever since.

I'm unaware of just about everything to do with metalcore.

Well if you're curious then there are far better bands than whoever the hell that was.

@Trollheart
How does one make an album recommendation, by PM or does you just post the band/album in the thread?

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Album title: Pentagon Tapes
Artist: Dag Arnesen Trio
Genre: Jazz
Nationality: Norwegian
Release date: January 6
Position in Discography: Sixth
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Check out more from this artist? n/a
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Possibly

Sadly, though I was kind of looking forward to this, I can find neither hide nor hair of the album anywhere. All I came across on YouTube was one track (Dave Brubeck's “In Your Own Sweet Way”) which I really liked, but that's it. So unfortunately I can't review it and must move on.

Welllll .... technically, I'm not really taking recs, as I'm working off Wiki's list. However, depending on how long it takes me to get through each month, I will take recs but based strictly on having been released in that month only. In other words, don't suggest an album in January that didn't hit till March or whatever. Depending on how many recs I get, I may look into them but there's no obligation on my part to do so, particularly if you're reccing an album you know or think I probably wouldn't like. Also, obviously, check the list before you rec in case the album you're thinking of is already there.

If you want to rec something you can post here, or PM, it really doesn't matter. Whichever suits you.

In general, no rec received will be reviewed until after all the albums on the Wiki list for that month have been dealt with.

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Album title: 11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory
Artist: Dropkick Murphys
Genre: Celtic Punk/ Folk Punk
Nationality: American
Release date: January 6
Position in Discography: Ninth
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Check out more from this artist? Oh **** yes!
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? If it's all like this, hell to the yeah!

Oh no! Punk! Say it ain't so! Still, this starts off with a very Celtic air, almost more Celtic Rock I would have thought: lots of uileann pipes, woah-oh choruses and a very rocky beat. Quite anthemic as it goes on. Must say I really like this, and I kind of did not expect to. It has energy, but I still wouldn't consider it punk, though I know little of that subgenre anyway. Makes you proud to be Irish. Except, um, they're American. Well, you know what I mean. “First Class Loser” is great, but to be fair, there's nothing here so far that I don't love. This is quite a revelation, and without question this would be a great album to listen to while drunk, and I'd say they're great fun live.

Ah, ****! A great version of “I had a hat”! I love that song, an old Irish trad comedy song. They do a great version. I think I'm becoming a fan. It's like listening to The Pogues only, you know, good. Their version of “You'll Never Walk Alone” is not likely to be sung on the terraces at Anfield, but it's pretty good.

Bottom line, I love this album and I did not expect to. Great stuff!
:beer:

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Album title: Echolocation
Artist: Gone is Gone
Genre: Alt-Rock
Nationality: American
Release date: January 6
Position in Discography: Debut
Familiar with this artist? No, but I have heard some Mastodon, QOTSA and ATDI
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Unsure
Check out more from this artist? Probably not though maybe
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Not sure; not even sure what genre it is really.

So is this another supergroup? Mastodon's vocalist and bass player, At the Drive-In's drummer and the guitarist from Queens of the Stone Age: sounds like one to me. Hmm. Well the first track is pretty great, not so pushed about the second, third ain't up to much. Fourth is called “Dublin”. Well that's interesting at least. It kind of sounds like Radiohead and Nick Cave went for a drink with Waits. Different anyway. By and large, it ain't bad. “Roads” has a strange, disjointed feel to it that somehow doesn't annoy me, though it probably should. “Fast awakening” does exactly what it says on the tin: kicks life back into an album that has been, to be honest, flagging and getting a little dour. This rocks like a good thing as the boys head into the final stretch, then “Resolve” brings it all back to a slow, acoustic ballad before the title track finishes off nicely with a kind of mid-tempo progger. Nice, though whether I'd want to listen to it again is doubtful.

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the new rating scale makes it a little bit harder to skip the whole review and just check your ratings. damn you for making me actually read things.

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Album title: ReAniMate 3.0: The CoVeRs eP (No I don't know why it's styled that way, but it is)
Artist: Halestorm
Genre: Hard Rock
Nationality: American
Release date: January 6
Position in Discography: Ninth (if you're only counting Eps) thirteenth overall
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Check out more from this artist? Of their own material, probably, yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes of course.

Not crazy about covers albums, but this is just an EP with only six tracks so why not? Also it's Halestorm who are pretty ok. Not the biggest fan of Whitesnake and “Still of the Night” still sounds too much like a poor Zep ripoff (can't remember which one? “Rock and roll”? Whatever) so not really any comment there. They do a good version of Sophie B. Hawkins's “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” but I know hardly any Joan Jett so whether they cover her “I Hate Myself For Loving You” well or not I can't say, ditto for Twenty-One Pilots and their “Heathens”. As for Soundgarden, well you all know I don't know a single Soundgarden song so can't comment on “Fell on Black Days”. That just leaves Metallica's anthem “Ride the Lightning”, and, well, nobody will out-Metallica Metallica, but it's a decent cover.

Which is about all I can say about this EP. It's decent, but hey, it's covers, and you know more or less what you're going to get if you know the songs. I don't, in most cases, but I still wasn't particularly impressed. Maybe if I heard an album of their original material?

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