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The Metal Thread |OT2| All Riffs, No Gifs

Not entirely thrilled with the new Opeth album.

- The opening track and Elysian Woes are absolutely stellar tracks.
- Cusp of Eternity is shallow and pretty formulaic.
- Moon Above, Sun Below has some beautiful parts, but it's spread out over a very long and monotonous song.
- Goblin is interesting, but the main riff carries over nearly the entire song and it just ends up wearing out its welcome quickly.
- River is interesting. Starts out with a Christian rock-like ballad, goes into an organ/keyboard transition, and then follows a very Dream Theater like solo.
- Voice of Treason, like Goblin, ends up wearing out its welcome with the repeating riff.
- Faith in Others is a really nice track. The vocal effects really bother me though...Mikael just muffles his fantastic voice with needless reverb and distortion. This is a recurring problem throughout the album but it really stands here because I feel it just really holds the track back.

I was in the minority in that I found both Watershed and Heritage to be some of Opeth's best work. This album has a few really great high...Elysian Woes in particular is one of the best tracks Opeth has created, IMO. I feel that there are just too many lulls in the album whereas their few prior albums were much more consistent in maintaining quality throughout.

I might change my mind. It's still early and I've only been able to listen to the album a few times broken down over several sessions. Maybe if I give it a full listen without any distractions I'll have a change of heart.
 
Exodus Reveal “Blood In, Blood Out” Track Listing & Pre-Sale

bloodin-cd.jpg


01 – Black 13
02 – Blood In, Blood Out
03 – Collateral Damage
04 – Salt The Wound
05 – Body Harvest
06 – BTK
07 – Wrapped In The Arms Of Rage
08 – My Last Nerve
09 – Numb
10 – Honor Killings
11 – Food For The Worms
 
I was excited but fuck this undead/zombie shit already.

The rest of the art is cool tho.

Also gimme a preview of the songs already.

Edit: And wtf why not come to Chicago!
 
TheExodu5 said:
Not entirely thrilled with the new Opeth album.
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Besides for Rivers, it's a great album. Yeah, there are some weak parts, but nowhere near as many as on Heritage or Watershed. I am happy with it. I know we have to wait a few years for the next one... really looking forward to where they go next.


nailbombxx said:
I don't think they could have settled with a less appealing cover artwork.
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3/4s of metal albums suffer from the same shit cover art, though.
 
postcyberpunk said:
3/4s of metal albums suffer from the same shit cover art, though.
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Yeah, this is like the thousands of other albums with generic "metal" photoshop art. Luckily, I have also noticed a trend in recent years that bands are increasingly using more high quality artwork by real artists. The downside to that, however, the band's music often does not live up to the covers, lol.
 
Before I go off to get tinnitus and sore neck muscles tonight, I just wanted to sincerely say I <3 MetalGAF real hard, and would much rather go to a "concert" that solely consisted of us waxing poetic about the genre in person than see almost any other band live (except Blind Guardian/Led Zeppelin reunion/classic Iron Maiden tour/Bolt Thrower in that order)

But you guys and gals are fifth on my list of most desirable live metal shows! THAT MEANS YOU ARE IN THE TOP 50 PERCENTILE OF MY TOP TEN! And well, shit... if you aren't proud of that, then you (or more than likely, I) need to rethink your (/my) life.

Have a crazy good night, my friends \m/
 
nailbombxx said:
Yeah, this is like the thousands of other albums with generic "metal" photoshop art. Luckily, I have also noticed a trend in recent years that bands are increasingly using more high quality artwork by real artists. The downside to that, however, the band's music often does not live up to the covers, lol.
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There is so much we could discuss about cover art... but what I have learned over the years is the art rarely has anything to do with the music's quality. Though this is probably the best cover:

220px-The_Inalienable_Dreamless.jpg


Mezzo- This one? Leagues better than Exodus.
Suffocation_-_Pinnacle_of_Bedlam_album_cover.jpg
 
sgjackson said:
rap's bad cover art can be hilarious though
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Yeah at least the rap covers know they are being crass and funny with all the bling and pot leafs. I guess the metal covers are unintentionally funny cuz many of them they think they're being hardcore or scary but the art often comes across as ridiculous, like the famous Dance of Death cover.
 
Well, Youthanasia is an interesting album. Kinda feels like Friedman and Mustaine were holding back a little bit though.

Elysian Fields might be the catchiest Megadeth song.



I assume its all downhill from here though?
 
oh Phil, shut the fuck! :P

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/phil-anselmo-metallica-load/

The former Pantera singer took the hot seat for the issue’s ‘Discs of Doom’ feature, which asks artists to talk about albums that have had a major impact on them — as well as those that never should have been released. Faced with the latter question, Anselmo shrugged, “I would have to say ‘Load’ by Metallica. I mean, it’s a terrible record, man. I just don’t get it. If you’re gonna put out a record like that, just do a f—ing side project or something, ya know?”
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postcyberpunk said:
There is so much we could discuss about cover art... but what I have learned over the years is the art rarely has anything to do with the music's quality. Though this is probably the best cover:

220px-The_Inalienable_Dreamless.jpg
Click to expand...

Not only artwork, but the packaging as a whole. Discordance Axis started to experiment with DVD/Digipack packaging and liner notes that don't make sense haha.

Not sure if you seen any of the old Discordance Axis shows, but John Chang was also experimenting with VHS. Tainting the film and mixing where it looked like a really bad snuff film.
 
Giant Robot said:
Not only artwork, but the packaging as a whole. Discordance Axis started to experiment with DVD/Digipack packaging and liner notes that don't make sense haha.

Not sure if you seen any of the old Discordance Axis shows, but John Chang was also experimenting with VHS. Tainting the film and mixing where it looked like a really bad snuff film.
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Man, the packing was always awesome. And I saw Pikodoru? and yes, it looked like some Dino Velvet shit. :) I played it for this girl I was seeing and she didnt return my calls after... It was probably that and making her listen to Patton's Adult Themes for voice in the car... but oh well.
 
postcyberpunk said:
There is so much we could discuss about cover art... but what I have learned over the years is the art rarely has anything to do with the music's quality. Though this is probably the best cover:
Click to expand...

I think there is a very small correlation between quality of cover art and music quality, but there are many exceptions, and it may just be a placebo effect. I mean like, the cover art should be at least be representative of the the overall aesthetic the band is trying to go for. I think most slam death album covers have absolutely horrid album covers, which is kind of representative of how i feel about the music itself and its style imo. So it still means something at the very least, and I will always be more inclined to listen to music that is accompanied with cool imagery and aesthetics, that's just me. I'm not saying I have some rule that bad cover art = bad music, however.
 
Just listened to Van Halen's first record again. Man, I remember how much I used to like it. Anybody else dig it?

I still think 1984 though is overrated. Even when I had a huge Van Halen phase, I wasn't into that album as much as others. Conversely, I remember loving Diver Down despite a lot of people hating that album.
 
Flynn said:
Just saw Sleep in Joshua Tree. If they weren't from Oakland they should be from the desert.
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Sleep are actually from San Jose, CA!

Andrew_Korenchkin said:
Just listened to Van Halen's first record again. Man, I remember how much I used to like it. Anybody else dig it?

I still think 1984 though is overrated. Even when I had a huge Van Halen phase, I wasn't into that album as much as others. Conversely, I remember loving Diver Down despite a lot of people hating that album.
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Van Halen's first album is fucking classic. The playing on it still sounds fresh today.
1984 is still good for what it is&#8230;a stadium rock album
 
Andrew_Korenchkin said:
Just listened to Van Halen's first record again. Man, I remember how much I used to like it. Anybody else dig it?

I still think 1984 though is overrated. Even when I had a huge Van Halen phase, I wasn't into that album as much as others. Conversely, I remember loving Diver Down despite a lot of people hating that album.
Click to expand...

The first album is amazing for what it is - an assault on 70s music with the Marshall stack. But the 1st album also demonstrated insane showmanship - Beach Boys style backing vocals, Dave's carnival barker-style delivery, Eddie's acrobatic guitars, etc. They were the best bar band in the USA. Diver Down was a return to their roots, their barroom days. That's why it has tons of cover songs reminiscent of "You Really Got Me."

My favorite is Fair Warning. It's when Eddie locked himself away in the studio for months and crafted an epic guitar album - much like Jimmy Page and Presence. It's darker and the compositions are solid.

But Eddie's guitar playing on 1984 is ON FIRE. The shit he's doing on that album is fucking crazy, like Allan Holdsworth type phrasing.
Girl Gone Bad is like almost prog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDDuQo8F_Hs

I like some Sammy era stuff, but not a whole lot. The whole Cabo Wabo shit did nothing for me.
 
After listening through the suggestions I got earlier in this thread, I got stuck at Immolation and Goatwhore.

Immolation is really great, they have the same feel as Bolt Thrower with just a little difference in there to make it fresh and will compliment my death playlist perfectly.

Goatwhore was a real surprise though. I was not ready for the almost mainstream pop groove they have in the majority of their songs. Fucking awesome! :D That's exactly what I'm searching for when it comes to black metal, and also why Watain is my definitive favorite. Hard and heavy as hell, but they have fun with their songs and makes them with the ability to headbang quite nicely to them :)
 
Giant Robot said:
Van Halen's first album is fucking classic. The playing on it still sounds fresh today.
1984 is still good for what it is&#8230;a stadium rock album
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Yep.

obin_gam said:
After listening through the suggestions I got earlier in this thread, I got stuck at Immolation and Goatwhore.
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Immolation is excellent. Which albums did you listen to?

teruterubozu said:
But Eddie's guitar playing on 1984 is ON FIRE. The shit he's doing on that album is fucking crazy, like Allan Holdsworth type phrasing.
Girl Gone Bad is like almost prog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDDuQo8F_Hs

.
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You had me at "Allan Holdsworth", ha ha. But seriously, 1984 sounds a bit too much like Def Leppard for my taste, although it's at least better than Def Leppard by miles (particularly Hysteria....yuck what a bad album). It's still overall pretty meh.
 
That feel when you come home and the new Earth record arrived a week earlier than expected. Southern Lord Europe is legit.
And I think this will be my "cover of the year".
earth-primitive-and-d2lk2j.jpg
 
obin_gam said:
Do they have "their own" Operation: Mindcrime somewhere in their discography?
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As Mezzo said, Close to a World Below is one of their best (if not their absolute best), so get that one (if you had to get one Immolation album, that would be the one to get). While not as good as Close To a World Below, Dawn of Possession and Here In After are also stellar.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sebastian-bach-to-ted-nugent-being-a-racist-is-fking-weak/

Thank you, Sebastian.
 
http://bravewords.com/features/viol...mainman-dave-carlo-responds-to-sheepdogs-tail Dave Carlo from Razor tears into Stace"Sheepdog" in this interview over the shit he said last month that I linked. Overall, it seems like a whole lot of back and forth, but I come away with a little less respect for Stace all together, and view him as only somebody who perfected Thrash Metal vocals on some albums. Shit is ugly and my hopes for a Old School Razor reunion are basically dashed, and it saves me money by not paying for the Maryland Deathfest.
 
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