It's a new day, and a new Metal band!

mythsofmetal · 10-12-2014, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Tried some black metal. Not as bad as I thought. Doubt I'd be going back under my own power though... then again....

Sons of northern darkness --- Immortal --- 2002

Try out the album At the Heart of Winter by Immortal if you haven't already, it's quite similar in style to SoND but just generally better all around, imo.

The Batlord · 10-13-2014, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mythsofmetal

Try out the album At the Heart of Winter by Immortal if you haven't already, it's quite similar in style to SoND but just generally better all around, imo.

I'd second that recommendation (Although they're too close for me to really say it's better.) I don't think it'll seriously win TH over, but the music is more progressive, as opposed to the more straight-up trad metal style of Sons of Northern Darkness, so it might connect with him a bit more. Definitely one of my favorite black metal bands at the moment.

Trollheart · 10-13-2014, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mythsofmetal

Try out the album At the Heart of Winter by Immortal if you haven't already, it's quite similar in style to SoND but just generally better all around, imo.

I'm passing the review of this on to a good friend of mine. I'm sure he'll give it a fair and unbiased hearing.

Trollheart · 10-14-2014, 04:31 AM

Still checking out some Black Metal. Batty, this one is for you...

Nightwing --- Marduk --- 1988

I've got to start scribbling down some reactions, otherwise this is a bit pointless. I'll try to get time to go back over the ones I've listed previously as soon as I have a chance. As for this...

Powerful dramatic guitar intro, the usual screechy vocals but the guitar was really bitchin' (Copyright Batlord Enterprises, MMXIII); kind of a mixture of thrash and black metal I guess really. Seems those Scandinavians really know how to do this subgenre eh? To be fair to the vocalist, I could understand him, just didn't like his voice, big surprise.

(Breaking news --- Trollheart listens to all Venom albums in order. This story has not been confirmed at the time of going to press; when interviewed all Trollheart would say is "I'm finding that after all, Hell is not such a bad place to be". Watch this space. And now, today's weather...)

The Batlord · 10-14-2014, 05:01 AM

Then you should check some of their later stuff out. I think it'd actually be right up your alley.

**Frownland** · 10-14-2014, 04:31 PM

Ehnahre

Death metal that jumps back and forth from droney jazz tinged passages to in your face pummeling speedier passages. Some strange and incredible things going on here. It's pretty obvious that the guitarist is the band-leader because of how focused the music is on that instrument. Oh ja, there's also a trumpet thrown in at points. I thought I'd put it here since I doubt we'd ever see TH post about these guys.

Trollheart · 10-16-2014, 12:07 PM

Having taken a shot at Black Metal I felt it was only fair to let "the other guy" have his chance, so here's some Christian metal for ya. Um, Christian Death Metal?

Primitive rhythm machine --- Mortification --- 1995

I must admit, the only real CM I know is the likes of Theocracy, Narnia and of course Stryper, so this could be a revelation (hah!), though to be honest the name of the band sounds more like something you'd expect from a straight-up death or black metal band. Nevertheless, they have over 20 albums and to add to the strangeness they're Australian!

Well, the vocal is death metal but I can kind of make it out. I guess without the vocals/lyric there's no way to tell that this is in any way Christian metal. Meh. Not that great though.

Mind you, you'd think their lyrical themes would be a little limited wouldn't you? Puts me in mind of this from the Simpsons (although whoever thought Priest were death metal must have been on something really strong...)

Trollheart · 10-17-2014, 10:02 AM

Meh, let's stick with Christian Metal for a bit. Bloodgood are apparently one of the oldest and well known of the bands on the Christian Metal front, defiantly denying that the biggest of them, Stryper, had any influence on them at all.

Bloodgood --- Bloodgood --- 1986

The below is a track entitled "Demon on the run", taken from the above album, which was their debut. They had five albums before disbanding in 1994, but then got together again in 2006, and released a sixth album last year.

I suppose the thing about Christian Metal is that it always seems so odd to be associating the two. Metal --- indeed, rock and/or roll --- has traditionally been labelled "the Devil's music", so it's strange to hear bands praising Christ rather than Satan and advocating a life of abstinence and penance (do they?) when we're used to being exorted to drink and **** and basically misbehave, often in the very name of Satan. But as I discovered with Narnia, Christian Metal bands can kick just as much ass as normal, or even Black Metal can.

However I always have a little discomfort listening to CM. When you play Black Metal, much of the time you're laughing at the lyrics (assuming you can make them out!) because who really --- other than a very small percentage of the listening population --- is actually going to start worshipping the Devil after listening to Black Metal? And do the bands involved expect that to happen? Hell no (well, bands like Watain excepted of course): they just want to be controversial and piss people off mostly. But Christian Metal acts do give you the impression that they want everyone who isn't already praising God to start doing so, and hope their music will cause this sort of conversion.

That's what worries and irks me about CM: it's almost like they;re trying to convert you through their music. And I don't want anyone doing that. Not that they would. But it's odd to be singing "Praise the dark one" and then "Living water from the father" or "God is the saviour" when you listen to the likes of Narnia.

All that aside though, I guess the main and most important thing is, can these bands play and do you enjoy their music? Well this I do: much more traditional metal than that death metal I featured yesterday. The lyric is cheesy of course but what do you expect? Good stuff. I've seen the light! Hallelujah!

(Not really...)

Trollheart · 10-18-2014, 04:47 AM

All right, all right! One more Christian Metal band before I move on.
And who better than a band said to be the first, or certainly one of the first Christian Metal bands? Formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1975, Jerusalem have had a total of nine albums to date. This is from their fifth, the first not written in their native language.

Dancing on the head of the serpent --- Jerusalem --- 1987 (JM Records)

Hmm. Sounds more like AOR to me, with that chunky bright synth leading the line. Very catchy to be sure, but would I consider this metal? I'd have to say at best it's hard rock, at worst it's AOR and the singer reminds me at times of Meat Loaf. Not that I don't like it, I just don't think it's quite heavy enough to qualify as metal of any sort. Still, considering it's late eighties maybe I'm being overly harsh. This was the era of Europe and Bon Jovi after all, and maybe Jerusalem were just trying to bandwagon-jump. Certainly sounds like it would have been a big radio hit if anyone knew who these guys were. May check out more of their stuff...

Trollheart · 10-20-2014, 09:51 AM

Something totally different to start the week off. Not actually a new band, per se, as I listened to them before but was put off by the growly vocals. With my newfound if not appreciation then tolerance for same, I thought I'd give them another shot.

Haggard combine classical, folk and, er, death metal to produce music that truly straddles the musical spectrum. You probably all already know them but some of you may not.

Eppur si muove --- Haggard --- 2004 (Drakkar Enterntainment)
The interesting thing about the album title is that it is taken from Galileo's sotto voce defiance after having been forced by the Inquisition to agree that his theories about the Earth's rotation around the sun were blasphemy, and it gives an indication of how frightened he was (wouldn't anyone be, faced with that dread organisation?) and yet how he stuck to his belief, even if he only kept it to himself. "Eppur si muove" translates as "but it does move".

Well, first it seems like I've put on a classical album --- or at least something by Nigel Kennedy --- then, Trans-Siberian Orchestra-style, the hard electric guitar bites in for a moment, then the deep growly vocal comes in and you know you're not listening to Mozart! To be fair, the vocal, though deep, is understandable. The tempo shifts then, becoming "more metal", if you will, the classical influences all but dropped. Certainly something different!

10-14-2014, 04:31 AM	#34 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Still checking out some Black Metal. Batty, this one is for you... Nightwing --- Marduk --- 1988 I've got to start scribbling down some reactions, otherwise this is a bit pointless. I'll try to get time to go back over the ones I've listed previously as soon as I have a chance. As for this... Powerful dramatic guitar intro, the usual screechy vocals but the guitar was really bitchin' (Copyright Batlord Enterprises, MMXIII); kind of a mixture of thrash and black metal I guess really. Seems those Scandinavians really know how to do this subgenre eh? To be fair to the vocalist, I could understand him, just didn't like his voice, big surprise. (Breaking news --- Trollheart listens to all Venom albums in order. This story has not been confirmed at the time of going to press; when interviewed all Trollheart would say is "I'm finding that after all, Hell is not such a bad place to be". Watch this space. And now, today's weather...) __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-14-2014, 04:31 PM	#36 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	Ehnahre Death metal that jumps back and forth from droney jazz tinged passages to in your face pummeling speedier passages. Some strange and incredible things going on here. It's pretty obvious that the guitarist is the band-leader because of how focused the music is on that instrument. Oh ja, there's also a trumpet thrown in at points. I thought I'd put it here since I doubt we'd ever see TH post about these guys. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x Last edited by Frownland; 10-14-2014 at 04:55 PM.

10-16-2014, 12:07 PM	#37 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Having taken a shot at Black Metal I felt it was only fair to let "the other guy" have his chance, so here's some Christian metal for ya. Um, Christian Death Metal? Primitive rhythm machine --- Mortification --- 1995 I must admit, the only real CM I know is the likes of Theocracy, Narnia and of course Stryper, so this could be a revelation (hah!), though to be honest the name of the band sounds more like something you'd expect from a straight-up death or black metal band. Nevertheless, they have over 20 albums and to add to the strangeness they're Australian! Well, the vocal is death metal but I can kind of make it out. I guess without the vocals/lyric there's no way to tell that this is in any way Christian metal. Meh. Not that great though. Mind you, you'd think their lyrical themes would be a little limited wouldn't you? Puts me in mind of this from the Simpsons (although whoever thought Priest were death metal must have been on something really strong...) __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-17-2014, 10:02 AM	#38 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Meh, let's stick with Christian Metal for a bit. Bloodgood are apparently one of the oldest and well known of the bands on the Christian Metal front, defiantly denying that the biggest of them, Stryper, had any influence on them at all. Bloodgood --- Bloodgood --- 1986 The below is a track entitled "Demon on the run", taken from the above album, which was their debut. They had five albums before disbanding in 1994, but then got together again in 2006, and released a sixth album last year. I suppose the thing about Christian Metal is that it always seems so odd to be associating the two. Metal --- indeed, rock and/or roll --- has traditionally been labelled "the Devil's music", so it's strange to hear bands praising Christ rather than Satan and advocating a life of abstinence and penance (do they?) when we're used to being exorted to drink and **** and basically misbehave, often in the very name of Satan. But as I discovered with Narnia, Christian Metal bands can kick just as much ass as normal, or even Black Metal can. However I always have a little discomfort listening to CM. When you play Black Metal, much of the time you're laughing at the lyrics (assuming you can make them out!) because who really --- other than a very small percentage of the listening population --- is actually going to start worshipping the Devil after listening to Black Metal? And do the bands involved expect that to happen? Hell no (well, bands like Watain excepted of course): they just want to be controversial and piss people off mostly. But Christian Metal acts do give you the impression that they want everyone who isn't already praising God to start doing so, and hope their music will cause this sort of conversion. That's what worries and irks me about CM: it's almost like they;re trying to convert you through their music. And I don't want anyone doing that. Not that they would. But it's odd to be singing "Praise the dark one" and then "Living water from the father" or "God is the saviour" when you listen to the likes of Narnia. All that aside though, I guess the main and most important thing is, can these bands play and do you enjoy their music? Well this I do: much more traditional metal than that death metal I featured yesterday. The lyric is cheesy of course but what do you expect? Good stuff. I've seen the light! Hallelujah! (Not really...) __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-18-2014, 04:47 AM	#39 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	All right, all right! One more Christian Metal band before I move on. And who better than a band said to be the first, or certainly one of the first Christian Metal bands? Formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1975, Jerusalem have had a total of nine albums to date. This is from their fifth, the first not written in their native language. Dancing on the head of the serpent --- Jerusalem --- 1987 (JM Records) Hmm. Sounds more like AOR to me, with that chunky bright synth leading the line. Very catchy to be sure, but would I consider this metal? I'd have to say at best it's hard rock, at worst it's AOR and the singer reminds me at times of Meat Loaf. Not that I don't like it, I just don't think it's quite heavy enough to qualify as metal of any sort. Still, considering it's late eighties maybe I'm being overly harsh. This was the era of Europe and Bon Jovi after all, and maybe Jerusalem were just trying to bandwagon-jump. Certainly sounds like it would have been a big radio hit if anyone knew who these guys were. May check out more of their stuff... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-20-2014, 09:51 AM	#40 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Something totally different to start the week off. Not actually a new band, per se, as I listened to them before but was put off by the growly vocals. With my newfound if not appreciation then tolerance for same, I thought I'd give them another shot. Haggard combine classical, folk and, er, death metal to produce music that truly straddles the musical spectrum. You probably all already know them but some of you may not. Eppur si muove --- Haggard --- 2004 (Drakkar Enterntainment) The interesting thing about the album title is that it is taken from Galileo's sotto voce defiance after having been forced by the Inquisition to agree that his theories about the Earth's rotation around the sun were blasphemy, and it gives an indication of how frightened he was (wouldn't anyone be, faced with that dread organisation?) and yet how he stuck to his belief, even if he only kept it to himself. "Eppur si muove" translates as "but it does move". Well, first it seems like I've put on a classical album --- or at least something by Nigel Kennedy --- then, Trans-Siberian Orchestra-style, the hard electric guitar bites in for a moment, then the deep growly vocal comes in and you know you're not listening to Mozart! To be fair, the vocal, though deep, is understandable. The tempo shifts then, becoming "more metal", if you will, the classical influences all but dropped. Certainly something different! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018