Listened to the first 12th. Grindcore is just not for me

judging by your last.fm charts - extreme metal is not for you, period.

Doesn't appear you are a fan of anything in the field... except Opeth... but yeah, everyone I know who hates extreme metal still seems to like Opeth.... so I will not count them.

.....and Opeth now sound like Porcupine Tree!

slightly better, I think, but not by much

lol. I definitely could have predicted that.

Its not for me either, but I have enjoyed these albums (all in fact) and I am now going to listen to the lengthy 12 min epic a bit later on! Is it really 12 mins or is this just an exagerration?

Glad to hear it! :)

It's really 12 minutes. I literally just listened to both Gridlink albums in their entirety on my half hour drive in to work this morning. :laughing:

What can I say? There's a reason I put the Gridlink album up last in this war, it's my favorite of the bunch so I figured we'd need a good screening process for the album to go up against it. Though no doubt the short running time will be a turn off to some, I think it's perfect. Like I said previously, these guys pack so much into their tiny songs that it really feels like an hour's worth of music to me. And, man, can they play! They're one of the tightest grind bands I've ever heard. Unbelievable energy + super-precise playing + unique take on the genre = win for me.

Gridlink - 2
Mumakil - 0

I've actually listened to all 12 mins of Gridlock and what can I say, its 12 mins of brutal energy. As for how it matches up against Mumakil well that's a difficult call. One band has the normal album length as opposed to the super short 12 mins. Music wise nothing between them really, so it comes down to other features. The Mumakil album cover is special for me, the LOTR inspired cover and the Mumakil with the Southron hordes is very unique, as is the album title "Behold the Failure", which is like a big homage to the defeat of Sauron's armies in the "Battle of the Ring" I know we're talking music here, but things like album covers can sway votes and Mumakil has done that with me.

Gridlink- 2
Mumakil- 1

Heh. It's funny that that's what you hone in on. But since you brought up imagery: To me a metal band referencing LOTR doesn't seem particularly unique. On the other hand, Gridlink's high-tech looking Chinese demon imagery (a motif continued on their second album below) is very unique, both for grindcore and for metal as a whole.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c92zqZeH_v...ink-orphan.jpg

No there's nothing unique in referencing LOTR, but what is unique, is that they are celebrating the demise of Sauron's armies and see the whole thing as a great travesty (its very specific) They are focusing on an army that should've swept all before it. I think there is little doubt in this, I suppose I could email Mumakil and ask them if this is correct or not:)

The cover you put up is great and leaves the whole thing open to interpretation. The photo is like some satanic high priest preparing to sacrifice a victim in some latin american location. The flower though is an oddity.

Could be, though the soldiers on that album cover a pretty modern looking for LOTR, as are the skyscrapers.

I'm 99% sure it's an Asian demon. It looks a heck of a lot like Chinese and Japanese demon masks. Plus, the singer of the band is Asian-American and the guitarist is from Japan.

The soldiers look like German soldiers and the skyscarpers I thought looked more like crumbling pillars. Now if they are German soldiers, that is certainly a twist on the Haradrim soldiers, maybe they see a contrast between Sauron and Hitler.

I thought of Asian due to some of the band members, but as I've travelled Latin America extensively, the image evoked memories of Latin America.

Oh man, I'm jealous. Not to take the conversation too far off topic but where have you been?

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Mexico. Lived and worked there for a time, highly recommeded to visit and the food and women are great!

Hah. It's true. I'm not really a metalhead... I just like hipster metal :o:

One more day to vote on these albums, as a brand new war will probably start tomorrow.

It stands:

Gridlink -2
Mumakil -1

I'm going to force a tie break here...

Normally I'm a sucker for technicality and tight playing, but Mumakil's tone and death influence wins out for me. Gridlink is a quality band and I think that their 12 minute running time is genius but Behold the Failure just got me a little bit more hot n' bothered than Orphan did.

Orphan wasn't in this war though, Amber Gray was.

Its 2:2 or is it? If it is.

Gridlock -2
Mumakil -2

Whoops, as I didn't listen to the right album, my vote doesn't count. Gridlink remains ahead.

Spotify's only record from Gridlink was Orphan, and that album cover matched the cover you had posted earlier (the far east looking demon). I suppose sheer laziness kept me from checking the main battle match up page to make sure I had the right album...this is embarrassing :laughing:

I think the question had more to do with the fact that you were talking about Orphan when the album that in this war is actually Amber Gray.

Sadly, I don't care for grindcore at all. So I'll be waiting until we get to the doom or prog metal battles, I suppose.

Maybe because the band is Gridlink not Gridlock. :laughing:

I'm a little slow today (late night last night--illicit substances abound if you catch my drift). I had the right band, I think Uknown made a mistake a few posts back by calling them "Gridlock" and I edited my posts to follow suit. I have now edited them back. Again, my apologies.

Well, give a listen to Amber Gray and vote! It's only 12 minutes long. :)

Yeah. I pretty much only participate in this thread when it involves the classics, or doom/sludge/stoner/prog metal

Alright, I was fortunate enough to find a youtube video containing the whole Amber Grey album and wow, consider me won over. The sound Gridlink has accomplished on the album is so dynamic and so concise it's unbelievable. One thing that I've noticed when listening to grindcore is that some bands focus so much on speed and assaulting the listener that I soon become bored and want to move on. I never had this feeling while listening to Amber Grey; throughout the whole of the album I was actively engaged. The way the mid-tempo grooves or melodies of the guitars mirrored the more typical grind passages were highlights for me as were the vox.

Behold the Failure is good, but Amber Grey is just that much better.

Gridlink - 3
Mumakil - 1

I think we all have our stuff we're interested in participating with. I sat the whole Black Sabbath war out for example.

Hahaha when I first put the albums up I typed in Gridlock and not Gridlink, I had to go back and edit it. Even now I automatically type Gridlock and not Gridlink but usually remember and correct it, seems like I forgot on one post.

It's all good, who's queued up to choose the next battle?

This war totalled 18 votes in total and Gridlink's Amber Grey is voted as the best Grindcore album of the 21st century on MB, yep all 12 mins of it, who says good things don't come in small packages:D

Final order is:
Gridlink- Amber Grey
Mumakil- Behold the Failure
Leng Tch'e- Process of Elimination
Nasum- Helvete
Regurgitate- Sickening Bliss

The next lucky dip draw had drawn a name from the list of 16 who hasn't been on the site since December, so I decided to move on and draw another name and out came Jackhammer.

Genre Splicing Metal (Jackhammer)

Jackhammer says: There have been many instances of Metal bands incorporating different genres into their music but somehow it was still safe but bands come along and truly meld different genres and are adept at all the genres they present and that is the key. It's easy to throw in a saxophone solo or have an ambient 3 minute breakdown but to really stretch yourself musically and thematically is a very intriguing process to me

Unknown Soldier says: Metal bands mixng in new ideas whether they be prog metal bands, technical death metal or Nu-metal bands are nothing new, but I agree with Jack, a lot of the bands seemed to do it without really mastering the concept. Here are 4 albums that a lot of you won't be familiar with and based on Jack's taste should be worth the listen. Jack has also included a brief summary of each album which I'll put up when the albums come up.

The Albums Selected
Mordred - In This Life 1991
Naked City - S.T 1989
Maudlin Of The Well - Leaving Your Body Map 2001
Celtic Frost - Into The Pandemonium 1987

What Jack says about these two albums:

Mordred's sound is a lot more traditional in a sense but their use of a sixth member on turntables was revolutionary at the time and they just don't get any credit for expanding their sound. This was 1991 and before 'Nu Metal' and whether it's liked or not, I applauded them as I do now for creating a sound not for a gimmick or commercial appeal but because they loved Hip Hop and Turntabilism.

Naked City were obviously not a Metal band per se that decided to throw in free Jazz but I feel their inclusion is merited because again; they are all extremely proficient musicians and their love of many genres is melded together so well that they were embraced by Metal bands and fans alike and they certainly introduced a lot of new music for fans to delve into.

Now do the decent thing and place your votes! (By the way I'm saying that:p:)

I am predicting a sweep by Celtic Frost and Mordred out in no time.... as it should be. I personally think Mordred are god awful.

But that Celtic Frost album and Naked City album are both amazing.

The Celtic Frost is a great album and the Mordred album I've never heard, but I'm much kinder on Nu-Metal than you are:laughing:

I would not consider them Nu-Metal in the slightest... though I can hear the influence they had on Incubus maybe.

More like early Faith No More with a splash of a thrash edge.

I wasn't referring to them as Nu-Metal per se, but their likely influence on the genre.

Yeah.... I do not know.



This kinda sounds like a boring version of Suicidal Tendencies to me.

Maybe I might enjoy the album, as I didn't think that was bad at all.