[Album] The Metal Thread! (The Zombie Edition)

I'm looking forward to Green Carnation's concert that's coming up around spring break (two weeks from now). It's at 1am, but it should be a good show.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Krelian

On the subject of genre debates and all, what does everyone think of Orphaned Land? A friend sent me Mabool recently, and... I'm having a hard time deciding what to call it. Melodeath? Folk? Power/prog? Whatever it is, it's great.

I'm very fond of OP...but I go through phases when I'm in the mood for it. I think their blending of oriental/eastern instrumentation with various aspects of metal is amazing, and when I'm in the mood for them I'll listen to Mabool for days on end (whole album through...it works best as a unified album). Sometimes I'm not terribly fond of their keyboard usage, but then again, I've never been much on synth. Real strings = win, but too much synth and it sounds like so much cheesy 80s shit.

My cousins are so into Dragonforce, so I had to check them out... I think they're a decent power metal band, but pretty standard for the genre. Nothing has hit me as amazing or ridiculously amusing about them (other than being a headliner at Ozzfest), so they kind of sit there and don't do much for me. Not bad, but I'd rather listen to Luca Turilli/Rhapsody for that type of music.

Originally Posted by Iwata

A lot of you take metal too seriously in the first place.

TRUTH.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by DarkLink2135

Or for a completely different flavor yet, Apocalyptica. These guys are INSANE. Of course, being a cellist myself I'm extremely partial towards liking them, and appreciating the difficulty it takes to make metal music with cellos . And running around on stage, playing your cello at the same time . Most people know these guys for their "Plays Metallica By Four Cellos" album, but their original works are far, FAR, more amazing.

YES. I'm a violist, so I am always in love with groups that marry strings to metal, and Apocalyptica does the best job by far. I mean, headbanging? On cello?!? Eicca Toppinen is awesome, as is his hair.

And I agree, their original stuff is far better than their Metallica covers -- not that they aren't good and all, but their later stuff is much more interesting. Cult and their self-titled album are my favorites, and I don't think it's any surprise that those have percussion on them. They sound damn heavy and good for three/four cellos by themselves, but the percussion adds that extra oomph to make them sound like a true metal group.

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For a slightly different direction, let's talk about Thy Majestie. Anybody heard them? I don't know how it's possible for a band to have several really kick-ass songs, but have the absolute worst album arrangement I've ever heard in my life. I didn't know it was possible to go insane from a combination of boredom & confusion, but I did for a short while after listening to...well, any of their albums.

Thy Majestie annoys me. I thought that their concept for their albums sounded awesome (enough that I bought one sound unheard), and some of their songs are okay, but overall they're just kind of average. The thing that annoys me most is the extreme overuse of synth strings. It is terribly, horribly obvious, and it couldn't be that difficult to find four string musicians in Italy to record some rather basic string parts. Let the keyboard play keyboard music, for God's sake. However, their latest offering (the one based on Joan of Arc), sounds a bit better. They're still a fairly young group, so maybe they'll improve. Also, their Italian accent makes me laugh when I probably shouldn't be...In the age of ten sEExtee-sEEx XD

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Or maybe Haggard. An absolutely amazing melodic death metal band based in Germany. Actually they are probably right on the fringes of what could be called metal.

Now Haggard is good sympho/classical metal. Very. I have Eppur si Muove and have seen recordings of their live performances (for some reason they're big in Mexico? ), and they are good enough to hire real string musicians to play. Not only that, but they do an excellent job of mixing the two genres while maintaining the energy of a metal band; sometimes mixing in classical will cause the group to just sound kind of soft.

Still, my favorite classical/metal bands are Therion and Hollenthon. Damn good groups, those.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I would say Theli or Vovin are good starting points, if you're wanting to hit them when they became an actual sympho-metal group (before that they were morphing from black metal into symphonic...). My personal favorite is The Secret of the Runes, but that's probably due to the extensive use of choir on that particular album, as well as the theme of different Norse myth lands/regions.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by DarkLink2135

Some are ok, some are kick-ass, but most are extremely annoying for me. The thing that annoys me is the LACK or repetition. I think they are fighting back against the ridiculous amounts of repetition that occurs in many modern day songs, but in doing that they forgot that repetition (like a chorus) is what helps to give coherence to a song.

Yeah, through-composed songs have never really appealed to a wide audience . It is a more classical-music approach, but without the compositional chops to back it up it comes across as...erm...confusing. Or annoying. Most of the 'non-repetitive' music modern bands come up with does lack unification, because it doesn't employ the subtle unifying techniques that make most 'classical' non-repetitive songs sound okay (see: Schubert lieder).

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Definitely going to be checking these out.

Like I said to Dalkaen, Vovin or Theli are probably good starting places for Therion. Hollenthon only has two albums, so really you just pick one or both . They're both great.

Originally Posted by Morrigan

I wish Hollenthon made a new album already.

Are they working on one right now? That would be awesome.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I was pissed as hell that they weren't allowing non-badge/wristband holders to view the US premiere of that documentary at SXSW/06. I mean, I just had to hop on a bus and I could have seen it, but they wouldn't take my money >___<.

BUT thanks for uploading it, so now I can watch it. I've been meaning to find it for download, and this makes it a lot easier.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I prefer clean vocals, but some rough death/gutteral vocals are okay ever so often. However, I'm not terribly fond of screaming constantly through a song, or a string of songs that have those kinds of vocals. It's just not my thing.

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

They just sound more powerful and darker than screaming.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

FELIPE NO

Moi dix Mois is indeed a japanese goth-rock-metal band. Admittedly, they have quite a few songs that are harder than your run-of-the-mill visual kei jrock group...I happen to like some of their stuff. Example: Vizard

I really don't think they sound much like Diru at all. Maybe on some songs, but in general they have more in common with Malice Mizer and their ilk.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

God, I wish Therion were coming here.
No, scratch that -- I wish I were in the orchestra they hired to play for them. Seriously now. I would do that just as much as play in the Cleveland Symphony.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I want a random booth selling nothing but metal merch .
Especially Therion shirts. I don't like paying shipping for clothing, and they don't sell that kind of stuff around my neck of the woods.

There's nowhere I can't reach.