Official Metal Music Discussion Thread

[TEEX]

New Burzum album for May 2012 announced.

"The lyrics on "Umskiptar" are all taken from a Norse poem, Völuspá. For an English translation of the lyrics see the book "Sorcery And Religion In Ancient Scandinavia"."
Details

EDIT:
Slayer - (TBA)
No details are available, but they mentioned that there are future plans for a new release in an interview from May 2011.

[Slayer³]

I've heard nothing about this Nightwish movie; all I know is that they just came out with their new album Imaginarium, and for the most part, it's received a lot of positive feedback. I hadn't thought too much of it since I stopped following their stuff after 2007. Dark Passion Play only had maybe 2-3 songs I really liked. Apparently, a lot of people agree that now that Annette has been the vocalist long enough that Tuomas was been able to create music that's more suitable for her style, all the while sustaining the older gothic/symphonic elements that made everyone love them to begin with. If it's really worth the hype, I'll consider buying it.

The same thing with Kamelot. I haven't listened to any of their stuff since Ghost Opera. Didn't Kahn leave?

On another note, I just got Dream Theater's 2011 release A Dramatic Turn Of Events. On the whole, I gave it a 7/10. The first half of the album was boring while the 2nd half really shined. The track Outcry had some really noteworthy solos while Beneath The Surface was an especially enjoyable ballad. Overall, it left a better impression on me than Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which I hadn't paid any mind to since my first listen through in 2009.

Apparently Wintersun is coming out with a new album sometime this year; there's no specific release date. Same with Periphery's "Juggernaut"; hopefully they release an instrumental version of it like they did with their self-titled debut. The singer is whiny and terrible but the rest of the band has amazing technical skill.

How is the new Nightwish stuff? Haven't listened to any of their newer albums or COB's.
I heard they toured the East Coast US this year, missed that.
Saw Fear Factory at Walley's (near Hampton Beach) a month or so ago.
They were great. Most of the original members are with them again, and they played a lot of their older stuff.
There was a newer band I was hanging out with called Legacy of Disorder that sounded pretty good. They have a lot of potential.

With Kamelot, unfortunately Khan left the band last year. As I recall the singer from Rhapsody temporarily filled in for a tour. Not sure who's currently singing for them.

Speaking of Kamelot, I'd love to see some songs stepped from 4th Legacy and Epica. (like Center of the Universe).
If you play doubles at all DarkLuke made an awesome expert chart for Forever. (although it's more of a 14- then a 13 imo)

[Janus5k]

Speaking of Kamelot, I'd love to see some songs stepped from 4th Legacy and Epica. (like Center of the Universe).
If you play doubles at all DarkLuke made an awesome expert chart for Forever. (although it's more of a 14- then a 13 imo)

Gazebo made a Kamelot pack a while back that has charts for a bunch of songs from those albums, and I stepped A Feast for the Vain for my soon-to-be-released pack.

With regards to Kamelot as a band, their new singer is Tommy Karevik, who used to sing for a band called Seventh Wonder.

Here's a video of him performing Center of the Unibarse live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1p8Bb0o5cY

He's not Khan, but he's still pretty solid and a much better fit than the bloke from Rhapsody. I just hope their new album is better than the last two - there were maybe two or three songs between Ghost Opera and Poetry that I actually liked.

Also apparently they're coming to Pittsburgh in September. I should look into tickets.

[TEEX]

How is the new Nightwish stuff?

I still haven't bothered to check it out yet, with the exception of the one song they made a music video for. I recall Gazebo saying it was really good though. Since its release, someone uploaded the album on Youtube, so I might take a listen later.

With regards to Kamelot as a band, their new singer is Tommy Karevik, who used to sing for a band called Seventh Wonder.

Here's a video of him performing Center of the Unibarse live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1p8Bb0o5cY

He's got a good voice from what I can make out of this video, but it feels really weird hearing someone other than Kahn sing that song. I don't doubt however that the band will write, or has written, material that's better suited for him.

New Burzum album for May 2012 announced.

Umskiptar was awful, by the way.

I respect him as a musician being that he was one of the early pioneers of black metal. I never really minded that fact that most of his songs had really bland distorted guitar riffs since they were not only intended for, but successful at building a cold, dark atmosphere. As harsh as his vocals were, it was easy to sense raw emotion from them, and overall they added to the experience ("Filosofem" and "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" especially come to mind).

Ever since his release from prison in 2010 however, his newer stuff was mediocre at best, and had only gotten progressively worse. He can't scream like he used to, and the difference in recording is recognizable to the point where everything just feels artificial. Those folk influences he threw in on the last album felt really forced. The re-recordings of his most notable works, released on "From the Depths of Darkness", were almost all inferior to the originals.

There are plenty of atmospheric depressive black metal bands like ColdWorld that are basically doing whatever Varg was going for, but a lot better. Speaking of which, fans of this subgenre are encouraged to check out the album Melancholie² (preview).

New 2012 releases that are out:
• Periphery - Periphery II (Make Total Destroy - music video)
Recommended to fans of: Animals As Leaders and/or Scar Symmetry
• Running Wild - Shadowmaker (preview)
Their first new album since Rogues En Vogue in 2005. I haven't listened to this yet, but I heard it's nothing special with respect to the rest of their discography. If you're interested in or like pirate metal, it may be something to judge for yourself.
• Lunar Aurora - Hoagascht (preview)
• Naglfar - Téras (preview)
• Napalm Death - Utilitarian (preview)

Lastly, I really liked Sonata Arctica's new album "Stones Grow Her Name". I have more I'd like to say, but I'll save that for another post once I can articulate them into a full-length review.

[Psychotik]

Noteworthy Metal 2012 releases for me. 3 of them are stoner metal releases.

Galneryus - Kizuna
High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis
Orange Goblin - A Eulogy for the Damned
Torche - Harmonicraft
Wilds Forlorn - We, The Damned

New Burzum album for May 2012 announced.

Umskiptar was awful, by the way.

This.

[Slayer³]

Glad Rhapsody's singer didn't stay with them. Although the replacement is still does not compare.
I like some Rhapsody song's a lot but English being the singers 3rd or 4th language shows and they sound better with non-English versions imo.

For Rhapsody I really like the keyboardist who created all the ochestral-like pieces. I saw them with Man O War years ago and the keyboardist's set looked like a drum set, only made of keyboards. (forget his name off the top of my head).
I think it's interesting that they got the actor Christopher Lee to do narrations and tour with him.

I find their albums always tend to be a mixed bag.


Glad to hear Sonata Arctica's new album is good


Oh btw: If anyone of you guys went to TGA (Tokyo Game Action) before the catastrophe , Andy is working on a metal album!

You can hear some of it here:
http://www.reverbnation.com/andrewmcguire

[Dark Luke]

How is the new Nightwish stuff? Haven't listened to any of their newer albums or COB's.
I heard they toured the East Coast US this year, missed that.
Saw Fear Factory at Walley's (near Hampton Beach) a month or so ago.
They were great. Most of the original members are with them again, and they played a lot of their older stuff.
There was a newer band I was hanging out with called Legacy of Disorder that sounded pretty good. They have a lot of potential.

With Kamelot, unfortunately Khan left the band last year. As I recall the singer from Rhapsody temporarily filled in for a tour. Not sure who's currently singing for them.

Speaking of Kamelot, I'd love to see some songs stepped from 4th Legacy and Epica. (like Center of the Universe).
If you play doubles at all DarkLuke made an awesome expert chart for Forever. (although it's more of a 14- then a 13 imo)

I personally think the Annette-era Nightwish stuff are not as steppable as Tarja-era stuffs, as most of the newer stuff uses the repetitive AABA form. I just released part 1 beta of Nightwish doubles pack, of the 12 songs in it, 9 songs are from Tarja era and 3 songs from Annette era.

Music wise, Imaginearium is much better than Dark Passion Play. "I want my tears back" is one of my favorite tracks from this album, and is one of the Annette era songs in my Nightwish doubles pack so far.

[b4mV]

• Periphery - Periphery II (Make Total Destroy - music video)
Recommended to fans of: Animals As Leaders and/or Scar Symmetry

So I really liked this entire album. I recommend it.
Huge improvement over their first IMO

[Psychotik]

An Autumn for Crippled Children is a depressive black metal band with a sort of post-rock-ish sound at times. They released an album this year. Really good stuff.

[Dark Luke]

Annette Olzon (Current vocalist) leaves Nightwish. Floor Jansen (After Forever) sings the remainder of the Imagineum world tour.

http://www.facebook.com/nightwish/posts ... 0753945068

10,771 likes so far on that post.

[TEEX]

Yeah, I heard about this last month. Is Floor Jansen just a temporary fill-in, or are they planning on keeping her? Regardless, I'm confident enough that whatever they do, Tuomas will be able to compose music that not only compliments their voice but manages to keep their dedicated fans satisfied.

- After an 8-year wait, Wintersun's second studio album Time I has been released as of 10/19/12.
I still need to go check that one out. (preview)

- Kreator's new single Civilization Collapse is scheduled to be out 11/9/12. (cover art)
The track is taken from their latest album Phantom Antichrist. I had bought that CD a couple months ago when it finally came out. I found it to be a bit heavier than its 2009 predecessor Hordes of Chaos, although as a whole, I didn't find it to be entirely memorable. There were maybe 2-3 tracks that I thoroughly enjoyed and periodically came back to. With respect to the rest of the releases in their most current era of writing which I find to be characterized by cleanly produced, structurally complex and melodic material, I think I still find Enemy of God to be my favorite. With that said, I'm pretty curious to see what direction they'll be taking in the future.

It seems that quite a number of bands already have their prospects set on releasing new material in 2013, although not many details have been disclosed at this time.

[Reveal] Spoiler: They include:

- Anthrax
- Black Sabbath
- Bloodbath
- Children of Bodom
- Dream Theater
- Epica
- Finntroll
- Hypocrisy
- Kalmah
- Mayhem
- Megadeth
- Nightrage
- Opeth
- Queensryche
- Slayer
- Wintersun (Time II)