As in "boring" or as in "THAT'S NOT MUSIC"?

Because, if it's the latter, the person(s) that said that must never have listened to any Merzbow (or any other noise act).

Also, Godflesh is awesome. As might be evidenced by my new avatar/sig.

I saw Morbid Angel and Behemoth earlier this week. Fucking AWESOME show. The sound could have been better for Behemoth (and thankfully crisp and sharp for MA), but Krisiun didn't make it so they played a bit longer. :D And while I wasn't a huge fan of Morbid Angel, it was impossible not to headbang furiously the whole time. ALL classic songs, mostly from Altars of Madness (my favourite by them). Insane!


And now my latest haul:

* Gamma Ray - Majestic
* Bathory - Blood on Ice
* Immortal - Battles in the North
* Behemoth - Satanica
* Forsaken - Dominaeon (The band from Malta: powerish doom, similar to Solitude Aeturnus. Great stuff)
* Pharaoh - The Longest Night (USPM, similar to Jag Panzer and Iron Maiden, with the Control Denied vocalist - excellent leads on there too)

Pharaoh is pretty cool. I definitely like the singer in there than in Control Denied. However, Control Denied wasn't too much different from Sound of Perseverance Death. Chuck Schuldiner just has to distinctive of a sound....which is not really a bad thing, just doesn't really make it different enough to warrant a side project.

So has anyone heard the new Korpiklaani album Tales Along This Road? Its the same old Korpiklaani sound with a great track called Happy Little Boozer.

Yep. "Happy little happy little happy little boozers, happy little happy little happy little boozers!" :rock:

What's Korpiklaani sound like? Never heard of them until now.

After a hell of a long time going without any black metal, I've gotten re-acquainted with it via Ildjarn's "Strength and Anger". And I like it lots.

Production is actually total crap, but I can actually discern all the instruments involved. Besides, listening to noise "music" has helped me keep my "edge" in terms of tolerating/enjoying bad production.

Folk Metal. Like Finntroll except without the black metal influence. Its like beer drinking metal.

So metal for the Irish eh? :beer:

XtremeDJW's description is accurate. I would compare them more to Otyg than Finntroll, though, with the fiddle and all.

I got the new Summoning last week. \m/ And, non-metal related, but two game soundtracks in the mail today, after over 3 weeks of waiting. Finally!

Which soundtracks?

Hey guys, I've had some time to digest the body of Pain of Salvation's work, and I have to say that I'm in awe. Seriously, check them out NOW.

I'm probably about to get shot for having bad taste, but my metal listening lists:

Rhapsody
DragonForce
Parakletos
Haggard
Immortal Souls
Thy Majestie
Sonata Arctica

A few others, but those are the main bands I listen to. Also, I'm not into black metal anymore because I used to be naive enough I didn't know about its theological roots :p but if you ARE into that, you DEFINITELY need to check out a band called Tvangeste. They have some free tracks on their website. It's symphonic black metal. I still haven't found any bands that sound like them, very unique sound.

More like finnish.

SUOMALAINEN PEIKKO!

DarkLink, so you like flowery sympho metal eh? Well, that's already better than the corecrap, so there's that at least. ;)

Wild ARMs: Alter Code F OST, and Genso Suikogaiden Vol. 1 OST. :) Animenation took some time, but it got there at last.

What's some good metal sung in their native language? I know bands like Vintersorg, Brujeria, Sex Machineguns and early Dimmu Borgir sung in their native tongue, what are some other bands like them? I don't mean musically like them, it can be whatever style of metal, just as long as it's non English.

I've recently been exposed to Sonata Arctica by a friend. They're much better than i initially expected. The speed is a nice departure from alot of the stuff i listen to.

I also recently picked up Helloween's first album. Drastically different than all of their other stuff. It's good, but i must say i like Andi Deris better than Kai Hansen as a vocalist. I like Hansen in Gamma Ray, but in Helloween he was a little... i dunno, not as good. Michael Kiske is hovering somewhere inbetween.

Also picked up Chameleon by Helloween. I'm not sure why this album almost destroyed them, i like it quite a bit actually. I like alot of the different sounds they play around with, and i really enjoy the melodic feel the album puts across.

Walls of Jericho >>>>>>>>>>>>> all the other Helloween. Fuck, Kai Hansen isn't the best vocalist (and he's much better now than he used to be), but the passion, the fury and the energy in this album outshines anything else they've done. Don't get me wrong, I love the Keepers to death, and I also love The Time of the Oath and The Dark Ride, but for different reasons, and they are still too... flowery compared to the rawness of Walls of Jericho.

Sonata Arctica... haha. A good joke I read recently. On a metal forum, there was this thread that went, "if _____ grew a huge pair of balls, they'd sound like ____". Example, "if Poison grew a huge pair of balls, they'd sound like WASP".
And then there was one that won the thread: "If Avenged Sevenfold grew a huge pair of balls, they'd sound like Sonata Arctica". :D

Metalucifer. :D Kidding, but the Engrish is amusing. Hmm, since you know Vintersorg I assume you already know Otyg. So, try these:

Hantaoma (folk metal; Occitan)
Arkona (folk metal; Russian)
Finntroll (folk/"polka" metal: they sing in Swedish though, not Finnish)
Moonsorrow (folk/viking; Finnish)
Mägo de Oz (folk; Spanish)
Dantesco (doom/power; Spanish)
Killers (speed metal; French, a bit of English)
Haggard (a bit of German, latin, some French; symphonic/baroque)
Storm (folk; Norwegian)
Lumsk (see above)
Månegarm (black/viking; Swedish)
In Extremo (weird folkish/medieval metal; German)
Misanthrope (err... symphonic doom? avant-garde? ; occasional French)

...Yeah, they're mostly folk metal bands. I guess it's those that are really close to their home culture.

YES! I've been thinking this since I heard it. Sorry Helloween, I know it's not your favourite, but Morrigan's absolutely right.

Got hold of Evergrey's newest effort, Monday Morning Apocalypse. It's got some decent riffs, and as always, some good, catchy choruses, but there's a disappointing trend I've noticed, so that I'll find a few songs I want to keep, but for the most part the rest are so average that I never feel justified in buying one of their albums.

I wish they'd do a bit more of the male/female voice dynamic, like they did on "Wake of the Weary." The contrast between his voice and hers is what makes it work so well, in my opinion. Same reason I like "Phantom of the Opera" from Iced Earth so much.

In any event, "Monday Morning Apocalypse," "Unspeakable," and my personal favorites "Still in the Water" and "The Dark I Walk You Through" are good enough for a look.

They really need to drop the piano/vocal interludes in my opinion, though. His voice really isn't refined enough to work in a minimalist piece like they keep doing.

"Onmyoza" dude! They're Japanese, their music is like a fusion of heavy metal and traditional japanese themes. It's awesome.

As far as Japanese metal goes, it doesn't get better than Boris in my opinion.

Does anyone listen to Fear Factory? It's been a while since I listened to them. Hear they have a new album out? What do you think of it?

Well, new may not be the term for it anymore. Their last album, 2005's Transgressions was not as strong as the previous year's Archetype. Whereas the 2004 offering dished out more straight up metal, their latest kind of panders off as they return to Industrial, with a low point being an out of place U2 cover which is strangely like the original. I don't think highly of industrial/metal crossovers, really. It hasn't been pulled off well yet.

Cool thanks! I'll have to check them out!


I like Fear Factory though they get a little repetive after awhile since they don't have many riffs, just rhythm patterns that can sound similar.